So did anyone else catch the premier of Stargate Universe? I only got to see the last hour, but it was pretty good. If they can keep churning out episodes like that, it just might be the best Stargate series yet.

I DVR'd it to watch tomorrow night Booky. But I saw a few minutes of it here and there. It looks like they took the Stargate...uhmmm...Universe , and gave it a Battlestar Galactica makeover. I definitely liked what I saw, and I am looking forward to zapping the commercials and seeing it all in one piece tomorrow .

GB

Well, I'm watching Castle and loving it to pieces. Watching Dollhouse and hating myself for wasting my time, but I keep hoping that Joss Whedon will do something right, seeing as he did so well with his other shows... Wishful thinking, I think, though...

Waiting rather impatiently for January, because LOST is the best thing, EVER. Also need to get caught up in Supernatural... just started Season 2.

My comedies are great... How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and 30 Rock...

Oh, and Glee... watching that, too. I think that's everything. For now... ^_^

Can't wait 'til Monday, though, because more Castle and HIMYM makes for an awesomely happy evening...

I agree that Castle is a fun show. But I don't see Dollhouse as wasting your time. I think it's a lot more "real" than Castle. This weeks episode of Dollhouse was terribly sad, and really highlighted everything that is Evil about the Rossum corporation and what all their Brainwashing is doing. And the way Topher and Adelle justify themselves is just twisted (they really seem to "believe" they are doing good works). I think Joss Whedon has created another truly significant show that explores what it really means to be human.

As good as Castle is, it has yet to hold a candle to the emotional depth, and the intricate plotting of Dollhouse. Castle has some great dialogue, good Humour and acting, but the stories are still trivial and totally predictable within the first 10 minutes of each episode. Which is fine, I just watch the show for the characters anyway, and it's nice to watch something that isn't an emotional Roller-coaster.

GB

I've been watching the first season of Pushing Daisies (first time). I'm up to episode 8 of 9 and so far it's very good (although admittedly the first 5 episodes are the best). I've never seen anything like it, although it does seem to have the narration style of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the art direction and zany characters and romance of romance of Jean Jeunet (Amelie, City of Lost Children, Delicatessen) and Tim Burton, the crime drama of any number of of prime-time dramas, and thematically it's similar to a really light-hearted and quirky version of Six Feet Under. It also has a healthy dose of Roald Dahl.
Very enjoyable and very, very different.

I watch...Mondays, Jon and Kate Plus 8; Tuesdays, The Biggest Loser and 18 Kids and Counting. Along with random other current shows and old ER episodes on the side. Down with no Doug Ross!

Gandalfs Beard - No, Castle is not a deep show. Never said it was. That's not it's point. However, where Dollhouse fails is not with what it's trying to get at. It is certainly a really fascinating and interesting concept. The problem is how it's being done.

The plot is not cleanly established and there are way too many stand-alone episodes. You can't really related to the characters all that well. The two characters who I actually found fascinating and interesting were Boyd (who we hardly see anymore) and Claire Saunders (who is a little less interesting now that we know who she is).

I dislike the character of Caroline, and there's nothing to relate to about Echo. She's an empty shell who has bits and pieces of other (usually dead) people in her. When we first met her, all we knew of her was just this empty shell roaming around, pretending to be people. We needed some kind of constant that provided something that was easier to relate too.

And Ballard is just awful. He's creepy in his obsessiveness about certain things, and horrid in the way he just brushes other things off. I cannot stand the guy. He claims to care for Caroline and yet he manipulates Echo into furthering his own personal goals (helping the FBI, bringing the Dollhouse down, etc.). Note: I am not saying I agree with the Dollhouse. What I am saying is I disagree with manipulating people who don't understand to do what you want.

The show is decent at best. The best episodes were the ones with Alpha, and the best episode period was Epitaph One. What this really needs is an over-arching plot that we can understand, not cryptic 1 minute exchanges between Ballard and Echo in darkly lit environments at the end of episodes.

To be good, a show needs good characters. They create the plot, ultimately. The problem is that there are few characters in the Dollhouse you can end up relating to. This is why I prefer Castle to Dollhouse (and indeed, every other show I watch). This is also why Joss Whedon's other shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly) were vastly superior. They had a cast of believable characters who were very human and easy to relate to, and superbly acted. Eliza Dushku is not quite up to the task before her. Sometimes she does well, but it's not on a steady basis. As I said, the most believable characters are Boyd and Claire, and Topher and Adelle are pretty believable as well.

Not meant to be a rant, sorry, nor do I mean to chastise you or whatever for watching and liking the show. Everyone has different opinions, and I think it's great that you like it. I, personally, am not it's biggest fan (but I do keep watching, hoping it will get better), but that doesn't mean I don't derive any enjoyment out of it. I just happen to like other shows better.

Tonight's episode of FlashForward - which included a

There were also ads for the new ABC series V which premieres November 3. Firefly's Morena Baccharin (Inara) figured prominently in the ads, and imdb indicates that Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Dollhouse) also appears in the pilot.

Random thought about Flashforward:

Spoiler

I perdict that Demetris and the girl (can't remember her name, the one who saw herself getting an ultra-sound) will end up togethor, and that he will be the father of her baby. At least, I don't want Demetris to end up with his fiance...

I wasn't exactly sure where to post this, but as of last Sunday the BBC's new miniseries of Emma has been playing in Great Britain. Has anyone else been following it? It's not supposed to be available here in the US until the Spring, but I watched the first episode online by means of questionable legality. I'm not entirely sure what to think about it—probably I had been too excited for it, and am now dealing with the backlash of that disappointment. I also made the mistake of reading this article before watching it, which makes all the little modern touches all the more grating. Still, it's sumptuously mounted, and some of my favorite actors are in it, even though I'm not sure they're ideally cast. I hope I'll be able to see Episode 2 soon.

I've been trying to follow Emma as much as possible until it comes out in the spring, but the parts I've managed to see (which isn't all of episode 1) just feel rather...flat? I was thinking that this adaptation might finally nail the book (and fill in what the previous two missed). As far as casting: both Garai and Gambon are wonderful actors, but not quite sure if they're the right people for the parts. And disappointed with the casting of Knightley; I was really hoping for Richard Armitage. Sets, locations, and costumes look beautiful, though, and Jane Austen, even when not ideally adapted, is still enjoyable.

lysander, are there a lot of lines from Austen still left in the screenplay? Sandy Welch doesn't have too impressive a record as far as using the author's dialogue, so I was curious.

And that article is just When will people understand that Austen does not need to be "modernized"?

starkat, I'll be interested to hear what you think of the rest of Robin Hood season 3!

Kate, I dislike Isabella as well.

I was not aware that first installment in the new Emma adaptation was even available by err... questionable means, so I fished around and watched it myself. I like it very well. Garai has clearly softened Emma's character a great deal, but I like the connection she has with Knightly, even if it is a bit too teasing and he's a bit too open about her to Mrs. Weston. I also really like Gambon in the role of Mr. Woodhouse. I have thought at times that the British filmmakers need to get over the need to cast Gambon in every older man role in every period film, but he really fits here. He does the paranoid Woodhouse very well. Miss Bates was interesting. The writer did a wonderful job giving her lines in all the wrong places and she clearly took some vocal cues from Sophie Thompson.

I thought it was interesting how far they started back; showing Frank, Emma, and Jane as children and then inlcuding Emma in the orchestration of Isabella and John's wedding.

malkah: I kind of stopped watching. I'm not sure I got that far.
That article is very funny Ly. The professor seems to be someone who is likeminded to the purists here on NarniaWeb. She very correctly sites the wonderful Cranford adaptation. Are you having second thoughts about Garai as Emma?

What was with the

The dialogue didn't really strike me one way or the other, malkah, but then again I haven't read the book in a very long time, and I watched both of the other movies first, so I think I may confuse what's in the book with what was in the two 90's adaptations. There are quite a few extra scenes, which means some extra dialogue, and in one or two other places characters said things I didn't find socially likely, such as speaking (loudly!) over the back of the pew during church! At least in the KK P&P Elizabeth and Col. Fitzwilliam are in the same pew and talking in hushed voices. I agree with you on the casting, especially Gambon. His screen presence is just too intelligent and hearty to work as Mr. Wodehouse. And though I've only seen clips of Armitage, he fits my idea of Knightley much more than JLM.

Would you like me to message you the link to the first episode?

Are you having second thoughts about Garai as Emma?

Sort of. She's my favorite part of it so far, besides the general look of the thing and Johdi May as Mrs. Weston (always wonderful!), but I find her performance a little over-the-top. She's an expressive actress anyway, which I know bothers some people, but it looks as though the director encouraged her in this regard a little too much and then used all the worst takes. Someone suggested that she's probably doing this on purpose, that she will change over the course of the episodes, and that the resultant character arc will be quite interesting. I do hope so, but so far I don't think this is my favorite of her work.

And that line is just head-bangingly annoying. It was the thing that bothered me most about the episode, along with the talking in church. It was so very random and out of character. And she'd already made her point in the prologue, so writing that line was just overkill.

His screen presence is just too intelligent and hearty to work as Mr. Wodehouse.

hehe. Wodehouse, eh?

I don't really like Armitage that much. I've seen North & South and I don't understand the obsession that some people seem to have with him. He probably would have made a better Knighley than Miller though. He just seems so unlikely.

Well, they're close enough, anyway.

I don't understand the obsession that some people seem to have with him

I'm not sure this is true with Armitage, but from my experience acting doesn't really matter when it comes to being a commercially successful Period Drama Hunk: one simply has to be tall, generally good-looking, and very, very good at brooding. But I think that at the very least Armitage has a much more authoritative presence than Miller. He's all right, but seems too much like "the boy who lives next door." I liked both Mark Strong and Jeremy Northam better in the role.