Channel Surfing with C.T: ONE TREE HILL, LOST & More

I loved the wedding episode of ONE TREE HILL, but I can’t help wishing the show would slow things down a bit. If I were writing the show (and really, who doesn’t imagine taking over the reigns of their favorites?), I’d have either had Dan be in cahoots with Nutty Nanny or, even better, have this play out over several weeks. Show the kid being led away from the church, but not by whom. My dream story? Thanks to Haley, everyone points accusatory fingers in Dan’s direction. Meanwhile, Dan has to cozy up to the nanny in order to find out where she’s got Jamie stashed. Eventually, he finds out where the kid is and rides to the rescue… but in the process, Jamie is badly injured and winds up in a coma. The nanny skips town, leaving everyone in Tree Hill to assume that Dan kidnapped and injured Jamie. Because he was spotted with the nanny on several occasions, it is also assumed he was romancing her. Only after they’ve all torn into Dan does Jamie wake up and reveal that his grandpa was, in fact, his rescuer! Anyway, I loved the moment when Lindsay — and, by extension, the audience — realized what the “comet” in Lucas’ story represented. As a long-time soap fan, there’s nothing I respect and appreciate more than a show which plays to the established history and, in doing so, flashes back to long-ago scenes fans remember. It’s like a wonderful little reward for loyal viewers.

This season of LOST continues to rock, although I wish the producers would tell those in the promotions department to stop giving away final-moment twists. After seeing endless ads touting the fact that someone would die, it was almost inevitable that we might be disappointed when the fatalities turned out to be Carl and Danielle (although I hated seeing Mira Furlan, whom I’ve loved since her days as BABYLON 5’s Deleen, bite the bullet… here’s hoping her shooting was of the near-death variety). Fortunately, the episode delivered on so many other levels, whether small (Big Tom is gay???), medium (“If Widmore finds the island… he’ll kill them all without thinking twice.”) or large (“You can’t kill yourself. The island won’t let you.”). Heck, I even got to see my beloved Libby.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to whoever finally found the perfect project for Judy “That’s the last time you’ll ever see these!” Greer. Is MISS/GUIDED perfect? Not by a long shot. But to paraphrase Stuart Smalley, “It’s good enough, it’s smart enough and Doggone it, I like it!” Greer is surrounded by an appealing cast (Brooke Burns hasn’t been this likable since… um, ever!) and the whole package is just fun on a stick. I’m voting this high-school set series “Most Likely To Succeed… in stealing your heart if you give it half a chance.”

Speaking of shows set at institutes of mid-level learning, this season of HIGH SCHOOL REUNION — airing on TVLand, of all places — is actually far more entertaining than it ever was when airing on WB. Silly as it seems, one of the reasons I’m enjoying it so much is that unlike in past seasons, the producers actually shelled out the money to acquire music rights to 80’s songs. I remember reading a few years ago that a bunch of Las Vegas casinos got together and commissioned a study to determine what kind of music people would like to hear in casinos and such. 80’s music was basically found to be the most universally loved… grandma’s aren’t annoyed by it, kids like it… it’s truly multi-generational. And sure enough, when this show sets the scene by playing Flock Of Seagulls or Psychedelic Furs, it helps put you in the right frame of mind. Okay, fine, it also helps that among those reunited were Lana, her ex-husband and his best friend, with whom she cheated.

Am I the only one psyched about the return of ABC’s primetime game show, DUEL?