4 of the Worst Wigs on TV This Season

If you've read much of this blog, you've probably come to realize that I love to make fun of things. One of the things I've enjoyed laughing at this television season is bad wigs. I'm definitely no hair expert, so if I've managed to notice someone wearing a wig, it's got to be pretty bad. I've put together a short list of some of the latest fake hairdos I've enjoyed mocking.

1. Carrie Bradshaw from The Carrie Diaries

"What? This one's not that bad," you may say. Don't worry. I thought I'd ease into some of the more horrific hair. Carrie's bouncy curls from The Carrie Diaries pilot looked notably different by the second episode. That's because Carrie's wig first made its appearance then. Admittedly, the wig looks okay enough to me in some scenes (although see my "definitely no hair expert" comment above), but when it's clearly standing apart from her scalp, as in the still above, it's hard to take it seriously.

2. China White from Arrow

I only watched the first several Arrow episodes, but one aspect of the show was burned into my mind: China White's cheap Lady Gaga costume wig. I don't actually know if the wig was cheap or not, but I find it hard to believe it cost more than thirty bucks. Kelly Hu was awesome in The Vampire Diaries as Pearl, but with this travesty of a wig, China seemed more of a joke than a villain.

3. Huck Finn from Scandal

I think it's time I give the CW a break and move on to another network, ABC. I literally burst out laughing when I saw Huck's flashback wig in the episode "A Criminal, a Whore, an Idiot and a Liar" of Scandal. Then I did an instant rewind on the DVR and laughed again. This wig looks more like some sort of dead animal or couch stuffing than a head of hair. I think the guy in the background is supposed to be reacting to Huck's smell, but it could also serve as a reaction to that hideous hair.

4. Kristina Braverman from Parenthood

Perhaps the most notable entry on this list isn't exactly a wig; it's a bald cap. This season of Parenthood has been fantastic. Kristina's breast cancer storyline has been extremely touching and at times tear-jerking. Monica Potter's acting has been fantastic. That being said, Kristina's bald cap is hilariously bad. Monica Potter has a lot of hair, and when put under a bald cap, her head looks ridiculously deformed. I can completely understand Monica Potter not wanting to actually shave her head for the role, but the resulting look is very Conehead.


These are my four choices for the worst wigs of the TV season, but I'm sure I skipped some terrifically terrible ones. If you have another addition to the list, let me know in the comments.

Some Thoughts on The Following 1x01, "Pilot"

If you're planning to watch The Following but haven't yet, this isn't the review for you. There are spoilers in this post for the first episode, and it doesn't contain a rehash of the show's plot. If you have watched the first episode, please read along and share your thoughts.

Even though the trailers weren't particularly appealing to me, I was excited for The Following. The premise of a serial killer leading a cult intrigued me, the show seemed to generate a fairly positive buzz early on (although that buzz has become more divisive in the past few weeks), and most of all, Kevin Williamson, known for Scream and The Vampire Diaries is the show's creator.

The Following wasn't as original as I was hoping it would be (especially given Scream's fresh take on the horror genre), but I feel like it's still different from a lot of shows on television at the moment. In fact, it had a cinematic feel to it. The show is largely a crime thriller, but it also has a dash of horror movie in its DNA. The scene where Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy searches for Sarah in her house and then her neighbors' house genuinely held me in suspense. While I suppose it could veer off into disjointed follower of the week stories, The Following appears as if it's going to stick largely to an cohesive and overarching story of Joe Carroll and his followers. If so, the shortish episode order (I believe the promo said fourteen or fifteen episodes) could lead to an solid, connected story told in weekly increments.


I was a little surprised that Sarah met her end so soon into the show. The revelation of Sarah's neighbors and Joey's nanny as followers of Joe also took me by surprise. I probably should have caught on that the nanny was a follower, but the idea of the neighbors as followers was a pretty solid twist. There's a limited number of times the "so-and-so is secretly a follower" twist can be played, so I'm hoping they'll dial back on it for a while in future episodes. Still, I'm betting at least one major player will be revealed as a follower in the future.

Unfortunately, quite a few of the other twists and turns of the pilot were pretty predictable. Sarah's screams were obviously prerecorded. It was clear far before the reveal that Claire and Ryan had a relationship in the past. Even some of the surprises, like Sarah's death, were made obvious a couple beats too early, lessening the suspense. To be fair, part of the episode's predictability might stem from my prior viewing of the trailer, but it still didn't stray too far from the cliches.

The Following also seemed to take itself slightly too seriously for my taste. The subject matter didn't lend itself to a lot of jokes (and slightly too serious is much better than too buffoonish), but a little bit of dark humor would have gone a long way. The show also seemed to think it was a smarter show than it actually was. It wasn't that The Following was dumb, but it wasn't brilliant or original enough to justify quite such a serious tone.

This serious tone was least compatible with the Poe angle of Joe's murders. Gouged eyes are nothing to laugh about, but the Edgar Allen Poe theme is a slightly campy concept that seemed off when taken so seriously. I'm not opposed to the idea of Poe-based murders in the show if used as a loose theme or even done in a more fun manner, but the idea was applied in too heavy-handed a manner. The thick application of Poe's stories wasn't done particularly creatively either, and I felt like a handful of Poe ideas were repeated over and over (repetitive eye gouging, quite a few references to unfinished business and Poe's unfinished story, Poe quotes recited/written on a wall/written on a body/etc.). I'm no Poe scholar, but it felt like the writer read a Poe story in high school, thought it was cool, and looked on Wikipedia for a couple of facts to tie in. Given that Joe was an English teacher, a wider variety of literary allusions might have worked better and allowed for more creativity. I'm just hoping that Joe sticks to his word about moving onto a murder plot with wider appeal.

The response to The Following's pilot seems to have been fairly divisive, but I actually fall somewhere in the middle between love and hate. I liked it more than my multiple critiques probably suggest and think it could become a really interesting show, but it definitely had its flaws. Given that this was only The Following's first episode and that it had a lot of story to cover, I'm definitely willing to tune in for at least another week and see where the story goes.

Some random thoughts on The Following:

• I spent several minutes during the episode pondering Claire Matthews's (Natalie Zea) face. At first I thought she looked like Ellen Pompeo. In another scene, I noted a striking resemblance to Rebecca Gayheart. For a brief moment, I even caught a very mild resemblance to Blake Lively. Yet in some scenes, I thought she looked like none of them at all.
• When the puppy torture chamber made an appearance, I (as did many others, I imagine) made a comment along the lines of "I can handle dead bodies, but I can't take dead dogs" (in reference to on-screen violence, of course). It cracked me up when Shawn Ashmore's Mike made almost exactly the same comment right afterwards. 
• In retrospect, I should have seen Maggie Grace's death coming from the start. It was a very Scream-esque move to kill off the actress with a decent level of name recognition early on.
• With dead puppies and eye stabbings, The Following is pretty heavy on the gore for a network show. However, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting from the responses I'd read about the show's violence. It seemed gratuitous at times, but I managed to make it through the episode just fine.
• It was somewhat of a cliche song choice, but I really liked the use of "Sweet Dreams" at the beginning and the end of the episode.
• Whether or not it turns out to be true, there's definitely some suspicion being raised that Joey is really Ryan's son, right? Claire's mention of her relationship with Ryan "eight years ago" seemed too blatant to be a throwaway line.
• I can never seem to keep Shawn and Aaron Ashmore's roles straight in my mind. During the episode, I wondered if Mike was played by the X-Men/Animorph Ashmore or the Veronica Mars Ashmore. It turns out that Shawn is the X-Men/Animorph one.

Did you catch the premiere of The Following? What did you think of it? Was the violence worse than you expected or not as bad? Do you plan to keep watching?

Review: The Mindy Project 1x04, "Halloween"

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder; in the case of The Mindy Project, that cliche held true for me. When the show finally returned last night after a two week break, I was pretty pumped for a new episode.

"Halloween" focused on two storylines. The A story dealt with Mindy's relationship with Josh and her quest to find the perfect costume to wear as Josh's date to a Halloween party. The B story consisted of Danny and Jeremy's quest to get their driver's licenses.

I feel like being mean, so let's talk about the B story first. There was almost nothing I liked about this storyline. I mentioned in my last review of The Mindy Project that Danny is growing on me, and I didn't necessarily dislike the idea of his character in this episode. In practice, however, he just wasn't that fun to watch. I suspect that this was largely due to his sharing the storyline with Jeremy.


I really don't like Jeremy's character. His story in "Halloween" centered around his supposed ability to charm anyone, but I had a hard time buying him as charming when I dread watching his scenes. More than anyone else on the show, he feels forced and unoriginal. He just drags down the show, and it would be much better off without him.                                

There were only two somewhat positive things I have to say about the driver's licenses plot. One, I thought it was kind of funny that Danny had taken the test enough times that the DMV workers recognized him. Second, I liked that there were touches of Halloween in this portion of the episode like costumes and trick-or-treaters walking about but that it wasn't really a Halloween story. It was an interesting choice to balance a non-Halloween storyline with a more festive one; it's just a shame that it wasn't a better story.

Fortunately, the Mindy portion of the episode was more enjoyable.

While I don't necessarily like him, I continue to be intrigued by Josh's character. I'm honestly not completely sure what to make of him. I'm used to rom-com love interests being classified as either the good guy or the jerk. The better rom-coms might introduce a third category of okay guy that's just wrong for our heroine. Josh seems to fall into all three, although he probably fits best into the jerk one.

Bragging about taking a model to last year's Halloween party and talking about all the Caitlins in his phone definitely fall into the jerk category. Plus, there's something about Josh that's slightly serial-killer-esque. While it could maybe still be classified as serial-killer-esque, dressing up as Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride after finding out that it's Mindy's favorite movie showed that Josh at least has a genuine interest in Mindy. That seems to reveal that he's at least a little bit of a good guy. However, the two don't have a lot of chemistry together or much in common. These two things along with the likely future pairing of Mindy and Danny mean that Josh also falls into the third category.

In addition to the Josh stuff, Mindy also spent much of the episode in search of a costume. Costumes are one of the best parts of Halloween episodes, and this was a fun way for us to see a bunch of them. I have to admit that I was partial to her Tinkerbell Tailor Soldier Spy costume, but I liked that her costume ended up being something she threw together at the last minute. It was a little bit ridiculous that Mindy and her coworkers seemed to spend the whole work day trying to find her a costume, but it was still fun to watch.

I didn't feel like the reappearance of Mindy's ex-boyfriend Tom (Bill Hader) contributed much to the episode (other than giving Mindy a reason to accept Josh's invitation), but I did greatly enjoy his and Mindy's conversation about Breaking Bad spoilers.

The funniest part of the episode for me was when the stray cat suddenly appeared in Mindy's lap. It reminded me a lot of an episode of Happy Endings where Penny finds stray cats in her "haunted" apartment, but Mindy really sold the moment.

It's hard to give an enthusiastic two thumbs up to an episode where I really didn't care for half of it at all, but the other half of the episode was strong enough that I can it at least give one thumb half-up and maybe a pinky. The Mindy Project still has quite a few kinks to work out and doesn't feel like it's hit its groove yet. Still I'm probably going to miss it when it's preempted by election coverage next week, and that's a good sign.

Review: Grey's Anatomy 9x03, "Love the One You're With"

Grey's Anatomy has had its ups and downs over the years. Those downs have been pretty low at times, but it's always, in my opinion at least, been able to recover. After the first two episodes of this season, I was started to wonder if it had finally hit a bottom it couldn't come back from. The episodes bored me, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what was happening. I liked both Sloan and Lexie a lot, but their deaths didn't even affect me.

I think my biggest problem with the current state of Grey's Anatomy is there's far too much trauma. Look, I appreciate some trauma on Grey's Anatomy from time to time. I loved the Denny storyline, and the season six finale with the hospital shooting was what convinced me to go back and watch from the beginning.

However, the trauma has reached a point of saturation on the show. A lot of beloved characters have died: Denny, George, Lexie, Henry, Sloan and for a brief period of time Meredith (Remember that time she drowned? Although I can't quite remember if she technically died.). There's been a shooting at the hospital, a bomb, a car crash for Arizona and Callie, a plane crash and worst of all a musical episode. I won't even go into all of the relationship drama that has taken place of the course of the show. I feel like I'm drowning in the trauma, and I need some fun and humor to keep me from becoming overwhelmed.

That's why I mostly enjoyed last Thursdays's episode, "Love the One You're With." While it wasn't a perfect episode and was still bogged down with some drama, it was a breath of fresh air compared to the first two episodes of the season.


My absolute favorite storyline to come out of last night's episode was the relationship between Mr. Feeny (whose character is technically named Dr. Thomas, but there's about zero chance I'll be able to refer to him as that) and Cristina. I love Cristina's misanthropy, but I always enjoy seeing her bond with another person. The budding friendship between her and Mr. Feeny was incredibly sweet and exactly what she (and the show) needs right now. I want sweetness and humor not tragedy and tears. I will even suffer through the awkward product placement iPad scenes if it means that Cristina stays in Minnesota for a while and we get more Mr. Feeny.

While Cristina's storyline provided sweetness to the episode, Bailey's was a nice dash of humor, at least initially. Bailey's exasperation with Meredith and company joining the attendings' lounge was fun to watch and reminded me of her relationship with them in the earlier days of the show. I laughed at the camera panning to her during April and Jackson's relationship conversation and her sticky-noting everything. I was really annoyed with the motivation for Bailey's actions that was tacked onto the storyline: that Bailey's upset about everyone in her life moving on. I was so appreciative to have this silly, fun plot, and then of course Grey's had to make into an emotional thing.

There were also some fun, small moments in the episode that I liked. Jackson and Meredith talking about the chief's relationships with their mothers was a nice way to give the two a bonding moment (and I got a kick out of Meredith asking if he was talking about Owen), and Cristina's attempt at a smile was funny.

I was somewhat ambivalent about Alex's story. The new girl, Jo, is a little annoying and reminds me a little bit of a second-rate Lexie. Even though I wasn't crazy about her, I didn't enjoy Alex's being a jerk towards her. However, I'm hoping that their probable relationship will be a nice, normal one and will lead towards a permanent, positive change in Alex. I'm tired of seeing Alex go through some character development towards becoming a nicer person, only for it to be retracted. I'm also tired of seeing him in disastrous relationships. So while I didn't exactly enjoy his portion of this episode, I'm hoping it will lead towards good things.

My two least favorite storylines were Derek's and Arizona's. Unsurprisingly, these were two of the more dramatic elements of the episode.

Before I start talking about Derek's portion of episode, I'm going to give a warning that you might want to skip the following paragraph if you're a Derek fan. I'm definitely not a Derek fan, and it's hard to not go into rant mode when I'm when I'm writing about him.

I found Derek incredibly annoying in this episode. His speech about not accepting the settlement was one of his most self-righteous moments in the show (no small feat). I'm not saying that it was necessarily a bad idea to reject the settlement, but he went about it in the most self-righteous way possible. Not only did he hold back on sharing his thoughts on the matter until they were actually in the meeting, he gave some long-winded speech about how doctors are better than people who work in airlines. Plus, this means that the plane crash plot is going to be dragged out even longer. Great, more melodrama. The only tragedy I want to see right now is Derek's death.

I'm finding Arizona's story very annoying as well. I understand that losing a leg is a huge deal, and the scene where Arizona was lying in the bathroom was pretty sad. However, the segments with Arizona really drag down the show. I don't want to see this angry, bitter Arizona; I'd rather see the cheery Arizona who's great with kids. Like I've already said, I'm tired of watching tragedy. I want fun, and this storyline is not bringing it.


My hope for the rest of this season of Grey's Anatomy is that it will abstain from inflicting tragedy on the main characters and leave it for the patients. I want good things to happen to them (other than Derek of course) and for the show to lighten up a bit. Both the characters and we desperately need it.

Review: The Mindy Project 1x03, "In the Club"

When I reviewed The Mindy Project's pilot a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the show didn't quite live up to my expectations and that I was hoping for improvement in future episodes. While The Mindy Project still has some growing to do, I do feel that the show has made some strides in the two episodes following the pilot.

Last's night's episode, "In the Club," featured a club night outing for Mindy and her coworkers. I didn't completely love the episode, but it was pretty fun and wisely fleshed out some of the supporting characters. Because "In the Club's" primary accomplishment was allowing us to get a better idea of who these characters are, I'm going to spend most of this review talking about them.

One of the biggest surprises to come out of last night was that I realized I'm warming up to Danny. I was pretty harsh on him in my review of the pilot. While he was somewhat more likeable in the second episode, I enjoyed Danny far more in this episode. I was expecting him to spend the whole episode feeling like a fish out of water in the club setting, but it was a good choice to let him dance and show off his fun side. Given that The Mindy Project is deeply rooted in the romantic comedy genre, it's important that the leading man be likable. While the writers have some work to do before I'm fully team Danny, "In the Club" proved that Danny can be more than a jerk who tells Mindy to lose fifteen pounds.

I was somewhat surprised that Morgan was added to the work crew last week. While I found him pretty funny, he seemed more like a ridiculous one-off character. However, I surprisingly enjoyed his pretending to be an attendant in the bathroom. I think the writers are going to have to be careful not to let Morgan get too out there if he's going to be a regular part of the show (Moments like the roofie joke are a little much for me and err on the wrong side of the line between endearing weirdo and overly broad caricature.), but he can actually be pretty funny and fits into the group better than I expected.

I don't really have strong opinions about Shauna or Betsy, but it was nice to see them get more than a line or two in this episode. Jeremy, on the other hand, is just a weak link in the cast. I felt no connection to his character, and frankly, I find him cliche and grating. In both this week's and last week's episodes, his storylines have been somewhat disconnected from the main cast (other than a pep talk from Morgan this week) and could have easily been cut without much of a effect on the episode. Because I've managed to warm up a bit to Danny after hating him in the pilot, I'm not going to say that Jeremy is a completely unsalvageable character. However, the writers need to majorly retool him and figure out how to use him or cut him out completely.

While Mindy's coworkers got some additional screen time in this episode, Mindy's sister friend Gwen only had one brief scene. I was excited to see Anna Camp in the cast list when The Mindy Project premiered, but she's been underused so far. Given that this was a very contained episode focused on Mindy's work crowd, it's understandable that this wasn't a Gwen-heavy episode. Still, I'd love to see her used as more than one-an-episode sounding board for Mindy.

Steven Tobolowsky's character Marc Shulman was also missing from the episode. While I think Tobolowsky is great, he got enough screen time last week that I didn't really miss him.

"In the Club" was a very loose episode and light on plot. While plot-light episodes can be great, in this case, it felt a little bit scattered. There were a couple of stories thrown in like Mindy's ovaries before brovaries (sorry, I can't resist a Parks and Recreation reference) dilemma, Jeremy's seduction of a bachelorette, Shauna's infatuation with Danny (This felt a bit hasty, considering that he won her over solely with his sweet dance moves. This isn't Grease, you guys. Then again, Danny kind of won me over with his sweet dance moves. So who am I to judge?), and Morgan's imitation of a bathroom attendant, but they felt uneven and disjointed.

Still there were plenty of jokes and fun moments scattered throughout the episode to make it worth watching. I loved Mindy quizzing the NBA players and Josh on their favorite Tom Hanks rom-com.

Speaking of Josh, I'm kind of intrigued by his character. He gave off creepy vibes, and I was fully expecting his storyline to take a "jerk who's trying to take advantage of Mindy" path. However, his gift of a limo ride home and return of Mindy's pashmina suggested otherwise. IMDB suggests that Josh will return in a future episode. While I'm not sure what the writers were going for with his character, I have to say that I'm intrigued.

"In the Club" was a fun installment of The Mindy Project and provided some much needed character development. I'm finding it hard to unbiasedly judge the show because I'm watching through Mindy-Kaling-loving glasses, but I feel like it's on its way to becoming to a really fun show.

Edit 11/21: I'm not sure why I assumed Mindy and Gwen were sisters, but apparently that's not the case. I've corrected my mistake above.

Review: Doctor Who 7x02, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"

As a fairly new viewer of Doctor Who, this seventh season is the first that I've watched the show live (Well, relatively live. I watched it on BBC America, several hours after it aired in the UK.). I know some viewers had issues with last week's episode, "Asylum of the Daleks," but other than a few problems, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I enjoyed this week's episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" even more.

I imagine that some will criticize "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" as crowded, flashy, silly, filler, and frantic. I totally agree with all of these assessments; they are why I loved the episode so much. I like Doctor Who a lot, but I don't watch it because I think it's a super well-written show. Please don't start throwing things at me, but sometimes it's kind of awful. I watch it because I like to sit back for an hour and get lost in the fun. That's exactly what "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" brought to the table: a bucket of fun.

R.I.P sweet Tricey, the dinosaur of my heart

The dinosaurs were obviously part of the fun (I can't be the only who fell in love with Tricey), but the Doctor's "gang" was probably the best part of the episode. Queen Nefertiti was awesome. She was sassy, brave, and really likeable. As a clever viewer on Reddit pointed out, in fitting with her storyline in the episode, the actual Nefertiti did disappear from historical records after a certain point. I would loved to have seen a whole episode devoted to her set in Egypt, but the randomness of her being in an episode about dinosaurs added to the chaotic fun.

Rory's dad Brian was a fantastic addition to the gang as well. He was utterly adorable, particularly in his interactions with Rory, and he reminded me a lot of Donna's grandfather Wilf. It's always fun getting to see a character become introduced to the craziness of the Doctor's world, and I particularly loved the effect that the Doctor had on Brian. Brian's transformation from homebody to travel nut was a sweet note on which to end the episode. Plus, the scene where he's sitting on the edge of the TARDIS and looking at the world was gorgeously filmed.

Gorgeous. It's fun to imagine what this scene would have looked like on the earlier seasons' budget.

I know this was supposed to represent Brian's learning to love traveling, but it looks more like he learned how to use Photoshop.

I like the Ponds, but they sometimes rub me the wrong way (Amy moreso than Rory). The appearance of Jenna-Louise Coleman, the actress who's going to play the Doctor's new companion, in the first episode of the season actually got me excited for the Ponds' departure. However, if they're written in the next couple of episodes the same way they were in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," I really might miss them. Both had plenty of great, funny lines in the episode. One of my favorites was Rory telling his dad that he no longer has a Christmas list at 31 (and the Doctor's response that has one). More than anything, they both looked like they were having a lot of fun.

Since I usually do really like Rory, I was more impressed with the improvement in the writing of Amy in this episode. Amy was written as a competent companion rather than the sassy damsel in distress she often is portrayed as. While the group of Rory, Brian, and the Doctor was a bit more fun, I liked seeing Amy getting a chance to lead the group of her, Nefertiti, and hunter John Riddell. She showed her smarts in figuring out the computer system, her general awesomeness in helping to take down the dinosaurs, and her humor in letting Nefertiti believe she was also a queen. My only complaint with Amy in this episode is that Karen Gillan's acting seemed a bit off to me. It wasn't terrible, but I feel like she had a little bit of trouble with the differences in Amy's writing.

As much as I loved "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," it did have a few drawbacks. The pacing in the first ten or fifteen minutes had me feeling like I was on a roller coaster, and the ending was thrilling, but the episode lost a bit of its momentum in the middle. Most of this was due to the episode's villain Solomon. I liked Solomon's goofy minion robots, but Solomon was a bit of a bore. I feel like such a fun episode could have used a more fun villain. I was a bit shocked that the Doctor sent the missiles towards Solomon and let him die, but reading some Internet comments from more avid fans than I has convinced me that it was indeed in character for him. My other minor issue was that I didn't care for Nefertiti's crush on the Doctor. It was thankfully a very minor part of the episode and not a terrible idea, but it seemed a bit repetitive after seeing so many historical women act similarly towards the Doctor.

While "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" was mostly a filler episode, there were a few moments that hinted to the show's larger picture. The most obvious foreshadowing was a moment between Amy and the Doctor. He tells her "You'll be there till the end of me," and she ominously jokes "or vice versa." While I thought this was probably a bit too obvious, it's nice to see a bit of a lead up to the Ponds' last episode. 

A subtler and more visual bit of foreshadowing was the scene in which Amy and Rory appear in the foreground both wearing blue and bathed in cold, blue light; the doctor, on the other hand, appears in the background in the lively, warm light of the TARDIS. This could simply be representing their distance from the Doctor as they live their own lives, but I think it could also foreshadow death for at least one of them. 

Even her nails are blue.

After the Daleks forgot the Doctor in the last episode, I also have to wonder if Solomon's machine not recognizing the Doctor (I wasn't sure why it didn't recognize him, though) ties into a season-long theme of the Doctor's enemies forgetting him. I'm not sure how this would be used as a story arc or if it means anything at all, but it's something that stuck out to me.

"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" wasn't the cleverest or most well-written episode of Doctor Who, but it was ridiculously enjoyable. Dinosaurs are cool, and the episode embraces that. It also brings together an interesting group of people that looked like they were having fun. I know there are some out there that will disagree with me, but between "Asylum of the Daleks" and "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," I think season seven is off to a great start. I'm excited to see what will happen next.

LOL, Okay: A Review of Revolution 1x01, "Pilot"

For the past several years, many shows have tried to fill the television void left by Lost. These shows vary, dealing with everything from aliens (The Event) to dinosaurs (Terra Nova) to worldwide blackouts (FlashForward), but they all try to replicate Lost's complex mysteries and mythology. Even if these shows don't intentionally imitate Lost, the comparisons are inevitable.

This fall season's Lost-esque contender (which actually has J.J. Abrams attached as a producer) is Revolution, a show about the world 15 years after all electricity has been shut off. More specifically, it focuses on Charlie Matheson (played by relative newcomer Tracy Spiridakos), a plucky young woman trying to find her uncle and obtain his help to get her brother Danny back after he's been taken by the evil "militia."

So is Revolution any good? 

Let's start with the positive. During the 44 minutes I was watching Revolution's pilot, I was never bored. There's some exposition and a few flashbacks, but most of the episode focuses on the show's here and now. The pilot is pretty well-paced and moves along fairly quickly. There's a good bit of action, but there's also some smaller moments that let viewers begin to get to know the characters and understand what they're going through. One of my favorite moments of the pilot was a short scene right after the power goes out where Charlie's parents let her eat as much melting ice cream as she wants and tell her to remember what it tastes like.

The characters themselves are a bit of mixed bag. I'm going to need a few more episodes to decide how I feel about the show's female lead Charlie. I think she could be a likable character, but her can-do spirit and repetition of the "we're family" argument could also become grating. Her gruff uncle Miles (played by Twilight's Billy Burke) serves as a nice foil to Charlie. Miles is probably my favorite character. He's kind enough to be likable, but his pessimism adds a nice element of spice that the show needs. My second favorite character is Aaron (Zak Orth), a semi-dorky ex-Google employee, who provided a not overly over-the-top bit of comic relief.

I loved Giancarlo Esposito's performance as Gus on Breaking Bad, but his performance here as Captain Neville, part of the militia, is decidedly less impressive. His threat to Charlie's dad to "re-educate" his teenaged children so that they wouldn't remember his name is a joke compared to Gus's threatening of Walt's family. Pretty much everyone who plays a bad guy in Revolution is similarly campy and over-the top. Watching them trot around on horses made me laugh rather than fear them. Monroe, presumably at least the show's intial big bad, didn't get enough screen time for me to decide if he suffers from similar campiness. However, his giant tattoo of his own name on his arm points to yes.

It isn't just the villains of Revolution that are campy. The whole show is pretty silly. I admittedly don't know much about what the world would look like if electricity everywhere was shut off (and maybe Revolution is spot on), but I feel like Revolution takes some major liberties with the concept. It explains that many people died from lack of medicine and other complications of the electricity blackout, but the world looks far more deserted (and full of vegetation) than I would expect it to a mere fifteen years after the blackout.

I enjoyed watching Revolution quite a bit, but I managed to do so by saying "LOL, okay" to many of its aspects and embracing the silliness. Here's a sample of those "LOL, okay" moments.

Warning: This section may contain spoilers from Revolution's pilot.

These children's clothes? LOL, okay.

This magical electricity necklace? LOL, okay.

Danny using a crossbow? LOL, okay.

Gus on a horse? LOL, okay.

More 19th century clothing? LOL, okay.

The idea that Danny could even temporarily escape the militia's capture? LOL, okay.

Expecting us to think Elizabeth Mitchell's character is really dead? LOL, okay. (Although I suppose I may have to eat my words on that one if she really is.)

Nate's general existence? LOL, okay.

Danny's general existence? LOL, okay.

Extreme vegetation? LOL, okay.

The fight scene where Miles takes on a hoard of men with only minimal help? LOL, okay.

This tattoo? LOL, Okay.

Vague, covert instant messaging using the handy, dandy electro-pendant? LOL, okay.

Revolution is no Lost. It's silly and will probably end up suffering from some of the same problems that Lost's failed successors have. Still, it's pretty fun, and I'm interested to see where it's going. If you enjoy high-concept, mysterious shows and can accept the absurdities of Revolution with a "LOL, okay," (I promise guys. That's the last time I'm going to use that phrase. Well, it's the last time in this post.) it's worth a shot.

If you're interested in Revolution, you can check out its pilot now on Hulu or NBC.com. Alternatively, you can wait until its television premiere on NBC on Monday, September 17 at 10/9c.

Have you seen Revolution's pilot yet? What did you think? Who's your favorite (or least favorite) character? What moments, if any, stood out as absurd to you? Do you plan to keep watching? Let me know in the comments.