SFist Watches: TV This Week - Part Five!
Welcome to the fifth and final edition of this week's SFist Watches TV This Week extravaganza! We can hardly believe how quickly the week has gone, nor how many shows we've watched. And thank God it's Friday, because that means our viewing choices are, thanfully, a lot slimmer than they were last night.
But just because the choices are slim doesn't mean we're willing to watch whatever the hell is on. Which means that no, we won't be turning in to the premiere of "The Ghost Whisperer" tonight. Nothing can compel us to watch Jennifer Love Hewitt's boobs talk to ghosts, not even the presence of our old classmate Aisha Tyler in the cast. We'd rather stare at a blank TV screen, or, heaven forbid, actually go OUTSIDE, or something.
Naaahhh!
We'll just wait until 9 p.m., and the premiere of Fox's San Francisco-set crime show, "Killer Instinct." We wonder if the name change from "The Gate" to "Killer Instinct" is supposed to bring up some kind of "Basic Instinct" associations, but regardless, the series can't help but bring up "CSI" and "Law and Order" associations since it is, indeed, another let's-hunt-for-the-crazies crime show. We'll watch the first episode just to see how the show depicts our lovely city (and to point and laugh when they try to and pass off Vancouver as San Francisco), but we have the feeling we probably shouldn't get too attached to it...in fact, we'll be surprised if the pilot actually makes it to the air tongiht at all!
Which brings us to Saturday. How come no one watches TV on Saturday nights? Is it because most people have actual lives and aren't at home Saturday nights? Or is it because there's actually nothing TO watch on Saturday nights? It's kind of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. However, it is comforting to know that if we are home on a Saturday night, there's always our dearly beloved..."Cops."
Unlike Saturday, Sunday is loaded with what the networks like to call "appointment television." (And if what SFist Chuck points out is true and ideed comes to pass, the networks would like to keep those appointments on their time, and not on our TiVo-watching time. Bastards!) 9 p.m. on ABC brings the much-anticipated return of "Desperate Housewives." And when we say "much-anticpated" we mean by others, not really by us. For some reason, "Desperate" remains one of those shows that we watch out of habit, but not because we particularily like it. In fact, at times, we really hate it. Still, we watch, even as our beloved Vincent D'Onofrio is psyching out the bad guys on another channel.
Following the "Desperate" premiere is the return of the network's surprise hit hospital drama "Grey's Anatomy." "Grey's" was one of those shows we watched because it was on right after another show we watched just because it was on. But we kept watching because Patrick Dempsey is Patrick McDreamy.
As for Sunday shows we're really and truly excited about, look no further than HBO and the return of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," at 10 p.m., which will be follwed by the premiere of Ricky Gervais's new series "Extras" at 10:30 p.m. The series is about, oddly, extras! As in wannabe actors who don't get to do much more than linger in the background by the coffee machine or sit on a park bench while the real actors pontificate and emote front and center. Sounds like a perfect scenario for Gervais's patented blend of self-centered, self-loathing comedy. The series is also the perfect set-up for many celebrity guest appearances. We smell a Madonna cameo!
And that brings us back to Monday, where we'll return with a much more concise look at the coming week's programs. In the meantime, we'd better start watching all those saved shows before they dissapear from our TiVos!