Friday, September 23, 2005

Everybody Hates Me

As baseball season winds down (at least for the Giants, barring a miracle), fall television season has graced us with its presence.

I missed the boat on Lost and Desperate Housewives, fell behind on 24 and Alias, and eventually fizzled on all the anime series I was watching last year. I had a good excuse though, I got married.

I have a big-time incentive to tune in this year. Two, actually. A sixty-inch TV and high-def.

The results so far:

  • Kitchen Confidential was O.K. It tried hard to be quirky, but in the end it's looking like Cheers in a restaurant.
  • My Name is Earl wasn't too bad. I had really high expectations since it had good word-of-mouth, and Jason Lee. I thought it was funny enough to watch again next week.
  • The Office is still on the DVR.
  • Lost didn't disappoint. Had to watch the Destination Lost special to catch up, since I've only seen two or three episodes from Season 1. It was, in a word, nuts.
  • Invasion wasn't too bad. It suffers from the misfortune of essentially being a hour-long hurricane scene on the heels of the worst natural disaster in American history. It also suffers from following Lost, which makes its scare tactics seem almost pedestrian.
  • Finally, Everybody Hates Chris not only lived up to expectations, it exceeded them. I wasn't sure how well a Chris Rock show without Chris Rock (he only narrates the show, but is surprisingly effective) would work, but it's very, very funny. The cast is terrific, the writing is sharp, and fans of Chris will find all sorts of references from his stand-up act (such as the big piece of chicken). Other than Lost, the best thing I watched all week. Too bad it's not in HD on Comcast.

No 24 until January, sadly.

UPDATE: The Office was very funny. It's the only British-imported sitcom that has been halfway decent. This, of course, means it and Earl are probably too smart for the masses, and are destined for cancellation. Hopefully, the success of The 40 Year Old Virgin will keep that from happening.

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