With the TV season nearing a close -- there are a lot of season finales on my TiVo -- it's time to look back on the new shows I noted I'd be watching and see how they turned out.
I watched every episode of Chuck and Monica even watched for a while but I think she quit following when they got backed up on the TiVo. I liked the show a lot and am looking forward to next season. Dirty Sexy Money -- watched bits of a few episodes; never got into it, never taped it, really don't know if it's good or not. Gossip Girl was my favorite new show of the year. It's good, clean trash television a la Melrose Place or Beverly Hills 90210. There's actually a bit of plot but I think this replaces Veronica Mars as the best written show on TV -- great snark, great kids acting like adults and parents acting like kids, a little bit of mystery. I've seen every episode of Veronica Mars and Gossip Girl is no Veronica Mars. But GG season 1 was more enjoyable that VM season 3. It's one of those shows where you look forward to next week's episode.
Pushing Daisies was the best new concept of the season. It's a pity this show got cut short by the writers strike. Like a good cherry pie, the show is a bit sickeningly sweet at times. Monica watched every episode of me with this one too. Worth watching live. We watched the first couple of episodes of Reaper, then several episodes got backed up on our TiVo and eventually they were deleted without being watched. I'm thinking of ordering the DVD to see what I missed and figure out if I should watch next year. Aliens in America met the same fate. It conflicted with Big Bang Theory and got taped on our second TiVo and eventually deleted in favor of poker. AiA was canceled so I'll never know. Back to You was laugh-out-loud funny at times though it went downhill as they replaced the actress playing Gracie just as she became a key character. I'm sorry it won't be back next year but at least it got a full season and some closure. Apparently the ratings were good, but not great, especially after the strike but with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, it was too expensive to produce. Not sure what happened to Return of Jezebel James. The start got delayed and we saw the second episode but never figured out when it was on.
Monday, May 26
The $4 barrier
It finally happened that I paid $4/gallon for REGULAR gas. I've been over $4/gallon for premium for a while, but had to fill up the car that takes the "cheap gas" today. It doesn't seem like that long ago we broke the $2 threshold.
That said I think higher gas prices are a good thing. While I hate to see the price of any consumable go up -- higher gas prices cost Monica and I around $1000/year which is not chump change -- my hope is that we hit the pain threshold where people change their driving behaviors.
At some point people get out of their cars and take public transit to work, move or change jobs closer to home, run fewer errands or consolidate them, or do lots of things to get cars off the road. And cars off the road and less dependence on oil is a good thing.
It's always amazing to see how a pseudo holiday reduces traffic to a non-factor. On Friday, the Friday before a three-day weekend, I hit almost no traffic going to work leaving at a time where I'd normally drive 20 MPH much of the way. If we could permanently reduce the number of cars on the road (in the Seattle area) by just 10-15%, we'd go back to rush hour and not rush hours from 7-10 and 3-7. And no one would complain about that.
That said I think higher gas prices are a good thing. While I hate to see the price of any consumable go up -- higher gas prices cost Monica and I around $1000/year which is not chump change -- my hope is that we hit the pain threshold where people change their driving behaviors.
At some point people get out of their cars and take public transit to work, move or change jobs closer to home, run fewer errands or consolidate them, or do lots of things to get cars off the road. And cars off the road and less dependence on oil is a good thing.
It's always amazing to see how a pseudo holiday reduces traffic to a non-factor. On Friday, the Friday before a three-day weekend, I hit almost no traffic going to work leaving at a time where I'd normally drive 20 MPH much of the way. If we could permanently reduce the number of cars on the road (in the Seattle area) by just 10-15%, we'd go back to rush hour and not rush hours from 7-10 and 3-7. And no one would complain about that.
Monday, May 19
Storm win home opener
The Storm won their home opener Saturday night. After playing even for almost three quarters, they finally figured out the Sky and went on a huge run. The Sky outscored the bench a lot in the final minutes so it was only a six point margin, but the game was essentially a blowout.
It was also a very emotional game as it was the first game since a local group of women calling themselves "Force 10" bought the team from Clayton Bennett. Not only were the fans thrilled to know the Storm would be here long term, but the players brought the new owners to center court to join the post game celebration circle.
The Storm have a chance to be something special this year. When Sheryl Swoopes and Yolanda Griffith are your fourth and fifth best players that's quite a team if they have something left.
It was also a very emotional game as it was the first game since a local group of women calling themselves "Force 10" bought the team from Clayton Bennett. Not only were the fans thrilled to know the Storm would be here long term, but the players brought the new owners to center court to join the post game celebration circle.
The Storm have a chance to be something special this year. When Sheryl Swoopes and Yolanda Griffith are your fourth and fifth best players that's quite a team if they have something left.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
