A (be)labored point

Why does it always feel like, at the end of a three-day weekend, you need an extra day off just to recover? (Or, in my case, to clean.) But back to the salt mines we shall go, and that includes reviewing.

After dealing with "Standoff" and MyNetwork TV in yesterday's column, today offers a preview of the new seasons of "House" (which will, of course, be back in the review rotation) and "Nip/Tuck" (which may pop up on occasion, but isn't a show I care about enough to consistently watch). In trying to get the column done in time for the holiday deadlines, I may have gone off too far on a tangent about trying to balance fans' desires with what's best for a show, but the key points are this: After last year's Carver detour, "Nip/Tuck" is back to being "Nip/Tuck" again, while "House" is doing something very interesting with the aftermath of the shooting in the finale.

A solid "Prison Break," up until the cop-out ending. Maybe if the producers hadn't done several interviews where they proudly announced their intention to kill a lot of characters this year, I would have assumed it was a feint much sooner and accepted it as the conventions of network series TV. But put your money where your mouth is, guys.

A few other points:

• Really, what's the value of the tattoos, except as a neat visual device? At least half of them contain information that super-genius Michael already seems to know or doesn't need to remember exactly (the names of the streets surrounding the prison, the station the car radio would reach to trigger the explosives). All they're doing is giving Mahone an easier means of following them.
  
• Another super-genius quibble: the man with backup plans within his backup plans keeps all their useful documentation in one backpack? He'd better have another set buried someplace en route to Mexico.
  
• So how does Sucre get from a Midwest cornfield to a Bed-Stuy apartment in, like, a day? If nothing else, how does he get into and around New York without any money? I'm sure he stole stuff at some point, but one of the elements I've been enjoying about the fugitive storylines are the details of everything they have to do to stay free and unnoticed. I'm not saying I want to see how C-Note is scrounging for each meal or anything, but the cornfield-->Brooklyn journey could have been fun if shown in more detail.
• Speaking of C-Note, man's got no one but himself to blame for his wife betraying him. If he had just told her the truth about his discharge, she'd be more willing to trust him now (not to mention, he probably wouldn't have been forced to participate in the robbery that put him away). Pride goeth before a jail stint.

And this morning's "The Wire" post over at The House: Dan Jardine on Bubbles.