Here's my Opinion Five-Spot for the week ending February 27, 2011 (and to some extent the week before that as well, which I took off):
V - The alien drama is sitting squarely on the fence ratings-wise, but I have to say I think I'm at a point where I wouldn't mind seeing more. Perhaps it's just the big void left behind by
Lost, but the show has more forward momentum than when I gave up on it last year, and I think it's been a good idea to pit Anna's daughter (and mother, played by Jane Badler) against her. Downsides: the addition of Bret Harrison was pretty much a non-starter, and Erica's son remains a pretty terrible character, but... at least he got a haircut?
Parenthood - I know I wrote about this show last time I did one of these a couple weeks back, but it's hard to avoid it lately. It's definitely my favorite broadcast drama of the moment (pretty slim pickings there), and in the two weeks since I last wrote we've seen John Corbett run off and the Crosby/Jasmine relationship completely fall apart. There's some pretty heavy stuff going on, but this was always a cast that was capable of that, so I'm glad they writers are finally letting them do their thing.
Survivor - Competition reality shows like this one seem to come down more to casting than gimmickry like "Redemption Island" and the return of Boston Rob and Russell, and this season of Survivor seems to be working because they've got a pretty interesting new character in this Phillip guy. The premiere was an instant classic because of his tribal council blowup. I'm disappointed that we're through two full episodes and still have yet to see a Redemption Island dual or anything, but I guess that's reason to watch this week!
The Office - The theme of so many episodes leading up to Michael Scott's departure has been, "Michael Scott learns a lesson!" or more specifically "Michael Scott learns this thing/person he's revered for so long isn't all he cracked it up to be!" I guess there should be some of that, because Michael is definitely a pretty immature character, but at this point I'm more interested in the departure itself than in shaping Michael into some perfect character. Hopefully they start getting to that stuff pretty soon.
Fringe - I definitely enjoyed last week's flashback episode of
Fringe as an hour of TV, but my main takeaway was "What was the point?" The performances were extraordinary, but it definitely served largely as fan service for the Peter/Olivia shippers, and I'm not sure it's really convinced me that the show is "back." As a whole, I'd still say the episodes since the Friday move have not really lived up to the hype generated (deservedly) by the move itself and the sheer excellence of the stuff that came right before.
More Five-Spots in the Index.
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