Another Hourly Mistake

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of the new show Reaper. Ray Wise should earn some sort of respectable award (although I'm sure he won't) for the squirrel-feeding, death-inducing, omelette-making suave satan.

However, I've found it doesn't warrant an hour (just like The Office). It forces some character moves for the sake of time, like the ongoing, ad nauseum crisis of our hero, Sam, against the Devil, even though Sam obviously enjoys now getting to be a badass and ridding the world of demons. So every time there's some sort of "Why do I have to do this?" whining versus the Devil even though Sam was glowing in triumph from his demon defeat the last week.

Plus, it takes forever to find and fight the demons, and even longer to muddle through Sam's latest obstacle to hooking up with Andi.

Last week's was above par and handled the lack of time constraints wonderfully. But I must say, packing a substantial amount of emotion and plot into a satisfying, not too rushed half hour is Aliens in America, the comedy about a Pakastani exchange student living with a frustrated nerd, and how their friendship both helps and hurts said nerd's high school existence. It's high concept that only needs 30 minutes a week to advance the story or else it too would become tired.

Only soap operas should be allowed to add filler to an hour broadcast, in my humble opinion.