this week in tv
Feb. 13th, 2011 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhomg you guys it's SWEEPS, so all the network shows are new, plus BOTH of my cable shows are in season, so this is a list of literally every show I'm watching right now.
Glee, "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle." Sue was right—the Cheerios routine was boring. Sure, there was a lot of visual spectacle, but nothing much was happening. The whole Brittany-as-human-cannonball thing was just kinda silly. And why was Katie Couric on a Fox show, instead of some chick from Fox News? We did have some cute moments: Burt and Carol and Kurt and Blaine cheering from the stands; the other glee girls getting pompoms and cheering from the sidelines; someone's sign that Mike Chang is a ninja; the Warblers singing "Bills, Bills, Bills" and not changing the gender.
So let's just focus on Coach Beiste, who's quickly becoming my favorite character on this show, and I dearly hope that they find something for her to do when football season is over. Who mouthed along to the Lady Antebellum song like Oprah because of course she listens to Today's Country, who can easily stand between football players trying to beat each other up, who had a gorgeous smile, and who actually said, "we're gonna get our asses kicked from here until Tuesday finds a saddlebag full of buckwheat."
HIMYM: "Oh, Honey." I don't really care that much about Ted and Zoey, even though it was obvious that this was where we were headed, and I have to wonder what will happen when he apparently meets the mother at his buddy's wedding (end of this season I'm guessing?) but the episode was classic deep-fried HIMYM. (If you've ever listened to any of the commentary tracks you know that's a reference to their director, Pamela Fryman.) I love that Marshall is still at his family home dealing with the fallout from his father's death, and the whole callback to general teenage behavior since that's the time we do have long conversations with our friends about what happened at school that day. I thought that Katy Perry was well-used, but I thought the same of Britney so YMMV; the moment when she has him wrapped up in a blanked with a cup of tea and saying "Oh, honey" to him was brilliant. I love Barney's version of the story because that's exactly the manner and circumstances by which he lies to others and to himself—especially the crude way he talks about it to Zoey, when that absolutely wasn't what happened; he gets cruder when he's not talking about what he's done but when he's trying to impress with what he wishes he'd done. The whole "why we can't be friends anymore" blame tree was very them, too, especially Lily's "we hate Ted now" and the sexting. I also love that Marshall singles out Wisconsonites as the symbols of bad manners. And then the Marshall-engineered romantic ending, because of course Marshall still has the elderly neighbor's phone number, was what this show is all about.
Castle, "Lucky Stiff." Shippy Shippy Shippy! And no, I don't mean Rick and Kate, though this episode showed us how far into each other's personal lives these two have inserted themselves. No, I mean Javier and Lanie, between their cute little bet at the crime scene and Kevin finally revealing that yes, everyone knows that Javier and Lanie are together. And I liked the parallel between the case and Martha being left money by Chet, which was much less clunky than some of the parallels are. I also loved getting a bit of Castle backstory (bestseller in college, damn!) and his philosophy on money (freedom, of course). Oh, also, the little undercover moment was worth it not only for Kate acting like a party girl but also of course Kate is going to drive the Ferrari. I mean, come on.
Hawaii 5-0, "E Malama." Speaking of someone else driving your car—how strange to see Danny behind the wheel of his Camaro. Anyway:
Glee, "Silly Love Songs." See this, on the other hand, was a truly great episode, not unlike Duets, where the kids were all interacting in interesting combinations. I love Puck narration, because he has such a loopy sense of logic, and yet it's completely coherent. He's a thinker, just a strange one. I don't really care that much about the various romantic interests of Finn and Rachel, so that part of the story just floated past.
But mostly? We got a huge advance in the Kurt-and-Blaine storyline, with the Warblers coming out of their shell and performing not only at the Gap but also at Breadstix. (And, "Don't they get together in the end?" ♥) I'm really loving all the Warblers performances. There's also something to be said about Kurt being able to focus on other parts of his personality, and not having to try so hard to be different and hold on to that. The uniform, the not getting leads, the not getting bullied, but being one of the crowd, I think that's probably good for him for a little while.
White Collar, "Countermeasures." So as usual on this show, the parallels and the "Neal please follow the right path" stuff was just a little heavy handed, but I find I don't really mind. It's pretty clear, really, that Neal is more of a Byron, that Mozzie is more of a Ford, but that Mozzie would never bring Neal down. Sure, Neal kept the plate, but then so did Byron. Also I love how Neal used El to get Peter to the dinner, how badass Diana is all the time, and how proud Peter is of Neal's knowledge and abilities.
I also watched the new Matthew Perry sitcom Mr. Sunshine. The pilot was okay-ish? It's not there yet. I'm giving it a couple more weeks, mostly for Perry and Allison Janney.
Top Chef, "Feeding Fallon." Colicchio mentions in his blog that this ep was taped right after the Emmys, so they all were riding pretty high—Jimmy on his well-received hosting job, and Top Chef on their win for best competitive reality show. I love it when Carla wins anyway, and it was pretty clear after her solid food performance that she'd be the one Jimmy would want on her show because she's personality plus. Blais seemed a little sour grapes all episode, but he gets into weird funks. Don't talk yourself out of the win again, Richie! Especially now that Fabio won't be around to keep your spirits up.
I'm still hoping for Carla, Richard, and either Antonia or Dale in the final three.
Justified, "The Moonshine War." It's so difficult to talk about this show because it so is what it is, amazing writing and these thrilling characters and it's rare that I like a show like this because it is a drama and is a little dark but it's so damn funny and so pleasurable to watch. (Though I do ff through a few torture scenes.) I was glad that they did all that clean up from the finale, and I really thought it also set up what happened in the episode. Yeah, it's a little transitional—clearly the Bennetts will be this year's Crowders—but I loved Raylan not only jumping at the chance to get out of the office but also not shooting people because he hates the paperwork. Oh, and also coming back to Kentucky because they don't want him there. I'm not really looking forward to more Ava but I am hopeful we'll get more Rachel and Winona. And Boyd is back to blowing stuff up, so that's a plus.
Community, "Early 21st Century Romanticism." So this episode illustrated pretty clearly why people slash—because these friendships get formed that romance with other people gets in the way of, and slashing them is a way of making your point that you find their relationship to each other to be primary. Unfortunately in our nuclear-family-obsessed society super close friendships are suspect, unhealthy in some way, but if they're fucking they can be as obsessed with each other as they want. Et voila, slash.
The parallels between Jeff and Pierce were a bit emphatic, but I did like how Annie was like, being a friend is an every day gig. I like watching Jeff with Duncan and Chang, and wonder where that's going to go. I think I just like seeing plenty of Duncan this season. Oh, and also seeing Jeff's apartment, which is nice enough but a bit sparse and seems to be furnished out of Target.
I'm relieved that Pierce's obnoxiousness was about his being a junkie, and love how it's still personified by tiny!Andy Dick, but wow, that means that Pierce's addiction pre-dates his broken legs, because Andy Dick was the tiny pilot in the radio-controlled airplane that led Pierce to the trampoline in the first place. Stuff like that makes me love this show.
As for Britta, there's something kind of awesome about a performative bicurious girl dancing and then making out performatively with another performative bicurious girl. But I could have done with more Shirley in this episode! She kinda vanished this week.
Glee, "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle." Sue was right—the Cheerios routine was boring. Sure, there was a lot of visual spectacle, but nothing much was happening. The whole Brittany-as-human-cannonball thing was just kinda silly. And why was Katie Couric on a Fox show, instead of some chick from Fox News? We did have some cute moments: Burt and Carol and Kurt and Blaine cheering from the stands; the other glee girls getting pompoms and cheering from the sidelines; someone's sign that Mike Chang is a ninja; the Warblers singing "Bills, Bills, Bills" and not changing the gender.
So let's just focus on Coach Beiste, who's quickly becoming my favorite character on this show, and I dearly hope that they find something for her to do when football season is over. Who mouthed along to the Lady Antebellum song like Oprah because of course she listens to Today's Country, who can easily stand between football players trying to beat each other up, who had a gorgeous smile, and who actually said, "we're gonna get our asses kicked from here until Tuesday finds a saddlebag full of buckwheat."
HIMYM: "Oh, Honey." I don't really care that much about Ted and Zoey, even though it was obvious that this was where we were headed, and I have to wonder what will happen when he apparently meets the mother at his buddy's wedding (end of this season I'm guessing?) but the episode was classic deep-fried HIMYM. (If you've ever listened to any of the commentary tracks you know that's a reference to their director, Pamela Fryman.) I love that Marshall is still at his family home dealing with the fallout from his father's death, and the whole callback to general teenage behavior since that's the time we do have long conversations with our friends about what happened at school that day. I thought that Katy Perry was well-used, but I thought the same of Britney so YMMV; the moment when she has him wrapped up in a blanked with a cup of tea and saying "Oh, honey" to him was brilliant. I love Barney's version of the story because that's exactly the manner and circumstances by which he lies to others and to himself—especially the crude way he talks about it to Zoey, when that absolutely wasn't what happened; he gets cruder when he's not talking about what he's done but when he's trying to impress with what he wishes he'd done. The whole "why we can't be friends anymore" blame tree was very them, too, especially Lily's "we hate Ted now" and the sexting. I also love that Marshall singles out Wisconsonites as the symbols of bad manners. And then the Marshall-engineered romantic ending, because of course Marshall still has the elderly neighbor's phone number, was what this show is all about.
Castle, "Lucky Stiff." Shippy Shippy Shippy! And no, I don't mean Rick and Kate, though this episode showed us how far into each other's personal lives these two have inserted themselves. No, I mean Javier and Lanie, between their cute little bet at the crime scene and Kevin finally revealing that yes, everyone knows that Javier and Lanie are together. And I liked the parallel between the case and Martha being left money by Chet, which was much less clunky than some of the parallels are. I also loved getting a bit of Castle backstory (bestseller in college, damn!) and his philosophy on money (freedom, of course). Oh, also, the little undercover moment was worth it not only for Kate acting like a party girl but also of course Kate is going to drive the Ferrari. I mean, come on.
Hawaii 5-0, "E Malama." Speaking of someone else driving your car—how strange to see Danny behind the wheel of his Camaro. Anyway:
- ♥ ♥ ♥ Danny ♥ ♥ ♥
(more on that later) - Steve is like a tamed animal that reverts to feral when let loose in the wild and without the stabilizing influence of his minder (Danny). Also, obligatory: taking a sat phone call while hoisting a log into the air to set up a jungle trap so that you can talk your partner down from a panic attack? About ten steps beyond slashy.
- Kono needs no lessons on how to kick ass. I'm waiting for that newly cast character to see if there's some femslash potential.
- And what sequestered witness wouldn't want Chin leading them through the jungle and away from some drug lord's assassins, especially if they're to make their ultimate escape on a motorbike? I mean, seriously.
Glee, "Silly Love Songs." See this, on the other hand, was a truly great episode, not unlike Duets, where the kids were all interacting in interesting combinations. I love Puck narration, because he has such a loopy sense of logic, and yet it's completely coherent. He's a thinker, just a strange one. I don't really care that much about the various romantic interests of Finn and Rachel, so that part of the story just floated past.
But mostly? We got a huge advance in the Kurt-and-Blaine storyline, with the Warblers coming out of their shell and performing not only at the Gap but also at Breadstix. (And, "Don't they get together in the end?" ♥) I'm really loving all the Warblers performances. There's also something to be said about Kurt being able to focus on other parts of his personality, and not having to try so hard to be different and hold on to that. The uniform, the not getting leads, the not getting bullied, but being one of the crowd, I think that's probably good for him for a little while.
White Collar, "Countermeasures." So as usual on this show, the parallels and the "Neal please follow the right path" stuff was just a little heavy handed, but I find I don't really mind. It's pretty clear, really, that Neal is more of a Byron, that Mozzie is more of a Ford, but that Mozzie would never bring Neal down. Sure, Neal kept the plate, but then so did Byron. Also I love how Neal used El to get Peter to the dinner, how badass Diana is all the time, and how proud Peter is of Neal's knowledge and abilities.
I also watched the new Matthew Perry sitcom Mr. Sunshine. The pilot was okay-ish? It's not there yet. I'm giving it a couple more weeks, mostly for Perry and Allison Janney.
Top Chef, "Feeding Fallon." Colicchio mentions in his blog that this ep was taped right after the Emmys, so they all were riding pretty high—Jimmy on his well-received hosting job, and Top Chef on their win for best competitive reality show. I love it when Carla wins anyway, and it was pretty clear after her solid food performance that she'd be the one Jimmy would want on her show because she's personality plus. Blais seemed a little sour grapes all episode, but he gets into weird funks. Don't talk yourself out of the win again, Richie! Especially now that Fabio won't be around to keep your spirits up.
I'm still hoping for Carla, Richard, and either Antonia or Dale in the final three.
Justified, "The Moonshine War." It's so difficult to talk about this show because it so is what it is, amazing writing and these thrilling characters and it's rare that I like a show like this because it is a drama and is a little dark but it's so damn funny and so pleasurable to watch. (Though I do ff through a few torture scenes.) I was glad that they did all that clean up from the finale, and I really thought it also set up what happened in the episode. Yeah, it's a little transitional—clearly the Bennetts will be this year's Crowders—but I loved Raylan not only jumping at the chance to get out of the office but also not shooting people because he hates the paperwork. Oh, and also coming back to Kentucky because they don't want him there. I'm not really looking forward to more Ava but I am hopeful we'll get more Rachel and Winona. And Boyd is back to blowing stuff up, so that's a plus.
Community, "Early 21st Century Romanticism." So this episode illustrated pretty clearly why people slash—because these friendships get formed that romance with other people gets in the way of, and slashing them is a way of making your point that you find their relationship to each other to be primary. Unfortunately in our nuclear-family-obsessed society super close friendships are suspect, unhealthy in some way, but if they're fucking they can be as obsessed with each other as they want. Et voila, slash.
The parallels between Jeff and Pierce were a bit emphatic, but I did like how Annie was like, being a friend is an every day gig. I like watching Jeff with Duncan and Chang, and wonder where that's going to go. I think I just like seeing plenty of Duncan this season. Oh, and also seeing Jeff's apartment, which is nice enough but a bit sparse and seems to be furnished out of Target.
I'm relieved that Pierce's obnoxiousness was about his being a junkie, and love how it's still personified by tiny!Andy Dick, but wow, that means that Pierce's addiction pre-dates his broken legs, because Andy Dick was the tiny pilot in the radio-controlled airplane that led Pierce to the trampoline in the first place. Stuff like that makes me love this show.
As for Britta, there's something kind of awesome about a performative bicurious girl dancing and then making out performatively with another performative bicurious girl. But I could have done with more Shirley in this episode! She kinda vanished this week.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-16 10:16 am (UTC)I'm really a fan of the almost entirely fat-positive way they're portraying Lauren, and handling the Puck thing with her. It's not perfect, but it's really, really nice to see nonetheless. Now, if they can just stop constantly showing her eating things.
[I started watching again with the Superbowl, and then caught up from Furt on. One of these days I'll catch the rest of the first half of the season.)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-17 05:53 pm (UTC)I love the Lauren and Puck thing because it isn't like she's playing hard to get just because she can; there are plenty of reasons to keep Puck at arm's length.
The first half of the season was REALLY uneven. Some shows I watched only for the music, to be honest. And Christmas was seriously an opportunity lost.