We have only made passing reference to Mad Men this season, so we thought we would attempt to discuss “Waterloo” the final season, mid-season finale. Is that what we call it? Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD. Continue reading
Everybody Dance Now: How Dancing on TV Fixes Everything
If there is one thing I’ve learned from TV it’s that dancing fixes everything (at least temporarily). There is something irresistible about watching your favorite characters let loose and break into uninhibited dance parties! Continue reading
A Good Person: Musings on faith, lies and belief in Season 2 of The Americans
The actors gone, there’s only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, they’ll
Use up what we used to be.
– Peter Gabriel, “Here Comes The Flood” (as heard in episode 3, season 2 of The Americans)
Kiefer Returns (calling this Jack’s Back is trite: so I won’t do it)
I have always been generally antsy in my TV viewing. Being more interested in what will be than what is. My favourite part of SNL is the second commercial break where next week’s guest and musician are revealed. I get very excited when next week’s football match-ups are announced in the 2nd quarter of the game I am currently watching. The future carries with it the possibility of perfection. That which came from TV and has seeped into everyday life. The next meal, relationship, blazer purchase et al.
Email Roundtable #40 – Orphan Black
This week Kerri and Katie attempt to discuss Season Two of BBC America’s Orphan Black. As of this writing, two episodes have aired: “Nature Under Constraint and Vexed” and “Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion.”
“Moving Up”
Parks and Recreation
Season 6, Episodes 21 and 22
“Moving Up”
In the season finale of Parks and Recreation, everyone is “moving up”, just like the title suggests. Leslie leaves the Pawnee Parks Department and takes a job with the National Parks Department, Tom opens up Tom’s Bistro, and Ben is suddenly cool in the least cool way possible. (The super dorky, super complex board game that Ben invented, “Cones of Dunshire”, has become an unexpected hit.) Continue reading
Dynamic Duos
I love great pairings on TV so I set out to write a post about all of my favorites. However, upon discussing TV’s dynamic duos with others, I found that I was much more interested in what they had to say so I asked some of my favorite writers and TV watchers to help me out this week. Continue reading
Channel Surfing 3 – My Week in TV : Justified, Comedy Central’s Review, Music Videos and other odds and ends
A quick collection of things that I’m finding fascinating, frustrating and fun on TV this past week.
What the heck happened to Justified?
When I think about Justified in its prime I think fondly back to season 2 when a shrewd Mags Bennett and her bumbling sons tried to expand their marijuana business with Raylan Givens breathing down their necks. Season 2 expanded on the world of Harlan County while also creating a central, overarching storyline that all but did away with the more standalone cases of Season 1. Season 2 felt fresh, exciting and created characters as rich and complicated as the central ones. By establishing a criminal family that had a history in the area as well as a past that crossed Raylan’s own, the show found a groove that it hasn’t found since.
Sunday Boozy Sunday
I do miss it so. It was a weekly ritual. With appetites growing every week. I fully bought in. I would watch with a hearty high calorie meal. A dark whiskey to wash it all down. Mad Men in my bachelor apartment is not just a show but more of an event. We are making a meatloaf – that’s 2 hours towards the cause right there. Viewing the elite TV blogs they would have it be known that Mad Men has been on the slide for the past few years. Not to me. No siree jim bob dixie. Although to be fair to those with that opinion, I have fully bought into the sizzle. The style, the babes, the casual decadence of constant liquor and nicotine is pretty much all I need. They are like a sports team. Am I going to boo or not follow my teams just because they lose or play boring? Nuh uh. Go Joan Go! Sally Draper (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap-clap). So it really doesn’t matter much to me if the scripts are trite. I’m pretty pumped for Sunday’s season premiere. There will be a meal with gravy, there will be booing and hissing when Pete comes on-screen, and there will be bawdy locker room wisecracks when the lovely (and perhaps talented) Christina Hendricks bounces about as only her and perhaps the dark-haired Broke Girl can. Continue reading
“Last Supper” and the circular structure of Broad City
Season one of Broad City is over. I feel as though I just met a super rad chick, then we became best friends, then she got a fantastic job opportunity in another country. I’m super proud of her but bummed that I won’t be seeing her for a while. “WE DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TOGETHER!” And while I contemplate my jealousy for the new people in Broad City’s life, then hate myself for that jealousy, I sit back and remember that the show is not a person and that Broad City has been renewed for a second season. Phew.
The Golden Age of Television 