It was just revealed (to the surprise of many) that Community would be renewed for a 5th season. For me this news was a huge disappointment After creator and show runner Dan Harmon left at the end of Season 3, Community has become a watered down version of a once great half hour of television. Seasons 1 – 3 of Community were not always perfect but they were consistently ambitious, wildly imaginative and most importantly, they had heart. Continue reading
In this edition of the Email Roundtable we take a look at the latest episode of Mad Men, “For Immediate Release”, and season 6 as a whole.
Katie: Briefly put, I thought “For Immediate Release” was one hell of a treat! I love the Don Draper that makes impulsive decisions without regard to consequences. But I loved Joan even more. Man, that was one great spankin’ she gave Don. Continue reading
I’m one of those people who believes that if it is British, it must be better. By and large, British people are smarter than the general population. Just listen to how they speak; so pretty. There’s an old joke about Jesus being British, because after all, the Bible is written in English. British dominance continues in TV. If television were an Olympic event, the Brits would dominate like the Canadians do in trampoline or the Hungarians in water polo. They are held to a different standard.
In some cases the British have produced warhorses of broadcast TV with endless amounts of episodes such as Coronation Street, East Enders and Dr. Who. But the shows with the best reception in North America are the shows with a limited run. We never had to face Gareth leaving to be a Bond villain in Season 6 of The Office or Polly’s precocious nephew coming to rouse rabble at Fawlty Towers in season 7. Continue reading
The problem with having so much good television on at the same time is that we are all bound to miss something truly special, something that seems made just for us and our personal tastes. True, we all have PVRs and television on Netflix and DVD but there are still plenty of shows that need our help to survive by watching them as they air.
I missed Enlightened while it was airing, and it seems that everyone else did too, because the show is now cancelled. But, if you have the chance to catch up with it, I promise you will not be disappointed unless you don’t like slow-moving character studies with bits of “magic realism” and poetic monologues thrown in sporadically. I suspect many people don’t so that’s why I want to tell you what Enlightened really is (and what I think many more people will care for): a high school drama in disguise. Continue reading
New York, 1968
If you aren’t up to date on Mad Men and don’t want anything spoiled, please don’t read on.
While watching this week’s episode of Mad Men, “To Have and To Hold”, I came to the conclusion that Mad Men is the only show on TV that is allowed to do whatever it wants. The storylines can include anything and it can be shot in any style. As for content: Sex? Yup. Lots of it. Nudity? No, but not because it can’t. The show is so sexy that nudity would be redundant. Gore? How about Pete’s girlfriend’s pulpy face? Or that time a foot was run over by a lawnmower?
If you would have told me that Mad Men’s much anticipated 6th season premiere started off with Don and Megan in Hawaii, I would have cringed. I HATE VACATION EPISODES. I always have. Characters are removed from the settings we have come to know and love and are transported into larger-than-life places of paradise. I realize this is a perfectly grumpy stance to take. I think my feelings stem from two vacation episode disappointments from my favorite childhood shows. Continue reading
Kerri: In your estimation has there ever been a good use of pets/animals on TV? Most of the TV pets that I can think of are used strictly as comic relief. Who is your favourite TV pet?
Katie: I can’t think of a pet that has been used for plot purposes, other than teaching kids about death (and teaching parents not to try to replace their child’s dead hamster. They always know.) My favourite TV pet is a pretty obvious choice, but it has to be Eddie from Frasier. That was just such an all around good dog.
The much ballyhoo about NBC’s recent late night kafuffle is in stark contrast to the eerie calm-before-the-storm over at CBS. There are no plans for who will take over from David Letterman. I’ve been a fan of Dave my whole life. To me he is the root of modern TV. The godfather of post-modern ironic snark. Being clever enough to do stupid stuff, his show in the 80’s was an assault on TV itself. I got into him more during the CBS run. By that time Letterman clones and devotees were all over the entertainment landscape; snark sort of seeped into the cultural milieu. He is also the best late night interviewer. Continue reading
We are taking this week off because we were busy getting married.
Well, some of us were at least.
We will be back next week with more TV talk. In the mean time, enjoy one of the many Friends weddings.
Our wonderful friends (and blog superstars) Jane and Ivan are getting married. In their honour we attempt to discuss our favorite television weddings. Congrats you crazy kids!
Kerri: This question was really tricky for me because I mostly hate weddings on TV shows (please note that I love weddings in real life because dancing and booze!). They usually serve to end whatever was interesting about a romantic relationship on a show, which is almost always the “getting there” part. There is no more will they/won’t they because the answer is “they will”. The two weddings that somewhat recently happened on Parks and Recreation are exceptions to this rule (see Katie’s post below for more on this). I found them charming and sweet and in keeping with the characters on the show without ruining any of the charm of the characters themselves. Because guess what, I love Leslie Knope without Ben. It’s kinda like that horrible saying about loving yourself before other people can love you. A fully realized character is and should be interesting in or out of a relationship. Continue reading
The Golden Age of Television 