What I'm watching Feb 2015
The short version: more shows than Brilliant Husband and I can actually watch in a week. We got behind in the fall, caught up between semesters (when most shows took a few weeks off) and are now behind again. Also, I have probably forgotten a show or two. I hope they aren't important ones. Last time I did this, I forgot one of my favorites!
Agent Carter: My favorite favorite show right now-please watch if you are a Neilsen family, or watch on dvr in the first 24 hours if you can, so that the ratings will go up and it might get another (limited) season! I've already told you why you should be watching here. Those reasons still stand. And while I wish they would have more characters of color and hope that we didn't just see those few they do have in one episode, I have even more reason to love the show now.
Elementary: This show keeps developing the characters. In too many shows, characters stagnate (there's a TV Tropes term for when a character becomes increasingly defined by mannerisms, but if I look it up I'll never get this posted). On Elementary, Sherlock has grown greatly, and Joan perhaps had less growing to do, but she is also changing. And this season added Kitty Winter, about whom I won't say more because then I'd need the whole entry to be on Elementary. I highly recommend the show.
Agents of SHIELD: I'm not quite as enamored as I once was because Spoilers! I think the show has had problems with African American characters from the very start. I keep meaning to do a whole post on it. They were getting better this season, and now it's looking like hey! They really did add a couple of African American characters so that they could make us care about them and then threaten to kill one and, in a lovely bit of misdirection, kill the other! Instead-or possibly in addition! Seriously, guys? Also, Skye was never my favorite character, although I do like her, and I'm not entirely pleased with how centered around Skye the show has become.End spoilers I do like the additional characters and just hope they don't kill most of them off!
Gotham: I should not be watching this show. It's too brutal for sensitive me. Yet I got hooked, and now I'm kind of stuck. Camren Bicondova is a scene-stealer as Selina Kyle-every scene she's in, and I wish she were in more. Sean Pertwee as Alfred! And I love the relationship they've built between Gordon and Bullock. The scene where they meet again after Jim's reassignment! That was a "stop the TiVo while I digest this scene and stop laughing so I can hear what comes next" moment! Those actors have great chemistry together, and they've really developed it-that relationship is in a very different place than it was at the start of the season, and they're completely convincing. Jada Pinkett Smith is also compelling: I don't like her character, but I love that they're writing a woman as bad as the male villains and smarter than most. Set and atmosphere are brilliant, but very dark.
12 Monkeys: also probably too brutal. Oops. I thought the movie was really good (pace Roger Ebert, requiescat in pace). The series has characters with similar names and a similar basic premise, sending a man back in time due to a terrible disease, but most of the premise is different: where the movie presumed time can't be changed, the series counts on time being changed. I find the leads very appealing. I was about to complain about the very white cast, but I went to IMDb and found: the one character whose race I really couldn't determine (this show is also very dark! I'm having trouble seeing faces in some scenes!) is in fact non-white (and mixed race), and I see someone listed as appearing in most episodes who looks to be African American whom I don't recall seeing. Maybe I need to watch more than two episodes before I complain. Still, the ones I understand to be the core characters are all white. I may be wrong about the core, however.
Castle: Still watching. I am considering forgiving them for last season's cliffhanger, but it will never be the same. I feel that they went way too dark, and they haven't finished working through that arc. I do love that the show often manages to pass the Bechdel Test, albeit briefly: most conversations will work their way around to Castle eventually, but having the chief be a woman really helps. (We will get Lanie again too, right? They've had the other medical examiner the last few episodes.)
I will watch when we get it on BBC America: Broadchurch s2. Please don't spoil me!
Agent Carter: My favorite favorite show right now-please watch if you are a Neilsen family, or watch on dvr in the first 24 hours if you can, so that the ratings will go up and it might get another (limited) season! I've already told you why you should be watching here. Those reasons still stand. And while I wish they would have more characters of color and hope that we didn't just see those few they do have in one episode, I have even more reason to love the show now.
Elementary: This show keeps developing the characters. In too many shows, characters stagnate (there's a TV Tropes term for when a character becomes increasingly defined by mannerisms, but if I look it up I'll never get this posted). On Elementary, Sherlock has grown greatly, and Joan perhaps had less growing to do, but she is also changing. And this season added Kitty Winter, about whom I won't say more because then I'd need the whole entry to be on Elementary. I highly recommend the show.
Agents of SHIELD: I'm not quite as enamored as I once was because Spoilers! I think the show has had problems with African American characters from the very start. I keep meaning to do a whole post on it. They were getting better this season, and now it's looking like hey! They really did add a couple of African American characters so that they could make us care about them and then threaten to kill one and, in a lovely bit of misdirection, kill the other! Instead-or possibly in addition! Seriously, guys? Also, Skye was never my favorite character, although I do like her, and I'm not entirely pleased with how centered around Skye the show has become.End spoilers I do like the additional characters and just hope they don't kill most of them off!
Gotham: I should not be watching this show. It's too brutal for sensitive me. Yet I got hooked, and now I'm kind of stuck. Camren Bicondova is a scene-stealer as Selina Kyle-every scene she's in, and I wish she were in more. Sean Pertwee as Alfred! And I love the relationship they've built between Gordon and Bullock. The scene where they meet again after Jim's reassignment! That was a "stop the TiVo while I digest this scene and stop laughing so I can hear what comes next" moment! Those actors have great chemistry together, and they've really developed it-that relationship is in a very different place than it was at the start of the season, and they're completely convincing. Jada Pinkett Smith is also compelling: I don't like her character, but I love that they're writing a woman as bad as the male villains and smarter than most. Set and atmosphere are brilliant, but very dark.
12 Monkeys: also probably too brutal. Oops. I thought the movie was really good (pace Roger Ebert, requiescat in pace). The series has characters with similar names and a similar basic premise, sending a man back in time due to a terrible disease, but most of the premise is different: where the movie presumed time can't be changed, the series counts on time being changed. I find the leads very appealing. I was about to complain about the very white cast, but I went to IMDb and found: the one character whose race I really couldn't determine (this show is also very dark! I'm having trouble seeing faces in some scenes!) is in fact non-white (and mixed race), and I see someone listed as appearing in most episodes who looks to be African American whom I don't recall seeing. Maybe I need to watch more than two episodes before I complain. Still, the ones I understand to be the core characters are all white. I may be wrong about the core, however.
Castle: Still watching. I am considering forgiving them for last season's cliffhanger, but it will never be the same. I feel that they went way too dark, and they haven't finished working through that arc. I do love that the show often manages to pass the Bechdel Test, albeit briefly: most conversations will work their way around to Castle eventually, but having the chief be a woman really helps. (We will get Lanie again too, right? They've had the other medical examiner the last few episodes.)
I will watch when we get it on BBC America: Broadchurch s2. Please don't spoil me!