Category: TV

TV networks cancel shows all the time. In many cases, it’s because the shows simply aren’t very good. Sometimes it’s because of politics: a network like Fox, for example, might cancel a show made by Universal to make room for a show made by 20th Century Fox (thus, keeping the profits “in the company”). Sometimes they’ll ditch a show (or bunch of shows) simply because they’re “changing their image”. Sometimes, though, networks just don’t know a good thing when they see it. They’ll order a show, and when the show underperforms, they’ll move it around the schedule or hassle the show’s writers into making changes. And sometimes, they’ll simply let a show die.

This is the case with American Gothic, a show that debuted on CBS in 1995. Set in the fictional town of Trinity, South Carolina, the show is the story of Lucas Buck (Gary Cole), an evil small town sheriff with a twist: he’s actually evil. The show never comes right out and says that Lucas Buck is the Devil, or a demon, or simply a human being that sold his soul to Satan for complete control over a small Southern town. But the effect is the same: Buck knows everything that happens in Trinity. He sometimes even knows what’s going to happen in advance (which is especially handy if you’re a corrupt law enforcement officer, no?). He can convince people into doing things simply by looking deep into their eyes. He can touch things and see events in the past. And since he knows everything about everybody, he’s able to help the townspeople in their more mundane affairs (like lending them money or settling neighborhood disputes). This creates an unknowing army of loaylists in the town. Lucas Buck, it seems, has everything all wrapped up.

But not quite. A few years ago, Buck raped a local woman, which led to the birth of his (as yet unacknowledged) son, Caleb Temple. Caleb’s mother to committed suicide shortly after Caleb was born, and as the show begins, we see Caleb’s father (Gage Temple, played by Sonny Shroyer – Enos from Dukes of Hazzard!) commit “suicide” under suspicious circumstances. Caleb’s older sister – Merlyn, played by Sarah Paulson of Deadwood and Studio 60 fame – witnessed the rape and had been a basket case ever since, spending her time rocking back and forth in a chair saying “someone’s at the door” over and over again. When Sheriff Buck goes to the Temple house to “reclaim” Caleb as his son after Gage’s suicide, Buck breaks Merlyn’s neck, causing her instant death. Later on, Caleb is sent to the local hospital for “observation” while the authorities figure out what to do with him now that his entire family is dead. While there, Merlyn’s ghost comes to him and begs him to leave:

Caleb then goes on the run from Sheriff Buck. As Caleb is only around 10 years old, his options are limited. However, Caleb is not alone. Former Trinity resident Gail Emory (Paige Turco), a “big city” reporter from Charleston, arrives back in town to learn more about the mysterious death of her parents (who ran the local newspaper and opposed Sheriff Buck on many occasions, only to die in a mysterious fire). Emory is joined by Dr. Matt Crower (Jake Weber), a “Yankee doctor” that’s new to Trinity. Emory, Crower and Merlyn’s ghost take Caleb under their wings, and do everything they can to keep Caleb away from Sheriff Buck.

The show, then, is a classic battle of “Good vs. Evil”, with a lot of supernatural elements thrown in for good measure. Although some of the special effects seem dated at this point, it’s the storytelling aspects of the show that make American Gothic so great. Although the heart of the story is about Lucas and Caleb, there are also a lot of small town regulars thrown in, giving the show a bit of a Twin Peaks feel. The producers of the show also get points for filming much of the series on location in South Carolina; you’ll often see tobacco plants and peach trees in the background instead of the mountains and deserts of California you so often see in other series.

And those of you that only know Gary Cole for his comedy roles in Office Space, Talladega Nights and the Brady Bunch films are in for a real treat: Cole’s Lucas Buck character is very well played. He’s “subtly evil”. There’s nothing about Buck that’s not human, or blatantly evil. There’s just something about him that gives you the willies and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Caleb Temple: I hate you!
Sheriff Buck: And someday, we’ll make that hate work for you.

And if I still haven’t interested you yet, take a look at the show’s pedigree: it was developed and produced by Shawn Cassidy (yes, the former teen heartthrob; he also produced the ABC show Invasion). Sam Raimi (the Spiderman films) and David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) also produced the series. So it’s got the deets.

The series is available from Netflix and can also be purchased from Amazon here.

It’s official, folks: according to Variety, ABC has picked up 13 episodes of the David E. Kelley-produced U.S. version of Life On Mars.

I’m both encouraged and terrified by this news. “Encouraged” because this will allow millions of people to enjoy the wonderful story that is Life On Mars. I’m also encouraged by early casting news, which has nothing but British or Irish actors listed so far. So perhaps the “U.S. version” will be a simple remake with a minimal amount of changes.

But then, I’m also terrified by what could happen. Perhaps one of the suits at ABC will demand that the show relocate to San Diego with Zac Efron as Sam Tyler, Ashton Kutcher as Gene Hunt and Jessica Simpson as Annie Cartwright (shudder!).

Still, it’s good to see the show being picked up. I’m intrigued to say the least… bring on the fall schedule!!

And the funniest show on television keeps rolling! First things first, though:

Anyone who says that Tina Fey isn’t hot is a moron. There, I said it. I’ll say it no more. I think I’ve made my point. Some of the great lines\scenes from this episode:

Jena: “A drinking contest? What am I, 12 and at my boyfriend’s frat party?”

Liz, about Floyd’s lie: “You used Ghostbusters for evil!”

Jonathan: “What about your friends in the Bush administration?”
Jack: “Has it gotten that bad? I’d rather work for an American car company than jump on that sinking ship.”

Floyd: “I’m like the Cleveland version of Michael Clayton.”
Liz: “Well… I hope your car explodes!”

Jack, on how he spent his day: “I even tried to catch a snowflake on the tip of my tongue but apparently that’s some sort of signal in Chelsea.”

Kenneth: “It’s against my beliefs! Like gambling and freeway driving.”
Tracy: “And I can’t drink! I still got my Hollywood sock on!”

Jack, trying to shock Geiss out of his coma: “Hillary Clinton is President, sir!”

Floyd: “Do you want to get dinner at that BBQ place where you puked?”
Liz: “You’ll have to be more specific.”

Jack, to Kathy Geiss: “You know, Mark Walberg hates unicorns.”

Jena: “No, I’ve had ten shots today.”

Liz: “I wolfed my teamster sub for you.”
Floyd: “Is that a saying?”

Jack, talking about the Teamsters: “You’ll have to beat them in a drinking contest… it’s in their contract.”

Liz walking slowly on her treadmill whilst eating a McDonald’s caramel sundae.

Kenneth: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Tracy: “Please ask my permission before you quote me, Kenneth.”

Floyd: “Last week a tornado in Cleveland wiped out an entire city block: a bowling alley, two liquor stores, and the liquor store museum.”

Liz: “WHERE’S MY MAC AND CHEESE?”

The 12th floor…

Kathy Geiss trying to push the bathroom door open…

The newsreader saying that the tornado in Detroit has put out the fires…

The flashback to Liz playing D&D in college…

Jonathan’s “FRIENDS 4EVA!!!” poster for Jack…

Damn, that show’s funny!

OMG – is 30 Rock the funniest show on TV or what? This is one show that I have to watch on the DVR, because the laughs come so quickly that I have to pause the TV, else I’ll miss a later joke because I’m still laughing about something that was said 30 seconds ago. I swear, this show might actually be harmful to your health. I do believe that I will one day literally bust a gut laughing at this show. Any why not? This episode had everything.

If you’ve never seen the show (and if so, why the hell not?), the plot is simple: Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is the head writer\producer of a sketch comedy television show called The Girly Show , which features her friend Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski). Early in the series, Lemon gets a new boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), who decides to “spice up the show” by bringing “outrageous” black comedian Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan)  onto the show, which is then known simply as TGS. The show is mainly about Liz Lemon and how she deals with her boss (since NBC is owned by GE, Jack’s official job title is “Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming”), her prima donna best friend (Maroney), a prima donna new member of the cast (Jordan), her staff of nutty writers, a sweet but naive NBC page (Kenneth Parcell, played by Jack McBrayer)… and oh yes, she’s trying to live her life and get a man in the middle of all this too.

Fey is, of course, the star of the show. Liz Lemon is desperate, nerdy, and aloof. Although I know full well that “Liz Lemon” is a fictional character, I think there’s a lot of Tina Fey in ol’ Liz. But Fey’s stardom is occasionally eclipsed by Baldwin, who has some of the best timing I’ve ever seen.

The most recent episode of 30 Rock – “Succession” – was one of the funniest things I’ve even seen on TV. Not only did the show have a running spoof of the film Amadeus (featuring the return of “Dr. Spaceman”, pronounced Spah-CHE-men), there was a lot of slapping, talk about diabetes, and even a discussion about Uncanny Valley:

And that’s just the plot! Here’s a  list of just some of the jokes from this episode:

“You look like Gene Simmons had sex with a basset hound!” – Liz, to Frank (pictures above)

“Hugging is soooo… ethnic.” – Jack

“Don Geiss has stacked the board with the most reliable collection of cronies and ‘yes men’ this side of an Al Franken book signing.” – Jack

“I’d have my assistant sit on his naughty stool if he didn’t like it so much.” – Jack, after his assistant didn’t tell him his boss was in the office.

“Everyone knows the only thing we should be ashamed of is our bodies.” – Kenneth

“Eureka! … We should call Eureka, she always has great ideas.” – Tracy

“I’ll give you Kenneth!” – Liz, to Devon after giving away sensitive information about Jack.

“Devon … once they cast Clay Aiken in Spamalot, I knew it was just a matter of time before you showed up.” – Jack

“You’ve got the charm and spark of a young Leona Helmsley.” Geiss, to Liz.

“To get through it, I pretended he was a sandwich.” – Liz, about how she got through kissing Banks.

“My genius has come alive, like toys when you turn your back!.” – Tracy

“Suck it monkeys! I’m going corporate!” – Liz

“Well, it’s business drunk. It’s like rich drunk, either way it’s legal to drive.” – Jack

“Is it 411 or 911? I can never remember… [dials 411 on the phone] New York… Uhhhhh… ‘diabetes repair’, I guess?” – Dr. Spaceman

There are tons of visual throwaway jokes, too. When Tracy wistfully talks about leaving a legacy for his children, he reaches behind a giant picture of himself to pick up a picture of his kids. Then there’s the fact that Frank had a chart visually describing “Uncanny Valley” when Tracy asked him about it. And then there’s the Amadeus spoof:

Really, folks… 30 Rock is the funniest show on TV right now!  You can watch it on Thursdays at 9:30 on NBC… or you can watch it (for free) at Hulu.com right now!

First of all, I apologize for this recap coming so late. The missus and I were doing some home improvement projects last week, and much of my time was taken up with taping, painting, drilling and mounting. Because of the delay, I’m also going to keep this recap short… very short. Because, frankly, I don’t remember that much of this episode of The Riches (without watching it all over again, which is something I won’t do).

The Malloys continued to live their separate lives… Wayne is still working for the huge Bayou Hills payoff, Dahlia continues to live her triple life, Cael is now on his own (sort of) and DiDi just wants everything to be “normal” so she can live her life. Sam, on the other hand, gets closer to his Dad this week. He tells Wayne that he’s seen someone snooping through the Riches’ trash cans… and than he cleaned up a some spilled blood and put the towel into the trash. Wayne, to his credit, instantly stops everything and has a “little adventure” with Sam. He quickly figures out that the stranger is the private detective hired to find the now-deceased Pete. Sam and Wayne observe the PI in his cheap hotel room, and see him examining the blood stained towel. Wayne and Dale then hatch a plan. Wayne cuts himself with a knife and stains a towel similar to the one that Sam used. He then calls the front desk of the hotel, pretending to have an important message for the PI. The PI leaves his room, so Wayne and Sam break into his room and replace the towel. Smooth move, and it was good to see Wayne and Sam together. Plus, it’s always good to get a lot of Aidan Mitchell (Sam). That little kid is one of the few child stars that doesn’t drive me nuts, ‘cos he’s actually got good acting chops.

So yeah… Dahlia’s new “triple” life isn’t working out so well, and DiDi’s new B&E jones is kind of weird. But it’s especially weird for Cael, now that he’s back in the Traveler’s camp… with Eamon. We’ll see how that goes…

Lisa hates Battlestar Galactica. When I tried to watch the season 4 premiere last week, she refused to be in the same room with me. I had to change it to something else. I think she even starts tossing and turning in her sleep if I watch it in bed on my portable video player!

This is, of course, a crying shame. Battlestar Galactica is a science-fiction show, but it’s not your “usual” Sci-Fi dreck. It’s not a simple “Old West” story dressed up in futuristic design (like Star Wars). It’s not a soap opera set in space… and it’s not mindless entertainment (like a lot of Sci-Fi in the past few years). Galactica is a story about people, and how they behave and interact with each other in desperate times.

The story behind Battlestar Galactica is this: a race of human beings somewhere in the universe created a bunch of robotic slaves called Cylons. The Cylons eventually became “self-aware” and rebelled against their human masters. A war of epic proportions broke out, and neither side was able to gain a full victory. So a cease-fire was called, and for 40 years there was an uneasy peace between the humans and Cylons. One day, however, the Cylons launched a massive attack on the human settlements (called the “Twelve Colonies”). Almost all of the humans on these planets died in a nuclear holocaust. A handful of people on the various planets survived, but the bulk of the survivors were people in transit on spaceships. One of the surviving ships was the Battlestar Galactica, a giant spaceship (a cross between an aircraft carrier and battleship) left over from the human\Cylon war. The remaining ships gather around Galactica and this “rag-tag fleet” begins searching for the mythical “Thirteenth Colony”… Earth.

So… that’s it in a nutshell. But there’s so much more than that. The Cylons, you see, originally looked like robots, so much so that humans gave them the disparaging nickname “toasters”. But the Cylons have spent the past 40 years working on making Cylons that look and act just like humans. These “new” Cylons are so nearly identical to humans that “real” humans cannot tell the difference. They bleed just like humans. They have real “human” skin. They look just like a “real” human under an x-ray or CAT scan. In fact, there are only two ways to tell when a “human” is really a Cylon: the first is when\if they suddenly act crazy and try to blow up a ship. The second is when people discover “copies” of the Cylons (there are only 12 “models” of “human Cylon”, so when an exact duplicate of someone that doesn’t have a twin brother\sister shows up, you know that they’re Cylons).

As you might guess, the humans freak out when they discover that the Cylons have figured out how to make “people”. Witchhunts aplenty begin popping up all over the fleet. An “Us vs. Them” mentality rears its ugly head, and much of the first season of Battlestar Galactica will be uncomfortably familiar to most Americans in this post-09/11 world. In fact, you could substitute the word “terrorists” or “Islamic militants” every time someone on BSG says “Cylons” and you would have the same conversation that’s taking place all over America today. At some point, many “human Cylons” (and those suspected of being “human Cylons”) are tortured in scenes eerily similar to Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. Just as in todays’ America, many of the humans in Battlestar Galactica oppose profiling and torture, and there’s an ongoing battle between the military and civilian leadership for control of the fleet. Sound familiar?

And I haven’t even mentioned theology yet. The humans, you see, are polytheists. Like ancient Greeks and Romans, the humans worship a panoply of gods and goddesses. The Cylons, on the other hand, are monotheists, who believe that they were created by the humans acting through the One True God. To the Cylons, humans are imprefect, while they themselves are perfect creatures created in God’s own image. Again, does this sound familiar? Interestingly, it seems that the One True God of the Cylons also gave them a certain measure of free will. At the beginning of the series, Cylons are somewhat similar to Terminators – simple robots hell-bent on carrying out their missions. As Cylons interact with people, some of them begin to change. One of the Cylons, Sharon ‘Boomer’ Valerii, foe example, falls in love and starts siding with the humans. Towards the end of season 3, a chasm develops between the Cylons, where some of them continue to work towards the complete annihilation of humanity in general, while other Cylons that want to “work with” the humans to find a middle ground that everyone can be happy with.

I’ve left gigantic holes in my summary of Battlestar Galactica. I haven’t even mentioned Gaius Baltar, the show’s resident “is he evil or not?” character. Suffice it to say, if you haven’t watched Battlestar Galactica, you’re really missing out.

Current human population: 39,676

Wow! I tried to think of a polite way to say it, but I just can’t. The shit really hit the fan this week on The Riches… and I’m not sure how the Malloys will be able to hold it together this time.

Last week’s episode ended with Dahlia confessing her parole violations to a sympathetic parole officer she learned about at Nina’s AA meeting\drug buy. Dahlia walks into the parole officer’s office, thinking that he’ll accept her story at face value… only she couldn’t be more wrong. He cuffs her and yells at her. In a surprising burst of naivety, Dahlia actually seems… shocked that the officer doesn’t believe her story (when we, the home viewers, can easily see how it could be the same line of crap that the parole officer has heard a million times). The officer then cuts her some slack, giving her 24 hours to get a place to live and a job. In yet another incredible display of naivety, Dahlia seems shocked that no one wants to hire her – not even coffee shops and dive bars. Maybe Dahlia’s never actually looked for a real job before… I dunno. But she ends up getting a job at a seafood restaurant and renting an “apartment” in what appears to be a boarding house.

Dahlia repeatedly tried to ask Wayne for help, but this guy… whew… Wayne has his own problems! The Bayou Hills development in now in motion, and some of the investors are coming in for a meeting about it. The only problem is that one of the investor’s attorneys – Barry Stone, played by Curtis Armstrong (Booger!) – went to law school with Doug Rich. The attorney is visibly confused when he sees “Doug Rich”, but doesn’t say anything… especially after Sam (looking through Doug’s papers at home) finds some dirt on Barry, which keeps him quiet. Barry quietly manages to get word to his boss – Felix Minkov – that “Doug” is a con-man. After the meeting, Felix violently confronts Wayne, and tells him that he knows that Wayne is not Doug, is not a lawyer, and that they (Felix and Wayne) will set Hugh up and take all the money for themselves:

Lest you think that’s the only thing going on with Wayne, he was also busted during the meeting by his long-suffering assistant, Aubrey. She sat quietly during the meeting, sending Wayne instant messages about legal terms he didn’t know. When Hugh and Felix announce that they’re going to screw the poor people out of the deal (Bayou Hills is to be built on what used to be public land; the government is selling it to Panco on the condition that they set aside some of the housing for poor Hurricane Katrina victims), Aubrey becomes furious with everyone, but especially Wayne. She threatens to bust him, but Wayne somehow manages to convince her not to. He says that he agreed to the plan to “evict” the poor people just to get Bayou Hills built in the first place, and that they (Wayne and Aubrey) will figure out a way to get the homes built for the poor people.

And that’s still not all. Dale’s still around, and towards the end of the episode he’s seen calling someone (we don’t know who) on behalf of Eamon and giving them information about Panco. We also see Eamon and Ginny having a conversation about education at the Traveler’s Camp (about James Joyce, of all people)… Oh, and a guy named Chet Landry is now calling “Doug” at Panco looking for Pete! Frankly, I’m surprised that Wayne’s head didn’t explode at the end of this episode. As I said, shit is hitting the fan left and right for the Malloy family, and I just don’t see how they’re going to wiggle their way out of it – especially with only three episodes left in this (strike-shortened) season.

And lastly… Cael and Didi. As we all know, Cael hates life at Eden Falls, but Didi likes it. Most of the time anyway. Didi comes home from school in the middle of all this, and finds Cael (who didn’t go to school at all). The two have a series of heartfelt conversations. Cael suggests that they go to the mall and pull off some scams to get money; Didi refuses, not wanting to be a con artist anymore. He eventually talks her in to “pulling a Molly Branigan” (which is “traveler talk” for acting like street performers). At the mall, Didi sees some of her classmates, and is genuinely embarrassed to be seen busking with Cael. Didi breaks down and admits that she just “can’t do this anymore”. She wants things to be like they were, but she’s changed. She likes life at Eden Falls. The two have a teary “goodbye”, and Didi goes home to work on an English paper.

One last thing: Dahlia was having a really bad day… and once again, Wayne ignored her troubles to get her to help him with his troubles. This echoes the first season… and I hope Dahlia doesn’t fall off the wagon again!

Series 3 of Hotel Babylon comes to a close, and I’m torn about the show.

First of all, I found this episode in particular to be almost offensive. There were many references to how “God” is dying out in the UK and how “modern temples” like Hotel Babylon now serve the same purpose that churches used to. While I don’t doubt that is true, the way that Babylon seemed to enjoy wallowing in the decadent delights of the hotel while ridiculing religion just rubbed me the wrong way.

And, of course, I have some issues with the series in general. As I’ve stated many times, the series began as a clever, “behind the scenes” look at the world of luxury hotels. It was based on the book Hotel Babylon, in which a fictional narrator takes us through a fictional day in the life on a London hotel, all the while regaling us with real-life anecdotes from “Anonymous” (the veteran of the hotel industry that author Imogen Edwards-Jones used as a source). In time, the show ran out of anecdotes based on the book, and so it became more of a soap opera based in a hotel. With the departure of Charlie (Max Beesley) and Jackie (Natalie Mendoza), the characters don’t interact with each other anymore (except as people who work together would). Early in the series, for example, Charlie and Jackie were sleeping together, and for a brief time there was a bit of love triangle between Charlie, Jackie, and Anna (Emma Pierson), before Jackie dumped Charlie for good and Charlie and Anna started dating. But now that the Charlie and Jackie have gone, people just act like… well, fellow employees. So there’s not even much of a “soap opera” aspect any more. Which you think would be good, right? But no. Out of anecdotes from the book, and without the more conventional aspects of a soap opera, the writers are veering into “unbelievable” territory. Russian gangsters now invade the hotel, along with faith healers, hostage takers, over the top Hollywood caricatures and “timely” topics. And so the whole thing has just become rather silly.

So why even watch it? Two words: Emma Pierson.

I don’t know why, but this girl really does it for me. Her accent is a big part of it, of course, and her body’s tighter than a snare drum. Too bad her character will apparently never find happiness:

A faith healer (Jonah Slaughter, played by Nicholas Rowe), shows up at Babylon. He’s quickly becoming famous throughout Britain, you see, and Emily is certain that he’ll be “playing” to huge crowds at arenas throughout London in the very near future… so it only makes sense for Babylon to “get in on the ground floor” with Slaughter, so to speak. However, two “problem clients” seem to be following Slaughter. One, Caroline (Samantha Cheecks) checks herself in and heads straight to the bar. The other, Martin, sweats like a pig and appears nervous as hell as he asks Jack to hold an urn (which contains his son’s ashes) for safekeeping. But the hotel safe is full, and Jack simply can’t bear to keep the urn in his office, so he passes it off to James.

Meanwhile, Anna’s been getting some annoying calls from a guest. He’s called down to the front desk numerous times with bizarrre (and impossible) requests. And he always asks for Anna. After a while, she just can’t take it any more, so he goes upstairs to give him a piece of her mind… only to find her boyfriend, Ned, in the room waiting for her. Ned, it seems, was pulling pranks on her, trying to intice her up to his room… so he could ask her to marry him!

But before she can reply, a shot rings out. Slaughter’s assistant (Nathan, played by Adam Kotz) has brought Caroline up to Slaughter’s room. She initially appears to be quite angry with Slaughter, saying that he took £30,000 from her dying mother (yada, yada, yada – “insert other rants against TV evangelists here”). As the heated discussion continues, there’s a knock at the door… and Martin enters the room… with a gun! Caroline gets confused by Martin’s ranting and then admits that she was an actress hired by Nathan to endear him to Slaughter. She also says that Martin has “gone in and out of character”, “changed his accent several times”, and that she “knows a prop gun when she sees one”. This enrages Martin – who is there because his son died from cancer after he decided to abandon traditional medicine for one of Slaughter’s faith healing sessions. Martin then fires his gun into the ceiling to let everyone know that he means business (this is te shot that Anna heard).

Anna runs from Ned’s room and tries to rally the troops, but Jack doesn’t believe her. Tony does, and he assembles the crew for a “rescue mission”. Jack, unable to find Emily but not believing the sound was a gun, goes to Slaughter’s room… only to be wacked in the head by Martin. This knocks Jack out.

Meanwhile, the gang decides to send Anna up the ductwork to spy on Slaughter’s room, Die Hard-style:

While crawling through the (mysteriously spotless) ductwork, Anna passes Ned’s room, and overhears him talking to his mother on the phone. He talks about Anna as if she were a piece of meat… or a possible bride in a Jane Austin novel. It breaks Anna heart, but there’s no time for that now. She eventually reaches Slaughter’s room, where she spies Emily and Jack, along with Slaughter, Nathan, Caroline and Martin… and his gun! The crew rush the room – James from the door to the adjacent room and Tony using a housekeeping cart to smash the door in. Martin accidentally fires the gun… and the bullet hits the urn containing his son’s ashes (which is flying through the air because James, for some reason put on the cart). The main storyline then ends with ashes and dust everywhere and Martin crying. Classy. For some reason, no one decides to press any charges against Martin, and the hotel staff clean up the ashes and find a clear plastic container to put them in. At the very end, Tony (Dexter Fletcher) is talking about how the hotel is like family, just as Anna walks in (crying) to what was supposed to be a celebration of her engagement.

One last thing: am I the only one that thinks that the writers have completely forgotten about “customer service”? During the entire series, we’ve heard about how Hotel Babylon is supposed to have “world-class” service, yet this series we’ve seen Babylon staff acts like jerks to guests on a regular basis. I mention this because this episode in particular had some glaring anti-customer service moments. An older gentlemen, for example, has cleared his schedule so thay he could read Catch-22 at the Babylon in peace. He decides to read the book in the bar, only to be kicked out by Gino, who’s angry because the man’s laughter and appearance are scaring away customers. The man then goes up to his room to read, only to have the book ripped by by James when the guest (rightly) complains about the intrusion. This is after an earlier incident, where Jack and James loudly discuss the urn\ashes in front of guests in the restaurant. I mean… come on! Jack is the hotel manager. He’s supposedly worked in 5-star hotels all over the world. We’ve seen him kiss-ass on an unbelievable scale when he really needed to… and now he’s going to argue (loudly) in the restaurant over an urn? HELLO? WRITERS?

The BBC’s website says that the show is coming back in 2009. I dunno if I’ll be there or not. Seriously. But until then, enjoy one last shot of Anna:

Woo-hoo! Battlestar Galactica returns tonight for its final season. I’m pumped – are you pumped?

I can’t wait to see what happened to Starbuck… and that frakin’ hawt collarbone of hers… seriously, have you looked at Katee Sackhoff’s collarbone? It’s freakin’ perfect. Starbuck can punch me in the face any time.. especially if she’s all sweaty and wearing that sports bra thing, and…

Wait – what? Oh yeah. I can’t wait to see what the Adamas are up to as well. I can’t wait to see what the whole damn crew is up to, actually. Will they find Earth? Will Starbuck be their doom (as predicted in Razor)? Who is the last Cylon? Will it be one of the Adamas? Will it be Starbuck (please say it ain’t so). How about Laura Roslin or Gaius Baltar?

Man, I can’t wait for tonight… although watching BSG on “regular TV” will probably drive me nuts. I wasn’t a BSG fan until last fall, when I downloaded the entire series. I watched all of seasons 1-3 in around 2 weeks, sometimes watching 4-5 episodes per day. Watching one episode per week will probably make me break out in hives… or something.