Caught up with Monk

Well, four days later and I've finally watched the latest episode of Monk. Watching shows back-to-back is a good and a bad thing.

The bad is Adrian himself. He's so self-absorbed that it gets tiresome hour after hour. I ended up just wanting to smack him. It stopped being cute and lovable, I guess.

The good is all of the inside jokes. In the season 6 Christmas episode, the truck that's blocking the intersection is marked "BBQ" the quarry Monk and Kroger's son got buried in. Randy Disher is wearing the sweater his aunt sent him, the red one that she said she made, but one of the other cops knew came from the local big-box store. And the best part is they weren't mentioned, they were just there, as little Easter eggs to constant viewers.

What happens with my iTunes Store subscriptions to Monk and Psych are still unknown. They said they'd get back to me, but they haven't so far. I may have to resort to waiting to rent them from NetFlix again when the DVDs come out. Not a smart move, NBC/Universal. Happy New Year, y'all!

Monk

Today I'm catching up on season's 4-6 of Monk. I bought it (I think I mentioned...) from the iTunes Store, and all those episodes have been sitting on my hard drive and iPod, just waiting for me. I'm enjoying every scrump-diddly-umptious episode.

Life on Mars, Season 1

Liking it so far (after 4 episodes). Dense story, requires attention, but worth the effort.

I can't deal with it this morning, however, so I'm on to season 4 of Monk (yeah, I'm behind). Monk's mild humor is more my style today.

More later.

Psych, Season 2

I caught up with Psych today. Better than going to the movies!

I love this show's heart. James Roday and Dulé Hill have such great chemistry together. The show goes over the top without making me roll my eyes at it, and I love, love love all of the pop culture references (even the ones I don't quite get and have to Google!).

I bought a season pass for both Psych and Monk from the iTunes Store. When the Grinches at NBC/Universal pulled their content, it included these shows; USA Network is part of NBC/Uni. The CSRs at the iTS have told me that they're trying to work out what happens to the rest of my season pass.

About that I am not amused at NBC/Uni.

Nip/Tuck, Season 5

Well, I caught up on Nip/Tuck today. I thought the move to LA would be interesting and refreshing for the show, and I was partially right. The addition of Bradley Cooper to the cast is brilliant (and hey, he's easy on the eyes!) but it appears that McNamara/Troy's problems have followed them to Cali from Miami. Matt is still with Kimber, and they're meth addicts, Julia's taken up with Olivia (Portia di Rossi, also very easy on the eyes!), who has a toxic daughter, Eden. By episode 8, Sean has slept with Eden, who is his ex-wife's lover's 18-year-old daughter. (Shudder) And even better, he's had a minor heart attack for his troubles. Matt has a small meth lab explosion and ends up with burns over about half of his body. All I can say is that it's too bad his eyebrows weren't singed off. I mean, look how much better Peter Petrelli looked after Sylar cut off that horrid bang!

I've decided to view this show as a dramedy, a parody of soap operas. The "show within a show" idea is clearly a self-parody, and as long as there's no Carver involved I'm still along for the ride.

Return to Paradise

I like Ghost Whisperer, so I started looking for some of David Conrad's past work. I found this 1998 film, Return to Paradise, which also stars Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoneix and Anne Heche.

The three boys spend a summer in Malaysia, being boys (i.e., stupid and thoughtless). Phoenix's character stays behind to work with orangutans, but we find out two years later that he's been imprisoned the entire time. Seems he was arrested for drug trafficking soon after the other two returned to New York. Heche plays Phoenix's American lawyer, who tells Conrad and Vaughn that if they don't return to Malaysia, Phoenix will be executed.

The cinematography was beautiful, the story simply told. Pace drags in the second half, but the ending was satisfying. At just under two hours, it was perfect for this rainy afternoon. DVD extras include only cast and director bios. It's a dual-sided disc including Standard and Wide-screen.

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