The State of TV: Spring 2009

With the network television season officially over it is time to say what I liked and what I didn’t like about each show I watched…which doesn’t include canceled shows like Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money. Those were covered back in the fall 2008 State of TV article. This article basically leads off from that and sees if any problems were fixed…of course my problems not the general audiences problems.

General: I’m excited about next year. There are a few new shows I am thinking of adding, nothing finalized yet. However I don’t think it was the most creative year for Upfronts. I try to think that the shows that made it to the air were the best so not to good in the brainstorming department. I also have to say overall the midseason replacements were weak. I liked Better Off Ted and Parks and Recreation but could not get into Castle or Dollhouse. I’m no whedonite though so maybe that is it. I wanted to like Castle bu I just wasn’t interested. Network TV in general I think is starting to become more and more like British tv. More and more shows are doing half seasons instead of one whole season over the whole year. Now shows like Desperate Housewives and procedurals don’t really need to do that but it is becoming a way of making the show an event (Lost, 24, American Idol, and next year NBC is doing it with more shows) . I think it will be a formula that will grow stronger and stronger. I don’t know if I am a huge fan of it. It sucks that there is no new Lost until January 2010 but it makes my anticipation greater for it. I still fell that this year was affected by the writers strike and hopefully now this it is over things can move on.

Private Practice

I’m not willing to spend money on buying this show on dvd, but will say that it is getting stronger and stronger. This whole season has proved how good a show it is…the only problem I can really see is how invested a viewer is in the characters. They seem real but if Christina Yang was in the same position as Violet was I probably would have cared a bit more. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I just don’t feel the same connection with them as I do with other shows. The season finale was extremely strong and all the episodes leading up to it were strong. This show kind of got the short end during the cross over. If it was supposed to lure more viewers over from Grey’s Anatomy then Shonda did a terrible job connecting the two because either it felt like a 2 hour Grey’s Anatomy episode or that the problems at the Oceanside Wellness Group seemed so far removed that it didn’t feel like a cross over. I don’t understand why they could have Baily or someone come down for an episode? The only other thing that threw me was the three month episode. I know they were speeding things up for Violet’s pregnancy but the whole thing was very jarring. Again they all seem very happy and it is a great cast. Great cliff hanger, one of the best of the season. Plus everything with Dell and his wife, Naomi leaving the practice, and Charlotte King trying to keep her job were all great storylines. I feel like this has better acting and better writing then Grey’s Anatomy, now I just need to be invested.

Better Off Ted

I love this show. I really do. I am so glad I started watching it on a whim because it turned out to be excellent. The whole cast is great minus maybe a few Andrea Anders moments. However she might not be as strong as everyone else, but it isn’t to say she is awful. I want people to watch this show when it comes back because it really is one of the best comedies. It is quick, smart, funny, and off the wall. How can you not like a show about that? How could you not like a show with Portia De Rossi in it. She is still kind of playing the no self awareness that she did in Arrested Development but her timing is so good and the character is different enough that it doesn’t matter. The season finale was excellent and you could tell the producers were pissed that they had to push their finale back a week for yet another presidential address. However it was worth the wait to have an episode that forced personalities on people like the Cat People. If I could get Veridian Dynamics commercials for the rest of my life I would.

The Amazing Race 14

I thought this season was on par with last season. Phil seemed to think it was one of the best but I thought it was ok. Maybe even not as good as last season. I just found the cast really unlikeable besides maybe Margie and Amanda/Kris. I also feel like Luke was shoved down our throats and if he wasn’t deaf he wouldn’t have gotten such a good edit. I’m not against him for being deaf I just didn’t see him as someone I really wanted to root for. That should ok, I shouldn’t just have to root for somebody because they have a disability. I do commend him though. He and Margie did have a great relationship and worked very well together. Plus good for him for being able to compete in his favorite show. He looked really upset at the end when they lost, which is to bad. That being said I would rather they have won then Tammy and Victor. Fucking Victor? Really? The guy who almost got him and his sister eliminated because he was so stubborn to turn around? They won? After two incredibly easy China legs for them. Granted they probably had just as much trouble as the other teams, because still making your way around another country is hard but they had a big advantage knowing how to speak the language. So after Kris and Amanda got out I was kind of just sort of non-phased with the rest of the cast. My favorites were gone. However I did like that the last leg was a bit more even then Nick and Starr just running to the end with no competition. I am really hoping the casting goes all out for next season. I really want to have some big rivalries and teams that fall apart. We didn’t have that with Jennifer and Preston getting eliminated first. I do have to give credit this season for the super mat meltdown. That fight was so intense between Margie/Luke and Kisha/Jennifer. I’ve never seen anything like that ever before. Margie got so mad…I loved it. Plus props to the new intro and updated look.

The Celebrity Apprentice 2

2 Hours? Did this show really need to be 2 hours. I think I would have liked this a hell of a lot better if the task wasn’t an hour and ten minutes and then we had 30 minutes of Trump talking to both teams and then 20 minutes talking with the losing team. Really? This did not need to be 2 hours and next year doesn’t need to be 2 hours. Is it also sad that I thought last years cast was better then this years cast? There might have been some bigger names and maybe I liked the freshness of last season (plus Omarosa) but I just kind of felt like their was a low of showboating and manipulation going on behind the scenes. Plus I was not a fan of Trump’s firings this year…last year besides the awful cutting of Carol Alt I was pretty much fine with his decisions but this year I felt like he really manipulated the show. Granted it is his show to manipulate but the firings need to make sense. This was the season of unlikeable reality show contestants. Jesse was too self righteous, Annie was to much of a know-it-all, Brande and Melissa were to shrill, Dennis was to crazy, Brian and Khloe just didn’t care, and Hershel was just annoying. Everyone else, besides maybe Tom Green, were either to obnoxious and awful or were hardly in the show to begin with. (Side Note: With the show being two hours long how did Tionne get almost no air time?)

I thought I could root for Joan but she really just became just as terrible as Clint and Annie by the end of this. Her whole little hissy fit when Melissa was eliminated also didn’t help. Plus it seemed inevitible that Trump would have her facing off against Annie at the end. I think that is what Trump is doing now. He is just looking to see who the final 2 could be. What kind of matchup he can have. It isn’t about who would be the best person to hire (or faux hire in this case) it is just about what Trump wants. I hated the whole alcoholic theme that followed throughout this whole season. I know you have problems with alcohol Trump but you should have fired Dennis for other reasons and earlier. Tom Green was the star of this season, in my eyes, and his attitude towards Annie was perhaps the highlight of the whole show. That is why the U.S. Apprentice pails in comparison to Sir Alan Sugar and the U.K. Apprentice. So really this show needs to be one hour and needs to have some people to root for.

Fringe

I should have had more faith in this show then I did way back in September and in the original State of TV article. The show has really grown on me and I find it to be one of my favorites right now. So much that I cannot wait for its premier September 17th. The show has worked on addressing a few problems I have. Still it is annoying that most of the Pattern problems we see take place in the Boston area but they did start connecting the plots and did start working on fleshing out characters like Astrid, Broyles, and Charlie. Plus Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson continued to improve as the show went along. The star of the show is still obviously Walter Bishop. Every episode I am waiting for a Walter Bishop moment (“Don’t Be Such a Prude. I’m sure Ms. Dunham has seen a penis before”). Plus like some other shows it can quickly go from a light hearted moment to a incredibly intense moment.

The show is visually stunning as well like in Bad Dreams with all those people standing on the edge of the building about to fall to their death. Or of course the season finale when we pulled out and saw that we were in the World Trade Centers.

The mythology is also going great and everything is connecting. The ZFT manifest and William Bell are of course some of the best secrets you want to learn ever since you heard about the Dharma Initiative. I want to learn more about the testing in Jacksonville and more about cortexziphan. Plus I love the case of the week thing and hope that they continue to do that besides opening up a can of worms at the end of the season. What a brilliant way to end this show. Not only is the original Peter dead, we learned that Walter has traveled to the alternate world, and then that the alternate world really is an alternate timeline. The huge iconic moment of seeing the World Trade Center standing and then putting 2 and 2 together and hearing the White House was destroyed is huge. I am so glad I found another show to be hooked to and I can look past the flaws of underdeveloped secondary characters and plots that happen only in Boston if the show continues to be just as creative.

Lost

Not as strong as the fourth season but definitely on the right path. The best part overall was Josh Holloway as Sawyer and all of his moments in the Dharma Initiative. That is perhaps my favorite arc. I just felt like this season was a set up season for the end. It was just a lot of exposition as we were getting everyone back to the island and back to the right time and searching for people and every episode we inched along just a little bit farther. Again not saying it was a bad season I’m just saying it was frustrating not really getting anywhere until the finale. There were a few big revelations with Jacob at the end, Locke is bad, Miles is Chang’s son, Daniel is Eloise’s son, and of course the statue…but I’m ready for the big questions to be answered now. Like why is this happening? What is the good vs. evil battle? What is the smoke monster? Why can the island heal people? When did Dharma start doing their tests? The numbers? I’m hoping we get some big reveals every episode next season. Bottom line this season wasn’t  bad and I am sure I am forgetting some moments that I liked I’m just ready for the final chapter and some “fricken answers.” Here are my recaps from this year.

Episode 1 and 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16 and 17

Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation has some work cut out for it. Most sites say get rid of the talking heads, I say they don’t have to as long as they can intertwine it with the rest of the show. Maybe it is because I know Poehler better then I did when I started watching the actors on The Office but the show doesn’t seem as real which is why I think the talking heads take away with it. Amy Poehler does an excellent job and I will follow her through thick and thin. I do like this show and it is a great edition to the comedy that is already on Thursdays. It isn’t up to par yet with 30 Rock and The Office but the pilot for 30 Rock and arguably the first season of The Office were pretty terrible. Parks and Recreation did have a nice finale though and it looks like it was taking a step in the right direction. The only person I really have any problems with is Aziz Ansari. He is just obnoxious and takes away from the rest of the great cast. I really think this show needs to work on some editing and some timing but that is about it. Not perfect but not awful. MORE AUBREY PLAZA!

The Office

The Office became fantastic this second half. I wasn’t to big of a fan of the show after Holly left. It just didn’t know where to go and things got boring and to serious. They were using awkward to much and not enough just comedic bits. It was just kind of annoying and really the show wasn’t that good. However they did this great arc this second half with Michael quitting Dunder Mifflin and starting the Michael Scott Paper company and the show had found its footing. Its finale was not one of its best but overall the second half of the season was much stronger then the first half. They changed Pam up, they changed Jim up. Dwight was different with not sucking up to Michael. They finally moved along the whole Angela arc. I am curious to see where that goes next. Especially since Dwight told his “best friend” to stop picking on her. Plus the Holly and Michael thing was sweet. I don’t think the baby that Pam is going to have will really come into affect to much. Pam will get pregnant but the baby isn’t going to come to work. Now it will be interesting where Pam ends up though if she has to have the baby. Plus I liked the little new arc they started with Phyllis with her husband’s secretary. Overall I am really happy that the writers and producers realized they were in a bit of a rut and decided to do something about it so quickly. Very rarely does that happen or if something does get fixed it isn’t until the next season. So great job to The Office for making the show come back together. Plus the post Super Bowl "Fire" is probably one of the funniest bits ever on the show and I love the new secretary. Can’t remember her name at the moment.

30 Rock

Not as strong as the first two seasons and I thought it was incredibly celebrity filled. I honestly think the celebrity exposure really took away from the show. I am glad there are more viewers but I felt like we lost a bit of the quality. The acting is top notch though. Kenneth, Jenna, Liz, and Jack are all amazing. Tracey does his best he can do and can at least play himself well. I just don’t think this finale really was at the same level as last years or the part before. I think that they don’t need to worry so much about the celebrities and they need to just worry about the show or really they will only have two years left in it. The other thing is, if they are going to have celebrities be the significant others maybe they need to work on keeping those big names around a little bit more. As soon as Selma Hayek or John Hamm really got into the role then they were taken away just as quickly. I feel like a broken record but I am glad I am watching this show and I hope it gets a few more seasons out of it. The acting and timing is top notch I just wish this season wasn’t so hit or miss. It is disappointing that they finally got noticed but then the show wasn’t as good as it was in its second and first year. Here are my quickie reviews I did earlier this year to the first 13 episodes.

Grey’s Anatomy

I wish I could have enjoyed this ending a bit more but Katherine Heigl just pisses me off so damn much. She got her way, she really did. She acted like a little bitch and Shonda wrote her a nice little brain tumor story so she could get an emmy. Really? Give me a fucking break. Katherine is overrated and a diva and I hope they kill her off at the beginning of the first season. That being said…if I ever have to see Denny again I might jump off a bridge. I wasn’t a big fan of his the first time around so why does he have to keep popping up. I hope the finale is the last we saw of him. Why would an actor keep coming back knowing the audience doesn’t want him around?

So put all the Izzie and Denny storyline stuff to the side. Lets talk rest of the show. I’m still happy with the way Meredith and Derek are going. Meredith is the most likable she has been probably since the first and second season. I’ve always liked her especially her dark side but it seems viewers weren’t to positive. I’m disappointed that Sadie left the show but glad that new happy Arizona is now in it. I will always be pissed that Erica Hahn didn’t stick around but Arizona is a good replacement. Arizona is great for both the Miranda and Callie characters. Miranda finally went somewhere new and so did the Chief. Finally those two characters weren’t doing much for so long. It is slightly unbelievable that Callie doesn’t have much money though. Sure, if you aren’t getting money anymore from your rich family it would be hard at first but Callie must have made something working at Seattle Grace.

Christina is still probably my favorite character. Sandra Oh does an excellent job with her year after year. Why hasn’t she won an emmy? She is so much better then Katherine. Just slowly keep developing her and Hunt and I will be happy for as long as the show stays on the air.

I’m disappointed what they did with George this season. They basically paid him a bunch of money to say a line each episode. It was comedic. In fact it paid off so much that when George was missing in the finale you didn’t really notice because he hadn’t been there the rest of the show. I hope he stays alive and Izzie goes but it seemed more like he was dying.

Finally great work with Sloane and Lexie. Slowly develop them as well and give both of the actors something to do and I will also be happy. What about Alex? I don’t care much for him so no real comment. The last few episodes brought this show in the right direction, it is just terribly frustrating with the whole Izzie cancer arc. I’d love for Dr. Swender to become part of the main cast though.

Survivor Tocantins

If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Great season of the show. Not up to the level that Gabon, Micronesia, or China were at but still it isn’t down there with the terrible Cook Islands and Fiji seasons (do you know some people even say that Cook Islands is their favorite season?). It became pretty obvious for awhile that JT was going to win this. I still can’t believe how stupid Timbira was and got all of themselves voted off. I’m also still surprised that JT and Stephen betrayed Taj so easily. I hated him but props to Coach because we will never have someone quite like him ever again. Excellent casting on him. Here are the links to my recaps from this season.

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Recap
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12
Episode 13

Desperate Housewives

Um…what happened? Really? The first half of this season was brilliant. I had no complaints in my midseason article on this show because there weren’t really any. The drama was good, the comedy was excellent and the five year jump really invigorated the series. However as creative as the season began it just sort of fizzled here at the end. Maybe they should have kept Edie around until the season finale (which was the lamest of the lame) and maybe they shouldn’t have made her final episode like the 100th episode. Plus if we were jumping five years into the future why did we need another Tom Scavo is in a mid-life crisis or Gabby is spoiled story? Didn’t Bree already have a divorcee storyline and didn’t Susan already go through other boyfriends? Are we back in season 1 and 2? I just don’t get it. They did bring Dana Delaney back from wherever she was hiding but only at the loss of Edie…which is a terrible mistake whether Nicollette Sheridan wanted out or not. Plus if they get rid of Orson…well their goes the amazing chemistry between Orson and Bree. Overall just do something different please! I just feel like all of the storylines they put into the show will fizzle out by November and we will get back to the same problems. Lynette will have twins well how will they be able to pay for them? So then Tom will have to get a job etc. Once their new little teenager skips town will Gabbi see that she is spoiled herself and doesn’t appreciate her home? If Bree gets more serious with Karl will Karl and Orson have a fight much like Rex and George did? Then will Bree be divorced and have neither of them? And will Susan ever get things right? Or will she be on and off with Mike for the rest of the series…answer is yes she will. For jumping ahead five years the writers just dug themselves into similar holes.

The two things that still are great…the comedy. It gets better and better as the show progresses. I find this show to be absolutely hilarious. Mrs. McKluskey! I love her so much and I hope she is in every season from here on out.

Family Guy

Not really sure what to say with this show. I seemed to kind of like it in the midseason but I am tiring of it a bit. Quit being so political Seth and just make a funny show. I realize you see that you have a platform and I even agree on most of your views but I don’t want to watch Family Guy so that you can tell us to legalize pot or that you are liberal. I watch Family Guy to be entertained and to laugh. It seems that either these episodes are way to heavy handed politcal wise or just suck in general. The last two episodes of this season were just awful. They just kind of sucked so much that I don’t even want to talk about them. A whole episode set in the 1700s (Peter as a strawberry was the only good part)? A whole episode set around Stephen King novels? Just extremely boring. There were a few in March I think I liked and I am eagerly looking forward to Something Something Darkside but the creativity needs to be kicked up a notch.

24

Better then season six not as good as season five. Renee brought some new fun to the show as did President Allison Taylor. Janis really brought nothing and I wish we had gotten more Chloe then Janis who just seemed like a pain in the ass and didn’t have anything to do once Sean was taken out of the show. I liked the overall theme of how far is to far to get what you want and why does Jack torture. Plus overall the plot flowed and we were kept with a new arc every few episodes. However this season seemed extremely disjointed like season three. If you aren’t going to plot out the whole season, and on a show like this I don’t know why they don’t…then you at least need to make it look like you did. I just felt like we were all over the place. From the device that took control of air traffic control, to the white house siege, to Tony being good and bad and good and bad, to Jack getting sick, to Kim getting captured. We were really just all over the place. Bill Buchanan’s death would have been a bit more epic for me if I hadn’t been spoiled by it. I’m sad that I don’t have much enthusiasm for this show anymore. It wasn’t like this season was bad, it was actually a huge step in the right direction I just don’t care much for it as I used to. This use to be my show, the show I would watch every week but I just am growing tired of it. But that is my problem and not the shows.

Everything Else

Um I quit Heroes. I watched the finale and was really happy with my choice. Celebrity Big Brother UK 6 was ok. I haven’t gotten around to watching Breaking Bad yet. I still want to finish the first season again before watching the next season. SNL I thought was better this year then it had been and I kind of dropped a lot of shows to make time for the regular shows I watched. So no more Jon and Kate Plus 8. No more Colbert Report (even though it is brilliant I have no time). I watched American Idol this year but I don’t really care if they fix it or not. Nor do I care enough to write about it. On to the summer!

The State of TV: Fall 2008

I am introducing a new semiannual segment to ATV Analysis. The State of TV. Just a brief or not so brief run down on what is working in my shows, what is not working, and just a few thoughts. I don’t plan on doing this after the summer because quite honestly the shows I really only watch two shows. So here is the State of TV in Fall 2008.

General: Well this is what the writers strike left us. Though I thought it was important for the writers to get paid more especially for internet content and other extras (since that is the way tv is going) the strike really did screw up a lot of shows. Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies never found an audience and not really any new show from this year or last year really were successful besides The Mentalist. Reality Shows continue to go strong and prove time and time again that they are not just a fad. NBC is basically in the gutter and all networks besides CBS are losing viewers. Network TV needs to rethink its game or otherwise it is going to have a tough couple of years ahead of it.

Family Guy: The six episodes this fall were hit and miss. Though I think the show founds more familiar footing after trying way to hard when it originally came back in May 2005. The first two episodes were very rough while the final four were arguably pretty good. I don’t watch this show to be amazed by other shows. It is a care-free silly show I just watch to relax and not really think to much about it. However it has to be funny. I don’t see it as negative or bad right now though so I’d say it is doing pretty good. I am really looking forward to the second Star Wars special. The Blue Harvest episode was perhaps one of the strongest of all time and I hope it can continue in the next installment.

Fringe: I do really like this show, it really grew on me over these past few months. Again the premier was a bit off, but it really grew into must see tv by the time of episode four “The Arrival.” It not only did Fringe have standalone stories but it became a game of finding the Oberserver in every episode. The amazing site Fringepedia even points out some other continuous plots. For example the blinking lights (green green green red) have been seen before as well as clues as what is going to happen in the next episode. I think J.J. Abrams took what interested people in Lost (The Numbers) and decided to bring it to a fun and new interactive level in Fringe. Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson have really improved over the season and I find myself really liking them. However characters like Astrid, Philip Bauer, and Charlie Francis remain completely underdeveloped. I’m sure some people might see those names and have to go look them up to see what characters I am talking about. Of course the biggest draw of the show is the brilliant performance of John Noble does as Dr. Walter Bishop. It is one of the most intriguing characters on television right now and I can’t wait to see where they continue to go.

The show does have problems though. Even though I didn’t realize it until another blog pointed it out, they kind of remain in Boston, Massachusetts all the time. If the Pattern is happening all over the world why can’t we go somewhere else besides the northeast? J.J. Abrams has created Alias and Lost two shows that have scenes from all over the world and were/are filmed in the same location most of the time. Why can’t we have an episode in Washington State? Japan? The Deep South? Pull an X-Files and let Walter stay in his lab and have Olivia and Peter talk to him over the phone? Maybe focus an episode around Astrid (which I’m sure must be in the works) and develop her and the other starring characters who don’t get any airtime or just get throwaway lines. Finally lets start connecting some of the plots. I was glad in the midseason finale we finally started to put some things together but J.J. is going to alienate people if they don’t think there will be a conclusion to some of the more mysterious things. I do like the standalone stories, reminds me of X-Files, but with all of these cliff hanger endings and supposedly important guest stars we need to eventually get some answers.

Grey’s Anatomy: This show has a ton of issues right now to work with. Ever since Isaiah Washington this show has been full of controversy. Is this the plot that Katherine Heigl wanted after complaining her storylines suck? I’m positive they are going to answer why Denny is hanging around (I want to throw up just typing that, what an awful plot), but right now it is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. I guess it just pulls me out of the whole realism of the show…and by realism I mean as realistic as Grey’s Anatomy can get. You don’t set up a show, make rules and boundaries, and then throw a ghost in this. Some people of course can see Izzie is losing it but how much longer do we need to deal with Denny? If Izzie has a brain problem can’t we figure it out already?

Then there was the whole getting rid of Brooke Smith. Big mistake, I haven’t really cared for the show since her dismissal. She is a great actress and they really dropped the ball here. Now there are rumors that T.R. wants to leave and get out off his contract? What? One of the original five interns want to leave? Plus they have all of these new characters every season…am I supposed to care about Dr. Aspergers and Dr. Hunt? Why can’t Shonda Rhymes and the rest of the producers keep the actors happy? Nobody likes new cast members unless they are introduced flawlessly.

I actually do like where they went with Meredith and Derek. They are downplaying them a lot this season but they aren’t trying to throw a Rose in to keep things interesting. I hate these Ross/Rachel relationships because the whole show ends up revolving around them. Producers need to think of either new ways to make relationships in television shows because the whole “Will they? Won’t they?” is terribly played out. Keep Meredith and Derek together but find ways to keep tension alive between them.

This show needs to figure out what it is doing with Izzie, how to mature the characters up a bit, and needs to find the magic of season 1 and 2. This show can be fixed.

The Amazing Race 13: I thought it was a decent season. I must have been missing new Amazing Race season though…I did end up watching the first season of The Amazing Race Asia and re-watched the first two between season 12 and season 13. I would say this season was on par with last season. I didn’t find myself anymore invested this time around then I did last year or during All Stars. The last season I was really invested in was season 10. However I don’t dislike it. This show doesn’t really need to be tweaked at all. All it requires is good casting and decent locations and you have an interesting show. I’d love to see more Fast Forwards or more U-Turns besides the two times each of them show up. It would make things slightly more interesting. I wasn’t a big fan of Nick and Starr but they proved that they deserved to win and were at least somewhat likable. I was rooting for Ken and Tina from pretty early on and I’m glad we got them for the whole race. Dandrew though…not so much.

Desperate Housewives: I am in love with this season. I thought last season was great, and I personally think slightly outdoes this season, but the five year jump has truly re-invigorated the show to season 1 levels. Of course it will always have the hokey (Carlos getting his sight back) but the excellent blend of drama and comedy make this show one of the number one shows on tv. It really has one of the best ensembles despite a few times where Teri and Eva drop the ball but besides that I usually am never disappointed.

However I was hoping that the main mystery would throw in someone else besides Bree or Susan who have been involved with the main mysteries the whole time. Susan was with Mike who was really a big part of the whole Mary Alice thing in the first season, it was really Bree who had the most interaction with Betty Applewhite, Bree again with Orson in season three, and quite frankly it was mostly Bree again last year. I don’t mind really because Marcia Cross does an excellent job but could we please have Lynette or Gabbi be somehow involved in the shows main mystery? Once again it is Susan and Mike dealing with Dave. (Now I know Edie is in there but I am talking about the main four).

I think the only thing I am disappointed in is that I thought Dana Delaney was supposed to be one of the main woman in this show now but she really is only being used as a plot device with Susan and Bree. Which sucks…

No complaints though, keep doing what you are doing.

The Office: Now I don’t think this year is as bad as some people are making it out to be, it started off really strong with all of the plots with Holly. The premier was amazing and a few boring episodes thrown in after she left. The show is getting a bit serious, there are some comic portions but I don’t remember laughing to much at the Moroccan Christmas episode. I know it is supposed to be awkward but it is still supposed to be a comedy. I applaud with what they are doing with Jim and Pam. This is another show like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives with an on and off again relationship and I like how they are putting them together and making things work.

The show feels stagnant, not awful by any stretch, but seems creatively stalled. Hopefully this just means they are saving all the funny parts for the post Super Bowl slot.

Survivor Gabon: I’ve done most of my analysis all this fall. I loved this season. Glad Bob won, glad they went back to Africa. This season really brought back my love and obsession for this show. It isn’t a guilty pleasure. It is just a pleasure. They put up applications for season nineteen so I am hoping that we might be able to perhaps get 22 seasons out of this before Jeff calls it quits. Links to my episode analysis and my best quotes (not necessarily clever quotes but insightful):

Episode 1 (“Michelle and Gillian might be the best first two boots ever.”)
Episode 2 (“I am happily being controlled by the editing and saying that I am rooting for her [Sugar].”)
Episode 3 (“Bob, Corinne, Marcus, and Charlie. They are in it for the long haul.)
Episode 4 (“I wish I had an HD tv because seeing that elephant was amazing.”)
Episode 5 (“Please stop crying Sugar, be happy you have all that food to eat. “)
Episode 6 (“Then in something we’ve never seen before on Survivor we went back in time.”
Episode 7 (“It was going to be Marcus, Corinne, Charlie, and Randy in the final four…I was pretty sure.”
Episode 8 (“So when the bright idea is to name your tribe after your seasons name backwards that is probably the shittiest idea I ever heard of.”)
Episode 9 (“THANK THE LORD”)
Recap (“To be honest I felt kind of bad for Randy.”)
Episode 10 (“I think if I was out there though with Bob I probably would have rolled my eyes at him for yelling at people for laughing”)
Episode 11 (“They were separated from a silverback gorilla by just a small mesh wire fence.”)
Episode 12 (“Kenny went first as predicted but then Bob didn’t win the final challenge. SUSIE DID!”)

Heroes: What a mess…and if anybody thinks Sylar is dead you have something coming. Now I like Sylar, he is the most complex character of the show but he personality shifted from episode to episode. In fact I felt like the entire show went in a different direction each episode. Instead of the writers working together to make a coherent plot it seemed like every week a different writer wanted the characters to do what they wanted them to do. I can just imagine the writers room:

Writer 1: Now I know Sylar is good now but this week he is going to be bad and kill Elle.

Writer 2: That’s fine but next week I am going to make him good again and kill off Arthur Petrelli

Writer 1: Ok and then in the finale he will be bad again and try to kill everyone.

Writer 2: Whatever but in the first fugitives episode he’ll save Claire

Writer 3: Then we will give Mrs. Bennett her powers

Writer 4: Great idea! In my next episode we are going to the future and to the past. Adam Monroe isn’t really dead and Hiro gets teleported to the future again and we have to save the world again but slightly different.

Like that is what the show is. Every writer decides to scrap what the person before them did. They try to go in a different direction. I honestly have paid attention and really have no idea why Claire is pissed at her dad? Because heh goes to work and has to abandon the family to save them? Really Claire? Sylar you just took the word of Angela and Arthur that they are your parents? And why would both of them lie? So they could both get him on their side? Hiro? Really?

I read this on a message board and I have to agree, get some balls writers. Have a huge fucking battle and kill off half of the cast. I honestly also liked this show better when they were these people with powers but were in ordinary situations. Claire in school is much better then Claire as a agent for The Company. Bryan Fuller fix this show. (Note: That picture of Claire is to show how lame this show is).

Pushing Daisies: Though I fell behind because of being distraught by the cancellation…this show is still brilliant. Besides Desperate Housewives, it has one of the best ensembles on television. It is a shame that it didn’t pick up any nominations in SAG or Golden Globes this year. I don’t really know what to say. They obviously put a ton of work into the show, and just now are they really beginning to put in some nice long running gags “Hell No” or pushing the show into some very interesting places (Even more so then it was already headed). Poor Bryan Fuller can’t seem to get a break. I am glad that we have a full seasons worth of this show and without a doubt it will be released on dvd. The premise was great, the show looked great, and the writing and acting was great…it just never caught on. I will miss this show…and I hope they air the final three episodes in a one night marathon like it is rumored instead of just sitting on them.

Private Practice: Though I’m not invested in this show enough to remember everyones names (I got Addison, Violet, Dell, Pete, Cooper and missed the rest) this show has found its footing from its dreck of a first season and is actually getting better with age. It seems like Shonda Rhymes is putting more effort into this show then she is putting into Grey’s. The character seem real, the cases seem real, and the whole thing doesn’t feel forced. Plus it seems like the actors are happy. You can tell…I bet some people think you can’t but definitely in the second season of Desperate Housewives and in the end of season three of Grey’s Anatomy you can tell that they aren’t. Not to much to say, this isn’t one of my favorite shows but it is a show I watch. Hopefully going after Grey’s will give this a ratings boost. Kate Walsh is a great actress and the rest are all pretty good as well. Hopefully it continues to improve and it won’t end up sitting on my tivo for weeks.

Dirty Sexy Money: I don’t know what to think about this. The first season was brilliant and this one fell apart. Also why would they pick a new showrunner from a canceled show and let him take over this show? Doesn’t make any sense to me. I guess the feel of the show is completely different and Peter Krause seems to just be phoning it it. I really hate what they did with Karen and I hate that they got rid of Juliette and now I really hate that they killed off Carmelita. It just seems like they got rid of a ton of things that were going good with it. Lucy Liu and Blaire Underwood pull away from the Darlings who are supposed to be the main focal point of the show. I just don’t care for either of them. When did this become the Blaire Underwood show?

I guess I would want to say what they can do to fix this show but is canceled and honestly it has become a chore to watch. I will love the first season but I don’t care for this show like I thought I would. It isn’t as convoluted as Heroes but…if it had the time to continue on I wouldn’t be surprised. Plus Dutch is alive? What the fuck? The whole mystery of the show was to find out who killed him? Lame.

Everything Else: 30 Rock is still sitting on my DVR. I loved the first season but I don’t want to watch the new episodes until I am done with season two. So there is nothing against it I just haven’t got around to it. I plan to watch the second season and these new episodes in January. SNL was hit or miss but I did love the Thursday Updates. I dropped NCIS before watching the episodes tivo’d. I just didn’t care. Maybe I will rent the first season and end up picking up the DVDs but right now I am not watching it. American Dad I don’t care for much either and not much to say about Jon and Kate, Robot Chicken, South Park, or Colbert Report.