It's interesting to note that the only writer's guild on strike is the WGA -- that is, the American writer's guild. The Canadian and British guilds are still going strong, so the BBC productions and things produced in Canada are not affected. A writer friend of mine actually is spending the next month in Canada writing for MASTERS OF HORROR -- he joined the Canadian guild last year and is really happy with that move right now.

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Please explain how Journeyman is not Quantum Leap.

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It's not a comedy and you don't have to ever look at Scott Bakula in drag.

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Did he have control over his jumps in QL?

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I completely agree with this list.

Except I managed to escape from watching everything on your "Why am I still watching this shit" list and I'm not a fan of Lost.

Californication, Weeds, and Dexter are wonderful and have convinced me to never go without premium cable again.

I didn't like Journeyman after the first episode, but after a handful I've been liking it more than this season of Heroes.

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We liked Weeds enough that we've been paying for downloads, which is far cheaper than the $33/mo we were paying to have Showtime.

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Weeds was good, but it seems like it shat itself some time during S02 and forgot to flush..

Hm, as for the others . . . I think I saw McGuyver in SG Atlantis, that's all I know.

Must be American for full enjoyment, I suppose, which is my loss.

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I think I'm just too lazy to delete Bionic Woman from EyeTV's recording list, so when a new episode shows up, I watch it anyway.

I've been enjoying Chuck, and kind of enjoying Reaper.

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Watched 2.5 eps of Reaper, fucking hated it.

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We like Bionic Woman, haven't watched any of the others from the last category. (Used to watch SG:A and SG-1 with my last roommate, but that was several seasons ago.)

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+1 for Spooks.

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Spooks is a 24 knock-off with less tension and originality, but the same level of gaping holes in the plot. The big drama in the Season 1 finale was based on a premise that made no sense at all. I haven't watched any seasons after that.

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What, no House?
I think you'll enjoy his special brand of cranky.

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As a general rule, I don't watch shows about doctors, lawyers or cops.

Yes, that eliminates 90% of television. That's why.

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Based on what you listed before, I thought you might like Jekyll, assuming you didn't catch it when it was on BBCA.

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The first series (season) Jekyll was excellent. No spoilers, but the pre-credit gambit of the final episode has to be one of the most entertaining things I've seen in a TV show in a recent memory.

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Recommendations for additional Tivo drive space:

- Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations
- Top Gear
- Dirty Jobs
- Planet Earth
- Fearless Planet
- The Office
- Reno 911

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I think NBC's "Chuck", may be the most geek-tastic show this side of the IT Crowd.

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I'll be certain to give that a miss then.

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How did "Lost" escape your "Why am I still watching this shit?" list? I mean, I'll start watching Season 4 as soon as it comes out, but I'll do it with a sense of deep self-loathing that I continue to cling to the ridiculous hope that the writers have any better idea what's happening than I do.

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Another vote for House - seriously, Hugh Laurie is genius in it. He gets to be a complete and utter bastard, and is clearly having a ball doing so. You can watch this without having to pay too much attention to the whole doctor/hospital thing.

Lost - yep.
Heroes - yep.
Doctor Who - yep.
Californication - is growing on me.
Spooks is okay but sometimes it's so far-fetched and tenuous that my disbelief becomes unsuspended and it all comes crashing down

we also quite like Numbers although it's pretty contrived
Top Gear is also great fun but it's only a matter of time before our nanny state shuts it all down

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Supernatural isn't too bad if you take it for what it is - cheesy fluff you sit in front of the TV and watch while stuffing your face with fried meat.

It kind of fills the void left by shows like Angel and (somewhat) X-Files. Angel was also pure cheese and the X-Files was at times as well.

If you want shows that actually require a brain to watch, that isn't really one of them. It oftentimes feels more like an in-joke with the sci-fi/fantasy Vancouver crowd. If you're not into those type of shows it just won't be your thing.

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I watched the first few episodes of Journeyman and then had to delete the season pass. Too many anachronisms. Actually what got me interested in the show in the first place was the promo that showed him dodging a PCC streetcar - but they managed to place that scene in the fairly brief period when there were no PCC cars running in SF!

I can just imagine the pitch meeting for this show, where the producer talks about how many parts of SF have remained unchanged for decades and with just a little research they could make a map of which streets can be used for which past decades. Then the studio executive says "Time travelling guardian angels! Great! But forget the map stuff, no one gives a shit about that."

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One to recomend...

I enjoy Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, though the UK version is much better. It's somewhat badly named - it basically consists of Ramsay going in, seeing why a business (a restaurant) is failing and slaps the owner around until they fix the problems (or quit). Sometimes the issue is the kitchen, but often it's stupid marketing, stupid management, or stupid loyalty. There's a lot of stuff that sounds very familiar for people who have run businesses.

The biggest problem in the US version is that they have to bleep Ramsay every time he says, "fuck," so about a quarter of the show is bleeps. The UK version does not have this problem.

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Gordan Ramsey - yes! I saw the English version of "Kitchen Nightmares", and it was an amazingly concise portrait of a myriad of things that can go wrong with smaller businesses (which is "people" almost all the time). That, and "The Ferocious Mr Fix It" were two programs that everyone running a small to medium business should see. Both were surprisingly compelling.

I'm also watching "The F Word", which is another of Gordan's shows. Very good as well.

I watched a bit of the American version of "Hell's Kitchen" the other day though, and didn't like it at all. Too much "US Reality TV" bullshit layered on top of it.

From what I've heard, Gordan is a much, much bigger prick in real life, and the version of him shown on TV is a really toned down, overly sympathetic one. I vaguely knew a kid growing up who now runs Gordan's NY restaurant, and who just won Gordan two Michelin stars. I'd love to ask him what's it really like, but that's unlikely to happen any time soon.

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I have nothing to add to this list as it pretty much mirrors mine.

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"Pushing Daisies" just seems like too much of a Tim Burton rip off to me.

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Atlantis' season 3 finale and its follow ups were great, but it's really really noticably lacking in the season 4 regular eps, aren't they? I keep watching them in the hopes something good'll come up.

And I like the Stargate universe, I guess.

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It may not be your thing, but I've been compltely hooked on Mad Men on AMC. Season 1 is currently in reruns, and is best to watch from the beginning since it's somewhat serial. We have it TiVo'd if you want it.

It's a fascinating (fascinating!) glimpse into the culture of 1960: near-constant smoking, boys' club work environment; social taboos that are utterly antiquated now; safety concerns we have now that they totally ignored. There are lots of fun gags around all these things. But the overall tone is kind of sedate, a little dark, even... and I'm really enjoying the character development. There is not a single person you don't either hate or pity. I like that kind of thing (I'm a Vonnegut/Nabokov fan for the same reason!).

Because it takes place in effectively a different world, there is a lot of... the unexpected.

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Yeah... I had trouble getting through the first couple episodes of Blood Ties, so I quit trying after that. I was surprised to find _another_ new vampire/detective show starting up this season: Moonlight, but I haven't even tried that one out.

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Moonlight is insanely bad. Even by the already low bar of "vampire detective shows."

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And what is up with Showtime coming out with all the kick ass shows? I can't get enough of either Dexter or Weeds, and Californication has been pretty cool, too.

(BTW, doesn't Dexter break the rule about cop shows?)

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"It's not so much a rule as a guideline." A firm guideline.

But no, as Dexter is about a serial killer who happens to be a cop.

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