So Far, So Mediocre

Two BBT4 games down for me so far. So far? Out on hands I play no differently any day of the week. But as always, I can't focus on individual hands for my ousting.

I've been playing far too weak-loose so far. Yesterday's Riverchaser's game was an exercise in doubling up and giving it away, only to double up again. I had almost no follow-up bets, folded far too much to any pressure, and basically played like I was against the bloggers from the first BBT, not the ones who have actually discovered c-bets, turn bluffs, re-raises, and storytelling. I'll have to step it up.

Or stop catching up on Heroes and Dollhouse (two incredibly mediocre items themselves) while playing.

Skillz tonight, but I doubt I'll make it. Mookie tomorrow, and I MIGHT show up for that, but I'll probably be late.

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Heroes - Haven't seen last night's episode yet, but the previous two were two hours of yawn. Hiro discovers he can be a hero without his powers? I think I wrote something about that once. Incredilame. And Mohinder stays behind to bitch at Parkman about stuff? I dunno, if your main objective is to run and hide from people trying to catch you, than maybe going to your home country, where there are over a billion other people and a terribly inefficient government and infrastructure might be an option you'd look at?

And of course, Parkman continues being a dolt. He probes Noah's mind and skips the part where Angela and him come up with a plan to undermine the entire operation? Or was that just Noah blocking it from him? No... Parkman's just a moron. And it should be a surprise to absolutely nobody that Daphne is still alive.

Bah. Lame.

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Dollhouse - I'm an episode behind on this one too. The second episode was better than the first, but was all kinds of uneven in terms of plotting and editing. There MAY be hope for this, but right now it feels far too scattershot to come together cohesively. I think Joss will have another early cancelation on this one, but without the huge DVD sales to save his hide.

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BSG - Well, this is still good TV at least. I seriously question how they can effectively wrap up all the loose ends with only a handful of epsiodes left. There could be some rushing here.

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Jimmy Fallon - One episode, especially when Robert DeNiro is your first guest, isn't enough to go by, but Jimmy better shape up fast or Chevy might get a run for his money on "shortest life of a talk show."

The opening was WEAK. It's like they took Weekend Update's rejected jokes and used them. Plus, Jimmy's eyes never left the cue cards, which was obvious to anyone who was looking in the general direction of the TV.

The stuff with Conan pre-monologue wasn't that bad though. Mostly due to Conan. "Jay isn't leaving." - classic.

Here's the thing, DeNiro and Fallon are obviously at least semi-friends from the handful of stuff they did together on SNL, but Fallon was reacting like he'd never spoken to the guy in his life. Yah, DeNiro is a terrible interview, but Jimmy was sweating buckets... you could almost see the audience in the reflection off his forehad. And the DeNiro "I'm Jimmy Fallon" impression was funny, but lifted directly from when he did it on SNL.

Then Justin Timberlake came on and proved once again that he's just cool. I don't like the guy's music, but if he decided to be a regular cast member on SNL or host his own talk show, I'd watch. He strolls in to the Barry Gibb Talk Show theme (go Roots), instantly puts Fallon at ease, jokes around easily, turns to "Bob DeNiro" and jokes briefly, gets the audience laughing, gets Jimmy being a bit more spontaneous, and generally has a great time and saves the show. If they make it Late Night with Justin Timberlake next week, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

I expect Jimmy will be equally at ease when Tina Fey is on, and maybe less nervous with the other A-minus and B-list celebs he's got this week. There may be hope for him, but he has to relax and find some spontaneity.

As I said on Twitter - not Chevy bad... maybe Sajak bad.

I imagine that Craig Ferguson could see a boost in his ratings.