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

[DJ Doena]

House M.D.

Have you seen S5 and if so, how does it compare to the previous ones? I've read some spoilers I found pretty cringeworthy. IMHO, they always failed when they tried to shake up the formulaic structure of the show, worst so with the cop plot in S3.

As far as I remember there are three big events in the fifth season, the first is the cliffhanger from the fourth and the third is the cliffhanger to the sixth.

The second one (here comes a a slight spoiler followed by a heavy one):

(click to show/hide)

One of the actors wanted to leave to pursue a political career:

(click to show/hide)

Kutner kills himself and no one really knows why and House gets more and more frustrated because that's a riddle he can't solve.

Other than those three I don't remember anything noteworthy.

Regarding cliffhanger to season six:

(click to show/hide)

House had Vicodine-induced halluzinations that he had slept with Cuddy and she ultimately fires him. He checks himself into a mental institution. The first two episodes will play there and even when he comes back he can hardly be the boss again.

[goodguy]

As far as I remember there are three big events in the fifth season, the first is the cliffhanger from the fourth and the third is the cliffhanger to the sixth.

Yeah, I remember reading about the last one and wasn't too thrilled about it either. But what really put me off was (spoiler follows):

(click to show/hide)

Apparently Cuddy has a baby.

Anyway, I was asking on a more general note on how well S5 compares to the previous seasons and if it is still worth watching.

[DJ Doena]

Cuddy:

(click to show/hide)

Yeah she has a baby (adopted) and it has some effects on her relationship with House, but I wouldn't qualify it as bad.

Regarding the overall quality: I think it's still very watchable and I enjoyed it and I look forward to the sixth season and it's changes (new round of powerplay in the hospital )

[DJ Doena]

Supernatural

What's the show about?
Dean and Sam Winchester are brothers. 22 years ago a yellow-eyed demon killed their mother. Since then their father has been on the hunt for all kinds of supernatural beings and phenomenon.  Sam once tried to get out of the "family business" but after his father went missing and his girlfriend was murdered in the very same way his mother was he has rejoined with his brother. They fight against vampires, ghosts and everything else you dare not think about in the middle of the night.

"Pilot"
22 years ago. John Winchester has to evacuate his son Dean and infant son Sam out of the house after something pinned his wife onto the ceiling and set her on flames. Present day. Sam has stopped hunting two years ago and studies at Stanford now. But suddenly his brother Dean stands in the door and announces that their dad has gone missing while being on a hunt. Sam agrees to accompany Dean on this one thing to find their father - only 'til Monday.

My Opinion
I was never really into horror stories, but shows like Buffy and Angel brought me closer to the topic and since I liked Jensen Ackles in Smallville's fourth season I thought to give it a try. And it's a great show. Except for the fact that there's a monster of the week every episode is totally different due to the very nature of the supernatural being. There's also an overall story arc that includes the yellow-eyed demon, fallen angels and the apocalypse.

[DJ Doena]

Early Edition

What's the show about?
Every morning Gary Hobson gets his paper delivered by a cat. And if this weren't weird enough, it's not the paper from today - it's the paper from tomorrow. And every day Gary and his friends try to prevent any disaster he reads about and that are about to happen.

"Pilot"
Gary is a not so successful stock broker who lives in a hotel room. His wife has thrown him out and has filed for divorce. Then a cat "delivers" a paper, he reads it and throws it away. It takes a while for him to figure out that something was wrong - or very right - with that paper. Luckily for him, he gets a new one the next day. Now he can hit the race tracks. But he has overlooked more urgent news than the sports results...

My Opinion
I really liked that show. Kyle Chandler (now on Friday Night Lights) is a very likeable guy and they always found new twists to make his day an adventure. And I also liked his friends, especially Fisher Stevens (The Plague in Hackers) who always tried to make a little profit on the sideline but came through when he was needed.

[Rogmeister]

I really like these marathons of TV first episodes...there's at least two different threads of this.  I'm thinking of starting my own.  I may keep my own list shows already covered and try to avoid those.  I should still have enough to go for awhile.  Of course, I have some western TV shows to put in my own such ones.  In true western fashion, perhaps I could call mine "The Beginning of The Trail" or some such thing 

[DJ Doena]

Veronica Mars

What's the show about?
Veronica Mars is a high school and later college student who works part time for her father. He is a private eye who used to be the Sheriff of Neptune, a town that has no middle class. You either are a millionaire or you work for one. Aside from working for her father she also works for other students and solves their problems. And both father and daughter work on the biggest case in their life.

"Pilot"
Veronica used to belong to the "cool guys" but then her father (the local sheriff at the time) accused the richest man in town of murdering his own daughter. Now he and his daughter are outsiders and the Lilly Kane murder appears to be solved. But it is not, not in the eyes of both father and daughter. But she also has to rescue another student because he interfered with the business of the local biker gang led by Eli "Weevil" Navarro.

My Opinion
It was a great show that was unfortunately short-lived (three seasons). For the first two seasons they had this one big mystery per season (in the first season the Lilly Kane murder), when Veronica went to college they had two cases and some single episodes, maybe that was the reason it went under. And every episode had its very own case to be solved. The show had a great cast and a good supply of supporting characters and I enjoyed it a lot.

[DJ Doena]

Alias

What's the show about?
Sydney Bristow is a double agent. She works for supposedly covert branch of the CIA called SD-6 and for the real CIA. SD-6 is part of a larger group called The Alliance but only the high-level leaders know that SD-6 is not CIA. Field agents like Sydney are not supposed to know. Thus Sydney goes on whatever mission SD-6 sends her and the CIA gives her a counter mission to sabotage SD-6 without them knowing.

"Truth Be Told"
Sydney Bristow is a grad student who works part time at a bank. But the bank job is only a cover. She's an agent in a covert branch of the CIA and she hasn't told anyone about this. But when her boyfriend proposes to her she makes that fatal mistake. After she's come back from her next mission she finds him dead. SD-6 has killed him because he became a security risk. And when she doesn't come back to SD-6, they try to kill her, too. But luckily for her she has a father who also works for SD-6 and who saves her. After she's re-established her credibility with SD-6 she goes to the CIA and offers to work as a double agent.

My Opinion
I've only seen one season so far, but really liked it. There is a mystery element on the show in the form of artefacts the Italian inventor Rambaldi has built - in the 15th century (it's a J.J. Abrams show after all). Rambaldi has also made a prophecy and it is not clear yet whether it refers to Sydney Bristow or not (I assume that it will become clear in later seasons). Just like with Chuck I like it how they try to keep their public and their secret life apart and how it becomes more and more difficult to do that. But Sydney has also a cool number of disguises.

[DJ Doena]

Scrubs

What's the show about?
The staff of the Sacred Hearts Hospital is not like other hospital staffs. The show is told from Dr. John "J.D." Dorian's point of view but includes the lives of then medical school buddy now surgeon Dr. Turk, Dr. Elliot and other doctors, nurses and even the janitor of the hospital.

"My First Day"
First day at the Sacred Hearts teaching hospital. J.D. is nervous but the he meets his new co-worker, Dr. Elliot and everything seems to turn upwards. He also believes to have found a mentor in the form of the Chief of Medicine, Dr. Kelso. If it weren't for the attending, Dr. Cox and the janitor everything would be fine.

My Opinion
There's one German TV station (Pro 7) that could easily be called Scrubs TV. Whenever they cancel another program or don't know what else to send, they air another re-run of Scrubs. I watched a few episodes but couldn't really get into. But a friend of mine (the same one who suggested Friends) told me that I should start at the beginning and he was not wrong. I had a better connection to the characters when watching the first disc but I still don't know whether I will buy further seasons. Time will tell. But what I really like is that the authors didn't forget that it played in a hospital and that (not unlike M*A*S*H) they they also showed what it's about to be a doctor.

[addicted2dvd]

Alias

What's the show about?
Sydney Bristow is a double agent. She works for supposedly covert branch of the CIA called SD-6 and for the real CIA. SD-6 is part of a larger group called The Alliance but only the high-level leaders know that SD-6 is not CIA. Field agents like Sydney are not supposed to know. Thus Sydney goes on whatever mission SD-6 sends her and the CIA gives her a counter mission to sabotage SD-6 without them knowing.

"Truth Be Told"
Sydney Bristow is a grad student who works part time at a bank. But the bank job is only a cover. She's an agent in a covert branch of the CIA and she hasn't told anyone about this. But when her boyfriend proposes to her she makes that fatal mistake. After she's come back from her next mission she finds him dead. SD-6 has killed him because he became a security risk. And when she doesn't come back to SD-6, they try to kill her, too. But luckily for her she has a father who also works for SD-6 and who saves her. After she's re-established her credibility with SD-6 she goes to the CIA and offers to work as a double agent.

My Opinion
I've only seen one season so far, but really liked it. There is a mystery element on the show in the form of artefacts the Italian inventor Rambaldi has built - in the 15th century (it's a J.J. Abrams show after all). Rambaldi has also made a prophecy and it is not clear yet whether it refers to Sydney Bristow or not (I assume that it will become clear in later seasons). Just like with Chuck I like it how they try to keep their public and their secret life apart and how it becomes more and more difficult to do that. But Sydney has also a cool number of disguises.

Not to mention Sydney is just plain HOT! 

[DJ Doena]

Not to mention Sydney is just plain HOT! 

That may sound gay but if that's the only quality a show possesses I wouldn't watch it. I gave up on Charmed despite the three witches.

[addicted2dvd]

  That is why I said "Not to mention that..." It is just a good bonus!  I have all 5 seasons of Alias... and enjoyed every minute of them. 

[DJ Doena]

Doctor Who (2005)

What's the show about?
The Doctor is an alien, the last of the Time Lords and he travels with his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) to any point in time and to any planet he wants. The Doctor often travels with a Companion, most of the time a human woman. Wherever he goes, there's a mystery to be solved and sometimes the entire universe is at stake, in this dimension or another.

"Rose"
When Rose tries to close the shop she's working in she's attacked by the window dummies. At first she thinks it's a student prank until she gets rescued by a man who calls himself only The Doctor and the entire building explodes. This entire evening was so weird that she tells nobody what really happened until she gets attacked by a dummy arm again and is again rescued by him. A Nestene Consciousness tries to take over the world and only The Doctor can prevent it.

My Opinion
If one likes weird science-fiction stories (such as I) with way-out ideas thrown in for good measure then one should definitively give it a try. I've seen a few episodes of the old Doctor Who but not enough to make a valid comparison. But I really like the new series on its own, especially since they are not afraid to re-use old enemies without re-designing them. The Daleks look like from a 50s movie but that makes it so charming. Too bad that UK seasons are always so short.

[DJ Doena]

Chuck

What's the show about?
Charles "Chuck" Bartowski is a man who works is an electronic market in the "Nerd Herd". But he's also a spy - sort of. He carries all of the government's secrets in his head without having direct access to them. But from time to time he "flashes" on something and then he and he and his handlers Sarah and Casey go on a mission to save the country. But Chuck's main goal is it to get the Intersect data out of his head again.

"Pilot"
After 9/11 NSA and CIA have put their information together into a computer system called Intersect. It stores the data encrypted in a huge amount of images. One day the rogue CIA spy Bryce Larkin destroys the Intersect and sends this data to his former friend Chuck Bartowski who opens it and unintentionally loads all this knowledge into his brain. Both CIA (in the form of Agent Sarah Walker) and NSA (in the form of Major John Casey) try to get the data back but the computer gets destroyed and the only remaining Intersect copy is in Chuck's head. Additionally an east-european assassin wants to kill a high-ranking NATO general.

My Opinion
Granted, the basic premise of the show is a bit ridiculous, but the show is still great. Chuck is the typical late 20s nerd who lives with his sister and her fiancé "Captain Awesome" and loves to play video games with his friend Morgan and now he has to be a spy. Sarah and Casey try to protect him but naturally Chuck gets into trouble all the time and it's great fun to watch these three and the rest of the Nerd Herd.

[Najemikon]

Doctor Who (2005)

My Opinion
If one likes weird science-fiction stories (such as I) with way-out ideas thrown in for good measure then one should definitively give it a try. I've seen a few episodes of the old Doctor Who but not enough to make a valid comparison. But I really like the new series on its own, especially since they are not afraid to re-use old e
nemies without re-designing them. The Daleks look like from a 50s movie but that makes it so charming. Too bad that UK seasons are always so short.

I know Rich said recently he preferred the old ones, but I can only agree in terms of atmosphere. It was powerful stuff. It was also complete bollocks in terms of characters. I don't think I liked any of the old Doctors, but certainly the new episodes don't have the menacing  edge.