Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Week 2: Veronica Mars 1; Lost 1.

If I could award ties in this little TV contest, I might have to this week. But because Lost and Veronica Mars being pitted against one another is harsh, my little contest must be equally as harsh. This week's bout is going to have to go to Lost.

Another mammoth progression of the uber-plot this week, skillfully written to provide non-answers that somehow seemed satisfying anyway, and open up more questions at the same time. And Locke's flashbacks were interesting as well, fleshing out more about who "Helen" was from his strange phone calls in his Walkabout flashbacks.

Great moments abounded: Hurley's discovery of the food cache, the strangeness of the "orientation film," the new mystery about how a woman from the plane crash ended up helping The Others (she wasn't lying about being on the plane; we saw her in Jack's flashback to the airport terminal in the first season finale). Lots of "edge of the seat" scenes for me, particularly in the first two acts.

Of course, Veronica Mars stepped up to the plate as well. A quality cameo from Kevin Smith (as a convenience store clerk, naturally). Wallace stepping up as a junior detective all on his own, without Veronica's help. Keith deciding to go run again for his old job as sheriff. Campy fun with Charisma Carpenter. Veronica and Duncan going all the way. Lost had to bring a pretty stellar episode to top all of that.

The good news to come out of this sick little Lost/Veronica Mars competition is that apparently, both are flourishing in their new time slots. Lost, riding the waves of its Emmy win, recent DVD release, and general watercooler buzz, has been pulling in more viewers than ever before. Veronica Mars, shifted to a new night and time, actually managed to pull the highest ratings of its entire run with last week's season premiere, despite airing in what ought to be a "death time slot." So good news for both.

Of course, this means that both are likely to stay exactly where they are, head-to-head with one another for the rest of the season.

Thank heaven for TiVo!

4 comments:

dcat said...

Sounds like a faulted science project!

Shocho said...

I can't believe VM will survive in this time slot, but that's great news about the ratings.

"We get a lot of Munsters in here, but you're the Marilyn." Now THERE is a pickup line.

Why does the word verfication have to be seven letters? Why can't it be 2 or 3?

Jono said...

Umm... one comment - how do we know she was actually *on* the plane. We saw her in the airport... then we see her on the Island - but so far, not on the plane.

She could be part of a larger conspiracy... who knows? lol

Major Rakal said...

Schocho - It's not always seven letters. I just posted a comment that had a 6-letter verification, and the next "word" that came up when the page reloaded was only 5. Granted, I've never seen anything as short as 3 (5 is probably the lowest I've seen), but if you always get 7 letters... well, what can I say? They've got your number?

BTW, this post actually has an 8-letter verification:

ivbxgtlz

Maybe you should consider yourself lucky to get only seven. ;-)