Losing Their Edge?

I had a hard time feeling inspired by Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters just now. I taped them so that I can watch them again this week and see if I feel inspired after a second viewing. Otherwise, I’ll wonder if the shows have lost their edge.

I have watched a lot of TV this weekend, and part of my problem may be TV fatigue. I’ve been going through the first season of Stargate-SG1 with Netflix, while doing reading or homework, of course. So far, the characters crack me up, especially that serious general, but they don’t strike me as having that much depth. Some of the characters are over-the-top. I’m thinking of the villains here. But I do get a comfortable feeling when I watch the show. Plus, I think it’s interesting how it handles religion (people see aliens as gods).

Regarding Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters tonight (or last night, since, technically, it’s now Monday morning), I just had a hard time caring for the characters. They were like cardboard cutouts. I’m not sure if it has to do with my mood, for I watched a couple of Brothers and Sisters from Season 1 last night, and they inspired me. I’ve been watching Season 1 episodes of Desperate Housewives whenever ABC has presented them on Saturday nights, and I’ve relished them. For some reason, I didn’t have that good feeling tonight. Are the shows losing their edge?

But it could be me. I remember when Season 6 of Desperate Housewives was going on, and I felt nothing the first time I watched the episode in which the characters shared their memories about Eedie, who had died. But I enjoyed the episode when I saw it again a year or so later.

On Desperate Housewives tonight, I liked Felicia Tillman saying from her jail cell that she has friends in Wysteria Lane who will deal with Paul Young. As I said in my last post, I was afraid that we’d see a rehash of Seasons 1-2, in which Paul Young and Felicia Tillman were at each other’s throats. Indeed, it does appear that they’ll be in conflict this season, but there will be a different plot-line demonstrating that conflict. Felicia will somehow get her revenge from jail, and we’ll have to wait and see how that will pan out.

Another thought on the episode tonight: I have a hard time getting used to Carlos without a beard! He always looked so manly with his beard.

And what was with Tom’s social faux pas tonight?

Regarding Brothers and Sisters, Justin looked buffer and grayer after his time in Iraq or Afghanistan, and he appeared to have his act together, which is rare for Justin. I liked how he was encouraging the family to talk to each other and get things out in the open, for, after the car accident that closed off last season, they were hiding from their feelings and their problems. Kevin had given up his dream to adopt, and he was pouring himself into pro-bono work, without really listening to his clients. Sarah was making a deal to sell Narrow Lake and to move to France with her French boyfriend (who, alas, is still around, but, I have to admit, he is a source of stability and wisdom in Sarah’s life). Kitty is holding out hope that her comatose husband, Robert (the Rob Lowe character), will come out of his coma. And Nora, who’s ordinarily a concerned, busybody mother, is not getting involved in her kids’ problems. As Justin said, it’s like they all went to their own rooms after the accident.

I admired how Justin was strong enough to take Kitty’s verbal-thrashing. Justin wanted his family to be honest with each other, and he was willing to take the consequences of that. But I had problems with how he was telling Kitty that Robert had no chance to come out of his coma, and was encouraging her to pull the plug. I admired Kitty’s devotion to her husband, and how she was holding out hope for his recovery. For her to ditch that devotion for her own self-fulfillment struck me as, well, kind of shallow—not that I judge those who may choose to pull the plug on a comatose relative and allow him or her to die with dignity.

Those are my scattered reactions for tonight.