Tuesday, September 27, 2005

'Surface' Goes Even Deeper! Plus, Allison Can't Get that Song Out of her Head!

I'm not ashamed to say that I'm really enjoying Surface. I know the critics hate it, but I can't help myself. Apparently, I'm not the only one because more than 11 million of you watched the premiere last week (although according to the overnight ratings not as many of you stuck around for the second episode). I know the show can be cheesy at times (the bikini-clad guests at last night's pool party screaming and running out of the pool as the creature swam through), but CSI: Miami is almost always cheesy, and more than 18 million people watch that show. 18 million people can't be wrong, right? Well, they can, but that's neither here nor there. The point is that Surface has a great premise, so I'm willing to put up with a little cheesiness for now. The creature, in baby form at least, is really adorable, and my heart was breaking for him when he seemed to be dying in the cooler. So, now we know that the creature is able to kill lots of things around it by using some sort of electric pulse. If the baby killed all the goldfish, then just imagine what the big one that washed up on shore in South Carolina could do! I guess this is how the creature was able to take out an entire Russian sub in the pilot. Speaking of the creature that washed up, what in the world is going on with the poor man who got the creature goo on his face? First goop came out of his bandaged cheek, then he went into a "hibernation," then he suddenly woke up and removed the bandages himself. Instead of a scary missing face, we saw a perfectly healed one. That look in his eyes didn't look good, either. Can the creature heal? Or is it just here to harm us? Oh and poor Laura (Lake Bell). She lost her grant and her job. The good news is she still has the stomach contents of the fish that fed off of the dead creature on the beach. Maybe she'll get some answers. Either way, I'll be tuning in to find out!

While we're on the topic of mystery and intrigue, how original and amazingly well done is Medium? Seriously, if you're not watching it, you definitely need to be. I really can't believe it loses to CSI:Miami every week. It is such a superior show that they're not even in the same league! Anyway, whoever had to sit at the computer and work with the non-linear editing program for hours and hours in the middle of the night in order to make last night's episode work, deserves an Emmy and a huge pay raise immediately! How hard must that have been?? When Allison was following the lyrics to "I Will Survive" (and the person who found that song and made it work also deserves some serious credit) in order to find the iPod that belonged to the missing co-ed, the sound editing was incredibly spot-on. I also want to give props to the episode's writer Bruce Miller for coming up with such an awesome concept. The song was only the beginning, and I was racking my brain trying to figure out how the plane crash was going to tie together with the missing girl. Very clever resolution with the model of the farm and the miniature plane. I was happy to see Joe and Allison back on track. Next week's episode looks creepy - Allison has a dream and wakes up to find everything has changed! Can't wait.

About Last Night... CBS and ABC tied for first with The King of Queens/How I met Your Mother and Wife Swap respectively at 8 p.m. Surface fell to third (down from first last week) for NBC, and even Charlize Theron couldn't help the struggling Arrested Development on Fox. The show landed in fifth for the hour. At 9, CBS took the solo lead with its second block of comedy with Two and a Half Men and Out of Practice. ABC's Monday Night Football found itself in second, and NBC landed in third with Las Vegas. Prison Break was able to rise above its lead-in's dismal performance and land Fox in fourth. The final hour of the night also found CBS in first with CSI: Miami, followed by an improved performance from NBC's Medium. ABC came in third with the second hour of Monday Night Football.


Premiering Tonight!!! It's the next installment of CBS's fabulous The Amazing Race. This time, it's the family edition, so each team consists of four members instead of two. ABC kicks off its presidential drama Commander In Chief starring Geena Davis as the first female president, followed by the season premiere of Boston Legal with guest star Heather Locklear. The Denise Richards led Sex, Love & Secrets makes its debut on UPN tonight at 9 p.m. And it's not a premiere, but Lynda Carter and Estella Warren play a set of grifters on a two-show crossover beginning tonight on NBC. The story starts on Law & Order: SVU tonight and continues tomorrow night on Law & Order.

QUICK CUTS

*Good news! For those who wish to watch both Lost and Veronica Mars, but aren't sure how to pull it off with the two excellent shows sharing a timeslot tomorrow night, your local UPN affiliate is coming to the rescue. Each new episode will rerun either Saturday or Sunday on your local UPN station. Check local listings to find the day/time. Now we can have our cake and eat it too! In other Veronica news, you can catch an exclusive interview with star Kristen Bell at tvguide.com. It's part of the magazine's webcast from the 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Just scroll down to the box with Emmy Party Videos and click Kristen's name. What does she think about the upcoming season? Find out in the exclusive interview. And for more on Mars' second season, click on over to Zap2it. Veronica Mars premieres tomorrow night on UPN.

*And finally, Desperate Housewives is celebrating its second largest audience ever with Sunday night's premiere. The show drew over 28 million viewers, and was up over 6 million from last season's debut. It was the largest premiere for ABC in nine years.

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for The Amazing Race and all the latest television news!

1 comment:

freethoughtguy said...

I don't watch much TV. Thanks for the recap!