FEELINGS, amirite? And Sunday is an excellent day to start. I'm sorting these into categories, but unlike my movie previews, which are then organized chronologically, I am sorting TV shows by order of personal significance. You'll see.
Today's post contains spoilers up to the current seasons of The Good Wife, Once Upon a Time, and The Mentalist. It also contains non-spoilery discussion of Bob's Burgers, and The Walking Dead.
Sundays
Keeping Current
These are shows that I endeavor to keep up on, even though the urgency might be more intense for some than others.
- The Good Wife (fifth season, 9/29)
THIS. CAST. I CANNOT EVEN.
The other week, I had a discussion with Tony, Amelia, and Fernando about what our best/favorite TV shows were, and predictably, I froze. So many choices! So many genres! But wait, no. The Good Wife is the best show. I time-shift most things I watch--I always forget I can't rewind live TV (no DVR), so I wander off during commercials and miss bits--but I watched last week's episode in real-time, I was so ANXIOUS. The Good Wife, like its titular character, Alicia Florrick, is a slow burn, but it delivers some amazing conflagrations when given time. Tensions and doubts that were sown two, three, four seasons ago all twisted together in one episode, and it was heartbreaking and spectacular.
The Good Wife started out with the image of a politician's wife, humiliated and frosty, standing behind her husband as he confessed to infidelities at a press conference. The first season gave us Alicia Florrick, going back to practice law after her husband went to jail, and the way she balanced her personal and professional life, and how she couldn't quite separate them, especially in the public eye. In the following seasons, it's shown how she's grown cannier and more cynical, all while grasping the ideals that used to keep her centered. And it's not all about her, either--the characters are rich, and they all have their own agendas and motivations, and there are never any clear good guys or bad guys. It's beautiful.
And this cast. THIS CAST. There have been a couple of weird miscasts and/or subplots, but overall, I've never seen anything short of impressive from the regulars or the recurrings. Everybody is complex, and everyone is conflicted. And everyone is passionate, and I love it. Last week's episode, "Hitting the Fan," marked a drastic shift in the show dynamics, and I have NO IDEA what might happen next. How often can we say that about television? Usually, I catch this show on Monday afternoons via OnDemand, but I...I might watch tonight's episode live, too.
- Bob's Burgers (fourth season, 9/29)
I resisted Bob's Burgers for a while, despite critical acclaim and the involvement of Jon Benjamin (Archer of Archer), because I didn't like the animation style. And (shhhh) I have never been a huge fan of The Simpsons, so appeals that mentioned how similar the two shows were held little sway for me. Then, this summer, after I had been properly traumatized by a Twin Peaks mini-marathon, a friend sat me down and made me watch "Synchronized Swimming" and "Burgerboss," and they were amazing. Just, absurd and heartfelt and layered. I loved them, and so I watched all that Netflix had to offer, and then all the rest of the internet had squirreled away.
Bob's Burgers is about a weird, loving family running a burger joint that's just barely solvent. And they are so, so weird, and it's great, because there's no drive to fix or conform. Tina's reaction to puberty is the truest thing I have seen on TV ever--she isn't so much filled with drama as she is filled with IMAGINATION, and she responds to emotional onslaughts by lying down on the floor, groaning. Gene is loud and demanding and generous and loud. Louise is a terrifying impatient genius sociopath and THE BEST EVER. And their parents, Bob and Linda, are goofy and neurotic and proud, and they've figured out ways to raise this weird brood that aren't constricting. They love each other so much. It's absurd, but wonderful.
I've been keeping up with the episodes via Hulu Plus--not an immediate must-watch, but definitely something I try to watch in the same week it's aired.
- Once Upon a Time (third season, 9/29)
Oh, this show. I watched all of the first season two summers ago. Then I watched all of the second season this August. It's been pitched as the fairy tale version of Lost (as the makers and several of the actors are a part of that legacy), but it's kind of bland and time-killing. Great moments, great imagery, with a good handful of actors I like (Lana Parilla, who plays Evil Queen Regina, I will love forever because of Swingtown), but the necessary focus on "happily ever after" means that I kind of want to smack half of the characters all of the time.
But, things I enjoy: Red Riding Hood comes from a family of WEREWOLVES. Peter Pan is a kidnapper of children. Rumplestiltskin can't quite manage to be a good father, and the Evil Queen is constantly trying to earn her child's love. Mulan is tragically in love with Sleeping Beauty, and Belle's amnesiac self is mean and really, really good at billiards. People's hearts are ripped out on a regular basis.
This is a show that I have on while I fold laundry. Usually, I let a handful of episodes queue up on Hulu before I start watching. Right now I'm two episodes behind. I'll get to them.
- Masters of Sex (first season, 9/29)
This show is on Showtime, and one of the few that I can't find to stream anywhere. The internet provided me with the pilot episode, though, and it is SO GOOD. It's a period piece based on the story of William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, a pair of researchers who did some groundbreaking research about human sexuality during a time when nobody was willing to fund research on it. I wanted to watch the show because Lizzy Caplan is sublime, but seriously, it's amazingly good. There is a lot of sex happening, as one would expect from a Showtime show about sex research, but it's literally essential to the plot and characterizations. The argument the characters have, and that is being made by the show, is that we need to be able to talk about a vital part of humanity, and having some SCIENCE would be handy.
The major comparison I've seen is to Mad Men, and for good reason--the aesthetics are similar, as is the mood. Where Mad Men is claustrophobic, however (I gave up on it after the first season, despite its obvious quality), Masters of Sex is spiced with agoraphobia. There's SO MUCH to learn, and so many borders undefined. While we, from this point in time, might find some of their views/beliefs quaint, it's also sobering to realize that a lot of things haven't changed. What we can show, and what we can talk about, are still policed constantly. What the show pokes at is, well, why?
As I said, this show isn't easy to find if you don't subscribe to Showtime. I haven't decided whether I'll go to the trouble of torrenting, but I definitely want to keep watching.
Catching Up Later
These are shows I either used to watch, or want to watch, but am putting on the backburner.
- The Mentalist (sixth season, 9/29)
According to commercials, it is FINALLY the season of Red John. Which is weird, because when I stopped watching, like, a season and a half ago, Red John was totally caught and shot. It was a big thing! A moral quandary! So I've clearly missed some stuff.
The Mentalist is a quirky crime procedural, which means there aren't a lot of surprises, and we keep watching because we like the characters. Like a hangout sitcom, but with murder! Seriously, though, I dig procedurals, not because I like the fake-non-twists, nor because I crave predictability. What procedurals show off, in ways that half-hours and more traditional dramas don't, is the competence of professionals in their daily habitat. Sure, it's exaggerated, and sure, the DRAMA of the shows are often based on the characters making mistakes, but these are people that laser-focus on their work, that is something I dig.
I probably need to do a whole post on procedurals sometime, but all that said: I will catch up with The Mentalist eventually, if only because of my deep and abiding love for Kimball Cho.
- The Walking Dead (fifth season, 10/13)
I have a deep and abiding fear of zombie films and shows. I have watched the first two episodes of this show, months apart, and experienced nightmares each time. That said, those were two really good episodes, and I will continue to watch the show, off and on, in broad daylight amongst people who will band together with me in case of a zombie apocalypse.
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