Thu, October 21, 2004

CBS (those fuckers!) pre-empted the respective premieres of King of Queens and Center of the Universe tonight because they're too scared to go up against Game 7. (Presumably, Game 6 on the East coast.) Ha! ABC and NBC had the balls to air their regularly scheduled programming! You can't push back the Goodman/Asner unfunny-off forever. We're gonna see it someday, and we're going to make you sorry. The longer you delay it, the sadder it gets.

I got in late from plans, so I didn't have time to watch the West Wing premiere, but I did watch the latest episode of Lost. That's "appointment television" in the TiVo age: time-shifting a broadcast the minimal amount. As exasperating as Lost can occasionally be, I can't wait for the next installment, to answer a few questions – and raise dozens more! I'll grant J.J. Abrams that: he wrangles a good cliffhanger. Alias was always the same way. At least the episodes I've seen so far.

Those of you who read the comments (And that better be all of you! Read... Them...) probably recognize this from Brandon about a week ago:

(Comes running up out of nowhere at full speed)

Is someone talking about Evangeline Lilly?

(Bends over, hands on knees, gasps for air, tries to catch his breath from all the running)

Yeah... (inhale) count me in... (exhale) I'm seriously smitten...

(Collapses in exhaustion. Decides he probably should've walked. But, you know, it's Evangeline Lilly. Whaddya gonna do?)

I still chuckle to myself whenever I read it. It captures the reaction so accurately, not to mention hilariously. Now I also picture it in my head whenever I see Ms. Lilly on the TV in Lost. I knew before the show even started that I was going to have a crush on her, but it just keeps intensifying. She captures your attention. (Canadians! Is there anything they can't do?)

Which, I guess, is another thing Abrams excels at. I never obsessed over Keri Russell to quite this degree, but it's undeniable that she has an "it" quality. Same with Jennifer Garner, whom Abrams hired first as a Felicity bit player, then household-named her with Alias. It's interesting how there's something – like an "x factor" but with a less hackneyed name – that goes beyond being physically attractive or having cute chemistry. These ladies are somehow compelling on an almost supernatural level. Anyway, good for us, I guess. (Although, not right now. Right now it's the greatest possible number of hours before more Lost and more Evangeline.)

The other thing I can't get out of my head when I look at Evangeline Lilly is a line from Something to Talk About, a Dennis Quaid/Julia Roberts movie from the mid-90s that you probably don't remember or never even heard of. Because Quaid looks great in rumpled flannel, the family owns a ranch and lots of horses. The young daughter/niece character is an equestrienne, and she's just old enough to outgrow the pony she used to ride in competitions, Possum, and start practicing on a "big girl" horse, Miss Lilly. Before a big competition, she's arguing with her grandfather (Robert Duvall), and loses sight of who she's talking to, flying off the handle:

I don't wanna ride Possum! I wanna ride Miss Lilly! God, I'm so tired of you people!

(You have to imagine "I'm so TAHRD of you people!" because she was doing huffy teenager and southern drawl at the same time.)

Then she immediately gets this shocked and repentant look on her face because she realizes she's just snapped at her grandpa. For some reason, the line struck me as really hilarious. In a laughing-at the movie way, not laughing-with. I was working as a projectionist, and I timed it so I could catch that line in every screening. I never missed it. "I don't wanna ride Possum! I wanna ride Miss Lilly!" is burned into my brain. And whenever I see Evangeline Lilly (whom I think of as Miss Lilly, because Evangeline is too long – can I call her Evy?), I hear that same huffy little southern brat in my mind. "I wan' rahd MissLilleh! I'm so TAHRD a you people!"

***

By the way, on the subject of "appointment television" and time-shifting, I'm really sick of TiVo getting a bad rap about ruining TV for the advertisers and – thereby – the networks. It makes everything better for the consumer (which, by the way, is what the advertisers and networks are when they go home at night, take off their advertiser hats and network ties, and plunk down in front of the set). And it's not so bad for advertisers anyway. It's a crisitunity. Adapt, embrace, and create a happier new arrangement that satisfies customers and advertisers. It can be done. We've done it at least twice before. Don't make me start rambling about the Nash Equilibrium!

Can TiVo keep the sports dollars flowing? [PVRblog]