Flavorwire just came out with a supercut called "TV's Year of Kick-Ass Women," which celebrates the girls and women who rocked the small screen this year.
While I don't disagree with Flavorwire's Michelle Rafferty when she calls this year's crop of female characters "intelligent, empowered and awesomely flawed," the supercut leaves out a number of TV's best ass-kicking women. It was nice to see 30 Rock's Liz Lemon, Up All Night's Reagan and the women of Community alongside the (more traditionally) badass Nikita and Olivia Dunham, but where were The Vampire Diaries' Caroline and Rebekah? Why not include Archer's Lana Kane next to Selina Meyer of Veep? Why is Lady Sybil the only Crawley who gets a place on the list, rather than Lady Mary or the Dowager Countess? And while I wholeheartedly support the presence of Daenerys Targaryen and Brienne of Tarth, where exactly were Arya Stark and Cersei Lannister?
A thoughtfully funny priest, a bumbling spy and a downright Biblical clash of Kings provide a great antidote to vampires and werewolves.
Clockwise from top left: Jay Harrington and Portia de Rossi in Better Off Ted; Chris Egan in Kings; Jude Wright and Darren Boyd in Spy; and Tom Hollander in Rev.
With May sweeps a distant memory and early-summer series like Game of Thrones already finished, summer TV epitomizes Minow's famous "vast wasteland." Although many cable networks are starting to challenge traditional scheduling, the current television landscape consists mostly of reruns, reality series and True Blood. Even Doctor Who, normally a godsend for those of us who prefer quality programming to baking on the beach (not everyone tans, and not all of us enjoy slathering on SPF 1500 and donning a hat just so we can watch other people brown) has taken an extended hiatus, and won't be returning until an unspecified date in the fall.
Luckily, we live in an age of streaming video and HD laptop displays, which means that a world of TV is sitting at our fingertips, waiting for us to dispel the summer doldrums and dive right in. If you find yourself with some extra time between barbecues and beach parties, these five series are well worth your time and energy (and, in some cases, the cost of an Amazon Prime subscription).
Spy
Who should watch: Anyone who misses the covert ops shenanigans of Archer and adores Community's genre parodies.
Hulu has become a great source of less-known British television, and Spy is one of the streaming service's best offerings. The show's protagonist, Tim (Darren Boyd), is a middle-aged loser working in an electronics store and fighting for the love (and custody rights) of his precocious, witheringly critical son Marcus (Jude Wright) when he stumbles into the wrong civil service exam and ends up as an MI6 agent. Spy combines the best elements of several shows - the set-up is pure Chuck, the portrayal of MI6 is right out of the Archer playbook, and later episodes have Marcus starring in parodies of gangster movies and Westerns that could have teleported in from Community - but the show makes them its own. Spy features a great cast of supporting characters (I'm a particular fan of Mathew Baynton's Chris), but the whole enterprise is anchored by the prickly, hilarious, often cruel and occasionally sweet relationship between Tim and Marcus, whose odd couple banter is like nothing else on TV.
Perpetually last-place network NBC went on a shopping spree yesterday, picking up six new series for the 2012 season. One of those series, the J.J. Abrams-produced post-apocalyptic thriller Revolution, look like a reasonably promising sci-fi adventure (although that could just be because I'm a sucker for a good apocalypse). It also looks suspiciously like a certain smash hit young-adult book (and film) series, at least as evidenced by the promotional picture below (via Vulture):
I mean, the girl in the middle is wearing Katniss Everdeen's exact hunting jacket, and the guy on the left in the white shirt is a dead ringer for Peeta Mellark. Not to mention that all of them are holding bows (which, between The Hunger Games, The Avengers and Pixar's upcoming Brave, are really having a moment.)
In other NBC pickup news: Vulture reported that the poor, bedraggled peacock has decided to pull itself out its ratings slump with the Ryan Murphy sitcom The New Normal (it worked for FOX!); the Matthew Perry-starring series Go On; and Save Me, starring Anne Heche, which is just sort of baffling. Then, as if fans of 30 Rock, Community, Up All Night and Parks & Recreation weren't sweating enough, the network also greenlit 1600 Penn, a White House-set family comedy starring Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman, and Animal Practice, which TVLine described as a workplace comedy about "a House-like veterinarian who loves animals but usually hates their owners."
With the exception of Revolution - which could take Fringe's place as the critically-adored-yet-ratings-challenged science fiction series when the former ends its run after a thirteen-episode fifth season - none of these look terribly promising. The New Normal has the double advantage of Ellen Barkin and The Book of Mormon's Andrew Rannells, but it also has the black hole of awful that is Ryan Murphy. Mr. Sunshine and Studio 60 proved that Matthew Perry can't really carry a show on his own. 1600 Penn contains another Book of Mormon alum, Josh Gad, but Pullman and Elfman are pretty far past their primes by this point. As for Save Me and Animal Practice; I have no words. None whatsoever.
As you may have heard, Donald Glover will be playing Tracy Jordan in this week's live episode of 30 Rock. And just in case you weren't excited enough about this news, here's Donald Glover talking to Gowhere Hip Hop's Miss Info about the history of his Tracy impression.
My favorite moment? "Some days, it'd be like, 'What happened?' 'Tracy stole a cruise boat, he can't come to the thing,' so I would stand in for him." Super pumped for Thursday's episode.
Also happening Thursday: Community's Law and Order episode. Which, based on the promo below, is going to be awesome.
Steve Buscemi on Boardwalk Empire, and Rachel Dratch on Saturday Night Live.
Yesterday, Slate's DoubleX blog ran a post by Torie Bosch that challenged recent claims put forth by Rachel Dratch in Girl Walks Into A Bar..., her recently published memoir. In the book, Dratch claims that the rejection that has faced her since she left Saturday Night Live - she was famously replaced by Jane Krakowski on 30 Rock, and her big leading-lady moment Spring Breakdown was relegated to the direct-to-DVD wasteland.
Bosch, however, disagrees. She writes:
But was Dratch really a victim of Hollywood’s insane beauty standards? What if her particular brand of acting—and she has admitted that she is more a character actor—just isn’t right for leading-lady-dom? Am I betraying feminism if I say that I’m just not a huge Rachel Dratch fan? She seems like a lovely person. Girl Walks Into a Bar’s discussion of her unexpected, late-in-life pregnancy is funny and honest and poignant. I’d love to get drinks with her. But as much as I strive to support smart, funny women on TV and in the movies, Dratch’s work doesn’t appeal to me.
I actually sort of agree with Bosch on this one, at least to the extent that Dratch's acting style has always turned me off when it appears outside of sketch comedy. In particular, Bosch's claim that Dratch's appearances as various characters on 30 Rock didn't really fit with the tone of the series was, I thought, pretty spot-on.
But that doesn't mean that Bosch's argument is airtight. The biggest problem on display is her assertion that Dratch "isn't right for leading-lady-dom" because she is a character actor. The writer appears to have forgotten that "character actor" is generally synonymous with "person who is too unattractive for a lead role." Bosch reverses the causality, assuming that it's Dratch's particular acting style that keeps her from getting lead roles, and conveniently forgetting that Dratch's appearance has, in all likelihood, consigned her to these sorts of roles.
Clockwise from top left: Tina Fey and Jane Krakowski in "Nothing Left to Lose"; Maya Rudolph and Megan
Mullaly in "Hey Jealousy"; Krakowski; Donald Glover and Danny Pudi in "Pillows and Blankets"; Chevy
Chase as the Pillow Man in "Pillows and Blankets."
This recap is meant to be read in the reassuring but powerful voice of a documentary narrator. Morgan Freeman, maybe. Or that guy from The Cape. He seems like he's pretty good at this type of thing.
It is a Thursday night on NBC. The network is desperate for higher ratings, as it is consistently beaten by the Spanish-language network Univision. It responds by airing a high-concept episode based on PBS documentaries; a comedy that no one thought would last more than one season that has hung on for six; and a series starring an actor best known for a critically acclaimed, prematurely cancelled sitcom. What could go wrong?
8:00 p.m., ET.
Community airs an episode about the dissolution of the show's most innocent, joyous friendship, structured as a Ken Burns documentary about a campus-wide pillow fight. The episode brilliantly captures the sadness of a friendship that will never be the same again, while also capturing the foibles of the Greendale study group with amusing efficiency.
Narrator: Troy would later say
of the war, "It was awesome. But, it wasn't?"
Narrator: Unfortunately for
Britta, and millions of photographers like her, just because
something is in black and white doesn't mean it's good.
Jeff: Guys, I wasn't going
to show this to anyone, but it's pretty profound, I kind of nailed it.
"Pillows and Blankets," however, is not content with merely exploring, with great precision, the subtleties of friendship and the idiosyncrasies of its characters. It also gives the viewer a chilling glimpse of a future in which our exploits are not documented by beautifully written prose and the detailed descriptions of historians, but by text messages and Facebook status updates.
Big Brother may be watching you, but he sure as hell isn't watching NBC.
Seriously, it is really, really sad to be NBC right now, although that can only mean good things for Community (via Splitsider):
These last couple of weeks have been pretty great for Community, which saw its ratings shoot up higher than ever before. But alas, what goes up, must come down — at least on NBC. Last night's (really great) episode lost a whole lot of last week's audience, hitting a season-low of a 1.3 rating and 3.1 million viewers. But hey, it could be worse for our friends from Greendale: every NBC show hit its season low last night, meaning Community still won the night for the peacock. And it's kind of tough to justify giving the axe to Community for a 1.3 when 30 Rock had a 1.2 and Up All Night had a 1.1 (The Office was a repeat, yet again). Silver linings?
I mean, those ratings are just sad. Think of it this way; if Fringe was on NBC Thursdays, it would be solidly in the middle of the ratings heap. The Vampire Diaries, which airs on perennial ratings loser The CW, would have tied Up All Night. Rules of Engagement, which I continually forget is actually a show, got three times the viewers that 30 Rock did.
On the bright side, this is probably good news for Community, because NBC can't fire the study group without canceling a good chunk of their other programming. Of course, it's also looking increasingly likely that the network will just go bankrupt and stop broadcasting. Maybe Subway will be willing to give them some financial support...
Not only has Community finally returned to the airwaves, bringing joy and happiness back to all our sad, dull lives, but last night's "Urban Matrimony and Sandwich Arts" managed to attract nearly 5 million viewers and, more importantly, scored a 2.2 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic. This news makes me gleeful! It's like my brain finally let my heart get in its pants! And Dan Harmon is excited about it too:
In all seriousness, though, this is really good news. A 2.2 might not seem like much, but between the ratings increase (up from the fall's 1.6 average) and the recent syndication deal with Comedy Central, things could be looking up! The similar increase for 30 Rock, which now airs right after Community, and the fact that Up All Night and The Office didn't see a ratings increase, seems to indicate that this was specifically a response to the study group's return. So, let's keep it up for the rest of the season! Six seasons and a movie!
30 Rock's Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy (courtesy of E! Online) and Up All Night's Chris, Reagan and Ava (courtesy
of Max Updates).
Katie Stroh at TVSquad recently published a piece about the lack of "genuine" female friendships on television. Stroh claims that, since Sex and the City and Buffy the Vampire Slayer went off the air, "there's an undeniably enormous gap between the number of shows with female characters whose lives revolve primarily around men and shows that work the other way around." The only representation of a female friendship that Stroh finds compelling is Leslie (Amy Poehler) and Ann (Rashida Jones) on Parks and Recreation.
Stroh makes some interesting points. She notes that many female friendships on television are defined by "petty backstabbing and competitive cattiness," and also points out that, for all the talk of this season being the year of women on TV, many of the new, female-centric TV shows don't present a good portrait of women's friendships (although I would disagree with her claim about 2 Broke Girls, since the central female friendship is about the only thing it has going for it.) Stroh's argument, however, has two major problems.
The first is her over-reliance on the Bechdel Test. The test is an interesting metric, but its existence at this point is really about shock value. As TV Tropes points out, "A movie can easily pass the Bechdel Test and still be incredibly misogynistic. Conversely, it's also possible for a story to fail the test and still be strongly feminist in other ways." The problem here is that Stroh (and she's hardly alone in this), cites the Bechdel test like its the only metric available for determining feminism. Stroh describes the test as a method of measuring whether "female characters have lives and relationships that don't primarily deal with the men around them." In doing so, she not only leaves out a lot of relevant information about the Bechdel Test itself, but is also working off the assumption that women are only friends with other women.
Jesse David Fox over at Splitsider has perfectly explained my disagreement with the critical backlash directed against 30 Rock's sixth season, citing the show's newfound sentimentality and character development:
When you ask the viewer to invest more in the characters, there is a greater possibility of them not liking whom they see. Early this month NPR posted a decidedly myopic argument about how Liz Lemon has become a needy toddler. They wrote, at 30 Rock’s “core, initially, was a likable, smart, profoundly flawed woman trying her hardest to navigate all manner of show-business nuttiness that surrounded her. Now, she just seems flattened and robbed of everything that made her relatable.” If anything, Liz, by becoming less flattened and more specific, has become harder to project oneself upon, which NPR seemingly confused with regression. Liz is not devolving, if anything this season is about her growing more comfortable with her absurd surroundings. She is further freed up by her relationship with Criss. Of all Liz’s boyfriends, he has been the most accepting of all her quirks, saying in the Valentine’s Day episode, “You can get mad at dumb stuff, that’s your thing. I’ll get over it, that’s my thing.” With a supportive environment like this, Liz has never been more able to let her freak flag fly, which for her means dressing like The Joker if he was an crazy old lady.
I pointed to 30 Rock's newfound heart in my review of the season's first episode, and my fondness for the new tone has only increased. Fox mentions one of my absolute favorite moments from the show's hourlong Valentine's Day episode: the way Criss easily moves past the fight he and Liz had by not only acknowledging her crazy, but accepting it and loving her for it.
The reason that I loved this moment, just as I loved Criss' earlier refusal to get drawn into Jack's attempt to control Liz's love life, was the maturity it signaled for their relationship. Real, adult relationships don't happen if one party is completely changing themselves for the other person. They happen because two people accept each other's flaws and accomodate them*. Criss loves Liz enough that he doesn't care if she gets mad at dumb stuff, and he's able to handle her crazy because of that love. Criss might be an unemployed guy whose goal in life is to run an organic hot-dog stand, but that scene showed his maturity. Like I said of the season premiere, I really want to see Liz Lemon ride off into the sunset at the end of series, and her relationship with Criss seems to be inching the character closer to that goal.
Liz isn't the only character undergoing some changes; Jack, in last week's fantastically weird Dark Knight parody, allows his uncertainty over his job, the loss of Avery, his daughter and his city to paralyze him, while Jenna and Paul's relationship, despite it's absolute insanity, grows more grounded every week. Really, though, my first love on 30 Rock is always Liz Lemon. If she's happy, I'm happy, and so I'm loving every minute of this season.
*I'll admit that one reason I love this moment so much is because it strongly resembles my own relationship, where I'm the crazy Liz and my fiance is the calm Criss, so I might a little biased.
Suppose you're an actor from a show on a network whose ratings are tanking faster than the GOP's enthusiasm for Newt Gingrich. Suppose that your network has one property - NFL Football - that's keeping it afloat enough that your show can continue, even though there are less people in your audience than cast members on your show. You would want to celebrate that event, wouldn't you? Well, if you are on an NBC series, you would, and you would do it with song and dance.
This promo, like so many NBC productions, is weird, fantastic, and totally alienating to its target demographic. I'm prepared to assume that there is not a huge overlap between people who enjoy sharp, self-deprecating parodies of famous Broadway numbers and people who want to watch Tom Brady either crush or get crushed by the Giants. (And no, liking the Family Guy "Shipoopie" number doesn't put you in the first category.) There are moments when NBC seems more like a niche cable network than a big four station, and at this point they should probably just embrace that.
It's also a little puzzling that the cast of Community plays such a prominent role, given the show's recent disappearance from the primetime lineup. Maybe the screen time given to the adorable, talented cast, in combination with a brief, listless shot of the leads from Are You There, Chelsea? and Whitney (seriously, the gang from SVU was having more fun), is a sign that the study group is poised to return to the airwaves. Oh, and did anyone else find it weird that the only people who didn't sing were the successful, chart-topping singers on The Voice's judges panel? And that, right after Jenna Maroney and Jack Donaghy sang their lines celebrating mediocrity, the cast of Smash was introduced?
Besides a few perplexing bits, however, the ad was great fun. The stars of Up All Night and Parks and Recreation were almost as charming as the Community cast, and it was nice to see the hosts of Today perform with their late-night antithesis, the cast of Saturday Night Live. I'm hoping that Katrina Bowden's appearance as the scantily-clad Cerie is a sign of her imminent return to 30 Rock, because I was just wondering where she had gone. And the tag, starring a tap-dancing Jimmy Fallon, was a lovely ending. Here's hoping that next year he'll make it in time.
The full-length trailer for the HBO movie Game Change, which follows the quixotic McCain/Palin campaign over the course of the 2008 presidential race, is here. The film, directed by Jay Roach, features Ed Harris as McCain, Woody Harrelson as campaign manager Steve Schmidt and, of course, Julianne Moore as Palin.
The first thing I noticed about the trailer is the fact that Moore appears to be playing Palin less as a Tina Fey-type caricature and more as an actual human being. That wouldn't come as so much of a surprise - after all, this is HBO, a network with a reputation for artistry to uphold - were it not for the fact that, outside of Moore's performance, the trailer doesn't do much in the way of going beyond the same tropes. We see Palin's triumphant "hockey mom" speech at the Republican National Convention; her much publicized shopping spree; the disastrous Katie Couric interview. We even see the quote about the proximity of Russia and Alaska that, as a result of Fey's impression, became the widely parodied "I can see Russia from my house" meme.
There are intriguing glimpses here; a shot of Palin, exhausted and broken, curled up in a robe after lamenting that she misses her baby, holds promise, as does the steely resolve Moore's Palin displays in the final shot, when she hisses "I so don't want to go back to Alaska." That moment, when her naked ambition comes to the fore, is a refreshing change of pace from the conventional narrative of an air-headed, unprepared woman who was thrust into the spotlight as a bid for buzz and subsequently sunk McCain's presidential hopes. Moore's apparent respect for the character is also promising, because an actor's disdain for a character tends to come through in bad ways in a performance (just ask the cast of W.). And maybe it's just the memory of Moore's bahston accent on 30 Rock, but I appreciate the lighter touch she takes with Palin's folksy dialect.
Overall, though, this trailer doesn't hold the promise of adding much new to the Palin narrative. Let's hope that the film spends more time looking at Palin's ruthless side - the side that has come out more in the wake of the failed McCain/Palin candidacy - and less time mocking her ignorance and vapidity. We already have Tina Fey to do that.
The unstoppable juggernaut that is American Idol may be coming to a close. After the departure of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul, competition from shows like NBC's The Voice and FOX's The X Factor and the much talked-about resurgence of comedies in the 2011-2012 season, last night's audition episode was bested by that other ratings monster The Big Bang Theory
Leonard, Sheldon et al, after last week managing a threadbare win over Idol in the coveted 18-49 demo, this time scored a 5.4 rating versus the 4.8 of Idol's first half-hour. What's more, in head-to-head competition Big Bang outdrew Idol in total viewers as well, 15.96 million to 15.46 million. (The CBS sitcom also notched wins in the 18-34 and 25-54 demos).
If this kind of performance continues, this could be the first TV season since 2004-2005 where Idol wasn't the most-watched show on television, which is good news for those of us who are tired of formulaic reality competition shows. Of course, in comparison to the most recent 30 Rock (1.6), Community (1.5) and Fringe (1.1) episodes, Idol's 4.8 is still looking pretty good, which is just more proof that the world hates everything I love.
The TGS writers watch the sun rise in the sixth-season premiere of 30 Rock.
I don't watch 30 Rock for the same reasons that I watch a show like Community. I watch that particular NBC sitcom for the sheer audacity of the storytelling, the brilliance with which Dan Harmon and the writers appropriate and subvert cliches while simultaneously revering the shows that have come before. From Community I get shock, delight, and pathos.
30 Rock, however, is a show that I watch to hang out with the characters, which is one reason I missed it so much in the fall. This isn't to say that Community doesn't have great characters, because it absolutely does, but watching that series is all about seeing how the characters' relationships with each other will change. 30 Rock, however, remains in a state of stasis. Stasis isn't a bad thing; it's just a way of saying that I tune in to see what Liz, Jack, Tracy and Jenna will be up to this week. The core characters of 30 Rock do things and have adventures, but they remain fundamentally the same in their relationships with each other, and that's the way I like it.
That expectation is why I was so surprised by last night's premiere, "Dance Like Nobody's Watching." Specifically, I was surprised by my own reaction to it. I found myself getting emotionally invested in the stories - in particular, in Liz Lemon's tale of newfound love and happiness, and in Kenneth's awe at seeing the sun rise over the ocean for the first time. I was even moved by these moments despite the fact that they were accompanied by an overwrought reality-show version of "Camptown Races" (which was itself the result of a hilarious parody moment). I realized that, like Jack, I want to see Liz Lemon in a happy relationship, and that, like Pete, I want Kenneth to actually experience life. The show might not be around much longer, and dammit, I want everyone to ride off into the sunset (or sail off into the sunrise, as the case may be).
This isn't to say that there weren't problems with the episode. In particular, the scene where Jack, torn between the joy of making boatloads of money and the pain of watching Jenna viciously demolish kids, asks his baby daughter for advice and then interprets her cry of "Mommy" as "money" seemed weirdly off. Possibly the moment seemed entirely too callous on Jack's part, particularly given that Liddy's mommy remains trapped in North Korea; possibly I just didn't like the talking baby. Whatever it was, it was an off-note in an otherwise solid (and very funny) episode.
Outside of this scene there was plenty of stuff that worked, even beyond the unexpected emotional moment at the end. Jenna as the "mean" judge on the brilliantly titled America's Kidz Got Singing was the kind of pop-culture dissection that 30 Rock does better than anyone else; the combination of the "adorable kid" phenomenon and the Simon Cowell-esque viciousness was absolutely spot-on, and the inclusion of John McEnroe as the nice judge was a perfect, absurd touch. I also really liked the fact that as the episode progressed, Jenna's critiques got meaner and the kids got younger.
The Rapture story, while not exactly timely, generally worked well. I really like the Pete/Kenneth pairing when it comes up because of the way that Pete really tries to help Kenneth, which is very different from his relationship with any other character. Plus, Scott Adsit is a master at saying bizarre things in a matter-of-fact way - one of the reasons that, even Pete slowly goes insane, he remains a likable character - and he got to show that off tonight with gems like, "If it was my last day on earth, I wouldn't be here. I'd be with Paula, admitting I'm in love with her twin sister."
The best moment of the episode, though, was the aforementioned final scene. Finding out that Liz has a love interest was good; finding out that she has one after Jack has spent the entire episode repeating that he knows everything about her was great. And not getting to see the face of said love interest was fantastic. (Personally, I'm really hoping that it's Carol. I loved that relationship, and I need some Matt Damon in my life.) This move changed up Jack and Liz's relationship, which had been falling into a groove in which Jack is always there to help Liz through her personal problems. The fact that she's decided strike out on her own and enter a relationship without his help adds a new dynamic to the series' central pairing. Of course, it could all go back to normal by the end of the next episode, but I'm hoping that it doesn't. At least not until I find out who wins America's Kidz Got Singing.
It might not seem like there's much to be thankful for on TV right now, what with the benching of Community, the smaller episode order for Cougartown, and the continued existence of two (!) incoherent Ryan Murphy shows that somehow attract enormous ratings. But, in the spirit of the holiday, I found some things in the land of television for which I am truly grateful.
The return of Arrested Development
It's really happening, people. Netflix has officially picked up a mini-season (nine or ten episodes) of everyone's favorite, brilliant-but-cancelled show to air in early 2013, hopefully followed by a movie! Our Bluths have been saved at last!
30 Rock is coming back!
The silver lining in the sad Community cloud is the return of 30 Rock to the airwaves in January. I've missed my Liz Lemon, and while I certainly would have preferred that Liz, Jack, Tracy, Jenna and co. return by way of the cancellation of Whitney, I'll take what I can get to have them on the airwaves again.
A string of fantastic Fringe and Community episodes
If Community and Fringe are in their final seasons (god forbid), at least they both went down in a blaze of creative glory. Episodes like Fringe's "One Night in October," "And Those We Left Behind" and "Wallflower" were gorgeous, twisty and beautifully resonant pieces of storytelling, while Community knocked it out of the park with "Competitive Ecology," "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" and what may be the show's best half-hour ever, "Remedial Chaos Theory." Plus, this happened.
The Vampire Diaries is on the CW
As you are probably all aware, TVD is soapy, inventive, fast-paced and just plain fun. Along with Fringe and Community, it's my favorite show on TV. (If you watch, you understand why, and if you don't watch, don't judge.) Luckily, while the series gets ratings that would be abysmal by any other network's standards (yes, even NBC's), it airs on the CW, a network that has greenlit nine seasons of One Tree Hill. It's nice to know that at least one of my shows will be airing doppelganger hijinks and jaw-dropping twists for years to come.
Game of Thrones winning Emmys, and generally being awesome
HBO's lavish, nuanced, dark and totally fantastic adaptation of George R.R. Martin's novels was a great example of a fantasy epic done right. HBO managed to really nail a complex fantasy epic and show the world that fantasy isn't just for nerds anymore, just as Battlestar Galactica and Fringe did for science fiction. Peter Dinklage's well-deserved Emmy for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister was just icing on the cake. Now, can we work on getting one of those winged statuettes for Emilia Clarke?
Up All Night: a show that deserves Will Arnett
We all love GOB Bluth and Devon Banks, but nobody liked Running Wilde. So it's nice to see Will Artnett doing excellent work on Up All Night alongside fellow comedy stars Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph. Who knew that the man known for over-the-top craziness could be such a steady, loving and totally hilarious dad?
Come on NBC, don't make Britta sad! Be cool. Photo courtesy of omnilogies.com.
We have officially entered the darkest timeline. (Yes, I stole that joke from The A.V. Club, and I am way too upset to care.) NBC released their winter lineup today, and Community has been bumped to make way for... wait for it... a sitcom based on the life of Chelsea Handler. NBC has said that all 22 episodes of this season will be shot and aired, but there is just no way this is good news. I can only sum up my feelings in one way:
I certainly hold out hope that Community will soon be back in its rightful place; after all, the network already has one tanking sitcom starring an abrasive female comedian who does nothing more than repeat the word "vagina" and hope it sticks, so the Chelsea Handler show could be cancelled very, very quickly. Plus, there is a silver lining, in that 30 Rock will come back after Christmas and the very deserving, very funny Up All Night will move to Thursday, while the aforementioned vagina-centric sitcom will be moved to Wednesday, where it can compete against the juggernaut that is ABC's comedy block. However, as someone who is still dealing with the trauma that was the cancellation of Arrested Development, I know that this is not good news. So, pray to the TV gods (who giveth and who taketh away), and repeat after me: Six seasons and a movie. Six seasons and a movie! For the love of god, six seasons and a movie!
Was Jeff and Dean Pelton's (sorry... Craig's) karaoke duet to Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" on Thursday night's Community the best musical moment in the history of television? Yes. It obviously was. Not only do you have Joel McHale and Jim Rash singing their hearts out to a slice of pure pop cheese (one from a Batman movie, no less), but the scene also featured Troy and Abed playing with shadow puppets, Britta and Shirley slowly realizing that the hitchhiker they've picked up might be a serial killer, and Chevy Chase hallucinating. It can't be topped.
That doesn't mean, however, that other shows haven't given it their all. So, in honor of the magic that was Jeff and the Dean's "Kiss," here are some of the best musical moments that preceded it. (And no, there will be nothing on here from Glee.)
30 Rock, Midnight Train to Georgia
There are a lot of fantastic musical moments to choose from when it comes to Tina Fey's weirdest brainchild: Tracy's novelty single "Werewolf Barmitzvah," Jenna's number-one-in-Israel hit "Muffin Top" and pretty much anything involving Cheyenne Jackson's Danny. The best one, however, is the rendition of "Midnight Train to Georgia," which features the entire cast narrating Kenneth's (ultimately failed) return to his hometown of Stone Mountain. The kicker, however, comes after the number ends, when guest star Gladys Knight emerges from her dressing room to shut everyone up. (I apologize for the lack of video; NBC has been cracking down on copyright recently.)
Arrested Development, Afternoon Delight
Glee tried to pull the old misinterpretation-of-the-song trick last season, but all the cool people know that the late, great AD did it first, and did it better. First Michael and Maeby, and then Lindsay and George-Michael, decided to duet on Starland Vocal Band's ode to daytime lovin', not realizing the lyrical content of the song was far from the wholesome, innocent message implied by the melody. In classic Bluth family fashion, hilarity and horror ensued, and it was glorious.
Scrubs, Safety Dance
Scrubs has featured a number of great musical moments over the years, from Ted's band's performances to the musical episode, but I have a soft spot for Turk's rendition of Safety Dance. He only sings a few bars, but the song is at once unexpected and perfect for the moment, and Donald Faison's delivery is phenomenal.
Battlestar Galactica, All Along the Watchtower
As the fourth season went on, the use of Dylan's classic tune as a plot point began to grow wearying and nonsensical. There were too many instances of forcing song lyrics into the dialogue (hint: no one has ever used the phrase "There must be some kind of way out of here" in casual conversation) and too many random coincidences (apparently the chord structure spells out the coordinates to Earth? I don't even know any more). But it can't be denied that the moment when Saul Tigh, Chief Tyrol, Anders and Tory Foster all gave in to the music echoing in their heads and realized what they were was shocking in the best way. Not to mention the final scene of Season 3, where the song plays over a gorgeous visual of the camera zooming out from Lee Adama's bewildered face, racing into space, and closing in on Earth.
Lost, Unnamed Scottish Drinking Song
Lost was not a show that was generally known for cheerful moments, which was one of the reasons it was so awesome to see Desmond and Charlie, after a night of heavy drinking with Hurley, singing Scottish drinking songs on the beach in "Flashes Before Your Eyes". Of course, it would soon turn sour (as these things invariably do), but the moment lasted long enough to offer a respite to both the characters and the audience. (Sorry for the lack of video; apparently I was the only person who found this scene charming.)
Now that Brett Ratner has left his post as the producer of the 2011 Academy Awards as a result of his generally Ratner-esque behavior, the show is in the market for a new host. (Previously announced host Eddie Murphy dropped out after Ratner's resignation.) And a new group of candidates have thrown their hats into the newly empty ring. These candidates, like Murphy, have been out of the spotlight for many years and, also like Murphy, are poised for a comeback in the wake of a new movie. Unlike Murphy, tey are made of felt.
That's right; a Facebook campaign called The Muppets Should Host the 2011 Oscars has sprung to argue that, well, the Muppets should host the 2011 Oscars. How likely this movement is to succeed is questionable - other hypothetical candidates include Tom Hanks and Steve Martin, and having the Muppets as hosts would probably be technically difficult to coordinate - but I would be very excited if this development were to occur. And someone else would too.
Update: Billy Crystal just announced via Twitter that he will be hosting the 2012 Oscars. While the LA Timesnoted, fairly hilariously, that the tweet in question was "construed [by some] as a joke," it appears this is actually happening. While Crystal is a solid, funny awards-show host, I'm a little disappointed that the Muppets were taken out of the running so early.
Jane Krakowski and Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock's live episode. Photo courtesy of tvgeekarmy.com.
Ever since the resurgence of single-camera sitcoms that began in the early 00's with shows like The Office, Scrubs and the late, great Arrested Development, a lot of the discussion of comedy on television has centered on the merits of a single-camera setup versus a multi-camera one. When the aforementioned shows premiered, the landscape of TV comedy was dominated by shows filmed using a multi-camera setup - a TV show staged like a play, filmed in front of a live audience with limited sets - including such giants as Seinfeld, Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. These days, the landscape of TV comedy is much more divided between the two formats, with single-camera shows like 30 Rock, Community and Modern Family squaring off against multi-camera competitors The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and How I Met Your Mother.
If you look at those lists of shows, you can probably guess what a lot of the dialogue surrounding the issue is going to look like. These days, single-camera shows have an aura of youth, cleverness and intelligence that multi-camera sitcoms just don't. When a single-camera sitcom falters in the ratings, viewers and internet commentators tend to react with cries of, "It's just too smart for most people," while multi-camera failures are greeted as a sign that the format is too "old-fashioned" or "dumbed-down." I have definitely been guilty of this; as a huge fan of Community's rapid-fire dialogue, willingness to venture into the absurd and sharply-drawn characterizations, I tend to explain the show's (painfully) low ratings by dismissing those who don't love it as unintelligent and old fashioned, viewers who wouldn't know originality if it bashed them over the head.
I should probably stop doing that. Because the thing is, a sitcom's use of the single-camera format doesn't mean it's automatically smart and funny, and the presence of a live audience and multiple cameras doesn't indicate the opposite qualities. I started to rethink my position after watching new fall offerings New Girl and 2 Broke Girls. Those who read my review of those shows will probably remember that I found New Girl to be grating and reliant on cliches, while 2 Broke Girls had a fresher perspective. (The second episode of 2 Broke Girls was less promising, but I think the kinks can probably be worked out.) 2 Broke Girls also happens to be a multi-camera sitcom.
That's not to say that the two formats are interchangeable. There are a lot of things that you can do with a single-camera show that just aren't possible with a multi-camera setup. The latter, by definition, features limited options in terms of sets - it's why Seinfeld almost always took place in either Jerry's apartment or Monk's Cafe. The difference in scope is nicely illustrated by comparing scenes featuring paintball from The Big Bang Theory and Community:
The BBT scene is certainly funny, and even features a nice moment of film parody in Sheldon's dramatic death scene. However, the scene is basically limited to the guys talking in a shed, and Sheldon being shot from offscreen, since the sets are presumably open to the audience. Now watch the Community clip:
Even ignoring the hopped-up opening credits, there is a lot going on in this scene. From the fact that the scene takes place in a hallway (something you rarely see in a multi-camera setup) to the way the camera angles are used to create suspense (is Annie going to catch Neil before he shoots her?) to the dramatic close-ups on both characters' faces, this is not a scene that could take place on a multi-camera show. Like almost everything that happens on Community, it wouldn't be possible. (Just think about the fact that most study group scenes take place with all the characters sitting around a table. Not going to work when you have a live audience to contend with.)
Another difference between the two formats is the comedic rhythm. Multi-camera shows shot in front of an audience rely heavily on a setup-punchline rhythm; the point is to make a joke, let the audience laugh, and then get started on setting up the next joke. Single-camera shows don't work like that. The jokes can come thick and fast, forcing the audience to break out of a particular rhythm and try to catch as much funny as they can. It's the reason you can watch any given episode of Arrested Development for the tenth time, and still pick up on new jokes and references. You can see the way the comedic rhythm alters if you watch 30 Rock's live episode. The episode was aired live, so it's considerably rougher than your average multi-camera sitcom, but it follows the same format, and the pacing differences are apparent. This isn't a time for a rapid-fire string of impressions or gollum-esque multiple personalities; instead, the episode sets up punchlines (Jack wearing a hand-knit poncho, Liz's continually dashed hopes that someone remembers her birthday), knocks them out of the way, and gets started on the next joke.
The thing is, a more polished version of the 30 Rock live episode would probably be a pretty great show, at least as long as Tina Fey was behind it. It just wouldn't be 30 Rock. That's the thing about debating the merits of the two formats; one isn't inherently better than the other, they're just different. It seems a little ridiculous to mock the multi-camera format as old-fashioned when it gave us a show like Seinfeld, which was not only groundbreaking in its time, but which holds up just as well today. Conversely, it seems disingenuous to argue that single-camera shows are smart and modern when that format gave us Outsourced. A show shouldn't be judged by its format, it should be judged by how the format is used to capture the spirit of a particular episode. One of New Girl's biggest problems (in addition to the shallow characterizations, lazy stereotyping and painful attempts to be cute) is that the writers are using a multi-camera, setup-punchline rhythm in a format built for rapid-fire jokes and sophisticated visual gags.
If a single-camera show is going to be worth the extra money (shooting in this format is much more expensive and time-consuming, because you have to shoot multiple takes of each scene and built much more elaborate sets), you have to know how to use the format to your advantage. Right now, Community is the best example of the sheer potential inherent in the format; the over-the-top movie parodies wouldn't be possible in a multi-camera setup, and the quieter, more emotional moments have more punch because the actors can play them more naturally, rather than having to perform them for a crowd. On the other hand, The Big Bang Theory takes advantage of the format by having long takes that focus on the interaction between the different characters and that feel organic in a different way; since everyone's coverage is filmed simultaneously, the scene can just be about the actors playing off each other and establishing a great give-and-take. BBT excels at this type of scene, and these interactions between the main characters are one of the reasons I keep coming back to the show.
The point that I'm trying to make (and that I may have lost for a while in the middle there) is that neither format is inherently better. The format of The Big Bang Theory plays to its strengths - a strong ensemble, a relaxed rhythm, and the kind of energy that results from performing in front of an audience - just as the format of Community allows both the grandiose parodies and the sweet, quiet moments to really pop. It's not about the format you use, its about what you do with it, and really understanding the merits and drawbacks of either format is the only way to end up with a genuinely good product. So let's stop calling multi-camera shows "stupid" and single-camera shows "weird," and just let them both be as funny as they can be. If we can put aside our differences, we can focus on our real enemy: reality television. Seriously, that stuff just sucks.
Whitney Cummings and Chris D'Ella in NBC's Whitney. Photo courtesy of daemonstv.com.
Yael Cohen at The Daily Beast recently took it upon herself to argue that Whitney Cumming's eponymous NBC sitcom represents a shift in the world of female stand-up comedy; namely, that Cummings can break down the barriers that keep skinny, long-legged, hot women from pursuing a career in an industry dominated by men, unattractive women and lesbians. If Cohen is right, Cumming's success onscreen (she's also a creator of CBS's Two Broke Girls, but behind-the-scenes work apparently doesn't count) could pave the way for the poor, disenfranchised hot girls who just want to do stand-up comedy, but who haven't been given the chance.
That might sound a little harsh, but I've always had a problem with attractive female actresses and comedians complaining that their looks prevent people from taking them seriously, despite a multitude of studies showing that attractive people earn more money, are smarter, and are happier than their less attractive counterparts. In a looks-obsessed culture like Hollywood, it seems even more ridiculous to argue that a woman who looks like Cummings is put at a disadvantage because of her beauty. Cohen, of course, has an explanation for this that takes her argument from questionable to actually offensive. She quotes Dave Rath, a (male) comedy manager, saying "So when a hot girl goes on stage all the guys want to be with her and all the women are like, why is my boyfriend looking at her that way? So the audience was always put off a little bit by attractive women."
Rath's explanation, and by extension Cohen's, hinges on the idea that women are jealous shrews who can't handle the presence of an another attractive woman, much less an attractive woman who is also funny. (To her credit, Cummings contradicts Rath, saying "Whereas I used to think that looking pretty or sexy would alienate women, now it's the opposite. Now I feel like when I embrace my femininity, it makes women relate to me more, because they go 'Oh, she's just like me, she puts on makeup, she tries to look cute...'") The bigger problem here, however, stems from another one of Rath's words of wisdom: "[Comedy] is about vulnerability, people have to identify with those things and that's what everybody is laughing it." The audience has to identify with the person onstage and their problems in order to find that person funny, and most women just do not look like Whitney Cummings (or similarly attractive comics Sarah Silverman and Chelsea Handler).
Of course, the fact that Cummings is hotter than most women doesn't mean we can't sympathize with her. I can sympathize with Liz Lemon just fine, and Tina Fey is nothing if not good-looking. The problem is that 30 Rock is a quick, well-written show and Whitney just isn't. I watched the pilot episode of Whitney, and it wasn't Cumming's looks that kept me from laughing at the show; it was the way the half-hour was devoid of any originality and simply rehashed the same tired jokes about couples who don't have sex enough and unreliable men. Whitney could have been a smart, incisive look at a part of our society that doesn't get a lot of screen time - committed couples who, for whatever reason, choose to remain unmarried - in the vein of this fall's best new comedies Up All Night and 2 Broke Girls. Instead, the jokes are straight out of a King of Queens rerun, and the writers fall back on the old romantic comedy cliche of making the gorgeous Cummings more vulnerable by making her socially inept. (Seriously, who sees a three-tiered display of cupcakes at a wedding reception and doesn't realize that those cupcakes are the trendy wedding cake?)
Cohen concludes her piece by saying that Whitney's failure would signal to the television industry that "audiences aren't ready for a rom-com sitcom centered around a good-looking female standup." Whitney has a good shot at survival - it is on NBC, after all, a network that tolerates low ratings because it's too busy circling the drain to worry about them - but its cancellation shouldn't mean that audiences can't handle a good-looking female standup. It means that audiences are discerning enough to reject a pile of week-old leftovers dressed up with a sprig of parsley to make them look "fresh." If you want to support Cummings, watch the very funny 2 Broke Girls and root for Kat Dennings, a female protagonist who is refreshingly normal-looking while still being pretty damn hot. That is the kind of barrier-breaking television that I want to see.
