Grid Effect

Happy new year’s, non-existent readers. Unless we went out of town, I do not recall taking a sabbatical from this site just for the fuck of it. And it couldn’t have come at a better time. Not only was it during New Year’s week (for lack of a better term) and there wasn’t shit worth mentioning as a result, much less attributing entire posts too, but the network essentially malfunctioned and died for roughly two days (this Friday-early Sunday). So we apologize for the inconvenience as you were unable to acccess it, but in all actuality you were wasting your time regardless because there wasn’t shit new here.

But we have one more week to sift through all the bullshit and then the broadcast and cable networks start to get in the full fledged swing of things. Right now FOX is still going to be interrupting regular programming with college Bowl games (tonight and Thursday) and several series’ aren’t picking up until next week because networks are under the impression that enough suspense hasn’t been built between now and then for their season premieres. Maybe their right. I mean, for some of them its only been a year or so.

As far as we can tell, we’ll be posting recaps/reviews for the following shows: FNL, Flight of The Conchords The Office and maybe Nip Tuck. I think Survivor will be picking up their new season relatively soon, but not until at least February. Otherwise, we’re looking at an empty slate, especially for this week. So, until next week when we can post some nightly previews and have those suffice for the rest of the season, we’re probably going to be posting links and potentially…well, no, probably just links. Frankly, we couldn’t be more excited. Who doesn’t love constant updates on the status of the Arrested Development movie?

So hold onto your hats kids, your first links post from Grid Effect in aught nine is coming later today. A real seminal event.

Sorry for the late post, but we feel like the excuse is valid and completely plausible. Sleeping five hours over the course of three days, combined with heavy alcohol consumption combined with a 3:30am arrival time all adds up to a half-ass mailed-in post about nothing in particular after a two day break.

Also, we’re in no way caught up enough as to adequately deconstruct anything. That is not only true about this website but also physically, mentally and professionally. So anything we might have to contribute would sound unenlightened at its best and profoundly idiotic at its worst. As far Nip Tuck is concerned, we never got around to posting about its last episode before the holidays and they returned last night with something totally riveting and not at all repetitive, I’m sure.

Though we haven’t seen last Friday’s episode, we hear that Riggins botches an assassination attempt on the Dillon mayor we haven’t seen for a full season, then holds the Taylor’s hostage, who still in no way regret their hospitality.

Being as forgettable as it is, we forgot to record last night’s episode before we left for New Orleans, but we’ll try to catch a rerun at some point and bring it back to the docket. Also,this week, new episodes of The Wire (for OnDemand and non-OnDemand viewers) and we watched the next six episodes of Dexter’s first season on the drive. Long-time readers might recall we once posted about the first two episodes when they were posted on Showtime’s website. We weren’t impressed then, and while our opinion has improved somewhat, we’re still not getting the fascination. We’ll try to finish the first season and give a more thorough critique, but as of now this website regards Weeds as the superior Showtime series.

So, with all this in mind we ask that you please be patient and bear with us, even if you find our behavior unsavory, at which point you can pity us. But as of now, and for at least the next day, we are in no condition to tarnish the sterling reputation this website has developed over the years.

Slow day, so in order to avoid anything substantial, here’s some preliminary thoughts on last night’s Rescue Me and a few site notes.

Rescue Me was strong again last night. No Nona, very little Sheila and an understandably angry Tommy. After dozens of years in presumably the same fire house, he now has to kowtow to a probie because the kid can play a little basketball, and everyone in his house cares besides him. It was vexing how they managed using the basketball subplot to symbolize Tommy’s ungraceful entry into his elder years. But ultimately, are they simply stealing themes and technical styles from The Sopranos? The similarities, as stated in last weeks recap, are becoming more and more prevalent, to the point its getting harder to take the show seriously. When I first saw this series I described it as “The Sopranos with firemen”, in the sense that their is a myriad of flawed characters and the people whom the viewer can empathize with are few and far between. It wasn’t meant to be a literal analogy, but its slowly turning into one.

As a scheduling note, it looks like we’re going to begin recapping Mad Men, and it will be done exactly like every other drama: we’ll post the recap the morning of the day the following episode is on. We also might discontinue the scene-by-scene format as well, its too time consuming and outside of The Wire and The Sopranos, no series is detailed enough to warrant such lengthy posts, everything else can be covered in summary.

I meant to watch the replay of Damages last night but fell asleep earlier than I have since I was thirteen or inebriated. Has anyone watched this series and can vouch for it? The previews looked somewhat incredulous and Ted Danson in a dramatic role only accentuates that. But yeah, if it’s supposed to be solid I’ll give it a tumble.

Here’s a quick link about the ineptness of HBO movies and why they are generally so terrible. My guess is the premium network invests all their money in original programming, thus leaving very little to compete with other premium networks that have little to no creative projects.

I might make a habit of recapping and reviewing episodes on the morning that the subsequent episode is set to air, as opposed to the morning following the original air date. The reason for this is two fold. One, it extends my deadline. Instead of having a matter of hours to complete what’s usually a lengthy post, I now have close to six days, making my prose more cogent and entertaining. Two, it refreshes the readers memory before an episode he/she is most likely going to watch later that evening, a recap from the same day makes the backstory easier to apply and interpret. Typically, I recap an episode immediately after it airs, and by the time the following episode is set to broadcast, said recap is already off the homepage.

For example, a new episode of Friday Night Lights is scheduled to air tonight. I am posting my recap for last Wednesday’s episode sometime this afternoon.

In addition, each series that is regularly recapped will be segregated into its own category. This is for those new to the site, in case they are partial to one particular series I have recapped in the past, this makes some older posts more readily available.

If any of these changes are ill-advised and undesirable, then feel free to leave your complaints in the comments section. All feedback and suggestions, positive or otherwise, are welcomed.

(Update: The new practice of posting recaps of episodes the same day the following episode is set to air applies only to dramatic and hour long reality series’. Expect a review for sitcoms the day after they air).