TV Tues - "Rotiart" Spelled Backwards Is "Traitor!"

Running late, I know, so let's just dive in.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes: 3/4 of the way through this mini-series and I have to say, I'm not super-impressed. One of the problems is that the opened with the "William Hurt vs. killer toy soldiers" piece, and all others have paled in comparison. Only one of them has been really bad (the one with Claire Forlani was a big ol' mess), with the rest being pretty watchable (the Ron Livingston one was pretty fun), but through it all I just keep wondering why in the world they chose these particular stories to immortalize on film.

Eureka: New Sci-Fi comedy about a small town peopled by mad scientists and the average joe who gets roped into being the new sheriff. So far this one's been pretty fun; my favorite scene in last week's ep was when the sheriff realized that the smart house's "female" voice was really its inventor speaking in a falsetto. Fun concept and an engaging cast, but I'm wondering how well the "super science gone amuck" idea is going to be able to sustain the show.

Who Wants to be a Superhero?: So much to say about this entertaining little "reality" show, but having a hard time verbalizing it. The cheesiness factor is nearly overwhelming, such as the unveiling of Rotiart's true role and, well, practically every single word that comes out of Stan the Man's mouth, but that's part of the show's appeal. My favorite things from the premiere were Monkey Woman scaling the tree to change her costume; Feedback doing his little roll off of the ledge for the same task; and almost anything and everything that Major Victory said or did: wasn't a big fan of his "Be a winner, not a wiener" catchphrase, but his over-the-top melodramatic character moments made the show for me

Amazing Screw-on Head: If you haven't seen this incredibly strange and funny animated comedy, do yourself a favor and head to Sci-Fi.com to check it out. It's got a monkey with a gun, for crying out loud: what more do you want?

Stargate SG-1: I'll admit to being a little let down by the Atlantis crossover ep, but that's because I got my hopes set a bit too high. Still, it's always fun to watch Sam and Rodney play off of each other, and the bouncy energy Claudia Black brings to the role of Valla completely wipes away any image I have of her previous roles.

Carnivale Season 2: Why do I do it? Why do I let myself get emotionally evolved with shows that I know are doomed? Because they frickin' kick butt, that's why; better to have loved and lost a well written and entertaining show than to have never have loved one at all, that's my motto. I would like to have a little "chat" with the HBO exec who cancelled the show and then defended the action by claiming that the show had tied everything up. Obviously, this fool had stopped watching before the last 5 minutes of the show which found one cast member left for dead, another gone over to the dark side, and a presumed dead character brought back to wreak more havoc. I hope that the show's creator finds a way to tell the rest of the tale at some point, because I, for one, am dying to know how this ultimate battle between good and evil as exemplified by a false prophet and a renegade carnie turns out.

Newsradio Season 4: Finally finished up the last of the Phil Hartman episodes, and then listened to all of the commentaries. Now, I'm one of those folks who loves commentaries, and sitcom commentaries can be some of the best with so many funny minds riffing off of each other; I cite Futurama as a perfect example. Newsradio commentaries usually benefit from this as well, but this time around there was a bit of a snag, since most of the actors weren't able to make it in for more than one or two sessions at the most. I mean, it's just not the same without a spaced-out Andy Dick shushing all of his fellow commentators constantly because he's trying to hear the episode, y'know? Which brings me to one of my chief complaints about these commentaries, and a plea to DVD commentators in general (since I know oh so many big Hollywood types frequent CoIM . . .): please, if you're going to do a commentary for a series that was filmed more than a couple of years ago, please, please, please refamiliarize yourself with the episodes you're going to talk about before attempting the commentaries. I'm not suggesting you have to watch all of the episodes again; I understand you're busy with all of your deal-making and schmoozing and other Hollywood-star type stuff. But please, for the love of all that is holy, please at least go online and read a synopsis of the episode beforehand. That way, your audience doesn't have to spend almost half an hour listening to you all say "I have absolutely no idea what the heck is going on in this episode" over and over again, an especially frustrating experience when said commentary accompanies one or two of the viewer's favorite episodes.