Topic: The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon

[DJ Doena]

Burn Notice

What's the show about?
Michael Westen used to be a spy. But one day he got "burned" and was dumped in Miami. Ever since he tries to find out why he was burned and by whom. In the meantime he helps people the normal police can't or won't help. He has help, though: A trigger-happy ex-girlfriend, who used to rob banks for the IRA; another retired spy who has settled down in Miami and makes his "special lady friends" happy; and his mother!

"Pilot"
Michael Westen was about to finalize a deal with a local crime lord to protect a certain piece of land in Africa, but when he tries to get the money wired he's informed that the deal is off because he got burned. Although they beat the crap out of him he manages to escape. The next time he regains full consciousness, he's in Miami and his "emergency contact" (his ex-girlfriend) Fiona is sitting by his bed. He tries to find out why he got burned and how his mother had fount out that he was in town. Since his credit cards won't work anymore he takes a small job to find out who stole a number of paintings from a rich man's house.

My Opinion
In the beginning it was just OK, but it got better with every episode, especially when the "burn notice" arc fully kicked in. The characters are all great, especially when Michael's mother Madeline becomes more and more involved in Michael's cases and he has to deal with her and Fi at the same time. The show is very humorous but it's still an action show and people get killed all the time - but usually not by any of the good guys: Michael is a master "chess player", he usually manages to make the bad boys kill each other, thus solving the problem.


So, that's all folks, no more pilots in the pipeline...

[goodguy]

Burn Notice
In the beginning it was just OK, but it got better with every episode, especially when the "burn notice" arc fully kicked in. The characters are all great...

Argh. Half of the time, I like the same shows as you do, the other half I really dislike them. So what do I take away from your review... 

[DJ Doena]

Burn Notice
In the beginning it was just OK, but it got better with every episode, especially when the "burn notice" arc fully kicked in. The characters are all great...

Argh. Half of the time, I like the same shows as you do, the other half I really dislike them. So what do I take away from your review... 

Watch VOX tonight at 22:05. But I've heard that the dubbing is no good again.

[goodguy]

Watch VOX tonight at 22:05.

Nah, that would be cheating. It's just theoretical musing on my behalf anyway, as I don't have the time to watch that many TV shows. For the entertainment section, I have TSCC S2 coming up, and probably House S5 afterwards. The next candidates there are currently Dollhouse, Saving Grace, maybe Breaking Bad. I will just add Burn Notice to the mix and then throw a dice. As for "serious" TV, I still haven't seen The Wire, and if I happen to like it, that would amount to 5 seasons! Somebody fire me, please.

[DSig]

Alien Nation

I really love the HOME link on this site .. as it brings up random films / reviews like this one .. films that we have seen but sometimes get forgotten.

I remember when "Alien Nation" came out .. saw it the theater.  I remember how great I thought the film was and it was my first exposure to Mandy Patinkin ("The Princess Bride" was a year earlier but hadn't seen it yet .. which then took me to the great novel by William Goldman which segwayed to other things .. ).

But this random showing of this old review drove me to watch the original film again and will push me to get the series which I think did a very good job of re-creating the feeling of the original film.

Once again thanks to DJ Doena again for the review

[DJ Doena]

Over the next weeks I'm going to continue this marathon since I have a lot of new pilots in my list.

This is what I've done in the past:

The 4400
21 Jump Street
24
Airwolf
Alias
Alien Nation
Ally McBeal
Angel
The A-Team
Babylon 5
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
The Big Bang Theory
Bones
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Burn Notice
Charmed
Chuck
Crusade
Desperate Housewives
Doctor Who (2005)
Dollhouse
Dragon Ball Z (Doragon bôru Zetto)
Due South
The Dukes of Hazzard
Early Edition
ER
The Fall Guy
Farscape
Firefly
Friends
Gossip Girl
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Heroes
Highlander
Home Improvement
House M.D.
How I Met Your Mother
The IT Crowd
JAG
Joey
The King of Queens
Knight Rider
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Leverage
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Married with Children
Night Court
Primeval
Quantum Leap
Raumpatrouille - Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion (Space Patrol)
Roseanne
Scooby Doo, Where Are You!
Scrubs
SeaQuest DSV
The Simpsons
Sledge Hammer!
Sliders
Smallville
Space: Above and Beyond
Star Trek
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Supernatural
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Thunder in Paradise
True Blood
Two and a Half Men
V (1983)
Veronica Mars
Xena: Warrior Princess

And this is what I'm probably going to do:

2 Broke Girls
8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter
Anger Management
Ashes to Ashes
Batman: The Animated Series
Castle
Come Fly With Me
Community
Cougar Town
Coupling (UK)
Dexter
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Glee
The Good Wife
The Guild
Happy Endings
Hogan's Heroes
The Incredible Hulk
Justified
Life on Mars (UK)
Lightning Point
Mad Men
Max Headroom
Melissa & Joey
Mike & Molly
Raising Hope
Rawhide
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Sherlock
Spuk unterm Riesenrad
Spuk im Hochhaus
Spuk von draußen
Strike Back
Suburgatory
Suits
Superman: The Animated Series
Torchwood
True Blood
Türkisch für Anfänger (Turkish for Beginners)
White Collar
Young Justice

[DJ Doena]

Türkisch für Anfänger
(lit. "Turkish for Beginners")

What's the show about?
The show revolves around a German melting pot family, consisting of Metin Öztürk, a German police detective of Turkish origins and his son Cem, a wannabe gangsta and his daughter Yağmur, who's living by strict Islamic rules.
On the other side you have Doris Schneider, a libertine psychoanalyst and her daughter Lena, whose BFF just left for America in a student exchange program and Nils, the baby in the family.
Now they try to build one family - but in actuality a war has just begun.

"Die, in der ich meine Freiheit verliere"
(lit. "The One Where I Lose My Freedom")
Lena is happy to learn that her mother has stopped dating that "Albanian terrorist" when they announce that they are moving in together in a new home. Aside from the happy couple only Nils can see anything good in this and Lena and Cem almost instantly declare war on each other after Cem tried to bully Lena into wearing less "slutty" and more traditional clothes. For this he hires is "gangsta buddy" Costa which in itself is an odd combination since Costa is of Greek origin.

My Opinion
I love the show. Sometimes it gets a bit tiresome because Lena's and Cem's story is getting much more complicated and Lena's sometimes too egoistic and egocentric but in the end they all grow up.

[DJ Doena]

Castle

What's the show about?
Richard Castle is a thriller author and he has a new muse now: NYPD Detective Kate Beckett who will become Nikki Heat in Heat Wave and Naked Heat.
Thanks to his friendship with the mayor Castle is partnered up with Beckett and together they solve real-life murders.

"Flowers for Your Grave"
Richard Castle is a successful thriller author who's killed his last protagonist Derek Storm by putting a bullet through his head. There's no Reichenbach Fall in Storm Fall. His blood-sucking publisher and also blood-sucking ex-wife is waiting for the next manuscript but Castle has writer's block. That is until Detective Beckett approaches him because there's a serial killer out there who's mimicking the murders in Castle's books.

My Opinion
I love the show. The dynamics between "Caskett" work very well and the cases are interesting. There are underlying season arcs but most of the time it’s a case-of-the-week show and that’s just fine with me.
Although the most mysterious question on the show is how his daughter became so well-behaved with a father like that.

[DSig]

DJ Doena I agree with you 100%.  I really like Castle and look forward to it each week.  I am glad that the "arc" of her mothers death has ended or at least played way back as most arcs in tv shows really do nothing for me.

I worried, and still do, that it would loose something after the consummation of their 'friendship'.  That always spoils the shows (see so many but most recently Bones).  Part of their story is the funny way that the characters handle the frustration of the seeming unrequited feelings.

With the loss of Leverage, another great TV series of the caper genre we need to hold on to the really good shows we have.

[Achim]

DJ Doena I agree with you 100%.  I really like Castle and look forward to it each week.  I am glad that the "arc" of her mothers death has ended or at least played way back as most arcs in tv shows really do nothing for me.

When did that arc end? During season 1 I was worried it would carry on too long. If it ends in season 2, I might consider given it a chance for one more season; partly because I am curious what that is all about...

[Dragonfire]

It was mostly dealt with in the first episode of the new season.  But, that doesn't mean it came up in every episode since the first season either.  There were times when it didn't come up at all.  It did come up a few times last season before getting more ....resolution in the first episode this season.

I don't agree that shows are always spoiled when a couple gets together.  It can if the writers screw it up, but it can also work.  I think it is working in Castle.  I like seeing them together and like that it isn't the big main focus of the episodes.  There are just little things here and there while they adjust to the new relationship for the most part.  I think it is worked with Bones too.  The only thing that has really bugged me there is what happened at the end of last season - not tied to them getting together.

(click to show/hide)

I didn't like that she went off on the run, with Christine, leaving Booth behind because that criminal managed to frame her.  All that did was add in unnecessary complications in some early episodes this year while they had to deal with her running and then being together again.  That was not needed.  Them together and having the baby...I don't have a problem with that at all.  I like them together.

[DJ Doena]

DJ Doena I agree with you 100%.  I really like Castle and look forward to it each week.  I am glad that the "arc" of her mothers death has ended or at least played way back as most arcs in tv shows really do nothing for me.

When did that arc end? During season 1 I was worried it would carry on too long. If it ends in season 2, I might consider given it a chance for one more season; partly because I am curious what that is all about...

Her mother's death arc is mostly a season cliffhanger episode. It became important again between 3/4 and 4/5. But for most of the season it's no topic at all.

[Achim]

Thanks Marie and Karsten. I think I will skip further Castle season then, in favor of the other multitude of items on the unwatched pile.

[DJ Doena]

Yeah but it's not the dead mother arc that makes this show, it's the interaction of Rick & Kate on their cases.

[Achim]

Yeah but it's not the dead mother arc that makes this show, it's the interaction of Rick & Kate on their cases.

Oh, yeah, I agree whole heartedly. I enjoyed season 1 a lot and was my unwatched pile smaller I'd probably get season 2 and beyond quickly.

Just, that mother thing was so strong at the end of season 1 that I can only wonder what eventually became of that.