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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Comments on Numb3rs (TV show, 2005)

I think I agree with just about everything said in the first two comments of this thread:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433309/board/thread/189667747

Including that I think Liz is attractive (though I'm a straight female) and Robin seems a little dull as a character.  If they'd given her more time on the show, she/her relationship with Don might have been better.

I don't mind that they stretch some of the math until it breaks. :-p  I recognize that a lot of this is only possible in TV-world, but I generally like the characters and I think David Krumholtz does a good job of really sounding like he BELIEVES what he's saying and he makes me believe that his character is really that passionate about math.

I sympathize with the people who are annoyed by the relationships and just want to hear the math parts (however bogus--or maybe not-bogus, I'm no math expert--it is, they usually make it sound interesting and plausible); but since I like most of the characters, I don't mind a little relationship drama.  Sometimes it's annoying, sometimes it's good. Larry can be really funny, really annoying, or just weird.  The cast went through some changes (and people randomly disappear for an episode or two all the time.  They usually throw in 1 or 2 lines to explain their absence, which I appreciate, but it always feels a little odd when somebody is suddenly just gone.).

I miss Megan; she was a good character.  What happened to her actress?  I liked her relationship with Larry, after she left, his character changed (which is fine, and I guess somewhat realistic...actually he changed after his trip into space, which I suppose would also probably change a person significantly!)  Diane Farr doesn't seem like the most attractive woman in the world to me, and her voice is a little more nasal than is usual...but I really liked her; and her leaving the series seemed sort of abrupt, which makes me wonder if there was something else going on (her leaving for another show, a contract or salary dispute...?)

I also wish Millie (Mildred, played by Kathy Najimy) was in more episodes...I think she was only in 6, but even in those, she actually had an arc.  I started out hating her in her first episode, and loving her by her last episode.  I can understand why some people might not like her, but I loved her!  She is a little bitchy at first...and she points out a problem with Amita/Amita's sort of putting Charlie first...but a little unfair...

The constantly rotating cast is both a strength and a weakness of the show.

I kinda feel that the math starts to REALLY take a backseat around Season 5...they start having lots of fun with special effects and it was more about creating pretty visuals.  I liked the little throwback to Season 1 (first episode?) with David explaining the sprinkler analogy in Season 5 Episode 21, "Disturbed".

After awhile, it seemed like the "explanations" were just token speeches to showcase their fun new effects and sometimes were unclear.  After the first season or two they just stop arguing with him about how or why or whether or not it will work, and instead they just listen to him talk, nod, and turn him loose.  Though they tried to show that the agents actually understood what he's doing by having Liz occasionally throw in comments that show she remembers something he said before, or in another episode.




Nunb3rs – warm & cool lighting

References to Ridley Scott? J/ Bladerunner – Season 3 Episode 8 Hardball (about 14 minutes in)

Ongoing “storyline”…a little disjointed; Characters in and out

Megan is good but disappears; she and Larry are good but Megan leaves show

Liz ok, Amita ok, first woman ok, Nikki? (African-American woman?) ok  Don’s lawyer girlfriend disappears and reappears all the time

Problem – Liz & Don?

Recurring characters
--LAPD Drug/gang guy?
--lawyer?
--psychiatrist
--psychic
--Bill Nye
--Medical Examiner (lady who is in Dexter)
--Charlie’s rival
--baseball genius kid
--Lou Diamond Philips sniper (Edgerton)
--The Fonz Henry Winkler?