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Best Thanksgiving Shows
A day late but this came to me as people were passing Thanksgiving shows around Twitter. By far the most tweeted thing I saw yesterday was links to the classic WKRP in Cincinnati thanksgiving show. I watched that with my wife yesterday and it was as hilarious today as it was when I saw it as a kid. ”As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly.”
What other great thanksgiving episodes have their been? Admittedly Thanksgiving doesn’t get the love that Christmas, Halloween and Valentine’s Day get. But it is a great day.
Here’s my list:
The Current Shows: Jump the Shark Edition
So it’s been a while since we did a best of the current shows type of post. I have to admit that my heart hasn’t fully been in it because I really don’t care for a lot that is on TV. Even a lot of my former favorite shows have clearly jumped the shark. Part of me really wishes shows could have clearer end times so the writers could adjust instead of just prolonging the agony.
As ever please let us know your own favorites.
Back from the Dead: Current TV
Wow – it’s been dead around here. Everyone must be as busy as I am. However while my wife was recovering from surgery I had a few days to get caught up on some television. So here’s my thoughts for the recent weeks of TV.
Fringe - Well our lone survivor from Dawson’s Creek is back to reality. I really have been enjoying the season thus far. I especially like how they are still playing with the two universes and the changes in both since the season finale. If you aren’t watching this you should. Right now it’s arguably the best show on TV.
House – Great start and then it has kind of gotten weak again. The problem is that they want House to evolve yet they want to keep the basic formula. This was a huge problem last season after some excellent episodes with House in the asylum. This season we had House get his comeuppance and end up in jail. However instead of leaving him there for a while we get an eye rolling excuse to get him out and some frankly unbelievable episodes. I have a feeling this should be House’s last season. It’s become stale.
The Fall Season
So there are lots of lists out there about the new fall season. (Here’s the schedule — various reviews here among other places) Are there any shows you are excited about? It seems to me that TV after nearly a decade of being ridiculously well done and exciting has lapsed into the doldrums. The only shows I’m actually excited about are old returning ones. (Justified: no premier date, Dexter: Oct 2)
The new shows are ones that sound intriguing like Terra Nova, but which I’m confident will suck. Couldn’t tell you why but they just do. The one I was most intrigued by, J. J. Abram’s Person of Interest, is getting pretty bad reviews. (It’s on some people’s “worst of fall” lists.) We’ll see if his Alcatraz does better. (That one didn’t look intriguing to me at all)
Old Mascots
Who are your favorite old school mascots? (And no I don’t mean football)
I’ve always had a soft spot for the original hamburgler.
Best Board Games of Yesterday…
OK, skipping the “big 5″ what are your favorite board games? I know board games have really fallen out of favor. But they still have a great place in my youthful memories.
(Yeah, I’m re-mining threads – but I never contributed to that one)
The Other Shows
So I figured it’s been a long time since I did an edition of “the other shows.” Feel free to chime in with yours. I’m still behind in all my viewing. (In a fit of passion I deleted all of last season’s Chuck since by the time I get to it it’ll be on NetFlix)
First up, Burn Notice. I’m glad that they finally shook things up a bit. The protagonist is not with the CIA. The way they are keeping a bit of the old structure is a bit annoying. I still am not sure if it just hasn’t done all it has to do. But moving the plot into foreign locations certainly was a necessary move. I’m withholding judgement for a while since I was pretty disappointed with last season. Still it’s a show I want to like.
Best Utah Mexican Food
OK, the water park thread degenerated into a discussion of Mexican restaurants. So as not to disrupt people lambasting or praising Cowabunga I thought I’d move this here.
My thoughts.
Justified: Bloody Harlan
Wow. Just wow. I said last week that what I loved about that episode was how they took the expected turns and did them in unexpected ways. Shows like this have to be somewhat cliched because our expectations about narrative demand certain twists and turns as we reach a climax. What Justified (and Elmore Leonard in general) does so well is play around the edges of our expectations. Last week did it great. This week was the equivalent of a straight flush.
Rather than go over the episode linearly let me just pick out some great highlights.
First we knew all season that Loretta was going to be key either in the finale or close to it. The fact they’ve made a point of keeping her in our minds the past episodes sure suggested she’d be key. Justified is frequently about that strange confluence of justice and revenge. Loretta wants justice. Her actions really drive all the action.
I really loved the tension between Raylan and Winona in this episode. I’ve been pretty disappointed in how they’ve handled Winona this season. In many ways she’s been the weakest link. (Which given how great the season is doesn’t mean it’s bad – just that it’s not as strong as everything else) We still don’t fully understand her motivations with the money. There were earlier hints about pregnancy but today we found out she is indeed pregnant. Oddly it is a recent thing which makes those earlier scenes not make much sense except to foreshadow Raylan’s desire for a child.
The point where Raylan goes to rescue Loretta is pretty interesting and highlights that tension between what Winona wants and what Raylan wants. Raylan is driven by justice and responsibility. But there are now competing responsibilities. Those for his family and those for others. Does he see in Loretta a daughter or does he see in her himself? Probably a bit of both. Winona tells Raylan when he says he’s going after Loretta that she might not be there when he gets back. There’s a lot going on here that will appear next season.
The Other Shows: Mayday Edition
So lots of shows look to be on the chopping block. Including shows that have been on the air so long they qualify as being the undead. Yes, several CSIs and Law and Orders are down in CW level ratings. Will they return? I don’t pay a lot of attention to ratings but I suspect next year may be the big shake up relative to shows.
Justified is the third highest rated cable show. Yet surprisingly is getting around 1.0 in the ratings. I guess that’s high for FX but still lower than even a lot of CW business. Game of Thrones has been taking a critical beating by many. It’s also doing around Justified numbers. Will HBO keep it for next season? We’ll see. HBO doesn’t do ratings in the normal way. In many ways they are more concerned about buzz related to subscriptions. However expensive shows – even critically acclaimed ones like Deadwood – sometimes get the axe. All in all though I guess I don’t feel guilty about not watching Games of Thrones.
South Park started up this week. Seems to me they tried to keep it contemporary but were either running out of ideas or were a bit burnt out after their broadway play. It’s largely a play on Apple’s location controversy mixed in with outright copying a particularly silly and bad horror movie.
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