Monsters of Television

“Did I really just say my mom looks like a cookie?”

I didn’t tune in for much of last year’s season of The Next Food Network Star (now named Food Network Star and hereafter referred to as FNS because that’s still a lot to type) because…well…I haven’t the slightest idea. I think it was because something else was on (was I watching The Killing…I don’t know), but I do think one reason was that I felt like, after writing about it during the season before it, I had a pretty solid grasp on the show.

But thanks to promos while watch Chopped All-Stars (I hope Chris Santos has learned a little something about how hard it is on the other side of that chopping block), I was drawn back to check in, at least just for the premiere, Food Network Star. Bouncing off the success of The Voice (and, I guess, The X Factor (or vice versa)), the show has placed each of their contestants under the tutelage of Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, and Alton Brown as they vie for the Food Network contract.

This is a rather interesting decision on their parts. De Laurentiis was originally added to the show to provide something of a mentorship role for the contestants, but she never really seemed to do much mentoring as the contestants struggled to improve their on-camera presence and develop their culinary point of view (CPOV) with not much in the way of assistance. My hope is, with dedicated mentors, that the caliber and growth of the contestants is less frustrating than it was two seasons ago. Read more »

“I don’t think about you at all.”

Betty remembers when everyone thought of her as a sex symbol and not the resident fatty.

Regrets abound for not having the time to do a Mad Men review last week. So many opportunities for pop culture references and snark, from Rory Gilmore making another mistake with an old-money douchebag to Don almost getting Drake Ramorayed. I assure you, all the quips I had planned were hilarious.

This week it’s all about violating the sanctity of homes, both physical and physical (if you know what I mean). And physical because Betty could probably eat a Thanksgiving dinner if she’d hop on a treadmill. It is the invasion of privacy and shattering the safety of so many people, whether they know it or not.

Also, Betty reprises her role as being the worst.

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“Anybody else want to scrap with the champs?”

Good grief, show. I mean, I was already liking you. But now I kind of love you. Like, I’m going to buy you something nice. What would you like? Tickets to Ember Island? No, no, you seem more adventurous, so perhaps a guided tour of Serpent’s Pass? (Don’t worry, we’re not going to the Great Divide (why would ANYONE want to go there?!).)

Gushy-gush aside, “And the Winner Is…” should be the episode that convinces any stragglers of the show’s quality to be quiet (provided there were any). It’s a well-executed episode that blends the previous series’s mix of humor, romance, and action to then add in the dashes of the political intrigue that Korra is excelling in thus far. It is, in short, perhaps the epitome of what this series is thus far. Read more »

“A little less fangirl, a little more Wonder Girl.”

So here’s the thing. I knew about some of the  big reveal, which I’ll discuss after the jump (as it’s really the only big thing worth discussing out of this episode), before this episode even aired. One of the downsides of ancillary media (or, you know, the creator of the show telling us about it on his Web site) is that you can get a little spoiled. And that’s fine, it comes with the territory.

But along the lines of M’gann’s turn to gray side of the Force (as it were) and the break-up with Conner, “Alienated” uses the time skip to short circuit what would’ve been interesting and engaging storytelling and this time uses it for shock and wow factor, that leans too heavily on the ‘tell’ instead of the ‘show.’

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“You look like a warrior with all that scar tissue on your face. Or were you born that way?“

…Wait, what? But then, how did they…? I don’t understand. …Why is there…WHAT?

“Flight Club” is a good episode. There’s solid fight sequences, good dialog, and we’re keeping up with the Red Lantern fleet storyline. Sure, the episode kicks Razer and Aya to the side to make room for Hawkmen and Goggin doing ink farts (I was fine with the Hawkmen, less fine with the ink farts), but they get to come back at the end for a couple of a nice moments.

But, guys, please tell me, WHERE THE HELL DID THIS MAELSTROM/THE LIGHTHOUSE THING COME FROM?!

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“We’re all kind of crazy-town banana-pants.“

When this season was just starting, and a number of folks were kvetching about the show’s seemingly single-minded focus on interrogating what it means for the study group to be a group. I was hoping the show would embrace this more, needling and working through the notion that, on sitcoms, the cast rarely interacts with anyone else, and the dysfunctional darkness that it implies.

“Curriculum Unavailable” circles back to this a little bit, and I dug that aspect of the show. But kind of like “Virtual Systems Analysis” I feel like the episode is a little lumpy, taking a bit too long to embrace the darkness that’s been lurking in Community since Jeff and Shirley seriously thought about making sure Chang went to prison. Read more »

The way I see, she could be the salvation of #TVD. And that just may save her absolutely devastated, wasted character.

Last year, I used to complain about certain aspects of The Vampire Diaries. I would note that this world made being a vampire seem, well, kind of awesome. Like, so awesome that trying to keep any of these people human made ZERO sense. And the show’s writers seemed, themselves, completely fascinated by the life of vampires, so much so that when they tried to give Damon a more complex backstory by reminding us that he is a reluctant vampire (or was), they couldn’t make the story work. We had one episode where Damon was experiencing angst and killed someone—seeming a sharp rupture from his new life of relative abstinence. And then the show never returned to that topic at all.

I now dream of last year’s problems. The show has become so convoluted as to be worth nothing. Without any constant—without any set  of stable reference points or code—the viewer has nothing to hold onto. This becomes most problematic when all I can think when watching a character “die” or a bad buy seemingly get put out to pasture is–wait, will it stick? Should I go ahead and be impressed that the show did something bold? Nah, I shouldn’t. Cause these writers always find a loophole that undoes their bravery, rendering it less brave and more shallow.

I don’t trust these writers any more. I believe them incapable of recognizing their really interesting characters (Michael, Elijah, Mama vampire) due to their truly bizarre preferences (menace-free Klaus, whiny Rebekah, who the hell is Kol and why is he still alive?). Would I go so far as to say the Original family has ruined #TVD? I might. Because once you create a bad guy that is somewhat invincible, the story loses stakes. When a bad guy is too powerful, your characters become helpless, and weak characters are not interesting characters. Worse, when the too powerful bad guy becomes a showwriter favorite, it seems all other characters are sacrificed on his altar of mediocrity.

So here are a few reasons why Klaus should have stayed dead, and a few other deeply troubling character journeys this season. While not a complete rejection of the show, this exploration documents my growing antipathy, even while it is, in itself, an expression of love for a show that used to delight me.

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I found myself rather charmed by “The Spirit of Competition”, even if I do feel it all ends a little too neatly, romance-wise. The episode isn’t particularly high stakes, with only a passing mention or two of Tarrlok and his task force and Amon’s ambush not even registering as an event (which seems odd, but the episode has other concerns). Instead, we push forward on the romantic and pro-bending front.

This isn’t to suggest that the episode is going to be one of those episodes I’ll re-watch on a rainy (or any) day (Hi, “The Blind Bandit” and “The Drill”!), largely because the romantic entanglements don’t particularly interest me and the pro-bending plot here is pretty by-the-numbers. But, really, the episode is just do so damn funny and elements of the romantic entanglements are refreshing enough that it kind of won me over. Read more »

“This is usually when we start playing charades.”

Are we going to have go through the evolution of Young Justice all over again? I really have no desire to do that, but yet here we are with a rather unbalanced episode that hints are the show’s stronger-ish elements but is mostly the blandly generic stuff I thought the show had moved away from (Sigh. Giant mecha tanks).

As a result, “Earthlings” isn’t a terribly compelling episode. While “Happy New Year” benefited from the craziness of the time skip to distract from any particularly lacking elements, this episode has no where to hide. Read more »

“I disagree strongly with your moral calculus.”

As we move into the finale (only 13 episodes per season here it seems), things seem to be ramping up. I don’t want to suggest that the show has been spinning its wheels, but only that the show’s forward momentum hasn’t been terribly quick. Most of the show’s legitimately strong episodes have been connected the Red Lanterns in some way, showing the series may be more suited to heavier serialization than dabbling in the mix of episodic and serialized storytelling (which, really, is a much harder feat to pull off than doing only one or the other).

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