Saturday, March 12, 2011

TV ROUND-UP

Just a quick post to comment on some recent TV.

Sunday: 
BEING HUMAN (UK): After a weak and focus-free start, the return of Herrick has made this show good again.  The only show on TV about Vampires worth watching.  Season Finale this Sunday!

OUTCASTS (UK): Boring and almost entirely imagination-free.  Good actors wasted on weak plots and at time, painful scripting.  Season Finale this Sunday.  Finally.

Monday:
BEING HUMAN (US): Not as bad as I was afraid it was going to be.  Each week makes me groan, but I watch and find myself moderately engaged and satisfied.  Kind of limp and bloodless compared to the original.

STARGATE: UNIVERSE: Finally back for its last 10 episodes.  Already canceled, but well worth watching.  The characters are good, if a little too grounded in the mundane.  What I wouldn't give for a show with a basic scenario like this, but with insanely free imagination guiding it.

Tuesday:
LIGHTS OUT: Just when they introduce a character I can finally get behind and enjoy (Romeo), they drop him.  Lights Out, you are killing me with your borderline entertainment value.  This is the show, right behind Being Human (US) that I am least interested in watching each week, but watch anyway, and get some enjoyment out of.  The end result here is a little better than with Being Human.

Wednesday:
SYM-BIONIC TITAN: Best cartoon on television right now.  Genndy can do no wrong in my book.  It's rated PG, so we actually get death and destruction with repercussions and moral implications.  Last week's look at the coup on their home planet was fantastic.

JUSTIFIED: Gets better and better each week.  Boyd Crowder may be the best character on television at the moment.  His only rival is Walter Bishop on Fringe.  Boyd's the best "bad guy" though.  He's starting to rival Lost's Benjamin Linus in my affections.

FACE-OFF: Season Finale this week!  I'm loving this Top Chef with Make-up Effects Artists show.  I really hope enough people are watching that we get more.  Also love that the craft drama involved in designing and implementing the make-up effects are more centrally focused than the personal drama between the contestants.  In the end, anyway.

Thursday:
THE OFFICE: Regardless of what people say, this show still makes me laugh out loud every single week.

PARKS & RECREATION: Only comedy on television that I would actually miss if it were canceled.  So much funnier than any of the other Thursday night line-up.  Most of that crap I can't even watch.

THE MENTALIST: Always entertaining, if not all that smart.  Still love the dynamic between the characters, and Patrick Jane is the most appealing and unapologetic atheist on television.

Friday:
SUPERNATURAL: Season Six is just as good as any prior season.  Glad they did it.  It's gone until April, when we'll get our final push toward the season finale, and it is going to be mightily missed.  Hopefully, they'll do another season.  Don't see why they wouldn't at this point.  It's all good and still firing on all cylinders.  The most entertaining show I watch.

FRINGE: Tied with Justified for best show on television, in my humble opinion.  With Supernatural coming in at a very tight 1.5.  Every week, no matter what reality we're focusing on, Fringe brings great casting together with entertaining scripts and imaginative plots to make me giddy.  Walter is great.  I'm really hoping they plan on keeping Jorge Garcia around as Walter's late-night pot-smoking buddy.

Saturday:
Nothing.  Finally.