SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

There’s nothing subtle about tonight’s episode, although any time we can ditch the Troublemint Twins is always a good thing.

Hiro learned you can’t play God. After discovering his dad was killed, Hiro goes back in time to save him. But dad wisely tells him that he can’t play god and to just accept what fate has in store. Hiro did, however, stop time long enough to see who murdered dad.

David Anders as Adam Monroe — NBC Photo: Adam Taylor

Heck, Hiro could have just listened to anyone tuned in to last week’s episode. Show of hands of anyone who was surprised to learn it was Adam/Kensei who tossed Kaito over the edge of the building.

Parkman discovered that he not only can read minds, but like dear old dad, he can do a little Jedi mind control trick and make people do as he says. He first discovers this when he gets Molly to come back and finish her cereal, then progresses to his boss to get permission to talk to Momma P.

Once he gets to Momma P, he forces her to tell him the truth about the people in the picture. She tells him he’s no better than his dad if he pries her secret out of her mind.

But Parkman doesn’t heed the warning, and finds out that the final person in the picture is Victoria Pratt, who is played by Joanna Cassidy.

“She just wants to be left alone,” pleads Momma P.

Not a chance.

And finally we have HRG shot through the glasses by no other than former good guy Mohinder Suresh. He saves Claire, and in the end, no one should be surprised that Bob used Claire’s blood to bring HRG back to life.

Lack of surprises has just killed this season, although last week and this week’s episodes have picked up the pace. But just when “Heroes” seems to at least be on the right path, it’s about to go on hiatus. The final episode in this arc is slated for Dec. 3.

But does anyone out there care any more? Interest has been waning all year, and my pal Chad says he even took the last two episodes off his TiVo without watching them. What about you?

Next week:
PETER ATTEMPTS TO SAVE THE FUTURE FROM THE VIRUS — Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) travels to Primatech Paper in Texas with his new friend to destroy the virus, which will kill 93% of the world’s population in the future — or so he believes. Niki (Ali Larter) returns to Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey) with bad news. To right a wrong, Monica (Dana Davis) puts her abilities to the test. Hiro (Masi Oka) goes after his father’s killer. Meanwhile, Matt (Greg Grunberg) uses his mental abilities to track down the last person in the Company photo. Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) learns his brother is alive. Outside of New York, Maya (Dania Ramirez) must choose between Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) and Sylar (Zachary Quinto).

Guess someone noticed Sylar murdered his mom

And the Dec. 3 semi-season finale:
IT’S HERO VS. HERO AS THE SERIES’ “VOLUME II: GENERATIONS” COMES TO AN EXPLOSIVE, BLOODY FINISH — Deep below Primatech Paper in Odessa, TX, Peter’s (Milo Ventimiglia) reunion with Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) turns violent when the brothers, Matt (Greg Grunberg) and Hiro (Masi Oka) all clash thanks to Adam (David Anders) and his pursuit of the deadly Shanti Virus. After watching his heroic cousin captured by a street gang, Micah (Noah Gray-Cabey) turns to the one person who can help him save Monica (Dana Davis) — his mom (Ali Larter). Meanwhile, Maya (Dania Ramirez) tragically learns how much of a monster Sylar (Zachary Quinto) really is during his kidnapping of Molly (Adair Tishler) and Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy). Meanwhile, Elle (Kristen Bell) decides to play hero to get back into her father’s (Stephen Tobolowsky) good graces.

Sorry about posting so late! That’s what you get when you go on vacation and your mind turns to mush.

So after diving into the “Masterpiece Theatre” miniseries “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard,” about the middle-class mum who becomes Prime Minister, I think we all agree that it ended too abruptly.

Ros Pritchard won the election through charm and honesty, and very little political knowledge. Her downfall wasn’t anything she did, but her husband’s pilfering of company funds after getting blackmailed. Ros was blissfully unaware of her husband’s deceit, and when it came to light, she was forced into a moral dilemma.

Although writer wanted to end the series with that little “what do you think she did?” note, viewers wanted closure.

So, when it aired in Canada, a text epilogue was added. It’s also on the DVD, which was recently released. PBS, however, chose not to include the epilogue. So here it is:

Ros Pritchard moved back to Eatanswill with her family. She felt she’d made her point. And history.
Ian Pritchard’s indiscretion fifteen years ago never became public knowledge.

Catherine Walker took over as leader of the Purple Alliance and Prime Minister of Great Britain. She never married.

Yes, boys and girls, it’s true. “Big Brother” will be filling space early next year since it would appear strikers are in for the long haul.

Now, they just need some of you to move into the house.

CBS announced a nationwide casting call beginning Saturday in various cities across the country. Not Oakland, San Jose or even San Francisco. For Bay Area people, you can still send in your application.

For those living a shoe box, “Big Brother 9” follows a group of strangers living together in a house outfitted with dozens of cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

One by one, the houseguests vote each other out of the house until at the end of three months, the last remaining houseguest wins the grand prize.

BIG BROTHER 9 CASTING CALL – Dates/Cities/Locations and Local Times:

Nov. 17 noon to 3 p.m. Los Angeles — Exclusive Casting Studios, 7700 Sunset Blvd.

Nov. 17 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Columbia, S.C. — WLTX-TV, 6027 Garners Ferry Road

Nov. 18 noon to 8 p.m. New York — NY Castings, 243 West 30th Street, 3rd. Floor

Nov. 23 7 to10 p.m. Houston — Meridien, 1503 Chartres St.

Dec. 1 2 to 5 p.m. Houston — Moes Grill & Bar, 5000 Katy Mills Circle

Dec. 1 noon to 3p.m.Schaumburg, IL- Woodfield Mall, “Cool Waves” Nordstrom lower level

Dec. 1 noon to 3 p.m. Atlanta —America’s Mart, 240 Peachtree Street 1st Fl. Rm. A

Dec. 1 7 to 10 p.m. Brooklyn, NY — Duff’s Brooklyn, N. 3rd Street & Kent Avenue

Dec. 1 noon to 3 p.m. Charlotte, N.C. — Cans, 500 West 5th Street

Dec. 1 10 p.m. to midnight Chicago — Ontourage, 157 W. Ontario Street

Dec. 1 noon to 3 p.m. Hillsboro, Ore. — The Streets of Tanasbourne, 19350 NW Emma Way

Dec. 1 1 to 4 p.m. Kansas City, MO —Screenlands Crossroads Theater, 1656 Washington St.

Dec. 7 10 p.m. to midnight Columbus, Ohio — Spice Bar, 491 N. Park Street

Dec. 7 noon to 3 p.m. Scottsdale, Ariz. — Suede Lounge, 7333 E. Indian Plaza

Dec. 8 noon to 3 p.m. Boston — Felt, 533 Washington Street 3rd & 4th Floor

Dec. 8 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Broomfield, Colo. — FlatIron Crossing, 1 West FlatIron Crossing Drive In the Dillard’s Court

Dec. 8 2 to 5 p.m. Columbus, Ohio — Park Street Patio, 533 Park Street

Dec. 8 noon to 3 p.m. Tampa, Fla. — The Dubliner Irish Pub, 2307 W. Azeele Street

It’s the first night of “Project Runway” and I’m absolutely giddy with excitement.

Finally, once a week I can wallow in the fashion industry, dish with fashion gurus like Dino-Ray Ramos. Yes, Dino-Ray and I did a SueTube on this season and we’re just not sure how it will all turn out. All the designers already have their own lines, many of them have already worked with stars.

Still, you can’t take away that Tim Gunn pixie dust.

We do have three locals to root for this season, including Chris March of San Francisco. March is a freelance costume designer living in New York, and his client list includes Cirque du Soleil, Madonna and Thierry Mugler. OK, I had to Google Mugler, but I know the other two. But locals would know Chris from his work on “Beach Blanket Babylon.”

We’ll see if this campy costume guy has some hot fashion ideas. I really like him, especially that wicked little giggle and I think I’ll pick him as one of my top-five choices.

In Wednesday’s episode, we felt it was a bit mean to show the designers racing across the park to get first dibs on some pricey fabric for the first challenge.

Poor Chris came huffing and puffing in last place and his material choices were limited, even though he claimed everything that would have been his first choice was still available. Scary.

We like Chris

But the outfit proved to be quite lovely, and he landed firmly in the middle of the pack.

San Francisco native Simone LeBlanc likes to experiment with fabric but she fell flat with her boring design and even less inspired outfit.

Simone

Then there’s Jack Mackenroth, who graduated from UC Berkeley with a double degree in Fine Arts and Sociology, attended Parson School of Design, which Gunn came from before switching to Liz Claiborne recently.

Camilla, Jack at the fashion show for the fans on Nov. 6 at Lincoln Center in New York, NY — Bravo Photo: Barbara Nitke

Jack also landed in the middle.

The top three designers of the night:

We really like Christian, who is the youngest at 21 and probably one of the most promising of the lot. His asymmetrical outfit caught the eyes of the judges, although Tim seemed to try to warn him off when he critiqued the outfit earlier in the show.

Rami’s outfit was dubbed “stunning” by Tim, but we thought it had too much draping and knots. The third member of the top-three team was Victorya, who seems a little insecure. Her black dress with the big silver flower was kicky and fun. But we agree with Michael Kors, who called it a little “mother of the bride.”

Michael also pointed out that it would be hard to hail a cab with the straps across the top of your arms. Victorya came back with a line about bleeding for fashion. Um, maybe.

In the bottom of the heap was Elisa, who designed a floaty little blue dress that I liked, except for the ghastly train she put behind it with every piece of material she could snag. It was a ridiculous thing to do, and her model could have been killed from tripping over it.

Ricky did a little signature baby doll dress that was kind of cute for someone visiting the Playboy mansion.

And poor Simone. Our local girl was the first to be cut from the squad, and she fully deserved her dismissal. The dress she designed looked like something out of my 8th grade home ec class.

Well, maybe not that bad. My teacher told me she’d give me a C in the class if I promised never to use her sewing machines again. I don’t know how that thread can get so gummed up in there…

What is going on around here?

Just got word that yet another Bay Area anchor is casting off, this time from KNTV-Channel 11. For seven years, Allen Denton has helmed the desk as the station’s lead anchor. His last newscast will be Nov. 30.

Allen Denton and Lisa Kim

Allen was paired in 2002 with Terilyn Joe. Joe, who came from KGO-Channel 7, was known as Terrible Joe for her, shall we say, fiery temperament. The union lasted just two years before Joe left.

He was then teamed with Lisa Kim and the two seemed to be doing just fine on the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. No word yet on who will replace Allen.

Allen’s son Spencer, a weatherman from Alabama, posted this on his blog about his dad’s departure.

Things were a little wobbly over at FX as folks waited to hear whether or not the splendid new legal thriller “Damages” was going to get picked up for a second season.

Glenn Close and Rose Byrne

Not only id it get picked up, but FX has signed up the Glenn Close drama for an additional two season, 26 episode, run.

Now there’s some happy news to report. The season concluded on Oct. 23, but with the strike going on, we think the network is being optimistic about filming for the second season to begin in New York early next year.

Close played the icy litigator Patty Hewes, who manipulates everyone in her path for the greater good. Or at least the greater good as she sees it. Coming back for season two are Rose Byrne as her protege and Tate Donovan as her right-hand man.

Word has slipped out that KTVU’s Sara Sidner is the next anchor out the door at the beleaguered East Bay station.

Sidner joined the KTVU news team as co-anchor of the weekend edition of “KTVU Channel 2 News at 6” and “The Ten O’Clock News” and weekday reporter in January of 2004.

Sara Sidner

Sidner, it should be noted, is one of the few locals who looks like she could have a brilliant future as a network prospect. She’s bright, presents herself well and is young. Which is why it is rumored that KTVU wanted to lock her into a five-year contract with the station.

Sidner would be foolish to spend that long at a local station, given her potential. But we’d like to have seen KTVU work with her a bit to keep her on as long as possible.

This comes on the heels of viewers already irate at morning anchor Mark Curtis’ ouster. While the station has said that he will “transition into a reporting position,” we’ve heard no contract has been offered. His current contract expires in January.

Mark Curtis

Isn’t it ironic that while the WGA strike has put a stranglehold on fresh television episodes, a new Web TV series has launched that may be as good or better than anything (except “Pushing Daisies”) that we’ve seen this year on the standard tube?

The strike boils down to writers getting their just earnings from the Web, and some say that the strike might allow for some cosmic shifts in the TV universe. Like viewers moving away from their television sets to watch series produced, and shown, on the Internet.

Like “Quarterlife” by TV veterans Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (“My So-Called Life,” “thirtysomething” ) about aspiring writer Dylan Krieger (Bitsie Tulloch, known to YouTubers as Alex from lonelygirl15), who vlogs her life, and the life of her twentysomething friends, for the entire world wide web to read.

Bitsie Tulloch as Dylan

Before we get too rah-rah-y over this being the death of television as we know it, we should mention that Variety has already reported that NBC might buy the whole dang thing – which means this may just be a clever way of getting a show backdoored.

And in fact, the eight-minute segments tantalize rather than satisfy. We’d like to see this series play as an hour drama, and apparently so would the producers, who have told anyone who would listen that they would prefer this series be shown on television.

And even for eight minutes, the look of the show is very much high quality network drama standard issue. They’ve even signed on Toyota as a sponsor, and the cast includes the Prius in a substantial co-starring role.

But if it is difficult to determine if a pilot will fly, it’s downright dangerous to watch eight minutes and determine it’s the next cool show. But since it comes from Herskovitz and Zwick, who have a proven track record for quality shows, we think it has more than a good shot at being better than most new fall shows.

The series centers on Dylan, her life at 25 not quite as she expected. As bloggers often do, she reveals a bit too much about herself and her friends, including sexy roommate Lisa (Maite Schwartz).

“When Lisa wlaks into a room, the gravitational field changes,” vlogs Dylan. “Did I mention she drinks more than she should?”

Not only drinks more, but as Dylan’s webcam shows, sleeps with inappropriate people.

Dylan’s own crush is Jed (Scott Michael Foster, “Greek”) who “is in love with his best friend’s girlfriend. What could be more unhappy than that?”

Scott Michael Foster of “Greek”

The problem with showing this on the Web is the quality, at least of the MySpace version. We’ll check out the quarterlife.com version on Monday. If you run it in a half-postcard frame, the picture is crisp and clear. Go for the full screen, and it’s out of focus. They’ll have to do better than this if they want to show high quality series on the Web.

The series was originally shopped in 2005 to ABC, which passed. Herskovitz and Zwick then revamped the series for the Internet. The series comes in 36 eight-minute webisodes airing today on MySpace, then shifting to quarterlife.com on Monday. Two webisodes air each week, on Sunday and Thursday on MySpace and the day after on quarterlife.com.

KRON’s premiere commentator and weekend anchor Henry Tenebaum has been known by his trademark facial hair for as long as I can remember, so when posters Andrew and Dave mentioned the Ten Man’s ‘stasch, Henry responded.

Henry and his hair on KRON Website

Andrew’s post was: “Henry Tannenbaum, are you listening too? Guys, your mustaches look RIDICULOUS and they challenge your looks big time.”

Turns out Henry WAS listening, Andrew:

Hey, Andrew,

Gimme a break! have no control over my moustache. It’s got so much seniority on my mug that it tells ME how to shave.

Time for an informal poll? Yeah or Nay on facial hair?

Oh, and who knew Henry started out as a classical music announcer in Buffalo? Is that like a play-by-play guy for the cellos and flutes? For more fascinating info on Tenenbaum, check out his profile.

Well, George and Izzie discovered something the rest of us knew all along: They’ve got no sizzle.

Now, come on. A show of hands from anyone who thought these two had a smokin’ hot thing going on. Even the night they got drunk and did the deed, it was only the hazy afterglow of booze that made them think the night had magic.

I lost all respect for George, who is always looking to trade up. When he set his sights on Meredith in the very beginning, it seemed like a puppy who just didn’t know any better. She was so out of his league. Then Callie fell for him and all he could think about was anyone BUT Callie.

You’re a loser, Georgie.

Tonight was a particularly charming and touching episode, with one notable exception. Bailey. My idol, Dr. Miranda Bailey showed that she should have gotten the job as chief resident. She was sassy and brassy like always, but when Dr. Richard Webber told her she had the job he should have given her in the first place, she broke down and cried like a little baby.

Next week, Dr. Bailey (CHANDRA WILSON) treats her high school crush (D.B. WOODSIDE) (ABC/CRAIG SJODIN)

Not my Dr. Bailey.

She might have held back some tears, maybe a little head-dip to hide her watery eyes. But a full-on sobbing fit as she crumbled into Richard’s chest. Oh, I don’t think so.

We did like the movement in Meredith’s forward motion to become more human. She’s had her moments in past seasons, but not so many lately. Tonight, Meredith redeemed herself with a father who recently adopted an infant, only to have his wife fall ill and die in the hospital. He doesn’t think he’s can handle single fatherhood. But he eventually comes around after Meredith points him in the right direction.

ROCKMOND DUNBAR, CHYLER LEIGH, SANDRA OH, PATRICK DEMPSEY (ABC/RON TOM)

And we get to see Meredith and Lexie’s dad as a drunk when Karev takes Lexie home. Very telling moment that shows, despite what Meredith thinks, Lexie did not have a Norman Rockwell childhood.

Dr. Hahn’s making Cristina’s life a living hell, yet we still like her. Especially when she tells McSteamy, when he comes on to her at the bar, that he doesn’t really find her attractive. He just likes the way she handles herself around the hospital.

ERIC DANE and BROOKE SMITH

Very insightful, doctor. We still think there might be some heat coming from that duo, however.

What I really like, however, is how McDreamy and McSteamy are buddies again. Now there’s some chemistry in action.

ERIC DANE, PATRICK DEMPSEY (ABC/RON TOM)