Just a New Jersey house framed by barren trees and highlighted by the sunrise on a cold December day.
I'll be posting an east coast update post for tonight's Survivor around 8 PM ET. My review will be posted late tonight over on TV Squad, but the important show events will be in the update post here.
In today's TV Newsy Bits:
Today's musical non-sequitur:
He said, "I dance now at every chance
in honky tonks for drinks and tips.
But most the time I stand behind
these county bars 'cause I drinks a bit."
--"Mr. Bojangles" by Jerry Jeff Walker
Well, well, well ... perhaps this is one reason Roofus has been not in sight lately (in addition to the weather). He seems to have a new friend. This is not the cat I used to see him with late last winter -- that one was white and black, mostly white. This one seems all black from what I could see. I suppose we need to come up with a name for the new addition to the roof?
Tonight is the first night of Chanukah -- Light, love, and joy to all!
In TV Newsy Bits:
- I received my fourth season DVD set of The Wire today. So far I've watched one episode. I'll probably watch another before bed as Letterman is striked out.
- Buddy TV has an exclusive interview with Philiminated Jennifer and Shana from The Amazing Race 12. I find it interesting that Shana was approached to audition for the show. Is she the one who was "seeing" Ryan Seacrest? They also said that they thought Lorena and Jason were the only team behind them when they used the U-Turn. Jennifer thinks they used it too early in the game.
- Whether there will be a second season of Kid Nation is still out to the jury, but official investigations into the child labor, etc., issues prior to the season have been dropped. A quote from the article -- "It has been determined that absent any formal complaints to this office or request for investigation by any state agency, the Attorney General's Office will not pursue any further inquiry into the 'Kid Nation' production in New Mexico," according to a statement.
- I know someone in comments within the last week asked about a discussion post for another show. If you'll refresh my memory, I'll get one up for you.
Today's musical non-sequitur:
I said to Hank Williams
How lonely does it get
Hank Williams hasn't answered me yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
Oh, a hundred floors above me
In the Tower of Song.
-- "Tower of Song" by Leonard Cohen
Tonight's season finale of Heroes made me wish the first several episodes of the season weren't as lackluster. It was old-time first season pacing tonight. They didn't jump around as wildly between the characters and locations and even spent more than a few minutes in one spot -- as it should be.
Here's the lowdown by character(s) --
Mohinder Suresh, Molly Walker, Sylar, Maya in Brooklyn
Sylar and Maya were waiting for Mohinder (who still has a screw loose if you ask
me, but improves this episode). Mohinder tried to tell Maya that Sylar's a killer and she confesses to killing others, too. She wants the Ashanti virus to take away her powers while Sylar wants his powers back. When Mohinder learns Sylar doesn't have powers, he pulls a knife. But Sylar pulls a gun.
Maya does her eyes thing affecting Sylar, Mohinder, and Molly. Sylar made her stop and Mohinder agreed to help him.
Mohinder takes them to his "lab" -- Isaac Mendez' old studio. He told Sylar that he needed a blood sample, but Sylar is smarter than Mohinder -- he doesn't trust him. But Mohinder quickly drew blood anyway and noted he had to have been injected with the Ashanti virus to stop his powers when he was at the Company.
Meanwhile, Molly offered to find Alejandro (killed by Sylar last week unbeknownst to Maya) for Maya. "He's not anywhere." Maya freaked and went after Sylar. He shot her, then demanded that Mohinder give her the Claire blood cure. "Now look what you made me do," he said after he shot her.
Mohinder injected Maya with the Claire cure blood, and Elle (thinking she could impress her father Bob by going after Sylar after seeing him on their video monitor of Mohinder's lab), went after Sylar, but he escaped. She was tickled pink when Mohinder told her that even though Sylar escaped, she saved their lives. That Elle has issues.
Elle, Bob, and Noah Bennet at the Company in Hartsdale, NY
Elle was in hot water with her daddy for her confrontation with Claire. "You're
benched! No more field missions." He was really cold and condescending to her. Which, of course, was perfect for the captive Noah when she asked about what he knew of her past.
He told her that her father experimented with her powers, pushing her way past the wattage he should. Bennet told her that no father who cared about his daughter would treat her that way.
Bob interrupted them, so Elle went off looking for her file. It was empty. But the monitors caught her interest and that's when she saw Sylar was with Suresh at Isaac's studio.
As she was doing that, Bob was blackmailing Bennet. He told him that Claire was "becoming difficult" -- planning to go public. In her best interests, Bennet needed to return to the Company and keep her from exposing it.
Matt Parkman, Nathan and Angela Petrelli in Manhattan
Matt and Nathan told Angela that Victoria (the woman in the group photo) was
killed by Adam. She told them that Adam would need Peter to steal the virus at Primatech in Odessa, Texas, as only his powers could do the deed.
Angela told them that 30 years ago she trusted Adam. They were all going to "fix the world." Then she found out that the way Adam would fix it is to wipe out the population. (Reminds me of the Lathe of Heaven).
She told them the only way to kill Adam was a bullet through the head. She thought at Matt that if he needs to do it, only a bullet in the head would kill Peter.
Primatech Paper Adventures
My, what a busy place this was. Adam and Peter Petrelli were there to get the
virus which would eventually kill 93% of the population. Peter thought they were going there to destroy it but Adam actually wants to release it. Peter used his powers to knock everyone out of their way.
But then Hiro showed up -- he wanted to kill Adam to avenge the death of his father. Since Peter's as stupid as Mohinder as of late, he thought Hiro was his enemy when Hiro froze time and went after Adam.
Hiro, on the other hand, knows that Adam is a bad dude and fought Peter the
best he could so he could kill Adam. But Peter zapped him only ...
... to have Nathan and Matt fly in to town. All during this time, Peter had opened the vault and Adam had gone inside. Oh, no! Stop him!
Nathan convinced Peter that it was him (Peter) on the wrong side -- he was being used by Adam. Hiro had already come to and had gone after Adam in the vault.
Adam told Hiro that he was actually his inspiration. They struggled and Hiro
transported them away leaving the vial of virus to fall to the floor ... only to be stopped from breaking by Peter.
Peter destroyed the vial in his hand with the radioactive hands power. Before the vial's dust disappeared, the "Godsend" logo (whatever) appeared in it.
Uh-oh.
Hiro solved the Adam problem at least temporarily by burying him alive in the graveyard where his (Hiro's) parents are buried.
Niki, Micah, Monica in New Orleans
Micha convinced Niki to drive him to save Monica from the hooligans who kidnapped her. For the crime of stealing back a stolen comic book and backpack, one thug was lighting her and an abandoned building on fire.
Micah used his powers to talk to the cell phones for GPS tracking and to change traffic lights to green. Once there, Niki went someone strong, beat up the thug, and saved Monica from the burning building. The building blew up with Niki still inside.
Claire, the Bennets (Butlers) in California
Claire is determined to expose the company. West showed up trying to convince
her not to do so. She gave him the file on him and broke up with him. He flew away.
Then Noah showed up telling them that they had saved him with Claire's blood. But he also had to work for the Company once again to keep the family safe.
Claire wasn't to tell anyone of her powers and their lives would be as "normal" as possible.
Noah told them that everything was his fault -- he never meant to hurt anyone. When he went outside, Bob was there and he told him he told them.
Nathan at press conference in Odessa, Texas
When Peter destroyed the virus in the vault, Nathan decided it was time to
expose the Company and go public.
He started going on about "ordinary people with extraordinary powers, heroes amongst us" when BANG.
Nathan was assassinated. We saw the back of the killer going out the door.
Cut to Angela Petrelli on the phone in Manhattan with the news of Nathan's death going on in the background -- "I know it was unavoidable. You do know you opened Pandora's box, right?"
Sylar shoots up in the alley
Sylar, pretty beaten by Elle, is like a junkie in an alley shooting up the "cure." His wounds healed and his powers, weak at first, came back.
"I'm baaaack."
So, it looks like Nathan and Niki are dead, but are they? Who was the assassin? Noah Bennet? The Haitian? Bob himself? Will the grave hold Adam long? I guess we won't know until it all resumes in 2008. My one real irk of the episode is that I was overjoyed that Maya was killed -- thus the end of the Wonder Twins ... then they brought her back. Grr.
Due to the WGA strike, CBS big-hitter reality television shows Big Brother and Survivor are scheduled for February premieres. According to the CBS website, Survivor 16, an "All Stars" version currently in production, will make its debut Thursday, February 7 at 8 PM ET/PT in most viewing areas. Big Brother 9 will premiere on Tuesday, February 12 at 9 PM ET/PT. This first winter version of the show will air Tuesday nights leading into a new season of Jericho. The other two episodes of the show will air Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Julie Chen will return to host the show, but there have been no cast announcements for either series released at this time.
Yes, that's snow. Well, icy snow. Yesterday we had our first snow adding up to more than a dusting -- about two inches here. But then it turned to ice coming down, then rain in the overnight hours. So, most of it is gone as I type this. What was left probably blew away with the wind gusts of up to 50 MPH here throughout the day.
Despite the snow, then ice, then rain ... I saw Roofus the cat this morning. He was jumping onto the roof of the abandoned building, his probable access to the roofs. Although the building certainly isn't safe for a human's weight on the upper floors (the entire back top story has crumbled), I'm sure there are plenty of hidey-holes for a small cat to get out of the weather.
On the home front, my remaining cat is still looking for Teaser -- crying if she's in a room alone, jumping at any noise and heading out towards it apparently thinking she's going to greet him. She's also grown very clinging even though she'll never like laps or being carried. It hasn't been easy.
In today's TV Newsy Bits:
- Tonight is the season finale of Heroes. I'll be watching it and writing it up, but don't expect to get it online until 11:30 PM ET or so.
- Tonight is also the big holiday-themed season finale of The Closer. It's a two-hour special event starting at 8 PM ET/PT on TNT. I have watched the screener of the episode and highly recommend it if you're a fan of the show ... even if you're not.
- Also, after The Closer, there's a new episode of Saving Grace, kicking up the start of four new weekly episodes of this show. I have them on screeners, but have only watched the one which is airing tonight so far. So, that would start at 10 PM ET/PT in most areas.
- The WGA turned down the most recent offer to settle the writers strike ... so it goes on. Leno (NBC) has terminated or is terminating employees after he promised them they'd be okay through the holidays. Letterman, in a different situation as his production company owns the show (Worldwide Pants), is paying the staff of both his show and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson through the holidays at least. I always knew David Letterman had to be a good guy.
- A few folks have mentioned the upcoming Big Brother. As it's in open casting now, it's highly unlikely it will be a celebrity version. From what I've previously reported, we shouldn't expect it before March or so.
Today's musical non-sequitur:
Look around, the leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow on the ground.
-- "Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon and Garfunkel
Just a New Jersey house framed by barren trees and highlighted by the sunrise on a cold December day.
