![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFirst off - if you don't like the tv shows discussed below? Shoo. Go away. This post is not for you.
I realized something recently - my patience for arguing/fighting over tv shows is gone. It's tv - if you don't like it? Don't watch it. And please don't whine about it in response to a post squeeing about it. Seriously, there's more important stuff to whine about. Like Buffy/Angel/Spike comic books, Twilight novels, and fandom ship wars. Okay, maybe not that.
I'll make it easy for you all, I'm hiding stuff behind nifty lj-cut tags. Which most likely means no comments. But you never know, there might be some poor soul out there who likes the same shows I do and actually watched a few of them this week. Hope, she springs, eternal.
Okay, for starters, I'm a shameless fan of Broadway musicals and Glee is written like an old school Broadway musical married to a MTV video. No not those pop operas that came into fashion - such as West Side Story, Les Miserables, Sondheim, etc. I'm talking the old style shows where you have a little dialogue and little music. The musical numbers are sometimes plot and character oriented and sometimes just musical numbers. Add to this the light frothy satirical wit.
This week I got a two-for-one special. The Sunday Superbowl episode (which I lost the last ten minutes of due to that stupid ass post-superbowl wrap up show). Loved it, partly because I admittedly share the writers view of football. Best part was the Thriller number. Momster told me the rest - I missed the football players dressed in full zombie makeup scaring the other football players off the field.
Last night's episode - entitled "Silly Love Songs" - was an endearing send-up of Valentine's Day and
how insane it can be. I adore the new female character - who may well be the only heavy-set female character on a broadcast network show about teens. Gotta give Glee credit for depicting a diverse group of people. All weights, sizes, heights, and ethnicity. She's also a BAMF - tough as nails.
Her response to Puck's offensive love song about skinny guys loving fat mamma's was classic.
"I've never had a love song sung to me before. And that one made me feel like crap." This show captures beautifully the pain of worrying what other people think in midwestern American high schools.
I don't think you can fully appreciate it - if you didn't go to a midwestern American high school - where cheerleading and football are king, and everyone worries about being bullied or thought of as a loser.
Glee continues to be my happy show - laughed all the way through it. Both episodes. With a gleeful smile on my face.
Oh, I loved the Good Wife tonight. Political manuervering right and left and upside down. Also another appearance by the brilliant Michael J. Fox - who is making a career of playing morally ambiguous character roles. In this one, his character uses his disability (which isn't Parkinisons, but something similar) to garner sympathy and mislead - in order to certify a class-action case.
Like the last three episodes, it's not clear who is right and who is wrong. Is Lockhart/Gardner or
Canning? Fox plays Canning - an astute and clever attorney, who outwits Alicia at different points.
In the final scene - he says to her - "is it cynical to obtain a good price for the class - because the victims do deserve something, but to not make the company overpay. I feel for both. The victims do deserve some compensation for their loss, but at the same time I think companies are paying out too much. Is that cynical?" It's a though-provoking statement. Making the company over-pay is more about "vengeance" than "justice" - it also hurts more people than it necessarily helps. I know this from experience. It's not a black and white issue. Also, as Alicia discovers - Lockhart/Gardner's motives aren't so pure. They are trying for a big settlement in order to out-bid Bond in his takeover bid of their firm. They too have an agenda.
We have numerous people playing each other in this episode. And Alicia caught inside it all, trying not to get entangled. Lockhart/Gardner discover via Kalinda that Bond has bugged Alicia, and two partners lap-tops. They decide to use the information to feed false information - leading Bond to get rid of the wrong people. Meanwhile, we have Peter Flockhart and Eli - who are fighting to win an election, and their political games - which oddly are becoming cleaner than Lockhart/Gardner's.
Watching the show it becomes clear - how impossible it is if you are female and not white to get ahead. The games within games. And it is realistic. So much of the problem is the network of people that hold you back - with their own prejudices and stereotypes. Peter Florick is hip, he's a big, good-looking, white guy - he fits the image and his campaign is sporting a nice guy look - a guy against bullying, who supports medical marijuana, and helped a pal in prison. His competitors, the current DA - Childs who is wearing a toupee, and Wendy - described as a black Donna Reed...aren't the image. Meanwhile you have Will, Diane, et all bonding against Bond - who is black. They even state, we need to get a black guy on board so we don't look racist. And to be fair they aren't - Bond is undercutting them and it has zip to do with race. Race is not an issue. Yet, it remains the elephant in the room all the same. Kudos to The Good Wife for acknowledging it.
I'm not generally speaking a fan of legal dramas. Got burned out on them ages ago. Can't watch shows like Harry's Law or Law and Order - they are so unrealistic. But the Good Wife - is totally different, it is realistic, it shows how slippery the law is, how slippery morality is, who is right and who is wrong. It shows how things can get complicated fast in human relationships. I like moral ambiguity. The fact that it is often difficult to tell who or which character to root for.
While cheering for Diane and Will, you feel almost a bad taste in your mouth - half-wondering are they right? It appears so, in their pov. It's not always so clear.
Everything about this show is edge of your seat viewing. I don't surf the net during it. I rewind.
You have to pay attention. It's quick and the dialogue counts.
I'm admittedly alone online for loving House and especially the Cuddy/House relationship. I like the twist it provided the show. This show keeps taking risks, examining new aspects of the character of House, and the supporting characters. The theme of this episode was ethics - how far one is willing to go, and what is important. Amber Tamblyn's Masters - is a far more interesting character than either 13 or Cameron, in part due to the actress - who is quite excellent in the role. She's clearly torn between protecting the patient's interests by telling the patient the truth and protecting her career and House. House awards her for turning on him - instead of destroying her career - he chooses to keep her on, to protect Cuddy and him, from well himself. I need someone who will keep me in line, since Cuddy won't - due to the fact I'm her boyfriend and she's protecting me.
Cuddy's relationship with her mother is equally examined. The mother portrayed by the amazing Candice Bergen, who Cuddy finally at House's bequest confronts. Her mother pushes her because she sees brilliance in her, something she does not see in Cuddy's sister. She likes the sister better, because she has more in common with her.
And finally we have the relationship between Foreman and Taub - Forman who calls Taub's ex-wife.
Taub who had taken a job with his brother-in-law, and betrays the brother-in-law (an insurance claims attorney) by taking a little boy to the hospital because he believes the boy's brain is bleeding.
Even though the insurance company's radiologists are saying it's a slight chance, and not clear.
Taub saw it on the X-ray, and he can't in good conscience let it go. Any more than Masters can in good conscience not tell Cuddy's Mom that House and Cuddy keep switching her meds. As a result of Masters honesty - they do confront Cuddy's Mom and finally figure out what is wrong with her - by talking to her - they figure it out.
The puzzle is integrated with the human relationships. The game playing House does hurts and helps him. It's never clear here where the high moral ground really is - everything is grey, like the hospital walls that they traverse.
Is it realistic? I don't think it matters. I think as in all things fictional, realism is highly overrated. I like the interplay between the characters, the examination of how each behave in different circumstances. I like the fact that House continues to surprise me.
Off to bed.
I realized something recently - my patience for arguing/fighting over tv shows is gone. It's tv - if you don't like it? Don't watch it. And please don't whine about it in response to a post squeeing about it. Seriously, there's more important stuff to whine about. Like Buffy/Angel/Spike comic books, Twilight novels, and fandom ship wars. Okay, maybe not that.
I'll make it easy for you all, I'm hiding stuff behind nifty lj-cut tags. Which most likely means no comments. But you never know, there might be some poor soul out there who likes the same shows I do and actually watched a few of them this week. Hope, she springs, eternal.
Okay, for starters, I'm a shameless fan of Broadway musicals and Glee is written like an old school Broadway musical married to a MTV video. No not those pop operas that came into fashion - such as West Side Story, Les Miserables, Sondheim, etc. I'm talking the old style shows where you have a little dialogue and little music. The musical numbers are sometimes plot and character oriented and sometimes just musical numbers. Add to this the light frothy satirical wit.
This week I got a two-for-one special. The Sunday Superbowl episode (which I lost the last ten minutes of due to that stupid ass post-superbowl wrap up show). Loved it, partly because I admittedly share the writers view of football. Best part was the Thriller number. Momster told me the rest - I missed the football players dressed in full zombie makeup scaring the other football players off the field.
Last night's episode - entitled "Silly Love Songs" - was an endearing send-up of Valentine's Day and
how insane it can be. I adore the new female character - who may well be the only heavy-set female character on a broadcast network show about teens. Gotta give Glee credit for depicting a diverse group of people. All weights, sizes, heights, and ethnicity. She's also a BAMF - tough as nails.
Her response to Puck's offensive love song about skinny guys loving fat mamma's was classic.
"I've never had a love song sung to me before. And that one made me feel like crap." This show captures beautifully the pain of worrying what other people think in midwestern American high schools.
I don't think you can fully appreciate it - if you didn't go to a midwestern American high school - where cheerleading and football are king, and everyone worries about being bullied or thought of as a loser.
Glee continues to be my happy show - laughed all the way through it. Both episodes. With a gleeful smile on my face.
Oh, I loved the Good Wife tonight. Political manuervering right and left and upside down. Also another appearance by the brilliant Michael J. Fox - who is making a career of playing morally ambiguous character roles. In this one, his character uses his disability (which isn't Parkinisons, but something similar) to garner sympathy and mislead - in order to certify a class-action case.
Like the last three episodes, it's not clear who is right and who is wrong. Is Lockhart/Gardner or
Canning? Fox plays Canning - an astute and clever attorney, who outwits Alicia at different points.
In the final scene - he says to her - "is it cynical to obtain a good price for the class - because the victims do deserve something, but to not make the company overpay. I feel for both. The victims do deserve some compensation for their loss, but at the same time I think companies are paying out too much. Is that cynical?" It's a though-provoking statement. Making the company over-pay is more about "vengeance" than "justice" - it also hurts more people than it necessarily helps. I know this from experience. It's not a black and white issue. Also, as Alicia discovers - Lockhart/Gardner's motives aren't so pure. They are trying for a big settlement in order to out-bid Bond in his takeover bid of their firm. They too have an agenda.
We have numerous people playing each other in this episode. And Alicia caught inside it all, trying not to get entangled. Lockhart/Gardner discover via Kalinda that Bond has bugged Alicia, and two partners lap-tops. They decide to use the information to feed false information - leading Bond to get rid of the wrong people. Meanwhile, we have Peter Flockhart and Eli - who are fighting to win an election, and their political games - which oddly are becoming cleaner than Lockhart/Gardner's.
Watching the show it becomes clear - how impossible it is if you are female and not white to get ahead. The games within games. And it is realistic. So much of the problem is the network of people that hold you back - with their own prejudices and stereotypes. Peter Florick is hip, he's a big, good-looking, white guy - he fits the image and his campaign is sporting a nice guy look - a guy against bullying, who supports medical marijuana, and helped a pal in prison. His competitors, the current DA - Childs who is wearing a toupee, and Wendy - described as a black Donna Reed...aren't the image. Meanwhile you have Will, Diane, et all bonding against Bond - who is black. They even state, we need to get a black guy on board so we don't look racist. And to be fair they aren't - Bond is undercutting them and it has zip to do with race. Race is not an issue. Yet, it remains the elephant in the room all the same. Kudos to The Good Wife for acknowledging it.
I'm not generally speaking a fan of legal dramas. Got burned out on them ages ago. Can't watch shows like Harry's Law or Law and Order - they are so unrealistic. But the Good Wife - is totally different, it is realistic, it shows how slippery the law is, how slippery morality is, who is right and who is wrong. It shows how things can get complicated fast in human relationships. I like moral ambiguity. The fact that it is often difficult to tell who or which character to root for.
While cheering for Diane and Will, you feel almost a bad taste in your mouth - half-wondering are they right? It appears so, in their pov. It's not always so clear.
Everything about this show is edge of your seat viewing. I don't surf the net during it. I rewind.
You have to pay attention. It's quick and the dialogue counts.
I'm admittedly alone online for loving House and especially the Cuddy/House relationship. I like the twist it provided the show. This show keeps taking risks, examining new aspects of the character of House, and the supporting characters. The theme of this episode was ethics - how far one is willing to go, and what is important. Amber Tamblyn's Masters - is a far more interesting character than either 13 or Cameron, in part due to the actress - who is quite excellent in the role. She's clearly torn between protecting the patient's interests by telling the patient the truth and protecting her career and House. House awards her for turning on him - instead of destroying her career - he chooses to keep her on, to protect Cuddy and him, from well himself. I need someone who will keep me in line, since Cuddy won't - due to the fact I'm her boyfriend and she's protecting me.
Cuddy's relationship with her mother is equally examined. The mother portrayed by the amazing Candice Bergen, who Cuddy finally at House's bequest confronts. Her mother pushes her because she sees brilliance in her, something she does not see in Cuddy's sister. She likes the sister better, because she has more in common with her.
And finally we have the relationship between Foreman and Taub - Forman who calls Taub's ex-wife.
Taub who had taken a job with his brother-in-law, and betrays the brother-in-law (an insurance claims attorney) by taking a little boy to the hospital because he believes the boy's brain is bleeding.
Even though the insurance company's radiologists are saying it's a slight chance, and not clear.
Taub saw it on the X-ray, and he can't in good conscience let it go. Any more than Masters can in good conscience not tell Cuddy's Mom that House and Cuddy keep switching her meds. As a result of Masters honesty - they do confront Cuddy's Mom and finally figure out what is wrong with her - by talking to her - they figure it out.
The puzzle is integrated with the human relationships. The game playing House does hurts and helps him. It's never clear here where the high moral ground really is - everything is grey, like the hospital walls that they traverse.
Is it realistic? I don't think it matters. I think as in all things fictional, realism is highly overrated. I like the interplay between the characters, the examination of how each behave in different circumstances. I like the fact that House continues to surprise me.
Off to bed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 07:12 am (UTC)This. Yes. There are a helluva a lot of conversations I've stayed away from because either the squee for a particular show didn't thrill me or I thought the show itself was a steaming pile of poo that probably could have done something better if handed a laptop. (And if poo could, well, type.)
I want to rant about something, I can rant in my journal or in with other folks who don't like it. But jumping into a discussion where people are actively enthusiastic and dumping all over their enthusiasm. Just not polite.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 05:35 pm (UTC)I'll end up getting kicked to the curb and back. And for what?
Plus, defriending often results from these situations.
Same is true with responding negatively to a post squeeing over something I despise. Yes, I may think XYZ is made of poo and
the worst thing written ever - but seriously, how hard is it to let my friend love it? Just scroll on by, and let them squee.
I won't change their minds about the show, nor should I.
And they aren't going to change mine...so in the end, it's all rather pointless - fighting for the sake of fighting so to speak. (Although there are days that I'm admittedly in the mood for a good old fashioned internet fist-fight. LOL! But I try very hard not to give into the urge.)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 12:43 pm (UTC)Standard Mom response - Go outside and play. With real people! Nicely. Must need practice.
++++
I love Glee b/c it's fun and funny. I don't need it to be reality. Love your points about cast diversity.
I love TGW b/c it has the most interesting women on television. Period. Why aren't there 10 more shows with that many strong dynamic female characters?
I'm not a huge enough fan of House to worry about seeing it anywhere but online - still, I think they have refreshed the show brilliantly this season for all the reasons you list.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 05:41 pm (UTC)Not sure how people watch on their computers - I find it difficult, I keep wanting to surf the internet at the same time.
Maybe because it's a lap-top and how the set-up is. (shrugs)
House is rather easy to see in any event - it's in reruns on USA and on Fox, different nights of the week. (A bit like several other "procedural" shows - you never have to watch it live...or on the night it is actually on.)
I love Glee b/c it's fun and funny. I don't need it to be reality. Love your points about cast diversity.
I love TGW b/c it has the most interesting women on television. Period. Why aren't there 10 more shows with that many strong dynamic female characters?
Me too. On both. Glee just is frothy mindless fun. And TGW has the best female characters on tv - period. Unlike other shows with tough/smart female characters - these aren't super-strong or wicked assassins, they are just smart and complex. And they aren't in the "supporting" role for a change, if anything their supporting role is critiqued and shown to be complicated.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 07:54 pm (UTC)The show plays these things with a great deal of complexity. Wendy's being both black and female are a huge asset in her candidacy - indeed up until this episode - seemed to be the primary factor in her success. (Whereas Florick and Childs have looked like corrupt and vindictive political hacks, she is nice, fresh, and new.) But now Eli has hit upon the idea that he can attack Wendy as not being 'black' enough.
The show is very clever about turning weaknesses into strengths and vice versa...
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 08:16 pm (UTC)In some respects I think The Good Wife is handling the
political complexity better than West Wing did. Eli's figured out that Wendy isn't black enough, and Peter may actually be attracting an element that Wendy's more conservative demeanor is turning off.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 11:50 pm (UTC)She's been doing a great job.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-11 03:31 am (UTC)Really? There are people who don't like House/Cuddy? Because personally I think the show is better than it has been in a long time... I LOVED House 'coaching' Cuddy's daughter for pre-school (training her to be a Schnauzer. lol), and last Monday I loved House trying to save
Candace BergmanCuddy's Mom.no subject
Date: 2011-02-11 05:16 pm (UTC)*cough*House/Wilson shippers*cough*
Because personally I think the show is better than it has been in a long time... I LOVED House 'coaching' Cuddy's daughter for pre-school (training her to be a Schnauzer. lol), and last Monday I loved House trying to save Candace Bergman Cuddy's Mom.
Thoroughly agree. I find the friendship between House and Wilson interesting - particularly in how it relates to House's relationship with Cuddy. I also love the vulnerability that Cuddy brings out in House. It shows another side to the character. It's surprising.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-11 05:32 pm (UTC)but the show (for way too long) failed to do anything to develop House (or anyone else) and cause real change in his life.... Cuddy is really doing a lot to develop House's character.
As for Wilson: I was really sorry about the quick death of Cut-throat Bitch, she was hilarious and seeing her fight House for Wilson's attention was really entertaining.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-11 10:33 pm (UTC)While I've admittedly been shipping the Cuddy/House romantic relationship since the beginning of the show, and the Wilson/House "friendship" (because platonic long-term friendships are interesting to me) - so I don't get where they are coming from at all. Didn't get it with Holmes/Watson either - again I ship the platonic friendship, while I rather like Holmes with Irene Adler.
Then, there's the group who preferred the formulaic medical procedural style depicted in the first two seasons and thinks this is far too "soapy" and "melodramatic" and "cliche". Sigh. And it was better when it was a "semi-realistic" workplace drama where they solved cases each week and fought over the case a la Sherlock Holmes. As if we don't have enough episodic procedural dramas as it is. And the others who think nothing has changed and House hasn't evolved at all. (ugh).
At any rate, I completely agree with you. The last three seasons have actually shown the most character development. And I think his relationship with Cuddy is really developing both characters in an interesting way.
Also, I adored Cut-throat Bitch aka Amber, she was great and played by a great actress. But I get why they did what they did - it was needed to develop and further the House/Wilson/Cuddy relationships. Still sucked though.