Why the internets are weird (and why you should therefor watch "Eli Stone").

A long time ago, in a lifetime that seems very very far away, I lived in Berkeley and had a job that basically entailed writing emails back and forth to friends all day in between surfing and reading all the new exciting "content" on the "world wide web." So fresh, so weird, so prolific, all those tech savvy folks who got themselves up on the net before it was fashionable (or profitable) to do so.

One early net writer was Pamela Ribon, of Pamie.com (formerly Squishy). I read her Squishy site pretty steadily until I left my job to go shack up with Joosh, losing all my at-work bookmarks and forgetting all about places like Squishy and Disgruntled Housewife and the Gallery of Regrettable Foods.

I rediscovered Pamie's site in 2005 and was entertained anew. She's written two books, "Why Girls Are Weird" (which I have not yet read) and "Why Moms Are Weird" (which I have, and quite enjoyed). She's also a head writer on the Christina Applegate vehicle show "Samantha Who?" (which, actually, is quite enjoyable as well). Well, she was a head writer until all these strike shenanigans shut down production.

{Excuse me a moment while I have a mini diatribe about the strike: As much as I'd like for the writers to win against the greedy bastages, be compensated fairly for their efforts with a piece of all the rewards that Web 2-point-frickin-Oh may potentially reap, and for the families of all the folks that provide support services to Hollywood to put back to work and be able to afford living in LA once again, I sort of secretly wish it would continue for many more months. I think that the only way America is going to wake up and get pissed at what is going on in the White House, in Iraq, in the future, in the climate, in the back pockets of government and corporations, etc, is if they are unplugged from the boob tube. Really, part of the reason this election cycle is so intense, I think - besides the fact that it's crazy historic, obviously - is because people are paying actual attention this time, being so bored of Reality TV and all. My theory is that if the strike were to continue through the Fall (no new shows until 2009 at the earliest), Bush and Cheney would be impeached. No, I'm serious, think about it. There would be enough people paying attention, supporting congressional efforts to file the articles, feeding on that sense of drama and tension in the story arc - it would absolutely captivate a narrative-hungry audience who just might be all the more interested by any connections they managed to make to their own lives, pocketbooks, futures, etc... Okay, ending the (not-mini) diatribe, have another episode of "Lost" to catch up on.}

Anyway, so Pamie of Pamie.com used to write for Television Without Pity (which was bought by Bravo/NBC, so insert sell-out joke here), where she apparently met and befriended this lovely lady, Anna Beth Chao from Hashai.com.
AB, as she is known, is hilarious. She has, of late, been using her Flikr account to update her adoring public, instead of her blog. I guess she's over it, the blogging. (On the plus side, her photos are perfect and her home decor is absurdly lust-inducing*).

One day, AB (who lives and works somewhere in the south, maybe Louisiana?) announced this bit of craziness on her flickr/blog: She was hired by someone (Greg Berlanti) whose show she used to recap (and mock) on TWOP to be a writer on his new show, "Eli Stone". What? That happens? REALLY???? Apparently, yes. I periodically checked up on her site and Pamie's to see what was happening at what they coined to be "TV Camp." There was no shortage of drool nor envy on my part whilst reading said updates.

As much as I read about the process, the road to the show, etc, I didn't read much about the program itself, so I didn't really know what to expect. All that managed to stick in my increasingly absent-minded head was the fact that Brit Johnny Lee Miller (the former Mr. Angelina Jolie, also known as Sickboy to anyone in high school or college in the mid-Nineties) was playing an American lawyer in SF. And since the strike began, I hadn't heard anything about it - I thought maybe it had already aired and been shelved.

No no, I was wrong. With the heralded return of "Lost" (Michael is the man Ben has on the freighter, and also the man in the coffin, bet you cash money), in sweeps Eli, which IMDB sums up thusly: " A legal drama centered on a lawyer (Miller) who begins to think he might be a prophet". This summation made me skeptical, but was intriguing enough when coupled with the whole behind-the-scenes-internet-stalking thing I'd been doing to make me want to tune in. So tune in I did.

I was totally unprepared for the hook, people. If you watch TV, you've probably seen the second week ads that blow the punchline of the first 10 minutes of the first show, but if you haven't, I totally don't want to ruin it for you. Let me just say that as the organ music rises in the beginning, and as Eli (and you, the viewer) finally puts it together what the song is, never in a million years did I expect that they, the writers/producers/whatever would a) pull, and b) get away with so well, such a stunt. I couldn't stop laughing: at Johnny's face (and white boy dancing in his underwear before going into the living room), at the scenario, at my own delight for being tricked by a TV show that lulled me into such a false sense of smugness thinking I totally had the show's number before it even started... terrific. Well done. Bravo, Berlanti, Bravo AB (and all the other nameless faceless writers whose flickr blogs I do not read).

I realize my track record for show recommending isn't stellar in this blog environment ("Chuck" disappointed me by episode two, but I was too forlorn to admit it here... I will say that I was reinvigorated in episode three or four, when Bob Ross from the PBS painting show got a chuckle-worthy shout-out, but I haven't watched any other episodes since. I hope I didn't steer you too terribly wrong. At least the actor who plays Chuck is adorable, right?). Regardless of my possibly questionable taste, episode one of "Eli Stone" is totally worth checking out. Those of you who loved "Alias" (you know who you are) will be pleased to note that Victor Garber appears prominently, as does Loretta Devine (every show is better with a sassy black friend or a snarky secretary, right, so her character is a double whammy).

Watch it. See if you are as tickled as I was. If so, you can thank the strange interwoven tubular tendrils of the internets for the fact that I even knew about it enough to watch, and thus pass it along to you. If not, well, whatever, sorry. What else would you be watching right now anyway, huh?

*I was inspired by AB's bookshelves and finally got around to organizing mine about a year after we'd moved in - maybe more than a year, actually. And Bex, sharp gal that she is, totally noticed that my books were organized by genre and color. I was simultaneously impressed with her and embarrassed for myself.