Four and a Half Hours of Great Television

As I sat there watching four and a half hours of TV last night (it was a good night), I had an epiphany. An epiphany of enormous proportions. An epiphany to outlast all other epiphanies. An epiphany that makes the sheer notion of other people having epiphanies utterly foolish. Let me tell you about the epiphany I had.

But, before I get there, I thought I’d throw out how very much I enjoy Extras. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are utterly fantastic. It’s comedy, it’s drama, and it’s nice to see that fame didn’t go to Andy Millman’s head. The guest stars that they have on every week are incredibly funny. Whether it's Orlando Bloom or Diana Rigg or Ian McKellen, the parts are well-written and played over-the-top enough to be ridiculous and believable at the same time. So, I was behind in watching it this week, but Extras was one of the shows I watched during my epiphany.

I, of course, sat down and watched Lost as well. That’s one of those shows you just don’t play around with, it’s so well written and there are always surprises and you just don’t want to go to the office the next morning and hear people talking about the craziness involving Desmond. I don’t care what anyone says, I know that the numbers for the show are down from what they once were, but I don’t think it’s because of content, I think it’s because of marketing. Last season there were so many repeats and recap episodes it all got very frustrating. But if you’ve drifted from the show for any reason I highly recommend you give it another shot; they’re going to be doing the rest of the season repeat-free and I think Abrams and Lindelhof and the guys have a definite plan and I want to be there to see it.See, 24, which I also watched, is how Lost should’ve been handled from the start of season two on; as the NYPD Blue promos once said — repeats are for wimps. The numbers for 24 went from marginal to solid once they started going for 24 straight episodes, no repeats or missing weeks. As for the content, it’s been a good show this season, but not great. Happily it hasn’t been as utterly dismal as the bobcat episode of season two or season three in its entirety. That was a day I wish I hadn’t had to live through with Jack — the boredom and ridiculousness was stultifying.   

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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