I'll continue my look at television shows that I've watched over the course of the past year by beginning my list of my top five viewing experiences. This can be a full series or a single season, depending on what I've specifically watched over the past twelve months. Again, not all of these shows are "new", just new to me.
I'll list a few of my favorite episodes from each one after the review, with the one in underlined bold being my absolute favorite.
5. Mr. Robot (Season 1)
I generally hate shows created by people with obvious political agendas that don't present their ideas with any level of nuance or subtlety (actually, this is one of the biggest reasons I think Family Guy went downhill). Mr. Robot pretty much beats you over the head with GRRRAAAHHHH!!!! CAPITALISM BAD!!!!!! ad nauseam and does it in the least creative way possible -- direct dialogue. As if they weren't obvious enough with the writing, the biggest corporation in America on the show is named "Evil Corp" (it's actually called "E Corp", but we're supposed to see most of the show through the main character's eyes, and he automatically replaces the "E" with "Evil" in his head, or whatever, so that's how characters refer to it). Seriously. "Evil Corp." It's not a spoof show, I swear.
/end rant
Anyway, Mr. Robot follows the story of Elliot Alderson, a brilliant computer hacker working for Allsafe Cybersecurity that loathes the unfair realities of capitalist society along with the aforementioned Evil Corp, which controls most of the country. Allsafe is charged with protecting their client, Evil Corp from cyber terrorism. In the first episode, Elliot gets tangled up with the enigmatic Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) and faces a decision to join forces with him to unleash a plan that would effectively destroy the economy along with Evil Corp (so, hey! conflict of interest!), relieving millions of aggrieved Americans of debt that they'd otherwise never be able to pay their way out of.
As you might have guessed, I don't find the show's premise particularly fascinating, but the acting and character design are both top notch. Elliot is socially inept and awful at relating to people, but thanks to his hacking abilities, he's often able to understand people around him better than they know themselves. Many times, he feels like an information-based superhero that's able to take advantage of any "exploit" in a given person or situation, and seeing him solve the intense problems he's faced with throughout the season is edge-of-your-seat thrilling.
What makes Elliot's challenges so fascinating is that his morals are constantly getting in the way of what he feels he needs to do. He repeatedly needs to decide whether accomplishing what he wants is really worth the means necessary, and much like a real person, he doesn't always make the same choice between achievement and righteousness. Elliot is an outstanding character on a show filled with compelling ones, and Rami Malek's performance drives one of the best new shows of 2015.
Essential Episodes: eps1.5br4ve-trave1er.asf; eps1.8m1rr0r1ng.qt
4. Louie (Seasons 1-4)
Louie is on its surface a comedy, but that doesn't really do it justice. In this single-camera adventure, Louis C.K. plays a fictionalized version of himself and he's really the only regular cast member. There's recurring characters, such as his two daughters, his estranged wife, and a love interest played by Pamela Adlon, but by and large, the show focuses solely on Louie's experiences and how he takes in the world around him.
Most episodes (particularly early in the series' run) involve short stories about Louie interwoven with his character performing stand-up in various venues. While the stand-up is often very funny, the most interesting episodes are compelling when we get to experience Louie interact with the various characters that pass in and out of his life. The stories handle a wide range of topics, particularly aging, parenthood as a divorcee, the dating world for a man in his 40s, love, and facing the reality that one's career has probably peaked.
At last year's Emmy Awards, I remembered someone describing Louie as "jazz", which is a comparison that works on plenty of levels. Louie's creativity knows no bounds and has been lauded for its camerawork and music. Some narratives are more mundane, such as Louie being bothered by a heckler at a small comedy club, and other storylines include him making a run at David Letterman's job and being flown to Afghanistan to entertain the troops. Except for a few strings of serialized episodes, Louie mostly lacks continuity and that allows the show to freely pursue any situation that enters C.K.'s vivid imagination. Some moments are surreal, some are grounded in harsh reality, but the experiences are mostly relatable, and I often found myself spending plenty of time after certain episodes wondering what I would do given his situation. It's not a perfect show, and sometimes could be dull when it became more artsy than plot-driven (think Breaking Bad's "Fly" episode), but overall, a great viewing experience. I'm excited to see Season 5 when it becomes available on Netflix.
Essential Episodes: Bully (s.1 ep.9); Duckling (s.2 ep.11); In the Woods (s.4 ep.11-12)
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Television Review - 2015 (Part 1)
I'll make my first (real) post here about television shows that I've watched over the course of the past year. Some of these shows are ones that have been around that I've just gotten into, others are new seasons of shows that I've been watching for awhile.
Just for fun, here's a (possibly not comprehensive!) list of shows that I regularly watch on a weekly basis (or binged this year) that won't be mentioned elsewhere in the post, simply because they're not in my top five TV experiences of the year, nor were notably dipping in quality.
Modern Family
Suits
Top Chef
Parenthood
Silicon Valley
The Big Bang Theory
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Deadwood
House of Cards (kidding, that show is bad enough to deserve its own hate post, and yes, I'm aware that I'm saying this three shows below admitting to watching The Big Bang Theory every week)
In this first of several installments, I'm going to look at a few shows that took a serious dip in quality this year. The next post will be a list of my favorite five television experiences from 2015.
Trending Downward
Archer
Archer is one of my favorite comedies I've ever had the pleasure of watching. The first three seasons of Adam Reed's spoof of the spy genre were damn near perfect. The show revolves around the world's greatest secret agent, Sterling Archer, who's really just a mish-mash of various spy characters (James Bond, Ethan Hunt, Austin Powers, etc) that you've seen elsewhere. He (and, well the entire cast, really) is written such that he always has the perfect line to deliver, making the dialogue witty, smart, and fast-paced. I highly recommend watching this show, but now in its later years, they appear to be reaching for storylines. Archer has mostly played within the rules of reality (despite some incredible temptations not to in the past -- particularly the two-part conclusion of season three set in space), but that's slipped in the show's sixth season, which has included aliens and a shrinking machine. That's shit straight out of the last season of Family Matters, and I'm not optimistic about season seven. It might be time to call it quits on Archer if there's not a significant rebound in the cards.
Orange is the New Black
Netflix's story about a woman being sentenced to a year in a women-only prison was fascinating for the first two seasons. Orange is the New Black features an extremely deep cast of acting talent and, perhaps in recognition of this, is not firmly focused on its main character, Piper Chapman. The storytelling is unique in that each episode features the pre-prison backstory of one of the inmates at Litchfield Penitentiary, so over time, nearly all the characters become fully fleshed out and you really start to understand what makes each one tick. Eventually I stopped watching this show someplace in the middle of season three, primarily because Piper became really damn unlikable and her relationship with fellow inmate Alex (That 70's Show's Laura Prepon) had more or less been stripped of whatever intrigue it originally presented. Furthermore, the storytelling method of focusing on one character per week became a little tedious over time because it further diluted the screen time of characters you'd like to see more of (and yes, when you have a cast that big, some are significantly more compelling than others). Many may still like this show, and there's good reason to do so, but I've decided I'm finished with it.
The League
I suppose that it's weird to suggest a show is "trending downward" at the end of its run, but here we are. The League used to be comedy at its finest, featuring smart humor with witty characters that hit all levels of the "weird" scale, all tied together with the underlying theme of a competitive fantasy football league. Unfortunately, the show's writers fell in love with the most unrealistically eccentric of them all, a fellow by the name of Rafi. By the end of the show's run, Rafi was basically urinating (figuratively, but sometimes literally as well) all over every other episode, and the mere sight of him was enough for me to want to throw the remote at the TV.
Just for fun, here's a (possibly not comprehensive!) list of shows that I regularly watch on a weekly basis (or binged this year) that won't be mentioned elsewhere in the post, simply because they're not in my top five TV experiences of the year, nor were notably dipping in quality.
Modern Family
Suits
Top Chef
Parenthood
Silicon Valley
The Big Bang Theory
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Deadwood
House of Cards (kidding, that show is bad enough to deserve its own hate post, and yes, I'm aware that I'm saying this three shows below admitting to watching The Big Bang Theory every week)
In this first of several installments, I'm going to look at a few shows that took a serious dip in quality this year. The next post will be a list of my favorite five television experiences from 2015.
Trending Downward
Archer
Archer is one of my favorite comedies I've ever had the pleasure of watching. The first three seasons of Adam Reed's spoof of the spy genre were damn near perfect. The show revolves around the world's greatest secret agent, Sterling Archer, who's really just a mish-mash of various spy characters (James Bond, Ethan Hunt, Austin Powers, etc) that you've seen elsewhere. He (and, well the entire cast, really) is written such that he always has the perfect line to deliver, making the dialogue witty, smart, and fast-paced. I highly recommend watching this show, but now in its later years, they appear to be reaching for storylines. Archer has mostly played within the rules of reality (despite some incredible temptations not to in the past -- particularly the two-part conclusion of season three set in space), but that's slipped in the show's sixth season, which has included aliens and a shrinking machine. That's shit straight out of the last season of Family Matters, and I'm not optimistic about season seven. It might be time to call it quits on Archer if there's not a significant rebound in the cards.
Orange is the New Black
Netflix's story about a woman being sentenced to a year in a women-only prison was fascinating for the first two seasons. Orange is the New Black features an extremely deep cast of acting talent and, perhaps in recognition of this, is not firmly focused on its main character, Piper Chapman. The storytelling is unique in that each episode features the pre-prison backstory of one of the inmates at Litchfield Penitentiary, so over time, nearly all the characters become fully fleshed out and you really start to understand what makes each one tick. Eventually I stopped watching this show someplace in the middle of season three, primarily because Piper became really damn unlikable and her relationship with fellow inmate Alex (That 70's Show's Laura Prepon) had more or less been stripped of whatever intrigue it originally presented. Furthermore, the storytelling method of focusing on one character per week became a little tedious over time because it further diluted the screen time of characters you'd like to see more of (and yes, when you have a cast that big, some are significantly more compelling than others). Many may still like this show, and there's good reason to do so, but I've decided I'm finished with it.
The League
I suppose that it's weird to suggest a show is "trending downward" at the end of its run, but here we are. The League used to be comedy at its finest, featuring smart humor with witty characters that hit all levels of the "weird" scale, all tied together with the underlying theme of a competitive fantasy football league. Unfortunately, the show's writers fell in love with the most unrealistically eccentric of them all, a fellow by the name of Rafi. By the end of the show's run, Rafi was basically urinating (figuratively, but sometimes literally as well) all over every other episode, and the mere sight of him was enough for me to want to throw the remote at the TV.
The Pat Hatter
Hello. My name is Patrick, and I'm getting (back) into the blogging game.
That's a shade misleading, as I currently write for a baseball website, but I sometimes find myself wanting to write about non-sports things, so this is going to be a place for that. I'll write about movies that I watch, TV shows that I've been into, maybe a little bit about music here or there, game reviews (primarily board games), and anything else that crosses my mind.
I personally don't see a lot of upside to discussing politics or religion on the internet, so I'm gonna stay away from those topics. You might catch a bit of slant here or there in my writing that shows my hand, but it'll be minimal. I'm not interested in kickstarting debates, so I'll ask that comments (which are really easy to delete!) stay away from those topics. Thanks for understanding.
While I'm probably going to delve plenty into a review of various elements of pop culture, I don't consider myself a connoisseur by any means. These are just my opinions and they may be less informed, refined, etc, than that of the next person. I accept it.
I hope you enjoy reading, and feel free to leave a comment here or there if you so desire.
That's a shade misleading, as I currently write for a baseball website, but I sometimes find myself wanting to write about non-sports things, so this is going to be a place for that. I'll write about movies that I watch, TV shows that I've been into, maybe a little bit about music here or there, game reviews (primarily board games), and anything else that crosses my mind.
I personally don't see a lot of upside to discussing politics or religion on the internet, so I'm gonna stay away from those topics. You might catch a bit of slant here or there in my writing that shows my hand, but it'll be minimal. I'm not interested in kickstarting debates, so I'll ask that comments (which are really easy to delete!) stay away from those topics. Thanks for understanding.
While I'm probably going to delve plenty into a review of various elements of pop culture, I don't consider myself a connoisseur by any means. These are just my opinions and they may be less informed, refined, etc, than that of the next person. I accept it.
I hope you enjoy reading, and feel free to leave a comment here or there if you so desire.
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