Well, it’s super week for some of the hottest television series… Three of the nation’s top rated shows are premiering again this week.
24 started with a bang on Sunday night, and followed its two-hour season premiere with yet another two-hour episode on Monday night. Admittedly, I am nearly lost this season (at least as far as characters go). I did not have a chance to catch up on Season Six this summer, and I completely missed the airing of 24:Redemption. Bad fan! At any rate, it’s nice to see Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) back—alive. And of course, my other favorites Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub, whose character took at least two seasons to grow on me) and Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) are back as well. Fortunately for me, the plot for each season of 24 is unique in its own right and not entirely dependent on whether you’ve seen prior seasons. So, I’m able to follow along for now, but I’ve got to rent Season Six soon. If you missed the premieres, the full episodes are available online. Don’t have four hours to watch? You can also catch up by watching the episode recap (what we like to call the “previouslies”) or reading the transcript summary.
ABC’s cult favorite, Lost, also has its big recap this week and the premiere next Wednesday on Jan. 21st. Like many of my other favorite series that air on nights I am usually busy, Lost was literally lost somewhere along the way in Season Two for me. But all my friends, the entire HJ staff, and my family have kept up. They all agree that the series premiere is much anticipated. Perhaps I will take some time this Wednesday night to watch the recap, ask my husband all the pertinent questions during commercials, and be prepared for next Wednesday’s premiere.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out HJ’s Lost Library, it’s worth a peek. Last year, the producers of Lost released a reading list of book titles that appear in and have influenced the show in some way over the last four seasons. True fans that they are, HJ reviewers Mark Sommer and J. Alan Sharrer made it their mission to check these books out. Online reviews of books in the reading list can be found here: The Lost Library.
Saving the best for last, Battlestar Galactica is also making its final season’s premiere this Friday. The producers and writers planned a limited run for the series from the outset (four seasons only)—with a particular end in mind. This kind of planned storytelling eliminates traditional problems of other hit series (like Gray’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives), which struggle when the viewer demand exceeds the initial concept. When a show continues several seasons past the initial concept, writers have a hard time keeping the plot interesting. Few series have faced this challenge successfully, such as Stargate SG-1, and other outstanding series have relied on feature-length movies to wrap up the loose ends after being cancelled (Farscape and Firefly). It is for this reason that I am anticipating BSG’s return. Will their strategy work? Will the “planned-from-the-beginning” ending satisfy viewers?
Admittedly, I have no idea where they will go from here. Last season’s finale destroyed the entire plot premise: finding earth. Yes, they found it. But since it was destroyed and uninhabitable, where can they go from here? Any satisfactory ending may have to be metaphysical in nature. I look forward to starting up the Galacticana blog again. If you haven’t dropped by to give your opinion of where the series will go from here, I’d love to hear from you. And tonight I will catch up on the 10th installment of the mini-webisodes they have been airing online. All ten only make up one episode, but it’s still worth the look into Gaeda’s backstory.
One other note, although it’s not the season premiere, I noticed that CSI is having its big episode this week as well. Fan favorite Gil Grissom is leaving the show. Don’t miss his final goodbye this Thursday, January 15th.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hey, thanks for the LOST Library plug! And I’ve enjoyed your Galacticana blog. Glad you will be able to get that going again.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
This is the difference between “BATTLESTAR GALACTICA” and shows like “ER”,which really should have ended after the 10th season. It would be a good thing,also,if “HEROES” were brought to a satisfying conclusion at the end if this season, so it won’t have to srtuggle they way it did during season 2.
January 20th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Thanks, Mark. It’s always nice to connect with another BSG fan… I posted a new entry yesterday. I’m so glad it’s back, but it’s hard to imagine only ten episodes for the entire season…Eek!!
I agree, Jeremy. Both Heroes and Lost would do well to wrap it up in short order. But it’s hard to shut down a money maker when it’s bringing in the dough! You kinda want to ride that wave till the very last ripple. And I’m sure people might be angry if there are too few seasons of a really good series. It makes you wonder, though…do people actually prefer to watch a show until it absolutely dies, or would they be just as happy to see it end in a couple of seasons? We are used to seeing films in threes (trilogies), why not TV series? (Note: I can only say that because I don’t have any part in the profits…if I did, I might think differently).