This Week in Me Sitting On My Ass

I've watched a bunch of TV so far this week, and I thought I'd share some thoughts.

Heroes

First of all, the Heroes premiere. For a show that added a superspeedster, those two hours sure plodded by. It's not that nothing happened: Plenty of plotlines started or were continued from last season. It's just that, with the exception of the frankly awesome super-speed effect, nothing made me sit up and take notice. Sure, characters are changing alliances and whatnot, but that's always happened on this show. And the characters are getting stupider. It's gotten to the point where (with the exception of HRG), the cast is made up of idiots and creeps, and I'm starting to root for the creeps because the idiots are so infuriating. Honestly, the only people I cheered in the entire two hour premiere were the speedster and Mama Petrelli. And as the ancient proverb goes, when you find yourself rooting for Darth Vader, it's time to stop watching Star Wars.

You know what superpower I'd like to see? The one Aaron Sorkin, Mitch Hurwitz, or Larry Gelbart has—heck, even Kieth Giffen, if you want to stay in-genre: Wit. Show me some wit, and I'm yours. Otherwise it's just Days of Our Lives with CGI.

The Mentalist

On the other hand, I really liked the first episode of The Mentalist, Simon Baker's new show. Baker plays Patrick Jane, a former talk-show "psychic" (think John Edward) who claimed to be able to talk to the dead, who has now reformed as is using the powers of observation that made him so good at cold reading. It's an interesting premise, and one tailor-made for me, as I'm interested in con artists of all stripes.

I also like the fact that Jane's not an action-hero type. When confronted with a gun in the first episode, he runs, hoping some of his cop partners can take him out. (Otherwise, he'd be called the Physicalist, I guess.)

It's a 60-minute procedural show, so we can expect a mystery in every ep, which is a nice change from the series-long mysteries of Lost and Heroes and the like. But one thing haunts Jane, and will most likely drive the season, if not the entire series. It's a serial killer nicknamed "Red John," and Jane has good reason to hate him. Problem is, Red John leaves a calling card smeared in blood on his victims' walls (you can see it behind Baker, here).


Look familiar? Maybe you'll recognize it if you take your Zoloft.

What do you think, Strong Sad?


Other than that, I really liked the show.

My Favorite Brunette

I caught this Bob Hope/Dorothy Lamour movie on TCM the other day. It's an amusing private eye spoof from 1947—really a thinly veiled excuse to do schtick. A baby photographer (Hope) is left alone in a private eye's office when... the brunette walks in. Don't take more than that to start a movie, sometimes.

Anyway, there's one gag at the end that made me laugh out loud. Hope is at this point trying to escape an angry mob of criminals in a hotel room, and is riding on the shoulders of their hired muscle. He reaches up into the chandelier, and pulls down a bottle of champagne that had been stashed up there and smashes it over the thug's head. The only explanation he gives for the bottle being in the chandelier is "Looks like Ray Milland was here!"—a reference to Milland's popular 1945 movie The Lost Weekend, about a 4-day bender.

Now that's Hollywood!

Rob