TV Tues - It's a First

Monk: Wow, I can't believe it; here we have a mystery which introduces two new characters played by two familiar faces (Chi McBride and my favorite of the DeLuise boys, David) and in the end, neither one was responsible for the murder. It flies in the face of my theory of the "Zeljko Ivanik effect" for TV mysteries. I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that.

Psych: Well, I think the addition of a new partner for the skeptical detective is a step in the right direction, since she doesn't seem to be as enamored of him as his girlfriend had been, but I wonder if the reason for the change was due to a decision on the part of the original actress, the creative team, or the network.

Last Comic Standing: I really hate how they've just been zipping through the contestants this season; I guess after the premature yanking of season 3 they decided not to drag things out.

Stargate SG-1: All I have to say is that I'm so happy that Claudia Black is now a full-fledged cast member.

Felicity Season 2: Only two more eps to go to finish out the season. Another batch of familiar faces which weren't familiar the first time around, like Keiko Agena (Lane on Gilmore Girls), Kelvin Yu (Freddie Gong on Popular), and Alex Carter (Detective Vartann on CSI). And while I've seen some surprising faces during this walk down memory lane, none compare with the appearance of Adam Rodriguez as the record exec with a jeri-curl. Once again, there are the "oh, man, I must have repressed that horrible storyline" moments, particularly the Noel/Ruby stuff; I pretty much never liked the character of Ruby, and I had forgotten how much they cranked up the melodrama on the whole abortion episode. On the positive side, this season saw the return of the Docuventary concept, the expansion of the characters of Richard, Meghan, and Sean, and, best of all, the addition of the excellent Amy Aquino to the show as Felicity's confrontational counselor/therapist Dr. Toni Pavone. I think the best part of the character of Pavone is that her sole purpose was to call Ben and Felicity on their crap. Also, as much as I hate to admit it, the character of Ben actually started to grow on me a bit.

Saved: I think the biggest problem I have with the show is that I just don't care about any of the characters. The rookie is too bland, his partner is too abrasive, and the female doc has just annoyed the heck out of me from day one. As for Wyatt, I just have no sympathy for him whatsoever; I can't quite put my finger on what makes his self-involved, cocky jackassery less easy to bear than the self-involved, cocky jackassery of characters on other shows I actually like (the squad on Rescue Me is the most immediate comparison), but maybe its the fact that, to some degree, the other characters seem at least marginally aware that they're self-involved, cocky jackasses, while Wyatt refuses to cop to the fact, hiding behind his righteous "I'm the best there is and I actually care about people" spiel. Or maybe it's something else entirely.