Ok, now that we’re all nice and settled into the fall tv season I can, with a little trepidation, talk about the shows that have really made my free time a lot less free. And that hasn’t always been a good thing, so I’ve broken things up into three different categories. The first being…
Shows I try to catch up on:
There’s not always a lot of time to sit down in front of the
tv and give everything of interest your full attention. But some series lend themselves
well to being your cooking partner for Saturday morning breakfast or a laundry
pal when you’re down to your last clean shirt. These first two productions
are perfect for just that. To the point where I can barely smell cooked pork
and egg products without thinking of cool blonde cops or sixties stewardesses.
Prime Suspect
I'm not going to lie, the fact that Maria Bello portrays the main character in this series really helped it even get on my 'to watch' list. I'm not a fan of procedural police dramas. I even tried Rizzoli and Isles and the leading ladies couldn't hold my attention.
That being said, I do enjoy Prime Suspect. Maybe it's because we stole it from British stock, could be my intrinsic love of flawed heroes, or it's possibly just a good show. No matter the reason, I must say I love following Detective Jane Timoney around as she pieces together the evidence while resisting the urge to smoke and taking a few fists to the face.
The supporting cast earn their stripes as well. It's the same tepid set-up we usually get spoon-fed when a woman takes a position of power within a mostly male populated law enforcement unit, but the writers for Prime Suspect seem to have given this shallow pool of an environment way more depth than there appears to be. Disliking the testosterone that surrounded our heroine actually became a chore for me at some point as I found myself rooting for her compatriots even when they were being bags of the douchey variety.
My eyes may not be scanning every frame of every scene to see if I can catch a clue that will lead to the episode's villain, but the show goes deep enough down the rabbit hole that it sometimes becomes hard to not think about some of the darker parts of humanity after the credits have rolled. If you like cop-dramas, this one is certainly worth checking out.
Pan Am
I'm not going to lie, the fact that Maria Bello portrays the main character in this series really helped it even get on my 'to watch' list. I'm not a fan of procedural police dramas. I even tried Rizzoli and Isles and the leading ladies couldn't hold my attention.
That being said, I do enjoy Prime Suspect. Maybe it's because we stole it from British stock, could be my intrinsic love of flawed heroes, or it's possibly just a good show. No matter the reason, I must say I love following Detective Jane Timoney around as she pieces together the evidence while resisting the urge to smoke and taking a few fists to the face.
The supporting cast earn their stripes as well. It's the same tepid set-up we usually get spoon-fed when a woman takes a position of power within a mostly male populated law enforcement unit, but the writers for Prime Suspect seem to have given this shallow pool of an environment way more depth than there appears to be. Disliking the testosterone that surrounded our heroine actually became a chore for me at some point as I found myself rooting for her compatriots even when they were being bags of the douchey variety.
My eyes may not be scanning every frame of every scene to see if I can catch a clue that will lead to the episode's villain, but the show goes deep enough down the rabbit hole that it sometimes becomes hard to not think about some of the darker parts of humanity after the credits have rolled. If you like cop-dramas, this one is certainly worth checking out.
Pan Am
For me, Pan Am hits the mark so hardcore sometimes that I really
can’t help but root for it. It’s a good thing too, because most of the rest of
the time I’m kind of bored. The main male lead is a complete bore, I don’t care
about the pretty blonde who’s trying to find her place in a world she knows
nothing about, and I’m not sure if Kate’s undercover mission has been foiled…
ZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzzz. Oh wait, most of those side scripts are sedative-esque too.
HOWEVER!
There are also moments that have completely tugged at my
heart, had me wanting to pump a fist in the air in triumph, and made me so
completely uncomfortable that I squirmed in my seat a bit.
Christina Ricci’s Maggie Ryan is someone that gets my backing when she pushes the boundaries of women’s right in a profession
that seems to demean the concept right down to the enforcement of girdles with
the Pan Am uniform. When she roared in the face of sexual harassment by
proclaiming to her attacker that she was not included in the price of his
ticket a resounding ‘Yesss!’ ripped from my clenched teeth. And it’s not just
that. Maggie is the face of the working girl/bohemian movement of her time
period. Her love of JFK is accessible and her capable nature is undeniable. For
me, Maggie makes the show; and Ricci pulls all of it off so effortlessly you’d
think she was simply born into the part.
But one character isn’t enough to truly sell me on anything.
The writers have to be commended for the little nuggets of gold that they place
throughout the rest of the environment. Whether it’s a touching moment of
understanding between Kate and her mother or a twist in the gut as French stewardess,
Colette, sings the German national anthem, with a tear in her eye, as she scoffs
in the face of the people who destroyed her childhood; there is enough heart in
Pan Am to make me sign up for several more round trips.
Shows I can't get enough of:
These are the series that have grabbed me from the beginning and have continued to blow my mind with each episode. When they are on, the phone is silenced, the dog given a bone, and my attention given in a rapt manner. We're talking TV crack, here.
American Horror Story
If anyone had ever posed to me the question "Do you think they could turn a horror movie into a decent series?" it wouldn't have taken me more than a few seconds to answer with a resounding "No". Horror movies are best served short, gory and to the point. Anything more would just drag on.
American Horror Story has certainly made me eat those words and then some.
The effectiveness in which they present and utilize the mythology of the 'haunted house' is superior beyond anything I've ever seen. It has a rich and bloody history with rules that trickle out every now and then only to be used as distractions before the main attraction actually takes the stage. Also, the acting is amazing. The idea that I might see Jessica Lange every week on the small screen almost disappointed me because I worried that she'd never consider giving such a ridiculous endeavor her best efforts, but within the first appearance of her character I knew that wouldn't be the case.
Connie Britton and Taissa Farmiga fell so solidly into their roles as mother and daughter that it's not difficult to imagine many fights about bed times and curfews lurking in the not so distant past. I'd like to say the same about Dylan McDermott, who I normally enjoy, but it just seems like his overacting has only strengthened since his broody days on The Practice. If I have to watch him cry one more time about... well anything, the man's a basket case and I'm bored with it. But, he's obviously been working out and requesting a lot of shirtless scenes which makes for witty banter and just more motivation to get into the gym, so Ben isn't really a total loss.
Luckily for the show, his lack of testosterone is creepily supplemented by Evan Peters who plays a very troubled Tate Langdon. Tate's therapy sessions alone freak me out; forget about whatever weird shit he's doing in the basement.
And I haven't even broached the subject of old lady/young lady maid that want's some McDermott lovin like fat kids want cake!
All in all, I love it.
Once Upon a Time
I'll go ahead and confess that I REALLY wanted to like this show, so that alone may make me biased, but whatever, we all are. Once Upon a Time is Disney Generation awesomeness. It looks great, is written well and presents enough questions to be answered that I crave each episode. Sure, Gennifer Goodwin's modern day haircut kinda makes her look more the part of Dumbo than Snow White and, yes, Jennifer Morrison playing a twenty-eight year old, when she really looks forty, stretches the bounds of willful disillusionment a bit but this show is so magical once you get past its aesthetic flaws.
The idea of fairy tale characters being placed in the real world is just awesome.
Lana Parrilla is delicious as the evil queen. She's so ridiculously insidious and her motives aren't always clear. Robert Carlyle's Rumpelstiltskin is just as devious, but still oh-so engaging.
The series' main child actor could do with a few acting lessons, but all in all it's just a masterpiece to behold. Hearing that it's already been picked up for a second season had made me incredibly happy. I'm almost glad I have to wait every week for each episode because, were this a story book, I'd fly through the pages far to quickly to truly enjoy the intricacies.
Shows that were not worthy of the time I gave them:
They can't all be winners. Here are some of the shows that simply wasted my time.
The Playboy Club
When I heard about the concept of a show centered around a high-end strip club circa 1961, I did get a little excited. The lucrative plot lines able to be presented seemed limitless. My main concern is that it would simply be a regurgitation of Mad Men.
Then I watched the first episode.
They really should have just puked Mad Men all over those bunnies. The fact that it actually took two episodes to get cancelled kind of shocked me. It had all the depth of a conversation with Michelle Bachman about physics.
Boring, banal bunnies begone!
Terra Nova
I'm well aware that Terra Nova is one of this seasons darlings, but I've got to say that it made my shit list well after the point that I simply became bored with it's derivative, episodic plot courses.
The first episode was where I really screwed up. I should have known that the depth and grandeur displayed on it's maiden voyage could not hold for an entire season. The fact that it couldn't even hold past the first episode, however, amazed me.
First of all, the show is very 'monster of the week'. One week they're doing a Hitchcock rip-off with killer bird-sized dinosaurs, the next they've got a devastating viral outbreak that is solved ridiculously fast with the introduction of a very convenient cold. The way everything plays out is predictable and honestly kind of boring. The characters are fairly cookie cutter and don't offer a lot of interest to offset the spoon-fed plots.
Don't get me wrong. Everything is pretty and the score is one of the best I've heard in a long time with regards to television, but it's not enough to request an hour of your time each week.
The final nail in Terra Nova's coffin, for me, was the hardcore rip-off of the Newt character from Aliens. She was found on an imaging device, had crazy blonde hair, had odd speech patterns...
It was just too much for me. I wrote the writers off as hacks and haven't looked back since.
Maybe when they start blatantly stealing ideas from The Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind other people will too.
Obviously I gave a few other shows a shot and there were some, like The Secret Circle, that I certainly wouldn't turn off if it was on my TV, or Two Broke Girls that had something, they just sucked at figuring out what it was.
So yeah, the 2011 fall television season has been pretty good to this geek.
These are the series that have grabbed me from the beginning and have continued to blow my mind with each episode. When they are on, the phone is silenced, the dog given a bone, and my attention given in a rapt manner. We're talking TV crack, here.
American Horror Story
If anyone had ever posed to me the question "Do you think they could turn a horror movie into a decent series?" it wouldn't have taken me more than a few seconds to answer with a resounding "No". Horror movies are best served short, gory and to the point. Anything more would just drag on.
American Horror Story has certainly made me eat those words and then some.
The effectiveness in which they present and utilize the mythology of the 'haunted house' is superior beyond anything I've ever seen. It has a rich and bloody history with rules that trickle out every now and then only to be used as distractions before the main attraction actually takes the stage. Also, the acting is amazing. The idea that I might see Jessica Lange every week on the small screen almost disappointed me because I worried that she'd never consider giving such a ridiculous endeavor her best efforts, but within the first appearance of her character I knew that wouldn't be the case.
Connie Britton and Taissa Farmiga fell so solidly into their roles as mother and daughter that it's not difficult to imagine many fights about bed times and curfews lurking in the not so distant past. I'd like to say the same about Dylan McDermott, who I normally enjoy, but it just seems like his overacting has only strengthened since his broody days on The Practice. If I have to watch him cry one more time about... well anything, the man's a basket case and I'm bored with it. But, he's obviously been working out and requesting a lot of shirtless scenes which makes for witty banter and just more motivation to get into the gym, so Ben isn't really a total loss.
Luckily for the show, his lack of testosterone is creepily supplemented by Evan Peters who plays a very troubled Tate Langdon. Tate's therapy sessions alone freak me out; forget about whatever weird shit he's doing in the basement.
And I haven't even broached the subject of old lady/young lady maid that want's some McDermott lovin like fat kids want cake!
All in all, I love it.
Once Upon a Time
I'll go ahead and confess that I REALLY wanted to like this show, so that alone may make me biased, but whatever, we all are. Once Upon a Time is Disney Generation awesomeness. It looks great, is written well and presents enough questions to be answered that I crave each episode. Sure, Gennifer Goodwin's modern day haircut kinda makes her look more the part of Dumbo than Snow White and, yes, Jennifer Morrison playing a twenty-eight year old, when she really looks forty, stretches the bounds of willful disillusionment a bit but this show is so magical once you get past its aesthetic flaws.
The idea of fairy tale characters being placed in the real world is just awesome.
The series' main child actor could do with a few acting lessons, but all in all it's just a masterpiece to behold. Hearing that it's already been picked up for a second season had made me incredibly happy. I'm almost glad I have to wait every week for each episode because, were this a story book, I'd fly through the pages far to quickly to truly enjoy the intricacies.
Shows that were not worthy of the time I gave them:
They can't all be winners. Here are some of the shows that simply wasted my time.
The Playboy Club
When I heard about the concept of a show centered around a high-end strip club circa 1961, I did get a little excited. The lucrative plot lines able to be presented seemed limitless. My main concern is that it would simply be a regurgitation of Mad Men.
Then I watched the first episode.
They really should have just puked Mad Men all over those bunnies. The fact that it actually took two episodes to get cancelled kind of shocked me. It had all the depth of a conversation with Michelle Bachman about physics.
Boring, banal bunnies begone!
Terra Nova
I'm well aware that Terra Nova is one of this seasons darlings, but I've got to say that it made my shit list well after the point that I simply became bored with it's derivative, episodic plot courses.
The first episode was where I really screwed up. I should have known that the depth and grandeur displayed on it's maiden voyage could not hold for an entire season. The fact that it couldn't even hold past the first episode, however, amazed me.
First of all, the show is very 'monster of the week'. One week they're doing a Hitchcock rip-off with killer bird-sized dinosaurs, the next they've got a devastating viral outbreak that is solved ridiculously fast with the introduction of a very convenient cold. The way everything plays out is predictable and honestly kind of boring. The characters are fairly cookie cutter and don't offer a lot of interest to offset the spoon-fed plots.
Don't get me wrong. Everything is pretty and the score is one of the best I've heard in a long time with regards to television, but it's not enough to request an hour of your time each week.
The final nail in Terra Nova's coffin, for me, was the hardcore rip-off of the Newt character from Aliens. She was found on an imaging device, had crazy blonde hair, had odd speech patterns...
It was just too much for me. I wrote the writers off as hacks and haven't looked back since.
Maybe when they start blatantly stealing ideas from The Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind other people will too.
Obviously I gave a few other shows a shot and there were some, like The Secret Circle, that I certainly wouldn't turn off if it was on my TV, or Two Broke Girls that had something, they just sucked at figuring out what it was.
So yeah, the 2011 fall television season has been pretty good to this geek.
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