Tube Talk: Super show

I was going to take off after the Big Game ended, but ABC started airing “Grey’s Anatomy” pretty quickly. I hadn’t seen the show since the first episode left me uninterested. Although I was only vaguely familar with the show or its characters, tonight’s episode drew me in.

After opening with a rather pedestrian woman feeling down after a romantic situation ended badly, the show was off to the races. There were a dozen plot threads running almost to the point of implausabilty (for example, the cranky, pregnant head doctor in labor while her husband is going through brain surgery after an accident en route to the hospital), but darn if it wasn’t good TV with a engaging mix of comedic and dramatic moments.

Things were moving so fast, I told my friend that it was a two-part episode to minimize the bummage factor when the inevitable cliffhanger came. And it was a doozy — finding one of the main characters holding an embedded explosive in place in a victim’s body.

I didn’t say it to Joel at the time, but I really liked the bright image from his HD TV. True, the local ABC affillate wasn’t airing an HDTV feed, but the broadcast via Dish looked pretty clear. I must definitely mention this when I see him again. I’d be very interested to see how BSG looks when it airs on the NBC Universal HD channel.

OTOH, the remote for the DISH DVR looked like a control panel on a 737. There’s a ton of buttons and I still don’t know what a third of them do.

And lastly, I probably shouldn’t have been talking so much during the broadcast. People didn’t seem annoyed, but it’s probably a little rude and annoying. Also, my hit-to-noise ratio was probably a little low (although there was one good laugh somewhere).