Category Archives: TV

Decoding NTSF:SD:SUV

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 2 comments

The title of Adult Swim’s newest comedy, NTSF:SD:SUV, makes the target of its satire plainly obvious: the high-octane crime procedural. With its shakey-cam action sequences, melodramatic dialogue, and cash-in/spin-off model of programming, the genre is rife for parody. Appropriately, NTSF began as a fake promo on its Adult Swim neighbor, the hospital-drama parody Childrens Hospital. Like Childrens, it’s creator-lead actor (Paul Scheer) has surrounded himself with a hilarious cast. Here’s a breakdown of the NTSF team.

Character: Trent Hauser, lead agent
A combination of: The no-holds-barred techniques of 24‘s Jack Bauer and the snappy one-liners of CSI: Miami‘s Horatio Cane
Played by: Paul Scheer
Seen before as: Douchebag, MD Andre on The League, one third of sketch troupe Human Giant.

Character: Kove, head of NTSF
Inspiration: Nick Fury’s eye patch
Played by: Kate Mulgrew
Seen before as: Kathryn Janeway, captain of the USS:Voyager on the mediocre Star Trek series of the same name

Character: Jessie Nichols, lab tech
Trope parodied: The “ugly” girl who just needs to lose the glasses
Played by: Rebecca Romijn
Seen before as: Mystique in the X-Men films, Alexis Meade on Ugly Betty

Character: Alphonse, Trent’s partner
One-line bio: Field agent with an irrational fear of science
Played by: Brandon Johnson
Seen before as: Background characters in your favorite comedies

Character: Piper, Trent’s other partner
Major malfunction: Trigger-happy with something to prove
Played by: June Diane Raphael
Also known as: Scheer’s life partner and Casey Wilson’s (Happy Endings) comedy partner.

Character: Sam, head of communications
Not to be confused with: S.A.M., his robotic nemesis
Played by: Martin Starr
Cult TV roles: The lovable Bill Haverchuck on Freaks and Geeks and the loathable Roman on Party Down

While that covers the NTSF crew, the cast doesn’t stop there. Guest stars include, among others, Adam Scott, Jerry O’Connell, JK Simmons, Rob Riggle, John Cho, and even the bad guy from The Karate Kid.

“If you’re a terrorist planning on attacking San Diego, you better think again… twice.” NTSF:SD:SUV airs Thursdays at 12:15am on Adult Swim.

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Breaking down the Emmy nominations

Posted on July 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Even though the ceremony is two months away, the Emmy nominations present an opportunity to look back at television’s last season. Here is a breakdown of the top-line awards, minus a few categories I’m woefully ignorant about. Also, I’ll leave off writing and directing awards and use the series awards as a proxy.

Outstanding Drama Series

  • Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
  • Dexter (Showtime)
  • Friday Night Lights (The 101 Network/NBC)
  • Game of Thrones (HBO)
  • The Good Wife (CBS)
  • Mad Men (AMC)

While Sons of Anarchy‘s Kurt Sutter ranted on Twitter about his show’s lack of nominations, the real missing piece is his network neighbor Justified, which went from guilty pleasure to required viewing in its second season. Otherwise, these are all deserving shows, with the exception of Dexter, which seems to be skating by on reputation after a disappointing season. The Good Wife and Friday Night Lights have the right balance of critical and fan appeal, but neither CBS’ slowburner or The Little Show That Could are serious contenders.

HBO spent big on Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones; as for capturing the public’s imagination like The Sopranos or The Wire, the latter outpaced the former. Game of Thrones was consistently compelling, the perfect blend of low-brow and high-brow. However, it would be an upset if Mad Men didn’t take home a fourth consecutive trophy.

Outstanding Comedy Series

  • 30 Rock (NBC)
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  • Glee (Fox)
  • Modern Family (ABC)
  • The Office (NBC)
  • Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Two comedies that challenge the sitcom-as-disposable entertainment formula didn’t make the cut, nearly rendering this category meaningless. Louis CK’s Louie is certainly too surreal (in the strictest sense, not how 30 Rock‘s cartoonish universe is surreal) for the Emmys. And while three quarters of NBC’s Thursday comedy bloc is nominated, the best show is left out. Community‘s second season was a groundbreaking meta examination of the medium; Dan Harmon is starting to look like the next Mitch Hurwitz.

Glee‘s inclusion here is surprising, since it’s more of a dramedy and the second season was a step back. Big Bang Theory will have to settle with being TV’s highest rated comedy. Parks and Recreation has clearly surpassed The Office and 30 Rock, and it has the best chance of preventing Modern Family from receiving the award – something I doubt it will do. Modern Family continues to leverage its hilarious ensemble cast, with enough heart to make up for a few unbalanced episodes.

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

  • The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
  • Conan (TBS)
  • The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
  • Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
  • Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
  • Saturday Night Live (NBC)

SNL in 2011? Really? The Daily Show has won every time since 2003, and if The Colbert Report hasn’t done it by now, I can’t imagine it will this year.

Outstanding Animated Program

  • The Cleveland Show – “Murray Christmas” (Fox)
  • Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (Cartoon Network)
  • Futurama – “The Late Philip J. Fry” (Comedy Central)
  • The Simpsons – “Angry Dad: The Movie” (Fox)
  • South Park – “Crack Baby Athletic Association” (Comedy Central)

Archer is arguably the funniest comedy, animated or otherwise, on television, and its absence is inexcusable. To a lesser degree, American Dad earned a spot as well. This is a snub that won’t make headlines but should. Anyway, South Park and The Simpsons usually trade off this award; I bet The Simpsons wins for an episode about awards ceremonies (seriously).

Outstanding Lead Actor, Drama

  • Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson on Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
  • Kyle Chandler as Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights (The 101 Network/NBC)
  • Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan on Dexter (Showtime)
  • Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (AMC)
  • Hugh Laurie as Gregory House on House
  • Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens on Justified (FX)

Here are six men that are extremely happy about Breaking Bad‘s hiatus, which forced the show out of consideration and gives someone else a chance at Bryan Cranston’s award. The easy pick is Jon Hamm, for a season that saw him push Don Draper farther than ever before. It’s a category full of very qualified actors, but this is Hamm’s year.

Outstanding Lead Actress, Drama

  • Kathy Bates as Harriet “Harry” Korn on Harry’s Law (NBC)
  • Connie Britton as Tami Taylor on Friday Night Lights (The 101 Network/NBC)
  • Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden on The Killing (AMC)
  • Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC)
  • Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick on The Good Wife (CBS)
  • Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson on Mad Men for the episode “The Suitcase” (AMC)

Did you know that Mariska Hargitay has only won this award once? I always assumed it was more than that. Other than fun facts, I have nothing to offer here; of these, I only watch Mad Men, embarrassingly enough. Something tells me Julianna Margulies will finally win as the titular Good Wife.

Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy

  • Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock (NBC)
  • Steve Carell as Michael Scott on The Office (NBC)
  • Louis C.K. as Louie on Louie (FX)
  • Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter on The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  • Matt LeBlanc as himself on Episodes (Showtime)
  • Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

If the Emmys don’t have the balls to nominate Louis CK’s show, will they actually hand him the statuette? Why isn’t there a “comedy auteur” category for this situation? I could see Carell finally winning, to cap his final year on The Office. Anything but a Big Bang cast member would suffice.

Outstanding Lead Actress, Comedy

  • Edie Falco as Jackie Peyton on Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
  • Tina Fey as Liz Lemon on 30 Rock (NBC)
  • Laura Linney as Catherine “Cathy” Jamison on The Big C (Showtime)
  • Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn on Mike & Molly (CBS)
  • Martha Plimpton as Virginia Chance on Raising Hope (Fox)
  • Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Automatically categorizing “dramedy” as “comedy” leads to a game of apple and oranges. Edie Falco and Laura Linney are doing something different than Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (with Melissa McCarthy and Martha Plimpton in another box entirely). The meteoric rise of Parks and Rec is all about Leslie Knope; “should” and “will” might converge in this category.

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama

  • Andre Braugher as Owen Thoreau Jr. on Men of a Certain Age
  • Josh Charles as Will Gardner on The Good Wife
  • Alan Cumming as Eli Golding on The Good Wife
  • Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones
  • Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder on Justified
  • John Slattery as Roger Sterling on Mad Men

Two strong performances highlight another lesson about the Emmys. Peter Dinklage and Walton Goggins are both captivating, stealing scenes all season long on Game of Thrones and Justified, respectively. But this category tends to be won by “big” performances, and Goggins’ might be too subtle for the nod: Tyrion Lannister is anything but subtle and could walk away with this one.

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama

  • Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart on The Good Wife
  • Michelle Forbes as Mitch Larsen on The Killing
  • Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris on Mad Men
  • Kelly MacDonald as Margaret Schroeder on Boardwalk Empire
  • Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett on Justified
  • Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma on The Good Wife

Like the lead actress category, I’m not sure about this one. Margo Martindale easily outpaced the eye candy on Justified, but she’d be a dark horse to win. Joan Harris didn’t loom as large in the last season of Mad Men, so my money is on Archie Panjabi repeating last year’s win.

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Comedy

  • Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy on Modern Family
  • Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel on Glee
  • Jon Cryer as Alan Harper on Two and a Half Men
  • Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell Pritchett on Modern Family
  • Ed O’Neill as Jay Pritchett on Modern Family
  • Eric Stonestreet as Cameron Tucker on Modern Family

Modern Family is a fantastic show, but dominating this category like this is a waste. Where are Neil Patrick Harris or Jason Segel, or more importantly, where is Parks and Rec‘s Nick Offerman? As Amy Poehler put it, “it’s a hot load of bullshit” that Offerman wasn’t nominated for his performance as meme-machine Ron Swanson. The Emmys needs to create an ensemble category and prevent this from happening again.

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Comedy

  • Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy on Modern Family
  • Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock
  • Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester on Glee
  • Sofia Vergara as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on Modern Family
  • Betty White as Elka Ostrovsky on Hot in Cleveland
  • Kristen Wiig as various characters on Saturday Night Live

Random thoughts: Sofia Vergara may get more eyeballs, but Julie Bowen’s Claire is more essential to Modern Family‘s success. Someone playing various characters hasn’t won in over fifty years, but Kristen Wiig could capitalize on the Bridesmaids buzz for an upset. Also, how does Jane Krakowski keep getting nominated? And does anyone watch Hot in Cleveland?

These questions and many more will be answered on September 18. The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards will air on FOX; the hilarious and talented Jane Lynch will host.

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The final season of "Rescue Me" starts with a bang

Posted on July 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Like Weeds, Rescue Me is one of the shows that defined the last decade’s television Golden Age. Also like Weeds, it hasn’t aged particularly well, the victim of the same kind of stakes-raising that has made the former a parody of itself. With the seventh and final season kicking off last night, can Rescue Me salvage its legacy?

The season premiere opens with the Gavin universe in an uneasy stasis. Tommy’s nephew Damien, rendered severely brain damaged in a firefighting accident last season, appears ready to join the rest of Tommy’s “ghosts.” Yet his is a fate worse than death, arguably – living without living, Purgatory on Earth. Predictably, Sheila is delusional and in denial about Damien’s possible recovery. Janet is pregnant (for the fifth time), and she and Tommy decide to keep the baby. The specter of their deceased son Connor still hangs heavy over their relationship, even with Wyatt (the product of Janet and Johnny’s affair) in the fold. Janet wants a normal relationship, but Tommy can’t promise that: “We are way beyond goddamn normal.”

Fast forward five months: A very pregnant Janet has formed an alliance with longtime nemesis Sheila; a friendship forged in fire at the hands of Tommy. With two women and two maturing children to tend to things, Tommy’s role as “man of the house” is in question. Complicating matters is this new dynamic with the women in his life: can he trust either one, or is this more “she said / she said?” Either way, Janet and Sheila calling Tommy “a walking hard-on with a fire helmet” is essentially his character bible.

Finally, the audience sees the firehouse. During a dry spell, fire-wise, the gang sits around making dated Jersey Shore and Flavor of Love references. Remember when these characters were the lifeblood of the show? Lovable dimwits Sean and Mike, ladies-man Franco, and salt of the Earth Lou have been run through the ringer the last few years, surviving cancer, death in the family, sexual identity crisis, baby mama drama, nuns and con artists. At this point, their banter rings hollow.

The bar is now being run by Teddy and Johnny, who have Tommy’s daughter Colleen on the payroll. Should all these recovering alcoholics be in a bar? The bar as support system is a re-hashing of the Gavin family AA group, and audiences will remember how that turned out (tragically). When “Black Shawn” proposes to Colleen, she gets hammered; apparently Tommy’s “baptism in alcohol” didn’t stick. Tommy is furious, but rejects a drink after a meeting with his ghosts (his father, his brother, and his cousin). Instead, he breaks up the bar with a few warning shots from Teddy’s shotgun: “Party’s over, assholes.”

The party will be over soon, as the series will end on the tenth anniversary of September 11th. Frankly, it’s about time: what started as a comment on how quickly we forget our heroes became an overwrought soap opera with the macho trappings of firefighting. Here’s hoping Rescue Me shows some respect for its characters in its final episodes, so that audiences never forget this gut-wrenching journey.

Rescue Me airs Wednesdays at 10PM on FX.

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Why do I keep watching "Weeds"?

Posted on July 7, 2011 | 2 comments

When Weeds premiered in 2005, it was a breath of fresh air. One of Showtime’s biggest hits, it ushered in a wave of cable dominance for the network, including the similarly-themed Dexter, Californication, United States of Tara, and Nurse Jackie. “Suburban MILF/widow becomes pot dealer” was a simple enough premise: grounded in reality with enough drama and risk built right in. The dialogue was some of the sharpest on television, and the satire was always sharp. Mary-Louise Parker’s Nancy Botwin was mesmerizing as she struggled to balance the various roles in her new life. As the first season closed, with a brilliant homage to the end of The Godfather, it appeared that the show could only get better.

And it did, for a while. But after six seasons and over 70 episodes, Weeds is no longer the sweet little dramedy it was in the beginning. The main culprit is the dramatic need to keep raising the stakes – a problem experienced by shows like 24. As Nancy got deeper and deeper into the drug game, the gangsters got bigger and the risks got higher. The suburban satire was literally burned to the ground at the end of the third season, putting the Botwins on the road (from Ren Mar to Tijuana to Seattle to Dearborn). For a while, the show meandered, searching for its lost identity.

Change is inevitable over the course of a long-running show, but the change in Nancy’s character – from likeable and flawed to reckless and selfish – has anchored the show around an unsympathetic protagonist. Case in point: marrying DEA Agent Peter was short-sighted, but marrying kingpin Esteban was insane. It was if the character was intentionally making bad decisions, confounding logic and frustrating the audience at the same time.

By the end of the sixth season, it looked like Nancy’s bad decisions had finally caught up with her. With Esteban and Guillermo on her tail, she engineered “Plan C,” simultaneously securing a new life for her family, implicating Esteban, and taking the blame for a murder Shane committed. The seventh season opens three years later, with Nancy at an unexpected parole hearing that results in her release to a halfway house in NYC. The family had established new lives in Copenhagen, but return to the states when they find out Nancy is free. Conveniently, Esteban died on the way to his home planet in the prison yard.

Faced with living in a halfway house, sharing a room with a sociopath, and working a minimum wage job, Nancy quickly and predictably returns to her old ways. Astonishingly, she violates her parole 40 minutes into the new season by smoking a joint with her prison lover’s brother (Pablo Schreiber, of The Wire and Lights Out), with whom she plans to trade a cache of stolen weapons (!) for weed. As Silas looks to relaunch his modeling career stateside, Shane and Andy watch the hilariously-titled “Your Inmate: What to Expect” as they wait for Nancy to return to the halfway house.

What the Botwin clan – and the audience – should expect is unending recidivism. Like them, I/we keep coming back for more. But faced with an unrepentant character, for whom three years in the slammer isn’t “rock bottom,” for how much longer is up for debate.

Weeds airs Mondays at 10PM on Showtime.

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First thoughts: "Jon Benjamin Has a Van"

Posted on June 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

Comedian Jon Benjamin is the voice behind such classic characters as Coach McGuirk on Home Movies and Ben on Dr. Katz. Currently, he’s pulling double-duty as the titular characters on Archer and Bob’s Burgers. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s now starring as a fictional version of himself on Comedy Central’s Jon Benjamin Has a Van.

Jon Benjamin Has a Van (airing Wednesdays at 10:30) lampoons news magazines with a combination of sketch comedy and real-life pranks. Tearing down news mags has been done before, no doubt; for most of its history, The Daily Show featured such parodies, but none were anchored by a deadpan as vicious as Jon Benjamin’s. And none had a news van as creepy, either.

In the first two episodes, Jon’s interview subjects have been riffs on the “heroes” usually featured in such programs. In one, sketch comedy veteran Jay Johnston (Mr. Show, The Sarah Silverman Program) played a reporter who bravely interviewed a man disfigured by a grain thresher. In another, Jon’s contempt for a man wounded in basic training, played by Delocated‘s Jon Glaser, is plainly visible: “That helicopter sound must not remind you of war, ’cause you were never there.”

Jon Benjamin Has a Van Weds 10:30/9:30c
Injured Veteran
www.comedycentral.com
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The centerpiece of each episode is a long-form or recurring sketch, whether crossing the border with UCB alum Matt Walsh or investigating a battle between Little Italy and Little Little Italy (think Lilliputians). In the latter, Jon gets caught in a mafia war and romances the tiny boss’s daughter. A fun genre parody, but the image of Jon Benjamin writhing in ecstasy is now burned into my brain.

Nino: …I trusted you with my little girl… and you slept with her!
Jon: With all due respect, sir, she’s a full grown woman. She can make her own decisions.
Nino: She’s 15, you sick fuck!
Jon: What?… I couldn’t tell, the scale was off, she’s so small.

The pranks find Jon in the role of the man-on-the-street talent, ad-libbing with the same acerbic wit of his written material. Asking real people for their opinion of gay marriage at inopportune times is funnier than it should be; even when the bit falls apart, like when a man in a movie theater actually engages him, it’s still effective. A highlight of the pranks is a parody of Cash Cab called Cash Stall that nearly gets his ass kicked.

Jon Benjamin Has a Van Weds 10:30/9:30c
Cash Stall
www.comedycentral.com
Comedy Central TV Shows Comedy Videos


Not everything works. “You Can’t Shoot Here!” is a one-gag bit, and ridiculing how the elderly use the Internet is too easy. So far, there have been as many gun battles as there have been episodes; the violent conclusions will either become redundant or one of the show’s trademarks, it’s still too early to tell. But with a talent like Jon Benjamin at the helm, the show hits more than it misses. Here’s hoping Comedy Central doesn’t take his keys away any time soon.

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Catching up on "Delocated"

Posted on June 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’m not sure how Delocated flew below my radar for so long. Like Childrens Hospital, it is a live-action series with comedy veterans at its core: Delocated stars writer-creator Jon Glaser, who has written for Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Human Giant, among others. But instead of parodying the medical show genre like Childrens Hospital, Delocated takes the reality show to its logical – and extreme – conclusion.

Delocated is a mock-reality series that revolves around “Jon” (Glaser) and his family, who entered the Witness Protection Program after Jon testified against a Russian crime family. With the aid of ski masks and voice modulators, Jon and his family try to start over in New York City, but things quickly go awry. Their no-frills studio apartment is far from the luxury loft promised by network executives. “Why else would I put my family on camera and risk them being murdered if I wasn’t in a sweet loft? That’s what makes it worth it!” Jon asks, exasperated. With this revelation, Jon’s wife Susan takes their son David to a hotel; soon, the two remove their ski masks and their modulators (the latter, surgically). Jon is left to carry the reality show, his exploits and adventures its sole focus.

Jon is brash, irritating, and self-obsessed: the perfect reality TV star. After separating from Susan, his relationship with her and David is rocky, at best. He melts down at David’s ska-themed Bar Mitzvah and on the set of the TV movie based on their lives (Susan sold the rights). With his family mostly out of the picture, Jon is free to pursue fame and fortune with a series of half-baked ideas, which are typically disposed after each episode, never to be mentioned again. One of these is the Rage Cage, a business that specializes in relaxation through destruction. He meets Kim at the Cage, who soon becomes his girlfriend and the target of his emotional abuse.

Jon might have a new girlfriend and a series of gigs, but the Russian mob is still trying to kill him. Tasked with the assassination is Yvgeny Mirminsky (played by Eugene Mirman), son of the boss and Yakov Smirnoff-esque comedian. Yvgeny is hapless at both, whether accidentally killing Paul Rudd or delivering yet another vodka-based punchline; hanging out with Todd Barry (playing himself) doesn’t seem to help with either. It’s only when Yvgeny’s sociopathic brother Sergei takes over that things get serious: like a lion picking off the weak from the herd, Sergei starts to torture and murder everyone close to Jon.

While Delocated is a parody of the genre, its also a larger satire of the television industry. Jon’s contact at the network, Mighty Joe Jon the Black Blonde (the hilarious Jerry Minor), has also given a reality show to the Mirminsky clan. Mighty Joe Jon: the Black Blonde – always referred to by his whole moniker – is not afraid to get his hands dirty in the fight for ratings.

The comedy of Delocated is served dark and dry. Jon’s lack of self awareness is played for laughs at every turn, even as he literally loses everything and everyone around him. After two seasons and nineteen episodes, the show was renewed for a third season which is filming now. The first two seasons will be released on DVD this fall, so for now, catch a few episodes over at Adult Swim.

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Network upfronts: Drama edition

Posted on May 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

While I have a firm grasp on network comedy, I’m not as comfortable with network dramas. For the most part, I don’t watch them. In the last decade, the rise of the procedural mirrored the rise of cable dramas, whether premium (The Sopranos, Dexter) or basic (The Shield, Mad Men). I’ve devoted much more time to the latter, which the rare exception of something groundbreaking like Lost. Still, a rose is a rose is a rose. Here’s a look at the networks’ dramatic offerings this fall.

NBC: Anything you can do, I can do, too. Part 1

For the most part, the last place network is looking to break their losing streak by opting for ideas that have worked beofre. Grimm, from the non-Whedon folks behind Buffy and Angel, mines similar territory with a high concept procedural that asks “what if the Grimm fairy tales were real?” Smash looks to cash-in on the musical craze, and even features an American Idol veteran, Katharine McPhee. The Playboy Club apes Mad Men, but in attempting to be everything to everyone, it seems unfocused; the sex, lies and murder drama would probably work better on cable. In Prime Suspect, Maria Bello tries to break into the homicide detective boys-club; the series was long-running and critically acclaimed in the UK, with Helen Mirren in the lead role. The trailer shows promise, but it’s tough to get attached to a cop show these days.

The exception to my “no more cop shows” rule just may be Awake, the dream-versus-reality thriller that is drawing comparisons to Inception. Sure, there is a police procedural here, but the premise sets it apart. After surviving a car crash, Mark Britten (Brotherhood‘s Jason Isaacs) lives two separate, parallel lives: one in which his wife survived instead of his son, and vice versa. He goes to sleep in one and wakes in the other, unsure of which is the dream. The trailer is chilling; I’ll definitely be watching this one.

ABC: Anything you can do, I can do, too. Part 2

ABC’s line-up is very similar to that of NBC, opting for the familiar and proven over real innovation. In several places, ABC and NBC are using the the same ideas: ABC’s schedule includes a “fairy tales are real” show in Once Upon a Time, and gives a woman’s perspective on the Mad Men / Catch Me If You Can time period with Pan Am.

I will admit, I’m not in the target audience for most of their other offerings. Revenge – The Count of Monte Cristo in the Hamptons – is bait for O.C. and Gossip Girl fans. Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal is Private Practice in the PR world. Good Christian Bitches Belles gets an adaptation and Charlie’s Angels gets a reboot. Yawn.

The only intriguing show is ABC’s attempt to recapture the magic of Lost. In The River, a Steve Corwin type goes missing in the Amazon. His family and crew try to find him, running into some shaky cam creepiness along the way, courtesy Paranormal Activity‘s Oren Peli. Like some of this fall’s comedies, however, this premise looks better suited to film than to TV.

CBS: Procedurals until we die!

CBS only added three new dramas, and two of these are approaching new levels of unintentional parody. A Gifted Man stars Patrick Wilson as a surgeon who gets help from his dead ex-wife. Unforgettable‘s main character has hyperthymesia, and can remember literally everything that’s ever happened to her; I wonder if that will help her solve crimes!

The winner here is Person of Interest, a crime thriller (with a sci-fi twist) executive produced by Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) and J.J. Abrams (Lost). Lost‘s Michael Emerson and James Caviezel use surveillance knowledge and CIA training, respectively, to prevent crimes before they happen.

FOX: Gettin’ high (concept)

And the loser is Fox. Their line-up includes a spin-off of Bones called The Finder, about an eccentric, offensive skeptic who can find anything (House with an internal GPS?). Then there’s the time travel plus dinosaurs extravaganza Terra Nova which is getting by because it has an executive producer named Steven Spielberg. Kiefer Sutherland will return to Fox next year, but Touch, about a man with a precognitive autistic child, hasn’t filmed yet. J.J. Abrams tries to save another network’s fall line-up, but his time travel mystery Alcatraz looks a little absurd (at least it has Hurley!).

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Network upfronts: Comedy edition

Posted on May 18, 2011 | 3 comments

It’s upfront season, when each TV network presents a grand vision for their fall schedule. New shows are hyped up and old shows are given the boot, all with masturbatory excitement: “this is our year!” What used to be an insider, industry-only process is now – like everything – subject to the Internet’s buzz cycle.

As someone who consumes TV exclusively time-shifted, upfronts are a reminder that things like time slots are still the bread-and-butter issues of the industry. A strong lead-in or a well constructed block of programming can make or break a show. With that in mind, what new shows do the networks have in store, and which look worthwhile? Let’s take a look at new comedies.

NBC: Buzzworthy picks and the Year of the Woman

The hype for Up All Night looks to be well-deserved. Starring Christina Applegate, Will Arnett, and Maya Rudolph, and created by writer Emily Spivey (SNL, Parks & Recreation), the parenthood-workplace hybrid has the pedigree of a comedy hit. One red flag is NBC’s decision to have it start off Wednesday nights instead of slotting it into the Thursday night block, with similarly-minded sitcoms.

Paired with Up All Night is Free Agents, an adaptation of a British series of the same name. The brilliant Hank Azaria returns to TV (after the short-lived Huff) as Alex, a PR exec coming out of a messy divorce and simultaneously carrying on a complicated relationship with co-worker Helen (Kathryn Hahn). Anthony Head (of Buffy fame) reprises his role from the UK version as Alex’s sex-crazed boss. Supporting are Joe Lo Truglio, Natasha Leggero and Al Madrigal, all veterans of underground comedy. Free Agents is being written by John Enborn (Party Down, Veronica Mars) and original series creator Chris Neil.

Building on the success of female-driven comedies like 30 Rock and Parks & Rec, NBC returns to the well with several shows created, written, and starring women. First, the Peacock is getting back in on the multi-camera game: unfortunately, both Whitney (the vehicle for fast-rising comedian Whitney Cummings) and Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea (the adaptation of Chelsea Handler’s book of the same unwieldy name) look pretty staid, especially since both Cummings and Handler will need to tone down their comedic stylings considerably for network TV. Whitney will have the advantage of taking the coveted post-Office time slot.

Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair co-created and co-star in Best Friends Forever, a single camera relationship comedy, and while the clips didn’t catch me, the show could be a sleeper. BFF could play out like new favorite Happy Endings; coincidentally, Happy Endings‘ Adam Palley appears in the BFF pilot but will be recast, due to the former’s renewal. Rounding out the line-up is Bent, starring Amanda Peet, with a limited premise that is more suited to film: high-strung lawyer meets slacker contractor, love/hate relationship ensues. At least the cast includes Jeffrey Tambor. Vodka, BFF and Bent are being held until mid-season.

ABC: Men behaving badly (mostly)

Most of the premises for ABC’s new comedies are groan-inducing takes on modern masculinity. Tim Allen returns to TV in Last Man Standing, under siege from his wife and daughter. The succinctly-titled ensemble comedy Man Up features married men who only wear the pants in their online game worlds. Worst of all is the men-in-drag (!) sitcom Work It. ABC skips the subtlety in their naked appeals to the lucrative “manly man” demographic, so feel free to skip these.

The only shows with promise on ABC are Suburgatory and Apartment 23. Suburgatory works well-worn territory – the suburbs suck! – but Jeremy Sisto and Cheryl Hines are talented comedic actors. Apartment 23 (formerly Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23) was created by Nahnatchka Khan (American Dad) and Dave Heminson (How I Met Your Mother, Just Shoot Me) and stars Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad, Veronica Mars) as a roommate from Hell. Similar to Episodes, the show features James Van Der Beek as a fictionalized version of himself, but also like Episodes, I’m not sure how many Dawson’s Creek and Varsity Blues jokes they can manage.

FOX: It’s okay, these will be canceled soon!

Fox offers four comedies (two live action, two animated) and only one, The New Girl, shows much promise. Zooey Deschanel stars, combining her usual “manic pixie dream girl” fare with a touch of Liz Lemon and a My Boys-esque plot. Fempire member Liz Meriwether created the show, which (like BFF) will need to re-cast an actor (Damon Wayans Jr.) because of Happy Endings‘ renewal.

I doubt that the multi-camera I Hate My Teenage Daughter, uber-timely Napoleon Dynamite cartoon, or animated Jonah Hill vehicle Allen Gregory will be around next fall. If I had to choose one to succeed, I’d put my money on Allen Gregory, with Hill writing and voicing a precocious seven year old.

CBS: Procedurals pay the bills

It always surprises me that CBS is a dominant network, since I never watch it (with the exception of How I Met Your Mother). But they clearly know what 18-49 year olds want (myself excluded). CBS gave Whitney Cummings her second pilot of the year, 2 Broke Girls, which she co-created with Michael Patrick King (who wrote both Sex and the City movies, shudder). I have higher hopes for How to Be a Gentleman, written and directed by David Hornsby (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) with comedy veterans Kevin Dillon (Entourage), Mary Lynn Rajskub (24, Mr. Show) and Dave Foley (Newsradio). (CBS was the last to present, so no show previews are available to hoi polloi as of yet.)

Check back tomorrow as I examine this fall’s network dramas.

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From guilty pleasure to must watch: thoughts on "Justified"

Posted on May 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

When I wrote about Justified before this season, I called it a guilty pleasure. It was another procedural-serial hybrid with a main character bigger than the institution he’s a part of (a post-Wire faux pas), albeit taking place in a unique setting. But after the culmination of the show’s second go-around in Kentucky’s Eastern District, I’m reconsidering that designation.

The second season of Justified built upon the solid foundation of the first, literally picking up right where the first left off. Raylan and Boyd became further entwined, as Raylan’s Miami cartel problems became Boyd’s: a cartel member deprived Boyd the privilege of killing his father Bo. Surprisingly, this issue was cleared up rather quickly, putting to bed a storyline that began when Raylan capped Tommy Buck in the pilot.

Raylan sorts through the paperwork and testimony that results from one of his bloodbaths, getting back to marshal business, and Boyd continues life on the straight-and-narrow. Without his flock (who were summarily killed by Bo’s crew), Boyd returns to the mines, content to live a humble existence from the comfort of Ava’s attic. Neither Raylan nor the audience is sure whether Boyd has honestly turned over a new leaf or not, the type of complexity the first season offered.

The second season’s major plot line concerned the Bennetts, a local crime family that shares a “Hatfields and McCoys” relationship with the Givens clan. Matriarch Maggs Bennett is played by Margo Martindale, a true delight who has been featured on The Riches and Dexter. Maggs was infinitely more compelling than Bo as a crime boss, her relationship with her family richer and more complicated. With her three sons, corrupt sheriff Doyle (Joseph Lyle Taylor), wannabe gangster Dickie (Lost‘s Jeremy Davies), and the dimwitted Coover (Brad William Henke), Maggs dominates the fictional Bennett County.

Raylan is no stranger to the Bennetts, but only becomes professionally interested when state troopers need a hillbilly whisperer to track down a sex offender deep in Bennett territory. A local hustler named McCready had anonymously called in the law. Between that and encroaching on Maggs’ weed business, McCready ends up with a bellyful of poison. This leaves his daughter Loretta (the scene-stealing Kaitlyn Dever) an orphan under the protective watch of Maggs. Meanwhile, the Bennetts work towards their big plan, which ends up being a land deal with mountaintop miner Black Pike. The whole affair feels like an Appalachian Chinatown.

Meanwhile, Boyd is dragged back over to the dark side, first as the hired protection for Black Pike and then as a full fledged outlaw. Was it inevitable? Was it premeditated? Or was it the result of the constant doubts of Raylan, et al? The evolution of Boyd’s character this season was always captivating, from his solemn shots of whiskey as a coal miner to bursts of violent anger (one involving a pickup truck left me breathless).

For his part, Raylan stays busy, attempting to mend his relationship with Winona while simultaneously being a marshal and keeping tabs on Boyd and the Bennetts. He spends the entire season in the doghouse, with Art content to play the fatherly “I’m not angry, I’m disappointed” card. The writers didn’t rely on Raylan’s quick and itchy trigger finger, and the show benefited greatly from it. The show is still violent – with more blood and a higher body count that last time – without being exploitative or redundant.

The first season introduced us to the world of Justified, and the second season got to its heart. The longstanding blood feuds and the us-versus-them mentality toward outsiders give a distinct flavor to this Kentucky drama, and meditations on “the sins of the father” give it a poignant edge. This season, Justified truly surpassed itself – and its competition.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/212847/justified-season-2-overview#x-4,vclip,2,0

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The surprisingly funny "Happy Endings"

Posted on May 4, 2011 | 2 comments

Every year, the networks try to recapture the “magic” of Friends with a flaccid sitcom about a handful of twenty/thirty-somethings and their romantic hijinks. There have been a rash of these lately, a phenomenon reduced to chart form by Vulture. The results are, as expected, uninspiring; the shows last for a few episodes before being thrown on the trash heap, with good reason. Do you remember Romantically Challenged? Do you miss the recently-cancelled Perfect Couples? Didn’t think so.

At first glance, it’s easy to add Happy Endings to that list, with it’s mix of six zany friends and a premise right out of the Friends pilot. I almost made the same mistake, before another Vulture post persuaded me to reconsider the show.

Happy Endings opens at the wedding of Dave (Zachary Knighton) and Alex (24‘s Elisha Cuthbert). After a not-quite-The Graduate-interruption, Alex leaves Dave at the altar, sending him into depression and their social circle into chaos.

Said social circle includes married couple Jane (the very funny Eliza Coupe, last seen as the brutish Denish on the final season of Scrubs) and Brad (Damon Wayans, Jr.), painfully single Penny (SNL vet Casey Wilson) and “chubby gay guy” Max (Adam Palley). By the end of the pilot, Alex and Dave have patched things up enough to be civil, thus saving the group from going outside of their comfort zone.

In just four episodes since then, the single-camera show has established its tone and style, placing it somewhere between Cougar Town and Scrubs. Flashback jokes have been perfectly timed and not over-leveraged (a la Family Guy). Like Cougar Town, the characters live in their own world, coining phrases (“the peter out,” “chicksand”) and crafting dance routines. The dialogue is quick, and one-liners have been just dark enough to give the sunny sitcom a subversive edge. A couple of early favorites:

  • You know what sounds like more fun? Being in wet clothes and watching Schindler’s List.
  • I knew it! I’m parent heroin. They have got a Jane addiction, and it’s bad. I’m talking ‘shaking at a bus stop, willing to do downstairs stuff for a nickel bag of me’ bad.

For the most part, the characters are interesting and quirky. In a post-Glee TV world, Max is a realistic “straight dude who likes dudes” who refuses to be a stereotype. Damon Wayans, Jr. lives up to his family name and makes beta male Brad the perfect compliment to the overbearing Jane (if I had to make a Friends comparison, she’d be Monica).

At times, the plots have been very sitcom-y: Dave dates a clingy girl, Alex gets a roommate, Brad and Jane look for couple-friends. For each of those tropes, though, there has been a “Penny dates Doug Hitler” or “there’s a painter living in the attic” story. There have been sweet moments, too: Max struggles with coming out to his parents (using Jane and Alex as beards), and Brad works on his relationship with his straight-laced father (played by his namesake).

Far from a Friends rip-off, Happy Endings is definitely on to something: it has been gaining a following and ABC is doubling-up on new episodes to strike while the iron is hot. Check out a full hour of Happy Endings at 10pm on Wednesdays for the next three weeks (and catch up on Hulu).

http://www.hulu.com/watch/231025/happy-endings-pilot

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