The Return of Max and Pee-Wee
Tonight (Monday, July 10th), marks the return of two old favorites to television.
On the Sci-Fi network, it’s “Dark Angel,” the show that introduced us to Jessica Alba. She plays Max, a genetically engineered super-being that escaped from her makers and now blends in by working for a bicycle courier service in apocalyptic Seattle, which was decimated by an electromagnetic pulse. In her spare time, Max uses her abilities to become a thief. In the premiere, she robs the wrong person—the wheelchair-bound Logan (Michael Weatherly), who turns out to be a crusader against corruption. He convinces Max to team up with him to fight the bad guys—including those who are still chasing Max.
Alba is, of course, fantastic and serves as a bit of a precursor to Jennifer Garner’s Sidney Bristow by playing a tough cookie who takes no crap from anyone. Her chemistry with Weatherly (who can now be seen as DiNozzo on “NCIS”) helps drive the show and even got the two of them engaged at one time.
The first season was outstanding with one of the best season finales I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, the show, created by James Cameron of “Terminator” and “Titanic” fame, decided to get even more sci-fi in its second season which turned off viewers and FOX put the final nail in the coffin by moving the show to Fridays to make room for a new series. I remember being really angry at FOX for throwing off my Tuesday routine.
Sci-Fi will air four episodes of “Dark Angel” beginning tonight at 7.
The other show that returns tonight is one that I never watched, but I would be totally remiss not to mention—“Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.” That’s right, Pee-Wee’s back!
It’s hard to believe that this show featured the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Phil Hartman and S. Epatha Merkerson. Some consider it the greatest children’s show ever made; but now it will become part of the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network beginning tonight at 11.
I guess you can TiVo it for the kids.
And by the way, the show that I was so mad about because it bumped “Dark Angel” to Fridays? It was a little show called “24.”
