The TiVO Report

I know some folks like new tv shows talked about immediately (the aintitcoolnews "First!" syndrome), but I am too damned busy, forcing me to rely on my TiVO way too much- usually late at night and days after the fact, so this is what you get (I'm sure you'll get over it):

Smallville is good again, thank God. Last year was rough and all over the place (and occasionally- corny as hell), but this year's all good: Clark and Lana finally get together, Lex is well along on the EVIL path (prediction: the series ends with Lex killing Chloe, sealing the deal), the corn factor is down, and this week they made Aquaman cool (apparently HBO's "Entourage" dissed him pretty good) even without having a harpoon for a hand (an attempt a few years back by DC to make him cool). It's got Spike (James Marsters without the bleach and the accent) for a bunch of episodes, and finally Clark Kent is starting to acknowledge his destiny as the guy who's going to save the world a lot.

Lost is the anti-reality show, where the virtues of the common good and community are exalted above the Darwinian human vs human cutthroatism of the standard "reality" show. It's genuinely suspenseful, occasionally poignant and possibly uplifting, and beautifully shot and presented. As somebody who sort of passed on the first season I hereby proclaim myself a convert, and will say that Lost is worth the hype; in fact it might even have artistic value. Whether it can keep it going is another story, but I will watch it until they stop (or maybe, conclude the series- wouldn't that be something?).

And better late than never: The PBS Independent Lens that featured Parliament Funkadelic was ass shakingly wonderful, a swell reminder of why I got seriously into the funk in college after becoming a Prince fan after the Batman soundtrack, a served a nice bop upside the head when I thought of my current rock pied piper / guru Wayne Coyne (from the Flaming Lips) that said "DUDE, YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN COSMIC AND WEIRD AND PEOPLE COMING TOGETHER IN THE NAME OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERATION*" and that's always nice, when art inspires insight while shaking your booty. Of course that's what the funk does. Selah, and booyah.

And I am definately getting a season pass forIndependent Lens, weekly documentary film art hosted by Edie Falco.


* Ex: Themes found in the work of Prince, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Pink Floyd 73-79, John Lennon, U2, solo Roger Waters, Neil Young, Flaming Lips.