I realize this isn’t the timeliest of topics. Long story short, my TiVo worked its magic on the first two episodes of Eli Stone’s second season; it recorded them in full, and self-deleted them upon completion. Before you recommend to me how to solve the problem, yes, it was set to save all episodes, and yes, it was set to delete only when I manually deleted. It’s a problem I’ve had with my TiVo box since the beginning, and one of the major reasons I dislike DirecTV; their DVR boxes suck. They often don’t automatically update their software, so if your version is outdated, you’ll encounter countless recording problems until you manually update. Real high quality.

Anyway, my wife and I also missed the ball on the tiny window ABC provides for viewing their shows online, so we decided to gamble by waiting for the re-runs to air. In the meantime, we dutifully recorded episodes three through nine.

Well, this past weekend I came to grips with reality: Eli Stone is gone, never to return. Of course, I knew it’d been canceled, but in my heart-of-hearts I held out hope that ABC might see the error in its ways. I mean, my God, shows like (I’m hiding underneath the table here) According to Jim, America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Supernanny, Ugly Betty and Wife Swap have all been given longer lives than Eli Stone. Leaves me speechless, too. Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 2, Episode 9 – “Two Ministers”)

Oh, it was a banner week for our Eli. A banner week indeed. On the plus side, he did get to help a transgender minister try and get his flock back. That was the official “case of the week.” And while it was good, and gave us some more depth into the great evolving character of Keith Bennett, it was the ongoing drama between all the other characters that really drove the story.

It is starting to feel like we’re going to get some satisfying resolution to all these plotlines, as promised. And with each passing episode it’s getting more and more disappointing to think that it’s all coming to an end so soon. They’re all getting so well-rounded and interesting. I even like Taylor again. But no Jordan at all tonight rings up a big New Year’s “Boo!” from me.

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(Season 2, Episode 6 – “Happy Birthday Nate”)

I’d say that this is a pretty intriguing development in the ongoing saga of Eli Stone, but there really isn’t one anymore, is there? Still, we can enjoy the ride while it lasts. It looks like they’re getting things back on track with the series, albeit too little too late. More singing, more visions and next week a guest appearance by Seal. It’s the visions and the “calling” that make Eli special. With this in strong remission the past several weeks we were left with another legal show.

Now that the firm divide is behind us, we can settle into our new status quo and start developing some ongoing storylines. We pick things up right where we left them last week, with Eli wanting to take the case of J.J. Cooper’s emancipation proclamation against his overbearing father. We got some expansion of Keith’s burgeoning relationship with Patti’s daughter and even some major developments between Matt and Taylor.

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Dear writers and producers of Eli Stone:

As I was driving along today, listening to the Christmas music radio station in my car playing “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time at All?” something hit me right between Boy George and the ensemble: I miss George Michael on Eli Stone.

I’ve recently bemoaned the old days on Eli in a post, wondering if you people screwed them into getting canceled. Can that be true? Regardless, you don’t have your ace in the hole this season.

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When Eli Stone came back this season, it came back strong. Really strong. It looks like the viewers and the network don’t care, since beyond the 13 episodes that have already been shot, no more will be ordered. Sounds like a cancellation to me. Anyway, from Eli surviving the aneurysm surgery to Nate inheriting the visions to Eli taking them back, it was incredibly well done.

I’m not so sure about all the changes going on at Wethersby, Posner and Klein and Stone, though. Eli Stone seems to have lost its way a bit. Four things in particular are jumping out at me lately:

- Where’s Nate? Part of the charm and depth of Eli Stone is the relationship between these two brothers, and how they navigate their past with their unusual dad. By burning the notebooks, did Eli also destroy that entire storyline?

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ABC

(Season 2, Episode 3)

The book. The journal of all the visions of Eli’s father – collected for the reading enjoyment of others. It was now in possession of Eli himself. Combined with his own visions, this made him a pretty powerful litigator. This is what began to worry me.

For a season plus three episodes we have journeyed with Eli in order to determine what his visions represented during his normal life. Now, with the book and his knowledge that he is a messenger for a higher power, it looked so simple. Eli Stone was on the verge of turning into an entirely different program that dealt with Eli’s journey across life using the book as his guide. That would have been a show I was not interested in seeing, at least in the format of a law procedural.

So, what happened? Well, I’m not going to tell you on the front page of the review! Jump forward and you’ll find out as we discuss five points from this week’s Eli Stone.

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ABC

(Season 2, Episode 2)

The meaning of the episode title, “Grace,” just pervades about every subplot in Eli Stone tonight. We’ll get to that, but first things first — what did you think of the episode?

I enjoyed it, as I always do, but it definitely didn’t stand up to last week’s spectacular premiere. This episode was not as tight, not as poignant, and not as shocking. Still, it had some deep moments that warrant some discussion.

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