I'm Back

After a short hiatus, I'm back to the blog and judging all things on TV. But let me take this time to talk about one of my current favorites, Arrested Development: Just finished Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. For all of you who are still yearning for the days of Seinfeld... here is your relief. This show is irreverent, insulting, akward, rude... and sometimes, just plain wrong... and that's just a few of the reasons I love it. T and I have slightly differing opinions on why this hilarious half hour is always on the brink of being cancelled. Here are some of the arguments:

1) Red States Syndrome - a recent "family" poll qualified this show as one of the five worst shows to watch with your family. That should only make you want to watch it more.

2) Bad Marketing - nobody has really heard about this show, I have no clue why - its won millions of awards, but for some reason, just doesn't get the press. I believe it always wins the "Best Show You're Not Watching" category. Well, I'm trying to fix that: WATCH IT.

3) This is T's favorite reason - most of the jokes build on back story, so its hard to get in to. I will strongly disagree with this. I actually didn't start watching until the end of season 1, and then only watched every now and then until we got our TiVo... I guess a lot of the jokes are funnier if you had watched previous episodes, but guess what - that's what DVDs are for. But I still think that you can jump right in - there is no serious plot line - and all relationships are basically explained through the narrator of the show (Ron Howard.)

Anyway - if you are looking for seriously ridiculous situations, with no salute to political correctness at all, watch Arrested Development.

Gilmore Girls Meets Felicity

So, completely by mistake, I have happened upon a new show - the WB's Related. It happened the weekend which began the million straight days of rain on the east coast - obviously this meant a TV & chinese food Saturday night, and since T was out of town, I was able to watch my girly TV shows in peace. Now, I finished up my week's TiVo and it was only about 6pm.. what to do? I actually switched on - wait for it - REGULAR TV. It was weird. (Apparently there are still these things called commercials?) Anyway, Related was on, and since there was nothing else to watch, I figured - new WB show? Lets give it a try - and thank god I did! I Love this show! Now, I've never actually been a Gilmore Girls viewer - not because I think I won't like it, (I actually think I would love it,) but more because it never happened and now its too late (I'll have to add it to the Netflix queue at some point.) But what all the GG fans always claim they love about the show is the fast talking and the good relationship between the mother & daughter - Related has the same thing going on, except its between 4 sisters. The 4 Sorelli sisters (okay, that's a bit obvious, even for my poor Italian skills, but we'll let it go...) seem to range from 19 to late 20's/early 30's. There is the college age sister that just switched from a pre-med to alternative theatre major (hence the Felicity reference), the early 20s sister who is ditzy and just moved back home, the second oldest sister who just broke up with her long term boyfriend and the oldest sister who just got pregnant with her live-in, aussie(?) boyfriend. And then of course the father (who I think is the dad from My So Called Life) who just got engaged to an annoying yet we-may-just-end-up-liking-her woman. There is a ton of plot lines going on, but the sisterly feeling is really nice, and the stories don't seem forced (i.e. I like that none of them are married - as that is more common for girls in their 20s these days.) Although, according to TVGuide.com, this show may not last long - but as long as its on the air, I would definitely recommend you catch it. I believe new shows are on Wednesdays at 9, but they might be moving it to Mondays at the same time.

High Point: The pregnant sister's boyfriend - let's just say he's "easy on the eyes".
Low Point: The college-age sister is teetering on the line of being an incredibly annoying character. Right now, she'll get the benefit of the doubt... but if the show gets cancelled, I will blame her entirely.

I Also Hate Hugo

Last night's episode of Lost on ABC was pretty annoying. In my previous review of Invasion, I said that the reason Lost was good and Invasion wasn't was because of the mystery - well, let me amend that... We still need*some* answers to keep us interested. In last night's episode - nothing happened! We saw some more backstory of Hurly, but so what?? All it helped us understand was his decision to have a huge feel good banquet at the end of the episode so that people wouldn't hate him for the next month because he was holding out on food. What else happened? We found out that Sawyer's, Jin's & Michael's captors were not "the others" but actually survivors from the back of the plane (including Rose's husband who is - big gasp here - white! OH MY GOD - INTERACIAL MARRIAGE!!) But we knew they were the survivors in the last episode when Michelle Rodriguez spilled the beans. The only interesting thing that was revealed was that they are living in another Dharma bunker - and that most of their survivors have since died. But this was all contained within the secondary plot, with maybe a total of 10 minutes of a 40+ minute show - if this was the primary plot, and the flashbacks were related to these new characters - that would have been a much better episode. Looks like JJ is too involved with MI3 to care how his pet project is moving forward - too bad the writers can't really fend for themselves... stay tuned for next week.

Mars Attacks

Yes, I am very behind on the TiVo, but I finally watched the first 2 episodes of ABC's Invasion last night (I believe I still have one epsiode to catch up with, and then there is a new episode tonight.) Now, I have to admit at first I was a little angry at this show, because it bumped Alias from Wednesday nights... and once the shows started stacking on the TiVo, its hard for me to sit down and catch up with a show that I'm not emotionally involved with (is it wrong to use that phrase for a tv show instead of a guy?) But I decided to give it a chance anyway...

... at best, I'd say this show was okay (for now). Continuing on one of my usual gripes, I don't like the little girl - they are pushing too hard to make her Bo from M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (same "creepy" voice, weird foresight..etc) but she doesn't have nearly the same acting skills as the young actress from the movie. ABC is really trying to capitalize on the Sci-Fi-ish/Drama trend that's going on (thank you Lost), as are a lot of other shows that I have even less interest for (i.e. Supernatural, Surface, Threshold). Something about this show is seriously missing - the formula, or perhaps anti-formula, that works so well for Lost and Alias is that you don't know what's going on... you don't know the characters backgrounds, you don't know how they're really connected, you don't know what's really driving the mysterious things that are going on - you get to actually use your brain while watching these shows, thinking about past plot, foreshadowing, clues that won't be relavent until 10 episodes later.... In Invasion, you pretty much know that some alien is involved from the getgo (aliens always seem like such a cop out to me). It removes a lot of the mystery from the show. Okay, I guess I realize the whole premise of the show is on an Alien "Invasion", but does it have to be so cliched??? I'm going to give it a season, because there is a lot of potential... obviously, there is going to be some kind of government cover-up, but they could throw an interesting twist in there. Obviously there are pod-people walking around, but that too can become less spoon-fed to the audience. I think this show is not giving us enough credit as the viewers... once Invasion starts respecting us, I think the show can become really good. I guess we'll see.

High Point: Guessing what the Sheriff is up to - he seems pretty evil, and he has obviously orchestrated some of this "cover up".
Low Point: The crazy I-want-to-be-Jack-Black brother in law who's conspiracy theories are going to turn out to be true - its so predictable it hurts.

I Hate Baseball

This time of year always reminds me of just how much I hate baseball... normally, its a passive kind of hate, like: "M, do you like baseball?" "No, I freakin' hate baseball - next topic please." But during playoffs (or whatever you call it for baseball), it takes away from my TV time, and that makes me angry. So some of my favorite shows are on temporary hiatus, including The OC, Family Guy, Arrested Development, Kitchen Confidential... and I'm sure more that I'm just not remembering right now out of anger. (Oh yeah, Reunion.) Why, why, why do we watch a billion hours of this boring sport (the only high point of which is the endless supply of hot dogs - but that's only if they trick you to go and watch live) when we could have some nice scripted TV going on??? Normally I can count on Fox to do the absolutely wrong, un-PC thing... but then every year they have their annual let down. I wish somebody would just hit me over the head with a bat to put me out of my sports watching misery.

HOWEVER, on another, less angry/psychotic note, the more I watch How I Met Your Mother the more I am loving this show. Doogie really just steals the show, but the ensemble is very similar to early Friends episodes... they're still ironing out their interactions with eachother, but I have a good feeling that it won't get stale. Things from last night that I loved: sock-monkeys, hotdogs for just a nipple, doogie stomping off in anger because his friend dumped a porn star, the ex-girlfriend getting upset because she's not "f-able". (Something I just realized is that I have no clue what any of the characters' names are...) In any case, this show is hilarious... T makes fun of me for watching CBS "old people" shows, but this one is pretty original and manages a crude joke or two, while still remaining within the boundries of Big Brother FCC.

Still Hungry

Sad news - FX has officially cancelled Starved. Its really sad - here's the link.

Why Aren't You Watching These Shows?

1. Alias (obviously) - everyone should be watching this by now. There has never been better writing on television EVER - the plot is so forward thinking, that questions from season 1 are still being answered now in season 5 - and there are rarely any loose ends that are left wriggling around. Watch this show now.

2. Las Vegas - I am not a CSI/Law & Order fan - and I think people like me who don't like those shows get scared off by this one, thinking its similar. Well, let me tell you -its not the same. The acting is great, lead by James Caan, plots are interesting and it never gets old watching beautiful people do interesting things in Las Vegas. Although I'm a little sad they wrote off Nessa's character (rumors say she wasn't getting enough air time so she left), its still a great ensemble caset.

3. Arrested Development - This show is what The War At Home is striving to be - dysfunctional families at its best. The lines from this show are so random, that you can't help but laugh out loud. Plus they make fun of the Blue Man Group, lawyers, roofies, white collar crime, the military, and anything else you can think of... this is one of the few scripted comedies that is original and not trying to teach you a lesson in life. I hate learning life lessons.

4. The Office - No, this is not the same as Ricky Gervais' Office - but its damn funny nonetheless. Steve Carrell really knows his way around a comedy script (Anchorman, The 40 year old virgin, The Daily Show)... I don't think anybody could deliver these lines any better. The characters are so purposefully akward, its reminiscent of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Give this show a chance - it may take a few tries to "get" the humor, but once you're there, you'll never leave.

5. Scrubs - This show is HILARIOUS. There are rumors that they are going to bring this show back in a couple of weeks instead of in January - thank god. This is the anti-ER, which is good, because I hate ER. The only downside is that they tend to have a lesson at the end - but they do it with a character montage and a great song, so I don't mind as much. Plus the theme song is excellent.

Commander In Chief

I finally got around to watching the first episode of ABC's Commander In Chief. I wasn't sure what to expect - but I actually really liked the show! Geena Davis was pretty good (except it looks as though she recently had a LOT of botox done - I would like to see what she can do after a few weeks when she can actually have facial expressions.) I liked Donald Sutherland as the speaker of the house - *just* evil enough. I think it's interesting that they went with a Republican office - but I guess they did that to offset the West Wing - and anyway, Davis is supposedly an independent. I thought it would be overly cheese-y, but the only character I truly disliked was the youngest daughter (I hate cute children on TV or on any other media for that matter- it's simply nauseating.) Actually, I could pretty much do without all the kids - but it looks like they're trying to do something interesting with the older daughter not supporting her. And you KNOW I love the husband being constantly referred to as the first lady.

I guess the woman-trying-to-make-it-in-a-man's-world theme of the show really got to me - as a working professional in a highly technical arena, I feel condescended to all the time. (is condescended a word?) Its nice to see (even a fictional) woman bossing some men around for once. This one could be either good or really good - I hope its the latter.

High Point: The tension between Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland.
Low Point: The kids in the show - they ruin everything. I was really, REALLY annoyed when the youngest spilled juice all over Geena Davis in the limo before the big speech. That's what babysitters are for.

Second Chances

So, my friend J (who is as much of a professional TV watcher as I am) convinced me not to give up on Grey's Anatomy. She told me that it was actually in her top 3 favorites right now - this means a lot because we are basically the same person (she also likes to judge people and everything else) and if its in her top 3, that means it should probably be in mine too. We've made a deal where she'll keep all this season in her TiVo, and I'll watch after Season 1 gets released on DVD. I am putting a lot of faith in her - so I hope she's right. Stay tuned for my Grey's Anatomy review in the upcoming few months....

In other news, I watched the second to last episode of So You Think You Can Dance last night... to my delight, Blake got voted off! Was he one of the best dancers on the show? Probably. But I hated him, so I'm pretty happy about the whole thing. In case you care, I would like either Nick or Melody to win.

Also, the season finale (hopefully series finale) of Beautiful People continued the trend of being one of the worst shows on television. Please put me out of my misery and cancel this show - I just can't go through another season. All the same, I'm really glad that Sophie chose Nicky over Giddeon. Actually, I hate Sophie, so I wish she chose Giddeon so that she made the wrong choice and her life was miserable. Actually, I hate myself for know who Sophie, Nicky and Giddeon are.

AKA The Best Show Ever

Alias is BACK. Season 5 started off running, and hopefully it won't slow down anytime soon. I am a die hard fan, and last year the first two thirds of the season was TERRIBLE. (Although, I must say the last third of the season came back and drew me back in.) Everything that was wrong with last season seems to be fixed within the first half of the episode. Here's the top three things that I think show that Alias is back on track:

1. Great Ending of the Episode: Last season, each episode seemed to wrap up so nice and cleanly. This may work for your average drop-in-when-you-have-time drama, but part of the formula that makes Alias so great is that it always leaves you hungry. Well, consider me starving.

2. New nefarious characters: Except for last season, each preceding season brought in awesome new characters that tried to screw up Sydney's life. Last season had no "good" new bad guys - Elena had potential but was totally underdeveloped, which was dissappointing. (To be fair, Nadia was fairly new and a great character, but again, they could have done more with her, and technically she was brough in with S3 anyway.) Last night showed the beginning of great "evil" characters. The only thing that would be the icing on this delicious cake would be if they brought back Sark. Sark is the best bad guy in the history of television period.

3. Good Evil Organization: Each successful season always clearly had somebody or some organization you knew you could blame things on - i.e. SD6 & the Covenant. Last season, it was a different person/organization every few episodes, so you couldn't focus on one recurring plot. It was annoying and bland. This season, we know there's going to be one main group to blame, and I couldn't be happier.

Now, I know people are upset by Vaughn's "death" - but this is Alias! Nobody is really dead! Get over it, and keep watching... it will only get better from here...

You won't be back

From WaPo chat:

Chantilly, Va.: Paul: any thoughts on the non-renewal of The Comeback on HBO? I was one of the devoted watchers. I liked it a lot.

Paul Farhi: A shame. A real shame. Lisa Kudrow was extraordinary. It almost hurt to watch that thing. Bring it back.

Another weight on the TiVo bites the dust. I always love watching M's shows wither away and die one by one. . .it's funny how shocked she gets when she finds out she's literally the only one out there who's amused by Neil Patrick Harris or Lisa Kudrow (although apparently Paul Farhi is also amused. . . someone should set up those two)

Also, Lisa Kudrow was extraordinary only if you find incredibly annoying characters compelling. That show sucked. Good riddence.

Making the Cut

So, since I was traveling all last week, I finally got a chance to catch up with all the new fall shows that premiered for '05... it was interesting, and a lot of shows failed to make the cut for my TV schedule for fall 05. Here's the results of Round 1 (I'll update on my returning favorites soon...):

The War at Home: If this is supposed to be funny, then I would like to be left for dead on the battlefield. While I'm not a candidate for PC-person of year, showing outrage at a possible gay son is stale humor and just didn't do it for me.
Final Answer: No

Beautiful People: I feel like a crack addict - I know this stuff is bad for me, probably making me stupid, and T may just leave me for saying this, but I'm going to finish up the season and watch the finale tonight. Terrible, terrible show, and I don't recommend it at all - I want to cry for myself.
Final Answer: Sadly, Yes.

Rome: I was sick of studying Roman history to watch TV. The show got too complicated for my simple mind, so I stopped watching. However, T (who was against the show to start with) is now a fan. Go figure.
Final Answer: No

How I Met Your Mother: I have a feeling this show is going to be good. Doogie is doing a good job as the idiot best friend, and I like seeing "band camp" girl pretty much reprises her American Pie role - she was funny then, and she continues to be here. The one-liners are pretty strong, which is pretty much what a comedy needs to sustain itself.
Final Answer: Yes

Kitchen Confidential: I'm going to call this show "What Will Tippin is doing while he's under the Witness Protection Program". (For you non-Alias fans, BC used to be a regular.) It looks pretty funny - I like the band of misfits he's put together and this show definitely had a strong start.
Final Answer: Yes

Prison Break: Sorry Prison Break - I already have too much to watch, and it just didn't keep my attention... I saw on the TiVo that I was two shows behind and just didn't care enough to catch up. Its officially deleted from the Season Pass List.
Final Answer: No

My Name Is Earl: This show is hilarious. I love Jason Lee, and Jaime Presley as the hillbilly wife totally cracked me up. Any show that makes fun of Caron Daley is definitely a keeper.
Final Answer: Yes

Supernatural: I couldn't even care enough to watch the season premier. There is absolutely no buzz on this show, so since I like to follow the water cooler pack, I'm just going to delete from TiVo.
Final Answer: No

Reunion: This show is a pretty cool concept - I think it could definitely do more with its premise, but I like it anyway. I hope they get a *little* more creative on the suspense piece - its more that I feel like I should be pondering certain questions rather than I actually wonder them. It doesn't have the same feel as a Desperate Housewives, which is what I think its aiming for, but the acting and the plot is good enough to keep coming back.
Final Answer: Yes

Starved: I know I've said this before, but any show with the motto "Its Not Okay" wins my vote. Unfortunately the season is over, and I heard its probably not going to get renewed. When it comes out on DVD, I strongly recommend you get it.
Final Answer: Yes

Twins: This show sucks.
Final Answer: No, No, No

M is a TiVo Hog

Last night, as I settled down to watch Monday Night Football, I noticed that a multitude of shows were scheduled to record.

8:00 PM: Arrested Development- This show is funny, no problem here, plus I could still watch football on the other receiver

8:30 PM: How I Met Your Mother/Kitchen Confidential- So now I can't watch football on my big screen TV, due to Neil Patrick Harris being prominently involved. Are you kidding me?

9:00 PM: Prison Break/Las Vegas- I've seen Las Vegas before and it's okay (it's certainly not at the level M attributes to it), but I don't see where the hell Prison Break is going. Not that I've ever watched it. . . I'm still in the bedroom watching football on my little TV.

9:30 PM: Prison Break/Las Vegas- Both of these shows are an hour, so football is still being compromised by lame TV

10:00 PM: Laguna Beach: The Real OC- M's programs are now done. . . Order is restored.

High Point: The end of the Cowboys/Redskins game was pretty awesome

Low Point: Having to watch football on the tiny TV in the bedroom because M is a TiVo hog. . . Did I mention that she's not even at home? So she's hogging the TiVo from a distance, she could easily watch some of those shows at her hotel room. Also, it's lame that she's posting anonymous comments about how people have viewed her profile more (see entry below). How very childish.

Mike Tice is a Gorilla

Seriously, I know this is a TV blog, but after their performance yesterday, The Vikings don't even belong on TV. I think an Arena League team could have put up a better effort than they did on Sunday. It was disgusting.

Why does football season have to be ruined for me every year?

High Point: Please.

Low Point: Chad Johnson's 80 yard touchdown catch, T.J. Houshmanzadah's reverse for a touchdown, Cincy's 337 yards of offense in the first half, Michael Bennett's 2 turnovers, Duante Culpepper's 5 turnovers, etc.

Actually, the low point was knowing that I am a Vikings fan and I have 14 more weeks of this. Pathetic.

Lost - 100; Grey's Anatomy - 0

So.... I have finally started watching Lost. (I know, a little late.) But, this was part of a master plan, that is totally working out just as I hoped it would. I knew that lost was produced by J.J. Abrams, the producer of my favorite show in the whole world, Alias. I knew that JJ is all about cliffhangers, so I thought - why torture myself with a season's worth of cliffhangers, when I can just watch all the shows at once right before Season 2 starts. Thank god I did it this way - this show is AWESOME. Now, its not going to top Alias or anything, but it is still really, really, really good. If you haven't already, watch season 1 right now. And then start watching again on September 28.

Now, you're probably wondering why Grey's Anatomy is in the title.... its because I had the same plan for it. Not for the same reasons (I didn't think that the show would be nail-bitingly suspenseful or anything) but more because it didn't really catch my interest, so I thought I'd watch over the summer, and if I liked it, I'd invest myself in Season 2. BUT, they haven't released the DVD yet - how stupid is this? The only reason I'm going to watch Lost this season, is because I am able to go through the entire first sesason BEFORE season 2 starts... now, why would i watch G.A.? I have no clue what's going on, and there's no good way for me to catch up (I hate network synopsis pages.) I know this is supposed to be the next big show, but so far I am unimpressed enough with the handling of the logistics, that it may be removed from my fall schedule.

Lost High Point: Alias type cliffhangers and sci-fi suspense.
Lost Low Point: The frustration of Alias type questions that look like they won't be answered for seasons at a time (but its a good kind of frustration!)

Hallelujah

This upcoming fall season it seems that Network Television is finally giving us some scripted television - thank god. There is nothing I hated more than this reality TV hell we've been going through for almost a decade. Maybe its because I've hated TV for so long, or maybe its just because I'm an optimist, I have to say - I am REALLY excited for this upcoming season. I even spent an entire Sunday afternoon drafting an excel spreadsheet showing what I'm going to be watching. Thank god for TiVo though, as there are a lot of conflicting shows! Anyway, here are my top picks for both new shows and returning shows. For returning shows, I'm only putting the top picks for shows which I think are totally under-valued.... otherwise, see the graphic for my full line up... We'll see if I'm right in a few weeks!

New Shows:

1. Reunion, Fox, Thursdays, 9pm
2. Invasion, ABC, Wednesdays, 10pm
3. My Name is Earl, NBC, Tuesdays, 9pm

Returning Shows:

1. Alias, ABC, Thursdays, 8pm
2. Las Vegas, NBC, Mondays, 9pm
3. The Office, NBC, Tuesdays, 9:30 pm
4. Scrubs, NBC - Coming back in January!

Try skipping breakfat fatty.

Nobody knows what I have to live with.

M watched Beautiful People again last night. She's currently watching that abortion of a movie, The Wedding Date. 15 year old girls have better taste. The sad part is I know I will also probably have to give her the TV for the beginning of football season, so she can watch the OC.

Also, I was flipping around during the FSU-Miami game last night (which may have been the worst big time college football game ever) and I noticed that the "super hot" girl on "My Super Sweet 16" was fat. I love it when that happens. It makes me laugh. All her money isn't going to change the fact that she'll be some guy's last resort at the end of the night in a couple years. You know she secretly hates herself inside.

Try skipping breakfat fatty

Season Finale of Entourage

Overall, I thought it was fairly solid. I'm glad Mandy Moore is finally gone, though it sickened me to see Vince act like a little bitch about having broken up with her after only dating her for two weeks. The whole storyline was just not credible. Ditto with Ari having a heart to heart with E right before he thought E was about to become a rival agent at the company that just fired him. Who amoung us could doubt that at that moment Ari would probably rip his face off.

However, the episode was pretty funny. I really enjoy seeing Ari get chauffered around in that monstrosity from The Fast and The Furious

High Point: Ari mocking Shawna

Low Point: Vince acting like a little bitch

Judging MetroNorth Railroad and the MTA

I'd like to take a quick break from judging TV shows to judge the MetroNorth Railroad, the commuter rail from New York City to surrounding areas, run by New York's Transit Authority, the MTA. I HATE THEM - they are corrupt, incompetent, and just down right idiotic.

Case 1: I am a long-time commuter, so I normally buy monthly passes. In August, I was away for awhile, and when I returned, I only had 12 days of travel left in the month - so it didn't seem right that I would spend the $184 on a montly pass that I normally use for 20+ days of travel. But after I did the calculations, it turns out that I would actually SAVE $4 to get a monthly, rather than get 2 weeklys - HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT???? What is the point of having weeklys??

Case 2: Yesterday was the first day of the month, and I completely forgot to buy a new pass - normally within the first few days of the month when this happens, the conductors remind you that a new month has started, and take your old pass so that you remember to get a new pass. INSTEAD, they refused to take my pass, and charged me $14 for a ONE-WAY ticket - this is ON TOP of the $184 I have to still spend on my monthly. IT IS SUCH B.S.

Case 3: The MTA sucks.

You know - over the years, between my MetroNorth pass and my subway pass, I give close to $275 a month to the MTA - it comes out to a lot over time. You would think they would give some leeway to us frequent fliers - instead, they just try and squeeze every last cent from you. The beauracracy of it all makes me want to cry.

Prison Break

On Monday I watched the first two back-to-back episodes of Fox's new drama Prison Break. I heard that Fox was trying to loosely use the successful format of 24... but it actually seemed to steal every character from The Shawshank Redemption, but make it "grittier":

The 2 main characters are a mix of Tim Robbins, one is wrongly accused, strong and silent, the other is clever enough to both make the right friends as well as to find a way to escape.

There was the Morgan Freeman guy who could get anything you wanted, who seems like he will be a friend to the Tim Robbins guy.

There was the old guy with the pet (this time a cat instead of a bird).

There were the crazy perverted white guy who wants to beat you into submission (literally.)

And the list goes on....

I supposed the question we must ask is: Is the "street" version of the Shawshank Redeption just as good? The answer is simple: No. However, its still better than most dramas on TV, and even though all the main character does is glare and make "I'm Intense" faces for the whole hour, (similar to the face Andy Petite makes right before he pitches), he's pretty good-looking, so I didn't mind watching. I'll keep watching for the season as long as it doesn't conflict with any of my regular shows.

High Point: The plot is pretty interesting, as long as the bad acting doesn't get in the way.
Low Point: The side plot with the ex-girlfriend also investigating the wrongly accused brother is pretty lame. I think its trying to give the show depth outside the prison scenes - but it doesn't work.