Category Television

The Good Wife – State of Affairs Post Season 6

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A lot has changed since I last wrote about The Good Wife, and unfortunately these changes have been for the worst. After dubbing this show the most impressive show on TV following its amazing fifth season and good first half of its sixth season, the show has hit some unexpected turbulence. The second half of The Good Wife season six was as aimless as its lead was by the end of her arc. A major theme during this period on the show was that Alicia didn’t know what she wanted, which was sadly wholly appropriate for the show since it didn’t seem to know where it was going either. Hitting us with yet another election story line, isolating the Alicia from the supporting cast, and going to great pains to invalidate all of the major changes that happened over the course of the show’s fifth season really put a damper on things. For a series that is often praised for its boldness and refusal to conform to network TV standards, it seemed oddly eager to revert back to its status quo. For those who want a basic understanding of what went wrong, here is a brief overview.

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Who is “Shut It Down” Evelyn?

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Wearing a bright pink shirt, a long jacket, a bag slung over her shoulder, and a hand in her pocket; this is definitely one mysterious figure. We don’t know much about her other than the fact that she mostly keeps to herself and is apparently psychic, but Evelyn of the “Wedding Objections” Saturday Night Live sketch certainly leaves an impression. Suddenly appearing in the middle of a sketch revolving around the union of a black WNBA athlete and a very British Martin Freeman, Evelyn offers her own objections to what is occurring. The humour of the sketch comes from the fact that virtually all of the bride and groom’s friends and family have major objections to the marriage taking place that come from a place of reason rather than racial tensions, but Evelyn is different. We don’t know why she’s there at all and we never find out what her exact problem with the couple. Everything we do know can be surmised in her opening line. Continue reading “Who is “Shut It Down” Evelyn?” →

That Shaman King Intro Though…

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Too busy with finals and exams to give a proper update this week, but I can’t leave you all hanging can I? (Right now I’m imagining thousands of boys in girls at their computers constantly refreshing this site’s home page waiting for updates) This here is the intro to the English dub of the anime Shaman King. I don’t remember if the show was good, I don’t remember if the dub was well acted, and I sure as hell have no interest in exploring that now. What I do know is that as a kid, listening to this got me pumped up more than anything else that was on the air. The starting riff, the pitch perfect “kid show epic” lyrics, the colourful visuals… everything just comes together so perfectly. This song will change your life every time you see it, and it ages like a fine wine. It is my gift to anyone lucky enough to be reading this, so enjoy.

Disclaimer: I was also a huge fan of the One Piece rap intro despite disliking One Piece itself, so make of that what you will.

The Parks and Recreation Finale was Unapologetically Sappy and Spectacular

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The Two and a Half Men finale was fine-crafted to be mean-spirited, obnoxious to people that didn’t watch the show, and insulting to people that did. I mention that finale now, because I feel as though the Parks and Recreation finale was its total opposite – the bizarro Two and a Half Men ending if you will. Where that finale tried very hard to make sure everybody loses, Parks did its damnedest to let us know that everyone became winners in the end. Some would argue however, that the show has gone beyond what could be considered sincerity and straight into cheese-ball territory. Considering the fact that this show began with what was a fairly cynical look at city government, things turning out to be all sunshine and miniature ponies named Sebastian can be seen as a little much. Of course Leslie Knope achieves everything she could ever hope to achieve, of course everyone’s relationships end with them riding into the sunset (and beyond), and of course the finale ends with a speech about the importance of friendship. With its unique flashforward format, this finale still feels like it really needed us to know that these people are going to be fine (hell, they even give us flashforwards for a loud and obnoxious supporting character like Craig).  It’s a very bold move to end this cheerfully, especially now in 2015, but it’s the type of trick that only this show could have pulled off successfully.

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The Two and a Half Men Finale Was a Well Exectuted “Screw You” to the Fans

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The finale’s vanity card explaining why Charlie Sheen didn’t make an appearance.

More accurately, it was an aggressive “Screw You” to anyone watching. It was incredibly meta, with many of the jokes being dedicated to the characters pointing out how the show has long overstayed its welcome, and totally irreverent. Seriously, everything the season was building up to prior to the finale (Walden’s surprisingly heartfelt adoption arc, or Alan’s growing up and proposing to his on-again-off-again love interest Lyndsey) were all tossed to the wayside and mercilessly mocked, almost as if the show was actively trying to make anyone who was even marginally invested feel as terribly as possible. And if it wasn’t obvious from just watching the series, a couple of jokes were even devoted to how painfully unfunny the show has been as a whole for the past 12 years (I told you, it was a really meta finale). Mixed in with all of this were fitting character send-offs, misdirection, and of course the “Return of Charlie”. This is where the show gets really mean-spirited.

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‘Play it Again, Dick’ is Pretty Much the Greatest Thing Ever

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“How do you do it, Dick Casablancas?”

When I first heard of a Dick Casablancas centred Veronica Mars spin-off, I was super excited to see the continued exploration of a world I loved so much; however, I am ashamed to admit I was disappointed upon finding out it was actually a show about Ryan Hansen trying to make a Dick Casablancas show. It’s so odd reviewing this because this is really the first of its kind now that I think about it. Sure there have been other mockumentaries but this show feels like an odd cross between the world of Veronica Mars, the world of a fictionalized Ryan Hansen as he tries create the pilot to his show Private Dick, and some other strange vision of the world of television acting. Before I really delve into this review, I should tell fans of Veronica Mars who have decided against watching it for whatever reason to stop what they’re doing and go see it right now. Seriously, I’d argue that its 8 short episodes are more fulfilling in terms of fanservice than the movie was (which I also loved).

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Veronica Mars ‘Got’ Racism

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TV Shows and movies don’t get racism for the most part. They really, really don’t. The most common misstep is the lack of realism in portraying adolescent racism. By now, most recognize that racism in the adult world is institutional and less overt, but with young people writers just love to simplify the hell out of it. Racist people in fiction are generally loud and obnoxious punks who make thinly veiled threats at every person of colour they see. The modern racist does not behave like this at all. Perhaps several years ago that was the case, but in the new millennium that does not even come close. Thankfully we have the Neo-Noir mystery show Veronica Mars that came out in the mid 2000’s to set the record straight. Racist teenagers aren’t loud and angry rednecks, they aren’t only people of low intelligence, and they aren’t super aggressive about their prejudice either. Racism to the teens of the world of Veronica Mars (a world that exists in the fictional town of Neptune) is used as a weapon, a tool of exclusion. For the show’s first two seasons, racial and class tensions are treated with significance, and more importantly, as closely related concepts. As Veronica herself succinctly puts it, “your parents are either millionaires, or your parents work for millionaires” within the class based society she lives in.

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Why Person of Interest Needs to Continue Being the Gutsiest Show on Television

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While I’ve sung my praises for The Good Wife in another article on this site, there is one other network drama that I would consider to be on par with prestige cable dramas and head and shoulders above its network competition. That show would be Person of Interest (which I’ve talked about a bit before when I started it). This show turned what could have easily been a long running and cheesy procedural drama with sci-fi and serialized elements into what can be considered a television science fiction epic. It has honestly gotten that good as of late, and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon. While I’m delighted that this show has improved as much as it did, I also have a nagging fear that perhaps the writers will cave into the demands of a certain type of fan. You see, there is a significant amount of viewers out there who just want Person of Interest to never try and be anything that’s ambitious and just stick to the “Case of the Week” structure. They want a show where Finch and Reese go through the same routine case after case, week after week, season after season, until eventually the show is 12 seasons old with 4 different spin-offs distinguished only by the different cities that get added to the end of their titles. Person of Interest: Miami, Person of Interest: LA, Person of Interest cross-overs between the original show and Person of Interest: SVU (where a team goes out to stop sex crimes before they happen). The scariest thing about these demands though would be how easy it would be to meet them, to just give up and release regurgitated trash in place of interesting and unique content. This show peaked in ratings during the times where it was more of a procedural than a serialized drama, and now that it has shifted in the opposite direction the show has taken a hit in viewership. This is so depressing because the show is now better than it’s ever been.

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The Legend of Korra’s Weird and Wonderful Love Triangle

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When people found out The Legend of Korra would focus on teenagers, they knew what it would result in. On some level I’m sure we all saw a lot of angst and heartache coming for these narcissistic little teenagers, and when it came, it brought out a mixed reaction (which is often the case with these things). The teens placed way too much stock on their romantic lives, they acted recklessly and selfishly, and none of them seemed to know what they really wanted… which is exactly like real teenagers. Trouble is, real teenagers have a habit of being infuriating. In the end, we received one of the most infamous romantic subplots of all time, and on an animated series no less. This one is going to be remembered for a long time because of the notoriously angsty behaviour these characters engage in, but also because of the unexpected and strangely fitting turns it takes. Before I discuss this particular love triangle though, its best to go over its players. We’ve got Korra (the show’s star), Mako (the original male lead), Asami (Korra’s chief romantic rival), and Bolin (a non-factor, but still worth mentioning).

The Original Love Triangle

Asami seeing the obvious

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BoJack Horseman’s Christmas Special is a Triumph in Writing

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“And a Goober in a Pear Tree!”

And with that jovial line-reading, the entire spirit of the holidays, sitcoms, and manipulative Christmas themed episodes are encapsulated. The Netflix original series BoJack Horseman stars a misanthropic, washed up television star that is going through depression. Also he’s a horse. Because he was the star of a popular 90’s sitcom titled Horsin’ Around (which ran for 9 seasons), he essentially has an endless flow of money. In the world of BoJack Horseman, where the titular star has nothing but time, he finds himself to be lonely. For this reason, he allows this dead beat named Todd to live with him rent free. Todd is mostly this chipper weirdo that shamelessly mooches off BoJack’s hospitality, and while he does have a habit of being grating at times (much to BoJack’s annoyance) he is perfectly utilized here. Todd is just one of the elements this episode handles so well, since on the whole it is a masterstroke of comedy.

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