I HOPE SHE KNOWS YOU ONLY LIKE THE BEGINNINGS OF THINGS: Alan Sepinwall,
Tim Goodman,
Maureen Ryan and
the AV Club each count down the best of television in 2010, reminding me yet again that I've been watching the wrong NBC sitcoms and need to learn more about meth dealers.
Sepinwall's top 10 list + a dabbling in a some episodes on AMC now, have made me decide that Breaking Bad (although probably awesome) is also just not for me. But I sure do turn to him and the other critics on that list to find good tv, and they helped me discover that Mad Men really is for me!
ReplyDeleteThe AV Club list is really, really well done. They give love to all the FX shows, "Party Down" and "Sherlock." Two thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteYou're not even going to give Breaking Bad a try? It is such a great show. The first season is only about six episodes, consider it a preview of whether you'd like it or not.
ReplyDeleteI don't get people who decide they might not like a show before even trying it out.
Matt B, I got the sense from her post that Heather tried a few eps and then opted out of watching more.
ReplyDeleteI had a pretty tough time getting into BB initially because it was a subject matter (person dying of disease) that I usually cannot stand. I pushed through the first season when I was sick last year and was lukewarm on continuing, but the beginning of season 2 had me hooked, and, by the end I was convinced it was one of the better things on tv (though not always the show I'm most excited to watch). By the end of the third season, I was convinced it was the best.
I concur with CH's interpretation of Heather's post, but I'd like to respond directly to Matt's comment. Life is short. There is only so much of it that I want to spend on TV and/or movies. And I know my cultural tastes pretty well. So, sure, there sometimes are shows or movies that I don't feel like giving a try, even if other people like them or praise them.
ReplyDeleteI am also far more likely to force myself to watch a movie that seems unappealing in order to assess its potentially award-winning performances, script, what have you, than a TV show, because TV is more of a time commitment. I might not be able to decide if I think that Bryan Cranston's acting (for example) is truly better than Jon Hamm's unless I watch full seasons of both of their shows, while I can figure out from a single viewing of each movie if I think that Jesse Eisenberg did a better job acting than Colin Firth.
Anyway, just my two cents.
I think my list, in no particular order, would be Parks & Rec, Community, Cougar Town, Justified, Walking Dead, Mad Men, Lost, and Better Off Ted. I'm certain that Breaking Bad would make the last slot, except that I only watch it on DVD and therefore haven't seen the third season, so I'm going to leave that spot open.
ReplyDeleteMan, do I miss Better Off Ted.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteThat's me.
ReplyDeleteI did actually watch a few episodes, and I could tell that there was something good going on there, and then I have looked into Sepinwall's reviews to get more of a sense of where it was going, and it seemed to be heading into the direction that I was not the most interested in watching.
ReplyDeleteJust because a story is told very well does not mean that is a story that everyone will enjoy. I actually had long suspected that it was maybe not for me, but I had never seen an episode. In fact it was comments from others here that urged me to get as far as trying it (because that is how I started watching the Wire and Freaks and Geeks and Mad Men all of which I enjoyed and now own on DVD-because enjoyed there is code for obsessive love).
But like Sue, there is only so much tv I will watch and there is only so much energy and time I have to devote to challenging (and good) television, and Breaking Bad seems to be about things that I am not willing to trade that time and energy for because committing to a tv series is serious business and a big deal committment. And challenging qulaity tv, like it seems breaking bad is heralded as is a big time commitment.
I can't just flirt with it like I can a half hour stand alone plotted sitcom or a procedural. If I start up with it, we get into a relationship, and I mean I went on a few dates with Breaking Bad and he seemed smart and interesting but just not for me. Now I just need to get around to going on that blind date this blog keeps trying to set me up on with Friday Night Lights.
Just started watching Breaking Bad since AMC is running the show on Wednesdays from the beginning. We're only five eps in but holy sh*t does it start incredibly strong. The first three are more assured than Mad Men's pilot eps -- I never looked at how much time is left in the episode, which I always do. It's dark and intense, which kept me from checking it out initially. But it's hard to look away.
ReplyDeleteSMM I'm watching Breaking Bad for the first time because of these AMC airings now too. And loving it. Somehow I find it easier to catch up this way than netflixing it.
ReplyDeleteI am sad sad sad about Terriers being cancelled, and am glad it's getting a lot of love on these lists. Was my favorite new show of the year. My top 10 overall, in no order, are:
ReplyDeleteTerriers
Justified
Mad Men
Community
Modern Family
Lost
Cougar Town
Boardwalk Empire
Party Down
The Good Wife
I also mostly watch shows these critics recommed, so it's no suprise my list lines up with a lot of theirs.
My only quibble with the AV Club list (other than that they didn't have exactly the same Top Ten as me): you technically are not supposed to say that two different shows (especially two right next to each other on your list) have the year's strongest comedic ensemble.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the vast majority of what people like (Community, Mad Men, Parks & Rec, Breaking Bad, et al), but I'd just like to throw my hat in the ring for Fringe, Bored To Death, and Party Down.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching Fringe from the start and, while I always liked it, the past season-and-a-half have elevated the show from Diet X-Files into singular, wholly-formed greatness. Science fiction isn't for everyone, serialized science fiction epics even less so, but the story Fringe is currently telling is as good- if not better- than anything Lost or Sculley and Mulder: When Are They Finally Gonna Do It? ever offered up. John Noble is a phenomenal actor, and Joshua Jackson (i.e. Pacey from Dawson's Creek) has been doing pretty good work. There's some really, REALLY affecting stuff about fathers, sons, and what the love between them can drive desperate men to do.
Party Down basically falls into the same mold as Better Off Ted, and while I loved BOT it never ever came close to the level of characterization that PD did. BOT got a lot of credit for it's madcap absurdist bent, but PD did some really good experimental stuff. Structuring a episode about catering the afterparty for a farce play with the classical farce-ian form, having Steve Guttenberg give one of the greatest "and [ACTOR] as himself" meta-performances of all time, working the NFL Draft party of a closeted gay Quarterback only to turn every single trope on its head... Party Down was funnier than all but two or three shows on TV, had more empathetic characters than all but two or three shows on TV, and I don't think there was a single show that could measure up in pure comedic brainpower (Ted comes close).
As for Bored to Death, well, It's not the funniest show out there, strictly speaking. But it didn't have to be, really. They spent the first season setting up the three main characters and the universe the show resides in (upper-crust literary New York circles delving down into what lies below), and now they seemed perfectly happy to just dwell in that world. The inter-character relationships are really heartfelt, and the show has a surprisingly gentle emotional core. Plus, the show gave us the comedic duo of Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis on a nearly weekly basis, and sometimes that's enough to justify the show's existence.
Hi, i just want to say hello to the community
ReplyDeleteNo Modern Family?
ReplyDeleteI also watched the first handful of episodes of Breaking Bad and just couldn't get into it. I also tried Terriers based on the heaps of love Sepinwall gave it, and I couldn't even make it through one episode of that one. I'm sure they're both quality shows. For whatever reason, they just didn't appeal to me.
ReplyDeleteI watched the first season of Party Down and thought it was fine enough, but not nearly as good as some of its more glowing reviews suggested. But I've liked the second season a whole lot more so far, based on the handful of episodes I've seen on Netflix. That second-season version of Party Down might be my favorite sitcom of the year.
ReplyDeleteMy assumption is that like the Extra Hot Great gang, Isaac is a little put off by the sentimentality of Modern Family--all of those shows are pretty cynical.
ReplyDeleteHeather K -- the first season of FNL is going to knock you up.
ReplyDeleteI like Modern Family. I just don't like it as much as anything else on my list, or maybe some things I left off (Louie, for one). And since I only listed nine, I should add Louie.
ReplyDeleteBut I take issue with Matt's claim that the stuff I listed was cynical. Parks & Rec, Community, and Cougar Town are not cynical. All three (though less so the last) are actually pretty sentimental in varying degrees of stealth. And Better Off Ted was cynical about offices, but sentimental about personal relationships. It's true that Community, Cougar Town, and Better Off Ted are glib (which clearly isn't what you're getting at, since MF is also glib), but of the comedies I listed, only Louie really counts as cynical about people.
And Lost was not cynical either. Justified, Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad are pretty damn cynical.
Ergo: A person can be cynical and like both cynical and sentimental things.
Hahahaha! I love it!
ReplyDeleteCertainly, there's some degree of sentimentality in the three sitcoms you mention, but it's stealthy--it's like a sentimental core wrapped in sarcasm/cynicism.
ReplyDeleteSarcasm, yes. Cynicism, no way.
ReplyDelete