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 Techtite
TV
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What is Techtite TV?
Far
from a recommendation of "What to Watch," these mini-reviews are all the shows I
personally saw (or will see) in the present
week. Sure, we all watch CNN, the evening news, and one or two of those
"other" news shows, and yet how do we feel about the other shows
we watch weekly? Here are my own mini-reviews, episode-to-episode.
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Feel free to contribute.
As always, review submissions are
accepted!
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Sidebar
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Best Reason to Turn on
TV This Week:
Alias.
Even if the cliffhanger was phoned in, the overall episode was worthwhile,
if just to see the fake-Francie get whooped by Sydney. Woo-hoo!
Biggest Disappointment
This Week:
Friends. Hello???
Earth to Monica! Chandler may have a low sperm count, though he ain't
sterile! Ever hear of artificial insemination...? It's what was used to
explain Lisa Kudrow's pregnancy as a surrogate mom in season three. Why
not do the same for Chandler and Monica...?
Quote
of the Week:
"Who's
Conner...?"...Fred
(Amy Acker) utters the lines we all probably wish we could have said, when
Angel makes a deal with Wolfram & Hart to alter his son's history,
giving him a totally different, "human" life with a real family,
and thereby making everyone other than Angel forget who Conner was at all,
or anything that happened in the past two seasons. As if it were that easy!
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Encapsulated TV reviews
for:
May 3rd-May 9th, 2003.
The Techtite.com ratings system (icon version):
 Burnout
 Near
Miss  Small
Crater  Large
Crater  Deep
Impact
For
more on this web site's "Techtite" rating system, click here.
Saturday
11:30, NBC : Saturday
Night Live was a repeat. Or not. I really don't care anymore
until they hire some new comics.
Sunday
9:00, ABC: Alias.
(season finale) In this, the two-hour
season two finale, little can be said except that the faux Francie is
revealed to Sydney, who needs to be told by Will. In order to realize
how slow on the uptake Sydney has been this season, consider: Will
discovered Francie's secret via pills he found in her and Sydney's own
apartment, which have apparently been in the bathroom for, like, three months
by now. The good news was the Sydney/faux-Francie fight, which was
totally cool and a major thumbs-up for the episode. The bad was the
cliffhanger, which was totally phoned-in and quite frankly, the bane of
many fans by now. Send me a note whenever someone discerns what the heck
this cliffhanger really means at all. Large
Crater
Monday
10:00, CBS: CSI: Miami.
In another impressive episode for this spin-off series' first
season, a fire erupts from the stage of a nightclub, killing 16 people.
As it turns out mid-episode, it was done to cover up a murder. However,
the road to whodunit is filled with just enough red herrings to make for
a truly impressive finale that doesn't resort to a "Scooby Doo"
ending to solve the case (i.e.; whodunit isn't merely the janitor seen
in for 30 seconds in the first scene). All told, this was a gritty
episode. Large
Crater
Tuesday
8:00, UPN: Buffy
the Vampire Slayer Okay, now this is more like it...cliche-ridden
that it is. Buffy suddenly realizes that she may not be able to defeat
Caleb with her bare hands, though she can dodge any blow he delivers and
bnasically tease him like crazy in the process. In the meantime, she
learns from his movements exactly what area in his lair holds a weapon
of hers he's protecting from discovery, which may be the weapon of his
own undoing. Of course, this weapon happens to be lodged in a rock,
which only Buffy can unsheathe. Meanwhile, Faith, as the Slayer-ette's
new leader, promptly leads the gang into a trap, complete with a bomb.
Am I wrong to think that, after stupidly and cooly booting Buffy last
episode, that this fate serves them right...? In any case, it appears
few of them were even injured so don't worry...they learned their lesson
as easily as they possibly could, I say. Large
Crater
9:00, FOX: 24
President Palmer is now being detained until the Vice President can send
the bombers on schedule, as Jack tries to prove that the recording that
started this whole mess was a forgery. He doesn't do a good job of it
this hour (which, ironically, is 5-6, considering the air date is 5/6),
leading to Shrry getting stabbed by suspect #2, and suspect #2
escaping...sort of. Meanwhile, Kim is brought into the episode to
conclude her story early, by shooting her would-be killer, and thereby
avenging the death of the killer's abused wife, which started Kim's
whole story arc this season. This was certainly a gritty episode,
although this isn't half as much grit as there was in the first season
(isn't that always the way it goes?). Large
Crater
Wednesday
8:00, UPN : Enterprise
The Borg "return," albeit in a very ingenious way. See, in the
film First Contact, the Star Trek crew had to go back in time to stop
the Borg, who had similarly went back in time to prevent Earth from ever
contacting the Vulcans, thereby changing their whole history. Well,
although Picard inevitably succeeded, apparently two Borg were left
behind, having crashed in their escape pod somewhere in the arctic ice.
They are unearthed and regenerate, leading to, in a sense, Earth's first
bout with the Borg. The good news for them is, the Borg can only
assimilate ancient Earth technology, making them not much of a threat.
The good news for the episode was Phlox and Sachi, who once again
provide the best performances. The good news for "nitpickers"
is minor, since the time-alterations here make little sense if you think
too hard. However, it was still a cool episode. Large
Crater
9:00, WB : Angel.
(season finale) In a truly fitting finale
to this season --and a nice template for the next-- Angel's team is
given Wolfram & Hart --lock, stock, and barrel-- in a methodology
that will, I suppose, make them sort of mercenaries a la the Spawn comic
books. At least, that's what I get out of it. The episode concludes with
what I can only hope is a poignant, yet happy and thereby fitting
farewell to Angel's son Conner, who is given via Wolfram & Hart's
alterations of reality, a new lease on life, via a real family. Angel
looks into the window of Conner's happy home, only to walk into the
darkness once again...just in time for a guest stint on Buffy the
Vampire Slayer, starting next week. Large
Crater
Thursday
8:00, CBS : Survivor:
Amazon (Heidi leaves) Nobody wanted Heidi to win,
really, so this week was not that depressing. What was depressing was
that among the ones standing for Sunday's season finale, none are too
terribly deserving to win the million. Although this is typical of any
Survivor season, it's a shame that, for the fifth time in six seasons,
who wins may not be as big of a whoop as CBS had hoped.
Near
Miss
8:00, NBC : Friends
To be honest, I didn't like this episode for one reason: Chandler
and Monica looking for a "donor" to inseminate her. Hey, hold
on there, guys; Chandler isn't sterile! His boys are just allegedly
finding it hard to fertilize Monica in her "inhospitable"
womb. However, that isn't to say that artificial insemination cannot
involve --DUHHH!-- CHANDLER. Aside from that, I'd still say this season
(with only the finale to go) was pretty lackluster. Good thing it wasn't
the series' last. Let's hope they're saving up the better scripts for
next year. Near
Miss
9:00, CBS : CSI: Crime
Scene Investigation In one of the best episodes all season, one
of the bigger crime scenes is within the CSI labs itself, where that
poor young lab-tech guy with the hots for Sara gets the brunt of the
blast. I hope that doesn't mean his character is leaving the series
because he is the perfect counter-agent to all the "always
perfect" characters on this series. The episode also delves further
into the character's personal lives, including Sara, who approaches
Grissom apparently because she feels unappreciated though is there
something more, here? Large
Crater
10:00, CBS : Without a
Trace. The season ends with a two parter which clearly was
meant as a two-hour deal if the series was deemed worthy of such
a time slot coup. Sadly, it wasn't, so this week offers part one, with
part two next week. Nice finale, though, with the latest missing person
winding up the target of a sting operation, which goes awry when he
discerns the nature of the sting, leading to him taking all the patrons
of the book store hostage...including Samantha, working undercover. Large
Crater
Friday
After the season finales of Stargate
SG-1 and John Doe, there really isn't anything on
Fridays. Too bad...
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