There was a bit of a hiatus in my CyberTV watching round Christian's. For a while it was a solid Smallville+Enterprise (+other random things) every week. Then they ended but we started on the 5th season of West Wing instead. But when that ran out the TV dried up a bit. However the last couple of weeks has seen it kick back in again with the new seasons of Smallville and Enterprise.

I like Smallville, despite its immense cheesiness. In fact, thinking about it, probably because of its immense cheesiness. After the random madness of the opening two episodes (black kryptonite?!) this week's was refreshingly old school, with a freak-of-the-week story revolving around the high school. This was the sort of story Chloe used to get to do stuff in, as they moved away from that formula over the last season or so she seemed to get pushed to the back more, like they weren't sure what to do with her. Now she's back again but her old role of "nosy protagonist" seems to have been supplanted by Lois Lane. Bah! I quite like Lois but I feel bad for Chloe (Yes I know they're fictional characters, leave me alone). I was excited when it looked like she was actually going to be Lois, as that meant she kind of got to "win" in the end. Now I guess she's doomed to lonely obscurity as that whingeing twat Clark continues to get it on with just about everyone else than her. I suspect her lines in each episode will dwindle until she's in a single scene, then finally vanish forever like poor Pete Ross. Those heartless script-writing fucks! Maybe she could get a spin-off series of her own though, where she'd investigate mutants and stuff in the style of Kolchak.

Speaking of fit blonde bitter teenage investigators, Christian's also got us watching some new series called Veronica Mars. Christian downloaded the first episode thinking, bless him, that it would actually be about a girl having adventures on Mars. It's not, it's about some cheerleader girly girl who is ostracised by her old pals and boyfriend (because of her dad accusing his dad of murder) and becomes a deeply sarcastic private eye indie chick. Result! Despite the disappointing lack of Martians or Kuato, we quite like it. The stories themselves seem pretty predictable (so far) but it's particularly well written and acted. Certainly better than any other non-superhero/vampire-related-teen-drama-type-things I've seen in a while. Also, "Mars" is a cool surname.

Of course, seeing as I like it it'll probably be cancelled by episode 5. Firefly, John Doe, Odyssey 5... my approval of a new US TV series is like the fucking kiss of death. Though Battlestar Galactica survived the Astley Touch of Doom and has made it into a full series, which will hopefully be as ace as the mini-series.

The first of the new Enterprise was okay. I thought the last season had seen a marked improvement in quality, the first couple of seasons were pretty dull. Not exactly terrible (though some episodes were) but just... average. Often mediocre. However, as cheesy as the whole September-11th-no-wait-we-mean-aliens plot was it gave the season a kind of coherency and drive that I think made it feel a lot livelier. Then the most random-as-fuck cliffhanger I've seen for quite some time. So while I'm not really a fan of Star Trek I guess this new episode did come with some quite heavy expectations attached to it. Well... like I said, it was okay. Not rubbish, and fairly entertaining. It's difficult to see how anyone could go wrong with a TV show that features mobsters fighting alien Nazis in the streets of a war-torn New York. Maybe that was the problem, in a way - beyond coming up with the fantastically daft idea in the first place it didn't really feel like they did much with it.

I like the idea of the mini-arcs going through the season, hopefully that'll help it keep a pace to it. Cliffhangers are always strangely exciting, despite the usually disappointing Chloe-gets-blown-up-oh-no-wait-a-minute-no-she-didn't-really resolutions to them.

In other random geek TV news, they are apparently making some sort of Star Wars series. DANGER! DANGER! If I'd heard they were doing that ten years ago I probably would have got very excited. Or five years ago even. Basically, at any point before they made Episodes I and II. But now all I can assume is that it will feature further sustained rape of treasured childhood memories by that fucking washed-out beardy cunt.