Monsters of Television

“Troy, make me proud: Be the first black guy to make it to the end.”

“Epidemiology” is an instructive example in pop culture roulette. In fact, when you consider it in relation to “Modern Warfare” and “Basic Rocket Science”, you realize the three levels of how pop culture roulette.

I know, I know. I’m about to suck all the joy out of a zombie episode with ABBA music talking about how Community deploys homages and who it positions characters within it. But why else do you come here if not for me to suck the joy out of your viewing experiences?

…The episode was pretty great, though. Read more »

“Who is she? What is she?“

One of the big draws of Law & Order is that it would strive to set up a dialectic that the characters, and then the audience, would engage in as they debated particular social norms, issues of right and wrong and ideas about justice, even if it were compromised. It’s this kind of an approach that allows procedurals to say something beyond a self-contained story: it’s their way of getting to larger social issues.

While The Good Wife certainly draws on hot-button issues (Wikileaks, for example), it doesn’t always set up a dialog for its characters to engage one another one. So “The VIP Treatment” is certainly a refreshing change in that regard (though it still draws on hot-button issues, this time Al Gore), as Will, Dianne, and Derrick play off one another in attempt to figure out Ms. White’s story (notice she only becomes Lara after they decide to take the case?). However, after playing the sides and the discussion, the episode just kind of lets it go in the final scene once the writers realize that this is an episodic procedural and character serial: can’t have a court case lasting too long. Read more »

“We sold ourselves to vampires!“

This is not the way to go into a month-long hiatus, The Venture Bros.

It isn’t that “The Silent Partners” is a bad episode, but it’s just not particularly good. It’s the kind of flabby, aimless storytelling that has marked the show for much of this season, and some of last. I don’t object to the in media res storytelling (Billy’s working at a hospital? He and Pete suddenly have tons of cash?) since the episode does explain it, but I do object to the lack of throughline in the episode’s purpose. Read more »

“All of this is false.”

I am a sucker for dream episodes. I can’t tell you why because I have no idea. Some of it, I’m sure, it stems from the fact that it offers character insight through vague symbolism that then allows the audience to try and puts things to go, or it simply crystallizes character motivations or anxieties. And, since it’s a dream, it allows the show to go a little crazy without it feeling like tonal whiplash.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed “Shaman of Fear.” After last’s week high octane episode (Get it? It was about cars, remember? Octane. Cars. Yeah.), this episode takes it nice and slow while still telling a fairly taunt story with creepy imagery and character backstory. Even the battle at the end is one of the show’s best so far. Read more »

“Found something to worry about.”

Well. Everyone has an off day.

“Cleaning House” is a creaky, kind of lazy little episode that suffers from a lack of focus and, frankly, anything really interesting happening until the last minute. The episode isn’t busy, and since nothing really pops in the episode, it feels like it’s taking a leisurely pace to get to conclusions that we all know are coming, or simply don’t expect because of red herrings.

Like last week’s Community, I’m okay with great shows having so-so episodes. They happen, and you can only roll with the punches, and hope next week will be better. Read more »

“We were unable to stay ahead of the narrative.”

Not exactly a great title for what could potentially be your last episode, Rubicon (and I didn’t think being meta was something you were interested in). But, boy, what a great finale in either case.

As we move into a discussion of the finale, and the season as a whole, let’s remember that Rubicon let its characters fail. And now that they failed on a personal level, we expect them to fail and struggle on a personal level, but that they failed to do their jobs because they couldn’t find that one pattern, that one detail that would make the necessary links is all to ballsy of a show on the edge of cancellation. But as this episode demonstrates, despite the big explosion happening last week, the fallout is even more exciting and surprising. Read more »

“Exciting mishap! This is live!“

I wasn’t keen on a live episode of 30 Rock since live episodes of television shows today tend to feel over-rehearsed and, dare I say it?, stagy (in the worst meaning of that word) since no one wants to screw up. Saturday Night Live avoids this feeling since, well, they’re not too rehearsed and because the writing is pretty horrible. I can remember, for instance, the live E.R. being incredibly dull and lifeless: mimicked vérité style seems to work better than a semi-actual vérité style in fictional television programming.

“Live Show” more or less lived up to those expectations. It was still a funny episode of 3o Rock, but the liveness kind of sucked all the liveliness out of the show’s humor.

Read more »

“It’s so primitive. I like it.“

What’s the difference between a giant robot tearing through the city and a souped up Cadillac? Answer: not a whole heck of a lot in the long run, but it makes a difference. I’m not a car guy, so racing stories don’t do a whole lot for me. And while my question above was largely rhetorical, it does speak to some very fine lines in what constitutes enjoyment. I mean, both the robot and the car are still mechanical objects that do quote-unquote cool things. I just happen to prefer those cool things performed by a robot.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to really respond to “Roar of the White Dragon” or not for that reason. But as the Titan finally appears at the end of the episode, I found myself extremely disappointed that it even showed up at all. Which shows how effective the story within the episode was. Read more »

“Hard to believe I’m not really not really in space.”

A lackluster episode of Community is still better than most comedy on television, so I can’t be too disappointed in “Basic Rocket Science” even if I do think it’s one of the weakest episodes the show has done in a while.

Like “American Poultry” and “Modern Warfare,” “Basic Rocket Science” is a high concept episode doing a full on riff of a particular film genre (in this case, space movies). I remember one of the critiques around “Modern Warfare” was that it didn’t serve the ensemble very well since they were dispatched so quickly (“Troy made God angry!”). My contention, that they needed to leave for the actual character impact to occur, Jeff and Britta having sex on the study table, would end up paying off in the end actually came true in the finale of last season and the premiere of this season.  Like the folks who were iffy on “Modern Warfare,” have the same quibble with “Basic Rocket Science”: where’s the character beat in this episode, because I’m not really feeling it. Read more »