BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree Of Life) vs. N/A
I think Best Cinematography is the most underrated award the Academy offers up. The average movie goer doesn't realize how important cinematography is to a movie and for those of you who don't know, a cinematographers job is to determine the look of the film. He literally sits behind the camera and is the main person filming the movie. Now the director has some say in what the cinematographer shoots and, generally speaking, the two work together. However, how a movie looks to you is because of the cinematographer.
The Tree Of Life is a critics darling and while I will never see it because it looks boring as shit, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, says that at minimum it's beautifully shot and just looks amazing.
Not only does (I'm sure) the film look good, as I said, very few people actually know what their looking for or know what they're doing when they talk about cinematography, it makes it tough for the average Academy member to vote on this category. That's why really the only people who vote on cinematography are cinematographers and those within the guild (The American Society of Cinematographers) are really the only ones who vote for this award. And the ASC this year voted Lubezki as the best cinematographer of the year and I expect they'll do the same when it comes to the Oscars.
WINNER: Emmanuel Lubezki
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris) vs. N/A
Leading up to the Oscar nominations, Allen was not only nominated for writing Midnight In Paris but he had won all the writing awards. Allen won the Golden Globe for writing Midnight (the Globes don't make a distinction between original and adapted screenplay) and won the Critics Choice for Best Original Screenplay. But then the Oscar nominations came out and that is when we saw how much the Academy REALLY loved Allen. Midnight In Paris was also nominated for Best Picture and Allen received another nomination for Best Director. Since the Oscar nominations came out the Writers Guild of America awarded Allen with Best Original Screenplay.
Midnight In Paris won't win any other major Oscar but I guarantee Woody Allen will get an Oscar this year for his screenplay
WINNER: Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash (The Descendants) vs. Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chevrin (Moneyball)
I think The Descendants is the full on favorite but I wouldn't be surprised if Moneyball wins as I would be if Woody Allen or Emmanuel Lubezki loses.
Payne, Faxon, and Rash have won the WGA for Best Adapted Screenplay but Zaillian, Sorkin, and Chevrin won that same award at the Critics Choice Awards and neither won the Golden Globes for Best Screenplay (that went to Woody Allen, see: above).
However, The Descendants have all the momentum as the WGA win is more important for their Oscar chances than a Critics Choice win is. Not only are members of the WGA members of the Academy who also vote on Oscars (something movie critics do not) but the WGA win came out later than the Critics Choice win.
The Academy honored Moneyball with 6 nominations and The Descendants with 5 so it clearly likes both films just as equally and I think Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian are both extremely well received in the writing world (each has an Oscar for screenplay writing) but I think this is Alexander Payne and The Descendants year.
WINNER: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer (The Help) vs. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
OK, realistically this is absolutely Spencer's award. She won the Critics Choice, The Golden Globe, and the SAG award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson in The Help. I just want to give McCarthy love not only because she was excellent in Bridesmaids but Hollywood now loves McCarthy. McCarthy won the Emmy for her role in the television show Mike and Molly mainly because she in now a bona fide movie star. I wouldn't be shocked if she is able to ride this wave of fame to an Oscar win but I think here the nomination is the win.
WINNER: Octavia Spencer (The Help)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer (Beginners) vs. N/A
Albert Brooks was the best person to dethrone a Plummer win for his role in Drive, but since he (shamefully) did not even get nominated, this award absolutely belongs to Plummer. Plummer won the Critics Choice, SAG, and Golden Globes and 15 other awards (like the San Diego Critics Choice Awards) for Best Actor In A Supporting Role. The only other actor to win more for Best Supporting Actor wins was Albert Brooks (he won 17). Not only was Brooks amazing in Drive (SIDENOTE: Everyone associated with Drive got fucked by the Academy- it didn't get nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, or Best Original Screenplay) but the Oscars have in recent years traditionally given awards to the great bad guys of film like Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. However, the closest thing to a bad guy out of the five nominations in 2012 in Nick Nolte in Warrior- and he's just a shitty dad. Christopher Plummer does deserve an Oscar for his life time of work but in the context of this one year, I would have liked to seen Albert Brooks at least have a chance to win this award. Or Patton Oswalt for his amazing work in Young Adult. Or really Andy Serkis for being Caesar in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
WINNER: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis (The Help) vs. Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Again, another award that is realistically not up for debate and is not a contest. Meryl Streep always has a shot at winning an Oscar because she is Meryl effing Streep but this is Viola Davis' award. Streep won the Golden Globe but Davis won the Critics Choice award and the more important SAG award.
What also helps Davis is that people and Oscar voters have not only seen The Help, but loved The Help. I'm not quite sure how many of them have actually seen The Iron Lady and liked it and I'm under the suspicion that the Academy only gave Streep her nomination just because she is Meryl effing Streep.
WINNER: Viola Davis (The Help)
BEST ACTOR
George Clooney (The Descendants) vs. Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
This is the hardest main award to predict. Two weeks ago I would have said Clooney had this in the bag but now, it's a legit coin flip who I think will win. If I were a betting man this is absolutely a stay away.
Before the Oscar nominations even came out I thought this was Clooney's award to lose. Hollywood LOVES and I mean has a full on hard on for Clooney and he won the Critics Choice for Best Actor as well as won a Golden Globe for his role in The Descendants. Clooney always makes great speeches and he has never won an Oscar for Best Actor In A Leading Role (His acting Oscar win was for Syriana and that was a supporting role).
But what I missed and stupidly overlooked was that Jean Dujardian also won a Golden Globe for his role in The Artist. Clooney won for his role in a Drama whereas Dujardin won his for in role in a Comedy or Musical (which is silly because The Artist is really neither).
Then came the SAG awards came out and even though The Artist didn't win Outstanding Performance By A Cast (we'll get to that later) Dujardin did win and beat out Clooney for Best Actor.
And if there's anything Hollywood loves more than George Clooney, it's itself. And that's a huge appeal Dujardin and The Artist has (that and it is actually a good movie). So what does Hollywood do? Vote for George Clooney or itself?
WINNER: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
BEST DIRECTOR
Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist) vs. Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Hazanavicius has the DGA win and the Critics Choice win working for him but the fact that Marty won the Golden Globe and has an impossible name to say or spell working against him.
The Artist could easily sweep the Oscars this year and it will be lead by winning Best Director but Martin Scorsese is like Meryl Streep, he can never be counted out. The thing working for Scorsese is that he keeps getting screwed year in and year out at the Academys. He lost directing Oscars for directing some of cinemas greats like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas. Now the Oscars made it up to him by (finally) honoring him with the award in 2006 for The Departed but the Academy still owes a lot more to Scorsese. Another thing working for Marty is that he probably did the best job in terms of directing this year. I was bored to death by Hugo but that was more of a script problem than a directing problem.
What Hazanavicius has going for him is that out of all the films that got Oscar nominations (which basically just includes Young Adult and Drive) he directed the best one.
WINNER: Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist)
BEST PICTURE
The Artist vs. The Help vs. The Descendants
The last time a film won Best Picture but did not win Best Director was in 2005 when Crash won Best Picture yet Ang Lee won Best Director for Brokeback Mountain and has only happened one other time since 2001.
A lot of the reason I think Hazanavicius will win Best Director is because I believe The Artist will win Best Picture. Not only did The Artist win the PGA, the Critics Choice Award, and its Golden Glove nomination but it's actually a good film. The only reason I went in to see The Artist was because it was the Oscar front runner and I went in thinking it was going to be elitist garbage. I came out really enjoying the film. In this terrible, awful, no good year for movies, The Artists shines above the rest. Sure its partially by default but a win's a win.
What The Help has going for it is 1) No backlash like what The Artist has 2) Both average movie goers and Hollywood loved The Help and 3) It won and beat out The Artist for Best Acting Ensamble at the Screen Actors Guild eerily reminding us of 2005 when Brokeback Mountain was the clear favorite and then Crash won at the SAG awards and then (rightfully) stunned the world by winning the Oscar for Best Picture. Like 2011, 2005 was also a pretty bad year for films making it easier for an upset.
What The Help has working against it though is that it wasn't even nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay or Best Director. Paul Haggis received a nomination for both writing and directing Crash in 2005. It's hard to say you are the best movie of the year when you are both not well directed or well written. What The Help also has working against it is that a SAG win doesn't really mean all that much. In 2006, Little Miss Sunshine won the SAG award for Best Acting Ensemble when Babel was the favorite at the time yet lost the Oscar to The Departed and in 2009 when Up In The Air was the favorite and Inglourious Basterds won Best Cast at the SAG awards yet The Hurt Locker won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Both Inglourious Basterds and Up In The Air had lost steam by the time The Academy's rolled around. The Artist has not.
The Descendants still technically has a chance and has a better chance than Hugo and Moneyball and Tree Of Life and the rest of the field because it won at The Golden Globes but I still will be super surprised to see it win Best Picture. I can foresee a The Artist backlash and if it does then The Descendants will remain supreme but I wouldn't bet on it.
WINNER: The Artist
Showing posts with label The Best TV Show of 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Best TV Show of 2011. Show all posts
Sexy Rexy's Greatest TV Shows of 2011
While I do watch a lot of shows I just can't watch TV like Bill Simmons on Alan Seppinwall can. I also haven't seen any HBO or Showtime shows besides Entourage (which we'll get to in a second) so I haven't seen Game Of Thrones, Homeland, or Boardwalk Empire and with an extremely weak year in TV- I probably should have. Plus with Mad Men not airing in 2011 and me not being able to get into Breaking Bad this late in the game, I think this is one of my weakest lists since I've been doing this. (A great ringing endorsement for me and this post I know). But here's my list nonetheless.
However, before we begin, here's a list of shows that I watch that I could not bring myself to put on this list.
- How I Met Your Mother (CBS) Season 6 of HIMYM (which aired in the beginning of 2011) was pretty weak for the show and Season 7 of HIMYM (which just wrapped up) was horrendous. It was by far and away it's worst season and while I ranked the show during my midseason rankings, Season 7 definitively forced me to take it off.
- Entourage (HBO) Speaking of atrocious, Entourage's last season was the worst season it's ever had and that's a feat considering how terrible Season 6 was. The first three seasons of Entourage is, to me, some of the best television you will ever see but the show tailed off and tailed off quickly. The last half of Season 7 was amazing (despite Sasha Grey's acting) and I was hoping Entourage would build off of that for their last season. Boy was I wrong.
- The Office (NBC) Michael Scott's farewell tour was pretty touching and moving and it was great to see him evolve, but I think the show is now dead. The Office has been around for eight seasons and it's extremely hard to keep a sitcom going past that and even harder when the main character leavers (see: That 70's Show). Even Seinfeld only lasted nine seasons and was only funny for the first seven and half. Robert California is great but Michael Scott was the glue that kept everything together and Andy Bernard's not doing anything for me.
- The League (FX) This show is the quintessential example of enjoyable but not good. I LOVE this show and it's third season is its best season yet, but I can never bring myself to rank it because there's no character development. Great shows write an episode and then build upon that last episode to further enhance it. The League has never done that. In fact they'll write personalty points for characters just for a laugh and then never mention or touch on it again. The show is was it is and I wouldn't want anything more out of it, but it's just not a "good" show.
- Archer (FX) My friends are all obsessed with Archer and Sterling Archer is a great character but the show gets into season long ruts which diminishes the overall quality of the show. The first episode with "Countess von Fingerbang" was one of the shows greatest episodes. But then the show continued for an entire season more. Plus, season two never once mentioned "Danger Zone"! What the hell guys!
And now, onto the shows that actually did make my list.
10) 30 Rock (NBC)
While the show took the fall season off so that Tina Fey could have another child and so we could all see what a disappointment Whitney is, the show was still strong during the early months of 2011. And those episodes were good.
There was a huge stretch there where I was only watching the show because it was just second nature to me and not because it was funny. Not anymore. This past season stumbled a bit when Tracy Morgan had kidney surgery thus forcing Tracy Jordan to take a hiatus from TGS but as a whole, 30 Rock had a great season. The show reverted back to what made it good in the first place- Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) being high and mighty, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) having problems in her social life, developing the relationship between Jack and Liz, and having only bit parts for the writers of TGS and Kenneth (Jack McBrayer). The show took a huge step in the right direction as it moved from #15 in 2010 to cracking the top 10 in 2011. The show is still not as funny as it was in Seasons 1-3 which was somewhat disappointing to me because I have such high expectations for this show based on when it first came out, but overall Season 5 of 30 Rock was funny and a success and earned the number ten spot on this list.
9) Suits (USA)
USA is what it is. The shows seem formulaic and they are, but I'm a sucker and I love them. I'm also a sucker for law shows being that I am a 3L in law school.
Suits follows around "the best closer in the law" Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and his recent intern whom he hired Mike Ross (Patrick Adams). The USA catch? Mike Ross never went to law school. He's whip smart, has a photogenic memory and intellectually knows the law, but because he got caught cheating taking other people's tests (in fact he actually passed the New York Bar for someone) he was never allowed to go to law school.
Now as a law student and someone who has had law interning jobs, some of the things Mike Ross does frustrates me. I understand that he's never been to law school and so the show is trying to paint a picture of naivety, but he needs to learn common sense. Like most USA shows it has that edge about it that makes you enjoy it but unlike other USA shows and other USA shows on previous lists, Suits only is at #9 because the writing can get streaky at times. The show tries to make you sympathize with Mike and make you hate Harvey but if you look at the big picture, Harvey is always right. I'd like to see that writing tighten up as the show progresses but overall a very enjoyable program.
8) White Collar (USA)
I enjoy both Suits and White Collar but to me, Suits is just an inferior version of White Collar.
The show follows along white collar expert in the FBI Special Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) and smooth talking Ocean's-11-George-Clooney-esque con man Neil Caffrey (Matt Bomer) as a tag team duo catching a different white collar criminal week to week.
Like all original USA shows (and unlike FX shows) they are not *that* well written and are very formulaic and always have a happy ending but what I especially enjoyed about Seasons 2 and 3 of White Collar was that it finally wrapped up the series long conflict of what happened to Kate / why everyone was searching for the music box. The show found a way to still keep a season long mystery going in Season 3 (what happened to the art) and in the process took the relationship between Neil and Peter to another level. Deep down Neil Caffrey is a good person, but he's also a thief. He likes and cares for Peter but at the same time he needs to do what he can to save his own ass.
Sometimes you need mindless TV which will always put a smile on your face which is why White Collar earned the eighth best spot on this list.
7) New Girl (FOX)
New Girl is the only new show from the fall 2011 line up to make this list and it was the only show that I gave an "A" rating to during my fall preview. (Also, I don't care what you say Cubsfan, I will never watch Revenge). New Girl's pilot was hilarious. Jess (played by Zooey Deschanel) moves in with three male roommates, one of which was played by Damon Wayans Jr. Wayans also filmed a pilot for a show called "Happy Endings" and since that show was picked up, Wayans was contractually obligated to film that show and leave New Girl. Which was a shame because I loved his character Coach.
Then, FOX being FOX, did something stupid. Instead of refilming the pilot, they just wrote Coach out of the show completely and added a new black roommate- Winston. For a few episodes the show could not figure out how to effectively incorporate Winston into the show which dragged the show down. In fact, this season the show as a whole was trying to figure out what it wanted to. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. However, by season's end, New Girl has figured itself out. Let the hilarity ensue!
The show advertises itself that it's starring Deschanel and uses that as a hook to get people into the show, but the real stars of the show are the roommates- mainly Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Nick (Jake Johnson). This show could work without Deschanel (like a Two and a Half Men situation) but it would have an extremely hard time working without Schmidt and Nick. I've heard a lot of people not like New Girl because Jess is too quirky and too much of a caricature. If you think that then you're focusing on the wrong aspects of the show.
In the end, the show has found its groove and its just funny. I'm excited to see where the show takes us going forward.
6) Lights Out (FX)
FX is probably the best network out there in terms of original programming but it's sadly a station that nobody watches. AMC is the big up and coming station with two great and established shows such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad and even still AMC is having trouble attracting viewers. Needless to say FX is in trouble. Whether it is a sports team or a TV station, the best way to attract people to watch you is by putting out quality products. But as the Tampa Bay Rays as well as FX has learned, that philosophy has not always paid off. The best show of 2010 was an FX show called Terriers which got cancelled due to poor ratings and Lights Out unfortunately fell to the same fate.
Lights Out follows boxer and former heavyweight champion Patrick "Lights" Leary (Holt McCallany) from him scrapping the bottom of the barrel (and lower) to try and regain his glory days back at the top. Even with boxing movies such as Rocky, Raging Bull, Cinderella Man, and most recently The Fighter, Lights Out felt original- mainly because nothing could go right for this underdog whereas the underdog always wins in the movies. Even when good things happened to Lights Leary and his family, even worse things would just pile on top and ruin everything again.
I encourage all of you to check out this show so I won't completely ruin the ending for you (which was jaw-dropping and amazing and heart breaking all at the same time) but even though the season ended like it was expecting a second season, it was a perfect series finale and the show was great enough to be the 6th best show of 2011.
5) Parks and Recreation (NBC) Parks and Rec does something special. It creates humor when people are actually doing their job well. Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) is fantastic at her job and in Season 4 she is getting the chance to pursue her dream job of becoming an elected official in the city of Pawnee, Indiana.
Season 4 did a great job of just letting the characters be themselves. Leslie did what she always does- creates amazing programs for the city of Pawnee. Ron Effing Swanson (Nick Offerman) is just Ron Effing Swanson. 'Nuff Said. Season 4 also allowed Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) be his douchebag, hilarious self when he opened up his own entertainment business- Entertainment 720 with the amazingly douchey Jean-Ralphio. And most importantly we got to see the relationship between Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) blossom and evolve. It's difficult not keeping two characters who you know will end up with each other apart. After three seasons The Office had to have Jim and Pam become a couple because if they dragged out that relationship any longer it would just start to upset fans. However, Ben Wyatt was introduced late into the show and I think the show spent the perfect amount of time keeping Leslie and Ben apart.
I loved what Parks and Rec did this season and the show has taken an amazing turnaround since its awful first season.
4) Community (NBC) I actually enjoy shows like Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock more than Community, but there is no other show like Community. It is so daring and bold and beautiful that I had to put it in my top five. The show is truly the comedy version of Mad Men- it's genius, it's great, it's like nothing you've seen on television, it's got amazing character development, yet nobody watches it. And unfortunately for Community (even though every single TV critic loves it) it doesn't get the awards and accolades like Mad Men does. Which unfortunately for Community caused NBC (who is already having ratings problems even though it consistently produces the best quality of television) to force Community on a hiatus when 30 Rock returns in the spring of 2012. I hope NBC comes to their senses and keeps the show on. Plus, if you're going to cancel a Thursday night show, Whitney is right there for the taking.
3) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX) Always Sunny is having one of the best seasons its ever had. I mentioned earlier how it's hard to keep a sitcom going after eight years but Always Sunny is showing no signs of slowing down after its seventh season.
The reason I love this season so much is two fold. The first is that the show has mainly focused off of Frank Reynolds (I love the character as a whole and Danny DeVito does a great job playing the character but...). Frank works perfect as a side character feeding off of the other four and not as a central player (The Alec Baldwin Effect). The second reason is that the show is finally playing off of the insecurities of Dee, (fat) Mac, and especially Dennis. The show is still super dark (the gang tried to convince an IRS agent that Dee's "fictional" kid died by throwing a fake funeral; Frank proposes to a WHore who suddenly dies on him) but it's nice to know that even this messed up gang continues to have normal, human problems.
The show also manages to stay relevant (taking a page out of the South Park playbook) so they don't lose their creative juices. The show went to the Jersey Shore (although there was no semblance of the MTV reality show within the episode) and played off facebook/The Social Network and the underground cult documentary Catfish.
The show was always great from Season One and it continues to keep on getting better and better.
2) Modern Family (ABC)
For the past two years the best comedy has landed in the number two hole. I think it is just hard to rank the best comedy number one ahead of the best drama, as is true here. But make no mistake, the best comedy, here being Modern Family, is just as good in its own right.
Modern Family is just amazing and is far and away the greatest comedy out there.
Modern Family is not On Demand so the fact that I go out of my way to watch this show should give you an indication of just how good and hilarious the show is. Modern Family is one of a few examples on this list to make a great leap from Season One to Season Two. The show has always been funny but now that everybody has a firm grip on their characters (although Modern Family really wasn't one of the many shows to suffer from a lack of voice in its first season) this show is not only more hilarious but has deep heart and you're able to connect with its decently big cast (six adults and four kids spread across three families and generally at least three story lines an episode) along with building relationships between all the characters within the show.
The weird thing about Modern Family is that I can't really quote major lines from the show. Those who personally know me know I love to quote (or at least attempt to quote because I generally get the quote wrong) my favorite things and yet I can't do it with Modern Family. Just trust me though, the show is fucking hilarious and brilliant and is the best comedy of 2011 and the second best show of the year.
1) Justified (FX)
Jumping up four spots from my fifth best show last year to the best show so far this year, Justified's sophomore season has far surpassed its rookie one to rightfully earn the top honor.
Out of my millions of facebook friends (and by millions I mean 172. Don't feel bad, I purposefully delete those who I will never talk to again) only two of them watch Justified- and only one of them I actually continually converse with. So you need to watch Justified for the sole reason so that I have somebody to talk about this show with.
But in all seriousness Justified is amazing and you need to watch it.
The show follows around Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) as a bad-ass U.S. Marshall stuck back in his hometown of Harlan County, Kentucky. The season started off slow (although it had a great premiere giving closure to the end of Season 1 while setting up the characters and story lines for Season 2) it picked up about five episodes into the season stepped on the pedal, hit a few babies and old ladies along the way, and never looked back with its last four episodes of the season being some of the best television in awhile. Three out of the last four episodes could have been the season finale for me (although one actually WAS the season finale) and each episode was just better than the last.
Season 2 mainly centered around Olyphany versus Mags Bennett (Margo Martingale) who is a rotund (to put it lightly) 60-ish year old lady who runs the weed business in Harlan County (NOTE: Martindale won the Primetime Emmy for her role as Mags Bennett and I was glad to see her phenomenal performance get recognized) versus Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), the bad guy from Season 1, and the Crowder clan. Mags and Boyd Crowder play some of the best and charismatic bad guys on television, but my favorite was one in Season 2 was one of Mags' son- Dickie Bennett (Jeremy Davies). They all just pull you into every scene they're in while being some of the ruthless, ill-hearted people around. You still want them to win yet also want Raylan to kick their ass.
I said in my midseason post that it was going to be incredibly hard to knock Justified out of the #1 spot and considering how weak the fall 2011 season was, I was right.
__________________________
Here is a recap of my list:
10) 30 Rock (NBC)
9) Suits (USA)
8) White Collar (USA)
7) New Girl (FOX)
6) Lights Out (FX)
5) Parks and Recreation (NBC)
4) Community (NBC)
3) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX)
2) Modern Family (ABC)
1) Justified (FX)
However, before we begin, here's a list of shows that I watch that I could not bring myself to put on this list.
- How I Met Your Mother (CBS) Season 6 of HIMYM (which aired in the beginning of 2011) was pretty weak for the show and Season 7 of HIMYM (which just wrapped up) was horrendous. It was by far and away it's worst season and while I ranked the show during my midseason rankings, Season 7 definitively forced me to take it off.
- Entourage (HBO) Speaking of atrocious, Entourage's last season was the worst season it's ever had and that's a feat considering how terrible Season 6 was. The first three seasons of Entourage is, to me, some of the best television you will ever see but the show tailed off and tailed off quickly. The last half of Season 7 was amazing (despite Sasha Grey's acting) and I was hoping Entourage would build off of that for their last season. Boy was I wrong.
- The Office (NBC) Michael Scott's farewell tour was pretty touching and moving and it was great to see him evolve, but I think the show is now dead. The Office has been around for eight seasons and it's extremely hard to keep a sitcom going past that and even harder when the main character leavers (see: That 70's Show). Even Seinfeld only lasted nine seasons and was only funny for the first seven and half. Robert California is great but Michael Scott was the glue that kept everything together and Andy Bernard's not doing anything for me.
- The League (FX) This show is the quintessential example of enjoyable but not good. I LOVE this show and it's third season is its best season yet, but I can never bring myself to rank it because there's no character development. Great shows write an episode and then build upon that last episode to further enhance it. The League has never done that. In fact they'll write personalty points for characters just for a laugh and then never mention or touch on it again. The show is was it is and I wouldn't want anything more out of it, but it's just not a "good" show.
- Archer (FX) My friends are all obsessed with Archer and Sterling Archer is a great character but the show gets into season long ruts which diminishes the overall quality of the show. The first episode with "Countess von Fingerbang" was one of the shows greatest episodes. But then the show continued for an entire season more. Plus, season two never once mentioned "Danger Zone"! What the hell guys!
And now, onto the shows that actually did make my list.
10) 30 Rock (NBC)While the show took the fall season off so that Tina Fey could have another child and so we could all see what a disappointment Whitney is, the show was still strong during the early months of 2011. And those episodes were good.
There was a huge stretch there where I was only watching the show because it was just second nature to me and not because it was funny. Not anymore. This past season stumbled a bit when Tracy Morgan had kidney surgery thus forcing Tracy Jordan to take a hiatus from TGS but as a whole, 30 Rock had a great season. The show reverted back to what made it good in the first place- Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) being high and mighty, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) having problems in her social life, developing the relationship between Jack and Liz, and having only bit parts for the writers of TGS and Kenneth (Jack McBrayer). The show took a huge step in the right direction as it moved from #15 in 2010 to cracking the top 10 in 2011. The show is still not as funny as it was in Seasons 1-3 which was somewhat disappointing to me because I have such high expectations for this show based on when it first came out, but overall Season 5 of 30 Rock was funny and a success and earned the number ten spot on this list.
USA is what it is. The shows seem formulaic and they are, but I'm a sucker and I love them. I'm also a sucker for law shows being that I am a 3L in law school.
Suits follows around "the best closer in the law" Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and his recent intern whom he hired Mike Ross (Patrick Adams). The USA catch? Mike Ross never went to law school. He's whip smart, has a photogenic memory and intellectually knows the law, but because he got caught cheating taking other people's tests (in fact he actually passed the New York Bar for someone) he was never allowed to go to law school.
Now as a law student and someone who has had law interning jobs, some of the things Mike Ross does frustrates me. I understand that he's never been to law school and so the show is trying to paint a picture of naivety, but he needs to learn common sense. Like most USA shows it has that edge about it that makes you enjoy it but unlike other USA shows and other USA shows on previous lists, Suits only is at #9 because the writing can get streaky at times. The show tries to make you sympathize with Mike and make you hate Harvey but if you look at the big picture, Harvey is always right. I'd like to see that writing tighten up as the show progresses but overall a very enjoyable program.
8) White Collar (USA)I enjoy both Suits and White Collar but to me, Suits is just an inferior version of White Collar.
The show follows along white collar expert in the FBI Special Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) and smooth talking Ocean's-11-George-Clooney-esque con man Neil Caffrey (Matt Bomer) as a tag team duo catching a different white collar criminal week to week.
Like all original USA shows (and unlike FX shows) they are not *that* well written and are very formulaic and always have a happy ending but what I especially enjoyed about Seasons 2 and 3 of White Collar was that it finally wrapped up the series long conflict of what happened to Kate / why everyone was searching for the music box. The show found a way to still keep a season long mystery going in Season 3 (what happened to the art) and in the process took the relationship between Neil and Peter to another level. Deep down Neil Caffrey is a good person, but he's also a thief. He likes and cares for Peter but at the same time he needs to do what he can to save his own ass.
Sometimes you need mindless TV which will always put a smile on your face which is why White Collar earned the eighth best spot on this list.
New Girl is the only new show from the fall 2011 line up to make this list and it was the only show that I gave an "A" rating to during my fall preview. (Also, I don't care what you say Cubsfan, I will never watch Revenge). New Girl's pilot was hilarious. Jess (played by Zooey Deschanel) moves in with three male roommates, one of which was played by Damon Wayans Jr. Wayans also filmed a pilot for a show called "Happy Endings" and since that show was picked up, Wayans was contractually obligated to film that show and leave New Girl. Which was a shame because I loved his character Coach.
Then, FOX being FOX, did something stupid. Instead of refilming the pilot, they just wrote Coach out of the show completely and added a new black roommate- Winston. For a few episodes the show could not figure out how to effectively incorporate Winston into the show which dragged the show down. In fact, this season the show as a whole was trying to figure out what it wanted to. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. However, by season's end, New Girl has figured itself out. Let the hilarity ensue!
The show advertises itself that it's starring Deschanel and uses that as a hook to get people into the show, but the real stars of the show are the roommates- mainly Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Nick (Jake Johnson). This show could work without Deschanel (like a Two and a Half Men situation) but it would have an extremely hard time working without Schmidt and Nick. I've heard a lot of people not like New Girl because Jess is too quirky and too much of a caricature. If you think that then you're focusing on the wrong aspects of the show.
In the end, the show has found its groove and its just funny. I'm excited to see where the show takes us going forward.
6) Lights Out (FX)FX is probably the best network out there in terms of original programming but it's sadly a station that nobody watches. AMC is the big up and coming station with two great and established shows such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad and even still AMC is having trouble attracting viewers. Needless to say FX is in trouble. Whether it is a sports team or a TV station, the best way to attract people to watch you is by putting out quality products. But as the Tampa Bay Rays as well as FX has learned, that philosophy has not always paid off. The best show of 2010 was an FX show called Terriers which got cancelled due to poor ratings and Lights Out unfortunately fell to the same fate.
Lights Out follows boxer and former heavyweight champion Patrick "Lights" Leary (Holt McCallany) from him scrapping the bottom of the barrel (and lower) to try and regain his glory days back at the top. Even with boxing movies such as Rocky, Raging Bull, Cinderella Man, and most recently The Fighter, Lights Out felt original- mainly because nothing could go right for this underdog whereas the underdog always wins in the movies. Even when good things happened to Lights Leary and his family, even worse things would just pile on top and ruin everything again.
I encourage all of you to check out this show so I won't completely ruin the ending for you (which was jaw-dropping and amazing and heart breaking all at the same time) but even though the season ended like it was expecting a second season, it was a perfect series finale and the show was great enough to be the 6th best show of 2011.
5) Parks and Recreation (NBC) Parks and Rec does something special. It creates humor when people are actually doing their job well. Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) is fantastic at her job and in Season 4 she is getting the chance to pursue her dream job of becoming an elected official in the city of Pawnee, Indiana. Season 4 did a great job of just letting the characters be themselves. Leslie did what she always does- creates amazing programs for the city of Pawnee. Ron Effing Swanson (Nick Offerman) is just Ron Effing Swanson. 'Nuff Said. Season 4 also allowed Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) be his douchebag, hilarious self when he opened up his own entertainment business- Entertainment 720 with the amazingly douchey Jean-Ralphio. And most importantly we got to see the relationship between Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) blossom and evolve. It's difficult not keeping two characters who you know will end up with each other apart. After three seasons The Office had to have Jim and Pam become a couple because if they dragged out that relationship any longer it would just start to upset fans. However, Ben Wyatt was introduced late into the show and I think the show spent the perfect amount of time keeping Leslie and Ben apart.
I loved what Parks and Rec did this season and the show has taken an amazing turnaround since its awful first season.
4) Community (NBC) I actually enjoy shows like Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock more than Community, but there is no other show like Community. It is so daring and bold and beautiful that I had to put it in my top five. The show is truly the comedy version of Mad Men- it's genius, it's great, it's like nothing you've seen on television, it's got amazing character development, yet nobody watches it. And unfortunately for Community (even though every single TV critic loves it) it doesn't get the awards and accolades like Mad Men does. Which unfortunately for Community caused NBC (who is already having ratings problems even though it consistently produces the best quality of television) to force Community on a hiatus when 30 Rock returns in the spring of 2012. I hope NBC comes to their senses and keeps the show on. Plus, if you're going to cancel a Thursday night show, Whitney is right there for the taking. 3) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX) Always Sunny is having one of the best seasons its ever had. I mentioned earlier how it's hard to keep a sitcom going after eight years but Always Sunny is showing no signs of slowing down after its seventh season.The reason I love this season so much is two fold. The first is that the show has mainly focused off of Frank Reynolds (I love the character as a whole and Danny DeVito does a great job playing the character but...). Frank works perfect as a side character feeding off of the other four and not as a central player (The Alec Baldwin Effect). The second reason is that the show is finally playing off of the insecurities of Dee, (fat) Mac, and especially Dennis. The show is still super dark (the gang tried to convince an IRS agent that Dee's "fictional" kid died by throwing a fake funeral; Frank proposes to a WHore who suddenly dies on him) but it's nice to know that even this messed up gang continues to have normal, human problems.
The show also manages to stay relevant (taking a page out of the South Park playbook) so they don't lose their creative juices. The show went to the Jersey Shore (although there was no semblance of the MTV reality show within the episode) and played off facebook/The Social Network and the underground cult documentary Catfish.
The show was always great from Season One and it continues to keep on getting better and better.
2) Modern Family (ABC)For the past two years the best comedy has landed in the number two hole. I think it is just hard to rank the best comedy number one ahead of the best drama, as is true here. But make no mistake, the best comedy, here being Modern Family, is just as good in its own right.
Modern Family is just amazing and is far and away the greatest comedy out there.
Modern Family is not On Demand so the fact that I go out of my way to watch this show should give you an indication of just how good and hilarious the show is. Modern Family is one of a few examples on this list to make a great leap from Season One to Season Two. The show has always been funny but now that everybody has a firm grip on their characters (although Modern Family really wasn't one of the many shows to suffer from a lack of voice in its first season) this show is not only more hilarious but has deep heart and you're able to connect with its decently big cast (six adults and four kids spread across three families and generally at least three story lines an episode) along with building relationships between all the characters within the show.
The weird thing about Modern Family is that I can't really quote major lines from the show. Those who personally know me know I love to quote (or at least attempt to quote because I generally get the quote wrong) my favorite things and yet I can't do it with Modern Family. Just trust me though, the show is fucking hilarious and brilliant and is the best comedy of 2011 and the second best show of the year.
1) Justified (FX)Jumping up four spots from my fifth best show last year to the best show so far this year, Justified's sophomore season has far surpassed its rookie one to rightfully earn the top honor.
Out of my millions of facebook friends (and by millions I mean 172. Don't feel bad, I purposefully delete those who I will never talk to again) only two of them watch Justified- and only one of them I actually continually converse with. So you need to watch Justified for the sole reason so that I have somebody to talk about this show with.
But in all seriousness Justified is amazing and you need to watch it.
The show follows around Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) as a bad-ass U.S. Marshall stuck back in his hometown of Harlan County, Kentucky. The season started off slow (although it had a great premiere giving closure to the end of Season 1 while setting up the characters and story lines for Season 2) it picked up about five episodes into the season stepped on the pedal, hit a few babies and old ladies along the way, and never looked back with its last four episodes of the season being some of the best television in awhile. Three out of the last four episodes could have been the season finale for me (although one actually WAS the season finale) and each episode was just better than the last.
Season 2 mainly centered around Olyphany versus Mags Bennett (Margo Martingale) who is a rotund (to put it lightly) 60-ish year old lady who runs the weed business in Harlan County (NOTE: Martindale won the Primetime Emmy for her role as Mags Bennett and I was glad to see her phenomenal performance get recognized) versus Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), the bad guy from Season 1, and the Crowder clan. Mags and Boyd Crowder play some of the best and charismatic bad guys on television, but my favorite was one in Season 2 was one of Mags' son- Dickie Bennett (Jeremy Davies). They all just pull you into every scene they're in while being some of the ruthless, ill-hearted people around. You still want them to win yet also want Raylan to kick their ass.
I said in my midseason post that it was going to be incredibly hard to knock Justified out of the #1 spot and considering how weak the fall 2011 season was, I was right.
__________________________
Here is a recap of my list:
10) 30 Rock (NBC)
9) Suits (USA)
8) White Collar (USA)
7) New Girl (FOX)
6) Lights Out (FX)
5) Parks and Recreation (NBC)
4) Community (NBC)
3) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX)
2) Modern Family (ABC)
1) Justified (FX)
My Fall TV Guide
I don't claim to be a TV critic or watch every single television show, but I do watch a shit ton of TV. Despite being in law school I tend to spend my days watching On Demand and evenings watching new episodes. I think there is a pretty good fall line up right now and I would like to share my insight of what you should and should not be watching. There are a lot of shows that people tend to pick up after a few weeks of hearing buzz about them. With the first few episodes of all shows now starting to trickle onto On Demand plus shows starting to show their true colors of what they are as opposed to just their pilot episode, I thought now would be a good time to help you kiddies decide what you should and should not watch.
I am a true believer in judging a book by its cover when it comes to pilots. Those who make TV shows hate pilots because they feel like judging an entire television series by its pilot is like judging an entire batter's career by one at-bat. As Tiny Fey writes in her book Bossypants:
I'd like to think of myself as a good indicator of talent when it comes to pilots- whether that is true or not remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I am bringing my talent to you faithful readers. Enjoy!
New Girl
FOX Tuesdays
9:00/8:00c
Grade: A-
New Girl is by far and away the best new fall TV show. It stars Zooey Deschanel and, surprise surprise, she plays a quicky, cute, likeable, girl-next-door. The show is about her character (Jess) as she moves in with three male roommates after she catches her boyfriend cheating on her within the first few minutes of the first episode.
Deschanel is funny and good in this role (of course, she's been playing this role for the past decade or so in movies) but the show would get stale and boring if it solely focused around her character. The reason the show works so well is because of her three roommates (well, really mainly two). Her roommates are Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Winston (Lamorne Morris).
In the pilot episode, the black roommate was played by Damon Wayans Jr. who didn't continue with the show because he choose to star in Happy Endings instead (huge mistake, see below). His character, Coach, was funny and enjoyable and instead of filming a new pilot the show just wrote out Coach from the series and added in Winston. Winston is the one roommate who I think brings the show down. The show hasn't really written a personality or a part for him yet and I hope they can ease him in as the show moves forward.
Schmidt is the "leader" of this group and a huge douchebag (which works out great for the viewers, is not meant to be an insult at all, and something that can not be said for later episodes of Ted in How I Met Your Mother). Nick is more soft-spoken and down-to-earth and seems better and more prepared to help Jess get on with her life after the break up- which makes sense because he too is also struggling to deal with his break up. Coach's quirkiness fit in perfectly with this weird and strange dynamic and Winston is written (and/or played) so straight and uptight
In the three episodes that have aired so far the story lines (and even the resolutions) are pretty much the same and I worry that this schtick could get old, but right now I don't care. All I want out of a comedy is to laugh and this show does it for me. The characters are three-dimensional and enjoyable to watch. When How I Met Your Mother ends in a few years (and the way this season has started in can't come fast enough) I think New Girl has the best chance to take its place.
American Horror Story
FX Wednesdays
10:00/9:00c
Grade: B
This show was the only other pilot of this new season that I was blown away by. OK, that is a hyperbole but this episode left me wanting more which is what I want out of a pilot.
The show follows Vivien and Ben Harmon (Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott) and their daughter Violet (played by Vera's sister Taissa Farmiga) as they move from Boston to a haunted house in Los Angeles. Ben cheated on Vivien after a miscarriage by Vivien and in order to get a new start Ben picks up his family to move across the country.
This show initially intrigued me because I can't remember the last time a horror series was made for T.V. and because FX has had great success with quality programming within the past three years (Justified, Always Sunny, The League, Archer, Terriers, Lights Out. Need I go on?).
I enjoyed all the horror scenes that went on throughout the pilot episode. As I've gotten older (and graduated from high school) I've grown to enjoy horror movies more and more. While I still can't stand gross-out gore used to fear purposes (hell I couldn't even get through a surgery scene of Nip/Tuck, also on FX, without cringing) I enjoy movies that build up suspense with music and tension. The best horror movies have great filmmaking along with superb acting and the right music (I know, I know you can say the same thing for all movies and that's true but I feel like not all great directors can do horror movies but all the great horror directors can do other movies. Whatever.) It takes a special skill to create a great horror movie (and a skill that M. Night Shyamalam clearly lost after 2000).
The fear and suspense building up is here in American Horror Story but it lacks good acting and a cohesive plot and characters. The lack of cohesiveness though I thought worked in the pilot (the only episode released as of the writing of this post) because I enjoyed the scary and creepy moments. The only way to have continuously scary moments is to suspend disbelief and just create reasons for new creppy shit to occur. The lack of structure worries me going forward and plays a huge part in any visual medium (and the reason I could not give the show any sort of "A" rating) but at the same time I will give the show its props for making a thriller T.V. show and thrilling me in the process. I can turn off my brain and except major plot holes if the show is scaring me like it should.
I will say though, maybe it wasn't the best idea creating a horror television show around a haunted house. Realistically, why would the characters continue to live in the house if it's haunted? Everyone would just move! Can the show really continue for five seasons living in the same haunted house?
Whitney
NBC Thursdays
9:30/8:30c
Grade: C
I was very uninpressed by the show's pilot and if The Office didn't air right before Whitney and if It's Always Sunny and The League didn't air at least half an hour after The Office I would have stopped watching Whitney by now. But alas, I have seen all three episodes so far.
The show follows Whitney (Whitney Cummings) and her boyfriend Alex (Chris D'Elia) along with two of Whitney's friends and two of Alex's friends. The first glaring problem is that the show has a laugh track (OK, it's first glaring problem is that the show is not funny but we'll get to that in a second). The show claims it is filmed in front of a live studio audience but I refuse to believe that. I had seen most of the jokes of the pilot in the ten bajillion previews NBC aired for Whitney and those jokes were made even worse with people laughing when I first saw the pilot. The show was telling me to laugh but I couldn't do it which just upset me further.
I have enjoyed Whitney's stand up career and her jokes so I was excited for this show but unfortunately it has not lived up to my expectations. This show has the potential to be good but I think creative control needs to be taken away from Cummings. She wrote the first two episodes and seems to be in charge of everything. I think if someone more talented came aboard and worked with the characters Cummings created the show would be better. Like what NBC did with Parks and Recreation. Parks and Rec's first season was so terrible I stopped watching, but then NBC retooled it and DME still for some reason kept watching and convinced me to do the same. Now the show is one of the best comedies on television right now.
But now back to Whitney. The best part of this entire series is Whitney's boyfriend Alex. D'Elia is funny and good in this role and plays well off of Whitney's character. The best episode by far of this short series was episode three- which focused a lot on Alex and less on Whitney. (Plus this episode was not written by Cummings).
The four other friends are tired, stale, two-dimensional characters that I don't care about which is another reason the show is pretty bad. However, because of how awesome D'Elia has been and because of its convenient time slot, I have and will continue to watch Whitney.
Pan Am
ABC Sundays
10:00/9:00c
Grade: D
The first of two new shows trying to be like Mad Men and failing miserably. This show is set in the 60's and mainly follows four Pan American stewardesses: Maggie Ryan (Christina Ricci), sisters Kate and Laura Cameron (Kelli Gardner and Margot Robbie respectively), and Colette Valois (Karine Vanasse) and probably one or two pilots as well. I don't know, the show was so bad and boring I couldn't stay focused and started cleaning my apartment in the middle of watching the pilot. (haha pilot, Pan Am, airplines. Get it? As well you shouldn't have).
The show tries to do what Mad Men does- show a changing of the times; How the 1960's in America empowered women (even though all Pan Am stewardesses have to wear girdles and be hot in order to have the job) and how the 60's changed America in general. However, the first step to do this (in fact the first step for every television show) is to have characters that the audience cares about. I could have cared less about what any of these characters were doing.
The show jumps around all over the place as well which also takes the viewer out of it. While all four flight attendants (at least in the first two episodes that I have seen) are flying together, the show will make LOST-esque flashbacks that I also could have cared less about. Like LOST on the island, the stewardesses are all on a flight together which cohesively ties all the characters together while sporadically jumping back in time to try to develop and bring audience sympathy to these characters. But in the end it's all for naught. Colette is kind of a slut. Maggie is a rebel trying to be a part of the Kesey-ian counterculture. One of the Cameron sisters was gonna get married but didn't. Whoop-dee-do. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.
On top of all of that, there's this weird spy, espionage, Cold War thing with one of the Cameron sisters (I seriously could not tell which sister was which. They both look like an indistinguishable hot, white girl to me).
Anyways, because of a lack of structure, a poor excuse to try to be Mad Men, and for characters I don't care about (did you get that I don't care about these characters?), Pan Am gets a poor rating from me.
Happy Endings
ABC Wednesdays
10:00/9:00c
Grade: D-
Apparently this show was a mid season replacement in April of 2011 and the episode I saw was not a pilot at all but the beginning of season two. That would help explain why the writers of the episode did not follow Tiny Fey's advice. The show centers around six friends. One of them is played by Damon Wayans Jr, one by Elisha Cuthbert (24, The Girl Next Door), and one by Eliza Coupe (the bitchy intern in the last few, non-NBC season of Scrubs) and well as three other people I couldn't care less about.
It's very difficult to have have more than four main characters that you should sympathize with in a sitcom. Sure there are comedies with more than four central characters (How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, Cheers, Community) but in order for those comedies to be successful multiple characters are woven into the same story line or, especially in the case of Community, characters will just flat out not have a story arc. I felt like Happy Endings tried to weave in multiple story lines and multiple characters together which just created confusion and indifference for the viewer. The show wants you to care about all six of theirs and in the process makes you care about none.
Worst of all, the show wasn't funny. You can't make a comedy and then not make me laugh and because of the poor character development I wasn't entertained either. Plus, it made me even more upset that Wayans choose this show over New Girl.
Last Man Standing
ABC Tuesdays
8:00/7:00c
Grade: D-
Imagine Home Improvement. Now imagine Tim Allen having three girls instead of three boys. Now imagine that Tim Allen has aged ten years, not done any good live action movies since Home Improvement (gotta give him *some* props for Toy Story), and is not funny anymore. Now you have Last Man Standing.
The fundamental family concept is there for Last Man Standing just like it was there for Home Improvement as well as most sitcoms prior to the cancellation of Everybody Loves Raymond but the jokes are not. To top it all off, the entire shows is cliche. The three daughters are all moody idiots (NOTE: Dear LMS, see Modern Family to how to write teenage daughter characters correctly) and Tim Allen's crotchety old man routine is tiresome. Tim Allen ends up creating and positing vlogs about how the younger culture is full of wimps and pansies and blah blah blah.
All of this could be forgiven though if the jokes actually made me laugh and, as mentioned earlier, the dynamic of the show creates potential for the show to be funny. But it is not like Last Man Standing is the first sitcom to be centered around a family and it most certainly would not the first sitcom that is family-centered to not be funny and get cancelled in its first season either.
The Playboy Club
NBC Cancelled
Grade: F
OK. So while you can not even watch this show anymore to judge for yourself, I did have to suffer through its pilot episode so damn it I am going to talk about it!
This is the second of two shows that tries to take after the Mad Men mold. Hell, the shows main character (Nick Dalton) looks like Don Draper, dresses like Don Draper, acts like Don Draper, and even SOUNDS like Don Draper. Though I hate to tell ya' Playboy Club, you were doomed from the start.
Though the show was neither smart nor charming nor funny nor entertaining in any way, shape, or form, even if the show rivaled Mad Men in terms of quality, as it turns out Mad Man gets piss poor ratings and if it was on any other channel besides AMC (like, say, the 4th rated network known as NBC) it would have been cancelled three and a half seasons ago. Shame on you America for not watching the greatness that is Med Men! Shame on you!
Other pilots I have watched:
- Up All Night (NBC, Wed, 8/7c) Grade: C-.
- Free Agents (NBC, Cancelled) Grade: F.
Television Shows I Am Currently Watching (Grade for this season only)
- How I Met Your Mother (CBS, Mon, 8/7c) Grade: C
- Glee (FOX, Tues, 8/7c) Grade: C-
- Workaholics (Comedy Central, Tues, 930/830c) Grade: B+
- Modern Family (ABC, Wed, 9/8c) Grade: A+
- Community (NBC, Thurs, 8/7c) Grade: A-
- Parks and Rec (NBC, Thurs, 830/730c) Grade: A
- The Office (NBC, Thurs, 9/8c) Grade: B
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX, Thurs, 10/9c) Grade: A+
- Archer (FX, Thurs, 1030/930c) Grade: B (three episode miniseries)
- The League (FX, Thurs, 1030/930c) Grade: B- (one episode)
- Jersey Shore (MTV, Thurs, 10/9c) Grade: B+
I am a true believer in judging a book by its cover when it comes to pilots. Those who make TV shows hate pilots because they feel like judging an entire television series by its pilot is like judging an entire batter's career by one at-bat. As Tiny Fey writes in her book Bossypants:
Pilots are extremely difficult to write because you have to introduce all the characters without it feeling like a series of introductions. You have to tell a story that's not only funny and compelling but also dramatizes your main characters' point of view and what the series would be about thematically.Even though writing pilots may be difficult, I think because the show's creator is forced to encapsulate an entire series in one episode that a pilot is a great way to determine whether or not you watch the entire series. Tina Fey's show 30 Rock is a perfect example of why I like the pilot system. Her show along with Entourage (my favorite show of all time) and Mad Men (the best show of the past five years) are the three best pilots I have seen in the past decade. After watching the pilots to those respective shows I said to myself, "This show is awesome, I need to see more". And I have been proven right so far.
I'd like to think of myself as a good indicator of talent when it comes to pilots- whether that is true or not remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I am bringing my talent to you faithful readers. Enjoy!
New GirlFOX Tuesdays
9:00/8:00c
Grade: A-
New Girl is by far and away the best new fall TV show. It stars Zooey Deschanel and, surprise surprise, she plays a quicky, cute, likeable, girl-next-door. The show is about her character (Jess) as she moves in with three male roommates after she catches her boyfriend cheating on her within the first few minutes of the first episode.
Deschanel is funny and good in this role (of course, she's been playing this role for the past decade or so in movies) but the show would get stale and boring if it solely focused around her character. The reason the show works so well is because of her three roommates (well, really mainly two). Her roommates are Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Winston (Lamorne Morris).
In the pilot episode, the black roommate was played by Damon Wayans Jr. who didn't continue with the show because he choose to star in Happy Endings instead (huge mistake, see below). His character, Coach, was funny and enjoyable and instead of filming a new pilot the show just wrote out Coach from the series and added in Winston. Winston is the one roommate who I think brings the show down. The show hasn't really written a personality or a part for him yet and I hope they can ease him in as the show moves forward.
Schmidt is the "leader" of this group and a huge douchebag (which works out great for the viewers, is not meant to be an insult at all, and something that can not be said for later episodes of Ted in How I Met Your Mother). Nick is more soft-spoken and down-to-earth and seems better and more prepared to help Jess get on with her life after the break up- which makes sense because he too is also struggling to deal with his break up. Coach's quirkiness fit in perfectly with this weird and strange dynamic and Winston is written (and/or played) so straight and uptight
In the three episodes that have aired so far the story lines (and even the resolutions) are pretty much the same and I worry that this schtick could get old, but right now I don't care. All I want out of a comedy is to laugh and this show does it for me. The characters are three-dimensional and enjoyable to watch. When How I Met Your Mother ends in a few years (and the way this season has started in can't come fast enough) I think New Girl has the best chance to take its place.
American Horror StoryFX Wednesdays
10:00/9:00c
Grade: B
This show was the only other pilot of this new season that I was blown away by. OK, that is a hyperbole but this episode left me wanting more which is what I want out of a pilot.
The show follows Vivien and Ben Harmon (Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott) and their daughter Violet (played by Vera's sister Taissa Farmiga) as they move from Boston to a haunted house in Los Angeles. Ben cheated on Vivien after a miscarriage by Vivien and in order to get a new start Ben picks up his family to move across the country.
This show initially intrigued me because I can't remember the last time a horror series was made for T.V. and because FX has had great success with quality programming within the past three years (Justified, Always Sunny, The League, Archer, Terriers, Lights Out. Need I go on?).
I enjoyed all the horror scenes that went on throughout the pilot episode. As I've gotten older (and graduated from high school) I've grown to enjoy horror movies more and more. While I still can't stand gross-out gore used to fear purposes (hell I couldn't even get through a surgery scene of Nip/Tuck, also on FX, without cringing) I enjoy movies that build up suspense with music and tension. The best horror movies have great filmmaking along with superb acting and the right music (I know, I know you can say the same thing for all movies and that's true but I feel like not all great directors can do horror movies but all the great horror directors can do other movies. Whatever.) It takes a special skill to create a great horror movie (and a skill that M. Night Shyamalam clearly lost after 2000).
The fear and suspense building up is here in American Horror Story but it lacks good acting and a cohesive plot and characters. The lack of cohesiveness though I thought worked in the pilot (the only episode released as of the writing of this post) because I enjoyed the scary and creepy moments. The only way to have continuously scary moments is to suspend disbelief and just create reasons for new creppy shit to occur. The lack of structure worries me going forward and plays a huge part in any visual medium (and the reason I could not give the show any sort of "A" rating) but at the same time I will give the show its props for making a thriller T.V. show and thrilling me in the process. I can turn off my brain and except major plot holes if the show is scaring me like it should.
I will say though, maybe it wasn't the best idea creating a horror television show around a haunted house. Realistically, why would the characters continue to live in the house if it's haunted? Everyone would just move! Can the show really continue for five seasons living in the same haunted house?
WhitneyNBC Thursdays
9:30/8:30c
Grade: C
I was very uninpressed by the show's pilot and if The Office didn't air right before Whitney and if It's Always Sunny and The League didn't air at least half an hour after The Office I would have stopped watching Whitney by now. But alas, I have seen all three episodes so far.
The show follows Whitney (Whitney Cummings) and her boyfriend Alex (Chris D'Elia) along with two of Whitney's friends and two of Alex's friends. The first glaring problem is that the show has a laugh track (OK, it's first glaring problem is that the show is not funny but we'll get to that in a second). The show claims it is filmed in front of a live studio audience but I refuse to believe that. I had seen most of the jokes of the pilot in the ten bajillion previews NBC aired for Whitney and those jokes were made even worse with people laughing when I first saw the pilot. The show was telling me to laugh but I couldn't do it which just upset me further.
I have enjoyed Whitney's stand up career and her jokes so I was excited for this show but unfortunately it has not lived up to my expectations. This show has the potential to be good but I think creative control needs to be taken away from Cummings. She wrote the first two episodes and seems to be in charge of everything. I think if someone more talented came aboard and worked with the characters Cummings created the show would be better. Like what NBC did with Parks and Recreation. Parks and Rec's first season was so terrible I stopped watching, but then NBC retooled it and DME still for some reason kept watching and convinced me to do the same. Now the show is one of the best comedies on television right now.
But now back to Whitney. The best part of this entire series is Whitney's boyfriend Alex. D'Elia is funny and good in this role and plays well off of Whitney's character. The best episode by far of this short series was episode three- which focused a lot on Alex and less on Whitney. (Plus this episode was not written by Cummings).
The four other friends are tired, stale, two-dimensional characters that I don't care about which is another reason the show is pretty bad. However, because of how awesome D'Elia has been and because of its convenient time slot, I have and will continue to watch Whitney.
Pan AmABC Sundays
10:00/9:00c
Grade: D
The first of two new shows trying to be like Mad Men and failing miserably. This show is set in the 60's and mainly follows four Pan American stewardesses: Maggie Ryan (Christina Ricci), sisters Kate and Laura Cameron (Kelli Gardner and Margot Robbie respectively), and Colette Valois (Karine Vanasse) and probably one or two pilots as well. I don't know, the show was so bad and boring I couldn't stay focused and started cleaning my apartment in the middle of watching the pilot. (haha pilot, Pan Am, airplines. Get it? As well you shouldn't have).
The show tries to do what Mad Men does- show a changing of the times; How the 1960's in America empowered women (even though all Pan Am stewardesses have to wear girdles and be hot in order to have the job) and how the 60's changed America in general. However, the first step to do this (in fact the first step for every television show) is to have characters that the audience cares about. I could have cared less about what any of these characters were doing.
The show jumps around all over the place as well which also takes the viewer out of it. While all four flight attendants (at least in the first two episodes that I have seen) are flying together, the show will make LOST-esque flashbacks that I also could have cared less about. Like LOST on the island, the stewardesses are all on a flight together which cohesively ties all the characters together while sporadically jumping back in time to try to develop and bring audience sympathy to these characters. But in the end it's all for naught. Colette is kind of a slut. Maggie is a rebel trying to be a part of the Kesey-ian counterculture. One of the Cameron sisters was gonna get married but didn't. Whoop-dee-do. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care.
On top of all of that, there's this weird spy, espionage, Cold War thing with one of the Cameron sisters (I seriously could not tell which sister was which. They both look like an indistinguishable hot, white girl to me).
Anyways, because of a lack of structure, a poor excuse to try to be Mad Men, and for characters I don't care about (did you get that I don't care about these characters?), Pan Am gets a poor rating from me.
Happy EndingsABC Wednesdays
10:00/9:00c
Grade: D-
Apparently this show was a mid season replacement in April of 2011 and the episode I saw was not a pilot at all but the beginning of season two. That would help explain why the writers of the episode did not follow Tiny Fey's advice. The show centers around six friends. One of them is played by Damon Wayans Jr, one by Elisha Cuthbert (24, The Girl Next Door), and one by Eliza Coupe (the bitchy intern in the last few, non-NBC season of Scrubs) and well as three other people I couldn't care less about.
It's very difficult to have have more than four main characters that you should sympathize with in a sitcom. Sure there are comedies with more than four central characters (How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, Cheers, Community) but in order for those comedies to be successful multiple characters are woven into the same story line or, especially in the case of Community, characters will just flat out not have a story arc. I felt like Happy Endings tried to weave in multiple story lines and multiple characters together which just created confusion and indifference for the viewer. The show wants you to care about all six of theirs and in the process makes you care about none.
Worst of all, the show wasn't funny. You can't make a comedy and then not make me laugh and because of the poor character development I wasn't entertained either. Plus, it made me even more upset that Wayans choose this show over New Girl.
Last Man StandingABC Tuesdays
8:00/7:00c
Grade: D-
Imagine Home Improvement. Now imagine Tim Allen having three girls instead of three boys. Now imagine that Tim Allen has aged ten years, not done any good live action movies since Home Improvement (gotta give him *some* props for Toy Story), and is not funny anymore. Now you have Last Man Standing.
The fundamental family concept is there for Last Man Standing just like it was there for Home Improvement as well as most sitcoms prior to the cancellation of Everybody Loves Raymond but the jokes are not. To top it all off, the entire shows is cliche. The three daughters are all moody idiots (NOTE: Dear LMS, see Modern Family to how to write teenage daughter characters correctly) and Tim Allen's crotchety old man routine is tiresome. Tim Allen ends up creating and positing vlogs about how the younger culture is full of wimps and pansies and blah blah blah.
All of this could be forgiven though if the jokes actually made me laugh and, as mentioned earlier, the dynamic of the show creates potential for the show to be funny. But it is not like Last Man Standing is the first sitcom to be centered around a family and it most certainly would not the first sitcom that is family-centered to not be funny and get cancelled in its first season either.
The Playboy ClubNBC Cancelled
Grade: F
OK. So while you can not even watch this show anymore to judge for yourself, I did have to suffer through its pilot episode so damn it I am going to talk about it!
This is the second of two shows that tries to take after the Mad Men mold. Hell, the shows main character (Nick Dalton) looks like Don Draper, dresses like Don Draper, acts like Don Draper, and even SOUNDS like Don Draper. Though I hate to tell ya' Playboy Club, you were doomed from the start.
Though the show was neither smart nor charming nor funny nor entertaining in any way, shape, or form, even if the show rivaled Mad Men in terms of quality, as it turns out Mad Man gets piss poor ratings and if it was on any other channel besides AMC (like, say, the 4th rated network known as NBC) it would have been cancelled three and a half seasons ago. Shame on you America for not watching the greatness that is Med Men! Shame on you!
Other pilots I have watched:
- Up All Night (NBC, Wed, 8/7c) Grade: C-.
- Free Agents (NBC, Cancelled) Grade: F.
Television Shows I Am Currently Watching (Grade for this season only)
- How I Met Your Mother (CBS, Mon, 8/7c) Grade: C
- Glee (FOX, Tues, 8/7c) Grade: C-
- Workaholics (Comedy Central, Tues, 930/830c) Grade: B+
- Modern Family (ABC, Wed, 9/8c) Grade: A+
- Community (NBC, Thurs, 8/7c) Grade: A-
- Parks and Rec (NBC, Thurs, 830/730c) Grade: A
- The Office (NBC, Thurs, 9/8c) Grade: B
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX, Thurs, 10/9c) Grade: A+
- Archer (FX, Thurs, 1030/930c) Grade: B (three episode miniseries)
- The League (FX, Thurs, 1030/930c) Grade: B- (one episode)
- Jersey Shore (MTV, Thurs, 10/9c) Grade: B+
