toobtalk

Watching Stuff With Our Brains Turned On

Shows for the season, new and not-so-new

Entourage
So I’ve “discovered” this new show on HBO called Entourage. OK, so I’m a season and a half late getting on the bandwagon with this one–I was without my own TV when it premiered last year. The show follows the struggle of a new actor and his friends trying ot make it big in Hollywood. The main cast is great, their chemistry and delivery is more convincing than what you get in many dramas, let along half-hour comedies and the writers on the show really know how to keep all of them up to something. Even though I’ve only seen two episodes, I’m seriously considering picking up the first season on DVD, just so I can catch up. But the really good thing is, unlike HBO’s hour-long dramas, the episodes of this show seem to stand alone just fine (much like Sex in the City did, but not quite as much as Arliss did). There’s more there if you’ve seen everything that’s come before, but if you just catch one every now and then, there’s still enough meat to chew on.

Beauty and the Geek
My favorite new reality show, Beauty and the Geek, ended last week. This week they had a wrap-up/reunion show. Even though the regular run of the show had a good feel to it, this reunion managed to feel really stunted and fake for most of the hour. What it did manage to do was let us see how the beauties and geeks react in front of a live audience. Something they didn’t have to deal with while filming the show. If nothing else, it made it very, very clear that some people don’t take well to a real spotlight… and others, well, others seem born to be on the screen (no matter how annoying they may be).

This show really does hold a special place in my heart. Being a certified “geek” and having been lucky enough to spend a lot of time around “beauties” it was very interesting to see the social dynamics and personal growth play out honestly on a TV show. Unfortunately, I doubt the second season will be anywhere near as good. It never is once people know what they’re in for.

The Inside
I know the show’s as good as dead right now, but I’m still watching it while I can (well, before I get the DVD set). While they haven’t exploited the wonderful ensemble cast they have quite as much as I’d have liked, they have been doing good stories and really digging into the psychology of their main three characters.

I think they may have jumped the gun on the plot of the last episode. It’s something I would have saved for a season finale and then drawn out with a bit more mystery for half of the second season. But, taking into account there won’t be a second season, I’m glad they did it now. It will be very interesting to see how much commentary is on the DVD release, I’d love to hear what the creators were thinking.

Something new tonight…
And now, I’m going to watch the first episode of yet another reality show. This one’s called Hooking Up and follows 11 women through their online dating experiences. It should be… ummm… interesting? Maybe I shouldn’t be watching this while still considering the possibility of beginning to date again…


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