Previously, on Eventually Clever…
…Steve watched some TV shows.
- Better Off Ted: Sublimely funny office comedy about managers, optimists, scientists and romantics in the R&D department of a megacorporation. Any show where experimental dinner plates catch on fire, staff are forced to date and/or use offensive language, and pumpkins are weaponized is right up my alley.
- Chuck – Season 3: The puppy-dog longing scenario is reversed, and that’s all well and funny, but I’d like to see Chuck stop pining for Sarah and watch him decide on his own that the espionage gig isn’t for him. Also, Kristin Kreuk and Brandon Routh bring some extra sizzle to the show.
- Dexter – Season 4: The best season since the first, because it maintained its theme from beginning to end. John Lithgow is unnerving in every scene. I’d say more, but I don’t want to spoil it!
- Friday Night Lights – Season 4: Early seasons dealt with tragedy, but it’s far more interesting to see Coach Taylor build a programme in the face of adversity, and yet the football stories didn’t overwhelm the other plotlines. I’m glad there’s one more season left.
- Touching Evil (USA): This wasn’t the series I was expecting. I thought it would be a trifling procedural with an intriguing character flaw and an attractive/charming cast. Instead, it’s a crime show that tracks the effects of crime on the cops, and that’s made for some compelling viewing.
- White Collar: Now this is the best kind of a trifle. A con man (the effortless Bryce Larkin…I mean, Matthew Bomer…) Rat Packs his way through New York working with for the FBI…all while trying to find his missing fiancee. Top-notch escapist caper fare.
2009-in-Review: TV Shows
Welcome to my abbreviated media consumption recap for 2009!
- Ashes to Ashes: 1-2
- Battlestar Galactica: Season 4. There were four outstanding episodes, and they were all in the second half, and they all echoed the tension and despair and quiet heroics of the first two seasons. Everything else was terrible plotting and mistaken characterization. Thank the Lords of Kobol that Katee Sackhoff couldn’t quote “All Along the Watchtower” with a straight face during the finale – I might have thrown my TV out the window. Worst Show of 2009.
- Being Erica: Season 1-2
- Being Human – The premise really did seem horrible – a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire as housemates – but casting and writing are everything. This series is unpredictably funny, scary and moving. Surprise Show of 2009
- Burn Notice: Seasons 1-3 – The world needs more spy comedies. I love everything about this show, from Bruce Campbell, to Jeffery Donovan’s voice overs and oddball accents to, especially, Gabrielle Anwar’s Fiona. Best Show of 2009.
- Chuck: Season 2
- Dexter: Season 3
- Friday Night Lights: Season 3
- Glee: Season 1
- Life on Mars (UK): 1-2
- State of Play
- Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles Season 2
- The Border: Season 2
Blogger Bankruptcy: TV Edition
I officially have more backlogged reviews than I will find time to write with my current workload. To clear the decks, in the spirit of the times, I declare blogger bankruptcy, where all the ordinary reviewing rules are abandoned. I promise this blog will be leaner, meaner and better fit to thrive in the future.
- Battlestar Galactica Season 4, Part 2 – The writers failed to write themselves out of their corner. The writers completely failed to do justice to Starbuck, but redeemed Saul and Ellen Tigh. The mutiny episodes were terrific and the finale would have been great if it had been an hour shorter.
- Being Erica: Season 1 – A fine, funky wish-fulfillment Single Weird Female show. I’m glad it’s been renewed, because more Erin Karpluk is always better than less.
- Chuck: Season 2 – Chuck falls in and out of love with Sarah and espionage all season. The game-changing finale was a hoot! A shorter Season 3 will serve the show well.
- Dexter: Season 3 – As always, this season surprised me. I thought it would explore the consequences of Dexter breaking his code; instead, it involves him teaching the code to someone who won’t follow it. Jimmy Smits is the creepiest I’ve ever seen him – riveting.
- Friday Night Lights: Season 3 – Another series served well by a shorter season. Smash and Street get terrific send-offs, Matt Saracen can’t keep his starting job, the worst father on TV makes an appearance, and coach can’t beat a bankroll and ends up starting over. I wish the series would decide if the Taylors were originally from Dillon, or are strangers – they shouldn’t be this surprised when bad things happen.
- Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 2 – I’m sure this series was killed by the five dull episodes just before the rip-roaring finale. For my money, the Jesse/Riley plot was the biggest surprise on TV this year. Not everyone who comes back from the future comes back from the same future.
Bad Fortune
Hey, remember J.D. Fortune, the lucky Canuck singer who won the Rockstar:INXS reality show?
Well, he got fired and is back living in his car.
At least his run lasted longer than the winner of Rockstar: Supernova!
A Different World
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Star Trek Collective: Alternate Realities After time travel, mirror universe /Elseworlds stories are my favourite Trek episodes. The Voyager Elseworlds tales were better than I remembered, the DS9 mirror universe were much worse, Picard’s alien life history was moving, and the Enterprise mirror universe was darkly fantastic. Too bad The Menagerie didn’t make the cut. |
If This Term Doesn’t Exist Already, It Should…
…single weird female, to describe TV featuring the romantic/comic/dramatic misadventures of a charming woman with a supernatural or magic-realist perceptions of the world that’s more than simply being quirky. Includes shows like Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dead Like Me, Joan of Arcadia, Wonderfalls and CBC’s latest comedy venture, Being Erica*.
Which is charming and funny and possessed of a strong voice, much like its heroine. I hope it succeeds and gets renewed for a second season, based on what I’ve seen from the pilot.
*Have I forgotten any? Put a note in the comments.
Farewell George!
Kids’ CBC has updated their programming schedule once again. Curious George is no longer on the schedule, Lunar Jim is reduced to a single 10-minute episode on weekdays, and Poko is now on only on Saturdays.
The new shows are Turbo Dogs (racecar driving dogs! Ben’s in heaven!) and The Razzberry Jazzberry Jam (animated musical instruments – the computer animation is painfully low-budget, but live-action musical sequences are fun).
Change is inevitable but, I have to ask: Why on Earth are the Doodlebops still on?
It Won Me Over
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The Border: Season 2 Wow, the writers increased the sex, swearing and twist endings for this season. I’m that they kept running personal subplots, and I’m even happier that every “ripped from the headlines” story had an unlikely resolution. I may never, however, get over losing Nazneen Contractor from the show! (Bring Layla back!) |
2008-in-Review: TV on DVD
The advantage of working from home is that I can catch up on all sorts of TV on DVD during my lunch breaks. Sometimes, the shows were so good that I took longer lunches!
Favourite: Friday Night Lights – This show beats out The Wire for top spot for one reason: I cared about the plot and structure of The Wire, but I cared about the characters and stories of Friday Night Lights.
Disappointment: The Wire Season 5 – Though there is marvellous work done in the concluding season of that fine series, I cannot stomach McNulty’s ugly plot device that gets the ball rolling. Every other event in the series felt vraisemblable, but not this. Even in a season dedicated to the examination of lies and willful ignorance, I can’t overlook this. There had to be another way. (This beats out Torchwood Season 2, which was uniformly week, but did not have nearly the precipitous credibility drop as The Wire.)
Surprise: Jericho - I missed the show when it was on the air. After watching the first season in a single sitting, I can only imagine how frustrating the six-week broadcast gaps must have been for the fans. CBS didn’t exactly “Fox up the show” but they weren’t far off, either. The reasons to watch were Lennie James, Gerald McRaney and Brad Beyer/Alicia Coppola. The second season wrapped up some of the themes of corporate warfare as neatly as possible, and I’m okay with that.
2008-in-Review: Broadcast TV
Despite the writer’s strike and the plethora of TV shows available on DVD, there were still a few hours of appointment television available during the week.
Favourite: So You Think You Can Dance – This was the first season that I pretty much watched from beginning to end, and I was thoroughly hooked once the dance competitions started. Fun choreography with beautiful, bendy people. I couldn’t go wrong (and yet, I didn’t care for the Canadian version – maybe this was a case of lightning in a bottle).
Disappointment: Heroes - Much like comic books, this show floundered in the third season. No matter how cool Arthur Petrelli might be, the show lost me once they decided Sylar and Peter were (half?) brothers. Giving Angela Petrelli a power that was the opposite of what had been suggested in the prior two seasons was the final straw. No amount of Matt Parkman can make me care.
Surprise: The Border – Yes, I was thoroughly ready to hate this show because it replaced Intelligence, but then a funny thing happened…it became more like Intelligence. Adding 3-5 episode running plotlines enlivened the characters and kept my interest. The second season of the show also followed the pattern of the second season of Intelligence - more sex and swearing than before, rounded out with a surprisingly gritty finale. Unlike Intelligence, The Border survives for a third season, and I’m looking forward to it.