Monsters of Television

“Boutineer is French for ‘Booty is near.’“

If there’s one thing that How I Met Your Mother does well it’s delay pleasure. Sadly, sometimes the show sometimes can’t sustain the build up and the climax just kind of peters out.  It happens to the best of shows, so I’m willing forgive it every now and then. At least this time the show actually had some game compared to earlier episodes this season.

…That sound really dirty, didn’t it? Read more »

“We need to give the truth the drama of a lie.”

We've got cynicism, right here in Chi-Town. And that starts with C which rhymes with...

Sometimes reviewing  a consistently solid shows is a challenge. It’s hard to say much new about them. This, of course, applies to procedurals in general, but it becomes especially difficult when a show like The Good Wife. You end up trying to find something to hang your review on, and that can be tricky.

Luckily, The Good Wife often provides a peg to drape itself over pretty consistently. Sure, it was easier last season when the episode titles told me what to look for (“Doubt”, “Fleas”, “Boom”), but I like not being told what the peg is, even if the episode makes it pretty obvious, and boy oh boy is “Poisoned Pill” a super-cynical episode of The Good Wife. Read more »

“It loves the little squshy mushies!“

I do not have a great deal to say about “Tashy 497” because there isn’t a lot to say about it. Which isn’t to say it’s a bad episode, because it’s not. It’s just kind of there, in the episode list, kicking back, taking it easy.

I think my my trouble is that the episode is just so beige that it’s kind of hard to form a really solid opinion about the episode, which is a little frustrating after the great run the show has on recently. But “Tashy 497” still has some entertaining aspects to it, which prevents the episode from being a complete waste. Read more »

“I hate bottle episodes.”

I love bottle episodes. I think they’re great, occasionally risky episodes that tell us about what a show is about. They force a show to boil itself down to its bare essentials, showcasing very specific dynamics and how those dynamics keep the show moving.

Yes, the reasons bottle episodes tend to happen make little to no sense (as they do here), but I very often don’t care because I love excuses to spend time with characters in these very intense ways.

Needless to say, I think this is one of Community‘s best episodes so far. Read more »

“Oh, none for him. He’s stuffed.”

The gang all gussied up. And grown up.

This is weird: I don’t have a single complaint.

I’ve been abused by the show since last season, and this season hasn’t shaped up to be much better (I liked portions of “Baby Talk” but found the episode on the whole to be blah). As a result, I’m super-wary of the fact that I really enjoyed this episode. I’m worried it’s just going to punch me in the gonads and the wiener when the next new episode airs.

That’s how far the show has fallen for me: I’m worried that a good thing like this episode means I’m just setting myself up to be disappointed again. Read more »

“Welcome to my new show, Conan. People ask me why I named the show Conan. I did it so I’d be harder to replace.”

Photo: T-Bone Sandwich/Flickr

After a concert tour that helped him work through his disappointment (and grow an awesome sorrow beard) here is Conan O’Brien on, as he keeps reminding us, on basic cable, on TBS. Very funny, but much less.  With Conan, I think we have both things, at least for the time being. Read more »

“Boring, Bimbo, and Bite-Sized.”

Disclaimer #1: I haven’t watched House since “Wilson.” That was the tenth episode of season 6. It aired November 30, 2009. I have no idea what’s going on in the show, beyond the fact that Huddy has happened, Cameron left, and Thirteen is gone  (for a bit) as well. Which leads to…

Disclaimer #2: My interest in this episode is more or less entirely motivated by Amber Tamblyn (and Jack Coleman! Holy hell! Awesome!).

So, perhaps, you may see this as a bad reason for me to review the episode. Matt and Nick, after all, are still watching it (though Nick is probably pretty biased at this point). But I figure this is a good time to see if I made the right decision in slowly drifting away from the show last season. After all, if Amber Tamblyn can’t convince me to come back, who can? Read more »

“But you, you with that big beautiful brain, you saved me.”

“He’ll be back. He always comes back.”

So I missed out on “Showdown at Sherman High” because of the Rally For Sanity and/or Fear last weekend. I have since corrected that, so you get a double review tonight with “Shadows of Youth.”

I enjoyed both episodes thoroughly.  I feel like the show has finally settled on a very consistent tone, one that’s a bit more in line with its narrative. Earlier episodes were a little too bright, a little too young-skewing. This slowly faded away, and by “Shaman of Fear,” I thought the show had figured itself out pretty well. With these two episodes, I’m very sure of it. Read more »

“Double bounce me! DO IT!“

Is it wrong that I kind of enjoyed “Aerodynamics of Gender” about as much “Epidemiology”? I’m not suggesting that this week’s episode is better than last week’s, but they’re doing different things, and I just happen to enjoy this week’s goals, overall, more than last’s week.

Which shows the flexibility of the show. It can do a splashy postmodern zombie romp, and do it very well, one week and then do this significantly less splashy episode (solid RoboCop work aside) that still has some good character beats in it. And that’s why I love this show so much: it can both of these things, and when it does them well, it does them really well. Read more »

“You go.  Then I’ll go.  You go then I’ll go.  You go then I’ll go–Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car?  Is that an Obama sticker on your car? Well, that’s okay—you go and then I’ll go..“

The key issue to remember, if you watched the event on TV, the event wasn’t designed for television. Watching the event on TV probably seemed like something of a disaster for the home audience. It probably stopped and stalled and you wondered what the hell you were watching.

Indeed, even I wondered why I was there for a bit. The Roots, John Legend, and (as charming as they were) the Mythbusters, seemed like stalls for time. I didn’t come for the music. I came for the sanity. I came for the fear. I came for a group satirical event laced with utter sincerity. And while it took a while to get there, I got it at the end. Read more »