I don't watch enough TV. It's true. I really should watch more, I know, but it cuts into my YouTube conspiracy theory video time. Conundrum. To remedy the situation, I've been sampling some of the best that TeeVee has to offer. I gather that some of these shows have been around for a while and you may have already seen them, chewed them up and spit them out, but humor me, I'm from France. So, here are my picks of the week.
Ångstrom (or Backstrom, or whatever)
Dwight Shrute plays a disheveled alcoholic detective with an impressive misogynistic and racist line of banter. Refreshingly unPC. But it's cool, because despite his total disregard of regulation, lack of hygiene, poor eating habits and overall self-destructive behavior, he's brilliant. He's a savant. But he solves cases! Think House MD in the Portland PD, sans charm and even more obnoxious.
We also have President Palmer as a fellow detective, a sexy blonde French chick (which means nothing to me--I paper the walls with sexy French chicks), and a cute-as-button redhead who looks about 13. There's an annoyingly ghey character I could do without, but I suppose it's only fair to include him: gheys make up 75-80% of the population and they're criminally underrepresented in the Arts.
Verdict: It's sorta funny. Yeah, I'll give it a shot.
Elementary
I watched the pilot, or the first five minutes of the pilot when it first aired and absolutely, positively loathed it. Another take on Sherlock Holmes, but in NYC, and with a Chinese-American female Watson? puleeeze.
But, through boredom and stupor, I found myself in front an episode one evening not long ago and must now rescind my prior judgement. It's not on the level of the BBC version, but JLM gets the job done.
Verdict: Hooked. Will backlog from season one.
The Man in the High Castle
An Amazon produced adaptation of the eponymous Philip K. Dick novel that I never read but probably will now. Imagine an America that lost the war and has been divided along the Rockies into Japanese/Nazi territories. It boggles the mind.
Verdict: Wunderbar. Dunno when the rest of the episodes will be produced but the pilot was good. Do it right, I'll wait.
Agents of Shield
This one flew completely under my radar and I just happened to stumble on it by accident. While not his best effort, I did detect a faint whiff of that famous Joss Whedon snappy dialog and humor we all crave (you know you do). They seem to promise a string of actor cameos from the films--the chick from How I met Yo Mama popped in the first episode, Samuel L, in another--that could be fun if they do it right. Also, as is his wont, he's cast a winsome young lady in the key role, which makes for easy watching.
There's a very irritating pair of bickering limey genius scientists who suck all the joy out of my life in each scene but since Whedon always kills off the comic relief, I presume I wont have to bear them much longer. That is my hope.
While it's not to the caliber of Buffy or Firefly, at least it seems more watchable than that godawful MK Ultra vehicle he did a few years back. ugh.
Verdict: Kinda meh but I'll give it a chance.
Justified
Well, I followed it this long I may as well walk it to the door. But no goodnight kiss.
Sad that such a promising series has come whimpering to a close this way. It's supposed to be the big climax, the long awaited final confrontation between Raylan and Boyd, but there's no tension in it. It seems like everyone's just going through the motions this season. Even the accents are slipping. I keep hearing hints of Valley Girl creeping into the blond babe's dialog, as if she's already checked out and thinking about her next role. I hope they pick up the pace if they want to go out with a bang. I nodded off in the middle of a few episodes wherein nothing happened worth filming.
Verdict: Whatever.
So, that's it for me in TV. What about you? What are y'all watching to distract you from the ugly and depressing reality that is bearing in on all sides and shows no sign of abating?
Ångstrom (or Backstrom, or whatever)
We also have President Palmer as a fellow detective, a sexy blonde French chick (which means nothing to me--I paper the walls with sexy French chicks), and a cute-as-button redhead who looks about 13. There's an annoyingly ghey character I could do without, but I suppose it's only fair to include him: gheys make up 75-80% of the population and they're criminally underrepresented in the Arts.
Verdict: It's sorta funny. Yeah, I'll give it a shot.
Elementary
I watched the pilot, or the first five minutes of the pilot when it first aired and absolutely, positively loathed it. Another take on Sherlock Holmes, but in NYC, and with a Chinese-American female Watson? puleeeze.
But, through boredom and stupor, I found myself in front an episode one evening not long ago and must now rescind my prior judgement. It's not on the level of the BBC version, but JLM gets the job done.
Verdict: Hooked. Will backlog from season one.
The Man in the High Castle
An Amazon produced adaptation of the eponymous Philip K. Dick novel that I never read but probably will now. Imagine an America that lost the war and has been divided along the Rockies into Japanese/Nazi territories. It boggles the mind.
Verdict: Wunderbar. Dunno when the rest of the episodes will be produced but the pilot was good. Do it right, I'll wait.
Agents of Shield
This one flew completely under my radar and I just happened to stumble on it by accident. While not his best effort, I did detect a faint whiff of that famous Joss Whedon snappy dialog and humor we all crave (you know you do). They seem to promise a string of actor cameos from the films--the chick from How I met Yo Mama popped in the first episode, Samuel L, in another--that could be fun if they do it right. Also, as is his wont, he's cast a winsome young lady in the key role, which makes for easy watching.
There's a very irritating pair of bickering limey genius scientists who suck all the joy out of my life in each scene but since Whedon always kills off the comic relief, I presume I wont have to bear them much longer. That is my hope.
While it's not to the caliber of Buffy or Firefly, at least it seems more watchable than that godawful MK Ultra vehicle he did a few years back. ugh.
Verdict: Kinda meh but I'll give it a chance.
Justified
Well, I followed it this long I may as well walk it to the door. But no goodnight kiss.
Sad that such a promising series has come whimpering to a close this way. It's supposed to be the big climax, the long awaited final confrontation between Raylan and Boyd, but there's no tension in it. It seems like everyone's just going through the motions this season. Even the accents are slipping. I keep hearing hints of Valley Girl creeping into the blond babe's dialog, as if she's already checked out and thinking about her next role. I hope they pick up the pace if they want to go out with a bang. I nodded off in the middle of a few episodes wherein nothing happened worth filming.
Verdict: Whatever.
So, that's it for me in TV. What about you? What are y'all watching to distract you from the ugly and depressing reality that is bearing in on all sides and shows no sign of abating?
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