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TV Slut rides again: What TV Shows I'm Currently Watching...
I've seen a few people on my flist do this meme. I feel like I've flirted with it, because I'm afraid if I actually do it - people will go, whoa, all she does is watch tv. Not true. I actually spend little time watching it - about two hours if that a night, handful on the weekend. See? There's these handy little things called DVR's that can record up to 32 hours of tv shows at a time. I think a bit less for HDTV, which makes no sense...does HDTV take up more room? Anyhow, most of the year - I have up to 10-15 tv show episodes sitting on my DVR waiting for me to watch them (most are Nikita at the moment), which I'll either do when there's nothing else on, or delete if I never get around to it and the DVR has gotten too full. I watch very few shows live. The other handy device is "netflix", which mails to my door DVD's of TV shows and films, that I can watch whenever I want. As a result of these two nifty technological achievements - I watch a lot more tv each year than I used to, but spend less time doing it. Odd, I know, but there it is.
So keep the above in mind when you read my list. Also - I don't have access to Showtime or Starz, any tv show that appears on those networks is limited to netflix DVD's during the summer.
TV is a good thing, bright lights and tiny pretty little people, okay more like shiny, not necessarily always pretty...and since I watch so much? Divided by category with cut-tags for easier reading. And...another caveat? I'm not including any tv shows that are on hiatus, such as Mad Men, Game, True Blood, etc. Because this would take forever. When I say, I'm a tv slut, I'm not kidding. ;-)
1) Soap Operas
* Revenge is a new show and a very odd serial/soap opera. It is a soap opera, I know that. But it is an innovative one with a different narrative structure than most. According to interviews with Mike Kelly, the creator, the frame-work is supposed to be 13 episode anthology arcs with theme of Revenge the connecting point. Kelly stated the first 13 episode arc is Emily-Amanda's scheme to get back at Victoria Grayson and take her down. The second 13 episode arc is about the murder trial and whoever is on trial for the murder of Daniel - and the Revenge scheme surrounding that. This means Revenge is unlikely to fall prey to the traps most soap operas and serials, including Buffy and Angel, fall into, which is by the fifth season every character has slept with each other, and it's all about the relationship and emotional drama - plot falls out the window and the writers are burned out.
Revenge is more like Lost in some respects - it is centered around a theme not really a character. Emily-Amanda may feel like the core of the show, but it can shift, her name isn't the title. This is essentially an ensemble piece and unlike Dynasty, Desperate Housewives, and Dallas - it's around a theme as opposed to a family or a character trope. The other wonderful thing about revenge, and somewhat tricky and subversive bit - which has admittedly scared off a few viewers including my pal CW, is its protagonist is a Revenge seeker. We are following the Count of Monte Cristo - the person seeking vengeance. A bit of an anti-hero set up. The 21st Century continues to be the age of the anti-hero on TV.
*Ringer - also an odd show. Sloppily written. Possibly the lowest production value of any series in prime time that I've seen to date. And the acting? Uneven. Pacing is off.
Plot is implausible. And it reminds me increasingly of a Jackie Collins/Danielle Steele Mini-Series by way of the 1980s, except those had better actors, writers, and a higher production value. I think I'm still watching it because it is unintentionally hilarious in places, also it is a bit like watching a train wreck. I'm not really sure where they are going with it - are they going to reveal at some point that Siobet is Bridget? Because if they do, it's no longer "Ringer", but if they don't...how believable is it? And for how long?
This would better as a mini-series than a series, I think. Also needs a little fine-tuning.
I keep wanting to fix it. Yet, I can't seem to stop watching the thing...Granted I've watched worse...daytime soaps. Speaking of? The guy playing Bridget's new sponsor and Siobhan's henchman? That actor is still playing Billy on Young and the Restless. Apparently he's decided not to quit his day job just yet. Don't blame him. Ringer may have gotten a full season, but I'll be surprised if it gets a second one.
*General Hospital - it's a daytime soap opera which may well be on its last legs - rumor has it, that after 49 years, it will be cancelled in May - come on, you can't give it 50 years?? Yet better written than Ringer, well sometimes. This week it made Ringer look like the Sopranoes in comparison. The thing with daytime soaps is they aren't consistent, very uneven in their writing. Sometimes brilliant, often hilariously off the wall, and at times cringe-inducing (such as this week, where I basically fast-forwarded through half the episodes and wondered for the fiftieth time why I am bothering to watch it - the fact that the DVR refused to tape it half the time did not help.). With improbable plots, out of character moments, and retcons that will make your head spin. Also the pacing...often sluggish. Other times? Insanely fast. Soaps are a weird medium. I enjoy making fun of it. And am admittedly close to giving up on it again. I jump in and out of soaps...depending on mood. They are great shows to watch while making dinner after you get home from work. OR checking email, or working on something else at the same time. Also can be a lot of fun. I love discussing them with my mother - we've been discussing soaps since I was 9.
Gossip Girl - sort of getting a bit old in the tooth...but I'm still watching. The satire about Dan publishing a book based on his friends, where Serena comes across as a flightly self-absorbed bitch, and Blair the love of his life, while Serena is pressed into acquiring the rights of his book and turning it into a movie - is interesting. Gossip is at its best when it is being snarky and satirical.
Best of the bunch? Is Revenge. The other's may disappear from my DVR before season's end, we'll see.
2) The Serials
*Grey's Anatomy well into its seventh season, it's still one of the better serials on television, providing strong multi-faceted roles for women, of various sizes, shapes, ages and ethnicities. I'd say the seventh season is actually better than the first three-four seasons, in part because they no longer have the characters of George and Izzy dragging them down. It does jump the shark at times. Shondra Rhimes is not good at experimental television, she's better at straight forward medical drama. At times it gets a bit melodramatic (like next week's episode), and does have a major sound editing dilemma. But it comforts me and I continue to like it - in some respects more than I liked ER. I admittedly have a weakness for some types of melodrama. I blame it on all those Shakespeare plays I was forced to read and watch.
Parenthood - a family drama more than a clear serial and not a soap at all. Far less melodramatic than Grey's and a lot less sex. Sticks to its theme like glue. About the trials and tribulations across two generations of Parenthood. Based on the Ron Howard film of the same name, this is actually better - both writing wise and acting wise. Howard produced this. It stars Craig T Nelson, Bonnie Bedelia, Lauren Graham, and the guy from Six Feet Under and Sports Night.
3)
The Genre Serials.
*The Walking Dead - is also beginning to feel like a soap opera. Except an incredibly violent and gross one. Also it doesn't appear to know what to do with its female characters. It's not really misogynistic, so much as oddly chauvinistic or it feels like it was written by a 13 year old boy who isn't quite sure what to make of girls yet. Which being female, I find alternately amusing and incredibly aggravating. I'm close to giving up on it too. But much like GH and Ringer...I'm still curious to see what they do. Plus I clearly have a weakness for post-apocalyptic stories. (Speaking of? I gave up on Terra Nova.) And there a bits and pieces here and there that work - like Shane is an interesting anti-hero character, as is his odd relationship with Rick, the protagonist.
*American Horror Story - off the wall, often crazy, with a sick sense of humor, watching it is a bit like watching someone throw out insane story ideas at a pitch meeting. It is oddly entertaining though. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck shows are always a bit in your face, all about the shock-value, pushing the boundaries of taste, and challenging the censors. There's also a rage inside their series - an anger not so much at people in general, as at mainstream or the "popular" kids or "norms" - the people who bullied them in school.
*Vampire Diaries of the serials listed above, Vamp Diaries and Revenge are possibly the fastest paced. Vamp Diaries also has a lot of detailed mythology which saves it from becoming a run-of-the-mill teen soap opera or a soap period. Never quite dives fully into the angst - Buffy was more of a soap than this is. The mythology on this show and world-building is possibly the best of this genre to date. (As much as I loved Buffy, Whedon wasn't interested in mythology and world-building, and sort of threw it at the wall. Williamson is working off of L. Smith's novels, and both appear to be invested in the mythology - in fact 75% of this show is mythology.) It's also by the far the most innovative I've seen from this genre. Borrowing from various places and creating something brand new. Yes, it's melodramatic, yes it has the typical romantic teen angst, but once you get past that...it's actually a lot of fun and hard to predict. Like Revenge, it continues to surprise me. That's a crucial ingredient of a tv show - it must surprise me.
*The Secret Circle not as good as Vamp Diaries, but it just started and Vamp Diaries took its time revving up. There's a mystery at the center of this story that keeps me intrigued and three separate agendas, possibly competing ones. The kids agenda to bond their circle and explore magic, their parents agenda to use that to reinstall their own stripped powers, and the witch-hunters agenda to end them all. The mystery is why the parents got their powers stripped, why people got killed, and why witchcraft is now forbidden in Chance Harbor, and people keep gunning for them. At the center of this mystery is Cassie Blake, who is the daughter of Emilia Blake and the mysterious John Blackwell. The teen angst is a deterrent, but the magical twists and turns, and the mystery - make-up for it. This week's episode was amongst the better one's, we moved away from the Adam/Cassie & Diana relationship triangle to Cassie/Jake & Faye (far more interesting) and Faye's grandfather reached out to her through her own memories of drowning resulting in a creepy and odd ghost story. I rather like how Kevin Williamson does teen horror - he plays with the established tropes, makes fun of them, and ever so gently twists them. Also oddly, his stories are not chauvinistic or sexist, nor do I feel a rage or a desire to tell us how women can't be as strong as men. A welcome relief.
*Once Upon a Time - on the surface this may appear to be a rip off of Bill Willingham's notorious and overrated Fables comic book series, but for anyone who has actually read it, it bares little resemblance, thank god. The only thing I liked about Fables was the idea that the fairy tale characters due to a curse fell into the real world with real jobs, but they still knew who they were and they voluntarily left that other world or fled it so are living in exile. In OUAT - the characters also fall into the real world with real jobs due to a curse - restricted to a small town in Maine, bordered by a forest that they cannot get past. Stuck in place and time for eternity - a sort of perpetual purgatory, which is similar in concept to LOST, the island that doubled as a sort of perpetual purgatory where everyone worked out their unresolved issues before moving on. Except here - there's a twist, they don't know that they were fairy tale characters, have no memory of their former lives, and are unaware of the curse or the fact that they are either stuck in time or stuck in place. From their perspective - all of that is a bit silly. They've lived in Storybrook as long as they can remember, have never considered leaving, are perfectly fine, and doing the best they can.
Enter Emma Swann, who unknowingly is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and holds the key to breaking the curse. She's brought into the tale by her own abandoned son, Henry, who in turn was adopted by the Evil Queen, Snow's step-mother, who launched the curse trapping them all there. There's a lot going on in this story. The narrative structure is amongst the most innovative on tv - they are telling two stories in each episode - one is the fairy tale or what happened in the fairy tale realm, the other is in the real world. Both are inter-connecting serials. Yet something is resolved in each, a new mystery revealed or clue to dissolving the curse. The story is also purely character driven - the character's motivations and personalities drive it. The potential for this tale is limitless. They can do so many different things. It all depends on who they get to write it. Right now? The writers don't blow me away...but we shall see. Also not a soap opera so far, even if it feels melodramatic in places. More a serial fantasy. Soaps tend to be emotion and relationship driven.
4.) These are programs that combine the case of the week with an on-going serial plot thread, which is often in the background but in the case of the Good Wife, may at times take over the show, while the case of the week lurks behind it. They aren't pure serial like the above.
The Procedural Hybrids or the closest I'll come to watching a procedural.
*The Good Wife possibly the best written of the shows that I'm currently watching, definitely the best cast and highest production value. It's about a woman struggling to make her life work in a male dominated work place and political environment. Alicia Florek, played by Peabody Award Winner, Julianna Marguiles, is the cuckholded wife of Peter Florek, the District Attorney of Chicago. After serving a stint in prison for misappropriation of funds, Florek wins the DA office again with his wife's selfless aid, until that is she finds out he had slept with her friend Kalinda about five years ago. She breaks up with him and
pursues her boss, Will. Yes, this sounds a bit soapy, but it's really not. It is all about politics. Each case of the week deals directly with political issues. Eli Gould - portrayed by Alan Cumming, is the political campaign manager of Peter, and a crisis manager. The action is centered on the law firm Alicia works. Her bosses, Diane and Will, the investigator, Kalinda, the assistant DA, Carey, and Eli - the political guru. It deals with their political game playing. Fascinating and possibly the most realistic portrayal of American politics and the American Legal System that I've seen.
*Fringe mostly watching on Netflix to be honest, have the first disc of S3 on my TV stand, ready to watch. This is an odd procedural. It feels like The X-Files or a weak version of the X-Files, but it's not. Very cultish, more so than the X-Files because it breaks rules and plays more with the narrative structure and format than Chris Carter or Vince Gallian did. The characters could be better, Olivia and Peter are almost too good to be true. But Walter Bishop is a wonder to behold, a truly complicated character and how he has destroyed and rebuilt the characters of Olivia and Peter across dimensions is interesting. The show jumps over to a paralle universe at the end of Season 2. And it is at the end of S2 that the writing changes and suddenly becomes worth the wait. Proof that if you stick with a show long enough? It can surprise you.
*Covert Affairs- possibly the most innovative of the female spy trope to date. Instead of having the org she works for being evil, they are actually the CIA and okay, as complicated as any workplace. An appealing lead, diverse cast, and good action. It's not the victimized girl trope that Nikita made famous. The heroine is not a super-assassin,, she gets hurt and screws up. Her clothes are what an ordinary CIA agent would wear. And the story while largely paint-by-numbers in that we've seen it before, is more innovative than most. Basically it's the Burn Notice for women.
*House Well into it's 8th season and may well be it's last due to the lead being tired and wanting to move on and not under contract past this season. Good thing too, since the show has jumped the shark after setting up a whole new procedural trope of the anti-hero Holmes Detective who solves the puzzle of the week by something another character in his personal life says or a problem in his personal life provides. He solves the case of the week but can't solve anything else. This trick has been used by everything from the Closer to
The Good Wife. Hugh Laurie is the only reason to watch the show. Lisa Edlestein - the other reason left, and Robert Sean Leonard is starting to look bored.
*Supernatural basically the Hardy Boys meets HP Lovecraft by way of gritty noire pulp comics or Tales of the Unexplained and Creepy. The cases of the week are taken directly from urban legends and folklore. The mythology is American Judeo Christian Horror - focused on the midwest. The hometown? Lawrence, Kansas (which is far more liberal than the show indicates, by the way). The theme song - by Kansas. The relationship? The bro-romance, and well an indepth exploration of Daddy Issues through male dominated urban horror. Being true noir, the women are not depicted as much more than mothers, girlfriends, damsels, or femme fatals. They die with regularity. It's a grim world because it is one without women. Male ruled. The writer clearly has watched the film Fraility ten times and has borrowed heavily from it. The uncontested star of the series? A 1968 Impala.
*Nikita Getting close to giving up on this one. I've seen too many of them and am watching too many tv shows. It's basically La Femme Nikita, except Nikita and Michael escaped and are trying to take down Division one informational box at a time, while Nikita's former protegee, Alexandra, is trying to get the boxes, take out Nikita and Michael so that Division will fund her vengeance against the people who killed her family. They've basically switched Michael and Alex's roles. Last season, Michael was the one wanting Division, through Percy, to avenge him - then he found out Percy was behind it, and took out Percy himself. Now Madeline is in charge and she's pushing Alex's buttons. And I'm bored.
*A Gifted Man - attempting this medical procedural again - it has a great cast and is about a man who sees his dead ex-wife who is pushing him to save her foundering medical clinic on the lower east side of NY, while he juggles it with his upper east side medical practice. Stars Patrick Wilson, Margo Martindale, Jennifer Ehle, Julie Benze...
*Prime Suspect - about to give up on. I don't like the main character that much which is an issue. It's very similar to the original in concept, perhaps too similar. Except Maria Bello plays Jane as a bit too angry, and too bitter. It's too edgy and grainy. Needs to lighten up a bit.
*Grimm - giving it one more chance (due to co-worker), but I don't think I'll stick with it. Too similar to Supernatural and I find Supernatural more innovative and interesting. Grimm is well just another cop show, except by way of Forever Knight. I'm guessing David Greenwalt watched Forever Knight because all of his tv shows without exception seem to copy heavily from it. Angel was Greenwalt's concept not Whedon's. I liked Forever Knight better than Grimm - it was more interesting, because in that series, Nick Knight was a cop who was also a monster, and worked hard to hide that fact from his colleagues with the help of a mortician. Here? The cop is a descendant of a long-line of hunters of fairy tale creatures or monsters, that they came up with names for and profiled. The twist, much like in Moonlight and Angel, is that the monsters aren't necessarily any more monsterous than humans and should be granted equal rights and not just hunted down and slain willy nilly by Grimm's. Like Nikita? This has been done one too many times, oddly by Greenwalt, and has become a bit predictable as a result. The one positive? the character of the Wolf and the buddy comedy. But to date? Supernatural well into its seventh season is still funnier.
5) Comedies
*Glee - a weird serialized musical comedy satire about the ups and downs of high school. This is another series by Falchuck and Murphy, although it has new blood this season so might change a bit, not sure. Plus the writers do pay attention to what blog critics say apparently. (Not me thank god.) Interspersed with rousing musical numbers - it is definitely innovative. And the best parts are the musical numbers. Like American Horror Story, Popular, and Nip/Tuck before it - it contains the same satirical rage, which is its biggest weakness.
Right now they are doing West Side Story - next week a lot of songs from West Side Story will be featured.
* Free Agents - the British version on BBC America. Much better and funnier than the US version and makes a lot more sense. Brit comedies don't translate well to the US for some reason, the humor is darker and raunchier and more honest - similar to Louis and Always Sunny, I think. US comedies tend to be afraid of that. With the exception of the one's on F/X. (I think it may be over now, since couldn't find it tonight.)
*Big Bang Theory one of the few comedies guaranteed to get me to laugh on a continuous basis. About a bunch of geeky physicists, an engineer, their geeky girlfriends.
How I Met Your Mother except realistic and for the smart set.
*Community - only when Big Bang and Vamp Diaries isn't on opposite. It's uneven.
Not as consistently funny as Big Bang, relies more on physical comedy and slapstick (which rarely works for me) and parody. But it does have its absurdist moments. The Paint Ball fights are legend, as is the blanket fort episode.
*Raising Hope from the same creator of My Name is Earl, a somewhat asburdist raunchy comedy with a lot of heart. Martha Plimpton is brilliant. And everything works most of the time. It's about a dirt poor family trying to raise a baby, named Hope, and their misadventures.
*Louis - I tried this brilliant little show on F/X but was unable to find it again. Aggravating. It's sort of a poor man's Sienfield. Reminds me a lot of Seinfield, but funnier and more realistic, also with a much more likable lead. Raunchier too.
*Subrogatory - a sarcastic teen moves with her equally sarcastic father from NYC to the suburbs of Connecticut. Satirical hijinks ensue. It's basically a satire of suburban life. Stars Alan Tudyke, Cheryl Hines, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Livey...
Coming up?
*Hell on Wheels - a gritty male dominated anti-hero style Western by AMC. It's not by David Milch, but has been compared to him. Mixed reviews.
*Luck - about race-horses on HBO, starring Nick Nolte and Dustin Hoffman.
*Smash - a musical dramedy about putting a Broadway Show.
*Awake- a man lives two lives, one where his wife lived, one where his son lived after a car crash.
*Justified - S3 starts in January, this gritty modern Western based on Elmore Leonard short stories, won the Peabody last year along with the Good Wife.
Still waiting for Game Change and American Gods to arrive on HBO.
*Dowton Abbey - to premiere on Masterpiece in January. Although the reviews of the second season...make me wonder if it will hold my interest.
*State of Play on BBC America...after White Chapel concludes.
*Merlin - the fourth season is supposed to pop up on Syfy in January.
*Misfits - if it ever makes it to this side of the pond. Grossly unfair. I know the first two seasons have been picked up by BBC America. I really want to see the third, more than I want to see Being Human. Misfits is the cleverest take on the superhero trope that I've seen. It's basically what Heroes and Alpha's should have been.
So keep the above in mind when you read my list. Also - I don't have access to Showtime or Starz, any tv show that appears on those networks is limited to netflix DVD's during the summer.
TV is a good thing, bright lights and tiny pretty little people, okay more like shiny, not necessarily always pretty...and since I watch so much? Divided by category with cut-tags for easier reading. And...another caveat? I'm not including any tv shows that are on hiatus, such as Mad Men, Game, True Blood, etc. Because this would take forever. When I say, I'm a tv slut, I'm not kidding. ;-)
1) Soap Operas
* Revenge is a new show and a very odd serial/soap opera. It is a soap opera, I know that. But it is an innovative one with a different narrative structure than most. According to interviews with Mike Kelly, the creator, the frame-work is supposed to be 13 episode anthology arcs with theme of Revenge the connecting point. Kelly stated the first 13 episode arc is Emily-Amanda's scheme to get back at Victoria Grayson and take her down. The second 13 episode arc is about the murder trial and whoever is on trial for the murder of Daniel - and the Revenge scheme surrounding that. This means Revenge is unlikely to fall prey to the traps most soap operas and serials, including Buffy and Angel, fall into, which is by the fifth season every character has slept with each other, and it's all about the relationship and emotional drama - plot falls out the window and the writers are burned out.
Revenge is more like Lost in some respects - it is centered around a theme not really a character. Emily-Amanda may feel like the core of the show, but it can shift, her name isn't the title. This is essentially an ensemble piece and unlike Dynasty, Desperate Housewives, and Dallas - it's around a theme as opposed to a family or a character trope. The other wonderful thing about revenge, and somewhat tricky and subversive bit - which has admittedly scared off a few viewers including my pal CW, is its protagonist is a Revenge seeker. We are following the Count of Monte Cristo - the person seeking vengeance. A bit of an anti-hero set up. The 21st Century continues to be the age of the anti-hero on TV.
*Ringer - also an odd show. Sloppily written. Possibly the lowest production value of any series in prime time that I've seen to date. And the acting? Uneven. Pacing is off.
Plot is implausible. And it reminds me increasingly of a Jackie Collins/Danielle Steele Mini-Series by way of the 1980s, except those had better actors, writers, and a higher production value. I think I'm still watching it because it is unintentionally hilarious in places, also it is a bit like watching a train wreck. I'm not really sure where they are going with it - are they going to reveal at some point that Siobet is Bridget? Because if they do, it's no longer "Ringer", but if they don't...how believable is it? And for how long?
This would better as a mini-series than a series, I think. Also needs a little fine-tuning.
I keep wanting to fix it. Yet, I can't seem to stop watching the thing...Granted I've watched worse...daytime soaps. Speaking of? The guy playing Bridget's new sponsor and Siobhan's henchman? That actor is still playing Billy on Young and the Restless. Apparently he's decided not to quit his day job just yet. Don't blame him. Ringer may have gotten a full season, but I'll be surprised if it gets a second one.
*General Hospital - it's a daytime soap opera which may well be on its last legs - rumor has it, that after 49 years, it will be cancelled in May - come on, you can't give it 50 years?? Yet better written than Ringer, well sometimes. This week it made Ringer look like the Sopranoes in comparison. The thing with daytime soaps is they aren't consistent, very uneven in their writing. Sometimes brilliant, often hilariously off the wall, and at times cringe-inducing (such as this week, where I basically fast-forwarded through half the episodes and wondered for the fiftieth time why I am bothering to watch it - the fact that the DVR refused to tape it half the time did not help.). With improbable plots, out of character moments, and retcons that will make your head spin. Also the pacing...often sluggish. Other times? Insanely fast. Soaps are a weird medium. I enjoy making fun of it. And am admittedly close to giving up on it again. I jump in and out of soaps...depending on mood. They are great shows to watch while making dinner after you get home from work. OR checking email, or working on something else at the same time. Also can be a lot of fun. I love discussing them with my mother - we've been discussing soaps since I was 9.
Gossip Girl - sort of getting a bit old in the tooth...but I'm still watching. The satire about Dan publishing a book based on his friends, where Serena comes across as a flightly self-absorbed bitch, and Blair the love of his life, while Serena is pressed into acquiring the rights of his book and turning it into a movie - is interesting. Gossip is at its best when it is being snarky and satirical.
Best of the bunch? Is Revenge. The other's may disappear from my DVR before season's end, we'll see.
2) The Serials
*Grey's Anatomy well into its seventh season, it's still one of the better serials on television, providing strong multi-faceted roles for women, of various sizes, shapes, ages and ethnicities. I'd say the seventh season is actually better than the first three-four seasons, in part because they no longer have the characters of George and Izzy dragging them down. It does jump the shark at times. Shondra Rhimes is not good at experimental television, she's better at straight forward medical drama. At times it gets a bit melodramatic (like next week's episode), and does have a major sound editing dilemma. But it comforts me and I continue to like it - in some respects more than I liked ER. I admittedly have a weakness for some types of melodrama. I blame it on all those Shakespeare plays I was forced to read and watch.
Parenthood - a family drama more than a clear serial and not a soap at all. Far less melodramatic than Grey's and a lot less sex. Sticks to its theme like glue. About the trials and tribulations across two generations of Parenthood. Based on the Ron Howard film of the same name, this is actually better - both writing wise and acting wise. Howard produced this. It stars Craig T Nelson, Bonnie Bedelia, Lauren Graham, and the guy from Six Feet Under and Sports Night.
3)
The Genre Serials.
*The Walking Dead - is also beginning to feel like a soap opera. Except an incredibly violent and gross one. Also it doesn't appear to know what to do with its female characters. It's not really misogynistic, so much as oddly chauvinistic or it feels like it was written by a 13 year old boy who isn't quite sure what to make of girls yet. Which being female, I find alternately amusing and incredibly aggravating. I'm close to giving up on it too. But much like GH and Ringer...I'm still curious to see what they do. Plus I clearly have a weakness for post-apocalyptic stories. (Speaking of? I gave up on Terra Nova.) And there a bits and pieces here and there that work - like Shane is an interesting anti-hero character, as is his odd relationship with Rick, the protagonist.
*American Horror Story - off the wall, often crazy, with a sick sense of humor, watching it is a bit like watching someone throw out insane story ideas at a pitch meeting. It is oddly entertaining though. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck shows are always a bit in your face, all about the shock-value, pushing the boundaries of taste, and challenging the censors. There's also a rage inside their series - an anger not so much at people in general, as at mainstream or the "popular" kids or "norms" - the people who bullied them in school.
*Vampire Diaries of the serials listed above, Vamp Diaries and Revenge are possibly the fastest paced. Vamp Diaries also has a lot of detailed mythology which saves it from becoming a run-of-the-mill teen soap opera or a soap period. Never quite dives fully into the angst - Buffy was more of a soap than this is. The mythology on this show and world-building is possibly the best of this genre to date. (As much as I loved Buffy, Whedon wasn't interested in mythology and world-building, and sort of threw it at the wall. Williamson is working off of L. Smith's novels, and both appear to be invested in the mythology - in fact 75% of this show is mythology.) It's also by the far the most innovative I've seen from this genre. Borrowing from various places and creating something brand new. Yes, it's melodramatic, yes it has the typical romantic teen angst, but once you get past that...it's actually a lot of fun and hard to predict. Like Revenge, it continues to surprise me. That's a crucial ingredient of a tv show - it must surprise me.
*The Secret Circle not as good as Vamp Diaries, but it just started and Vamp Diaries took its time revving up. There's a mystery at the center of this story that keeps me intrigued and three separate agendas, possibly competing ones. The kids agenda to bond their circle and explore magic, their parents agenda to use that to reinstall their own stripped powers, and the witch-hunters agenda to end them all. The mystery is why the parents got their powers stripped, why people got killed, and why witchcraft is now forbidden in Chance Harbor, and people keep gunning for them. At the center of this mystery is Cassie Blake, who is the daughter of Emilia Blake and the mysterious John Blackwell. The teen angst is a deterrent, but the magical twists and turns, and the mystery - make-up for it. This week's episode was amongst the better one's, we moved away from the Adam/Cassie & Diana relationship triangle to Cassie/Jake & Faye (far more interesting) and Faye's grandfather reached out to her through her own memories of drowning resulting in a creepy and odd ghost story. I rather like how Kevin Williamson does teen horror - he plays with the established tropes, makes fun of them, and ever so gently twists them. Also oddly, his stories are not chauvinistic or sexist, nor do I feel a rage or a desire to tell us how women can't be as strong as men. A welcome relief.
*Once Upon a Time - on the surface this may appear to be a rip off of Bill Willingham's notorious and overrated Fables comic book series, but for anyone who has actually read it, it bares little resemblance, thank god. The only thing I liked about Fables was the idea that the fairy tale characters due to a curse fell into the real world with real jobs, but they still knew who they were and they voluntarily left that other world or fled it so are living in exile. In OUAT - the characters also fall into the real world with real jobs due to a curse - restricted to a small town in Maine, bordered by a forest that they cannot get past. Stuck in place and time for eternity - a sort of perpetual purgatory, which is similar in concept to LOST, the island that doubled as a sort of perpetual purgatory where everyone worked out their unresolved issues before moving on. Except here - there's a twist, they don't know that they were fairy tale characters, have no memory of their former lives, and are unaware of the curse or the fact that they are either stuck in time or stuck in place. From their perspective - all of that is a bit silly. They've lived in Storybrook as long as they can remember, have never considered leaving, are perfectly fine, and doing the best they can.
Enter Emma Swann, who unknowingly is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and holds the key to breaking the curse. She's brought into the tale by her own abandoned son, Henry, who in turn was adopted by the Evil Queen, Snow's step-mother, who launched the curse trapping them all there. There's a lot going on in this story. The narrative structure is amongst the most innovative on tv - they are telling two stories in each episode - one is the fairy tale or what happened in the fairy tale realm, the other is in the real world. Both are inter-connecting serials. Yet something is resolved in each, a new mystery revealed or clue to dissolving the curse. The story is also purely character driven - the character's motivations and personalities drive it. The potential for this tale is limitless. They can do so many different things. It all depends on who they get to write it. Right now? The writers don't blow me away...but we shall see. Also not a soap opera so far, even if it feels melodramatic in places. More a serial fantasy. Soaps tend to be emotion and relationship driven.
4.) These are programs that combine the case of the week with an on-going serial plot thread, which is often in the background but in the case of the Good Wife, may at times take over the show, while the case of the week lurks behind it. They aren't pure serial like the above.
The Procedural Hybrids or the closest I'll come to watching a procedural.
*The Good Wife possibly the best written of the shows that I'm currently watching, definitely the best cast and highest production value. It's about a woman struggling to make her life work in a male dominated work place and political environment. Alicia Florek, played by Peabody Award Winner, Julianna Marguiles, is the cuckholded wife of Peter Florek, the District Attorney of Chicago. After serving a stint in prison for misappropriation of funds, Florek wins the DA office again with his wife's selfless aid, until that is she finds out he had slept with her friend Kalinda about five years ago. She breaks up with him and
pursues her boss, Will. Yes, this sounds a bit soapy, but it's really not. It is all about politics. Each case of the week deals directly with political issues. Eli Gould - portrayed by Alan Cumming, is the political campaign manager of Peter, and a crisis manager. The action is centered on the law firm Alicia works. Her bosses, Diane and Will, the investigator, Kalinda, the assistant DA, Carey, and Eli - the political guru. It deals with their political game playing. Fascinating and possibly the most realistic portrayal of American politics and the American Legal System that I've seen.
*Fringe mostly watching on Netflix to be honest, have the first disc of S3 on my TV stand, ready to watch. This is an odd procedural. It feels like The X-Files or a weak version of the X-Files, but it's not. Very cultish, more so than the X-Files because it breaks rules and plays more with the narrative structure and format than Chris Carter or Vince Gallian did. The characters could be better, Olivia and Peter are almost too good to be true. But Walter Bishop is a wonder to behold, a truly complicated character and how he has destroyed and rebuilt the characters of Olivia and Peter across dimensions is interesting. The show jumps over to a paralle universe at the end of Season 2. And it is at the end of S2 that the writing changes and suddenly becomes worth the wait. Proof that if you stick with a show long enough? It can surprise you.
*Covert Affairs- possibly the most innovative of the female spy trope to date. Instead of having the org she works for being evil, they are actually the CIA and okay, as complicated as any workplace. An appealing lead, diverse cast, and good action. It's not the victimized girl trope that Nikita made famous. The heroine is not a super-assassin,, she gets hurt and screws up. Her clothes are what an ordinary CIA agent would wear. And the story while largely paint-by-numbers in that we've seen it before, is more innovative than most. Basically it's the Burn Notice for women.
*House Well into it's 8th season and may well be it's last due to the lead being tired and wanting to move on and not under contract past this season. Good thing too, since the show has jumped the shark after setting up a whole new procedural trope of the anti-hero Holmes Detective who solves the puzzle of the week by something another character in his personal life says or a problem in his personal life provides. He solves the case of the week but can't solve anything else. This trick has been used by everything from the Closer to
The Good Wife. Hugh Laurie is the only reason to watch the show. Lisa Edlestein - the other reason left, and Robert Sean Leonard is starting to look bored.
*Supernatural basically the Hardy Boys meets HP Lovecraft by way of gritty noire pulp comics or Tales of the Unexplained and Creepy. The cases of the week are taken directly from urban legends and folklore. The mythology is American Judeo Christian Horror - focused on the midwest. The hometown? Lawrence, Kansas (which is far more liberal than the show indicates, by the way). The theme song - by Kansas. The relationship? The bro-romance, and well an indepth exploration of Daddy Issues through male dominated urban horror. Being true noir, the women are not depicted as much more than mothers, girlfriends, damsels, or femme fatals. They die with regularity. It's a grim world because it is one without women. Male ruled. The writer clearly has watched the film Fraility ten times and has borrowed heavily from it. The uncontested star of the series? A 1968 Impala.
*Nikita Getting close to giving up on this one. I've seen too many of them and am watching too many tv shows. It's basically La Femme Nikita, except Nikita and Michael escaped and are trying to take down Division one informational box at a time, while Nikita's former protegee, Alexandra, is trying to get the boxes, take out Nikita and Michael so that Division will fund her vengeance against the people who killed her family. They've basically switched Michael and Alex's roles. Last season, Michael was the one wanting Division, through Percy, to avenge him - then he found out Percy was behind it, and took out Percy himself. Now Madeline is in charge and she's pushing Alex's buttons. And I'm bored.
*A Gifted Man - attempting this medical procedural again - it has a great cast and is about a man who sees his dead ex-wife who is pushing him to save her foundering medical clinic on the lower east side of NY, while he juggles it with his upper east side medical practice. Stars Patrick Wilson, Margo Martindale, Jennifer Ehle, Julie Benze...
*Prime Suspect - about to give up on. I don't like the main character that much which is an issue. It's very similar to the original in concept, perhaps too similar. Except Maria Bello plays Jane as a bit too angry, and too bitter. It's too edgy and grainy. Needs to lighten up a bit.
*Grimm - giving it one more chance (due to co-worker), but I don't think I'll stick with it. Too similar to Supernatural and I find Supernatural more innovative and interesting. Grimm is well just another cop show, except by way of Forever Knight. I'm guessing David Greenwalt watched Forever Knight because all of his tv shows without exception seem to copy heavily from it. Angel was Greenwalt's concept not Whedon's. I liked Forever Knight better than Grimm - it was more interesting, because in that series, Nick Knight was a cop who was also a monster, and worked hard to hide that fact from his colleagues with the help of a mortician. Here? The cop is a descendant of a long-line of hunters of fairy tale creatures or monsters, that they came up with names for and profiled. The twist, much like in Moonlight and Angel, is that the monsters aren't necessarily any more monsterous than humans and should be granted equal rights and not just hunted down and slain willy nilly by Grimm's. Like Nikita? This has been done one too many times, oddly by Greenwalt, and has become a bit predictable as a result. The one positive? the character of the Wolf and the buddy comedy. But to date? Supernatural well into its seventh season is still funnier.
5) Comedies
*Glee - a weird serialized musical comedy satire about the ups and downs of high school. This is another series by Falchuck and Murphy, although it has new blood this season so might change a bit, not sure. Plus the writers do pay attention to what blog critics say apparently. (Not me thank god.) Interspersed with rousing musical numbers - it is definitely innovative. And the best parts are the musical numbers. Like American Horror Story, Popular, and Nip/Tuck before it - it contains the same satirical rage, which is its biggest weakness.
Right now they are doing West Side Story - next week a lot of songs from West Side Story will be featured.
* Free Agents - the British version on BBC America. Much better and funnier than the US version and makes a lot more sense. Brit comedies don't translate well to the US for some reason, the humor is darker and raunchier and more honest - similar to Louis and Always Sunny, I think. US comedies tend to be afraid of that. With the exception of the one's on F/X. (I think it may be over now, since couldn't find it tonight.)
*Big Bang Theory one of the few comedies guaranteed to get me to laugh on a continuous basis. About a bunch of geeky physicists, an engineer, their geeky girlfriends.
How I Met Your Mother except realistic and for the smart set.
*Community - only when Big Bang and Vamp Diaries isn't on opposite. It's uneven.
Not as consistently funny as Big Bang, relies more on physical comedy and slapstick (which rarely works for me) and parody. But it does have its absurdist moments. The Paint Ball fights are legend, as is the blanket fort episode.
*Raising Hope from the same creator of My Name is Earl, a somewhat asburdist raunchy comedy with a lot of heart. Martha Plimpton is brilliant. And everything works most of the time. It's about a dirt poor family trying to raise a baby, named Hope, and their misadventures.
*Louis - I tried this brilliant little show on F/X but was unable to find it again. Aggravating. It's sort of a poor man's Sienfield. Reminds me a lot of Seinfield, but funnier and more realistic, also with a much more likable lead. Raunchier too.
*Subrogatory - a sarcastic teen moves with her equally sarcastic father from NYC to the suburbs of Connecticut. Satirical hijinks ensue. It's basically a satire of suburban life. Stars Alan Tudyke, Cheryl Hines, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Livey...
Coming up?
*Hell on Wheels - a gritty male dominated anti-hero style Western by AMC. It's not by David Milch, but has been compared to him. Mixed reviews.
*Luck - about race-horses on HBO, starring Nick Nolte and Dustin Hoffman.
*Smash - a musical dramedy about putting a Broadway Show.
*Awake- a man lives two lives, one where his wife lived, one where his son lived after a car crash.
*Justified - S3 starts in January, this gritty modern Western based on Elmore Leonard short stories, won the Peabody last year along with the Good Wife.
Still waiting for Game Change and American Gods to arrive on HBO.
*Dowton Abbey - to premiere on Masterpiece in January. Although the reviews of the second season...make me wonder if it will hold my interest.
*State of Play on BBC America...after White Chapel concludes.
*Merlin - the fourth season is supposed to pop up on Syfy in January.
*Misfits - if it ever makes it to this side of the pond. Grossly unfair. I know the first two seasons have been picked up by BBC America. I really want to see the third, more than I want to see Being Human. Misfits is the cleverest take on the superhero trope that I've seen. It's basically what Heroes and Alpha's should have been.
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Just forget that they ever made an American movie version. (There's a good reason why you never heard about it.)
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I've held off watching it though, because I'm curious about the British version which everyone on my flist raved about, and I think the longer format works better. They say if I liked The Wire, I'll like it.
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I guess in retrospect it wasn't that bad. It was just a pretty mediocre and forgettable action movie, and when you're anticipating brilliance, it's hard not to be disappointed.
Definitely a good choice to watch the British one first. I've never seen the Wire, but I think if you have good taste in TV/movies (which you do), you'll love it.
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I just picked up a copy of the first season of the original Forever Knight. Granted it was from 1992, but that makes Ringer look like an opulent production. Seriously, the first shot inside the police department looks like the inside of a suburban living room.
Grimm lost me last night. I'd hoped the format would be varied. But, last night it looked like it was going to be the same thing every time. And I'm getting a serious racial profiling vibe from the show. The demons or whatever are "passing," and the Grimm has to check them out because they might be bad?
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Forever Knight was low budget for the 1990s. It was a cheap Canadian series filmed entirely in Canada. You couldn't find it half the time. I remember watching it in Law School, on an old tv set that had basic cable if that. Half the time it came in foggy. And it was always on late at night.
Keep in mind - this was before digital. Re-watch Buffy sometime, and note how low-budget it is. Particularly Season 6 on UPN (oh god, some of those episodes..., SMG was bringing in her own wardrobe.) And it's notable that Ringer has the same makeup, costume and stunt crew as Buffy. Exactly the same. She went and hired them.
I'm watching a daytime soap that has a better budget than Ringer or Knight did, which is just sad.
Ringer is funny though. But I am curious - are they going to drag out the whole Bridget is really Siobhan reveal for the entire series? I honestly don't know.
Not sure if you'll like Forever Knight...it's a bit cheesy and melodramatic. I can't re-watch it. I tried once. But the actors they chose are rather ...interesting. None are pretty or Hollywood types. Someday rent the even cheesier Nick at Night tv movie starring a young Rick Springfield in the title role.
Grimm lost me last night. I'd hoped the format would be varied. But, last night it looked like it was going to be the same thing every time.
That bad, eh? Maybe I'll just delete it and not waste my time trying it again, co-worker be danged. Poor co-worker. Curious to see if he stays with it - he hates procedurals.
I'm admittedly open to procedurals, but it has to be varied and surprise me. Can't deal with the same story every week.
And I'm getting a serious racial profiling vibe from the show. The demons or whatever are "passing," and the Grimm has to check them out because they might be bad?
Yep. That bugged me in the pilot. I caught it in the exchange between Grimm and Wolfguy - where he's going on about being this disenfranchised minority. Then the preview had him attacking Aunt Marie for killing his grand-dad. And well, this appears to be a Greenwalt and Kouf thing. They did the same bit in Angel if you remember? It started to pop up in S2...and people started writing these long posts about how Buffy was wrong to kill vampires and demons because they were metaphors for disenfranchised minority? I don't think this metaphor works very well.
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Long way of saying Thank you.
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And you're very welcome.
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Of the new shows I really like Revenge better and better. It reminds me a lot of that Cruel Intentions movie with SMG if anyone besides me remembers that one. And a bit of the Star's Tennis Balls by Stephen Fry (another modernized take on the Count of Monte Christo).
With Once Upon a Time I'm a bit undecided. It's interesting but there needs to happen a bit more. I think I can really tell after 5 or six episodes or so.
Misfits has started again (and it's lovely!). If you want I can send you a DVD again when the season has finished?
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Revenge is interesting. I do wish they'd get rid of the tavern and the teen romance between Deckard and Charlotte, which I find grating. Little worried that's going to heat up in part II. Also Daniel is a bit of a weak point, but since we know he's going to die, not that important.
OUAT is going to require 5-6 episodes to see where it is headed. Right now it's focusing on the back story of the curse - or why everyone is in Storybrook, and the motivations of Regina and Snow White as well as their relationship. Which is a good idea, considering that is why they are in the place.
Misfits has started again (and it's lovely!). If you want I can send you a DVD again when the season has finished?
If it's not a problem? Please do, I'd love it. Misfits was great and I want to know what happens next to the characters. But only if it's no problem.
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Plot is implausible. And it reminds me increasingly of a Jackie Collins/Danielle Steele Mini-Series by way of the 1980s,
1980s. Judith Michael. Deception (http://www.amazon.com/Deceptions-Judith-Michael/dp/0671899546)
As soon as I heard "twin swap" that was the story my mind snapped to (which, truthfully, I don't even remember the plot of that one other than it was a twin swap. But it was definitely what first came to mind).
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It's better written than Ringer, with far more multi-faceted characters and in some respects has more in common with an indie
film starring Rachel Griffiths called Me, Myself, and I - where a single woman and successful photographer switches places with a mild mannered housewife with two kids in a sort of what might have been scenario.
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