The butchered TV season is returning in full force, just in time for an expected Actors' strike that could spell the doom of the American version of the medium. Meanwhile, 30 Rock is back, and all is right again in the world. I'll even excuse a rather lame "Hand stuck in vending machine" gag (which I believe every comedy show -- even those on Adult Swim -- has done in the past) for the glory of MILF Island.
Battlestar Galatica continues its weird path to completion, with a full-blown Cylon civil war, lots of pensive looks (do the actors get coached on that? or does it just become second nature after a while?) and Starbuck screaming "You're going the wrong way!" like some petulant child. Despite this, the show still delivers the goods -- let's just hope their arrival at Earth is handled better than Galatica 1980 was.
SciFi starts season 4 of Doctor Who Friday night with the gloriously absurd starship Titanic episode (hmm, that could be a video game or something) episode. New episodes have already started on the BBC, and the good news is that Catherine Tate plays a much more nuanced Donna Noble than we saw in the 2006 Christmas episode. And Martha is back in episode 4. As is practically every supporting character from the first three seasons. And Daleks. And maybe pudding as well. Looks like they want to send the show out to hiatus with a bang.
Meanwhile, the cavalcade of awful Summer movies starts even earlier this year. The horrid looking Iron Man (really, those digital effects make Dragonball Z look good) gets things started May 3, to be followed by a huge sea of nothing -- apart from Indy 4, which apart from the presence of Transformers-killer Shia LeBeouf, looks to be at least fun -- onto the fall. I really don't remember being so uninterested in a summer season before. When does the Hobbit come out?
On the upside, this has given me a chance to catch on up some awfulness (and good stuff too) from last year. Will Smith is in danger of being out acted by a dog throughout the largely ludicrous I Am Legend, but the film has a few nice thrills along the way. The less said of the "science" the better -- but end of the world films usually aren't about making complete sense. Still, I can't but help to think the likes of 28 Days Later covered the same territory with plenty more verve and skill.
