Netflix Diary
a) "Frisky Dingo," Season 1
I've been thinking lately about what the best TV shows of the decade were, and while I was working on a ballot for a message board poll, I figured being at home with a newborn would be a good time to go on Netflix and rent a bunch of recommended shows I thought I might like to pass some of the long nights. This one turned out to be a dud, though. I've always been kind of love/hate with Adult Swim stuff, I think they've got a couple great shows, a few occasionally enjoyable ones, and a lot of awful unfunny bullshit. "Sealab 2021" goes under occasionally enjoyable for me, so I was optimistic about this show from the same creators, and it's about as funny as that, but it doesn't lend itself well to watching episode after episode on a DVD. The weird chatty absurdity of the dialogue is funny in small doses but after a while it gets pretty annoying, and I'm so sick of seeing shitty Flash animation in TV cartoons. Plus a lot of the superhero/super villain satire stuff is done ten times better by "The Venture Bros."
b) "Wonderfalls"
One of the things about short-lived cancelled shows is that if there are enough talented people involved, you can kind of rest assured that most of them will go on to be in a lot of stuff afterwards (I mean, think about how many people got their start on something as unwatched as "Freaks & Geeks"). So it's kind of a bummer to see an incredibly entertaining show with a solid cast like "Wonderfalls" and know that, since it was cancelled 5 years ago, most of the people in it haven't done barely anything since, other than creator Bryan Fuller, and supporting actor Lee Pace, who Fuller put in one of his later series, the also great "Pushing Daisies." I'm really loving Fuller's whole aesthetic and ear for dialogue, which is maybe even snappier in this show and a little less starry-eyed and fairy tale in tone than "Pushing Daisies," which was admittedly at times a bit too cutesy.
c) "Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries"
I'm guessing if I keep going and get into the series it gets better, but I have to admit this really did not hook me much at all. After all the praise I feel like I owe it to myself to be patient and give it a fair shot, but it was just kinda there for me.
d) "Spaced"
As much as I love Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and kind of enjoy seeing where all those guys got their start and see how it foreshadowed what they would do later, this isn't nearly as consistently entertaining as what they did later. I'm starting to get into the kind of relaxed pace of the show and the odd rhythms of the dialogue, but honestly I probably like the movies more in part because they're more geared toward an international audience and this stuff might be a little too British for me to totally get, I always feel like there's little bits of cultural subtext going over my head aside from the more universal sci-fi nerd references.
I've been thinking lately about what the best TV shows of the decade were, and while I was working on a ballot for a message board poll, I figured being at home with a newborn would be a good time to go on Netflix and rent a bunch of recommended shows I thought I might like to pass some of the long nights. This one turned out to be a dud, though. I've always been kind of love/hate with Adult Swim stuff, I think they've got a couple great shows, a few occasionally enjoyable ones, and a lot of awful unfunny bullshit. "Sealab 2021" goes under occasionally enjoyable for me, so I was optimistic about this show from the same creators, and it's about as funny as that, but it doesn't lend itself well to watching episode after episode on a DVD. The weird chatty absurdity of the dialogue is funny in small doses but after a while it gets pretty annoying, and I'm so sick of seeing shitty Flash animation in TV cartoons. Plus a lot of the superhero/super villain satire stuff is done ten times better by "The Venture Bros."
b) "Wonderfalls"
One of the things about short-lived cancelled shows is that if there are enough talented people involved, you can kind of rest assured that most of them will go on to be in a lot of stuff afterwards (I mean, think about how many people got their start on something as unwatched as "Freaks & Geeks"). So it's kind of a bummer to see an incredibly entertaining show with a solid cast like "Wonderfalls" and know that, since it was cancelled 5 years ago, most of the people in it haven't done barely anything since, other than creator Bryan Fuller, and supporting actor Lee Pace, who Fuller put in one of his later series, the also great "Pushing Daisies." I'm really loving Fuller's whole aesthetic and ear for dialogue, which is maybe even snappier in this show and a little less starry-eyed and fairy tale in tone than "Pushing Daisies," which was admittedly at times a bit too cutesy.
c) "Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries"
I'm guessing if I keep going and get into the series it gets better, but I have to admit this really did not hook me much at all. After all the praise I feel like I owe it to myself to be patient and give it a fair shot, but it was just kinda there for me.
d) "Spaced"
As much as I love Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and kind of enjoy seeing where all those guys got their start and see how it foreshadowed what they would do later, this isn't nearly as consistently entertaining as what they did later. I'm starting to get into the kind of relaxed pace of the show and the odd rhythms of the dialogue, but honestly I probably like the movies more in part because they're more geared toward an international audience and this stuff might be a little too British for me to totally get, I always feel like there's little bits of cultural subtext going over my head aside from the more universal sci-fi nerd references.
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on Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 10:34 AM.
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