Opinion Five-Spot, WE 11/14/10 - Conan, House, Psych, Survivor, Community

Here's your Opinion Five-Spot for the week ending November 14, 2010:

Conan - I watched night one of Conan out of curiosity, and I think that's pretty much all I need to see. That isn't a diss, really, because the typical late night TV format doesn't really interest me, and I haven't found anyone I like enough to tune in every night. But the premiere struck me as mostly an average episode of what he did at 12:35 for many years. I love the digs at NBC, but the other side of that (the "look at how poor and unemployed I am!" side) strikes me as a tad insensitive and doesn't work comedically for me.

House - I hadn't watched the medical drama in about a month but checked back in with the debut of Amber Tamblyn. She was an OK character, I suppose, maybe even a better one than Olivia Wilde's 13. I'm just not sure the show does much for me anymore. It's always been one of TV's most formulaic shows, but that stuff has been well-executed and often combined with good character material. I just don't think there's much in terms of character material this year. Huddy not as interesting as House being crazy.

Psych - TV's always a little more fun when this show is on the air. I only have a vague recollection of the first Despereaux episode, but that character is fun to watch. The bigger news among the Psych fandom is probably that this show has become the latest to resolve its sexual tension. How will that look going forward? To be continued. But even as someone not particularly invested in Shawn and Juliet, it was time, if not past time. Good call.

Survivor - I know I talked Survivor last week, but this is something different entirely; the "next time on... Survivor" promo was pretty chilling. A handful of contestants look down at the ground in shock, just muttering "Oh my god." Then there's a talking head in which a contestant calls it a "day in hell." It was like a promo for a post-apocalyptic drama. My interest is piqued. I imagine the answer is something kinda boring like their camp got messed up, but I'll certainly be there to see.

Community - I like Community a lot, but not every single week; for example, the much beloved Halloween zombies ep did absolutely nothing for me. This bottle episode, though, was a great one. It reinforces that this show is one of NBC's more balanced comedies, somewhere between wacky 30 Rock and character-driven The Office, and that gives me hope maybe it can be a good show for a long time. (Of course, I'm making the bold assumption it'll actually be around a long time.)

More Five-Spots can be found in the Index.