Late morning links

Posting schedule may be erratic for a while, as I cram for the start of the fall season with more revised pilots and second episodes. ("Studio 60" would-be fans might want to check my comments in the Best of the Best post for a brief thought or two on the second episode.)

I wasn't particularly fond of "Men in Trees" (and I refuse to write the title in all-caps like ABC is insisting on) and got to work a few of my "Rock Star" musings from here into the All TV column.

"Prison Break" spoilers comin' right up...

R.I.P., John Abruzzi. I had already made peace with your death after T-Bag slit your throat, but I'll miss your wacky intensity and the potential for future unintentional "Big Lebowski" homages. (If Abruzzi had ever threatened someone with a marmot, or if he had pretended to fix somebody's cable, I would have automatically granted the series Watch Until Canceled status, dammit.)

I'm getting pretty tired of the constant head-fakes: the feds going to the wrong location in the premiere, the "who's dead" mystery last week, the misdirection about Mahone going for Tweener when he was really on Abruzzi's trail, etc. It's a good device to use occasionally, but it gets old fast when you trot it out in every. single. episode. I could have also done without the cheesey '70s-style car chase between Bellick and Linc, a reminder of what TV action used to look like pre-"24" and "Alias." On the plus side, Dell got perhaps the greatest product placement of all time with the suggestion that Michael's hard drive would be recoverable after sitting at the bottom of a river for more than a month. My three nightmarish years with a Dell machine led me to believe that they would fry if you sneezed anywhere near it.

Also, I had the same reaction to T-Bag's scenes with the gullible dad and daughter that I did to his dispatching of the veteranarian: I totally believe that this is how T-Bag would behave and appreciate that the writers aren't trying to soften him up, but at the same time I feel like the show is enjoying him killing innocent civilians way too much, y'know?

What did everybody else think?