Some TeeVee Notes

Some stuff on teevee of late:

:: I make no apologies at all for my continuing love for Grey's Anatomy, which is now entering its sixth season. The show's ensemble continues to be strong, although I still seriously dislike Izzie Stevens (and I disliked her character even before it turned out that actress Katherine Heigl is a complete self-absorbed flake). I like how the show has modified its ensemble a little at a time, adding a character here and subtracting a character there; this maintains chemistry a lot more effectively than the approach taken by ER, which would introduce new characters in bunches, many times with less than stellar success. Sure, Grey's is pure soap opera, but sue me. I like it.

One thing about the recently-concluded "Death of George O'Malley" storyline bugged me, though. George was one of the original cast of surgery interns at Seattle Grace Hospital, all the way back from the show's start, but the actor who played him decided to leave, so George was killed off (in pretty grisly fashion, I might add). But before his horrific fatal accident, George had spent much of last season discovering that his major surgical skill was for trauma: his ability to think quickly and maintain his composure, and so on. George found his calling to such an extent that, an episode or two before the season finale, he joined the Army.

And with the exceptions of two characters, everybody on the show reacted as though this was the most horrible decision George could have possibly made. Everyone acted as though it was foregone conclusion that George would be killed in Iraq, everyone acted as though joining the Army was an automatic death sentence. I could see some of his friends reacting that way, but it bothered me that only one person actually said that they thought it was admirable and heroic.

Oh well. I'm still watching.

:: I really need to get off my arse and watch Season One of Dollhouse.

:: I suppose I should give Flash Forward a try, although I was kind of prejudiced against it by the fact that it seemed like every website I frequent other than my own had an annoying Flash ad for the show that would swoop across the screen and obscure the content. I hate that!

:: I really enjoyed the first two episode of last season of Castle, and I look forward to watching more of this show. I need to get back up to speed.

:: I don't like Parks and Recreation. It just isn't that funny to me.

:: Wow...I haven't watched any one of the CSIs this year, not even Miami. I guess I'm done with it.

:: I'm still enjoying The Mentalist, although I maintain that it would help things if Jane turned out to be wrong once in a while. But then, the show is probably able to slip all manner of plotholes past me whilst I gaze longingly at actress Robin Tunney.

:: Another year, another Amazing Race. This one had a pretty diabolical twist at the very beginning: the start line featured a challenge for the teams, and the last team to complete the challenge was eliminated from the Race on the spot. Wow. After that, it was the typical kind of thing; the teams were sent first to Japan where they appeared on one of those sadistic Japanese game shows and were required to eat something like a half-cup of wasabi in less than two minutes. The show's still fun, but I do kind of wish they'd find a way to change up the format a bit.

That's about it for the stuff I watch or don't watch, thus far in the new season.