Monday, January 24, 2011

My favorite things I watched last week

Hopefully, this is going to be a weekly feature on the blog. In a normal week I would plan on getting this up over the weekend, but some family issues kept me from doing much blogging this past weekend.


These lists will be in no particular order, and will certainly not contain everything I watched or enjoyed during the week...just my very favorite things.

- The return of Parks and Recreation. Probably my favorite comedy currently on television, and it returned in top form. Even if there was nothing else good about the episode (and there was TONS), it would have made the list just for this:
(Click to enlarge...trust me, it's worth it)

- The ratings for Fringe. The first Friday show itself was not one of my favorite Fringe episodes...I thought it was good-not-great, even though every scene with John Noble and Christopher Lloyd was brilliant. But the really good news is that they managed to maintain the same ratings on Friday that they were running on Thursday, which was enough to win the night for Fox in the key demographics. Great news, and if they can keep that up they will have overcome the dreaded "Friday Slot of DOOOOOOOOOOM".

- Phil Dunphy eating breakfast on the floor. My favorite part of the scene was that neither he nor Claire even acknowledged it. It was just like, "Well, I'm hungry....and Claire won't let me go downstairs until we figure out how to deal with this. So I'm gonna try and salvage these eggs".

- Everything Busy Phillips did on Cougar Town. Wuh-BAMM!!

- Surprisingly enough, American Idol. I was pleasantly surprised by the judges panel, though I am still mostly reserving judgment until we get to the live shows and they can no longer edit out the awkward/annoying moments. But what I was most excited about was the noticeable reduction in freak-show/mentally challenged auditions. I liked what Jacob on Television Without Pity said: "What if the big change this year is that we are no longer playing to the Lowest Common Denominator?"

- Breaking Bad and Deadwood. Two shows on almost everybody's "Best of the '00s" lists that I had missed. I'm catching up on Breaking Bad by watching the replays on AMC, and I'm into season 2 of Deadwood on iTunes. Both are living up to their lofty reputations, though Deadwood's language is causing me some problems...I'm no prude when it comes to profanity (in that I understand that if you're going to write realistic dialogue, you have to write how people really talk), but the air around Deadwood is so blue it is actually distracting at times. But the writing and acting on both of these shows are tremendous, and I no longer begrudge Bryan Cranston beating out Jon Hamm for his multiple Emmys.

- Jay Rome's announcement. Got me believing again that the Dawgs may pull off this whole Dream Team thing, especially when it was quickly followed by his teammate Malcolm Mitchell following him to the Classic City. With Drew, Crowell, and Jenkins still on the board (and supposedly all strong UGA leans), I may actually get excited about football again.

How about you, fellow TV watchers? What were your favorite things on TV last week?

5 comments:

Bernie said...

Best thing I watched on television last week was Friday Night Lights. Since many can't watch this final season yet, I'll just say that it's not going to disappoint. I had some doubts initially, but with just a couple episodes left it's certain that my "eyes are NOT going to be clear" when this one ends.

Best thing I Netflix'd last week was S2 of Damages. Just finished it this weekend. Patty Hewes scares the bejeebus outta me.

Scott said...

Yep, I really enjoyed Damages as well. Ted Danson's best work since his days as Sam Malone, by far.

Can not wait to see Friday Night Lights last season...and dreading it at the same time.

Shan said...

I agree with your highlights*, and would add Jeff Winger's "defense" of Chang on Community and second Bernie's FNL kudos. The Coach and Mrs. Coach bit at the very end reminded me yet again why they're the best couple on TV.

White Collar and Syfy's Being Human aren't in the same league with Fringe, FNL or the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, but I was glad to see the former return and pleasantly surprised with the adaptation of the latter.

And I just watched The Social Network on blu-ray, and it deserves all the hosannas it's getting Oscar-wise. Programming and depositions have never been so riveting.

*I don't know what it is, but Busy Phillips drives me crazy. I haven't liked her in anything, even Freaks and Geeks. I just started sampling Cougar Town this year, and I like the show and everyone else in the cast, but she's like loose change in the dryer.

Scott said...

Shan - I have Being Human and White Collar sitting on my DVR. I enjoyed what I saw of the British version of Being Human, and my wife is a big fan of Bryce Larkin.

Best part of Jeff's defense of Chang was Ken Jeong's performance in the background. Hilarious.

I understand what you mean about Busy...I think her confession to Jules at the end of this week's episode was at least partially meta.

Dusty and Tiffany said...

You were spot on on the Parks and Recreation shout out...Another great part of Community was when Jeff told Malcolm Jammal Warner "I like your sweater" and he responds with "Thanks, my dad gave it to me" great Cosby reference