This coming week is starting the new television season for most major channels. That means, among other things, that I am no longer going to have any free time whatsoever because I plan on consuming a great host of these shows on a regular basis. I just wanted to talk for a little bit today about the shows I'm currently watching, and which shows I'm most looking forward to, in pseudo-alphabetical order.
Bones:
What can I say? It's just straight up good television. A procedural (which you'll find tend to be the majority of the stuff that I watch.) with engrossing characters, a number of recurring sub-plots, and tons of characters and relationships and interweaving plot threads. This is probably the most serialized show that I watch (with the possible exception of Glee with it's rapid fire twists and turns, which we'll get to later.) The show really hit an emotional height in the last season finale, and I don't think they can really effectively reset the status quo after this one. The writers have really put themselves on shaky ground here, and it's going to take some solid writing to get us to a point where we can keep telling these characters in the normal fashion.
Alternatively, as the show's been building towards it for a while, this could be a huge time of change for the show. We could have the main romantic tension that we've been used to since episode 1 be completely removed and transformed into something completely different. I don't know how the show would develop from there, but there would certainly have to be something to it. I'm excited for either outcome, and of course, to watch Angel as an ex-army sniper.
Castle:
Not surprisingly for someone who's loved Nathan Fillian in Firefly, Dr. Horrible, and Buffy, Castle is near the top of my list. It's not an engrossing show by any means. I don't sit on the edge of my seat waiting for the next plot twist. I'm sitting back and enjoying the ride, which generally tends to be a pretty good one. They've had some good serious episodes before, but on the whole, the show is a comedy dressed like a crime drama, and that's enough to make me watch it.
The opening scenes of this season premiere promise a more explosive season start than we've seen before, but honestly, I'm more than alright with that. The studio wants to make a splash at the start of the season (plus get everything back to par for the course after the end of last season.) More than anything else, Castle relies on that constant status quo. It's not very serialized. You can walk in on most episodes and get the general premise, and it does that very well. The end of last season, while a major turning point for the show, did disrupt that status quo a bit, and now they need to restore it, which I'm sure they'll do by the end of the second week, if not the first. Greatly looking forward to watching this one.
Glee:
I know what you're thinking. Yes. Glee. I love music, I love drama (the more ridiculous, the better.), and I love high school. This show was destined to be a success in my book. Something about it's off-beat humor and it's horribly convoluted story structure really appeal to me on a primal level. The way that it both uses and abused stereotypes brings a smile to my face. Sue makes a great villain too, and I look forward to her horribly offensive quips.
I wouldn't recommend Glee to many other people. I know that Tom (who remains the only comment on this blog. Come on people. I know he's not the only one reading!) doesn't particularity care for it. It's a very niche-audience kind of show, but it's one that I enjoy, and so I'll be waiting for their return next week.
House:
Come on, did you really not see this one coming? It's house. It's wonderful and awesome and has some of the best writing on television. A season or two ago, I was starting to get a little bit sick of it, but really, in the last few months of the last season, every episode has been more and more solid than the one before it. On a whole, the last season of House has been the most solid that the show has ever had – hands down. I'm really thrilled to see if the writers can keep that level of quality up – personally, I doubt it, but as you'll find, I'm an optimist, and hence, am looking forward to it as always.
Now, those are the shows which (to my immediate recollection) are starting up next week that I'm interested in. I'm also in the middle of my first run of Angel. I know I'm quite a bit late to the party on this one, and I've had some major things spoiled to me (Notably the major character death that's coming up. Damn everyone who spoiled that one.) Regardless, I'm halfway through season four and Joss is thrilling me as always. I anticipate finishing the series in a week or two – especially given that the plot is only getting better and better.
Which leaves me in a bit of a predicament with regards to one thing. Sure, I've got a bunch of shows that I'll be watching, but each of then is only like an hour a week, which is much less than the general amount of stuff I watch. With Angel coming to a close, I'm looking for the next thing on the list, and I have some options.
- Warehouse 13 (Watched a few episodes, was passably interested, but got bored. I've been assured that it gets a lot better shortly. A strong contender.)
- Fringe (Got bored after season 1. I'm told that the second season is a lot better though.)
- Some other suggestion from you guys.
So, seriously. I don't know which of those I'm going to go with. I'm kind of ambivalent on the whole thing. What you should do is post a comment and let me know what some of your favorite shows are, so I can watch them and make them some of my favorite shows too. I'm kinda relying on you guys here. Don't let me down. It only takes a minute to type one up, and comments will help me with the writing thing.
I wish I could help you with the whole "what show should I watch?" thing, but since most of the shows I watch are ones you've recommended, I've got nothing for you.
ReplyDeleteWell, almost nothing. Several people have recommended Dexter to me. I haven't gotten around to it yet, so I can't give my own personal opinion, but from what they've told me it's kind of like Bones, but the person committing the murders is also the one solving them? You might like it.
Also, Rizzoli and Isles. It's a summer show, only had one season so far, and I liked it. It's kind of like Bones meets Castle, in my opinion. You may or may not like it.
A lot of the shows you like (Bones, Castle, House) fall into a particular category of solid, character-driven procedurals. Shows like these I enjoy when I manage to catch them, but I can't justify carving time out of my schedule to watch them. They're just not my thing.
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to Glee, which is right up my alley in theory but I just happen to think it's pretty bad.
That said, you should check out FX's Terriers, which premiered last week and fits into a similar category of procedurals to the ones you like. It's been getting some well-deserved critical acclaim, and I might actually end up making time for this one.
Other shows this season that look kind of interesting: The Event and Undercovers, which premiere next week, and The Walking Dead which premieres on Halloween. It's a Zombie show on AMC. What could go wrong?
As for shows you should mainline:
Chuck (seriously, how are you not already a fan? This seems right up your alley)
Stargate Universe (no prior Stargate experience required)
Pushing Daisies (you want off-beat humor? I'll give ya off-beat humor)
Arrested Development (see above)
Human Target (phenomenal action and likable characters)
True Blood (It's addictive as hell)
Warehouse 13 is a kind of fun show but also kind of inconsistent. I watched all of season one but I haven't been following season 2. Fringe is similarly inconsistent, but when it's on its game it's amazing.
Also, Smallville is doing its last season this year, so I might make an effort to catch up.
I might do a similar blog post covering my viewing schedule, which is 17 shows at the moment.
Haven on SciFi is one of their highest rated in-house shows. Caprica is also something worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteNew NCIS, Burn Notice and other USA shows are worth some time and attention.
Boardwalk Empire is also starting this season, and they are right up your punky ally.
Also: The Event is new and has been getting a lot of hype. People are calling it "the new LOST".
ReplyDeleteThe first season of Dexter was pretty good. The title character, Dexter Morgan, works as a blood spatter analyst for Miami PD. In his off time, he's a serial killer. He only kills criminals, however- murders, rapists and so on- according to a set of "rules" he's dubbed "Harry's Code" (Harry being Harry Morgan, Dex's adoptive father, a former cop, now deceased). His sister, Debra Morgan, is also a cop, who gets transferred early on from Vice to Major Case, just in time for them to begin investigating a serial killer who drains the blood from his victims. Plenty of character setup, cliff hangers, and some dark humour tossed in, with a couple of twists tossed in in the last couple episodes of the season.
ReplyDeleteSeason 2 was not as good as season 1. Dexter's body dump is discovered, and of course he needs to ensure that he doesn't get caught. This is where you see more of Dex's darker nature; he doesn't kill because he's a vigilante, he kills because he feels the urge to. He kills criminals to more or less justify his actions. Meanwhile, Dexter's girlfriend Rita suspects Dex is using drugs (like her ex-husband, who is not a nice person). He goes to meetings to appease her, where he meets Layla (I think that's her name), who gets progressively more psycho and obsessive as the season goes on.
Season 3 is not so great. Dex takes on a "partner", who happens to be the district attorney. New killer in town who skins his victims alive before killing them. Dex's partnership starts to go wrong. Meh. I stopped watching it after this season.
I have a thing for crime dramas. My recommendation is Criminal Minds. The show centres around a team of FBI criminal profilers who get called in with the intention of getting inside a criminal's head (usually a serial killer). It's on the darker side compared to other shows in the genre, but it also has Garcia. Your nerd cred needs more Garcia. Garcia is awesome. (And yes, that is Nicholas Brendan in that last clip.)