Beat Me With Your Jesus Stick

Fuck yeah. TV is back, baby.

Before I get to Lost, let me talk about two absolutely fantastic pieces of television from the past week or so.

First, there's The Office. Now... I didn't really care for this show the first couple of times I saw it. I don't know why... just kinda fell flat. But with the second season, they've really hit their stride creatively. It's been absolutely brilliant this season and last week's "Booze Cruise" was one of the funniest things I've seen on TV all year. I don't want to spoil it for anyone... but if you haven't been watching The Office, you should be making an appointment to see it every week on Thursday night. Don't let it go the same path as Arrested Development did and that Scrubs is likely heading down.

Second... my god... my god... The Shield returned this week with a vengeance. I really dug last season with Glenn Close as the captain. And believe me when I tell you that before the season started, you couldn't have convinced me that I would have. But now she's gone... and Forrest Whitaker steps in as the evil Internal Affairs officer looking to bring down Vic and the Strike Team. He was absolutely perfect in that role... creepy... manipulative... just gave off an "ick" feel. I have a feeling this is going to be one hell of a season and if it's the last one for The Shield as rumored, it's gonna go out with a bang [perhaps literally.]

Now... finally... the main attraction... Lost!

I've decided that you can pretty much draw a line right down the middle of Lost's audience. You've got one side that truly loves everything about the show. They love the characters... they debate and discuss everything that happens. These are the people that gasped when Mr. Eko's brother took a bullet for him last night. They care about what happens to these people and want to know more about them.

Then you've got the people who are as deep as a damn thimble. They got hooked on Lost because of the "mysteries" and will never be satisfied from now on with anything that happens unless you're told every secret of the show in sixty minutes. These are the people who couldn't care less about the backstories and actually see them as taking away from the show. You know these people. They tell you things like, "The ratings are down from last season! It's jumped the shark!" yet still tune in every week so they can tell you how much they disliked it.

In case you haven't guessed, I fall into the former category and absolutely rage at the people in the latter. This is a character show, people. While there's some fascinating mysteries and secrets yet to be uncovered, when it all breaks down, it's about these people stuck on an island and their twisted lives that led them to this point.

You find out that Mr. Eko is a former Nigerian criminal cold blooded killer who coerced his Catholic priest of a brother into letting him use a papal airplane to smuggle heroin out of the country only to have said brother sacrifice his own life to save his wicked sibling... and you complain "That's the monster? Black smoke?"

ARRRRRGH! If I was Simon Phoenix, you'd be hearing a "MURDER DEATH KILL" all over San Angeles right about now [bonus points if you get that reference.]

Lost is quite frankly one of the best shows on television... and arguably the best period. If you're not watching it, you're missing out on television history in the making.

Maybe in a future post, I'll give you my top ten TV shows in the moment.

And speaking of TV, be sure to check out the season premiere of 24 this weekend. Good christ, is that a fantastic show. I'm stoked because this'll be the first season of 24 that I can watch as it happens. All the others I've had to catch on DVD. Love it. Absolutely love it.

Until next time... keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars [even more bonus points if you get that one]

Song I'm Listening To Currently: "Wonderboy" by Tenacious D
Book I'm Reading Currently: "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini
Movie I Last Saw: The Chronicles of Narnia