Friday, February 27, 2009

Favorite TV Couples

There have been some great TV couples throughout its relatively short history. Like Buffy and Spike (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer). I loved the way they went from deadly enemies to "it's complicated". I loved the way Spike adored Buffy, even in the face of her absolute revulsion. OK. Sometimes he went a little too far. Like when he bought an android version of her. But he learned his lesson: a vapid version of Buffy isn't much of a turn on. And, hey, in the face of unrequited love, people get desperate. Even vampires, apparently. What I loved most was what happened in the last season, Spike being taken prisoner, tortured and taunted daily, and yet, never losing faith, never doubting that Buffy would come for him. And that moment when Buffy does finally rescue him ... ahhhh.... sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words ... in Spike's eyes, there are emotions that I don't think can ever be captured in words. I guess I'm too much in the school of Schopenhauer here.

While I loved Buffy and Spike, I think I might love 3rd Rock From the Sun's Don and Sally even more. They're so hot together, dancing the film noir, toying with the cop cliches, sexual tensions building and building until they erupt—sometimes in bizarre ways, like playing with the siren on Don's police car. I love the way Sally only sees the best in Don, making him feel like he's won the jackpot. I love the way Don can't believe a hot girl wants him, feeling a little sheepish because he's sure that somehow he's hoodwinked her and eventually, she's going to find him out. I love how tender his love is. I love the way he gets this nervous "okay, this is a little weird" look in his eyes when Sally acts totally alien, but decides, "hey, it's part of the package so I'm going to go with it". What more is there to love?

Monday, February 16, 2009

Privileged

I'm liking Privileged more and more as the weeks go by. The writing is surprisingly sophisticated and the acting pretty darn good. And I love the formula: the big, heart-felt emotions dipped in colorful fondant. You take a bite, expecting momentary delight — when you find yourself with a sustaining meal, it's a nice surprise. I hope they can keep it up.

CW seems to specialize in breezy concoctions that deliver more than you expect. It's the sort of thing Ugly Betty tries for but fails at, week after week after week. And yet who gets all the press? All the Emmys? I can't wait for Reaper, another CW show. That's starting the first week of March. Something to look forward to!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Dollhouse

When I first heard the premise for Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, I was really, really scared. After having watched the premiere, I'm still really, really scared. The uber-secret Dollhouse is a place where nubile young girls are taken to have their personalities stripped and their bodies super-toned. Why? So the girls can become Stepford Agents, of course. Let's say you're super rich and you want a hot girl who's really into bondage and likes to race motorcycles and dance in really, really short dresses and who'll fall in love with you just for your birthday — who you gonna call? Let's say your little girl's been kidnapped by really, really bad dudes — who you gonna call? Yeah, yeah.

Whedon has taken the River aspect from Firefly, added prostitution and, well, we're off. A bit too much Joe 90 for me, but then poor Joe didn't have sex forced on him. I have to give that to his dear ol' dad, child abuser that he was. Didn't the government ever give him a pamphlet on child work laws?

Anyway, the first episode was a real mess, too much being included at once in a too J.J. Abrams influenced fashion, strands thrown in here and there. I suspect the first episode was really three episodes all cut up and smashed together to satisfy Fox (Fox apparently demanded mucho changes). The main subject of the series is Echo (Eliza Dushku, Whedon's muse). She's the newest doll, escaping from a dubious past that the writers will or will not reveal to us in the future. And then there's Paul, Helo from Battlestar Galactica (Tahmoh Penikett), who's a government agent; he's off on his own strand trying to find Echo. In the middle of all this, Echo is doing a Mission Impossible stint trying to rescue a girl from her bad kidnappers who are also child molesters who also molested "Echo" only not "Echo" but one of the personalities downloaded to Echo — the personality has asthma as a result and blows the mission because she gets asthma because she recognizes a kidnapper ... which is a step up from Echo's last mission as a real inflatable sex doll. Thrown in is all the "what are we doing to these girls" angst, reinfoced by Helo trying to bring down Russian mobsters who import girls for the sex trade. See what I mean?

Of course the madam of the Dollhouse is an older woman, played by Olivia Williams, a Brit. God forbid that an American woman would ever become a madam. In the olden days it would have been a Caucasian playing a Chinese with chopsticks in her hair and really, really long red varnished nails. (Okay, I'm a sucker for Thoroughly Modern Millie.)

In the end, what I really found disheartening was the writing. It was bad. Anyone could have written the script. Not what you expect from Whedon at all. I'm hoping this is just stretch marks as Whedon expands and deepens his writing skills. After all, witty adolescent banter only gets you so far. Going deeper produces greater works, i.e. Persuasion from Pride and Prejudice. But if it's not ... :(
Italic
Some nice touches? Well, Whedon's brought back Amy Acker (Angel). She plays the in-house doctor — what's with all the bad scars on her face, we're supposed to ask. And Katya Kinski (Dichen Lachman) from Neighbours has morphed into a doll! She looks pretty hot with a semi automatic. Go, Katya. Only, don't get too excited and use the semi on Susan.