- I like it when I’m able to help the executives, producers and writers of a TV show improve their product. I see something in their show that needs changed or improved, I point it out here and then, miraculously, that change is made the following week and the show is better for it. And no, I don’t care how unreasonable and impossible you think it is for a show that has already been written and probably shot in its entirety to then change just because I write that it should a few days prior to air time. Let’s just accept that I’m doing what I say I’m doing and be happy about it. For example, it was to see the producers of ABC’s new drama Traveler listen to me about a problem plaguing their otherwise great new series. For the show’s first two episodes, they had the two main characters, Jay and Tyler, have face-to-face, prolonged encounters with the FBI and yet miraculously escape each time. It was becoming implausible and deadening the dramatic effects to repeat this scenario every episode, so for this week’s show, there were no run-ins with the FBI and the show was better for it. There was one brush for Jay and Tyler with some weird, black-ops Homeland Security personnel, but their escape happened before any direct contact. Overall, this was definitely the best of the three episodes of Traveler so far, with some interesting new reveals and plenty of action. Will Traveler, who we now know is actually named Daniel Taft, reappears at length for the first time since the pilot and is almost immediately captured by mysterious bad guys in a nondescript white van. The only real down side of this week’s episode was the flat, uninspiring, wooden acting of a new character, Maya, played by Sonja Bennett. Maya was Will Traveler’s girlfriend and just debuted this week, but with Bennett’s subpar acting, let’s hope Maya isn't going to be a long-term part of the show. But again, a very good episode and another reason for ABC to make sure it finds a place for Traveler on the schedule for this upcoming season.
- Doesn’t it just figure that a show that has consistently achieved mediocrity at its best moments would have a really good season finale? That was my reaction after watching the One Tree Hill finale on the CW, which again SUCKS, SUCKS, SUCKS! OK, now that I’ve vented, I have to admit that even after a season less inspiring than weight-loss program designed by Bruce Vilanch, OTH actually delivered a good finale, managing to avoid all but a few of the tired, worn-out clichés that high-school centric shows fall back on when the main characters graduate. Usually, the show’s producers and writers fall on the crutch of an amazing, world-class college that just happens to be right near where the characters are from and where amazingly, all of the principal characters have been accepted even though some of them have been underachieving academic dunces for the entire course of the show. Actually, the only instance of that in the finale was Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) being offered an assistant basketball coaching job by his old high school coach Whitey Durham (Barry Corbin), who amazingly got a job coaching college basketball at a small college near Tree Hill and offered a scholarship to Lucas’ brother Nathan (James Lafferty), so the three of them will all be together again. But what helped the OTH finale a lot was the interweaving of some dramatic storylines and some good reflection back on previous parts of the show in general. Also, it helped to have the knowledge that when the series resumes at the midpoint of next season, it will have catapulted forward in time to when the characters are leaving college, meaning they’ll be bypassing that part of a series that normally dooms a high school drama (see Dawson’s Creek). That helped viewers to watch the finale with more of a wistful, nostalgic eye, which inevitably puts people in a warmer, fuzzier mood. So maybe I won't be totally pissed about One Tree Hill returning next season because it might still have some life left in it. Then again, how this show stays on the air while great shows like Everwood and Veronica Mars are axed by the CW is incomprehensible. Actually, I will be pissed about OTH returning for that reason, but maybe my rage will have simmered down by January when the series returns.
- Well, Ocean’s Thirteen is definitely better than Ocean’s Twelve. If you can’t say anything else good about Thirteen (and if you can’t, you’re a moron), you can definitely say it surpassed the last picture in the trilogy by a wide margin. Clearly, producer/director Steven Soderbergh realized that very few people like the concept and feel of Twelve, where the witty, clever dialogue was carried over into an incredibly witty, intricate plot that was far too layered and far too complicated. It obscured the humor and understated intelligence that had made Ocean’s Eleven so successful. This time around, the vibe of Eleven is recaptured to some extent, although Thirteen isn't quite as coherent and is still more complicated than Eleven. Still there are plenty of laughs, especially when the Malloy brothers (the Mormon twins) end up in Mexico, inspiring and leading a revolt among underpaid factory workers that threatens to derail the plot of Danny Ocean and his crew. Also omnipresent are the back-and-forth conversations between Danny (George Clooney) and Rusty (Brad Pitt) where each finishes the other’s sentences after only a few words before any actual information has been eloquated. One omission from the movie, and it isn't a major one because I didn’t even think about it during the picture at all, was the absence of Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones from the cast. Roberts was in each of the first two Ocean’s movies, while Jones was in the second installment of the series. They’re referenced in this movie, but never appear on screen and honestly, the movie isn't worse off for it. There are some familiar faces from the first two movies making cameos, including Bruiser (Scott L. Schwartz), Francois Toulour (Vincent Cassel) and Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). In the end, the verdict on Ocean’s Thirteen is that it’s very good, the best of the three big blockbusters so far this summer (Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean being the others). It may be a step or two below Eleven on the whole, but it’s still a great watch.
- How ironic is it that now Jason Giambi wants to keep his mouth shut? The player who gave a press conference a couple years ago to issue a non-specific, don’t-mention-any-details-of-why apology when he was implicated for using steroids and then directly implied in an interview last month that he had in fact uses steroids now wants no part of cooperating with Major League Baseball’s steroid investigation. Commissioner Bud Selig is threatening to suspend Giambi unless he cooperates with the investigation, led by former senator George Mitchell, that is trying to uncover the truth about steroid and performance-enhancing drug use in baseball. Giambi has until Tuesday to agree to Selig’s demand, and if he doesn’t a suspension is likely forthcoming. As much as I loathe Selig and authority figures in general, and as heinous and offensive as bullying people into cooperating is, it’s nearly impossible to fault anyone but Giambi here. One, he’s the one who took the steroids in the first place, completely of his own volition. Second, he was dumb enough to not once, but twice make incredibly indicting statements that clearly communicated to everyone that he did use steroids, even if he wouldn’t say so explicitly. Even if he had taken the ‘roids and kept his mouth shut about it like Barry Bonds (allegedly), he would be in the same boat Bonds is in now, where no one can definitively, conclusively prove anything and no one could point to two separate occasions where he had ‘fessed up to ‘roiding up. You’ve created the crap storm, Giambino, and you’ve supplied your adversaries with plenty of ammo to use against you, so now you might as well cooperate because you don’t have any strong cards left to play in this game.
- What price are you willing to pay to stop being fat? The Food and Drug Administration has stepped in to answer that question for Americans in at least one sense by refusing to approve a weight-loss pill because the drug increases suicidal thoughts in those taking it, even people without any history of depression. The drug in question, rimonabant, is produced by Sanofi-Aventis SA, a company where there are undoubtedly scores of executives and researchers sticking needs in voodoo dolls of FDA top official Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., Commissioner of food and drugs, right now. Likewise, the decision probably isn't sitting too well with investors and brokers who thought they could make a fortune by picking up shares of Sanofi-Aventis stock right as the company was about to have the first FDA-approved weight loss pill hit the market. Personally, I think I’m gonna side with the FDA on this one, what with the idea of a drug causing suicidal thoughts in the minds of people taking it an what not. That’s not something you hope for and it’s not an acceptable side effect of any medicine. As depressing as grossly obese people are, I don’t think you can in good conscience give them a drug that puts suicidal thoughts into their minds just to help them lose weight. After all, there are still perfectly viable options out there for them, things like exercise (run, walk, swim, bike, hike, lift weights, play a sport, take an aerobics class, do yoga……..endless possibilities) and hey, why not eat less and stay away from the deep-fried Twinkies, Moon Pies, Ding Dongs, Ho-Ho’s and pork rinds? Yes, portly people of America, it looks like you’re going to have to actually put forth some effort and show some restraint if you want to stop being flabby, at least for the time being.
- Firefighters are usually held up as heroes for putting their lives on the line racing into burning buildings to save people and put out blazes. I say usually because in cases such as the one involving Dustin Shane Gerth (if I’m reading your middle name in a story, that’s a bad sign) of Brownstown, Pa. Gerth works for the local fire department and apparently decided that there weren’t enough legitimate fires taking place, so he started one of his own and then tried to set himself up as a hero by “discovering” it and putting it out. Gerth torched a one-room Amish schoolhouse and then claimed to have discovered it when he drove past the burning building in the dead of night. He confessed to the crime and will probably strike some sort of plea deal on the arson charges he’s facing. Sorry, Dustin, but you don’t get credit for being a hero if you started the fire yourself in order to try and look like a hero. I’d tell you to stay in your shoes and wait for an actually fire to take place so you could redeem yourself, but something tells me that the fire department in Brownstown won't want you around after this little incident.
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