Monsters of Television

“Dzintra loves to twirl.”

Last week’s recap was a bit more straight-up (and thankfully shorter) than the first week’s. This week will not have a lot of the snark and pithy comments that I’ve been using (maybe next week), because we need to talk a bit more about how this show is AN AMAZING marketing device for Food Network. Because it is. The competition is painfully (obviously) secondary.

I wish this was causing me to dislike the show more (this show is pretty dull), but it just drives up my fascination as I try and guess not what the contestants will make or do or say, but how everything, and I mean everything, will synergize and cross-promote around this show. Read more »

Oh, dear, are we witnessing the return of "Annoying Julie"?

“This has been a strange week.”

When Tami makes this comment to Coach Taylor as they sit at a table staring at a gun, you understand that this year at East Dillon is challenging the Taylors in new ways. In general, though, this was a week of baby steps on Friday Night Lights. Landry and Vince make strong choices about their future, but other characters, like Julie and Becky, simply struggle to get by. Considering the number of subplots at play this season, it is impressive that each storyline continues to hold my attention—even the second time through. These characters—most of them—are just darn likeable. Or at least darn identifiable, which may be worth more.

I’ve read some criticism of this season of Friday Night Lights for its rather naïve depiction of race relations in Dillon. In particular, the program’s handling of Vince and his struggle against the negative influences of his neighborhood buddies has drawn the fire of some critics who feel that the show simply misses the mark when it tries to go “ghetto.” Can’t help wondering what the critics who write these critiques know about the ghetto (aside from The Wire), but that’s a discussion for another day. On Friday’s episode, I thought the growing relationship between Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and Vince (Michael B. Jordan) was the best thing about the episode.

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“Are any of you Americans? Am I the only one who’s been in a Champs?“

While “Cole Landry’s Draft Day Party” episode is funny in places, it’s not a great episode of Party Down, nor do I think it’s a a particular smart piece of writing. Indeed, the episode feels a bit tired as a sitcom set-up (hiding sexualities, drunken confrontations, posing as significant others, learning that people aren’t as they seem), and even the crew of Party Down can’t really salvage the episode from its rather tired premise. Read more »

“And neither will Mr. Slicey.”

So “Made Man” essentially shows us how much of a threat Jesse is as a member of the group. He’s prone to unnecessary improvising, violence is his first reaction to any situation, and he doesn’t have much in the way of restraint. Indeed, the comparisons to Fiona I made last week seem all the more apt this week.

But Jesse has a lot more going on than just being a slightly more ax-crazy version of Fiona. He’s also a more ax-crazy version of Michael. He has Michael’s overdeveloped sense of right and wrong, but unlike Michael, he lacks the cool head and ability to think two or three moves ahead. This head-strong nature puts Jesse at odds with Michael, who is used to being in control, both as a solo agent and a team leader. Jesse challenges all of this. Read more »

“I say we kill him and make his underage whore watch.”

Hot In Cleveland is fascinatingly bad, but it is bad.

There's a joke in here somewhere.

As I’ve made clear, I don’t think you can chalk up all the good or all the bad to a show’s format. Sure, the show is setting up jokes and knocking them down in very old-fashioned ways, but I don’t think this is really an issue (at least for me). The set-up/punchline structure isn’t a liability since everyone is an old pro at this (except Valerie Bertinelli, who seems to be channeling Miley Cyrus in her broad approach to comedy).

No, I think the problem is in the show’s ideology. The show is clearly pushing back against the LA/NYC binary of relationships, but the show’s characters are so age-conscious, gender-conscious, and class-conscious that it just feels like the show is pandering to its target demos instead of trying to be funny and do social commentary (or reverse the order, either way I’m fine). Read more »

“I’m a cop. I drink shots, I don’t take them.”

The Good Guys is steadily improving, but still has more work to do.

The humor is significantly sharper in “Broken Door Theory,” especially with Whitford hamming up Stark’s flu to Shatner-like proportions, while Hanks manages to shape up his straight-man Bailey a bit more to keep Stark funny (and not sad). The patter between the two is more seamless, finding a groove that keeps the interactions between the two cops interesting and engaging.

However, “Broken Door Theory” displays some of the other problems that the show may want to work out before the fall season starts (even if it is on a Friday). Read more »

Lie to Me pulled out all the stops this week. In the opening minutes, Foster and Lightman learn that a man named Andrews is coming to the office to reveal the truth about a long-unresolved mystery. Moments later, a bomb explodes outside the office, detonating the mysterious Andrews. To top it off, Lightman’s daughter is on her way to the office to attend a college visit with her dad. Nothing like a family in danger and the shock of an explosion to inject energy into a show.

In truth, these outward trappings of suspense were merely the surface appeal that covered a deeper conflict between Lightman (Tim Roth) and colleague Foster (Kelli Williams). The interplay between these two strong actors is always stimulating, and this week tried to up the ante on their banter by inserting mistrust into their friendship.

With the former plot points—the bomb and the cover-up uncovered—the program faltered. With the latter—Lightman and Foster examining the circumstances of their meeting—the program demonstrated its limitless potential, yet to be explored fully.

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Hottie and Even Hotter

Friday Night Lights juggled a lot of balls in the air this week. Though the common theme was learning to accept the departure of a loved one, the episode also managed to include some male bonding between Luke and Vince, Landry being awkward (and therefore awesome), and, of course, an inspirational football game. Though it took me a half hour to pull together all the various pieces of the episode into a coherent whole, its common thread demonstrates the care of the writers in developing this season.

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“The first rule of fund raising: I don’t give nothing to nobody. Period.”

Well it’s an improvement.

After last week’s terribly disappointing episode I was hoping we could get the season back on track. “The Fundraiser” didn’t wow me like previous episodes but it didn’t fill me with rage either. It had it’s moments but once again the overall failed to deliver what I’ve come to expect from the show. Simply put: it was meh. But at this point is falling somewhere in the middle good or bad? Read more »