TV Diary
a) "Copper"
Don't care for this too much so far, but it's alright, could grow on me. Will at the very least keep watching it for the redhead. But it's hilarious that the theme song is a transparent knockoff of "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by The Dropkick Murphys, since the "Rizzoli & Isles" theme is a nearly identically knockoff of same.
b) "The Next: Fame Is At Your Doorstep"
I only watched the one Baltimore episode that I recapped, but it seemed like an especially genial and especially generic iteration of the usual talent search music reality show, biting the 'mentors' from "The Voice." Problem is pretty much all of "The Voice"'s mentors have a good combination of star power and/or charisma and all of "The Next"'s mentors are fatally lacking in one or the other.
c) "Bullet In The Face"
I love that IFC was apparently so appalled by the finished product after they ordered this show that they just decided to market it as a "two night miniseries event" and dump the six episodes as quickly as possible with no chance of a second season. It would be odd for them to be surprised by the violence given the title, so I kinda wonder if they just hated the show's cartoonish sense of humor, which I personally loved. I only have the vaguest memories of seeing the creator's first show "Sledge Hammer!" in the '80s, and in some ways the tone of the satire here feels a little dated. But it's still just fucking apeshit and fun, as far as I'm concerned.
d) "The Burn with Jeff Ross"
Every time Comedy Central throws Jeff Ross on the air for a few minutes a year to roast somebody I think he should be on TV more often, and they presumably do too, but it's easier said than done, really. In theory him just talking shit should be enough but in practice the format is transparently ("The Soup" via) "Tosh.0" with a dash of "Tough Crowd," but the whole comedy panel thing is actually kind of the most enjoyable part of it, just for feeling more loose and improvised, plus the first episode had my old college acquaintance Amy Schumer, whose new CC show I'm looking forward to.
e) "Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell"
Like "The Burn," another show with a comedian standing in front of a screen quipping on current events, but with an unknown guy with a Chris Rock co-sign. He seems sharp enough at times that I can imagine him wowing Rock in a writers' room at some point but he doesn't really carry this show, it's kind of flat while you wait for that one really stinging punchline every 5 minutes.
f) "The Newsroom"
There was a little lull about halfway through the season where I started to get comfortable with this show's innumerable fatal flaws and focus on the points at which Aaron Sorkin was writing well and the cast was doing the material justice. In the last couple episodes of the season it just became more loathsome than ever. I feel bad for Emily Mortimer and Alison Pill because they've just been given these insultingly incoherent characters, while Olivia Munn comes off well by virtue of not having insane screaming rants and kind of having her own way of delivering Sorkin patter. It just drives me nuts when he recycles lines I actually liked in "Sports Night" badly here, though. And goddammit I will still probably watch this show when it comes back next year.
g) "StandUp In Stilettos"
I feel like right now is a pretty good time for female comedians, just in terms of how many good ones are out there and how relatively little the "are women funny?" conversation comes up anymore, so it's kind of good and bad to see a show dedicated to women doing standup. I watched the show mainly hoping to find some funny comics I hadn't seen before, but mostly I've enjoyed the people I already knew were good like Rachel Feinstein, and most of the unknowns were pretty weak or unseasoned.
h) "Suits"
By now it's kind of a joke how much higher this show is held in my esteem than just about anyone else's. But it has been pretty damn good this season, nice little ramping up of the tension and advancement of the characters and relationships in a pretty solid old school TV drama way, nothing revolutionary but very little that's felt forced or lazy.
i) "Episodes"
The climactic season finale was kind of a bust as things broke down into a stupid British TV farce type thing, but most of this show's second year has been some really consistently hilarious shit.
j) "The Heart, She Holler"
I still tend to be skeptical of live action Adult Swim shows in general, but for the most part if there are funny people involved I'll give it a chance. But despite the presence of Patton Oswalt and Kristen Schaal this is just totally worthless, a convoluted aesthetic choice and deliberately nonsensical premise in search of actual laughs.
k) "Childrens Hospital"
This show still redeems non-animated Adult Swim shows as a whole, so glad it's back, and that it keeps getting further and further from its basic premise.
l) "Breaking Bad"
I've always felt like this show had a distractingly prominent authorial hand guiding every single plot development, but at this point Walter White is approaching Homer Simpson levels of "he is the show, so he becomes whatever the show needs him to be" conveniently arbitrary character development. I feel like the show is more compelling to me, in terms of actually caring what happens next, than it's ever been, but I still don't know how much I admire it creatively. The Vince Gilligan interview where he describes his ethos as "showmanship" seems very true to me, in a not entirely good way.
m) "True Blood"
Sometimes I feel a little twinge of memory at how this show's plots used to have a more human element, and not just because at some point the majority of the characters were ostensibly human. But I still like the bloated, histrionic soap opera this show has become, it's pretty entertaining, and the season finale, while not especially tense or suspenseful, was at least amusing and action-packed.
Don't care for this too much so far, but it's alright, could grow on me. Will at the very least keep watching it for the redhead. But it's hilarious that the theme song is a transparent knockoff of "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by The Dropkick Murphys, since the "Rizzoli & Isles" theme is a nearly identically knockoff of same.
b) "The Next: Fame Is At Your Doorstep"
I only watched the one Baltimore episode that I recapped, but it seemed like an especially genial and especially generic iteration of the usual talent search music reality show, biting the 'mentors' from "The Voice." Problem is pretty much all of "The Voice"'s mentors have a good combination of star power and/or charisma and all of "The Next"'s mentors are fatally lacking in one or the other.
c) "Bullet In The Face"
I love that IFC was apparently so appalled by the finished product after they ordered this show that they just decided to market it as a "two night miniseries event" and dump the six episodes as quickly as possible with no chance of a second season. It would be odd for them to be surprised by the violence given the title, so I kinda wonder if they just hated the show's cartoonish sense of humor, which I personally loved. I only have the vaguest memories of seeing the creator's first show "Sledge Hammer!" in the '80s, and in some ways the tone of the satire here feels a little dated. But it's still just fucking apeshit and fun, as far as I'm concerned.
d) "The Burn with Jeff Ross"
Every time Comedy Central throws Jeff Ross on the air for a few minutes a year to roast somebody I think he should be on TV more often, and they presumably do too, but it's easier said than done, really. In theory him just talking shit should be enough but in practice the format is transparently ("The Soup" via) "Tosh.0" with a dash of "Tough Crowd," but the whole comedy panel thing is actually kind of the most enjoyable part of it, just for feeling more loose and improvised, plus the first episode had my old college acquaintance Amy Schumer, whose new CC show I'm looking forward to.
e) "Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell"
Like "The Burn," another show with a comedian standing in front of a screen quipping on current events, but with an unknown guy with a Chris Rock co-sign. He seems sharp enough at times that I can imagine him wowing Rock in a writers' room at some point but he doesn't really carry this show, it's kind of flat while you wait for that one really stinging punchline every 5 minutes.
f) "The Newsroom"
There was a little lull about halfway through the season where I started to get comfortable with this show's innumerable fatal flaws and focus on the points at which Aaron Sorkin was writing well and the cast was doing the material justice. In the last couple episodes of the season it just became more loathsome than ever. I feel bad for Emily Mortimer and Alison Pill because they've just been given these insultingly incoherent characters, while Olivia Munn comes off well by virtue of not having insane screaming rants and kind of having her own way of delivering Sorkin patter. It just drives me nuts when he recycles lines I actually liked in "Sports Night" badly here, though. And goddammit I will still probably watch this show when it comes back next year.
g) "StandUp In Stilettos"
I feel like right now is a pretty good time for female comedians, just in terms of how many good ones are out there and how relatively little the "are women funny?" conversation comes up anymore, so it's kind of good and bad to see a show dedicated to women doing standup. I watched the show mainly hoping to find some funny comics I hadn't seen before, but mostly I've enjoyed the people I already knew were good like Rachel Feinstein, and most of the unknowns were pretty weak or unseasoned.
h) "Suits"
By now it's kind of a joke how much higher this show is held in my esteem than just about anyone else's. But it has been pretty damn good this season, nice little ramping up of the tension and advancement of the characters and relationships in a pretty solid old school TV drama way, nothing revolutionary but very little that's felt forced or lazy.
i) "Episodes"
The climactic season finale was kind of a bust as things broke down into a stupid British TV farce type thing, but most of this show's second year has been some really consistently hilarious shit.
j) "The Heart, She Holler"
I still tend to be skeptical of live action Adult Swim shows in general, but for the most part if there are funny people involved I'll give it a chance. But despite the presence of Patton Oswalt and Kristen Schaal this is just totally worthless, a convoluted aesthetic choice and deliberately nonsensical premise in search of actual laughs.
k) "Childrens Hospital"
This show still redeems non-animated Adult Swim shows as a whole, so glad it's back, and that it keeps getting further and further from its basic premise.
l) "Breaking Bad"
I've always felt like this show had a distractingly prominent authorial hand guiding every single plot development, but at this point Walter White is approaching Homer Simpson levels of "he is the show, so he becomes whatever the show needs him to be" conveniently arbitrary character development. I feel like the show is more compelling to me, in terms of actually caring what happens next, than it's ever been, but I still don't know how much I admire it creatively. The Vince Gilligan interview where he describes his ethos as "showmanship" seems very true to me, in a not entirely good way.
m) "True Blood"
Sometimes I feel a little twinge of memory at how this show's plots used to have a more human element, and not just because at some point the majority of the characters were ostensibly human. But I still like the bloated, histrionic soap opera this show has become, it's pretty entertaining, and the season finale, while not especially tense or suspenseful, was at least amusing and action-packed.
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on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 9:47 PM.
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