(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. Finished watching the newest The Good Place episode. And was reminded of why Michael Shur's writing annoys me at times. Although it did have some good moments in there, and I laughed. But at times he goes overboard with a few of jokes...and I want to edit. I admittedly have this problem with most situation comedies.



Good Place Committee Member: While you wait, I will shower you with flattery and compliments.
Michael: Normally I'd find this annoying, but so far I found it rather comforting and wonderful.
Me: While I, on the other hand, find it highly annoying. Show? You are starting to frustrate me. Get over your silly self and get on with it.

Lots of repetitive sequences. Although, I'd forgotten Jason had seen Janet's confession that she was in love with Jason -- while he was hunting for toys. I think the fact that he was being played by D'Arcy (who plays Janet) at the time, confused me. Tahani trying to convince Janet and Jason they could be together, and she and Jason technically were no longer married -- because a long while ago, she'd thought better of her decision to marry Jason, was amusing. (Jason may be pretty, but his innate stupidity and obliviousness to practically everything, grows old quick. Particularly to someone like Tahani who is a bit too aware of social clues.)

And Eleanor and Chidi finally get it on. (Which having seen, made me realize that no, I'm not shipping Eleanor and Chidi. Surprise. Surprise. I thought I was. But no. Really not. Actually I'm not romantically shipping anyone on this series...I do like Eleanor and Michael together -- the actors bounce off each other very well.) Also every time I see Chidi -- it strikes me how similar he is in looks and mannerisms to co-worker...except Co-worker is slightly darker in tone.

Anyhow..what I liked?

Michael: Can I make a call?
Mail Clerk: It is against the rules to make a call.
Michael: Hypothetically speaking, if I were to make a call using this phone, would I have to know the number?
Mail Clerk: No, you just pick up the phone and ask. No dialing required, but it is against the rules.
Michael: Any way of tracking that I made a call or knowing I did if you weren't watching?
Mail Clerk: No. But you wouldn't do that because it is against the rules and I'm watching.
Michael: I hear a dog barking in another room, you might want to check on that.
Mail Clerk: Odd, I don't hear one and don't have a dog. But it would only be polite for me to go and check.
Michal waits for her to leave, picks up phone and asks for the committee to meet him.

The episode sort of goes over the top regarding the whole bureaucratic crap or means and methods in the Good Place. Actually the Bad Place, Neutral Territory, Accounting and the Good Place all seem to be run by crazy bureaucrates with no sense -- making me wonder if Michael Schur has spent one too many nights reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy aloud to himself...or he's worked in a huge governmental agency and has an ax to grind. One or the other. Because The Office was similar.

Everyone keeps repeating how they can't break the rules and must stick to the rules.

Michael presents his case to the committee.
Committee: We've decided you are right, something is up. We will elect a committee to investigate. And investigate it.
Michael: How long will that take?
Committee: You are in luck, it will only take 400 years -- we've put a rush on it.
Michael: 400 years to elect a committee? Seriously?

Tahani comes to Michael upset she can't help Jason and Janet.
Tahani: No matter what I do, no matter how well-meaning my intentions, whatever I do just makes things worse. How do I fix this? How?
Michael: Wait! That's it. That's the problem. Unintentional consequences of your actions! I was looking at this all wrong...life has become so complicated that no matter how well-meaning your intentions -- you will screw up. Doug buys his mother flowers and they were raised with pesticides, which were made in a sweat-shop, bought from a man who shows his genitals to his employees...brilliant. It's impossible not to mess up somewhere.

So the joke basically is --- how can we be morally ethical or good in a world has complicated everything to such a degree that we are bound to screw up no matter what we do, and often unintentionally.

Is it just me or are the good place people as annoying as the bad place? Actually more annoying?

I did like the fact that each character's favorite smell was a clear indicator of that character's issues. Well for the most part. The writer's are struggling with Chidi.

Tahani -- it smells like the curtain closing between first and second class on an airline (wait that has a smell?)
Eleanor: the smell of the Tidal Wave Pool at (some amusement park). Particularly the chlorine, processed food, barf from the pool, etc.

Chidi: You need to calm down, take deep breaths.
Eleanor: Ah...the smell of the barf from the Tidal Wave Pool is really comforting.
Chidi: Wait? What? Why? Why is that comforting??
Me: I'm with Chidi.

My quibble with the show is the easy laughs...that was an easy joke, but didn't do much to build character unless the writers wanted to underline Eleanor's cheap white trash roots even more? Which still doesn't quite work. It's funny, but also jarring. As were most of Jason's jokes -- they felt at the expense of the characters, as if I were laughing at them. Which is my difficulty with a lot of American sitcoms.

Frog man: the judge has okayed it -- you can meet her at the IHOP.
Tahani: We're going to the IHOP?
Michael: It's dangerous...the International House of Inderdimensial Portals..
Me: Sigh. Punnery. Not funnery.

So-so episode. Still like S2 better. S3 is dragging a bit. I know it's been granted a S4...but I sort of wish it hadn't, because I'm afraid it will try to stretch the concept too far. That was my difficulty with Hitchhiker actually -- it had a great joke, but by the mid-way point, I was bored and tired of the characters, and just wanted them to get on with it. I'm a little afraid the same thing will happen here.



2. Hee...this is the Supreme Court Case that my niece recently presented a paper on at her school:

Herrar vs. Wyoming...Treaty regarding Hunting Rights in Wyoming.

(I don't have kids, so I brag about my niece. She's wickedly bright -- probably the Cherokee blood.)

3. It's cold here, but I'm happy. I can turn off my air conditioner, finally.

4. I keep seeing posts on new shows worth watching...

New Shows Still Worth Watching or Bingeing


* If you haven't seen it yet, and get Netflix, The Haunting of Hill House -- 10 episode mini-series. Best horror series I've seen in ages. Scared the frak out of me. Best episode -- Between Two Storms - Episode 6.

* A Million Little Things...is weird. It's sort of 30 something meets This is Us wrapped inside a disturbing mystery. Basically it focuses on the lives of four male friends and their wives, significant others, families -- all brought together by one man, John, who is a hero/pinnacle to all of them. Helped one beat cancer, helped another sober up, etc. They appear to have the perfect lives on the surface -- great families, nice homes, successful jobs, wonderful friends. Except..peel away the veil, and one is having an affair with his friend's wife, another is contemplating suicide, and the third has managed to barely survive breast cancer. Then, add to all of this -- the friend they worshipped, who they thought had the perfect life, may have have been a scam artist -- fooling all of them.

Sort of asks the question...do we really know our friends? And people are a million little things, many of which we have no clue.

Think of it as an anti-Thirty-Something.

* The Connors -- much better than the Roseanne reboot, or the Murphy one...it's a reimagining of the series, and does a great job of exploring grief, and working class issues with a sense of humor.

* The Kominsky Method on Netflix -- surprised me. Chuck Lorre's new buddy-comedy about aging and not all that gracefully. Has a hilarious episode about a visit to the urinologist.

* Killing Eve -- nice female cat and mouse game.

I'm sort of hate-watching Manifest. Was rather disappointed in Sabrina, so haven't gotten around to the holiday episode yet.


5. The 20 Best Dramas Since the Sopranos

Okay, I might be wrong about this...but didn't The West Wing premiere around the same time as The Sopranos?? I remember them airing around the same time. Same with The Shield and Deadwood.

I have a few quibbles with the list, and haven't seen roughly half of them, but then I also gave up on The Sopranos after three seasons. So to each their own. My favorite dramas are in no particular order:

* The West Wing (although it was uneven, and got really preachy in places. Sorkin was doing cocaine at the time and got booted, so it had writer turn-over.) [This is on the list, and I like it for the same reasons they do.. But I love a fantasy where everyone is smart, no one wants a forever war and integrity exists. I love a fantasy where characters have such a strong sense of purpose it rubs off on you just from watching them. My fantasy is that people are trustworthy, and that when they let me down, they notice and they’re sorry. Let’s all fantasize about having ethics — wouldn’t that be such a wild world? -- but I watched for the characters, snappy dialogue, and acting.

* ER -- again uneven. The first five-seven seasons were great. Then it sort of stretched the concept too far and got silly. But it remains one of the best medical procedurals out there.

* Battle Star Galatica Reboot (also on the list, and for the same reasons they did.) Even in our current age of reboots, no show has surpassed its original incarnation as spectacularly as “Battlestar Galactica.” Ronald D. Moore and David Eick reimagined a mystical 1970s space opera as a dark and epic tale of survival that for several seasons was a seamless combination of large-scale action, close-quarters character drama and pop-political philosophy.

* The Wire -- again for some of the reasons they did. But mainly the writing was spot on -- it's a satire showing how the system breaks down in various places, and how those who attempt to fix it, often with the best of intentions...become part of the problem. It's split into five seasons, each more satirical than the last...with biting dialogue. The best are the 1, 3, and 4 seasons.

It looks like a cop procedural -- it's not. It masquerades a show about taking down drugs in the inner city -- it's not.

It's sort of the anti-West Wing.

* Farscape -- I liked it better than Lost. I know. Weird. But Farscape had fun. And played games with the medium. Also the characters were more likable and the philosophy more interesting.

* Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- over Veronica Mars. More innovative and took more risks. VM was good. I liked Buffy better.

* Game of Thrones over Leftovers...which I couldn't get into.

* Justified over Deadwood and the Shield...it's fun and not as dark.

* Breaking Bad for the reasons they state.

* Mad Men for the reasons they state.

*Grey's Anatomy...all though it's starting to stretch too thin too.

Comments

[mefisto]

They had to pick Veronica Mars instead of Buffy because the concept was *since* The Sopranos. It would have made more sense to say "since Buffy".

The West Wing debuted 9 months after The Sopranos. The Shield was 3 years later and Deadwood a full 5 years later.

[shadowkat]

Okay, I clearly don't remember when the Sopranos was on...of course, I'm that rare viewer who thought the Sopranos was overrated. ;-)

[mefisto]

January 1999.

I've never seen it; had to look up the date.

[shadowkat]

It's a darkly humorous and extremely violent crime drama. The first season was great. I got bored in S2 and 3 and gave up.

I honestly think some of the other shows on at the time were better. Such as ER, Buffy, Six Feet Under (although I gave up on it too), Farscape...not to mention previous shows like Hill Street Blues, St. Elswhere, LA Law, and Prime Suspect.

Sopranos was innovative for being the first anti-hero drama, no one was likable in it, everyone was evil. It was basically The Godfather on Tv. But...overrated.

[mefisto]

I never felt as if I was missing anything, but some people seem to like it.

[yourlibrarian]

Actually the Bad Place, Neutral Territory, Accounting and the Good Place all seem to be run by crazy bureaucrates with no sense -- making me wonder if Michael Schur has spent one too many nights reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Well Hitchhiker's, like Monty Python, nailed a lot of the innate craziness in many institutions. Although given our current political situation I couldn't help seeing the good and bad places as our right and left wings as well -- one awful and one disconnected and overly concerned with process.

The writer's are struggling with Chidi.

I thought the same thing during this episode in particular. Chidi's problem was similar to that of the Good Place reps, indecisive because he's so concerned about making the right decision. Perhaps that's why he seemed out of character in this episode, both because the writers wanted a contrast and also because they needed their relationship to move along but in this episode Eleanor is not the one leading the way or pushing for action. So he came off as too decisive, and having the right solutions because he had to step into Eleanor's shoes.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, agreed on both points. I think they are attempting to do a political commentary, and in order to push things forward, sort of made Chidi a tad too decisive, which felt out of character.

[shadowkat]

No, I don't think you were. The Wire -- I'd recommend people watch or Buffy. I haven't rec'd Sopranoes to anyone. Coppola already did it with the Godfather.

[mefisto]

The Wire is a really great show. At least S1,3,4. S5 isn't great and S2 does have problems, though there's plenty of good there.

[shadowkat]

S5 and S2 still had their moments though...I honestly think it is the best Drama series done. I like it a lot better than Breaking Bad, which had three good seasons and 2 and 5 were weak as well.

[mefisto]

The Wire is probably the most consistently excellent show I've seen. I think Buffy had peak episodes -- The Body, OMWF -- which are better than the best episodes of The Wire. But it also had Go Fish and IRYJ and other real stinkers, which The Wire never had.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, the Wire was better constructed than Buffy. Although it's not fair to compare the two. While it is fair to compare it to the Sopranoes or Breaking Bad or Mad Men.

Buffy is set up as a supernatural teen soap in monster of the week format. It's not a true serial -- with a clear structure and arc and not meant to be. Also it's designed to have stand-a-lones. Also it really on just has one central protagonist and the whole series revolves around that character -- it's a lead with supporting cast.

The Wire is designed as a serial drama split into chapters with a true ensemble cast, not a lead with a supporting cast. There's no diva's in the Wire. So the writers had to outline and structure it. Plus HBO, which designs series to be written almost in mini-arcs and 13 episodes, not 22.

There's no way Buffy could be like the Wire. Add to that, we have David Simon (of Homicide Life on the Streets), the writer behind LA Confidential and Mystic River screenplays and novels, writing for it. Plus a couple of documentarians/journalists who worked as teachers or journalists in Baltimore. Buffy had Joss Whedon whose claim to fame was a couple of seasons on Roseanne, and David Greenwalt. Cult TV and Sitcom writers. Plus a lot of newbies with no real experience. And a wet-behind the ears cast of newbies, the only two who had any real television experience were Anthony Stewart Head and Gellar, and theirs was hardly anything to write home about. While the WIRE had a cast of television/stage and film veterans, plus newbies who went on to superstardom. I mean compare Michael Jordan (Black Panther, Frontvale Station, Friday Night Lights, and Creed) to Alyson Hannigan and David Boreanze. No contest.

No Buffy is notable for being a cult television series people had zero expectations of, that somehow changed the art form. And did by accident. Whedon got bored and wrote weird stand-a-lone episodes, the network let him do it because the show was under the radar and they were looking elsewhere.

[mefisto]

I think The Wire had about 60 episodes, give or take. If we just took the top 60 Buffy episodes, Buffy would look a lot better. But as you say, the shows aren't really comparable. That's why I always look askance at "best of" lists that include dramas, comedies, and documentaries on one list. Makes no real sense.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, it's why I have troubles taking best lists or awards shows seriously. It's among the few things I agree with Woody Allen on -- which is that movies aren't horse races. You can't honestly determine whether the Sopranos or Game of Thrones is the better series. It's just a matter of personal taste. Sort of similar to asking someone what foods are better.