Monsters of Television

“What makes you think you can ever be normal?”

Said the man calling himself Bug.

My reviewing of this show fell off near the end of Season 1 out of a combination of interest in other shows and disinterest in what happened to this one. But, after watching all the episodes I missed today (five of them) and then the season premiere, I can honestly say the show improved at the end of last season. It’s not great but it found its place and, finally, I can see what others can see in this show. I’m just not sure the season premiere helped it at all.

For those of you who fell off the show like I did, let me help you get up to speed. What forced the show to improve was a dismantling of what established the beginning of the show. The formula was a plot set-up around Lux being a teenager while Cate and Baze flailed around like children, inevitably learning some lesson Lux probably should have learned. The series took the sit-com trope of the kids teaching the parents about themselves to another level where the child actively and knowingly imparted knowledge to her sophomoric wards. Lux does this at the tender age of 16 after a lifetime of foster care and, as she briefly mentions, some pretty hefty emotional trauma. Not unrealistic that she would have some sage knowledge after a hard-knock life but you had to wonder, “How could a judge so blindly attribute this small wonder to these insane overaged children?”

As the season wore on, Cate and Baze started to settle better into parental roles (making the ridiculous antics from earlier on look like growing pains in hindsight) and, after the Well-Adjusted Foster Child Trust crumbled into a far-flung group of “just teenagers,” the show revealed Lux to be just as messed up as she probably should be. She’s a bright girl and extra resilient but she also has a lot of baggage and a host of mommy and abandonment issues. The last three episodes of the season really explored these characters (especially Cate and Lux) in a way that made you care about them. Baze’s development was also around but was far more hackneyed. Although, what else do you need to know other than he’s a man-child trying not to be a man-child but constantly put in his place as being, you know, a man-child.

So we finally had some development which led to strong emotional connections which led to stronger stories. The almost-The-Graduate scene at the end of Season 1, where Baze has just as much of an idea of what to do after he breaks up the wedding as Dustin Hoffman did, demonstrated an impressive amount of strength for this show by making Baze bust in late but giving Cate the opportunity to decide between the two men — and choosing Ryan right there. It’s still stuck in that late-90s WB genre (if that can even be a genre) and still leans on old standards to invent cabin scenarios (where characters are all stuck together in a closed-off area and are, therefore, forced to air their grievances or confess their inner desires) but it’s building.

So Season 2 started. And I’m not sure I very much liked how they’re moving things around.

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“Cinderella did not Google Prince Charming.”

Oh la la. What a comeback.

Following the amazing finale of season 3, Gossip Girl managed to keep the momentum over the course of its summer hiatus. A lot has changed over the summer but in a way a lot has stayed the same. Old problems and relationships have come back with some very new and delicious complications.

After all they’ve been through you would think Blair and Serena would actually be best friends instead of that terrible overused term I refuse to say. The jealousy and the fighting and the cattiness should have disappeared. It did for a while. But did you really think that a summer in Paris would be drama free for these two?

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“I have never loved, nor will I ever love, as I have loved you”

With a show as cliffhanger heavy as True Blood it can be hard to obtain the usual shock value of hanging story lines that most season finales contain. This episode proved that. Actually this episode proved a lot of things that have become very apparent in the third season of the show. Some characters obviously don’t matter anymore. Some characters just cannot have good stories. The line between intriguing and absurdity in the supernatural world is very, very thin.

True Blood has changed a lot in three years. But in many ways it’s stayed the same. Both are problematic. Many of the events of the finale are able to be applied to the problems of the characters and the series as wholes. It’s awfully meta. And far more interesting to think about than the episode (and more and more the show) itself.

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“In your mind, you already have.”

“It’s an octopus.”

I’ve been a bad Rubicon cheerleader. I didn’t get to “The Truth Will Out” until today, and I skipped “Caught in the Suck” last night so I could watch the two episodes together. As a result, even though I’m caught up, I actually feel a little behind on the show now. Part of this is simply that I’m normally very good about watching shows I’m engaged with when they air, especially a serialized piece of work like Rubicon. Another part, however, is that these two episodes kind of left me out of breath, albeit in a good way. Read more »

“They discover us like every other week!”

Oh thank David Bowie, The Venture Bros. is back.

After a 9-month hiatus (for which I assume that torturing me was the only reason for), The Venture Bros. returns with an episode forces you read between the lines to understand what’s going on. But, then, Venture has always been like this. Like  Jeremy Mongeau tweeted by in August, The Venture Bros. is a show obsessed with its continuity while doing episodic, anthology-esque work week-to-week (Mongeau highlights this season in particular, but I think we can apply it fairly well across the show).

It is “a contradiction” even moreso in that new viewers should be able to come in and understand what’s going on with with little in the way of clearly defined expo speak. But, again, The Venture Bros. straddles the difference, being a show that gives solid and recognizable pop culture references and daring-do nostalgia for new folks, but rewards viewers who are as familiar with the series as the creators. Read more »

“There have been a lot of complaints.”

“Hmm. Maybe it’s time to wreck someone else’s family.”

There is a lot to like about this episode but one thing to absolutely hate.

When Mad Men explores the hierarchical and power relationships within the lives of their characters, they put on a clinic. The exploration feels organic and, although the viewer will have an “ah-ha” moment once the writers convey their point, it’s done with subtlety and class. They let everything develop naturally so that, when the point of the story does come about, you don’t feel like anyone had to sit you down and tell you the moral. This is the major difference between this show and much of what we see on most network television. The revelation doesn’t have to be spoken in Act IV. Sadly, I can only think of Full House as a reference (possibly because, when I think of formulaic television, that is my prototype) but there’s never an Uncle-Jesse-sits-little-Michelle-down-and-tells-her-what’s-up ending in Mad Men. A lot of the time, the point they were trying to drive home is left up to the actor to convey with a look, a moment of silence, or an air of unrelenting despondency.

So why in God’s name do they give Draper a pen and let him pour his thoughts like an analog, depressing, mature version of Doogie Howser, MD?

Yeah, that made me about livid. I’m generally against voiceover narration anyway but here it feels more wrong, more antithetical to how this series tells a story. Then, on top of that, Joan breaks her stoicism again in a way that kind of cheapens the first time. To be honest, the first fifteen minutes or so of the episode almost made me think that this week was a breather episode from last week’s excellent “The Suitcase.” But they made up for it in their usual way, with their intelligent, non-condescending storytelling, the exploration of characters, and some great stuff with my girl Peggy.

If only they didn’t cop out and let Don tell you how he’s feeling. Out loud.

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Let's be honest--here's the star of "Vampire Diaries".

Warning: there will be spoilers in this review, but only after the jump.

Non-spoilerly assessment: The Vampire Diaries came out kicking tonight. To be super masculinist (and I’m a girl and a feminist, so I hate to be masculinist, but if the phrase fits…), the characters all grew balls. If this is what a world with Katherine is like, then I never want her to leave.

Few more non-spoilery words: Stefan? Stopped moping. Damon? Heartbreaking. Bonnie? Working hard to come out of Willow’s very large shadow. Jeremy? Maybe is about to stop whining. Well, you can’t win them all. I may even start to care about Tyler’s storyline—who knew?

Vampire Diaries, how do I love thee…let me count the ways…

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As part of the new fall season coverage, we’re doing what we call audition reviews for new shows. An audition review doesn’t necessarily mean the show will enter the normal rotation, but it will provide an initial reaction to a new series. Especially in light of time shifting practices, we think this is a valuable way to read brief reviews on new series to help you decide if you want to watch the show. For those who watch it live, it’s a good way to begin a conversation about a new series. These reviews will typically be shorter than our regular reviews, and may include thoughts from more than one of our writers.

FX’s Terriers is private eye show, as an ex-cop (Donal Logue) teams up with his best friend (Michael Raymond-James) to solve cases in a community near San Diego. Read more »

She's brunette! So you can tell she's not the lead. Seriously. Blonde=lead.

As part of the new fall season coverage, we’re doing what we call audition reviews for new shows. An audition review doesn’t necessarily mean the show will enter the normal rotation, but it will provide an initial reaction to a new series. Especially in light of time shifting practices, we think this is a valuable way to read brief reviews on new series to help you decide if you want to watch the show. For those who watch it live, it’s a good way to begin a conversation about a new series. These reviews will typically be shorter than our regular reviews, and may include thoughts from more than one of our writers.

Hellcats tells the story of Marti (Alyson Michalka), a young law student who must join her school’s competitive cheerleading squad to stay in school when her scholarship falls through.

Come on in as Matt and Karen engage in an epic battle over Hellcat’s honor.

Or, not so much, since they pretty much agree about everything but Ashley Tisdale…

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