Eli Stone

I'm going to post in Dan's place today because he just got his computer back and he's not going to have time to post tonight. Also, because I missed another Thursday.

This post will be ridiculed by Brandon because it will not be pointed social commentary, but rather just rambling opinions of my own that will not require much forethought but likely illicit more comments. I don't care. Moving on....

One of my favorite shows of the 2007-2008 TV season was Eli Stone. It was a midseason replacement that aired on ABC on Thursday nights, hoping to catch a bit of the bump from Lost and then carry on due to its own merits. I'll get to my other picks for favorite new shows later.

I welcome the opinions of any of you who watched this 13-episode season, or maybe just a few of them. I personally loved it. I feel that the writing was a little more snappy earlier in the season than later, and that the first few episodes were a little more fun than the last few, but as a whole, I really want to see it back. I think this is because they were building towards their season climax, and the show slowly lent itself more to the dramatic than the comedic.... and that's fine with me, as long as they don't forget what made the show so much fun in the beginning.

I was introduced to the show, actually, by one of the writers. His name is Marc Guggenheim, and he is actually a very accomplished comic-book writer. He often pops in on some message boards frequented by retailers and publishers to talk about various projects, and he alerted us to this show's pilot when it first aired. I wanted to be supportive, so I watched. I was really impressed with how much they were able to directly talk about spirtuality... not Christianity directly, really not even indirectly, but the more abstract way they talked about spirituality seemed relevant to me regardless.

The show had pretty steady ratings throughout the first 7 or 8 episodes... good, but not great ratings. It started to tail a little bit towards the end, so they moved the second-to-last episode behind Desperate Housewives one week, where it got a substantial bump, and then the season finale, back in its original slot, was back to just passable. So nobody knows whether it's going to make the cut for next year.

If you're like me, however, and you enjoyed the show, there are a few ways to make your voice heard to ABC. You can email your thoughts directly to the network at this link, and there are several online petitions that will surely at least be noticed by the suits at each of the below links:

Petition 1 -- Petition 2 -- Petition 3

As for my other picks from the 07-08 (while abbreviated) TV season, my only 2 keepers from the first half, that are both coming back later this year, were "Chuck" and "Pushing Daisies". Daisies was so Burton-like, combining the light and airy humor with a morbid undertone that it was just spooky. From the fall / midseasons, I really enjoyed the "Sarah Connor Chronicles", the Terminator show that is supposed to take place between the end of T2 and this next movie that they're working on. Apparently T3 is now just completely written out of the Terminator continuity. Non-official word on the street is that the Chronicles have been picked up by Fox for Season 2.

What shows did I miss that you liked?