Over the past few days, NBC has bought a few drama and comedy projects that suggest a more resolute take on shaking up the status quo in the landscape of TV ratings. We are in that phase of the pilot season where broadcast networks hunt for projects and try as much as they can to shy away from pilot commitments.
Last week on the set of Fringe in Vancouver, Anna Torv and John Noble received their EWwy awards. Torv for Best Actress in a Drama, Noble for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, and the show for Best Drama. EWwy Awards are are Entertainment Weekly’s response to the Emmy Awards.
It is the end of the era, it was the last Doctor Who episode feature Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the two best companions The Doctor has ever had (in my opinion). It was the episode that Steven Moffat promised, giving the pair emotional farewell their deserved.
It’s back, and so is the original Speedy. Two Roy Harpers in the cast? This episode finds a way to make it work. Presenting the Rise of Arsenal. Unlike the comic, it doesn’t suck.
Even by Fringe standards, “Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11” is as intriguing as an episode title gets. The story picks up the day after the events in the previous season episode “Letters of Transit.” The day after Etta, Olivia and Peter’s daughter, helped free her father, her grandfather and Astrid from Amber in an Observer-run world. “Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11” is about the quest for Olivia and to a lesser degree, about setting the stakes for “the battle to save mankind.”
The second episode of NBC’s Revolution, “Chained Heat,” was not at all like the pilot, and that was a good thing. By the time Nora – the lady who is very good at blowing things up – appeared, I had to check the episode’s writing credit, and I was surprised to find out the show’s creator Eric Kripke (who also penned the pilot) was credited. In “Chained Heat,” instead of trying to cram too many things in an hour with dubious approaches, he was more straightforward (and even candid at times) with his story and his characters. All things that made me wish the show had used this episode as the second leg of an extended premiere.
If we lived in a world where TV series episodes were judged by the value of each scene taken separately, “The Devil Will Drag You Under” would be one of the best episodes of Alphas to date. It featured an evil plan, a fallout between heroes, betrayal (well, sort of), love that can overthrow anything, very fine action sequences, and the greatest sacrifice a human being can make. And yet, there were a few things missing to make the whole an unforgettable hour of television.
