A side effect of being the greatest channel on television is that it will have a lot of really great shows. Sorry HBO, FX has taken over your place and it's not close. The FX category is tied for the largest category with Classic Comedy with 14 shows and that doesn't include The Shield (which is under Shows That Changed Television). It's a tiny bit unfair: HBO's heyday was in its past which is reflected in my list (four shows in STCT) and it's a lot easier to catch up on and watch FX shows than HBO. But still, 14 shows is a lot of shows, and most of them are still on the air.
Before starting, there are two shows on this list that I have completed: Terriers and Rescue Me. I plan to revisit Terriers and write about it here at some point. And Rescue Me is counted down as finished, but I stopped watching after five seasons, because the quality had dropped tremendously from its first season. (But man that first season was pretty great) I may or may not finish Rescue Me, but as you can see, it's not really a big concern for me to finish it. (Other shows counted as "Finished" despite the fact that I haven't finished them: The Walking Dead, House of Cards, and Downton Abbey)
Comedies
Archer
Duh. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm not fully caught up on Archer. It has nothing to do with the show and everything to do with me. I'm making more of an effort to watch comedy shows - and Archer is not far down the list of shows I will catch up to. It also has the distinct honor of being one of the few shows I actually want to re-watch. But first obviously I need to watch it once!
Where I'm at: Season 3, Episode 6
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
This show is in a weird place. I was way late to watching this show, for some reason decided to watch the first season, and then stopped. I remember liking and being impressed by the show and yet I never watched more. (It's pretty much identical to How I Met Your Mother, except I liked this show better) As it stands, It's Always Sunny will be watched after every other comedy that I've started, but I won't start any new comedies until this one is finished. (Unless it's a situation like B99 where I can start from the beginning and watch while it airs. But that's different)
Where I'm at: Season 2, Episode 2 (Yeah for some reason I stopped after one episode)
The League
Here's a show I am caught up to, at least I'm caught up to its latest episode on Netflix. I'm not sure this show qualifies as a guilty pleasure - it's characters are pretty despicable It's kind of about fantasy sports, but not really, but the comedic style of this show is one of my favorites. It's sort of an improvisation/scripted show that just goes for broke a lot and is unapologetic about its shameless guest-star whoring. Also, Rafi.
Where I'm at: Season 5, Episode 1
Wilfred
Yeah I don't know how this show works. But it does. Somehow. The first season is mostly hit-or-miss, but the last episode was the best and I've heard positive things about the second season. It's a drastically different comedy than any others on this list, a type of comedy I can appreciate. And Jason Gann is tremendous as the dog.
Where I'm at: Season 2, Episode 1
Not really a Comedy, but Funny as Hell
Louie
Louis CK is probably my favorite comedian, but it feels wrong to call his show a comedy. It's not really a drama either. Either way, it's fantastic and this is one of the few shows I'm completely caught up to, thanks to that two-year break that Louie took. Not sure what else to say about this. You've probably either seen it or have actively decided to not watch it.
Where I'm at: Season 4 (Current Season)
Dramas
The Americans
If you've followed me on twitter for a while, you know that I regularly promote this show as if I was getting paid by them. Well, I'm not and I will take this opportunity to yet again promote this show: go watch it as soon as you can. The first season is on Amazon Prime and I'm guessing the second will be on there a good amount of time before the third season begins. The reason I promote this show is because its ratings are not very good and I would very much like to not see this get cancelled. And as a bonus, the third season has been picked up already so you at least won't have to worry about starting a doomed show. (While FX seems very much committed to the show, just to be safe, watch it.)
Where I'm at: Season 2 (Current Season)
Justified
I was very late to the game on Justified: I watched my first episode of it probably six months ago. And guess what? I'm completely caught up. The show is that good. Few shows are just purely as enjoyable as this one even when the quality drops off a bit. The dialogue is maybe the best on television and it's a treat to watch two world class actors in Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins.
Where I'm at: Season 6 (Which will air next year)
Sons of Anarchy
I have run the gamut of opinions about Sons of Anarchy. The first season was promising and I was optimistic. The second season was even better and I thought it could be one of my favorite shows. The third season sucked, but it had goodwill left over and the last few episodes were pretty great. The fourth season was better, but severely soured me on the show as I realized I had overrated it because of the second season. And then the fifth season got me back into a mood where I liked the show. And I haven't seen the sixth season because I have watched it on Netflix and am waiting for it to add episodes there. (Hopefully, it adds the season before the new season airs, but I'm not optimistic as it did not do that with its recent season. I WANT to watch your show on live television, help me do that!)
Where I'm at: Season 6, Episode 1
Damages
I have not seen this show. I do not know if it is good, although I'm reasonably confident it is. I kind of have a thing for Rose Byrne though so you know any potential doubt I have going into this show is immediately squashed. You know the show that you're kind of wary about starting and then you realize an actor/actress you like is in it? Well that's what is happening here. Either way, there's only 59 episodes so it's not like a huge commitment.
Where I'm at: Not started
Fargo
I missed the boat on this show. I don't remember why I missed the first episode, but I missed it. And then I never managed to catch the first episode when FX aired it at a later date. And then I refused to watch the second episode without having first seen the first episode. And thus, I have yet to see this show. I hope it goes on Amazon Prime or Netflix. Or I'll just record every episode that I see as it comes along (hopefully FX holds a marathon later). Either way, I really want to see this show.
Where I'm at: Not Started
Nip Tuck
So this is a show that will be watched when I run out of shows. So if you're a huge Nip Tuck fan - I'm not aware of any that I know - it's going to be a while. I have no rational reason for choosing to watch this show. And I may never get to it. But like I said if I ever run out of shows to watch, then this will be watched.
Where I'm at: Not Started
Not Really a Drama, but Funny as Hell
American Horror Story
Yeah here's a show that's not really a traditional drama, but just an excuse for Ryan Murphy to do a bunch of crazy shit. It's definitely not supposed to be a comedy, but's pretty funny at times. And it's not scary, which is good for me because I hate scary movies. Yeah here's a show that I find I have to watch if I'm interested in TV because it does things no other show does, even if it is objectively not that great of a show. (For instance, it has one of the worst pilots I have ever seen)
Where I'm at: Season 3, Episode 1
And that's the list of shows that air on FX that I want to watch.
Showing posts with label Sons of Anarchy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sons of Anarchy. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2014
Friday, November 29, 2013
Rewind: Sons of Anarchy S5
Sons of Anarchy is a hard show to grade. If you've reached season 5, you know what the show is about and have accepted its faults (it has plenty of them). Basically, if you've reached this far, you are at the point to where if you find it enjoyable, it's a good show. And that's where I'm at.
If I tried to critique and analyze this show (which I will anyway), the show falls apart. If you expect these characters to do logical things, the show falls apart. (That's not entirely fair. Certain characters do logical things; others do thing based on the needs of the plot). It reminds me of the latter seasons of Dexter except it it is far more interesting, better-acted, and less reliant on its star. By that I mean that most of the plots spring up by some illogical character action, plot hole, or nonsensical shit. But it's usually less obvious than Dexter about it so you can really ignore it if you want to.
You cannot take this show too seriously. I didn't count, but nearly every episode had a car chase and a gunfight (where like one person gets shot in close range). It's that kind of show. Sometimes it manages to be deeply affecting, shocking, or sad. It usually depends on how much you care about the character (or how well-written the character is in the case of Clay Morrow).
Sons of Anarchy is a somewhat infuriating show though because it sometimes seems capable of so much more. Season 5 is the best season since the second season and it still doesn't really come close. But it's still damn entertaining. And I have to admit that if each season leads up to a season finale as satisfying as this one was, well I will keep enjoying this show.
The really confusing part of this season was the fact that it felt like a lot of the early episodes were filler. That's confusing because Sutter went overboard on the last four episodes making them 60 minutes! Seriously, I loved the final four episodes, but I see no reason why they couldn't have replaced some of the crap in the early parts of the season. Shedding about 72 minutes off the show would have helped it, not hurt it.
It's much better to ignore a character then give them a shitty story. That's basically what they did for Gemma and Tara in the first eight or so episodes. They were a drag on this season with just about the same exact storyline they've been repeating for the previous four seasons. And then they finally gave both characters meaningful things to do, which of course Katey Segal and Maggie Siff nail. The beginning of their stories in this season prevents me from unequivocally loving this season. Like I said, they could have easily avoided this by shedding some time. Sons is a show that I think would benefit from a tight schedule
Alright this is where spoilers in this review will come so if you haven't seen season five, and honestly why are you reading this at all if you haven't, stop reading now. Ok with that necessary warning out of the way, I'll continue the rest of the review.
While I may complain about its faults, there are things I loved about this season. I loved Jackson Teller's transformation into being a despicable, terrible person. While Jax will not exactly be compared to Walter White or Tony Soprano as an anti-hero, he's still a pretty interesting and well-written character. I have bought his gradual decline as a human being. The actions around him that have pushed him to this point seem like good reasons why his character (as in qualities of an individual) would deteriorate.
A season after being a caricature of a human being, I loved Clay Morrow's return as a fully formed character who the audience sympathizes with. I'm not sure his plans to destroy the club really make sense, but Ron Pearlman sells it. Gemma and Juice's betrayal of Clay made his cop-out non-death last season worth it. I had to remind myself that Clay deserved every bit of this when he's arrested, because it's almost impossible not to feel terrible for the guy in that scene.
The two big guest stars, story-wise, were both amazing characters and featured great acting. Harold Perrineau, as Damon Pope, is magnetic and cool. I never would have imagined him playing a believable crime lord after Lost. But he pulls it off and is actually the best part of some of the episodes. Another great guest star is Jimmy Smits as Nero Padilla. His integration into the club was messy in my opinion, but they took the character in a place I didn't expect. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the new season.
Theo Rossi as Juice is a damn good actor. I can't honestly say he's well-written as a character and yet I didn't want him to die at all and a lot of tension happened for my fear of his death. Kim Coates as Tig stands out for two scenes. The scene where his daughter is burned alive was played strangely. I don't mean that in a good way either. The other scene was when Jax betrayed Tig at the end. He played that perfectly. That's what makes the other scene strange, because I know Coates is a good actor. The last actor I'll specifically mention as standing out is Tommy Flanagan as Chibs even though you can't really understand him. (I guess I should mention Dayton Callie as Unser who's always great)
Overall, I thought the first eight or so episodes veered wildly between great and annoying. Then it's like a light switch clicked and the show became a different show. It became what the potential for this show is. This could have been a season-long thing honestly if they just cut down on the minutes. The show is unnecessarily lengthy when there were scenes that should have been cut and stories that should have been dropped. (Ex: Though it finally led somewhere in the finale, Wendy Teller wanting custody of her kids just failed entirely as a compelling story. I could not give a fuck less about her or Abel honestly)
But hey, Sons is about extremes. You rarely feel indifference about this show. You either love it or you hate it. And I'm pretty sure that's what Kurt Sutter is going for. Obviously he wants you to love it, but he probably would rather you feel emotion at all than nothing. And he succeeds on that point.
Overall, Season 5 does what Sons of Anarchy does best more often than it does what Sons of Anarchy does worst. Then there's that kickass finale, which nearly redeems the horrible storylines and just elevates the entire season on its own. I'm knocking this down for the first eight episodes though. I'm listing my grades for each season including a revised one for Season 3 which was too generous.
Season 1 - A-
Season 2 - A
Season 3 - B-
Season 4- B
Season 5 - B+
Hopefully, Season 6 continues the upward trend?
Playlist (Rap-less for first time)
1. "Self Esteem" - Offspring
2. "Lit Up" - The National
3. "Young Blood" - The Naked and the Famous
4. "Unforgettable" - Nat King Cole ft. Natalie Cole
5. "Secrets" - One Republic
If I tried to critique and analyze this show (which I will anyway), the show falls apart. If you expect these characters to do logical things, the show falls apart. (That's not entirely fair. Certain characters do logical things; others do thing based on the needs of the plot). It reminds me of the latter seasons of Dexter except it it is far more interesting, better-acted, and less reliant on its star. By that I mean that most of the plots spring up by some illogical character action, plot hole, or nonsensical shit. But it's usually less obvious than Dexter about it so you can really ignore it if you want to.
You cannot take this show too seriously. I didn't count, but nearly every episode had a car chase and a gunfight (where like one person gets shot in close range). It's that kind of show. Sometimes it manages to be deeply affecting, shocking, or sad. It usually depends on how much you care about the character (or how well-written the character is in the case of Clay Morrow).
Sons of Anarchy is a somewhat infuriating show though because it sometimes seems capable of so much more. Season 5 is the best season since the second season and it still doesn't really come close. But it's still damn entertaining. And I have to admit that if each season leads up to a season finale as satisfying as this one was, well I will keep enjoying this show.
The really confusing part of this season was the fact that it felt like a lot of the early episodes were filler. That's confusing because Sutter went overboard on the last four episodes making them 60 minutes! Seriously, I loved the final four episodes, but I see no reason why they couldn't have replaced some of the crap in the early parts of the season. Shedding about 72 minutes off the show would have helped it, not hurt it.
It's much better to ignore a character then give them a shitty story. That's basically what they did for Gemma and Tara in the first eight or so episodes. They were a drag on this season with just about the same exact storyline they've been repeating for the previous four seasons. And then they finally gave both characters meaningful things to do, which of course Katey Segal and Maggie Siff nail. The beginning of their stories in this season prevents me from unequivocally loving this season. Like I said, they could have easily avoided this by shedding some time. Sons is a show that I think would benefit from a tight schedule
Alright this is where spoilers in this review will come so if you haven't seen season five, and honestly why are you reading this at all if you haven't, stop reading now. Ok with that necessary warning out of the way, I'll continue the rest of the review.
While I may complain about its faults, there are things I loved about this season. I loved Jackson Teller's transformation into being a despicable, terrible person. While Jax will not exactly be compared to Walter White or Tony Soprano as an anti-hero, he's still a pretty interesting and well-written character. I have bought his gradual decline as a human being. The actions around him that have pushed him to this point seem like good reasons why his character (as in qualities of an individual) would deteriorate.
A season after being a caricature of a human being, I loved Clay Morrow's return as a fully formed character who the audience sympathizes with. I'm not sure his plans to destroy the club really make sense, but Ron Pearlman sells it. Gemma and Juice's betrayal of Clay made his cop-out non-death last season worth it. I had to remind myself that Clay deserved every bit of this when he's arrested, because it's almost impossible not to feel terrible for the guy in that scene.
The two big guest stars, story-wise, were both amazing characters and featured great acting. Harold Perrineau, as Damon Pope, is magnetic and cool. I never would have imagined him playing a believable crime lord after Lost. But he pulls it off and is actually the best part of some of the episodes. Another great guest star is Jimmy Smits as Nero Padilla. His integration into the club was messy in my opinion, but they took the character in a place I didn't expect. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the new season.
Theo Rossi as Juice is a damn good actor. I can't honestly say he's well-written as a character and yet I didn't want him to die at all and a lot of tension happened for my fear of his death. Kim Coates as Tig stands out for two scenes. The scene where his daughter is burned alive was played strangely. I don't mean that in a good way either. The other scene was when Jax betrayed Tig at the end. He played that perfectly. That's what makes the other scene strange, because I know Coates is a good actor. The last actor I'll specifically mention as standing out is Tommy Flanagan as Chibs even though you can't really understand him. (I guess I should mention Dayton Callie as Unser who's always great)
Overall, I thought the first eight or so episodes veered wildly between great and annoying. Then it's like a light switch clicked and the show became a different show. It became what the potential for this show is. This could have been a season-long thing honestly if they just cut down on the minutes. The show is unnecessarily lengthy when there were scenes that should have been cut and stories that should have been dropped. (Ex: Though it finally led somewhere in the finale, Wendy Teller wanting custody of her kids just failed entirely as a compelling story. I could not give a fuck less about her or Abel honestly)
But hey, Sons is about extremes. You rarely feel indifference about this show. You either love it or you hate it. And I'm pretty sure that's what Kurt Sutter is going for. Obviously he wants you to love it, but he probably would rather you feel emotion at all than nothing. And he succeeds on that point.
Overall, Season 5 does what Sons of Anarchy does best more often than it does what Sons of Anarchy does worst. Then there's that kickass finale, which nearly redeems the horrible storylines and just elevates the entire season on its own. I'm knocking this down for the first eight episodes though. I'm listing my grades for each season including a revised one for Season 3 which was too generous.
Season 1 - A-
Season 2 - A
Season 3 - B-
Season 4- B
Season 5 - B+
Hopefully, Season 6 continues the upward trend?
Playlist (Rap-less for first time)
1. "Self Esteem" - Offspring
2. "Lit Up" - The National
3. "Young Blood" - The Naked and the Famous
4. "Unforgettable" - Nat King Cole ft. Natalie Cole
5. "Secrets" - One Republic
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Rewind: Sons of Anarchy Season 4
I'm a little disappointed. Season 4 was better than the previous season without a doubt and it's far from bad television, but let's just say at this point in the show, I have lowered my expectations from what I thought this show could become.
Let me explain. Sometime in the middle of the first season, Sons of Anarchy began an incredible run of television that I think rivaled some of the best television out there. The downfall of this run was when creator Kurt Sutter went overboard at the very end of the second season. He had Gemma Teller framed for murdering two people with a cop present and Jax's baby was stolen. These are two things that aren't easy to come back from and I'm not sure they handled it well.
Basically, when he decided to go out with a bang to end the second season, the show lost all momentum it had been building. I didn't know it then, but that decision plagued the third season. The third season dragged out the storyline with the stolen baby and it didn't have anything pay off until the 11th episode when Jax ultimately decided to give up his kid. There was no threat of that baby being killed or lost for good so those 10 episodes were frustrating for me. The correct way to handle that baby theft would have been to get it resolved quickly, because in my opinion there's not much tension that the baby will die or get lost. They did the exact opposite and made it a season-long storyline.
And the Gemma story line was never going to work either because Katey Sagal is too damn good in this role. She was going to get out of it some way, some how. Let's just say that the way she got out of it was entirely ridiculous and implausible.
So Season 4 essentially started from scratch. Let's go back to the basics and go to what made this show work. But it's very difficult for a show to get back on track. This season came across more as a very flattering yet lesser imitator of the pre-S3 show. It's almost like they took the things that worked, and copied that for the fourth season. That doesn't sound like a bad plan in theory. The problem is that it's been done before so they need to put a new spin on it.
Sons of Anarchy is a bit too plot-focused. There's so much going on in this season that there was barely any time for character work. Charming Heights is being built. They need to stop the unstoppable force that is Mayor Jacob Hale. They have a criminal investigation led by Linc Potter trying to bust the Sons. There's a new sheriff in town who won't put up with the Sons' shit. The Sons are getting into bed with the Mexican cartel. The two leaders of the Sons are more in it for themselves than the club. Tara has information about Jax's father. Opie's marriage happens and simultaneously is put in question. Juice is worried the club will find out he's black after three seasons where the audience is given no indication the club would even care. I mean some of these stories should have been more spread out and not all put in the same season.
The fact that I just watched two seasons of The Sopranos is doing this show no favors of course. To defend my review though, I watched half of this season about a month ago (before The Sopranos) and the other half in the past week. Watching The Sopranos felt like getting dropped in everyday life. Some events led to something important, others didn't. Watching Sons of Anarchy feels like I'm getting the highlights of their exploits, not anything resembling real life. I suppose that's ok, except I thought I was watching a different, better show when I started.
It's not all bad though. While Lincoln Potter (played by Ray McKinnon) is repetitive, he's basically a better version of Agent Stahl. He's more calculating, he's better acted, he's more interesting, and he's unique. I mean yes, ultimately, he's kind of nuts and doesn't care about the law just like Stahl, but he's a nice twist on a familiar formula that works for the Sons.
On that same note, Eli Roosevelt (Rockmand Dunbar) is a better version of David Hale from earlier seasons. He's better acted, more compelling, and is not quite as super clean as Hale as to make it impossible for him to do anything. (I refer to the time when he destroyed the Sons' clubhouse) He's also in power and can do things about the Sons, unlike Hale under Unser.
I have mixed feelings on this season overall. I straight up didn't like the season until "Kiss," the ninth episode. I was seriously contemplating quitting the show for good (after finishing the season of course). Then "Kiss" was a strong episode and it followed that with the best episode of the season and the best episode of SOA I've seen since Season 2 in "Hands."
The season was going in the right direction, and then the finale happened. And almost nothing that happened in the season mattered at all. Clay's not going to die, which is bullshit. The writing manufactured a way to keep him alive unfortunately. The RICO investigation didn't matter at all it turns out. None of the Sons - except for Otto - will be serving time. Juice begins next season without any indication that his storyline in this one happened. The problem with the finale is it absolves just about every problem presented in this season - I'll call it the Dexter problem.
One big thing happens of course: Jax becomes president of SAMCRO. Clay is forced to step down. Tig loses his position (whatever position that was: right-hand man to president?) to Chibs. So that's the one interesting thing that happened. I want to find out how they operate with Jax as the president and Clay on the outs.
Overall, this season was hit-and-miss. It started slow, picked up speed toward the middle, and ultimately fizzled in the finale. A strong finish to this season would have catapulted it, but ultimately for me, it lands as the second worst season of the series only ahead of Season 3 - which at least was ambitious.
Programming Note: For the remainder of the fall, I will post two times a week on Sunday and Thursday. Sunday is the day where I review an episode or episodes of a classic show. Thursday is going to fill up my season reviews.
Beginning this Sunday, I will finally finish Season 1 of The Sopranos and also give my thoughts on Season 1 as a whole after I'm finished with the episode reactions. After that, I will be doing Friends episodes from Season 1. I'm going to go over multiple episodes per post.
In the season review portion of my blog, I have Season 2 of Downton Abbey scheduled. Following that is the second season of The Walking Dead. Further along the line will be in some order The Simpsons (S3), Star Trek (S2), and Justified (S1).
Playlist (Sons of Anarchy songs)
1. House of the Rising Sun - Battleme & The Forest Rangers
2. House of the Rising Sun - The White Buffalo & The Forest Rangers
3. Strange Fruit - Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
4. Los Tiempos van Cambiando - Franky Perez & Los Guardianas del Bosque
5. What a Wonderful World - Alison Mosshart & The Forest Rangers
Let me explain. Sometime in the middle of the first season, Sons of Anarchy began an incredible run of television that I think rivaled some of the best television out there. The downfall of this run was when creator Kurt Sutter went overboard at the very end of the second season. He had Gemma Teller framed for murdering two people with a cop present and Jax's baby was stolen. These are two things that aren't easy to come back from and I'm not sure they handled it well.
Basically, when he decided to go out with a bang to end the second season, the show lost all momentum it had been building. I didn't know it then, but that decision plagued the third season. The third season dragged out the storyline with the stolen baby and it didn't have anything pay off until the 11th episode when Jax ultimately decided to give up his kid. There was no threat of that baby being killed or lost for good so those 10 episodes were frustrating for me. The correct way to handle that baby theft would have been to get it resolved quickly, because in my opinion there's not much tension that the baby will die or get lost. They did the exact opposite and made it a season-long storyline.
And the Gemma story line was never going to work either because Katey Sagal is too damn good in this role. She was going to get out of it some way, some how. Let's just say that the way she got out of it was entirely ridiculous and implausible.
So Season 4 essentially started from scratch. Let's go back to the basics and go to what made this show work. But it's very difficult for a show to get back on track. This season came across more as a very flattering yet lesser imitator of the pre-S3 show. It's almost like they took the things that worked, and copied that for the fourth season. That doesn't sound like a bad plan in theory. The problem is that it's been done before so they need to put a new spin on it.
Sons of Anarchy is a bit too plot-focused. There's so much going on in this season that there was barely any time for character work. Charming Heights is being built. They need to stop the unstoppable force that is Mayor Jacob Hale. They have a criminal investigation led by Linc Potter trying to bust the Sons. There's a new sheriff in town who won't put up with the Sons' shit. The Sons are getting into bed with the Mexican cartel. The two leaders of the Sons are more in it for themselves than the club. Tara has information about Jax's father. Opie's marriage happens and simultaneously is put in question. Juice is worried the club will find out he's black after three seasons where the audience is given no indication the club would even care. I mean some of these stories should have been more spread out and not all put in the same season.
The fact that I just watched two seasons of The Sopranos is doing this show no favors of course. To defend my review though, I watched half of this season about a month ago (before The Sopranos) and the other half in the past week. Watching The Sopranos felt like getting dropped in everyday life. Some events led to something important, others didn't. Watching Sons of Anarchy feels like I'm getting the highlights of their exploits, not anything resembling real life. I suppose that's ok, except I thought I was watching a different, better show when I started.
It's not all bad though. While Lincoln Potter (played by Ray McKinnon) is repetitive, he's basically a better version of Agent Stahl. He's more calculating, he's better acted, he's more interesting, and he's unique. I mean yes, ultimately, he's kind of nuts and doesn't care about the law just like Stahl, but he's a nice twist on a familiar formula that works for the Sons.
On that same note, Eli Roosevelt (Rockmand Dunbar) is a better version of David Hale from earlier seasons. He's better acted, more compelling, and is not quite as super clean as Hale as to make it impossible for him to do anything. (I refer to the time when he destroyed the Sons' clubhouse) He's also in power and can do things about the Sons, unlike Hale under Unser.
I have mixed feelings on this season overall. I straight up didn't like the season until "Kiss," the ninth episode. I was seriously contemplating quitting the show for good (after finishing the season of course). Then "Kiss" was a strong episode and it followed that with the best episode of the season and the best episode of SOA I've seen since Season 2 in "Hands."
The season was going in the right direction, and then the finale happened. And almost nothing that happened in the season mattered at all. Clay's not going to die, which is bullshit. The writing manufactured a way to keep him alive unfortunately. The RICO investigation didn't matter at all it turns out. None of the Sons - except for Otto - will be serving time. Juice begins next season without any indication that his storyline in this one happened. The problem with the finale is it absolves just about every problem presented in this season - I'll call it the Dexter problem.
One big thing happens of course: Jax becomes president of SAMCRO. Clay is forced to step down. Tig loses his position (whatever position that was: right-hand man to president?) to Chibs. So that's the one interesting thing that happened. I want to find out how they operate with Jax as the president and Clay on the outs.
Overall, this season was hit-and-miss. It started slow, picked up speed toward the middle, and ultimately fizzled in the finale. A strong finish to this season would have catapulted it, but ultimately for me, it lands as the second worst season of the series only ahead of Season 3 - which at least was ambitious.
Programming Note: For the remainder of the fall, I will post two times a week on Sunday and Thursday. Sunday is the day where I review an episode or episodes of a classic show. Thursday is going to fill up my season reviews.
Beginning this Sunday, I will finally finish Season 1 of The Sopranos and also give my thoughts on Season 1 as a whole after I'm finished with the episode reactions. After that, I will be doing Friends episodes from Season 1. I'm going to go over multiple episodes per post.
In the season review portion of my blog, I have Season 2 of Downton Abbey scheduled. Following that is the second season of The Walking Dead. Further along the line will be in some order The Simpsons (S3), Star Trek (S2), and Justified (S1).
Playlist (Sons of Anarchy songs)
1. House of the Rising Sun - Battleme & The Forest Rangers
2. House of the Rising Sun - The White Buffalo & The Forest Rangers
3. Strange Fruit - Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers
4. Los Tiempos van Cambiando - Franky Perez & Los Guardianas del Bosque
5. What a Wonderful World - Alison Mosshart & The Forest Rangers
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Rewind: Sons of Anarchy Season 3
(Warning: This post contains some spoilers)
Ok, I've been expecting a drop-off for Sons of Anarchy since I basically started the show and Season 3 finally gives it to me. Not that it was bad, but it was unquestionably on a different level than the first two seasons.
In the third season, a little too much happens in too little time. I think 13 episodes of plot was used in like a week of time on the show. That's insane. I get taking your time with story lines, but it took like four episodes to get through a day. I'm only slightly exaggerating.
I'll give creator Kurt Sutter credit for one thing and that's ambition. This season falls flat a little, but it definitely tried to be something greater. I can respect a show that does that. It's taking chances, and if some don't work, at least they took the chance.
This season was highly entertaining though. A lot of stuff happens, and in my opinion too much plot-based stuff happens. There was a decent share of awesome moments of course. If this is the downside of Sons of Anarchy - and I'm pretty sure it is - then it's a pretty good downside. If the rest of the series is like this - and I'm pretty sure it isn't - then I'd watch it to the end.
At the end of the second season, the show dropped two cliffhangers on us. Gemma murdered someone and Jax had his baby stolen. I'm not positive, but I think the writers of SOA are the "make the characters go into a seemingly impossible situation to resolve and worry about the consequences later" type of writers. It's when writers write themselves into a corner to where there's very little that can happen to make sense of what we just saw.
Gemma's a main character so unless they kill her off, we knew she wasn't going anywhere. So I guess the question was how do they either 1) get her free of the murder or 2) not reduce her character's role when she serves jail time? There's pretty much no way to do #1 without sounding absolutely implausible and ridiculous.
Naturally, the result was implausible and ridiculous. So Agent Stahl makes up this ridiculous story where somehow another agent was there even though the ATF surely knew already that Agent Stahl was the only one at the scene. Ok. Agent Stahl turns full caricature by murdering her lover and partner? Ok.
Just in case the show was worried Opie possibly killed someone who didn't deserve it, they did everything possible to make sure we had no doubts Opie did the right thing. If Opie killed maybe a good person, who is obviously dedicated to her job (like she was in Season 1), it would have been much more interesting. But they wrote themselves in a corner and needed a way to get Gemma free and if you only slightly pay attention to your TV shows, you were probably satisfied enough. And hey, if it's Gemma in jail with a realistic story line or Gemma free with a ridiculous story line, I think Gemma free is the right answer.
Then the baby getting stolen took up a large portion of the season as well. This didn't create a lot of tension for me because they aren't going to kill a baby so it was just a matter of time of when they found the baby. And that took ELEVEN episodes. For such a foregone conclusion, they really took their time with that.
However, any complaints I have about the season were washed away with the season finale. Oh my God, that was awesome. It was so awesome it removes any ability to write coherent, logical thoughts or any type of critical analysis. I just don't give a shit. Unfortunately, the pivotal death in this episode was spoiled for me (Agent Stahl), but that didn't ruin the moment. It was way better than I could have ever expected.
Also, the baby story line did have a good payoff. Jackson ultimately decided to give up the baby, because he knew he would have a better life. The writers clearly wanted to have their cake and eat it too so they made sure he didn't actually lose the baby. Unfortunately, the payoff wasn't quite worth the set-up - 10 episodes long is always too long of a set-up.
I was going to give this season a grade, but I realized I didn't give a grade for either of the first two seasons, so I'll just give my grade for all the seasons here, because I feel the seasons now have a reference point. This is compared to regular television by the way so while I do think this season isn't great for SOA, it's great for television.
Season 1: A- (Took season a few episodes to find it's ground)
Season 2: A (Represents the full potential of the show IMO)
Season 3: B (Too many implausible moments to overlook)
Playlist
1. "This Charming Life" - Joan Armatrading (from this season)
2. "Let Nas Down" - J. Cole
3. "Made Nas Proud" - Nas
4. "Someday" - Suger Ray
5. "My Body is a Cage" - Arcade Fire
Ok, I've been expecting a drop-off for Sons of Anarchy since I basically started the show and Season 3 finally gives it to me. Not that it was bad, but it was unquestionably on a different level than the first two seasons.
In the third season, a little too much happens in too little time. I think 13 episodes of plot was used in like a week of time on the show. That's insane. I get taking your time with story lines, but it took like four episodes to get through a day. I'm only slightly exaggerating.
I'll give creator Kurt Sutter credit for one thing and that's ambition. This season falls flat a little, but it definitely tried to be something greater. I can respect a show that does that. It's taking chances, and if some don't work, at least they took the chance.
This season was highly entertaining though. A lot of stuff happens, and in my opinion too much plot-based stuff happens. There was a decent share of awesome moments of course. If this is the downside of Sons of Anarchy - and I'm pretty sure it is - then it's a pretty good downside. If the rest of the series is like this - and I'm pretty sure it isn't - then I'd watch it to the end.
At the end of the second season, the show dropped two cliffhangers on us. Gemma murdered someone and Jax had his baby stolen. I'm not positive, but I think the writers of SOA are the "make the characters go into a seemingly impossible situation to resolve and worry about the consequences later" type of writers. It's when writers write themselves into a corner to where there's very little that can happen to make sense of what we just saw.
Gemma's a main character so unless they kill her off, we knew she wasn't going anywhere. So I guess the question was how do they either 1) get her free of the murder or 2) not reduce her character's role when she serves jail time? There's pretty much no way to do #1 without sounding absolutely implausible and ridiculous.
Naturally, the result was implausible and ridiculous. So Agent Stahl makes up this ridiculous story where somehow another agent was there even though the ATF surely knew already that Agent Stahl was the only one at the scene. Ok. Agent Stahl turns full caricature by murdering her lover and partner? Ok.
Just in case the show was worried Opie possibly killed someone who didn't deserve it, they did everything possible to make sure we had no doubts Opie did the right thing. If Opie killed maybe a good person, who is obviously dedicated to her job (like she was in Season 1), it would have been much more interesting. But they wrote themselves in a corner and needed a way to get Gemma free and if you only slightly pay attention to your TV shows, you were probably satisfied enough. And hey, if it's Gemma in jail with a realistic story line or Gemma free with a ridiculous story line, I think Gemma free is the right answer.
Then the baby getting stolen took up a large portion of the season as well. This didn't create a lot of tension for me because they aren't going to kill a baby so it was just a matter of time of when they found the baby. And that took ELEVEN episodes. For such a foregone conclusion, they really took their time with that.
However, any complaints I have about the season were washed away with the season finale. Oh my God, that was awesome. It was so awesome it removes any ability to write coherent, logical thoughts or any type of critical analysis. I just don't give a shit. Unfortunately, the pivotal death in this episode was spoiled for me (Agent Stahl), but that didn't ruin the moment. It was way better than I could have ever expected.
Also, the baby story line did have a good payoff. Jackson ultimately decided to give up the baby, because he knew he would have a better life. The writers clearly wanted to have their cake and eat it too so they made sure he didn't actually lose the baby. Unfortunately, the payoff wasn't quite worth the set-up - 10 episodes long is always too long of a set-up.
I was going to give this season a grade, but I realized I didn't give a grade for either of the first two seasons, so I'll just give my grade for all the seasons here, because I feel the seasons now have a reference point. This is compared to regular television by the way so while I do think this season isn't great for SOA, it's great for television.
Season 1: A- (Took season a few episodes to find it's ground)
Season 2: A (Represents the full potential of the show IMO)
Season 3: B (Too many implausible moments to overlook)
Playlist
1. "This Charming Life" - Joan Armatrading (from this season)
2. "Let Nas Down" - J. Cole
3. "Made Nas Proud" - Nas
4. "Someday" - Suger Ray
5. "My Body is a Cage" - Arcade Fire
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Rewind: Sons of Anarchy Season 2
(Obviously this post contains spoilers. Don't read if you ever plan to watch the show)
I'm going to do this post a little different than my typical season reviews. This is the first show where I review a show's second season (all mine up to this point have been season one reviews). Sons of Anarchy is a show that has a ton of characters, most of them the writers pay their due diligence by the finale of the second season. So I'm going to devote at least a paragraph to each of the characters starting with Jackson Teller, the protagonist of the show.
Jax spent the first season reading his father's prose and wondering if the club is heading the wrong direction. In the finale, he decides he wants to deviate from Clay Morrow and eventually head the club in a direction other than selling guns. Unfortunately, he typically lets his hate and disgust for Clay get in the way of doing things for the good of the club and only manages to nearly destroy the club (with help from Clay as well)
I thought the show perfectly displayed the growing tensions between Clay and Jax. It slowly escalated until it seemed one of the two would have to kill the other. I like however that the show essentially shelved their conflict for next season by having them focus on a common goal. It allows this storyline to go into next season.
Opie's storyline was more of a backburner storyline, but it was ready to burst on the surface. As he is depressed by his wife's death, he becomes a suicidal maniac unable to connect with his kids and slowly going closer and closer to Clay. His development into his former self begins with his relationship with Lyla giving him a closer relationship with his kids and more of his sanity. Then, he finds out Clay and Tig are responsible for Donna's death, causing him to become friends with Jax and go back to his normal self.
His dad, Piney, sort of disappeared and reappeared, but that was kind of true to his character anyway and he seems extremely unstable. He is clearly hurting knowing Clay and Tig killed Donna and killing not telling Opie about it. Then when he finds out Opie was told about Donna's death, he tried to kill Clay thinking Opie would do that. I fear Piney is not much longer for this world as he is just the sort of fringe character that the audience cares about enough to warrant killing off.
In the first season, Tig, Chibs, and Juice all were essentially comedic relief with not much character development. Kim Coates did his thing and made Tig deeply interesting, but he wasn't really given a whole lot. Half-Sack suffered this same fate in the first season, and they didn't really do anything with him this season either. Not a huge surprise he decided he wanted off the show, so they resolved that somewhat abruptly and suddenly.
Anyway, Tig suffers through the guilt of having killed an innocent person - not only an innocent person, but the wife of a club member. (I sort of suspect he's killed an innocent person before.) His development is consistent and his spiral downward culminates when he's on shrooms crying to a doll (?).
Chibs comes out of nowhere, becoming an important and deep character organically through the story. In the last half of season two, he gets blown up, momentarily becomes a rat, and is clearly destroyed by his actions. It's pretty impressive what Kurt Sutter and the writers do with Chibs and Tommy Flanagan for his acting ability.
Juice is stabbed in prison, and is still mostly comedic relief, but his speech to Jax in the hospital after Jax told him he was going nomad was powerful and added a dimension to his character. It made him human.
As far as the female characters go, Gemma's storyline was clearly the most season-long of arcs. She gets gang-raped in the first episode, spends time dealing with that rape for most of the episode, realizes she needs to tell Jax and Clay about it, and then at the end finds God and gets her swagger back. It's pretty amazing how she thinks God wants Gemma to kill Ethan Zobelle's daughter.
Tara gets a nice arc as well as throughout the season she gradually starts accepting the violence and becomes a sort of protege for Gemma. In the last episode, it appears that all that "progress" towards violence will dissipate as she will see the effects of violence on her. She'll probably regress from violence in season three and I'm guessing break up with Jax.
Dayton Callie was excellent as the Chief as his connection to the Sons appears to be completely rooted in her interest in Gemma. He was there for her the whole season and it gives a corrupt cop a much more interesting character. It was satisfying to see him smile driving away at the end of the season with Gemma.
My favorite scenes were probably the two voting scenes - they created as much tension as any possible death could. The first - you could see the dynamics of the group changing from Clay to Jax and how much it killed Clay to see it. The second - the one to vote out Jax was terrifying because the whole time I wondered if they would go through with it. (Another great moment when Clay told Jax he wanted him gone)
The third season ends with the show very much in flux. Gemma is a fugitive on the run without a knowledge of where to go. Jax's baby is stolen by the Irishman. I bet Tara is deeply conflicted about her involvement with the club after that incident. The club needs to re-adjust to the events of the finale (especially Half-Sack's death).
This season was well done. I applaud its quality. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. I'm honestly afraid the show will drop in quality. In fact, I think it'd be hard not to have a least a little of a drop. This show is fantastic - well-written, great actors, and compelling characters.
I'd put this show up there with the best of them after two seasons. It remains to be seen if he can keep it up, but so far it's been excellent.
Playlist (Sons of Anarchy Edition)
1. "This Life" - Curtis Stigers (Theme Song)
2. "Hard Row" - The Black Keys
3. "John the Revelator" - Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers
4. "Forever Young" - Audra Mae & The Forest Rangers
5. "Later this Year" - Straylight Run
I'm going to do this post a little different than my typical season reviews. This is the first show where I review a show's second season (all mine up to this point have been season one reviews). Sons of Anarchy is a show that has a ton of characters, most of them the writers pay their due diligence by the finale of the second season. So I'm going to devote at least a paragraph to each of the characters starting with Jackson Teller, the protagonist of the show.
Jax spent the first season reading his father's prose and wondering if the club is heading the wrong direction. In the finale, he decides he wants to deviate from Clay Morrow and eventually head the club in a direction other than selling guns. Unfortunately, he typically lets his hate and disgust for Clay get in the way of doing things for the good of the club and only manages to nearly destroy the club (with help from Clay as well)
I thought the show perfectly displayed the growing tensions between Clay and Jax. It slowly escalated until it seemed one of the two would have to kill the other. I like however that the show essentially shelved their conflict for next season by having them focus on a common goal. It allows this storyline to go into next season.
Opie's storyline was more of a backburner storyline, but it was ready to burst on the surface. As he is depressed by his wife's death, he becomes a suicidal maniac unable to connect with his kids and slowly going closer and closer to Clay. His development into his former self begins with his relationship with Lyla giving him a closer relationship with his kids and more of his sanity. Then, he finds out Clay and Tig are responsible for Donna's death, causing him to become friends with Jax and go back to his normal self.
His dad, Piney, sort of disappeared and reappeared, but that was kind of true to his character anyway and he seems extremely unstable. He is clearly hurting knowing Clay and Tig killed Donna and killing not telling Opie about it. Then when he finds out Opie was told about Donna's death, he tried to kill Clay thinking Opie would do that. I fear Piney is not much longer for this world as he is just the sort of fringe character that the audience cares about enough to warrant killing off.
In the first season, Tig, Chibs, and Juice all were essentially comedic relief with not much character development. Kim Coates did his thing and made Tig deeply interesting, but he wasn't really given a whole lot. Half-Sack suffered this same fate in the first season, and they didn't really do anything with him this season either. Not a huge surprise he decided he wanted off the show, so they resolved that somewhat abruptly and suddenly.
Anyway, Tig suffers through the guilt of having killed an innocent person - not only an innocent person, but the wife of a club member. (I sort of suspect he's killed an innocent person before.) His development is consistent and his spiral downward culminates when he's on shrooms crying to a doll (?).
Chibs comes out of nowhere, becoming an important and deep character organically through the story. In the last half of season two, he gets blown up, momentarily becomes a rat, and is clearly destroyed by his actions. It's pretty impressive what Kurt Sutter and the writers do with Chibs and Tommy Flanagan for his acting ability.
Juice is stabbed in prison, and is still mostly comedic relief, but his speech to Jax in the hospital after Jax told him he was going nomad was powerful and added a dimension to his character. It made him human.
As far as the female characters go, Gemma's storyline was clearly the most season-long of arcs. She gets gang-raped in the first episode, spends time dealing with that rape for most of the episode, realizes she needs to tell Jax and Clay about it, and then at the end finds God and gets her swagger back. It's pretty amazing how she thinks God wants Gemma to kill Ethan Zobelle's daughter.
Tara gets a nice arc as well as throughout the season she gradually starts accepting the violence and becomes a sort of protege for Gemma. In the last episode, it appears that all that "progress" towards violence will dissipate as she will see the effects of violence on her. She'll probably regress from violence in season three and I'm guessing break up with Jax.
Dayton Callie was excellent as the Chief as his connection to the Sons appears to be completely rooted in her interest in Gemma. He was there for her the whole season and it gives a corrupt cop a much more interesting character. It was satisfying to see him smile driving away at the end of the season with Gemma.
My favorite scenes were probably the two voting scenes - they created as much tension as any possible death could. The first - you could see the dynamics of the group changing from Clay to Jax and how much it killed Clay to see it. The second - the one to vote out Jax was terrifying because the whole time I wondered if they would go through with it. (Another great moment when Clay told Jax he wanted him gone)
The third season ends with the show very much in flux. Gemma is a fugitive on the run without a knowledge of where to go. Jax's baby is stolen by the Irishman. I bet Tara is deeply conflicted about her involvement with the club after that incident. The club needs to re-adjust to the events of the finale (especially Half-Sack's death).
This season was well done. I applaud its quality. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. I'm honestly afraid the show will drop in quality. In fact, I think it'd be hard not to have a least a little of a drop. This show is fantastic - well-written, great actors, and compelling characters.
I'd put this show up there with the best of them after two seasons. It remains to be seen if he can keep it up, but so far it's been excellent.
Playlist (Sons of Anarchy Edition)
1. "This Life" - Curtis Stigers (Theme Song)
2. "Hard Row" - The Black Keys
3. "John the Revelator" - Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers
4. "Forever Young" - Audra Mae & The Forest Rangers
5. "Later this Year" - Straylight Run
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Unconventional Dramas
Before reading this, I suggest you read the introduction to this site where I say what I'm doing.
This list is 13 shows and counting. I say counting because I remain very optimistic about the new series coming out on FX called The Americans. I will be tuning in to watch the premiere and hopefully the entire first season.
Shows I've watched
There are only two shows on this list and both lasted a single season before they were cancelled. Let me assure you they were not cancelled because they were bad shows, but because nobody watched them. Bad marketing,hard premise to sell, whatever it was, the shows received poor ratings. (Both were acclaimed critically.)
In 2002, Joss Whedon created his first show that had nothing to do with the Buffyverse tackling a futuristic Western space show. It starred Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds (or Captain Tightpants) as captain of Serenity, the relatively modest space ship. Reynolds and his crew battle the law, his sometimes adversary and sometimes enemy Badger, and Saffron (played by Christina Hendricks of Mad Men.)
So Fox screwed this up. One of the best pilots I've ever seen was not aired until it was clear the show would not be renewed. I cannot for the life of me understand why the pilot was not aired. So right off the bat, the second episode, which does the first episode an injustice in introducing the characters and the world, gets the show on a bad start. Then they air the episodes out-of-order throughout the run making it difficult to get any serious serialized storytelling done. Firefly never stood a chance with ratings thanks to Fox.
Against all odds, the show was able to do a follow-up movie called Serenity, which is phenomenal as an epilogue to the show and I think as a stand-alone movie, though I have no idea. Anyway, this show is 18 episodes and a movie, all on Netflix and is a good way to pass the time.
Terriers is a very good, short-lived show about two private investigators who run an unlicensed P.I. firm. I'm going to blame the marketing on this show's lack of ratings. It's not that I hadn't seen ads when it was released, it's just that the ads revealed nothing about the show. You see the ad and you don't want to go see the show, you wonder what the show is about. Most people are not curious enough to see what the show is about. You have to WANT to see it.
Anyway, Donald Logue plays an ex-cop and recovering alcoholic and his partner is an ex-criminal. Between the two of them, they have no problem skirting the law and they are pretty successful at their job despite loads of personal issues.
Shows I am watching
We'll go from shittiest to best. Dexter is gaining in viewership and declining in quality. Seasons 1-2 were great TV that did little to nothing with the supporting characters and it has shown in the decline of the show. Seasons 3-4 were both good, but it was not hard to see the show was starting to lead to the not great Season 5. Basically, it's hard to create suspense around a criminal who has no consequences for anything he does. After each season, the writers wipe the slate clean and act like nothing happened.
My advice to anyone looking to get into Dexter is to watch the first four seasons (if only because John Lithgow is amazing in Season 4) and then stop. Just stop. (I'm 8 episodes into Season 7 and it's some of the best the show has done since Season 4, but they could easily mess this up.)
Next up his Homeland. Season 1 was amazing, all the acclaim for the show very deserved. Season 2 was... ridiculous. I understand you need to suspend disbelief to watch a show just as this, but preposterous plotline after preposterous plot line made the show borderline unwatchable. The writers seemingly thought the audiences were watching the show for the thrilling action and surprising twists. Despite more action in Season 2, Season 1 was more successful in creating tense moments and realistic story lines. The Season 2 finale fortunately gives me hope they will try a different approach in the upcoming season.
I've only seen the first season of The Walking Dead and so far it is pretty good. It's obvious the creator forced a season's worth of material into six episodes so the plot moves way too fast. They introduce a new set on one episode, the next the set explodes. It would have been nice if they could have taken their time more.
I'm five episodes into The West Wing and so far I like it. The cast is excellent with Martin Sheen as the POTUS. Bradley Whitford playing Josh Lyman and Richard Schiff playing Toby Ziegler are the most interesting characters so far. As usual, Sorkin has written shitty female characters, but I guess that's why all his shows are nearly all-male.
I'm pretty excited that the so far bland and lone black character (and also seemingly forced) is the main character of Pysch. Maybe he'll show more personality in later episodes!
The title really says what this show is about: a battle for the throne of the Western kingdom. It's highly entertaining and I'm greatly invested into seeing who will win this "game."
Shows I will watch
Two people whose opinions I respect strongly recommended The Newsroom so despite not great feedback from my other sources, I will give the first season a watch. I'm not optimistic about the show, but I'll at least give it a chance. Plus, I love Jeff Daniels and Sam Wasterson so I don't see a huge downside to watching the show.
Justified is a show that will take a while for me to start. I might just wait until the series ends so I can buy the entire series. This show is not on Netflix or on my premium channels at home like most HBO and Showtime shows so it appears I will have to buy this series. So while I actually am very interested in starting this show now, money and availability are huge impediments.
I'm interested in Twin Peaks not because I like David Lynch (I did not like Mullohand Drive for instance), but because of how it different it was from anything before it. It was a creative leap from what I've read at least from any other show and could have paved the way for the shows that changed TV (according to Alan Sepinwall).
Lastly, Prison Break will be watched well into the future. I know Prison Break is more or less like 24 in style (not the timeline aspect, but the thrilling action), so I will wait to watch this until I've seen 24.
Unfortunately, 24 is by far the show I am least interested in watching of the shows that changed TV so that means I will be getting to Prison Break quite a bit later.
Final Thoughts
Watch Game of Thrones. Easy choice. Watch Homeland Season 1. Whether or not to watch Season 2 highly depends on if Season 3 is good or not. So you should probably just wait. So far I'd recommend Sons of Anarchy (through 11 episodes) and West Wing (through five episodes), but neither show has really been watched that much.
Definitely watch Firefly and definitely watch Terriers. The Walking Dead was good in season 1 (will have season 1 review at some point, but I'll probably re-watch that season to refresh my memory).
There's a few shows I want to watch but the availability of the series is not great. Shameless with William H. Macy looks awesome, but I just discovered it so I have to figure out a way to watch the first two seasons without paying since I'm a cheap bastard. The same applies to House of Lies with Don Cheadle, though my interest there is significantly less. Whereas I'd probably pay to watch Shameless, House of Lies I wouldn't.
I kind of want to watch Girls, but not near enough to add it to my huge list of TV shows. (Also, a recent description of the show that it was Sex in the City for hipsters is so unbelievably not what I want to watch so probably avoid this.) I desperately want to watch Boardwalk Empire, I'm just waiting until I can catch a moment where Season 1 will be available on HBO premium. I want to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm and Eastbound and Down, but I'm incredibly late to the party.
I'm watching Go On on Hulu. It's good enough for me to not quit, but shitty enough to not write about. Actually, it's probably really bad, but I just like Matthew Perry.
The Good Wife and Fringe are shows I'm slightly interested in. May add to them to the list in the future. The Americans, Zero Hour, and Cult are shows that are premiering this winter that I will watch the pilots of and decide whether or not to go further.
I'm at an odd time for posting. My original intent was to post the eight sections of TV shows that I created, however it appears that will not be my plan. Whenever I finish a season of a show I'm watching I will post my review of that season. I already posted my review of Downton Abbey Season 1, I posted my review of Sons of Anarchy Season 1, and later I will post my review of The Walking Dead Season 1. I also plan to do a season-by-season review of Buffy, though I can't decide if that would be one post or a two-parter. I'm getting too far ahead of myself though.
(Also I'll mention if I have spoilers or not for the reviews. Planning on not having spoilers, though it could prove too hard. I may have a section for non-spoilers and then indicate when the spoilers come. Hopefully people reading will choose to avoid the spoiler section though I kind of doubt they will.)
I'm planning to watch American Horror Story very soon in conjunction with Sons of Anarchy Season 2. I have little idea what this is about, but it looks different and interesting. Connie Britton being on the show certainly makes my acceptance of this show more likely. I'm not into the horror genre, but a few episodes won't kill me.
Next post: I will review The Americans pilot with Keri Russel and Matthew Rhys
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Rewind: Thoughts on Season 1 of Sons of Anarchy
I wasn't aware of this when I started Sons of Anarchy, but the creator Kurt Sutter also was a big influence on The Shield, which is on the list of shows that changed television. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised by how great Season 1 was. The first couple episodes showed enough promise to draw people into next week's episode, but the pace was slow and the setting uncomfortable to immediately accept.
But each episode was better than the previous episode and by the Season 1 finale, I think I'm watching another great show. I don't know if they can keep this up (I am aware they have four more seasons, I'm speaking in terms of quality), because they kind of wrote themselves into a corner here (More on that later).
Since FX seems pretty poor on promoting their TV shows (I've seen some SOA ads, but they don't reveal anything about the show whatsoever and Terriers was cancelled despite being excellent), I'll explain the show to newcomers. Jackson Teller (Jax) is the second-in-command in the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy. It's a criminal organization as they sell illegal guns and kill whoever gets in their way.
Early on, Jax finds his father's book or diary or something that reveals that his father didn't like where SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club - Redwood Original) was headed in the years leading up to his death. He was wanting SAMCRO to be more legitimate. Clay Morrow, the president of SAMCRO, and his wife, Gemma Teller Morrow, don't want Jax to go the direction that his father went. Gemma is also Jax's mother and was previously married to Jax's father.
The standout of the show is Katey Sagal, who plays Gemma. She is mesmerizing as a conniving, ruthless woman who appears to be the real string-puller of SAMCRO. Ron Pearlman is of course great as Clay. Ryan Hurst plays a character altogether different than the one he had in Remember the Titans (Garry Bertier), and he seems to be two different guys. Maybe it's the beard, but you never see Gary when you see him play Opie (If you've seen Remember the Titans as many times as I have, you'd understand why that could be a concern)
Opie just got out of jail after being in the pen for five years. His allegiances are torn between SAMCRO and his family, and that is the most captivating storyline in the show in the early goings. The rest of the gang is played by good actors which is a list too large to list all of them, but the most interesting one is Tig, played extremely creepy by Kim Coates.
That about sums up the season. The script is mostly true to the characters. They've set themselves up for a drop in quality in my mind since they will somehow probably back off what should happen. We'll see, but I kind of doubt what I think would happen in a hypothetical real world situation and what the show will do will be the same. Benefit of the doubt of course since season 1 was so damn good.
Watch it. Watch it immediately. Season 1 would get an A grade for the entire season's worth and the show gets better and more captivating with each passing episode.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Introduction to Site
Lately, I have become slightly motivated to write about sports, but then my need to write went away soon after I began writing an article on something sports-related and I found myself disinterested in finishing. I can't seem to put enough focus into finishing a detailed, numbers-driven article. Usually a sports post will take me hours, so I'm assuming that has a lot to do with it.
So here I am giving writing about television a try, which for the past year or so has become an insane habit of mine. My purest intention is to watch good television. So I never go into a TV show blind (I doubt many do). I check IMDB ratings, I check my favorite TV reviewers opinions of shows, I take into account what my friends think of the show, and basically just get a feel if the show is worth my time. (This sounds harsher than I intend, I assure you.)
My opinion is that this is the golden age of television. At least, this is the age where you can pretty much watch a good television series as long as you buy Netflix. There are seriously enough good TV series on Netflix to last you years so long as you don't burn through entire series in a month.
I am mostly going to be writing season reviews, although doing episode reviews of classic television shows such as The Sopranos has intrigued me. So I periodically do episode reviews of that nature. I've also sporadically done episode reviews of personal favorite television shows of mine. I wrote Breaking Bad episode reviews and doing episode reviews for The Americans. I'll pick and choose which shows I do very strictly so this isn't going to be a normal thing.
To be clear, here's an idea of how crazy I am with this obsession of mine. I mentioned sports writing before which I wrote three times a week for a while. That was replaced by needing to watch the greatest movies of all time, which I usually found searching random sites. (Needless to say, I was devastated when megavideo was declared illegal) Then last year, I signed up for a month-long free trial of Netflix for a reason I'm not sure of right now, and you pretty much need Netflix once you've experienced it. (Netflix is not paying me, believe it or not)
Anyway, somewhere along the line I started slowing watching good series, not really trying to watch ALL of the good series. Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Dexter, etc. I had a bit of a slow start on this little quest of mine since my TV experience was limited to every Friends episode (each one I've seen more than once), CSI, Law and Order: SVU (strangely not the original), and... that's about it. I never really committed to a series besides Friends (which I grew up on).
While on my winter break, I realized I was watching so many TV shows at once, that I decided to categorize the TV shows I was watching. I ended up with eight different categorizations, totaling (don't laugh and I swear this is the real number) 76 shows. 76. I've seen every episode of the series for 10 of those 76, so that means I'm either in the process of or haven't started 66 series that I want to see.
I should also mention that six of the 66 shows I literally cannot watch more episodes due to the fact that they have more seasons or they haven't been posted on Netflix. And lastly, seven of the shows are in the last season that I can watch or that aired.
That still leaves a TON of shows. I'm not delusional. This is going to take a few years especially with school. I'm sure summer will bring an uptick in episodes watched. (Also, I expect the shows to gradually decline as the year progresses as the beginning features little homework and the end is finals)
So I guess this is a good place to mention what my eight categories are. First, are the greatest shows on television or the shows that changed television (Link) - according to Alan Sepinwall, my favorite TV critic. Here's the list and whether I've watched, am watching or plan to watch (updated 6/24/14):
Breaking Bad - Status: Seen all five seasons
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Status: Seen all seven seasons
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Status: Seen all seven seasons
Friday Night Lights - Status: Seen all five seasons
Lost - Status: Seen all six seasons
Mad Men - Status: Seen all seven seasons
Mad Men - Status: Seen all seven seasons
The Wire - Status: Seen all five seasons
The Shield - Status: Seen all seven seasons
The Shield - Status: Seen all seven seasons
The Sopranos - Status: Seen all six seasons
24 - Status: Seen first six seasons
Deadwood - Status: Watching first season
Battlestar Galactica - Status: Not started
Oz - Status: Not started
This category is my most exciting and the one I look forward to completing the most. The best part is that I own all seasons to Deadwood and Oz plus 24 is on Amazon Prime, which I recently purchased. I finished The Shield by watching the free seasons that popped up on Hulu every three months. Soon the first two seasons will be there and I recommend you start when given the chance. I'll be finishing 24 over the next year and beginning Deadwood sometime next spring. Oz and Battlestar will be considerably later.
When I first wrote this post in January of last year, I had a different group of categorizations that I became dissatisfied with so I changed my categorizations to better fit how I ended up actually watching these shows. I still have the shows that changed television, which I still only watch one television series at a time meaning I wait until I finish one series before I start another. The exceptions are Mad Men, which is still airing, and 24, which is a show I try to binge-watch and I can safely separate my viewing experiences by seasons. Basically, I make sure I have a week or so of time available to watch the show before I begin a season and that means I'll probably be unable to watch any seasons during the school year.
Another categorization that hasn't changed is Classic Comedy. I've re-arranged some of the shows, but this is the simplest one and mostly is undisturbed. The most recent of the shows stopped airing in 2006. The earliest of the shows began airing in 1960. I'll refer you to my updated Classic Comedy post if you're interested in reading about the 14 shows that fall under that.
The category formerly known as Quirky Comedy is now just Comedy. This has mostly not changed. I switched out Scrubs and Arrested Development and added a few shows. This is another 14 show category. If you're interested in reading about specific shows, read my Comedy post.
Another category that has survived is Procedurals. In fact, I've basically split this into two different categories, Procedurals and USA Shows. USA Shows from what I've seen are procedurals in the loosest sense (a drama that isn't serialized - you can watch any episode in any season and be able to not be affected too strongly; maybe you missed a relationship that developed but nothing important). But I felt uncomfortable listing Burn Notice and Law and Order in the same category as they are not even close to the same show. If you're interested in reading about these two categories, I consolidated them into one post here.
(If you've fallen upon this link now, it means you've seen this earlier than I intended. I had eight original categories, but only three of them were even close to the same as my revised categories. I now have 13 categories. My unconventional drama's name is now changed and is basically unrecognizable from its original group of shows. I scrapped Supernatural as a category as I realized Star Trek would take too long to watch and was detracting from me watching anything else in its category and made Star Trek its own category; Anyway, I should update the rest of the categories soon)
Another categorization that hasn't changed is Classic Comedy. I've re-arranged some of the shows, but this is the simplest one and mostly is undisturbed. The most recent of the shows stopped airing in 2006. The earliest of the shows began airing in 1960. I'll refer you to my updated Classic Comedy post if you're interested in reading about the 14 shows that fall under that.
The category formerly known as Quirky Comedy is now just Comedy. This has mostly not changed. I switched out Scrubs and Arrested Development and added a few shows. This is another 14 show category. If you're interested in reading about specific shows, read my Comedy post.
Another category that has survived is Procedurals. In fact, I've basically split this into two different categories, Procedurals and USA Shows. USA Shows from what I've seen are procedurals in the loosest sense (a drama that isn't serialized - you can watch any episode in any season and be able to not be affected too strongly; maybe you missed a relationship that developed but nothing important). But I felt uncomfortable listing Burn Notice and Law and Order in the same category as they are not even close to the same show. If you're interested in reading about these two categories, I consolidated them into one post here.
(If you've fallen upon this link now, it means you've seen this earlier than I intended. I had eight original categories, but only three of them were even close to the same as my revised categories. I now have 13 categories. My unconventional drama's name is now changed and is basically unrecognizable from its original group of shows. I scrapped Supernatural as a category as I realized Star Trek would take too long to watch and was detracting from me watching anything else in its category and made Star Trek its own category; Anyway, I should update the rest of the categories soon)
Next Post: I'll talk about shows that changed TV
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