I realized this morning that, after my last post, some of you may have worried that my subsequent absence from the blogosphere may have meant that I may have actually died from my massive headache. Never fear, dear readers...still alive and well, watching entirely too much television, and back ready to bend your ear for a while.
First things first...I do think I want to do a more long-form writeup of Justified episodes. I just need to figure out a schedule, and see what (if any) online resources there are for transcripts, which is what I used to do my old LOST recaps.
As for this week's episode, I thought it was good but not great. I sincerely hope that there is more Carla Gugino in the future, as she was obviously perfect in her old "Karen Sisco" role. In fact, that was probably my only issue with this episode...not enough of Raylan and Karen (although they never actually CALLED her Karen).
But, honestly, the rest of the episode was good enough that I can understand why something had to get the shaft. Some of the things I loved:
- Art being a bada**, and possibly letting us in on why he has such a complicated relationship with Raylan. On one hand, Raylan has to be an absolute nightmare as an employee, and Art has made no bones about how fed up he is with constantly having to clean up Raylan's mess. On the other hand, Art probably sees a younger version of himself in Raylan, which is why he continues to clean up the mess no matter how fed up he gets.
- Everything about the Boyd/Dicky scenes. Obviously, Walton Goggins is phenomenal as Boyd, but I think Jeremy Davies is a little underrated by people who talk about the acting on this show. There are so many "versions" of Dicky (each one as true and believable as another), and we got a good example of that here...look at the difference between how Dicky is acting when he thinks he's talking to a guard, vs. when he realizes that it is actually Boyd coming to visit. There is a version of Dicky that he projects when he thinks he has the upper hand, and another very different one when he knows he is in a position of weakness...both versions are at the same time very real, but also very much an affectation. I don't think he is ever as strong as he likes to pretend he is sometimes, but you better not underestimate him and think he's as weak as he projects at times either. Just great, great stuff from both guys.
- Always fun to see Band of Brothers alumni pop up on other shows, and this is not the first time we've seen one here.
- We didn't get any more of Neal McDonough's character (currently only known as "The Carpetbagger"), but we were introduced to another of this seasons Big Bads. Mykel T. Williamson was terrifying as Limehouse. And also a big fan of Fight Club, which automatically makes it hard for me to root against him.
It's also really disconcerting to see Bubba be such a psychopath. Forrest would be SO disappointed.
Overall, another really good episode, albeit one that I still feel like is doing a lot of foundation work. We haven't even really gotten into what the "Big" story is going to be this season, but that's not unusual for this show...they like to establish the world and its players early on, and then start moving the pieces around.
- I also watched the pilot of Touch, the new Tim Kring joint that stars Kiefer Sutherland. I thought it was a really good pilot...cool concepts, Kiefer is really good, etc. I'm going to stick around, but it's hard not to compare this project with the LAST one that Tim Kring put out, which was Heroes. This pilot reminded me so much of the Heroes pilot...the global scope, the "everybody is connected" themes, even the overly pretentious voiceovers and long subtitled scenes. I loved the Heroes pilot and most of the first season, but then that show went off the rails in a HUGE way as it collapsed under the weight of its own mythology. This is obviously a different show...I'm hoping that Kring learned the right lessons from Heroes and fixes some of the issues here.
I don't think the show comes back until sometime in March, so you have plenty of time to catch the pilot between now and then...I'll be watching with cautious optimism when it makes its return.
- Last night's Parks and Recreation was tremendous, and I would actually suggest that this could be an "Emmy submission" episode...there was so much good stuff for almost every character:
Ron - FANTASTIC Ron episode...from the snack bar in the bowling alley being his "favorite restaurant" to his horror at Tom's bowling mechanics ("Son...people can SEE you!"), to his subsequent anonymous testing of Tom's "technique" ("I was never here..").
Tom - Another great Tom list, with all of his possible bowling nicknames (forgot that in the Ron section earlier...he went with BOWLER, GIRL, and TOM). And his whining about his "fingy" was Tom at his pathetic best. All that was missing from his storyline was Jean-Ralphio.
Jerry - "Well, I don't really think you need MY social security number...but I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it out. It's 2-1-0.."
Andy - Every single thing Chris Pratt says and does cracks me up. "Why are we laughing?" "Champion really doesn't like awkward situations..."
April - I really think Aubrey Plaza was the MVP of this episode. Her annoyance with Chris leading to her wanting to win the contest in order to make his happiness "go away", that tremendous scene of her affecting different accents and personas in order to wring donations out of people, and of course her heart growing three sizes after she realizes Chris is heartbroken (and it may be her fault: "I might be a wizard"). April showing actual human feelings always gets me.
Obviously, that list could keep going...the only problem I had with this episode was that it wasn't a great one for Leslie. I thought her reaction to that one guy in the focus group saying he couldn't see himself going bowling with her was too over the top, even for her. But A) the show acknowledged it (through Ben's reactions), and B) she got to redeem herself at the end with her refusal to apologize for the fact that her boyfriend stood up for her to this repulsive jerk, and in fact she found it pretty hot.
So, yeah...this is still the best comedy on TV.
- Archer. Well...as usual, there are a lot of jokes that I can't re-create here, either in order to keep the blog family friendly or because they don't translate as well in writing. But even though Parks and Rec is the best comedy on TV, I didn't laugh harder at anything last night than I did at "Did you hear we met a TIGER? But...then, he was....murdered", with the possibility of "I'm gonna die in a toilet stall! Just like the gypsy said!". Or Ray Gillette as a Decepticon.
TOKEN SPORTS CONTENT:
As usual, Blutarsky says what I want to say, just much better...great post from him today on the dangers of a college football playoff, specifically my biggest problem with a tournament-style system. And extra points for using a reference from The Wire in the title of the post.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND: - Chuck has its series finale tonight. If you haven't been watching so far, I guess it's a little late to jump in now...but for those of us who have been along from the beginning, what a ride. And I'm still shocked and happy that we got five seasons of this show, and that they are being allowed to go out pretty much on their own terms. Hooray for NBC suckiness! If they actually had done a better job of developing shows over the last four years, there is no way we would have made it to this point...Chuck kept getting renewed because NBC had absolutely nothing with which to replace it.
Alan Sepinwall has been one of the biggest online Chuck supporters since season one, so of course he is going to have some excellent finale-related material. HERE is part five of his week-long interview with showrunners Josh Schwarz and Chris Fedak, and HERE is a fantastic post listing all of his favorite moments from the series.
As for me, I'm really going to miss this show...but I think I will miss Sarahmost of all.
- Also this weekend is the "beginning" of HBO's Luck. I put "beginning" in quotation marks because HBO actually ran the pilot a while back. I watched it then and thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I had to watch it in standard def vs. hi-def (the HORROR!!!).
I'm a HUGE fan of Deadwood, which is also from creator David Milch. That one was set in a "western" type setting, but it was so much more than just a "western". It was a story about community, the greater good, how the truly awful things in life can sometimes open our eyes to the beautiful things....all with some of the most beautifully profane dialogue ever written. So I'm sure this one won't be for some of you...if you're easily offended by certain words, don't bother tuning in.
But I admire Milch's vision and style, and this one has the added bonus of a visionary director (Michael Mann) and a ridiculously talented cast (Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina, Jason Gedric, Richard Kind, just to name a few). So I'm in, 100%.
Oh, and by the way, speaking of Deadwood...AV club has a great piece today about the first season that is co-written by a first-time viewer and a long time fan. Good stuff from them, as usual.
The shtick was nothing short of brilliant. To play with the crowd's instincts — turning their welcome-back applause against them — was the most effective way for a star like Jericho to "turn heel" in short order. In fact, he was turning heel in perhaps the most meta way possible: Average fans were largely left perplexed by Jericho's act, but the "smart" fans on the Internet felt most strongly aggrieved. Many of them knew what Jericho was doing, yet they were still disgusted by the inanity of it. When CM Punk went off-script, those fans swooned; when Jericho deliberately undermined the whole edifice, that was a step too far. Punk assaulted the fourth wall over the summer; Jericho went out and found a fifth wall to address. Jericho and Punk are expected to clash, and when that happens "reality" may take the biggest beating.
The most obvious precedent for Jericho's audience-taunting is Andy Kaufman's "I'm from Hollywood" routine in the early 1980s, but what Jericho did in those few silent appearances actually has more in common with another Kaufman stunt: reading The Great Gatsby in its entirety to stupefied audiences. It was performance art under the guise of a blunt assault on fans' expectations, or vice versa.
OK, that's probably a bit melodramatic. I don't really think I'm dying. But I DO have a massive headache that makes it feel like my left eyeball is about to pop out of my skull.
So this will be short and sweet, but I am enjoying being back in the blogging groove and don't want to lose it.
I lied yesterday...I actually DID manage to squeeze in a little television last night. My very very abbreviated thoughts:
- Downton Abbey: Best episode of this season (or series, as the Brits say) so far. It got a bit dusty in the room during the Crawley Sister duet, that's for sure.
- Alcatrazzzz: I have so many problems with this show, even outside the extremely procedural structure. The biggest one is the apparent absolute lack of culture shock that any of the escaped prisoners have upon transporting from 1963 to 2012. There are others, that I will likely go into when I feel like writing more, but for now this show is skating on thin ice for me. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt because I remember how "procedural" Fringe was in the early going before the writers finally said, "Screw it...let's just be weird".
Other quick thoughts:
- Hoop Dawgs play #1 Kentucky tonight. In the words of the great Lt. Daniel Caffey: "You need to prepare yourself for the fact that we are going to lose....and we are going to lose HUGE".
- Part two of Sepinwall's interview with the Chuck showrunners is HERE. In this installment, they discuss the second season, which is universally recognized as the creative peak of the show's run.
- In other showrunner interview news, Todd VanderWerff has another edition of his always tremendous in-depth walkthroughs starting today with Alex Gansa of Homeland. Great insight into what was one of my favorite shows of 2011.
WHAT'S ON TONIGHT
Well, Justified, duh. I think this may be the show that I start doing weekly LOST style recaps of, if time permits. Tonight includes the introduction of Carla Gugino's character, who the show has said repeatedly is NOT Karen Sisco. I think her name is Maren Misco.
Also...Southland is a show that I really enjoyed when it began airing on NBC and then sort of lost track of after it moved to TNT. I watched the season premiere of the new season last week, and found that A) the show is just as good as I remember it being; and, B) you can jump right in and not be lost, as far as the plot goes. Only thing you really need to know is that these are cops and detectives working South LA. The rest you can pretty much fill in the blanks. Check it out if you like gritty realism in your police shows rather than homogenized cliches.
OK...it's hard to type one handed while clamping the other one over your eyeball to make sure it doesn't pop out. So that will have to do for today.
TOTALLY ripped this off from TV.com. Guess I'm one of those Internet pirates that the feds are aiming to take down.
Here is the text of Leslie's "positive" campaign ad from last night's ep, including the ENTIRE list of things that she is "pro" that scrolled by at breakneck speed.
Hi, I'm Leslie Knope, I'm pro parks, pro public safety, and I'm pro clean water. I'm also pro environmental regulation, and I'm very, very pro local propositions 45, 86, and 102F. But most of all, I'm pro Pawnee. Here are some other things that I'm pro:
More dog parks
Senior citizens' rights
Safe streets
Safe sidewalks
Better schools
Lower taxes
Better parks
Better business climate
Better Better Business Bureau
Cleaner streets
Improve greenways
More snow plows
Protecting Pawneeans
Improving tourism
More trash cans
Energy-efficient street lights
Westside Detoxification and Revitalization Project
Repaving Grand Avenue
More teachers
Fewer libraries
Improve intergovernmental agency communication
Clean-up Barefoot Lake
Passing Pawnee Jobs Bill P-129.4
Playgrounds in every park
Playgrounds in every schoolyard
Playgrounds in every residential block
Clean energy
One police officer for every 5 citizens
One park ranger for every 10,000 raccoons
Resodding Hilltop Cemetery
Start talking to Cuba again
Emergency Evacuation Drills
Plow for Charity
Forming an Ad Hoc Sub-Committee Oversight Committee
Challenging the norm
Pawnee Corn Subsidies
Finally Passing PR-61, formally recognizing South Korea
Official peace treaty with the Wamapoke Tribe
Four-way stops at every intersection
Unionizing ice cream trucks
Get Europe out of debt
Free trade with Illinois
Enact RRP - Raccoon Relocation Project
Pawnee Community College tuition in exchange for 4 years of public service
OK...I am REALLY ready to start blogging again. I know I've said that before, but I promise, Baby...it will be different this time.
I have NO idea what kind of structure this blog will have going forward (if any), but I expect that it will be VERY different from what it has been before. I may even change the name...but I will still post updates to Twitter and Facebook, which is where a lot of you get this anyway, so you should still be able to find it.
OH....and if any of the Dawgbone folks are reading this, now would probably be the time to take me off your blogroll. I will probably still talk about the Dawgs here at times, but they will certainly not be the main focus of the blog (not that they have been for a while now).
Excited about the future, and ready to write!
EDIT: That Dawgbone part sounded more snarky than I meant it to. I love the folks at Dawgbone, I visit their site several times a day, and I am sincerely grateful for the traffic they have sent my way over the years. But I feel bad every time one of my posts shows up on their list of links, because I know most of the people who get here from there are looking for Dawg content and they likely won't get that here anymore. I still love the Dawgs, and will still be writing about them sometimes, but there are a LOT of Dawg blogs already...I'm ready to do something different.
My favorite line of all of the videos: "All Dany knows of her history is the stories that her brother has told her...and Viserys Targaryen is not a reliable narrator."
Winter is Coming, folks! Only four weeks from Sunday!
Sorry this is late...real life interrupted in a big way over the last week or so.
So...what's been going on in the magical world of television while I have been gone?
- The return of Justified. Haven't watched last night's episode yet, but sweet tomato on a cracker, it is great to have Raylan Givens on my television again. Love the new "bad guys" (which includes two LOST cast members, most notably Jeremy Davies in a very non-Faraday role), and of course the dialogue and acting were as top notch as ever.
- Last week's episode of Raising Hope. I didn't enjoy this week as much (too much Granny, who is the Pierce F'ing Hawthorne of this show), but last week was certainly a triumphant return. Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton are simply amazing, the rest of the cast holds its own (with the exception noted earlier), and Hope is possibly the cutest baby currently on television.
(included the picture just because I think it's hilarious)
- Last week's Chuck episode. This past week was just a'ight for me, Dawg, but last week was...you know what, I don't remember anything about why I liked it, except for this.
Honestly, I think that is enough. I know Bernie agrees with me.
- The return of the Alt-Universe on Fringe. For the past two plus seasons, the writing staff and showrunner Jeff Pinkner have been conducting a master class on how to compose a serialized sci-fi procedural. A big part of their success is how they have handled the Alt-Universe stories. The amount of time spent swapping episodes back and forth between the "Red" and "Blue" worlds went on just long enough to be intriguing without getting tiresome, and now I think they waited the exact right amount of time before sending us back for an episode. I had not even realized how much I missed the "Other Side" until I saw that gigantic Zeppelin cruising past the Empire State Building. And the case of the week was Fringe at its creepy best. Love this show.
- Shawn Ryan does it again with The Chicago Code. As much as I loved the pilot episode, this past week's was even better. The characters are already getting so much deeper, particularly Jason Clarke's fantastic performance as JarekWysocki. I seriously can not wait to see where this show is going, as we are already seeing the shades of grey and line-blurring that Shawn Ryan likes to do and does so well. This show has quickly become a must-watch for me.
-GROUP NIGHT, GROUP NIGHT, GROUP NIIIIGGGHHHHTTTT!!!!!! Ah....one of my very favorite things in the whole wide universe....it's Group Night on American Idol!
Here is how Jacob over at Television Without Pity previewed it (with some editing for family-friendly reading): "Ridiculous people: Shake out meaninglessly into Popular, Unpopular, Other. Turn on each other in the middle of the night, splitting up and forming new groups halfway through rehearsing that will never be as tight, as strong, as complete. Wander the halls, looking eternally for your group, like a hotel ghost; never find them. Crying jags in stairwells and hallways, frantic calls home in the starry smoggy night.
This is your only shot, your only chance, this is the bigtime. This is your Ambling Alp, your Waterloo, the Clare Quilty that stands between you and superstardom. You don't want it bad enough, you want it too badly, you are not a team player, you are not standing out. Turn in early and get a good night's sleep, while your competitors rage on. Stay up all night watching colors roll down the walls.
Choose absurdity. Work the accompanist's and vocal coaches' last f'ing nerve. Fight about minor details while letting major s**t fall through your hands. Start crying halfway through when you realize you can't do this, live and onstage. Ditch a girl, then ask her at breakfast where she went.
Get pissy about the choreography, discuss the choreography at length, make friends over choreography, lose friends for no real reason, they were never your friends, this is summercamp for borderline hysterics. "
Yeah, that pretty much covers it. Group Night could be nine hours long and I would happily watch every single second. And last night lived up to my expectations for the most part, other than the fact that there weren't any groups where one guy/girl decides to go to bed at like 11 while the rest of the group stays up all night, and then they meet up at that deliciously awkward breakfast. Those are always a highlight.
Oh, what were the highlights? So glad you asked! - The cherubic 15-year old Jacee being heartlessly booted from his group in the middle of the night, only to be scooped into the arms of the carrot-topped anti-bullying hero Brett Lowenstern, culminating in a tear-filled passage into the next round, at which point poor little Jacee is going to be eaten alive by the pressure and endure years and years of intense psychotherapy.
- I hated the stage mothers of the 15-16 year old group "The Minors" (wonder if the producers forced that name on them to keep Steven Tyler away from them?), but that didn't mean I didn't take joy in how much frustration they were causing everybody around them.
- "I have a GREAT idea...let's all of us attractive females pull Steven Tyler on stage with us and sing and dance around him, and let him pull faces and randomly sing into the mic and have a blast. It will be so much fun that there is no WAY they won't let us through!"
"Lauren - you stay, cause we said after your audition that you were probably going to win. The rest of you? Your journey ends here."
Delicious.
- The absolute joy of watching the horrible Tiffany Rios wander around the auditorium full of people that she completely dissed earlier in the day, begging for someone to take her into her group. Tiffany: Do you want me in your group? Random awesome dude, totally straight faced: No. Tiffany: Are you serious right now? ? Random awesome dude, still totally straight faced: Yes.
This was followed by some poor attractive blond girl making what she is surely ruing today as the worst mistake of her life and joining up with this no-talent delusional horror show, which meant she was of course eliminated after about two lines of their doomed duet.
Oh, Group Night....I miss you already.
- The season premiere of the Rob-Russell showdown on Survivor. As I have said before, last season of Survivor was the first one that I actually watched from start to finish, and I was completely unimpressed. Watching last night, however, I can see why the show has lasted 22 seasons. It's amazing what having actually compelling people who seem to have an idea as to how to play the game can do.
And, yes...the show confirmed my suspicions. I do in fact hate Russell.
What about you guys? What are your favorite things that you are watching?
Loved, absolutely loved this post from Tower of the Hand. The little nugget in the story about what is going on with the dog who plays the direwolf Lady in the series was particularly heartwarming, considering her story in the show (which I will not be spoiling ahead of time).
And every time I see pictures like this one of the young actors playing some of the key roles, I get even more excited about the show. They really do seem absolutely perfectly cast, and they seem to have a great chemistry with each other already.
That's Sophie Turner (Sansa), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran), and Maisie Williams (Arya), by the way....along with Zunni (Lady).
- Crowell and his AWWWWWWWW PUPPY! For any Dawg fan, the absolute best thing on television last week was probably this:
Also, pretty cool story on where that adorable puppy came from in the Ledger-Enquirer.
Obviously, I am thrilled with the way the Dream Team came together. The coaching staff did a tremendous job pulling a class like this coming off the last two years we have had on the field.
I will make one small side note...Richt got pretty lucky in the fact that in a year when he DESPERATELY needed a huge recruiting class, the state of Georgia was loaded with talent even by the state's normally lofty standards.
Even so, all of that talent was being heavily recruited by some of the biggest names in the country, and Richt and his staff was able to fend them off for the most part and put together a class that has the potential to be one that we look back on as the turning point of Richt's tenure as head coach.
The flip side, of course, is that there is TONS of pressure now on these kids...The Dream Team concept was fun, and it certainly worked as a recruiting tool, but the fanbase (myself included) now looks at them as guys who are going to turn the program around. Time will tell if that is the case, or if February 2, 2011 will be the high point.
One of the things I love about this class is how diverse it is from a positional standpoint (and Bubba 'n' Earl beat me to this point by a few days). With only a very slight amount of finagling, I can actually put together an entire starting lineup out of this class.
(Assuming a one back-3WR set on offense, standard 3-4 look on defense)
OFFENSE: QB - Lemay RB - Crowell WR - Mitchell, Wesley, Conley TE - Rome OL - Ward, Dantzler, Andrews, Long, Debell (this one may get a little tricky, as far as tackle/guard combos, but it's conceivable)
DEFENSE: DL - Bailey, Jenkins, Mayes LB - Drew, Turene, Herrera, Wilson CB - Swann, Marshall S - Sanders, Moore
Seriously...I could make the argument that our starting lineup in 2013 might be pretty close to this, other than the fact that Jenkins will be gone after 2012. I know Bailey might actually play OLB, but he could also put on about 10 more pounds and fit right in at the 3-4 DE spot.
I also like the fact that we signed six offensive linemen, and none of them necessarily HAVE to play this year. We are really building some quality depth at that position, and that makes me happy.
Overall, fantastic job by the coaching staff, and definitely my favorite thing I watched last week.
- Most of Community. I really enjoyed last week's episode of Community, although like a lot of the really good Community episodes, it wasn't for everybody. I liked the conceit that the story was being told like a sci-fi/fantasy novel, I loved Senor Chang's costume and the entire scene setting up the game. I am in no way a D&D gamer, but I am familiar enough with the concept of RPG's in general that the way Abed was running the game brought plenty of laughs. The story itself was sort of Community at its best, in that it played around with a theme (the whole Dungeons and Dragons thing) while still having a soft gooey center of a heart (the group trying to cheer up and possibly save Fat Neal).
The one thing I didn't like is the one thing I always don't like when it comes to Community...Pierce Freaking Hawthorne. There is absolutely nothing likeable about this character or Chevy Chase's heavy-handed portrayal of him. The wonderful folks over at the Extra Hot Great podcast did a great job this week in talking about the long history of jerks in sitcoms and why they work, and why Pierce in no way works as that character. Bottom line is that I think this show would be tons better if you just took the character out of the show and gave his lines to other characters who could deliver them in a more effective way.
But Pierce is a problem every week...overall, this was one of my favorite Community episodes so far this season.
- Downton Abbey. Not going to go into a whole lot of detail on this one...it aired for four weeks on PBS as part of their Masterpiece Classics series, and the finale was last Sunday. A British period drama set in the time period between the Titanic and the beginning of WWI, it was tremendously acted, well written, beautiful to look at, and honestly...it just made me feel smart as I watched it. If it's not your thing, you would hate it...but it was one of my favorite things, and I am already looking forward to the second season. It doesn't hurt that the family that make up the main characters is the Grantham family, so I got to pretend it was actually about my ancestors.
Just for fun...one of my favorite scenes from the show, including a great line from the fantastic Maggie Smith. This scene pretty much spells out one of the dynamics of the series...the difference between even the upper middle class and the ridiculously rich in early 20th century England:
- Yep...Parks And Recreation. Again. My favorite comedy on television provided another hilarious episode. Being the only male in a house dominated by females who have totally bought into the Vampire craze, I especially loved the whole Twilight plot, especially Tom's excitement at discovering the books. The easy way out would have been to make fun of Twilight as the puffy piece of tween girl nonsense that it is, but the writers took the story in a much fresher direction, and it was ultimately much funnier because of it.
- TheChicago Code. This was technically not "last week" since it premiered last night, but since this post is a couple days late I can throw it in here. This is the latest from Shawn Ryan, the creator of The Shield (the much respected series that is next on my iTunes list, right after I finish Deadwood), and the fantastic and much-lamented Terriers (maybe my favorite series of 2010). I was very impressed with the pilot episode, especially if you apply the grading curve that I normally apply to pilots (due to the level of difficulty involved with introducing entirely new characters in an entirely new show universe, while still telling a compelling story). I am especially excited about Jason Clarke's character (Det. Wysocki (sp?)), who seemed sort of cool, funny, dark, and quirky all at once. The acting in general seems to be top notch, the show makes good use of its on-location shooting in Chicago, and most of all...the American viewing public OWES it to Shawn Ryan to watch this show, after failing miserably at keeping Terriers on the air despite its awesomey goodness.
Pretty slow week overall, for me...some of my favorite shows (like Chuck, Cougar Town, Fringe) fell into the good-not-great category for me.
Looking forward this week to the return of Raising Hope (I know...I'm as shocked as you are that I actually have become a big fan of this show) and, especially, Justified. (Wednesday at 10 on FX...check it out)
What about you? What are your favorite things that you are watching? Am I missing anything good?
Maisie is absolutely perfect for the role of Arya...she is exactly what I pictured, and she seems to have a great passion and understanding of the role.
OK...time for the much anticipated (mostly by me) mid-season television wrap-up extravaganza!!
I have been very up-front about how burnt out on sports in general I have been this season, and the various reasons for that. But all it really means is that I have been even MORE invested in the television shows I watch, and have subjected my friends and co-workers to HOURS upon HOURS of my blatherings about what I watched on TV last night (Hi, Amanda!).
So, what I'm saying is...pack a lunch. This could be a long one.
A few disclaimers....first of all, SPOILER ALERT OMG SPOILER ALERT. I will be spoiling plot, character development, themes, etc. for all of these shows. If you come to one that you are wanting to stay unspoiled for, just skip to the next one.
Also, I am incorporating a bunch of clips for some of these. I was somewhat limited by A) trying to keep the blog family friendly, and B) Hulu. A lot of the clips came from Hulu, so I apologize in advance for the lead time and advertisements. Hulu is getting awfully handsy.
OK, on with the show!
SUNDAY: Amazing Race - Oof. What a frustrating season this was, capped off by the most boring finale I can ever remember.
Question - why is it that almost every young single "dating" couple on this show consists of a douchey, arrogant, borderline abusive guy and his slightly ditzy, attractive girlfriend? Are those the only personality types who try out for this show? The only couple I can remember who didn't fit this pattern was the hippies who won a few years ago...I loved those people whose names I can't remember. I wonder what they are doing now...
The finale this season was terrible...usually there is at least some sort of demanding task that will enable some "bunching" for a more dramatic finish (and the finale, by the way, is the one episode of the season where I don't mind the "bunching" technique of the producers, since all 3 of the teams conceivably have earned a chance to win at this point). Not this time...everybody bungee jump to this raft, now go paste some flowers on to a Rose Bowl float, now go take an open book version of the memory quiz that anybody who has ever seen a finale before knows is coming, and...you're done. Nat and Kat basically won this leg, and therefore the million dollars, by being the first to their cab at the LA airport. Yes, Thomas and Jill had the cabby from hell (and should have bailed on that cab as soon as they realized they were going to have a language barrier while IN LOS ANGELES), but Nat and Kat got the first cab at the airport and never really faced anything that was likely to trip them up.
Oh, well...next season is an "All Stars" cast (or something like it...they are calling it "Unfinished Business", and I don't think the casting is meant to be the "best" players as much as "players the audience seemed to like"), and also the first season to be filmed in HD, which should be gorgeous.
At least this season gave us THIS:
And, really....shouldn't that be enough?
Boardwalk Empire - The internet reaction to this show has been sort of strange...most of the critics who I trust (Sepinwall, Mo Ryan, A.V. Club, etc) seem to be big fans of the show, but a lot of the commentary on more "fan based" sites or the comments to the critics sites seem to be either more lukewarm or downright disappointed.
I think it has to do with people's expectations of what this show was going to be...people saw Terence Winter (one of the head writers on The Sopranos), Martin Scorsese, characters such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and Prohibition-era Atlantic City and thought we were going to get a mix of Sopanos, Goodfellas, and The Untouchables. Which, granted, would have been pretty awesome...but it's not what this show is. This is not a "gangster" show, at least not at this point. It is a story about times of massive upheaval and how people deal with it. It's about, as Nucky said in the season finale, how much sin people are willing to live with.
President-elect Harding called for a "Return to Normalcy" in the victory speech we heard in the last episode, and that's the point...what is the new definition of "normal"? We are just coming out of a World War, and many of the men who came back have had their eyes opened in ways that had never happened before. Prohibition has produced an extremely lucrative and dangerous black market. The Sufferage movement has given American women the right to vote, and with it more influence and power than had ever been possible before. We are almost squarely between the abolishment of slavery and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's, and that dynamic is fluid at best. A huge influx of immigrants have filled the east coast, especially the Northeast, and brought new ideas, dreams, and methods to achieve those dreams with them. Organized crime is finding strong footholds in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, and power struggles are ongoing to see who is going to be the "boss".
Trying to ride this wave and find a place to stand on this rapidly changing foundation, is Nucky Thompson, city treasurer for Atlantic City. Steve Buscemi has been sort of a polarizing figure among those debating the show's merits, in large part because he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would be powerful enough to be running the show. I think that's the point...as Jimmy told Nucky in the pilot, he can't be "half a gangster" anymore. Nucky is a guy who has been very successful under the old rules, and he's now having to adapt to a world that he doesn't know if he's suited for, or if he even wants to be suited for. Buscemi, as always, knocks it out of the park.
Other stuff I love about this show: - Richard Harrow: It was when this character was introduced that I really started loving the show. Here are a couple of scenes that capture the quiet menace of the character (keeping in mind that the family-friendly nature of the blog limits the clips I can use):
- Arnold Rothstein: I sure hope that his truce with Nucky doesn't mean that we'll be seeing less of him. Michael Stuhlbarg's portrayal was perfect as the educated businessman whose business just happens to be somewhat less than legal.
- Chalky White. Wish we could have seen more of him, because I miss Omar.
- "Real tough guy, you gonna shoot me for mouthin' off?" "Well, I wasn't gonna...but you sort of talked me into it." BLAM. The moment I stopped worrying about Michael Pitt's portrayal of Jimmy Darmody.
Obviously, I could go on and on about this show...I am starting to wish I had done a weekly recap of some sort. Maybe next season.
One last clip before I move on...loved this scene for so many reasons, including the obvious homage to the "settling all family business" scene from The Godfather. It includes some very brief profanity, and some pretty intense violence, so if that's not your thing you can move on to the next show.
Walking Dead - My reaction to this show is kind of...mixed? I guess? I distinctly remember thoroughly enjoying every single episode (with the slight exception of the finale), and yet when I think about the season as a whole I feel a bit...disappointed? Unfulfilled? In other words, each individual episode worked for me on some level, but the overall arc seemed to be lacking and missing the thread that tied it all together.
I guess most of my issues can be explained by the fact that it was only a six episode season, and even those six episodes were slightly rushed due to AMC wanting to get the pilot on Halloween night. So, the whole season ended up feeling sort of like prologue, in retrospect. In particular, the characters never became "full" enough for me...I didn't find myself really caring that much about any of them.
The whole thing with the CDC in the last two episodes ended up being totally useless, as it blowed up real good but only took the lives of two characters: the one we just met last week, and a character who we knew next to nothing about. My guess is that the storyline was inserted (and it's not part of the comic book series, apparently) to let the audience know that A)we are not going to get an "origin story" as to how this zombie apocalypse happened, and B) don't get your hopes up about a possible cure at some point. Which is good...in my mind, that's not what the story is about anyway. It's about starting over, figuring out the new paradigms, how we as humans react and adjust when everything we find familiar is taken away. The fact that you have to be constantly worried about zombies popping up and attacking just adds drama. Sort of like Battlestar Galactica, but replace "Cylons" with "Zombies" and "Space" with "Metro Atlanta".
Here's why I'm still on board: First, like I said, I really did enjoy the individual episodes. They were really well shot and directed, and I stayed on the edge of my seat at almost all times. Second, even given such a short period of time to flesh out the characters, they were still able to give us scenes as powerful as this one, which affected me as much as anything else on TV this season. This scene is the day after a zombie attack on the camp, and Amy (younger sister) was bitten by a zombie and is now dead. Andrea (older sister) sits next to her, keeping vigil and not letting the other survivors put a bullet or pickaxe through her head (the usual way of disposing of zombie-bitten bodies so that they won't reanimate) so that she can get some sort of closure:
If they can continue to find a way to include those kind of character moments along with the ZOMG ZOMBIES scenes, I think this has the potential to be a great show. It's just not quite there yet, and we won't know if it will ever be until we can see at least one full season. Which we now have to wait ten more months for. {sad clown}
MONDAY: Chuck: There may not be a current show that I have more FUN watching than this one. The writing creates a great mix of a sci-fi show, buddy movie, comedy, and a really well-done love story between two leads with great chemistry. The cast, led by Zachary Levi, is absolutely perfect, having completely inhabited their characters now that we are in the fourth season. And if you follow me on Twitter, you know how I feel about Yvonne Strahovski (hint: I like her. A lot).
The show hit a bit of a lull last season, as they seemed to be throwing obstacles at the Chuck/Sarah pairing for no reason other than to keep the "will they or won't they" tension going, but this season has been back to the show we all love and buy foot long subs for.
What makes the show fun, besides the fact that it seems to be written for people my age and with my interests, is the supporting cast that seems to be having an absolute blast. One pairing that has been spending a lot more time together this season, with hilarious results, is Morgan and Casey:
And now, just because I love this cast so much and this reel just makes me want to hang out with them:
How I met Your Mother: This is one that I just picked up last year when I dropped House, and it's one that I can really take or leave. In fact, I have come thisclose to dropping the show from the rotation, only to have an episode like this week's that reminds me of how good the show can be sometimes. So, if they keep throwing in the occasional winner of an episode, then that fact plus Jason Segel and NPH will be enough to keep me around.
Just for fun, even though it's not from this season:
TUESDAY: Glee: Look, there's nothing I can tell you that is going to sway your opinion either way about this show. You either love it, and can therefore forgive its many, MANY faults, or you hate it and can see nothing BUT its many, MANY faults.
I am obviously in the former camp, but that doesn't mean I can't at least acknowledge the faults. The most egregious are:
1) Overall lack of consistency. In EVERY facet of the show. There are wide swings in quality from week to week, plot lines are dropped and picked up seemingly at random (though that hasn't been quite as bad this season), and characters (especially Will) are written and portrayed in whatever way fits the plot that week, often leading to completely contradictory situations, like the Glee club members repeatedly telling us and other characters what an awesome teacher Mr. Schue is when we have seen....no such thing.
2) Especially this season, the deification and martyrdom of Kurt. In the first season Kurt was a snarky, self confident (although mostly still in the closet) guy who reminded me of a couple of my show choir friends back in high school. This season he's a whiny, self absorbed, selfish, insecure little waif who is constantly telling us how unfair his life is, even while people are bending over backwards to try and make things better for him. I wouldn't want to be friends with that person...in fact, I would want to stay as far away from that person as possible.
Having said all that, I still love this show. Even though the main characters sometimes seem to have different motivations and personalities from week to week, the supporting cast seems to be written much more consistently. I have loved seeing more of Santana this season, and Heather Morris as Brittany is probably the most solidly funny performance on the whole cast, doubly impressive since this is her first acting job.
I have been tougher on the show this season...when it first hit the air, I loved having an almost painfully realistic portrayal of a high school show choir, and I was blown away by the musical performances to the point that I was more likely to overlook the less consistent parts of the show. Now, I'm spoiled by the musical performances, which causes me to look more critically at the other stuff...but as long as they break out something like this every once in a while, I'm going to continue to be hooked:
Raising Hope: If you had told me before the season started that of the two new Fox comedies on Tuesday night, this one would have become must see TV for me, while Running Wilde would have been out of my rotation after two weeks I would have said you were nuts. But that is what's happened.
Raising Hope has done a great job of re-creating what was the strength of another Greg Garcia show (My Name is Earl), which is building a world of really off the wall characters that still somehow manage to be likable and bring a lot of heart and emotional connection as well.
Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton (along with the cutest baby on television) are giving performances that are reason enough by themselves to give this show a shot if you haven't already:
Sons of Anarchy: This was my first season watching this show, and more than anything else it made me want to go back and watch Season 2. That is a compliment...sort of. I really enjoyed the world that Kurt Sutter has created, and the characters are well written and acted (besides some occasional accent issues, JAX)...but even I feel like the plot was a bit meandering, and I don't have the supposedly vastly superior season 2 to compare it against.
The SAMCRO-goes-to-Belfast plot seemed pretty pointless while it was going on, and it seems even moreso in retrospect...I feel like this whole season was just to set us up for next season, which seems didactic at best, and insulting to the viewer at worst, as if Sutter didn't think I had anything better to do than watch a 13 episode prologue. And while I did enjoy the season finale, I had some of the same issues that Mo Ryan did...namely, what did SAMCRO know with regard to the game Jax was playing with Stahl, and when did they know it? I have no problem with Jax tricking Stahl, obviously...but if Jax was never really in danger with SAMCRO, then the tension the audience was supposed to feel about how the club was going to react to Jax turning rat was false, and that bugs me.
Having said all that...I'll be back for season 4, hopefully after going back and watching season 2 so that I'll have a better idea as to what all the fuss is about.
WEDNESDAY: Modern Family: On Todd VanDerWerff's podcast this week, I think he nailed my feelings about this show...this show is good, but it is as good as it is ever going to be. It arrived fully formed, which is impressive, but it also means that the show doesn't really show any interest in growing or developing. Instead, they are just going to try to produce the funniest episode that they can every week...and there's certainly nothing wrong with that approach, especially when you can be as funny as this show can be when the writers and cast are hitting on all cylinders.
Survivor: First season I've watched from start to finish, and probably the last. I'm mainly watching so that I can read the recaps from people I like to read...and that's no reason to watch a TV show.
I don't know if it is that I haven't been watching long enough to pick up on things, or just really poor editing, but I have gone through this whole season not really being able to tell what anybody's strategy is. I think I'm a pretty smart guy...so I'm blaming it on the editors.
Cougar Town: SO much better than its name (every review is federally obligated to mention that at this point). There is absolutely nothing deep about this show...it's just a funny bunch of people sitting around doing and saying funny things, with copious amounts of red wine available. And it is maybe my favorite comedy currently on television (with the possible exception of Community).
Psych: Consistently funny, and laughs are coming so fast you have to have the pause and rewind button ready. Much like Chuck, I feel almost like this one is written specifically for me.
For instance...note how the victim is positioned in this clip:
Look familiar? For any avid players of EA Sports NHL '94, it should:
THAT'S the kind of stuff that keeps me coming back...and the fact that they chose to just trust that those who the joke was meant for would get it, rather than explain it, made me love it even more.
Terriers: Sigh. This show was SOOOOO good. I'm not even going to try and analyze why it couldn't find an audience...instead, I'm going to STRONGLY urge you to find some way (Netflix, Hulu, DVD, whatever) to go watch a truly fantastic 13 episode movie/miniseries.
There is no way to really do this show justice in a review, which I think was part of its problem...when you describe it, it sounds like a very generic premise. It's about a couple of scruffy, witty PI's...one is a washed out cop, one is a (mostly) reformed criminal. There is no way to convey the feel of the show, which was just...I don't know, "comfortable" doesn't sound right, but it's the best I can come up with right now. I just felt like I knew these guys as soon as they showed up on the screen in the pilot, and their world felt so lived in and familiar that it was just easy to immerse myself in the show every week, no matter what was going on in the actual plot.
Again, Hulu is a nemesis when it comes to finding just the right clips, and this show doesn't lend itself to that kind of thing anyway, but this is a good one from the finale.. (and don't worry about spoilers. I could tell you every single plot point of the overarching story and I don't feel like it would diminish the show one iota, and I'm HUGELY anti-spoiler)
RIP, Terriers. Thanks for a tremendous run.
THURSDAY: Big Bang Theory: Ummm...I don't know. It is what it is. It's funny, most of the time...the jokes just seem to be mostly the same every week. Last week, I never watched the episode, and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. That can't be a good sign, especially in a time slot as crowded as this one.
Community: Like most of the comedies I like, this one is written for a very specific audience that I happen to be a member of. There are plenty of laughs, but the genius of the show is both the meta commentary (of which there is wisely less of this season...don't want it to become a crutch) and the fact that there is a gooey center to it as well. This is a group of people who really NEED each other...separately, they would be impossibly lonely, but together they have created a surrogate family for each other. That doesn't sound funny, I know...but again, that's part of the genius.
The Christmas episode from last week became an instant Christmas classic to be rewatched every year, as far as I'm concerned. Sheer awesomeness, both in concept and execution.
And, of course, there is Troy and Abed:
The Office: Continues to be wildly inconsistent as it careens towards what I believe to be either the end of the show or a complete reboot once Steve Carrell leaves at the end of this season.
I do think this is a better season than the last one, when I really started to question whether I actually liked any of these people, especially Jim and Pam. This season's lows haven't been as low as last season, and every once in a while they can still come up with an episode like "China", which felt to me like the show did when it was in its prime.
The Mentalist: Perfectly acceptable television, and the only true "procedural" that I watch. This is one that the wife and I usually let build up and then blow through 4-5 episodes of on a Saturday like this last one when neither of us feel like doing anything productive. Nothing special, but consistently entertaining, and a very solid cast.
Fringe: Last but certainly not least...my personal MVP of this season so far. I said back in my original Fall TV preview that this could be my new LOST, or at least as close as any show could come to that. And, as high as my expectations were, the show has exceeded them.
Smart storytelling: The alternate universe storyline was perfectly executed, and ran for what seemed like the exactly right amount of time, which is not easy to do. Catching the little differences between the two worlds (like Eric Stoltz in Back to the Future and Springsteen Station in New Jersey) was fun, but the storytelling was so much more rich than that...we actually got to know the doppelgangers of our familiar Fringe team, and get a clear understanding of why they hate us so much. Truly great stuff. Creepily awesome cases of the week: Nobody does it better. I don't know how these guys minds work that they are able to come up with this stuff, and maybe I don't want to...but I sure do love it.
Last week, they gave me one of my very favorite scenes of television this year...a clinically depressed scientist has been harvesting the donated organs of a woman whom he met in group therapy (who committed suicide), with hopes of regenerating her so that she can dance again. Creepy, right? But, somehow, this scene turns it into something almost...sweet. And certainly gorgeous. See for yourself:
Quality acting: Of course, John Noble and Lance Reddick are tremendous, and Joshua Jackson is playing Pacey all growns up, so that's good. But Anna Torv, who was criticized by many in the first season (including myself) has shown that if you give her great material, she can definitely rise to the occasion:
Put it all together, and you have my Fall Season MVP. Trust me, I'm as surprised as you are.
OK...all done!! I think that once the new year rolls around, I will be posting more often (maybe weekly?) going through the highlights of these shows, as well as some others I'm looking forward to (Parks and Rec, V, Justified, etc). Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions/requests!
I gotta be honest, I know next to nothing about Louisiana-Lafayette...I can't even keep up with whether or not we're supposed to drop the Lafayette from their name or not.
Here are the two things that stood out for me in my very limited "research" (research=reading Jody's writeup at View from 336):
- Holy crap, they have an offensive lineman who is 6'7, 350 lb? He has to be a fat tub of goo, right? You would think that if he had ANY athletic ability at all, he would be in Baton Rouge instead of Lafayette? I mean, even if he's too dumb to get into LSU (a stretch, I know), then at least Mississippi State would be on the table. I'm going with my first instinct...he has to be a fat tub of goo.
- I think this is a perfect opponent for us to play the first week:
1) Their offense is not all that impressive, but one thing they DO have is a play-making tight end who they like to get the ball to over the middle. This is an area that the Dawgs defense has struggled MIGHTILY in for the last few seasons, so this may be a good indication of some of the strides we are making under Coach Grantham.
2) On defense, they are very small up front, so we should be able to run at will (Jody points out that the DL lining up from Cordy Glenn is 5'11, 287 lb. Cordy may eat him by accident on the first play and poop him out sometime in the 3rd quarter). At the same time, they have a very opportunistic secondary that picked off 16 passes last year, so we may get a good idea of how well Murray is doing at this point of valuing the football.
I never know how these games are going to go, other than that we will win handily, but not as handily as a lot of our fan base would like. I'm going with a 34-13 prediction, but I would not be at all surprised to see us beat them worse than that.
Couple of other random thoughts...
- Those of you who follow me on Twitter have seen several variations of this rant from me over the last few days, but it's driving me crazy that the media keeps making it seem that A.J. Green's status for the opener (or any other game) is somehow in question. They keep bringing up the point that we haven't heard anything from the NCAA, and that Coach Richt and A.J. are not allowed to comment. Well, what exactly are you expecting to "hear" from the NCAA? They have not ONCE mentioned A.J. to the press...the only reason we know that the inquiry was centered around him was that the UGA SID office and A.J. himself told us so. So, if they are not the ones who put his name out there in the first place, why is it up to them to "clear" him?
Every reputable source I have read says that the inquiry was specifically related to the infamous agent party in Miami, and whether or not A.J. knew anything about it, not even whether or not he went (since that hasn't been in question a single time since the story broke). Richt, A.J., and everybody else has been instructed not to say anything to the media because there is an ongoinginvestigation into that incident that is still happening. Why is that so hard for certain media members to understand?
I honestly don't expect to EVER hear anything from the NCAA that says A.J. is "clear". The fact that he is going to suit up and play every week will be the only evidence we get, and it's the only evidence we need.
- The other "story" that is going around this week that is driving me crazy is this notion that Coach Richt and Coach Bobo are still undecided as to how they are going to handle Hutson Mason, specifically whether or not he is going to play this weekend.
Let me make it simple: Yes. Hutson will play on Saturday.
Bobo and Coach Richt both explicitly said that Hutson is our #2 QB, and in any situation where the #2 QB will play, it will be Hutson. How much more definitive do they need to be? The only thing they didn't say was that we are going to put Hutson in WHEN we are up by four touchdowns on Saturday...but they're not going to say that, because those type words really come back to bite you if someone manages to pull an Appalachian State on you.
Again...Mason is going to play on Saturday. Does it give me heartburn to know that this true freshman is one twisted knee away from being our starting quarterback? Yep...but that doesn't mean it's not true.
- Yeah, I watched South Carolina last night. No, I ain't scared. We're not Southern Miss. It was the home opener, night game, against a mediocre C-USA team. The 'Cocks did exactly what I would expect them to do.
I also saw an SC offensive line that had a real problem keeping pressure off of their quarterback, and a secondary that actually appeared overmatched at times.
Let them go into next week all "cocky"...I'd rather that than the opposite.
~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, I saw the Alec Ogletree news, and I'm going to continue my tradition of not commenting too much on these matters (especially since we know so few details right now), other than to say this...people who say that UGA is becoming "Thug U" are either disingenuous or have a much different definition of the word "thug" than I do.
All right, I'm out...going to spend the rest of the day jamming to my Redcoat Band CD and counting the minutes until I am sitting in the best place on earth...Sanford Stadium for another Saturday Between the Hedges!
Today marks 36 days until kickoff...so, here's some footage of my favorite #36, Brannan Southerland, doing what he did best: obliterating would-be tacklers and leading the way to an easy touchdown for Thomas Brown.
This got me thinking (a dangerous habit, I know)...one of the key components of our offense for the last several years (especially since Bobo took over as OC) has been a big, bruising, athletic fullback versatile enough to blow open holes for our running backs, get the ball in short yardage situations, and catch passes out of the backfield. This Richt era tradition started with Verron Haynes and continues today with the two-headed Chapas-Munzenmaier monster.
Now the scary part...those guys are both seniors. Their backups right now are walk-on Kevin Lanier and converted linebacker Charles White. Rumor has it that fullback is where Xander Ogletree ends up. Are one of those guys going to be able to take up this mantle?
Sure hope so...if not, how much does our offensive game plan change? Bobo's offense has been successful (yes, it has...despite the wailing of some) in large part because we are one of the few teams left who run a true old school pro-style package...will that change if we no longer have a Brannan Southerland type monster at fullback?
See, this is what happens when we get this far into the offseason...I start stressing about NEXT YEAR'S FULLBACK POSITION.
Yeah, I know...SEC Media Days are here, which normally marks the end of baseball season for me. But this Braves team has rekindled my love for baseball that had faded quite a bit over the last 5-6 years, and I probably love this team more than any since the 1991 Worst-to-First team that is probably my favorite team ever, in any sport (until the Dawgs win the MNC this year, of course).
Anyway...I got this article via TalkingChop.com, which has become a daily read for me, and it is a really fun look at Bobby Cox, particularly his penchant for getting thrown out of games at just the right time.
As you can probably tell, I have been struggling to come up with the motivation to put together a lot of blog posts lately. Part of that is the lack of subject matter...not much else can be said about the fact the Braves are really good, football is in the last days of the dead period, none of the summer TV that I watch is good for blogging (until Mad Men comes back!), and I don't think many of you are nearly as interested as I am in the transfer period of the English Premier League.
So part of it is lack of content...the other part is that the stuff I WOULD be talking about, I don't really want to talk about.
Luckily, the good Senator takes everything I would have said and says it MUCH better, as is often the case.
Just click HERE for a great summation about how I feel about the "discipline problem" that UGA and Coach Richt supposedly have.
TOLD you posting would be more sporadic now that I am back from vacation. Work has been kicking my butt pretty hard since I got back, plus some Father's Day traveling...so, yeah.
Some random thoughts that have been building up over the past week or so...
- First things first...The Dawg Nation is facing a big loss in the next month or so, as the magnificent David Hale is moving on to...um....well, let's just say different pastures, rather than greener ones.
Hale has produced a steady output of the kind of material that I wish ALL of the online "journalists" would aspire to...informative, entertaining, insightful, must-read articles, sometimes multiple times a day.
The two aspects that made him the best: First of all, he always seemed to ask the questions that we as fans would ask if given the opportunity, rather than just the typical cliches. I think that's harder to do than a lot of people think.
Secondly, his accuracy and integrity were never in question. Among all of us Dawg Tweeps, Bloggers, and 'Venters, there was one thing we knew for sure: no matter the situation (coaching change, position change, player suspensions, etc), it wasn't for SURE true unless David Hale had reported it.
Hale never attended UGA, but it's safe to say he is a DGD and will be missed by the Dawg Nation.
- My biggest regret about falling behind on my countdown to kickoff? I missed my opportunity last Saturday to post THIS:
Yep...Saturday was 77 days until kickoff, so we honor Trinton Sturdivant and his groovy dance stylings.
The other thing that means is that this week we are only TEN WEEKS from GAME WEEK! I can smell the ribs already! And the bourbon...and the VIOLENCE.
The more I think about this 2010 Dawgs team, the more excited I am. Only 73 days to go!!
- If there are any of you still reading this who were loyal readers of my American Idol recaps, I appreciate it...and you can rest knowing that you may have been witnesses to history. If this little news release turns out the way I am afraid it will, I will likely no longer even be WATCHING, must less recapping, so THIS was likely my last American Idol recap ever. With three daughters in the house, I hear plenty of 15-year-old marginally talented "singers" already...no need to expose myself to any more, thank you very much.
- U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!
That concludes the soccer portion of our blog.
(Even if you're not a soccer fan, check out the second video)
- Braves continue to play good baseball...but one of my favorite stories of the season so far is Stephen Strasburg. Between him and J-Hey, I feel like we are watching the first green shoots of two guys who may go down as some of the best ever.
Check out some of these numbers, courtesy of Buster Olney's blog on ESPN.com (daily reading for baseball fans, by the way):
"After opposing hitters have reached a count of no balls and two strikes against Stephen Strasburg, they are 0-for-20 with 16 strikeouts. That's not much worse than what happens after they fall behind in the count of 0-1: Opponents are 4-for-36 with 22 strikeouts after the first pitch goes for strike one."
"How unusual is Stephen Strasburg's efficiency? Well, consider this note generated by the Washington Nationals' staff: In 2010, only three pitchers have struck out 10-plus in a game but required less than 100 pitches to do so. Strasburg has two of these zero-walk, 10-plus K tallies. On April 6, Dallas Braden struck out 10 over seven innings against the Mariners, while throwing 91 pitches. On May 15, James Shields struck out 10 with 93 pitches against the Mariners. Then, in his debut, Strasburg threw 94 pitches against the Pirates and struck out 14 -- before striking out 10 with 85 pitches against the White Sox Friday."
Pretty amazing stuff...in fact, if J-Hey doesn't find a way out of this slump he is in, Strasburg might steal his Rookie of the Year award.
One thing I don't like about the guy...he's a Scott Boras client. And, even though Strasburg signed the largest contract in draft history, he was "undervalued", according to Boras.
Whenever the first contract negotiation between the Nats and Strasburg happens, I think Boras' end of the conversation may sound something like this:
"Our demands are these: $350 GAZILLION dollars. And a unicorn... Wait, not a unicorn...what's the one with the wings? Oh, right, a Pegasus. We want $350 GAZILLION dollars and a personal Pegasus. What do you mean, how many zeroes are in a gazillion? I don't know...that's for YOU to figure out!"
OK, that's about it for now...how about I leave you with this, just for fun?
Well, I'm back from Florida...which, of course, means that posting will actually be MORE sporadic, not less.
Go figure.
So...what's been going on?
- First of all, my long ago promised (and even longer overdue) apology to Troy Glaus. I was as hard on him as anybody early in the season, hitting him hard both on the blog and on myTwitterfeed.
All he's done since then is win the NL Player of the Month for May and take over the NL lead in RBI.
So, maybe instead of apologizing, I should just say....you're WELCOME!
Just kidding...I was wrong, so I'll gladly admit it.
Troy Glaus for MVP!!
- While I was in Destin, the mighty Trojans of USC got as close to the death penalty as any program is going to get post-SMU.
My favorite part was when Kiffykins said that the sanctions (loss of 30 scholarships over three years, two-year bowl ban, and most interestingly, the release of juniors and seniors to transfer to another school without sitting out) will have "no impact" on recruiting.
He followed that up with "DERPDERPDERPITTYDERP".
- Also, the Big 12 threatened to explode, only to be saved at the last minute thanks to Texas graciously accepting an additional $15 MILLION DOLLARS or so to stay put. Such a charitable gesture.
I was pretty out of the loop while all of the conversations were going on last week, so I will leave it to others to go through all the ins and outs and backroom politics. I just know that I was extremely glad that the rumored Texas A&M move to the SEC didn't happen. I really don't want to see the SEC expand at all, and I especially don't want them to make a move just because everybody else is and water down the conference by bringing in inferior teams.
I also don't like what SEC expansion would do to the schedule. I don't really want to see more than 8 SEC games on the schedule, so even if the conference was to only expand to two seven-team divisions, in order to keep from going to 9 SEC games you would have to drop one of the "rotating" games. So we would have 6 division games, the game against Auburn, and then only one rotating SEC game, which would mean we would go 10 years or more between games against LSU, Alabama, and the other teams in the SEC West. I don't like that.
Surprisingly enough, Mike Slive didn't ask my opinion, and I don't expect that to change when this comes up again in a couple of years. Expansion is inevitable, I'm afraid...I was just glad the SEC dodged the bullet this time around.
So...is the Big 12 (or whatever they will be called now) really going to go with just ten teams and no championship game? If so, can we take their automatic BCS bid away? Otherwise, won't the winner of the Texas-Oklahoma game just cakewalk to the BCS every year?
- Remember when I was so excited about the fact that the Hawks let Mike Woodson go, and maybe the team was going to go in a different direction other that stagnant mess we've seen over the last two years?
- Couple of key additions to the Dawgs over the last couple of weeks.
First of all, we got a big commitment from Nick Marshall. I absolutely love this story...this guy grew up a Dawg fan and Georgia was his dream school. We were recruiting him as a quarterback, as were most of the other schools pursuing him, but then we received the commitment from Christian Lemay and Coach Richt said we probably wouldn't take another quarterback in the 2011 class. The gnats were his second choice, so he came very close to committing to them...and then Coach Richt called and offered him as a defensive back. Nick JUMPED at the second chance to be a Dawg...my kind of guy.
On top of that, he is also one of the top basketball recruits in the state, and he will be playing for Coach Fox's Hoop Dawgs as well. The basketball program is making HUGE strides in the right direction under Coach Fox...with the talent we have coming back plus a couple of big recruits, I think we could really make some noise in 2010-2011.
Here are some highlights of Nick playing DB (h/t to Bubba 'n Earl):
Then, today the Dawgs got some more big news when Jarvis Jones decided to transfer to UGA from USC. Jarvis was very highly recruited in 2009, when Rivals had him rated as the 3rd best prospect in Georgia. He had a neck injury last season, after which USC released him from his scholarship, but all reports from both the USC and UGA medical staff seem to indicate that he is ready to play.
I think Jarvis fits in EXTREMELY well as an inside linebacker in Todd Grantham's 3-4 defense. If he does step in there and live up to his vast potential, we could be looking at a possible 2012 linebacking corps of Cornelius Washington (assuming he doesn't have a big enough year to jump to the NFL in '10), Jarvis Jones, Richard Samuel, and T.J. Stripling.
I'll take it.
Here are some Jarvis Jones highlights from when he was being recruited:
Getting fired up yet? Only 81 DAYS TO KICKOFF!!!
To celebrate, here is a very well done highlight video of the Dawgs win over TAMU in the Independence Bowl...our #81, Aron White, has a couple of big plays (at the 2:35 and 4:36 marks):
And, while I'm at it, since I missed yesterday, here is one of my favorite highlights from the career of #82, Fred Gibson...a fingertip TD catch against the gators:
