NBC put a few of their new Fall shows on Amazon Unbox for free ahead of their air date. (A smarter move than their recent iTunes debacle.) So I fired up the Tivo and downloaded 3 of them in … just under 16 hours! I have no idea why it took that long, considering these were not the HD versions. Tough to measure transfer rates, but the blue light was on for a long time. Without further ado, my two cents:
- Bionic Woman - Not sold on it, though pilots are different than typical episodes. Thought Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (Chief Tyrol also has a cameo)) was the most interesting part, and very nerd-friendly casting. The special effects seemed campy in a show that is aiming for a darker mood.
- Life - I wanna like this show. Damian Lewis was great in Band of Brothers and the episode has a few solid moments. Also has the usually good Adam Arkin and Robin Weigert (Calamity Jane on Deadwood) co-star, but they didn't have much to do in the pilot. Still, I'd be surprised if this is a hit.
- Chuck - Amusing enough to give it a shot. It might upset those who went to Stanford to see Chuck working at what amounts to the Geek Squad. </ul>