Greg Nilsen

Look, I'm not normally that big of a couch potato, but this past week has had me glued to the TV. It's been like a family reunion of all our favorite shows…
First, Jack Bauer came back after two long years and got off to a fast start as always on 24. Already there have been some good twists, and we're not even a quarter of the way done!

Then Fringe came back after a month-plus hiatus and was a little anti-climactic. I thought they'd string out Olivia's kidnapping a little bit, but it seems like they were more interested in advancing the overarching story than the fringe science in this episode. I just hope they do it more gracefully in the coming weeks or they may start losing my interest.

LOST then got back to business after almost nine months and began dealing with the after-effects of moving the island. It's definitely taken the jump to where they're walking the line between scientific hypotheticals and pure fiction, but they seem to be doing it carefully so far. It's pretty amazing that they had most of this in mind when they started writing the show.

Finally, our one non-broadcast crush, Burn Notice on USA, came back last night. If you've never seen Burn Notice, I'd definitely recommend it. It's another show about spies, but manages to be funny without being goofy. The lead character, Michael, just manages to ooze cool no matter what is thrown at him.

Alas, we're still waiting on one latecomer to join the party, but Chuck, probably my favorite show currently on television, won't be back until after the Super Bowl. However, I'm sure that extra wait will be worth it!

Anyway, welcome back TV! It's been a while since there was so much that was actually worth watching…

This 24 viewer doesn't seem to think so:

It's true.  We really need to get some more of those warm and fuzzy, people building their communities and helping others terrorists on the show….

Akmed, come and give me a hug!

My wife and I caught the premier of ABC's Wipeout tonight, which is basically a takeoff of the Japanese Viking obstacle course type show, and we were very amused.  Even though the production efforts clearly weren't there (with some pretty awful green screen work going on behind hosts John Henson [former Talk Soup host] and John Anderson [former SportsCenter anchor]), the show is hilarious for just watching regular people try and make it through these difficult obstacle courses and challenges only to take a spill in the water or mud.

Ya know, kinda like craning your neck at a car wreck or following the careers of a pop starlet, but it's much funnier and nobody gets seriously hurt or emotionally scarred.

It's not the kind of thing you'll watch religiously, but if you've got a Tuesday evening this summer where you need a few laughs, then just turn on Wipeout and you'll get your fill.

I enjoy the work of Michael Crichton. I've read most of what he's published, and I think his combination of science and imagination is fascinating.

The Andromeda Strain is one of his most understated works of suspense, as he puts a team of scientists in a high-security lab as they try to figure out what exactly killed off an entire small town in a matter of minutes and how to stop it before it kills more. It's an interesting mix of science, humanity and nature all put together in a solid novel.

Now, the book did get a movie treatment back in the day. I've seen it, and it sticks pretty closely to the book, but it's kinda hard to watch any more because the look of it is just so dated.

Well, recently A&E and Ridley Scott decided to try and turn it into a two-part, four hour TV movie with all the fixins. They even got a solid bunch of actors (Benjamin Bratt, Daniel Dae Kim and several others who have made a career of being on various TV shows). Even the special effects weren't bad for a made-for-a-cable-TV-channel movie.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the screenplay writer lost his copy of the book…

Maybe a quarter of what went on in this movie comes from anything found in the the original work. Instead of being a story about science, the unknown, and immense pressure, they turned the whole thing into a government conspiracy pseudo-science piece of crap. They even made the leap to wormholes and time travel (probably from Chrichton's Sphere) and nanoparticle communication in neural networks (probably from Crichton's Prey) and even stole the deep sea drilling protests from the Cloverfield backstory. It all turned into a hodge-podge of pure, unfettered crap.

If you've never read the book, this movie might even seem excusable. However, the story was so mutated and corrupted that it just ruined my night.

So, if you see this on TV, make sure to keep on passing by. You'll thank me later…

Well, with the holidays, I got a little behind on the race.  Fortunately, my wife and I got the time to get caught up on things tonight.

Last week, we were treated to both the mental collapse of Lorena, who decided to repeatedly scream around a startled camel as she tried to milk it, and Shana & Jennifer who acted like the spoiled idiots they seem to be by complaining that Africa was too dirty and gross.  Unfortunately though, it was the sisters Marianna & Julia who fell just behind the pack and wound up being eliminated.

This week, we watched teams spend another full leg in Burkina Faso (which I'm sure the blondes loved), and were introduced to this season's twist: the U-turn.  This season, instead of the traditional timed yield, the U-turn will force a team to go back and complete the other detour after already completing one.  I like the new twist, and I think it is more fair.  Quality teams will be able to complete the other task in a more timely manner, making it less of a penalty.

On this leg, the blondes decided to force Lorena & Jason, already behind the rest of the pack, to complete the U-turn.  Unfortunately, that pretty much ended the drama for the episode, as the pair was ultimately eliminated.  However, the front of the pack got more interesting as Azaria & Hendekea and Jennifer & Nathan ended up making a mad-dash for first, with Azaria & Hendekea grabbing the number one spot for the third time already.  I did find it funny that the result did end up with Jennifer pouting because they were beaten once again.

At this time, I'm actually starting to pick favorites.  Right now, I'm definitely in favor of Azaria & Hendekea, as they just seam like good people who have what it takes physically and mentally to compete the whole way.  As for those in the middle of the pack, my sentimental favorite is the team of Nicholas & Donald who seam like a team that shouldn't last long, but they manage to stick around.

As for the “wish you weren't here” list, I've still got three on the list:

• Jennifer & Nathan – They try to have that “winning” attitude, but they really get on my nerves because they act like they deserve to win.
• Shana & Jennifer – Because they're spoiled and ungrateful to be doing what they are doing.  Need I say more?
• Kynt & Vyxsin – Because when I think neon pink and black, I still think 80's rock…not goth.  That, and Kynt has proven to be pretty much useless.

Now things are starting to get interesting though.  I'm looking forward to when we will see the non-elimination legs…and get back to some longer travel portions.

And that 'S' would stand for 'stupid', as in the recent 'Adults-Only' rating given to Volumes 1 and 2 of Sesame Street, recently released on DVD.  That's right, the loveable, timeless creations of Jim Henson that aired on PBS for 38 seasons, starting in 1969, has been deemed inappropriate for children.

Shame on them for trying to help kids learn and teach them values.  Though times have changed, the lessons found in Sesame Street have not:

• Don't be mean to others (try being nice instead of simply taking more prozac).
• Learning can be fun (yes, as fun as your PSP).
• Sharing is important (even if you love what you share…right Cookie Monster?)

Look, if you sit a kid down and they come away thinking that smoking while reading (followed by eating the pipe, as Cookie Monster did in the Monsterpiece Theatre segments) is a good idea, maybe you need to spend more time teaching the kid about reality and humor.  Otherwise, Sesame Street is still a great series for children.

When the fall TV season started, I didn't think I had much to look forward to.  Both LOST and 24 weren't going to be on again until the new year started, House is in the middle of reinventing itself, The Amazing Race was a few months away, and all the new shows looked like crap.  I've never gotten into Heroes, so I didn't have that to look forward to either.

Well, after missing the premier, I ended up catching the encore of the premier episode of Chuck on a quiet Saturday evening.  For once, I was actually impressed.  The show was interesting, smart, and really funny.  When there were a million different ways they could have gotten “super nerd becomes international spy by accident” wrong, they actually found one that worked.

Now, if you haven't seen it yet, beware that the show doesn't take itself too seriously.  Some of the spy stuff is a bit over the top and highly improbable, and the fight scenes are old Batman-esque, but it doesn't seem to hurt the show because it isn't the crux of the show.  Like the name implies, the show isn't about all the spy escapades, but about Chuck and his life.

Both my wife and I are now caught up in the show and find ourselves making the occasional “Captain Awsome” references.  It's simply a fun and charming show that most anyone will like.  If you haven't seen it already, now is the time!

Another week, another elimination.  Even though we were treated to somebody's grandfather in his underwear as he struggled to cross a bog (let's just say he needs to switch to boxers), it was ultimately the lesbian “Married Ministers” Kate & Pat, with their “why run when you can walk” attitude, who got eliminated.  Interestingly, that's already two of the teams I wanted to see eliminated gone from the show.

What else we learned this week was that people can't tie knots.  All it took were some quick instructions and following them to make the hoist detour easy.  But there were several teams who just couldn't get it.

However, a few more teams managed to make my bad list this week.  Let's recap:

• Kynt & Vixsin – “Dating Goths” – They're stronger that most teams initially thought, but they should be fun to root against for a while.  Eventually, I think Kynt will be the weak link for them.
• Jennifer & Nathan – “Dating” – I'm not even sure how they're dating.  They don't seem to get along, and Jennifer just breaks down into something mean when she gets frustrated.
• Ronald & Christina – “Father/Daughter” – I really wanted to like them at first, but Ronald just never shuts up and constantly belittles his daughter.  Unless they start getting along more, they're going to stay on the bad list.

There are a few teams emerging as likeable so far, but I'll keep them to myself in case the editors destroy a teams image like they did with Ronald & Christina this week.  Maybe will get a few closer finishes as well, since Kate & Pat were way behind the pack this week.

Oh well, it's still early!

So begins the 12th season of The Amazing Race.  After having to put up with last season's rehash “all-stars” format (having only one team that actually won the race previously, one team that wasn't even a team previously, and all of the most annoying teams from the previous seasons), we finally get some fresh blood.

As I told my sister before the episode started, the first few episodes are less about finding a team to root for, but finding the teams you want to get eliminated early.

Very quickly, I found myself hoping the following teams would fail:

• Ari & Staella – “Best Friends” – Who just came across as jerks from minute one.
• Kate & Pat – “Married Ministers” – Who seem like the token “gay couple” for the show, but don't seem to have a chance to make it past the first few checkpoints.
• Kynt & Vyxsin – “Dating Goths” – Who seem to have confused goth for the 80's new wave look, and are just too “out there” for me.

Fortunately, we didn't have to deal with Ari & Staella for long, as they got passed up by teams while they verbally abused their donkey assistant in Ireland.

So one down, nine to go (two in particular)!

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but yes, I am a Lost viewer. I wasn't until the fall, and hearing so much about it I decided to check into what all the hubbub was about. I got a hold of the first two seasons and managed to go through them in about two weeks (that was like 30 hours worth), and I was quickly addicted.

The interesting thing about Lost is that nobody's fully informed about anything. Normally, a writer will either write directly from the main character perspective (where others know what is going on, but we learn along with the character), or from the 3rd person perspective (where we know what's going on, waiting for the main character to catch up). However, on Lost, we get a strange mix. Not only do we know some things that the characters do not and learn many things along with the characters, but the characters also have these backstories that influence their actions that we only get glimpses of from time to time. It makes for an interesting dynamic, but with a large cast of main characters it can get a bit confusing or disjointed.

However, most of the time Lost manages to stay on course. Despite many of the recent criticisms of the show by people who are growing impatient for answers, I am growing excited about the future of the show. The answers to the show's mysteries isn't the important part, but it's how they come together. When Lost does finish up in the next few years, it's going to be BIG, and I'm excited about that.

Things are going to get good!