Battlestar Galactica Lost The Office The Shield Dexter Arrested Development Futurama Curb Your Enthusiasm 24 Journeyman Daybreak Breaking Bad Dollhouse Firefly Mad Men Jericho Prison Break Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 30 Rock
From the 90s: South Park Malcolm in the Middle The Sopranos
Alright let's catch up on the highlights from the past few weeks.
South Park's Whale Wars episode was just awesome from start to finish. How many people still have Cartman singing Lady Gaga in their heads? From the shouting Japanese in their robes to "Chicken and-a COW!?!?", this was easily one of the best episodes of the season.
The Office is really coming back lately. Some of the best moments of this season have been humanizing Michael Scott. While he acts like a child all the time, the honest truth is that no one else can manage his office. We've seen it with Charles and we're watching Jim learn now.
Sadly, the opposite has been happening for 30 Rock. I'm not sure what it is but I think the show is relying too heavily on the characters doing the same things. Jena, Tracy, and Kenneth are always the same. The chaotic-level is running a little high with the plots and reminds me of the similar season 3 of my beloved Arrested Development (remember Rita?). Maybe they need to slow down the pacing of the show just a tad and rebuild new structures for the characters. Ugh, that sounds so critical.
Finally, the goldmine came from Curb Your Enthusiasm with The Black Swan. Unlike most CYE episodes, this was pretty self-contained, taking place mostly at the golf course. If you ever watch an episode of Curb, make it this one. Essentially? Larry David commits his first (and second) murder on this show.
Anyone notice these are all comedies? What happened to all the 1 hr dramas? Dollhouse is cancelled by the way. There is no God.
Californication has been on my to-watch list for some time now. I'm glad I finally started.
Duchovny basically rips X-Files Mulder out of the FBI and plops him as the sleaziest scumbag womanizer character.
Hank Moody is basically stuck with writer's block while trying to get back together with his ex-wife. That doesn't mean he can't pick up every single other woman he sees. You're basically guaranteed two different sets of boobs per episode.
I'd like to direct attention to ABC's new FlashForward. I just caught the Pilot on TV and the opening 20 minutes were awesome.
We get shots of a cop chase, a surgery, and a suicidal man at a beach followed by car wrecks, crashing helicopters, and explosions. The production values were very well done.
I'm worried this will evolve into story-telling style of Lost-light especially with the announcer saying "Get more clues about that tattoo online!". Opening a show with so many planted mysteries tend to be dangerous. If the writers don't know where they're going and get canceled after a few episodes, it will be a complete waste of time.
Hopefully Penny and Sulu will deliver a good plotline. The show is based on a novel of the same name by Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer, who has written a number of interesting 'what-if" sci-fi novels.
I'm gonna admit, I was doubtful season 3 of Dexter would be very interesting. Season 2 was intense enough with the Bay Harbour Butcher and Doakes, but I'm surprised by how much I enjoy the Dexter-Miguel dynamic.
I'm about halfway through season 3 now and so far things are pretty intense. Things obviously won't end well for Miguel but I'm curious to see how their friendship will take the plunge.
This week on Curb we analyze some thoughtful themes:
vehicular fellatio
vacuum packaging
second-hand semen
"I have cancer"
"Why can't you drive?" "Because I have cancer."
"I'm going to dinner tonight...wanna go?" "Any black people there?" "No." "Why would I want to go?" "Might be someone with cancer...."
Larry: "Why do they call it a job? Is it so hard? A lot of work?" Jeff: "Well there's the tugging, the sucking, it's a lot of work. I wouldn't want to do it." Larry: "It is a job. No wonder why they don't like it."
Leon: "You are combined in this shit with me now. We are lego. We're a fucking lego set right now. We are fucking interlocked together. We fucked her."
Loretta: "You got me twisted LD. Give your ass a little taste of chocolate and next thing you know you're cheatin' on me? ...You cheatin' no good bald headed mother fucker! I'm out!" Auntie Rae: "Fuck you Larry David, that's some bullshit!"
After they leave... Larry: "They're gone.... So I guess that means you'll be..." Leon: "Going upstairs eating this fucking Chinese food in my fucking room."
YES! LARRY AND LEON IN THE SAME ROOF. This is going to be epic.
Curb had some of the best fruit-related one liners last night:
"Can I tell you something about apricots? You know, one in thirty is a good one. It's such a low percentage fruit."
"You know what? Don't condescend me with your tiny pear."
Leon on room temperature: "You're my motherfuckin man Larry, but 72°? Sheet. Might as well sleep outside. I'm an 82 man myself. ...You said 68°? Get the fuck out of here. It's all cold and shit. You gotta heat that shit up."
And Funkhouser's crazy sister played by Catherine O'Hara at the dinner party: "You're serving nothing but lies here! I'm not hungry!"
Finally, Larry's collapse upon hearing Loretta's diagnosis. How awesomely overdramatic was that? It's good to finally have 30 minutes of Larry back.
Oh man I'm getting excited for the new season of Curb. I just watched the preview episode "It's Not A Reunion Show But It's As Close As You're Gonna Get"that essentially showed the cast coming back and discussing the new season.
Looks like the overall story arc is going to be producing a reunion episode of Seinfeld! I can't wait.
Has anyone checked out Burn Notice? You can catch the opening scene of the Pilothere.
The idea of a spy getting burned (aka fired) seemed really interesting at the start. Superspy Michael Westen has some good dialogue throughout the episodes (I love the paused fight sequence comments) but overall he's too cocky.
Every episode has him helping his mom with an errand like "the neighbor got scammed, get her money back" followed by some investigation and amusing investigation techniques. However, that's about all there is. The overall story-arc of his burn notice is given in tiny doses near the end of each episode with "Oooh someone's watching, Michael."
The show is nicely shot though with lots of Miami scenery and close-ups of women. So I don't know...should I keep watching? Apparently it just got renewed for a fourth season soooooo I won't have to worry about it getting cancelled....
NBC's Heroes went so sharply downhill after season one I just stopped watching it completely.
Showtime's Dexter will probably be alright. I haven't seen season three yet for some reason. It's sitting there waiting to be watched but something's turning me off from it. Maybe I'm just tired of the premise. With season two investigating himself, I don't know where else the show can go.
Fox's Sons of Anarchy sounds interesting. I may look into this over time. Fringe has also been on my scopes but, being an X-Files veteran, I don't know if I want to venture on another government conspiracy universe.
ABC has something called Flash Forward, some sci-fi about people on Earth getting visions.... That sounds a bit tired even for me. I give it one season before it gets axed.
Then of course we have the classic comedies like The Office and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. When does 30 Rock and South Park come back? :(
Back in the fall, I checked out the Pilot of Dollhouse because of my first love of Joss Whedon's Firefly. To my (and many others) disappointment, it seemed awful. With such a fantastic premise of loading unique personalities into child-minded dolls (or "actives"), the episode was just about some lame hostage negotiation. With the mountain of fall television to plough through, I immediately stopped watching Dollhouse.
10 months later, with a $24 steal from Amazon.ca, I picked up Season 1 on Blu-Ray. Hearing good things about later episodes and wanting to see more Eliza Dushku on 1080p, I started watching the show again from the beginning, putting faith that the episodes will get better in time.
It certainly did. The mythology just builds and builds exponentially in every episode. A couple episodes later, you'll realize that the early episodes were just ways to demonstrate the capabilities of the Dollhouse technology. You become more invested in the morality of the Dollhouse management and the slowly becoming-self-aware Echo (hottie Eliza). As a viewer, you get the feeling that the Dollhouse concept is wrong--using clueless people for sex, adventure etc--but the writers make the management look like their actions are justified. With the 13 episodes, things move pretty quickly.
8/10
"I know you've heard colorful rumors about what an 'Active' is. Robots, zombie slaves — they are, of course, quite the opposite. The 'Active' is the truest soul among us."
"Tell me about the Dollhouse." "Uh, it's pink and it opens up and there's teeny furniture and you put the boy doll on top of the girl doll and we learn about urges."
The very last bit of Battlestar Galactica left to watch will be released on Oct 27 in the form of a DVD movie called The Plan. If anyone remembers Razor, you'll know that they'll try to stuff as much action and drama into the two hours as possible, giving it a very different pace from the regular TV show. I wasn't a huge fan of Razor, nor the finale of Galactica, so hopefully this will get rid of the dry taste in my mouth.
Excerpt: From Universal Studios Home Entertainment:
Experience the Fight for Humanity's Survival Through the Eyes of the Cylons for the First Time Ever In
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Premieres Exclusively on Blu-ray Hi-Def, DVD and Digital Download October 27, 2009
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., July 17
Television's most thrilling science fiction adventure makes a stunning turnabout when Battlestar Galactica: The Plan debuts on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD on October 27, 2009 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. For the first time ever, fans can experience the uncut and uncensored story of humanity's futuristic fight for survival through the eyes of their deadly adversaries, the Cylons. This never-before-seen perspective of the Cylon plan reunites the series' original television cast, including Emmy Award winner Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver), Dean Stockwell (JAG), Tricia Helfer (Burn Notice), Grace Park (The Cleaner) and Callum Keith Rennie (Californication). Ronald D. Moore and David Eick return as executive producers.
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan's executive producer and writer Jane Espenson added, "Edward James Olmos was our director on the movie, and he did an amazing job. He also shot some great footage that we are not able to show on TV, so I'm thrilled that viewers can experience it uncut as our director envisioned it."
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan includes the uncensored 90-minute feature and revealing bonus features that take viewers onto the set of the most unexpected twist ever in the intergalactic saga's history. Interactive features available exclusively on Blu-ray Hi-Def include the new Battlestar Galactica Trivia Game, as well as Universal's acclaimed U-CONTROL and BD-LIVE experience. With Blu-ray Hi-Def, viewers can enjoy Battlestar Galactica: The Plan's stunning visuals with perfect picture and the purest digital sound available.
Generation Kill was pretty good. While not quite having the same production values of Band of Brothers, the show holds its own in terms of showing off hardware, cinematography, and casting.
Throughout the series, we continuously see questionable decisions made by commanders that are forced down to the troops. The difficulty came from fighting an enemy that was almost indistinguishable from the civilians.
Following the experience of a reporter (who wrote the original Generation Kill), we get some pretty amazing dialogue:
Sergeant Brad 'Iceman' Colbert: Once more into the great good night. Cry 'havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war. Corporal Josh Ray Person: Man, when I get home I am gonna eat the fuck out of my girlfriend's pussy. Evan Wright (Reporter): Is that Shakespeare? Lance Corporal Harold James Trombley: Shakespeare wrote that? [Wright nods] About his girlfriend's pussy?
I don't really want to analyze this show deeply because that's for an Arts major. In general, you can expect to see some pretty epic firefights, a lot of humvee convoys, sand, and hilarious banter; all wrapped with a tinge of sadness to the entire Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Many years ago there was this PC game called TRON 2.0. It was a computer game that served as the sequel to the original TRON movie. I had never seen the movie but the game was still freakin sweet.
This new movie trailer came out at least a year ago but it was a brief teaser with shaky cam footage. Here's the new Comic Con HQ trailer!
Speaking of epic HBO mini-series', HBO released the trailer for The Pacific last month.
Like Band of Brothers, the 10-part mini-series is produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman. Instead of the US Army in Europe, we'll see the actions of the Marine Corp in the Pacific Theater.
Anyone who's seen an HBO mini-series will know how good they can be. The latest details a marine battalion in the Iraq War early in 2003. While not quite on the same epic scale of Band of Brothers, this show definitely has a more of a down-to-earth feel to it. In short, you're watching a group of soldiers trying to make their way through the war with a poorly coordinated upper command.
Television is not what it used to be. Instead of weekly, similar adventures with a regular cast, we've started to see bigger, serialized stories that develop over years. What I hope to do on Wired Ramblings is touch on certain shows that deserve praise or criticism. Below are some examples off the top of my head I'd like to cover as they air. Ambitious, but we'll see what we cook from here.
In no particular order...
Current: 24 Lost 30 Rock South Park Flight of the Conchords Breaking Bad Mad Men Dexter Generation Kill
Past: The Sopranos Battlestar Galactica Carnivale Firefly Jericho Journeyman Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Prison Break The X-Files The Twilight Zone
Future: Burn Notice The Wire The Shield Californication Extras
