It’s that time of year again, when leaves will soon begin to fall off the trees, and DVRs will fill up with either new television shows or new episodes of old television shows. Here’s the new sci-fi stuff I’m planning to watch next week and why …
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season 2
(Monday, FOX, 8pm EST) The first season of this show started off a bit uneven, but really hit its stride about midway through, particularly after the introduction of Derek Connor from the future. And holy crap, the last half-hour of the season finale? That pool scene? Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around”? I still get goosebumps. If you haven’t already seen Season 1, or just want to watch it again, FOX has full episodes up on their website. Or you can always just go back and read my recaps.
True Blood, Season 1
(Sunday, HBO, 9pm EST) All I really know about this show are three things: 1) it’s based on a series of novels; 2) it’s been adapted for TV by Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, which was a great show; 3) it’s about vampires coming out of the closet, so to speak; and 4) HBO really put a lot of energy into the whole viral “Tru Blood” marketing campaign this year, so I bet they’re hoping the show doesn’t tank. Okay, so that was four things. Anyway, it will be interesting to see if Ball can breathe new life (un-life?) into the vampire genre with this project.
Fringe, Season 1
(Tuesday, FOX, 8pm EST) One thing’s for sure, J. J. Abrams knows how to crank out winners. From Felicity to Alias to Lost to Cloverfield to the highly anticipated Star Trek movie, he keeps people coming back for more. At first blush, this new show just seems like an updated version of The X-Files. And having seen the pilot already, I can say … it kind of is … and isn’t. The first hour or so felt a bit predictable, but then in the last 20 minutes, things took a turn, and made me curious about the second episode.
I watched true blood last night, and I liked it. I’m a big fan of the novels, so I was extra excited about the series. I thought it was pretty good, but I disagreed with a few of the character choices. Paquin grew on me though, and overall, it was fairly entertaining. Definitely a watcher.
I had to get up early for a meeting this morning, so we tivoed it, and I’m hoping to watch it tonight or tomorrow. Glad to hear it didn’t suck! 🙂
Saw it. Liked it!
I watched Fringe last night, and I was fairly psyched about the show by the end of the episode. Sure, the beginning was predictable (I SO knew that Tom was going to buy it!), but it had some great moments (I think “Let’s make some LSD” was my favourite quote by far). It was a bit high on the ick-factor though (thank you CSI!).
I’ll definitely be watching this one again.
I didn’t actually watch Fringe last night, because Freakgirl and I were watching other things. But as mentioned in my post, I got to see a preview of the pilot this summer, and it sounds like you had a similar impression as me — slow start, strong finish. The wacky pseudoscience and shadow organization stuff is fun, but not really enough to carry the show. The key to success for a series like this is plot convolution and well-developed characters, which Abrams has proven in the past that he can pull off, with shows like Alias and Lost. So hopefully he’ll follow that trend here.
“The key to success for a series like this is plot convolution and well-developed characters”
Totally
Plus the girl is hot! LOL!!!
The Sarah Connor Chronicles was AWESOME! Shirley Manson makes me so happy.
I want to watch True Blood but I don’t have HBO anymore.
And I was on vacation and forgot all about taping Fringe. I hope they replay it.
Jill, I’ll drop you an email about this as well, but … if you head over to the Fringe website (just click the link in my post), you can actually watch the Fringe pilot there … in full HD no less!