The Other Shows
I haven’t done an “other shows” for a while. If you’re new to the site this is a “catch all” post for you to comment about your favorite shows, new shows about to appear, and let the rest of us know about shows we should be watching but might be missing.
First up, FX’s Justified. It starts on Wednesday February 9th in just a couple of short weeks. This was, I thought, by far the best new show of last year. Wittily written with interesting characters that doesn’t quite go where you expect. Plus it’s nice to have a show taking place in a different local than normal. Yes, I know it’s filmed in the LA area for the most part with 2cd unit shots of Kentucky filling in transitions. But at least it doesn’t typically look like LA. I honestly don’t recall seeing a single shot of the roads around Griffin Park or the zoo unlike nearly every other TV show of the past 40 years.
White Collar. Eh. I’ll watch it when I don’t have anything else. It’s a nice concept but the underlying plot is getting a bit ridiculous. They need to shake things up a bit. Good but light fluff. Not as good as Burn Notice was in its prime but more or less the same formula. Speaking of which I don’t think I mentioned much about Burn Notice. I think it’s formula is really showing its age. It’s hard to get excited about it. The finale ended with Michael rejoining the CIA or whatever black ops organization he belonged to. Let’s hope they shake it up a bit and move the show away from Miami a little.
Dexter. I hadn’t started watching this season’s episodes until last week. Wow. This is my favorite season since the first season. Extremely sharp writing and great tension in the direction. They’ve managed to draw out some great performances as well – something that sometimes is hard after a few seasons of doing the same old stuff. The only thing missing that was present in the first two seasons was a sharp black wit about contemporary culture and ethics. However one of the (many) things that went wrong last season was attempted social commentary. (Unfortunately mostly of the typical Hollywood looking down on suburbia rather than offering really sharp critiques) But this season really is fantastic without a lot of easy answers. Those of you who have already finished the season don’t spoil it for me. I’m only on episode 7.
Hulu. Did you use Hulu to watch a lot of TV shows? If so I suppose you noticed that fewer and fewer shows are on regular Hulu and more and more you have to use the paid version of Hulu. A bit annoying, no? I don’t Hulu Plus although I do use Netflix. However so few shows are actually available on Netflix streaming that I seriously question its usefulness. Interestingly though I understand most people stream more movies than they get on DVDs. Maybe if I had a 2cd gen AppleTV or an equivalent device with Netflix streaming I’d watch more. As is I find myself BitTorrenting many shows to watch them. (Like Dexter)
Chuck. I have the whole season taped thus far but after the first few episodes something felt off. Like the magic just wasn’t there. The show was best in its first season when mixing spy movie stereotypes with geek pop culture references. Maybe, as with Burn Notice, the formula just got used up. I don’t know. Something is off though. However despite low ratings expect this one to get renewed if only because of NBC’s horrible programming situation.
American Idol. Honestly, I don’t care. But supposedly the big scandal is that Aerosmith and J-Lo are too nice.
In other news Ron Moore of BSG fame has a new NBC drama about cops working in a magic filled world. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson of neglecting plot progression in preference to interesting character moments. Not. To me Moore is like George Lucas. Started something great and then just kept finding new ways of ruining the experience. Supposedly there is a new BSG spinoff as well I’ve not heard much about.
Fringe is still looking great. The best season thus far on TV. The producers have more or less decided their audience isn’t going to grow so just cater to that audience. Not exactly a winning strategy for renewal but it’s made for the best season yet.
Starz Spartacus is replacing its lead with a new name due to the old actor being ill. I tried to watch the first episode (available on Netflix). I was pretty shocked. This was more the kind of show you’d expect on Skinamax rather than a legit channel. Despite some interesting cast members including Xena Warrior Princess it seemed more oriented towards titillating folks unable to find a date. I didn’t bother watching again. Maybe the rest of you did.
HBO is following up its strong The Pacific (which I’ve not had a chance to watch yet) with The Game of Thrones, a fantasy themed drama. I haven’t read the book it’s based on but I know a lot of people are interested in this one.
House. Well I think the show has jumped the shark. What a horrible season thus far. Wow. Just amazingly bad writing. This used to be my favorite show. Can they recover? I don’t know.
Anything I miss? Chime in.
Posted on January 20, 2011, in Television. Bookmark the permalink. 47 Comments.
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I agree with you regarding Fringe. Great season so far, and they’ve put out two of the best episodes of any show I’ve ever watched: The Plateau and Marionette. I’m really looking forward to the show’s return this Friday (in the old X-Files time slot).
Still loving Community. The Very Special Christmas episode had me on the floor most of the time. Abed is one of TV’s great characters.
Damages! Just started watching seasons 1 and 2 off Netflix streaming, and it’s incredible.
Yeah Abed is great.
I’m actually enjoying Steven Tyler on AI, had no idea he could be so funny.
Did anyone watch Being Human? At first it seemed kinda lame, but by the end I was sucked in enough to want to see what happens next week.
Totally agree about White Collar. Interesting at first, but formulaic (which is a trend I’m seeing in TV right now – very formulaic television, with the real stories blowing the medoicre shows out of the water, a la Mad Men, Dexter, Justified, Boardwalk Empire).
I caught the first 2 episodes of NBC’s “The Cape,” and it wasn’t…..horrible. They did do a great job of keeping some sort of reason in the story and trying to build a character instead of competing with big Hollywood movies on special effects.
Modern Family still looks to be going strong, which is always good to see.
“However so few shows are actually available on Netflix streaming that I seriously question its usefulness.”
I’ve got a post squirming around in my head that will poke holes in this theory. Maybe not current shows, but there’s a serious treasure trove of entertainment available on Netflix if you are willing to watch shows that are recent or from the past. Of the top of my head:
The entire Joss Whedon body of work (Buffy, Angel, Firefly)
Pushing Daisies
Doctor Who (series 1 through 4, 5 should be added shortly)
Lost
Louie
Party Down
Veronica Mars
Stargate Universe
Battlestar Galactica
Damages
There are also tons of good documentaries and classics. The more current new releases are much more hit and miss. (If Starz has it, it’s on, otherwise, you may be out of luck.)
Is The Cape Ron Moore’s new thing?
Agreed on Fringe; Rocking hard, and can’t wait for more starting tomorrow.
I’m excited that Parks and Recreation will be back on this week. Aside from Community it’s probably the best comedy on TV, and it’s certainly the most overlooked. It’s much better than The Office at this point.
Looking forward to Justified with great anticipation.
I really like Modern Family and Cougartown. Cougartown gets no love but is arguably even funnier than MF.
Likewise, the duo of How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement are still pretty good. If there’s a funnier couple on TV than Patrick Warburton and David Spade (or Kronk and Cuzco, if you prefer) I’m not sure who it would be.
I also love Community.
Watched the new AI and thought it was a TON better than last season so far. JLo and Tyler are a huge and badly needed breath of fresh air. Even Randy seems invigorated, although he spends most of his time fretting over the fact that he gets no respect now that the other two are on the show. He could leave and no one would really notice.
Yes, they are probably nicer than they should be but that will wear off. It’s hard to hurt people’s feelings until you become a little calloused to it.
I mostly watch Hulu and Netflix now. Probably should cancel cable altogether.
Hawaii Five-0 is still pretty good.
My parents want to cancel their cable. Honestly, with a Roku box and about $18 (for Netflix and Hulu Plus) a month couldn’t you get almost all the movies and television you want?
Has anyone tried Shameless or Episodes on Showtime? both are not great, but have promise. Shameless is depressing and has a main character that is totally unlikable, Episodes actually makes me like Matt LeBlanc.
“Damages! Just started watching seasons 1 and 2 off Netflix streaming, and it’s incredible.”
Season 1 is terrific. Season 2 had it’s moments but I don’t think the payoff worked–sorry if that spoils anything for you. I just think they had a little too much going on
Season 3, though. Wow. Just wait, total awesomeness. Martin Short FTW.
The show almost convinced me to go back to DirecTV but alas I’ll be playing catchup with Seasons 4 and 5.
I’m regretting my abandonment of Fringe early on in Season 1. It just bothered me that every mystery was traced back to the one company, Massive Dynamics? And then a new mystery would come up and guess what? Massive Dynamics. They probably should have started the investigation there.
Watching Steven Tyler creep on teenage girls last night was awkwardly hilarious.
Oh, and Top Chef All-Stars is great. Until Justified starts up next month, that’s all I’m really invested in.
I still lament the demise of Rubicon.
Justified is indeed great, as is Dexter.
Bored to Death on Showtime is worth watching. My wife and I enjoy it.
One show everybody missed last year (hence it’s cancellation), but that was a very fun watch, and I would recommend (especially if you have access to torrents), is Terriers. Cool characters, all very flawed.
I have watched Episodes with my wife. She likes it…I told her to watch it without me from now on. It has that element from The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm that makes me uncomfortable and wish I were in another room. It’s full of situations that I would hate to be in because I don’t enjoy the awkwardness. Why would I want to feel that watching TV?
Have Shameless on deck, but haven’t watched yet.
My wife really likes a BBS series that is airing on PBS called Downton Abbey. We also really liked the Sherlock Holmes trilogy that was also licensed to PBS in August or September.
Also, Hooray for Doctor Who! Has there ever been a discussion of that show on KB? I feel like I had to find out about it myself…mostly heard about it on comedian Chris Hardwick’s The Nerdist podcast. I love the show. My wife derides the sometimes low production values, but I don’t need realistic looking aliens (wouldn’t they probably just be bacteria anyway?) to enjoy storytelling.
Amen re Rubicon.
I watched the pilot of Shameless and absolutely loved Emmy Rossum (rhymes with awesome). I assume that’s NOT the main character you are referring to. I didn’t find it depressing, though some of the scenes of squalor in the apartment where these kids are living are pretty outrageous. The drunken dad is played by William H. Macy, who seems to have sunk to a new low, since most of his scenes barely require him to be breathing.
The chemistry between Rossum and her co-star/love interest is crazy hot, and the other kids are interesting too. There’s a subplot involving one brother finding out that the other brother is gay, which I thought was handled with originality and humor. It’s a pretty racy show, and I’m a little surprised that Rossum is in it, frankly. If you don’t recognize her, her most well-known previous role was as Christine Daiae in Phantom of the Opera opposite Gerard Butler and Patrick Wilson. In other words, she’s got mad skillz.
BTD Greg, it’s too bad they don’t have The Wire too. (I’m not sure why the studio isn’t letting them stream something that old) I put them on my Netflix DVD queue and then have been ripping them with Handbrake for future viewing. I’ve heard nothing but good about that series. My time has just been limited due to babies staying up at night leading to exhaustion leading to the kind of early bed time I thought only people in their 70′s did.
Regarding other Netflix “must watch” shows I’d put Dexter. Be aware that the first two episodes are a little gory but after that it isn’t bad. It’s like the first two episodes they weren’t really sure of the style of the show so it can be a bit off putting.
Rubicon isn’t available on Netflix yet. It’s listed but neither DVD nor streaming dates are listed. It’ll be a must watch for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. (Is it available on Hulu Plus, anyone know?)
Clark, I liked this season of Dexter, but I still think that last season w/ the Trinity Killer was the best season of the show.
Looking forward to Parks and Rec as well and I too could care less about The Office at this point.
I’m currently watching the last season of Big Love that just started on HBO. Not sure how much I’m still into it at this point, but I feel like I’ve made it this far and might as well see it all of the way through.
My big discoveries lately are shows that have been around for a few years that I’m belatedly catching up with. The wife and I have been on a Mad Men binge for the past few weeks and are almost caught up. I can’t believe I didn’t start watching it sooner. Seriously one of the best shows on TV right now. It’s also interesting to see how much the country has changed in the 50 or so years since the era it takes place in. Highly recommended to everyone.
Also AMC has been showing 2 episodes every Wednesday night of Breaking Bad and I’ve gotten pretty into it. It’s pretty fun and I like the feeling it gives you that things in the characters lives are barely under control and could go off the rails at any point.
Downton Abbey, Sunday nights, PBS. It’s a top-grade period soap opera like Mad Men except instead of 60′s Madison Avenue, it involves British aristocracy/gentry/working class in 1913. There’s only 4 episodes, and 2 of them have aired. I think you can watch already broadcast episodes at pbs.org, but I was hooked obsessively at #1, so I am sitting in front of the tube at 8:55 Sundays, remote in hand. Fantastic cast, fantastic writing (for TV), magnificent production values–entertainment time well spent.
“I watched the pilot of Shameless and absolutely loved Emmy Rossum (rhymes with awesome). I assume that’s NOT the main character you are referring to. ”
No I was referring to Macy. Rossum is indeed very awesome.
We have Big Love recorded. I’m hoping for the best, last season was pretty stupid.
I’ve heard great things about Downton Abbey as well. I normally don’t care for this sort of thing, but I’ve heard enough good that I’m going to check it out. I think there are 7 episodes total. Netflix is getting the DVDs on 1/25/11, so it’s in my queue.
Mike, something about last season’s Dexter was off.
*** SPOILERS BELOW ***
There was so much to love and yet the pieces never gelled for me. At times (such as the suburbia “satire”) it was trying too hard and therefore lacking soul. I loved that Lundy was back. (Such a great character played by David Carradine) Yet killing him off so early was clearly a mistake. The ending was great, yet overall it was my least favorite season. The best I could say for it is that every other season of Dexter had a finale that felt anti-climatic whereas the death of Dexter’s wife truly was shocking yet appropriate. So often Dexter escaped without really truly suffering consequences. Further we finally got to see some real progression in him as a character. Yet overall I found the writing last season very, very sloppy (especially compared with this season). Interestingly several writers left after last season.
DUDE, SPOILERS!!!!
I’ve been watching a bit of Piers Morgan’s interview show on CNN this last week and I really like it. Never liked Larry King, but for some reason I like Piers. I didn’t even realize at first that he was what replaced Larry King’s show. His interview last night with Ricky Gervais was pretty entertaining, although he made way too much of RG’s mocking of celebrities on the Golden Globes.
One more show that deserves mentioning is ESPN’s documentary series, 30 for 30. While there have been a few misses, overall the series has been great and several of the docs have been outstanding.
Can you tell me more Tim? What exactly are the shows about?
I’m so glad to see the Dexter last-season-love. The IMDB boards were just falling all over themselves to say how much they hated Julia Stiles on the show. I loved her on it! Also, Jonny Lee Miller, who I had been missing from Eli Stone… so vibrant and charismatic. There was one plot point regarding an odd possession of his that never got resolved. (Maybe someone can fill me in on that later.)
Chuck has had some problems this season. Have 3 episodes or more where he can’t flash at all? I keep wishing they’d find more creative uses for it, like oh, dart throwing, or guitar playing or seduction. There was one recently where the graphic was different, and he appeared to be doing a different martial art (Aikido, Judo maybe?)
New Shows:
Harry’s Law : just eh, so far, but I’ll give it another shot.
Fairly Legal : looking forward to this one, loved Sarah Shahi on Life
The Cape : the wife won’t buy into it, have to watch it by myself
Oh, and we both watched all of Firefly + Serenity last month. Awesome show. Movie was kind of tragic, though. The whole sci-fi/Western just doesn’t get good staying power – like Brisco County, Jr. Ah well.
I just started watching Jeeves and Wooster. I probably wouldn’t have appreciated it 20 years ago when I was 13 and it was on TV, but it is brilliant.
Yeah, Downton Abbey is fantastic.
I really need to watch Brisco County someday. I’ve heard a lot about it.
I never got the Firefly love myself. I found the episodes I watched as well as the movie to kind of be messes. Everyone was going on about how much greater than the new StarWsrs trilogy it was. But Dudes that’s aiming low.
Serenity was good. I’ve watched it several times and it gets better on repeated viewings. Really cool. The series wasn’t quite as edgy, but it was still entertaining.
Jeeves and Wooster is an absolute treasure.
Serenity is actually one of my all-time favorite movies. I love that it’s all about free agency.
I bought Jeeves and Wooster on DVD even though at present I don’t have a working dvd player.
BTW – talking of “other shows” a funny story. My dad while doing genealogy found out that the real BlackAdder moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in the 19th century. I didn’t even know that there was a real BlackAdder. The name just sounded so ridiculous. I can never watch Rowan Atkinson the same way anymore.
Which Blackadder? There were four different characters called Black Adder or Edmund Blackadder, depending on the season. Which one of them was based on a real person?
I just started streaming season one of Friday Night Lights. It’s not the Sopranos or the Wire, but it’s better than almost anything else on the networks on a given night.
I didn’t mean any of the characters were based on reality. Rather I didn’t know there was a real family name of BlackAdder.
Just did the Firefly plus Serenity on Apple tv over the last two weeks. The series was great, but the movie was relentless. Clearly JW had a vision for where the series was going and poured a few seasons of tv into the movie.
I am completely hazard about Game of Thrones. If done right it will do for fantasy what the first season of BSG did for scifi. My only concern is that GRRM is slowing down and will never finish the books. As it is I will have to read the series again when the new book comes out. If it does.
Hazard???? WTF iPhone auto correct ?
Jazzed. Not hazard. Jazzed.
arJ, Maybe Brandon Sanderson can finish the series!
Yeah, tell me about it. From now on I will not start a series until it is completed and has a bow on it.
I’ve been rereading the Robert Jordan series so I can start on the Brandon Sanderson finish. (The second book is out and I just discovered I’d bought the first book twice) I was introduced to Sanderson’s work just recently with Mistborne.
I’ve heard Sanderson does a pretty good job – arguably better since he doesn’t have all the minutiae and asides that beset Jordan – especially in the later novels.
For series where the author dies before finishing I’m most upset at Gordon R. Dickson and his Childe Cycle novels. He started writing them in the 60′s, really got going in the late 80′s and then wrote himself into a corner and died! Those are my all time favorite novels and his estate never got anyone to finish the series for him. Aarrggh!
Wait, you mean the 13th book is out?
Um, I wonder where you heard that stuff about the Jordan/Sanderson series.
Maybe here?
http://www.kulturblog.com/2009/12/the-gathering-storm-book-12-of-the-wheel-of-time/
I didn’t read that in case you guys gave away any plot points. It’s been years since I read them last. I’m on book 5 right now.
We always warn you when we give away spoilers. Hint. Hint.
LOL. Yeah. But I know there are always people like me who forget. (grin)