Contrasts

Thursday nights used to be must-see TV. I think that now, every night except for Saturdays has more must-see TV than Thursdays. The contrast between Wednesday night's programming and Thursday night's programming is especially stark.

Yesterday I watched Lost, Alias and Law & Order. Lost was fantastic. It had Hurley's back story, and in my opinion, was one of the best episodes this whole season. It gave me the same creepy vibe from those numbers that I haven't gotten since the French woman's original transmission in the second half of the pilot. It raised so many more questions. It showed more connections between the characters. It made you wonder why the plane crashed. It showed you just how in tune JJ and the writers are with the audience's reaction to the show - they even talked about how no one was looking for the monster! (Which could be a "pissed off giraffe"... hehe.) All in all, I give this one a great score. A wonderful hour of TV.

Followed up by Alias. (I really can't wait until Eyes takes the post-Alias spot at the end of March. I hope it's good.) While it wasn't as good as last week's (which was the return of the cliffhanger! - although it was ruined by the stupid ABC promo), it still had lots of good action. And Sark. And we got to see that Lauren Reed is really really dead. Although I swear, I was watching just waiting for her eyes to open. Thank goodness they didn't. I'm quite intrigued by the Jack-Arvin "pact" and how it's going to fall apart. My Alias is back. :)

Law & Order last night was also pretty good. There's really not much you can say about the original L&O... it just does what it does. And Antonio Vega (OLTL) plays one terrible narcissistic TV chef.

Which brings me to today.

I missed most of Survivor because of class, but what I did see was okay. But the same tribe is back at tribal council again, so I can only imagine what that will mean for the merge if they keep losing. Could zap all the energy out of the season that has come back after the boring Vanuatu.

But the Apprentice? Aiyayi. The franchise is seriously never going to recover its Season 1 high quality. The book smarts v. street smarts gimmick was the part that irked me (a lot) originally, but the season seemed a little more tolerable once they let up with the relentless reminders that it was college grads v. "high schoolers." (Although I do still yell at the TV screen every time Trump tells Magna they lost to high schoolers. It's not like the people on Net Worth are in high school or of high school competence!)

Tonight was probably the worst it's been. Audrey was project manager and did a pretty horrible job, and I'd say that based on the performance, I don't really have much of a problem with Trump firing her. But so much else of what happened was atrocious. John, who was PM during the 1st task and who I liked up until tonight, decided to tell Audrey at the beginning of the episode that she would be the most successful of all of them anyway because she was "good looking and a sweetheart." In my opinion, she was absolutely right to be insulted by that, as it would discount her having any sort of skills or brains whatsoever. And his tone throughout the whole episode was just so condescending and patronizing that it was making me sick. He only respects people he likes, and if he doesn't like the PM, he's pretty insubordinate. He refused for a long time to put on the clown costume, but then went on and on about how he worked hard for promotions. Whatever. In the beginning of the season, I was hoping he'd last a while. But his ego has knocked him way way down on my list. Yuck.

And then - after the NotGeorge even called John out about the "22 year old girl" comments to Trump - Trump issued his own relatively sexist remarks to Audrey. While firing her, he told her she was beautiful but that sometimes beauty and a good personality aren't enough. (What is this? Miss Universe? Granted, Audrey went on and on in a discussion about 'beauty' earlier in the episode, but whatever. That's irrelevant when it comes to the comments in the boardroom.) After firing her, he made a comment like, "At least they can't say I just picked the most attractive one." My goodness. What a trainwreck this show is shaping up to me. Left me feeling pretty disgusted.

Onto Trial by Jury, the newest L&O. I liked it. I liked that it wasn't a smooth linear progression like the normal L&O. I liked the little elements of all the parts of the justice system, I liked the cynicism about actual justice being done and I liked how it felt more "real" sometimes. (And this doesn't discount my Thursday not being a must-see night, as TBJ's real night is Fridays.) That being said, watching TBJ was hard. It was sad that the first time I caught a glimpse of Lennie Briscoe, I immediately thought about how much sicker and thinner he looked. His first line, his voice sounded a little like it was cracking. For someone who literally watches hours of classic L&O on TNT a week, the physical change was glaringly obvious. And really sad.

I'm really hoping Dick Wolf does a tribute to Jerry throughout the episodes. He was a mainstay for the franchise and I wouldn't think a storyline about it showing the emotional response would be over-the-top or inappropriate at all. So, while the episode today was pretty good, it was hard watching Jerry and knowing that this was one of the last 2 episodes of L&O he ever taped. It will be even harder tomorrow when TBJ airs a new episode in its regular time slot. (It's his last one. I might cry.) At least CBS seemed to have the common sense to know it will be a Friday night ratings draw, and moved Numb3rs one hour earlier.

Thursday night TV has really declined. Sure, part of it is because Friends is gone but I never really watched it. I guess if I were a CSI fan, I might think differently. But consider what Thursday has to offer (The OC - not as good as S1; Survivor - not bad but another tropical island; Apprentice - enough said; CSI - if you like it; Without a Trace - good), and compare some offerings on the other nights.

Sundays - Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, Law & Order CI, Crossing Jordan, Iron Chef America, Cold Case, Simpsons.
Mondays - 24, Medium, CSI Miami, American Idol.
Tuesdays - American Idol, Amazing Race, Law and Order SVU.
Wednesdays - Lost, Alias, Wife Swap, Law and Order, West Wing, CSI NY, American Idol (and until last week Project Runway).
Fridays - Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, Numb3rs, Trial by Jury.

Sure, there's lots of watchable shows on Thursday nights. I guess it's not so bad. But between how good TV was last night (JJ night rocks!) and how much Apprentice sucked, I guess I just felt really strongly that TV tonight just wasn't as good in terms of quality. *shrug* I think Wednesday is the new must-see TV.

At least tomorrow there's Numb3rs. It's crazy how much I like that show. The ensemble is so cute. :) And the concept is nice. And since I really don't know much about math... I'll never know if they're making a mistake. ;-)