Praise of Folly

House's House

House actually lives at 221B! Erasmus laughs and applauds...

House is where the Holmes is

Erasmus was very entertained by the B story of this week's House, in which Dr. House comes closer to Mr. Holmes's lifestyle. Dr. Watson, er, Wilson, has moved into House's house at (cough) 221, apparently bringing with him his own Mrs. Hudson (a housekeeper played by Yareli Arizmendi). Erasmus needs to review Dr. House's domicile more closely to see if there's a Persian slipper nailed to the wall...

As far as the episode, "Clueless," went, Erasmus called the general solution early. However, the source of the problem was something of a violation of the fair-play canon that they generally adhere to. Mexico turned out to have been key, but beyond that, it was a bit impossible for the general viewer to guess. Still, pretty good stuff. And doubtless it was catnip for the fans rooting for Drs. House and Cameron's relationship.

(And, yes, Erasmus caught that Blackadder is on House's TiVo...)

The Seven-Percent Saline Solution

Erasmus is amused by the further Holmesian evolution in Dr. Gregory House. Just as Holmes would stimulate himself with cocaine when the world was too boring, it seems Dr. House's quest for pain-killers gets stronger when he's bored, as his boss proved with a faux-morphine shot. Well done.

Damno!

Ok, folks, Erasmus has been on hiatus. Little Elmo is keeping him busy, and the transcontinental travel hasn't been helping. Especially since, as a man of the sixteenth century, Erasmus tends to travel on horseback. But still, in Erasmus's absence, you all need to support the good folly out there. Like Arrested Development. It's the best sitcom on the air right now, and yet it's in danger. Even if you don't care for it, try and keep it on the air so that other oddball works of genius can make it. Set your TiVos, buy the DVD sets as Christmas gifts for your friends and loved ones, maybe even tune in yourself, before it disappears into the Aztec Tomb forever...

Inside, Outside, Upside-Down

Erasmus apologizes for posting yet again about The Inside, but there's not a hell of a lot going on in the televisual world. (Monk and The Dead Zone are back, and welcome, but haven't inspired much comment from Erasmus, though John Smith's potential psychic love interest is intriguing. Family Guy is fine. Oh, and reruns of The Tick are out in the far reaches of cable, hurrah.)

Erasmus caught "Thief of Hearts" last night. Once again, Erasmus isn't terribly whelmed. The writers were far too premature in playing the Case That Haunts Him card for good-guy Paul Ryan. They should have established him as a solid, moral guy for much longer before going all dark-side. See Homicide for how to do character development.

Speaking of which, Erasmus hopes it's mere whimisical editing on Fox's part in which "next week's all new The Inside" (sigh) implies an out-of-work Webster has taken up sadistic serial killing as a retirement hobby. Ye gods. If that's the case, Erasmus has got to cut the show loose. Erasmus is with P.J. O'Rourke who, back in his hilarious days, noted that poverty is an insufficient sole cause of crime, because (Erasmus quotes from memory), "If you hoovered Thurgood Marshall's bank account tomorrow, he wouldn't be down at the Port Authority bus terminal smoking crack." Similarly, the implication that somehow Webster has been "channelling dark impulses into his work" and that absent that vent, he's going to start carving up hookers? Erasmus is familiar with John Douglas's work and "precipitating incidents" and all, but puh-leez.

He'll ascribe it to puckish editing until proven wrong. Deo favente.

Armanius

Ok, The Inside got Erasmus on that one. Cutesy po-mo, but good cutesy po-mo. He laughed.

In "The Loneliest Number" Rebecca Locke, a/k/a Clarice Starling, is being stripped by a killer who says, "Let's see if you've got some saddlebags under all that Armani." Armani... Jodie Foster... Clarice? Eh? Eh? Not bad, kids.

Oh, and while Erasmus has you, let him bitch a bit about Fox's ungrammatical ads. It always used to drive Erasmus batty when they'd say, Up next, an all-new The X-Files. What's up with the two articles?! And now it's an all-new The Inside. Maketh Erasmus nuts. The USA Network, of all people, pay attention to this, saying, "An all-new episode of..." The Dead Zone, The 4400, what have you. Fox: Chicago Manual of Style, 7.135. Quoth Handy, Read a book!

"The Loneliest Number," decent plot, good character development. Placet.

Ha! Erasmus was right!

Erasmus's suspicion of The Inside as Clarice Starling: The Series is proven correct.

SANTA MONICA, California (AP) -- The original concept for "The Inside" was something akin to "21 Jump Street."

But it's turned out to be more like " 'The Silence of the Lambs' for TV," says executive producer Tim Minear, who was brought in to revamp the Fox network's Wednesday night series.

[...]

"I looked at Rachel and I thought she had a kind of a little bit of a Jodie Foster thing going on," says Minear, explaining how he hit on the idea of a young FBI agent investigating particularly heinous crimes.

[Source]

Erasmus does his Sixteenth-Century Victory Dance. (And is even less impressed with the po-mo jab since now it just looks like they're being cutesy rather than tricky!) Be sure to mouse over Miss Nichols' picture on Erasmus's original post for a little joke he hid there.

Meanwhile, Gustatus Superus lives in hope over on the Trireme of Love.

Memento Mori

Erasmus is saddened to learn of the passing of two television shows. Over on the Trireme of Love Gustatus Superus laments the apparently immanent cancellation of The Inside.

The three episodes he's seen haven't entirely sold Erasmus on the show, but he readily concedes it had potential and could have used more time to fulfill it. Fox continues its self-designated rôle as the network most willing to put on interesting, unusual series and then yank them far too quickly.

Secondly, Erasmus, perhaps last to know, mourns the end of the afterlife of Dead Like Me, a neat, oddball show which was quite unlike anything else on TV. Erasmus wishes its talented cast and crew future successes.

Requiescant in pace.

Penetralis

At the urging of Gustatus Superus over on the Trireme of Love, Erasmus tuned into The Inside (dreadful title, incidentally, which seems to be left over from an earlier incarnation when the show was centered around an undercover cop) on Fox this evening. Were it not for his insistence, Erasmus would have given it a pass because it looked like a lame attempt to create Clarice Starling: The Series. While for the time being, Erasmus will withdraw "lame," he isn't entirely convinced it's not CS:TS, even in the writers' minds. You cannot throw off Erasmus with po-mo references to the very work you're drawing inspiration from!

Erasmus thought it had some fairly clever plotting, though the visuals were standard issue Underlit Cop Show (à la The X-Files and C.S.I.) and the colloquy between Webster & Locke at the crime scene (where of course, they never turn on a light) was straight out of the überlame Crossing Jordan (Claire Kincaid, whither hast thou gone?). From some of the creators' comments, as well as the recurring dialogue at the end of the show, the larger story arc will be Virgil Webster (good name, incidentally: guide to the underworld and scheming manipulator) vs. (St.) Paul Ryan for the soul of Miss Locke, which has some promise, especially given the Dark Past she's been given. That said, Erasmus is usually quite distrustful of series which offer such long-arc teases. Episodic television is almost always too inconsistent from week to week, much less season to season, as different writers take over. The British do this better than the Americans, given their single-author shows. (That said, the more-personalized British system is also much more amateurish [in the literal, rather than derogatory sense] and consequently produces far less good television in a given year.)

So, will The Inside go the way of The X-Files, Twin Peaks, or Lost in simply adding plot twists willy-nilly until their arcs arc into incoherence? Erasmus will likely hang with the show for at least the "summer season" to find out. Why? The acting was good, the plot pretty clever, and the cast likeable. (Though Erasmus remembers Peter Coyote before he became the second coming of Cigarette Smoking Man [cf. The 4400], back when he was the lounge lizard in Eurotrash soft porn opposite the likes of Greta Scacchi.)

Finally, Erasmus will be dead certain to watch at least one episode which appears to be an homage to (or ripoff of, whichever) A Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr, more about whom anon. Erasmus has a soft spot for writers who read the same stuff he does.

The Inside: Nondum placet, autem maneo.

Note to Fox: The official website would be much more atmospheric without the liposuction banner ads.

Paterfamilias

Erasmus was amused to see Fox's reanimated Family Guy, not least because it's the first time Erasmus can remember a network resurrecting a series so many years after cancelling it. It's a remarkable admission of error. The show itself is generally hilarious, though not for the easily offended. Erasmus enjoyed seeing many of the old characters back, from Creepy Old Guy to Greased Up Deaf Guy. He was a little nonplussed by the recharacterization as Brian the Dog as a far-left liberal, reading Michael Moore and sticking a Kucinich bumpersticker on his hybrid car. The writers don't seem to be entirely back in the swing of things, but "North By North Quahog" was ok.

The line that Erasmus remembers best from the season première, however, was from the teaser.

PETER: Everybody, I've got bad news. We've been cancelled.

LOIS: Oh no! Peter, how could they do that?

PETER: Well, unfortunately, Lois, there's just no more room on the schedule. We've just got to accept the fact that Fox has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel; Titus; Undeclared; Action; That 80's Show; Wonderfalls; Fastlane; Andy Richter Controls the Universe; Skin; Girls Club; Cracking Up; The Pitts; Firefly; Get Real; FreakyLinks; Wanda At Large; Costello; The Lone Gunmen; A Minute With Stan Hooper; Normal, Ohio; Pasadena; Harsh Realm; Keen Eddie; The Street; American Embassy; Cedric the Entertainer; The Tick; Louie; and Greg the Bunny.

LOIS: Is there no hope?

PETER: Well, I suppose if all those shows go down the tubes, we might have a shot...

SMASH CUT to CREDITS

Droll.

Family Guy placet. (Adults only, please.)

Fox, in this instance, ave.