Okay, full confession…I was actually kind of sick this week, and I missed both AL and Dan’s workshops at MY SUMMER CRUSH this week.  Boo! But, the show must go on, am I right?  So without further ado, here’s part two of my Tuesday/Wednesday workshop comparison, now being settled by the TV shows I watched those nights.

Tuesday night was my first night home sick, and I like to think I was receiving divine guidance from Dan Lajoie (whose workshop I was missing that evening) as I uploaded teevee episodes to my flash USB drive to sit and watch while blowing my nose repeatedly.  I ended up with a lot, but settled on the following four episodes…let’s see how the evening played out:

Episode 1 – CHUCK.  Right, catching up on Chuck season 5…final season!  Exciting!  This one was kind of a Christmas episode, not my fav’rit, but it actually ended up being kind of badass.  Brandon Routh was in it…you might remember him from being a terrible Superman a few years ago (before the currently terrible Superman took over).  Anyways, he gets beat up in it, so THAT’S good.  And it made some neat advances in the season-long arc, so lets call that 2 points for Dan.

Episode 2 – THE TIME TUNNEL.  Oooh, and oldie and a goodie!  Irwin Allen time-travel goodness, and this one was a pretty unusually cool one.  Fuckin’ Robert Duvall was the guest star, sabotaging the Time Tunnel and leading Doug and Tony on a chase over two million years across.  Plus foil-wearing future humans, and implied dino-bees!  A whopping 3 points for Sir Lajoie right here!

Episode 3 – THE BORGIAS.  Have you watched this show yet?  It’s basically GAME OF THRONES without the dragons.  I think we might be living in a new Golden Age of Television when companies are competing to make the most expensive, violent softcore porn they can.  Anyhow, this one was about new Pope Jeremy Irons getting his daughter Lucrezia married off, while various intrigue-plots prance bloodily along in the sidelines.  Only 1 point for this one though, because the rape scene made me feel all icky.

Episode 4 – VEEP.  Hey, didn’t I watch the first ep of this, like, ages ago?  Time for the second one! Why not?  Julia Louis Dreyfuss (who still looks goddam lovely, might I say) as a hilariously powerless Vice President, in this one failing to push through several pet projects while managing to fuck up a photo-op at a Frozen Yoghurt shop.  Funny show.  A few poop jokes.  2 more points to Dan, for a grand total of 8.  Not bad, mister Lajoie!  Good workshop!

And over on AL’s night, here’s what his spirit guided me to view…

Episodes 1 and 2: CHUCK.   Would ya look at that?  A Chuck double-bill!  The dreaded DoubleChuck!  AL Connors does NOT fool around, folks.  On tonight was a cool one featuring some Sarah backstory (we like Sarah, mmmmm), with a guest appearance by former Charlie’s Angel Cheryl Ladd.  Excellent nostalgia factor there, and some surprisingly hardcore fight scenes.  3 points!  The second one was weaker…some goofy romance with Adam Baldwin and the lady from the Matrix, blah blah blah. I started to miss the Intersect before this one was over. Only 1 point there.

Episode 3: THE FINDER.  A new one for me, the first episode of a one-season wonder that most of you probably don’t remember ever hearing about.  Honestly, I can’t really recall why it’s even on my hard drive, but there you go.  It’s about some dashing Iraq war vet who suffered brain damage and now he’s really good at finding things, because that makes perfect sense.  It was actually a lot more watchable than it sounds, and props for the late Michael Clarke Duncan being in it…his booming voice is always a treat.  Good quirk in this show.  A solid 2 pointer.

Episode 4: COMMANDER IN CHIEF.  Did you ever really want to watch the West Wing, but wished it weren’t THAT good?  Have I got the show for you!  Featuring Geena Davis as an uppity independent woman who becomes President (the nerve..!), this ep features her trying to secure a Veep of her own.  Arch-enemy Donald Sutherland wants Bruce Boxleitner to get the nod, but Geena has her heart set on Peter Coyote, because fuck Babylon 5.  A point for Donald Sutherland, and a point for being slightly (slightly) better than the first episode.

That brings AL to a total of 8…and it’s another tie!  I can’t believe it!  It’s almost as if I’m too wishy-washy to declare a victor!!  Although props to Dan for tackling a lady President show with a lady Vice-President show.  That’s the kind of plucky, underdog spirit we like here at the Visitorium.  I think this kid Lajoie is one to watch out for, folks.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have soup to eat, noses to blow (well, one, anyway) and clearly MUCH more teevee to watch.  Peace, love and soul, folks,

Kevin Reid, the Visitor (and Winston)