I was excited for a new Alan Ball show, though it felt more like the first half of a pilot: They introduced the setting and characters, began to tell a story… and then it ended. Still, it’s a very interesting universe it takes place in.

The show hasn’t really grabbed Laura or I yet but it’s piqued our interest enough for us to continue watching episodes for now.

The Ex List
Pilot

A couple super funny moments but some parts seem… weird. They’re supposedly people in their early 30’s but they act and live like university students. Rather odd. It’s not a heavy show and the premise is kind of trashy but it’s nice to watch something light every once in a while.

Still, I expect this will be canceled before the end of the season.

But Laura’s happy week of TV didn’t end there. On American Idol, they finally voted off the country singer that Laura’s wanted gone since she made it to the top 24. I haven’t seen her this happy since they shot Shannon dead in season two of Lost.

Going back to Battlestar: They’ve really made airlocking someone awesome. The three times I can think of it are all pretty impressive:

1. Laura Roslin throws Leobin out the airlock after Kara interrogates him.
2. The Circle throws Jammer out an airlock for being a collaborator.
3. Tory throws Cally out the airlock because Tory’s a crazy bitch.

I feel pretty bad for the chief though. He’s been pretty messed up since way back when he feared he might have been a Cylon. You know, when he went to seek religious counseling from Brother Cavil, who ended up being a Cylon himself? I’ve got to imagine the chief is going to take this pretty hard.

Wow. The show had a lot to live up to after the ending of the third season but I’d say they did an excellent job of opening up the fourth.

I love the progression Baltar’s going through. Is Head-Six God? If you were God, how would you get Baltar to listen to you? Put a hot woman in his head to tempt and have sex with him – it’s probably the only way to get him to listen. Is Caprica Six’s Head-Baltar just God speaking to her? Perhaps their One True God has specific plans for the two of them… to do with protecting Hera? It makes so much sense, looking back on all the Baltar/Head-Six interactions, that she is God speaking to him.

I want to believe Starbuck’s story but can completely sympathize with Adama – you can’t put the fleet at risk just because she has a “feeling” of which direction to go in. I hope she turns out to be right and finds a way to convince them. Also, pulling out her gun, assaulting the security officers and running after the president is such a Starbuck way to handle things. *facepalm* Of course, there’s always what the original Hybrid said in Razor, about Kara leading humanity to its destruction. So much to think about!

I’m really curious to see how Lee plans to get into politics. Take over the vice-presidency from Tom Zarek, maybe?

I’m pretty sure Rosalin is the dying leader who will lead them to Earth. As Ronald D. Moore’s said, her Cancer isn’t going away this time.

I loved the final four’s interactions with each other. I’m looking forward to seeing that play out more. Col. Tigh’s acting during his daydreame about shooting Adama was fantastic. My brain broke a little, at first, and then I figured he was probably just daydreaming it, afraid that he might betray his friend and do something like that.

So for the final four, I’m thinking that before they were “activated” (by the song and coming to realize what they are), they couldn’t be recognized as what they were. But now that they are activated, the Raider could recognize Anders and the skin jobs can feel their presence (both Caprica Six and the ones on the base star). Interesting.

Amazing episode. My favourite in a long time (though the end of season three was pretty damn good, too).

You are a better person than I am, Sam, because if I found out that you were a Cylon, I would put a bullet between your eyes.

This whole season, the Celebrity Apprentice has built up Trace Adkins as this really nice, honourable guy and Piers Morgan to be this cold, cutthroat guy who gets the job done. So having these two very different men in the finale was pretty cool.

There was one thing that frustrated Laura and I, that no one seemed to mention. At the end, in the board room, Trump kept stressing that it was a game of business and money and that Piers consistently made more money in the tasks. Our problem was that all his earnings were based on his contact list. Trace may have made less money but he used his celebrity, his contacts and more importantly, he worked to earn it. Trace’s earnings were based on ability and in my mind that is what’s important. Contacts can’t last forever and what do you do when that happens? *sigh*

Whatever, Trump’s a frump with a one-track mind and money’s all he cares about.

It’s creepy to see Ben lose control of his emotions. He’s such a driven, scary man. He really is into Julia, which is unfortunate. Damn those women.

<fanboy rant>
You know what’s really fun? Going back to rewatch earlier seasons of Lost once you have some idea of what’s going on. I understand so much now that a whole lot of seasons one and two makes sense now. It’s neat going back and seeing things eluded to that you never understood before.

That’s the reason the show has so much rewatchability. When you go back and rewatch the older episodes, you get so much more out of them because you know much more of what’s going on. The best, of course, will be rewatching the entire series, after having seen it to the end of the sixth season. I can’t wait =D
</fanboy rant>

ps. Juliet is the best Other ever.

“It’s very stressful being an Other, Jack.”

Excellent music sure can make a scene, as I’ve mentioned before.

Though to be honest, the Gene Simmons Family Jewels show is pretty entertaining. Laura’s in love with his son, Nick, and we both love that Gene’s family all tease and harass him regularly. I guess you’d really have to, when the patriarch of the family thinks he’s bigger than God.

Now, Laura’s a big fan of reality shows. The trashier, the better so we’ve been loosely following the Miss America Reality Check show for the past few weeks. The premise of it is decent: The Miss America show hasn’t changed much ever and it’s lost touch with the public. It’s still very old-school-pageant and being so, doesn’t appeal to a lot of people.

So the idea of the Reality Check was to update things. Get the contestants to be a little less big-haired and boring and a little more modern. It was good, in theory, but while many of the girls did look a lot better (and more modern) after the reality show, when it came to the pageant, it seemed like a lot of them went back to their safe comfort zone of old-school pageantry.

The one contestant, Miss Washington, was some Asian girl who sounded like the Legally Blond girl, both in the sound of her voice and the way she would say things. She also seemed rather stuck up.

What else? Ah yes, they had some DJ doing the music, I guess to be more “hip” and “with it.” Unfortunately, it just sounded like a porno soundtrack playing while the ladies pranced around the stage.

Also, the announcer wasn’t very good. I’m sure he was trying, but he was stumbling and stuttering over words on a regular basis. I felt kinda’ bad for him.

All in all, Laura and I weren’t too impressed with it and it really didn’t hold our interest. In fact, we stopped watching it repeatedly. But since TLC was airing it over and over again tonight, we saw the whole thing, in three separate parts in-between watching other shows on DVD.

Gina’s always been a fun character but also a little bit crazy. Between her being crazy and her being a sex addict, Christian really could never tear himself away from her. That last scene, with her whispering to him as he thrusted her over the ledge of the building during sex? Jesus. It sounds corny as hell but to watch it:

Fucked to death!

this is love