Sunday, May 23, 2010

Season's wrap up so far...

As the 2009-10 t.v. season draws to a close, I thought I'd briefly share my thoughts about the shows I watch and how they progressed during the 2009-10 season. If you have no interest in t.v., now is probably a good time to stop reading, lol.

Mondays

Chuck - What more can I say? I love this show! Season three was such a gift from the network that I completely forgive the show runners for taking it to a much darker place. While not a fan of the Agent Shaw story line, I enjoyed season 3 more than not and Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski continue to have amazing chemistry. Add in the Buy Morons (more Jeffster is always a good thing!), the Awesomes and Casey, and you have a truly enjoyable t.v. experience.

Castle - Nathan Fillion is charming and amusing as writer Rick Castle who rides along with Det. Kate Beckett on murder calls for inspiration for his novels. The supporting cast is entertaining and the cases are interesting. I especially enjoy Castle's relationship with his daughter and mother.

24 - it was time for it to be over. And, they completely wasted Katee Sackhoff.

House - I'm tired of House. All of the episodes are the same. A patient comes in with a crazy illness, they don't figure it out, they almost kill the patient and then save the day. And this season it seemed like House was a supporting character on his own show.

Life Unexpected - I wanted to like this show - I really miss the old school WB shows. I LOVED the pilot, tolerated the next five or six episodes and then gave up on it. It was very repetitive plot-wise and some of the characters grew more annoying each episode because of it.

Tuesdays

Let me just thank FX now for the amazing shows that are Sons of Anarchy and Justified.

When I first heard the premise for SoA, I was skeptical. Why in the world would I want to watch Hamlet on a motorcycle? Then I watched the first season on dvd and was hooked. The writing and acting are first rate and only got better with the second season.

I never would have guessed that Katey Sagel (Peg Bundy from Married with Children) would've had the chops to play such a meaty role. Ron Perlman, Charlie Hunnam, Maggie Sift and Adam Arkin all turned in excellent performances. If you don't mind violence and bad language with your drama, be sure to give this one a try.

Justified is the perfect showcase for Timothy Olyphant. It's about a throwback US Marshall that isn't afraid to draw his gun - until it starts to have serious repercussions on his career and personal life. It's based on a couple of Elmore Leonard short stories and the show writers do a good job of keeping his signature feel. The supporting performances are strong and there have been some interesting guest stars. As with SoA, give it a try if you don't mind violence and language.

Wednesdays

MODERN FAMILY IS AMAZING. Thank you, ABC, for bringing back some quality sitcoms. If nothing else, be sure and try the Fizbo the Clown episode. Halfway through the season, I'd have told you this was the best sitcom of the year. This one didn't drop in quality but two others had amazing improvement, so I'm no longer quite so sure.

Cougar Town is a victim of its terrible name which really has very little to do with the show as it is now. It did start the season as a show about a newly single 40something mom who was on the prowl for younger men. After about 4 or 5 episodes, though, the writers realized that wasn't really working and changed the focus of the show to the lead's relationship with family and friends. It's now hilarious and quite enjoyable. Overlook the name and try this one again if you haven't already.

Thursdays

Thursdays are so chock full of goodness that I don't know where to begin...

Supernatural - The apocalypse was a bit of a snooze but there were some fine individual episodes, all filled with snark, pop culture references, good v. evil, crises of faith, familial love/relations, etc. It is beyond me why Jensen Ackles hasn't been nominated for an emmy yet. This has been one of my favorite shows in the past and I hope season 6 will see it redeem itself a little.

The Vampire Diaries - I didn't even give this one a try at first. I hated the books - just couldn't get into them and gave up after the first 100 pages. A friend talked me into giving it a try and I was hooked - something major happens and the plot progresses EVERY episode. There are no filler episodes. It's also the first time where I've started to pull for both sides of a love triangle.

Ian Somerhalder is obviously having a great time playing elder brother (and self-proclaimed bad ass) Damon. He's a lot of fun to watch. Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley are also good as the other two leads. And, for trivia's sake, supporting actor Steven R. McQueen is the grandson of legendary bad ass Steve McQueen.

Community - This sitcom has really come into its own - and turned out to be my favorite sitcom of the year. It's filled with pop culture references and the relationships between the study group characters are interesting. I think it's one of those shows that you either get and really love or you watch and are bored to death. I love it and come close to peeing my pants just about every episode. If you're interested, try Debate 101 or Modern Warfare. Those are two of my favorites, but they're all good. And, unlike a lot of shows, the little codas at the end are just as funny, if not funnier, than the rest of the episode. Be sure to watch them.

30 Rock - still funny but more uneven than in the past. I will say though that the Happy Anna Howard Shaw Day episode where Liz has a root canal and hallucinates her past boyfriends and mistakes a ficus tree for Jon Bon Jovi cracked me up.

Bones - I've been a huge fan of Bones since the beginning but after the 100th episode and then the season finale, I feel abused by the writing staff and have decided to break up with the show. It's been FIVE YEARS. Enough is enough. That's all I have to say.

Fridays

Dollhouse came to an end. Parts of it were brilliant and I'm still amazed that the best episode was a dvd only selection. I guess I should just be grateful to Fox for letting Joss Whedon introduce Enver Gjokaj (Victor) and Diechan Lachman (Sierra) to the world. They're fantastic.

Friday Night Lights - It is with clear eyes and a full heart that I tell you that if you're not watching this show, you're missing out on something great. I've waxed poetic about it before, so I won't go on and on but in season four they've had to start all over, practically from the ground up. And it's just as good. Thank you, DirecTV, for rescuing this gem of a show.

What's your favorite show? Why? And, no, I haven't left Glee off - it's still running :)

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