Jacob's Ladder: Lost Recapped

This is the beginning of the end.

The season four premiere of LOST was everything I expected it to be: questions beget answers which beget more questions.

Jack was maniacal.

Ben was diabolical.

And no less than five times did I yell "oh my God."

Ground Zero: Cloverfield, 9/11 and Steven Spielberg

Are you excited?

On Thursday, Lost comes back to remind everyone what a great television show really looks like. No longer will viewers have to sit around picking at the bones of what's left in the narrative programming wasteland that has become network television; no longer will we have to retreat to cable or TV-on-DVD with the hopes of finding something worthwhile to sink our teeth into. Between the WGA Strike and the eight month drought without a new episode of Lost, it has been far too long since the "best show on television" left the airwaves.

Rather than write about what plot points I think this full season of Lost will try to answer--and yes, I'm ignoring the potential scenario of the WGA Strike not being settled in time for us to get all sixteen episodes of the fourth season--I decided it would be more fun to simply write about that other J.J. Abrams behemoth that's attacking the minds of geeks around the country. So, in honor of the return of Lost and for your reading pleasure, I give you: Cloverfield, reviewed.

Oh and if you haven't seen the movie yet, I would suggest turning back now.

42 Inch Television IM Discussion: The Virtues of Prison Break

Prison Break isn't a quality television program that demands respect. As I've written here before, it's akin to fast food and Top-40 music; the show is disposable, diverting, gloriously stupid and probably totally bad for you. I imagine if a person sat down to watch multiple hours of Prison Break, their brain would start to rot away like a tooth with a cavity. How much logic defying absurdity can a person take before they become a drooling rube?

Almost Famous: Requiem for Freaks & Geeks

Over the weekend, I realized that my DVR was a barren wasteland of old episodes of 30 Rock and Around the Horn. Strapped for something new, and not interested in yet visiting the boredom that awaits me when I sit down to watch season one of The Wire, Martin Luther King weekend seemed as good a time as any to tackle one of the missing links on my list of television shows: Judd Apatow's critical wet dream Freaks and Geeks, the story of a group of High Schoolers in Michigan and the travails they go through each day on their way towards adulthood.

Kiner's Korner: Why the WGA is Overplaying Their Hand

Do you hear that?

Listen closely.

No, it's not the rumble of every person you know running out to see Cloverfield this weekend. Rather, it's the sound of the WGA strike slowly grinding to a halt. Sure, as of right this second, the writers of (insert your favorite show here) are still holding placards outside of various networks and coming up with ever-so-witty chants of solidarity. But with the news that the DGA has struck a deal with the AMPTP, presumably to buy themselves more vowels and consonants over the next three years, can the WGA deal that we've been hoping for since November be far behind?

Geneva Convention: What I Learned from Prison Break

It's time for another edition of "What I Learned," the not-even-close to regular post where I breakdown what a particular television watching experience yielded me in the way of knowledge. And by "particular television watching experience," I mean Prison Break, because let's face it, any time I've dusted this bit off, it has been as a reaction to the ridiculous Fox television show.

Hard to Live in the City: The WGA Strike Forced Season Finale of Gossip Girl

42 Inch Television here, your one and only source for antagonizing comments about The Wire and astutely critical observations about the most important television show of our time, Gossip Girl.

Okay, well that second part isn't entirely true. Fact is, I stopped writing about Gossip Girl over the past couple of months because, well, honestly, because New York Magazine was already eviscerating everything I love and hate about Josh Schwartz's paean to the Upper East Side. Every single witty observation that they come up with each week is something I've noted myself during the show (example: Why was Chuck wearing sunglasses at night last week?) A good man knows when he's beaten (except when he's arguing about The Wire) so rather than try to top the lovely ladies of New York Magazine I decided to sit the show out.

Print the Legend: A Half-Assed Look at The Wire

I need to let you in on a secret: I have never seen one single moment of The Wire, HBO's fantastical, critically acclaimed cops and crooks series. Shocking, I know.

A show like The Wire seems like it should be right up my alley. It's gotten reviews that range from loving hyperbole ("[The Wire] will knock the breath out of you," says the New York Times) to hysteric hyperbole ("The best TV show ever broadcast in America," says Slate.) It's "gritty" and "character based," the type of show I'm naturally drawn to. And most of all, it's just off-the-grid enough so that it's "cool" to like. The Wire is one of those shows that make you feel like you're part of an exclusive club of awesomeness when you're watching it. And if you aren't watching it, well, then obviously you aren't that cool (see: Arrested Development, Freaks and Geeks, Mad Men for other examples of this phenomenon.) But all of that being said, I still don't watch it.