Thursday, September 26, 2013

"I'm having so many thoughts and feelings that I'm paralyzed right now" - Thursday premiere round-up 9/26/13


Hello, dear reader(s). It's NBC Thursday, and you know what that mea...oh, wait. 30 Rock and The Office are gone? And Community is on hiatus yet again? And there's a bunch of generic, boring shows moving in next week to take their place? Oh. Well.

Hey, at least we still have Parks & Rec! And The Michael J. Fox Show, which is not quite up to the levels of the aforementioned NBC Thursday sitcoms but looks like it could get there eventually! So let's talk about those. Just...please, let's not talk about those horrible Sean Saves the World promos. Please, let's talk about anything but those.




Parks & Recreation 

I consider myself a fairly big fan of Parks & Rec - particularly Seasons 2 & 3, which was some of the most perfect comedic television made in the past 20 years. But I had some significant issues with the show last season - it seemed to lose all sense of direction after Leslie won the City Council seat, and spent most of the year sending its characters through rehashed, cartoony plots that provided some mild amusement but mostly failed to make any sort of impact. This was incredibly disappointing coming from a show that once knew how to pack every single episode with tons of great comedy and even stronger emotional punches. There were some high points - Leslie and Ben's wedding could easily stand with the best of the show, if you pretend Councilman Jamm wasn't there - but the most part, it felt like the show was kind of coasting on its former glory.

I'm happy to say that tonight's hour-long premiere, "London", doesn't share those same issues. It's not perfect - the Chris/Ann baby plot still can't help but feeling like a last resort for those characters, even if it's sort of worth it for the reaction from the rest of the Parks department - but it's an episode that has stakes that feel real, emotion that feels earned, and a lot of good old-fashioned Pawnee humor. (In London!) It's an episode that made me excited for the rest of the season, something that I feared wasn't possible after a string of highly unsatisfying episodes last spring.

There's a whole lot going on in "London", but we'll start with the episodes' central story, the Leslie "recall" plot. I had some issues with the way this plot was introduced in last seasons' finale - mainly that it happened so suddenly and wasn't grounded in anything that had actually happened on the show while Leslie was in the City Council seat. But I actually liked what the show did with it here, showcasing Leslie's growing annoyance at Pawnee and its ungrateful citizens, and - most promisingly - setting up some actual stakes for her going forward. I don't want Parks to ever lose its sunny disposition, because that's part of what makes it stand out from the rest of TV comedies - but in recent seasons, the show has sometimes used its optimism spirit as a way to avoid actual conflict, which comedy (and really, television in general), tends to thrive off of. The thing that made Parks' optimism so appealing in its earlier days was that it often came as a shining light to times of great turmoil. The Harvest Festival arc - perhaps the shows' best run of episodes - was so powerful because Leslie's determination and optimism led to her saving the entire Parks department. The show raised the stakes to huge degrees, and it made the end result all the more satisfying. Leslie's campaign arc, while filled with some all-time classic episodes and moments, wasn't as successful on the whole because we never had any real doubt that Leslie Knope wasn't going to win that election. Her opponent was a moron, and this was Parks & Rec, where everyone always gets what they want. That vibe continued in Season 5, which washed, rinsed, and repeated the "Leslie faces a ridiculous opponent -> Leslie defeats the opponent with her charm and optimism" over and over again. It was pleasant to watch, but the strong emotions that Leslie's accomplishments once brought were gone, because she wasn't really being tested anymore. So I guess that's why I like what the show is doing here. I have no doubt that this is somehow going to end up well for Leslie, but I don't mind because the show is going to throw her around a little bit and test her patience. She's going to get angry, and she's going to feel defeated, and we're going to feel for her, and that's good, because it's going to let us connect to her and root for her again, which makes for much better and, ultimately, more uplifting television. That's why the end of this episode worked so much better for me than any of the similarly sweet endings to Season 5 episodes. April's letter about Leslie was sweet, but it was even sweeter knowing it's coming at a time when Leslie truly, honestly needs it.

I also really liked the Andy plotline, even if it seemed like a bit of an excuse to explain why Chris Pratt isn't going to be around for a few months. Andy and April have been two of the shows' most interesting characters in its later years, as they've both grown leaps and bounds from where they were at the start of the show - and done it completely naturally. This felt like a continuation of that - Season 5 actually had some pretty good development for Andy, with him finally deciding it's time to get on his feet and do something with himself. So seeing him finally being able to do that - with full support from his wife and while still allowing to be...well, Andy...is really nice to see. Plus, Chris Pratt is still one of the best comedic actors on television, and can sell the hell about just about anything he is given. It's too bad that the show has to go on without him for a little while, but I'm confident that there will be plenty of great material for him upon his return.

Oh! And I haven't even talked about Ron fucking Swanson! Ron's "look at this closed off guys' heart opening" arc was a little trite last year, but I also found it pretty effective - effective enough that I thought the cold open was genuinely sweet and earned. I also loved how the show chose to completely forgo any kind of hoopla over Ron and Diane's wedding and just pushed these two together. Just how Ron Swanson would want it, indeed. And even better was Leslie showing her enthusiasm but not doing so in a way that went against Ron's desire for a non-event. The entire cold open was just pretty fantastic and a great way to start off the season.

This is getting ridiculously long, so I'll wrap it up by saying the Tom storyline wasn't anything special, but was very funny and put guest star Henry Winkler to great use. I'm really happy I have so much to say about this show again, because too many of last seasons' episodes would've added up to little more than "eh, it was okay I guess" if I were writing about them. I really hope this continues for the rest of the season.


The Michael J. Fox Show


This was both one of my most anticipated and feared pilots of the season. Like any reasonable human being (*cough* Taylor Swift *cough*), I like Michael J. Fox a lot and want to see him succeed. I also like a lot of the other talent on this show, both on-screen and off, and I think the idea of a comedy about a man struggling with Parkinsons is pretty risky and interesting and could be something really special if it works out. At the same time, it also easily seemed like this show could be bogged down in NBC's desperate attempt for a broad-reaching hit and become something cloying, manipulative, and little more than a Modern Family rip-off (so, basically The New Normal). Luckily, it is not that. It's not that at all - except for maybe the Modern Family rip-off part, right down to the wholly unnecessary mockumentary set-up. But this is looking like it has all of the potential to be a great and even somewhat powerful show, even if it's not quite all there yet.

Unsurprisingly, the show's stongest aspect is Michael J. Fox himself, who continues to be a masterful comic actor, Parkinsons be damned. Betsy Brandt also deserves some major credit as his wife - the two already have really great chemistry and a well-drawn and believable relationship, even when their relationship is left to deal with some pretty by-the-numbers sitcom schlock, as it was in the second episode tonight. If absolutely nothing else, this show should be a nice showcase for both of them, who are pretty fantastic and feel right at home in these roles.

But I don't expect that to be the only thing the show has going for it. Even if the plots too often border on typical family sitcom territory, the writing itself is sharp and nuanced, following the snappy pace of edgier single-camera fare. (Not surprising for a writing staff with a handful of 30 Rock, Happy Endings, and Community alumni). If it plays its cards exactly right, I could maybe even see this becoming the rare show to become both a critical darling and a mainstream ratings hit, something that often seems almost impossible these days.

At the end of the day, though, this show is mostly interested in being a family sitcom, which is something fans of the NBC line-up of the old will want to keep in mind before skyrocketing their hopes up to unreachable levels. It's not attempting to push the sitcom formula to new dimensions like 30 Rock and Community, or even trying the ambitious character work of shows like Parks & Rec and New Girl. And that's fine! If everything works out, this show could easily become a wonderfully written and acted family sitcom with some serious emotional impact. That's more than enough for me, and as long as it gets a bit more ambitious than the stock family sitcoms that it displayed in its second episode tonight, it shouldn't have too much of a problem reaching those levels. 


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Tuesday TV Roundup: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl & Trophy Wife

Hello, everyone! It's another wonderful Tuesday here in the land of television, so let's break down all of the comedies that have graciously been given to us tonight (except for all of the ones that suck):

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Everyone knows comedy pilots are hard to get right, but second episodes are arguably just as hard. You have to retain what people liked about the pilot, while progressing your world and characters in a way that allows the audience to see that your characters aren't static - and yet not doing it too much, in fear of going too far too soon. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's second episode is certainly a repeat of the pilot in several ways, but it repeats and adds to the pilots' strongest element - the mentor relationship between Jake and Captain Holt. We don't necessarily learn anything new about either of them in this episode, but their relationship is deepened and progressed in smart but subtle ways. I thought the mirroring that the relationship between the police captain and his delinquent son and Jake and Captian Holt's relationship was fairly well-done, if slightly on-the-nose, and the two continued to demonstrate the solid comic energy that they delivered so well in the pilot. The rest of the ensemble was contained to the episodes' B-plot, which involved Joe becoming nervous after Gina's fortune teller friend informed him that Rosa would never love him and he'd spend his life alone. The plot itself was pretty standard sitcom fare, but I liked the way it brought out the personalities of the rest of the ensemble - particularly Chelsea Peretti's Gina, who is really coming onto her own. Brooklyn Nine-Nine isn't completely there yet - the humor feels shoehorned at times, and the ensemble, while strong, hasn't completely gelled just yet - but it's already making great strides to get there.

New Girl: Tonight's New Girl felt like the first time since the start of the Nick/Jess arc that the show was able to just take a breath and relax a bit. The better part of Season 2's back half was spent carefully plotting Nick and Jess's relationship, and the premiere had to do the dirty work of actually dealing with the conclusion of that plotting. So it's probably natural that tonight'd "Nerd" felt like a bit of a filler episode. Even the central Jess/Nick plot- a place where the show usually does its heavy lifting - didn't have all that much to say outside of "hey, these people are dating now, and they're cute". As for Winston and Schmidt's stories - Winston got perhaps the funniest material of the episode, but the show never made Daisy enough of a thing to make his plot pack any emotional weight whatsoever. And Schmidt's plot continues to get more and more irritating the longer the show drags it on. Schmidt is often allowed to get away with terrible behavior, because he's the kind of character we expect it from (I mean, hello, douchebag jar). But his douchebaggery is entering new heights here - and, worst of all, it's being presented as some sort of wacky comic scenario, instead of the alarming example of insecurity that it really is. I have enough faith in New Girl to give Schmidt what he deserves and to find the emotional weight of this eventually, but I wish it would happen sooner. Anyway, I feel like I'm coming down hard on an episode of television that made me laugh a lot and prominently featured the entire cast singing "I Believe I Can Fly". The laidback vibe of this episode wasn't always a bad thing - it made the episodes' comedy come fast and effortless, and it was overall a reliably good time. But after some of the truly excellent half-hours the show produced last season, an amusing but lightweight outing can't help but feel like a bit of a letdown. Still, if an episode as funny and entertaining as this one now qualifies as a "letdown" for New Girl, then it's in pretty good hands at the start of this third season.

Trophy Wife: I don't have a lot to say about the pilot of Trophy Wife, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's a highly competent pilot episode, one that nails a lot of the beats that comedy pilots often miss, and lets is strong ensemble cast do most of the heavy lifting. The premise of the show is kind of uninteresting at its core, but the show puts a certain earnestness into it that allows it to actually be pulled off. There's a lot of great gags, its tightly-written and handsomely directed. The only place where the show falls a bit flat for me is in one of the most important quadrants - its characters. I didn't really connect to any character at the end of this pilot, which is a bit of an issue, because I like to have at least someone I can hold onto in a comedy pilot. Because of that, I'm not sure Trophy Wife is the type of show I'll be running to catch every week, but its strong writing and great cast is enough to hold my interest for a while.

I did not watch Dads because I value my time and sanity. I did not watch The Goldbergs because I get enough yelling and dated pop culture references from my own family. And I did not watch The Mindy Project because it's never going to get better and it's time I accepted that. But everything else was pretty good! Yay, network TV season! We love you,  network TV season!

Also, I have no interest in a weekly Marvel procedural. Sorry, ABC/Joss Whedon!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Things I am looking forward to on the television this year

Hello again, dedicated readers! I thought I would take this rainy Saturday night before what remains of the traditional network TV season to run through a list of what I am looking forward to this season. Why? Because, well, this is my life, and it's time I accepted it. So let's go! In no particular order, here are my most anticipated shows, both old and new, for the upcoming TV season:

  • The return of New Girl and Bob's Burgers, aka the two best comedies on television right now. Seriously, if you're a comedy fan and you're not watching these shows, you are depriving yourself of a great source of joy, and that's just sad. True, both of these shows got off to a somewhat rocky start, but they've really come into their own. They both were far ahead of the rest of the comedy competition last season, churning out endless streaks of near-perfect episodes. Both shows benefit from having a deep understanding of their brilliantly defined characters - the kind of understanding that only shows that take the definition of the sitcom and elevate it to new heights can achieve. While following up seasons that were as good as New Girl Season 2 and Bob's Burgers Season 3 is a tough act, I'm still incredibly excited to see where these shows take us next, and I'm pretty confident that wherever it is, it's going to be all kinds of awesome. 


  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I've already talked about my enjoyment of the pilot on here a lot, so I'm not going to go into too much detail - but I really feel like this is the safest bet for a great new comedy in quite a while. The creators are great, the cast is possibly even better, and the characters are already proving to be pretty interesting. Now, to be fair, my most anticipated comedies of the past 2 seasons both turned into shows I didn't care for (The Mindy Project and Up All Night, if you were wondering), but I have higher hopes for this one, which is already starting with tighter characters and stronger promise than either of those shows had at their start.

  • The Michael J. Fox Show. I haven't seen the pilot for this one yet, and my anticipation for it can best be described as "cautiously optimistic". Like any self-respected human being, I like Michael J. Fox a lot and am excited at the prospect of him returning to television. Plus, the premise of the show sounds like something that could make for genuinely interesting and powerful television. My fear is that NBC is pushing so hard for this to be their new flagship comedy that I fear it will be sunk in the process. That's why Go On ended up as such a miserable failure, and I'd hate it to see that happen here, because I could see this being a really excellent show if it's given the chance.

  • The triumphant(?) returns of Community and Parks and Recreation. I love both of these shows. That's no secret. I would strongly consider naming Community my favorite show of all-time (only 30 Rock might stand in its way), and the first 3 seasons of it are basically as perfectly tuned to my interests as a television should could be. Of course, it's no secret that Season 4 of Community was a mess, and I don't think there's anyone left in the fanbase that would deny that. But Dan Harmon is back! The darkness is over! Sure, Chevy Chase is gone and so is Donald Glover after 5 episodes. But I have strangely high hopes for this season. I think everyone involved in committed to really giving its fans the return to form they deserve, and we've all seen what can happen when a show really buckles down and commits itself to turning itself around and making an impact again (again, see: 30 Rock). Re-watching the earlier seasons of this show has reminded me of just how amazing it used to be, and I really think it can be that again. As for Parks - well, this will be far less popular, but I also felt that show sort of fell off the wagon a little bit last season. Its season wasn't the disaster that Community's was, but it was kind of a bore, with a few stand-outs but mostly a lot of repeated character beats and half-assed plotlines (Chris and Ann having a baby, anyone?). And yet, those few stand-out moments - like the genuinely touching "Leslie and Ben" - proved there's still spark left to Parks - and I'm hoping Season 6 will expose those sparks once again.
  • Orange is the New Black Season 2. The biggest TV surprise of the year for me was Orange is the New Black. Not only was its release trapped in the dead of summer - a time of year generally reserved for B-list reality shows and Suits  I show had no interest in until I heard the unanimous critical acclaim. As it turns out, Orange was one of the best shows of the entire year, a thoughtful and gripping look into a womens' prison that had the most diverse cast I've ever seen on television - not only in terms of ethnicity, but also in just in terms of different types of female characters. It was a show that really opened our minds in terms of what a television show could do, both with its unique flashback structure and its hoards of completely original characters. It's the best defense of the Netflix model of programming yet, and I'm incredibly curious to see what it can do in Season 2. Part of me fears it will go all Weeds on us, but the more logical side of me trusts that a show this special can't be soured so easily.
So there you go. There are my 5 things I am looking forward to most on TV this year. Or, more accurately: here are a bunch of TV shows I felt like talking about and this seemed like the most convenient outlet to do so. Hope you enjoy my opinions!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Television is back! I'm back! LIFE IS BACK!

Hi, no one! Or someone, maybe! I'm not going to assume you don't exist, because if you do exist, that'd be rude. Anyway, a new year of television is upon us, and this year I am going to attempt to actually utilize this thing in some meaningful ways, because it's getting crowded in my dumb, confused brain so I need some place to let my TV feelings roam free.

Although the official start of the TV season isn't until next week, Fox has decided that it likes us enough to treat us to all of their shows a week before the other networks. Also, they had a pretty shitty year last season, and are hoping that maybe they'll at least get a week to win by default. So far, it might be working, considering Sleepy Hollow surprised us all last night and became the highest-rated drama premiere on Fox in 6 years. So hey! Let's see what they had in store for us tonight.

Fox is trying once again to launch a two-hour comedy block this year, after last year's unsuccessful attempt that left poor Ben and Kate out to dry. New Girl and The Mindy Project remain in the 9:00 hour, but Fox is hoping the Seth MacFarlane live-action sitcom Dads (a sentence that sounds like it's trying to turn you away from television forever) and ensemble cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine can help tighten up the ship. Can they? It's not up to me! I'm not a superfluous ratings measurement system that becomes less and less relevant with time. But I can tell you if these shows are worth you while.


Dads

I don't have much to say about this one. Okay, mostly because I didn't watch it. Look, I have some standards, alright? But really, if you've spent any time on the internet this summer, you should know exactly what to expect from this show. It's bad. Of course it's bad. Did you think it wasn't going to be bad? Well, it's bad. Okay? Now let's never speak of it again.


Brooklyn Nine-Nine

I wrote a bunch about this show for SitcomsOnline today! So you should go read that. If, for some reason, you don't, here's a summary - this is the an incredibly promising new show from an excellent bunch of cast and creators. For that alone, this seems like the best bet for a great new sitcom in quite a while. The pilot isn't amazing, but so few pilots are. The biggest problem with  it is that it isn't especially funny. But again - what pilots are? People often forget that their most beloved comedies didn't get off the ground running. The 30 Rock pilot had basically no laughs, the Parks & Rec pilot was a mess, the New Girl pilot was more or less "Zooey Deschanel being crazy for 22 minutes"...sure, once in a while you'll get an Arrested Development that kicks ass right from the start, but it's pretty rare. So while Brooklyn Nine-Nine's pilot isn't perfect, it's well-structured with plenty of great characterization. With a cast this good, that's enough to keep me very excited to see where it'll go next.


New Girl

I do not envy New Girl this season. Coming off of a highly acclaimed, universally beloved season is perhaps the hardest thing for a television show to do - the weight of expectations is almost impossible to match. Shows faced with this dilemma typically either choose to coast at the same speed and hope its supporters continue along for the ride (hello, Parks & Rec post-Season 3) or dial things up to 100 in an attempt to keep surprising its audience (that's you, Community Season 3!). Either of these methods is perfectly acceptable and can prevent the show from crashing and burning, but I personally prefer to watch the latter method, simply because I think it makes things a little more interesting. And while it's too soon to tell which road New Girl would take, all signs point to the second option after tonight's premiere. In a way, it has to take this route - the show changed its status quo so drastically by throwing Nick and Jess together at the end of Season 2 that there's no time for coasting. This is kind of an exciting prospect to me. New Girl could totally crash and burn this year, or it could balance everything perfectly and turn in another classic season of television. The fact that I have no idea which one it's going to be is a little scary, but it makes me incredibly excited to see what's in store for us in Apartment 4D this season. I will say that I thought this premiere was a step in the right direction - it made me laugh a lot, the Nick and Jess stuff was handled incredibly well, and I love that the show has made it clear that it's not going to sideline everyone else just to make room for their star couple. The only part of the premiere that I had problems with was Schmidt's storyline - love triangles are really just never interesting, and this one is no exception, particularly when that love triangle brings out the most irredeemable qualities in Schmidt. I hope that storyline wraps up sooner than later, whether it means Schmidt choosing CeCe or Elizabeth or the three of them forming the first polygamist relationship on network TV. Other than that, I'm all in.


The Mindy Project

The Mindy Project has gone through about four retools at this point, which is why it's weird that its biggest problems are the exact same problems that have been holding it back since it began. The show still has no likable or relatable characters, it's a strange mix of half-assed workplace sitcom and generic romantic comedy, and it has absolutely no point of view to speak of. In short, it's a total mess of a television program, one that has no consistent tone and seemingly no purpose, other than to be the internet's new favorite show and to book a bunch of cute boys for Mindy Kaling to kiss. What's worse is that the show is now seemingly content with this. There was a point in Season 1 where the show noticeably improved, and there was a wave of "look, it's gotten better!" support from critics and fans alike. While I never felt it improved into anything worthwhile, it was around this time that the show garnered a modest following and a bit more critical support (though not much). I guess it's decided to take that lukewarm reception and run with it, because at the start of its second season, the show seems perfectly content with its vapid mediocrity. There's a handful of decent jokes in tonight's premiere, and the writing itself remains somewhat clever. But there's absolutely no attempt to say anything remotely interesting or to progress its characters whatsoever. It's just a bunch of faceless characters exchanging snarky insults and occasionally kissing each other. That's enough for some people, I guess - but it's something I have absolutely no interest in, so I think this is where Mindy and I officially part ways. I maintain that there was a great show somewhere in that pilot last fall, but at this point, I have zero faith that great show is ever going to be discovered. 

So Fox's comedy block can best be described as a sandwich where the bread is really crumbly and gross, but the meat is delicious and some of the best around. That does not sound like a particularly good sandwich, but you can always take the meat out and just enjoy it by itself. Because you are a hard worker, and you deserve it.