My Weekend Fling: Parks and Recreation, Seasons 1 and 2

I watched the pilot of Parks and Recreation when it aired; I wasn't impressed.  Jennie advised me to give it another shot, and reviews I read said it had improved immensely, so I gathered up all my love for Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones (I still maintain that Karen was awesome!) and queued up my Watch Instantly.

So glad I did, because this shite is funny.  The racist Town Hall murals sight gags are completely worth watching the show for.

Those, and the rest of the writing.  Like when Leslie marries the two male penguins.  Or when the whole office goes on a hunting trip.  Or Jerry's mugging.  Or my personal favorite Duke Silver.  I could go on.

From what I can tell, the conceit of this show is "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," because no one's intentions are as good as Leslie Knope's and no one ends up in as many hell-ish situations.  I mean come on, the premise of the show is turning an actual pit into a park, Dante would be all over this.  Or maybe he wouldn't be interested in the bumblings of a small-town's bureaucracy ridden government through the perspective of their Park's Department.  Leslie is unfailingly optimistic in the face of tax-payer antagonism, co-worker apathy, and continual personal embarrassment, but her determination, hard-work, and occasional bouts of drunken-ness prevent her from coming across as either cloying or sanctimonious.

The gem of Parks and Recreation is Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman).  Ron is the head of the P&R department, a breakfast-obsessed loud and proud Libertarian who wants nothing more than to do as little as possible.  He's not just lazy, he is lazy out of principle.  And that is the element that separates Parks and Recreation from The Office: self-awareness.  The characters have their flaws, they make mistakes, and often end up with a mess on their hands, but for the most part, they know their flaws are flaws, that their mistakes are their responsibility, and that they have to clean up their messes.  At this point, particular personality aspects have not devolved into caricature; for example, Tom Haverford's (Aziz Ansari) attempts to pick up women are still viewed and commented upon as creepy and desperate, not jovially dismissed as a fixed and worn affectation.

The only character who is really clueless is Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt, in yet another wonderful dumb-but-lovable-guy role that he does so very very well).  Andy is essentially a kind person, just a little dim. The slow evolution of his relationship with surly and disconnected April (Aubrey Plaza) demonstrates a possibility for development, giving me hope that Andy won't degenerate into a one tick pony whose buffoonish behavior pushes the line of cruelty.

The weak link in this show is Mark Brandnawitz (Paul Schneider), but since he won't be a regular in S3, I don't really feel a great need to spend much time here talking about how Mark was boring.  Boring, boring, boring. Okay, I'm done.

But can I get an amen for Adam Scott's recurring role as Ben Wyatt?  I am in love with this guy, am terribly disappointed that Party Down got cancel, and his character is perfect for Leslie!

So really, is it January yet?

The TV Girl

The Walking Dead: A Show With Bite

Haha, I feel so punny this afternoon.

Okay, I'll stop.  Sorry, I'm sick and I think all my over the counter meds are making me loopy.  If this ends up making no sense, then I'll amend it when I'm not, ya know, on the verge of zombie-ism.

I had a professor who told my American Lit. class that he could write an entire book of analysis on the first sentence of Moby Dick.  This professor has since passed away, so out of respect for the dead, I won't repeat what I actually said about his claim, but I was rather dismissive.  Watching AMC's The Walking Dead last night, I realized that he might have been onto something, because the opening scene of the pilot seemed to be the whole show. (BSG was kind of like this too.)  In near silence, we watch a sheriff make his way through a fly-filled shanty town in search of gasoline, and coming upon a small girl zombie, he shoots her in the head.  In the most unimaginably changed circumstances we will adapt due to the innate human desire to survive, but how well we adapt, who we become in those circumstances, will depend on what core values we retain for the time we considered normal.

But, as they say, the devil is in the details.

The general details of the first three episodes are: the sheriff is Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) who awakens after a shooting to find out that a virus has ravaged the population and created a race of zombies ("walkers").  A nice man and son give him a run down of the situation, point him towards Atlanta, where survivors are gathering in safety and numbers under the benevolent care of the CDC.  Rick makes his way south, radio-ing out to anyone who can hear, which happens to be a camp that tries to warn him not to go to Atlanta, but they get cut off.  The camp is where his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), son Carl, and his partner Shane (Jon Bernthal) are, playing family, because Shane has stepped into Rick's role as husband and father.  Trapped in the zombie over-run Atlanta, Rick is rescued by a group of survivors in the city for supplies (on a mission from the camp) and when they all get trapped, he organizes an escape.  Too bad they leave a truly horrible redneck handcuffed to a pipe on the roof of the building, because no sooner is Rick reunited with his family at the happy camp in the woods, he decides to go back to the city to retrieve roof dude, who it tuns out has cut off his own hand to escape being eaten by zombies.  Lori puts an end to her fling with Shane, who, um, doesn't take it well, much to the detriment of asshole-Ed's face.

So far, this show is just plain cool.  As atmospheric as all AMC shows, but there isn't an imbalance of substance and style.  The zombies are gross, creepy, and perfectly nightmare-ish: the upper-half zombie crawling across the grass that Rick eventually shoots was super nasty.   The dialog is spare, precise, and purposeful: the fear of making too much noise and attracting the walkers puts a special emphasis on what is said and not.  The characters are determined to carry on but aware of the desperation of their situation; the discussion about the missing tools highlighted that while most recognize the necessity of co-operation to survive it doesn't make everyone into happy share-y people.  The whole thing comes together kind of like an excellent monster movie from times gone by: enough gore to make it exciting, enough intellect to make it interesting.  

While it kind of hurts to see her as a (unknowingly) cheating wife, I'm thrilled to see Sarah Wayne Callies again.  I missed her.

I have to say this though, I HATE SHANE.  I might get over this, I might be having an extreme reaction, he may turn into a great character, who knows.  Right now, I am in hate.  He obviously had feelings for Lori beforehand, and he used the aftermath of a plague to act upon them, which is so cowardly.  He told Lori Rick was dead for pete's sake, that is like premeditated creep.  (My conception of Shane's thought process: "The world is coming to an end and surviving would be a total win, but I think my number one priority should be nailing my best friend's wife.")  Now, I'm not saying that Ed didn't need to be dissuaded from abusing his wife and daughter, and that on that level there wouldn't have been a bit of vindictive joy in Shane kicking his ass, that is if Shane's actions had had anything to do with protecting Carol or the other members of the merry-band-in-the-woods!  But it didn't.  Angry at Lori's rejection Shane behaves just like Ed: physically dominating a party not responsible for his disappointment.  In fact, Shane might be worse than Ed, because Shane pretended that what he did was for the greater good, not the selfish brutality of a weak man that it was.  At least Ed is upfront that he is a piece of shit.

But doesn't every show need a character for me to hate?

The TV Girl

Supernatural: One Step Forward, A Step and Half Back

(6.06 "You Can't Handle the Truth" and 6.07 "Family Matters")

The last two episodes of Supernatural have had some good moments, some not so good moments, some pluses, some minuses.  First, the pluses.

I'll admit it, I kinda dig Robo-Sam.  As we now know (though we may have guessed) Sam's body and mind may be here on earth, but his soul is still trapped in a cage in hell with Lucifer and Michael.  And if Sam and Dean work with Gramps Campbell to round up creatures for Crowley, then the new king of hell will make Sam all whole again.  Not only is Soul-less-Sam a little bit awesome, with the willingness to kill with only minor hesitation and all, this is a chance for the show to do something really interesting.  No-Soul-Sam is a separate being from dearly departed Sam Winchester, and that opens a new field of possibility for the show, and I for one hope the writers take advantage.

While I understand and agree that is was necessary for Dean to take his father down off the pedestal, I sort of got choked up when he finally said something good about John after so many seasons.  We've all read the Aeneid, we know heroes cannot carry their fathers on their backs forever, but his desire for his father's respect and affection was his defining motivation for so many years, it seems that without finding some empathetic understanding of his father's strengths and weaknesses, that Dean will always be adrift.  (And doesn't that seem to be the big problem, that while other people have been trying to force him into a role, Dean has been purposeless.)

And I though I have SERIOUS problems with the little old overarching storyline for this season (which I'll get to in a sec) I will not argue with more Mark Sheppard.  I get a little giddy every time he shows up on screen, so fine, let the boys be Crowley's bitches for now.

But make no mistake, I think that Purgatory-is-where-supernatural-creatures-go-when-they-die-and-Crowley-wants-to-find-it is hands down, without a doubt, barring none, THE STUPIDEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED ON THIS SHOW.  Not every episode is the best ("Bugs"), some plot  developments have crossed the campy-line into the shamefully preposterous (Anna's grace is in a tree), but I actually got up and left the room (to get another beer) when Alpha Vamp dropped his knowledge on wee little Sam and Dean.  Not only is it the lamest idea ever (days later I'm still dumbfounded by this choice of storyline), but they made it so frakking obvious how weak it is.  I say the following as a decently intelligent person, a scholar, a TV junkie, and a truly disappointed viewer:
DO NOT ASK SOMEONE IF THEY HAVE READ ONE OF THE GREATEST WORKS OF ART EVER PRODUCED IN HUMAN HISTORY AND THEN "RE-IMAGINE" IT AS ASININE DRIVEL!!!
  Some of us didn't go to cut-rate state schools, we actually read "Purgatorio" and if the show wants to make up it's own definition of Purgatory they are free to do so (as much of a mistake as it is) but leave Dante out of it.

I'm so angry I could spit, and I don't think I realized it until I wrote this.

Yet Little Women taught me that I should not let the sun go down on my anger, so, I will end on a positive note.  How cool was it when that dentist murdered his pervy patient with the drill?

The TV Girl

Supernatural: Season 6, You Need a Little Help from Your Friends.

And as anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows, I consider myself a dear and loving friend to Supernatural.

I fully support Sera Gamble taking over as show-runner.  I will forever love Eric Kripke for the 5 glorious seasons he gave me, but I think that we can all tell from the end of S5 that he was done, ready to say goodbye and move on.  (Despite it's over-the-top sappy-ness, I really liked "Swan Song" and I accept that Chuck is God, even if I wouldn't have done that.)  But the truth right now is that the show is trying to find a new rhythm, and for those of us attached to the old rhythm, this is distressing.  Okay, I'll tone down the drama-queen.  Not "distressing," but rather, vexing.

We are 5 episodes in S6 and so far things have been incredibly uneven.  The plausibility to Sam returning from Hell got stretched a bit too far by the sheer randomness of Samuel Campbell (ya know, their grandfather) being "pulled down" from Heaven.  (WTF?)  The opening sequence in "Exile on Main Street" highlighting Dean's average (and as far as I'm concerned soul-crushing) life with Lisa was well done, but that indicated that they were developing a semi-functional life together, so how on earth are we supposed to remotely believe that Lisa would be cool with him hunting and just showing up when he can.  I mean, seriously?  (And we all saw how well that worked out last episode.)  The opening of "Live Free or Twihard" was probably the best Twilight parody ever, and if they had gone for the funny with the rest of the episode it wouldn't have been so terrible, but they didn't and we were subjected to one of the worst episodes of this show.  (The list now stands: 1)Racist killer truck, 2) Ghost ship, 3) Vampire Dean.)

The best episode so far has been "Weekend at Bobby's" and since Jensen directed it (good job btw dude) we basically got an entire episode devoted to an awesome, but secondary, character.  I'm not complaining, I adore Bobby.  I think it was great to get a picture of his life as every hunter's bitch, and I wanted to high-five him when he chewed out Sam and Dean for being all complain-y about each other, it was a good release of frustration for character, crew, and audience alike.  That episode is the kind of episode that made Supernatural a can't-miss show for me. Both funny and frightening, the emotional focus of the episode fit into the flow of the show, but the story focus was a specific problem that could be finished up by the end of the episode.  It didn't have anything to do with "Alpha" demons, Sam and Dean came through and saved the damsel in distress (aka Bobby), and we were invested in what happened.

Obviously I'm holding onto my hope that Supernatural can work out the kinks and make it through this transition.  Fingers crossed for tonight.

The TV Girl

Terriers: If This Show Gets Cancelled Because People Won't Watch, I Will Be Really Displeased.

I don't think I'm totally out on a limb to say Terriers is the best new show this season.  (Feel free to cast your vote in the comments, but I warn you, I'm pretty sure about this.)  Other people are all into that I-like-being-the-only-one-who-knows-about-cool-shows bullsh*t, I'm not so into that.  First of all, if you really think something is worthy you should want to share it.  Second, because shows with low ratings tend to get cancelled!

Terriers revolves around the messy cases and messier lives of Hank (Donal Logue) and Britt (Michael Raymond-Jones), unlicensed private investigators who just don't know how to say "no" in their own self-interest.  Lest you get any idea about boring white-knights, that's not this show.  Hank is a recovering alcoholic who was fired from the police force, Britt is a (semi-) reformed burglar, and they always take the job for the money, at least initially.   Our heroes are trying to keep their personal affairs from becoming as murky and unpleasant as their professional prospects are quickly becoming, but without too much success.  Hank's ex-wife Gretchen (Kimberly Quinn) might be trying to move on, but Hank isn't exactly ready to let go and Britt's relationship with his vet student girlfriend Katie (Laura Allen) is less perfect than it looks.

I really really don't want this show to get cancelled, and I'll give you my Top 5 reasons why.

1) There just isn't enough noir on TV.
Since we lost Veronica Mars a few years ago (RIP), there really hasn't been a show with a good old-school Maltese Falcon vibe.  A crime-fighting show with an onion-like mystery and a maze of ever shifting alliances is a welcome antidote to the ripped-from-the-headlines earnestness of Law and Order SVU, Criminal Minds, etc.

2) This shite is funny.
Murder, drug overdoses, poisoned land, none of this should be humorous, but  Terriers is proving that it can be.  Hank and Britt spend a great deal of time overtly mocking the bromance concept and they are damn good mockers. The episodic mysteries tend to be on the more silly side (That giant bail jumper? Hilarious!) but without being completely ridiculous (The bank vice president?  Not so hilarious.), so the viewer never feels bogged down by intractable disaster.  Plus, for the most part, the characters are intelligent people (which doesn't mean they always make good choices), so they can follow each other's trains of thought, they can spar, they can expose the irony their lives are mired in.

3) There is a shaddy dude in a tan suit.
Come on, you see a guy at a construction site wearing a tan suit, you have to know what he's up to.  At least I do.

4) The color palette.
Okay, this seems stupid as a recommendation for a show, but I love the look they've achieved: everything is so sun-drenched it's bleached out; Hank's little truck is the cutes p-o-s ever; and the costuming is minimal and genuine (it actually looks like these kinds of people would wear these kinds of clothes).  All of the production components come together to look neither too shinny for the genera nor too stylized for the themes.  As a viewer you can almost taste the salt and corruption in the air.

5) Steph.
The addition of Hank's mentally troubled sister (played by Donal Logue's real-life twin sister Karina Logue) is brilliant.  Steph is literal and forthright, providing wonderful contrast to the other characters' evasiveness and lies of omission.

There you have it, my pitch for Terriers.  If you've been looking for wit and intrigue, you've been given a gift, but I suggest you jump on board NOW before F/X gets chop-happy.

(On a side note, I only watched one episode of The Shield.  I couldn't do it.  But I really like the shows made by the people who made The Shield.)

The TV Girl

PS.

Reason to Watch Terriers 6) Now that he's not on SuckBlood, Michael Raymond-Jones is really hot.

Reason to Watch Terriers 7) The title song is terribly catchy.