I was going to stick these at the tail end of this week's
DOLHOUSE review, but I thought about it and realized there was more than enough material to justify a post of its own.
(very mild spoilers to follow)
SONS OF ANARCHY (FX, Tuesdays at 10pm) has been rather enjoyable (if one could call its often vile subject matter that) this season, due in no small part to Ron Perlman, Katey Segal, and Adam Arkin's standout work. I said it last season, and I said it this one, that Perlman and Segal have been doing career best work on this show, and Season 2 has only deepened and enriched their characterizations. Segal in particular, has been playing the hell of her arc (and has humanized Gemma in way I didn't think possible, seeing how abrasively unlikeable she was last year). It's not quite at the same level, but SOA has unequivocally taken up the mantel of THE SHIELD for FX (as they hoped it would be). All hail creator Kurt Sutter, that sick genius...
FLASH FORWARD (ABC, Thursdays 8pm)
So in case you live under a rock, you should know that ABC has this juggernaut show called LOST that's ending this season. Desperate to fill the void with another labyrinthine sci-fi brain twister, they commissioned David Goyer (he of BATMAN BEGINS and BLADE fame) to come up with the high concept show FLASH FORWARD. Much like DOLLHOUSE, the premise is quite interesting, rather far fetched, and sketchily executed at times.
The basic gist (in case you don't know) is that for two and a half minutes one morning, the entire human raced blacked out, and saw their own future six months from that time. The show's devoted to the aftermath, the investigation of who caused the black out and why, and the psychological impact it's having on his main characters (and by extension all of humanity). I like both aspects as presented so far, but it clearly want to be like LOST insofar as the whole predetermination vs free will debate that's already shaping up (for instance, John Cho's character had no flash forward, and it's because he's going to die sometime in that period, a fact which he is struggle to accept / change). Goyer claims that he's already plotted out all five season of FF (that should excite you BABYLON 5 fans), but I also get a strong wiff of ABC's
"The Nine" off this show (and I enjoyed that for what it was), a similar show that was quickly canceled, and I think FF will suffer the same fate. Oh well, leaves Sonja Walgner more available for the end of LOST.
Speaking of (*coughelizabethmitchell*), in a stunning and sad vote of no confidence, ABC announced that they will be airing their remake of "
V" in a four episode pod, and then holding the back end nine until MARCH (after the Winter Olympics), the not-so veiled implication being that if the show doesn't pull in decent ratings, those other episodes might not even be made/aired at all. Not to be outdone. NBC announced the same fate for its own alien invasion show, DAY ONE. And people wonder why I'm rooting for "The Jay Leno Show" (and most other reality programming) to fail....
Meanwhile, on
DEXTER, naked John Lithgow is so NOT what I wanted to see. I saw last week's Season Four premiere back in August when it made its annual pre-season leak online, and I can't say I was very impressed overall (although I did like the latest (sleepy time) riff on the Main Titles). I think the straw that broke the camel's back was the cliffhanger the episode ended on... it seemd wildly implausible that Dex would be able to talk his way out of why there were a bunch of body parts in Hefty Bags in the back of the mini van... from what I hear, he's going to be pulling a Walter White this Sunday (don't get the reference? Shame on you for not watching BREAKING BAD). The writers need to start thinking about the end NOW, and start working towards it NOW (that's done wonders for LOST). Oh, and (ex) Agent Lundy's death meter went sky high in my book when he revealed he was now retired.... just you wait....
I also think
THE OFFICE is beginning to show its age as well, and based on the reception to the first two episodes, many people agree with me.
"The Promotion" in particular seemed to be a drawn out expansion of the fact that Jim has some hard lesson to learn in management (as seen in "Survivor Man" last year), although I also chalk it up to the fact that, yea, having two bosses is not a good idea.("What does one bean mean?!?") Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to next week's big wedding episode (they also had two very funny spreads in EW lately-- last week's cover story and this weeks behind-the-warehouse door "candids").
I've been watching COMMUNITY simply because it's been airing afterwards, but don't think I'll be following it to 8pm once 30 ROCK comes back in two weeks. I caught up with MODERN FAMILY on Hulu because it got positive critical write ups, but I won't be giving it the same recommendation. Similarly, I watched the pilot of TRAUMA solely to hear Bear McCreary's score, but the show was like a poor man's E.R. Hell, it wan't even a poor man's THIRD WATCH. Sorry, Bear, better luck next time. Plus, I gave GLEE (gotta hear Kristen Chenowith belt them out, after all) one more shot, but decided it's really not for me (its the music... i HATE most of the modern song selections).
Last (and somewhat) least,
TRUE BLOOD (HBO) Season Two, in retrospect, was a disjointed mess overall. Proceeding in three overall acts (Pre Dallas, Dallas, and post Dallas events), the show limped along in stutters, swinging from the bizarre (all the Fellowship of the Sun material), to the sublime (Loreana and Bill's Prohibition adventures, Godric's serenity, and most of Layfette's scenes), to the ridiculous (just about everything to do with Maryann, the endless and repetitive orgies, and of course the main relationship between Sookie and Bill). I didn't care much for the way the show wrapped itself up so neatly/conveniently, and then brazenly threw itself off the rails in the final half hour of the finale, but I'm willing to give it one more shot once it returns next year, if only to see what they do with Queen Sophie (more Yatzhee perhaps?)...
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