Son...people can SEE you!

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 Sarah most 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.

Have a great weekend!

EDITED TO ADD: Didn't want to make a whole post out of this, but Grantland agrees with me with regards to what Jericho is doing since his return (the part in bold is my favorite part):

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.

As I Lay Dying...

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.

Weekend wrapup: Answering my own question, and Y2J is a genius

So, last week I asked for some of you Hoop Dawg experts to help me understand why the team fell so far so fast. I got NO help from any of you, but since then I've watched a couple of games and I think I have it figured out: absolutely zero inside presence, and inconsistent scoring outside of KCP, who is certainly extremely talented offensively but has a LONG way to go defensively.

Does that about cover it?

We did finally get an SEC win last week, but I honestly don't see very many more in our future...I hope I'm wrong. Maybe Marcus Thornton can work himself back into shape and provide some strength inside, maybe Gerald Robinson and Dustin Ware can recapture some past magic, maybe KCP will learn quickly what it takes to play defense at an SEC level....but that's a lot to ask in a very short period of time. And then Robinson and Ware are both seniors...I'm starting to get depressed.

Moving on...

 - Finished up the last couple of comedies from the Wednesday/Thursday Comedy DVR Extravaganza.

First the bad news...The Office continues to demonstrate that the writing staff has gone completely off the rails since the departure of Michael Scott. I don't think I laughed a single time at this last episode, and I don't know what the point of the episode was. I'm all for the uncomfortable darker humor that the show sometimes goes for..."Dinner Party" (in which Jim, Pam, Andy, Angela, Dwight, and Dwight's former nanny have a remarkably uncomfortable dinner at Michael and Jan's condo) is probably my favorite Office episode ever. The difference between then and now is that the reason that episode worked so well is that the writing staff had such a firm grasp of who these characters were and how they worked. Now...I don't think anybody has any idea of what the thread is.

For example...I feel like they are trying to make Andy and Erin the new Jim and Pam (since they have completely murdered the Jim/Pam characters, who used to be the heart and soul of the show). But the whole storyline feels rushed, especially this other woman whom Andy is not only dating all of a sudden, but is apparently ready to marry. I can't for the life of me even tell you this woman's NAME, much less anything about her or her relationship with Andy. Why should I care?

And the problem isn't just with that storyline...Dwight, Kevin, Ryan, Stanley, etc...it seems that every single character, with the possible exception of Creed, has become problematic in their inconsistent characterization. Kevin, in particular, is barely recognizable as the guy who could conceivably win a World Series of Poker bracelet.

None of that would be as big a problem if the show was actually still funny....sadly, they can't even pull that off anymore.

On the other hand, Up All Night continues to just be a really fun half hour every week. Will Arnett and Christina Applegate have created a couple that just feels EXTREMELY realistic to me....almost every story that they do feels really familiar. This week's story about trying to watch a TV series together, and how it becomes this "project" that you are working on together, and going to sleep every time you try to start it, etc...I've LIVED that. And I am perfectly happy with Megan Mulally fulfilling her destiny of guest starring on every single comedy I watch...she was fantastic, as usual.

Anyway, it's not super ambitious (like Community), and it's not as polished and at the top of its game (like Parks and Rec), but it's certainly a show that I look forward to every week.

 - Two other shows I watched this weekend are both heading towards the end of their runs (I think)...one of them for sure, and one of them increasingly likely.

Chuck aired its penultimate episode last week, with only the two hour finale left on the docket. As usual with this show, I am thoroughly enjoying the ride. We all know where the Chuck and Sarah story is most likely headed...I don't think this is the type of show that is going to pull the rug out from under their viewers with anything less than a happy ending for those two. But they are doing a fairly decent job putting up believable roadblocks in their path...although I'm not COMPLETELY happy with Sarah being in "damsel in distress" mode the way she was this week. Hopefully this week will see her back to her butt-kicking ways, with or without the Intersect. In fact, I was sort of hoping that last week's episode was going to involve more of her doing all of these Intersect-aided amazing things, only for Chuck to just assume that it was just her being awesome as usual.

And if that was the last hurrah of Jeffster, what a great way for them to go out. Great stuff all around.

Also...Alan Sepinwall is running a five part interview with Josh Schwarz and Chris Fedak, the co-creators and show runners. Part one is HERE, and if you're a fan of the show I encourage you to go check out the rest as the week goes on. It's a typical great interview from Alan, and a fitting farewell to the show. It's also funny to see the pictures of Chuck and Sarah from the early days of the show...we've come a long way, baby.

As for Fringe, my feelings about this season continue to be mixed. I'm enjoying many of the things the show is doing this season...last week was another strong episode in a series of them, from a storytelling perspective, and the acting is always top notch. But I'm really struggling with the idea that these are not really the characters we have been watching for the life of the show to this point. Whether they exist in a different universe/timeline, or they are in the same universe that we have been watching but "changed" due to what happened with Peter, they don't feel like "our" Olivia, Walter, etc.

And it could be that all of that will be resolved by where the writers are taking us...it wouldn't surprise me if by the end of this season, everything has been put "right" somehow. And if this wasn't probably the last season of the show, that wouldn't be so bad. But, based on the ratings and the high cost of the show, I think it probably IS the last season...which means that we will have spent much of the last season of the show with someone OTHER than the characters we have been watching from the beginning. And that is very frustrating and sad to me.

Still one of the best shows on television...I just hope we don't look back on this as a wasted last season.

 - As long time readers of the blog (or long time knowers of me) know, I have been a wrestling fan almost my entire life. I am not a rabid fan at all anymore...my fandom at this point just consists of me occasionally checking out some of the wrestling websites/blogs and checking out what is going on with the shows, which will sometime lead to me checking out a particular storyline/match if it piques my interest. I got caught up in the Summer of Punk last summer, for instance, and I was intrigued to start reading rumors that Chris Jericho (one of my all time favorites) may be making a comeback.

Well, he did...and, seriously, the guy is a genius when it comes to this business. What he has done since he came back is some truly Kauffman level stuff.

First, there was this...his big comeback on Raw three weeks ago, in which he somehow had the crowd chanting his name and going crazy when he first made his appearance, and then making a COMPLETE heel turn 5-6 minutes later...without ever saying a word.




And then, the next week, he returns...only he is so "overcome" that he once again leaves without saying a word...




And then LAST week, he finally gets into the ring, as part of a big 6-man tag main event....only to pull THIS:

I love it, and I will be checking out Raw every week for the foreseeable future to see what comes next.

WHAT TO WATCH TONIGHT

Well, I'm not watching anything...instead, we spent the evening welcoming the latest member of the Grantham family. Introducing, my new nephew...Jackson Reagan Grantham (or, as his uncle will be calling him, Jax)

My top 20 (plus) shows of 2011

Hey, look! It's a new blog post!

Just got in the mood to write again, so what better in the last week of the year than go the lazy cliched route and do a "Best of" list? So here are my Top 20 shows of 2011!

(These are my top scripted shows...none of my favorite reality shows belong in the top 20 as "best", but they are some of my favorites, so my top 5 reality shows: 5) Work of Art; 4) Hoarders; 3) Top Chef; 2) Deadliest Catch; 1) So You Think You Can Dance)

JUST MISSED THE CUT: Raising Hope, The Office, Up All Night, True Blood, Modern Family, Downton Abbey, The Good Wife

20. Suburgatory – Was not expecting to like this one, but it’s one of my favorite new shows of the season. Creepy chemistry aside, the two leads are very enjoyable, although the fact that Jane Levy was supposed to be 15 for the first part of the season caused some weird dissonance. I HAVE a 15 year old daughter…they don’t look or act like that.

19. New Girl – Look, this all comes down to whether you find Zooey Deschanel annoying or not. I don’t, and Schwarz cracks me up on a pretty consistent basis. The show is still trying to find its footing in many ways, but when they let Jess just be clueless rather than infantile, it’s one of my favorite shows.

18. Psych – Comfort food. Consistently funny, and the many pop culture references are right in my wheel house, since I am roughly the same age as the writers and stars.

17. Louie – Louis C.K. is a genius, and this show is 100% his vision, so of course it’s good. Personally, I found it fascinating and certainly I admired his “no rules” form of creating television, but I found it hard to really ENGAGE in the material, which is a big thing for me.

16. Happy Endings – Just started watching this in the fall, or it probably would have been higher. This is just a really funny show with really funny people that I like to hang out with for 25 minutes every week. Elisha Cuthbert is surprisingly strong, and the rest of the cast is filled out with people who simply know how to be funny. Did I mention it’s funny?

15. Chuck – One of my most personally beloved shows. There have been some serious inconsistencies in the quality from week to week, but when this show is on its game it still hits every one of my pleasure buttons. There are only a few episodes left before it ends its (amazingly) FIFTH and final season, and I’m starting to miss it already.

14. Sons of Anarchy – Would have certainly been higher on the list if Kurt Sutter had not completely wimped out and blown the ending. (SPOILERS AHO…SKIP TO THE NEXT NUMBER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED ON THE CRAPPY SONS OF ANARCHY SEASON FINALE….). There is NO reason, plot-wise, for Clay to still be alive. None. He killed John Teller, a founding member and Jax’s father. He killed Opie’s wife and father (another founding member of the club). He tried to have Jax’s old lady killed, and possibly derailed her surgical career in the process. He roped the club into this arrangement with the drug cartel that has produced multiple deaths and tons of problems for the club. AND EVERYBODY KNOWS ABOUT IT. In this universe that Sutter has created, there is NO way for Clay to survive. And yet…next season, Clay will probably be sitting at that table, because Sutter chickened out and couldn’t kill off one of the stars of the show. Booooo.

I actually really liked the season up to that point…definitely would have been in my top 10. But between the botched Clay storyline, the ridiculous deus ex machina ending to the FBI investigation, and the whole Juice fiasco…I need to stop talking about it, or I will have to drop it further and redo the list.

13. Dr. Who – Honestly, the majority of the episodes of this show are just so-so for me. But…when you have a calendar year that includes “The Doctor’s Wife”, “A Good Man Goes to War”, “The Girl Who Waited”, and “The Wedding of River Song”, well…you make the list. Plus, Amy Pond may be at the top of my Favorite Redheads on TV list, and Matt Smith is very fun to watch.

12. Walking Dead – I enjoy this show, but I also understand that it is probably never going to be “great television”. Almost* all of the characters are extremely two-dimensional, as well as stupid, and virtually every decision is based on what the plot needs them to do, rather than what actual people would do. But no show does tension like this one, it is beautifully shot, and hey…..ZOMBIES.

* - The two exceptions to the crappy characters on this show are Daryll and Shane, both of whom I found to be EXTREMELY problematic in the first season, but whom I now wish would just branch off from everybody else and start their own show.

11. Archer – Continues to probably deliver the most laughs per episode, plus they actually made a bold attempt at continuity and serialization this season. But mostly, it’s on the list because it’s the show that makes me pause and rewind most often due to laughing too much to catch all the jokes.

10. Fringe – If I made this list in June, this one may have made the top 5. The end of last season had me calling it my “new LOST”. This season, on the other hand, has not been nearly as strong, mainly due to what I think was a major misstep in last season’s finale. Won’t spoil too much, because I still want you to go back and watch this show, but the problem is that the writers have painted themselves into a corner where it seems that either the characters I’m seeing NOW aren’t really themselves, or the characters I’ve been watching for the last three seasons don’t exist anymore. Either way, it lessens my investment in the characters. But, man…I can’t leave it out of my top 10 after the utter awesomeness that was most of season 3.

9. Cougar Town – Barely remembered that this one was on in 2011, due to the ridiculousness that ABC execs are putting the show through now, but the Cul de Sac Crew are probably my favorite group on television to hang out with every week. My love for Busy Phillips has been discussed here before, and the rest of the cast play off each other perfectly. To me, they are the most “organic” cast on television, in that I feel like they talk to each other like real friends do…they rip on each other, they gang up on each other, but they have an absolute loyalty and love for each other. Love this show, and can’t wait until they come back….whenever that ends up being.

8. Boardwalk Empire – Can’t believe this show is this low on the list, but I can’t put it above any of the ones above it. I love this show, and it’s because what some may call its “weakness” (that the plot is historical in nature and therefore unchangeable in many ways) isn’t really that much of a factor for me. I will ALWAYS value characters over plot, and this show does characters better than just about anybody. Plus, they had the guts to do what almost any other show would never do (SPOILER AHO!!!) by killing off a character who was ostensibly the lead this season. Hey, Kurt Sutter…this is how you tell a story. When the story says it’s time to die, then it’s time to die, and there was no way Jimmy could walk away from the decisions he made this season. Nucky could NEVER allow him to live…it doesn’t matter that the attempt on his life was Eli’s idea…Jimmy was in charge and could have stopped it, and Nucky knows it.

Even before the gut wrenching finale, this was a really strong season of television, with typical fantastic acting performances. Jack Huston breaks my heart as Richard Harrow every week, Michael Pitt was outstanding, Gretchen Mol was convincingly creepy, Michael Stuhlbarg as Rothstein steals every scene he’s in, etc, etc. This show does fantastic “moments” and character studies, and the fact that we know basically how the story is going to end doesn’t lessen my enjoyment of it in any way.

7. Justified – I love that this show has started to get mainstream critical approval. Crackling dialogue, delivered by fantastic actors, in a setting that immediately felt lived-in and real from the moment we stepped foot in Harlan, KY. If you grew up in the South, you KNOW these people….heck, you’re probably RELATED to some of them. The cast is phenomenal, but special kudos for this season go out to the magnificent Margo Martindale, who took a character that could have been a very two-dimensional villain and made you sympathize and even ROOT for her at times. This show comes back in just a few days, and I am STOKED. Yeah, I still say STOKED, when it’s appropriate, and it certainly is in this case.

6. Game of Thrones – To say I was excited about this one is a massive understatement, as the books the show is based on is my very favorite book series of all time. The show got off to sort of a slow start, as I think the creators actually tried to stay TOO close to the source material, but about a third of the way through they hit a groove and never looked back. Gorgeously shot, with a truly epic ambience. The creators have been handed a fantastic story, one which they obviously love, and they were smart enough to mostly let that story drive the narrative on the show while only embellishing around the edges. And, honestly, the embellishments were some of my favorite scenes.

Special credit goes to the simply amazing child actors that the show chose to play the vitally important young characters. The Stark children, in particular, felt to me like they leapt directly from the pages of the books onto my television screen, and I REALLY want to adopt Maisie Williams (Arya).

My only disappointment with the show, besides the slightly pedantic opening few episodes, is how little use they made of the direwolves. I know that animals are hard to direct, but the link between the direwolves and the Starks is one of my favorite aspects of the book…but, as usual, the books are better anyway.

5. Community - This one is hard to explain to people who don’t watch the show, or who have tried it and don’t enjoy it, but I’m going to try. WARNING…rambling ahead.

There is not a show with more ambition on television, in my opinion. They aren’t just aiming to be funny (though they are hilarious), they want to be…DIFFERENT. Not content to just be another sitcom that can live in perpetuity in syndication. Not a Chuck Lorre project, in other words.

I am square in the middle of the target demographic for this show…I don’t just enjoy watching television, I love exploring what makes television what it is, like examining various tropes and clichés and figuring out why they work or don’t work. I love meta commentary. I am in my mid thirties (barely hanging on to them), so I recognize all of the pop culture beats that the show hits. It just hits so many sweet spots for me.

Plus, the entire cast is super talented, extremely funny in a very clever way. And, yes, I know the “cleverness” is what turns a lot of people off, but what can I say? I’m often guilty of assuming I’m the smartest person in the room, and that’s the vibe this show gives off when it’s at its worst…so I can sympathize.

This show has my heart. Six seasons and a movie.

4. Homeland - My very favorite new show on television this year. I’m not going to spoil anything, because it’s still new enough that you can probably find a place to watch it. I will just say that it is refreshingly bold in its narrative, in that nothing is dragged out simply because the length of the season requires it (hello, THE KILLING). There are several moments that happen a good 5-6 episodes, or even 1-2 seasons, before they would happen on a typical show, simply because…that’s when these things would happen if they were happening in real life rather than on my television screen.

And, seriously…I can not possibly over praise the work that Damian Lewis and Claire Danes do on this show. These are two actors that I am predisposed to like anyway, due to their previous work (I ♥ Angela Chase FOREVER), but wow…Lewis will find it hard to break in to the Cranston/Buscemi/Hamm/Hall/Grammar field for Best Actor (especially with Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte joining the fray soon with Luck), but if Claire Danes doesn’t get serious Emmy consideration then we need to consider shutting down the whole system.

Go watch this. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

3. Parks and Recreation – OK, I take it back. Among comedies, Community really has more of my BRAIN…Parks and Rec has my heart. No show brings me more sheer joy than this one…even when I’m not laughing till I hurt (which happens at least once every episode), I usually have a ridiculous grin on my face the entire time. I love every single one of these characters…even Jean-Ralphio (played by Ben Schwarz, who is probably in my top three favorite podcast guests).

The show just does everything well…character, story, ambience, you name it. Fancy Party is probably my favorite comedy episode of the year, and that is not because it was the funniest…it’s because it completely captures everything that this show is about, and what it’s about is pretty near perfect.

Plus, Ron Swanson…enough said.

2. Friday Night Lights – I still can’t talk about this show without getting emotional. This final season was a perfect send-off to a truly amazing show.

Amazing on so many levels…not just the truly spectacular acting performances (too many to name), the gut wrenching writing (I’m sure I wept openly at least once at every episode), the flawless direction (the show often looks and feels like the greatest home movie ever made)…but the fact that we actually got five seasons and that the writers were able to finish their story as they wanted, when we spent the first two seasons wondering if every episode may be the last one to see the light of day due to America’s stupidity.

This show is an American treasure. It’s television as an art form.

Texas, forever.

Clear eyes, full hearts…you know the rest.

1. Breaking Bad – Speaking of television as an art form…in my mind, there is no question that what Vince Gilligan is doing with this show is truly next-level stuff. It is visually astonishing. The story SIZZLES. The characters…well, more on them in a minute. Every single episode just flies by for me…I’m truly sad when it’s over and I know I have to wait another week before I can step back in to this deeply disturbing, wondrously wrought, bleak and yet somehow hopeful universe.

As for the characters, this show has a truly unique ability to surprise me without sacrificing the characters that have been built over the life of the show. It’s easy to surprise a viewer…just write a scenario that calls for a character to do something that we would NEVER expect. LOTS of shows do that, but most of the time the reason the character surprised you is because their actions completely contradict everything we know about that character. It is much more difficult to pull off what this show does, which is to have characters do completely unexpected things that first shock me and then cause me to say, “Yeah…that is EXACTLY what that character would say/do in this moment, because it is exactly in line with what we know about him/her.” It’s art, is what it is…and this show does it better than anybody.

From a storytelling perspective, there are few better. From a character perspective, there are none more well-developed and formed. From an acting perspective, there is no better cast. From an aesthetic perspective, no show currently has a better grasp on what their visual style is and how to best use it.

For all those reasons, Breaking Bad is my Best Show of 2011.

So, fellow TV fanatics...what's your favorite? Any that I'm missing? Let's discuss!

My favorite things I have been watching

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 Jarek Wysocki. 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?

My favorite things I watched this week

- Ray Drew. Of all the things I watched this week, I don't think I enjoyed any of them more than I enjoyed this....

(courtesy of UGASports)

I think we have a great one, folks...not only his play on the field, but he seems to be a guy who is going to be a real leader both in the locker room and in the field. He has already been identified as a guy who the rest of the Dream Team looks to as "the guy". Can't wait to see him on the field!

- Southland. I meant to say something about this show last week, but I forgot...it works out, though, because this week's episode was much stronger, and was truly one of the best things I watched this week. The ending, especially, was extremely effective.

I am not usually a big fan of "procedural" type shows, and though this isn't exactly that, there are very few if any serialized components to the show. But every week, I feel like the show tells compelling stories, it has a tremendous cast, and also has a great cinematic look and feel to it. This was one of those shows that struggled to find an audience on the network side for some reason, and I for one am thankful that it was saved by TNT. Not to mention some of the coolest opening credits on television:



- Parks and Recreation. This will likely be on this list for as long as it is on the air. Another fantastic episode from the best comedy on television, highlighted by Rob Lowe as health freak Chris dealing with some of the worst, um, byproducts of the Pawnee Flu:



- The return of Archer. In all of its politically incorrect, raunchy glory. What is Germany, the Alabama of Europe?

- Casey and Morgan sing Happy Birthday on Chuck. In an episode made most notable by a new look on Sarah (short verdict: not a big fan of the hair, HUGE fan of the outfit), there wasn't much that made me happier this week than Casey and Morgan singing Happy Birthday to the unsuspecting security guard.

- John Noble and Joshua Jackson on Fringe. Again, not one of my favorite Fringe episodes...I thought some of the writing was downright painful, although I did like where the show took Peter in his quest to find out what is going on with him and the Doomsday Device. But both of the Bishop boys brought their A game, including some of Joshua Jackson's best work so far in my opinion.

And good news again on the ratings front, as the show was solid enough again to boost Fox to a win in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

- 30 Rock. I don't always love this show, but when they are on their game there are few funnier. This was a particularly strong week.

What about you? What were your favorite things you watched this week?

Still not ready to talk about the Dawgs...

Though I will feel MUCH better after we destroy the Hillbillies tomorrow.

So...remember a couple of weeks ago when I went through all of the shows I was going to be watching this fall? How about we talk about that instead?

Here is a (hopefully) brief synopsis of this Fall's TV season so far, the way I see it:

SUNDAY:

Mad Men: Still awesome. I love how characters are being put into situations that just highlight everything we have learned about them over the past 3+ seasons, and that the writing and acting has been so good that each scene has at least three different levels to it depending on which characters are interacting at the time.

I'm not going to spoil anything on this one, because I still want everybody reading this who has not been watching the past three seasons to go watch as soon as possible.

GRADE: A+

Boardwalk Empire: When I posted about this before, I had only seen the pilot. We're three weeks in, and in my opinion the show gets better every week. The pilot had a LOT of Scorsese quirks to it, which made sense because he directed it. But the last two episodes have been better in part because they haven't been weighed down with the standard Scorsese required shots. Instead, we've focused a lot more on the characters and their motivations, and it's been fantastic, with superb acting performances and wonderful direction.

GRADE: A

The Amazing Race: Very boring season so far, and I'm watching more out of habit than anything else. The problem is that there aren't any teams yet that I really like (except the one that went home last week, unfortunately), and what's worse is that there aren't any I can actively root against.

GRADE: C+

MONDAY:

Chuck: Except for a slight mis-step this week, which was a pretty blah episode despite the appearance by Stone Cold Steve Austin, this show has picked up right where they left off at the end of last season. Which is a good thing. The relationship between Chuck and Sarah is sweet and funny, but they need to be careful not to be too repetitive with the "Chuck has a neurotic fear about some aspect of their relationship and Sarah has to spend the whole mission putting off talking about it" stuff.

GRADE: B+

How I Met Your Mother: Meh. Probably better than last season, but the writers are still making some pretty big mistakes (like acting as if either the characters or the audience care one lick about Don, who Robin spent the entire episode this week freaking out over). I'll keep watching, even if only for my weekly NPH and Jason Segal fixes.

GRADE: B-

The Event: I dropped this one about an episode and a half in. The actors are good and doing the best they can with the material given, but the Big Story is just not interesting enough to overcome ridiculous plotlines and character motivations that make no sense.

GRADE: D+

Lone Star: Kaput after two episodes. It is sad, because it was a decent show, but I don't think it was awesome enough to freak out over like a lot of critics and bloggers have. I'll miss seeing Adrianne Palicki every week, and I hope the lead (James Wolk) gets something else soon because he was really good and likable. I'm a lot more upset over recent losses like Dollhouse and Pushing Daisies than I was about this one.

GRADE: INCOMPLETE

Hawaii 5-0: This falls neatly into the category of Perfectly Acceptable Television. Nothing earth-shattering, just a nifty little procedural that is nice to look at (due to the gorgeous Hawaii establishing shots, and the fact that they manage to put Boomer in a bathing suit every week). The dynamic between Alex O'Laughlin and Scott Caan has been fun, with O'Laughlin serving as a pretty good straight man. My only real complaint is that the nods to the original have been a little ham-fisted, both the "Book em, Danno" part and the "Hey, we need a name for our little group" thing. But the theme song still rocks, and I think the show meets both the expectations that I had for it and the expectation it has for itself...an hour of mindless fun with beautiful scenery.

GRADE: B

So, I've dropped two shows from Monday (The Event and Lone Star) and haven't picked any up...I tried Castle for a couple of weeks, but it just never clicked for me. I'm a fan of The Mentalist (more on that later), and this just seemed like a less-funny version of that.

TUESDAY:

Glee: Man, I don't think I've ever loved a show that is this inconsistent about what it wants to be, but here we are. The past two weeks are a perfect example...last week, we had the wonderfully silly and fun Britney Spears episode (featuring my very favorite character on the show finally getting a chance to show off her formidable skillset), and then this week the show tries to take on the huge and tricky concepts of personal faith. And, for the most part, they are able to do both of them really well.

(Quick aside: As someone who is a Christian, I thought they did an admirable job of at least trying to be fair with the "Religion" episode. It's extremely rare that the Christian point of view is captured properly by television, because the majority of writers are coming from a totally different place. I don't think Glee got us exactly right, but I give kudos for at least trying to portray Christians as something other than mean or stupid.)

This is a show that you are either going to love or hate...there's not going to be a lot of in-between. I still love it, in spite of its whiplash-inducing tonal shifts.

GRADE: A-

No Ordinary Family: ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I made it halfway through this past week's episode, and I think that's probably as far as I'm going to go.

GRADE: Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Running Wilde: Ugh. I really, really WANTED this to be good. But I didn't laugh even one time at the first two episodes, so I cut it loose.

GRADE: D

Raising Hope: Look, don't tell anybody, OK? But this show really makes me laugh. The pilot was pretty bad, but I have laughed a LOT at the last two episodes. Garret Dillahunt as the dad is really funny, which I wasn't expecting. His scene last week when he was trying to come up with a name for the boat he's going to buy with his lottery winnings has had me laughing all week.

GRADE: B. Would probably be higher, if it wasn't for Cloris Leachman's over the top and stupid portrayal of the occasionally lucid grandmother.

Detroit 1-8-7: Only made it part of the way through the pilot, and decided it wasn't going to work for me. Is it still on the air?

GRADE: C-

Sons of Anarchy: I picked this one up after dropping a couple of other ones on Tuesday night, and was immediately hooked. I've only watched full episodes of this season (4 so far, I think), so I'm still getting caught up (with the help of a couple of fan sites and the Television Without Pity recap archive), but I am REALLY loving it so far.

GRADE: A

Caprica: Don't know...haven't watched it yet.

So, on Tuesdays I have dropped three shows and only picked up one. See, Mom? I'm making progress!

WEDNESDAYS:

Modern Family: Chugging right along...absolutely no dropoff in its sophomore season, and I'm loving the new weekly "Sofia Vergara Stirs Things" feature.

GRADE: A

Cougar Town: Just picked this one up a couple of weeks ago, after trying it and hating it early in its first season. Tremendous improvement, and a consistently enjoyable half hour...just wish they could do something about the name.

GRADE: B

Survivor: This is the first season I have watched live, so I can't really compare it to earlier seasons, but I am only mildly impressed so far. I am mainly watching it to see if the contestants I hate are going to go home, but the most odious person on the show now has an immunity idol, so I don't know if that's going to work out for me or not. I think I may go back to watching this show like I used to...ignoring everything except the tribal councils.

GRADE: C+

Undercovers: Hey, what would happen if we got JJ Abrams to do a show, only we took out everything that makes JJ Abrams projects interesting?

Oh. THIS happens.

I was out after one and a half episodes.

GRADE: ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Terriers: This show just keeps getting better and better...I just wish more people were watching it. The dialogue is clever and funny, the acting is great, the overall plot is intriguing. Too bad we're only going to get one season out of it.

GRADE: A. WATCH THIS SHOW.

THURSDAY:

First things first....

Grey's Anatomy: If the comments on my last post are any indication, you will all be happy to know that this one has been DROPPED FROM THE ROTATION.

Even cooler was that it was the wife's idea. I'm so proud of her.

Big Bang Theory: Another one that just keeps chugging along. Sheldon Cooper is on his way to being a television comedy icon, and for the most part the surrounding cast holds up their end of the bargain (though I wish the writers didn't so obviously despise Howard).

GRADE: B+

Community: WATCH THIS SHOW. It's clever, it's funny, it's loaded with pop culture references, it's somehow taught Chevy Chase how to be funny again, and it has one of the most genuinely likable ensemble casts in years.

GRADE: A

The Office: Still watching out of habit, despite the obvious decline in quality over the last two plus seasons. Last night's episode was good, and reminiscent of some of the character-driven episodes of the show's peak. Any episode with that much Andy and Erin is fine with me.

GRADE: B-

Fringe: I love this show so much. They are really firing on all cylinders right now, nailing the mix between freak-of-the-week procedural, X-Files/LOST style geekfest, and character pieces.

The dynamic this season with the two dimensions, and especially the two Olivias, has breathed new life into a show that was already one of my favorites. And it's also given Ana Torv an opportunity to prove that she is a much more skilled actress than many (including me) gave her credit for during the show's early days.

GRADE: A

The Mentalist: I've only watched the season premiere so far...this is one that we usually stock up on and then blow through 3-4 episodes at once. But I saw nothing that led me to believe that this wouldn't continue to be a fun hour of television every week...nothing earth shattering, nothing that is can't-miss, but consistently entertaining.

GRADE: B+

Still nothing on Friday or Saturday, except for the Freaks and Geeks replays on IFC, which definitely get an A. Apatow FTW, always.

Overall, this has been a really horrible season for new shows on the networks...I think Raising Hope and Hawaii 5-0 are the only ones I am going to stick with, and neither one of these shows are what I would consider "quality" television. More like Solid, Non-Offensive Procedural and Guilty Pleasure That I Hesitate to Admit I Like.

So...how about y'all? Agree with my assessments? Think I'm way off base? Anything I'm missing that I should be watching?

What I've been watching

Well, we have reached the midseason break for TV, and there is NOTHING on now, so now is as good a time as any to deliver on the long ago promised TV report, I guess.

I am actually listening to the latest LOSTcast on ODI right now as I type this...less than a month to go before LOST comes back!!

I watch a LOT of TV (thank you, DVR!), so this is going to be a long one...

So, without further adieu, here are my thoughts on what I've been watching this season, organized by what night the show airs...feel free to chime in with comments!

SUNDAY:
The Amazing Race: I've been watching this show for about 6 seasons now, and I was pretty disappointed with this season. It was kind of boring, I thought.There weren't really any teams that I absolutely HATED...although I did despise one half of the Terrence/Sarah matchup. Any of you who watched could probably tell me which half...Terrence. What a needy, whiny, childish little twerp. Constantly had to be told how good he was doing, while doing nothing but criticize Sarah, continually telling Sarah to SLOW DOWN so they could be together...hey, dude, you're in a RACE!!! Ugh. They did provide one of my favorite moments of the season, though, with this little Freudian exchange:

Terrence: Who's my girl?
Sarah: You are...I mean I AM!!

HA!

Only other team I really didn't like were the Divorcees, but they at least provided the fun of trying to figure out how they were going to royally screw up every week. I've never seen a team have such a hard time READING THE FREAKING CLUE. Every week, they would start out saying, "We learned on the last task to take the time to read the clue and really pay attention," and the next thing you know they were bumbling off in the wrong direction again.

Speaking of bumbling...how 'bout those "Frat Boys?" First of all, they unfortunately were like most of the "frat boys" that I've known...the fact that they had to keep referring to themselves as "Frat Boys," and talk about how manly they are, and how much beer they drink, and how they can't do "girly" tasks like ironing or dancing, etc...gee, guys, overcompensate much? By far the worst team to ever make the Top 3, at least as long as I have been watching. Every week they seemed to benefit from some other teams mistake and squeak by, never more so than in the next-to-last episode. We've seen a lot of huge mistakes over the years, but losing your money and passports in the middle of Russia the way Toni and Dallas did has to rank as the biggest and most fatal.

In the end, Nick and Starr ended a DOMINANT season by winning the $1M in the most unsurprising ending since the Yankees swept the Padres in the '98 World Series. At least Starr was hot.

Desperate Housewives: Yes, I watch this show...what of it? I pretend it's only because my wife makes me, but I actually enjoyed this season, after totally losing interest last season. The writers made a great decision to shake things up by moving ahead five years. It really made some characters and situations interesting again that had grown stagnant. Let's break it down couple by couple:

Gabby/Carlos: Consistently my second-favorite married couple on TV (behind Coach and Tami Taylor on Friday Night Lights). The Carlos-is-blind story could have been really dumb and over the top, but I think they have done a good balancing act with it...there have been some humorous moments, but they haven't lost sight of the tragedy that losing your sight would be. Plus, Eva Longoria is hot, no matter how hard they tried to convince us otherwise.

Bree/Orson: Orson is the star of this pairing, in my opinion...he steals every scene he's in.

Susan/Mike/Jackson: Blech. I can't stand Susan, and I try to avoid any scenes that involve her. Annoying, selfish, immature, nagging hag.

Lynnette/Tom: One of the most realistic couples on TV. They go through a lot of conflicts/arguments, and I don't CONSISTENTLY agree with either of them...from week to week, they take turns making sense, and I think that's pretty much the way it works.

Dave/Edie: Kudos go to Neal McDonough...it's been pretty obvious for a while now where this storyline was headed (he's here for revenge on Mike/Susan for the car crash that killed his family), yet he has still managed to create a compelling character that can give you the creeps and invoke sympathy at the same time.

Mad Men: Look, I can't say it enough...WATCH THIS SHOW. Here, I even found a great deal on season one for you. This show is pretty close to perfect television. Superbly and subtly written, wonderfully acted, and on top of everything else, very beautiful to look at. This past season, Matt Weiner did a masterful job at adding layer after layer to the main characters, especially Betty Draper (January Jones). So much fun watching her become her own woman after being a doormat for all of season 1.
And Don's backstory...well, this quote pretty much sums it up:
"I have been watching my life. It’s right there. I keep scratching at it, trying to get into it. I can’t."
Wow.
Seriously...WATCH THIS SHOW. Have I steered you wrong before?

MONDAY:
Chuck: Sure, the primary storylines of Chuck as the reluctant spy/agent and the "Will they or won't they" romance between Chuck and the gorgeous Sarah are entertaining. But it's the ensemble cast that make this one of the most consistently funny shows on television. Morgan, Lester, Jeff, Captain Awesome, Anna...all hilarious, well-defined characters. I think this show really hit its stride this season, after a strike-shortened season 1.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: This show even manages to make Brian Austin Green cool again. I am a huge geek for the Terminator universe, so of course I love this show. I just wish John Connor would start acting more like the savior of humanity and less like a typical whiny teenager. Summer Glau, on the other hand, is a gorgeous killing machine. She does a good job of portraying the human/robot duality of the Terminator models, and her delivery is pitch perfect.

I wasn't on board with the "Riley" storyline until the twist at the end...now I'm interested.

Heroes: Ugh. Where to start? First of all, I love this show, and I really WANT it to be good. But this season has been a trainwreck of epic proportions. I often find myself wondering if the writers are actually WATCHING the show. I have no idea what the motivations are for ANY of the characters any more, and I don't see how the actors can either. One week Sylar is evil, the next he's just misunderstood, the next he's PRETENDING to be evil, then he's back to evil again. All with little to no explanation as to why, at least not one that makes sense. I mean, was it Angela's idea to pretend to be his mother? Then why was Arthur going along with it from the minute Sylar showed up at Primatech? Would it not have better served his purposes to let Sylar know that Angela was lying in order to turn him against her? How come the first time Sylar tried to kill Elle, her electricity knocked him out, but the next time he was able to pull it off without a hitch? Once Hiro went back in time and took the catalyst himself, shouldn't that have created an alternate timeline in which Claire never even knew what the catalyst was? And why did they keep saying that everybody's powers manifested themselves during the eclipse in Season 1? That is completely false...Claire has had her power since she was a baby, Nathan got his when he was driving down the road before the accident that took his wife's ability to walk, etc.

ENOUGH. I could go on and on (as I'm sure you can tell). Do they not have anybody on the writing staff who is paying attention? Don't they know that the geeks (like myself) who are their target audience are NOTORIOUS for noticing obvious gaps in story logic and continuity like this?

Good news is that Bryan Fuller is coming back to the show later this season...maybe he can inject some sort of order to the writer's room. This season started with a bang, but every week since then has seemed like the writers are just throwing as much random stuff on the screen as possible and saying, "How about THIS? This is cool, right?" Well, yeah, it is...it just doesn't make any sense.

***UPDATE****
This is from TelevisionWithoutPity.com...a more detailed version of my rant:

Peter: I hate to say it, but Peter was one of the most consistent characters this chapter. While many of the choices he made were moronic -- deciding that the only way to stop his brother from making a decision in the future was to murder him in cold blood; deciding that taking Sylar's power was the best way to help the world, which resulted in him murdering his brother in the future and almost doing the same to his mother in the present -- he was focused on preventing the future from containing millions of people with artificially-given powers, and, in pursuit of that end, stopping his father once he turned up. But the self-righteousness combined with the "acting"? Tough to take.

Nathan: Ugh. First off, a technical point I've mentioned before: I assumed, when Linderman appeared after Nathan miraculously recovered from his mortal wounds, that he was responsible for the mysterious happening. Only later we learned that it was Maury projecting an image of Linderman, so how did Nathan recover? Leaving that aside, Nathan was the most irritatingly wishy-washy, spineless character this season produced, as he allowed himself to be led around like a dog on a leash by both Tracy and his father who TRIED TO HAVE HIM KILLED AND WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS WIFE'S PARALYSIS. And it looks like he's going to be the biggest player in the next chapter, so I hope he at least commits hard to evil, because otherwise? Zzzzz.

Angela: Oh, Lord. So this episode reveals that she knew Sylar wasn't her son, but she thought she could manipulate him into doing her bidding. Let's think about that. For one, what did she need him for? Just to be a Company agent? She didn't even know about Arthur at that point, so it hardly seems worth it. On top of that, let's recall, she sacrificed an innocent girl just to feed him. At the time, it seemed like she did so out of desire to care for and protect her son, but now we know it was just a cold-blooded murder. Not only that, but she didn't know that Sylar would learn to control his "hunger," so how many people would she have ended up feeding to him? The season wanted us to believe that Angela was leading the righteous party here, when in fact she was the most awful stealth villain of them all. Great job!

Hiro: Could effectively have stayed out of the season altogether. First, out of boredom, he managed to single-handedly cause not one but both halves of the formula to fall into Pinehearst's hands. Then he stabbed Ando with a fake sword, did a drug trip that distracted NeoIsaac enough to get him killed, turned into a ten-year-old, and lost the catalyst inside of five minutes after he took it from his dying mother. Yes, this episode finally gave him something positive to do. What was the first twelve's excuse?

Arthur: Would have had more depth if he'd been drawn by Looney Tunes. But this episode brings up an interesting point: Knox and Flint rebelled because they didn't want tons of other people to have powers, which would make them less special and less relatively powerful. Why wouldn't Arthur, a paranoid murderer, share that sentiment? And what had he told Knox and Flint to get them on his side originally? I realize I'm looking for meaning from a character who made Peter and Mohinder's line readings look good by comparison...wait, that's it! I've stumbled on the point of Arthur!

Sylar: Ye gods. So Sylar takes Angela at her word and believes that she and Arthur are his parents. Let's think about all the ways this turned out not to make sense. First off, in the future Peter saw, Sylar still believed they were brothers. Surely in four years he would have discovered that wasn't the case. Secondly, when Sylar showed up to Pinehearst, the first thing Arthur did was to tell Mohinder that Sylar was his son. Do you grant that in that very short period and with all the chaos of Peter running around that Arthur read Sylar's mind and decided to roll with the lie that Angela told him? I think it's highly dubious, especially since an attractive alternative would simply be to tell Sylar of the lie and turn him against her once and for all. But that's not the biggest problem -- Arthur teaches Sylar to be empathetic, but then Elle gets him to kill a random civilian who didn't even have powers; Sylar has sex with Elle, but when Bennet tells him he's not a Petrelli, he kills her, and not because of the "hunger," since he knew how to control that and also already had her power anyway. I mean, he was less boring to watch than Nathan, but no more consistent, that's for sure. Speaking of which...

Sylar's Power: First off, another technical point. Sylar lost a bunch of his purloined powers when Hiro stabbed him back in Season One. Fine. At the beginning of the chapter, he attacked Claire with his telekinesis and took her regenerative power, which restored him to full health. You'd think that would have restored those powers as well, since he learned how they work and all, but no. So the logical conclusion is that the sword blow permanently erased the powers he had stolen and left him only with his original ability -- except telekinesis wasn't it. It's true he was telekinetic at the beginning of the series, but it's this vague ability to "understand how things work" that's his power -- as "Six Months Earlier" showed us, he stole the telekinesis from that guy Brian in the watch shop. On top of that, though, there's the "hunger." We learn from the past that Sylar was able to control his "hunger" when he was feeling warm and fuzzy for Elle. Then he was able to control it when he thought Angela was his mother. Then he was able to turn it into something else entirely through empathy. (Remember Arthur had Sylar's power too, or should have, from Peter, and we never saw him afflicted by the "hunger.") Then he became a killer again anyway. On top of that, Peter took his power because he thought "understanding how things work" would help him save the world. But that power is complete and utter crap-- Sylar didn't know jack about how things work, or he might not have been used as a pawn by Arthur, Angela, and even Elle.

The Formula: Why didn't Primatech destroy it? I asked this in the very first episode, and it was never answered. If it could only be used for evil, why didn't they simply get rid of it? Anyone? Bueller?

Mohinder: Look, you saw it for yourself.

OK...this post is obviously going to be too long to finish in one sitting...be back later to continue!