TiVo Lady

Dis-Appointment TV (cont.)

It's not appointment TV;  no, it's Dis-appointment TV, in that it never fails to disappoint, as Boomer-friendly as it is. Brothers and Sisters is a prime example: sloppy writing, terrifying supporting actors, and Sally Fields doing her patented, Calista-Flockhart-like cutesy stutter/stammer make for some really Irritating Entertainment.  Nora Walker's aged girlfriend, played by the completely dreadful Margot Kidder, comments that Nora's professor "is not your fifth-grade chemistry teacher."  Well, I'm not sure anybody is a fifth grader's chemistry teacher, since fifth graders don't take chemistry very often.  Kidder is stiff and stilted, probably because she seems to have had so much cosmetic surgery on her face that her mouth doesn't move independently of her face.  And her face is mostly protruding teeth, since everything else that used to be in the front has been pulled all the way behind her head.  There's an enlightening scene of Calista taking something out of the fridge, and then pretending to eat.  We actually see her shove two whole forkfuls of pasta into her own mouth.  Amazing!  There's the obligatory hot guys in bed together scene, although Kevin Walker seems to have been dumped by his newly-out-of-the-closet soap opera actor boyfriend.  Of course, I could stop TiVoing this show.  But, then, what would I have to complain about?

Yawnerific Bros and Sisters

I appreciate ABC for its fine work in showcasing Actors of a Certain Age--Boomers actually--in their Sunday night show, Brothers and Sisters.  This week, Joel Grey even guest starred, as a really ineffective psychotherapist, who resembled a wrinkly Yoda on Slim-Fast.  But, as much as I applaud the elder-leaning cast, there is one unforgivable for any TV show:  Don't Bore Me!  And this show is beginning to do just that.  I'm somewhat tired watching Calista flirt and stammer with Rob, I mean Kitty Walker banter with Senator McCallister.  They're both cutesy, in a blandish way, but enough already.  And Joe and the other sister, Sarah, have marital problems.  So what? Show me the money.  Give me a plotline I care about.  Otherwise, just go away.

I must be feeling really grumpy today, because I usually enjoy this show, in a kind of mellow, all-inclusive way.  Must be the two great spy movies I saw this weekend, raising the bar on entertainment expectations.

Saw 24 last night, in almost real time.  Unlike many other TiVo owners, apparently, I have figured out that to avoid watching commercials, I just begin watching at the show at 14 minutes past the hour.  The show is now so formulaic, it's like watching somebody knit a sweater.  First, the bottom, then torso, arms, neck, reverse, done.  (Or however the hell you knit a sweater.)  Even when the former, disgraced President Logan showed up at the end, bearded and evil, I wasn't all that surprised.  I just thought he was in prison for life, or something.  Hubby thought he was dead, so I guess he was a bit surprised.  I'm annoyed by the show's logical inconsistencies, too, which seem more numerous than in the past.  Or maybe I'm just less willing to forgive.  In one episode, Jack's father, Phillip Bauer, seems eager to use a bomb to blow him and his team to bits.  But, then, in the same episode, Evil Dad decides not to shoot Jack in the Back, but to leave him a clue about how to find Gredenko.  Make up your mind, Evil Dad/Granddad.  Hey, I'm just a lady Boomer, trying to finding intellectually stimulating, right-wing style entertainment.  So entertain me already.

Back on the TiVo Track

Suddenly, there is TiVo!

24 is back, of course, which means that the formulaic 24 characters and plot lines have returned:  adolescent boy in jeopardy, power couple divided between loyalty to marriage and to country, indecisive President, apparently-innocent Arab who is really a terrorist along with apparently-guilty Arab who is really a hero, and the ever-annoying Chloe, who seems to have undergone a hair and makeup makeover.  Still, it's enjoyable and entertaining and terrifying, all at one.  The thing still makes me tremble with anxiety every time I watch.

Like 24, I didn't realize how much I missed Rome until I watched this season's first episode.  These are all, almost to a one, of Boomer Age, although born several millenia too early to be actual Boomers.  The best, I think, was Caesar, played by Ciaran Hinds, whom I will really miss.  He will not appear this season, except as a corpse, since he had  that unfortunate Ides of March run-in with the Roman traitors led by Brutus.  At least there's still James Purefoy to watch, the Brit who plays Mark Antony nearly to  perfection.  Born in 1964, he qualifies as a trailing edge Boomer.  Hinds, though, born in 1953, is a smack-dab-in-the-middle Boomer.  Both are, to me, as the British say, lovely.

Finally, I forced myself, yet again, to watch Brothers and Sisters, only because I am impressed with the fact that the mother/grandmother's dating problems carry equal weight with those of the daughter's generation.  This is probably because Sally Fields, who plays Nora TK, is still suffering from a case of the almost-terminal perkies.  She's just way too cute for a 60-something woman to be, really, and the other problem is that almost no other woman of a certain age has that much cute perkiness still in stock.