Elsewhere around the dial...

... and how badly am I dating myself by referring to a "dial"? I'm at the tail end of the last generation to remember life without cable, VCRs, CDs and most of the other entertainment technology we take for granted, and it makes me feel very, very old sometimes. Anyway...

First of all, "Thief." Matt did the review yesterday, and I pretty much agree with him. I like the fact that the show's willing to be emotionally cool where all the other FX dramas are hot, but that understated quality also kept me from getting as into it as I was at this stage with "The Shield" and "Rescue Me." Great freakin' cast, though, and I like the dynamics between Braugher and Egg from "Arrested Development" ("Her?"), plus the Parkinson's-afflicted assassin, so I'll be around for a while.

Speaking of Matt, he did a "Veronica Mars" column today that's mainly about the Logan-Veronica relationship but also touches on a lot of the problems with this season:

One aspect of the (Felix) subplot gets resolved at the start of tonight's episode, but that still leaves 623 other plot threads to tie up before the end of this season. Even if you admire series creator Rob Thomas' ambition, you've got to wonder if he's spinning too many plates. The show is still exciting and funny -- it makes me laugh out loud more often than most shows that bill themselves as comedies -- but it feels cluttered, and as a result, its emotional energy is dispersed.

I'm saving "Scrubs" to watch with Marian tonight, but we saw "House" last night and I watched "Amazing Race" this morning. "House" had fun with the inevitable "Odd Couple" jokes, though I would have admired it more if they'd just copped to it by having House make a Felix Unger joke (or, as someone commented on my last "House" blog entry 8,000 years ago, just have him recite the opening narration). The promos spoiled the big surprise in the poisoning case, so the only interesting things on the professional front were House playing world's worst marriage counselor and Cameron all but stripping and sitting in House's lap as she paid off the bet.

I'm not feeling the "Race" this time, even though they're back to the traditional format. Too many obnoxious teams and too many detours that follow the simple muscle-or-luck paradigm. Interesting that Lake didn't use the Yield the way you should (you Yield the last-place team to give yourself a cushion), yet it worked out anyway because the Pinks were so slow and Ray was so fast at assembling the statue. Who the hell is there to root for this time?