It's TV Heaven (with a weight workout to boot)

For TV, the past few weeks have been simply wonderful. Some of my favorite shows have returned with a bang.



The ragtag fleet found Earth, only to discover it was lay waste by some sort of nuclear destruction. Weirdness abounded. The 13th tribe were Cylons, we now know that the last Cylon model was... Ellen Tigh? Starbuck really did die on Earth, yet she lives and breathes? The people who we discovered were Cylons are having memories of 2000 years in the past?

Most importantly about Galatica, Ronald D. Moore and Co. have been making it up as they go along.



After a 2-year absence, Jack Bauer's back! After questioning by Senator Clarence Boddicker, he's now working for the FBI. No wait, he's working for the immortal Methos. No, he's working with his former CTU cohort and current zombie, Soul Patch Tony Almeida. And to complicate matters, according to the episode description, next week, "Jack Bauer takes matters into his own hands."

You don't say?



Finally, the long-anticipated return of one of my favorite TV series of all time was tonight. Any series that's been around a while has its ups and downs, and Lost has certainly had its share of them. But tonight? Tonight, Lost regained all the excitement it had in the first episode and then some.

One thing I've complained about with a lot of shows, including Lost, is that at times they look down on the audience. You really can't blame the producers, it's one of those facts of life. How do you serialize something when people don't pay close enough attention to remember something that happened three years ago?

So they created "Previously on..." segments, but I've always viewed those as saying, "Look, we don't think you're intelligent enough to remember this, so here's a clip of it again." Unfortunately, in the process, they ruin the surprise that's coming up in the episode. The same thing happens with credit sequences, if you see certain actors or actresses in the opening credits, you know certain things will happen.

Tonight there was no "Previously on..." segment. I suppose you could argue that the repeat of the 3-hour finale last week, combined with the 1-hour special before the season premiere, was just an extended version. That may be true, but what happens if you watched just the premiere?

There were serious payoffs for longtime viewers. I didn't spend the time writing all of them down, but they were there. We didn't have to see a Previously on... segment to know the significance of the plane. The moment we saw it crash, we knew "when" Locke was. The compass that Richard gave to Locke, the same compass he was waiting for the child-Locke to pick so many years before. Hurley's father sitting down to watch Expose (somebody buy Cheech a Tivo). And let us not forget the dramatic return of Mrs. Hawking!

In the end, it was two extremely riveting hours. I'm seriously looking forward to the rest of the season.

Did I Mention My Workout?

Went to the gym today...

Warmup, 3 circuits, 30 seconds each exercise
* Jumping Jacks
* Split jacks
* Squats
* Lunges
* Mountain Climbers

Workout
* Elevated-heels High Bar Squat, 3x12x135lbs
* Weighted Back Extension, 3x12x25lbs
* Wide Grip Barbell Curl, 3x12x50lbs
* Incline Dumbell Triceps Extension, 2x12x(2x20lbs)

41 minutes, 265 calories burned

Then tonight after my extended 3-hour TV session:

100 Pushups, Week 3, Day 2(repeat): 20, 25, 15, 15, 30

Now I can happily go to bed. Tempo run tomorrow, and it's supposed to rain. Yippee! We need it, actually.