D's Notebook

Tag: TV (Page 13 of 17)

Back To Glendale

March 13, 2012 /

Thursday night is going to be big. After three months off air, Community returns! It’s such a big deal even The New York Times has a story about the show’s return in today’s edition.

It remains unlikely, though, that “Community” will suddenly wade into the mainstream in search of more traditional viewers. Coming episodes revolve around a collegewide pillow fight (substituting for the regular paintball-shootout episode) and a full-scale “Law & Order” parody.

Which reminds me, I have not ranked my favorite TV shows at any point this season. A couple old favorites have fallen out, replaced by one new show, and another show that’s new to me.

1 – Parks and Recreation. We are in a golden age of ensemble cast comedies. With large casts come difficulties in keeping all the actors involved in the stories without making an episode too complex. P&R almost never has a bad week. It also hits the perfect balance of smart humor with silliness.
2 – Community. They scratch me exactly where I itch. As Dan Harmon says in the NYT article, they try to swing for the fences each week. Sometimes they whiff, but more often than not, they connect. Where P&R is consistently excellent, Community has had more moments of pure brilliance.
3 – Modern Family. Still a very good show, especially when compared to the trash the networks try to force on us each fall. But it’s a step or two below its first-season peak.
4 – Archer. Even more than Community, this show is not for everyone. But of all these shows, it is the only one that makes me laugh so hard I often can’t share my favorite lines with my wife the next day. Example: pretty much anything Pam says. Bonus points for all the Arrested Development connections.
5 – Up All Night. A fine first-year show. There is definitely a variance in quality from week-to-week, but overall it’s solid.

Bonus Show: We’ve been watching Mad Men for the last six months or so. We’re just about done with season three, so we don’t expect to start watching the season five when it airs. We like it a lot, although I’m not about to put it in the same class as The Wire when it comes to dramas.

Off the List:

The Office. I wasn’t going to be one of those Now that Steve Carell is gone, I’m not watching, people. And I watched for a month or so in the fall. But it just wasn’t as funny as it used to be. One week the DVR failed to record an episode and I took that as a sign it was time to move on. I’ve heard the show has rebounded a bit in 2012, but it hasn’t sucked me back in.
30 Rock. I just got behind on this one – I think I have six episodes on the DVR – and wasn’t loving how this season began anyway. I’ll probably plow through them at some point, but for now it’s not a priority.

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Smoke And Fire

May 23, 2011 /

I’ve wanted to believe Lance Armstrong for a long time. I know I’m not the only one.

Each time there was a new allegation claiming Lance had, in fact, benefited from various banned substances and procedures during his Tour de France reign, I held the company line: He had been tested over and over and over again through his career and never been caught. He operated under as intense a microscope as any athlete in modern times, with seemingly the entire European cycling community focused on nailing him for doing something wrong, and was never caught.

They were just jealous an American came and made their race look like a joke for seven years. They hated his arrogance. They couldn’t tolerate how every rider who seemed poised to challenge him ran into PED issues of their own. It became an obsession, a witch hunt, and they would stop at nothing to finally nail him.

I’ll admit my view has changed slowly in recent years. I always subscribed to the where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire theory. Despite believing his main defense, that he had never failed a drug test, I was not so blind to think there was no chance he hadn’t put something into his system over his career.

But still I believed in the man and the myth.

I didn’t watch Sunday’s 60 Minutes feature in which former teammate Tyler Hamilton became the latest insider to assert that Lance had never been the pure rider he claimed. I did read enough summaries and reactions to the piece, though, to feel like something was different this time. What, I’m not sure. The straw that broke the camel’s back perhaps. There comes a point where, to continue to believe in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, becomes impossible.

I’ve said many times that PEDs in sports don’t trouble me much. So if Lance indeed was cheating over his career, what does that mean for his legacy? I’ve read reactions this morning that mirror those that have been around for a decade. “Well, everyone else was doing it, so why should I hold it against him?” Or, “He’s done so much good with his fame and fortune that I don’t care what he put into his body.”

I can’t buy into either of those arguments. Lance was different. He was the good guy who appeared to be the target of a campaign to frame him. He constantly said not only did he not cheat, but that he didn’t need to cheat. He reminded us that he had been through cancer, on the verge of death, and he would never do something like that to a body he worked so hard to repair so he could race again. We bought into it because his story was so compelling, so inspiring, and so American.

I still hold out hope that Lance was clean, that this is about jealousy and people with power leaning on those close to him to change the stories they clung to for so many years. It’s a tiny hope, though, and I admit at my core I’m not sure anymore. If a positive test comes up, if Lance were to tearfully admit that he did put something into his system, or if the evidence against him simply becomes so compelling that I can’t believe otherwise, I won’t be surprised. I will feel a little guilty for believing him and buying into his myth. But I long ago shed the belief that most elite athletes are clean. I’ll chalk him up as another athlete of his time who couldn’t resist the temptation to give his natural abilities a boost. Like Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds, all future discussion of his career will be tempered with that knowledge.
❖

What To Watch

September 21, 2010 /

I remember the good old days, when September meant a new round of TV shows to be excited about. There would be a bevy of new comedies, some action shows (Air Wolf, The A Team), and maybe a drama that interested me. By November I likely would have only stuck with a couple of them, but for a TV freak like me, it was akin to Christmas morning, with each night bringing something new.1

That was 30 years ago, when I was an only child with a single mom who worked two jobs and my evenings were spent alone in front of the television. Things have changed significantly. I have kids that suck up a lot of our TV time. A wife to share prime time with. And a preference for live sports and reading over hour long dramas.

Still, it is disappointing to read how this fall’s new shows all seem to seriously blow. NPR’s TV critic recommended none of the new shows on the four networks. He said it was the first time in 35 years of reviewing TV shows that was the case. Bill Simmons’ buddy Alan Sepinwall was less harsh, saying a couple shows were decent. In his view, though, there are more flat-out awful new shows than promising ones this fall.

It’s hard for me to get sucked into new shows. I still have two seasons of The Wire to finish up, my addiction going off the rails in early summer. The handful of shows I do watch are all gearing up this week. And I’m several episodes behind on 30 for 30.

I want there to be a new show I can get in on at the ground floor, rather than learning about it after two seasons when it’s better just to wait for the complete DVD set (see Mad Men). We don’t have HBO, so Boardwalk Empire is out. Terriers on FX has decent buzz, but adding another hour of recording to the DVR feels like the first step in deleting them without ever watching in a month or two.

So for now I think I’ll stick with my Wire DVDs, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and NBC’s Thursday comedies.2

If I’m missing something good, let me know.

  1. Wait, that sounds more like another December holiday, doesn’t it? ↩
  2. Can I mention again how shitty it is that NBC is holding Parks & Recreation until mid-season? No wonder they’ve been stuck in last place for years. ↩

Set Your DVRs

July 13, 2010 /

If you’re looking for something funny to watch this summer, I give FX’s Louie my highest recommendation.

It revolves around a single comedian living in New York. The show features both scripted pieces and scenes of the main character’s standup act. Sound familiar?

The Seinfeld comparisons are inevitable, but Louis C.K. is far from a Jerry Seinfeld for the ‘Teens. For starters, Louis, or Louie, is much closer to neurotic George Constanza than the confident, swinging Seinfeld. In the show’s pilot, the about-to-be divorced C.K. goes on a date for the first time in 14 years. His missteps are awful, almost unwatchable. Fortunately they are hilarious, too. In another episode, he looks up an old high school flame on Facebook. When they meet, she disappoints, to put things mildly. But in true Costanzan fashion, C.K. doesn’t let that get in the way of his memories or hormones.

C.K.’s humor is much different than Seinfeld’s, too. He curses, for starters, something Seinfeld rarely does. In one hilarious bit, he breaks down his thoughts on, um, bestiality. I don’t think Seinfeld would ever say “I’d fuck a monkey…” Be warned: this is not a show you’ll want to watch with the kids around.

Seinfeld was certainly an acquired taste. Louie is no different. There are some genuinely sweet moments to balance the angst and vulgarity. In one, C.K. and his comedian poker buddies react visibly after hearing the origins of a certain epithet typically aimed at gay men. You can see a table-full of men in their 40s and 50s thinking about the times they’ve used that word, and how it may have affected people they were close to.

What really matters, though, is that the show is incredibly funny. Episode three features a guest appearance by Ricky Gervais that, predictably, had me in tears.

C.K. has paid his dues, writing for Letterman, Conan, and Chris Rock, guest staring on Parks and Recreation and having his own HBO series. I humbly suggest you check out his show.

LouieTuesdays, FX, 11:00 p.m. Eastern.

❖

 

Reality Bites

December 22, 2009 /

I haven’t watched anything on MTV since the Real World was in Las Vegas back in ’02-03. That might change.

After much discussion on Bill Simmons’ podcast* I watched an episode and a half of Jersey Shore over the weekend. My verdict: it’s either the greatest show in the history of TV, or the worst. There is no in-between.

(Simmons is still a serious MTV reality devotee, despite turning 40 this year. He’s been exceptionally excited about Jersey Shore. He and his buddy JackO’s 15 minute discussion of the show last week was hilarious and the tipping point in getting me to watch.)

The show is utterly ridiculous. A gaggle of Italian-American 20-somethings are put up in a place on the New Jersey shore for the summer. All the guys are muscleheads, overly pumped and ink-laden. All the girls are implanted and heavily made up. The show, or at least the ones I saw, pretty much revolves around them talking about hooking up that night, preparing to hook up, attempting to hook up, and then perhaps hooking up or getting shot down. Since I haven’t watched the Real World in six or seven years I don’t know, perhaps all MTV shows are like this now.

In a way, it’s the natural evolution of MTV reality shows. Just cut out all the “real life” nonsense and get down to the sex. Forget about interesting characters, people with careers or lofty goals, or people who aren’t media savvy. Just throw out a bunch of kids with no redeeming qualities, intelligence,* or direction in life other than going to the gym or tanning bed into a house and let them show off the skills they’ve picked up in a lifetime of watching the* Real World*, Road Rules, etc.

(Loved Simmons’ idea for reunion show questions. “If you had a functioning brain, what would you have been thinking in this situation?”)

As a bonus, make them all dead ringers for a particular ethnic stereotype.* Give them all horrible nicknames. Have the guys remove their shirts except when it is absolutely necessary to wear one.**

(For some reason, I don’t expect to see a Detroit or Chicago version of the Jersey Shore anytime soon. Jesse Jackson doesn’t have much to do these days, but he’d jump all over that.)

(One of my favorite aspects of the show is how the guys whip off their shirts as soon as they walk in their house and go shirtless until time to hit the clubs again. I may start doing that.)

In the end, the show is like a train wreck. You don’t want to watch but once you look, you can’t look away. There’s a guy nicknamed The Situation who says things like, “Basically, we got these girls back into the hot tub and now we’re going to try to have sex with them. That’s the situation.” So his nickname is based on his catch phrase. I guess that makes him the Willie Mays of reality TV. Brilliant. You laugh out loud and you fear for our country’s future at the same time.

I wondered if the appalled side of my reaction was just grumpy old manism creeping in. But I really think if this show had been on when I was 23, my reaction would not have been much different. I might be a more dedicated viewer, but I hope there would still be a part of me that was disappointed that a show like it existed.

I Don’t Think That Means What You Think It Means

November 14, 2009 /

As you probably know, I’m annoyed by small things at times. A current example: in this week’s hype-fest for the Patriots-Colts clash Sunday night, ESPN’s Josh Elliott called Peyton Manning’s career “incomparable.”

As Amy Proehler and Seth Meyers would say, really?

My dictionary offers two definitions for incomparable.

1 – without an equal in quality or extent; matchless
2 – unable to be compared; totally different in nature or extent

I know ESPN is full of smart writers and producers and anchors who went to some of the nation’s finest journalism schools, have experience at a wide variety of other sports outlets, and in general are familiar with the english language.

But incomparable?

If anything, Peyton’s career is the definition of comparable. It’s comparable to his contemporaries like Tom Brady and Brett Favre. It’s comparable to the members of NFL quarterbacking’s Golden Age: Elway, Marino, Montana, Young. It’s comparable to the legends of the old school: Staubach, Bradshaw, Unitas. Unless he shatters every record these other guys hold: most wins, most Super Bowl victories, most yards, most touchdown passes, most games started, etc. etc. etc. his career will always be comparable.

I know it gets old using the same old adjectives to describe transcendent athletes. You can only call someone amazing so many times. But if you’re going to branch out, at least use the right word.

❖

Must See TV

November 10, 2009 /

I’ve been remiss in not recommending ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. I’m a few weeks behind, but with the exception of the Baltimore Colts band episode (which I accidentally deleted after watching only 20 minutes), I’ve enjoyed every episode so far.

Last night I watched Muhammad and Larry, an amazing piece about the 1980 Muhammad Ali – Larry Holmes heavyweight championship fight. It’s one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. It has all the classic elements for a tragedy that many sports documentaries are built around. But it goes well beyond your standard tragedy. Knowing what we know now, and watching Ali 29 years ago, it’s heartbreaking that no one around him could admit he was already slipping badly. The scene where he can barely get the speed bag going it painful to watch. And the moment where he asks what Larry Holmes said about him, and he shares his opinion of Holmes, is magical.

The fall of 1980 was when I first started paying attention to boxing. I vaguely remember the Holmes-Ali fight, but it was Leonard-Duran II, a month later, that I really recall. I was too young to be in awe of Ali, but I knew that everyone wanted him to win, so Holmes must be a bad guy. Watching this film, Holmes may be the best, most grounded guy to ever be heavyweight champ.

Tonight is the premiere of episode six, The Legend of Jimmy the Greek. There’s one more before Christmas before the series goes on hiatus until after the college basketball season ends. If you’re not watching already, I highly suggest checking out the reruns, which will no doubt be available at all hours on the ESPN family of networks.

Must See TV

September 25, 2009 /

It was kind of a tough week. The weather sucked for most of the time. All three sisters were fighting colds and/or fevers much of the time. Especially in the hours after school, they were extra cranky. Also, we’re in the midst of some renovations in the house, requiring me to be home all day.

Thank goodness for Thursday night TV!

NBC might suck the other six nights of the week,* but they are once again bringing the heat on Thursdays.

(Sunday does not suck for the time being, with football on.)

Fred Armisen’s impersonation of New York governor David Patterson is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. While this week’s <em>Weekend Update Thursday</em> edition wasn’t quite as good as last week’s, Armisen more than made up for any jokes that fell flat. S. could hear me laughing about it all the way upstairs. When you account for the randomness and provinciality of doing Patterson, it might be one of the top five political impersonations ever on <em>SNL</em>.*

(Five, off the top of my head, favorites: Ferrell as W., both Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond as Clinton, Tina Fey as Palin, Chevy as Ford, with Armisen knocking on the door.)

I tried<em> Parks and Recreation</em> last year and gave up after about five episodes. It seemed like they were trying too hard and thus swinging and missing a lot. I heard some good buzz so figured I’d give it another shot this season. So far, it’s much funnier than last year.

<em>The Office</em> is as good as ever, at least through two episodes. The writers do a brilliant job of juggling the many characters, so you’re never sure who is going to be featured each week. This week, Andy’s cheese platter spiel was the highlight of a strong episode.

Finally, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by <em>Community</em>. I didn’t expect much; Chevy Chase is in it, after all. But I read an early review a few weeks back that was very positive. I added it to the DVR early last week, thinking I’d give it a shot. We had family in town last weekend, so I wasn’t able to watch. I debated whether to go ahead and watch or just delete and stick to the other shows, but checked <a href=”http://www.metacritic.com/”>Metacritic</a> just to make sure. Turns out it is getting excellent reviews. So I fired it up and wasn’t disappointed. It’s certainly treading on all kinds of tried and true comedic territory, but so far the writing and acting have been fine, I’ve laughed a lot, and it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be too cute, clever, etc.

That’s a pretty solid night. And the funniest show on TV* is still in the bullpen, warming up for a mid-October preview. I’m not a Jay Leno fan to begin with, and comedy at 10 pm Eastern on a Thursday doesn’t feel right after nearly 30 years of drama in that slot (<em>Hill Street Blues, LA Law, ER</em>), so no, I do not stay tuned in for Leno’s unfortunate new show.

(30 Rock.)

Two hours of comedy was exactly what I needed to recharge the tanks a bit after a long week. If only TV Land hadn’t messed up the times of the <em>Cosby Show</em> marathon so I hadn’t missed the last ten minutes of two episodes, it would have been the perfect TV night. I think I have some <em>Cheers</em> DVDs around here somewhere…

❖

 

Rumorville

May 8, 2009 /

I’m going to act like a typical blogger for a minute and start a rumor based on minimal evidence: I think there’s a culture of acceptance of the use of performance enhancing drugs at ESPN.

I’m not talking about glossing over the use of PEDs by athletes. I’m talking about their on-air talent. Two in particular. Hannah Storm and Sage Steele.*

(That would be Carmel High School and Indiana University alum Sage Steele. Although apparently Ms. Steele was not a big fan of her time in Carmel. Fire up the Google if you want the story.)

I’ve noticed they both go sleeveless a lot and both are completely ripped, at least in the shoulders and upper arms. Two women with muscular arms on one network? There must be something untoward going on in Bristol!

Also, would it kill either woman to eat a cheeseburger on occasion? I have three daughters and they need to learn that it’s ok not to have your ribs showing.

 

I Need A Shower

February 13, 2009 /

There’s a great show on Current TV called infoMania. It’s their weekly review program; their version of E!’s The Soup or VH1’s Best Week Ever. This week was the obligatory <a href=”http://current.com/items/89810903/this_week_s_infomania_tramps_in_schoolgirl_uniforms_the_worst_of_the.htm”>Valentine’s themed-show</a>, featuring some funny segments about online dating. They threw in a reference to a site for people who are looking to have affairs. The site’s tagline is “When Divorce Isn’t An Option.”

Ummm, ok.

I’m no prude and believe people can do what they want so long as they’re willing to accept the consequences, but isn’t this stuff supposed to be hidden? Like blind ads in the weekly alternative papers, or in the backs of porn mags? Not some fancy website with well-produced commercials?

(Watch the clip for the name of the site. It comes about 8:00 into the show. I really don’t want to link to it myself.)

Being a curious lad, I did have to check out the site. You don’t get much without registering, and I didn’t think my wife would understand me registering for such a site in the name of “research for the blog.” But I can report that they offer an Affair Guarantee. That’s reassuring.

Suddenly if feels like New York, 1977 in here.

And with that, Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!

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