More non-seriousness (this time TV related)
Pretty much an entire TV season passed since I abandoned my digital home here. In that time, I had a working mythtv setup on my Linux desktop for a little bit. (AMAZING software... if you can get it working that is) And since I took that system down to give to my cousin and replace with a much nicer Athlon-64 box, I haven't had the time to setup mythtv since. That said, I've been able to keep up on a handful of programs I actually care to see (which isn't many these days), and even get into 1 or 2 new shows.
So here's some quickie reviews of semi-recent TV:
The Simpsons
Wow, the shark was jumped ages ago, but at least the show is no longer in quality freefall. It can't be too long before they basically have reached just about every longevity landmark for scripted programs (with the exception of long running soap operas), and even though the show hasn't a fraction of the wit and humor and relevance that it had back in its 2nd through 6th season, it's nice to know that this is the one to make all of those records, as opposed to other programs that even in their heyday can't begin to compare to the Simpsons at their worst. I actually don't even bother to watch the new episodes most of the time. I buy the dvd boxed sets of the early seasons to remind me of how good good can be instead. (and because I haven't watched much of the new eps, I have no real grade for the current incarnation)
Arrested Development
Ok, this one really shocked me, though maybe I shouldn't have been. In the last 5-6 years Fox has had an infuriating habit of putting out these brilliant shows and then mismanaging them into a quick oblivion (witness Futurama, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and the live-action The Tick). This one is barely hanging on despite all of Fox's efforts, and it's at least on par with Futurama, which is saying a LOT. Of course, this is a show that's tough to get into because you really have to watch from the first episode and watch each episode many times to get every layer of joke. However, once you get dragged in, you're dragged in. GOB, Tobias and Buster are all, even with only 2 seasons under the show's belt, some of the greatest comedic characters I have ever seen on Television. (and while that may seem like faint praise, remember characters like Homer Simpson, Maxwell Smart, Lucy Ricardo, Dan Fielding, and even if most TV is a cess-pool, that doesn't mean that it's all bad) Even if the show lost a little bit of direction in the middle of its shortened season, it still introduced the world to Tobias trying in vain to join the blue-man group, the best "Weapons of Mass Destruction" gag I've ever seen, Franklin, and the dangers of the "secular flesh". If you've never seen the show, buy season 1 on dvd now, and watch it. As a warning though, the pilot episode is probably the weakest show of the series, but you need to see it to understand everything else. I must also warn that though Fox BARELY renewed this for a 3rd season, and there's a good chance if you get hooked on it, you'll find heart-ache later as Fox successfully bungles this one to oblivion as well. Also, while the Simpsons figuratively jumped the shark years ago, only Arrested Development got Henry Winkler to ACTUALLY jump over a shark in the middle of an episode as a tribute to the origins of the phrase. Grade: A
Star Trek: Enterprise
Man, talk about a frustrating show! The first two seasons were almost violently mediocre with a handful of great shows scattered amongst far too many middling shows. Season 3 was an incredible move forward where they attempted to go back to Star Trek's political roots, and actually reflect today's world by showing the aftermath of a horrific attack on Earth (ala 9/11), and suddenly the show improved dramatically (pun intended). The fourth season almost did not happen, and in a way, the writing was on the wall for the show's demise. Still, the new show runner, Manny Coto and the writers were still willing to step up to the plate and attempt to keep up the level of quality from Season 3, and attempt to (sometimes awkwardly) make Enterprise fit better into the Star Trek universe, by tying it into the original series. It still had mediocre episodes this last season, but it also had more than its share of wonderful ones. Unfortunately, of course, the show was cancelled, and Rick Berman, who has had control of the franchise since the untimely death of Gene Roddenberry, decided to cowrite the finale. The less said of the finale, the better. It was an unfitting end to a normal episode, much less a season finale, and much, much less for the series finale for Enterprise, and for what could be the last televised episode of Star Trek ever, it was horrible. (though it was somewhat redeemed by the final 30 seconds) If I were to evaluate the season without the last episode, the grade would be a B, with it, it becomes a C+/B-
Battlestar Galactica (the new incarnation)
Ok, this one also took me by surprise, and I'm only half-way through its first season. I suppose Ron Moore, who ran Star Trek - Deep Space 9 during its glory years, really was responsible for quite a lot of DS9's brilliance, as Battlestar Galactica seems to carry on a lot of the wonderful traditions of DS9: complex, interweaved storylines; well defined characters; and a fearlessness to do the unexpected. I only saw an episode or two of the original show in the early 1980s, and was pretty unimpressed (of course, I was 3 or 4 years old), but I am impressed with the start for this show. Grade: B+ (so far)
The Daily Show
This one irritates the living daylights out of me because since I lost my mythtv setup, I haven't been able to watch it!!! Especially after the events of last November, and all of the garbage since, this has been arguably the only beacon of light out there for reason, truth, and humor. May this show continue on forever. Grade: A- (only because I haven't seen it in FAR too long)
Chappelle's Show
I know everyone loves this show. Maybe I'm too white for the show's target demographic, but I won't go as far as the unwavering love for this show that many show. I find it to be hit and miss. When it hits (the racial draft, the Prince tale, etc), it's absolutely brilliant, but when it misses, it misses by a lot. Still, there's a definite fearlessness to the show, and I gotta admire Dave's ability to push the boundaries. There isn't much dangerous comedy on television (or anywhere) these days, and I hope the third season makes it to air to keep everyone on their toes. (and plus, even a hit and miss show, has its hits) Grade: B-
South Park
Trey Parker & Matt Stone seem to have kept much more of their edge for a lot longer than the Simpsons managed to, but I have to admit they seem to be running out of steam a bit. Even their Team America film was pretty scattershot. Still, even amongst increasing blandness, these two can still pull off a brilliant episode like where Kenny is chosen by Heaven to defeat the armies of Hell, only to find Kenny half-alive in a persistent vegetative state. They aired an episode mocking the Terry Shiavo controversy, on the NIGHT BEFORE her body died. On top of that, it was a VERY funny episode. While I wish they had more great episodes like this more often, I'm still pretty pleased with that one. Grade: B-
The West Wing
Given how good the show was in its first four years, and how bad it got when they lost the show's creator and primary writer (Aaron Sorkin) with its fifth year, I was very pleasantly surprised to see the show rebound quite a bit in its sixth year. They've messed around with the show's chronology by skipping one of the year in Josiah Bartlett's term moving the elections to this fall, and they have been intent on shaking up the casts especially by splitting them in the 2nd half of the season to focus on primaries. Somehow though, they also made the show watchable again, and occasionally brought back some of the humor. Some of the episodes were over the top, and basically wish fulfillment for the writers, for instance in the episode where they "fix" the Israeli/Palestine issue in the space of 2 days, or where Bartlett single-handedly negotiates a stance to deal with North Korea in the space of 2 hours. If one can ignore that heavy handedness (of which there was FAR more in the 5th season), you actually got some interesting television, and an honestly compelling Republican candidate in the form of Alan Alda's Senator Vinnick. I doubt they'll let him win the "election", but it would be interesting (and I'm saying that as a pretty hardcore liberal). Anyway, the season was good enough to make me tune in to the 7th season. Grade: B
As an aside, I just noticed today that one of the actual signers for the real Declaration of Independence (which we are in theory celebrating today), was named Josiah Bartlett, and he was from the delegation from New Hampshire. I'm sure I'm not the first to notice it, but it's REALLY cool if you ask me.
Actually, that's pretty much of new TV that I ever watch these days. I turned off cable news not long after I abandoned this blog, because I realized what a wretched source of information that it really is. (ditto on talk radio) The only other show I watch semi-regularly is 60 Minutes, and that's not really gradable.
So here's some quickie reviews of semi-recent TV:
The Simpsons
Wow, the shark was jumped ages ago, but at least the show is no longer in quality freefall. It can't be too long before they basically have reached just about every longevity landmark for scripted programs (with the exception of long running soap operas), and even though the show hasn't a fraction of the wit and humor and relevance that it had back in its 2nd through 6th season, it's nice to know that this is the one to make all of those records, as opposed to other programs that even in their heyday can't begin to compare to the Simpsons at their worst. I actually don't even bother to watch the new episodes most of the time. I buy the dvd boxed sets of the early seasons to remind me of how good good can be instead. (and because I haven't watched much of the new eps, I have no real grade for the current incarnation)
Arrested Development
Ok, this one really shocked me, though maybe I shouldn't have been. In the last 5-6 years Fox has had an infuriating habit of putting out these brilliant shows and then mismanaging them into a quick oblivion (witness Futurama, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and the live-action The Tick). This one is barely hanging on despite all of Fox's efforts, and it's at least on par with Futurama, which is saying a LOT. Of course, this is a show that's tough to get into because you really have to watch from the first episode and watch each episode many times to get every layer of joke. However, once you get dragged in, you're dragged in. GOB, Tobias and Buster are all, even with only 2 seasons under the show's belt, some of the greatest comedic characters I have ever seen on Television. (and while that may seem like faint praise, remember characters like Homer Simpson, Maxwell Smart, Lucy Ricardo, Dan Fielding, and even if most TV is a cess-pool, that doesn't mean that it's all bad) Even if the show lost a little bit of direction in the middle of its shortened season, it still introduced the world to Tobias trying in vain to join the blue-man group, the best "Weapons of Mass Destruction" gag I've ever seen, Franklin, and the dangers of the "secular flesh". If you've never seen the show, buy season 1 on dvd now, and watch it. As a warning though, the pilot episode is probably the weakest show of the series, but you need to see it to understand everything else. I must also warn that though Fox BARELY renewed this for a 3rd season, and there's a good chance if you get hooked on it, you'll find heart-ache later as Fox successfully bungles this one to oblivion as well. Also, while the Simpsons figuratively jumped the shark years ago, only Arrested Development got Henry Winkler to ACTUALLY jump over a shark in the middle of an episode as a tribute to the origins of the phrase. Grade: A
Star Trek: Enterprise
Man, talk about a frustrating show! The first two seasons were almost violently mediocre with a handful of great shows scattered amongst far too many middling shows. Season 3 was an incredible move forward where they attempted to go back to Star Trek's political roots, and actually reflect today's world by showing the aftermath of a horrific attack on Earth (ala 9/11), and suddenly the show improved dramatically (pun intended). The fourth season almost did not happen, and in a way, the writing was on the wall for the show's demise. Still, the new show runner, Manny Coto and the writers were still willing to step up to the plate and attempt to keep up the level of quality from Season 3, and attempt to (sometimes awkwardly) make Enterprise fit better into the Star Trek universe, by tying it into the original series. It still had mediocre episodes this last season, but it also had more than its share of wonderful ones. Unfortunately, of course, the show was cancelled, and Rick Berman, who has had control of the franchise since the untimely death of Gene Roddenberry, decided to cowrite the finale. The less said of the finale, the better. It was an unfitting end to a normal episode, much less a season finale, and much, much less for the series finale for Enterprise, and for what could be the last televised episode of Star Trek ever, it was horrible. (though it was somewhat redeemed by the final 30 seconds) If I were to evaluate the season without the last episode, the grade would be a B, with it, it becomes a C+/B-
Battlestar Galactica (the new incarnation)
Ok, this one also took me by surprise, and I'm only half-way through its first season. I suppose Ron Moore, who ran Star Trek - Deep Space 9 during its glory years, really was responsible for quite a lot of DS9's brilliance, as Battlestar Galactica seems to carry on a lot of the wonderful traditions of DS9: complex, interweaved storylines; well defined characters; and a fearlessness to do the unexpected. I only saw an episode or two of the original show in the early 1980s, and was pretty unimpressed (of course, I was 3 or 4 years old), but I am impressed with the start for this show. Grade: B+ (so far)
The Daily Show
This one irritates the living daylights out of me because since I lost my mythtv setup, I haven't been able to watch it!!! Especially after the events of last November, and all of the garbage since, this has been arguably the only beacon of light out there for reason, truth, and humor. May this show continue on forever. Grade: A- (only because I haven't seen it in FAR too long)
Chappelle's Show
I know everyone loves this show. Maybe I'm too white for the show's target demographic, but I won't go as far as the unwavering love for this show that many show. I find it to be hit and miss. When it hits (the racial draft, the Prince tale, etc), it's absolutely brilliant, but when it misses, it misses by a lot. Still, there's a definite fearlessness to the show, and I gotta admire Dave's ability to push the boundaries. There isn't much dangerous comedy on television (or anywhere) these days, and I hope the third season makes it to air to keep everyone on their toes. (and plus, even a hit and miss show, has its hits) Grade: B-
South Park
Trey Parker & Matt Stone seem to have kept much more of their edge for a lot longer than the Simpsons managed to, but I have to admit they seem to be running out of steam a bit. Even their Team America film was pretty scattershot. Still, even amongst increasing blandness, these two can still pull off a brilliant episode like where Kenny is chosen by Heaven to defeat the armies of Hell, only to find Kenny half-alive in a persistent vegetative state. They aired an episode mocking the Terry Shiavo controversy, on the NIGHT BEFORE her body died. On top of that, it was a VERY funny episode. While I wish they had more great episodes like this more often, I'm still pretty pleased with that one. Grade: B-
The West Wing
Given how good the show was in its first four years, and how bad it got when they lost the show's creator and primary writer (Aaron Sorkin) with its fifth year, I was very pleasantly surprised to see the show rebound quite a bit in its sixth year. They've messed around with the show's chronology by skipping one of the year in Josiah Bartlett's term moving the elections to this fall, and they have been intent on shaking up the casts especially by splitting them in the 2nd half of the season to focus on primaries. Somehow though, they also made the show watchable again, and occasionally brought back some of the humor. Some of the episodes were over the top, and basically wish fulfillment for the writers, for instance in the episode where they "fix" the Israeli/Palestine issue in the space of 2 days, or where Bartlett single-handedly negotiates a stance to deal with North Korea in the space of 2 hours. If one can ignore that heavy handedness (of which there was FAR more in the 5th season), you actually got some interesting television, and an honestly compelling Republican candidate in the form of Alan Alda's Senator Vinnick. I doubt they'll let him win the "election", but it would be interesting (and I'm saying that as a pretty hardcore liberal). Anyway, the season was good enough to make me tune in to the 7th season. Grade: B
As an aside, I just noticed today that one of the actual signers for the real Declaration of Independence (which we are in theory celebrating today), was named Josiah Bartlett, and he was from the delegation from New Hampshire. I'm sure I'm not the first to notice it, but it's REALLY cool if you ask me.
Actually, that's pretty much of new TV that I ever watch these days. I turned off cable news not long after I abandoned this blog, because I realized what a wretched source of information that it really is. (ditto on talk radio) The only other show I watch semi-regularly is 60 Minutes, and that's not really gradable.
posted by Jim Casaburi at
5:39 PM
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