If you were cool and went out last night, you missed two hours of decent-ish television on the Fox network! Kind of unbelievable, I know. But Dollhouse and Terminator ain't bad.



Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a spin-off of the movies, obviously. It takes place a few years after T2, when John is an angsty teen and he has a new sexy Terminatrix named Cameron (Summer Glau from Firefly) who watches over him. I started watching this on Hulu when very bored one day during work approved free time, and got addicted. Lena Headey is badass and gunslinging as mama Sarah, Glau is creepy and appropriately robotic, Thomas Dekker is kinda crute, and, whoa!, Leven Rambin, Mary's terrible boyfriend-stealing sister, actually isn't bad. But the real good stuff right now is Garbage's Shirley Manson as an evil secret robot CEO and (be still beating body parts) 90210 alum Brian Austin Green as John's uncle from the future. He's grizzled and scruffy and looks better than ever. Plus, you know, he can actually act. I know the whole thing sounds dumb as hell, but the show is actually pretty enjoyable, what with all the shooting and big guns and stuff. Fun for, you know, a sad sober Friday stay-at-home.



The other nerdsville show last night was the series premiere of Joss "Buffy" Whedon's new paean to slinky, ass-kicking ladies, Dollhouse. It stars a surprisingly (like, seriously surprisingly) capable Eliza Dushku as a girl named Echo who is constantly reprogrammed with a new personality to carry out various tasks for a shadowy, wish-granting (sorta) company. Last night's episode was engaging, if a bit peculiar. If she's a new person all the time, how do we get to know "her"? I'll keep watching, though, because the new-every-week format is interesting, and I'm curious about the barely-teased-at-in-the-last-few-seconds mythology arc. In the hot boyz department (I need a cold shower, apparently) is the rock-cut Tahmoh Penikett as a dogged FBI agent trying to uncover the Dollhouse. Yes, Helo from Battlestar, you fucking dweed. (Talking to myself.)


No, nasty commenters, this isn't an advertisement for Fox. The rest of their shit sucks. Fair enough? These just happen to be decent shows that are on Friday nights and it's Saturday morning and we're all just trying to get through this thing together. OK?