Top Ten: Best of 2008 TV (A Limited Perspective)

Tuesday Top Ten: For the listmaker in me and the listlover in you

First things first, this disclaimer: I watch so little television that I'm rather like a SAG and movie awards show voter voting on the best of the film year having only seen 15 movies or so... (oh, come on, you know that's how they do. How else to explain the tiny pool of films they award or their lack of imagination in what to honor within those same films?) so with a huge grain of salt... my ten favorite TV-amajigs of the year

biggest anxiety: Joss Whedon's Dollhouse comes out in 2009. I've spent too much time in 2008 thinking about it. The reports of trouble on set are not surprising. This is the pinpoint reason I can't invest in TV... it's not safe to love anything. It's too emotionally draining to love TV. Movies last forever but TV shows get cancelled immediately if they're at all different/interesting: see #2

biggest surprise: the US version of Kath & Kim is not terrible. It's a little shaky but it's improving and Molly Shannon is still an underrated actor who exhibits range working from within very narrow characters (see also: The Year of the Dog). That said I heard from an LA friend who heard from a friend on set (unsubstantiated gossip. Wheeeee) that Molly & Selma Blair are most definitely not getting along: screaming matches!

Nathaniel's Top TV of 2008

10 Ronnie on Make Me a Super Model and Cody on Step It Up & Dance. Basically the only reason to watch reality television is to crush on cute boys (or girls depending on how you do). Don't you agree?

09 Rachel Maddow on MSNBC

08 Brothers & Sisters I didn't use to understand why so many people added the qualifier "guilty" to "pleasure" when talking about it. Now I see. It's hard to take seriously but I've never once been tempted to stop watching it.

07 The plot complications and expanding cast of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I have been a Terminator nut since -- for as long as I can remember. Despite that, I thought this show was a bad idea (how does one improve on Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day? The answer is that one does not. Though one wishes Lena Headey would at least try) and the first several episodes did nothing to change my mind. I still don't love any single performance or any episode in particular. But the longer it goes on, the more delicious nutty, overpopulated and convoluted it gets, the more I enjoy it despite all the things that aren't so good about it. Who'da thunk?

P.S. Good luck to Terminator Salvation trying to pretend that so many story threads from 3 Terminator movies and a tv series never happened and make sense of the ones they choose not to ignore.

06 Samantha Who? Hardly groundbreaking for a sitcom but still endearing. Extra bonus points: the trio of supporting actresses in Samantha's orbit (Jennifer Esposito, Melissa McCarthy and Emmy-winning Jean Smart) are totally invested in making with the funny: well done.

05 True Blood. I love vampires. I didn't use to have to qualify that but here it goes. I love vampires that are interesting, mean, bloodthirsty and/or horny --not the stupid asexual twinkle-in-the-sunshine kind that were so popular this year. Blargh!

04 30 Rock. The only show on television that literally makes me LOL each and every episode. Sometimes even LMFAO.

03 Battlestar Galactica -still breath-stoppingly brilliant all the way into its fourth and final daring season. It will go down in history as one of the fullest small screen experiences of all time. If you're still not watching, watch the video Catch the Frak Up before the final episodes air in early 2009.

02 Pushing Daisies -There's no show I look forward to seeing each week more. The second season has been an itty-bitty uneven but who cares. It's so rich: alternately amusing, bittersweet, wicked, morbid, musical, witty, eccentric and lovable. There's something to lose your fool mind and heart over in every damn episode. Just thinking about going without Olive, Ned, Chuck, Emerson and Aunts Vivian & Lily next year makes me need carbs. Lots and lots of them in pastry form --preferably with drops of anti-depressants added in the baking.


01 Mad Men - it wasn't really a contest.

What were your favorites this year?

p.s. 1 Next Week: The Top Ten Movies -- the countdown begins. The annual FiLM BiTCH Awards are on their way.

p.s. 2 A preview of Big Love coming back soon...

Emmy Finalists (sigh)

I'll keep this brief since this isn't The TV Experience. What can be done about the Emmy Awards? Who are the people who think Two and a Half Men is the best that the creative community in Hollywood can come up with in terms of laughs? And yet there it sits each year in the Emmy comedy zone.

Grey's Anatomy is a big hit, we can give it that. But as dramas go, it's not that well written. The lead character is tremendously annoying and whiny. The plots are repetitive. The medical stuff is lazy. I've watched enough episodes (friends love it) to know. Just one example: I sat their flabbergasted that a hospital show would pretend that a character could survive drowning and going braindead for a long stretch of time with absolutely no side effects and look not much worse for the wear and carry on long emotional conversations without even a hitch in their voice mere moments after being revived. It's a silly show. Even Katherine Heigl, willing to bite the hand that feeds her, doesn't think it's all that. And yet there it is on the shortlist for Best Drama and the challenging, emotionally potent and increasingly complex Battlestar Galactica --regularly considered by critics and TV geniuses (like Buffy's Joss Whedon) to be the very best thing on television -- isn't even considered finalist material? Nor is Brothers & Sisters. It's histrionic sure but still more entertaining than Grey's Anatomy plus it's got Sally Field doing her best work since the late 70s/early 80s. UGH.

This is why I could never write about the Emmys the way I write about the Oscars. There would be so few happy turns of events to enjoy. Here are the finalists...

Pushing Daisies: Whimsical, inventive and sweet whilst somehow avoiding
sugar coma or non-intentional repetitiveness AND it appeals to the masses!?! (wow)

Comedy Finalists: (my favorites in bold) Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, Pushing Daisies YES, 30 Rock, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty and Weeds

Drama Finalists: (my favorites in bold) Boston Legal, Damages, Dexter, Friday Night Lights YES, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Lost, Mad Men, The Tudors and The Wire

The actual nominations are announced on July 17th. Here's how the voting works.
Are your favorites still in the running?
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Ten TV Shows I'm Watching

Tuesday Top Ten: For the listmaker in me and the listlover in you

The days of Tivo / DVR have finally defeated me and I now find myself regularly watching television... even if I'm not really writing about it yet. No longer dependent on air times, I actually enjoy it --occasionally. Let's not get crazy! These are the (still running) shows I'm into...

10 (ok 12) Shows
I can sometimes be found watching Desperate Housewives.
Not by choice!

12 Top Chef (Bravo)
My hesitation with this show was always: you can't taste the food. That's still a problem. You can hear the singing and watch the dancing and consider the clothing on various other game shows. You can't taste food if it's on your TV. Licking the screen doesn't won't help. That said, I watch it sometimes. Padma Lakshmi's weirdly droning voice doesn't even bother me anymore. Her skirts do. They are so tight I fear they run afoul of safety condition requirements for the kitchen. The sexy rump is sure to distract the chefs and they're working with fire. I've only got to keep one hand on the remote.

11 Make Me a SuperModel (BBC/Bravo)
I was stunned to discover that America actually did this show better than Britain (we usually mess up transfers) not that it isn't still stoopid. That said: pretty people being very pretty (and often naked) is good disposable TV ... with less of the rampant delusion and repetition that ANTM's 209th cycle will bring you. Plus: it's unisex. I'm for that (see also: #1)

10 Moonlight (CBS)
This is my guilty pleasure. Only there's little pleasure and lots of guilt. It's really terrible. It's so terribly written I've considered writing down the names and... um... doing something with the names. Voodoo dolls maybe? Gift baskets full of garlic?

You don't really need sunglasses to watch this show. You need earplugs.

But you're aware of my soft spot for the vampiric. And bad acting aside, I like both leads for some reason. I even hate the bad '80s inspired set design. Why am I watching this? What's wrong with me???

09 Step it Up & Dance (Bravo)
As a big fan of Showgirls, dance heavy musicals and "body flight" (thanks Strictly Ballroom), this was a natural fit for me. However... I'm considering dropping it from my DVR. For a show on Bravo it sure does feel homophobic. Every f'ing week the judges bitch that certain male dancers are too feminine and praise the"masculine" ones for just that even as they acknowledge their bad technique. We get it. You're the type of fags who write "straight acting" in their 'what are you looking for?' dating profiles. Issues!!! Please keep those between you and your therapists, judges. Please and thanks.

08 Big Love (HBO)
I don't have HBO so I have to wait for the DVDs but I think it's a strong show and definitely a unique one. I'm especially fond of Jeanne Tripplehorne's work (who'd have thunk it back in the Basic Instinct bad-acting days?) It's disappointing that she's not nominated for Best Actress @ the Emmys. But then Emmys and disappointment go hand in hand. It's the law.

07 Weeds (Showtime)
Mary Louise Parker forever! Billy Crudup's life choices confuse me.

06 Torchwood (BBC)
It appeals to the same geek pieces of me that Buffy bulls-eyed, only its not as strong thematically or as consistent in its quality. That said, it's fun, weird, genre-loving and unapologetically queer... a thrilling combo that nothing else on TV can claim.

The team (sniffle) as it was. Two of them died in the season finale.

05 Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
All of its weaknesses are still present (hysterical drama and overdone comedy even at times it should pull back, so many characters that not all of them get interesting stories, boring business deals, Calista Flockhart's story lines if not Calista Flockhart) but the most important selling point of any scripted show is characters the audience falls in love & comfort with and wants to spend time with every week. And on that count it's grade "A"

04 Project Runway (Bravo)
This used to be the best thing on television but there were times during this past season that I just wanted to scream. Couldn't they have just one episode where they just make pretty dresses instead of fulfilling some random stupid gimmicky corporate-sponsored "challenge" So maybe it's jumped the shark. I'm definitely worried about the move to Lifetime. We'll see. It's "on notice"

03 30 Rock (NBC)
The only show on television that makes me laugh so hard that I have to hit pause once or twice to recover. I am a Krak addict. They don't use Ms. Jane Krakowski enough... but the rest of the show is hilarious enough to compensate.

02 Pushing Daisies (ABC)
When is this coming back on? I'm dying here. I need its whimsy and its anti-depressent pies in my tiny unmusical life.

01 Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi)
One of the greatest shows of all time. Why? Oh I don't know... endlessly fascinating characters, brilliant rug-pull plotting, intellectual and emotional rigor. Take your pick. Even when it errs or tries too hard you can always be sure that it's trying. More movies and TV shows should. Not for this show any coasting. It wants to be great. It often is.

If you're still not watching, I may never be able to convince you. Your loss. Do you happen to vote on the Emmys? You'll start with the miniseries on DVD if you're finally ready to be sucked into its intergalactic maelstrom.

And you?

Do you watch any of these shows? Would you like to see a weekly television column here? Which shows are you faithful to week in and week out? And which are you running out of patience with? I'm full of questions.
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This is the Link

By now you may have already seen this Onion News Network skit but isn't it hilarious in its utter truthfulness?


Wildly Popular 'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film

Twitch Film Lars Von Trier planning to rock the boat again. He's filming a movie called Antichrist in Germany.
fourfour Rich always has interesting things to say about Juno, just out on DVD
YouTube an interview with the makers of Forgetting Sarah Marshall in which the holy name of Kathleen Turner is repeatedly blasphemed
fancast John Cho on being an Asian actor in Hollywood
Globe and Mail Luke McFarlane, the ever-adorable "Scotty" on Brothers & Sisters has officially come out. He's been connected in the tabloid past to both TR Knight (Grey's Anatomy) and Wentworth Miller (Prison Break). TV actors have been slowly trickling out of the closet but the movie stars? They're all still mum.
Just Jared has snaps of Uma Thurman at the premiere of The Life Before Her Eyes. Trust me when I say that she looks a million times lovelier in the movie. I wish I could say that the movie itself was lovely...
Eli offers up a top ten of tranny movie performances
Charlie's a leaked track from Scarlett Johansson's forthcoming CD. I don't like it as much as the Summertime number we heard last year.

Loving the Ladies
MTV Movies gets some choice quotes from Sigourney Weaver on her role in James Cameron's Avatar.
Reverse Shot pays tribute to Teri Garr in Tootsie. We love her, too. Especially in that.
As Little As Possible, My New Plaid Pants and Low Resolution all pay well deserved tribute to Emma Thompson (she was celebrating her 49th yesterday). We love her, too. Especially in anything.

Ummm...

I'm feeling weirdly anti post-making this morning. So while I do other things, watch Sally Field's Emmy speech. I hope this is not a curse on Brothers & Sisters. Consider: Sela Ward's emmy for Once & Again stayed awfully lonely. I'm not comparing the shows ... just the actress win thing. Once & Again was among television's very finest ever. B&S is more of a 'finest currently' situation with a slight side order of guilt for enjoying it immensely despite its unarguable hysteria about itself and what you might be thinking about it.

And that's all I have to say about the Emmys because I don't watch.

TV and Me

Many of you know that I am suspicious of the small screen. It is true that I don't watch much of it and far prefer heading to the multiplex. But I've been sick again. (My nurse friend thinks I have asthma! yikes. Meanwhile, my best friend thinks I have indoor allergies but he is a skin-cancer-be-damned sun worshipper so that probably plays into his "you spend too much time in your apartment" advice.) This has been like "summer of sick" for me. Never been so frequently sick in my life. So I'm super glad it's Fall. Oh but the point: Sick = TV for me. Very brief thoughts on a few things I've watched this past week:

Grey's Anatomy
Other than the undebatable talents and charm of the ex Mrs. Alexander Payne (Sandra Oh) I can't understand why anybody watches this show. I am forced to "listen" to it regularly and its writing grates on my very last nerve. Perhaps its the delivery by the extremely annoying "sad blonde girl" --that's what my friends call her (they watch it religiously). I think they mean Ellen Pompeo who is just like Renee Zellweger minus the comic gift (so...you can imagine my loathing). I am also sick to death of TV shows that rely on overly precious life lessons learned narration. These shows are not difficult to understand. Do they really need to tell us their obvious metaphors and lessons while showing them?

Six Degrees
I watched this out of curiousity at what they'd do with the concept but I'm not sure they even understand the concept. For instance: Jay Hernandez (me love) meets Erika Christensen (me hate) and falls instantly in love. He spends the rest of the episode trying to find her and at the end he does --they see each other on the subway. That's no degrees of separation. Both times they meet they are face to face and nobody they're connected to is serving as a connection between them. It would have been smarter to call this Six People because essentially all of the characters are connected but in different ways. But that's not what the concept of six degrees of separation is. Plus: boring and obvious. I love about half the actors but I probably wouldn't watch this again.

Desperate Housewives
So. Um. I guess they listened to all the complaints about the second season. The Housewives did slapstick, ate lunch together, had sex (not together. sorry), and seemed a lot more like the season one girls. I "get" the appeal of this show but I'm not a regular viewer and I thought what I saw of last season was almost unforgiveably shoddy in terms of writing. I love Alfre Woodard but that Emmy nomination she received had to be among the worst choices they've made recently (which is saying a lot given that the Emmys are often the most laughable of the big ticket awards shows)

Survivor and The Amazing Race
Other than Project Runway (excellent. genius. addictive) and America's Next Top Model (hilarious, carcrash fascinating) I generally have to wear crosses and cloves of garlic when approaching reality television as it always saps my will to live. I hate the constant redundancy. Scene A: we show you something Scene B: We talk about what we just showed you, Scene C:(after commercial) we talk about what we were just talking about. Scene D: we show you something (and repeat). All the while the editing is so frantic that if you are anything like a discerning viewer you realize that you should never ever ever ever view this genre as anything other than a fascinating case study in film editing as mind control. No conclusion you could ever draw is your own. You haven't seen enough. You've been shown a tiny snippet. Then you've heard several minutes of commentary on that tiny snippet.

But all that said: Yul (on Survivor) is my new imaginary boyfriend. And every single person on Amazing Race I hate because this show somehow beats Runway to the Emmy every year even though it sucks by comparison.

Design Star
An interior design contest. I watched a marathon and I only mention it because it stars my other new imaginary boyfriend (pictured right). Yum.

Brothers & Sisters
I watched this primarily for the return of Calista Flockhart, freed from both Ally McBeal and Harrison Ford apparently. I was surprised to find a whole boatload of watchable actors including double Oscar winner Sally Field and Tom Skerritt, reprising their Steel Magnolias marital act which was somewhat fitting since the other characters called theirs an "iconic romance." I was super happy to see a glimpse of the great Patricia Wettig (of thirtysomething fame) back on television. Sadly, Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Hilary & Jackie), another superb talent was saddled with the clunkiest exposition heavy subplot. B&S is basically a family drama. We haven't seen much of that genre on television lately given the ubiquity of hospitals, crime scenes, and reality programming. It's about a large wealthy and politically split family (half liberal blue / half right-wing red) and it was pretty intense. Some of it felt a bit forced but I was left with the overall feeling that this has a lot of potential as a dramatic series if it finds its groove quickly enough. I'll definitely give it a few weeks to find out.

TV and Me

Many of you know that I am suspicious of the small screen. It is true that I don't watch much of it and far prefer heading to the multiplex. But I've been sick again. (My nurse friend thinks I have asthma! yikes. Meanwhile, my best friend thinks I have indoor allergies but he is a skin-cancer-be-damned sun worshipper so that probably plays into his "you spend too much time in your apartment" advice.) This has been like "summer of sick" for me. Never been so frequently sick in my life. So I'm super glad it's Fall. Oh but the point: Sick = TV for me. Very brief thoughts on a few things I've watched this past week:

Grey's Anatomy
Other than the undebatable talents and charm of the ex Mrs. Alexander Payne (Sandra Oh) I can't understand why anybody watches this show. I am forced to "listen" to it regularly and its writing grates on my very last nerve. Perhaps its the delivery by the extremely annoying "sad blonde girl" --that's what my friends call her (they watch it religiously). I think they mean Ellen Pompeo who is just like Renee Zellweger minus the comic gift (so...you can imagine my loathing). I am also sick to death of TV shows that rely on overly precious life lessons learned narration. These shows are not difficult to understand. Do they really need to tell us their obvious metaphors and lessons while showing them?

Six Degrees
I watched this out of curiousity at what they'd do with the concept but I'm not sure they even understand the concept. For instance: Jay Hernandez (me love) meets Erika Christensen (me hate) and falls instantly in love. He spends the rest of the episode trying to find her and at the end he does --they see each other on the subway. That's no degrees of separation. Both times they meet they are face to face and nobody they're connected to is serving as a connection between them. It would have been smarter to call this Six People because essentially all of the characters are connected but in different ways. But that's not what the concept of six degrees of separation is. Plus: boring and obvious. I love about half the actors but I probably wouldn't watch this again.

Desperate Housewives
So. Um. I guess they listened to all the complaints about the second season. The Housewives did slapstick, ate lunch together, had sex (not together. sorry), and seemed a lot more like the season one girls. I "get" the appeal of this show but I'm not a regular viewer and I thought what I saw of last season was almost unforgiveably shoddy in terms of writing. I love Alfre Woodard but that Emmy nomination she received had to be among the worst choices they've made recently (which is saying a lot given that the Emmys are often the most laughable of the big ticket awards shows)

Survivor and The Amazing Race
Other than Project Runway (excellent. genius. addictive) and America's Next Top Model (hilarious, carcrash fascinating) I generally have to wear crosses and cloves of garlic when approaching reality television as it always saps my will to live. I hate the constant redundancy. Scene A: we show you something Scene B: We talk about what we just showed you, Scene C:(after commercial) we talk about what we were just talking about. Scene D: we show you something (and repeat). All the while the editing is so frantic that if you are anything like a discerning viewer you realize that you should never ever ever ever view this genre as anything other than a fascinating case study in film editing as mind control. No conclusion you could ever draw is your own. You haven't seen enough. You've been shown a tiny snippet. Then you've heard several minutes of commentary on that tiny snippet.

But all that said: Yul (on Survivor) is my new imaginary boyfriend. And every single person on Amazing Race I hate because this show somehow beats Runway to the Emmy every year even though it sucks by comparison.

Design Star
An interior design contest. I watched a marathon and I only mention it because it stars my other new imaginary boyfriend (pictured right). Yum.

Brothers & Sisters
I watched this primarily for the return of Calista Flockhart, freed from both Ally McBeal and Harrison Ford apparently. I was surprised to find a whole boatload of watchable actors including double Oscar winner Sally Field and Tom Skerritt, reprising their Steel Magnolias marital act which was somewhat fitting since the other characters called theirs an "iconic romance." I was super happy to see a glimpse of the great Patricia Wettig (of thirtysomething fame) back on television. Sadly, Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Hilary & Jackie), another superb talent was saddled with the clunkiest exposition heavy subplot. B&S is basically a family drama. We haven't seen much of that genre on television lately given the ubiquity of hospitals, crime scenes, and reality programming. It's about a large wealthy and politically split family (half liberal blue / half right-wing red) and it was pretty intense. Some of it felt a bit forced but I was left with the overall feeling that this has a lot of potential as a dramatic series if it finds its groove quickly enough. I'll definitely give it a few weeks to find out.