Weekly TV Thoughts: 01/11 - 01/17

I watch a lot of television. From scripted series and various live events, I willing to bet I watch more TV then you (the 5-6 readers of this blog) do. Some of these shows don't merit further discussion; others, I think, benefit from it. Those shows will be discussed here. And yes, spoilers will abound, so reader beware. This post will most likely go up Saturday or Sunday night, so you've got some time to hit the DVR and protect yourself from anything I might reveal here. So let's get started:

-Golden Globe Awards, Sunday: Yes, I watch award shows. I don't really know why, but I do. I don't even watch them all the way through; I just watch to see who wins, then I switch away during the acceptance speech, then switch back to see the winner of the next category (I'm pretty sure there was a college basketball game on ESPN I was going back to). But on occasion, if the right person wins, I will watch the acceptance speech. Such a person is Tina Fey, who told her Internet haters to suck it during her speech. Another was Mickey Rourke's speech after winner for The Wrestler. And speaking of The Wrestler, that's a movie I feel I need to go see. Along with Slumdog Millionaire. People I know who've seen these movies just rave about them, but since I don't get out to the theater too often, I'll probably have to wait until I can rent them. You can probably add Gran Torino to that list as well.

-24, Monday: I didn't watch the premiere of 24 on Sunday because I had gotten the 24 train in the middle of last season (which, due to the writer's strike, was in 2007). I followed 24 when it first aired, jumped off the wagon in the middle when it started to get ridiculous, gave it another go in Season 6, only to give up halfway through. So I didn't watch 24: Redemption when it aired last fall and I didn't have any interest in the new season, especially since they were bringing Tony Almeida back from the dead. But I read of a lot of favorable reviews of the first 2 hours of the season, so I decided to check them out (thank you, Hulu). And I have to say, I was mighty impressed. Resurrecting Tony wasn't as ridiculous as it could have been, and you could actually see some character development in Jack Bauer. I like the new characters they've introduced, in particular Janeane Garofalo and Rhys Coiro (aka Entourage's Billy Walsh), both playing against type. As for what's going on in the story, I think the biggest twists to be revealed (as is always the case on 24) will be who's a mole. So far, we know there's one in the FBI and another in the President's inner circle. Of who we've seen thus far, the leading candidate for to be a mole is the President's Chief of Staff (of course, that could be because its the same actor that played the Warden in The Shawshank Redemption). As for the FBI, my money's on the head agent, Agent Moss. Agent Walker (the cute red head) trusts him too much, which means he's ripe for betrayal. But we'll see. I also look forward to seeing more of Jon Voight's character (as one of the bad guys) and seeing how they re-introduce Kim Bauer (because she's back for some episodes, if you didn't know).

-College Basketball, UVA vs. UNC, Thursday: Virginia got blown out, which isn't all the surprising given how young and inexperienced the 'Hoos are. Our top players are either freshmen, redshirt freshmen, or sophomores, so I don't expect much out of this year, but definitely more out of the years to come (which is pretty much the same thing I've been saying even since I started at UVA). I think our main problem is that we have no low post presence. I mean, I like Mike Scott, but he make his living on offensive boards; he's not a threat posting up on the block, and neither is anyone else we've got playing the 4 or the 5. We're guard heavy, I get that, but when they go cold (aka every time I watch them), we've not no other reliable scoring options. I hope we've got a decent center lined up for next year.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: Holy shit, this was crazy. Who had Ellen Tigh as the final Cylon? Anyone? What about Starbuck finding her own corpse in the wreakage of her own Viper? No? And how about Earth being a (former) Cylon settlement? I think that trifecta paid out at 7,295 to 1. Needless to say, I don't think any BSG fans saw this coming. I mean, the answers just created more questions. So Ellen Tigh is the final Cylon; how? She's dead, so what does that mean? Clearly the Final Five Cylons have the ability to resurrect, but not in the same way as the other 7 models; how does their resurrection work? Why did these 5 "survive" the nuclear attack on Earth and no one else did? Why did they resurrect? Then again, maybe they aren't the only ones to have resurrected from Earth. If so, where are those models? And I have no idea what to think about Starbuck. She crashed her Viper on Earth, only to come back to the fleet in a brand new Viper that was able to detect a beacon no one else could, which directed them to Earth, where they found the beacon and discovered it was from Starbuck's original crashed Viper. Oh, and she found her own dead body in the cockpit of her blown up ship. Yeah, I got nothing for that. I love that Battlestar came back with so many answers; I just wish those answers didn't ask even more questions.

Next week- the return on Lost!