if you're looking for the main attraction
A little later than normal, but I did want to post my mid-season TV report card. I'm just going to take my post from September and fill in my thoughts.
Sunday:
Returning:
Football - this was not a good year for the NFL in general and for my team in particular, though playing in a fantasy league for the first time was kind of fun.
Brooklyn Nine Nine - HOT DAMN. No sophomore slump here - this show continued to be hilarious and to flesh out its extremely strong ensemble. I'd like a Terry-centric episode soon, but that's the only thing that's been lacking, I think.
The Good Wife - The thing about this show is that it did decline in the first half of its 4th season, but once it jettisoned a supremely terrible storyline and got back to focusing on the things that made it great in the first place, it had an amazing renaissance. I've honestly never seen a show come back stronger than ever after 5 seasons, but this show has done it. While it still has some of the same issues it's always had, I highly, highly recommend it for people who like smart television, for people who like television that surprises, and for people who like shows driven by lady characters.
New:
Madame Secretary - Ugh, I watched half of one episode and it was so rote and predictable, without any of the shades of grey that would make a show like this bearable.
Monday:
Sleepy Hollow - OH SHOW NO. I think I've been pretty vocal in my weekly posts about why I think this show has been less good this season, but I keep hoping they'll pull it out, and they have half a season to go, and they've remembered Jenny and Irving exist, so there's hope?
New:
Gotham - Aside from my disappointment that they didn't just adapt Gotham Central, I found the writing to be heavy-handed and completely lacking in confidence in the audience. The dude playing the Penguin is good even if I don't agree with how his story was conceptualized, Donal Logue's Harvey Bullock was good, and I enjoyed Jada Pinkett Smith chewing the scenery as Fish Mooney, but so much of it was just anvilicious nodding towards a future the show can't ever realize. Also, I hated what they did to Renee Montoya and I found their choices for Alfred a little questionable. (I did like the kid playing young Bruce though.) So I stopped watching.
Jane the Virgin - SO ADORABLE AND CHARMING. A TRUE DELIGHT. BEST NEW SHOW OF THE SEASON.
Star Wars: Rebels - Cute so far, but not must-see yet. I like most of the cast (especially Hera and Sabine), though given their absence from the original trilogy, I don't think things can end well for them*. I am desperate to know if Fulcrum is who I think it is, now that I've watched The Clone Wars.
*(Yes, I understand that they are new creations, but you know what I mean.)
Which I guess I'll just put here, since it came up and I watched it on Netflix, rather than while it was airing, and I keep saying I'm going to talk about it some more. (What can I say? The Star Wars re-infatuation is cyclical.)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - I definitely recommend it. It gets better as it goes along (and if you watch it in chronological order [and skip Jar Jar episodes], to avoid some weird dissonance), and it manages to:
1. make you actually care about Anakin Skywalker in a way the prequels didn't**, while still making you understand that he's pretty much ALWAYS wearing the bad idea jeans (even if part of that is Palpatine's creepy influence, and part of it is simply personal incompatibility with the Jedi code), but also
2. make you realize how badly the Jedi Council (and Obi-Wan) failed him (and by extension, failed Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and the Republic in general; there is A LOT of implicit critique and outright side-eying at the Council, as well there should be, considering the outcome of their failure);
3. consider the ethics and politics of using clones as soldiers, all while making you care a lot about them as individual people;
4. add a bunch of super interesting characters to the universe. Obviously Ahsoka and Ventress are my favorites (dude, one of the new books coming out this summer is about Ventress!), but also Hondo Ohnaka and Cad Bane, plus a variety of other bounty hunters, some of whom are women (the show is surprisingly good with female characters - in addition to Ahsoka and Ventress, there's Satine and Padme, Steela Gerrera, Mother Talzin, Aurra Sing, the other bounty hunter lady whose name I can't remember, Bariss, Luminara, Shaak Ti, Bo-Katan [voiced by Katee Sackhoff!]... )
5. Give you a kind of Band of Brothers/BSG vibe in a number of episodes (e.g., Landing at Point Rain, the whole Krell arc); and
6. work as a suspenseful, compelling story even though we already know how it ends. (The Gotham writers could learn from these guys.)
**(my issues with the prequel trilogy are down to the writing and the acting [well, mostly Hayden Christenson being terrible], not a large part of the ideas [Jar Jar still needs to be edited out, though, and the racism and anti-Semitism should be fixed] - I would actually like the political stuff if it were done well in the movies - I mean, there's nothing wrong with The West Wing in Space - again, see BSG - and the show manages to pull if off more than once, and I think Natalie Portman was fine but the writing for Padme is pretty bad a lot of the time)
I think points 1 and 6 are the most impressive to me, from a writing (and voice-acting) standpoint. I did not expect to like Anakin as much as I ended up liking him, which makes me feel really weird because of the truly terrible things he goes on to do! Of his own volition! He makes bad choice after bad choice and I have to say his story is a lot sadder now, because I said, "oh, honey no!" with real feeling way more than I ever expected to. I really felt the weight of tragedy here, as opposed to the prequels, where he's basically a Whiny McWhinerson for six hours and you wonder how anybody put up with him and his "Nobody understands me!" bullshit for more than five minutes.
At any rate, I really liked it and recommend it as a way of rehabbing the prequels - if you feel they are in need of rehabilitation (as I do - I just recently rewatched them after finishing this series and you know how sometimes memory is a liar and things are better/worse than you think you remember? No, the prequels are still pretty terrible movies though god knows they didn't have to be; I can see the bones of two good movies in there) - or just adding to the universe if you don't. Also then maybe one of you can write me ALL the post-series Ahsoka fic (and Ventress fic) that I desperately want but can't find. (Yes, yes, I know, there's a lot out there, but it doesn't fit my very specific requirements!)
Tuesday:
Returning:
SHIELD - I dropped this (I started out hate-watching but couldn't do it to myself), but the addition of Kyle McLachlan and Adrianne Palicki seemed to work in the episodes I watched. I just find a majority of the original team completely uninteresting.
New:
The Flash - Barry has completely won me over (possibly because they made him more Wally-like with a huge dash of Peter Parker), and Jesse L. Martin is a casting coup. This show is a continuing delight (with the one fly in the ointment being the fact that Iris doesn't yet know Barry's secret identity - please remedy this ASAP) and I hope it keeps it up for years to come. Also, WHERE IS MY MUSICAL EPISODE?
Selfie - I meant to watch this and didn't. Um, I guess I can catch up now that it's been cancelled?
Wednesday:
Returning:
Arrow - A weak first half with a couple of standout twists I'd like to see more of (Thea, mainly), but it went out with a bang at the hiatus, and I have high hopes for the back half of the season.
New:
Black-ish - Another comedy I meant to watch and forgot about completely. I will catch up eventually.
Thursday:
Returning:
Elementary - A definite improvement over the inertia of season 2. Adding Kitty was a smart move because it allows explorations of Joan and Sherlock's relationship from new and surprising angles. ♥JOAN♥
New:
How to Get Away with Murder - Enjoyable soapiness that I ditched as soon as Elementary came back. I should probably catch up.
Friday & Saturday:
Legend of Korra - SO AWESOME. Yeah, okay, the clip show, while an unfortunate necessity foisted upon them by budget cuts, could have been better (even for a clip show), as a whole seasons 3 and 4 were EXCELLENT and I highly recommend them - actually, given that each season is only, like, 13 episodes, and I bet they play better in a marathon than weekly (I haven't rewatched the whole thing yet), I'd recommend the whole thing, because Korra's character growth is beautiful to see. I love her so much, you guys. ♥KORRA♥ (and if you haven't yet watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, I SUGGEST YOU DO SO ASAP. YOU'LL THANK ME FOR IT. It's no longer on Netflix, but I think Amazon Prime still has it. [watch the first four episodes and then skip to The Storm/The Blue Spirit if you think it's too kiddie-tv-stylez for you, because shit gets real [actually, no, watch Winter Solstice 1 & 2, then The Storm/The Blue Spirit, and then skip to The Northern Air Temple and through to the season finale - that is my usual s1 rewatch, though sometimes I only skip The Great Divide]. Then watch all of seasons 2 and 3.)
TV! Teacher, mother, secret lover!
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/719216.html.
people have commented there.
Sunday:
Returning:
Football - this was not a good year for the NFL in general and for my team in particular, though playing in a fantasy league for the first time was kind of fun.
Brooklyn Nine Nine - HOT DAMN. No sophomore slump here - this show continued to be hilarious and to flesh out its extremely strong ensemble. I'd like a Terry-centric episode soon, but that's the only thing that's been lacking, I think.
The Good Wife - The thing about this show is that it did decline in the first half of its 4th season, but once it jettisoned a supremely terrible storyline and got back to focusing on the things that made it great in the first place, it had an amazing renaissance. I've honestly never seen a show come back stronger than ever after 5 seasons, but this show has done it. While it still has some of the same issues it's always had, I highly, highly recommend it for people who like smart television, for people who like television that surprises, and for people who like shows driven by lady characters.
New:
Madame Secretary - Ugh, I watched half of one episode and it was so rote and predictable, without any of the shades of grey that would make a show like this bearable.
Monday:
Sleepy Hollow - OH SHOW NO. I think I've been pretty vocal in my weekly posts about why I think this show has been less good this season, but I keep hoping they'll pull it out, and they have half a season to go, and they've remembered Jenny and Irving exist, so there's hope?
New:
Gotham - Aside from my disappointment that they didn't just adapt Gotham Central, I found the writing to be heavy-handed and completely lacking in confidence in the audience. The dude playing the Penguin is good even if I don't agree with how his story was conceptualized, Donal Logue's Harvey Bullock was good, and I enjoyed Jada Pinkett Smith chewing the scenery as Fish Mooney, but so much of it was just anvilicious nodding towards a future the show can't ever realize. Also, I hated what they did to Renee Montoya and I found their choices for Alfred a little questionable. (I did like the kid playing young Bruce though.) So I stopped watching.
Jane the Virgin - SO ADORABLE AND CHARMING. A TRUE DELIGHT. BEST NEW SHOW OF THE SEASON.
Star Wars: Rebels - Cute so far, but not must-see yet. I like most of the cast (especially Hera and Sabine), though given their absence from the original trilogy, I don't think things can end well for them*. I am desperate to know if Fulcrum is who I think it is, now that I've watched The Clone Wars.
*(Yes, I understand that they are new creations, but you know what I mean.)
Which I guess I'll just put here, since it came up and I watched it on Netflix, rather than while it was airing, and I keep saying I'm going to talk about it some more. (What can I say? The Star Wars re-infatuation is cyclical.)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - I definitely recommend it. It gets better as it goes along (and if you watch it in chronological order [and skip Jar Jar episodes], to avoid some weird dissonance), and it manages to:
1. make you actually care about Anakin Skywalker in a way the prequels didn't**, while still making you understand that he's pretty much ALWAYS wearing the bad idea jeans (even if part of that is Palpatine's creepy influence, and part of it is simply personal incompatibility with the Jedi code), but also
2. make you realize how badly the Jedi Council (and Obi-Wan) failed him (and by extension, failed Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and the Republic in general; there is A LOT of implicit critique and outright side-eying at the Council, as well there should be, considering the outcome of their failure);
3. consider the ethics and politics of using clones as soldiers, all while making you care a lot about them as individual people;
4. add a bunch of super interesting characters to the universe. Obviously Ahsoka and Ventress are my favorites (dude, one of the new books coming out this summer is about Ventress!), but also Hondo Ohnaka and Cad Bane, plus a variety of other bounty hunters, some of whom are women (the show is surprisingly good with female characters - in addition to Ahsoka and Ventress, there's Satine and Padme, Steela Gerrera, Mother Talzin, Aurra Sing, the other bounty hunter lady whose name I can't remember, Bariss, Luminara, Shaak Ti, Bo-Katan [voiced by Katee Sackhoff!]... )
5. Give you a kind of Band of Brothers/BSG vibe in a number of episodes (e.g., Landing at Point Rain, the whole Krell arc); and
6. work as a suspenseful, compelling story even though we already know how it ends. (The Gotham writers could learn from these guys.)
**(my issues with the prequel trilogy are down to the writing and the acting [well, mostly Hayden Christenson being terrible], not a large part of the ideas [Jar Jar still needs to be edited out, though, and the racism and anti-Semitism should be fixed] - I would actually like the political stuff if it were done well in the movies - I mean, there's nothing wrong with The West Wing in Space - again, see BSG - and the show manages to pull if off more than once, and I think Natalie Portman was fine but the writing for Padme is pretty bad a lot of the time)
I think points 1 and 6 are the most impressive to me, from a writing (and voice-acting) standpoint. I did not expect to like Anakin as much as I ended up liking him, which makes me feel really weird because of the truly terrible things he goes on to do! Of his own volition! He makes bad choice after bad choice and I have to say his story is a lot sadder now, because I said, "oh, honey no!" with real feeling way more than I ever expected to. I really felt the weight of tragedy here, as opposed to the prequels, where he's basically a Whiny McWhinerson for six hours and you wonder how anybody put up with him and his "Nobody understands me!" bullshit for more than five minutes.
At any rate, I really liked it and recommend it as a way of rehabbing the prequels - if you feel they are in need of rehabilitation (as I do - I just recently rewatched them after finishing this series and you know how sometimes memory is a liar and things are better/worse than you think you remember? No, the prequels are still pretty terrible movies though god knows they didn't have to be; I can see the bones of two good movies in there) - or just adding to the universe if you don't. Also then maybe one of you can write me ALL the post-series Ahsoka fic (and Ventress fic) that I desperately want but can't find. (Yes, yes, I know, there's a lot out there, but it doesn't fit my very specific requirements!)
Tuesday:
Returning:
SHIELD - I dropped this (I started out hate-watching but couldn't do it to myself), but the addition of Kyle McLachlan and Adrianne Palicki seemed to work in the episodes I watched. I just find a majority of the original team completely uninteresting.
New:
The Flash - Barry has completely won me over (possibly because they made him more Wally-like with a huge dash of Peter Parker), and Jesse L. Martin is a casting coup. This show is a continuing delight (with the one fly in the ointment being the fact that Iris doesn't yet know Barry's secret identity - please remedy this ASAP) and I hope it keeps it up for years to come. Also, WHERE IS MY MUSICAL EPISODE?
Selfie - I meant to watch this and didn't. Um, I guess I can catch up now that it's been cancelled?
Wednesday:
Returning:
Arrow - A weak first half with a couple of standout twists I'd like to see more of (Thea, mainly), but it went out with a bang at the hiatus, and I have high hopes for the back half of the season.
New:
Black-ish - Another comedy I meant to watch and forgot about completely. I will catch up eventually.
Thursday:
Returning:
Elementary - A definite improvement over the inertia of season 2. Adding Kitty was a smart move because it allows explorations of Joan and Sherlock's relationship from new and surprising angles. ♥JOAN♥
New:
How to Get Away with Murder - Enjoyable soapiness that I ditched as soon as Elementary came back. I should probably catch up.
Friday & Saturday:
Legend of Korra - SO AWESOME. Yeah, okay, the clip show, while an unfortunate necessity foisted upon them by budget cuts, could have been better (even for a clip show), as a whole seasons 3 and 4 were EXCELLENT and I highly recommend them - actually, given that each season is only, like, 13 episodes, and I bet they play better in a marathon than weekly (I haven't rewatched the whole thing yet), I'd recommend the whole thing, because Korra's character growth is beautiful to see. I love her so much, you guys. ♥KORRA♥ (and if you haven't yet watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, I SUGGEST YOU DO SO ASAP. YOU'LL THANK ME FOR IT. It's no longer on Netflix, but I think Amazon Prime still has it. [watch the first four episodes and then skip to The Storm/The Blue Spirit if you think it's too kiddie-tv-stylez for you, because shit gets real [actually, no, watch Winter Solstice 1 & 2, then The Storm/The Blue Spirit, and then skip to The Northern Air Temple and through to the season finale - that is my usual s1 rewatch, though sometimes I only skip The Great Divide]. Then watch all of seasons 2 and 3.)
TV! Teacher, mother, secret lover!
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/719216.html.
people have commented there.