The root of all evil

Quick round-up time, with spoilers for, in order, "My Boys," "Big Love" and "The Kill Point" -- plus a venue for people to talk about the "Weeds" and "Californication" premieres if they want -- coming up just as soon as I go help my roommate with a problem...

After last week's debacle (which inspired a long morning-after rant from one of my female sportswriter friends), "My Boys" was back in good form this week with stories of a rich man (Bobby) and a poor woman (Stephanie). A bunch of funny moments, some from characters you expect to be funny (Andy's "When did you become Burt Reynolds?" or Mike and Kenny tag-teaming the marble urinal), some from characters you don't (PJ and Stephanie speed-reading the parking signs). And was I the only one who took Bobby's look at Kenny at the end as confirmation that the Chelsea Clinton story was real?

Keeping with my pledge to check in with "Big Love" from time to time before the end of season two, I find myself having the usual reactions: the Henrickson marital dynamic is interesting (albeit played a little broadly here with Margene's weepy reaction to the "secretary" business), while I start to mentally check out whenever we spend time with all of the two-dimensional Juniper Creek characters like Alby, Rhonda or Bill's parents. (Joey and Wanda aren't my favorites, either, but at least the writers allow them -- and, I suppose, Nicki's mom -- shadings that the rest of the Juniper Creek people never get.) I understand that the contrast between the Henricksons' assimilated life and life back on the compound is an integral part of the show, but it feels like they play the same notes over and over. I'm not sad to see Roman go (if indeed he's going), but the petty Alby's not much of an improvement. More interaction between the wives (like Margene negotiating "control" of Weber Gaming with Barb) and less of Alby and Rhonda ruining other people's lives just because they can, please.

The first half of this week's "Kill Point" was overflowing with monologues that I'm sure seemed impressive on the page (Omar the sniper's thing about the unfired bullet, Mr. Sabian talking about his relationship with his son) but just seemed pretentious dropped into the middle of what's largely been an unapologetic B-movie thriller. Things perked up in the second half, thankfully, with the hostages nearly pulling off the coup; that was real edge-of-the-seat time (as the phone kept ringing, I was on the verge of shouting at the screen for the idiot bank manager to answer it and tell the cops to breach ASAP). We're in the home stretch now and it's going well.

Based on the comments yesterday, I'm expecting even more dissent on my dislike of "Californication." Feel free to discuss it and the "Weeds" premiere (and only the premiere, as I know the first four episodes leaked onto the 'Net) here.