Fringe 4: The Eternal Bald Observer

Tonight's Fringe - Episode 4 - was the best so far. A capsule from inside the Earth, the most important character development so far of Walter and Peter, Anna gets a call and more from the not deceased-as-we-know-it Scott, and most of it is tied together by a bald chronicler.

The opening scene is pure television gold, as the observer awaits the re-appearance of the capsule in a Brooklyn dinner. There's something about that bald observer - he not only takes measurements, but seems to have been watching most of the science fiction I have seen and read over the years, either in or just beyond the scene.

Tonight we find out, at the end, that, years earlier, he saved Walter and Peter from drowning, and as a result (presumably), they can communicate thoughts somatically - or just through touching. This has the effect of scotching Peter's plan to leave - which, of course, we knew he could not, for that would have undermined the central plot of the series, but it was good to see, anyway.

Fringe continues to pull into its centrifuge a veritable compendium of classic, 1950s or so science fiction themes. At this point, various kinds of extrasensory communication, lives after death, observing visitors from somewhere, strange skins and cicada-like capsules, and enough more that I'm definitely interested in finding out what's behind this.

-Yours truly, the slightly bald observer



See also Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Bloomberg Wants Third Term: Good, Term Limits Are Anti-Democratic

The New York Times reports that Mike Bloomberg may run for a third term as Mayor of New York City, thereby ending the current two-term limit. The Daily News and The New York Post support this (see links in the Times artice). I say: good. Term limits are undemocratic and insulting - designed, in effect, to keep people from making choices they think best, if their choice is to have a Mayor or President continue in office beyond the term limits.

I have mixed feelings about Bloomberg as a Mayor, and don't know if I would vote for him for a third or any term - but the principle that term limits are bad for democracy takes precedence.

Franklyn Delano Roosevelt served four terms as President - shortly after which, term limits for President, two terms, were put into our Constitution. I've long thought that that anti-democratic 22nd Amendment should be repealed.

The essence of the democracy is the citizens decide. Protecting people from their desires and analyses about who should be office, if that person has already served x number of terms, is counter-productive to having the best person in office, and, from the point of view of democracy, self defeating and not sane.

Bloomberg will need to get the City Council to do away with the term limits for Mayor. I hope they do the right, democratic thing.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.4: Meet Allison

A really tender, wrenching, revealing episode 2.4 of The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight, as we get to meet the human being who served as the template for Cameron.

Meet Allison, alive in the future in which machines are on the verge of exterminating the human species. She's captured, and questioned.

Meanwhile, back in 2008, Cameron is still not quite herself - again - and this time she recalls Allison being questioned. In fact, she repeats what Allison is saying, as the action cuts back and forth between Cameron in our present and Allison in our future.

And Cameron seems to forget that she's a Terminator. She's showing emotions - much as she did before John saved her in the first episode this season - and she's conspicuously nonviolent.

Both parts are of course played - and very well - by Summer Glau. In our present, Cameron tells her questioner to call "her" - Allison's - mother, who is pregnant with her. Her mother doesn't (yet) know any Allison, but says she likes the name - a nice little time loop, of the future making something happen in the past, which already exists in the future.

In the end, Cameron snaps out of it - regains her "normal" personality and awareness of who she is. But is she really ok? Back in touch with her Terminator self, she says her job is to hunt down John Connor - does that mean the override has been short-circuited again?

We know, sadly, that Cameron is a killer. In the future, she kills her human model, Allison - though I'm hoping that, maybe somehow, Allison survived...

And a fine mixture tonight of heroes and villains - which, as fate would have it, was also the theme of tonight's Heroes...



See also 2.1 Cameron's Back ... 2.2 Firing on All Cylinders ... 2.3 Who, Truly, Is Agent Ellison? ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter, Questions

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Heroes 3: Sylar's Redemption and Other Heroes and Villains Mergers

Heroes tonight - like, coincidentally, The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight - continues to mine the rich, twisted vein in which heroes and villains coincide.

Sylar has been about as bad as it gets - literally opening up the brains of other heroes to acquire their power. Tonight the ever-dangerous Mrs. Petrelli reveals to Sylar that she is his real mother, and partners him up with HRG to round up the villains sprung from prison last week, due to bad (or, not so good) future Peter's intervention from the future. A bad son maybe turning good to help undue what a good son maybe a little bad from the future has wrought.

And Sylar does behave pretty heroically. But he can he curb his vampiric-like hunger for heroic brains? Well, maybe ... but HRG doesn't believe it.

Meanwhile, while on the subject of Claire's father, Claire herself discovers that she has a little evil in her - or, at very least, her desire to kill villains is not just selfless heroism, but an expression of understandable desire to strike back at those who have hurt her. I like her much better this way.

And as a nice counterweight to good and evil co-existing in the same hero, we discover tonight that Tracy Strauss played by Ali Larter is apparently not Niki/Jessica after all ... though, Micah senses some connection, even though he realized Tracy is not his mother, and it turns out Tracy and Niki/Jessica were "created" on the same day ... Well, I told you this episode of Heroes resonated with The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

But it's all good - and, hey, we have another hero who paints the future - and I'm looking forward to more of the future next week.


See also Heroes 3 Begins: Best Yet, Riddled with Time Travel and Paradox

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The Plot to Save Socrates




"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

McCain Will Be the Bigest Loser in the Bailout Failure

McCain rode in on a white horse last week, put his campaign on hold, asked to delay the Presidential debate, and accomplished ... bupkis.

The bailout failed to pass the House. Introduced by the Republican administration, supported and improved by Democrats in the House and Senate and Republicans in the Senate, supported by Obama and McCain (who unilaterally suspended his campaign last week to "help" with the bailout's passage) - but ultimately defeated by Republicans in the House, who said they were offended by Nancy Pelosi's partisan speech earlier today.

What impact will this have on the Presidential election?

The Republican explanation for why they didn't vote is laughable. As Democratic Representative Barney Frank said, are we to believe that these Republicans sacrificed the good of nation because Pelosi hurt their feelings? Once again, Republicans show contempt for the common sense of the American people. (I'd have a little more respect for the Republicans who voted against the bailout if they explained their ideological objections, rather than blaming Pelosi.)

But I think McCain will be the biggest loser in this - so much so that, who knows, as my wife suggested, maybe Nancy Pelosi deliberately tried to rile up some Republicans so the bailout would be defeated .... She was only kidding about that (I think). But what's not a laughing matter is McCain looking ineffectual, floundering, having ridden into town to save the day and not getting enough of his Republican party members to save it. Clearly the House Republicans like neither Bush nor McCain. It's good to know I at least have that in common with them.

As for the country, the election of Obama will be the best thing that could happen to it. Not that he has all the answers - no one does - but he and the Democrats appeal to a sense of reason, of dedication to doing the right thing for the country, that the Republicans seemed to lack today in the House of Representatives.

I hope, for the good of the country, that some kind of legislation is passed in the next week to help with this crisis. I therefore hope that no Republicans who may be voting on whatever new bill comes along read this - I wouldn't want them to get angry.

Mad Men 2.9: Don and Roger

Don and Roger have had a complex love/hate relationship in the past year and a half of the Emmy-winning Mad Men - mostly professional friendship, which is what I mean by love above, not hate - and in tonight's Episode 2.9 it has never been more compellingly portrayed.

The ostensible theme of the episode was Fred's getting fired - he passes out pissed (literally) and drunk before an important meeting with clients. Pete takes over, puts in Peggy at the client pitch, she does great, and Pete tells Roger. He concludes Fred's gone "over the line," and, against Don's decent objections, says Fred has to go.

But the deeper action takes place as Roger and Don take Fred out for one last fling, over dinner, drinks, and gambling, to tell he's fired. Roger has seen Don coming in too early - this tips him off - and he tries repeatedly to talk to Don about it. Like Don, Roger is an original mix of compassion and coldness, and tonight Roger was about as good as boss/friend could be.

Don is as inscrutable - and thus fascinating - as ever. He tells Roger he has no feelings, other than relief, about being apart from Betty. But he clearly loves his kids ... and, I don't know, I think he loves Betty, too. So why is he is saying he feels nothing about the separation. A front for Roger? No, it didn't seem like that.

Meanwhile, back at the office the next day, Peggy's been promoted to Fred's job, and confronts horrible Pete about why he told Roger about Fred. Peggy accepts Pete's explanation - is she slowly becoming conditioned to the soulless part of this advertising life?

And Don learns that Roger's new fling in the office is Jane! That's something I can well understand - Peyton List plays her perfectly, and Jane, maybe because she's the most modern, is the most irresistible woman in the office. Don wants her fired. But I think we'll be seeing her on Mad Men for a good while...



See also: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons ... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12: The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men

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And listen to my fabulous 20-minute interview last Fall with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through



The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Critics of Joe Biden's FDR-TV Gaffe Are Ignorant of History Themselves

Republicans, the media, and John Stewart have been yukking it up about what Joe Biden said to Katie Couric, "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"

John Stewart sagely informs us that (1) "Roosevelt wasn't President when the stock market crashed" (in 1929), and (2) "no one had televisions". And The New York Times helpfully offers that "Herbert Hoover was president when the stock market crashed, in 1929. Roosevelt did not take office until March of 1933. When he did, Roosevelt communicated to the people over radio — not television."

Well ... apparently neither Stewart nor the Editorial Board of The New York Times are media historians.

Here's a little history for them:

1. Herbert Hoover (then Secretary of Commerce) and Walter S. Gifford (President of AT&T) participated in a conversation via television hook-up between Washington and New York in .... tada tada ... 1927!

2. FDR gave a televised address from the 1939 World's Fair in New York ... thereby becoming the first U.S. President to be televised.

3. FDR was televised from a Democratic Rally in Madison Square Garden in October, 1940.

So, here is what is TRUE about what Stewart, the New York Times, et al have been saying about Biden's gaffe: (1) FDR was indeed not President when the stock market crashed in 1929.

And, here is what is FALSE about what Stewart, the New York Times, et al have been saying about Biden's gaffe: (1) Contrary to what Stewart said, there was indeed television in 1927. (2) Contrary to what The New York Times said, although FDR was known for his fireside radio chats (see my The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution for details), he indeed also communicated to Americans via television.

Now, television service was indeed much less common in the late 20s and the 30s and early 40s than it would soon after become, and Biden indeed was mostly in error in his statement to Couric ... But, media, next time you publicly take potshots at a VP candidate, open a book, look around a little on the Web, get your facts right ... It's not that hard.

Posting Financial Bailout Bill Online Big Step for Democracy

I just saw House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discuss some of the details of the Wall Street bailout bill - the one that most people think Senate and House Democrats and Senate Republicans will approve, but some House Republicans may not - and announce that the bill is available for everyone's scrutiny, the American people and well as elected Representatives and Senators, on the Web.

I want to take a moment to record the importance of posting this legislation on the Web. Regardless of what we may think of the bill - I think it's necessary to help the American people, to keep unemployment from burgeoning, etc - we are certainly taking a very significant step in democracy when such important, controversial, urgent legislation is so swiftly placed online for lawmakers and everyone else to see. (Bills are of course posted online all the time - but not with this speed, as they are almost literally being voted upon.)

Democracy has been intimately tied to modes of communication and dissemination of information ever since ancient Athens, and the view of its leaders that the best size for a direct democracy was no larger than the number of people who could gather in a stadium and hear a speaker, and each other speak. Our representative democracy in America was clearly created with newspapers as a bedrock - the reason that Jefferson thought a First Amendment and freedom of the press was so crucial.

Ever since the 1980s and the dawn of online communication, I and other media theorists have been urging that the Internet play a more crucial role in our democratic process. (See my The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution and Digital McLuhan: A Guide to the Information Millennium.) Someday, we may well decide to have more of our decisions - such as this very bailout legislation - voted up or down by the people, via computer, not our representatives.

But in the meantime, the immediate putting of important legislation online for everyone to see is a big step in the right direction. The financial crisis is not good for America. But the placement of legislation that seeks to provide a remedy online for all to see certainly is.

PS - The bill is at financialservices.house.gov - but you may have trouble getting on the website to see it, since the site is being flooded with viewers. Whether in-person or online, congestion is always a problem.

Both Candidates Speak Well, But Obama Looks More Presidential in 1st Debate

The lesson of the JFK-Nixon Presidential debates is that what the candidates look like on stage - how they react, nonverbally, to their opponent's points - can be more important to voters than what they actually say.

Barack Obama clearly won on that important plank in the debate tonight. Obama was relaxed, confident, in command of his facts. In contrast, although McCain was certainly knowledgeable, he seemed angry, dismissive, not thoroughly at ease on the stage tonight. In the long run, that will count heavily with voters.

McCain did hold his own in terms of what he said. He landed some blows, and also was able to connect with the audience emotionally. In terms of the economy, McCain's weakest position, he managed to deflect the debate to taxation, and away from economic hardships that Americans are suffering due to Republican policies.

But Obama spoke powerfully as well, and especially on foreign policy. His statement of his own position against Iraq, from the very beginning, in contrast to McCain, was especially effective. So was his insistence that Presidents must be free to negotiate with leaders of rogue nations, if necessary to keep America strong. Most important, Obama showed a calm command of foreign policy - and certainly showed he was ready to lead America in the world of nations.

In sum: a pretty equal debate, in terms of what each candidate said, with the edge to Obama. But Obama was far better in general, nonverbal impression - and I expect this Presidential sense will be what most sticks when voters cast their ballots.

Looking forward to the next debates.

Three Cheers for Rachel Maddow!

U.S. News and World Report reports that "The ratings for MSNBC's newest news show host are wildly impressive. Last week, her second on the air, Rachel Maddow pulled ahead of Larry King and even bested Keith Olbermann's Countdown a couple of nights."

I'm delighted, and not at all surprised. Maddow shined when she filled in for Olbermann in the summer. She's less abrasive and pompous than Olbermann (and, for that matter, Chris Matthews) and therefore her presentation and opinion pack more of a wallop. There's nothing like the truth softly spoken - you don't need to scream it.

Maddow's been having some difficulty getting Republicans to talk on her show. Perhaps they think that if they ignore her, she'll quietly go away. It's more likely to be the Republicans who will be going away, as their contempt for the media and need for a vigorous press puts the Republicans further at odds with the American people.

I liked Dan Abrams, was sorry to see him go, and therefore was prepared to be irritated by whoever succeeded him. Just the opposite is the case with Rachel Maddow. Her hour on MSNBC is a breath of fresh, rational air, and her approach to politics and critique of authority is something Thomas Jefferson would have been proud of.

Good for MSNBC for putting Rachel Maddow on the air. And, on the same subject, I'm also glad to see that MSNBC has at last banished its boring doc-block to weekend, where it least it does not take away from essential political coverage, which viewers need to see even in the middle of the night.

McCain Caves: Will Debate Obama Tonight After All

Breaking news is that John McCain has decided to debate Barack Obama in the first Presidential debate in Mississippi tonight, after all. I guess Americans should be thankful that McCain has deigned to do the right thing, and not subvert the election process.

Here's a recap of what happened in the past few days:

1. McCain announced he was suspending his campaign - in order to go to Washington to help with the financial bailout legislation. He also called for postponing tonight's debate.

2. Obama wisely refused to take McCain's bait, and pointed out that a President needs to multi-task, handle more than one crisis at the same time. Obama also said that times like this are precisely when debates are the most necessary, to let people in a democracy know where the candidates stand on the crucial issues, so they can vote informed.

3. McCain went to Washington yesterday, and by all accounts hurt rather than helped the negotiations for the bailout legislation. Lots of calls were heard for McCain to get out of town.

4. McCain blinked today, and will debate Obama on national television tonight.

I hope Americans do not forget what an affront McCain's proposal to postpone the debate was to the democratic process - to our elections, which are the basis of our freedom in America.

And Obama deserves credit for standing up to the considerable pressure to postpone the debate. He acted Presidential in thinking clearly and calmly in this dual crisis - the election crisis as well as the financial crisis.

I hope Obama makes those points in the debate tonight.

Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope

What I most like about Fringe so far is the sheer diversity of its classic science fiction themes - slowing and accelerating aging last week, mental telepathy this week. Both had a good, plausibly scientific backdrop, putting Fringe clearly in the province of science fiction rather than fantasy or horror, a plus in my book. Fringe is thus coming out of the gate as modern day Science Fiction Theater with a touch of Twilight Zone, with even a little Ray Bradbury Illustrated Man dropped in.

But Fringe is also trying to do something more - go beyond unconnected anthologies, and underpin its multiplex science fiction with a story line that ties it all together. Dr. Walter Bishop - played by the always compelling John Noble - is at the center of this. He's a scientist whose diverse work decades ago is suddenly bearing harrowing but fascinating fruit right now.

There's also his partner - who may be at the core of the evil doing, and our government agents and officials, who presumably are trying to combat this, unless they're also trying to use it for their own ends.

It's a promising story. But it needs more clarification and development. Walking the tight rope between fine standalone episodes and a cool, unfolding, underlying plot is never easy - especially when the rope is woven of the complex, glittering strands of science fiction.

See also Fringe Begins ... Fringe 4: The Eternal Bald Observer

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Obama Should Reject McCain's Call for Postponing Friday's Debate

John McCain just called for postponing Friday's debate with Barack Obama, so that McCain's attention can be fully devoted to helping with our economic crisis.

I hope Obama rejects McCain's call for what it is: an attempt to take a breather from the campaign, because polls are beginning to turn against McCain, because he clearly is now on the wrong side of the two main issues facing our nation - Iraq and the economy - and because Sarah Palin is far from ready to debate Biden in the VP debates next week (it would take her years to get ready).

The economic crisis is not something that needs the direct, in-person attention of either McCain or Obama. Their job, as Presidential candidates, is to explain what they would do to fix this, to make sure it doesn't happen again, to the American people.

Given that McCain's policies are to blame for our current crisis - as well as our problems in Iraq - Americans can well understand why he would not want to debate Obama at this time.

I doubt that many Americans will be fooled by this ploy.

BREAKING NEWS: 4:47PM: Obama just said that he thinks the debates should go on - that this is precisely a time when the American people need to see what he and McCain would do as President. Good!

Chris Matthews Channels McLuhan: Is McCain Too "Hot" for Television?

It was a good night for media theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) on MSBC's Hardball tonight, as Chris Matthews wondered if John McCain was too "hot" for television...

Let's unpack this, as the philosophers like to say.

Back in the 1960s, McLuhan put media into two categories: "hot" or high profile, clear, and intense in delivery of information vs. "cool" or low profile, blurry, and soft-spoken in presentation. Photographs were hot vs. cartoon drawings which were cool. Motion pictures and hi-fi radio were hot vs. television which was cool...

Further, McLuhan thought that people who communicate in hot or cool ways do better in media which are the same. The Kennedy-Nixon 1960 debates were McLuhan's grand example: JFK was cool, relaxed, confident in contrast to Nixon's hot, nervous, sweaty delivery. Those who saw the debates on television thought JFK won easily; those who heard the same debates on radio thought Nixon did better. Fortunately for the nation, at least 90-percent of Americans saw the debates on TV. (And the election returns were razor close - did television make difference?)

In subsequent elections, the contrast was not that obvious, but you could still make the case. The same nervous Nixon in 1968 was cooler than the voluble happy warrior Hubert Humphrey. Mumbling Carter was cooler than over-enunciating Ford. But then you had to work a little harder - wasn't Reagan far more articulate and large sized - hotter - than Carter in 1980? Well, maybe the country was ready then for a movie star. George W. Bush was certainly less articulate than Gore in 2000, and- but, wait, Gore actually won the popular vote.

So, hot and cool is far from an exact science. But this election certainly gives us one of the best examples we've had in years. Obama conveys that quiet confidence of JFK - just as McCain comes across as angry, even bitter, like Nixon.

But, you know what? I expect Obama to score big over McCain in the debate this Friday - not just because he's cool and has by far the more Presidential temperament, but because he has the best policies.

See my 1999 Digital McLuhan: A Guide to the Information Millennium for more hot and cool and McLuhan.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.3: Who Truly is Agent Ellison?

An excellent Sarah Connor Chronicles last night - Episode 3 of Season 2 - with the power that comes from the death of an important character.

I've really enjoyed Sonya Walger's work as Penny in Lost, Carolyn in Tell Me You Love Me, and Michelle Dixon in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. But Tell Me You Love Me is no more, and now we'll have to wait for Penny to turn up again in Lost. Michelle got killed by the Terminator Cromartie last night, in a taut kidnap plot that came perilously close to getting John, and had some of the best action so far in the series. Indeed, only the Terminator incapacity to swim saved John. Not that Cromartie drowned - he just eventually walked up to shore out of the water. But when he and John were in the water, and John pulled broke away, John was able to swim to safety.

Long range, however, I thought the most interesting part of 2.3 was the conversation between Agent Ellison and Catherine Weaver in her office. Catherine apparently is a shimmering T-1001 - so, what does she really want from Ellison? This plays into the question of why Cromartie spared him.

The obvious answer that Ellison can lead the Terminators to John doesn't seem sufficient - they don't seem to have too much trouble finding John on their own. Ellison may play some role in the creation of Skynet - but, that would be nothing so earthshaking, either.

I'm thinking Ellison must play some role that we haven't figured out as yet. Or, perhaps Ellison is himself a Terminator - one which, like the unrevealed Cylons in Battlestar Galactica, doesn't know his true identity just yet....

There probably are lots of reasons we've seen in the last season which don't support this hypothesis. But I figured I'd just put it out there...



See also 2.1 Cameron's Back ... 2.2 Firing on All Cylinders ... 2.4: Meet Allison ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter, Questions

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Heroes 3 Begins: Best Yet, Riddled with Time Travel and Paradox

Time travel and its marvelous paradoxical complications has always been my favorite part of Heroes - my favorite part of any science fiction, actually - which is why I found the two-hour opener of Heroes, Season Three, the best in the series so far. In addition to other goodies, Episodes 1 and 2 were riddled with time travel, drenched the bone with paradox.

In two somewhat separate though no doubt ultimately intersecting stories, actually -

1. Hiro learned his lesson about the damage that traveling to the past can bring. So he travels to the future - only to see himself killed by - Ando. He travels back to the present, and finds that travel to the future is no bed of roses, either, and carries its own paradoxical wallop. We the audience also see how Hiro, in reacting in the present to what he saw in the future - Ando killing him - is actually unbeknowingly starting to turn Ando against him. (But there's a nice new speedster hero in this story - she's blond, travels at the speed of sound, and may be Hiro's nemesis.)

Meanwhile -

2. Peter has not yet learned how dangerous changing something in the past may be - but he learns tonight. Turns out he shot Nathan, in an effort to stop the awful future we saw in Season 2 from happening, since it was due to what Nathan was about to tell the world from the podium. Nathan is not killed. But Claire, seeing Nathan shot on television, calls Peter - who tells her to stay home. Not a good idea - her being home lets Sylar get to her. And in a nice unnerving twist, he takes her recuperative power but cannot kill her, because (according to Nathan) she cannot die. Does his mean she will would survive a bomb that blew her to bits? Always the question with Claire.

But Claire's the least of what Peter's intervention unleashes in the past. Probably the worst are the bad dudes set free from Level 5 - the truest villains in Heroes. But it was good to Jamie Hector - the cool killer Marlo from The Wire - amongst them, playing Benjamin "Knox" Washington.

There's also some fun stuff that (so far) apparently has nothing to do with time travel. Nikki is somehow back - but she claims to be someone else, and her claim seems sincere, even though there's no mistaking Ali Larter. Parkman is somehow in a desert - in Africa - but how knows when. Mohinder may have finally made himself a physical as well metaphorical hero. And Peter's younger self - the one who was already in the present in which Nathan was shot - has somehow been embedded by his older self in someone who looks like former NYC Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik (sorry to say he's a real person in our world - appointed by Giuliani - not a character in Heroes, I'm not kidding).

Which does bring us back to time travel. One of its exquisite problems is making sure, if you travel back to the past, that you stay the hell away from your younger self, lest you trigger a cascade of infinite regress paradoxes that will make you totally crazy.

That's why I enjoy time travel so much, why I named this blog Infinite Regress, and why I'm really looking forward to more of Heroes this season.

I want to understand, for example, if Hiro tries to change the present so the future he saw does not come into being, how he could have seen that future tonight in the first place?

Time travel never grows old.



See also Heroes 3.2: Sylar's Redemption and Further Heroes and Villains Mergers

Reviews of Season 2 Heroes: Episode 2 ... 3
... 4 ... 7. Heroes Meets 12 Monkeys ... 9. How Immutable Are Fate and Isaac's Futures? ... 10. Penultimate for the Fall ... Heroes 2 Finale: Heroes Who Didn't Survive

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Sneak Peek Review of Californication Anew

Showtime's Californication resumes next Sunday with Season 2. I saw the first four episodes - hey, it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. Here's a no-spoiler preview review with some of the highlights....

The show's a little darker and sparkier this year. Although Hank's with Karen, he's getting into hot waters of various kinds almost from the beginning. Becca's growing up, and hasn't lost a bit of her edge and style. And-

Let me mention, before I forget, that there's definitely some full front nudity. Same delights as first season.

Back to the new stories. I think the best new part of the plot is Lew Ashby - well played by Callum Keith Rennie. He's a rock star, maybe over the hill, and is in effect the musical equivalent of Hank. They don't precisely parallel, but have enough in common that Lew could be Hank if he had chosen guitar over computer keyboard.

Runkle's in worse, and thus darkly funnier, shape than ever. Paula Marshall's back as Sonja - remember Hank and the painting from last season? - and she's going to play a much more important role this year.

As with last season, Hank can't seem to get a break. But his surprising mixture of licentiousness and responsibility - at least, to his family and friends, if not to himself - makes Californication, even if it wasn't easy on the eyes, a show to look forward to....

See also: Californication Season 2 Come to an End Laughing

Reviews of Californication Season One episodes: 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5
... 6 ... 7 ... 8 ... 9 ... 10 ... 11: Pivitol Mia ... Californication Comes ... To a Season's End

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Mad Men Wins Emmy for Best Series! And a Great Night for Democracy on the Emmy Show!

AMC's Mad Men won the Emmy for Best Dramatic Television Series tonight - a first for a basic cable television show, and more proof that the New Golden Age of Television is flying high. Matthew Weiner also won for best writer for Mad Men, and it was great to see the show's cast up there on stage as the end of the telecast. As fine as they are on the show and its early 60s ambiance, they really shine in their 2008 clothes and faces.

FX's Damages, another superb basic cable drama show, also came through with Glenn Close as best actress and Zeljko Ivanek as best supporting actor (his performance was unforgettable - one of the best in the history of television). I missed Showtime's Dexter not getting any awards. From what I've seen of the new third season, to debut next week, its time will come.

Tonight's Emmy show was also a great evening for democracy and freedom of expression. Tom Smothers received a special award, and spoke eloquently of freedom of speech. HBO's Recount, about the 2000 theft of an election, won two Emmys. And even though John Adams the real President was no friend at all of the First Amendment, it felt good to see HBO's mini-series about him win five well deserved awards - not to mention that it let Laura Linney, who won a best actress Emmy for her portrayal of Abigail Adams, get in a good supportive line about "community organizers". (Stephen Colbert also had an excellent riff in his routine with John Stewart about liking McCain-esque shriveled prunes.)

And speaking of the freedom to be downright hilarious, I've never seen Don Rickles more funny than up on the stage, introducing and later receiving an Emmy, tonight.

Yes, I think we live an age in which television exceeds motion pictures and novels in providing the best dramatic entertainment. I said a few years ago that, far from being an idiot box, only idiots don't watch television. That's more true today than ever.




My 20-minute interview last Fall with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through

and The Flouting of the First Amendment

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Getting Ready for Friday's Debate - Some Blasts from the Past

The AP has put together this video of some classic Presidential debate highlights ... JFK in 1960 looks a little more pasty than I recall, but still way stronger and confident in his position than shifty-eyed Nixon ... Reagan in 1980 is prime ... Lloyd Bentsen scores the knock-out punch of the century in his reply to Dan Quayle in the 1988 VP debates ("you're no Jack Kennedy"), but Quayle was still elected VP on Bush the father's ticket.

I have no idea why the AP put in Bush the son's unremarkable segment from his 2004 debate with John Kerry, or why they piped in the dinky music under these clips. But they're still a nice compilation of debate history.

Will Obama land any blows like Bentsen's ... will he look as good as JFK against Nixon ... I'm looking forward to Friday.

The "Petulant, Irritable Grouch"

"He's a petulant, irritable grouch" ... Quick - Who could that be? I bet you don't need three guesses.

It was said about John McCain, in particular the tone of his response to the Wall Street crisis, by Steve McMahon on MSNBC's excellent Race to the White House with David Gregory yesterday.

McMahon may be a Democratic strategist, but his characterization has an unmistakable ring of truth. In addition to being funny, it gets at a serious difference in temperament between the two Presidential candidates. Obama has been cool, unruffled in the face of this crisis, sounding much like FDR in saying one of the most important things is not to panic, not succumb to financial fear. In contrast, McCain has been petty and carping, preferring to take shots against Obama.

Obama indeed raised the question of John McCain's temperament in his address at the Democratic convention. It's something that is not talked about often enough. But it gets precisely at what we most want in the person with a hand on who knows how many triggers in the White House. That would not be a "petulant, irritable grouch," even if that candidate did not have a record of poor judgment in just about every economic and foreign policy issue facing our country.

Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

The third season of Dexter will premier on Showtime September 28. I thought the first two seasons made it one of the best series ever on television - a unique combination of cop show, murder, self-reflection and unremitting moral dilemmas. I just saw the first four episodes of the new, third season, and so far it's shaping up to be the best season so far.

I promise there will be no spoilers in this review.

First, Jimmy Smits is on the show as an Assistant DA with a complex psyche and family including brothers. He plays great against Michael C. Hall's Dexter Morgan, who in this season also begins thinking more of family - not his father's and his, which is never far from his mind, but his own.

As in the first two seasons, Dexter is challenged about what to do with sleazes who don't deserve to live, for one reason or another, and tempt Dexter's killing instinct. Also as in the first two seasons, Dexter kills people outside of his code, and/or from whom he derives no pleasure killing, and which lead him into deeper dangers.

Doakes is gone, but there is a new guy in the precinct, Quinn, who has a way (well played by Desmond Harrington - hey, he grew up in the Bronx and went to Fordham Prep), and will no doubt have some kind of relationship with Dex's sister Debra (not really a spoiler - you'll get that the first time you see them in the precinct), who still curses with the best of them. LaGuerta and Batista are also enjoyably on hand, and Masuka is funnier than ever.

Plenty of sex, actually not that much gore, and above all the same great Dexter voice-over commentaries on his life and evolution as a serial killer with a badge and a conscience and an exquisite existential self-awareness (sorry, I couldn't resist that last one - but it is true).

My only regret is that I'll have to wait a good month before I see episode 5 - but I'll be back here with reviews of each episode, starting September 28.

See also: Dexter 3.5: The True Nature of Miguel




And here's a treat for Infinite Regress readers - click here to see the first episode of Dexter Season 3, on Showtime's special VIP insider site. You'll need a password. It's Lady Killers -enjoy!

And from the second season: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and Dexter 2 Superb Finale

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.2: Firing on All Cylinders

Excellent second episode of second season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight - with action in all areas of thought, emotion, and, of course, action...

Among the highlights -

1. I really like Cameron this year - more multi-dimensional. Although she's recovered from the exploding car, and gotten back her override, there's more to her than the lingering suspicion that she could go bad at any instant. Her brush with death has made her more human.

2. John is starting to hook up with a girl at school. Don't tell me she's a Terminator, I won't believe it, and I'll be disappointed. It would be far more interesting to see them have some kind of relationship, with Cameron jealous, Sarah concerned, etc.

3. Sonya Walger's back as Charley Dixon's wife. Now, if they could bring on Charlie Pace and Desmond ... But, even so, it's always good to see Sonya/Penny.

4. Speaking of shoutouts, good to see Paul Schulze on the show tonight - aka Agent Richard Garrity on Journeyman, Ryan Chappelle on 24 and Father Phil on The Sopranos. Alas, Schulze's character on Sarah Connor had the same fate as Garrity on Journeyman and Chappelle on 24....

5. Back to Charley - good scene with him and Agent Ellison...

6. And Sarah gets exposed to radiation - which may or may not be what ultimately kills her. Nice can't avoid your fate touch there.

This season is off to a better than last year's, and is already firing on all cylinders.

See also 2.1: Cameron's Back ... 2.3 Who, Truly, Is Agent Ellison? ... 2.4: Meet Allison ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter, Questions



See also 2.1 Cameron's Back

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Finale Beginning: Weeds 4.13

I'm rarely surprised by any twists on television - I even predicted the flip to flash forwards at the end of Lost Season 3 - but tonight's ending of the 4th season of Weeds brilliantly caught me off-guard. I definitely and delightedly did not see it coming...

Nancy is about in as desperate position as she's ever been in. Esteban's people kill Till's partner, after he identifies Nancy as the informant. Till, heartbroken and livid, tells Nancy he will hunt down and kill all of his partner's killers and their loved ones and gang - including Nancy, if she makes Till take the "long way" to find them, i.e., does not tell Till who is behind this, if Nancy knows.

Meanwhile, Esteban's henchman shows him a photo of Nancy and Till. Esteban wants to send a car to pick up Nancy. She offers to drive. She tells Esteban she loves him.

Why on Earth is Nancy driving to her certain death?

There's lots of other good stuff that happens with Nancy's family and friends ... but all pales in comparison to what happens with Nancy, so I'll stay with that.

She's now in Mexico with Esteban, who still loves her, but is sad, because he knows he has no choice but to kill her. Nancy tries to deny that was she was Till's informant. Esteban puts the photo of Till and Nancy on the table.

Nancy reaches into her bag ... and produces a photo of her own.

She pulls the ultimate card in a game she otherwise was sure to lose.

It's a sonogram ... she's pregnant, with Esteban's baby. And, just for good measure, she tells him it feels like a boy (he has two girls).

Had she been planning this is as insurance for a while? Did she know she was pregnant, and that's why she knew could get away with informing Till?

We'll find out next season, but ultimately it's all secondary to the one transcendent truth about Nancy: she always survives, because she's brilliant, and knows how to bring every part of her life into play.

Look for reviews of the next season of Weeds here on Infinite Regress...

See also: Showtime's Sassy Hour of Sin ... Weeds 4.3: Nancy by the Endless Sea ... Sitting Shiva on Weeds and Laughing: 4.4 ... Nancy Gets Spanked and Likes It: 4.8 ... Nancy Has Limits: 4.9 ... Shane and Two Girls: 4.10 ... Nancy Turns a Corner: 4.11 ... The Bitter Fruit of Telling Till: 4.12


8-min podcast review of Weeds

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Biden's Experience Best to Help with Lehman Bros Collapse

The collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank, due to $60 billion in bad real estate holdings, is very bad news for the country and the world. Stock markets are already faltering, and the ripple effects on the American economy in terms of unemployment and inflation will no doubt get worse. (CNN just reported - at 4pm - that Dow Jones plunged nearly 500 points today - "its worst point drop in more than seven years".)

Which of the Vice Presidential candidates can better advise a President on what to do about this?

Sarah Palin has zero experience in national economics.

Joe Biden is Senator from Delaware, a state at the very heart of the credit-card economy. Biden has on occasions been criticized for being too close to the credit-card companies, but his in-depth knowledge of how these finances work, and effect Americans, will be priceless in the weeks ahead, and when Obama and he take office.

No one would wish for the bankruptcy of any business. But the collapse of Lehman Brothers may be just the economic wake up call American voters needed.

Mad Men 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved?

About as wrenching and Sopranos-like Mad Men - Episode 2.8 - as has been on so far, as Don and Betty start going the way of Tony and Carmella in the middle of their series, the priest gives more than a sermon, and Joan gets used - professionally - by Harry.

Betty could not have just absorbed what Jimmy told her last week about Don and Bobbi and done nothing. Tonight it came to a head, in a great performance by January Jones, as Betty goes through controlled fury, confronting Don, perhaps trying to live with his lie and his denial, but seeing Jimmy on her television in his Utz ad and deciding to throw Don out.

Yeah, Don is getting what he deserved. But it's hard not to feel a little sorry for him, just as with Tony Soprano.

Meanwhile, Father Gill - well played Tom's son Colin Hanks (who looks like Pete Campbell, doesn't he?) - is coaxing Peggy to tell him her secret. Is he attracted to her, and she to him? I'd say so. And in the last scene, he pulls out a guitar and plays a rocking gospel song all to himself and us.

Back at the firm, Harry is being expected to do more than he bargained for as head of the new TV division. Roger refuses to let Harry hire some extra help to read scripts, so Harry gets Joan. She does a great job, the client is thrilled with her and her analysis and ... Roger rewards Harry with a new guy from the outside to give him the help he needed.

This, of course, is no reward to Joan, just another confirmation of the rampant male chauvinism that she both parlays to her benefit but cannot help being stung by, just like any woman, whatever her savvy, in 1962.

Grim, unrepenting, unrelenting, all around. Well, here's one thing - at least no one on Mad Men is likely to get shot - I hope.

Looking forward to next week.





See also: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons ... 2.9: Don and Roger ... 2.10: Between Ray Bradbury and Telstar ... 2.11: Welcome to the Hotel California ... 2.12: The Day the Earth Stood Still on Mad Men

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And listen to my fabulous 20-minute interview last Fall with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through



The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Palin Fired the Librarian

Public lending libraries are one of the bedrocks of American freedom. Benjamin Franklin founded the first one in this country. They invite everyone to read what they want, to explore and sample views that may be new to them, at no charge. We may not like some books in any library, but that's actually part of the point. Maybe we'll understand a political opponent a little better, find something of interest in a boring subject, when a book we weren't looking forward crops up on a shelf.

Rumors are all over the Internet about Sarah Palin banning books in the Wasilla library. The rumors are not true.

But what Palin did as Mayor is in some ways much worse than banning a book. She fired the librarian, after several conversations with the librarian about tastes in books.

The New York Times tells the story:

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.

Anne Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.

A town librarian fired by the Mayor because the Mayor found some books "morally or socially objectionable".

I want to ask any Republican readers I have, or anyone at all thinking of voting for McCain/Palin - are you not at least a little bothered by this? That someone who will be just one step away from the Presidency has such a benighted view of democracy, of the role of books in our lives and culture, that she would stoop to firing a librarian over the moral content of books? Honestly, can you live with that?

It seems to me that this goes way beyond lack of experience, or differences on foreign or domestic policy. It goes to the heart of our American experiment in democracy, literacy, and freedom. It's no coincidence at all that the first public library in America was founded by one of our greatest Founding Fathers.

I know the Obama campaign is thinking let's stop talking about Palin, and focus on McCain. But this firing of a librarian by Sarah Palin was aimed at one of the very foundations of America, and should not be forgotten.

Who Cares What Reporters Don't Know about the Bush Doctrine - What Counts is What Palin Doesn't Know

Reporters and commentators - for example, David Gergen on CNN last night - are falling all over themselves in an attempt to be fair about Sarah Palin's blank response to Charlie Gibson's question about the Bush Doctrine. Not just Sarah Palin has no knowledge of the Bush doctrine - so too do many reporters not know what it is.

And what relevance does the lack of knowledge of reporters or any Americans who are not candidates for Vice President have to Sarah Palin's ignorance on this important foreign policy issue? A Republican Vice Presidential candidate no less, who, if elected, will be serving under a Republican President even more gung-ho than Bush. Her ignorance of this doctrine - the view that the U.S. is entitled to take preemptive actions and start wars in response to perceived threats, just as we did in Iraq - seems pretty crucial at this juncture of our history.

Socrates and Plato criticized democracy on this very point: that an ignorant opinion in the mouth of a popular person can have more weight than an accurate view presented by an unpopular person.

Sarah Palin is popular among many Americans these days, no doubt. But does the fact that x number of Washington reporters do not know what the Bush doctrine is mean that we want this absence of knowledge in someone just a heartbeat away from a 72-year old President?

Wake up, David Gergen and political commentators - what's at stake here has nothing to do with your lack of knowledge.

Fringe Begins

J. J. Abrams is back with some of the best of his Alias production team - Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci - with Fringe, the X-Files-like science fiction drama on Fox.

Actually, lead character FBI Agent Olivia Dunham (well played by Anna Torv) does look a little reminiscent of Sydney Bristow, and dropped in on Baghdad in a scene that would have fit right in Alias. And there was Lost all over tonight, from the plane in distress in the teaser, to the brooding, complex music at the end of crucial scenes.

But Fringe does have a charm all its own, from cool floating titles to John Noble, the actor with facial expressions you can't forget. He's sometimes known as John Nogle, played Markov in 24, and in Fringe he's a perfect somewhat cracked beyond-brilliant scientist Dr. Walter Bishop, who has been locked away for years. He, his son Peter (played by Joshua Jackson - Peter reminds me of Jack Shephard), and Olivia are the team, and, hey Lance Reddick (of The Wire as well as Lost) is their superior.

And what are they investigating? Something to do with a multinational megalithic corporation, run by a former classmate of Dr. Bishop, apparently into plying some of the same things in his bizarre area of expertise. Tonight the menu included getting valuable memories from comatose and even dead brains - a old science fiction gem which I explored a little in my 2003 novel, The Pixel Eye - and strange skin-dissolving toxins.

More's promised in the future, and I'm looking forward.



See also Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... Fringe 4: The Eternal Bald Observer

Further reading:

The Night that Alias Reinvented Itself

Lost: Keys to What's Really Going On

The First Bitter Fruit of Telling Till: Weeds 4.12

What could Nancy have been thinking? She wanted a break from her increasingly illegal out-of-control life, but ... I can't see anything good of her telling Till about the tunnel. And bad things are already on the verge of happening in this next-to-last episode of the 4th season of Weeds.

Guillermo's in custody. He was already far from being Nancy's protector, and maybe she's safer with him behind bars, but he might have somehow come through for her in the end. Esteban's suspicious - if not yet of Nancy, close enough, with his mention of Celia. And Esteban's man already has Till's partner in custody ... he's been tortured ... and gives up Nancy's name.

Nancy has always lived by instinct. So far, she's managed to get away with it. But maybe not this time. Could Weeds continue with her gone? In prison, yes. Gone as in dead - not really. But something's going to happen next week - and if somehow Nancy escapes it, it's a pretty good bet that Celia or someone even closer to Nancy won't...



See also: Showtime's Sassy Hour of Sin ... Weeds 4.3: Nancy by the Endless Sea ... Sitting Shiva on Weeds and Laughing: 4.4 ... Nancy Gets Spanked and Likes It: 4.8 ... Nancy Has Limits: 4.9 ... Shane and Two Girls: 4.10 ... Nancy Turns a Corner: 4.11

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.1: Cameron's Back

We knew, of course, that beautiful Cameron could not have been dead at the end of last season. In the Season Two opener, tonight, we find that she's survived - but not exactly intact.

She's limping, but, worse than that, the good part of her program, the Terminator override in her chips, has been stunned into silence by the exploding car. Which means, Cameron is just another Terminator now, bent on killing John Connor.

Which she almost does, in a gut punching first scene. When John and Sarah finally get the drop on her, after all kinds of other bruising sequences, Cameron pleads with John not to kill her - saying she knows John loves her and she loves John, and she's back to normal.

Was she lying? Well, not about being back to her good self. We see this when she doesn't kill John, and we see that her interior override of the bad Terminator program is back in play.

And the love? Well, whatever Derek Reese may say, I'm thinking Cameron may really be now feeling some love for John, as another result of her recent explosive experiences...

Meanwhile, it's good to see Lena Headey, Summer Glau and Thomas Dekker back in action. And Richard T. Jones as Agent Ellison, too.... I think there's a lot more to why Cromartie left him alive.

See also 2.2 Firing on All Cylinders ... 2.3 Who, Truly, Is Agent Ellison? ... 2.4: Meet Allison ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter, Questions ... 2.7: The Saving Robbery and Cromartie ... 2.8 Perspectives and Death ... 2.9: An Idiot's Guide to Time Travel in The Sarah Connor Chronicles ... 2.10: Riley Lashes Out at Facebook ... 2.11: Cameron Meets A. E. Housman and Andre Bazin ... 2.12 Sarah Connor Chronicles in Triple Time ... 2.13: Space, Time, and Blogging in The Sarah Connor Chronicles

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The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...





Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!




Reviews of Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season One: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 1 and 2 ... 3 ... 4. A Robot Primer ... 5 ... 6 ... 7 ... 8-9: Terminate with Puzzles, Surprise, and Soul

Olbermann and Matthews No Longer Anchoring Special MSNBC Election Coverage: Pros and Cons

It's being reported all over that Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews will no longer be anchoring special election coverage on MSNBC. In terms of what's ahead in this political season, this means we won't see them anchoring election night or debate coverage. They will both continue in their Countdown and Hardball shows.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I've criticized Olbermann's tirades on everything from 24 to Hillary Clinton and Bill O'Reilly. Matthews is not as extreme, but he had problems talking about Hillary Clinton, too - and I noticed that as an Obama supporter. In the Democratic and Republican convention coverage, Olbermann dissed Joe Scarborough on the air, and Matthews and Pat Buchanan went at it tooth and nail.

The last two incidents get at why I feel more than one way about MSNBC's change of anchors. I agree politically with everything Olbermann said to Scarborough, and everything Matthews said to Buchanan. Further, a leftist tilt at MSNBC balances the rightest tilt at Fox News, which is certainly not "balanced" on its own.

In the end, I guess MSNBC did the right thing, though. There is a distinction between an anchor and a commentator, one which Fox News respects by not putting its commentators - such O'Reilly, Hannity, and Colmes - in the anchor chair. Our politics is indeed better served when we can get some semblance of objectivity in our anchors and let the commentators have at it.

But if this signals a retreat by MSNBC from the Democratic leanings of its commentators, I'll be sure to complain loudly about that, too.