d.b. sweeney

(S08E19) "I just want the people who are responsible for this to be held accountable. All I need to do is expose them." - Jack to Chloe

Jane here, filling in for Mike. I was actually reviewing '24' at the beginning of the season, but found the storyline so preposterous that Mike graciously agreed to take it off my hands.

Somewhere between then and now, the show has gotten much better -- more interesting and less ridiculous. In fact, last week, my nephew emailed me and said the show's gotten better lately, especially with the return of Charles Logan. I wholeheartedly agree. Not that Logan's any less of a weasel, but that's what I love about him.

The modern poster-child for a show that's "gone too soon" is Jericho. The impassioned fans buried CBS under a ton of nuts, which got the show renewed for a shortened second season. Your mileage of the quality of that season may vary, but the fact remains that the fans did something none of these internet campaigns today will be able to.

What people don't realize is that when Jericho came back for the second run, the ratings weren't any better than when the first season ended. So when they cancel your favorite show and you start mailing in bizarre objects and setting up your web petitions because "it worked for Jericho," remember that the networks remember Jericho as well. They remember that it failed to find a sizable audience twice.

I posted last week about the new series Crash, premiering on Starz on Oct. 17. It's been a long time coming. I started hearing buzz about a TV series shortly after the film debuted in May, 2005, and the cast looks good (though I know some of you disagree with me).

The lineup of the ensemble drama includes Dennis Hopper, D.B. Sweeney, Ross McCall, Clare Carey, and Luis Chavez, among others. I also appreciate the fact that Paul Haggis and Don Cheadle, who worked on the film, are producing the TV series. So whatever else happens, I have to think they'll keep the integrity of the film intact.

The Crash press kit is now online, and it's interesting to watch the trailer and hark back to the movie. Some of it looks the same -- like the shot of a cop feeling up a woman -- and the racial tension is definitely in place.

(S01E09) Right now, this show is better than Lost. Yeah, I said it.

While Lost seems to be, well, lost because they've suddenly turned into a show about a prison and a love triangle, this show is doing almost everything right. Yeah, I know, that might not be fair, because this is only the ninth episode of Jericho and Lost is in the middle of its third season. But I sense good things to come from Jericho, and this season of Lost has only showed me that the very structure of the show that I loved that first season and a half has now become a giant weight that's starting to sink the show. But that's a whole other rant for another day.

Ravenwood finds out Eric's address from his jacket and comes to town...