I'm one episode away from jettisoning 2 Broke Girls, which is probably more time than I should have given it. There was a lot of promise there in the chemistry between Dennings and Behr (Behr, in particular, has been very good with what could have been a cliche), and there's been less diner stuff lately, which is always good, but the writing has taken a steep dive over the edge. Not even Jennifer Coolidge is helping that much. One more chance, and if next week isn't damn good I'm done until the fall. (Yeah, I know, but the lead interactions are so far better than the writing so I'm far too hopeful...)
Did you fine people give up on Happy Endings? I think there was something back in October about giving it another chance, and I hope you did because I am loving it and would love to see your thoughts. Between that and Revenge, my Wednesday nights are kind of all I'm living for TV-wise (until Mad Men returns in 45 days notthatimcounting)!
I'm not close to jettisoning it, but yes, "Jennifer Coolidge does a funny accent" is not helping with the (very real) racism issues the diner scenes present. The Dennings/Behrs stuff is generally good and sharp, and if they rejigger the show to focus more directly on them and their cupcake business, it's a much better show. Unfortunately,the ginormous ratings the show's getting (highest rated scripted show on Monday nights now) means they won't do that.
After Justified and Parks and Recreation, I think my third favorite show this season has been Fringe. I gave up on the series after half of season 1, but came back this year because Seth Gabel was made a regular and I know that JH Wyman (from Keen Eddie!) had been working on the series for a while, so I thought "Why not?" I know that a number of regular viewers are having multiple-universe fatigue, because the current characters aren't technically the original characters, but having no allegiance to any particular world I find it all totally ballsy and amazing to watch. Which is more than enough to hand over 45 minutes of my life each week. I also think they're dealing with the "what if" scenario they're positing pretty beautifully, but that may be because I don't have as much history with the show.
DVR Snafus have caused me to miss 30 Rock the last few weeks (I've only seen the premiere) and I realized I didn't care. Wasn't sure why, and then along comes Linda Holmes and gives an excellent reason why.
Same thing happened with Revenge - didn't record a couple of weeks, couldn't find the energy to watch them online - abandoned.
Weird little SyFy show that I've picked up on Mo Ryan's suggestion: Lost Girl. It's super cheesy in that Canadian show syndicated in America way, but enjoyable.
I quit the show after about 6 episodes. While I, too, really liked the chemsitry between the leads, and think the Kat Dennings character is quite different (in a good way) from most of what I see on TV, I couldn't take the extremely crude nature of the humor any more. It was a cheap way of getting laughs, and I never found it funny.
I dont' think we ever did a post mortem on Chuck, did we? Perhaps Alan simply did such a perfect job that we don't need to (and he did, but I would like to take a moment of silence for a show that made me laugh and cry and made me quite happy to be a fan of it for five years. I bought Subway for that show - I think that's the first time I ever participated in a Save Our Show campaign. It wasn't perfect, but it was damned good, and I'm glad we got it as long as we did.
I nearly did a post-mortem to highlight just how really, really good Yvonne Strahovski was in the finale. The problem for her with Emmy voting (aside from the fact that Chuck isn't the kind of show the Emmys like to recognize, and I'm not sure where it submits--I think it's submitted as a comedy the past few years) is that to understand how good the performance is, you need to have seen at least large chunks of the prior seasons.
We watched the second season of Modern Family which was pretty good, but season three has been all-but unwatchable. They usually don't rapidly age the littlest kid in a show unless they're taking on water.
Well, to be more broad than her piece, my other problem with 30 Rock is I realized that I don't believe in, like, or have sympathy for any of the characters anymore. The actors, sure. The people they're playing, no.
Winter was my season 3 catch up as well; spurred on by a particularly good season 4 episode, I blew through the DVDs in a couple of weeks. I've gone back to season 2, but it's been a slower process.
People should stop defending this show. I'm not even talking about the racist stuff. Kat Dennings has justifiably built up a huge reserve of goodwill, but it seems like that's making smart people torture themselves into trying to find good things where there are none. This is a show written in the style of hacky early-90s sitcoms, except aimed at (instead of just above) the lowest common denominator. Whoever makes this show has so much contempt for its audience that he or she can't be bothered to disguise it, being fully confident that the audience either won't notice or won't care.
I watched Happy Endings hit or miss but didn't stick with it. Recently, I've heard really good things about it, so I've been trying it again and I do enjoy it. Of course, of the handful I'd seen, when they showed a repeat, it was a repeat for me too. Why does that always happen?!
They didn't rapidly age her. The original baby actress was miserable on set and didn't do anything. The new actress was only 9 months older, from what I've read. (though if you're going to recast, you'd think they could've found a child who could read lines a little more realistically. She's terrible!)
That said, I think The Middle is way funnier than Modern Family, in terms of Wednesday night comedies.
I watch and look forward to it. Not sure there's much to say. It doesn't always hit the mark, but when you compare it to watery feces like Two Broke Girls, it's practically high art. It tries to do some different things, it acknowledges its own flaws (last night's comparison of the characters to Friends) and tries to fix them, and it is pretty great about normalizing normal behavior that other shows get weird about. Max is a gay man but not a gay stereotype. Straight men kissing other men can be played for comedy, but gay men kissing each other is just normal. Brad and Jane occasionally acknowledge race without it being the defining aspect of their relationship. The show is usually funny and sometimes is extremely funny. Solid B, would move up to a B+ if they could figure out how to write the Dave character out of the show.
My distaste for Patricia Heaton has kept me from watching The Middle, though many I trust rave about it. In terms of laugh/quality, I'd rank the other three ABC Wednesday comedies as 1. Happy Endings 2. Suburgatory 3. Modern Family. They just keep going back to the same wells too often on Modern Family, and even if some of those wells are deep, they're tired.
Matt, I HATED Patricia Heaton by about season 3 of Everybody Loves Raymond. She's much more sympathetic/watchable on The Middle.
(I just try not to think about her personal beliefs while I watch the show. If I can endure the Scientologist Jason Lee and the Ick that is Kelsey Grammer's romantic history, I can handle Heaton.)
Couldn't agree more with you, Matt. It will be a shame if Yvonne never gets a chance to break out of the "hot girlfriend" roles that she's been getting in movies. I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up back on TV in a season or two, hopefully on a great drama.
My love for Chuck waned over the years, but I thought the finale had the same funny energy as the first two seasons, complete with an emotional center. If only they could have maintained that during the last 3 seasons.
Mmm...Justified. If there was a hotter kiss on TV this year than the one Raylan laid on Winona in front of Carla Gugino, I'd like to see it. Even after losing a great villian in Mags Bennett, they've come back strong this season.
I've stuck with Fringe throughout and feel like last year was the payoff, with some great episodes. I do feel some universe fatigue this season, but watching Anna Torv play 2 different versions of Olivia has made it more than worthwhile....but I expect there will be a reckoning in not too long.
Linda's analysis, while maybe correct, doesn't explain the ratings. Thursday at 8 is the most valued piece of tv real estate, buoyed my ads for movies opening Friday. Big Bang and American Idol hog much of the oxygen there. Why NBC keeps banging its head against a wall there just because they owned that spot 20 years ago is beyond me. That's where they should be burying Whitney and Chelsea. Give 30 Rock and Community any other spot and their ratings will double. Wed at 9, Monday at 8 even. Let them take on HIMYM, which is aging badly.
The other shows I look forward to these days are Southland and Downton Abbey (of which there has been a post already).
In my mind, Southland just keeps getting better and better, although it makes it impossible for me to understand why anyone would want to be a police officer in LA on a day-to-day basis. Lucy Liu has been a surprisingly good addition as a partner for Cooper. And I'm certainly not missing Sammy's wife.
Or just make Dave funny! I would have thought nothing could save Alex, but somehow they have found a way to make Elisha Cuthbert really funny this year. A TV miracle! Now they just need to turn their attention to Dave.
I'm in tax season and behind an episode so I will have to pass on the essay portion of our program, though I am enjoying how they've repositioned Cyril this season, since lying is like 95% of what they do.
They bury 30 Rock there because it's had a lot of chance to become a mass success and it never has. The real problem is that first 30 minutes against Big Bang, which is popular and not available for (legal) streaming/downloading anywhere, so folks have to choose.
I'm two episodes into Lost Girl, and enjoying it a lot. It didn't try to invent the wheel, does what it does very well, embraces it's Canadian sci-fi cheesiness while still managing to look a lot more expensive than other Canadian genre shows like The Outer Limits (1995 flavor) and is just a lot of fun.
That's the toughest hour on tv. I can't get into it, partly because I also want to watch Justified and White Collar at the same time. At least Justified repeats at 11.
What this show needs is for Whitney to go off the air, so Whitney Cummings can concentrate on it. I can hear her voice in this show, but it's distant and it's screaming and it's not being heard, is my feeling.
Unfortunately for this show, Whitney is improving.
I love Happy Endings! The ensemble is getting closer and closer, and I often feel like the cold opens are improvised towards their end. Really good stuff from a cast that clearly respects each other. Dave and Alex's characters are both improving through proximity, especially as their previous wedding drama fades into the distance. I find the rare references to that part of the show that much funnier, because it seems like even Dave and Alex forget about that sometimes.
I should really say some things about White Collar, which seems to slowly be evolving beyond its (good fun) heist/buddy-cop roots into having some things to say about atonement/forgiveness. Also Tuesday at 10 is Parenthood, which we haven't written about and which pulled off the interesting feat this week of having an episode largely focused on plots I don't like (Julia's adoption, the skeevy politician, the continuing Crosby/Jasmine drama) that was nonetheless pretty good.
Southland is excellent this season, and I agree it is constantly improving - I enjoyed the first season, when it was mostly "Listen Up Rookie!" but they've done a great job developing the characters to complement what was a pretty well-formed world right from the start. (And thank goodness Sammy's wife is gone. Though I do miss Chickie.)
I agree about it being the busiest hour of TV for our dvr. Fortunately Southland, Justified and White Collar are all on cable so are replayed multiple times during the week. I think I would watch Matthew Bomer in just about anything...even his guest appearance on Glee.
Revenge. Homeland. (Were there previously Homeland posts? I just got into it - super late I know - and tore through the first six episodes last weekend. Planning on doing the same with the second six this weekend.) SURVIVOR (yes, yes, I know this is well-covered, I just can't stop myself from talking about it as much as possible).
Tuesday at 10 is a phenomenal hour of TV. This week I opted for Parenthood live and the others on DVR. I rotate my love for which one I'll watch night of.
Oh, and "Switched at Birth" is back and still really good. Although this week's Emmett-free episode made me realize how much both Sean Berdy (and by extension, Marlee Matlin as his mom) bring to the show. Particulary because Emmett is the only character who speaks almost exclusively in ASL, which is one of the things that I find most interesting about the show.
Although - without every saying the word "adoption" this week's show had some very thoughtful and interesting discussions of what makes a family a family and to what extend "blood"/DNA matter.
And threw in a smidge of class-consciouness to boot.
I love this show so much and I'm really hoping the teen romance/cute boy are bringing in enough ratings to keep it going on ABC Family.
I burned through Justified S2 in a bout two weeks so that I could watch S3 in real-time. This week's ep is on the DVR unwatched, but otherwise I am caught up. I assume Gugino will be coming back? Neal McDounagh (sp?) gives great villain, and while I am enjoying Mykelti Williamson (sp!?), something about his delivery reminds me of Jay Pharoah doing an impression.
All I know of Whitney Cummings is Broke Girls and Whitney, so maybe I'm missing something. What is the evidence that more Whitney Cummings would make this hack crap any better?
I'm still enjoying Once Upon a Time, much more than I expected to. (Though I cracked up at the beginning of last week's episode on seeing Richard Schiff as a king so benevolent that he uses his lamp wishes to give the genie his freedom. Not how I'm used to seeing Richard Schiff.)
I totally agree, both in "enjoying more than I expected to" and in "not how I'm used to seeing Richard Schiff." I thought the pilot of Once was terrible, but tuned back in around episode 4 and was pleasantly surprised. Ginny Goodwin, in particular, is way more lovely and watchable than I ever found her on Big Love. Wish Jennifer Morrison didn't come off as so grouchy all the time, though.
I was about to write pretty much any drama on BBC America, so I did. In addition to those (and I know Sherlock is Masterpiece, but it fits), the Hour was great (starring McNulty to go along with Luther's String), Whitechapel was way more enjoyable than it should be, and I'm really liking the Fades. And Moffat-Who is always great, although who knows when (and where?) that will be back. I feel like there was anoter really good one that I'm forgetting, since they only last a couple episodes.
<p><span>I’ve been keeping up with:</span> </p><p><span></span> </p><p><span>Parks and Rec<span> </span>- awesome! :-)</span> </p><p><span>Downton Abbey – also awesome! :-)</span> </p><p><span>Parenthood - makes me cry every week, in a good way….the acting is fantastic…the writing comes and goes, but awesome most of the time :-)</span> </p><p><span>Once Upon a Time – started out stronger than I thought it would be, but the last couple of episodes have been kind of clunky :-|</span> <span>Top Chef – once again, a promising season sunk under the weight of poor challenge design (catering, bike rides, group challenges) :-(</span> <span></span> <span></span></p>
Sherlock should be BBC America, so maybe we wouldn't have to suffer through PBS' asinine six month waiting period after which half the viewership has already torrented them.
I've been watching everything Hannah Lee watches, plus Modern Family, The Office, and 30 Rock, and starting The Voice again. Don't usually get to everything during the week, and catch up on the weekend.
I'm one episode away from jettisoning 2 Broke Girls, which is probably more time than I should have given it. There was a lot of promise there in the chemistry between Dennings and Behr (Behr, in particular, has been very good with what could have been a cliche), and there's been less diner stuff lately, which is always good, but the writing has taken a steep dive over the edge. Not even Jennifer Coolidge is helping that much. One more chance, and if next week isn't damn good I'm done until the fall. (Yeah, I know, but the lead interactions are so far better than the writing so I'm far too hopeful...)
ReplyDeleteDid you fine people give up on Happy Endings? I think there was something back in October about giving it another chance, and I hope you did because I am loving it and would love to see your thoughts. Between that and Revenge, my Wednesday nights are kind of all I'm living for TV-wise (until Mad Men returns in 45 days notthatimcounting)!
ReplyDeleteI'm not close to jettisoning it, but yes, "Jennifer Coolidge does a funny accent" is not helping with the (very real) racism issues the diner scenes present. The Dennings/Behrs stuff is generally good and sharp, and if they rejigger the show to focus more directly on them and their cupcake business, it's a much better show. Unfortunately,the ginormous ratings the show's getting (highest rated scripted show on Monday nights now) means they won't do that.
ReplyDeleteAfter Justified and Parks and Recreation, I think my third favorite show this season has been Fringe. I gave up on the series after half of season 1, but came back this year because Seth Gabel was made a regular and I know that JH Wyman (from Keen Eddie!) had been working on the series for a while, so I thought "Why not?" I know that a number of regular viewers are having multiple-universe fatigue, because the current characters aren't technically the original characters, but having no allegiance to any particular world I find it all totally ballsy and amazing to watch. Which is more than enough to hand over 45 minutes of my life each week. I also think they're dealing with the "what if" scenario they're positing pretty beautifully, but that may be because I don't have as much history with the show.
ReplyDeleteMy answer to this, as always, is Archer.
ReplyDelete--bd
DVR Snafus have caused me to miss 30 Rock the last few weeks (I've only seen the premiere) and I realized I didn't care. Wasn't sure why, and then along comes Linda Holmes and gives an excellent reason why.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened with Revenge - didn't record a couple of weeks, couldn't find the energy to watch them online - abandoned.
Weird little SyFy show that I've picked up on Mo Ryan's suggestion: Lost Girl. It's super cheesy in that Canadian show syndicated in America way, but enjoyable.
I quit the show after about 6 episodes. While I, too, really liked the chemsitry between the leads, and think the Kat Dennings character is quite different (in a good way) from most of what I see on TV, I couldn't take the extremely crude nature of the humor any more. It was a cheap way of getting laughs, and I never found it funny.
ReplyDeleteI dont' think we ever did a post mortem on Chuck, did we? Perhaps Alan simply did such a perfect job that we don't need to (and he did, but I would like to take a moment of silence for a show that made me laugh and cry and made me quite happy to be a fan of it for five years. I bought Subway for that show - I think that's the first time I ever participated in a Save Our Show campaign. It wasn't perfect, but it was damned good, and I'm glad we got it as long as we did.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to talk about Linda's piece separately. It's provocative, but I'm not sure if she's right.
ReplyDeleteI nearly did a post-mortem to highlight just how really, really good Yvonne Strahovski was in the finale. The problem for her with Emmy voting (aside from the fact that Chuck isn't the kind of show the Emmys like to recognize, and I'm not sure where it submits--I think it's submitted as a comedy the past few years) is that to understand how good the performance is, you need to have seen at least large chunks of the prior seasons.
ReplyDeleteWe watched the second season of Modern Family which was pretty good, but season three has been all-but unwatchable. They usually don't rapidly age the littlest kid in a show unless they're taking on water.
ReplyDeleteWell, to be more broad than her piece, my other problem with 30 Rock is I realized that I don't believe in, like, or have sympathy for any of the characters anymore. The actors, sure. The people they're playing, no.
ReplyDeleteBailed around the same time as Marsha, for the reasons all have cited above. Just wasn't worth it, or enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteWe almost caught up on Fringe Season 3 over the winter break, but need to finish that -- I have all of Season 4 stacking up on the TiVo.
ReplyDeleteWinter was my season 3 catch up as well; spurred on by a particularly good season 4 episode, I blew through the DVDs in a couple of weeks. I've gone back to season 2, but it's been a slower process.
ReplyDeletePeople should stop defending this show. I'm not even talking about the racist stuff. Kat Dennings has justifiably built up a huge reserve of goodwill, but it seems like that's making smart people torture themselves into trying to find good things where there are none. This is a show written in the style of hacky early-90s sitcoms, except aimed at (instead of just above) the lowest common denominator. Whoever makes this show has so much contempt for its audience that he or she can't be bothered to disguise it, being fully confident that the audience either won't notice or won't care.
ReplyDeleteI watched Happy Endings hit or miss but didn't stick with it. Recently, I've heard really good things about it, so I've been trying it again and I do enjoy it. Of course, of the handful I'd seen, when they showed a repeat, it was a repeat for me too. Why does that always happen?!
ReplyDeleteThey didn't rapidly age her. The original baby actress was miserable on set and didn't do anything. The new actress was only 9 months older, from what I've read. (though if you're going to recast, you'd think they could've found a child who could read lines a little more realistically. She's terrible!)
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think The Middle is way funnier than Modern Family, in terms of Wednesday night comedies.
I watch and look forward to it. Not sure there's much to say. It doesn't always hit the mark, but when you compare it to watery feces like Two Broke Girls, it's practically high art. It tries to do some different things, it acknowledges its own flaws (last night's comparison of the characters to Friends) and tries to fix them, and it is pretty great about normalizing normal behavior that other shows get weird about. Max is a gay man but not a gay stereotype. Straight men kissing other men can be played for comedy, but gay men kissing each other is just normal. Brad and Jane occasionally acknowledge race without it being the defining aspect of their relationship. The show is usually funny and sometimes is extremely funny. Solid B, would move up to a B+ if they could figure out how to write the Dave character out of the show.
ReplyDeleteDeserves its own post.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch Modern Family, but I love me some Hecks.
ReplyDeleteMy distaste for Patricia Heaton has kept me from watching The Middle, though many I trust rave about it. In terms of laugh/quality, I'd rank the other three ABC Wednesday comedies as 1. Happy Endings 2. Suburgatory 3. Modern Family. They just keep going back to the same wells too often on Modern Family, and even if some of those wells are deep, they're tired.
ReplyDeleteEven from many states away, I can hear the markers squeak as Marcotte makes his "Free Kat Dennings" sign.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you believe in, like or have sympathy for an actor? I'm intellectually curious, not trolling.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I HATED Patricia Heaton by about season 3 of Everybody Loves Raymond. She's much more sympathetic/watchable on The Middle.
ReplyDelete(I just try not to think about her personal beliefs while I watch the show. If I can endure the Scientologist Jason Lee and the Ick that is Kelsey Grammer's romantic history, I can handle Heaton.)
Couldn't agree more with you, Matt. It will be a shame if Yvonne never gets a chance to break out of the "hot girlfriend" roles that she's been getting in movies. I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up back on TV in a season or two, hopefully on a great drama.
ReplyDeleteMy love for Chuck waned over the years, but I thought the finale had the same funny energy as the first two seasons, complete with an emotional center. If only they could have maintained that during the last 3 seasons.
Mmm...Justified. If there was a hotter kiss on TV this year than the one Raylan laid on Winona in front of Carla Gugino, I'd like to see it. Even after losing a great villian in Mags Bennett, they've come back strong this season.
ReplyDeleteI've stuck with Fringe throughout and feel like last year was the payoff, with some great episodes. I do feel some universe fatigue this season, but watching Anna Torv play 2 different versions of Olivia has made it more than worthwhile....but I expect there will be a reckoning in not too long.
Linda's analysis, while maybe correct, doesn't explain the ratings. Thursday at 8 is the most valued piece of tv real estate, buoyed my ads for movies opening Friday. Big Bang and American Idol hog much of the oxygen there. Why NBC keeps banging its head against a wall there just because they owned that spot 20 years ago is beyond me. That's where they should be burying Whitney and Chelsea. Give 30 Rock and Community any other spot and their ratings will double. Wed at 9, Monday at 8 even. Let them take on HIMYM, which is aging badly.
ReplyDelete--bd
The other shows I look forward to these days are Southland and Downton Abbey (of which there has been a post already).
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, Southland just keeps getting better and better, although it makes it impossible for me to understand why anyone would want to be a police officer in LA on a day-to-day basis. Lucy Liu has been a surprisingly good addition as a partner for Cooper. And I'm certainly not missing Sammy's wife.
Like is the key word, I guess. Don't need to "believe" in an actor as their own self.
ReplyDeleteOr just make Dave funny! I would have thought nothing could save Alex, but somehow they have found a way to make Elisha Cuthbert really funny this year. A TV miracle! Now they just need to turn their attention to Dave.
ReplyDeleteI'm in tax season and behind an episode so I will have to pass on the essay portion of our program, though I am enjoying how they've repositioned Cyril this season, since lying is like 95% of what they do.
ReplyDelete--bd
They bury 30 Rock there because it's had a lot of chance to become a mass success and it never has. The real problem is that first 30 minutes against Big Bang, which is popular and not available for (legal) streaming/downloading anywhere, so folks have to choose.
ReplyDeleteI'm two episodes into Lost Girl, and enjoying it a lot. It didn't try to invent the wheel, does what it does very well, embraces it's Canadian sci-fi cheesiness while still managing to look a lot more expensive than other Canadian genre shows like The Outer Limits (1995 flavor) and is just a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteLee and Grammer have never tried to impose their beliefs on others, like Heaton has. I'm done with her.
ReplyDeleteThat's the toughest hour on tv. I can't get into it, partly because I also want to watch Justified and White Collar at the same time. At least Justified repeats at 11.
ReplyDeleteWhat this show needs is for Whitney to go off the air, so Whitney Cummings can concentrate on it. I can hear her voice in this show, but it's distant and it's screaming and it's not being heard, is my feeling.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for this show, Whitney is improving.
I love Happy Endings! The ensemble is getting closer and closer, and I often feel like the cold opens are improvised towards their end. Really good stuff from a cast that clearly respects each other. Dave and Alex's characters are both improving through proximity, especially as their previous wedding drama fades into the distance. I find the rare references to that part of the show that much funnier, because it seems like even Dave and Alex forget about that sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI should really say some things about White Collar, which seems to slowly be evolving beyond its (good fun) heist/buddy-cop roots into having some things to say about atonement/forgiveness. Also Tuesday at 10 is Parenthood, which we haven't written about and which pulled off the interesting feat this week of having an episode largely focused on plots I don't like (Julia's adoption, the skeevy politician, the continuing Crosby/Jasmine drama) that was nonetheless pretty good.
ReplyDeleteSouthland is excellent this season, and I agree it is constantly improving - I enjoyed the first season, when it was mostly "Listen Up Rookie!" but they've done a great job developing the characters to complement what was a pretty well-formed world right from the start. (And thank goodness Sammy's wife is gone. Though I do miss Chickie.)
ReplyDeleteFinn, to avoid breaking rules around here, I'm taking this argument private.
ReplyDeleteI'll wait for that post.
ReplyDeleteI don't see it. I still like Modern Family.
ReplyDeleteI agree about it being the busiest hour of TV for our dvr. Fortunately Southland, Justified and White Collar are all on cable so are replayed multiple times during the week. I think I would watch Matthew Bomer in just about anything...even his guest appearance on Glee.
ReplyDeleteRevenge. Homeland. (Were there previously Homeland posts? I just got into it - super late I know - and tore through the first six episodes last weekend. Planning on doing the same with the second six this weekend.) SURVIVOR (yes, yes, I know this is well-covered, I just can't stop myself from talking about it as much as possible).
ReplyDeleteTuesday at 10 is a phenomenal hour of TV. This week I opted for Parenthood live and the others on DVR. I rotate my love for which one I'll watch night of.
ReplyDeleteOh, and "Switched at Birth" is back and still really good. Although this week's Emmett-free episode made me realize how much both Sean Berdy (and by extension, Marlee Matlin as his mom) bring to the show. Particulary because Emmett is the only character who speaks almost exclusively in ASL, which is one of the things that I find most interesting about the show.
ReplyDeleteAlthough - without every saying the word "adoption" this week's show had some very thoughtful and interesting discussions of what makes a family a family and to what extend "blood"/DNA matter.
And threw in a smidge of class-consciouness to boot.
I love this show so much and I'm really hoping the teen romance/cute boy are bringing in enough ratings to keep it going on ABC Family.
I burned through Justified S2 in a bout two weeks so that I could watch S3 in real-time. This week's ep is on the DVR unwatched, but otherwise I am caught up. I assume Gugino will be coming back? Neal McDounagh (sp?) gives great villain, and while I am enjoying Mykelti Williamson (sp!?), something about his delivery reminds me of Jay Pharoah doing an impression.
ReplyDeleteWhen is the right time to get the Eden Sher Emmy campaign going? May be my favorite performance/character on TV right now.
ReplyDeleteAll I know of Whitney Cummings is Broke Girls and Whitney, so maybe I'm missing something. What is the evidence that more Whitney Cummings would make this hack crap any better?
ReplyDeleteWhen is the right time to get the Eden Sher Emmy campaign going? May be my favorite performance/character on TV right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm still enjoying Once Upon a Time, much more than I expected to. (Though I cracked up at the beginning of last week's episode on seeing Richard Schiff as a king so benevolent that he uses his lamp wishes to give the genie his freedom. Not how I'm used to seeing Richard Schiff.)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, both in "enjoying more than I expected to" and in "not how I'm used to seeing Richard Schiff." I thought the pilot of Once was terrible, but tuned back in around episode 4 and was pleasantly surprised. Ginny Goodwin, in particular, is way more lovely and watchable than I ever found her on Big Love. Wish Jennifer Morrison didn't come off as so grouchy all the time, though.
ReplyDeleteI still find the revisionist fairy tale stuff much more enjoyable than the "real world" stuff, but Once has been generally enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I gave up on this show, but it accidentally shows up on my tv. And I still hate it.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this show! I think we you should cover it. Great ensemble, great lines.
ReplyDeleteLuther and Sherlock.
ReplyDeleteSo, I like English detective movies with hot leads. SUE ME!!
I was about to write pretty much any drama on BBC America, so I did. In addition to those (and I know Sherlock is Masterpiece, but it fits), the Hour was great (starring McNulty to go along with Luther's String), Whitechapel was way more enjoyable than it should be, and I'm really liking the Fades. And Moffat-Who is always great, although who knows when (and where?) that will be back. I feel like there was anoter really good one that I'm forgetting, since they only last a couple episodes.
ReplyDeleteLet's cover Moffat-Who when it comes back, please!
Delete<p><span>I’ve been keeping up with:</span>
ReplyDelete</p><p><span></span>
</p><p><span>Parks and Rec<span> </span>- awesome! :-)</span>
</p><p><span>Downton Abbey – also awesome! :-)</span>
</p><p><span>Parenthood - makes me cry every week, in a good way….the acting is fantastic…the writing comes and goes, but awesome most of the time :-)</span>
</p><p><span>Once Upon a Time – started out stronger than I thought it would be, but the last couple of episodes have been kind of clunky :-|</span>
<span>Top Chef – once again, a promising season sunk under the weight of poor challenge design (catering, bike rides, group challenges) :-(</span>
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Sherlock should be BBC America, so maybe we wouldn't have to suffer through PBS' asinine six month waiting period after which half the viewership has already torrented them.
ReplyDeleteSherlock is a co-production with WGBH, giving PBS the rights to air them.
ReplyDeleteI like this show too! I just started watching in the last couple of months and I'm enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching everything Hannah Lee watches, plus Modern Family, The Office, and 30 Rock, and starting The Voice again. Don't usually get to everything during the week, and catch up on the weekend.
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