• 10Jun 09

  Brief Encounter, Part 3

  Final part of the three-part series, and my final blog for a while (probably). Enjoy!
  
  maxpower03's TV Reviews 2008-2009
  Again, each review contains spoilers for the show's whole season, while Pushing Daisies review is of all 13 episodes, not just the ones shown by ABC so far.
  
  
  
  Pushing Daisies ABC [Oct-Dec '08]
  More of the same from Pushing Daisies, everybody's favorite dead-person-touching show. While I still found Ned and Chuck's banter annoying, I liked the main arcs for all the cast, from Chuck's resurrected father, to Dwight Dixon's romancing of Vivian, and Emerson's search for his long-lost daughter (Lil' Gumshoe, aaahh...) Also loved any time that Olive and Lily were on screen, two characters who got a lot more to do this year. Some of the mysteries were a little hit-and-miss this year, at least compared to the first season. Almost all the murders and the motives of the killers seemed to follow a similar pattern (victim about to get a promotion, or special attention, killer bitter and jealous etc.) As always, the mysteries were stronger when they actually had something to do with the main group of characters, like Ned and Olive's detective-ry at the Cook-Off, or Emerson's on-again, off-again girlfriend Simone being involved in the Chinese restaurant mystery. The show usually became less involving when they mere just hired to investigate something, or when a murder occurred at exactly the same place they happened to show up at ("Jessica Fletcher" syndrome...) While I was (unexpectedly, I may add) not majorly bummed when ABC canceled the show, I was bummed that I had to watch the last three episodes online. I won't spoil it here, but I was happy that the finale brought some (admittedly shoe-horned in) closure to everything. Whatever the strength of the individual episodes, Pushing Daisies was always a charming hour due to the awesome chemistry from the show's ensemble, who you could always tell really loved working together. Rest in peace, show.
  Favorite Scene While so many individual moments were awesome, the scene with Olive breaking into Eternal Flame just had everything that was great about the show: being moving, hilarious and undeniably sweet.
  Favorite Character Olive Snook
  Favorite Episode The Norwegians (2.10)
  Rating B-
  
  
  

  Smallville CW [Sep '08-May '09]
  When you think about it, it could have been a lot worse. Considering the show lost its two best characters last year, season eight wasn't complete garbage. It was even, at least in the first half, actually pretty good. Tess Mercer was actually an intriguing character, clearly not Lex but still original enough to make her interesting. Davis Bloome was also a great addition to the cast, and played with an actually talented actor. I liked his chemistry with Chloe, and his growing concern that he may be responsible for all those squicky murders across Metropolis. Sure, there were blips along the way (Space Ho! Lie-Detector Dude!), but it was a strong opening to the season. Then, following the explosive Bride episode, things just spiralled out of control. Chloe realized journalism wasn't for her (uh... come again??!!), Lana became a superpowered goddess who was still pined over by Clark, and Jimmy became some lame drug addict. The poop hit the fan, and in a really bad way. Just when Smallville starts to grow, there's a sudden 180 and everything becomes contrived, ridiculous and lazy, filled with annoying Canadian guest stars who can't act and silly storylines involving Tori Spelling and Lois getting shoe-horned into as many dumb plots as possible, since the writers clearly can't think of anything for her to do. And don't even get me started on the hilarious retcon of Jimmy Olsen, his murder and his long-lost, never-before-seen little brother. Heh. Despite such a successful build-up, the season ended with a lame battle between Clark and Doomsday, Davis turning into a cold-blooded killer for no reason, Lois disappearing and Clark once again filled with guilt and gloom, because that's clearly what the audience wants to see. Snore.
  Favorite Scene The Lois/Tess catfight in the finale was pretty trashy, even for this show, but admittedly fun.
  Favorite Character Davis Bloome
  Favorite Episode Prey (8.6)
  Rating C
  
  
  

  Others
  It's an unpopular opinion (why?) but I personally hated 24 this season, so much that I tuned out around hour 18. The show has always been ridiculous, but Day 7 was just a mess of epic proportions. Tony's evil-turned-good-turned-evil-again shenanigans were stupid enough, but annoying characters (President Taylor, Chloe, Janis, Larry Moss, Juma, his dumbass second-in-command) and the increasingly nonsensical storylines (hostage crisis in the White House - whah?) just made me want to hurl. Plus, the general formula of the show just isn't surprising anymore. Ooh, there's a mole. Ooh, there's a bad guy, but he's actually working for somebody even more bad and even more adept at scenery-chewing. Ooh, FBI/NSA feds stop Jack from doing what's right. Gah! Call it a day already. F
  
  While it got a little stung by Will & Grace-itis at the start of the season, 30 Rock maintained its natural awesomeness this year. Loved Liz and Jon Hamm's arc (especially the Bubble episode), the phone sex, thought Salma Hayek totally rocked in her arc, loved Tracy in 'space', the entire Oprah episode, and Kidney Now! was hysterical. But, for me, the best arc of the season was Jenna's Janis Joplin biopic, which was completely hilarious in its ridiculousness. Still completely adore this show, especially when it dips out of reality and goes into crazy territory. A

  America's Next Top Model continues to be a lot of fun. Even though it's been on for what seems like decades it's still pretty entertaining. On Cycle 11, I loved McKey's win, absolutely hated that gross Marjorie. It's just a personal thing, but one of the qualities I find the most terrible in anybody is an exaggerated lack of confidence, especially when they're being constantly overpraised and complimented anyway. Gah! Onto Cycle 12, Allison had a great look and was completely robbed, but I wasn't completely devastated by Teyona's win, since it was telegraphed for so long that she had it. It's no Project Runway, but ANTM still delivers the fun. C+

  My favorite sitcom of the season was, unexpectedly, ABC's midseason offering Better Off Ted, a hilariously original comedy about a bunch of disturbed individuals working in a scientific experimentation company specializing in things like cryogenic freezing or nuclear weapons or non-meat meat. Stealing the show every week was Portia de Rossi as the morally questionable Veronica, the emotionless android (maybe not a metaphor) who runs the place. Great one-liners and some truly insane storylines (the racist lights, Veronica using a child to fire employees, those crazy cat people) made for a show that I urge you to check out. A

  CSI didn't survive the exits of three major characters this season, replacing Grissom, Sara and Warrick with uninteresting pains in the ass. I gave Laurence Fishburne a chance, but he just hasn't won me over. Lauren Lee Smith, great on The L Word, fails to breathe life into a pretty uninteresting character. Even the cases this year have rarely been interesting, and the less said about that embarrassingly pretentious 200th episode the better. Only three episodes actually captured my interest, the codas for both Grissom and Sara, and the Taylor Swift one. Ratings are down, the characters are tired, and the cases just aren't working. Time to call it a day? D

  Dexter's third year lost some of the threat and tension of its previous seasons, but in general it kept me intrigued. One of the biggest successes (for me) was that I actually grew to like everybody. I used to find Debra insufferable, but she really grew on me this season. Maybe it was the hair. But I liked her. And while I always liked Maria, I loved that she was given some real growth this year, especially through her friendship with Ellen. I never really got into the Jimmy Smits arc, the Skinner mystery lacked the, well, mystery of the Ice Truck Killer, and several storylines went nowhere (like the whole Quinn non-event), but all in all the show continues to be mighty fine. By far the weakest Dexter season, but it was in no way terrible. C+

  One of the biggest flops of the season but one with a truly epic feel and some powerhouse acting, NBC's ratings disaster Kings was actually a hotbed of complex characters, ambitious plotting and gorgeous visuals. Set in an alternate New York with its own monarchy and kingdoms, the show featured a host of mysterious subplots (Silas' affair, Michelle's dark secret etc.) and characters easily comparable to the dark protagonists of shows like Damages and Mad Men (most notably in King Silas' manipulating, Machiavellian wife Queen Rose). A crapload of subplots (involving big name guests like Brian Cox, Macauley Culkin and Leslie Bibb) were left dangling when NBC dumped the show to Saturday nights, before postponing the rest of the season till summer. Still, the episodes so far have been great. B+

  While a lot of Medium is the same as it always was (imaginative mysteries, a great depiction of an ordinary family), this season sometimes lost me. This is mainly due to lazy writing. In many episodes this season, I worked everything out 20 minutes before any of the main cast did, in particular Allison, who was written as a complete dumbass sometimes. This only used to happen every once and a while, but I feel like I'm two steps ahead of Allison every couple of episodes now. Still, the season itself was pretty great. Loved the two-part The Devil Inside, the Morena Bacarrin plastic surgery episode, the Jeffrey Tambor body-swap episode, and the buzzer device one. To complain a little more, the three-parter (!) at the end of the season blew, Ariel bugged, as did the Scanlon/Lynn pregnancy arc (Tina DiJoseph being the worst actress on television, made even more sickening due to the fact that she is the wife of the showrunner...), and I didn't like how NBC was pretty much burning off the last couple of episodes at the end there. But, as always, the show has some great acting, amazing chemistry between Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber, and is pretty much everything you want in a late-night mystery hour. Hopefully it'll get more network respect from CBS next season. C+

  Amy Poehler's attempt at her own sitcom with Parks and Recreation was a little "eh…". Unlike seemingly everybody else, I thought the pilot was really great and the season got progressively worse as it went on. There are flashes of brilliance there, and Amy Poehler is undoubtedly the only truly great thing on the show, but I haven't gained an affinity for any of the supporting characters (well, maybe besides Rashida Jones' crippled boyfriend) and I preferred the stories based around the development of the park than any of the personal crises the characters endured. Still, it can grow. C

  I finally discovered Project Runway last year, something I'm kicking myself for missing for so long. Seriously, if you love America's Next Top Model, you'll absolutely adore this show, which has contestants with actual gifts and talent, non-evil, non-peroxide-overdosing judges (Tim Gunn = awesome) and, most of all, a beautiful, endearing, sweet and non-self-obsessed host in the goddess-like body of Heidi Klum. Love this show, and you'd be missing a treat if you don't tune in. A

  Gah! What has happened to Ugly Betty? The show's been rapidly sinking since the start of the second year, and season three was just as annoying. Let's start with Betty, who is by far the most insufferable lead character in any show right now. I don't think a single episode goes by where I don't want to strangle the girl and her stupid, ridiculous family. What the show needs is to move away from the Suaraz family junk and return to the campy, soapy Mode-related storylines that made the show so unique in the first place. No more love interests for Betty (and, great, Henry's back... because he wasn't played out enough already), cut down on Betty in general (we don't need her in every single goddamn storyline) don't try and "humanize" Wilhelmina, utilize Amanda and Marc more, and stop writing out characters with so much potential (Alexis, Christina) and replacing them with moronic newbies (Connor, Matt). Snore. It even seems ABC's given up on this show, dumping it to Friday nights next season. The finale showed some signs of improvement, but if Betty continues to stink up the joint, I'm officially out. D
  
  maxpower03's TV Awards 2008-2009
  
  Best Drama Mad Men
  Honorable Mention Fringe
  
  Best Comedy Better Off Ted
  Honorable Mention 30 Rock
  
  Best Actor in a Drama Series Jon Hamm Mad Men
  Honorable Mention Michael C. Hall Dexter
  
  Best Actress in a Drama Series January Jones Mad Men
  Honorable Mention Glenn Close Damages
  
  Best Actor in a Comedy Series Alec Baldwin 30 Rock
  Honorable Mention Lee Pace Pushing Daisies
  
  Best Actress in a Comedy Series Portia de Rossi Better Off Ted
  Honorable Mention Tina Fey 30 Rock
  
  Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series John Noble Fringe
  Honorable Mention Vincent Kartheiser Mad Men
  
  Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Christina Hendricks Mad Men
  Honorable Mention Natalie Zea Dirty Sexy Money
  
  Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Chi McBride Pushing Daisies
  Honorable Mention Tracy Morgan 30 Rock
  
  Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Kristin Chenoweth Pushing Daisies
  Honorable Mention Jane Krakowski 30 Rock
  
  That's all, folks! Thanks to everybody who commented on the three blogs.

  • Posted Jun 10, 2009 3:43 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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• 6Jun 09

  Brief Encounter, Part 2

  Howdy!
  
  More reviews, as promised...
  
  maxpower03's TV Reviews 2008-2009
  Like before, beware of spoilers lurking in the reviews, as it covers the entire seasons of each show.
  
  
  
  Fringe FOX [Sep '08-May '09]
  My favorite new show of the season was a surprising one, mostly because it started out so badly. I don't know if anybody else felt the same way, but Fringe's first couple of episodes were clichéd, formulaic, and featured characters desperate for some kind of personality. But, in an indication of our impatient TV-viewing culture, gradually the show found itself and around mid-season it suddenly became a real work of genius. Effortlessly balancing complex arc plots with more linear monster-of-the-week standalones, Fringe managed to really capture my attention. Plus the cast really began to work. Anna Torv started off as an uninteresting drone, but quickly infused her with real personality and depth, John Noble stole the show as the mentally unbalanced but darkly comedic Walter, and the writers actually decided to hilariously acknowledge how forgettable and underused Astrid is (what with Walter getting her name wrong every episode). As the season continued, we got some awesome mysteries (crazy skin growth, the Observer kid, Olivia's dreams, her mysterious powers, bodies split in half) and more importantly some great arc plots involving Olivia's past, alternate realities and Leonard Nimoy. While the show continues to have a lot of similarities to old shows out there (Olivia's childhood experimentation is straight out of Alias' Project Christmas hoodoo, for example), the strength of the writing and the slow build of chemistry between the main cast forces you to overlook that. And that final shot of the season? Woah, it sticks with you...
  Favorite Scene Not just for the casual lesbianism, but the scene where Olivia (as that crazy killer dude) picked up the stripper in the club for some erotic fun was one of the best-directed, best-acted moments of the season.
  Favorite Character Walter Bishop
  Favorite Episode Ability (1.14)
  Rating A-
  
  
  

  Heroes NBC [Sep '08-Apr '09]
  As much as it pains me to admit, I think Heroes is beyond repair. For me, no matter how bad a TV show's storylines get, the strength of the show's characters and the show's acting are usually enough to keep me watching. But, with Heroes, my biggest issue is that pretty much the entire cast of characters make me sick. Claire's a whiny, badly-acted brat. Peter's a self-absorbed moron. Mohinder is still around. And it takes a truly terrible show to make once great characters like Nathan, Sylar and Bennet completely unwatchable. This season was just as much a mess as season two. Characters had no motivations that made sense, they switched agendas constantly, and so much of the season featured annoying characters sitting around, spouting that same pretentious, appalling dialogue that has pretty much become a trademark of this show. I didn't care about Danko, I didn't care about all the serum hoodoo at the start of the year, Robert Forster was a terrible bad guy, Kristen Bell probably thanked her lucky stars that Elle got killed, Hiro's brattiness over Ando's powers was embarrassing, Sylar is over and should seriously be written out, and the amount of characters that have been completely destroyed by ass-hat writers and stupid retcon is insane. The show lacks focus, jumping from one mini saga at a time, until it's hard to see through the garbage. The only thing keeping me watching is Ali Larter, who I adore. Bryan Fuller raised the bar a little toward the end of the season, and I hope that he completely takes over next season and the show starts from scratch again. If that doesn't happen, I'm out.
  Favorite Scene Tracy freezing everything and everybody around her in the underground parking lot, before being shattered to pieces herself.
  Favorite Character Tracy Strauss
  Favorite Episode The Butterfly Effect (3.2)
  Rating D
  
  
  

  The L Word SHO [Jan-Mar '09]
  If there was ever a blueprint for how not to write a long-running series' final season, The L Word's last eight episodes would pretty much be it. One huge hot mess, even before its embarrassing finale the season suffered from contrived storylines, character assassinations-a-plenty and scenes of endless nonsensical uber-naturalistic rambling from the main cast. It was not only frustrating but also damn shameful for the writers to craft almost every storyline to fit the "Who Killed Jenny?" arc. And for what? Elizabeth Berkley's character, Dylan's return, the Shane/Niki affair and Alice getting fired were all written in to give the characters motive for murdering Jenny. It wouldn't have been so heinous if Jenny was even murdered. Or if we even knew what the hell happened to her. Every little detail, no matter how character-destroying, was engineered to fuel an implausible story arc that ended up going absolutely nowhere. Jenny herself, always the most complicated and intriguing character on the show whatever your personal opinion of her as a person, was no longer written as a damaged victim or a vapid diva but suddenly an out-of-control, manipulative monster. It just didn't ring true. The fans deserved so much better, and the complete lack of closure on pretty much every character and storyline was just one huge slap in the face. Even the closing "slow-motion walk toward the camera" was ruined by the inclusion of pregnant Max and his glued-on mustache. While I love this show and the wonderful actresses that made it so great, this final season deserves to be left buried and forgotten. Really sad.
  Favorite Scene Jenny's insanely tactless script meeting with Alice, where she criticizes her movie proposal and recommends that she should become a cartoon voiceover artist. Genius comedy right there.
  Favorite Character Bette Porter
  Favorite Episode LMFAO (6.3)
  Rating D
  
  
  

  Mad Men AMC [Jul-Oct '08]
  Pretty much every show that has an amazing first season fails to keep up the show's momentum in its second year, with the term "sophomore slump" reserved for so many series nowadays (looking at you, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, Ugly Betty etc.) Mad Men, the greatest show you're not watching, created 13 more episodes that maintained everything beautiful about season one and made it even better. Like last year, the characters are mindblowing in their complexity. Don went on an emotional quest to find himself, sleeping with sleazy Hollywood types, getting thrown out of the Draper home and encountering sexually-free European tourists while in L.A. (that episode in particular featuring cinematography the closest thing to '60s era Bond movies that has ever graced modern television). As always, Jon Hamm powerfully underperformed in the part, saying so much with so little extravagance. Worth noting is his complete change in performance as he regressed to Dick Whitman again and re-connected with his namesake's widow. Elsewhere, Vincent Kartheiser continued to breathe more sleaziness into Pete, who is by far the most heinous, laughable creature on TV today (his using his father's death to try and elicit physical affection from Peggy, and telling Duck that he wants to get a dog "just for the office" being two examples of this). We also had amazing subplots like Harry's dismal journey into TV, Paul's doomed relationship with a black woman, Salvatore's doomed attempts at flirtation with Ken while at the same time ignoring his clueless beard, Duck's drinking problem and subsequent coup at Sterling Cooper, and the confused theories over the meaning behind Cooper's art purchase. But, more than ever before, the season truly belonged to the females in the cast. January Jones was again heartbreaking as Betty, her complete unraveling following the revelations of Don's affair being the emotional highlight of the season. From the vomiting in Don's car to the stumbling around the house in her party dress for days, you just wanted to jump into the TV and comfort her. Her burgeoning sexuality was also really uneasy to watch, with her uncomfortable encounter with the AAA guy to her own act of infidelity (and emotional payback to Don) in the back of a bar with a complete stranger. Peggy becoming one of the boys was awesome, but with Elisabeth Moss' stunning performance you always knew she still had a raw sense of Catholic guilt over her pregnancy last season. And then there's Joan, providing some of the season's most saddening scenes, with her crying over Marilyn Monroe's death, to her quiet, beautifully played disappointment at being dumped from the television department despite understanding the job so much better than the men who ran the place. And then there was the rape, which was devastating. All credit to Christina Hendricks for performing so perfectly in some really difficult scenes. Every single episode, every performance, every character is a work of genius. By far the greatest show on TV, and following the strength of this season quickly becoming my favorite show ever.
  Favorite Scene Pretty much every moment is a work of art, but a scene that just brought home how shocking and different the era was when, after a family picnic, Betty casually threw up the picnic blanket, scattering all of the Draper's garbage onto the picturesque lawn before walking back to the car with her family.
  Favorite Character Betty Draper
  Favorite Episode The Gold Violin (2.7)
  Rating A+
  
  
  

  Nip/Tuck FX [Jan-Mar '09]
  Like the first half of this 22-episode fifth season, these eight episodes were again a mixed bag of well-written drama and embarrassing garbage. The season was anchored by Christian's breast cancer and his subsequent marriage to Liz. While I appreciated that the writers made sure to inform us that Liz was not even remotely attracted to men other than Christian, I still never bought the storyline. It felt lazily written, and I never thought it was realistic that Liz would go so far as to actually marry Christian, whatever her so-called love for him. Of the rest of the cast, most of them just drifted in and out. Julia completely disappeared after episode three, last seen covered in Portia de Rossi's ashes (don't ask), Kimber became this obnoxious Joan Crawford-esque mother from hell, Matt continued to move aimlessly through life, and Sean spent the whole season getting involved with unbalanced women. Outside of the badness, it was actually the guest stars that provided the most entertainment, possibly proving how stale the main characters have gotten. Dina Meyer stole the show as a self-masectomizing femme fatale, Raj provided some likable comic relief, Jennifer Coolidge inspired one of the most memorable musical numbers in television history, Morgan Fairchild did a great Sharon Gless impersonation and, finally, Richard Burgi had sex with a couch. Ultimately, when the show wasn't dabbling in dumb stupidity (like baby collagen, the androgynous bisexual hillbillies, the baby fetishist, self-sucking), it actually continued to be a great trashy soap opera. It's never going to return to its previous levels of greatness, but Nip/Tuck is still one of the few shows on TV I get completely excited over. It's one hell of a mess most of the time, but it's at least an entertaining mess.
  Favorite Scene Kimber is thrown out of her home by Ram and Eden, but not before she launches into an awesome attack on the two of them and proclaiming that "the legend of Kimber Henry will live forever".
  Favorite Character Christian Troy
  Favorite Episode Giselle Blaylock and Legend Chandler (5.22)
  Rating C+
  
  Next time... Pushing Daisies, Smallville, mini-reviews of a bunch of other shows and my maxpower03 awards ceremony! Yay!
  

  • Posted Jun 6, 2009 3:03 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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• 4Jun 09

  Brief Encounter

  So, wow, this is kinda weird. First things first this isn't a permanent thing, just a two-or-three-blog post. I don't even know if many people are here anymore, considering TV.com completely destroyed itself. Basically I've been writing reviews on the last TV season, and this is the only place that I can really publish them. Don't feel you need to comment if you're passing through either. It's all good, whatever.
  
  I'm great, by the way.
  
  maxpower03's TV Reviews 2008-2009
  Just a heads up that each review covers the whole seasons of the shows, so there may be spoilers. Also, I watched the remaining episodes of Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies online, so those reviews cover all 13 episodes of their final seasons, instead of simply the episodes shown here so far.
  
  
  
  Boston Legal ABC [Sep-Dec '08]
  While I'm happy that Boston Legal went out on its own terms with a final 13-episode run, I'm also happy that ABC canceled the show. The final season just helped confirm that the show I used to completely love had majorly run its course. It felt like the writers had just lost track of what made the show so great, instead going overboard with the soapbox ranting which in the end eclipsed the actual characters. It's the series finale, I just want to see Shirley and Carl get married, not get sidetracked into a debate about Israel! Yeesh! Cases dragged, things generally grew more absurd, and I think I ended up simply falling out of love with the show. Still, Denny's slow mental decline was handled well, same with Jerry and Katie's blossoming relationship. But, in the end, the show lost me.
  Favorite Scene Denny loses track of time after discovering Shirley and Carl making out in their kitchen, leading to everybody's realization of the full extent of his "Mad Cow".
  Favorite Character Alan Shore
  Favorite Episode True Love (5.4)
  Rating C-
  
  

  
  
  Damages FX [Jan-Apr '09]
  When Damages' first season ended, I thought I read that the executive producers would try and make the show's sophomore season a little less confusing, in order to entice more viewers. Obviously, somewhere along the way, that decision flew out the window. Note to TV: There's convoluted arc plots, there's mega-convoluted arc plots, and then there's Damages season two. Maybe I'm just not smart enough, but I got completely lost along the way. Too many characters, too many subplots, too much everything. Let's start with the entire stock market arc, which I got completely tired off half way through the year. It also didn't help that Walter Kendrick was no match for Ted Danson's complex and magnificent bastard in season one. Then there was William Hurt, seemingly sleepwalking through a story which dragged, then disappeared, and then bored when it resurfaced at the very end of the season. Plus, the fact that so many characters just stood around with little to do for way too long just disappointed. Marcia Gay Harden, Timothy Olyphant and Anastasia Griffith are truly gifted actors and (at least in the case of the first two) big names, why give them such thankless parts? In the end, all I ever really cared about was Patty Hewes' personal problems and the mystery of what happened in Ellen's apartment. That subplot being the only mystery that really suckered me in from the very beginning, I was not disappointed with its resolution. On the plus side, Glenn Close is still unbelievably awesome as Patty. Even when she doesn't have dialogue, she screams emotions just from her expressions. Note her orgasmic satisfaction after scheming her way out of a lawsuit, her crafty but undeniably catty remarks at her son's middle-aged girlfriend (great storyline, by the way), and the way she just dominates the screen whenever she appears. While the acting (minus Hurt) was uniformly stunning, the season itself just didn't really work. There were rumors that most of the season was hastily re-written due to William Hurt being as enjoyable to work with as a rabies-infected beaver, and I hope that was the reason for the big UNR plot just not working. Still, the show is a powerhouse for phenomenal actors and mind-bending intrigue, and with a couple of the actors (Danson, Olyphant, Griffith) getting other shows and Hurt not being asked back, the show will return next year with a season to match the greatness of the first year, with fewer characters, a more audience-friendly case for Hewes & Associates to work and way more emphasis on the always fascinating Patty/Ellen relationship. Still, this season: not so great.
  Favorite Scene Patty and Ellen's scene in Patty's bedroom shortly after she threw out her husband, with Ellen suggesting that they may both be vindictive people. Totally Glenn Close's Emmy moment.
  Favorite Character Patty Hewes
  Favorite Episode London, of Course (2.11)
  Rating B
  
  

  
  
  Desperate Housewives ABC [Sep '08-May '09]
  I never thought any season of Desperate Housewives could be worse than its abysmal second year, but season five has taken that title. It sucks too, since I actually thought the first couple of episodes were truly great. There was some real mystery with Dave manipulating everybody, Susan and Gabrielle's issues with their new kids, the darkness surrounding Susan and Mike's break-up. But then, out of nowhere, the season rapidly sunk into pure sucktitude. Let's start with Dave, one of the most frustratingly annoying non-characters in the history of television. For one, there was no actual mystery to the so-called mystery. Pretty much everybody called in the very first episode that the mother and daughter killed in the car accident were Dave's family, and the following 22 episodes were just filler to get to the finale. Absolutely nothing of interest happened in between, from the pointless McCluskey sisters to the Dr. Evil-esque "camping trips", when a real psycho would just kill his targets when he first got the chance. The finale blew, and the writers didn't even have the guts to kill such a worthless character. Onto the housewives themselves, most of the season saw them just going round in circles, doing things they'd already done in older (and better) storylines. Lynette, one of the most shrill monsters on TV (not helped by Felicity Huffman's scary weight loss and all that collagen that appears to have been injected into her bottom lip), got involved with even more kids-related garbage and to prove that the writers have absolutely no idea what to do with her character anymore, they decided to end the season with making her pregnant again. Any likeability Orson ever had was beaten, tortured and murdered by asshat writers who decided to completely destroy his character and his relationship with Bree. Susan and Jackson and his stupid green card hoodoo blew chunks too (it's not like he's from goddamn Iraq, he's Canadian for cripes sake!) Gabrielle had a couple of decent storylines along the way, but I don't know if I like the teenage-Gabby girl that moved in with them in the finale. The writers need to stop relying on new characters (especially kids) to give the leads something to work with. It's just lazy, which brings me onto my biggest issue with this show. It really feels like the writers just aren't allowing things to grow organically, so we have forced couples (Mike and Katherine) and contrived storylines written in purely to give Marc Cherry's favorite actors something to do. The only reason Nicollette Sheridan was written out was because Cherry couldn't stand her ass. His undying love for James Denton, Doug Savant and Dana Delany means that we're stuck with characters that have nothing left to offer, resulting in ridiculous subplots engineered to keep them on Wisteria Lane. And I haven't even started on Edie's death, what could have arguably been the most powerful change to ever hit the show, rendered wholly unnecessary due to its complete lack of follow-up and a "goodbye" episode devoid of any power as the whole formula was copied from another episode (the 100th) which aired barely two months before it. I love this show, but man this season had absolutely none of the mystery, humor or entertainment of the previous years. ABC needs to step in and regroup before it flies completely off the rails.
  Favorite Scene Edie's scene with Gabrielle where she explains that she always knew she would die young.
  Favorite Character Gabrielle Solis
  Favorite Episode Kids Ain't Like Everybody Else (5.3)
  Rating D
  
  

  
  
  Dirty Sexy Money ABC [Oct-Dec '08]
  My biggest complaint about Dirty Sexy Money's first season was that considering how trashy and fun the show's title is, it wasn't reflected in the show itself. Thankfully, the writers completely switched up the show for its second and ultimately final season which, and I know this is an unpopular opinion among the show's fans, I really liked. Sure, there were numerous plotholes, characters had complete personality transplants (Simon, Lisa, I'm looking at you!) and developments were usually re-written or forgotten about every episode, but the show itself did become a crazy soap opera, which is a genre which isn't utilized at all on primetime network TV anymore (even Desperate Housewives is mostly played straight). The weird thing is, thinking back, I didn't particularly like many of the characters this season, or many of the storylines. But like some of my favorite old series (Melrose Place, Central Park West), the complete insanity and silliness of the show kept me coming back each week, and ultimately got me kinda sad when the show was canceled. Like last season, I adored Karen, Natalie Zea being one of the few actors around that can play so many different types (comedy, drama) with 100% authenticity. Plus, she's completely gorgeous. And, while it didn't ring totally true, I liked the continued triangle between Karen, Nick and Lisa, from the awesome catfight to Nick finally settling down with Karen in the end. I also enjoyed Jeremy's arc with Nola (until his Vegas marriage in the finale), Patrick's covering up of his crazy wives death and eventual relationship with Carmelita (until she stupidly got killed off the show), Leticia's trial and Brian's marriage to the dying Andrea. Onto the sucktitude, it did get annoying that storylines were consistently dropped, and that character motivations varied from episode to episode. Supposedly there was a lot of re-writing and crew changing behind the scenes, and it definitely showed on screen. I also felt that Lucy Liu was constantly shoe-horned into different storylines, purely to keep Nola on the show. The whole thing with Simon keeping her brother hostage was just too out there. Like Pushing Daisies, I watched the unaired episodes online, and the show ended how it began, with an entertaining mix of soapy drama and comedy. Weirdly, I was probably more saddened over this show's cancellation than I was over Pushing Daisies. There was a lot of potential here, with a truly great cast of actors, and the show was really finding its groove in this second season. Sure, it was ridiculous most of the time, but it was a lot of fun, which is something missing from TV right now.
  Favorite Scene Nick breaking the news to Karen that Simon had traded her in for shares in Darling Enterprises, a beautifully acted scene where Natalie Zea put across a whole range of emotions, from giddy excitement to desperate pain to complete denial. Awesome.
  Favorite Character Karen Darling
  Favorite Episode The Plan (2.9)
  Rating B
  
  
  

  Dollhouse FOX [Feb-May '09]
  I think everybody was excited over this show, and I'm guessing that it didn't live up to everybody's (high) expectations. It's weird; I didn't really love it or really hate it. I gave it the benefit of the doubt for its first two episodes, but until around episode eight, I just didn't really care. Very much a vanity project for Eliza Dushku, I was not won over by the cast, the story or any of the arcs. It was hard to get a handle on anyone, presumably due to the lack of a real protagonist, and the feeling that the writers didn't really know who would "lead" the show. While shows like Buffy or, for an example of something currently airing, Fringe manage to balance strong arc plots with lighter, mission-of-the-week stuff, Dollhouse never really succeeded in that department, since I found almost every one of the standalone episodes completely uninteresting and the arcs equally mundane (it took forever for Ballard to get intriguing, for example). Thankfully, the show eventually did pick up. Characters were allowed to develop a little, and I admit that it did get watchable. Alan Tudyk was great as Alpha, I really liked Victor and DeWitt, and some of the meditations on identity and the true ickiness of the Dollhouse itself (rape, slavery etc.) were intriguing. But there was still a lot wrong with it. As much as I love Eliza Dushku, I honestly don't think she has the range to play Echo. A lot of her "personas" were really similar, only three convincing, different ones springing to mind ("porn!" lady, rich lady and Alpha's girl in the finale). When it comes to the finale, I was disappointed both in the resolution (Echo simply reverting to her old self again, when SuperEcho would have made for a stronger show), and the fact that suddenly the most interesting character performed by a truly talented actor (Claire/Whiskey) presumably won't be around much next season due to Amy Acker jumping ship to an ABC show. While it probably sounds like I'm taking a big dump on it, Dollhouse does have a lot of potential there, plus with the pedigree of writing talent and great actors (Olivia Williams, Acker, Harry Lennix) involved, it can easily grow and become something better.
  Favorite Scene Claire commenting to Topher that she doesn't get why he programmed her to hate him. An intriguing moment, and well performed by both actors.
  Favorite Character Claire Saunders
  Favorite Episode Needs [1.8]
  Rating C
  
  Next time... Fringe, Heroes, The L Word, Mad Men and Nip/Tuck
  

  • Posted Jun 4, 2009 12:48 pm PT
  • Category: TV
  • 9 Comments
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