Monsters of Television

Lyrics: “Baby, Let’s Play House” (Elvis Presley version)

“Oh, that’s where we buried this show’s nuance. I knew it was around here somewhere.”

My mother is a huge Elvis fan, not in the worst psychotic “He’s Alive and He Sings to Me in My Dreams” way. He’s like a member of our family, some long-lost relative that passed before I was born that my mother loved dearly and can only remark, “If only you’d known him you would understand.” His name is often delivered in the dimunitive (the “l” is dropped to accomodate the cute tone she takes), his picture is on the wall next to her children, and her Facebook wall is a constant feed of black and white videos of the man in his prime.

The fandom, however, has only presented itself this heavily in the last few years (she was a superfan as a kid though, probably a big reason as to why my similar-looking father could tie her down) as her kids get older and she is able to follow her own pursuits. Unfortunately for her, she had three snarky boys and she’s made of mercilessly with such cleverness and dry wit she can only laugh.

So, what does this have to do with Memphis Beat? My brothers and I have so much fun at her expense that we never really care to much about the validity of Elvis’s music; it’s one of those foregone conclusions that his impact on music and celebrity was monumental but not our cup of tea. I’m not big into rhinestone jumpsuits or large-scale Vegas acts. But this show hints at caring very deeply about Elvis, possibly (and I’m just assuming here) basing episodes on song titles. With that perspective, this show gains some cool points because, with the songs coloring the plot of the show, the characters gain nuance and depth, something the pilot lacked for me. There are still hurdles to leap but here’s my case for this program.

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“If you plan on rescuing a vampire during daylight I have seriously overestimated your intelligence.”

Ensemble casts are great, but they can be a bitch to keep in check. In just three episodes True Blood has introduced a number of new faces this season and it’s started to spread everyone, both old and new, relatively thin. Of course during a show’s run certain characters are going to have to sit in the backseat from time to time (isn’t that right Chase and Cameron from House M.D.?) but everyone at once?

The first two episodes of the season were shot out of a high-speed cannon, hurtling us right into the story. But after “It Hurts Me Too” we’re left to pick up the little pieces of story and character shrapnel spread out all over the place. And they’re very little pieces. Now this isn’t to say the episode was bad, it wasn’t, there is just so much going on with so many different people that everything feels rushed. It doesn’t help that not everyone has an interesting storyline either. Let’s start with some of our newcomers.

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“See? Tom is going to face his fears. He’s going to walk out of that prison with his rectum and his piece of mind intact.”

I’m gonna go ahead and slap a big ol’ disclaimer on this review. This episode was about gay sex. It’s bound to be offensive to some. If you’re some of that some, you may wanna skip this review (and episode for that matter) and come back next week.

Facing expulsion from school for fighting, Huey and Riley are forced to enter a Scared Stiff program in an attempt to curb their delinquent ways. Tom agrees to chaperone the event as part of his endeavor to overcome his fear of being anally raped in prison. What follows is a very vulgar, politically charged look at the problems with the prisons system and the homosexual subculture amongst prison inmates.  The episode features 2 things the show loves to do: social-political commentary and ripping off the internet. Let’s start with the latter. Read more »

“Oh, I don’t know that I can be replaced.”

Constance’s line to Lydia, quoted above, kind of sums up all my feelings about Party Down as it finishes its second (and maybe (somewhat hopefully) last?) season. Lydia never found a groove with the rest of the characters, and the season never seemed to find its groove either. After the first couple of episodes of re-establishing Henry and Casey tension, and then committing to the relationship, everything kind of went adrift after that.

The season ultimately just struggled to be terrific (as season 1 is), with episodes that had moments or episodes that were those moments (thinking, of course, of The Gutte). And with this finale, it has all the air of a series finale and not a season finale. Read more »

“I doubt the autopsy report is hidden under a keg of Red Stripe.”

Sometimes all my kvetching about wanting the more serialized elements of Burn Notice to be brought to the forefront seems a bit silly. This isn’t to suggest that “Breach of Faith” is a very good episode (it’s good, but nothing to write home about), but it does serve as a reminder of how well the show can handle its episodic stories while still providing a real sense of progress on the serialized elements (I almost feel like the serialized elements prevented the episode from being better).

“Breach of Faith” is an odd little episode, in large part because it recalls better episodes (specifically “Bad Breaks” from season 2, one of the show’s best episodes) and too easily dismissed plotlines (Detective Paxon) while still managing to be a fairly solid entertaining hour of the show.

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“Party, Bender! Party for your life!”

Returning from a long hiatus is quite the double edged sword. Fans will praise a show’s comeback and yet are often quick to doubt that it can return to any semblance of its former glory. Family Guy (as tired as it is now) was able to rise the successful phoenix from the ashes of cancellation. The Boondocks has been able to do the same for the most part after its 2 year disappearance.

Futurama was canceled in 2003, but thanks to the resuscitation machine that is Adult Swim and a number of direct to DVD movies it hardly feels like it went anywhere. Now with its return on Comedy Central with a brand new slew of episodes, can Futurama continue the trend and reclaim (and maintain) its position as one of the greatest animated shows in TV history? My answer is…

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“There are women that work around here that do not want their papers illuminated by nipples.”

“What the hell am I doing here?”

Have mercy, indeed.

Pilots are a tricky sort, what with having to establish characters and tone all within the same amount of time that, from then on, you can tell a cohesive story. It’s why pilots often lean on archetypes in order to get the ball rolling. This is the no-nonsense Mother Hen. This is the Damaged Yet Intuitive Detective. This is DJ Qualls. The point is to give people the basic equipment they need to inderstand the show and then throw in the curveballs when they’re on board.

The hope is that your marketing department doesn’t screw you.

The thing about this show is that it’s kind of like In the Heat of the Night except with Jason Lee and DJ Qualls, meaning they are similar in that they are cops and they are in the South. Jason Lee, whose most dramatic role to date is the skateboarding eccentric in Mumford and DJ Qualls, the guy who looks like he was touched by the Cocoon aliens a little too early in life (because he never grows old and he’ll never die) bring a certain stigma with them, especially when Jason Lee speaks in the same Southern drawl he used in his last series, My Name is Earl. They are comedic actors and TNT sold that to me by putting all the “funny” parts in the trailer, including parts where Lee is an Elvis impersonator. Lee and Qualls hijinks as cops in Memphis while Lee moonlights as Elvis in his off-time? Let the hilarity ensue!

So why am I not laughing?

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“You’re going to invite me in so I can protect you. Or have passionate, primal sex with you. How about both?”

The ties that bind us to the people in our lives are extremely important. Be it family, friendship or protecting you from a group of werewolves who have kidnapped your boyfriend (I hate it when that happens) the people in your life are there for a reason. As revelations lead to more questions, True Blood sets alliances as season 3 continues to waste no time getting down to business.

Give Nelsan Ellis an Emmy right now. He played his scenes with so much emotional subtext under an unusually calm exterior. After stopping Tara from swallowing a bunch of pills Lafayette lays into her, telling her he’s not ready to plan her funeral so she can’t leave him yet. Then he takes her to see his mother, Ruby, who’s been in a mental institution for 6 months. Lafayette walks into the room like a scolded puppy as Ruby announces her son is dead, “God killed him because he’s a fagot”, but he keeps on showing up. Tara thinks they’re there to have her committed as well but Lafayette wanted to show Tara to emphasize the darkness in their family. The two of them have to stick together to ensure they don’t end up like their mothers. Here we also learn this is why Lafayette engages in some of the…less than legal activities that he does. Keeping his mother there is very expensive but he pays for it because he doesn’t want to take care of her himself. Read more »

“And my code for the copy machine might work.”

Sigh.

Last week’s episode was was a strong entry into show’s tone, despite my issues about pacing and use of its female characters. “The Dim Knight” (or “Night to Knight” as it was listed on Hulu if you’re looking for it), on the other hand, pretty much takes away all the entertaining stuff and ramps up all the lazy parts of the show.

At this point, I’m not sure if these reviews are going to continue, barring some major improvements in the next episode. Read more »

“I know it’s a homoerotic Christian theater cult, but if it gets me into Hollywood who cares? It can’t be worse than Scientology.“

Finally.

I like to think that Aaron McGruder reads these reviews personally and takes the praises (and more recently criticisms) to heart. This week’s episode proved that he does because he is back to the biting satire and on-point humor the show has been lacking the past 2 weeks. And he didn’t just copy some internet video to do it.  The target of this week’s episode: Tyler Perry and his odd, tyrannical reign over black entertainment. That’s the ticket McGruder, go after someone I hate and I’ll let you right back into my heart. Pause. No homo.

Winston Jerome is a very prominent playwright/actor/director. His plays typically feature the same actors in slightly tweaked roles that go through the same cookie cutter trials and tribulations to come to the same conclusions. And then Ma Dukes dances around and says stupid shit. Then those plays are turned into movies. And those movies become television series. Sound familiar? It’s Tyler Perry.

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