Modern Family, which can now officially call itself the "emmy-winning best comedy, P.S. Suck it, Glee!", returned with I thought to be a fairly average episode of the series. Which, if you're Modern Family, is a perfectly fine thing.
-The Manny/Gloria storyline was by far the weakest of the episode. Cliche, predictable, but still delivered a few good lines. ("We like to play "Six Degrees of Sir Francis Bacon!")
-I thought the construction storyline was the best of this episode. "It was my Vietnam. And I was IN Vietnam."
-The Dunphy Car storyline was fun, but whenever a car goes over a cliff in a sticom, it generally is just unnecessary.
8.5/10
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
How I Met Your Mother: "Big Days (season premeire)" Review
Last season of How I Met Your Mother, while still enjoyable, became rather...sitcom-y. In a bad way. The plots lacked originality, characters made questionable decisions, and the overall arc of the show was almost completely lost in a flurry of subplots we mostly did not care about. Fortunately, the writers have acknowledged this and expressed an interest in "fixing it" promising, as so many showrunners do, a return to the good 'ol days of the early seasons. So far? Mission Accomplished.
-One episode in and now we actually have a location of where Ted will meet the mother
-The episode was almost entirely set in the pub, which is definitely not a bad thing.
-Loved Marshall's exit from the office. "Que the music."
-Overall, the season looks to be promising as this episode actually felt like it could have fit in during Season 2 or 3. Hopefully, the rest of the seasons maintains something to that effect.
-One episode in and now we actually have a location of where Ted will meet the mother
-The episode was almost entirely set in the pub, which is definitely not a bad thing.
-Loved Marshall's exit from the office. "Que the music."
-Overall, the season looks to be promising as this episode actually felt like it could have fit in during Season 2 or 3. Hopefully, the rest of the seasons maintains something to that effect.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Warehouse 13: "Reset (Part 2, Season Finale)"
The second part of the Warehouse 13 season finale was not as good as I hoped it would be. In fact, certain elements were handled worse than I worried they would be. The feeling of true danger only arose halfway into the episode and was handled very clumsily. It was just, overall, disapointing.
-Overall plot wise, this season didn't seem to accomplish anything. With this episode, the status quo is back to exactly how it was at the beginning of the season, with the exception of MacPherson. HG Wells still isn't a very interesting character and while I didn't buy her return to complete evilness (the tar pit thing...harsh) just as I didn't buy her return to complete angel and just as I didn't buy what she did at the end of this episode. So I really just don't buy anything she does.
-The idea that HG would use Pete's completely forgettable girlfriend (so forgettable that I forgot her name and don't want to look it up) is fine, but the outcome was just frustrating. And what's with the sudden drop in intelligence? Talking like she's the dog whisperer and "Oh look, it has our favorite breed written on it!" Really?
-I did like HG Well's smart use of artifacts. There were some cool ideas in there. Makes me think the writers spend more time coming up with artifacts then writing a cohesive storyline.
-"Have you been messing around in the Farnsworth aisle again?"
-It's been said, but the CGI....ugh. It's one of the most popular cable shows and yet it doesn't have the budget to make anything look not laughable.
-The last 15 minutes or so were just an eye-rolling extravaganza. First, Myka pleading to HG Wells (Joane Kelly was REALLY trying, but it still felt forced and unbelievable) and it actually stopping her was ridiculous and, like so many other things on this show, cliche. HG Wells motives? Also very lame and cliche. And if you just want to kill everyone, I'm sure there are easier ways than blowing up a supervolcano and starting an ice age. And then Myka quitting. No emotional effect whatsoever. It was cheesy, the nonchalant handing of the letter and leaving, crying in the car, Pete running after said car, just...awful. And isn't this a government building? And a top secret one at that? I doubt you can just hand in a letter and say 'Yup, I'm out!' The idea is fine but the execution was all wrong.
6.5/10
-Overall plot wise, this season didn't seem to accomplish anything. With this episode, the status quo is back to exactly how it was at the beginning of the season, with the exception of MacPherson. HG Wells still isn't a very interesting character and while I didn't buy her return to complete evilness (the tar pit thing...harsh) just as I didn't buy her return to complete angel and just as I didn't buy what she did at the end of this episode. So I really just don't buy anything she does.
-The idea that HG would use Pete's completely forgettable girlfriend (so forgettable that I forgot her name and don't want to look it up) is fine, but the outcome was just frustrating. And what's with the sudden drop in intelligence? Talking like she's the dog whisperer and "Oh look, it has our favorite breed written on it!" Really?
-I did like HG Well's smart use of artifacts. There were some cool ideas in there. Makes me think the writers spend more time coming up with artifacts then writing a cohesive storyline.
-"Have you been messing around in the Farnsworth aisle again?"
-It's been said, but the CGI....ugh. It's one of the most popular cable shows and yet it doesn't have the budget to make anything look not laughable.
-The last 15 minutes or so were just an eye-rolling extravaganza. First, Myka pleading to HG Wells (Joane Kelly was REALLY trying, but it still felt forced and unbelievable) and it actually stopping her was ridiculous and, like so many other things on this show, cliche. HG Wells motives? Also very lame and cliche. And if you just want to kill everyone, I'm sure there are easier ways than blowing up a supervolcano and starting an ice age. And then Myka quitting. No emotional effect whatsoever. It was cheesy, the nonchalant handing of the letter and leaving, crying in the car, Pete running after said car, just...awful. And isn't this a government building? And a top secret one at that? I doubt you can just hand in a letter and say 'Yup, I'm out!' The idea is fine but the execution was all wrong.
6.5/10
Raising Hope- "Pilot" Review
This show suprised me. I wasn't expecting too much and was really only watching because I like several of the actors and I planned on watching the show airing directly afterwards. But I actually enjoyed it. Best pilot I've seen thus far this season (which isn't saying too much, but still).
-Acting is fantastic across the board. Lead is very likeable and Garett Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton as the parents are hilarious.
-The pilot covered a very wide period of time, but didn't feel that rushed and in fact, several times, used the time cuts to its comedic advantage.
-Extra points for using Free Energy's "Bang Pop".
-There were times when the pilot didn't seem to know where it was going and stalled a little bit.
-Child endangerment humor only goes so far, but this show is making the most of it so far.
-There is an element of weirdness to the show that makes it endearing. Offbeat and interesting.
8.0/10
-Acting is fantastic across the board. Lead is very likeable and Garett Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton as the parents are hilarious.
-The pilot covered a very wide period of time, but didn't feel that rushed and in fact, several times, used the time cuts to its comedic advantage.
-Extra points for using Free Energy's "Bang Pop".
-There were times when the pilot didn't seem to know where it was going and stalled a little bit.
-Child endangerment humor only goes so far, but this show is making the most of it so far.
-There is an element of weirdness to the show that makes it endearing. Offbeat and interesting.
8.0/10
Running Wilde: "Pilot" Review
Like most people, I'm only watching this show because of the reunion of so many people from Arrested Development, which I may or may not have mentioned is my favorite show of all time. But this was horrible. There were moments of hope, but it was just....not funny. I wanted to turn it off, but felt like I could not. Maybe one day, it will blossom into a fantastic show (much like Parks and Recreation) but for now...ugh. There were moments where I was amused and one or two times where I chuckled but...it just felt messy and the jokes were all over the place.
5.2/10
5.2/10
The Event: "Pilot" Review
The Event, next in a series of shows trying to emulate the success and plotting of Lost (see also: Flashforward) certainly starts off with an interesting enough plot (the cliffhanger-what the hell?) but I don't know if it contains the character development and not raising more questions that it can promise to answer to succeed in the long run.
-The main charcter seems likable. I say 'seems' because the pilot just showed him acting nervous the entire time. Better than Flashforward's Mark Benford's cocky, yelling-a-lot behavior though.
-The budget was certainly high and I wonder how long that will keep up.
-Hopefully, the show will answer at least one or two big questions* soon so we can stop listening to people talking in vague terms for lengthy periods of time.
*questions such as "What the f*** is the event?"
7.6/10
-The main charcter seems likable. I say 'seems' because the pilot just showed him acting nervous the entire time. Better than Flashforward's Mark Benford's cocky, yelling-a-lot behavior though.
-The budget was certainly high and I wonder how long that will keep up.
-Hopefully, the show will answer at least one or two big questions* soon so we can stop listening to people talking in vague terms for lengthy periods of time.
*questions such as "What the f*** is the event?"
7.6/10
Chuck: "Chuck vs the Anniversary (Season Premiere)" Review
Chuck has returned for its fourth (and likely last) season with a plethora of guest stars and a new plot direction. I thought the episode was very good overall and this season seems to be going in the right direction in terms of pacing, action, plot, and characters we don't hate, all things last season seemed to stumble with until the end.
-I thought the episode had a very good balance of lightheartedness and actual danger/serious plot development, also something last season struggled with a lot.
-Best line of the episode came from Casey when asked if he's ever been in a long-term relationship: "No, I either leave or they die."
-Three out of four guest stars were put to good use. Henry Dean Statton was great as the creepy repo man as was Dolph Lungdren as the week's villain and Linda Hamilton was defeintely the right choice to play Mama Bartowski. Olivia Munn was in the episode for about a minute and was just kind of...there.
-The fact that the CIA now completely owns the Buy More is fun, albeit contrived, but it looks like we won't just be seeing General Beckman on a screen anymore.
-The budget cuts showed though here, but the show definetely made the best of it. I didn't even notice we hadn't seen Jeff, Lester, Big Mike, or Captain Awesome until the end of the episode. Also, the gunfight in the dark was awesome.
-Ellie doesn't show up until the very end of the episode, where she drops the bomb that she's pregnent. This really just seems like a contrivance so that Chuck has to hide he return to spy-dom and the search for their mother. I'll be interested to see how this plotline plays out.
8.9/10
-I thought the episode had a very good balance of lightheartedness and actual danger/serious plot development, also something last season struggled with a lot.
-Best line of the episode came from Casey when asked if he's ever been in a long-term relationship: "No, I either leave or they die."
-Three out of four guest stars were put to good use. Henry Dean Statton was great as the creepy repo man as was Dolph Lungdren as the week's villain and Linda Hamilton was defeintely the right choice to play Mama Bartowski. Olivia Munn was in the episode for about a minute and was just kind of...there.
-The fact that the CIA now completely owns the Buy More is fun, albeit contrived, but it looks like we won't just be seeing General Beckman on a screen anymore.
-The budget cuts showed though here, but the show definetely made the best of it. I didn't even notice we hadn't seen Jeff, Lester, Big Mike, or Captain Awesome until the end of the episode. Also, the gunfight in the dark was awesome.
-Ellie doesn't show up until the very end of the episode, where she drops the bomb that she's pregnent. This really just seems like a contrivance so that Chuck has to hide he return to spy-dom and the search for their mother. I'll be interested to see how this plotline plays out.
8.9/10
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Open the Floodgates
Well, it is officially premiere week, although nothing actually premieres until tomorrow. But I thought I'd go ahead and talk about which new pilots I'll be watching and a few words about why/how I'm approaching each of them.
The Event- This could go horribly wrong. This could be like last year's Flashforward, a show that tries to be a heavily serialized drama and fails miserably. But early reviews say the show has much potential and some of the characters are, you know, good. And NBC certainly wants me to watch it with all their ridiculous advertising.
Lonestar- I didn't have much interest in this pilot until it ended up being the best reviewed pilot out of the bunch. Premise is interesting, but I don't know how it could possibly hold up week to week.
Raising Hope- The only things attracting me to the this show are the surprisingly dark premise and Garret Dillahunt.
Running Wilde- I'm not looking forward to the heartbreak that will come with this one. With so many people from Arrested Development involved, I desperately cling to the hope that this show will be good, but early reviews say 'Nope!'.
No Ordinary Family- Looks like a live action version of The Incredibles, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Undercovers- It's J.J. Abrams and it looks like an Alias procedural-I'll give it a shot.
Outsourced- Just to see if it's as terrible as everyone says it is
The Event- This could go horribly wrong. This could be like last year's Flashforward, a show that tries to be a heavily serialized drama and fails miserably. But early reviews say the show has much potential and some of the characters are, you know, good. And NBC certainly wants me to watch it with all their ridiculous advertising.
Lonestar- I didn't have much interest in this pilot until it ended up being the best reviewed pilot out of the bunch. Premise is interesting, but I don't know how it could possibly hold up week to week.
Raising Hope- The only things attracting me to the this show are the surprisingly dark premise and Garret Dillahunt.
Running Wilde- I'm not looking forward to the heartbreak that will come with this one. With so many people from Arrested Development involved, I desperately cling to the hope that this show will be good, but early reviews say 'Nope!'.
No Ordinary Family- Looks like a live action version of The Incredibles, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Undercovers- It's J.J. Abrams and it looks like an Alias procedural-I'll give it a shot.
Outsourced- Just to see if it's as terrible as everyone says it is
My Watched List and My To-Watch List
This is simply a list of shows I have watched (or are in the process of watching). Most of these shows have ended, but I'm watching some of them to 'catch-up' and hopefully eventually watch new episodes when they actually air. An asterisk next to the title means it it one of my favorite shows of all time.
-Alias (just finished watching)- very good first two seasons, but nosedived hard afterwards
-Friday Night Lights (in the process of watching, on episode 6 of season 1)
-Arrested Development*- favorite show of all time
-Lost*- yes, I'm one of those people that actually enjoyed the ending
-Reaper
-Pushing Daises*
-Veronica Mars (on season 3, episode 10)
-The X-Files*
-Flight of the Conchords*
-Eli Stone
-Freaks and Geeks*
My to-watch list: A list of shows a plan to watch or catch up on in the near future:
-Mad Men
-Dexter
-The Wire
-Twin Peaks
-Undeclared
-Alias (just finished watching)- very good first two seasons, but nosedived hard afterwards
-Friday Night Lights (in the process of watching, on episode 6 of season 1)
-Arrested Development*- favorite show of all time
-Lost*- yes, I'm one of those people that actually enjoyed the ending
-Reaper
-Pushing Daises*
-Veronica Mars (on season 3, episode 10)
-The X-Files*
-Flight of the Conchords*
-Eli Stone
-Freaks and Geeks*
My to-watch list: A list of shows a plan to watch or catch up on in the near future:
-Mad Men
-Dexter
-The Wire
-Twin Peaks
-Undeclared
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Warehouse 13: "Buried (Part 1)" Review
"Two networks, one sever."
Warehouse 13 is a show that requires a large suspension of disbelief and patience. It often takes large unexplained jumps in logic. One episode can hurl cliches at you and another will be original and highly enjoyable. This week, we reached part one of the second season finale and, unfortunately, I could not get over the level of stupidity that several things in this episode accomplished. But first, a summary.
The episode begins with three college students in Egypt. One sends a picture to his sister and another loudly exclaims 'Nobody's supposed to know we're here!'. Then they all shrivel up. Meanwhile, Mrs. Fredrick begins having head pains. This is soon linked to the event in Egypt, which apparently was Warehouse 2's defense mechanism. So the gang goes to Egypt to shut down Warehouse 2 before it kills Mrs. Frederick.
And the rest of the episode is pretty much National Treasure.
First off, the premise of this episode was ridiculous. Yes, this show is somewhat notorious for oddball premises with little explanation besides the fact that "the artifiacts did it" but this was just bizaare. I think it's a cool idea that someone activated Warehouse 2, but the explanation for it affecting Mrs. Fredrick lead to the bizarre idea that the Warehouses are actually alive, which is of course poorly explained with the statement "They're more organic than you think". Also, was the 'you can only tell one person about what you do' thing brought up before this episode? Cause if it wasn't, it's kind of late to bring that up. Not that it matters, because its existence is clearly just to create an emotional conflict for the characters at some point in the course of the show.
And they didn't wait till the second part to bring out a big twist and a big death. Unfortunately, neither were very big and the former was hardly a 'twist'. Let's start with the death. Does anybody really care? He's been in perhaps a handful of episodes and he was the rather one-note character of 'smart-ass english guy'. But apparently we were supposed to be distraught by this and so were the characters. Pete looked like he had lost a best friend. Meanwhile, I hardly remember this character at all. As for the big twist...really? Anybody who believed HG Wells' (I suppose I should refer to her as Helena) 'I just want to work for the warehouse again' act is extremely gullible.
On the other hand, there was some good stuff in this episode. Claudia almost having to become the new caretaker of the warehouse was fun. Watching the group solve all the traps in the warehouse was interersting, even if it did feel like National Treasure (but with some characters I care about). Unfortunately, the rest of the episode brought it down and I hope the second part will be better.
6.8/10
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Welcome!
Hello, (or Annyong, in you prefer) and welcome to my blog. This blog is primarily dedicated to television, mostly featuring reviews but I may also comment on certain news items or just provide a commentary on certain things relating to television. You may also see the occasional music or movie review, especially during slow times in television (for instance, as I'm writing this, it is currently the month or so where most summer seasons have ended and the fall seasons are a few weeks away).
The reviews will work on a 100-point scale out of ten. So, thereotically an episode of a show could get anywhere from a 0.0 (very unlikely, in fact, it'd have to be especially atrocious to get anything under a 4.0) to a 10 (which I'm guessing will happen a few times a year). I watch shows I enjoy, so I wouldn't expect many scores to be below a 7.0, which is why I'm going with the hndred point scale, I can be more specific with my score. Certain shows are generally better than others, so the review scores for shows will only be relative to other episodes of that show. For example, an 8.8 for an episode of Breaking Bad would equal a 9.5 of, say...Burn Notice. I suppose I should give a rango of scores and the adjective associated with them, so I will:
0.0-.9- Abysmal, just an absolute tragedy. If I ever have to rate an episode of a show this low, I will probably stop watching the show
1.0-1.9- Terrible
2.0-2.9- Awful
3.0-3.9- Very Bad
4.0-4.9- Bad
5.0-5.9- Mediocre
6.0-6.4- Weak
6.5-6.9- Alright, Not the best but not the worst
7.0-7.4- Fine, a couple of problems, but overall enjoyable
7.5-7.9- Good, just one or two problems, but they don't detract much from the rest of the episode.
8.0-8.4- Very good
8.5-8.9- Great
9.0-9.5- Awesome
9.6-9.9- Amazing, fantastic
10- Spectacular
Here's a quick rundown of shows I'll be reviewing (ones that I already watch, basically): How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, Warehouse 13, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, Supernatural, 30 Rock, Fringe, Breaking Bad, Futurama, and Burn Notice. To give you some sort of reference point on my tastes, my favorite TV Shows of all time include The X-Files, Flight of the Conchords, and Arrested Development, which I have already referenced twice on this blog.
And just so you know, this blog is for an AP Language and Compisition class, hence the AP Lang link on the right side of the page. I've also linked to What's Alan Watching? and IGN TV, as those are the two sites I prominently read tv reviews myself on.
So thanks for reading this introduction and, hopefully, thanks for reading the rest of my blog.
The reviews will work on a 100-point scale out of ten. So, thereotically an episode of a show could get anywhere from a 0.0 (very unlikely, in fact, it'd have to be especially atrocious to get anything under a 4.0) to a 10 (which I'm guessing will happen a few times a year). I watch shows I enjoy, so I wouldn't expect many scores to be below a 7.0, which is why I'm going with the hndred point scale, I can be more specific with my score. Certain shows are generally better than others, so the review scores for shows will only be relative to other episodes of that show. For example, an 8.8 for an episode of Breaking Bad would equal a 9.5 of, say...Burn Notice. I suppose I should give a rango of scores and the adjective associated with them, so I will:
0.0-.9- Abysmal, just an absolute tragedy. If I ever have to rate an episode of a show this low, I will probably stop watching the show
1.0-1.9- Terrible
2.0-2.9- Awful
3.0-3.9- Very Bad
4.0-4.9- Bad
5.0-5.9- Mediocre
6.0-6.4- Weak
6.5-6.9- Alright, Not the best but not the worst
7.0-7.4- Fine, a couple of problems, but overall enjoyable
7.5-7.9- Good, just one or two problems, but they don't detract much from the rest of the episode.
8.0-8.4- Very good
8.5-8.9- Great
9.0-9.5- Awesome
9.6-9.9- Amazing, fantastic
10- Spectacular
Here's a quick rundown of shows I'll be reviewing (ones that I already watch, basically): How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, Warehouse 13, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, Supernatural, 30 Rock, Fringe, Breaking Bad, Futurama, and Burn Notice. To give you some sort of reference point on my tastes, my favorite TV Shows of all time include The X-Files, Flight of the Conchords, and Arrested Development, which I have already referenced twice on this blog.
And just so you know, this blog is for an AP Language and Compisition class, hence the AP Lang link on the right side of the page. I've also linked to What's Alan Watching? and IGN TV, as those are the two sites I prominently read tv reviews myself on.
So thanks for reading this introduction and, hopefully, thanks for reading the rest of my blog.
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