Month: October 2012

Zombies and ABBA and Dragon-Turtles, Oh My!

/ Jane Walker / Leave a comment

When Community is at its best it is almost a magical experience and Epidemiology from Episode 6 Season 2 is utterly enchanting. The episode is able to blend humor with horror at the same time advancing character development all in the span of 22 minutes. Epidemiology is one of my favorite Halloween specials and here’s why:

Costumes: In most other series’ Halloween episodes, writers throw characters into crazy Halloween costumes for an easy laugh. The Fresh Prince’s Carlton dressing as Macaulay Culkin and Kevin from The Office dressing as Michael Moore come to mind. While hilarious, it makes me wonder why the characters chose those specific costumes. Community never has me questioning its characters costume choices. Of course Jeff chose to be “accidentally handsome” as David Beckham. If the situation arose where he didn’t want to be dressed up anymore, he would simply toss away his soccer ball and strut around in his $6,000 suit. Britta tries to be fierce and unsexy as a T-Rex, but instead is darling and helpless, looking more like a “Dragon Turtle”. Is she really that disappointed that she must rely on Jeff to feed her because her mighty claws are too short to reach her mouth? Annie (as usual) treads a fine line between naughty and innocent as Little Red Riding Hood. Shirley’s Glenda the Good Witch costume is again “unwittingly ambiguous” just as her good intentions often are. Troy and Abed start off as Ripley and The Alien but Troy changes into “a sexy Dracula” which brings their friendship into question and is the set up for a solid Troy character arc, but more on that later. My favorite costume of the episode goes to Chang dressed as Peggy Fleming who gleefully corrects assumptions that he is Kristi Yamaguchi or Michelle Kwan by proclaiming “you have just been proven racist by the racist prover.” Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #4 – Candy Corn Edition

/ kwoloszyn / 4 Comments

Kerri: There are a couple of Halloween episodes of television shows that made a pretty big impression on me when I was a kid.

Katie: A Halloween themed episode is almost certain to tickle my delight bone.

Jane: Up there on my list is the Community Halloween special where everybody is turned into Zombies. Although zombies aren’t my thing, I will watch a zombie apocalypse scored by ABBA songs any day!

Kerri: That Community episode is stellar, Jane, one of the more creative Halloween episodes I have seen in recent years

One of mine is the pretty much universally hated Halloween episode of My So-Called Life where Claire Danes meets a hot boy ghost! It was basically the exact opposite of the rest of the series, which, generally, is incredibly realistic. But I enjoyed it as a kid because I loved ghost stories and I also loved that the little sister, Danielle, dresses up as her older sister, Angela, for Halloween. That is something I remember doing myself, not for Halloween mind you…

Although, I think that what I like most about that episode is what I like about most Halloween episodes: Characters that you know well are allowed to act like completely different people. In fact, that’s what I like about Halloween the day too!

And obviously the “Treehouse of Horror” Simpsons episodes are also a childhood favourite. There is an awful lot you can do in an animated series that you can’t really do in a live action show. Basically, the rest of the series is forgotten for these episodes and the Simpson family and other folks in Springfield just play the parts of classic horror characters. My favourite: “The Shinning”.

Katie: The best Halloween episode, in my opinion, is from Season 2 of The Office (US). Michael was supposed to fire an employee by the end of the month but he left it until Halloween day. Then over the course of the episode he fires 3 or 4 unsuccessfully and 1 successfully.

Throughout the episode, Michael is such a dick but it’s only because he cares about everyone so much. He doesn’t want to fire anyone. The moment at the end of the episode when Michael is alone in his house, handing out candy to trick-or-treats is devastating. Continue reading →

Rooting for the Good Guys: Thoughts on Unsupervised

/ kwoloszyn / 1 Comment

There are few shows I’ve found as immediately gratifying despite a wildly inconsistent, sometimes downright disappointing, first season as Unsupervised. In its inaugural season, Unsupervised found its footing only a few times but it was a goofy underdog that I’ve been rooting for from the start.  The reason for my immediate enjoyment is that (and this is likely an unpopular view) I’ve always found myself far more fascinated by what makes kind people kind in the face of evil than what makes evil people evil in the face of kindness. It is easy to make a character like Hannibal Lecter exciting to watch because he’s so different from “normal” people. But when a show or movie can make nice characters interesting, I get very excited. It is refreshing to see a show that knows exactly who its characters are right from the start even if it doesn’t always seem sure what to do with them. There are few characters on TV like the ones on Unsupervised and the show manages to make them nuanced and fascinating in their own right without changing their underlying, unswaying kindness and love. Anger is easy, happiness is hard. Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #3 – All Carb Edition

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

Why is TV so darned hard? Sometimes our brains need a break for Pete Campbell’s sake! In this edition of the Email Roundtable we attempt to discuss our TV guilty pleasures. 

Kerri: I think many people think of TV as a bit of a guilty pleasure in and of itself, don’t you think? I don’t subscribe to this notion personally (obviously!). These are usually the same people who claim that there is never anything good on TV, which is an evil lie.

Jane: Anyone who says that there is nothing good on TV needs to get cable. Or rent The Wire.

Katie: Those are the people who don’t realize how much TV they watch… it’s probably always on in the background, luring them in with it’s delicious rays.

Kerri: Indeed. That being said, not all of the TV that I watch can be classified as “good”. I’ve spent many an hour watching House Hunters (and its brethren).

How about you two?

Jane: I have two MAJOR guilty pleasures. The first is reality cooking shows. I will watch any show that involves cooking and elimination. My second is Criminal Minds. I have seen every episode. Which is kind of strange because I hate violence. I close my eyes during all the gory parts. I just love the characters. Those crazy FBI agents are like a family. An incredibly attractive family.

Continue reading →

Wanting What You Can’t See

/ Katie Man / Leave a comment

storage lockers

Storage Wars is a reality show about people who buy other people’s junk. One of many shows about picking through trash and hoping to find treasure, Storage Wars sets itself apart by having a very unique premise. Instead of attending a garage sale or flea market and purchasing one item or two, the principle characters of the show attend auctions and bid on entire storage units. Consequently, when they win a locker, they are stuck with the good and the bad contained within. Spoiler: it’s mostly bad. But like searching for a thumbtack in your junk drawer, or for that one last cheesy Bugle in a bowl of Bits ‘N Bites, rummaging through a freshly purchased storage locker must provide the new owner with the delicious anticipation of unearthing a pirate’s booty. I can see why it might become addictive. Find one box of antique guns – or stack of comics – or rack of fur coats – and all the hours of sifting through bags of garbage become forgotten. The pursuit of hidden treasure becomes as rewarding as the gem you may eventually find.

Herein lies the fun of the show itself. It engages our imagination. Reviewing the show, Todd VanDerWerff writes how the mystery of the what’s inside the locker is more interesting than actually finding out what’s in it. In the words of one of the show’s stars, Jarrod Schulz:

“It’s not about what you can see. It’s about what you can’t.”

Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #2 – Family Dinner

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

In honour of Canadian Thanksgiving we attempt to discuss our favourite TV families.

Kerri: First off, Happy Thanksgiving to both of you! I thought this was the perfect time to discuss our favourite TV families old and new.  Anyone want to begin?

Katie: Erm, I don’t want to start this one. Lead the way!

Jane: I’ll go: My favourite TV family is the Keatons from Family Ties. When I was young I used to watch that show twice a day. Once at 5pm then again at 5:30pm when we were having dinner. I grew up thinking they were the perfect family. I remember one episode where they buried a time capsule in their yard so one day another family could learn all this neat stuff about them. I made my family do that too. We used a cookie tin. I wish I could remember what we put in there.

Katie: I’ve never seen the show – what was it about the family that made it so special?

Jane: Family Ties was Michael J. Fox’s break out role. He played the Republican son (at the time I just understood he REALLY loved money) of two hippie parents Elyse and Steven Keaton. They also had a really cool older daughter named Mallory (that’s who I wanted to be when I grew up) and a dorkier younger daughter named Jennifer. Later they had a son named Andy. I guess he was used to keep up the cute factor when Jennifer got older.

Continue reading →

Girls

/ Jane Walker / 1 Comment

Finding a new TV show is a very tall order and I’m picky. I don’t mean to be.  But If I’m going to invest time, emotion, and thought into a group of people throughout the course of 2, 3, 4, sometimes 5+ seasons I need to be able to connect with them. I want to worry about them when they are in trouble, laugh at their silly mishaps, and happy-cry when everything goes the way it should. Yes, I realize that a TV show is made up of more than just its characters, but if I can’t make a connection with somebody then it’s usually on to the next show. And let’s be honest, it’s fun to be picky. Where exactly will I find my next Roger Sterling, Stringer Bell or Annie Edison?

Maybe Girls? My friend Mike (who I consider a TV expert) highly recommended this show to me so I’m going to give it a try. Here is what I know going in. The show focuses on four 20-something woman living in New York City.  It is a coming of age story starring, directed, produced and written by a lady named  Lena Dunham and executive produced by Judd Apatow. (Creator of one of my all time favorites, Freaks and Geeks.) So already I think it could be a winner. Continue reading →

Email Roundtable #1 – Pilots

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

In honor of the start to the new Fall TV season we attempt to chat about shows we loved right from the pilot.

Kerri: I am officially opening up our roundtable discussion about shows we love from the pilot.
Who wants to start?

Katie: I don’t think there has ever been a show that I loved from the pilot. Actually, the only one that I can ever remember watching from start to finish, while it was on air, was Lost. Even when I didn’t have cable anymore, I still found a way to stream the show the next day.

That being said, I think it’s pretty hard to LOVE a show from the first time you see it. Most pilots are pretty bad. The exceptions that immediately come to mind are Treme and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Actually, Lost had an amazing pilot. I think it might have been Lost’s best episode. That plane crash was so exciting! And different from anything else I had seen on TV.

Jane: I loved Freaks and Geeks from the pilot. Looking back though, I think the fact that Kerri had really talked it up and the fact that I had a giant crush on Seth Rogen helped.

Kerri: That’s interesting, Katie. And, not to get too much into it, but you are a bit younger than me and Jane. Maybe it has something to do with the way we watch TV now. We are less excited about the start of any TV season because we know we can watch shows in full on DVD or Netflix or other less legal ways.

Continue reading →

Naughty Night: The Best Way to Watch Saturday Night Live

/ kwoloszyn / Leave a comment

As a kid, there was something delightfully naughty about watching Saturday Night Live. I can remember watching the show as a pre-teen and my grandma, who was babysitting me at the time, freaking out at particularly off-color boob joke. The show was on late, past my normal bedtime, and the zany, recurring characters were broad enough that it hardly mattered that I didn’t understand all of the punch lines. Yes, it was cool to watch Saturday Night Live as a 10-year-old.

And then, I got a bit older and slogging through the marathon session of television on a precious Saturday night didn’t seem worth it even if, as was most often the case, I didn’t have anything better to do. There was a long stretch of time that I didn’t bother with the show at all or would watch it on occasion or a few sketches here and there.

Well, I’m here to report that I’m back on the SNL bandwagon and it has little or nothing to do with the quality of the show. It has absolutely everything to do with the way that I am watching the show and having lower, or to be more precise, adjusted expectations (more on that later). And it has yet more to do with humankind’s all time greatest invention: the PVR.

Continue reading →