My Television Viewing Borders On Excessive

NOTE: This was supposed to be published Sunday, but I forgot. So I have added a few things to it, and am giving it to you now.
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In my quest to keep you folks up-to-date with all my television viewing, I will attempt to make a few more postings on what I think is going on in my favorite shows. I want to make you -- the reader -- happy.

Last week's season premiere of The Sopranos was fucking amazing. The episode has been dissected a million times already and I don't have a real unique take on it. Tony got shot. Is he dead? Can the show continue without Tony?

The best theory about the new season that I have read says that the scene where Tony is shot by Uncle Junior is actually how the show will ultimately end. It was a flash forward, and that the rest of the season will now show how we got to that point. It's as plausible a theory as any other that I read. The show was pretty bizarre. I mean, they had that William Burroughs recording from The Western Lands at the beginning. It set a cool tone for the show.

Now, though, after seeing the second episode of the season that idea is not so plausible. Last night's was very weird, and reminded me of Six Feet Under. I just don't see Tony going out like that, but I guess this whole dream world he's living in now represents how he wishes his life had turned out? The fact that even in his alternative reality he gets a virtual death sentence at age 46 is not too encouraging. Could A.J.'s anger toward Uncle Junior turn him to the dark side (i.e. joining Dad's "company")?

On to West Wing. They are definitely giving it to Santos. He will win the election. Winning campaigns don't have a major shake-up in senior staff three weeks before an election the way Vinnick's campaign just did. But, based on last night's episode, I have some doubt on that too. The whole secret payments to a woman in Texas thing could become an issue. Vinnick says he's not going to the media with it but...he's a Republican. So, odds are, he's a liar.
Now on to this week's 24. Again, this is a show that gets analyzed a lot. The big event this week was the death of Tony Almeida. The blogger at Vandelay Industries took it pretty hard and wore black the next day. I commented on that site that I think maybe Tony did not die. He was, after all, presumed to be dead for a few episodes in a different season. But I watched the episode again (thank you DVR), and now I think he is dead. All I know is that I hate that President Logan, and wish someone would do something about him. But that new VP -- Gardner (played by Ray Wise) -- didn't he kill Laura Palmer? He might be worse.
On to Conviction...I still can't decide what I think about this show. This episode focused on one of the DAs who attended a party where he saw drugs being consumed. Then his friend at the party got arrested for drugs and he was assigned the case. Obviously, this presents a myriad of problems. Fortunately everything worked out okay. I don't even remember the other stories inside of the episode. I still think they need to find a way to incorporate Stephanie March into the show more.

There was no episode of Numb3rs this week due to March Madness basketball coverage. Too bad. It better be back next week.

Real Time with Bill Maher was pretty action packed this week. Richard Belzer always makes for a good guest. His semi-over-the-top reaction to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) -- who can do nothing more than recite bullshit pro-Bush talking points -- was justified to me. I mean, she was essentially arguing that Belzer does not know what is "really" going on in Iraq because his opinion does not mirror that of her nephew who is currently deployed there. Belzer's point was that her nephew is under the constant threat of being killed and, therefore, might not be able to see the "bigger picture" of the war. Makes sense to me. Ros-Lehtinen is one of the last true believers in Bush's war in Iraq. I guess that Kool-Aid hasn't worn off yet.