
Now then, as far as I’m concerned, the 08/09 TV season is done. And since I watch quite a bit more TV than I should (by TV I actually mean US-made TV shows), I figured I’d put my 2 cents in – which would mean me saying that the season wasn’t all that great. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it sucked, but…I guess the more you watch the more you have to be disappointed with. Since I’m a pretty structured person…here come my categories:
Must see:
How I Met Your Mother –my current favorite sitcom, which sometimes gives out a whiff of Friends. I just saw the finale and it was great. But not great enough as to make up for a whole season of…so-sos and near misses. In fact, I can honestly say that there are about 8 very good eps this season: Intervention, Not a father’s day, The naked man, Benefits, Three days of snow, The Possimpble, Three days rule, The leap (I checked the names, I don’t carry around all this useless stuff in my head
). The rest….mediocre or downright baaad (The Stinsons). And season 5 worries me for a couple of reasons: Ted’s turning into an unlikable douche, few people really care who the mother is and – known fact – romantic tension is so much better than the couple stuff (see Frasier going downhill after season 8), so I’m kinda curious how they’re gonna pull of the whole Robin/Barney thing.
The Big Bang Theory – since we’re in the sitcoms department. How can you not love the TV show that brought to the world Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock? This was one of the few that had a good run this season and I’m happy to see it renewed for 2 more
Lost – not that I’m keeping up with the mythology, but I’ll stick with it till the end. Season 5 – I liked it, quite a lot in fact. The return of Locke, child-Ben, Farady turning out to be a less annoying character than I initially predicted, Ben (and I love all things Ben, even whiny Ben at the end. I still think he’s got something up his sleeve) and the little good vs. evil struggle Jacob’s got going on – all these made me forget about the ever so self-righteous Jack and the occasionally stiff dialogue. I only hope Cuse & Lindelof have a master plan – I want it going out with a bang….not with JJ Abrams reading an article in a newspaper about how a mysterious island which might be Atlantis was found.
This leads me – rather abruptly – to my disappointment in the Battlestar Galactica finale. True, I got into the show just a few months before it ended, so it was all fresh in my mind….but I expected more of a twist. It all just seemed like the peaceful and easy way out, and until then, BSG hadn’t really gone down the easy road. I’m looking forward to the movie, but I’d like to see the series back-to-back again. Maybe it’ll leave me less of a bad after-taste. Until then, here you go: the 7 minutes that pissed me off & the song that still gives me goosebumps.
Pushing Daises – they (ABC) killed it after 13 episodes, and forced the producers to cook up a fake ending. I thought it was great – colorful, fun quirky….delightful. And I never knew Kristin Chenoweth can carry a tune like this…
Fun enough ways to procrastinate:
Scrubs – I’ve had a pretty much on again off again thing with Scrubs. And I never missed it; but since this was the final season, I thought I’d see it all. And it went smoothly and forgettable, even more so now that there will be a season 9 – which cancels out the awesomeness of the finale.
Castle – new procedural. I never go for these, but Nathan Filion (of Firefly/Serenity and Dr. Horrible fame) makes any 40 minutes fun. Plus, they even had a couple of interesting cases.
Brothers and Sisters – this was supposed to be my guilty pleasure and I only got into in for Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal – never a great show but always a fun one) and Rob Lowe (for me, he’ll always be one of The West Wing. Master Sorkin is sorely missing from TV world) – and I stayed for Kevin, Sarah, Justin, Scotty and the big Walker dinners soaked in wine. Season 3 was alright, I’ll probably be back for season 4, especially with Tommy out. I can only hope Robert will be out too, he’s stiff and controlling. But since this usually steps into soap opera territory, Robert will probably hang around for quite some time.
Desperate Housewives – I had abandoned it at one point, but somehow I rediscovered my taste for suburban intrigue. I couldn’t care less who was under the veil in the “cliffhanger” ending and I’m quite sure that, if I get busier next year, I’ll give it up – no regrets.
Why am I watching these again? – 3 shows that have outlived their usefulness and are only here because of my damned inertia
Two and a half men – I’m really not laughing anymore, they’re rehashing the same silly jokes over and over again. I know it gets huge ratings, but having it renewed for 3 more seasons is just pure crap. I say my goodbyes here.
Heroes – this should be a lesson about how to kill a perfectly good idea. It’s the poor man’s Xmen these days, even with Bryan Fuller back on board. Not even Sylar can save this one, Quinto is so much better as Spock
Grey’s Anatomy – awful season. I can’t even remember why I thought this was fun in the first place. I don’t care who lives, who dies and who marries, I don’t care for sex with ghosts and other silly storylines and I think that actresses like Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson and Sara Ramirez deserve so much better. Bye bye Grey’s – but you should know that my biggest beef with you is that you’ve brought Katherine Heigl to the big screen, which rejuvenated the production of crappy rom-coms. There’s no forgiveness for that.
Outside the “season” I actually discovered 3 new TV shows that are better than 95% of what’s on these days:
Six Feet Under – I’m only at episode 9, but it does keep me hooked. I’m glad to see Peter Krause in a great role (which reminds me of the amazing Sports Night – another Sorkin gem), I love the dark comedy of it all (Alan Ball – why did you stoop to vampires?) and I love the opening credits – one of the best ever.
Frasier – it got me laughing way too much: David Hyde Pierce is perfect, the writing is witty and it rarely goes for the lowest common denominator (not a lot of that going on these days, eh?). Sure, things went south after the 8th season, but that’s still some accomplishment….
Arrested Developement – why did they cancel this? It’s crazy fun, and you can even get over how annoying Michael Cera is. I’m starting to look forward to the movie
For next year? I hope I’ll have less time for TV watching
And I’m already disappointed that Lauren Graham’s & Matt Perry’s TV pilots were shot down. I was looking forward to seeing both again…