TV Tues - I Think I Liked You Better When You Just Hit People With Your Stick

I don't think I mentioned anywhere that my cable got fixed last Wednesday in time for me to watch Lost; I've been able to get caught up on most of what I missed thanks to the kindness of others (many thanks again, Cap'n Cluck!).

Now here's my two cents on the week that was in TV Land.

Lost: The look on Henry's face as Locke's banging on the door screaming about the numbers may very well be the creepiest thing I've seen since the Gentlemen on Buffy. I'm glad that Rose's talk with Locke seems to have gotten him back on track, especially after my marathon viewing of Season 1 during the cable outage reminded me of just how focused and cool he used to be in the beginning. My favorite line of the episode, though, had to be Bernard's comment to Mr. Eko about how he liked him better when he just hit people with his stick. Oh, did anyone else out there recognize that the faith healer was played by Wayne Pygram, the guy who played Scorpius on Farscape? No? Well, me neither until The TV Gal pointed it out, but I have a feeling that in my case it was just because he was practically unrecognizable without the makeup, while in all of your cases it's because none of you have watched an episode of Farscape in your lives.

West Wing: I'll admit it; the episode dealing with the death of Leo made me tear up quite a bit. Now, whether this would have happened if it had just been a TV show stunt, and not a necessity created by the real life death of John Spencer, I have no clue. On the other hand, the funeral episode didn't really get to me until the scene where the President tells Josh that Leo thought of him as a son; that did it. The funeral episode was almost like old home week; interesting that Zoe Bartlett could make it to Leo’s funeral, but not her sister’s wedding, huh? I guess being a psycho-killer alien hybrid on Invasion only conflicted with the earlier episode. It was also good to see the return of Ainslie, even if for a minute or two.

Amazing Race: I can't believe it; I just can't believe it. The most fractious team left got eliminated, and the team I like the most finished first yet again. Freaky. I was a little worried that the hippies might get the axe, and was glad that their penalty didn't cost them the game.

Top Chef: Gotta love how they kept cutting to shots of Dave blubbering in the back while the judges were talking about how he needs to keep his emotions in check. Was sorry to see Andrea go, but I don't think it was necessarily a bad decision, what with her already being eliminated once before.

Veronica Mars: Once again, as the season begins to wind down, the speed of information dissemination ramps up; and, once again, it feels like a little too much, too fast. While I did enjoy Veronica's bus dreams, the rampage of revelations struck me as a bit much.

The O.C.: Oy; a week filled with bad character decisions: Seth's lie, Sandy's secrecy, Ryan's one night stand, Kirsten's near relapse . . . this episode wore me out.

How I Met Your Mother: While not a stellar episode, it was all worth it for the guest appearance of Alexis Denissof (Wesley on Buffy and Angel and Allyson Hannigan's real-life hubby) as Robin's horny and inappropriate co-anchor

Everwood: I hate it when the promos give away the climactic moment in an episode's storyline; in this case, it was Hannah's declaration that she was done letting Amy dictate the terms of their friendship. I was looking forward to seeing the ramifications of that exchange, only to have the episode end without any more scenes with either party; quite a letdown. However, I am happy that Hannah is finally standing up for herself, since Amy has been a total bitca ever since she started hanging out with Jack Bauer's Dead Wife.

Harry Shearer: Now You See It: A DVD compilation of different Harry Shearer TV bits, including clips from Saturday Night Live, a short-lived sketch comedy show called Likely Stories, and a full HBO special. Despite the presence of one of my all time favorite SNL skits (the male synchronized swimmers), and some really impeccable impressions by Shearer (the man does the best Alan Thicke I've ever seen), I found myself tempted to fast-forward through far too many skits out of sheer boredom.

Law and Order Criminal Intent: Not normally on my viewing list (have actually never watched this particular L&O spin-off before), but it was a slow TV night on Sunday, and for some reason the ad for this episode that played during West Wing peaked my interest. While the plot about a method actor who got a little too into his serial killer role (played by Desmond Harrington, most recently seen as Wylie on Sons and Daughters, but here returning to the roots of his starring role in the awesomely creepy (and darkly funny) psycho stalker film Love Object) was sort of interesting, I spent the bulk of my time watching it trying to figure out where the heck I knew the drunk friend of the murder victim from; I kept flashing on her as playing a teenager, but couldn't quite place what the source was. Thank heavens for TV.Com and IMDB, which identified the actress as Emily Bergl, who was star of The Rage: Carrie 2 and who also had a recurring role on Season 3 of Gilmore Girls as the manipulative Chilton student Francie.

SPOILER SPACE FOR 24

24: I suppose I can accept that President Logan's ineptitude earlier on in the season was merely a by-product of his trying to cover his own ass as much as possible (it at least makes the way he dealt with the Walt Cummings situation more palatable), although his ineptitude last season seems to fly in the face of that being the only reason. I do find him slightly more likeable as a bad guy than just an incompetent boob, but only just. I will say that this is probably the best season of 24 yet, in terms of keeping the mystery and adventure going and holding my interest without falling into a mid-season rut. I am getting a little tired of every secondary character that helps Jack getting bumped off (the bank worker last week, the Secretary's agent this week); they may as well start having them wear red shirts. This show has made me paranoid about almost every character now; when Bill asked Jack where he was meeting up with Audrey and her dad, my first thought was "don't tell him, he's probably in on it too!" Similar thoughts about Audrey's dad as well, although both of them may have been shaped from having seen the previews with shots of her being held hostage. Was glad that neither one of them turned out to be on Logan's side (yet), although I definitely thought Jack was naive to think that Audrey's dad would go along with a plan to discredit the President; his decision to put Jack into custody and take care of things behind closed doors felt totally in keeping with the character.