sdelmonte | TV Thoughts

So these days I'm watching six TV series...

(Cut due to posisble spoilers)

6) Smallville - I only watch this on Thursday nights when Batya is cooking and I have nothing else to do. Really. It's gotten pretty rotten again, with a painful relationship between Lana and Lex, and Clark spending far too much time moping. The only promising things are the relationship between Chloe and a version of Jimmy Olsen that shouldn't work but does; and the arrival of Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow. In costume. OK, not the classic costume but still a pretty cool one. I give the show's writers credit for beginning to form a TV version of the DC Universe, with a nascent JLA episode coming, and the arrival of the Martian Manhunter as well. But otherwise, there's little left to do with Clark or Lex that makes it worth keeping this show on much longer.

5) Veronica Mars - As noted before, I think this show has slipped noticeably. I've also noticed that there seems to be little buzz about it these days. I wish it surprised me that the CW still hasn't ordered a full season of the show, but I think even the network execs can sense something is off. Oh, I think it will run the full season - the CW has nothing else - but this might be it. Maybe the other mystery arcs will save things.

4) Heroes - With each passing week, the show improves. The cast is getting better, the stories are more gripping, and we are starting to actually learn what's going on. But some of the arcs continue to be too melodramatic, some of the actors (Ali Larter in particular) are still not that good, the scripts are often clunky, and the stories rely too much on character stupidity. There is potential here for a great and long-running series, but that potential isn't being met just yet.

3) Lost - As I noted, I really liked the six episodes we saw of Lost. I just wish that ABC had found a better way of scheduling it. But I'm still hooked. And Heroes reminds me why. Lost, for all its flaws, is better written, better paced, far better acted, and more professionally produced. It might be the best looking TV show I've ever seen. It's never clunky, rarely dull, and there isn't a bad actor in the bunch. Yes, it's also roaming around in circles, but I can live with that while longer. Granted, sooner or later, I want answers. But I'm okay with the questions, too.

2) Supernatural - This show keeps getting better. From an entertaining but simple Brothers vs. Demons story, it's grown into a complex and tightly written tale of brothers finding themselves and each other against a backdrop of not just demons but the hidden places of America. The acting has improved vastly, as has the chemistry between Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. The stories have gotten nervier, and draw inspiration from such things as the career of serial killer HH Holmes and the legend of bluesman Robert Johnson. Oh, and this show has buzz. People are talking about this as much as they are about Heroes. I think that the CW might have a keeper after all.

1) Doctor Who - We have watched 10 episodes of the first season of the 10th Doctor, and keep finding new things to like. As much as we miss Eccleston, Tennant has more than acquitted himself. The plots are ingenious if still a bit silly sometimes, the acting is great, and the show has so much heart. Who would have ever imagined that Doctor Who would be alive and well and thriving again? Who would ever have guessed that we would miss Mickey, or feel for Jackie? This show is a wonder.