[  Mood: Cool ]
This is the third in an ongoing seriers of entries where I look at the upcoming TV season. Why? Cause I am a TV junkie. I can stop anytime I want.

Tuesday
Tuesday is shaping up to be a good night for genre fans to do something other than watch TV. May I suggest Tanker Tuesdays over at City of Heroes?

8:00 pm
House – FOX
OK, I’m cheating here. House is not a genre ahow, per say, but my reasoning is sound. You would be hard pressed to find a geek who didn’t enjoy this show. Still, even if you miss this, House‘s popularity means it will be on again.

9:00 pm
Fringe – Fox
FBI agent investigates strange, possibly paranormal phenomenon. Sounds familiar? Here’s the twist: FBI agent seeks help from world reknown scientist. The catch? He’s been institutionalized for the last twenty years. Institutionalized = crazy. Dr. Looneytunes will only help if the FBI work through his estranged son.

Now there is quite the buzz about this show among critics. They are excited about the return of Joshua Jackson to Primetime TV. He was Pacey on Dawson’s Creek. The other reason for the buzz is FOX’s decision to run this show with half the ads of a normal TV show. That’s five minutes. For the whole season, not just the premier the way Heroes did a few years ago (Thank you Nissan!). The reason for FOX’s decision to do this is in response to cable and their lack of commercials. No word if this means that there will be an hourly sponsor.

So will this work? Don’t know. It is a genre show on FOX. Everyone knows what that means. But FOX believes in this enough to give it House as a lead in. And it is not in the Friday night death slot.

I give it 50/50 odds of lasting the season.

10:00 pm
Eli Stone – ABC
This quirky mid-season replacement has been renewed. Why is it here? Well it is about a guy (the title character) who discovers he has an inopperable brain aneurysm that lets him hallucinate, often about the future. Eli is compelled to do something about what he sees. It has been suggested in the series that these visions are from God and that Eli is a prophet. So think Joan of Arcadia meets Medium.

Will it survive? Having never seen it (although the description I just wrote intrigued me and I may have to pick up some DVDs and catch up) I feel confident in saying until the end of the season. After that, no. I think this is another case of the writer’s strike getting something renewed that normally would have perished.

Next time: Wednesday night 8:00 pm – DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN – what crack are the network’s doing?

[  Mood: Angelic ]
This is the second in an ongoing seriers of entries where I look at the upcoming TV season. Why? Cause I am a TV junkie. Admitting you have a problem is the first step.

Monday
9:00 pm
Heroes
While not competing against a genre show, Heroes may lose some ground to Prison Break over on FOX. On the other hand, Heroes is one of the only NBC shows that breaks the Nielsen top 20 (Football is the other one). So for the fourth place network, this baby is their golden ticket. If the series can recover from its wobbly second season (and given that the show’s creator has admitted their misstep, this might actually happen) they should be AOk!

My Own Worst Enemy
One of the interesting things about this season is the lack of pilots. Due to the writer’s strike, there was no time to get the pilots shot. So instead, the networks have had to buy series based on scripts alone. The horror! The horror!

What does that have to do with this Christian Slater vehicle? Well I am not certain if it genre or not. The premise sound genre enough, a mild mannered family man has a split personality. The catch is other person in his body is an assasin and spy. Apparently the personalities start to overlap and intrude on each other’s world. Think Scarecrow and Mrs. King meets Nicki from Heroes.

Will this work? Who knows? Cristian Slater is promising, but it is in the NBC Monday night slot of death. The Black Donnelly’s, Studio 60 and Journeyman all once were in this slot, and all have gone on to a better place.

Not holding out much hope for this one.

Next time we visit this topic: The wasteland that is Tuesday

[  Mood: Amused ]
So the fall networks have released their fall schedules. There are some interesting new genre shows coming up and some old returning goodies. Since I am a TV junkie, I want to take some time to look what is on offer.

Instead if going network by network, I am going to go night by night. Cause as the kids say, that’s how I roll. First up Monday and a battle that I am interested in watching.

Monday
8:00 pm
Chuck (NBC) vs Terminator (Fox)
This is the battle that was supposed to happen in January, but the writers’ strike interfered. While I watched Terminator, my heart lies with Chuck. Funny, upbeat and charming, this show makes me smile. And I need that at the end of the day. Plus Adam Baldwin is awesome.

But which will win? Depends. Does America want another tense, apocalyptic genre show like Terminator? It has a lot of them already (Heroes, Lost, BSG). Sure, BSG is over, but Terminator ain’t no BSG.

I don’t think that America is looking for more dark Sci-Fi. Quirky, funny seems to be in. Pushing Daisies is another example of this. Chuck fits that bill. Hense its renewal.

But wait, some of you are saying, Terminator got renewed too. In fact, an argument can be made that Terminator only got renewed because of the strike. Had it been a regular season with FOX, Terminator would have been lucky to get three episodes.

So my money is on Chuck.

Edit: Also at 8:00 pm is the Big Bang Theory. This comedy about geeks is not going to survive the Chuck and Terminator battle. It might limp through season, cause comedies are way cheaper than dramas to produce, but it is not going to do well in the ratings.

Next time we visit this topic (which may not be my next post): The rest of Monday.

. . . the next Indiana Jones movie should be about The Fountain of Poo.

I have seen this fountain and it is terrifying. Terrifying!!!!

I’d like to see Indy deal with that. You can’t shoot it. You can’t use a bullwhip on it.

The fountain of poo makes the Nazis and Russians look like wimps.

The horror!! The horror!!

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son ]
So today my good friend The Artisan came over to watch Geeklet so I could garden.

SWEET!!!!

I got some stuff done, but there is always more to do.

Specifically:

1) watered the plants I picked up Saturday
2) started weeding the vegetable garden
3) filled two of my frost protectors filled

3) got the soaker hose set up on two of the flower beds that are under the overhang and therefor don’t get enough rain. Will turn that on after Geeklet finishes his lunch.
4) got the downspout on the northeast corner of the house pointed to the rainbarrels to catch the expected rains

The Artisan even managed to get the dishes caught up and help me get dinner in the slowcooker.

She is a special person and I am lucky to have her as a friend.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son and enjoying my birthday ]
A.K.A. Deja Dead – A Quick Review – Labour and Delivery – Part 3

Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist who works for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina as well as well as for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec.

Deja Dead takes place in la Belle Province, specifically in Montreal, Canada’s most bilingual city two hours east of me. Temperance is called into consult on a series of brutal murders of women. She quickly becomes convinced it is a seriel killer, when those around her turn a blind eye to the evidence.

This is a gritty, engrossing novel that got me through the waiting part of labour and delivery. It also gives a lovely snapshot of Montreal, a beautiful and cosmopolitan city. Worth the effort. Go read this.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Exhasted. Need Sleep. Blog later.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
A.K.A. Undead and Unappreciated – A Quick Review

Betsy Taylor’s life just got more complicated.

In the process of telling her not to attend her stepmother’s baby shower, Betsy’s father lets it slip that Betsy has a half-sister.

In addition, the vampire staff in Betsy’s nightclub don’t respect her and are going on strike.

Finally, she’s read the Book of the Dead a weebit too long and is suffering from temporary insanity.

Oh, and did we mention that her half-sister is the daughter of the Devil?

This book is a fun romp. It is not going to change you life, but you will enjoy the read. Cudos to MaryJanice Davidson for making the Devil a woman. (Although I kept seeing Ray Wise in a dress.) The book’s a quick read too, as I was done in one day.

Enjoy!

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
A.K.A. Proven Guilty – A Quick Review

This book opens with Harry, a newly minted Warden witnessing the White Council pass judgement on a young wizard who had broken the fourth law of magic. The judgement is decapitation. This called forshadowing and will become relevant later on im the book, although not this review.

Harry’s not to pleased with the excution when two members of the council come to him with slightly unofficial requests. One, find out why the Summer Court of Fae isn’t helping during the White Council’s war with Red Court of Vampires. Two, find out who is practicing black magic in Chicago.

So Harry sets off to deal with these two problems, when he gets called by a friend’s eldest daughter for help. Apparently there’s been an attack at the local horror convention, appropriately named Splattercon!!!, and they need Harry’s help.

Like with all of Jim Butcher’s novels, these three plots weave in, out and eventually around each other, leading to a satisfying conclusion. He is also clearly setting up for next few books of the series. Butcher has already proven himself to be a master of modern urban fantasy. This novel only serves to cement that position.

Go get it.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
A.K.A. Glasswright’s Apprentice – A Quick Review

Rani’s family has scrimped and saved to buy her a place in the glasswrights’ guild. This is a step up for Rani, moving her from the merchant caste to the artisan caste. It is supposed to be a good thing.

Unfortunately for Rani, the glasswrights guild somehow manages to get involved in the assasination of the crown prince. Rani manages to escape the fate of her fellow glasswrights and sets out to discover who really killed the crown prince and clear her name.

The book is interesting, but requires a huge suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader for the plot to work. Had the author, Mindy L. Klasky, used divine intervention rather than a bunch of overlapping conspiracies, I might have bought in more readily.

Hit or miss.