Melrose Place, the CW, Tues 9pm
I should admit up front that I never ever watched the original series so came into this as a genuine new viewer - but one who enjoys camp. However, the pilot episode was just bad and I hear that it just gets worse. Sure there's some decent acting (nods to Stephanie Jacobsen as Lauren, Jessica Lucas as Riley, and Michael Rady as Jonah) but the camera work felt too amateurish and forced, much of the dialogue stilted and most of the characters are just boring.
I am most disappointed that the bisexual character (Katie Cassidy's Ella), although claiming to embrace a casual approach to sex and relationships, is pining for a guy (Jonah) - both are pictured above. It sucks to have a bisexual character who appears to be with women as her second choice (instead of being equally attracted to both sexes) - I hope that this changes as the show develops.
I'm not sure if I'll continue to watch. I may just to see if Ella becomes a more developed character.
So You Think You Can Dance, Fox, Wed 8pm
Yay for lots of good tap dancers! And awesome salsa! And yay for Cat Deeley! Since it's auditions there's not much to say other than that.
Glee, Fox, Wed 9pm
I get such a kick out of Glee. Definitely my favourite parts are the musical numbers - this week's being Gold Digger!
I don't think this episode was as strong as the preview however I am hopeful that this is inevitable as the show finds itself. I must admit, though, that as long as there's fun song and dance numbers, I'm happy!
I randomly have hopes that Chris Colfer's adorable and gay Kurt will find romance with one of his bullies (my weird hope has been based on the fact that bully/football player Puck is a regular on the show). I'd like to see more of Kurt, Artie, Mercedes and Tina - they're the characters I'm most interested in!
The Vampire Diaries, the CW, Thurs 8pm
Well, I liked this much more than Melrose Place but that isn't saying a lot! I was a huge fan of Dawson's Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer so it was hard to watch this show without comparing it to them - and the Vampire Diaries came up lacking on both counts. The dialogue doesn't have that fresh fun-ness it did on Kevin Williamson's Dawson's Creek nor does it have the fun, campy humour that BtVS did. There's way too much emphasis (for me) on the romance which I suspect will please fans of the Bella/Edward romance in Twilight (which isn't my thing).
However, despite all that (and the voiceovers - I'm so bored of voiceovers), I will give it a try for a few more weeks. I love teen drama plus I love it when done by Kevin Williamson so I'm definitely giving it a chance to develop. Also, Ian Somerhalder (pictured above, on the left) as really bad boy Daman is awesome! I love Somerhalder (formerly Boone on Lost) in this role - evil suits him - and he's really thrown himself into this role.
TV News: Ellen Degeneres to be new American Idol Judge
How crazy is that?! I loved Ellen when she guest hosted on SYTYCD. Sure she didn't provide much in terms of critique but, man, is she funny and made all of us laugh. Perhaps this will be a good thing for American Idol: instead of the random crazy things Paula would say, now the viewers get purposefully funny humour (I prefer to laugh at something that's intentionally funny - cringing is never as fun). As a non-fan of AI, this move might actually get me to watch it!
