Month: October 2011

October 29, 2011

Chuck – ‘Chuck Versus the Zoom’

Aside from its Thursday night comedy block, NBC really doesn’t have much going for it these days. It feels like half their schedule is made up of reality shows, none of which seem to be even half as popular as ‘Dancing with the Stars’ or ‘American Idol.’ No one’s really watching their few drama series, new or old. And as good as ‘Community’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ are, they’re not attracting big audiences either. So things have been kind of grim for the peacock for a while now (Speaking of which, their new supernatural procedural ‘Grimm’ debuted last night, and I couldn’t be bothered to watch past the first ten minutes, it was that boring), but I know at least one good thing has come out of it: Spy comedy-drama ‘Chuck,’ which has never been a ratings hit, has managed to survive for five — count ’em, five — seasons, thanks to Subway sandwiches, Comic-Con, a loyal fanbase, and, most importantly, being a good show. Back when NBC was the king of network TV, a show that pulled in the consistent but subpar ratings that ‘Chuck’ has been getting over the years would’ve been canceled no problem. So here’s one case in which we can be thankful that the rest of NBC’s shows have done so poorly: it made ‘Chuck’ look a lot more appealing, and as I watched last night’s premiere for the show’s final, 13-episode hurrah, I couldn’t stop smiling. It’s not because the episode was one of the series’ finest (it wasn’t); it’s because I couldn’t believe the show made it this far, and I was pretty grateful for that. Continue Reading

October 23, 2011

Once Upon a Time – ‘Pilot’

ABC’s ‘Once Upon a Time’ is being touted as a new show “from the writers of Lost,” as if Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz were the only ones who wrote for that monumental series. It’s not a big deal, it just strikes me as a little bit of false advertising (“From a couple of the people that were on the ‘Lost’ writing staff” would’ve been more accurate).

Anyways, the ambitious storytelling and supernatural/sci-fi nature of ‘Lost’ is a clear influence on this show, which goes so far as to include a couple of subtle references to it (a close-up shot of a character’s eye opening, numerical motifs) in the pilot, but where ‘Lost’ was able to sink its hooks into me right from the start, it looks like ‘Once Upon a Time’ is going to need more time to get me psyched about the prospect of following another mythology-heavy serial down the rabbit hole. Continue Reading

October 17, 2011

The Walking Dead – ‘What Lies Ahead’

When it comes to TV shows, I tend to judge the stuff I like from the stuff I really like by how often I’ll come back to it. I think my review of the finale of the first season of ‘The Walking Dead’ was very positive (I’m too lazy to actually go back and check), but if I’m being honest, I haven’t re-watched or cared to re-watch any of that first season since it aired late last year. I think my praise of that episode was a little premature, because I can only remember bits and pieces of it now. I thought the first season as a whole was good, but perhaps too brief to make a long-lasting impression. Between then and now, I wasn’t all that psyched about the new season, especially considering all the shenanigans that had been going on between AMC and series developer Frank Darabont. One minute he’s pimping the show at Comic-Con, the next he’s replaced by Glen Mazzara as show-runner. Reading about all this behind-the-scenes business had me a little worried for the show’s eventual return, but if last night’s premiere is any indication, everything that happened with the show’s creative team over the summer might have been for the best, because “What Lies Ahead” was the best episode of the show since the pilot. Continue Reading

October 11, 2011

Breaking Bad – ‘Face Off’

I don’t think there’s a TV critic in America that hasn’t watched the season finale of ‘Breaking Bad’ and isn’t still thinking or talking about it. If you head on over to Alan Sepinwall’s blog on HitFix you’ll find an interview he did with creator (and writer/director of the episode) Vince Gilligan. It’s a must read for anyone that still has any lingering questions about the season, covering all the bases from where the Ricin cigarette went to Mike’s absence to Gustavo’s spidey-sense. Alan also has a review of the episode up which I’m sure is a great read but is considerably longer than usual. That’s not without good reason, of course, but for anyone who doesn’t have the time to go through that, feel free to take a look at my less nuanced but briefer thoughts on the episode. Continue Reading

October 2, 2011

Homeland

I don’t much care for movies or TV shows about terrorism. One of the key problems with pretty much all of them is the villain. They’re all the same, they have the same motivation. The success of any attempt to humanize them will depend largely on how you feel about terrorists, and I’m not sure there are many people who empathize with how they choose to carry out their beliefs. I can’t really recall many American films or TV shows or miniseries that don’t present a terrorist as anything more than some faceless threat the hero must stop (they’re basically the new Nazi in that regard). So what happens when the hero himself is the potential threat? The game changes, and you get something like Showtime’s ‘Homeland,’ a new series that seems made up of a lot of the things I don’t like about these types of thrillers, but presents them in a way that feels fresh and compelling. Continue Reading