Gladiators Kill with Kindness While Terminators just Kill

Part of: TV Nights

Do you know what I like?  I like good television.  It's just who I am.  I think that Terminator:  The Sarah Connor Chronicles represents good television.  I'm not convinced of it, I may yet be proven wrong, but after two episodes it seems like a pretty solid show to me. 

Frankly, the main quibbles I have with the series are all continuity ones that go back to the films on which the show is based.  Once one accepts, if one can, that the producers of the show are making the myth their own rather than simply building on what came before, most of those worries go away. 

Look at the good in last night's episode.  There were some decent action sequences including one featuring Summer Glau as Cameron, our good guy Terminator, attacking some random new bad guy Terminator.  Cameron also shot a man on the presumption that he may have been lying and she was also a hair's breadth away from taking out a cop.  Sure, she's good but she's not that wise yet, and it'll be interesting to see how she grows and changes. 

The show actually seemed concerned with Cameron's murder and near murder.  It did not condone the deaths, rather, it made it look as though Sarah took the deaths quite seriously and knew that she had to explain to Cameron that even though Cameron's a Terminator she can't go around killing people willy-nilly.  It's a lesson Arnold learned in Terminator 2 (okay, so they are borrowing plot points which may be a long-term problem) to great effect. 

Now, the show I watched last night that wasn't as good was American Gladiators.  Oh sure, the actual events are great fun, but unless a contestant (or producer) wipes the smile off of Titan's face pretty soon I'm not quite sure that I can continue watching. He's like a muscle bound version of Dudley Do-Right, a character I never much cared for. 

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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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