It's that time of the year again, baby!

By the way, the new season started with Eureka.

Anyway, so here comes the network shows.

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl came out blasting - primarily with Dan, the good boy, going player with two girls at the same reading, no less, and with Nate going Cougar hunting.

It's weird how they flipped the season finale with Blair getting her heart broken by a flippant Chuck Bass that found his badside - and came back with an ultra-weak, sappy, and vulnerable Chuck. "I was scared you'd see me" - or whatever he said - felt really out of character. It's something they could've saved at least until later in the season. Unless, as it seems, they're going to build a vindictive courtship done only the way Chuck Bass, that sappiness completely missed. But, now as I think of it, seeing how the two ultra-petty and weak-inside-so-they're-ultra-mean-outside kiddos go about romance in their ways will be pretty damn fun.

Serena and Dan getting back together? It was sweet, but sure seemed a bit dubious.

Overall, we know where most of the kids are and they've set the table for the first part of the season. As it seemed to me last year, they set up the soap run, Topic A, B, C, and D. So, we don't know what E is yet, but it should be fun.

By the way, the show was much more tame than their hype-machine made it out to be..
and with that said..

90210

BJ in the car within the first 20 minutes? Really?

That seemed a bit much.

Then again, Chuck almost date-raped Jenny in the GG series premiere, and that's way worse.

So, did 90210 live up to the hype? I'm not too sure exactly. I never really watched the original with regularity so I don't know how it was made and how this new rendition would play off of it. The small shoutouts and tongue-in-cheek moments were nice for those who recognized them. They were definitely expecting the late 20s and early 30s crowd that grew up on the original to show up and test the waters.

What I liked:
- the humor - here's to hoping that the show wont' take itself too seriously (like the OC).
- Hmm. Is that it?

What I wasn't so hot for:
- Although Lori Loughlin's pretty damn hot at her age, she nor Rob Estes look like legitimate parents of two high school kids (one who's adopted, no less). Seriously.
- two of the 3 main girls are WAAAY skinny - like unhealthy looking arms skinny. Yes, Leighton Meester's slim, but she's had a "normal" hollywood body for a young lady since I first saw her in Surface. I'm not saying they have eating problems, but c'mon.
- the mean "blogger" thing is topical, yes, but also done in Veronica Mars.
- I liked the first hour better than the second, but they did throw a lot in for each character and it was sort of too everywhere... I'm sure they're just feeling out their way, but why not just focus on the family and run hard with the family til the surrounding community finds its role?

Will it survive? I think so. It has pretty people, it has drama, it has all the "hopes" of the CW riding on it, and because of that can throw on some crazy stuff to keep people interested.

But, does it really bring anything different to the teen drama world? I think the fish out of water story that was essential in the original, in The OC, and in Gossip Girl is covered obviously in Gossip Girl. The sexual mystique? Yes, Gossip Girl. It's glitzier than Gossip Girl. But, in the end, the writing and character building will tell the truth from the hype.

Bones
What can I say? It was classic 2-hours worth of Bones: humor, forensic science, Booth and Bones chemistry and romantic teasing, and humor!

I thought that the aloofness of the drama during the investigations was a bit looser than normal, but I guess they wanted to clean up some stories to open up the room for future developments.

My favorite moment in the 2 hours was when Hodgins started the fight with Angela's "ex"-husband and Sweets, while longing for belonging as he might self-assess, tried to jump in. Before he could, he was tripped by Angela. Perfect "Bones" moment.

My second favorite moment came at the end. Throughout the episode, Clark, who we first saw as Zack's "replacement" in the Season 3 premiere who subsequently got booted when Zack came back later in the episode, felt uncomfortable with all the aloof personal life infusion at the research lab. Clark, who returned in Season 4's premeiere because of Zack's "involvement" with the gormogon, didn't seem like he was going to make it through a second season premiere. And, I was right! But, instead of how he was abruptly booted in last season's premiere, this year he took control of his own situation and resigned from his position at the lab because he was just a scientist and couldn't hang with all the drama at the lab. Beautiful. Beautiful retribution for Clark and beautiful laughing at oneself as the show did with that statement.

The episode also felt like it was being written for a new audience. Makes sense. If FOX is giving it a 2-hour premiere, then I guess we can expect FOX to push it forward as one of its flagship dramas.

Good return. I love this show!

posted by breakfast boy@ 3:38 PM