So: how was the 3rd episode of "Tell Me You Love Me"?

After hearing from some co-workers, I have cleared up a lot of space on my DVR by getting rid of "The War."

"The War": what is it good for?

1 - The first 15 minutes were drab - I'll see about the rest tonight.
I watched the first minute of The War. I think that only leaves me 13:59 or so to go.

I was eager to see who The War's Sullivan Ballou would be.

The first 15 minutes were drab

Drab is a good word to describe the show. There's not one iota of humor (whether intentional or otherwise) or even really any light moments. It's just kind of depressing and, well, drab. Not that I hate it, but still.

16 hours of drab could wear someone down, I suppose.

I was told that the first episode of "The War" appeared to end. And then the tacked on section about Latino vets was added. I was told it didn't work out well.

The Onion summarizes my view of Wes Anderson:

http://tinyurl.com/2rh457

I'm waiting for his new film to come out and be told that I'm not hip enough to appreciate it.

Okay, "Tell Me" is officially on deathwatch for me. It gets one more episode to redeem itself.

I am now 17 minutes into The War. It is good filler while I wait for other things.

Heroes is on my deathwatch. It always had kind of a cheap feel to it, and had a disappointing season finale last year. This year's premiere was not good. Can't decide if it's cheesy dialogue or bad acting (probably both), but I don't see myself making it through year 2. Hiro's current story line seems really stupid.

I liked Journeyman but didn't love it. It was pretty interesting EXCEPT for the part that is supposed to be the hook of the show. The person whose life he was intervening in was a bad story.

I was surprised by Chuck. I was expecting to hate it, as it had a bit of a Scrubs vibe to it at first (at least in some previews I saw), but I was pretty happy with what it ended up being. Not perfect, but I'll keep watching...

In response to Wes Anderson, I think his movies can be great. Or at least I used to. I loved Bottle Rocket when I was in high school, as well as Rushmore. And I really liked Tenenbaums when I was in college. But these days (post-film school and learning about Andersons "influences", i.e. French New Wave) his movies just kinda feel one dimensional. Stick with the AmEx commericals, Wes! (Even though it was a rip off from a scene from Truffaut's Day for Night)

Once again, the couple with children carried "Tell Me You Love Me." I figured this episode would not be well received because it featured the young "couple" a lot more.

But "Journeyman" has to travel around in time and spend it all in San Francisco too.

I'm not sure why Wes Anderson has to be either
A) A genius
B) Way overrated

I just really like his visual style, and how detached yet emotionally wrecked most of his characters are. I think Rushmore is a brilliant movie, and I really like Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic. He always gets good performances from his cast, and there are always really moving scenes in each of his films.

I don't think Wes Anderson is uber-hip, but it's a stretch to say that people who like his movies are trying to be hip. We just like the movies.

I don't think people who appreciate "Freaks & Geeks" on a deeper level than most also like Wes Anderson.

I'm going by a sample size of one.

I'm also wondering now if Moon Bloodgood will ever be involved with a man who does not have issues with the space-time continuum.

15 Well, as somebody who cannot appreciate Freaks and Geeks on the proper level, that question is well above my paygrade. I defer to the experts.

But I will say this...If you can coax a good performance out of Owen Wilson (Eli Cash), that has to count for something.

"The crickets and the rust-beetles scuttled among the nettles of the sage thicket. 'Vámonos, amigos,' he whispered, and threw the busted leather flintcraw over the loose weave of the saddlecock. And they rode on in the friscalating dusklight."

I've been told a lot that I don't have good taste in films, so I will defer to my betters.

18 I get not liking Wes Anderson. Really. Not everybody's cup of tea. Certainly different. A tad pretentious.

But I don't get disliking Rushmore.

I don't like "Rushmore."
I don't like to eat peaches.
I'm pretty much just one step removed from being a Communist I guess.

Every time The War comes back to the US, it becomes tedious and drags on. What happened abroad is far more compelling than what happened at home. Invasion of Sicily: 50,000 casualties! Home in America: chewing gum rationing! They don't really compare. It might make a good 7-hour documentary if you cut out the domestic bits.

Heroes: this episode was hardly even necessary. I bet they could have skipped straight to whatever the next episode is without losing much. It was about three minutes of plot advancement and the rest was filler. It didn't pull me in at all.

20 Oh, Bob. These are the kinds of chasms that really prevent any type of buddy detective agency.

21 I watched the first seven or eight episodes of Heroes last year, and really didn't get the hype. I watched the premiere this year, and I still don't get the hype. And I'm willing to give anything close to sci-fi a lot of slack. I don't get why this show has such geek cred. It's not particularly good.

21 Exactly. I'm watching the late night rerun of episode 2 tonight while working and it's just this weird mix of unsurprising social history (Mobile, Alabama had a lot of racism? Wow, what a shock!) with gripping, tragic, almost unimaginable horror. It's like Ken Burns is numb to the different effects these different types of stories have.

21 - I agree with Ken about Heroes and The War. Heroes didn't really get going until about 9:50.

As someone who has been extemely tolerant of product placement on TV, I feel the TiVo ads within "Tell Me" are more than I can handle. Way too blatant.

I feel like we've done the Wes Anderson conversation two or three times before. Some of his stuff is better than others. Loved Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. And of course, I take a backseat to no one on loving "Freaks and Geeks."

"Heroes" did not seem heroic.
"Journeyman" seemed very confusing and I kept wanting to call the main character "Lucis Vorenus." Kevin McKidd is really trying hard to keep his brogue out of the dialog.

I doubt the latter will last long enough to figure out why we've picked up a gloomy version of "Quantum Leap."

I missed Chuck and the beginning of Heroes because my daughter wanted to watch Dancing with the Stars. I don't really mind since I find that show to be the most enjoyable of all the schlock.

I saw Chuck yesterday and thought it was "awesome" (people who watched it will get the joke). Think of it as an espionage comedy for the 21st century in the spirit of Get Smart and you will appreciate it (assuming you like espionage comedies); expect something else, and you will likely be disappointed. Journeyman, on the other hand, was just terrible. As dull an hour of television as I have seen in years.

I hear a lot of comparisons being made between Chuck and The Reaper. Curious to see the Kevin Smith "touch" to Reaper tonight.

Back to Chuck, my only real problem (so far) was I thought the Morgan character (Chuck's bearded best friend) was a bit hokey and it felt like he was trying to be Seth Green or Jamie Kennedy (which isn't positive IMO).

I'm not a big t.v./show watcher, but I'm absolutely loving Californication. Seriously you take the sex out of it it's still a VERY GOOD show, but again I'm not a big t.v. drama type guy so it's just a randoms guy opinion.

NPUT