Bi-Monthly Power Rankings- Curb and FNL Move Up

After two months of the television season finished, here is the second power rankings of the year...

Honorable Mentions (Last Time)

Bored to Death- (-) Sundays on HBO
Community- (-) Thursdays on NBC
Flash Forward- (-) Thursdays on ABC
Gary Unmarried- (HM) Wednesdays on CBS
Glee- (-) Wednesdays on FOX
Survivor- (15) Thursdays on CBS

20. Californication- (-) Sundays on Showtime

19. Gossip Girl- (HM) Mondays on The CW

18. Hannah Montana- (16) Sundays on Disney

17. Mad Men- (HM) Sundays on AMC

16. The Mentalist- (17) Thursdays on CBS

15. Greek- (14) Mondays on ABC Family

14. House- (12) Mondays on FOX

13. American Idol- (10) Tuesdays on FOX

12. Wizards of Waverly Place- (19) Fridays on Disney

11. 90210- (20) Tuesdays on The CW

10. Modern Family- (-) Wednesdays on ABC

9. True Blood- (8) Sundays on HBO

8. Big Brother- (7) Summer on CBS

7. 24- (5) Mondays on FOX

6. The Office- (4) Thursdays on NBC

5. Friday Night Lights- (9) Wednesdays on DirecTV

4. 30 Rock- (2) Thursdays on NBC

3. Chuck- (3) Mondays on NBC

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm- (6) Sundays on HBO

1. Lost- (1) Wednesdays on ABC

Dropped Out: One Tree Hill, Heroes, Rules of Engagement, Entourage, Amazing Race

Preseason Character Rankings

Honorable Mentions

Don Draper
Jon Hamm- Mad Man

Ari Gold
Jeremy Piven- Entourage

Ben Linus
Michael Emerson- Lost

Eric Northman
Alexander Skarsgard- True Blood

Matt Saracen
Zach Gilford- Friday Night Lights

Nathan Scott
James Lafferty- One Tree Hill

Top 20

20. Chloe O'Brian
Mary Lynn Rajskub- 24

19. Mark Sloan
Eric Dane- Grey's Anatomy

18. Johnny Chase
Kevin Dillon- Entourage

17. Alex Russo
Selena Gomez- Wizards of Waverly Place

16. Greg House
Hugh Laurie- House, MD

15. Jack Bauer
Kiefer Sutherland- 24

14. Morgan Grimes
Joshua Gomez- Chuck

13. Jack Donaghy
Alec Baldwin- 30 Rock

12. Julian Baker
Austin Nichols- One Tree Hill

11. Gabriel Sylar
Zachary Quinto- Heroes

10. Miley Stewart
Miley Cyrus- Hannah Montana

9. Michael Scott
Steve Carell- The Office

8. Cappie
Scott Michael Foster- Greek

7. Chuck Bartowski
Zach Levi- Chuck

6. Tim Riggins
Taylor Kitsch- Friday Night Lights

5. Dwight Schrute
Rainn Wilson- The Office

4. Patrick Jane
Simon Baker- The Mentalist

3. Larry David
Larry David- Curb Your Enthusiasm

2. Tracy Jordan
Tracy Morgan- 30 Rock

1. James 'Sawyer' Ford
Josh Holloway- Lost

Preseason TV Power Rankings

With the beginning of September comes the return of the Preseason TV Power Rankings.

Honorable Mentions

The Amazing Race
CBS- Sundays at 8:00- Premiers 9/27

Entourage
HBO- Sundays at 10:30- Finale 10/4

Gary Unmarried
CBS- Wednesdays at 8:30- Premiers 9/23

Gossip Girl
The CW- Mondays at 9:00- Premiers 9/14

Mad Men
AMC- Sundays at 10:00- Finale 11/8

Rules of Engagement
CBS- Mondays at 9:30- Premiers Midseason

Top 20

20. 90210
The CW- Tuesdays at 8:00- Premiers 9/8

19. Wizards of Waverly Place
Disney- Fridays at 8:00- Premiers 10/9

18. Heroes
NBC- Mondays at 8:00- Premiers 2/21

17. The Mentalist
CBS- Thursdays at 10:00- Premiers 9/24

16. Hannah Montana
Disney- Sundays at 7:30

15. Survivor
CBS- Thursdays at 8:00- Premiers 9/17

14. Greek
ABCFam- Mondays at 9:00- Premiered 8/31

13. Family Guy
FOX- Sundays at 9:00- Premiers 9/27

12. House, MD
FOX- Mondays at 8:00- Premiers 9/28

11. One Tree Hill
The CW- Mondays at 8:00- Premiers 9/14

10. American Idol
FOX- Tuesdays/Wednesdays at 8:00- Premiers Midseason

9. Friday Night Lights
DirectTV- Fall '09/NBC- Summer '10

8. True Blood
HBO- Sundays at 9:00- Finale 9/13

7. Big Brother
CBS- Sun/Tue/Thur at 8/9- Finale 9/15

6. Curb Your Enthusiasm
HBO- Sundays at 10:00- Premiers 9/20

5. 24
FOX- Mondays at 9:00- Premiers Midseason

4. The Office
NBC- Thursdays at 9:00- Premiers 9/17

3. Chuck
NBC- Mondays at 8:00- Premiers Midseason

2. 30 Rock
NBC- Thursdays at 9:30- Premiers 10/15

1. Lost
ABC- Wednesdays at 9:00- Premiers Midseason

Greek to Me

I don't stray from major network television often, but one show I do go off the beaten path for is Greek on ABC Family. It is quite corny and poorly acted at time, but intentional and unintentional comedy is abundant. Cappie, the unmotivated, middle of the day drinking, prank pulling head of the Kappa Tau fraternity is one of my favorite characters on television. The terribleness of Rusty Cartwright shows no bounds, as he continues to make me want to slap him in the face as if he was stealing a pie from my house (which makes for intense viewing). What makes Greek so different is how pop culture concsience the writers are. There are more references to older tv shows, celebrities and the entertainment world than any other show on the small screen today. My favorite was during last week's homecoming episode when Casey or Ashliegh said something to the effect of "or we could go Emily Valentine and burn the float down."

Last night was the second season finale and it did not disappoint. Casey finally got rid of the awful Max (who will now attempt to ruin the new Melrose Place), she went after Cappie like everyone wanted, and Cap turned her down. Rusty and Jordan were so tough to watch, but the Dale and Calvin story made up for it. Dale is always hillarious and him pretending to be gay was no exception to that rule. Not quite enough Evan or Beav in this finale, but thankfully it's coming back for a third season soon, come August.

CW Upfronts- Gut Reactions

What's Gone
Privileged, Reaper, The Game, Everybody Hates Chris

--Although I've never seen Reaper, I've heard great things. The biggest loss here is Privileged. A great show with a great star. There was a lot of room to grow and it's a shame it's getting dumped to take a chance on a new Melrose and a Vampire show.

What's Back
Smallville, Supernatural, Gossip Girl, 90210, One Tree Hill, America's Next Top Model

--The sci-fi twins return. The Gossip crew heads off to college, while the new kids in Beverly Hills make it to season two. It's a shame they're giving Ethan (Dustin Milligan) the boot, because he was one of the highlights of 90210. One Tree Hill does themselves a favor by letting Chad and Burton hit the road for better things. They were two of my least favorites on the show. Adding Julian (Austin Nichols) to main character status will help the cause.

What's New
Melrose Place, Vampire Diaries, The Beautiful Life, Parental Discretion Advised

--Melrose, a reboot of the original, will be worth a try, and I might check out this Vampire joint as well. No thank you to Micha Barton and The Beautiful Life and whatever this other thing is.

CBS Upfronts- Gut Reactions

What's Gone
Without a Trace, The Unit, Worst Week, Eleventh Hour, The Ex-List

--Nothing to talk about here. Only thing I watched was Worst Week, and that was sub-par at best.

What's Back
Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, CSI: Miami, NCIS, Mentalist, Criminal Minds, New Adv. of Old Christine, CSI: NY, CSI, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, Cold Case, Amazing Race, Survivor, Gary Unmarried, Rules of Engagement, Flashpoint

--Surprisingly I watch a good amount of shows on my most hated network. Great move sticking with Gary Unmarried and I'll be tuning in for the Race, Survivor, Rules and Mentalist. How many CSIs does CBS really need?

What's New
Accidentally On Purpose, Three Rivers, The Good Wife, NCIS: LA, Miami Trauma, The Bridge, Undercover Boss, Arranged Marriage

--No thank you to all of them.

What's Switched
Medium

--So NBC cancels Medium and CBS decides to pick it up and put it on Friday nights. The funny thing is that because it's on CBS it will now do well. It's a shame that everything does well on CBS but great shows like Chuck struggle to do well on NBC.

FOX Upfronts- Gut Reactions

What's Gone
Do Not Disturb, King of the Hill, Prison Break, Sit Down Shut Up, Terminator

--Worst move of this season's upfronts was canceling Terminator: TSCC. Not only was it a great show, but it kept getting better and better as it went on. I'm glad to see Sit Down Shut Up and Do Not Disturb gone.

What's Back
24, American Dad, American Idol, Bones, Dollhouse, Family Guy, Fringe, House, Kitchen Nightmares, Lie To Me, Simpsons, Til Death, So You Think You Can Dance

--Really? Dollhouse and Lie to Me were better than Terminator? Interesting. 24 is back so I'm assuming Jacky B makes it through that experimental stem cell surgery. Either that or Renee Walker takes over as the woman that saves the world...no thank you.

What's New
Brothers, Cleveland Show, Glee, Human Target, Past Life, Sons of Tucson, Wanda Sykes Show

--Not much promise for the future of FOX. I'll check out Brothers and Cleveland Show, and maybe give Glee another try, but nothing excites me here.

--Brothers is a sitcom starring Michael Strahan (New York Football Giants) as Mike Trainor, an ex-NFL star that has spent all his money and moves back home. Daryl Mitchell (House Party, 10 Things I Hate About You) plays Mike's brother, a handicapped restaurateur, and Carl Weathers (Rocky, Happy Gilmore) is the father.

--The Cleveland Show is the Family Guy spin-off starring the Griffin's neighbor, Cleveland. That's pretty much it. I'll watch because all Seth MacFarlane's stuff is good.

--I turned the Glee pilot off halfway through because it was pretty awful. I am only hearing good things about it so I might give it one more try this fall.

ABC Upfronts- Gut Reactions

What's Gone
Samantha Who, Cupid, Unusuals, In the Motherhood, According to Jim

--I don't watch any of these shows but I'm glad to see According to Jim go off the air. How does that show stay on tv so long?

What's Back
Lost, Castle, Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, Dancing w/ Stars, Supernanny, Extreme Makeover: HE, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Bachelor, Wife Swap, True Beauty

--Wow ABC has kept a lot of shows. Lost heads into its final season come January. Housewives and Grey's need to end their runs as soon as possible and Ugly Betty moves to the dead zone (Friday). I've been hearing good things about Better Off Ted so I might give it another try.

What's New
Cougar Town, Hank, The Middle, Modern Family, Flash Forward, Eastwick, Shark Tank, Forgotten, V, Happy Town, Deep End

--I will pass on the attempts at comedy that are Courgar Town and The Middle, as well as Forgotten, Deep End and Shark Tank. Althought I will give Eastwick, Flash Forward and Hank a look, here are the three new ABC shows that get me buzzing.

--V is a reboot on the 80s miniseries in which earth has its first encounter with aliens that call themselves the Visitors. Although they seem friendly, it seems a divide occurs between humans that feel they are here for good and those that think they are here for evil. With a stellar trio of Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost, Santa Clause 2), Morris Chestnut (Like Mike, Boyz N the Hood) and Scott Wolf (Double Dragon, Party of Five) it seems like a good one.

--Modern Family is a sitcom about three different couples. One is a newly married Ed O'Neil (Married With Children, Little Giants) and Sofia Vergara (Knights of Prosperity). The second is Ty Burrell, who killed it on Back To You a year ago, and Julie Bowen (Lost, Happy Gilmore) who have a bunch of kids. And last but not least we have a gay couple, one of which is fat. It doesn't get much more comedic than that.

--Watching Harper's Island gets me kinda excited for Happy Town. It's a show about a run of the mill town, Haplin, where everything seems to be hunky dorry. That is, until a serial killer named the Magic Man gets started. With Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), the dude who plays video games with Vince Vaughn in The Break Up (Geoff Stults), Mr. Friendly from Lost (MC Gainey), and the Jurassic Park guy (Sam Neill), Happy Town is getting a watch from me.

NBC Upfronts- Gut Reactions

Well the best news coming from the NBC upfronts was that Chuck WILL be returning next season. It will be cut down in episodes and air in the spring at it's regular 8:00 timeslot on Mondays. Heroes moves to 8 in the fall and will also be a shortened season.

What's Gone
Life, Medium, My Name Is Earl, Kath & Kim, Kings, Knight Rider

--I'm sad to see Earl and Kath & Kim go, but only because they're much better than Parks & Recreation and SNL Thursday Update (which will be on Thursdays this fall)
--Everything else I'm glad to see is gone.

What's Back
Heroes, Chuck, Biggest Loser, SVU, SNL Update, Park & Recreation, Office, 30 Rock, Law & Order, Southland, Celebrity Apprentice, Friday Night Lights

--Pumped that Chuck is back and hope Heroes can try to turn something around. I was hoping L & O had kicked the bucket and do we really need two hours of Biggest Loser? Of course the classic comedy hour of Office and 30 Rock are back in action. With Friday Night Lights airing in the summer, I'll probably download them while they air on DirectTV this fall.

What's New
Trauma, Parenthood, Community, Day One, 100 Questions, Mercy, Marriage Ref

--I will pass on your regular old hospital shows, Trauma and Mercy, and I will definitely not catch 100 Questions with how bad the preview looks. You should check out Parenthood, Community and Day One.

--Parenthood looks like a dramedy about families taken from the first tv series and movie before it. It has Peter Krause (Dirty Sexy Money, Sports Night) and Craig T. Nelson (Coach, Blades of Glory) so sign me up.

--Community is a comedy about life at a community college and it stars Joel McHale (E's The Soup) and Chevy Chase (Vacation, Caddyshack) so I am obviously game.

--Now I feel Day One could be hit or miss. A global event devastates the world and Day One tells the story of those survivors that try to rebuild society and figure out why the event occurred.

First Annual Poolie Awards

With the end of the television season on the horizon, The Quiet Pool Perspective will soon be handing out the First Annual Quiet Pool Television Awards. The Poolies will recognize the top shows, characters and contestants from the season that was 2008-09. I have assembled an eight man group of voters, ranging in amount and type of television watched, but all with one characteristic in common. I respect their tv watching opinions.

Poolie Awards Voters
Bonz
Jaydon
JJ
Lar
Mags
Myself
Pops
T-time

Poolie Awards Categories

Comedy
The Seinfeld Award for
Best Comedy Series

The Corey Matthews Award for
Best Lead Character in a Comedy Series

The Arthur Spooner Award for
Best Supporting Character in a Comedy Series

The Phoebe Buffay Award for
Best Female Character in a Comedy Series

The Lily Finnerty Award for the
Character You Love To Hate in a Comedy Series

Drama
The Dynasty Award for
Best Drama Series

The Dr. Doug Ross Award for
Best Lead Character in a Drama Series

The Noah Hunter Award for
Best Supporting Character in a Drama Series

The Veronica Mars Award for
Best Female Character in a Drama Series

The Marissa Cooper Award for the
Character You Love To Hate in a Comedy Series

Action
The Sopranos Award for
Best Action Series

The Frank Pembleton Award for
Best Lead Character in an Action Series

The Titus Pullo Award for
Best Supporting Character in an Action Series

The Samantha Marquez Award for
Best Female Character in an Action Series

The Teri Bauer Award for the
Character You Love To Hate in an Action Series

Reality
The Battle of the Network Stars Award for
Best Reality Competition

The Terry Fator Award for
Best Male Contestant in a Reality Competition

The Kellie Pickler Award for
Best Female Contestant in a Reality Competition

The 'Crazy' James Zinkand Award for the
Contestant You Love To Hate in a Reality Competition

Other
The Flintstones Award for
Best Animated Series

The Johnny Carson Award for
Best Late Night/Variety Series

The Amazing Racers

The Amazing Race is down to the final three teams. Victor and Tammy (The Asians), Margie and Luke (The Deafs) and Jaime and Cara (The Cheerleaders) will battle it out for the Million Dollar Prize next Sunday. It's a shame that Tammy is the only player left that I like.

Luke and Margie are awful people. I can't stand how mean spirited Luke is toward everyone else. Usually I'm a big fan of people being mean, but this dude is the worst. A couple eps ago, when Luke and Jennifer were running toward the box, he boxed her out and threw an elbow at her dome. He immediately started complaining about how terrible Jen was, and of course Margie joined in. Neither of them can see anything from anyone else's point of view. Luke's mom is hardly any better. She thinks that everything is about her son's disability. It's like Zach Morris hanging out with the girl in a wheelchair. When Luke and Margie started to complain to Phil about the non-existent, terrible things Jen did to Luke, Jen and LaKisha began to giggle. Immediately Margie claimed they were laughing at Luke because he's deaf. Why would they laugh at him for being deaf, when it's much funnier that you two are so out of your mind that you think Luke didn't start all of the controversy?

I really liked LaKisha and Jen before the past two episodes. After Jen almost blows it for the team last episode by crying about having to swim a couple of lengths of the pool, they luck out by having that leg of the race extended. They get themselves back into it and Jen decided to make the worst move in any competition I have ever seen. After eating a whole bunch of disgusting food (which Jen has to drink four bottles of water to get down), the girls start their final sprint to the pit stop in third place. On their way to the famous Bird's Nest in Beijing, LaKisha and Jen stop so that Jen can use the bathroom!!! Are you serious?? They knew that The cheerleaders were right behind them. Sure enough when they get to the pit stop Phil tells them they lost by mere seconds and they are eliminated from the race. I don't know about you, but for a million dollars I would definitely let it flow.

There have been so many legs of the race that have taken place in Asian this season. It would be a great travesty if Tammy and Victor didn't make it to the final three. Victor was annoying in the beginning when the team wasn't doing very well, but now that they're winning, I enjoy this squad. They are easily my favorite team heading into Sunday's finale.

Tyson: Assistant Coach

If you have enjoyed Tyson on this season of Survivor then I suggest watching this video of last week's tribal council. It has Tyson's audio commentary and it is hilarious. Enjoy.

We Could Be Heroes

Last night NBC threw two hours of season finale action at us. While this post is going to be mostly about the Heroes Volume Four finale, I need to mention how great Chuck was last night. It was a fantastic ending to an awesome season. If this is, in fact, the last we see of the CIA/Buy More crew, I will be sad but pleased with what they gave us.

Unlike Chuck, which has been getting better and better over the past two years, Heroes has been all over the place. Season One was one of, if not the best first season in my memory. After that the show started on a downslide, which might have been caused by the writers’ strike during the second season. Volume Three started this fall and it was more of the same mediocrity. Now for me, volume four was looking like a step in the right direction, but last night’s finale threw me through another loop.

I have always been the guy who says that, in a serialized action show like this, you need to kill people off at times to keep the viewer’s attention. This is something Heroes wasn’t willing to do. Sure they got rid more minor characters like D.L., Isaac and Linderman, but when they kill off Nikki only to bring her back as Tracy, or they kill Nathan at the end of season two only to have him be healed by Claire’s blood it just makes me angry.

So when spoilers for this volume’s finale said that a major character would die, I didn’t think they were going to cop out like they did. -SPOILER ALERT- So Peter and Nathan go in to attack Sylar (which they don’t let Claire or the audience see, bootleg) and surprise surprise, the killer with multiple lethal powers kills the dude that can fly around. After Nathan’s throat is slit by Sylar, and Peter has mimicked Sylar’s shape shifting power, Peter shifts into the form of the President and stabs Sylar with a tranquilizer. Now Peter, Claire, Noah, Angela and Parkman are left with a dead Nathan and a knocked out Sylar. As a political move, and so that Angela doesn’t lose her son, Parkman gives Sylar’s body all of Nathan’s memories and removes anything to do with Gabriel Gray/Sylar.

So there wasn’t really a death of a main character. Sure the real Nathan is dead, but he’s still around in Sylar. And I guess the essence of Sylar won’t be around, but the preview of volume five shows that the new Nathan starts to show Gabriel’s original power of knowing how things work. So we will probably end up with having a half Nathan, half Sylar dude wondering around in the near future. That's not really killing anyone off.

And to top things off, at the very end of the volume five preview we see Tracy again. After shattering herself into a million pieces a while ago she is now back and has some sort of water manipulation power like Alex Mack. Unless this is not Tracy, and is in fact the third triplet, it is more proof that they can’t kill anyone off.

Buy More Chuck

After a great four episode run, last night's fantastic penultimate ep and a set up for what could be one of the best hours of television this year, everyone should be excited for next week's Chuck season finale.

Last night episode had everything you could ask for. There was loads of action, there were plenty of laughs at the Buy More and there were many great Chuck/Sarah moments throughout. Not to mention (SPOILER ALERT) Chuck telling Captain Awesome that he's a CIA spy. There were the continuation of great guest spots, with my birthday buddy Scott Bakula as Chuck's dad and Chevy Chase as an unbelievable villain.

Allison Waldman wrote a great review over at TV Squad.

As Chuck has quickly moved itself into a top five spot on my tv favorites, it is in danger of not coming back for a third season. Many people are doing their part to keep Chuck alive, but if anything will help it will be ratings for the finale. So if you aren't doing anything Monday night, throw the tube on NBC at 8:00 PM for the Kid here. I don't ask that you watch, just put the tv on. If you have digital cable, you can even leave the tv off, just put the box to NBC.

Idol at the Movies

I think anyone of these top seven (except for maybe Lil) could have/would have won season three. Tonight everyone was very good (except for Lil).

Yo producers, if you run out of time and have to cut the judges in half for comments, please get rid of Kara. Why did you bring her on? Four is way too many.

So tonight is songs from the movies. Let's see the run down of the top seven.

Go Home

Lil Rounds- (The Rose, The Rose/Bette Midler) So as this started I thought to myself, wow this is finally not boring. But by the end I realized that I had spaced out through half of it, so I guess it was once again a snooze alert. Add to this the fact that she was whining and complaining about the judges and I say she needs to go.

Not Impressed

Kris Allen- (Once, Falling Slowly/Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) I guess it does pay to do songs that the audience knows, because the two that I like the leasts are the two I had never heard of. Kris started a little slow, but just before the halfway mark he really brought me in and I started to enjoy his performance.

Allison Iraheta- (Armageddon, I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing/Aerosmith) Everyone and their brother has done this song so you have knock it out of the park. I don't think she did that. It was good, but not great. She started out pretty different from the original which gets you hooked for the rest of it. This makes it okay that the second half was basically a second rate version.

Top Four Dudes

Matt Giraud- (Don Juan DeMarco, Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman/Bryan Adams) Bryan Adams really does nothing with his songs. Both Matt and (will get to later) Kutner made fantastic changes to his songs just by show better vocal talent. Giraud had the vocal riffs going but there were a couple moments where he kinda messed up and it sounded a little off. That's why he's not in my top three tonight.

Danny Gokey- (Endless Love, Endless Love/Lionel Richie and Diana Ross) By far his best of the season. I loved that it was just him and the harp up there. I totally disagree with Simon, he did change the song. The original has way more going on musically, Gokes stripped it down so he could show off the vocal talent that I can now see that he has. Unlike past weeks, he showed some major range in this performance. Sure it doesn't compare to Rickey Smith's version in season two, but what does?

Anoop Desai- (Robin Hood, I Do It For You/Bryan Adams) As I said before, Bryan Adams is easy to outperform and Anoop killed this one. Way better than the original. Dr. Kutner has been resurrected and this was finally two great weeks in a row for Noop Dog Millionaire. He made such great changes in the melody of the song. Awesome.

Adam Lambert- (Easy Rider, Born To Be Wild/Steppenwolf) Unlike Larry Avitamiboblay, the judges, America, Barstool Sports, JJ, and yes I love Ms. Lambert. This was unbelievable! Like he did with Play that Funky Music, Adam took a song that I really dislike and turned it into a masterpiece. It's kind of ridiculous how he has been like clockwork so far, in that he goes with an upbeat joint followed by a slow-down ballad every other week. If he doesn't come out with something slow next week, I'll be shocked.

Sarah Connor Chronicled?

It's really a shame that people haven't been watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, because this past Friday's Season Two Finale might have been the final episode of the series. With ratings lower than Howie Do It and Wife Swap, as well as anything they put on CBS, most are certain that Terminator has run its course on television. Others have a slight bit of hope that the opening of the Christian Bale starring Terminator Salvation (watch trailer) will give enough reason to keep the show on the air.

8PM	CBS	Ghost Whisperer	10.23	2.5/9
	ABC	Wife Swap	4.64	1.4/5
	NBC	Howie Do It	3.86	1.1/4
	FOX	Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles	3.56	1.3/5
	CW	Everybody Hates Chris (R)	1.47	0.6/2

Source: TVAddict

I didn't come into watching this show as a fan of the Arnold movies. I had a clean slate and got hooked right away. Now sure, it has had some dull episodes, but so has what I consider the best show on television, Lost. The way Terminator has picked up over the second half of this season has been terrific.

The final episode, maybe ever, was fantastic and everyone seems to thinks so. After Cameron (right) demolished everyone in her path to get Sarah out of jail, the good metal chick went to super computer John Henry and voluntarily gave him her chip. Meanwhile crazy liquid metal Weaver meets with Sarah and John Connor to let them know SkyNet is her enemy also. Here's where a fantastic interaction occurs.

Sarah: "We need to get out, they're trying to kill my son."
Weaver: "No they're trying to kill my son, just like you are." (speaking of John Henry)
Sarah: "I'm sure she's done it." (thinking Cameron was going to destroy John Henry)
Weaver: "You better hope not. You're John may save the world, but he can't do it without mine."
--Boom! Roasted.

After they all find a chip-less Cameron and a missing John Henry, Weaver travels through time to go get John Henry back. And sure enough Johnny Connor (left) goes with her to find Cameron's chip. When they get there, they are smack dab in the resistance with a healthy and alive brother combo of Derek and Kyle Reese, as well as a human looking Cameron (probably the mold they use for her). When John talks to a Derek that doesn't recognize him, he let's him know that his name is John Connor. "Anybody heard the name John Connor?" Derek asks. Boy did they screw up the space-time continuum somehow.

The only reason I won't be extremely upset with leaving this story completely up in the air is because there are going to be three more Terminator movies over the next decade. That being said, I would love to see a season three of the Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Friday Night Loss

Tonight aired one of my favorite Friday Night Lights episodes in recent memory. Take that for what it's worth, my memory is not so good. I felt so complete when it ended that I wished it was the season finale.

Lyla reunited with Buddy on account of the fact that the Riggins household is a dump. Tyra wrote a very moving college essay that was narrated over scenes of all the characters as they got ready for the State Championship game. Landry got his chance to play on special teams and ended up getting a nice smooch from Tyra (below left) after she realized how amazingly nice he has been to her. Julie and Saracen's grandma shared a nice moment after figuring out that it was best to let Matty (right) go to art school in Chicago. Matty got to play QB again after JD (or Sam Bonsey) was benched for acting like a jerk to everyone on the team. The thing is, maybe they should've called some running plays if the pass rush was so dominating. Saracen ended up leading the Panters all the way back to lead by one. Riggins was real emotional throughout about his Era coming to an End, and capped it off by leaving his boots on the field to end the ep. Coach T, as always, made a fantastic, heart-felt speach after the game, commending the players for what they did on the field.

What they did was lose. On a last second, game-winning field goal by the heavily favored South Texas Titans, the Dillon Panthers failed to win the Texas State Football Championship. Now they won the championship in the first season and I was worried that they were going to be dumb and have them keep winning and winning. This is the second season in a row where they have not won State. Nice work.

For a while I didn't know if I thought FNL was still a top flight show, but after tonight I'm convinced it's still up there. Thankfully there are at least two more seasons in store. I just hope that they don't keep all the same characters around...maybe Riggins can stay for his fourth senior year.

Quote of the Day

From Privileged...

After the typical jerk of a friend makes a bad joke about Sage's boyfriend being poor.

Rose- "Are you ok?"
Sage- "Please, like I wasn't expecting this? He's poor. I'm rich. Gass. It's so shocking? They did it on the first 90210."

Jack Is Back

The show that got me to be the terrible television freak that I am is back after taking 2008 off because of the writers' strike. For the second time, Jack Bauer and 24 had a two night, four hour premier this past Sunday and Monday. Back during my sophomore year of college, Larry brought the first three seasons of the real-time drama to our suite. I finished the 72 episodes in about 6 weeks (albeit this was much longer than it took Larry and Mags who stayed up til 5 a.m. watching eps). Mags then went out and bought a bootleg Asian version of season 4 so we got to see the best season ever (with Habib Marwan) before it came back on the air in January.

Now I agree with all of you that seasons five and six have not been up to par with the fourth or third installments, but season seven has started out with a bang. Even though I knew beforehand that, spoiler alert, Tony, Bill and Chloe were coming back for this season, it was still an unbelievable moment. Sure I am as gullible as the next idiot and believed Tony was completely dirty, but finding out that he is working under cover with Buchannon and Chloe to take down the corrupt US Government was like a magical conjunction. When Jacko joins them during the fourth hour to go under, it truly geared me up for a great season.

Just think, Lost starts in less than a week...

Top Characters

Top TV Characters of Fall 2008

1. Dwight Schrute- Office
2. Morgan Grimes- Chuck
3. Cappie- Greek
4. Patrick Jane- Mentalist
5. Gabriel Sylar- Heroes
6. Jamie Lucas Scott- One Tree Hill
7. Megan Smith- Privileged
8. Chuck Bartowski- Chuck
9. Tracy Jordan- 30 Rock
10. Sam Briggs- Worst Week