I keep flip-flopping on the finale of Breaking Bad - if it slightly diminished the series or if it was brilliant in giving the audience all possible endings. I don't know if I'll ever truly make up my mind on it, but I'll never fully embrace it the way I did immediately after the episode. That episode provided me with a state of instant gratification, but it's best if you don't think about it too much.
There's a few schools of thought on the finale, one of which makes the most sense to me and for this series. In a series where just about nothing went as planned - with a few exceptions - everything goes to plan for Walter because he finally accepted the evil monster he is. He's accepted he's a terrible person who did all he did for himself. Once he came to that understanding, he could fully embrace his Heisenberg persona. That's one theory. He could never get his plans to come to fruition because he kept lying to himself. (Another is that he died in the cabin and the finale was his dream - because literally every fucking thing went right and his plan was incredibly improbable)
It's ironic I think. Vince Gilligan wanted to tie up all loose ends and yet here I am pondering the finale as if it hadn't. But then again, I don't think this series could have really just ended on Granite State - Jesse perpetually a slave to Neo Nazis isn't exactly a thing I wanted. And really, the ending wasn't a happy ending at all when you put it in perspective. Walt gets his version of a happy ending, but Jesse's life will suck, his family is deserted, and there's no guarantee that Flynn will accept the money (which even he would recognize as fishy) or that Skylar's legal problems are finished.
That's enough about the finale. Let's talk about the series and it's place in history. Here I will confess that before the finale aired, I planned to write about how Breaking Bad is the best series ever. Now, the finale didn't change my mind about it, I just thought more deeply about it and realized that doing that would be a mistake. First, I'd suffer from recency bias and secondly, if I'm going to proclaim something like that, I better be sure about it. Well, I'm far from sure.
For now, my publicly declared greatest series ever will remain The Wire. I'm finishing up The Sopranos - safely in my Top 5 - and still need to watch Deadwood and The Shield. Honestly, I probably shouldn't declare a greatest series ever until I finish those three shows. The only reason I'm even doing it is because I'm very skeptical any show can surpass The Wire. So skeptical in fact that I feel reasonably comfortable declaring it my greatest series. (Mad Men is widely considered to be among these shows; I've seen four seasons and I just don't think it's on the same level unfortunately. Alas, that's for another post)
I'm going to self-impose a waiting period of a year to re-asses Breaking Bad and see where I place it then. Right now, it's definitely benefiting from a recency bias. I remember almost every detail of the show from the past five seasons (I watched the entire series before this last season in less than three weeks). Considering the emphasis placed on detail in Breaking Bad, this would tend to positively influence my perception. Although, I do think the finale did more harm than good in my overall view of the series.
I will say this: In my personal ranking of TV shows - I don't have an official list because like I said I lack some shows that are considered - Breaking Bad is safely a Top 5 show of all time. I consider it behind The Wire, but for now at least, I have it above The Sopranos.
Breaking Bad did do something that no other television show did. It made a seemingly sympathetic, good man into an evil monster. To use the cliche, it turned Mr. Chips into Scarface. Now, The Shield fans, I unfortunately know a spoiler about that show - just for the pilot though. I know (SPOILER FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHIELD - ALSO CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG HERE) that the main character kills another cop and that decision leads him down a road similar to Walter White's. Here's the difference. That cop clearly wasn't already Mr. Chips. When you decide to kill another cop - no matter how bad that cop is, you clearly aren't a seemingly sympathetic good man.
Now the original picture of Walter White wasn't completely accurate as the details on his past are revealed, but being a pride-driven man hardly makes you a bad person. What made Walt a bad person was a series of dangerously self-rationalizing decisions that kept escalating and he kept rationalizing until he was stuck in a cabin alone with his thoughts and he realized what he became and he was ok with what he became. So Breaking Bad managed to do that which I'm fairly certain The Shield couldn't have done, because he killed a cop in the first episode thus making him not really a good person. (SPOILERS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHIELD STOPPED).
Unfortunately, Gilligan's insistence on closing every plot thread hurt the series more than it helped it. For instance, we sort of got a farewell sequence to Skinny Pete and Badger, but it made absolutely no fucking sense for them to be the ones Walt hired. That was pure fan service. I don't want ambiguity in my finales or anything, but you don't need to close EVERY plot point. Doing so makes it feel like the writers are manipulating events, not like it's an organic plot development - something the series successfully did in the series.
Anyway, I don't think Breaking Bad is the greatest series of all-time. If I had to guess, one of the three shows I still have yet to finish will end up surpassing Breaking Bad too. I feel pretty confident in saying Breaking Bad will end up as my #3 greatest series of all time. I think it's place as a consensus top five show of all time is pretty safe as well.
Sorry if that's not exactly a definitive answer, but the answer to this question is definitive. The important thing to remember is that this was one of the best series of all time and I enjoyed the ride.
I set up a poll. I want to know where you think Breaking Bad should be all-time. (The poll is to the right of this post >>>>>>>)
Playlist (Best of Breaking Bad Season 5 Part 2)
1. "Where is Santa Claus?" - Mr. & Mrs. Yellowman
2. "Oh Sherri" - Steve Perry
3. "She's Blinded Me With Science" - Thomas Dolby (Todd's ringtone)
4. "Take My True Love" - The Limeliters
5. "El Paso" - Marty Robbins
6. "Baby Blue" - Badfinger
Showing posts with label The Wire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Wire. Show all posts
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
My All-Time Favorite Shows
I talk a lot about TV shows on this blog, but I just realized I haven't actually given a list of my all-time favorite TV shows. I haven't listed TV shows that are my favorite purely from a personal enjoyment standard. This is a show that is on TV and I'll stop what I'm doing and watch it.
As I write this, I don't have a specific number in mind of how many I'll list so it could be anywhere from five TV shows to 20. There's also no order, rhyme, or reason why I pick these shows. It's not necessarily based on the best quality either. So literally you cannot disagree with me on these shows as I have defined my list.
So with all that said, I would like some commentary on if my favorite TV show list is respectable, shameful, or whatever. Then feel free to point me to your favorite and I'll see if I plan to watch or need to pay attention to.
Friends
Aired: 1994-2004
10 Seasons: 238 Episodes
This show needs no introduction. Even if you weren't paying attention when this show aired, re-runs are on several different channels every week. You've probably seen an episode or two or 10 or 100.
This was the first show I really watched. I burned through this show with my sister six episodes at a time until finally we realize we should pace ourselves. Then we re-watched it. Several times. The number of times I've seen this show makes it impossible for me to a put a number on it, however I'm sure I've seen the equivalent of well over 1,000 episodes.
This show consistently made me laugh and it still does. Re-watching the episodes does not make the laughs any less harder or the show diminish somehow. The characters were so well realized and so well written. The creators knew what was funny for each character. Chandler was an easy character to make funny since he's funny in the show, but Monica's obsession with cleanliness, Ross' bad luck in everything, Joey's dimwittedness, Pheobe's wackiness, or Rachel's cluelessness (at first), the show had a reliable humor machine for each of the characters.
Take characters you know well and like and put them in weird and funny situations and you have Friends. It's funny, but that's how you make a successful sitcom.
The show does have flaws, namely nobody is overweight, nobody is unattractive (though this is TV), and seemingly nobody in that universe is anything other than white. Also, the show could be described as "safe," as in it took basically zero risks. (Monica and Chandler could be construed as a risk. It's hard not to use hindsight to know they just worked as a couple though) The basic outline of every episode is the same. Lastly, Ross and Rachel drama was hilariously stretched as thin as possible. Most cliffhangers at the end of the season showed Ross and Rachel possibly getting together, only for a super convenient way to back out of that when the next season aired.
Most of those things don't actually bother me. (The lack of diversity is disturbing though) But I realize how it technically is a fault of the show. Anyway, I've rambled on enough about this show. I plan to write episode recaps in the future on this show so I have plenty more to write!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Aired: 1997-2003
7 Seasons: 145 Episodes
I only just finished this show in December last year and I feel confident in saying this is one of my favorite shows. A good barometer on how much I love a show is probably how much I want to write about it. I am planning to write about this show a lot in the future, detailing the quality of each season. Yeah, my outlet is writing because nobody I know will watch this show (except one!) so I can't talk about it ever.
This could be a bit more difficult to talk about. If for some reason, someone somewhere decides to watch this show based on this recommendation, well I choose to avoid spoilers. Also, I bet almost none of the people reading this have seen the show so that wouldn't matter anyway!
The character of Buffy Summers, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (sure everyone at least knows that), was fully realized from the beginning. Her character arc is the most consistent over the seven seasons, with each representing her growth as a person.
In fact, I say this to anyone who I recommend the show to, Season 1 was terrible. Not all of it was bad. Like I said, Buffy's character was the only consistent part of the show and she was truly a three-dimensional character from the start. Willow, played by HIMYM star Alyson Hanigan, and Xander were not. They became awesome characters, but in the first season they get little to work with.
Granted, I'd say watch Season 1 if you have patience, because around half of the episodes are good. They become worse with hindsight, but some of the episodes are actually good on first viewing. If you have no patience, start with Season 2, though you may be a bit confused. That's what you get for not being patient!
Seasons 2 and 3 have some of the best television I have ever seen. It doesn't reach those heights after those seasons, but there are some amazing episodes such as The Body, Hush, and Once More with Feeling (a musical episode).
Breaking Bad
Aired: 2008-2013
5 Seasons: 62 Episodes
As of now, I'm conflicted on whether to do an episode reaction for Season 5 Part 2 episodes in the summer. It's not something I do on this blog, but I think I'll make an exception.
This show is actually kind of hard to write about since I think anyone who has read this blog has seen the show. The transformation of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's characters has been remarkable. If you told me in the beginning of this show that by the end I'd be rooting against Walt, well I'd have thought the show took a bad turn (I mean in quality) somewhere. But it has not.
I had a whole paragraph written out and then I realized for anyone who hasn't watched Season 5, there were huge massive spoilers in there. For the two people that read this that haven't caught up to Breaking Bad, I'm thinking of you.
I mean I got nothing else since I'm not writing any spoilers here.
The Wire
Aired: 2002-2008
5 Seasons: 60 Episodes
The best television show of all time. When I first watched The Wire, there wasn't a show I had ever seen like it. And I doubt there ever will be. People who've never seen The Wire are surely skeptical, but try to find someone who has seen The Wire and thought it was alright, because those people don't exist. I mean people who have seen the show, not people who've seen the first few episodes and gave up.
The first episode doesn't do a whole lot to soothe you in. It acts like you've known these characters, drops in a million of them, and then by the end of the episode, you're not totally sure what happened. You know how in a pilot episode, shows typically introduce the idea of the show and the characters and have characters saying stuff they already know just for the audience? Well that doesn't exist in this show.
I promise that whatever the plot point it is, it leads to somewhere. Almost nothing that happens is irrelevant. In addition to entertainment value, the show makes these ambitious themes about modern America. Institutions prevent change, the decay of the American working class, the ineffectiveness of the drug war, how the system consistently fails inner-city kids, the corruption of the government and the slow death of the newspaper.
Buy the entire series on Amazon if you have the money. If you don't, buy it anyway and then sell it back once you've finished the series. That's what I did. Although I have been dying to re-watch the show and kind of want to buy it again.
That 70's Show
Aired: 1998-2006
8 Seasons: 201 Episodes
I think the remarkable thing about this show is that many of the actors in this show got their start here. Topher Grace (Eric), Milas Kunis (Jackie), Ashton Kutcher (Kelso), Wilmer Valderama (Fez), and Laura Prepon (Donna) had never been in a credited role before this show. Most of them were 20-years-old or younger with the youngest being Milas at 15-years-old (14-years-old probably when it was filmed).
The most experienced was Danny Masterson (Hyde) who had guest starred in a bunch of TV shows such as Roseanne, NYPD Blue, Party of Five, and Cybill plus had appeared in The Faculty as Fuck Up #1. Actually most successful TV shows have careers very similar to Masterson's. Lots of guest roles just waiting for the their big shot.
I think playing high school kids as a first time actor isn't terribly difficult, which is probably why this was successful. I mean most of these actors were still kids. Ashton Kutcher couldn't really act in this, but he didn't really need to. With probably the exception of Milas and Wilmer, they were basically just playing themselves.
Kurtwood Smith (Red) is one of the best parts about this show. Apparently they originally offered this role to Chuck Norris. Thank God that didn't happen. Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty) plays the seemingly normal, but actually crazy alcoholic mother really well.
This show just got a bunch of talented people together (discovered most of them) and wrote a funny script. I don't think it's a mistake that all of these actors have had good success after this show.
Honorable Mentions
I guess that's it. A few shows I debated with myself quite a bit about putting on here. I'm going on pure feeling here and these shows just didn't feel like my favorite. I got no other explanation. Again, this isn't about quality. Actually a few of these shows would probably be on the best ever list of their genre.
Friday Night Lights
I love this show. This doesn't feel like a favorite show of mine if that makes any sense so I couldn't put it up there. This could change. I could re-watch it, appreciate it more, and then constantly want to re-watch it until it finally lands there. I mean Friends, That 70's Show, and Breaking Bad were all more appreciated after they were re-watched.
But for now, it gets a strong honorable mention.
Archer
This is more of a length problem. It's one of my favorite shows without a doubt that is currently airing. I feel weird putting it up on my favorites list with having seen only two seasons. If it keeps up the quality that the first two seasons provided, then this will no doubt make its way up to my favorites. I'm pretty confident it can pull off the job.
Game of Thrones
Copy that last paragraph and put it here. This show has been phenomenal, but the show is geared towards a conclusion that hasn't been filmed. It's pretty impossible as well to say this is my favorite as well because this next season is the first that deviates from the book. Will it keep up the quality when it has to come up with semi-original content?
Shows that I appreciate but won't ever be my favorite
Mad Men
Man I really do respect this show and know it's well made and love watching it. But what kind of favorite show has few memorable episodes? The episodes all mix and mangle and I can rarely remember specific episodes that blew me out of the water. From a critical standpoint, I appreciate the attention to detail, the characters' consistency, and the time period. It'll always be on my best of list, but not my favorites.
Arrested Development
This is way different than Mad Men. I find this funny, I laugh out loud more than most shows, and the witty and joke a second all works for me. I like Archer more strangely even though I'll admit this was a better show (for now). I feel like I just don't get it the way hardcore fans of this show do though. I find it to be a great comedy, but I feel like I'm slightly missing something here.
Louie
In a sentence, this show is too depressing for it to be a favorite show of mine. The show's outlook on life is entertaining, but not something I'll want to re-watch a lot.
That takes care of my favorite TV shows. This spot was originally going to review Zero Hour until I found out that it was terrible and about evil Nazi clocks. I don't like hate-watching TV like some people.
Next post: The supernatural section of my TV shows.
As I write this, I don't have a specific number in mind of how many I'll list so it could be anywhere from five TV shows to 20. There's also no order, rhyme, or reason why I pick these shows. It's not necessarily based on the best quality either. So literally you cannot disagree with me on these shows as I have defined my list.
So with all that said, I would like some commentary on if my favorite TV show list is respectable, shameful, or whatever. Then feel free to point me to your favorite and I'll see if I plan to watch or need to pay attention to.
Friends
Aired: 1994-2004
10 Seasons: 238 Episodes
This show needs no introduction. Even if you weren't paying attention when this show aired, re-runs are on several different channels every week. You've probably seen an episode or two or 10 or 100.
This was the first show I really watched. I burned through this show with my sister six episodes at a time until finally we realize we should pace ourselves. Then we re-watched it. Several times. The number of times I've seen this show makes it impossible for me to a put a number on it, however I'm sure I've seen the equivalent of well over 1,000 episodes.
This show consistently made me laugh and it still does. Re-watching the episodes does not make the laughs any less harder or the show diminish somehow. The characters were so well realized and so well written. The creators knew what was funny for each character. Chandler was an easy character to make funny since he's funny in the show, but Monica's obsession with cleanliness, Ross' bad luck in everything, Joey's dimwittedness, Pheobe's wackiness, or Rachel's cluelessness (at first), the show had a reliable humor machine for each of the characters.
Take characters you know well and like and put them in weird and funny situations and you have Friends. It's funny, but that's how you make a successful sitcom.
The show does have flaws, namely nobody is overweight, nobody is unattractive (though this is TV), and seemingly nobody in that universe is anything other than white. Also, the show could be described as "safe," as in it took basically zero risks. (Monica and Chandler could be construed as a risk. It's hard not to use hindsight to know they just worked as a couple though) The basic outline of every episode is the same. Lastly, Ross and Rachel drama was hilariously stretched as thin as possible. Most cliffhangers at the end of the season showed Ross and Rachel possibly getting together, only for a super convenient way to back out of that when the next season aired.
Most of those things don't actually bother me. (The lack of diversity is disturbing though) But I realize how it technically is a fault of the show. Anyway, I've rambled on enough about this show. I plan to write episode recaps in the future on this show so I have plenty more to write!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Aired: 1997-2003
7 Seasons: 145 Episodes
I only just finished this show in December last year and I feel confident in saying this is one of my favorite shows. A good barometer on how much I love a show is probably how much I want to write about it. I am planning to write about this show a lot in the future, detailing the quality of each season. Yeah, my outlet is writing because nobody I know will watch this show (except one!) so I can't talk about it ever.
This could be a bit more difficult to talk about. If for some reason, someone somewhere decides to watch this show based on this recommendation, well I choose to avoid spoilers. Also, I bet almost none of the people reading this have seen the show so that wouldn't matter anyway!
The character of Buffy Summers, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (sure everyone at least knows that), was fully realized from the beginning. Her character arc is the most consistent over the seven seasons, with each representing her growth as a person.
In fact, I say this to anyone who I recommend the show to, Season 1 was terrible. Not all of it was bad. Like I said, Buffy's character was the only consistent part of the show and she was truly a three-dimensional character from the start. Willow, played by HIMYM star Alyson Hanigan, and Xander were not. They became awesome characters, but in the first season they get little to work with.
Granted, I'd say watch Season 1 if you have patience, because around half of the episodes are good. They become worse with hindsight, but some of the episodes are actually good on first viewing. If you have no patience, start with Season 2, though you may be a bit confused. That's what you get for not being patient!
Seasons 2 and 3 have some of the best television I have ever seen. It doesn't reach those heights after those seasons, but there are some amazing episodes such as The Body, Hush, and Once More with Feeling (a musical episode).
Breaking Bad
Aired: 2008-2013
5 Seasons: 62 Episodes
As of now, I'm conflicted on whether to do an episode reaction for Season 5 Part 2 episodes in the summer. It's not something I do on this blog, but I think I'll make an exception.
This show is actually kind of hard to write about since I think anyone who has read this blog has seen the show. The transformation of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's characters has been remarkable. If you told me in the beginning of this show that by the end I'd be rooting against Walt, well I'd have thought the show took a bad turn (I mean in quality) somewhere. But it has not.
I had a whole paragraph written out and then I realized for anyone who hasn't watched Season 5, there were huge massive spoilers in there. For the two people that read this that haven't caught up to Breaking Bad, I'm thinking of you.
I mean I got nothing else since I'm not writing any spoilers here.
The Wire
Aired: 2002-2008
5 Seasons: 60 Episodes
The best television show of all time. When I first watched The Wire, there wasn't a show I had ever seen like it. And I doubt there ever will be. People who've never seen The Wire are surely skeptical, but try to find someone who has seen The Wire and thought it was alright, because those people don't exist. I mean people who have seen the show, not people who've seen the first few episodes and gave up.
The first episode doesn't do a whole lot to soothe you in. It acts like you've known these characters, drops in a million of them, and then by the end of the episode, you're not totally sure what happened. You know how in a pilot episode, shows typically introduce the idea of the show and the characters and have characters saying stuff they already know just for the audience? Well that doesn't exist in this show.
I promise that whatever the plot point it is, it leads to somewhere. Almost nothing that happens is irrelevant. In addition to entertainment value, the show makes these ambitious themes about modern America. Institutions prevent change, the decay of the American working class, the ineffectiveness of the drug war, how the system consistently fails inner-city kids, the corruption of the government and the slow death of the newspaper.
Buy the entire series on Amazon if you have the money. If you don't, buy it anyway and then sell it back once you've finished the series. That's what I did. Although I have been dying to re-watch the show and kind of want to buy it again.
That 70's Show
Aired: 1998-2006
8 Seasons: 201 Episodes
I think the remarkable thing about this show is that many of the actors in this show got their start here. Topher Grace (Eric), Milas Kunis (Jackie), Ashton Kutcher (Kelso), Wilmer Valderama (Fez), and Laura Prepon (Donna) had never been in a credited role before this show. Most of them were 20-years-old or younger with the youngest being Milas at 15-years-old (14-years-old probably when it was filmed).
The most experienced was Danny Masterson (Hyde) who had guest starred in a bunch of TV shows such as Roseanne, NYPD Blue, Party of Five, and Cybill plus had appeared in The Faculty as Fuck Up #1. Actually most successful TV shows have careers very similar to Masterson's. Lots of guest roles just waiting for the their big shot.
I think playing high school kids as a first time actor isn't terribly difficult, which is probably why this was successful. I mean most of these actors were still kids. Ashton Kutcher couldn't really act in this, but he didn't really need to. With probably the exception of Milas and Wilmer, they were basically just playing themselves.
Kurtwood Smith (Red) is one of the best parts about this show. Apparently they originally offered this role to Chuck Norris. Thank God that didn't happen. Debra Jo Rupp (Kitty) plays the seemingly normal, but actually crazy alcoholic mother really well.
This show just got a bunch of talented people together (discovered most of them) and wrote a funny script. I don't think it's a mistake that all of these actors have had good success after this show.
Honorable Mentions
I guess that's it. A few shows I debated with myself quite a bit about putting on here. I'm going on pure feeling here and these shows just didn't feel like my favorite. I got no other explanation. Again, this isn't about quality. Actually a few of these shows would probably be on the best ever list of their genre.
Friday Night Lights
I love this show. This doesn't feel like a favorite show of mine if that makes any sense so I couldn't put it up there. This could change. I could re-watch it, appreciate it more, and then constantly want to re-watch it until it finally lands there. I mean Friends, That 70's Show, and Breaking Bad were all more appreciated after they were re-watched.
But for now, it gets a strong honorable mention.
Archer
This is more of a length problem. It's one of my favorite shows without a doubt that is currently airing. I feel weird putting it up on my favorites list with having seen only two seasons. If it keeps up the quality that the first two seasons provided, then this will no doubt make its way up to my favorites. I'm pretty confident it can pull off the job.
Game of Thrones
Copy that last paragraph and put it here. This show has been phenomenal, but the show is geared towards a conclusion that hasn't been filmed. It's pretty impossible as well to say this is my favorite as well because this next season is the first that deviates from the book. Will it keep up the quality when it has to come up with semi-original content?
Shows that I appreciate but won't ever be my favorite
Mad Men
Man I really do respect this show and know it's well made and love watching it. But what kind of favorite show has few memorable episodes? The episodes all mix and mangle and I can rarely remember specific episodes that blew me out of the water. From a critical standpoint, I appreciate the attention to detail, the characters' consistency, and the time period. It'll always be on my best of list, but not my favorites.
Arrested Development
This is way different than Mad Men. I find this funny, I laugh out loud more than most shows, and the witty and joke a second all works for me. I like Archer more strangely even though I'll admit this was a better show (for now). I feel like I just don't get it the way hardcore fans of this show do though. I find it to be a great comedy, but I feel like I'm slightly missing something here.
Louie
In a sentence, this show is too depressing for it to be a favorite show of mine. The show's outlook on life is entertaining, but not something I'll want to re-watch a lot.
That takes care of my favorite TV shows. This spot was originally going to review Zero Hour until I found out that it was terrible and about evil Nazi clocks. I don't like hate-watching TV like some people.
Next post: The supernatural section of my TV shows.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thoughts on The Following Pilot
I decided to watch The Following mostly on the basis of Kevin Bacon and the 10,000 ads Fox ran for the show. I'm decidedly mixed on the first episode. On the one hand, there is no doubt the show did enough to draw me in for a second episode, so technically the show is a success in the strictest sense. On the other, well....
I was really enjoying the episode up until the last five minutes. Actually, I have some bigger issues with the show than the last five minutes, but I'll return to that later. The final twist bothered me more than it shocked me. I mean, great, we are now watching a show were literally anyone could be bad or good except clearly Kevin Bacon's character, Ryan Hardy, is good.
There's an upside and downside to having doubts about any character who enters the show. Since I'm pretty big on character development within my TV shows, the downside out ways the upside by a pretty large margin. (This is also why I am not exactly thrilled to start "24") The downside is that nothing shocks you anymore and it takes out the thrill of the show mostly. The upside is you literally do not know what will happen. It really depends on why you watch TV.
The show starts out with Joe Carroll escaping from prison. It doesn't show how really. I mean there are numerous dead guards with no explanation as to how he managed to overpower them all. Whatever. I don't have a big issue with that. If they showed that scene, it'd probably look more ridiculous than awesome anyway.
Then we meet the protagonist of the show, Ryan Hardy. What appears to be necessary ever since The Sopranos aired, Hardy is of course a flawed hero. But by golly, he is determined to get the best of Carroll. Holy cow is this ripped straight from The Wire. Jimmy McNulty is an alcoholic, don't give a fuck about authority, slightly deranged, yet ultimately good cop because he is so determined to catch Stringer Bell. I mean, that is exactly what Ryan Hardy is. Switch the names. Hell, he drinks during the job just like McNulty.
Thankfully, Bacon is playing the part or that could have been disastrous. I actually like Dominic West playing a drunk way better than Bacon, but whatever. Again, I can live with that as well.
Here's the big flaw in the episode: Carroll doesn't seem like the person who could motivate loyal followers to do his bidding. Like the whole basis for this show is that Carroll has this innate ability to convince people to be on his side. He honestly doesn't seem more interesting than your average college professor in those flashback scenes. At least, from the scenes we are shown, I can't see it.
Also, Carroll is stolen straight from John Doe in Se7en. Doe uses the seven deadly sins. Carroll uses Edgar Allen Poe's poems. They both have some sort of higher thinking that makes them better than everyone else. Anyway, it is a clear rip-off and I'm sorry Kevin Spacey blows James Purefoy out of the water as an actor. I don't think Purefoy is bad per se, but he has an extremely hard sell and he doesn't quite pull it off.
I will be tuning into episode 2 (though not writing about it), and will be quick to stop watching if the show keeps reaching these ridiculous levels. I'm not optimistic, but I like the Scream movies, so I'll give Williamson the benefit of the doubt.
Next post: Could be Sons of Anarchy Season 1 Review or I'll go over my unconventional dramas. I will not be adding The Following to that list as watching that show is sort of independent of my project.
Friday, January 18, 2013
The Shows that Changed Television
Before reading this, I suggest you read the introduction to this site where I say what I'm doing.
The best, the most noteworthy, and the most impactful television shows on television have been determined not by myself, but a respected TV critic named Alan Sepinwall. They have been whittled to twelve TV shows from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Breaking Bad.
I'm not going to comment on what exactly Sepinwall means when he says they changed TV shows, but I'm going to attempt to explain. These are shows that did what no one else in television had done yet and they began doing things that other television shows wanted to. Also, it was just spectacularly well-done with good writing and good acting.
What I've Seen
The first show that changed television that I've personally seen is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The name does not do the show justice. The show has one of the biggest cult followings out there. Joss Whedon has said multiple times that he'd rather do a show that 100 people love to watch than 1,000 that just like the show. (I probably messed that up, but its captures the meaning of whatever he actually said)
Anyway, this show will easily get its own post, probably a few of them. I'm restraining myself from going into greater detail, because this post would go on forever if I did. Anyway, Buffy first aired in March of 1997 as a mid-season replacement on a network that was only a few years old (WB). It somehow ended up lasting seven seasons and a network change (It switched to UPN after five seasons at the WB).
This is a show that rewards its fan. It knows what its doing. It foreshadows many events well before they happen, which makes watching it through a second time almost necessary. This is a show that references things that happened in Season 1 in its last season. If you look closely at the dialogue, you'll find a lot of meta-commentary on itself. I cannot go into anymore detail because I'm choosing to stay in the no spoilers range for now.
So, if you have the time or a new series that you want to watch, ignore the name of the show and watch it. If you have patience, watch Season 1 first (which I may add is only 12 episodes...) and then get rewarded with the next six seasons. If you want to get straight into the good stuff, start with School Hard on Season 2, Episode 3, which is the beginning of a two-season run of excellence. (You might get a bit confused at parts however).
Then there's The Wire. It's pretty impossible for me to talk about this show, because I probably come up sounding like a babbling idiot. I think David Simon hates his audience. His first season introduces many new characters that it takes a few episodes to stop figuring out who is who and what they do. Then when we finally settle in, the second season decides to abandon the drug trade and targets the working class through stevedores working on the Baltimore port.
Season 4 introduces kids and does a pretty incredible job of explaining how the system failed them. It's heartbreaking. It's great television. The Wire is not a show to watch for happiness. Basically, the message of the show is about the declining cities in America, the system will fail you, and institutions prevent change (negatively) - among other depressing messages that are pretty much true. Also, the masterpiece that is Season 4 barely includes the main lead of the show, Jimmy McNulty, which is strange for any television show.
I'm going to save anything else I say about The Wire for another post.
Next up is Lost. Here's a divisive show. Lost first aired in September of 2004 and ended its six-season run in May of 2010. I largely loved the show, though its one of those shows you should not watch unless you have a month of free time, because nearly every episode ends on some kind of a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, the show tends to mislead its audience and never returns to information that was seemingly vital at the time. Call it the anti-Buffy.
There is no question why Lost is on this list. It did a few things that had never been done before. In conjunction with its regular story, the show did flashbacks on every single episode to add backstory to the characters. Season 4 and Season 6 also featured something similar which I will not reveal since part of the fun of the early episodes of those seasons were figuring out what was going on. Warning: This show DID piss a lot of fans off, so keep that in mind.
Next show is Friday Night Lights, which somehow lasted five seasons when almost nobody watched it at the time it was aired. It's a show about people in a football-driven town. It's not a show about football. Important distinction. It's a show based on a movie that was based on a book written by Buzz Bisinger. There are talks about a possible movie which would make that movie based on a TV series based on another movie which was based on a book.
Unlike Buffy, FNL was a great show from the start. Watch the pilot and if you don't like it, your opinion sucks. But seriously if you somehow watch the pilot and come away disappointed, I can't really suggest you watch the rest of the series. Most shows need to figure out what they are about and what the audience likes, but this show hit the ground running immediately.
Also, this tip is easy to do since most TV series set in high school do the same thing, but ignore the 30-year-olds who are somehow in high school (I'm exaggerating, but the age thing is still ridiculous). The only one who looks remotely like a teenager is.... a teenager who plays the coach's daughter.
Shows I'm still watching
Since I'm doing a chronological thing apparently, I'll start with The Sopranos. This is the show that basically every other show since can thank for what it did. I'm only in Season 2, so I can't really explain its impact or what it does very well.
I know it largely started the star of the show being an anti-hero. He's a bad guy, but we love him. For example, Don Draper on Mad Men, Walter White on Breaking Bad, Stringer Bell and Omar Little on The Wire - among others. These are men that we somehow root for even if we know they are terrible terrible people.
It shows how unglamorous and how mundane mob activity is in everyday life. Sure, there is a lot of killing and these men will do terrible things for money, but the show basically shows how much like a real job it is. I can't think of a single Sopranos family member except the son (who still has five more seasons to do something) who is NOT manipulative and clever at getting people to do what they want.
The show is character-driven and you rarely see characters act out-of-character. Lastly, the show is showing the mob as past their prime and on the decline and the end is in sight. Also, I think it's a commentary on America, but I'm not far enough to comment further. The show began it's run in January of 1999 and ended its run in June of 2007. Date-wise, I'm in March of 2000, so I have hardly scratched the surface.
Next is Mad Men, which began airing in July of 2007. This show is a period piece heavy with a character-driven emphasis . It's honestly kind of slow, but the fact that it feels like the show is set in 1960, is well-acted, and well done all around makes it a great show. If this makes sense, the show is like real life so the plot is... almost not there. However, most people won't watch shows for its plot, they watch it for the characters.
Mad Men undoubtedly did something few television shows attempt and I'm pretty sure none have done it better. The attention to detail on the sets and the clothes and the attitudes all seem accurate. (I obviously can't say that it is having not been born until a while later)
It captures the smoking culture, the largely intolerant culture (of gays and sexist attitudes), the acceptance of casual drinking, and at times fits in how characters reacted to famous events back then. All that keeps the viewer interested for the first few episodes, but the character work keeps them watching the show. After all, you can't sustain a gimmick for multiple seasons if there's nothing on the surface.
Lastly, there's Breaking Bad. This is - last season pending - my second favorite TV show behind The Wire. There's pretty much nothing it can do to surpass The Wire, but I don't think any TV show has come anywhere close to The Wire either. Breaking Bad is definitely #2 on my list and barring a disaster of an ending, will probably be way ahead of #3. The show has portrayed a normal guy, who by all accounts is a model citizen, and slowly morphed him into a genuinely evil man who has killed many people for his own gain. I saw Walter White as inspirational at the beginning of the series and now I'm not rooting for him at all. Well done.
Shows I will watch
With the exception of 24 and The Shield, I have little idea of what to expect from these shows. I just know that they're good. For instance, I have absolutely no idea what Deadwood is about. I'm pretty sure it's a Western and I'm pretty sure the series ends rather abruptly (not hard to believe given it lasts just three seasons).
I know the series Oz is about prison life, but not much else. I also know Juno's dad and Mayhem play characters in the series so there's that. Also, apparently Oz was The Sopranos without the viewership. It paved the way for The Sopranos with its storytelling, it just didn't get the viewers to be as widely recognized. It was critically acclaimed, it just wasn't received greatly by the audience. The Sopranos was. (So I understand the importance of this to television, as opposed to Deadwood, where I have no clue at all as to its importance)
Battlestar Galactica is the same way. I know its a scifi show and I know it's... well that's actually it. I have the benefit of having little idea of what this show was about as before I started getting into TV and that has allowed me to avoid any information at all. I might as well watch this as if it was 2004, because i have the same knowledge of the show as the original viewers did.
As for the shows I have an idea about, I know 24 is set within one day. I've heard that the first season is good television, and then it gets a bit ridiculous the more seasons that come (Source: Tim Goodman). This is the show I am most worried about watching. It has so many seasons and it's apparently so addicting, that by the time I'm watching what is probably bad TV, I'll already be hooked and keep watching. So I'm pretty sure I need to stop watching at some point when I get into this show and not watch the entire series.
I know The Shield is about a cop who is willing to kill and break the law to get justice. That's about it. This is a show though that I knew was around, but never watched. (As opposed to Deadwood, which I didn't know existed when it aired).
Final Thoughts
Here's something odd that I can't explain: I plan on re-watching each series so far that I've seen, but I have literally zero inclination right now to re-watch Friday Night Lights. I have an irresistible desire to re-watch The Wire at least once a year for the rest of my life and to re-watch Buffy probably more than two times (already started the first re-watch). I want to re-watch The Sopranos and Mad Men, not because of an irresistible desire, but because I think I'd appreciate the show a lot more if I did.
Lost has a very small inkling of being re-watched. I want to watch Lost in chronological order as some super fan has arranged the show to be watched in that order. I have hardly any desire to re-watch the show as it aired though. I'm not really sure what the point of telling you this was, but I guess that even though I have a bunch of TV shows, these transcendent TV shows have forced me to make time so I could watch something I have already seen. I think it's pretty remarkable to make a viewer want to watch a show where they know what's coming. It's relatively easy to make a viewer curious to watch a show the first time, but to make a viewer watch multiple times is very impressive. (I can't explain it, but Friends is never old for me and probably never will be. I'm guessing nostalgia)
Next post: Quirky comedy section gets highlighted with NINE shows that I am still in the middle of watching.
The best, the most noteworthy, and the most impactful television shows on television have been determined not by myself, but a respected TV critic named Alan Sepinwall. They have been whittled to twelve TV shows from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Breaking Bad.
I'm not going to comment on what exactly Sepinwall means when he says they changed TV shows, but I'm going to attempt to explain. These are shows that did what no one else in television had done yet and they began doing things that other television shows wanted to. Also, it was just spectacularly well-done with good writing and good acting.
What I've Seen
The first show that changed television that I've personally seen is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The name does not do the show justice. The show has one of the biggest cult followings out there. Joss Whedon has said multiple times that he'd rather do a show that 100 people love to watch than 1,000 that just like the show. (I probably messed that up, but its captures the meaning of whatever he actually said)
Anyway, this show will easily get its own post, probably a few of them. I'm restraining myself from going into greater detail, because this post would go on forever if I did. Anyway, Buffy first aired in March of 1997 as a mid-season replacement on a network that was only a few years old (WB). It somehow ended up lasting seven seasons and a network change (It switched to UPN after five seasons at the WB).
This is a show that rewards its fan. It knows what its doing. It foreshadows many events well before they happen, which makes watching it through a second time almost necessary. This is a show that references things that happened in Season 1 in its last season. If you look closely at the dialogue, you'll find a lot of meta-commentary on itself. I cannot go into anymore detail because I'm choosing to stay in the no spoilers range for now.
So, if you have the time or a new series that you want to watch, ignore the name of the show and watch it. If you have patience, watch Season 1 first (which I may add is only 12 episodes...) and then get rewarded with the next six seasons. If you want to get straight into the good stuff, start with School Hard on Season 2, Episode 3, which is the beginning of a two-season run of excellence. (You might get a bit confused at parts however).
Then there's The Wire. It's pretty impossible for me to talk about this show, because I probably come up sounding like a babbling idiot. I think David Simon hates his audience. His first season introduces many new characters that it takes a few episodes to stop figuring out who is who and what they do. Then when we finally settle in, the second season decides to abandon the drug trade and targets the working class through stevedores working on the Baltimore port.
Season 4 introduces kids and does a pretty incredible job of explaining how the system failed them. It's heartbreaking. It's great television. The Wire is not a show to watch for happiness. Basically, the message of the show is about the declining cities in America, the system will fail you, and institutions prevent change (negatively) - among other depressing messages that are pretty much true. Also, the masterpiece that is Season 4 barely includes the main lead of the show, Jimmy McNulty, which is strange for any television show.
I'm going to save anything else I say about The Wire for another post.
Next up is Lost. Here's a divisive show. Lost first aired in September of 2004 and ended its six-season run in May of 2010. I largely loved the show, though its one of those shows you should not watch unless you have a month of free time, because nearly every episode ends on some kind of a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, the show tends to mislead its audience and never returns to information that was seemingly vital at the time. Call it the anti-Buffy.
There is no question why Lost is on this list. It did a few things that had never been done before. In conjunction with its regular story, the show did flashbacks on every single episode to add backstory to the characters. Season 4 and Season 6 also featured something similar which I will not reveal since part of the fun of the early episodes of those seasons were figuring out what was going on. Warning: This show DID piss a lot of fans off, so keep that in mind.
Next show is Friday Night Lights, which somehow lasted five seasons when almost nobody watched it at the time it was aired. It's a show about people in a football-driven town. It's not a show about football. Important distinction. It's a show based on a movie that was based on a book written by Buzz Bisinger. There are talks about a possible movie which would make that movie based on a TV series based on another movie which was based on a book.
Unlike Buffy, FNL was a great show from the start. Watch the pilot and if you don't like it, your opinion sucks. But seriously if you somehow watch the pilot and come away disappointed, I can't really suggest you watch the rest of the series. Most shows need to figure out what they are about and what the audience likes, but this show hit the ground running immediately.
Also, this tip is easy to do since most TV series set in high school do the same thing, but ignore the 30-year-olds who are somehow in high school (I'm exaggerating, but the age thing is still ridiculous). The only one who looks remotely like a teenager is.... a teenager who plays the coach's daughter.
Shows I'm still watching
Since I'm doing a chronological thing apparently, I'll start with The Sopranos. This is the show that basically every other show since can thank for what it did. I'm only in Season 2, so I can't really explain its impact or what it does very well.
I know it largely started the star of the show being an anti-hero. He's a bad guy, but we love him. For example, Don Draper on Mad Men, Walter White on Breaking Bad, Stringer Bell and Omar Little on The Wire - among others. These are men that we somehow root for even if we know they are terrible terrible people.
It shows how unglamorous and how mundane mob activity is in everyday life. Sure, there is a lot of killing and these men will do terrible things for money, but the show basically shows how much like a real job it is. I can't think of a single Sopranos family member except the son (who still has five more seasons to do something) who is NOT manipulative and clever at getting people to do what they want.
The show is character-driven and you rarely see characters act out-of-character. Lastly, the show is showing the mob as past their prime and on the decline and the end is in sight. Also, I think it's a commentary on America, but I'm not far enough to comment further. The show began it's run in January of 1999 and ended its run in June of 2007. Date-wise, I'm in March of 2000, so I have hardly scratched the surface.
Next is Mad Men, which began airing in July of 2007. This show is a period piece heavy with a character-driven emphasis . It's honestly kind of slow, but the fact that it feels like the show is set in 1960, is well-acted, and well done all around makes it a great show. If this makes sense, the show is like real life so the plot is... almost not there. However, most people won't watch shows for its plot, they watch it for the characters.
Mad Men undoubtedly did something few television shows attempt and I'm pretty sure none have done it better. The attention to detail on the sets and the clothes and the attitudes all seem accurate. (I obviously can't say that it is having not been born until a while later)
It captures the smoking culture, the largely intolerant culture (of gays and sexist attitudes), the acceptance of casual drinking, and at times fits in how characters reacted to famous events back then. All that keeps the viewer interested for the first few episodes, but the character work keeps them watching the show. After all, you can't sustain a gimmick for multiple seasons if there's nothing on the surface.
Lastly, there's Breaking Bad. This is - last season pending - my second favorite TV show behind The Wire. There's pretty much nothing it can do to surpass The Wire, but I don't think any TV show has come anywhere close to The Wire either. Breaking Bad is definitely #2 on my list and barring a disaster of an ending, will probably be way ahead of #3. The show has portrayed a normal guy, who by all accounts is a model citizen, and slowly morphed him into a genuinely evil man who has killed many people for his own gain. I saw Walter White as inspirational at the beginning of the series and now I'm not rooting for him at all. Well done.
Shows I will watch
With the exception of 24 and The Shield, I have little idea of what to expect from these shows. I just know that they're good. For instance, I have absolutely no idea what Deadwood is about. I'm pretty sure it's a Western and I'm pretty sure the series ends rather abruptly (not hard to believe given it lasts just three seasons).
I know the series Oz is about prison life, but not much else. I also know Juno's dad and Mayhem play characters in the series so there's that. Also, apparently Oz was The Sopranos without the viewership. It paved the way for The Sopranos with its storytelling, it just didn't get the viewers to be as widely recognized. It was critically acclaimed, it just wasn't received greatly by the audience. The Sopranos was. (So I understand the importance of this to television, as opposed to Deadwood, where I have no clue at all as to its importance)
Battlestar Galactica is the same way. I know its a scifi show and I know it's... well that's actually it. I have the benefit of having little idea of what this show was about as before I started getting into TV and that has allowed me to avoid any information at all. I might as well watch this as if it was 2004, because i have the same knowledge of the show as the original viewers did.
As for the shows I have an idea about, I know 24 is set within one day. I've heard that the first season is good television, and then it gets a bit ridiculous the more seasons that come (Source: Tim Goodman). This is the show I am most worried about watching. It has so many seasons and it's apparently so addicting, that by the time I'm watching what is probably bad TV, I'll already be hooked and keep watching. So I'm pretty sure I need to stop watching at some point when I get into this show and not watch the entire series.
I know The Shield is about a cop who is willing to kill and break the law to get justice. That's about it. This is a show though that I knew was around, but never watched. (As opposed to Deadwood, which I didn't know existed when it aired).
Final Thoughts
Here's something odd that I can't explain: I plan on re-watching each series so far that I've seen, but I have literally zero inclination right now to re-watch Friday Night Lights. I have an irresistible desire to re-watch The Wire at least once a year for the rest of my life and to re-watch Buffy probably more than two times (already started the first re-watch). I want to re-watch The Sopranos and Mad Men, not because of an irresistible desire, but because I think I'd appreciate the show a lot more if I did.
Lost has a very small inkling of being re-watched. I want to watch Lost in chronological order as some super fan has arranged the show to be watched in that order. I have hardly any desire to re-watch the show as it aired though. I'm not really sure what the point of telling you this was, but I guess that even though I have a bunch of TV shows, these transcendent TV shows have forced me to make time so I could watch something I have already seen. I think it's pretty remarkable to make a viewer want to watch a show where they know what's coming. It's relatively easy to make a viewer curious to watch a show the first time, but to make a viewer watch multiple times is very impressive. (I can't explain it, but Friends is never old for me and probably never will be. I'm guessing nostalgia)
Next post: Quirky comedy section gets highlighted with NINE shows that I am still in the middle of watching.
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