Number 2900: Comedy, Action and Romance Blend Seamlessly in Season One of Chuck

January has always been a bit of a dreary month, coming as it does after all the excitement and wonder of Christmas, and usually feeling like one long stretch of piercingly cold weather. But in recent years, I’ve come to look forward to January as a time for my family – including my brother, who’s home for the first two weeks of the month before heading back to college – to hunker down and spend our evenings bonding over great stories, especially those stretched out over the course of one or several television seasons. These days, I associate January primarily with TV-on-DVD marathons, so when I was browsing Amazon shortly after Christmas and found a killer deal on the first three seasons of Chuck, I took a leap. After all, I loved the one episode I saw a couple years back, and not just because of Dom Monaghan. Plus, I trust the taste of those I know who have praised the show. I figured I was past due for getting swept away in it myself, and by the end of the first scene I was confident I’d made a sound investment. So I now present my 2900th post…

Chuck, created by Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz, stars Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, a geeky, sweet-natured computer technician who lives with his sister and works at the Buy More, a fictionalized version of Best Buy, as a Nerd Herder (a label that simultaneously spoofs the Geek Squad and tips a hat at The Empire Strikes Back). There’s not a lot of excitement in his life until he opens an email from his former roommate and finds his brain embedded with millions of coded images containing thousands of government secrets. Now, he’s got two secret agents on his tail at all times, and it’s not enough for them to just keep an eye on him so that valuable information is protected. Chuck is in a unique position to help them track down the baddies and rescue their victims, so he soon finds himself caught up in a wild world of espionage, full of danger and deceit. And he still has to keep up with his day job and keep his nearest and dearest from becoming too suspicious.

When it comes to the action, the intrigue, Chuck’s insatiable desire to help people and the need for secrecy wreaking havoc with his personal life, I was reminded a lot of the first season of Smallville, in which Clark Kent is always rushing off to save the day and leaving his friends in the lurch. It’s a painful position to be in, but it’s the price you pay for being a superhero. Chuck’s “superpower” is his ability to draw unconscious connections between people and events. He never can tell what may cause a flash of realization, but the thousand-yard stare is a dead giveaway that something strange is cooking in his mega-processor of a noggin. Beyond that, Chuck has nothing but his own wits and charm, along with two very capable wingmen, to help him escape life-threatening situations week after week. There’s a lot of action, and sometimes it can get pretty tense. At the same time, however, the main tone of the show is humorous, and even much of the violence has a comical edge to it, whether it’s engaging in a deadly duel with mops and plastic forks for weapons or knocking a guy out with a microwave oven.

The show deftly juggles genres while almost invariably keeping a light-hearted tone. Even the most touching or dangerous moments are soon punctuated by some element of humor. Chuck is an incredibly lovable character, a fundamentally decent guy who cares deeply about his sister and best friend and who always wants to do the right thing, even if he knows it will come at a cost to his personal happiness. But he’s also incredibly funny, and a lot of that comes down to Levi’s expressive performance. He’s got a remarkably pliable face, and just a glance at his goofy grin or panicked jaw drop can be enough to set off a case of the giggles. Chuck also has the tendency to stammer and babble when he’s jittery, which is often. Sometimes just his way of wording things cracks me up; I think my favorite line of the season from him is when he asks, after a heart-to-heart with his sister, “How would you feel about a brother-sister hug situation right now?”

At first, I didn’t think I was going to like Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) very much, as our first introduction to her is when she finds Chuck hiding from his own birthday party, to which she has invited all of her doctor friends in hopes that he will find a potential love interest. While it was a nice gesture, it seemed like she was going to be the kind of sister who’s always nagging her brother to be something other than what he is. But that really doesn’t turn out to be the case at all. They move in different social circles, certainly, but Ellie loves Chuck just the way he is, and she’s really a very good sport most of the time. It soon becomes clear that these two would do just about anything to ensure each other’s happiness and well-being.

The dynamic among Chuck’s closest companions reminds me a lot of Freaks and Geeks, the short-lived but exquisite high school dramedy about high school students in the beginning of the 1980s. It’s so easy to imagine 27-year-old Chuck as a grown-up version of Sam Weir. He’s good-natured, kind-hearted and just awkward enough for it to be endearing. Many of Chuck’s passions appeared on that very show or probably would have if it had lasted long enough, since the 1980s was such a hotbed of geeky activity. There are more recent references, such as various video games and, much to my delight, a blink-and-you-miss-it allusion to LOST, but most it dates back a while. We’ve got nods to, among other things, TRON, Dune, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek and Star Wars. Indeed, it was Star Wars that really made me notice how compatible Sam’s world is with Chuck’s. At one point in the season, Chuck’s best friend from childhood, Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez), appeals to him with, “Help me, Chuck Bartowski. You’re my only hope.” In Freaks and Geeks, Sam uses the very same tactic on Neil, who sadly responds, “You had to go and quote the Star Wars…”

Like Neil, Morgan is much shorter than his best friend. He has a tendency to wear out his welcome, and he overestimates his own comic abilities. Instead of making people laugh, he often winds up making them want to throttle him. This is especially true of Ellie, since Morgan’s crush on Ellie is every bit as intense as the one Neil has on Sam’s sister Lindsey, and despite the omnipresence of her buff boyfriend, he’s not afraid to show it. But Morgan and Chuck have been friends so long and are so compatible that they are truly in sync with each other, and for all of Morgan’s shortcomings – he’s easily the most annoying character on the show – this is a guy who will always have Chuck’s back, even at great inconvenience to himself. The friendship is definitely a two-way street.

Ellie and Chuck are both as different from each other and as close as Sam and Lindsey. Meanwhile, though they couldn’t look less alike, in his interactions with Chuck and Morgan, her boyfriend Devon (Ryan McPartlin), otherwise known as Captain Awesome, reminds me a lot of offbeat guidance counselor Mr. Rosso. He’s so easy-going that it seems nothing could ever possibly faze him. He’s a little cheesy and a little overinvolved, but this is a guy you really want to have in your corner when you’re in a jam, even if his solutions are sometimes a bit uncomfortable.

The show’s romantic element comes in mostly with Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), a CIA agent who has been assigned to Chuck’s case. Tough, pretty and kind, she wins Chuck’s heart immediately, and it seems pretty clear that she has taken a shine to him as well. But even though they’re posing as a couple for the sake of their cover, genuine romantic involvement doesn’t seem to be in the cards for them. I find Sarah to be extremely likable and an even better sport than Ellie. But my favorite character on the show next to Chuck is surly NSA agent John Casey (Adam Baldwin). It wasn’t until after I’d watched a few episodes and checked him out on IMDb that I realized Baldwin had played antagonistic redneck outlaw Jayne on Firefly; he reminded me more of Frederic Lehne’s single-minded Marshall Edward Mars on LOST. This is an unsmiling, ruthless assassin who always seems to be in a foul temper, and yet I find his sarcastic, deadpan humor consistently hilarious, and as someone who is often most interested in characters in need of redemption, I love those moments when we get to see his buried sensitivity break through his carefully built-up armor.

While part of Sarah’s cover involves working at the hot dog shop across the street, Casey works with Morgan and Chuck at the Buy More, along with an assortment of oddball employees, including power-hungry Harry Tang (C. S. Lee), who nobody seems to like; skeezy buddies Lester Patel (Vik Sahay) and Jeff Barnes (Scott Krinsky); and wild child Anna Wu (Julia Ling). By far my favorite member of the Buy More supporting cast, however, is the boss, Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), who is grumpy and sardonic but ultimately a softie. He likes to hear himself yell, but his outbursts are more funny than threatening, and he has an amusing obsession with fish and Danish.

Because this is a spy show, there is a certain amount of violence involved, and while there’s never anything too graphic that remains on the screen for more than a brief moment, there are multiple injuries and a few deaths as well. However, nearly all of the deaths occur at the hands of the villains, usually not in the presence of the main characters. There are scenes in every episode to get the adrenaline pumping, but they are generally handled with a careful balance of action and humor so that even the tensest situation doesn’t seem too dire. I also appreciated that while there is innuendo on the show, it’s pretty understated for a spy comedy, and there’s little overt sexuality on display. There’s not much profanity to speak of, either, and for the most part, the show feels pretty wholesome, especially because of the way it lauds close bonds of friendship and family.

Nathan’s back at college now. Meanwhile, my parents and I still have two seasons to go and a dilemma as we consider whether we want to wait for him to finish playing catch-up. I suspect that any resolve we have on that score won’t last long; this show is just too addictive to leave it hanging for several months, and I’m sure that when he does come back this summer, I won’t mind watching those episodes with him again as he enjoys them for the first time. Neither my dad nor brother had any interest in the show when they saw it advertised, but by the end of the first episode, they were just as hooked as I was. We’ve found a new series to add to our list of favorites, and that’s cause for celebration. Three cheers for Chuck!

Smallville's Shortened Seventh Season Piles on the Fun With Kryptonian Kara

Back in 2006, my brother Nathan, then a senior in high school, got me hooked on Smallville on DVD. In the months leading up to his departure for college, we watched the first three seasons. Over the course of his freshman year we watched two more. But since then it's been slow going in getting caught up, so that we only just now finished season seven and are faced with the fact that we're probably never going to actually catch up with this show, since if past seasons are any indication, season eight will hit DVD about a week before season nine premieres. Well, maybe we'll try to cram it all into one week. Or maybe we'll just resign ourselves to watching Smallville exclusively on DVD. Frankly, I'm pretty surprised at the show's longevity, simply because it's a prequel, and Clark's seemed on the verge of donning those tights for about three seasons now. But I'm not complaining, and if I still have Smallville to look forward to after LOST concludes, so much the better.

Season seven of Smallville is, in some ways, lighter than the sixth, in which Clark must deal with the aftermath of a staggering personal loss and the impending nuptials of the girl of his dreams to his best-friend-turned-arch-nemesis, all while trying to round up a series of bloodthirsty intergalactic convicts who make the meteor freaks look like minor irritations. It isn't that the stakes aren't high in the seventh season, but the sense of peril is less pervasive, and there's even a fair amount of domestic tranquility for Clark, who really seems like an adult for the first time (though Tom Welling looks exactly the same as he did when Clark was supposed to be a freshman in high school). Though he's still a farm boy, he's now running the place, with his mom Martha (Annette O'Toole) out of the picture in Washington, D.C. Moreover, he's spending more and more time in Metropolis, where intrepid reporter Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) and dorky heart-of-gold photographer Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore) work for The Daily Planet, soon to be joined by budding journalist Lois Lane (Erica Durance). Can it be long before Clark joins their ranks? For the second season in a row, an alternate reality sequence has him donning the iconic thick-framed glasses and suit. Now if only phone booths weren't so hard to come by nowadays...

Though political advancement removes Martha from the equation, Lex's (Michael Rosenbaum) father Lionel (John Glover) still has a significant role to play in Clark's life. It's curious to see him playing the protective, paternal role, especially since Martha is no longer there to act as a link between these two powerful men. While Lionel often acts in ways that seem suspect, he claims to be on Clark's side, and despite years of experience with Lionel's villainy, Clark generally seems to believe that this tycoon has turned over a new leaf. Lionel has been one of the show's most compelling characters for me, in large part because of Glover's brilliant performance; his theatrical background and his masterful way of masking his character's motivations remind me very much of LOST's Michael Emerson. And like Ben, the bug-eyed baddie Emerson portrays, Lionel is a character I've been longing to see redeemed in the end. Since I don't see how that can happen with Lex, I've transferred my hopes onto Lionel. It takes a while for him to become a part of the season, but once he does, his participation is crucial.

We've also got Lana (Kristin Kreuk), who just won't go away no matter how many times it seems like she may be off the show for good. Since I never hopped aboard the Clark and Lana ship, and since I know he's going to end up with Lois anyway, I'm not sure I appreciated Clark and Lana's cohabitation in this season as much as I could have. I mean, poor Clark has wanted this for years, and now he finally has a shot at domestic bliss with his one true love, a woman who now knows most of his deep dark secrets. But her tenure as a Luthor girl did nothing to improve the toxic aspects of her personality; despite the sweet exterior, some of her actions this season are downright diabolical, and it isn't long before distrust and deceit starts to settle in at the Kent Farm.

Though he stoops to some very dark deeds this season, at times, Lex still manages to come across as a decent human being, particularly in his associations with the newest member of the principal cast, a blonde beauty named Kara (Laura Vandervoort) who happens to be Clark's biological cousin. Yes, it just so happens that Kal-El was not the only Kryptonian to escape to Earth, but Kara was stuck in suspended animation for a couple decades longer. Her first act upon awakening in this strange new world involves rescuing Lex from a watery death in a precise parallel of what Clark did in the show's very first episode. Lex sees her first as an angel of mercy, later as the key to solving the mystery that has plagued him for so many years. Kara carries herself with an air of innocence and youthful rebellion. Though she remembers the infant Kal-El, Clark is now older than her, and since she's on his home turf, he has to show her the ropes. Unlike Clark, she doesn't feel the desire to keep her powers secret; convincing her to lay low is one of his most trying tasks throughout the season. Meanwhile, he struggles with revelations about an old family feud that cast Kara in a questionable light and suffers the indignity of knowing this newcomer might be a novice in the ways of Earth but is fully equipped to take to the skies. On the whole, I found Kara a refreshing addition, injecting an extra dose of youthful fun into the season and allowing Clark a different sort of significant relationship in his life while opening a window to a deeper understanding of his biological mother.

Because I've always loved Jimmy Olsen and because Ashmore captures the character's sweetness and goofiness perfectly, Smallville has finally sold me on a Chloe romantic relationship with someone other than Clark that I can root for, particularly since Chloe's status as Clark's most cherished and indispensable friend is assured at this point. Chloe and Jimmy share some of the most tender moments of the season, as well as some of the funniest. Granted, their courtship has its ups and downs, particularly since Chloe is afraid to reveal to him that she has been endowed with a miraculous gift with potentially fatal side effects, and Kara's immediate (and rather inexplicable) infatuation with him complicates matters somewhat. But I'd much rather watch these two characters I genuinely love and can sympathize with equally work together through the trials that come their way than cringe over the twisted couplings that surround them. I'm starting to think theirs may turn out to be Smallville's grandest love story. It's fun to throw Lois into the mix too, especially when she and Jimmy end up working together, since their personalities contrast so magnificently. While romantic sparks never fly between them, it's sweet to watch them develop a deeper sense of respect and affection for one another. Meanwhile, Lois's luck in love seems to change this season when the hunky new boss Grant Gabriel (Michael Cassidy) takes a liking to her.

Some old faces resurface this season, including the silky artificial intelligence known as Milton Fine (James Marsters); filthy rich, gadget-heavy vigilante Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), who secures a surprising assistant in his quest to rid the world of injustice; and, much to my excitement, the long-neglected Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), who vanished without a trace back in the third season. Don't get too excited; he's not in it for the long haul. But just getting a brief visit with this terrific character, the Ron Weasley of Smallville, is a true gift to long-time fans of the series. Other significant characters, such as Jonathan Kent and Dr. Virgil Swann, are referenced but not seen, while one sinister character maddeningly assumes Clark's identity, which naturally leads to complications, mostly with his relationship to Lana. Of course, every season includes at least one instance of Clark being "not himself," either because he's under the influence of some nefarious substance or because someone else has assumed his form, but this is one of the more effective uses of that device. On a related note, two otherwise ordinary people in Clark's life suddenly develop unusual abilities, which leads to comical situations but ultimately causes insecurity all around.

Most of the season's best episodes shine a light on past events. Lara and Blue both help Kal-El's mother to emerge from the shadows of memory as a vibrant, loving woman, while Fracture offers a fascinating peek into Lex's labyrinthian mind, giving us a compelling reason to consider him redeemable despite all evidence to the contrary. This little-seen side of Lex emerges again in the chilling Descent. I also enjoyed the It's a Wonderful Life-like Apocalypse, in which Clark has a chance to see what the world would be like if he'd never made it to Earth. Throughout the season, surprising connections among characters come to light, and the trustworthiness of various characters remains unclear. It's a season that keeps us guessing, and having a whole lot of fun along the way. It's a shame that, due to the writers' strike, there are fewer episodes than usual, but even so, season seven is top-notch.

A More Adult Clark Makes New Friends and Enemies in Smallville's Sixth Season

Three years ago, my brother Nathan got me hooked on Smallville, the CW show that re-imagines the adolescence and young adulthood of all-American superhero Clark Kent. Within one year, we'd watched the first five seasons, but we only just finished season six now, which leaves us two seasons behind and despairing of ever catching up before the series concludes. Whether or not we manage it, we'll certainly be sticking it out to the end on DVD.

Every season of Smallville finds Clark and company with different preoccupations. This time around, Clark (Tom Welling) has a doozy of a problem on his hands when he accidentally releases several of the most heinous criminals in the universe from the Phantom Zone where he was trapped by Zod, the evil entity whose possession of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) set up the season five cliff-hanger. Rounding up the rogue Zoners becomes his top priority, though he also has his eye on Lex, who is secretly experimenting on meteor freaks while getting uncomfortably cozy with Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), who, much as he hates to admit it, is still the girl of Clark's dreams.

For the most part, Lex's devotion to Lana seems to be the only thing keeping him from fully succumbing to his devilish destiny, though there are still flickers of decency that come across elsewhere, particularly in a powerful late-season moment with Clark. Their interaction is limited, however, and generally bristling with animosity. It's clear that Lex hasn't far to go to become Clark's nemesis, just one indication that the series must be nearing its end. I get the sense that if Lana had embraced Lex's advances a season or two earlier, it might have been enough to curtail his villainy; by this point, he's just in too deep.

Another indication that the series is moving into its endgame is the relocation of much of the action to Metropolis and the addition of both the Justice League and bumbling photographer Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore). As a long-time fan of Jimmy, I was tickled to see him join the cast of characters, though I had mixed feelings about the manner in which he was introduced as an old flame of Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), since he turned up just when it was beginning to look like Clark might actually return Chloe's long-unrequited affections. Since we know that Clark has to end up with Lois Lane (Erica Durance), though, I guess there's not much point in throwing him and Chloe together now and risking the strength of their friendship. In that light, adorable Jimmy is most welcome as a sincere suitor and a consistent source of comic relief.

The season drops occasional hints at the future Lois and Clark romance, especially in Crimson, the Valentine's Day episode in which Lois applies some aphrodisiac lipstick with disastrous (but largely hilarious) results. But Clark is still mooning over Lana throughout the season, while Lois spends half the season getting acquainted with charming billionaire Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), a prep school rival of Lex who turns out to have as many secrets up his sleeves as Clark does. Their sassy repartee reveals a couple well suited to each other, but like most of the romances on this show, their blossoming love is threatened by the things they conceal from each other.

Even Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) has a romantic prospect on the horizon, though in this first full season since the death of the Kent patriarch, her grief is too fresh for her to consider anything beyond friendship with the ever-enigmatic Lionel Luthor (John Glover). He is a powerful ally for her as she strives to serve honorably in the senatorial seat Jonathan won at such high personal cost. At this stage of the game, Lionel may be the most fascinating character for me simply because he's such a wild card. Chloe is the only other major player without an established destiny in Superman mythology, but it's a pretty safe bet that Clark's best friend isn't suddenly going to turn evil. Lionel, on the other hand, started out pretty rotten, and some of his actions in this season still seem reprehensible. But he also appears to be fighting for the side of good at times, and if nothing else, his affection for Martha is genuine. While his redemption would be ironic in the face of Lex's ultimate villainy, it would lessen the sting of that terrible transformation. Like Michael Emerson, who portrays the inscrutable Ben Linus on LOST, Glover constantly keeps us guessing with his complex performance.

In some ways, this is a very dark season. Lex's plans grow more and more grandiose and grotesque, and we learn in a flashback of a disturbing chapter in his youth. The Zoners wreak major havoc on some unsuspecting humans - not to mention the fact that there are still troublesome meteor freaks to contend with. The hustle and bustle of urban Metropolis can't match the comfort of bucolic Smallville, and an intrusive, oppressive score often ensures a skin-crawling sensation, especially in any scene involving Lex. On the other hand, new situations and characters inject freshness into the series. Many of the scenes with Lois and Oliver and Jimmy and Chloe are just plain fun, and it's a kick to see how the writers find ways of paying homage to these characters' forebears. Noir, an episode late in the season in which Jimmy dreams his way into a film noir version of his life, plays like a love letter to The Adventures of Superman. Clark has his own alternate experience with reality in Labyrinth, a much less aesthetically pleasing episode that finds him cooped up in a mental institution; reminiscent of LOST's Dave, in which an old friend of Hurley's turns up to inform him that the Island is all in his head, it allows us to see these familiar characters from an unusual perspective.

While I started getting tired of Lana's drama queen ways back in season two and always faulted Clark just a bit for overlooking the intrepid Chloe in favor of whispery, whiny Lana, giving her such intimate access to Lex puts her in an interesting position this year. Though she shows an alarming capacity for duplicity and vice, she also reveals the depth of her feelings for Clark, taking the character in refreshingly tender directions as she comes closer to figuring out just what he's been hiding all these years. Having Lois follow in Chloe's footsteps by writing for a tabloid is a fun way of bringing her closer to her journalistic future, and Chloe's bond with Clark is as solid as it's ever been, with one late-season development giving her role as his most reliable wingman even more creative possibilities.

Smallville grows more complex every season, sacrificing some of the innocence of previous seasons but creating a more intriguing web of plots and characters so that each episode is an important piece of the puzzle rather than being just a showcase for the meteor freak of the week. Will Clark ever don the famous suit and take to the skies? I can't wait to find out!

Smallville Enthusiast Takes the Plunge Into Veronica Mars

I have a friend who's been trying to get me to watch Veronica Mars for more than a year. It's not that I objected to the idea, but I was a tad wary of the possibility of adding yet another show to my list of obsessions, and anyway I figured it would be more fun to watch the show with him. I finally got my chance last month when he cane back to town for an extended stay. By this time, he'd hooked his sister, and the three of us sat down to watch the show together. I was entertained but not enraptured, and my lack of outward enthusiasm led them to suspect they were forcing the show on me; I was hooked enough, however, that I objected and insisted I really did want to see the rest of the season. Last week, I finished it. Do I have another obsession to deal with? Nah. But I would like to watch the last two seasons...

Until the merger, Veronica Mars aired on UPN, which I tend to think of as the WB's older brother. So when I sat down to watch this show, I couldn't help but compare it with Smallville, which is similar in many ways but rather less edgy. Veronica (Kristen Bell) reminds me a great deal of Chloe, the dangerously inquisitive high school journalist who manages to crack most of the mysteries in her little town, with plenty of help from a long list of contacts. Like Chloe, she's gutsy and snarky; she lives alone with her father after her train wreck of a mother takes off; there are certain mysteries she's especially obsessed with solving... She even looks like Chloe with her shoulder-length blond hair. Moreover, she pals around with good-natured, indispensable Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III), who's practically a dead ringer for Pete Ross, right down to my suspicion that he has an unrequited crush on Veronica. Toss in the Luthor-like dynamic between smart-alecky rich kid Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) and his movie star father Aaron (Harry Hamlin) and this show is only a few cornfields and super-powered teenagers short of a small town in Kansas.

In the pilot episode, we're introduced to the three major mysteries that will preoccupy our heroine throughout the season. 1) Where is her mom? 2) What happened the night of the party that ended with her waking up half-clothed in a strange bed? 3) Who really murdered her best friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried)? She pursues the first two questions quietly and occasionally, focusing most of her attention on the third, because of which a man's life hangs in the balance, to say nothing of her father's reputation. Keith Mars (Enrico Colatoni) used to be the sheriff of Neptune, California, but when he went after Lilly's influential parents following her death, he was forced out of office. Now he runs a private practice with his sleuthing daughter, with whom he enjoys a chummy relationship. While he tries to keep her from getting in too far over her head, he recognizes that Veronica is a very clever and determined young lady, so he generally gives her a pretty loose rein.

Wallace, a newcomer to Neptune who meets Veronica when she rescues him from humiliation on his first day of school, is subsequently willing to put himself on the line for her, and there are many scenes of them enjoying lunch together in the sun-drenched cafeteria outside the school, plotting another covert activity. Oddly enough, another of Veronica's good buddies is Eli "Weevil" Navarro (Francis Capra), the gang leader who antagonized Wallace. Weevil's a tough guy, but deep down he's a softie, and he too owes Veronica after she clears his name when he is wrongfully sent to prison, so he often lends a hand when Veronica needs it. Also firmly in her camp, though not seen quite as often, is Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie (Tina Majorino), an off-beat computer whiz who evidently plays a larger role in later seasons.

And what would a teen drama be without a little romance? Although prior to the beginning of the show, Veronica only had one boyfriend - Lilly's brother Duncan (Teddy Dunn), who dumped her without explanation shortly before his sister's death - she manages to have three major romantic relationships in her junior year of high school. The first and shortest-lived of these is with Troy Vandegraff (Aaron Ashmore), a friend of Duncan's who seems like a great guy but appears to be hiding something. Later, she falls for Leo D'Amato (Max Greenfield), a sweetheart of a cop who provides a refreshing contrast to the corrupt Sheriff Lamb (Michael Muhney), but that relationship is compromised with the advent of ardent affections from a surprising source.

The cast is solid, with the notable exception of Dunn, who wanders lifelessly through nearly every scene. Keith is probably my favorite character, a doting father with a fantastic sense of humor, childlike enthusiasm and an unconventional way of getting his job done. Wallace and Leo are instantly lovable, while Weevil and Logan are sweet underneath a carefully constructed exterior. The latter is an especially fun character, always ready with a smirk and a biting remark, and has further to go than Weevil when it comes to being a decent guy, but he steps up to the challenge impressively a couple of times. Mac is an intelligent outsider who has much more in common with Veronica than Lilly ever did; Veronica herself is nearly always likable, with a strong sense of morality and loyalty to her friends and parents, though she sometimes stoops to dubious methods to extract information. Among the more minor players, I'm especially fond of cynical lawyer Cliff McCormack (Daran Norris), who often assists Veronica in her endeavors, and perpetually exasperated principal Van Clemmons (Duane Daniels), who skulks about the school with a hangdog expression, wanting the best for his students but annoyed by Veronica's ability to outsmart him.

Joel Silver and Rob Thomas are the show's producers, with the latter having a hand in writing all the episodes. It's well written, though the dialogue veers much closer to R-rated territory than Smallville does. Like LOST, it makes frequent use of flashbacks, but these are filmed in a fuzzy, jarring way, and we never stay immersed in them very long. Otherwise, the cinematography is pleasing enough, and while most of the music used on the show is a little loud for my tastes, it fits the tone well. One of my favorite aspects of the show is the episode titles, nearly all of which are a pop culture reference, from Star Trek to Leave it to Beaver.

Like the first season of Smallville, which features a succession of new Kryptonite-infected terrors to defeat, the first season of Veronica Mars is full of individual mysteries, but the season-long arc is well-defined enough that watching individual episodes out of order is likely to be confusing, and most of the questions are tied up nicely enough by the end that this season could stand alone. That it doesn't need to should be a comfort to fans who are mourning its spot on the CW's fall lineup, and I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series. There might not be any meteors to contend with, but Mars is out of this world!

House's Foundation Begins to Crumble

I'm turning into a real couch potato. With the exception of Friday - and even Friday has something to tempt me with Ghost Whisperer - I'm glued to the TV every night of the week. Heroes on Monday. Ugly Betty on Thursday - while we tape Smallville at the same time. American Idol and, more importantly, LOST on Wednesday. And American Idol and House on Tuesday. Both of these shows have begun to lose their luster for me, but I continue to watch them faithfully, partly because it's an excuse for my friend Libbie and me to get together. House really fell into a stellar deal by ending up just after American Idol in the lineup. I'd never heard of it until the spring of its first season, when Idol came along behind it to massively boost viewership. Would it have made it otherwise? I have major doubts.

I keep watching House mainly because of the main character. Hugh Laurie makes a fantastically cantankerous curmudgeon, and we are extra alert whenever he is on screen, which is most of the time. Like Simon Cowell, House is a master maligner, flinging colorful insults at everyone he meets and scarcely letting a remark go by without a snappy sarcastic comeback. He's marvelously entertaining. Yet by the second season, I had rather hoped to be watching the show for more than just the weekly barrage of one-liners. There are a few story arcs and a bit of character development, but for the most part, the show is just as episodic and formulaic as before. In every episode, somebody shows up with some mysterious ailment, and after one or several incorrect diagnoses, House and his team hit upon the answer at the last minute, almost invariably leading to a full recovery.

While House remains by far the most commanding presence, with his arresting blue eyes and his barking voice with no trace of Laurie's British accent, all the other major players from season one return and add interest. I like the evolution of Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) the best. An arrogant young Australian, he's a real pain throughout much of the first season, but in season two he begins to soften up, becoming more of a decent guy and not stabbing people in the back as he did in the past. Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps), like House and Chase, has issues with his father, and we get some emotional scenes of them together toward the end of the season. I'm not sure what to think of his character; he's ambitious and aloof, and his attitude near the conclusion of the season really grates on me, and I think it has something to do with the unpleasant way in which Dr. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) begins to change.

Back in season one, she was unassuming, quiet and gentle. In the second season, she begins her descent into the barely likable character we see in season three, by which she and Chase seem to have swapped dispositions. She becomes hard-edged, always fiercely looking out for herself and increasingly locking heads with the others. She also seems to pick up a major dose of hormones along the way - or maybe it's all pent-up frustration for the fact that she and House can't make a relationship work. Bad things do happen to her in season two. She gives up what little hope she may have harbored about winning House's affection when his old girlfriend Stacy (Sela Ward) pops up and starts working at the hospital. Foreman essentially steals a paper she wrote and then, rather than apologizing for it, informs her that they are merely colleagues and will never be friends. Oh, and she almost winds up with AIDS. So it's a bad year for her, but I still hate to see her turn away from the sweetness of the first season.

House's boss, Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), continues to rage against House for his defiant indiscretions, even as she defends his behavior as a necessary evil in the interest of helping hopeless cases. Easy-going Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) is my favorite of the side-liners, and the second season has some fun with him when he moves in with House and his patience with his obnoxious friend is sorely tested.

Despite the various problems facing the characters - including deadly diseases - I never really found myself saying, "Gee, I can't wait until next week so I can see how this turns out." It didn't infect my psyche the way more compelling shows like LOST and Smallville have, and just within the context of this show, none of the second-season arcs riveted me as much as the first-season ordeal with corrupt millionaire Ed Vogler (Chi McBride). The season finale is a definite cliff-hanger, but the first episode of the third season, while boasting an emotional and uplifting ending, doesn't really tie up the loose ends very well.

House really didn't improve with its second season, and if it weren't for American Idol, I have my doubts as to whether it would still be around. But as long as House keeps being an insufferable git with an impressive vocabulary and razor-sharp wit, something tells I'm going to keep watching.