Monsters of Television

“You’re an OG Hater.”

Mark it down, folks. 3/4 of the Monsters of Television (sorry, Matt) kick off a podcast with sports. This week saw the most watched television broadcast of all time, Super Bowl XLV. Nick muses about his (World Champion) Green Bay Packers and they all discuss pre-game, half-time, and post-game Glee, as well as a number of other shows from this week, including Being Human and the pilot for Chicago Code. Check it out. And while you listen to that, I’m going to check out Sarah Walker bellydancing again.

Also, in case you’ve never seen the Cosby Show clip Noel references during the Community segment, you really should check it out.

Topic: Place in the podcast

Running time: 71 minutes

• Super Bowl XLV 0:00:51
• Glee: 0:19:10
• Chuck: 0:29:35
• The Office: 0:33:58
• Community: 0:40:16
• The Good Wife: 0:49:39
• Being Human: 0:58:28
• Chicago Code: 1:03:02

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“Television would lead me to believe that Miami is the worst place in the entire world.”

And television wouldn’t lie to us, would it? This week we discuss the disappointing The Walking Dead finale (in spite of Noah Emmerich’s presence), the holiday-themed episodes we watched this past week, a little CW, a little TNT, and a lot of Dexter. So hop aboard the Polar Express, mind the pterodactyl and the Christmas Attack Zones, and let’s talk it out. Or at least let us talk it out at you.

Running Time: 75 minutes

Topics: Place in the Podcast

• The Walking Dead: 0:00:27
• Gossip Girl: 0:22:08
• Life Unexpected: 0:30:14
• Holiday Episodes
  • Community: 0:33:37
  • The Office: 0:44:03
  • Glee: 0:47:55
  • Warehouse 13: 0:52:35
• The Closer/TNT Line-Up: 0:56:32
• Dexter: 1:02:10

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You’re benefiting from my motivation failing me (and a desire to generate traffic to the blog, even if it’s just to be told I’m wrong and a hater).

Glee came back last night, and since there was nothing else on, I watched it. When the show went on its hiatus, I had cooled on it considerably. I thought the pilot was great, but as the episodes wore on I found myself starting to dislike the show. My issues were (are) many of the same issues that others had. The wildly inconsistent characterization, even within episodes (not to mention unclear motivation for many characters). Narratively unmotivated, sometimes superfluous, musical numbers. Really idiotic plot lines. Overproduced musical numbers. Engaging in stereotypes without deconstructing them as they think they are. Failing to find a good balance for their ensemble (poor Other Asian).

After having four months to stew on these things (the relentless promoting of the show by Fox certainly didn’t help), I had decided not to watch the return because I knew I would just end up railing against it. And I’m pretty much ready to rail, even if I thought the episode, overall, worked okay. Read more »