Well, most of us, as far as I know. Anyone heard from Rywalt in a while? (I kid, I kid.) Some quick observations about televisual stuff:
- I begin to suspect that Glee creator Ryan Murphy has a split personality. Evil Ryan Murphy loves to create shows stocked with shrill, hateful stereotypes at which he can point and laugh, take cheap shots, and feel smugly superior. He then makes them do inane things in the name of ginning up cheap drama. Good Ryan Murphy loves to peel back those characters' vile and aggravating facades to reveal the honest humanity beneath, in subtle, impressive, and occasionally heart-tugging ways.
Evil Murphy seemed to be winning the coin toss in Glee's initial episodes -- apparently, deciding to start an early '90s cover band magically turns you into a total jerk, but only for an hour or so -- but Good Murphy's been coming back strong lately. And for a show that proudly tries to be a bastion of sweetness and light, last night's long-overdue confrontation between nice-guy music teacher Will Schuester and his godawful wife Terri about the pregnancy she'd been (lamely and improbably) faking was ugly and frightening in all the very best ways. I just wish the show would at least occasionally remember that the minority members of its cast, you know, exist.
At least Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester is flat-out awesome, a walking cauldron of leathery, tracksuited malice in human form. Consistently hilarious, and with believable and almost sympathetic motives beneath her cartoon villainy, she seems to be gunning hard for a Best Supporting Actress Emmy this year -- and deservedly so.
- The folks behind USA's White Collar seem to be taking the "amiable" part of the network's "amiable procedurals with larger-than-life characters" mission a bit too much to heart. I only wish the show's plots, characterization, and dialogue were as snappy as Matthew Bomer's wardrobe. The writers seem too content to let con man Neil Caffrey coast on Bomer's innate charm and near-preposterous good looks, rather than giving him a personality beyond, "I steal stuff! And I'm handsome!" (Seriously, for a guy hellbent on finding his missing girlfriend, the dude will flirt with a seemingly endless parade of hot ladies at the drop of a vintage '50s Sinatra-style hat.)
I like Tim DeKay's grumbly, frumpy, regular-Joe FBI guy, and he and Bomer have good rapport. But The Middleman's Natalie Morales is pretty much wasted as Generic Attractive Lady Who's Only in the Show for the Rakish Antihero to Banter With. I keep wishing her earnest, Eisenhower-jacketed employer from her previous series would turn up to spirit her off to solve some far more exciting case that didn't involve, I don't know, forged bearer bonds or something.
I hear rumbles that a big swerve is coming in next week's fall finale. If it's what I think it is, good. The show needs a shot of adrenalin, and some actual wit and verve. It wants to be champagne and caviar, but it comes across more like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
- Community keeps getting better every week, combining insane hilarity, unexpected character development, and startlingly effective moments of real pathos. And if you missed Danny Pudi's dead-on impersonation of Christian Bale's Batman in the Halloween episode, get thee to Hulu posthaste.
- Good shows in need of your viewership are returning to the airwaves this week. Joss Whedon's DOA Dollhouse begins to burn off its final nine episodes Friday, and if history -- and its last two top-notch episodes -- have taught us anything, it's that Whedon shows tend to get really good right before they're prematurely cancelled. Also, the show is now fortified with your recommended weekly allowance of Summer Glau, which is never a bad thing. And ABC's awesome, ratings-challenged Better Off Ted returns to a somewhat dismal time slot after whatever's left of Scrubs. It's funny. You should watch it. Case closed.
- I begin to suspect that Glee creator Ryan Murphy has a split personality. Evil Ryan Murphy loves to create shows stocked with shrill, hateful stereotypes at which he can point and laugh, take cheap shots, and feel smugly superior. He then makes them do inane things in the name of ginning up cheap drama. Good Ryan Murphy loves to peel back those characters' vile and aggravating facades to reveal the honest humanity beneath, in subtle, impressive, and occasionally heart-tugging ways.
Evil Murphy seemed to be winning the coin toss in Glee's initial episodes -- apparently, deciding to start an early '90s cover band magically turns you into a total jerk, but only for an hour or so -- but Good Murphy's been coming back strong lately. And for a show that proudly tries to be a bastion of sweetness and light, last night's long-overdue confrontation between nice-guy music teacher Will Schuester and his godawful wife Terri about the pregnancy she'd been (lamely and improbably) faking was ugly and frightening in all the very best ways. I just wish the show would at least occasionally remember that the minority members of its cast, you know, exist.
At least Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester is flat-out awesome, a walking cauldron of leathery, tracksuited malice in human form. Consistently hilarious, and with believable and almost sympathetic motives beneath her cartoon villainy, she seems to be gunning hard for a Best Supporting Actress Emmy this year -- and deservedly so.
- The folks behind USA's White Collar seem to be taking the "amiable" part of the network's "amiable procedurals with larger-than-life characters" mission a bit too much to heart. I only wish the show's plots, characterization, and dialogue were as snappy as Matthew Bomer's wardrobe. The writers seem too content to let con man Neil Caffrey coast on Bomer's innate charm and near-preposterous good looks, rather than giving him a personality beyond, "I steal stuff! And I'm handsome!" (Seriously, for a guy hellbent on finding his missing girlfriend, the dude will flirt with a seemingly endless parade of hot ladies at the drop of a vintage '50s Sinatra-style hat.)
I like Tim DeKay's grumbly, frumpy, regular-Joe FBI guy, and he and Bomer have good rapport. But The Middleman's Natalie Morales is pretty much wasted as Generic Attractive Lady Who's Only in the Show for the Rakish Antihero to Banter With. I keep wishing her earnest, Eisenhower-jacketed employer from her previous series would turn up to spirit her off to solve some far more exciting case that didn't involve, I don't know, forged bearer bonds or something.
I hear rumbles that a big swerve is coming in next week's fall finale. If it's what I think it is, good. The show needs a shot of adrenalin, and some actual wit and verve. It wants to be champagne and caviar, but it comes across more like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
- Community keeps getting better every week, combining insane hilarity, unexpected character development, and startlingly effective moments of real pathos. And if you missed Danny Pudi's dead-on impersonation of Christian Bale's Batman in the Halloween episode, get thee to Hulu posthaste.
- Good shows in need of your viewership are returning to the airwaves this week. Joss Whedon's DOA Dollhouse begins to burn off its final nine episodes Friday, and if history -- and its last two top-notch episodes -- have taught us anything, it's that Whedon shows tend to get really good right before they're prematurely cancelled. Also, the show is now fortified with your recommended weekly allowance of Summer Glau, which is never a bad thing. And ABC's awesome, ratings-challenged Better Off Ted returns to a somewhat dismal time slot after whatever's left of Scrubs. It's funny. You should watch it. Case closed.
