Friday TV Roundup

The wild premiere week wraps up with the season premiere of Nikita, and series premiere of A Gifted Man.

1. The changes continue with Nikita as Amanda is in charge of Division (as much as she can be). It’s still hard to figure out each time whose side Alex is actually on. I guess she’s on her own side of what has become a power triangle. It’s always fun to see the Alex/Nikita fights as well. It was interesting to see Birkhoff to Nikita & Michael’s rescue – even if he also has his own agenda. I’m not too fond of the Amanda/Percy and Alex/Percy “Silence of the lambs” style of interrogations, with Percy being in the glass cage. I do love their banter – “I scratch your back, you whip mine?”

And how great is it to have appearances from Alberta Watson? I always love the Nikita-meets-La-Femme-Nikita moments.

2. The premiere of A Gifted Man basically freaked me out. First of all, the fast-paced neurosurgeon without a heart, who’s being visited by the ghost of his exwife is annoying. Secondly, an appearance by Bill Irwin right away in this episode freaked me out. I thought I was having another Raskell nightmare. Third, the first time I saw the ex-wife, Anna (played by Jennifre Ehle), I had a flash of Meryl Streep. Now I think instead of the character scheduling his own MRI, maybe I need one myself.

I think the only bright spot in this pilot was seeing Margo Martindale. I’ve seen her in a few things, but mainly remember her in “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town” with Marg.

The verdict on this show: one episode is half an episode too many.

3. On a different note, I saw a report today where a coroner declared an Irishman was killed by 'spontaneous human combustion'. The first thing that came to mind: Sara Sidle would have geeked out over the news. She was hoping to prove that in season 1 's "Face Lift" episode - you know, the whole 'pig in a nightgown' experiment.