Justice League Unlimited:
I was not a huge fan of the previous Justice League series on Cartoon Network. Despite a few really good episodes, mostly I thought it was a pretty big comedown from the amazing Batman: Animated Series and the almost-as-good Superman: Animated Series. Not enough story, and the action, while good, wasn't good enough to keep up with it. The dialogue tended to be kind of "kiddy-fied" and so did the stories. Oh, I watched it, and I think I've actually seen every episode once (and the good ones a couple of times), but I kept thinking, "Damn... it could have been so much more."

If the first episode of Justice League Unlimited is any indication, it might be "so much more." A note perfect (well, his voice was too young for me, but that's quibbling) Green Arrow, some great chemistry with Captain Atom and Supergirl, Brimstone (from Suicide Squad, and that's major bonus points in my book), and a ton of DC heroes, both big and small, in the background? This is the DC Universe cartoon I wanted to see. Not to mention that they didn't lose the action, in fact Green Arrow in action was some of the coolest superhero stuff I've seen in animation.

Turns out maybe the hour-long two-parters were giving the creators too much room to move. With only half an hour, and a wider cast of characters, they seem to have tightened up the stories and the dialogue (I chuckled at several lines in the episode) while maintaining what worked about the previous series. Looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.

Random TV Thoughts:
Thanks to my wife having started watching the show back when BBC America ran a marathon, I've checked out Coupling, and found it to be absolutely hilarious. It's currently in season four, which is where I started watching, but the episodes I've seen inspired me to rent the DVD of season one from Netflix, and it turns out the show has been laugh-out-loud funny from day one.

Which means that yet another TV show on my must watch list doesn't come from American network TV. The stuff that I always go for from the Tivo when I get a chance to watch TV these days is Coupling, Celebrity Poker Showdown (so pleased that they did basically *two* seasons this year, with another round starting right after the first championship match) and Dinner For Five.

Which is good, because I like watching TV, and the slate for next season is just bloody awful. The Lost is intriguing, but it's on ABC, and will probably be cancelled before its time, although given the leeway they've given Alias, maybe that means showrunner J.J. Abrams can save it from that fate. Beyond that? Nothing new really caught my eye, to be honest. I'm mildly interested in LAX because of the cast (love Blair Underwood) and because I've always had this weird idea that an airport would make a great setting for an ensemble comedy or drama story, and some of the midseason stuff sounds intriguing, but come September, I'm not really gonna care much that the new TV is starting.