Still doubting Allison

I don't know to what extent the NBC series Medium reflects the real-life experiences of police psychic Allison DuBois. Certainly some names have to be changed, some characters composited, some things explained more often than they would have to in real life. Still, for the hour that I watch the show, I buy into the idea that psychics are real and that they can help the police. But what has me wondering is the continued skepticism Allison gets from Devalos and Scanlon.

When Allison goes up to someone she's never met before and warns them about something they wouldn't even think to worry about, it's completely understandable that they would be very skeptical. But Devalos and Scanlon ought to know bettter by now. In episode after episode, Allison starts out making improbable-sounding claims that are proven to be exactly right at the end. In too many episodes Scanlon says things along the lines of "I don't know what to tell you" and "We already have the perp." Devalos fares a little better, saying things along the lines of "Even if that's true, I can't do anything about it without more information." Still, it gets tiresome to see them in episode after episode acting as if Allison is completely crazy and then at the end not thanking her for leading them to perp and/or victim.

Granted that in last night's episode, "The Devil Inside" (Part I), Scanlon was right to call Allison's identification of the dentist as the jogger's killer a mistake. But he couldn't possibly know that the now-dead Lucas Harvey is interfering with the veracity of Allison's dreams.

Why so surprised at Susan Boyle?

Normally I don't nitpick reality TV, but I just have to say something about Susan Boyle. By now you've probably seen the YouTube clip from Britain's Got Talent in which the 47-year-old woman is met with great skepticism, and then she starts singing and everyone is amazed. Would we be making a big deal about a beautiful woman with the same voice? What is so special about Susan Boyle? There are plenty of people in the world who can sing very well. There are plenty of people in the world who are ugly. And there are plenty of ugly people in the world who can sing very well. And there are good-looking people who can't really sing: why do you think lip-synching was invented?

I know you don't want to say it, but Susan Boyle is ugly: she makes Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney, from the Drew Carey Show) look like a beauty queen. I'm not saying Susan Boyle should want to conform to the Hollywood standards of beauty, but would it kill her to put on a little make-up? Don't go to the Mimi Bobeck extreme, but a dab'll do you. Regardless, I don't think there is anything surprising about Susan Boyle. I wish her well, I might even buy her album, but I'm not going to pretend she's done anything groundbreaking.

Why can't we nitpick the upcoming Star Trek movie?

Rules are rules, but I would hope this blog's owner would consider allowing us to nitpick the upcoming Star Trek movie from J. J. Abrams. I have seen the trailer a few times, and it seems to me like the film will present a major rewriting of Kirk's backstory. I certainly don't think Kirk was a goody-two-shoes in his Starfleet Academy days, but judging from the trailer, the movie will make him out to be a real rebel-without-a-cause. I could be wrong about this, since movie trailers often distort what the movie really is about. In any case, I can say for sure that this new movie represents a desperate attempt to reach beyond the fan-base. What fans will think we'll have to wait and see. But when franchises try to extend their appeal beyond their fan-base, continuity is usually the first thing to be chucked along the wayside.

For how many months do you carry a premature baby?

The show: JAG
The episode: "A Separate Peace," Part II, first aired November 28, 2000, now available on DVD. This episode resumes both the main thread of Part I, the investigation into then-Lt. Boone's alleged war crimes in Vietnam, and the subplot of Bud and Harriet dealing with the loss of baby Sarah. (Terry O'Quinn, more familiar from LOST, is present-day Boone, while Darin Cooper plays the Vietnam-era Boone).
What happened: As Bud buries himself in medical textbooks, Harriet goes see Harm for advice. Harriet tells Harm she carried the baby for nine months.
Why it's not quite right: Though the normal gestation for humans is indeed nine months, writer Stephen Zito apparently forgot to consult with Mark Saraceni, writer of "The Princess and the Petty Officer" (two episodes back) regarding all the details of Harriet's labor. In that episode, Bud and Harriet were caught completely by surprise, and Harriet said to the doctor that there were still weeks left, to which the doctor predictably says that the baby is coming out now anyway. So Harriet only carried the baby for eight months. Though this in no way lessens the tragedy of losing a baby, one would think a mother would not get this fact wrong about her own child, even in a conversation as emotional as the one Harriet has with Harm.

The myth of Family Guy discontinuity

Supposedly Family Guy has no continuity whatsoever, and Wikipedia, the grand bastion of ignorance, stupidity and fighting on the Internet, is trying very hard to cement this myth. The encyclopedia that once mixed up Canada and the United States, and routinely slanders politicians past and present, has on several occasions tried to say that because of the "throwaway" gags used on the show, the show doesn't have continuity. This myth, lacking journalistic and scholarly support, is grown on the "talk" pages of Wikipedia, which goes to show you that you can't believe anything on any Wikipedia page. Most recently (to my knowledge) Elecmahm said that "Anyone looking for continuity in this show is going to be gravely disappointed" and that "Even the show lampoons that about itself." Wikipedia's editors lack the sophistication to know that the show is actually lampooning perceptions (and misperceptions) people have of it. When Seth MacFarlane said that South Park understood the show correctly, he was just being a good sport, much unlike South Park's creators.

Granted that Family Guy has had slip-ups of continuity, and when they occur this blog will try to be the first to point them out. But myth-busting demands that we take the unusual step of lauding the show for at least some of its continuity plusses. The best batch of episodes to do that with is, in my opinion, the fourth season, when the show came back from cancellation and could very well have taken the opportunity to discard continuity built up prior to the first cancellation. Instead, these episodes reassert prior continuity and build on it. So:

1. "North by North Quahog" Tom Tucker's son, Jake, who had an upside-down face when he was introduced in "Brian Does Hollywood," still has an upside-down face and Brian can't avoid a Freudian slip about it.
2. "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High" Chris is still at Buddy Cianci Jr. High.
3. "Blind Ambition" Peter once again fights the Giant Chicken introduced in "Holy Crap."
4. "Don't Make Me Over" Lois is still trying to make Meg more appealing to boys.
5. "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire" Instead of counting on viewers to forget about Loretta, the writers actually felt a need to write Cleveland's wife out of the show by having her cheat on him with Quagmire.
6. "Petarded" This one just confirms what viewers must've suspected from the first episode, that Peter is retarded.
7. "Brian the Bachelor" Brian still has trouble finding the right woman.
8. "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter" Meg is surprised to hear that Neil Goldman is no longer interested in her.
9. "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do"
10. "Model Misbehavior" This episode builds on one of the consequences of Lois's privileged upbringing, first established in "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater."
11. "Peter's Got Woods" Peter and Brian's friendship is tested and ultimately affirmed in this episode.
12. "Perfect Castaway" With Peter lost at sea, Brian takes the opportunity to marry Lois, whom he's lusted after since at the earliest "Brian in Love."
13. "Jungle Love" The writers felt the need to advance Chris to high school. It's social promotion, but continuity development nevertheless.

I think that's quite enough, so I'll break it off there. When it comes to continuity, Family Guy actually fares as well as other scripted shows. And when it comes to credibility, television in general fares a lot better than Wikipedia.