So we're safely through this past TV season, we're safely past upfront presentations, so let's take a little look in both directions to see where we're going and where we've been.
PART I - The Past
FAIR WARNING - I figure enough time has passed that I can talk about the ends of these seasons without fear. If you're waiting on watching something, be aware.
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Tony "Soulpatch" Almeida's much hyped return - very much hyped, considering ads were running for it when the season was supposed to premiere in early
2008 - played out... OK, I guess. For the show, I'm not entirely sure I like having his whole triple-agent turn be entirely motivated by revenge, though I can see how it makes sense for the character. But they've now left a character alive who serves very little original purpose. To put Tony back into government service is ludicrous. But they've already played the recurring villain card (Nina Myers), and it lasted FAR too long. I was fully expecting Soulpatch's double-agent run, but I sort of thought they'd be keeping him on the favorable side, in case audience reaction demanded an extended, multi-season return - and let's be honest... it wasn't like Carlos Bernard has other plans.
Interesting things done with Jack's character, though, clearly designed to pull him back from some of the over-the-top torture they've put on him in the past. They didn't go quite so far as to condemn the character, but he did an OK job of letting the world know that's how he felt about himself. Kim Bauer's return was good enough, though not great enough to make me want to keep her and the family around (sounds like I'll have to get used to that idea, though). The addition of Renee Walker, though, is the best thing this season had going for it, and apparenlty Renee will factor into the the newly-revitalized CTU that will be protecting NYC next time around.
A good season, not the best (2 or 3), and certainly not the worst (6, and a damn waste of James Cromwell). It's biggest sin is probably being a transition season as they try to rework the show into something new without losing the elements of the show and of Jack Bauer that keep people tuning in. B-
Battlestar Galactica
It took me WEEKS after it aired to watch the final three episodes. They had a lot of questions to answer in the last half of the final season, and most questions they knocked out of the park. The ending could very well have come half an hour earlier, after that kickass space battle. Instead, they dragged the show along for a bit longer, and muddled a lot of the
pleasant finality they had delivered. I understand why - lots of people, and I've no doubt the cast and crew were among them, wanted some closure for these characters. I didn't necessarily need it, and I think it weakened their finale a bit. But holding that up against the rest of the season doesn't do the show justice. The fact is the last ten episodes were held off for longer than was comfortable for a lot of people, and more often than not they gave the payoff that we all needed. A
Big Bang Theory
One of my favorites this year, and probably the only sitcom on TV right now
that can get away with a laugh track. The rhythm works well enough that while the laugh track is going (and cueing those who need it that a funny just happened), the characters get a nice awkward silence that they've really come to play really well in. Most notably this season were Penny and Sheldon, who both got a little more fleshed out as independent characters. Where the first season sort of looked like Leonard's show - so much of it revolved around him pining for Penny, and never really gave anyone else (including her) room for much depth - this season spent time focusing on the other characters, Sheldon specifically. He really came into his own as a driving force for the comedy on the show, and in doing so made an even more important change - he became likable. That'll be a huge boon to the longevity of the show. And I hope it has those legs, because I enjoy the heck out of it. It also has the distinction of the theme being one of the last new original songs put out by the 5-member version of Barenaked Ladies. *sniff* That wins points with me, anyway... A
Burn Notice
I can't really write a full review of this one because I feel like I watched it so long ago... and honestly, I can't remember a ton of what happened. I do remember it was fun, though, and there's definitely a place on TV for that. Jeffrey Donovan annoyed me much less this time around, Bruce Campbell was just as awesome, Gabrielle Anwar was still wonderfully insane, and Tricia Helfer was a fun addition. Season 3 just started, and all I can say is I'm looking forward to more of the same... even if I don't entirely remember what that same is... B
Castle
I dislike police procedurals.
They've all come to look the same to me, and this one is really no different. But I like it. Nathan Fillion is a huge part of that, for what he brings, but what Rich Castle brings to the show (his family) is another big part of my enjoyment. The personal touches with his daughter and mother are always fun, and it adds some depth to the character to show that despite dealing with the gruesome all day long, he goes home and plays laser tag in his apartment with his daughter (meaning: he's a giant kid to compensate). The rest of the cast is really fun too. The cases are not overly unique, but there's gotta be somewhere where these shows run out of steam, right? Nathan Fillion handling cases makes them much more interesting to me anyway. B+
Chuck
Somewhere along the line, Chuck became the show I most enjoyed this season. I enjoyed it a lot last season too, but somewhere in the middle this year it hit a stride that it never quite found in #1. It helps that the
principal cast became as reliable as any team on TV. A huge portion of the show's success (and a huge reason there was such a push to get the show renewed) lies in the hands of Zachary Levy, Adam Baldwin and Yvonne Strahovski. Honorable mentions go to the supporting cast, especially in the second half of the season to Sarah Lancaster and Ryan "Awesome" McPartlin, and to very clever and appropriate guest star casting. What got the show into just the right spot was the ability to balance the big season-wide plot arc with the episode-to-episode stuff that gives the rest of Chuck's world something to do. Without Ellie Bartowski freaking out about her wedding and harassing Chuck about it, the show becomes a pretty standard fish out of water show with a spy coat of paint. His friends and family make it special, and that's what makes it worth watching. I can't wait for next year, but NBC's making me. Jerks. A
Dollhouse
How this survives another year, I'll never know. Dollhouse had a premise much bigger and more promising than they were ever able to deliver. There's no one person or department to blame... the writing was clumsy sometimes (most of the season, most noticeably episode #3, "Stage Fright"), at times a lot of fun (episode #2, "The Target"); the acting was unbearable at times (Eliza Dushku, Tahmon Penikett), but then it sometimes hit its stride (Eliza Dushku, a couple moments with Tahmon Penikett, Harry Lennix, Olivia Williams), espiecally with the supporting cast. It was like they told us the concept and how high it would allow them to go... and then were too afraid to aim that high. I'll admit that I have my doubts about Eliza Dushku being able to carry a show like this on her back, but there were sparks of ability that won't let me write her off. She CAN do it... she just HAS to do it consistently. The ending seemed a little off; it was always clear things were going to circle back around to a confrontation with Alpha, so the twist with Dr. Amy Acker seemed like a band-aid to lend an aha moment. That's not to say it didn't work, just to say that it could have been executed better. In fact, moments that worked but could have been done better is sort of the running theme of the first season... maybe if Joss Whedon gets his hands a little dirtier and guides the show more he can get it into Firefly shape... though those hopes might be a little high. C-
House
Full of all KINDS of fun, all of which congealed into a hard-hitting conclusion that I have to imagine kicked all fans in
the gut. The return Amber, in the form of House's subconscious, certainly made for some interesting moments. The payoff on the House-Cuddy tension was fantastically evil, and drove home the final dramatic moments of the season really well. And then there was Kutner... clearly the story of the season, and played in such a way that has to make you wonder how much time Kal Penn gave them to do some rewrites (if any were necessary). In the episode, Kal Penn's conspicuous absence would lead you to believe that he had sort of pulled this on the writers out of nowhere, but the way it factored into the rest of the season made it clear this was not a quick edit. It will definitely be interesting to see how they handle the first couple episodes of the new season. Now if only we can get rid of Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison. And for god's sake, give Olivia Wild and Peter Jacobson their due with some face time in the credit sequence. A-
The Office
This was the year I finally
broke down and started watching it, and it was at least worth it. It's probably the only show I view as filler at the moment - I typically watch it when I get up some morning, because I don't have a huge need to watch it the day it airs. I also typically save it to watch when I'm by myself, because my girlfriend doesn't like it. It is one of the few shows that is perfectly contained in 22-24 minutes - long enough to string together a coherent plot, but not long enough for the batshot-insane characters to get on your nerves (unless they are supposed to). I tried watching this when it first premiered, and I couldn't stand it. I'm glad it hit its stride, and I'll be keeping it around as a nice during-breakfast time waster. B
Parks and Recreation
Didn't quite get there for me. The Office-style humor was certainly there (on a level of awkwardness that made my girlfriend cringe and refuse to watch it), the characters camea from a similar place, but... the payoff wasn't on
the same level. For one, I found it really, really hard to find Leslie Knope likable. I see the sincerity, and I can appreciate that, but she's got too many quirks built-in to bring out the awkward comedy that I can't quite get past. You can like Michael Scott on The Office and laugh at him in the same moment... Leslie erred too often on the side of pathetic for her to garner the same affection. P&R is also lacking the guy who's in on the joke - it's the reason Jim has become the center of The Office, because he's the man on the inside for the audience. I think that's supposed to be Ann here, but she's a little too sweet and a little too naive to really see through the haze and be able to laugh at the bullshit with us. The supporting cast is fun, but I feel like in trying to find characters who came from the same place as the Dunder-Mifflin crew but aren't copies of them, they lost some human elements that would have made the people more real. I can't say for sure that I'll keep this one on the DVR schedule next year. D
Prison Break
There's nothing like a 5-month hiatus to really kill the flow of a TV show. What ended up being the final season had developed a nice little pattern, and a nice
new format to counteract the trainwreck of ridiculousness that plagued season 3. I've heard more than one person refer to it as some sort of weird A-Team/Dirty Dozen combination, and I was down with that. But when it was put on hiatus after Christmas and then... not taken off hiatus for a couple months, it seemed pretty clear that it was done. When the axe finally came down, it gave a good opportunity for the writers to tie up loose ends that have been hanging for years. And they did well, for the most part. The one I have an issue with is THEODORE BAGWELL NOT BEING DEAD. Seriously, I have no real emotional attachment to many of these characters, so they can kill off all they want to send the series out with a bang, but I thought it was understood that T-Bag had to be at the top of that list. Ah well. The big twist at the end was so obvious that I was pretty sure they would avoid it, but I guess I gave them too much credit. Regardless, it made for a fun watch this year, and was probably the only show other than Chuck that I took care to watch within a day or so of it airing, because crazy and out there though it was, I actually wanted to know what happened next. A-
There's one show missing from this that I watched on a very regular basis: Fringe. I actually haven't finished it yet... I missed recording the first two episodes after the mid-season hiatus, and I haven't sat down to watch them just yet. I'll get to it. I swear.
Next up, I'll take a look at the summer shows (Present), and try to figure out why exactly they got dumped there, and then a look ahead to next season (Future) to see where all this stuff is going, and to see what in the new crop of pilots might claw out an existence on the airwaves. So keep an eye out for those.
