Comfort TV at it's Best...
Sep. 24th, 2011 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatComfort television watching round-up, for last night and this morning:
1. Fringe - while I find the serialized plot thread and the characters in this series rather engaging, I really wish they'd drop the Biological Terrorist/Mad Scientist Monster of the Week bit. Not a fan of that at all. Reason I held off watching it. Episodic television doesn't work well for me - it feels a bit too much like watching a series of morality plays, if done well - a series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents or Twilight Zone episodes...which let's face it - have passed their prime. I've yet to see anyone do quite as good a job as Hitch and Serling on this sort of thing. And even in Hitch and Serling's case, after five or six episodes...the format got old. Not an anthology/short story fan.
Yes, I'm the exact opposite of all the viewers that hope a serialized tv show would become more episodic, I keep hoping the episodic tv shows become more serialized. I like to commit to my tv shows. Fringe is getting there. The Good Wife went there immediately. Episodic tv shows are network darlings...for two reasons, the characters don't really matter - you can interchange them or even let them age and never quite change for about 20 seasons, and two - easy to sell to syndication or reruns...plus easy to get viewers, because no need to truly follow the thing, you can just jump in and out of it.
2. Secret Circle which I keep wanting to call the Secret History (maybe because I find the back story that they are hinting at it more interesting than the Circle?) We're making headway. There's plenty of creepy vibe in the air. I rather like Williamson's brand of low-brow gothic horror, funny scary and somewhat comforting scary, as opposed to scary-scary. Secret isn't as entertaining and hilarious as Vamp Diaries...but it is engaging, and so far the only new show this season that I think is a keeper. The others, which I'm considering...but the jury is still out on are Free Agents (doing quite well ratings rise, at least so far), Revenge (ditto), Ringer (eh...but on the CW and low production value so what can you expect?).
Circle does have an appealing heroine in Cassie. She's not dumb, and the actress playing her is appealing. Also she seems to be pro-active and not a victim or damsel, and with quite a bit of power - so far. We shall see where it goes.
3. Vamp Diaries I love Vamp Diaries plot twists, it is possibly the only tv show that surprises me with its plot twists. Also it doesn't overwhelm (take notes Ringer). The twist that Jack Coleman's character, Bill, who Diane Lockwood called to take care of Caroline (who Diane figured out was a vampire), is actually Caroline's Dad - was inspired. Didn't see that coming at all. And it explains a lot. Plus back-story on Caroline! YAY! I've grown rather enamored of former mean boy, Tyler, who revealed that he was the true monster not Caroline - he's a werewolf - having inherited the Lockwood family curse. Diane tries to undue what she did regarding Caroline, but alas - too late, Daddy has her now.
I saw the other two twists coming...not surprised at all that Klaus can't turn werewolves into vampires that easily. Although I'm wondering if killing Elena would have truly accomplished it?
Or if the only way to create one is well the way Klaus was created - to be born? Not clear.
And if it does require Elena/Doppleganger's death - why? Who is Elena a Doppleganger of? (Besides Katherine, obviously, speaking of...where is Katherine? Sort of miss her.)
Also not all that surprised that we can't or shouldn't trust Vickie. Vickie wasn't exactly a nice person in life. Addictive and manipulative. Love seeing Anna again. I'd trust Anna over Vicki.
And what happened to Jeremy? I keep confusing him with Tyler now - it's like he grew both in height and bulk literally over night. Is the actor really a teenager, while everyone else is in their 20s, because that would explain a lot.
Loving this season so far. The Damon/Alaric and Elena bits are fun. As are the Stefan/Klaus and Stefan/Damon bits. Plus we have Matt/Jeremy and Caroline/Tyler...no complaints. Enjoying Vamp Diaries a lot more than I did True Blood this summer, more likable characters. Even Stefan and Elena are growing on me. Although I do wish the show would stop teasing me with Elena, Stefan and Damon's deaths - I mean come on, we know you aren't going to kill them any more than True Blood is going to kill Bill, Eric and Sookie. (Oddly, I like Stefan and Elena more than I like Sookie and Bill...maybe because while Elena is dumb (going into the Tenessee Mountains with just Alaric to hunt Stefan admist a bunch of werewolves on the night of a full moon is very dumb. I don't know what she thought was going to happen.), she's not quite as dumb as Sookie, also she's a lot less grating.) Will give Elena points for pulling out when she realized that she was putting Damon and Alaric in deadly peril along with herself. She may be suicidal, but at least she's not homicidal (like Stefan) or that self-absorbed. Another reason I like Elena better than Sookie, although probably not fair to compare - since I don't think Alan Ball intends on me taking Sookie seriously as a character, so much as a satirical commentary on a character trope.
Love, love Damon's line - best of the night. "Stefan's an insufferable martyr who needs his ass kicked...but he's not gone." Yep. When the show flirted with killing Stefan for the fiftieth time, I thought, stop teasing me show - this is getting old. Come on. I know you aren't going to kill him or if you do, you'll bring him back.
Which is one of the many reasons why these shows are comforting - you know the leads are safe. Not so much the supporting characters though.
4. Big Bang Theory - finally a show that gets it right regarding geeks and nerds. It's also the only sitcom I watched this week that made me roar with laughter. (I haven't seen Community - it's opposite Big Bang and Vamp Diaries - my DVR can't do three shows at the same time. And I like Big Bang better - it's humor is less parody/satire and more witty.) The scenes that made me roar?
a) Raj and (the other guy who is engaged to Bernadette) french kissing via a computer internet simulator. Most absurd thing ever - the expression on Leonard's face was priceless. b)Amy Fowler and Penny running down five flights of steps screaming after the thing in Penny's arm chair bit Amy. (This show is the closest thing to Seinfield that I've seen on tv. Again I haven't seen the FX comedies.)
5. Grey's Anatomy - my only quibble? Dear Grey's stop doing the music videos or music over the top of the dialogue - I had to watch it with closed captioning to figure out what people were saying. It was annoying. I don't care how great a song Atlas Hands is - wait until the dialogue is over. At one point, we had dialogue, a voice over, and the song. Other than that? Loved the episode. Loved it. Particularly all the scenes revolving around Cristina, the Chief, and Alex Kirev. This is one of the few shows on tv that realistically portrays minorities in lead roles.
Shondra Rimes gets it right. She also handles quite well the difficult topic of abortion. Was impressed.
1. Fringe - while I find the serialized plot thread and the characters in this series rather engaging, I really wish they'd drop the Biological Terrorist/Mad Scientist Monster of the Week bit. Not a fan of that at all. Reason I held off watching it. Episodic television doesn't work well for me - it feels a bit too much like watching a series of morality plays, if done well - a series of Alfred Hitchcock Presents or Twilight Zone episodes...which let's face it - have passed their prime. I've yet to see anyone do quite as good a job as Hitch and Serling on this sort of thing. And even in Hitch and Serling's case, after five or six episodes...the format got old. Not an anthology/short story fan.
Yes, I'm the exact opposite of all the viewers that hope a serialized tv show would become more episodic, I keep hoping the episodic tv shows become more serialized. I like to commit to my tv shows. Fringe is getting there. The Good Wife went there immediately. Episodic tv shows are network darlings...for two reasons, the characters don't really matter - you can interchange them or even let them age and never quite change for about 20 seasons, and two - easy to sell to syndication or reruns...plus easy to get viewers, because no need to truly follow the thing, you can just jump in and out of it.
2. Secret Circle which I keep wanting to call the Secret History (maybe because I find the back story that they are hinting at it more interesting than the Circle?) We're making headway. There's plenty of creepy vibe in the air. I rather like Williamson's brand of low-brow gothic horror, funny scary and somewhat comforting scary, as opposed to scary-scary. Secret isn't as entertaining and hilarious as Vamp Diaries...but it is engaging, and so far the only new show this season that I think is a keeper. The others, which I'm considering...but the jury is still out on are Free Agents (doing quite well ratings rise, at least so far), Revenge (ditto), Ringer (eh...but on the CW and low production value so what can you expect?).
Circle does have an appealing heroine in Cassie. She's not dumb, and the actress playing her is appealing. Also she seems to be pro-active and not a victim or damsel, and with quite a bit of power - so far. We shall see where it goes.
3. Vamp Diaries I love Vamp Diaries plot twists, it is possibly the only tv show that surprises me with its plot twists. Also it doesn't overwhelm (take notes Ringer). The twist that Jack Coleman's character, Bill, who Diane Lockwood called to take care of Caroline (who Diane figured out was a vampire), is actually Caroline's Dad - was inspired. Didn't see that coming at all. And it explains a lot. Plus back-story on Caroline! YAY! I've grown rather enamored of former mean boy, Tyler, who revealed that he was the true monster not Caroline - he's a werewolf - having inherited the Lockwood family curse. Diane tries to undue what she did regarding Caroline, but alas - too late, Daddy has her now.
I saw the other two twists coming...not surprised at all that Klaus can't turn werewolves into vampires that easily. Although I'm wondering if killing Elena would have truly accomplished it?
Or if the only way to create one is well the way Klaus was created - to be born? Not clear.
And if it does require Elena/Doppleganger's death - why? Who is Elena a Doppleganger of? (Besides Katherine, obviously, speaking of...where is Katherine? Sort of miss her.)
Also not all that surprised that we can't or shouldn't trust Vickie. Vickie wasn't exactly a nice person in life. Addictive and manipulative. Love seeing Anna again. I'd trust Anna over Vicki.
And what happened to Jeremy? I keep confusing him with Tyler now - it's like he grew both in height and bulk literally over night. Is the actor really a teenager, while everyone else is in their 20s, because that would explain a lot.
Loving this season so far. The Damon/Alaric and Elena bits are fun. As are the Stefan/Klaus and Stefan/Damon bits. Plus we have Matt/Jeremy and Caroline/Tyler...no complaints. Enjoying Vamp Diaries a lot more than I did True Blood this summer, more likable characters. Even Stefan and Elena are growing on me. Although I do wish the show would stop teasing me with Elena, Stefan and Damon's deaths - I mean come on, we know you aren't going to kill them any more than True Blood is going to kill Bill, Eric and Sookie. (Oddly, I like Stefan and Elena more than I like Sookie and Bill...maybe because while Elena is dumb (going into the Tenessee Mountains with just Alaric to hunt Stefan admist a bunch of werewolves on the night of a full moon is very dumb. I don't know what she thought was going to happen.), she's not quite as dumb as Sookie, also she's a lot less grating.) Will give Elena points for pulling out when she realized that she was putting Damon and Alaric in deadly peril along with herself. She may be suicidal, but at least she's not homicidal (like Stefan) or that self-absorbed. Another reason I like Elena better than Sookie, although probably not fair to compare - since I don't think Alan Ball intends on me taking Sookie seriously as a character, so much as a satirical commentary on a character trope.
Love, love Damon's line - best of the night. "Stefan's an insufferable martyr who needs his ass kicked...but he's not gone." Yep. When the show flirted with killing Stefan for the fiftieth time, I thought, stop teasing me show - this is getting old. Come on. I know you aren't going to kill him or if you do, you'll bring him back.
Which is one of the many reasons why these shows are comforting - you know the leads are safe. Not so much the supporting characters though.
4. Big Bang Theory - finally a show that gets it right regarding geeks and nerds. It's also the only sitcom I watched this week that made me roar with laughter. (I haven't seen Community - it's opposite Big Bang and Vamp Diaries - my DVR can't do three shows at the same time. And I like Big Bang better - it's humor is less parody/satire and more witty.) The scenes that made me roar?
a) Raj and (the other guy who is engaged to Bernadette) french kissing via a computer internet simulator. Most absurd thing ever - the expression on Leonard's face was priceless. b)Amy Fowler and Penny running down five flights of steps screaming after the thing in Penny's arm chair bit Amy. (This show is the closest thing to Seinfield that I've seen on tv. Again I haven't seen the FX comedies.)
5. Grey's Anatomy - my only quibble? Dear Grey's stop doing the music videos or music over the top of the dialogue - I had to watch it with closed captioning to figure out what people were saying. It was annoying. I don't care how great a song Atlas Hands is - wait until the dialogue is over. At one point, we had dialogue, a voice over, and the song. Other than that? Loved the episode. Loved it. Particularly all the scenes revolving around Cristina, the Chief, and Alex Kirev. This is one of the few shows on tv that realistically portrays minorities in lead roles.
Shondra Rimes gets it right. She also handles quite well the difficult topic of abortion. Was impressed.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 12:10 am (UTC)but Community was on all last Summer (I didn't watch it last year when it was on, so I watched Community in rerun all Summer), so it isn't like you'll miss it.
It is fun watching BBT because I get all the references to past Sci-fi shows, and most of the comic book references! LOL
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 03:52 am (UTC)Whereas in "New Girl" the guys are apparently there to 'fix' her (and her nerdiness doesn't seem real to begin with so I shrug). But the reason why it's more grating is that it's like she isn't who she needs to be whereas on TBBT this is who they are.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 04:42 am (UTC)Exactly. That's why it is unwatchable.
You have this actress playing the role - who is pretty and trendy, and hip - pretending to be nerdy (but in a way that is how people who are trendy and hip perceive and stereotyped nerdy - or hipsters perceive it - ie lots of childish LOTR references and watching Dirty Dancing all day - which no nerd in their right mind would do). Then add to this - these three immature hipster guys and her model hipster girlfriend trying to change her and make her "hip" like them. Because you know that's what we should do.
Big Bang Theory doesn't do that. We laugh with the nerdy guys, not at them.
And no one is trying to fix them - if anything it is emphasized that they are doing quite well. That show respects them.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 07:59 am (UTC)