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Jan. 1st, 2014 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatLow-key New Year's this year - which is a good thing since there's a huge snow storm headed this way. It's slated to hit tomorrow at 1pm. Lovely.
Here's a TV Meme that I swiped from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
londonkds.
What shows did you start watching this year?
Too many to count. There's a lot of television shows. These are the ones that were memorable.
* Broadchurch - from the UK, a surprise, and quite wonderful. It's about how the search for the murderer of a small child affects a small seaside town in Britain. Starred David Tennant.
* Orphan Black - also from the UK, and perhaps the best sci-fi drama that I've seen in quite a while. I keep forgetting to mention it in end of the year wrap-ups, mainly because I binge watched it in June - and June was a while ago...and have I mentioned how many bloody tv shows there are? It's about a young woman, who discovers that she is one of several clones. The actress manages to make each clone very different and an interesting character in their own right. Part sci-fi political thriller, part relationship comedy. Do hope they'll keep up the momentum for next year.
* Defiance - the new sci-fi from Rockne O'Bannion (the guy behind Farscape). It stars Julie Benze as the Mayor of a town in a post-terra farmed earth. Blends the Western and Sci-Fi tropes, and sort of reminds me of a mash-up of Gunsmoke and Babylon 5, with a touch of Firefly thrown in. Rough around the edges, but has some compelling characters and plot arcs. Also not quite as predictable as you might expect. It is unique in that it has a role-playing video game that sort of enhances the series. (I'm not into video games, so I've no idea how well this works.)
* Falling Skies - TNT, Stephen Spielberg's sci-fi series that feels like a mash-up of V, Walking Dead, and War of the Worlds, but more entertaining than all three. It delves into survival tropes, disaster tropes, and focuses on family relationships. It's about a Boston University history professor specializing in military history - who is forced to become a leader and protect his family from invading alien forces.
* Sleepy Hollow - Fox - a weird time-traveling/horror buddy cop series that seems to blend X-Files with various horror tropes, and has a kick-ass female lead and a not unattractive on the eyes, male lead, with charisma to spare. Icabod Crane is re-awakened in the 21st Century just in time to prevent the Headless Horseman from starting the apocalypse, to aid in his quest, he teams up with local Deputy Sheriff, Abby Mills and her sister, who could have doubled for Sarah Connor in Terminator Judgement Day.
* Scandal - ABC - redefined the political drama and appears at times to be a satirical send-up of tv shows like The West Wing and possibly Homeland. Hilarious at times, and engaging. Stand-out performances by Jeff Perry as a ruthless homosexual Chief of Staff who could give Leo a run for his money on The West Wing, Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, and Joe Morton as Olivia's Black Ops father.
* The Black List - NBC - an interesting and at times twisty procedural based conspiracy thriller, with a stand-out performance by the ever-charming, James Spader, who plays an international criminal that coordinates and facilitates crimes. He pops up one day at the FBI and proposes that in return for immunity and protection, he'll help them catch each of the people on his Black List. Just one caveat, he will only work with Agent Lizzie Keene, and he gets to pick his own team.
* Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - ABC - pilot was good, sort of meandered from there, but did have a great plot-twist at the mid-season finale. It's a limited series - only have 17 episodes and won't continue next season. Alice, after returning the first time from Wonderland, goes back again and again to prove that it exists to her disbelieving father, until one day she meets the love of her life, a genie named Cyrus. But Cyrus is knocked into the boiling sea to his alleged death by the Red Queen. So Alice falls into a depression and into the insane asylum. Until the Knave of Hearts appears and informs her that Cyrus is alive, and they return to Wonderland to rescue him from the Red Queen and the Evil Jafar.Jafar is rather interestingly portrayed by Naveen Andrews.
What shows did you give up on this year?
* Covert Affairs - got a bit too much Bourne Identity and sort of lost it's sense of humor along the way. Also felt a bit far-fetched. At any rate, my attention began to wonder and that was that.
* Dexter - my favorite character in the series was Debra Morgan and her arc sort of swayed off course when the writers chose to have her fall in love with Dexter. I attempted to watch the 6th Season and gave up. I think it was the 6th, the season before the final.
Too dark, too violent, and too unbelievable.
*The Walking Dead - similar reasons to Dexter, actually. My favorite characters were Andrea, Carol, and Michonne. I found the series a bit too dark and violent this year, and zombies have never been my thing.
*Revolution - see above. Too dark, too violent, etc. I always screwed up with my recording and ended up skipping three key episodes. So that didn't help. The series has not only become highly serialized (it always was to a degree) but also jam-packed with action sequences and cliff-hanger ever commercial break -so if you miss an episode, you will be hopelessly lost. But the action involves either "gruesome torture" or "killing people", there's few quiet relationship oriented moments. After a while I felt beaten down by it - and this was just after watching two episodes. I'm thinking Eric Kripke and I aren't mixy things? I had similar issues with Supernatural and Heroes.
*Dowtown Abbey - felt it ended well last season. Spoilers that I've read for the current season don't really interest me all that much. I might give it a shot again, not certain. It's opposite two other tv shows that I watch.
*Copper - BBC America - a bit too dark and violent for my mood, so I skipped the second season, and it ended up being cancelled anyhow.
* Merlin - not by choice, it ended and had its season finale. And a great finale it was.
*Marvel Agents of Shield - I tried it, but my attention kept wandering.
*Reign - while more gripping than Agents of Shield (granted that wouldn't be hard), it drug too much in places and just didn't hold my attention.
*The Americans - tried it, but very violent, and not in the mood for that type of violence at the moment. So lost track of it.
*The Bridge - similar to the Americans. Tried it. But lost interest and track of it.
*Smash - it died. But it admittedly deserved to - the direction they took it in, did not quite work. Felt in many ways like a poor copy of the 1930s 42nd Street, which has now become cliche.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into this year but didn't?
Did I say there were too many tv shows on?
*Treme - keep meaning to watch it, never got around to it.
*Homeland - ditto. And this is oddly one of Obama's favorites. I've heard though that the current season is less than stellar.
*Grimm - see above.
*Contiuum - see above.
Which shows do you expect to check out next year?
Treme - heard wonderful things about it, and its similar to the Wire in its construction, which remains amongst my favorite picks for best show ever. It's about New Orleans post Katrina, and depicts the rise and fall of music within that city.
Contiuum - if I can find the reruns.
The 100 - about a bunch of juvenile delinquets sent to a hostile Earth to determine if it can be re-settled, while spaceships containing settlers hover above.
Killer Women - a female Texas Ranger hunts female serial killers. Looks intriguing. By Sofia Vegra.
Intelligence - science-fiction political thriller - about a man who has been enhanced by an computer chip. Stars Josh Holloway from Lost, Marg Helgenberger, and the gal who used to play Ruby on OUAT. I like the cast.
Sherlock - Season 3 is supposed to premier sometime next year.
Which shows impressed you the least this year?
Marvel Agents of Shield - what amuses me the most about this blandly acted and written show...is that of all the Whedon series, its the one that made it to the top ten in the ratings department. Bewildering and amusing at the same time.
Smash - great concept, poor execution. This was a series that they attempted to fix but only succeeded in making much worse. It was actually hilarious at various points, where it appeared that the writer was satirizing himself and the attempted reboot. Great musical performances, but the dialogue and writing never quite lived up to them.
Which shows impressed you the most this year?
* The Good Wife - which had the guts to reboot the show and flip the playing board. Also the writing, which had always been good, got even better. It's become the can't miss show of the year.
* Orphan Black - not at all what I expected. Took the clone storyline to a whole new level, with a fantastic performance by the lead.
* Once Upon a Time - the Peter Pan/Rumplestilskin arc was surprising with all its twists and turns. And the mid-season finale which closed the story arc, then opened a brand new one, successfully rebooting the series in the process, blew me away.
* Breaking Bad - the last four episodes, which rewarded us for slogging through the front half of the fifth season. The finale and Ozymandias being the standouts.
* Falling Skies - didn't expect to like it. Tend to find the spider-things scary. But it did some interesting things with the old invasion trope, referencing writers from Jack Finney to Heinlein. Also each character was fully developed. There's a great dialogue exchange between a sort of roguish and disreputable character and his gang...which haunted long after.
Here's a TV Meme that I swiped from
londonkds.What shows did you start watching this year?
Too many to count. There's a lot of television shows. These are the ones that were memorable.
* Broadchurch - from the UK, a surprise, and quite wonderful. It's about how the search for the murderer of a small child affects a small seaside town in Britain. Starred David Tennant.
* Orphan Black - also from the UK, and perhaps the best sci-fi drama that I've seen in quite a while. I keep forgetting to mention it in end of the year wrap-ups, mainly because I binge watched it in June - and June was a while ago...and have I mentioned how many bloody tv shows there are? It's about a young woman, who discovers that she is one of several clones. The actress manages to make each clone very different and an interesting character in their own right. Part sci-fi political thriller, part relationship comedy. Do hope they'll keep up the momentum for next year.
* Defiance - the new sci-fi from Rockne O'Bannion (the guy behind Farscape). It stars Julie Benze as the Mayor of a town in a post-terra farmed earth. Blends the Western and Sci-Fi tropes, and sort of reminds me of a mash-up of Gunsmoke and Babylon 5, with a touch of Firefly thrown in. Rough around the edges, but has some compelling characters and plot arcs. Also not quite as predictable as you might expect. It is unique in that it has a role-playing video game that sort of enhances the series. (I'm not into video games, so I've no idea how well this works.)
* Falling Skies - TNT, Stephen Spielberg's sci-fi series that feels like a mash-up of V, Walking Dead, and War of the Worlds, but more entertaining than all three. It delves into survival tropes, disaster tropes, and focuses on family relationships. It's about a Boston University history professor specializing in military history - who is forced to become a leader and protect his family from invading alien forces.
* Sleepy Hollow - Fox - a weird time-traveling/horror buddy cop series that seems to blend X-Files with various horror tropes, and has a kick-ass female lead and a not unattractive on the eyes, male lead, with charisma to spare. Icabod Crane is re-awakened in the 21st Century just in time to prevent the Headless Horseman from starting the apocalypse, to aid in his quest, he teams up with local Deputy Sheriff, Abby Mills and her sister, who could have doubled for Sarah Connor in Terminator Judgement Day.
* Scandal - ABC - redefined the political drama and appears at times to be a satirical send-up of tv shows like The West Wing and possibly Homeland. Hilarious at times, and engaging. Stand-out performances by Jeff Perry as a ruthless homosexual Chief of Staff who could give Leo a run for his money on The West Wing, Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope, and Joe Morton as Olivia's Black Ops father.
* The Black List - NBC - an interesting and at times twisty procedural based conspiracy thriller, with a stand-out performance by the ever-charming, James Spader, who plays an international criminal that coordinates and facilitates crimes. He pops up one day at the FBI and proposes that in return for immunity and protection, he'll help them catch each of the people on his Black List. Just one caveat, he will only work with Agent Lizzie Keene, and he gets to pick his own team.
* Once Upon a Time in Wonderland - ABC - pilot was good, sort of meandered from there, but did have a great plot-twist at the mid-season finale. It's a limited series - only have 17 episodes and won't continue next season. Alice, after returning the first time from Wonderland, goes back again and again to prove that it exists to her disbelieving father, until one day she meets the love of her life, a genie named Cyrus. But Cyrus is knocked into the boiling sea to his alleged death by the Red Queen. So Alice falls into a depression and into the insane asylum. Until the Knave of Hearts appears and informs her that Cyrus is alive, and they return to Wonderland to rescue him from the Red Queen and the Evil Jafar.Jafar is rather interestingly portrayed by Naveen Andrews.
What shows did you give up on this year?
* Covert Affairs - got a bit too much Bourne Identity and sort of lost it's sense of humor along the way. Also felt a bit far-fetched. At any rate, my attention began to wonder and that was that.
* Dexter - my favorite character in the series was Debra Morgan and her arc sort of swayed off course when the writers chose to have her fall in love with Dexter. I attempted to watch the 6th Season and gave up. I think it was the 6th, the season before the final.
Too dark, too violent, and too unbelievable.
*The Walking Dead - similar reasons to Dexter, actually. My favorite characters were Andrea, Carol, and Michonne. I found the series a bit too dark and violent this year, and zombies have never been my thing.
*Revolution - see above. Too dark, too violent, etc. I always screwed up with my recording and ended up skipping three key episodes. So that didn't help. The series has not only become highly serialized (it always was to a degree) but also jam-packed with action sequences and cliff-hanger ever commercial break -so if you miss an episode, you will be hopelessly lost. But the action involves either "gruesome torture" or "killing people", there's few quiet relationship oriented moments. After a while I felt beaten down by it - and this was just after watching two episodes. I'm thinking Eric Kripke and I aren't mixy things? I had similar issues with Supernatural and Heroes.
*Dowtown Abbey - felt it ended well last season. Spoilers that I've read for the current season don't really interest me all that much. I might give it a shot again, not certain. It's opposite two other tv shows that I watch.
*Copper - BBC America - a bit too dark and violent for my mood, so I skipped the second season, and it ended up being cancelled anyhow.
* Merlin - not by choice, it ended and had its season finale. And a great finale it was.
*Marvel Agents of Shield - I tried it, but my attention kept wandering.
*Reign - while more gripping than Agents of Shield (granted that wouldn't be hard), it drug too much in places and just didn't hold my attention.
*The Americans - tried it, but very violent, and not in the mood for that type of violence at the moment. So lost track of it.
*The Bridge - similar to the Americans. Tried it. But lost interest and track of it.
*Smash - it died. But it admittedly deserved to - the direction they took it in, did not quite work. Felt in many ways like a poor copy of the 1930s 42nd Street, which has now become cliche.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into this year but didn't?
Did I say there were too many tv shows on?
*Treme - keep meaning to watch it, never got around to it.
*Homeland - ditto. And this is oddly one of Obama's favorites. I've heard though that the current season is less than stellar.
*Grimm - see above.
*Contiuum - see above.
Which shows do you expect to check out next year?
Treme - heard wonderful things about it, and its similar to the Wire in its construction, which remains amongst my favorite picks for best show ever. It's about New Orleans post Katrina, and depicts the rise and fall of music within that city.
Contiuum - if I can find the reruns.
The 100 - about a bunch of juvenile delinquets sent to a hostile Earth to determine if it can be re-settled, while spaceships containing settlers hover above.
Killer Women - a female Texas Ranger hunts female serial killers. Looks intriguing. By Sofia Vegra.
Intelligence - science-fiction political thriller - about a man who has been enhanced by an computer chip. Stars Josh Holloway from Lost, Marg Helgenberger, and the gal who used to play Ruby on OUAT. I like the cast.
Sherlock - Season 3 is supposed to premier sometime next year.
Which shows impressed you the least this year?
Marvel Agents of Shield - what amuses me the most about this blandly acted and written show...is that of all the Whedon series, its the one that made it to the top ten in the ratings department. Bewildering and amusing at the same time.
Smash - great concept, poor execution. This was a series that they attempted to fix but only succeeded in making much worse. It was actually hilarious at various points, where it appeared that the writer was satirizing himself and the attempted reboot. Great musical performances, but the dialogue and writing never quite lived up to them.
Which shows impressed you the most this year?
* The Good Wife - which had the guts to reboot the show and flip the playing board. Also the writing, which had always been good, got even better. It's become the can't miss show of the year.
* Orphan Black - not at all what I expected. Took the clone storyline to a whole new level, with a fantastic performance by the lead.
* Once Upon a Time - the Peter Pan/Rumplestilskin arc was surprising with all its twists and turns. And the mid-season finale which closed the story arc, then opened a brand new one, successfully rebooting the series in the process, blew me away.
* Breaking Bad - the last four episodes, which rewarded us for slogging through the front half of the fifth season. The finale and Ozymandias being the standouts.
* Falling Skies - didn't expect to like it. Tend to find the spider-things scary. But it did some interesting things with the old invasion trope, referencing writers from Jack Finney to Heinlein. Also each character was fully developed. There's a great dialogue exchange between a sort of roguish and disreputable character and his gang...which haunted long after.