Let’s Hear It for Ruby (and the Rockits)

RUBY AND THE ROCKITS: 1.01 “The Pilot”

I’m not going to say it was bad. It wasn’t.

But I’m not going to say it’s good. Unfortunately, somehow Ruby and the Rockits has missed a few decades. Somehow, and I can’t quite distinguish how, this show seems to echo the 1980s or 1990s sitcom style as opposed to today’s style. Maybe late 1990s sitcom–think Olsen twins post Full House.

I don’t necessarily think about the styles of today’s sitcoms. Maybe more laughter. Maybe more reality. It seemed…staged. I’m not quite sure how else to say it. The jokes seemed forced. Or predictable. Or at least something you’d expect, like you heard it before. A few years ago.

Maybe 20 years ago. 10…15 or so.

Anyway, I’m not saying the show was bad. There’s promise. I still have hope. Yes, I watched it because of David Cassidy (who looks horrible, by the way, despite how he’s trying to hide it). But the fact that David “Gallagher” is the self-absorbed star-gone-bad is not exactly surprising. His brother, on the other hand, seems a little more original, though still, there’s something about it…

Let’s look at the living arrangement. Uncle happily takes in newly discovered niece? Too easy. And the apartment. For a second there, I thought they just took the entire set from Two and a Half Men. It is different, but barely. Anyway…

Back to Ruby. There’s not much to her…at least right now. She goes to find him to prove to her friend that David is her father, and then decides to move in? The most realistic part about her was her story just telling her how she came about David himself.

And another thing, that David–such a pompous star–would list his address on Facebook? Not likely to happen. (Though the Facebook joke was funny.)

Right now, the standout star of the show seems to be Kurt Doss, who plays Ben. He’s handed the most effective one-liners. Very Jake Harper of Two and a Half Men (at least the early years). Which is unfortunate. I’ve been very impressed with Alexa Vega. I mean, she has a voice, which was not as impressive as it could have been in this episode. This episode screams Hannah Montana, even though there are some clear differences. For one, Vega doesn’t sound nearly as great as Miley Cyrus–at least with the material in this episode. Again, unfortunate. I mean, I saw her in Repo!. The girl can sing.

Plus, the moral? Appreciate your family? Seems a little too forced. Sitcoms these days don’t really have morals. They’re just for entertainment.

I don’t know. I feel like I’ve babbled my way through various issues with the show. But I’m still willing to give it a chance. I don’t know why. ABC Family doesn’t seem to impress me anymore, but I’m willing to try with this one. Perhaps it’s because all of the jokes were in the promos, so I think there might be freshness left? Perhaps it’s my hope for Alexa Vega?

I don’t know. But I’ll keep going for now. It wasn’t terrible, just something unoriginal, considering the premise.

One thing, though, is that they have to stop the fact that Jordan seems to be attracted to Ruby. They’re cousins. They’ve said it. They’ve established it. There’s a blurred line between funny and just weird/incestuous. Please keep that in mind, ABC Family. I’d suggest stopping it sooner than later.

Either way, we’ll look at next week to make the hard decisions. Let’s see how it goes. I mean, the ending was cute afterall. We’ll see what happens.

Raising the Bar: Who’s Paying Your Bills?

RAISING THE BAR: 2.07 “Fine and Dandy”

I’ll admit it. I was wrong. Very very wrong. Gavin did kill himself, and while some of his actions seemed out of character, I guess that’s just to prove how psychotic he really was, especially when it came to Bobbi.

Poor Bobbi. And for that matter, stupid Jerry! Why would Jerry just naturally assume that nothing was wrong? I mean, I’m sure he assumed she was upset, but I saw from a mile away that she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him. I mean, even just seeing him would be a constant reminder of the night she found Gavin hanging from the ceiling of her apartment. The apartment that she fought so hard to get–that Roz helped her get without her knowing.

And doesn’t that make it sadder? In the end, she’ll move out and desert her grandmother’s apartment. I mean, could you stay there? I don’t even know if I could go back to pack things up. Especially when so much would remind her of Gavin himself.

I thought this would end up being a Bobbi-centric episode, and maybe her conflict with Jerry at the end was made that much stronger because it wasn’t a Bobbi-centric episode. For someone who was in the periphery the entire episode, it just makes those strong feelings that much more pointed.

So instead of Bobbi, we focused on Richard and Jerry’s clients. I loved seeing Richard in court. He’s someone that we don’t get to see that often, but you can see that he’s got the biggest heart of all–a heart that is bigger than ever Roz’. And I loved seeing him fight for his client, even if he lost. His closing statement was strong and moving. It’s just too bad.

And it didn’t surprise me that he wanted to pay for the client. I liked Roz’ explanation. I thought it was against procedure, but I hadn’t thought about all the other clients–the ones that aren’t even Richard’s clients that he can’t pay for. It’s sad but true. He can help…just not with money.

But that’s not the only person paying for someone else. What about Jerry’s client? It was heartbreaking to find out that he had two more years. The look on Jerry’s face when he realized they had lost, and the look on his client’s when he found out that his previous two years didn’t count toward his penance. It was just sad.

And then to find out that in the end, he knew who had the gun in the first place. Why didn’t he tell? Protection. He was paying the kid’s bill, just so that his kid could get himself and education, get himself out of trouble. It was sad to see, knowing that this guy behind bars was really the innocent one (and to be caught by parole officers of all things). But an interesting side story anyway.

My big vent of the episode, though, was Jerry. He seemed blind to Bobbi’s pain and more righteous than usual. I mean, more so than when his client died. Imagine him in the bar, arguing against the bad practices of the parole judge. It just got tiring. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of a focus on others in the office, like Richard, Roz, and Bobbi, because honestly, Richard was the highlight of the episode.

In Plain Sight: Mobs and movies

IN PLAIN SIGHT: 2.12 “Training Video”

As you know from last week, I’m new to In Plain Sight. This is actually only my second time watching the show, but so far so good. I’m quite enjoying it.

This week especially, though, made me realize how much I need to go back and watch season one. Not only because there wasn’t as much gunfire and tension (therefore making me wonder which side of the coin is the typical episode–lots of action or caring for those already in the progarm), but because there were serious personal developments for Mary–having Raph move in without her permission (so to speak) and dealing with the secret she’s been carrying for quite a while.

Actually, it was great juxtaposing her with the training video. The fact that she seemed to be so hesitant to weigh in and angry at the portrayal when she was dealing with the exact emotions they were discussion. Not that I was too thrilled with the final version. Must it always be the woman who’s upset?

Anyway, I’m very interested to find out where the story goes now, now that she’s told Raph what she does for a living. I watched the video–that’s a big no-no. But now more than ever, I want to go back and see what her relationship with Raph was like before, why it’s strained now that they’re in a solid commitment. Was it her secret? Are there other reasons that she’s holding back? And what does it mean to them now that she’s told him the truth?

On the other side of things was Marshall, who was helping his witness attend a funeral for his son. Of course, you know that I latched on to this story. I’m a sucker for sad old men on TV. Bitter men, no, but sad ones, yes.

I’m not sure what I thought about the actual funeral, though. I think that it was great that his family remembered him and that they still loved him. But to actually attack the guy who claimed to kill you all those years ago?

I guess the point is this: You can take the dog out of the fight, but you can’t take the fight out of the dog.

And that’s something really interesting to the series as a whole. I hope it’s something that doesn’t just get lost in the shuffle of a mid-season episode, especially with Mary’s cliffhanger ending. It’s something that needs to be considered for everyone that’s being brought in (or removing themselves) from the Witness Protection Program–and a danger to be dealt with.

I guess that’s something I would have known if I saw season one, right? I’m workin’ on it.

Oh, and must I say how much I enjoyed seeing Joshua Malina and Mary McCormack together again? Yeah, West Wing alums!