Jericho! ... And other TV stuff

Ladies and Gentlemen, Jericho returns February 12th at 10pm! We are all very very excited. I hope you all tune in and see what all the hub-bub was about. CBS still has all of season one streaming on their site, or you can Netflix or rent or even buy the season one DVDs (they're so pretty!). If you don't have that kind of time or patience, CBS made a nice little promo to help you catch up. And if you still need some motivation, check out the extended season two promo full of Jericho goodness! C'mon, that promo is hot! Please join us in seven episodes of post-apocalyptic fun.

Now, on to other TV stuff...

This season gave us some good TV. The new standouts for me were Journeyman, Life, Reaper, Chuck and Dirty Sexy Money.

I gave up on cop shows after Homicide: Life on the Street went off the air. But Life has given a new turn of the old hat procedurals with a detective exonerated from a life sentence who has taken on the notion of Zen while trying to track down the bastards who framed him. Another smart, character driven show that uses the LAPD as it's backdrop, and stars one of my new TV boyfriends, Damian Lewis, who makes his troubled, vengeance driven character interesting and compelling. The supporting cast is excellent, and we care about them way before we find out any of the details of the conspiracy that drives the plot. In reality, this is not a cop show, but a show about two people who have been to hell and back, and now in recovery, doing their best to choose good. I adore this show and was thrilled to hear that NBC gave it a full season pick-up even though the ratings were a bit shaky. If you have got some time on your hands, NBC has all 13 episodes streaming on its site.

And then there is the dark horse, Journeyman. A new take on the time travel idea that was compared to Quantum Leap (even by me at the beginning), but carved a very different path in its 13 episodes. This is one of those shows that would have surely been pulled if it hadn't been for the writer's strike, and while it passed its official renewal date, NBC has yet to make that cancellation official. I dare hope that this strike just may give it another chance. There is the now requisite SaveJourneyman campaign, and NBC has just released all 13 episodes on their website. It is a smart and thought provoking hour and I highly recommend you giving it a look (especially the later episodes), before it disappears forever. If nothing else, it has a kicky little theme song and an Actual Opening Credit sequence! You know I love that.

I must also mention 30 Rock here. I enjoyed all my favorite returning shows this season, but 30 Rock kicked up a notch or two and is, dare I say, the funniest sit-com on TV right now. Tina Fey has got some crazy, hilarious characters inhabiting this world, especially the much lauded Alec Baldwin as NBC Exec Jack Donaghy. A show that is well worth a half hour of your time every week.

And now for the ugly stuff, the writer's strike.

I have been having a hard time writing about this because I am so pro-union, and so anti-world-wide-conglomerate I was afraid that I would come off as a ranting loon. But just let me say this: the creative minds behind so many of my favorite shows should be getting money for their work. If the studios and networks are making money off of selling ads online, then so should the writers (and everyone else who worked on these projects). It seems so obvious, it makes these huge corporations look like greedy scum.

If you are still not sure what the writers are asking for, here's a video that explains it all. Then there are the execs, bragging about all the money they will make off the internet, while claiming to the writers they have no idea if the internet is feasible.

If you'd like to see what's going on with the strike, please go over to United Hollywood and look around. Thanks!

P.S. Before someone scolds me for linking to the network sites and encouraging people to stream episodes, let me say this: I am all for boycotting the sites as long as the writers aren't getting residuals for online content, but I adore some of these shows, and feel like if they get some activity online, maybe someone will notice that they are worth while and will keep them around. Does this conflict with what I just said about the money-grubbers? Yes, but we all know that the world isn't black and white, and this is my gray area.