Come January, I'll Be Watching TV

January TV I'm Looking Forward To:

* The L Word - Final Season. For some reason, Showtime has let out that a major character is killed and I won't say who on the extremely slim chance that anyone reading this actually watches The L Word. Suffice it to say that it's the character I hate, so I'm thrilled. This is a pretty silly show, all things considered, but it's fun and soapy and the only decent TV show about lesbians. (There are a couple of other ones that aren't very good at all.) The characters are completely inconsistent and their personalities seem to change every episode, and there are way too many fluffy dresses for a show about lesbians, but I wouldn't miss it.



* 24 - I've already posted about this. Can't wait.

* Big Love - HBO. This is the show about a Mormon polygamous family, outwardly normal, living in the suburbs. It's a fascinating look at how the wives interact, the husband's relationship with the separatist cult in which he was raised, how the family deals with the "regular" world. I'm waiting, probably in vain, for two of the wives to get involved with each other. Haha.



* Flight of the Conchords - HBO. This show is about a quirky New Zealand folk-rock duo who've moved to New York City to make it big. Their manager works at the New Zealand consulate and they have ridiculous meetings that are like something out of Beckett. The boys navigate the city, love and their music "careers" in stylized, eccentric scenes that often devolve into 70's soul songs, yet contain convincing details about being young in New York. Their one fan is more like a stalker who hilariously shows up wherever they go. I love it.

Season 2 premiere episode here

Review of "24 Redemption"

I mentioned "24 Redemption" as something I was looking forward to watching in November. I finally got around to watching it last night. Wow. It was fantastic. Riveting from the first shot. Completely absorbing. At first, I was a bit taken aback by the scenes of children being brutally forced to become soldiers in a fictional African country. But this is the reality in some places, and it made for some gripping scenes. You soon find out that Jack Bauer, the hero of "24", is hiding out at a boy's school being run by an old spy friend of his. I won't give away the plot, but you come to empathize with the boys and Jack's need to protect them. The U.S. Congress has issued a subpoena for Jack to testify about mistreatment of prisoners and Jack is trying to avoid the subpoena. (Jack? mistreat prisoners? no way. LOL) I was quickly reminded of what I love about "24," which is watching Jack get out of one ridiculous situation after another. It's nothing for Jack to single-handedly get rid of 10-15 heavily armed men. At one point, some bad guys are torturing Jack to get information. Clearly, they don't know Jack, because that is impossible.

The story shifts between Africa, where Jack, his friend, and the boys struggle for safety, and the U.S., where a new president is about to be sworn in. The American scenes are wonderfully intriguing, with lots of mysterious shenanigans by behind-the-scenes schemers. There's a great scene between the president-elect (played by Cherry Jones) and the current president (played by Powers Booth), in which Booth sort of awkwardly hands over the reins of power to Jones. Booth has a great voice (he was great in this role, which he played in last season) and Jones is perfect as the new president. She conveys wisdom, power and naivete all at the same time. Great stuff.

There are interesting contrasts between the inauguration scene and Africans trying to get into the American embassy to escape a civil war. The Americans are definitely not always the good guys in this prequel.

This 2 hour prequel did the job for me. I absolutely can't wait for the new season to begin in January.

Watch "24 Redemption" here. It looks way better on the website than it did on my crappy old TV.

Here's the trailer for Season 7: