Weekly TV Thoughts: 03/08 - 03/14

No Lost this past week, which made for a lighter television week. Thankfully, Championship Week was in full swing. Usually I avoid the major conference championships and just focus on the one-bid leagues, but all the tournaments have been incredible this year. Six overtimes for Syracuse and UConn? Then Syracuse plays another overtime the next night against West Virginia? Amazing. And I love seeing all these top potential top seeds lose early going into the Big Dance (except for Lousiville, who's looking tough to beat). I'll have more thoughts on college basketball later tonight, once the brackets are announced (Selection Sunday, one of the best days of the year). Who knows, it might go down as a live blog.

And on top of all the college basketball that's been on, the World Baseball Classic's been playing as well. I know a lot of people are down on the WBC, but I think for the most part, its alright. The USA-Canada game was phenomenal, and the Dutch coming out of nowhere to upset the Dominican Republic twice? No one saw that coming. And as to how this effects players come the regular season, I'm thinking it'll effect pitchers more than position players. Which is why I'm glad the Dominican team has been eliminated, so Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto are done and back at Spring Training.

Okay, now the scripted shows of the week:

-Heroes, Monday: I don't know what the hell is going on with this show. The Sylar's dad storyline was just stupid. He spent part of the episode STUFFING A FUCKING RABBIT. And what did he learn? That he'll he never be fullfilled just collecting powers, so he should direct his murderous nature toward something more meaningful; didn't he already come to this once before? The only redeeming part of that scene was Sylar going back and taking the rabbit when he left his dad's and placed in in Denko's apartment. Sylar vs. Denko so should be good, so I'm at least glad for that. Adding to the ricidulousness is Hiro and Ando, who have been charged with protecting Matt Parkman's son, Matt Parkman. We haven't heard from Parkman's family since Season 1 (I think), and now they just suddenly reappear? Please. This story better last less time than the stupid India trip. So what was good about this episode? Denko finally learning the Nathan can fly. Denko's meeting with Angela. Any time Denko and HRG face off. Now that Sylar's been reintroduced and Nathan's been outed, I really think this storyline gets interesting. Hopefully the Rebel storyline continues to advance this story, and not the other ones. Speaking of Rebel, what was the point of sending Claire to help Doyle when it was Rebel that did all the work of getting him a new ID? Was it just to shoot the scene of her in the comic shop? And if Rebel can penetrate Denko's computer system and take over, why doesn't he just shut the whole thing down? Oh well. According to Greg Grunberg's Twitter feed, the entire cast is together in the same scene later in the season (Episode 20, perhaps, which Grunberg says is awesome). We'll have to see. Heroes if off next week, and when it comes back, it'll the first episode with Bryan Fuller back on staff, so hopefully the series starts getting better.

-24, Monday: I have to admit, I didn't expect Bill to be the one to die (I read a lot spoiler sites, so I knew a death was coming). And I didn't expect it to happen right at the top of the episode, though when I think about it, its passe to end an episode with a tragic death, so mixing it up and doing right away was a nice change of pace. Its kind of amazing how much a dick Larry Moss is. I mean, on one hand, he's fully capable of defying the Vice President and storming to take back the White House, and on the other, he's 100% resitant to everything Jack says. So maybe its just Jack that he hates. He didn't bat an eye at suspending Renee for going over his head and talking to Ethan, so I guess this frees up Renee to join Jack on the rogue agent trail. And speaking of Ethan, I'm glad we got some backstory between him and Olivia. He bit the bullet and asked Olivia to join the administration (at the behest of the President) after being fired from the campaign, and she just bites his head off. I'm starting to think she's not a traitor, but that she will still be a problem because she's going to go digging to find out who in her mother's administration was responsible for all this and that's not going to go well for her. And that brings me to Jon Voight's villian, Jonas Hodges. He seems completely crazy, and that's awesome, and we also got a little insight into this master plan. He's got a cache of weapons on the way toward the States and a list of cities as targets. We don't know what he wants, but he did indicate that he didn't want to go through with the attacks if he didn't have to. I wonder what his end game is.

-Castle,Monday: A new series that debuted on Monday staring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic. Its a character-driven procedural cop drama/comedy with a Moonlighting twist. Basically, its Bones with a little more silliness (thanks to Nathan Fillion). I'm bit fan of Bones, and Nathan Fillion, so I'll be watching this show, even if its not very good. Fillion should be a big(ger) star, and the fact that he's not is a crime, so I hope this show does well.

-Battlestar Galactica, Friday: And the end is closing in fast. Part I of the series finale, and I thought the episode was great. I liked the flashbacks, showing life on the colonies well before the Cylon attack. You have to think that these flashbacks will become more important/will be explained in the second part of the episode airing this Friday. Funny parts- Baltar telling Caprica Six that he'd forgetten her name (nice little nod to the fan there, myself included, who constantly wonder why she doesn't have a name), and finding out that Anders was the Dan Marino of Pyramid players. Highly talented, no championships, constantly rebuilding team. Back on Galactica, I really liked the scene between Lee and Baltar, setting up Baltar to have one last chance at redemption down the line. And it was a foregone conclusion that Adama would be leading one last charge to save Hera and destroy the evil Cylon faction. I like how he literally drew a line that you had to cross AND made everyone declare their intentions in person, leaving no doubt in their minds about the slim possibility of survival. Did we see Athena in that scene? Helo was there, but last we saw Athena, she was a wreak, seemingly unable to leave her bunk. And although we didn't see Baltar cross the line in this episode, I'm positive he'll be with Adama before its all said and done. And it all sets up the final, suicide mission against the baseship this week. So who lives and who dies? I think Lee's going make it. Starbuck, too. Roslin will obviously die. Tigh, I'm a little uncertain. But whatever happens to him, live or die, the same will happen to Ellen. Hera lives, because you can't kill kids, even on Battlestar Galactica. And since Hera lives, I'm saying that Helo lives as well. I think Anders is stuck as the hybrid for Galactica, so I'm not sure if that qualifies and living or dying. Tory and Tyrol are interesting cases; do they survive simply because they're part of the Final Five, or do they die and experience resurrection? Don't know. I think Baltar lives, even after he finally commits a truely selfless act, and I think Boomer dies, but not before she helps Hera escape. There are a number for whom killing Boomer would be a fitting end (Adama, Tyrol, Helo, Athena), and I think it'll be one of them that ultimately does her in. Which leaves Adama. Clearly, this is Galactica's last mission, and Roslin isn't going to make it much longer. So he's on the verge of losing the two things he loves the most; does that set him up to die as well? I think it does. If anyone's in position to make a grand sacrificing jesture to save all of humanity, its Adama. If that happens with Adama, it would be a little cheesey, but I'd be okay with it. Can't wait to see how this all ends.

Thursday and Friday of this week are two of the greatest sports days of the year, which will put a little hitch in the TV viewing schedule. But that's why God created DVR. March Madness it here! Time to go print out some brackets and get ready.