Starting with this column, I'm going to do something a little bit different. The first two columns were largely reviews of season premieres, but now it's time for a little more insight and a little less straight speak. Bear with me, because there might be some hidden gems among the rubble of this year's television season. This week's subject won't be one of them, though it does offer CW fans another soapy option.
Love is the fodder for one of the CW's new shows, Valentine. Sunday night's premiere episode was the test of whether the premise, which is pretty ridiculous by most standards, would work. The show centers on Greek gods, among them Aphrodite, Cupid and Hercules, helping mortals find love in Los Angeles. My cynicism on this one was off the charts, so I went into the series premiere with great interest and trepidation.
The series stars are likable, but have less-than-impressive television resumes. Valentine stars Kristoffer Polaha, who suffers from Simon Baker-syndrome (Polaha has two failed series, Miss Guided and North Shore, under his belt) and Christine Lakin (Al on Step By Step, one of my favorite shows from the TGIF line-up on ABC). Polaha's Cupid is set to have romantic tension with Lakin's romance novelist Kate Providence, who offers her own mortal perspective on love.
But the hopeless romantic in me trumped the cynicism, and I can now add one more guilty pleasure to my list. Don't take this as any indication of the program's success; I can't see this one lasting longer than one season. But the gods ' Aphrodite in particular ' wield their talents with wit and don't take themselves, or the dialogue, too seriously. The chemistry between the first two soul mates, Roland and Joanna, was great; future shows need this level or better to maintain an audience.
Just to clear up any rumors, there were no tears in my eyes when Joanna asked Roland to marry her. None at all. If anyone says they saw tears, I do admit that I was temporarily afflicted with an allergic reaction to Kristoffer Polaha's hairstyle that made my eyes well. But I did not, I repeat, did not cry at the end of the episode. Just so we're clear.
Stephanie Hummel is a senior studying journalism. Ask her to edit your love letters at sh213005@ohiou.edu.
17 Archives
Stephanie Hummel
200810098937midsize.jpeg
Stephanie Hummel
