TVSquad

I officially take back some of the things I've said about the lack of promotion of Fox's new Friday night sci-fi line-up. They've released a new promo that takes a page from the grindhouse age of cinema and made a very cool trailer for both Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, even go so far as billing the shows as a double-feature.

Granted, this does not mean that the shows are going to win in the ratings (which is unlikely due to their schedule placement), but it does at least appear that Fox is more aware of its target audience. This is a point Joss Whedon has made in a couple of interviews.

Maybe I'm wrong and Friday nights will turn into a big winner for both shows. Whatever the case, I hope this promo is included in one of the DVD sets when they're released, preferably Dollhouse.

The commercial is after the jump...

(S01E13) "We all know how reliable bloggers are." Words spoken by John Connor, the future savior of humanity. Therefore it must be true.

It's hard to believe the season is so far along. If this season is the traditional 22 episodes, then there is only nine to go when the series returns in February. On Friday nights. On Fox. I hope it makes the full nine.

This episode didn't thrill me and was disappointing for something hyped as the "Fall finale". I was hoping for more of an action-oriented episode rather than a Riley backstory. Even the Riley flashbacks and flash-forwards weren't as interesting as previous episodes.

(S02E12) One of the major differences between this television series and the movie upon which its based is that time travel in this series is more complicated than anybody in the movie universe could have imagined. That is probably one of the reasons why the show has adopted such an unusual method of telling a story as of recent.

Mind you, time jumps and parallel storytelling is not a new method. I think Pulp Fiction started the craze and the show Lost has pretty much been built on such a concept. However, in this instance the three separate stories involving past, present and future (or perhaps more accurately cause and effect) tied into one instance. There is even a parallel to John Connor himself (who played a virtually non-existent role this episode) when the baby Sydney born at the end (although fully grown in the future-flashes) became the savior of humanity. If John Connor is supposed to be a modern take on Jesus Christ, who would Sydney be? I liked how they ended the show with Sydney's birth, an experience your average story tends to associate with hope.

I got a laugh when the Fields named the dog Charles Barkley. Get it? "Bark"ley? This show does a lot of play on words.

(S02E11) If ever the show Cold Case did an episode involving killer robots from the future, it would be tonight's Sarah Connor Chronicles. The reverse is also true.

Cameron certainly earned her "most efficient killing machine on the planet" title tonight. And she didn't even have to do laundry. Obviously, the mystery of her constant attendance at the hall of records at night is not going to be solved this episode (since it was only brought up this episode). The real mystery is what happened to Eric at the end? Did he succumb to his cancer? Did he take sick leave? Did he just up and quit? I wouldn't mind knowing.

This episode was entirely Summer Glau, and she was brilliant in it. I think this is her best acting on the show to date. John Connor did play a minor role in the B plot with some development of his relationship with Riley (who is, at this point, either playing with his head, insane or both).

(S02E10) The nice thing about being a Terminator and dying is that provided the body isn't destroyed, you could always come back. Although how Cromartie came back at the end was a bit of a shocker.

My review is going to ramble somewhat. I'm writing this after imbibing some rum. It's what separates us from the machines.

Come on, people. When Ellison saw Cameron stick the metal pole into the ground, you'd think he'd be somewhat suspicious. Perhaps that will be a plot point later.

(S05E08) What is Foreman's role in House's little kingdom? From the deep recesses of my dusty brain I recall a conversation he had with Cuddy that his job was to be some sort of monitor to make sure House didn't, you know, rip the lungs out of a live patient just to make sure they were really and truly pink and healthy. But, to be honest, I haven't seen much monitoring going on over the last few episodes.

I have seen lots of sitting and moping and an all-around indecisiveness in Eric since he returned to Princeton-Plainsboro. Maybe he was regretting the decision he made, maybe he was still trying to learn from the feet of his mentor, or maybe he was reliving his past life as suicidal County General doc Dennis Gant from ER. That may have changed this week as, finally, he decided to branch out on his own.

(S02E09) You'd think that eliminating Cromartie would end all the Connors' troubles, but apparently, Cromartie isn't necessarily gone (he's still appearing in dream sequences) and all the troubles continue.

I consider myself to have at least average intelligence, but tonight's episode had me confused. What was the significance of Sarah touching the three dripping blood dots on the wall at the end? Is it just something to make Sarah and the audience cogitate further on the mystery behind them?

On a side note, I was very glad they tortured the real Charles Fisher (Fischer?) and threw him in jail. I'm still pissed off at him for killing Tara back when he was Warren.

My first question is: why does Skynet even take human allies? I thought the goals of the machine were to exterminate all humans and set up a more organized and logical society (on a sad note, I know people who agree with at least one of those goals). Is the idea that humans know how to torture other humans better than machines do?

Here we are, two seasons removed since House disbanded his trio of cronies to find a new batch of talented doctors to humiliate, and some things haven't changed. Things like House's acerbic nature, his addiction to pain pills, the hospital he works at, Cuddy's very long legs (men, I'll give you a moment...okay) and the weekly patient who has a medical condition that can't be solved until the very last moment. Oh, there is one more thing that hasn't changed...the opening credits.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Jennifer Morrison, Omar Epps and Jesse Spencer (Cameron, Foreman and Chase on the show) don't really have star status like they used to. Heck, sometimes they aren't even on the program. They have been replaced by Kal Penn, Olivia Wilde and Peter Jacobson, who now do the diagnosing. Yet, these three can't get a break. They just get an 'Also Starring' credit after the opening credits roll. Gosh, the original three members of House's team are still shown walking behind him as the credits end.

(S05E01) "This is Dr. House. He's too brilliant for introductions." -- Thirteen to House's patient of the week

Another season of House, another patient with a mysterious ailment. If there is one thing that has not changed in the five seasons that this medical procedural has aired it is the fact that someone is going to enter Princeton-Plainsboro with an illness that can't be determined until the very last minute. It's why House is still on the air. Well, there's that, and then there's the fact that Hugh Laurie is a damn fine actor. Oh, and the others on the show don't do so badly themselves.

So, what can one viewer look forward to for this new season? If you think same-old, same-old then you would be absolutely, totally....incorrect. Because things are a-changing in Greg House's universe -- actually have been changing since the death of Amber in last season's finale -- that he can't, or won't, stop. The result? Well, I would be writing my own death sentence if I revealed it to you here. So, come and join me for a recap of this week's episode.

(S02E02) The plot for the series has become convoluted very quickly. I take that as a good thing since it means the series can potentially last a few years. My favorite part remains the flash forward in this episode, brief as it was. The rest of it was good but not particularly memorable.

Who else spotted Busy Philipps as the pregnant landlady? I keep wondering if the kid is James Franco's from her previous series. I admit she's looking a bit chunkier in the face and I'm wondering if that's make-up for the character pregnancy or the effect of her real-life pregnancy.

Time travel has certainly become a revolving door in this show. It used to be more difficult now people are falling through time-doors that are powered by jet engines much more easily. Maybe they've improved the technology in the future. This is getting to be a bigger time war than the one in Doctor Who.

(S02E01) Last season ended with a bang. More specifically, Cameron in the middle of a bang when the SUV she was occupying exploded. The new series begins with music by the series composer Bear McCreary and vocalized by the lead singer of Garbage, Shirley Manson (who appears later in the episode as ZeiraCorp CEO Catherine Weaver, a new major player).

The show had good ratings the first season, but only nine episodes. Both of these can be attributed to the WGA Strike, which both cut down the available episodes and gave the show no competition. If it does well this season in the ratings, then we'll be seeing more killer robots in the future.

(S01E08) Fox has decided to show the final two episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which is still on the bubble for a second season) in one night and treat it as a two-parter. I, on the other hand, will be treating them as two separate episodes for the purpose of these reviews. I will link to the second one at the end of the first so it's sort of like two-Two-TWO reviews in one.

As always, I'm amazed at the sophistication of the television Terminators. One of the reasons Arnold was so great at the role was that he acted stiff naturally. A young William Shatner or David Hasselhoff might have similarly been able to pull off the role. Now that better actors are available, some subtlety and nuance is required in the performance. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

(S04E04) Wilson -- You're quite impressed with yourself right now, aren't you?

House -- Who wouldn't be?

After a brief baseball break, House returned with a pretty decent episode. Not only did we get to see a further fleshing out of the new characters, but also witnessed additional connection between the old and new team members. Plus, we found out that trying to find a job outside of Princeton-Plainsboro when you worked for House was not the best thing to do.

(S03E19) "Work smarter, not harder." If those weren't the words that summed up Dr. Gregory House's way of doing things, then I'm not sure what would be. That said, when he uses them on Dr. Chase - the least likely candidate of his team to get a compliment like that - it's even more proof that his way of doing things, from the straight diagnosis down to his habits, rubbing off on the team. Strangely, I think that's a good thing.

This week, we had a fantastic combination of a very cool medical case, drama between Cameron and Chase, and some interesting developments with Cuddy and Wilson, even if some of it is being driven by House. And remember what we'd been talking about a few weeks ago regarding how this show was (hopefully) not going down the too-much-sex route as far as plot goes? Well, this week sex was behind the medical issue going on, but not in the way you might have thought.

(S03E04) Quick question: a) is House getting a little bit unrealistic this season or b) am I just off my gourd? I'm not usually one to nitpick at television shows, because c'mon, they're television shows, and only partially reality in the case of a show like House. I've got to say that there were a couple things last night that bugged me, most prominently Foreman's quick-to-grab attitude when he wanted to bring Adam, the autistic child, into a scanner, and he was complaining about only having half an hour to do so, and grabbing at the kid's PSP unit to try and take it away and move him along. If there's anything on this show that is just not going to happen, especially in the case of an autistic child, it's that. Just seemed a little out of place, though not necessarily out of character for Foreman. Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't to say that I'm in any way frustrated to not be watching this show, it just seems to be a bit "different" to me.

What I *loved* about this week's episode was how Cameron kept trying to diagnose what House was doing by having his meetings with his team in various rooms in the hospital, since he said he would not work in his office until the old carpeting was back, with his bloodstain from last season's finale. Additionally, it was fascinating to see Cuddy and Wilson discussing the possibility that House could have Asperger's Syndrome, which is a "mild and rare" type of Autism, so perhaps that was why he took the case in the first place. Wilson's primary belief for this was how his pal reacted to not being able to have the carpet in his office, and how he was compensating and "fighting back" elsewhere, such as taking the conference room at the same time Cuddy was set to have a meeting. Best of all, this week, we have the return of House's teenage stalker.