This blog contains spoilers for various television shows. If you have not watched the current season of, say, Grey's Anatomy, do not read that section of the blog.
Pan Am, season one
A surprisingly entertaining look at the lives of four flight attendants working for an American airline in the 1960's. It was fluffy, light entertainment that also briefly touched on life in the 60's - from Cold War spy shenanigans, to the lives of women at the time and racism. The four leading ladies were all well cast, even though Christina Ricci was unfortunately underused, but was perfect as the opinionated Maggie. Colette, on the other hand, was my favourite character and had plenty of screen time. The looks into Colette's history during World War II were interesting, and the actress managed to make a normally sweet and understanding character's hatred of the entire German nation believable and touching, without overdoing it. The show, however, was cancelled by ABC after fourteen episodes. Not something I will miss terribly, but it entertained me enough while it lived.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parenthood, season three
Currently my favourite series on network television, Parenthood is a well written and well acted hour of television that more people should be watching. Lauren Graham and Mae Whitman are perfect as mother and daughter, and any time they share an even slightly dramatic moment together I get a bit emotional, and both characters crack me up too (loved their encounter with the rat at Amber's apartment). I also loved arah's relationship with Mark. Julia and Joel's adoption storyline started out oddly, with Julia actually asking a lady at work if she could buy her baby*, but as we spent more time with Zoe and got to know her, it all fell into place and made the resulting fallout a lot more devastating. Jasmine and Crosby reuniting at the end of the season definitely felt earned, and it was nice to see them work through their problems. Looking forward to season four.
*Which at first did remind me of that episode of Friends where Rachel made up a bunch of outlandish scenarios in order to speak to Joey again after their romantic troubles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ringer, season one
An entertaining show that did cliffhangers brilliantly, but continually failed to follow through on the insane twists in a satisfying manner. The season's story arc did fit together well, but, for me anyway, it was pretty difficult to care about anything other than the relationship between the twins. Gellar was wonderful and episode twenty one is the craziest thing I have seen on tv in quite some time, but the cancellation was not surprising. I just hope Gellar eventually returns to television again, in a better show.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gossip Girl, season five
Complete mess. Blair Waldorf, once a bitchy, vulnerable character who would destroy anyone that wronged her has been slowly losing her edge for a few seasons now, but is now a shadow of her former self. Blair is no longer competent, seems to have all of her decisions made for her, and spent the majority of the season flitting from guy to guy, barely reacting to her pregnancy or miscarriage, making an insane pact with God to save Chuck's life (really, the most idiotic way to keep a tv couple apart I have ever seen, especially when Blair should have had the sense to stay away from the creep that sold her for a hotel in the first place), and being generally unwatchable. All of this is made even more irritating by the fact that Blair is essentially the lead character, meaning she has the most screentime. Watching everyone fall in love with her at her least entertaining irritated me beyond belief, and even the excellent Leighton Meester could not salvage that material. Absurd plot twists (the return of Bart Bass, Lily divorcing Rufus to be with Bart, the guy that had her investigated), character destroying storylines, and plain bad writing made it a difficult season of tv to watch.
There were flickers of entertainment here and there, though. Serena had the year from hell, with the writers constantly piling misfortune on her, but barely giving her any screentime. This may have worked out for the best, however, since she is currently the only character I even care for and I'm hoping she puts her life back on track, after a year when she lost her grandmother, faced difficult issues with her father and sister-cousin Lola, saw Blair get involved with Dan, the one person who claimed to have seen more to Serena than the ditzy it girl. I rooted for Serena through all of those messy storylines, because she really did try to be a better person, and managed to stay out of romantic entangelments for the whole season. I also loved the character's reactions to Dan's thinly veiled upper east side novel Inside, Georgina's insanity and her hilarious relationship with her doormat husband Philip, the death of CeCe, and Ivy, even though she barely felt like a regular at times. Hopefully, the shortened sixth season will allow the show to go out on top.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Happy Endings, season two
A huge improvement on the first season, featuring an excellent cast that bounce off each other wonderfully. No matter the combination, there is always fun to be had. Really happy that ABC renewed the show for a full third season, quite possibly my favourite comedy of the season (partly because I'm a year behind on my favourite sitcom, 30 Rock).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game of Thrones, season two
I love the books, and I love the show. It may even be my favourite adaptation of anything, even if there are certain things that have to be condensed and changed, because those books are long and bursting with detail. I continue to enjoy the hell out of the Lannisters and their unconventional family dyanmics, and any scene between Cersei and Tyrion is automatically amazing. The Arya and Tywin scenes were stunningly acted, with both characters mining the other for information, trying to be careful but reaching an interesting sort of understanding with each other. Certain storylines work more than others, and it can feel a bit overstuffed at times, because there is so much material to adapt, but it entertained the hell out of me and improved on season one, in my opinion.
Episode nine, the Blackwater battle, was easily my favourite, and not even for the tense battle sequences. King's Landing currently contains a bunch of my favourite characters, and I loved seeing the show focus on one location. Cersei's drunken ranting was beyond amusing, and the scene with Tommen in the throne room was surprisingly heartfelt, and Lena Headey seriously deserves an Emmy nomination. Tyrion's speech was great, and Sansa stepped up to provide comfort to the women and children under Cersei's care. It is going to be a long wait for season three!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grey's Anatomy, season eight
It sagged a little in the middle, but the show is definitely entertaining me more than it has in a while. Meredith and Derek's quest to adopt their adorable baby Zola was filled with some beautifully acted moments, and Meredith's sheer disbelief when they finally reuinted with their daughter was such a joyful moment. Teddy and Henry felt like a retread of Izzie and Denny, but still managed to be engaging. Cristina and Owen's marital issues gave both actors great material to work with, and of course Oh is amazing as usual as Cris. The finale was entertaining and well acted, in an 'only on tv' kind of way. All in all, a great year, and I'm hoping season nine keeps up the good quality.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homeland, season one
By far my favourite show of the tv season. The characters are all complex - no one is truly good or bad, but the characters we would traditionally be supposed to root for are not always entirely sympathetic. Carrie in particular would but difficult to like in the hands of a lesser actress, but Claire Danes is excellent as Carrie, an extremely capable and dedicated CIA agent that also happens to be bi-polar, with a tendency to sleep with the wrong men. Carrie had plenty of great moments throughout the season - her intense methods, her fractured family relationship, her admission to Saul of her belief she'll end up alone, and her incredibly misguided relationship with Brody. Damian Lewis works well as Brody, and never continually kept me guessing until the reveal late into the season, but even then managed to keep the character sympathetic. The writers did a great job of keeping everything grey, and I'm definitely excited for season two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scandal, season one
Man, what an entertaining, twisty-turning little show! Shonda Rhimes gave us seven great episodes of television, that got increasingly more insane as the season went along. The cases of the week left a lot to be desired, but the main story arc kept me glued to the show. Kerry Washington makes for a wonderful leading lady, but I am hoping more time is spent with the supporting cast next year. Check it out, it deserves to reach a bigger audience.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even Briefer Thoughts
Desperate Housewives produced a fun season, and hasn't entertained me this much in ages. There are still problems, and it didn't quite reach the greatness of the first four seasons, but I enjoyed it a lot. The finale airs here next week. Glee and 90210 were okay. Just started Revenge, which I like. Once Upon A Time is pretty great, too.
Glad to see you posting, again. =)
ReplyDeleteI watched up to episode 17 of GG, and it was still a bit of a mess. The characters have descended into a mess of selfish whiny petulance, something you discussed about Blair. I liked the Charley story line though, so I think I'll finish the series just to see that play out.
I liked what you said about the Ringer twin stuff. It was the main reason a lot of people were watching, it's just a shame that it never really got anywhere.
I stopped watching Grey's midway through season 6, but it's nice to know it's still churning out somewhat decent material.
I finished Revenge a week or so ago after marathoning it for 7 days straight; it's pretty great. And I love Once, hope you enjoy it.
Gah! I didn't realize you had posted something, which is why I only just read your work. Great commentary, tvfan, I even enjoyed the ones for shows I've never actually watched (Gossip Girl, for example).
ReplyDeleteI didn't like Pan Am a whole lot, but I agree that Collette was by far the strongest of the leads, and echo the Christina Ricci weirdness. There were a couple of blind items that seemed to imply that she was a real mess on set, but I'm not sure they're at all legit. It could explain why she didn't have a whole lot to do, though.
My mom is a huge fan of Parenthood (it's her favorite thing on TV), and practically begged me to tune in. I've only seen the first two seasons, but the show has a really pleasant tone to it, even if I find most of the characters sort of annoying. But, I don't know, it's just an easy, uncomplicated show with a nice sensibility. Glad to hear it's still going strong.
Happy Endings was a show I tried out for a while in its first season but ended up dropping. It always seemed like a show that was really trying to force catchphrases and wacky hipster humor they hoped would catch on in the blogosphere. I just found the whole thing really annoying and contrived. It's crazy popular, though, so I'm probably just in a party of one with that.
Agreed with Ringer and avoided reading about Homeland, since I have them all on my DVR and really ought to watch them at some point.
I echo Panda that it's really great to hear from you again. Insightful writing, like always.
Thank you both for commenting, and I apologise for the (very) late reply.
ReplyDeletePanda - Definitely agree with you on Gossip Girl, but I don't think I could ever quit watching despite disliking most of the characters at this point. With only a ten or eleven episode final season left, I'll be sticking around and hoping that the writers at least attempt to fix the mess they've made in the finale.
I'm having a great time watching Once Upon A Time. Pretty pleased about Emilie de Ravin being promoted to a series regular next year. Obviously love her from Roswell and Lost, but I have loved what I have seen of Belle so far.
Max - You should definitely check out Homeland, it really is excellent.
Interesting point about Parenthood. As much as I love it, all of the characters have greatly irritated me at one time or another. Definitely my favourite current, non-cable show though, because it is so easy to watch and the cast are great.