Sit back and rejoice fellow TV junkies, our favourite time of the year is here: season and series premier time!

Oh the chills this gives me.

Just think about it: hours upon hours of must-see-tv, plot twists are resolved and new ones created, cliff hangers left over from last season are resurrected, and the laughter/drama/suspence continues for yet another blissful season.

Sigh.

Two of my absolute favourite shows debuted this week, “Las Vegas” on Monday night on NBC (9:00 p.m. ET) and “Lost”, Wednesday night on ABC (9:00 p.m. ET).

They are completely opposite programs: one is a flashy, soap opera-esque show about pretty people in pretty clothes hanging out in Sin City while the other is a gritty, spooky drama about plane crash survivors battling mysterious “others” on an island straight out of the Twilight Zone. And a newly-minted Emmy award-winning drama I might add.

Vegas-style extravagance versus basic survival and human instinct, I love them both.

But just as they differ in content, one show came out strong in its season opener, while the other was weaker, lacking the excitement I had hoped for.

Let’s begin with “Las Vegas”. I’ll be completely honest and say if it wasn’t for Josh Duhamel (Danny McCoy) I would not watch this show, this man is a piece of art.

And I know it seems like I pick a different actor to oggle evry week but really, he is the one and only original crush; above them all, even Anderson Cooper.

But even he couldn’t get me into the season opener. Last season ended with a bang (literally) with everyone losing their jobs and the Montecito being levelled making way for a new casino with a brand-new owner. Danny’s father had died suddenly, Nessa and Delinda went off to England in search of Nessa’s father and Mary was getting hot and heavy with her new beau Jake.

Season three opened with the original team scattered but many issues still unresolved. So the Montecito is rebuilt, it has a new owner, great but how come Danny is so easily convinced to come back to work despite repeat denials that he would? What the hell happened to Nessa? Is she off the show for good? This secrecy plot is seriously losing my interest and here’s why: if you’re gonna make me care about a character disappearing, give the character adequate screen time BEFORE HAND so I actually feel a loss of some sort!

And since everyone except for Sam, Danny and Mike refused to come back to the Montecito? Why did they all suddenly appear at the end of the episode as if nothing had happened? And the bad-guy robbing the casino plot? Been there done that.

But maybe I am getting ahead of myself, it was ONLY the first episode after all.

I introduce to you my loyal readers my completely scientific 10-point scale on which I will base all my future rankings of episode watcheability.

I give the premier of “Las Vegas” a six out of 10(10 being “OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO WATCH” and 1 being “Wow,I’d actually rather be reading my Canadian History textbook”).

Lost on the other hand had me fidgeting in my seat wondering what the hell was in that hatch! Great pacing, just enough of a tease to make me die of impatience waiting for next week’s episode and enough clues to help me formulate my idea about what really is happening on the island.

Just the right amount of explanation and plot-futhering, J.J. Abrams really is a genius.

Lost gets a solid nine, but if I don’t completely understand what’s in the hatch by episode three, there will be some major retaliation!






Related Stories: