New Fall TV
So I'm not a hugely super-big TV watcher -- I pretty much watch what I like and that's it, and I really don't make too much of an effort to watch the new shows. But sometimes something catches my fancy, and there are some old standard shows that I keep up with each season. So here's what I'm thinking about what I've seen so far this fall.
I wanted to like it. I really did.
After basically every critic on the planet fellated the hell out of this show, I decided to give it a look. And you know, the pilot was actually pretty damn good. It started with a bang: Judd Hirsch's speech about all the shit that's wrong with TV was pretty on-point. I liked how the characters were introduced, too, in that they were pretty much immediately shown as having pretty big flaws. The snappy dialogue was fun, and it was the same reason I liked "Sports Night" when it was on. And the thing's undeniably well-directed. It looks slick and holds together pretty well.
But then the second episode kind of deflated my expectations with a clumsy plot about time constraints and angry sponsors and a "let's show them we're awesome" sketch that ended up being terrible.
Then the third one totally lost me. And in the first five minutes, even. The episode started with rehearsals for a sketch that was the antithesis of funny. Instead, it was just a group of stereotypes and easy-target celebrities announcing why their ideas are crazy. I thought this "Studio 60" show was supposed to be returning to biting, hilarious satire? And yet here we have the opposite of satire: preachiness. For the same reason that the Judd Hirsch speech worked, this sketch didn't. It just came out and said the point instead of making the audience laugh, then think. When you're just blunt about things, you make the audience do neither.
(NOTE: Yes, I realize the irony of deriding a lack of satirical bite in a review that has none itself. But hey, I have low standards, and also, I don't get paid for this.)
Aaron Sorkin is a terrific writer. His dialogue and characters are top-notch. But the guy just doesn't get satire. And when you're trying to portray a winning, world-changing sketch comedy show, that's a pretty big necessity. It's sad that I have to ditch such an otherwise good show for that reason, but man, I just can't wrap my head around this being a great show-within-a-show when it so clearly isn't. I mean, Matthew Perry is sitting there watching this awful sketch with this smug look on his face as if to say, "Man, I'm great. This is smart comedy writing." And I'm just sitting there wondering how anyone could think this is funny.
Plus, I pretty much just reached my breaking point of "We're so great, we're going to make television better" talk. We know we're referring to yourself, guy. Stop telling us all this amazing stuff you're going to do and do it already. Again with the preachiness. It's like that old thing where you keep repeating something until people believe it -- they keep saying that they're better than other TV, and apparently people are buying into it.
Speaking of which, whatever happened to those character flaws we saw shades of in that first episode? Matthew Perry's bumbliness and anxiety are kind of gone already, and Bradley Whitford carries his drug use like a battle scar that just makes him stronger. And Amanda Peet's big DUI problems end up having no repercussions whatsoever. These people are invincible, apparently.
Well, except they can't write a funny sketch, I guess.
Pretty awesome, honestly.
I'm not sure how long they can stretch out the premise -- a serial killer who kills serial killers -- but the pilot was knock-out good, possibly because the show has this very morbid humor about it, and almost entirely because of Michael C. Hall, who I am now sort of gay for.
His monologue adds a lot to the show, and gives an interesting perspective on what would drive a guy to do this kind of stuff. And the flashbacks to Dexter's childhood show how he got to be this way, too. I get the feeling that the secondary characters are going to get fleshed out a lot, too. In the pilot they're a little one-notey, but there was some depth hiding underneath, too, unlike the only other Showtime show I ever watched, "Dead Like Me," in which the secondary characters pretty much were what they were.
The big plot point that got me in the first episode was the extremely clean and precise serial killer who will undoubtedly become Dexter's obsession for the season. I'm as curious about the guy as Dexter is. And It'll be interesting to see how the sexless relationship between Dexter and his girlfriend will go in coming weeks, too.
Oh boy, they're starting us out with the slow burn.
Despite it being Jack-centered (a sure sign of an episode I want to skip), I actually quite dug tonight's premiere episode even if it did only have four recognizable characters in it. Even in the face of the fact that 1) none of the major questions from last season's finale were answered, 2) we ended up pretty much back where we started -- Kate got a new dress and moved a few yards, and Jack lost a few tears -- and 3) there was a distinct lack of Locke or Mistereko, I thought it was pretty good.
Henry Gale (aka "Ben") is quite possibly going to be the most interesting character of the season from the looks of things, and I get the feeling that this episode contained lots of clues that we don't know are necessarily clues yet.
Oh, and how much of a glutton for punishment is this guy Jack, anyway? He hounds his ex-wife just to get news that makes him cry, and he opens a door even after he's told repeatedly that it will kill him (and it nearly does). What a jackass.
No, this was not nearly the mind-bender last season's opener was, but here's hoping for a fun season.
Well, this show doesn't seem to have missed a beat. That is to say, it's still funny, and it still holds together its ongoing story better than any TV show that's on right now. The cast still hits everything just right, and the consistent hilarity mixed with pathos mood is still pretty perfect.
And the premiere was pretty much one of the best episodes of any sitcom. So, yeah.
It's only now that I'm realizing that I don't even really remember what any of this season's episodes have been about so far. Which is actually pretty par for the course for about the last five years on the show.
But I do remember that I laughed several times, which still makes it better than "American Dad" or the why-haven't-they-killed-it-yet "The War at Home," and about on-par with "Family Guy," which I now tell people I actually hate just on principle.
Have you met those dudes who just obessively love Family Guy? I mean, yikes. That's enough to make you hate anything.
--------