PCB's Television Round-Up, Part 4

Jesus Christ, I watch a lot of television. And with one show still running (Heroes) and several shows yet to start their UK runs (Brothers & Sisters, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, 30 Rock, Dexter, Rome, Without A Trace), the end is nowhere in sight. Hey, I could be addicted to worse things I guess. Anyway:

Grey's Anatomy

There has been something of a backlash against this show during its third season. I can only imagine this is because the show's second season was so fucking brilliant that it set the bar too high and its return would inevitably disappoint. Expectation is a bitch.

For the most part, I absolutely loved this season. It was intense and emotionally tough going with some absolutely sterling work from Katherine Heigl. I've loved her since Bride Of Chucky (shut up) so the current wave of Heigl love sweeping the US makes me happy. Anyway, while for the most part Meredith continued to irritate me, even she had a couple of episodes which made me like her. Those were when she was dealing with her mother being suddenly lucid. The big showdown she had with her was tip top.

I was very glad I had all the episodes to watch in one go as I really could not get enough of the show and waiting week to week would have pissed me off something fierce. But then, the last four episodes of the season got lazy and slapdash, forcing some square plot points into round holes, just to allow the Private Practice spin off. Far worse, it threw in some plot twists that made ABSOLUTELY NO LOGICAL SENSE (Miranda not becoming chief resident, George failing his intern exams) just so there could be something to carry over into next season. Sigh.

Prison Break

Before I start this, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am totally aware this show is the most ridiculous load of unbelievable nonsense. That being said, season 2 kicked ass.

The show's first season was too long and the break out plot felt wayyyyyyy toooooo streeeeeeeeeetched out. I tried watching it when it aired and after the third episode I was all "oh for heaven's sake" and stopped. But the show was a hit and something kept drawing me back so I ended up buying season 1 on DVD and watching it all before Season 2 aired.

And it was infinitely more exciting than season 1. One cliffhanger episode in fact got me so riled up I committed a PCB cardinal sin and READ AHEAD because I couldn't stand the wait. I think what did it for me this season was how, amid all the insanity, there has been a shining beacon of verisimilitude and her name is Sarah Wayne Callies. Her performance has been so real and so brilliant, her reactions to situations so genuine that she has kept me coming back for more. That and they killed off that ghastly old ham Peter Stormare very early on.

Sadly, once again the season finale was a let down. Something of a recurring theme here. I have absolutely no idea what was going on in the last five minutes. Oh well.