[TV] More stuff I've watched

Wednesday

The Simpsons
I've been an occasional watcher of the season but this Wednesday's episode is the most consistently funny I think The Simpsons have produced since Bart and Lisa ran afoul of the Patriot act. Homer believes the Rapture is coming. Homer goes to heaven.

Lost
The finale. I've written about this elsewhere but I'm pretty happy with what Lost is doing. I think it's setting itself up well for at least two more seasons of ideas.

Friday

Friends
Last episode ever. The Joey/Chandler plot is pants but the Ross/Rachel resolution is pretty much golden.

America's Next Top Supermodel
Eva gets smacked down by the sisterhood. Tyra teaches the models how to pose. There’s humourous music to hammer home the editorial points.

House
See, I gave up on this show 6 eps in because I thought it was just doing the same ol’ thing every week. However, came back to it about 3 jumps back and am just … entertained every time I watch it. That’s all. House doesn’t do anything special –just delivers an entertaining medical mystery with a good cast and 2 extra dollops of cynicism.

And tonight: Evil Nina Myers screaming in pain! A guest appearance by CHI MCBRIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A change to the basic situation – venture capitalist basically buys the hospital in order to engage in medical experimentations using unproven treatments. House, seeming to take an ethical stand. Oh yeah, the VC is in a real position to stand up to House, finally a credible threat.

And here’s where it gets interesting – although previous eps have pretty much run variations on the “we think we know what it is, oh no we’re wrong” act breaks, halfway through this one swerves off into an ethical dilemma, House deciding to lie just when the stakes are highest for his career. So, if the medical problem is identified by the halfway point, that means character stories have to come to the fore. That led to some doozies: the young female doctor expressing a romantic interest in House for instance.

(And BAM! Insight. A couple of days ago I posted about liking characters who were 'normal' not soap opera figures. I'm starting to realise that shows like CSI and early episodes of House are illustrations of what I mean. But the thing is I don't really respond to those shows. This is interesting because my theory doesn't fit my experience.)

And that’s 4 ‘ands’ starting paragraphs in a row so I’ll finish with the finish – House and the VC facing off, each immune from being fired by the other – but now with the VC implicitly threatening to remove all of House’s friends until he leaves the hospital. It’s was actually pretty well handled and it’ll be interesting to see how the show handles an ongoing dramatic subplot.