Beware of SPOILERS!

New Shows

• Running Wilde – 6:18
• The Event – 11:30
• Mike and Molly – 17:58
• Bleep My Dad Says – 22:26
• Undercovers – 24:46
• Boardwalk Empire – 29:10
• Hawaii Five-0 – 32:25

Returning Shows

• Life Unexpected – 36:56
  
• Glee – 40:30
  
• The Vampire Diaries – 51:45
  
• Smallville – 53:31
  
• Supernatural – 55:42
  
• Chuck – 59:24
  
• Castle – 1:08:05
  
• How I Met Your Mother – 1:09:18
  
• The Big Bang Theory – 1:13:30

Sponsors: InStockTrades, DCBService, and Geek Boy Press

• Aardman Animation developing a Raving Rabbids live-action/CGI series
• Mel Gibson in talks for a recurring role on AMC’s Mad Men next season
• NBC picks up Odd Jobs
• Goodfellas TV series in development
• Summer Glau gets cast in an episode of Chuck?
• Steven S DeKnight, executive producer for Spartacus says that they will either re-cast or end production, and they plan to ask Andy Whitfield for his opinion
• Kristin Bell wants a Veronica Mars movie bad enough, she may finance it herself

• Christopher Nolan has narrowed down his choices for director of Superman: Tony Scott, Matt Reeves, Jonathon Liebesman, Duncan Jones, and Zach Snyder
• Emma Stone and Mia Wasikowska up for Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man reboot
• Stephan Fry cast as Mycroft Holmes in Sherlock Holmes 2
• Mark Ruffalo will play the Hulk via motion capture suit
• Emma Stone considering lead female role in 21 Jump Street
• First Captain America set pictures released
• Kate Beckinsale will return for fourth Underworld film
• Chloe Moretz attached to play Emily the Strange
• Rob Zombie’s next is The Lords of Salem and claims he will never do another remake
• Black Widow spin-off film coming after The Avengers
• Gavin Hood developing Ender’s Game adaptation
• Amanda Michalka added to Super 8 cast, confirms casting
• Steven Speilberg is considering directing the movie based on the Robopocalypse book
• Greg Berlanti calls the tone of The Flash somewhere between The Dark Knight and Green Lantern

• DC Entertainment splits offices between coasts (New York and Burbank), closes Wildstorm, cuts staff by 20%
• DC films will not mirror Marvel’s game plan, smaller films will not lead to Justice League
• Kevin Smith’s SModcast will replace Howard Stern on Sirius XM radio
• Scott Pilgrim comes to DVD and Blu-Ray November 9
• Netflix makes a deal to stream every episode of SNL ever, plus Universal shows Eureka, BSG, Psych, Monk, and more

Geek Jerk Reaction – Case 39, Let Me In, and The Social Network

Sponsors: InStockTrades, DCBService, and Geek Boy Press

• Robert Englund, AKA Freddy, will be heading to Chuck for its Halloween episode
• Stephen King’s The Dark Tower will be adapted to a Television series and a Movie trilogy by Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television. Ron Howard, Akiva Goldsman and Brian Grazer are behind the adaptation.
• Glee’s Rocky Horror Picture Show episode airs on October 26th and will feature Meatloaf, and Barry Bostwick as guests. Susan Surandon would “be interested” in being a guest as well.
• JJ Abrams shopping a new crime series to networks by Jonah Nolan
• Caprica will be returning to the air sooner than expected: October 5th
• Aquaman will be returning to Smallville

• Star Trek 2 writers are more interested in a good story than trying to fit in fan favorite villains
• Sherlock’s Martin Freeman is surrounded by on again/off again rumors concerning The Hobbit
• Zombieland 2 draft is complete, but may not be director Ruben Fleischer’s next film
• Hillary Duff has a copy of a Spider-Man script sitting on the table as her husband is interviewed. Possible love interest?

• Bungie’s last Halo game released today
• Dreamcast games being released all over the place for the console’s 11th birthday. Sonic Adventures & Crazy Taxi on XBLA, Chu-Chu Rocket on iOS devices in Oct

• Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark is in production, costumes and first song revealed (Link)

GeekJerk Reaction: Alpha and Omega, Devil, Easy A

Returning Shows

5:44 – Life Unexpected 9/14/10
13:01 – Chuck 9/20/10
20:38 – Vampire Diaries 9/9/10
25:06 – How I Met Your Mother 9/20/10
32:04 – Glee 9/21/10
40:01 – The Big Bang Theory 9/23/10
47:25 – V 11/??/10

New Shows:

50:35 – Hellcats 9/8/10
53:30 – The Event 9/20/10
57:32 – Running Wilde 9/21/10
1:03:10 – My Generation 9/23/10
1:06:20 – Bleep My Dad Says 9/23/10
1:10:35 – No Ordinary Family 9/28/10
1:14:40 – Sherlock 10/24/10
1:17:30 – The Walking Dead 10/31/10

After this point, we discuss various cartoons coming at mostly unspecified  times this year. Including Young Justice, Transformers: Prime, and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Hope you enjoy the show!

• Darkseid, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Tights, Flight, and “Superman” coming to Smallville
• Young Justice looks amazing
• Chuck’s mom will be Sarah Connor, aka Linda Hamilton
• Brian Michael Bendis becomes writer/producer of Ultimate Spider-Man animated series.
• Caprica returns to the air in Janurary
• G4 brings anime versions of Blade, Wolverine, Iron Man, and X-Men to America in 2011

• Mark Ruffalo is The Hulk, Joss Whedon is officially directing The Avengers
• Infinity Gauntlet is the last prop reveal at the Marvel Studios booth. What does it mean?
• Guillermo del Toro to direct new Haunted Mansion movie
• Karl Urban will be the new Judge Dredd
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides gets a release date: May 20, 2011
• Marvel Studios regains Punisher film rights from Lionsgate

• Star Wars: The Old Republic will have space gameplay
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World hits PSN on 8/10, XBLA on 8/25 for $15
• DCU Online cinematic trailer is insane

• Comic-Con evokes a pen stab to the eye over a seat
• San Diego Comic-Con coming to an end? Anaheim or Las Vegas Comic-Con possible replacements

Geek Jerk Reaction: Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Charlie St. Cloud, Dinner for Schmucks

• Chuck Season 4 will premiere September 20th
• New episodes of Beavis and Butthead are coming to MTV
• Game of Thrones casting pretty much complete

• First images from The Green Lantern released in EW
• Kevin Bacon’s X-Men villian to be Sebastian Shaw?
• Runaways will film January to July 2011, for release in 2012
• Bruce Banner/Hulk finalists reportedly include Mark Ruffalo and David Tennant
• Will Smith to star in The Legend of Cain?
• Zachary Levi has auditioned for new Superman, which will apparently be directed by Jonathan Nolan
• McG’s live-action Tinkerbell movie to star Elizabeth Banks as Tinkerbell?
• Nicholas Cage confirmed to return in Ghost Rider 2: The Spirit of Vengence, directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor from a script by David Goyer
• Pixar was brought in to help touch up Tron Legacy
• Pixar to dive into the direct to DVD market with the Cars spinoff “Planes”
• Pixar plans to rerelease some of their catalog of films in 3D
• Mission Impossible IV being reworked to include a young rookie, also Simon Pegg will be returning

Geek Jerk Reaction: Salt, Ramona and Beezus

V – 13:30

Smallville – 15:00

Legend of the Seeker – 18:40

Castle – 21:05

Flash Forward – 23:30

Supernatural – 28:00

Life Unexpected – 32:55

Chuck – 37:10

• Renewed: Chuck, V
• Cancelled: FlashForward, Scrubs, Legend of the Seeker, Heroes
• New shows up of interest: The Cape, Hawaii 5-0, Undercovers, Friends with Benefits
• Glee lands Post Superbowl spot in 2011

• David Fincher to direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake
• Kick Ass screenwriter Jane Goldman rewriting X-Men First Class
• Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin cast in Fright Night remake
• SHIELD is part of Marvel Studios’ post-Avengers plan
• Alvin Sargent signed on to rewrite Spidey reboot
• Alan Tudyk will be in Transformers 3

• Natal’s world premiere June 13th will feature a special performance by Cirque du Soleil on MTV. Media briefing will be live on Spike TV June 14 at 1:30 ET
• One of the Nintendo 3ds screens could be widescreen

• Original Empire Strikes Back draft is leaked, and George Lucas reveals he had not planned out the Star Wars saga at Lost event
• Comic creator Jazan Wild sues Heroes over “Carnival of Souls”
• Smallville finale opening 2 minutes

Geek Jerk Reaction: Shrek Forever After, MacGruber

Renewed:

Chuck
V

Cancelled:

FlashForward
Scrubs
Legend of the Seeker

Likely Renewed:

One Tree Hill
Life Unexpected

Likely Cancelled:

Heroes

• Heroes is being given a 13 episode pickup for season 5 to “go out with a bang”?
• Young Justice on the way from Greg Weisman
• Matt Smith guest starring in a Sarah Jane Adventures serial to be written by RTD
• Legend of the Seeker is now very likely cancelled
• Chuck returns this week

• Marvel Studio plans series of low budget films
• High School Musical star (Vanessa Hudgens) in talks to play Spider Woman?
• Columbia must enter production on Ghost Rider 2 by November 14th, or they lose the rights. Likely moving forward without Nicolas Cage as a result.
• Edgar Wright’s Ant Man finally gearing up for production in December
• Newest Last Airbender trailer is kind of awesome, also 3D conversion

• Batman Arkham Asylum 2 confirms Talia Al Ghul, Two Face, and Mister Freeze
• Starcraft II beta codes available at Gamestop and Amazon by pre-ordering

• Batman Live Action Arena show from creators of Walking With Dinosaurs
• iPhone may have been sold rather than “found”. As a result, criminal charges may be forthcoming.

Geek Jerk Reaction: Furry Vengeance, A Nightmare on Elm Street

• Cristopher Lloyd and Scott Bakula confirmed for Chuck this season
• ABC Renews Castle
• Ali Larter believes that Heroes will be back next season
• Lucasarts developing Star Wars sitcom

• Adam Baldwin wants to come back for Independence Day 2 & 3. Spiner also interested, if his character survived
• Joss Whedon might direct The Avengers?
• Sebastian Stan cast as Bucky in Captain America

• More Halo Reach details – Class-Lite system, no more dual wielding
• USB Memory Support coming to Xbox 360 on the 6th of April

• iPhone OS 4 to be revealed April 8th, 10am PST
• iPad released on April 3. What’s the verdict?

Geek Jerk Reaction: Date Night

The Box Office Report:

1. Clash of the Titans
2. Tyler Perry’s Blah Blah Blah
3. How to Train Your Dragon
4. The Last Song
5. Alice in Wonderland

Discussion

• Smallville Producers sue Warner Bros.
• ‘V’ Returns March 30th
• Jonny Lee Miller and  Jon Bernthal cast in AMC’s The Walking Dead
• Glee Premiere to run from 9:28 to 10:30 on April 13th
• Lost series finale is titled “The End” airing Sunday May 23.
• Chuck’s original finale with have a game-changing episode, but then there will be the additional 6 episodes
• Fox cancels 24

• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World trailer
• Angela Bassett cast as Amanda Waller in Green Lantern
• Brian K. Vaughan’s future looks bright:”The Vault”, Leterrier may direct “Y”, “Runaways” part of Marvel Studios’ post-Avengers slate, “Ex Machina” and “Roundtable” both in development

• Microsoft to have Natal showing and regular Xbox 360 briefing at E3 2010
• Scott Pilgrim: The Video Game by Paul Robertson with music by Anamanaguchi

• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens June 18th

Geek Jerk Reaction: Clash of the Titans, Last Song, Tyler Perry’s Blah Blah Blah

Boxoffice Report:

1. How to Train Your Dragon
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. Hot Tub Time Machine
4. The Bounty Hunter
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Talking Points

• Apologies for lack of site activity
• Geek By Night/Fandomonium gone mostly for good
• The announcement of a new Geekshow Entertainment show
• Merry Christmas! Let us know what you get!

Movies

• Brittany Murphy dies of cardiac arrest
• Iron Man 2 Trailer
• Alice in Wonderland

Television

• Discussion of what we’ve enjoyed to this point
• Discussion of what we didn’t like
• Scott is out of live television watching, into British television
• Discussion of the shows coming up (Lost, Chuck)
• Day One reduced from half season to mini-series

Video Games

• 2010 has a ton of God of War “clones”
• Arkham Asylum 2 announced
• Greenday Rockband announced
• Halo Reach & Mass Effect 2 cinematic trailers
• Microsoft promises “AAA” title every month in 2010
• Early 2010 especially brutal (Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, Final Fantasy XIII, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Aliens vs Predator, Dead Rising 2, etc)
• 2010: The year of the MMO for geeks? (Star Trek, Star Wars, DC)

GeekJerk Reaction

December 23rd

• Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

December 25th

• It’s Complicated
• Nine
• Sherlock Holmes
• Up In the Air

December 18-20, 2009

The successful campaign to save Chuck last spring, which involved buying Subway sandwiches, was impressive enough to bring Subway in as a marketing partner for the show. Chuck was originally slated to return in March after the Olympics, but recent rumblings suggest that it may return in January instead. Now fans of the BuyMore have six more episodes of Chuck to look forward to. Considering that the show that was on the brink of being canceled a few months ago, things are now looking much rosier for Chuck and the gang.

(Variety)

Dollhouse Finale (SPOILER WARNING!!!)

Chuck Finale (SPOILER WARNING!!!)

Cupid

News

Harold and Kumar bring some holiday cheer

Tetsuo 3

Is Bradley Cooper going Green?

Green Lantern shines its light a little later

Deadpool movie is a GO

Trailers

District 9

Gamer

The Princess and the Frog

Not Shaken . . . Just Nerd.

I am gonna go out on a limb here and say it: Chuck is the most fun show on TV today. That being said, I can see how some people who want a little more depth to their story or more serialized television might not have been a big fan of Chuck in its early days. But to you I say: It’s time to play catch up.

Chuck started out with a rather simple premise. Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), leader of the Nerd Herd (i.e. Geek Squad) at his local Buy More (i.e. Best Buy) is pretty much a college drop-out slacker-type who lives with his sister. He has a best friend, Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez), who is his childhood friend, gaming buddy and all around hanger-on. Then he opens an e-mail from his former college buddy, Bryce Larkin.

And Chuck becomes the most valuable secret the U.S. Government has.

Chuck has downloaded all of the Nation’s most classified and Top Secret projects and personnel into his head. He is now guarded around the clock by his cover girlfriend, the beautiful but deadly Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), and his cover co-worker and neighbor, the stoic and gruff John Casey (Adam Baldwin).

Admittedly, I watched this show in the beginning for two reasons: 1)It looked to be a fun show and 2) It had Adam Baldwin in it. And I have made a solemn vow to try watch everything Firefly alumni get a role in (Thank you SciFi channel for making me watch some truly craptastic movies). But I digress.

For the first half of the season or so, it was a pretty formulaic and episodic show. But after they came back from the writer’s strike, the show really took off. It is still formulaic, but there is a serious heart to the show now that wasn’t there previously.

I think that charm comes from two things. First of all Chuck has some of the most amazing stunt casting seen today: Melinda Clarke as a deadly seductress (Hey, it’s Nandi – more Firefly!), Michael Clarke Duncan as dangerous villain (The Green Mile), John Laroquette as a former spy and ladies’ man (Night Court), Bruce Boxleitner as Chuck’s sister’s soon to be father-in-law (Scarecrow & Mrs. King) and probably my favorite: Reginald VelJohnson as a doughnut munching cop outside a hostage situation at the Buy More (Die Hard, as a doughnut munching cop outside Nakatomi towers). Each actor and actress just adds a little something to the series as a whole.

The second though, is Yvonne Strahovski. Yes, she wears ridiculous outfits and has fight scenes that make fanboys everywhere melt. But the heart she puts into Sarah makes her more than your average two-dimensional cover girl. We watch Sarah slowly fall for Chuck, and watch her heart break when she realizes that nothing can possibly ever work between them. In a recent episode where she thought Chuck had been killed was some of her best work to date. The utter shock, disbelief, horror and grief that struck her in those few seconds were absolutely overwhelming. She, like so many other genre actresses, ranks among the most underrated in television.

While the show has been a little stale over the last few episodes, news from Chuck’s creator, Josh Schwartz has me more psyched for the show than ever. They have a game-changing ending for this season of Chuck which will lead to one of two things. If Chuck doesn’t get picked up for a third season, this ending will send the show out with a bang. If they are renewed, the show will go a whole new direction next season. I, for one, am good to go either way. I’ve enjoyed the show from the beginning, and am pretty sure I’ll continue to enjoy it through its conclusion, now, or hopefully a few more years down the road.

Discussed This Week:

• Chuck in 3d
• Heroes has people talking again
• Movies we watched this week (Grand Torino,  Push, Inkheart)
• Superbowl Trailers (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, GI Joe, Year One, Up, Star Trek, Land of the Lost)
• Dollhouse Premiere this week
• Update on Game Night with Geekshow

Box Office Report:

January 30–February 1, 2009

Geek Jerk Reaction:

A network will typically wait till the ratings come in before picking up the back nine episodes of a season,  but NBC is apparently convinced Chuck is among the least likely to falter this season.

“This show has really hit its stride and deserves a full-season commitment to carry out the producers’ vision for this unique series,” said Teri Weinberg, exec veep of NBC Entertainment.

Chuck’s full-season order comes more than a month before the show’s Sept. 29 premiere date. Exec producer Josh Schwartz called the pickup “unexpected.”

“It’s an incredible show of faith by NBC and so amazingly nice to get based on the work alone,” Schwartz said.

Chuck launched last year but was cut short by the writers strike. Rather than bring it back in the spring, NBC opted to hold off and relaunch it this fall.

Chuck returns Monday, September 29th on NBC.

As it turns out, I’ve taken a strong liking to Chuck. I’m not in love, but it’s definitely a strong liking. What was there to stop me from completely falling in love with the series? It didn’t get to finish it’s first season. It ended rather abruptly due to the writers’ strike. The show had just began to take off, and then it slows back down, and bumps into a brick wall. 

Ultimately, I’ve ended up loving just about every character in the show. I even enjoy Captain Awesome, at least for what he is. The one thing that I didn’t love during the last few episodes is the angst with Sarah that happens. I didn’t mind the "will they or won’t they" hidden feelings moments nearly as badly as the "leave me alone, I’m torn" moments. I was glad to see after a couple episodes that she was seemingly back to her normal self. Honestly, I’m a little worried about that in the future, because I can see them bringing that back up again. And if there is one thing I hate in a show the dangles a relationship in front of your face, it’s when they decide to give you a glimpse of the pot of gold, then yank it out from under your nose an episode or two later. I’m hoping that someone will eventually find a better formula for dealing with what fans want in a different and more unique way.

After finishing the first season of Chuck, I happily moved on to Supernatural. After hearing about how it was the series that people enjoyed the most, I was eager to give it a try. And so far? It’s been…going through the motions. Setting things up, letting you get to know the characters. Building up the story. That may sound like a complaint. Maybe that it isn’t stepping outside it’s boundaries. But it’s not really a bad thing, I’ve come to find out. Because they are doing there job quite well. After only three episodes, I feel like I know the two brothers. I feel like they are definitely brothers. And I feel like I am familiar with how the show will go, at least for a while.

This isn’t to say I’m loving the show, or that I don’t expect more. I’m liking the show, sure. But I’m still expecting more out of it. I’m just not expecting that "more" to happen right now. It can continue to build the story and the characters so long as it does just that, continues to build. But other than that, I don’t have a whole lot to say about the show. Jared Padalecki is still the annoying/whiny twit I remember from Gilmore Girls. But in this case, it totally fits his character as the annoying/whiny twit little brother. Jensen Ackles pretty much kicks seven types of ass, as far as I’m concerned. He makes the show, and allows Jared to bask in it’s glow. But again, that’s fine, because that’s how the show seems to be setup.

Looking forward to continuing on. Though I do have to say that the thriller/MoTD/horror elements are still not golden to me. But they aren’t as over the top as I expected. Still, this is the CW. So I guess I should have expected that.

Things still aren’t perfect. Sometimes the comedy falls flat on it’s face. And as I mentioned before, it seems as though they have to force a fight into every episode, even if it could go without one. However, I appreciate that they’ve moves away from the parody style humor that plagued the pilot episode for me.

The characters are really starting to come into their own in these episodes. I’m starting to enjoy Zachary Levi’s presentation of normal guy Chuck, quite a bit. When your show features such a stereotype, it can be hard to not go way too far. Take the geekiness or the wimpering too far and it becomes annoying. But in the episodes I’ve seen so far, they’ve pulled it all off pretty well. Except for that weirdly akward, "Why are all these people sleeping" comment. Was that supposed to be a joke, or is he that big of an idiot? Either way, generally they deserve Kudos.

So at this point, I’m wondering how long it will take for Chuck and Bryce’s Stanford girlfriend to make an appearance. Jill, right? She’s gotten enough mentions to this point that I’m totally expecting her to make an appearance at some point. It might not happen, but it’s just a hunch I’ve gotten so far.

To continue to improve, I’d like to see the series take more of an arcing story as opposed to episodic approach it’s taken so far. It might not happen, as it may inherit the general network tradition and remain episodic. But still, I’d like to see it happen. Also, I’d like to see Adam Baldwin’s role step up. I imagine as she show gets closer to the looming "6-month" deadline that will happen. I look forward to it.

I have to say, now that a lot of cheesier humor has departed, I’m enjoying the show quite a bit more. None of the characters really bother me right now, but I still find Sarah Lancaster’s character, and her boyfriend, to be some of the weak links. I’m eager to keep going to see what happens.

Alright, so before I go into my thoughts on the episode itself, let’s discuss my opinions on various aspects of the show post-pilot. Josh Schwartz? Love him. Adam Baldwin? Oh so talented. Yvonne Strahovski? I’m taking a liking to her. Zachary Levi? He could grow on me. I definitely see that bit of Adam Brody in his character. He’s no Adam Brody. So I’ll let the character evolve a bit before I make a judgement on him? Sarah Lancaster? I didn’t love her in Everwood. I don’t dislike her here, but I’d be ok with her scenes being a bit rare.

How do I feel about the episode? Well, you better keep on reading to find out…

There was a lot to love about this pilot. But there was a lot to hold back that love as well. When I imagined Chuck, I imagined it being two steps off from a sitcom. That’s not exactly right. It looks like it’s about five steps off. That’s what keeps this episode from being "special" to me. You take super serious plots involving the CIA and NSA and mix it with a sometimes goofy comedy style. Maybe I can learn to get over that, or maybe the slapstick humor (Ninja burglar, anyone?) will be toned down a bit. But in this case, it really bugged me.

The beauty of The O.C. was that it was a mostly serious and charming serious which at times took ordinary humor to special places. But at the heart of the series, it was still a very real series. With Chuck, it seems to take the opposite approach. Let’s stick a stereotypical nerd in a spoofed out job that seems straight out of 40 Year Old Virgin, have him become the target of a serious plot, and then wash it out with a spy spoof action show.

Ok, ok. Let me be fair. Besides the Best Buy/Geek Squad pun damage, occasionally goofy action scene, there is probably very litte over-the-top humor going on in the episode. It’s just that everytime I got to enjoying the episode, I had to grown a bit to myself and be pulled back out of the show. A nut shot from a candle deflecting ninja? Seriously?

But I digress. Hidden under what I arguably consider too much of the wrong type of humor is a very interesting story. The characters compel me, the acting is surprisingly strong for a pilot episode, and honestly, I often found myself laughing. Laughing at the dialog, that is. Very nice dialog, I might add. I suggest they rely on it a bit more.

*ahem* Pilots are generally some of the weaker episodes in a series. And for the most part, this wasn’t bad. I just hope they decide what type of show they want sometime soon, so I can decide if it’s for me. Do you remember the gore fest that was the first few episodes of Heroes? Remember how people were worried it was going to remain over-the-top gross you out action with a Cheerleader that could heal herself and a villian that could slice your head open? That’s me right now. Except silly humor has taken the place of gross special effects.

The good news is, I actually think I could enjoy a show like this, even if it does remain fickle with it’s tone. But it’s not the show I want, nor would it be one of my favorites. I’ve heard Scott say repeatedly the Gossip Girl and Chuck are two halves of a whole. I agree. One is mean-spirited and serious, the other is light-hearted and slapstick. Maybe I should watch them both at the same time.

So, does anyone want to re-assure me? Perhaps I’m insane. That happens often enough.

The problem with this is that quite often, I miss out on a lot of really good shows. As recently as 6 months ago, I had only watched 2 episodes of Lost. Now it ranks amongst my favorite shows on television. I didn’t get into Veronica Mars until the second season, just because it sounded…un-compelling. I missed the original television run of Firefly (Though, then again, is that such a bad thing?).

My point is that often I unfairly judge a show before I give it a fair shot. We all do it. Admit it. How many of you refuse to watch The O.C. because of your impressions of what it might be? Well, the other day I entered into an agreement with TheDoctor (Scott) to rectify two cases of pre-maturely judging a show. Well, two cases for me, and one for him. I’ve agreed to give Supernatural and Chuck a fair shot, if he would be willing to do the same for Babylon 5.

It’s a pretty sweet deal for me, because I’ve been trying to get him to watch B5 now for a while, but talking him past the first season isn’t an easy thing. Meanwhile, I have to watch two shows as well that I haven’t really given a shot. I watched the first episode of Supernatural, and decided it wasn’t the show for me. And Chuck? As appealing of a name as the show has (/sarcasm), what little I know about it has never grabbed me. But Josh Shwartz (Going back to The O.C.)? Adam Baldwin? Somehow, I’ll find a way to soldier through, I’m sure.

The deal is simple. I watch Supernatural and Chuck for a mostly unspecified amount of time (We’ll say at least into season 2 of Supernatural, and the entire season of Chuck). And Scott watches Babylon 5 at least up to "Coming of Shadows". In both cases, we should then have enough of an opinion of each show to mostly judge it for what it is. In Scott’s case, it’s a little risky, because ultimately a lot of season 1 of Babylon 5 isn’t fantastic. Personally I think there are about 3 episodes up to and including "Coming of Shadows" that are pretty fantastic. But will it be enough of a glimpse into the series of a whole to grab ahold of him? We shall see.

Which of us has the better road ahead? Who got the better deal? What show are you unfairly hesitant to watch despite the suggestions to do so? Stay tuned as I keep a running list of entries about my experiences and thoughts while I go through my half of the deal.

Holding my nose, and preparing to dive in,
Saberj