TV: Some quick thoughts on the new season

Here's the thing about TV right now - Lost hasn't started and Battlestar Galactica is a distant memory.
And that is really harshing my television buzz, man.

Otherwise, am I liking the new season? Well ... yeah, I guess.
I'm vaguely intrigued by FlashForward, but I can't get past how they are repackaging Lost's mosaic storytelling into an urban environment with more guns (and star tattoos).
Still, the premise seems pretty tight. I'll stay tuned. And I'm hopeful that this time around, the writers have a solid endgame. Please write to that. Nobody wants a million "Hatch Tangents" like Darlton & Co. did in Lost season two.
Dollhouse's season two pilot was fun (and satisfied by fanboism by featuring two former BSG cast members - Jamie Bamber & Tahmoh Penikett). How was the story? Well, it dragged a bit and and hinged way too much on Bamber's obscenely sluggish trigger finger, but the ending set up what I hope is going to be a great second season. Too bad it looked like the ratings were some of the worst ever.
Fringe is also back. And yes, John Noble remains the only reason to watch.
The Office also returned recently and remains one of my favorite shows on television. Dwight continued his streak of manly superiority in the premiere (parkour!) and after much deliberation I've decided I'm starting to warm up to the whole Pam/Jim thing.
Hey, it only took me 3 seasons ...

Other shows to check out: ABC's Modern Family (It's got Ed O'Neill, which is reason enough). And maybe Community on NBC, although I'm still kind of neutral on that one.

Ascended Fanboys: Characters Who Say What the Audience Is Thinking

There's a great piece on this over at io9. Touches on several great sci-fi shows from Lost to Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. Check it out above, but here's a taste:

LOST: Season Finale - Jack Gone Nuclear

Tonight's two-part sendoff, "The Incident," just might cause an "incident" in my pants. Two, in fact, if Bernard and Rose show back up. (Where the heck have they been, anyway?)
Tonight we've got Jack making a tough decision about that NUCLEAR BOMB that's kinda buried in the temple. Awesome. Sayid's also on the scene to (hopefully) pwn said bomb. Double awesome. There's also that whole thing with John Locke taking it to our man Jacob. Is he really going to kill him? Can Locke help Sun? How's Ben going to react to this whole fiasco? Was our favorite bug-eyed beguiler lying all this time about seeing Jacob? Oh my, the excitement!

A few brief things I'm looking forward to (all just predictions, so no spoilers here, folks):
-Locke's torch and pitchfork march on Jacob's cabin.
-Richard "Maybe He's Born With It/Maybe It's Manbelline" Alpert sacking up and finally facing down John. Or Ben. Or anyone, really. He probably won't since Richard's obviously some manifestation of the island or is connected cosmically with it in some way. He's more of an observer than an actor in these events. Incidentally, that would explain the dark manscara, it takes the light out of his pupils.
-Seeing Sawyer spurn Kate over and over again on the sub. Bonus: Figuring out what Sawyer is going to do if he and Juliet are the only islanders left behind in the 1970s.
-Finding out what the heck happened to Rose and Bernard! Seriously, I loved this couple. Where are they?!?
-I'm assuming the castaways are going to get out of the 1970s, so here's hoping for a heartfelt reunion between Jin and Sun. Before something crazy unexpected happens to tease us into Season Six, of course.

In the meantime, here's some links to pass the time between now and the east coast premier at 9:00 p.m.:

A.V. Club: An Interview with Jorge Garcia (Hurley).
Hollywood Reporter: Is the Island Eternal?
Lost.com: 108 Things to Do Before the Finale
TV Guide: Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) previews the finale.
And, of course, the promos: Promo I, Promo II.
Image Courtesy: ABC.COM

LOST: Grab your torches and pichforks

It's time to kill Jacob.
That's pretty much the extent of what I got out of last night's episode. Oh, and that whole hydrogen bomb thing with Jack, that's pretty cool.
Still, I'm left asking the question all of us devoted Lost fans have been pondering for several years now, "Who the heck is this Jacob guy, anyway?"
Not surprisingly, it seems many of the characters on the show are just as clueless as we are. Sure, Richard "Maybe He's Born With It/Maybe It's Manballine" Alpert might have some clue, but according to some pretty heavy hints last night, Jacob may not even exist ...
Locke seems to believe pretty strongly the whole thing is a sham (OMG he's the skeptic now -- Lost I see what you did there ... ) and he makes his doubtfulness pretty clear after accusing Ben of faking all his "visions" of Jacob. An accusation Ben can only reply to with a stunned (and uncharacteristically disoriented) silence.
So who is Jacob? And what's his role on the island? I'm doubtful we'll find out all the answers in next week's two hour finale "The Incident," but here's hoping at least some questions are addressed. Oh, and it'd be really cool if Sayid had to disarm the nuke. Just sayin'.

Other random thoughts from last night's episode:
-So happy to see Sayid "TOR-COO-RAAAH" Jarrah back on the scene. If there's going to be a nuke kicking around in the season finale, Sayid better damn well be involved.
-Jin and Sun better reunite already. I'm feeling bad for the poor couple! Also, rest in peace "Jinglish," we hardly knew ye. (Yeah, I know it officially died like 12 episodes ago, but I never paid my proper respects.)
-Kate, Kate, Kate -- why am I just so uninterested in you now? The whole fugitive thing is boring and making her the odd girl out in every love triangle (or quadrangle as the case may be) is just getting old. I'm not digging her as the foil for our new "man of faith" Jack, either. And now she's back with Juliet and Sawyer on the sub? *Groan.*
-Radzinsky is a total dick. Surprisingly, Phil is an even bigger dick.
-Horace doesn't know how to handle any volatile situation. That is, of course, unless backwards chairs, some dank weed and a "circle of trust" are involved. He needs to sack up and face down Radzinsky. That's one showdown I'd absolutely love to see in next week's finale.
-Miles and Dr. Chang had a father son moment! Bonus: It turns out Dr. Chang isn't the huge ass that we all thought he was, he's actually an OK Dad! One set of Daddy issues resolved, five dozen more to go.
-The scene with Hugo and Dr. Chang was hilarious. I was really hoping someone would ask Hugo who the president was!

LOST: The Variable

Lost (ABC 9/8c) will make history tonight with its 100th episode, but will the escalating tensions between Dharmaville, "Jack n' his crue" and the uppity others finally be resolved?
There's just sooo many variables, man. How's it all gonna shake out?
Luckily, we've got zany genius Daniel Faraday to help us out!

Some hopes for tonight:
1. Daniel explains how to get out of the 70s and back to Locke and Ben's time.
2. Someone says "No, we can die in the past" at least once.
3. Jack cries (although that's pretty much a given).
4. Richard "Manscara" Albert unleashes hell on Horace's camp. Bonus points for using Smokey.
5. They explain more about this "What Lies in the Shadow of the Statue" business.
6. Lots of explosions! LOST has been sorely lacking these lately.
7. LONGBALL PREDICTION: A major character dies. I want to say that it's going to be Desmond, but I'll be seriously distraught if that's the case. Why can't they just kill off Kate and finally put the whole Sawyer/Juliet/Jack/Kate love quadrangle to rest?

In the meantime, check out Ryan McGee's "100 Things I Love about Lost" essay, TV Overmind's "Top 100 Scenes from 5 Seasons of Lost," and these snazzy pictures from the 100th anniversary cast party in Hawaii.

LOST: Clippity Show Tonight

Just a reminder, tonight's Lost (ABC 9/8c) will be a clip show aimed at getting some of the casual viewers up to speed with this hectic season (good luck with that).
In the meantime, check out last week's episode recap for "Some Like it Hoth" over at the Ack Attack.

A brief recap of what I liked about last week's episode:
-Miles and Hurley!
-Kate screwing up everything possible with Roger Workman!
-Jack pissing all over Roger Workman in the classroom. (Did you catch all that Egyptian jazz on the blackboard he was erasing?)
-Everyone having daddy issues. Seriously, every character on this show has daddy issues. It's amazing. How their families are all so universally dysfunctional is becoming more of a mystery than the Island itself.
-Seeing that bad wig on Marsha Thomason (Naomi) yet wondering how she still managed to look hot.
-Miles talking to dead people!
-And last but not least, Horace's hippy circle of trust!

LOST: Hurley's pinniped friends & costumes galore

Basically, Jorge Garcia (Lost's Hurley) is awesome.
Not only does he garden, but he makes a mean Halloween costume (that's him as a pearl), can't keep a straight face when shooting a jungle scene with Matthew Fox and totally used the word "pinniped" (referring to fin-footed mammals) in his interview with Bonnie Hunt.
Check out the link (w/ video goodness) here.

LOST: Some Like it Hoth

UPDATE: SINCE IT'S GOTTEN SO MANY HITS, I POSTED THE "TAWARET" LOST STATUE BELOW.
(Note: The statue as shown in the May 13 season finale is also posted below for comparison. Spoilers in the comments, you've been warned.)

ALL NEW LOST POSTS ARE HERE ON THE NEW SITE.

Star Wars references! Dharma hijinks! Hurley and Miles! Mind-bending time travel!
Tonight's episode of Lost, "Some Like it Hoth" is shaping up to be a good one kiddos! Be sure to tune into ABC at 9/8c.

In the meantime, get caught up on the previous week's episode by checking out the hilarious recap for last week's episode, "Dead is Dead," over at the Ack Attack.

Some of my quick thoughts on last week's episode (mild spoilers):
-Despite what everyone wants to believe, John Locke is dead.
-The whole "Locke is risen" thing coinciding with Easter week probably was a coincidence, but Maureen Ryan has an interesting article on it at The Watcher. BSG fans will enjoy the parallels she draws between Locke and Starbuck.
-Ben is sorry for the role he had in Alex's death and he is genuinely concerned about the fate of the island and protecting people from it. Basically, he's not as bad a guy as everyone thinks.
-Claire's still dead. (But she's like Christian and Locke dead, not dead dead ... you know what I mean?) That being said, I hope the writers put her into an episode soon. She used to be one of my favorite characters. I miss the good old days of her and Charlie!
-Obviously, there's some kind of Egyptian theme going on with the island. First the statue and then Smokey's bedroom. That being said, I'm still convinced the island is some sort of gigantic ship that crashed on earth several thousand years ago. The Egyptians could have very well inhabited it for centuries before the island "moved" itself.
-Richard is one of the "keepers" of the island (i.e. he's an alien) and that's why he never ages and is present in every timeline on the show. Jacob might be some sort of projected hive consciousness of the aliens or he might just be another keeper of the alien island. I don't know.
-Kate is actually getting more interesting!
-I'm really happy Caesar was "written out" by Benry. Goodbye, "my friend."
-I'm not so happy about this whole Anna Lucia 2.0 woman, but I'm sure she'll get more interesting as we learn "what lies in the shadow of the statue."


Theorized LOST statue (I didn't make this. Source link in article above):





















And what we saw last night. (Courtesy: Lostpedia)























So what do you think? Are they the same statues? Are they totally different? This week Damon and Carlton described the Egyptian theme with one word -- "tapestry." What does that mean to you? Post your comments below, we've got a good discussion cooking here.

LOST: Ben gets judged

Tonight's Lost, "Dead is Dead" (ABC 9/8c) is shaping up to be another run through Benryville.
Honestly, I can't wait.
What's even better is that according to the teaser, Mr. Smoke Monster is gonna roll into town for some "Judgment Part Deux: First it was Eko and now it's you" on Ben. Awesome!
I have to admit, I wasn't very confident about where this show was going at the end of season four, but the writers have really stepped it up this year. The storylines are compelling and, most importantly, they're actually starting to make some sense.
I never thought I'd say this about Lost, but things are finally starting to come together!
I'm even beginning to come around to some of the characters I used to hate. Yes, I actually liked last week's Kate-centric episode, "Whatever Happened, Happened." Crazy, right?
Now please, for the love of God, don't kill off Ben. That's all I'm asking!

LOST: I love Geronimo Jackson!

Now you can too thanks to LOST's newest (and perhaps weirdest) viral marketing ploy. Head on over to iTunes to download "Dharma Lady" for free. Unfortunately, the song seems to only be available for free in U.S. stores. Those without iTunes access, however, can click on over to Dark UFO to hear the song in its entirety. It's actually pretty groovy!

"Dharma Lady How ya been?
Are we lovers Or we just friends? I believe. Oh I believe
I will love again."

Can anyone else picture a drunk Horace singing this at Friday night Karaoke in New Otherton? I totally can.

INTERESTING: LOST Book Club

Get your thick-rimmed specs, now you can read just like Sawyer does!

With the LOST book club, fans of the show can now read all the stories enjoyed by some of their favorite island castaways.

Go check out the listing on ABC.com and browse titles by season, dialogue reference, and show theme.

The site also offers a store to purchase the books.

LOST: Don't forget the new time!

LOST again tonight kiddos, and it looks like it's shaping up to be a Jack episode. Here's hoping for a lot of tears!

Also, don't forget LOST has moved to the 10/9c time slot now. I don't understand why they feel the need to spoon feed the show the rollover audience from "Grey's Anatomy," but I guess it helps to boost ratings? I was always under the impression the 9/8c was the prime cut of time slots on Thursdays...

Ah well, guess that's why I am not a producer.

LOST: Chatty chat chat chat with Ben Linus

Ain't It Cool posted an interview with LOST's Michael Emerson today.

Among some of the highlights are Emerson's insights to the "binary" nature of the island, and that everyone, including our beloved John Locke, will "pay a price."

Also included are some fascinating insights into the evolution of Emerson's character, including how he approached his role on the show as Henry Gale transformed into Benjamin Linus -- leader of the others.

"I think they are going into some mind bending new surprising directions. I am liking the evolving idea. Let’s say that Ben was able to manipulate the smoke monster, but on the show everything is a binary system, everything is in balance, morally balanced or economically balanced, so for Ben to make a thing happen like that, there is also a price, I think, that he had to pay. We don’t know what Ben paid yet to make the smoke monster come. We don’t know that he… “Is he allowed to do that?” and everyone who has power also pays a price. John Locke is going to pay a price. Ben has paid a price… Nothing is for free in terms of power or morality on the island and I’m beginning to see that the writers are more interested in that pattern, too, of this living ledger book system."

LOST: Benisode part deux

So Ben can control the smoke monster and Alex got wasted and Jack cried and Locke pulled a gun on someone and Swayer was like "aw hell naw" and the boat doctor died and Sayid threw the vortex of doom on some Arab guy and the smoke monster rocked people and Bernard knows Morse Code and Kate likes crackers and Jack officially cries more than Aaron and Ben keeps a shotgun in his piano bench and likes to go all "strangers in the night" in Whitmore's bedroom aaaaand *sucks in breath* It was all pretty freaking awesome!!!

Confirmed: LOST adds extra hour to season finale

A three episode finale!!!!!

Here's hoping for a healthy dose of "WAAAAALT!" with a side of general pwnage by everyone's favorite paraplegic John Locke!

According to TV Guide's story, ABC execs lined up the first hour to air in one month on May 15.

Following part one, LOSTITES will have to wait two weeks, until May 29, when the last two episodes will air together!

"'We are very excited and grateful to [ABC president] Steve McPherson for working out the scheduling difficulties to allow us to make the second part of our finale two hours,' says exec producer Carlton Cuse. 'Damon and I were working on the script and we just couldn't get it all done in one hour without shortchanging the story. Now the finale will have all the sweep and emotional completeness we wanted it to have — along with, of course, answering who's in the coffin.'"