Thursday, September 27, 2007

TERRITORIAL PISSING: Man, Wednesday is a punishing night of television. I'm through only two of the four TiVoed hours (plus there are still pilots galore from early in the week). I can only talk about Gossip Girl and ANTM here, though if nobody else posts on them and anybody wants a thread for Kid Nation or Dirty Sexy Money/the Blair Underwood Philanthropic Inventor Project, have at it.

On ANTM, it's still too early in the season to tell for sure, but it looks like two of the major arcs this season will be (1) the battle for the Sassy 'Hood Model slot (we like Lisa, who is gorgeous, but don't really see her pigeonholed that way; Spacewoman rightly points out that Bianca seems correctly jealous of Lisa's looks, poise, and foster-care upbringing); and (2) "Tyra Cures Autism" (tm Spacewoman). Of the latter, in a show that exploits illnesses leeringly, this episode was the most leeringly exploity of all. I do hope it works out for Heather, both because I sympathize with her difficulties and because the delta between rolled-out-of-bed Heather and makeup-and-lingerie Heather is astonishing. Incidentally, does Yale Girl have Aspergers too? In short-term news, the panel got the bottom three right and cured Tyra's biggest casting mistake this season in enjoyably comic fashion.

As for Gossip Girl, which I again thoroughly enjoyed (favorite thing this week -- realizing that Dan has just enough of a vestigial accent to make him believable as a Brooklyn outsider trying to crack a wealthy Manhattan social circle), may I venture two constructive criticisms? First, as many well-wishers as Kristen Bell has, and as much as her voice-overs are more cleverly-written than those on SATC and less ham-fisted as those on Heroes, they do nothing for the show except give it a title. The show hasn't made much effort to establish the blog's cultural significance, it makes no sense in real time, and as a framing device it's a rather blunt tool. Dial it back to prologue and epilogue. And as for our leads, HIMYM and FNL have shown that the Sam-and-Diane paradigm is not a rule inviolate -- you can have a good show built around relationships and romances without needing to use courtship as a plot crutch. The Dan-Serena Vanderwoodson tiff seemed forced and artificial, and I hope it doesn't take the rest of the season before they patch it up over a swelling power ballad.

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