In praise of TV

[Snarky]

I just wrote in another thread about how I think 2007 was actually a really good year in Hollywood movies. In fact, I've been happy with the quality of film in recent years (2006 gave us Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men, for a start). However, the medium I think is having a real Golden Age this decade is the American TV show.

In an age of falling viewership, with reality shows dominating the ratings, and in the middle of a writer's strike, this may seem an odd claim. However, the lack of new episodes of the shows I usually watch has given me a chance to catch up with stuff I missed, and I've been amazed at how good a lot of it is.

Let's start with The Wire (HBO), which is finally getting the critical recognition it deserves in its final season. The world-in-miniature it has created in its disconcertingly realistic depiction of Baltimore has a wideness of scope and a sharpness of resolution never before attempted, let alone achieved on TV. Each season has often been described as a novel in twelve (or so) installments, and if a crushingly pessimistic Charles Dickens lived today, it's the kind of thing he would write.

The two shows that kept attention away from the The Wire are of course Sopranos and Deadwood (both HBO). Sopranos is well-known, while Deadwood remains more of a cult favorite. While it also presented a society (in this case, a frontier town towards the end of the Wild West period) representing civilization in miniature, its most compelling creation is certainly the villain/anti-hero Al Swearengen (Ian McShane). Shown in the first episode doing something so heinous that it makes Tony Soprano look like an upstanding citizen, Swearengen does not just become a central character on the show. It has the audacity to make him one of the "good guys".

While on the subject of sociopathic main characters, it's hard to avoid Dexter (Showtime, soon to air on CBS), about a likeable serial killer (Michael C Hall) who has channeled his homicidal urges towards making the world a better place. Though the words "lurid" and "pulpy" only begin to describe it, and Hall is clearly the standout in a very variable cast, his charisma somehow carries it off, and the story soon becomes ridiculously addictive, though the second season didn't quite live up to the first one.

Another show about which the same could be said is Veronica Mars (UPN/CW), a witty high-school/detective mashup. The first season was a year-long murder mystery full of twists and turns not seen since Twin Peaks and Murder One. None of the later seasons, though they still remained fairly entertaining, were of the same standard, and by the time it was canceled after Season Three it was probably time to put it out of its misery (despite a desperate but interesting last-ditch proposal to jump several years ahead in time and turn it into an FBI show).

Friday Night Lights (NBC) is still on, but given the ratings, it too may not last. Again, the first season was an outstanding piece of television, delving into life in impoverished small-town Texas, and examining the culture and personalities of hardcore high-school sports. Incredibly, it is compelling even if you have no interest in sports, hate jocks, and think Texas might as well be an alien planet. The second season has been floundering, but that doesn't take away from the original achievement.

Talking of alien planets, there's Battlestar Galactica (SCI-FI). Another show with a history of uneven quality (almost unavoidable when episodes have to be produced by a team of writers according to an inflexible schedule), at its best it is both a deeply personal drama and a grand metaphor for current world politics. A couple of years ago several mainstream critics pronounced it the best show on television, which must surely be a first for an unapologetic science-fiction series (complete with space ships and shiny metal suits).

Most of the shows mentioned so far have been pretty grim. Moving now to lighter fare, Pushing Daisies (ABC) is finally a hit for Bryan Fuller, who previously created two much-lauded but little-watched gems in Dead Like Me (Showtime) and Wonderfalls (Fox). Whether that has anything to do with the move from alienated slackers to chipper romantics as his main characters I don't know. All his shows share a core of dark, wickedly funny comedy, and of pathos in the universal search for someone to love.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX) is darker still, and more absurd. This little show seems to be steadily gaining cult status, and it wouldn't surprise me if it were to explode into popular consciousness soon. Essentially a semi-surreal sitcom--similar perhaps to Stella (Comedy Central)... another great show, though it only lasted a half season--it's distinguished by its characters' complete lack of any sympathetic or redeeming characteristics.

Sunny has sometimes been called a working-class Arrested Development (FOX). It's hard to describe the genius of Arrested Development to someone who hasn't seen it, but over four seasons it created such a thick web of running jokes, in-jokes, one-off jokes and one-liners that every episode just becomes funnier and funnier each time you watch it. And it launched the career of Michael Cera, who has essentially been repeating the same part to great effect in two of 2007's funniest movies.

OK, this is running long, but I would be remiss if I talked about TV comedy without mentioning The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (both Comedy Central). Together, they have redefined late-night talk shows, making them funnier, more relevant and more heartfelt, by taking as their main theme the absurdity of our world, and especially of politics and the media.

When I sat down to think about recent TV shows, I decided to make the year 2000 my starting date. Partly because the current decade is a useful categorization, but mostly because it would allow me to include Freaks and Geeks (NBC). This fantastic show (created by Paul Feig, produced by can-do-no-wrong Judd Apatow) is a high-school comedy/drama about a girl who wants to shed her overachiever, mathlete identity and hang out with the cool, freaky kids. (Shades of My So-Called Life.) It also covers her younger brother and his geeky friends, and their parents. Set in 1980, it's probably the truest and most hilarious show ever created about growing up in any time period.

Apart from these modern classics, this decade has seen a bunch of fine shows. The list is too long to talk about each one of them, so I'll just start listing: Gilmore Girls, 30 Rock, The Office, Six Feet Under, Flight of the Conchords, Alias, Weeds, House and How I Met Your Mother.

I'm not a big fan of Lost, Heroes or 24, but I realize they have their fans. I haven't got around to watching The Shield, Big Love, Boston Legal, Joan of Arcadia, Band of Brothers, Ugly Betty, Rome, The Riches, or Desperate Housewives, but I have heard that they're all good (at least in parts or intermittently).

So if someone says watching TV is a waste of time, I'd say they're watching the wrong sort of TV. There is plenty of great stuff out there, and with DVD box sets, online streaming, DVRs, and P2P sites, it's more accessible than ever before. It's easy enough to complain about how everything sucks nowadays, so it should be pointed out that some things are better than they've ever been.

[Miez]

Good article! but you left out Firefly. Booh!

[Nostradamus]

This is totally gonna become a huge thread of people going "oi what about series this and that" and praise their favorite series to the end.

I just like to add that the best TV today, at least in the Sci-Fi department, comes from England. And not enough people know about it because most people outside Britian tend to go with the mainstream american series.
Doctor Who, Torchwood and Primeval are the series I love the most nowadays and all are BBC productions. So give them respect and try them out.

P.S. you mentioned the Sci-FI network and "Battlestar Galactica", don't forget the Stargate franchise series', imo much better.

[Snarky]

Yeah, I left out all of those because I don't think any of them are very good. Sorry, guys.

[Renal Shutdown]

I was going to make a comment on American TV in my movie thread, but length was getting to be an issue, so I omitted it.  I was going to say TV was film's autistic brother, Film played by Tom Cruise and TV by Dustin Hoffman.  Mostly dumb, but some moments of genius.

There's been some real gems on TV recently, but considering how many channels there are, pumping out stuff to watch 24/7, it's a case of having to cut through the chaff to find the decent ones.  Personally, I download all the shows I want, as I now don't own a TV.  I had TV, couldn't find stuff to watch, so I got lots more channels just to find there were lots more things I didn't like.  The Internet has made picking and choosing for my tastes so much easier.

Out of your To Watch list, I'd definitely recommend Ugly Betty.  At first, I avoided it, thinking it would be another typical dumb sitcom, but eventually wandered in to a room when my mum was watching it.  I ended up staying for the whole episode, and quite a few more in the weeks afterwards.

As for things not mentioned, that I enjoyed I'll throw out the following:

The 4400 - Alien abductees all come back at once, with swish powers. (Now cancelled, Heroes was more popular, I guess).
Jericho - Nukes wipe out most of the US, small town deals with it.  (Just picked up for re-runs on Sci-Fi).
Supernatural - Buffy-a-Like road trip crossed with AC/DC.
Reaper - Comedy about a bounty hunter for the devil.  Made me laugh, which is rare for recent comedies.
Kyle XY - Genius boy found in woods, no memory, no belly button, and taken in by a psychologist and family.  Cute in it's own way.

Also of note, most shows have now "Shutdown", due to the WGA's issues with the AMTPT.  Hopefully everything will come back fine after the strike, with no long term damage.  (Though 24 is postponed indefinitely, Lost is down to 16 episodes not 20+, and Heroes had to shoot an alternative ending).

Looks like newer shows might not even get made, either:
http://www.tv.com/story/10732.html?tag=story_list;title;9


Nostradamus:
Doctor Who's okay at a push, with the camp acting having a precedent, but it's gone from serials to one off episodes.  I'm personally a fan of the longer plots.  The FX are still cheap looking and the scripts are still hit and miss.
Torchwood is a cheap ass spin off, that includes exciting things like Welsh accents, man-love and Dr Who cast-off scripts.  I'm yet to sit through a whole episode without having to pause for a break.
Primeval has Antony Lee Potts, and no other decent factors.  He's only good as he's playing his typical slightly dim-witted youthful assistant he's played before.  (Also, it's not BBC).

British Sci-Fi hasn't been good for years.  Like Space 1999, or UFO, etc.  (British TV in general is pretty weak recently, and comedies have suffered the biggest drop in quality).

[Nostradamus]

First of all Renal a Doctor Who episode today is twice the length of the original series' episodes, and many times there are serials of 2 episodes in today's Doctor Who which equals the 4 episodes per serial in the original series. So here's one point of yours proven wrong. I can't understand how the hell you think the effects are cheap and except one episode I was immersed in the story of each one of them. Same goes for Torchwood, they have great plots and very good acting. Primeval has a good main story going on with a good sub plot going on which is very good and most other actors are doing a great job.

I'm not taking your opinions seriously on these series at all because according to your list of shows you watch only the generic mainstream american shows, shows that with the exception of Reaper which I also like very much, have a too generic unoriginal concept plot, boring unimaginative plots and subpar acting.

Now this shouldn't be a thread where people bash other people's favorites but your bashing of my series is ridiculous to me concerning what you offer as alternatives.
This reminds me why I don't post here much anymore, not as much as I used to 7 years ago. No respect of other people's opinions or tastes left here anymore with the newer crowd.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Respect is a two-way street, Nostradamus, and if someone's negative opinion of a television show really bothers you that much then I honestly think you need to take a look at your priorities.  It really boggles my mind when people get up in arms about someone not liking a show/game/book/whatever someone else likes when that person most likely had nothing to do with its creation.  I could understand feeling slighted if it was something you personally put effort into creating, but feeling personally attacked when someone doesn't like something made by somebody else?  Ridiculous!

[Lamak]

So if someone says watching TV is a waste of time, I'd say they're watching the wrong sort of TV.

No... No. No. No, no, no, no. No. No, no, no, no, no... No.

If someone says watching american TV is a waste of time, they are surely not watching french TV. Even the worst american show would be far better than our best one (welcome to a new level of crappiness)

[Huw Dawson]

First series of Torchwood was pretty aweful. Too many character imbalances.

This series looks to be a cracker, to be honest. Series One is never the best series of something. Case in point is The Simpsons or Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Which gets suprisingly good for mainstream sci-fi towards the end! :o)

- Huw

[Renal Shutdown]

Nostrodamus:

I wasn't aiming to attack you personally in my posts, I was merely trying to point out that I'm personally not a fan of British TV anymore.  There's plenty of American series I dislike too, but I wasn't going to mention ones that had previously been mentioned, just add a few that people might not have seen that I watch.

As for FX, Dr Who is the flagship Sci-Fi program for the BBC, who have always putting up the TV licence fee, and getting money from sales, and have recently said they'd cut the number of new programs and make air more re-runs: IE have cash to spend.  The FX aren't that great, they wouldn't look out of place on the Sci-Fi channel's cheap TV movies.  Mostly amateurish CGI, or rushed looking prosthetics.  My point is, considering how much they could easily spend, they cut corners where-ever possible and it shows on screen.

Primeval has better FX in my opinion, and most likely costs less to make.

Again, I apologise if you took offence, as it was not my intent.

[Nostradamus]

Apology accepted.
I just feel you could have listed your favorite series without bashing others.
As for the effects, for Primeval they are made by Impossible Pictures, the same company that made the Walking With... series, and while they are very realistic and so great in quality the production is very very expensive, that's why there were only 6 episodes in season 1.  (Huw Dawson, note the correct term is first season, not first series. All the seasons make one series).
I don't agree with you about the quality of effects on Doctor Who, but let's say you're right, I think the effects are not the major point on which the series should be judged. I'm still watching the old Doctor Who series (4th Doctor, Tom Baker, currently) and THERE the effects were really crappy, even funny at points,but I still love and enjoy it immensly because of the great plots, great dialogue, great acting. That's really more important then the visual aspect. And in the current Doctor Who series, maybe the effects aren't as great as Impossible Pictures or LOTR quality but they are sufficient for a TV series that's very well written and has superb plots and acting. So even if the effects could be better, that's not the main point.
I'll always prefer something that's well written with a strong plot and great acting and not very great effects over something that is outstanding visually with state of the art effects but with a crappy boring plot and bad acting.

[Snarky]

I was going to make a comment on American TV in my movie thread, but length was getting to be an issue, so I omitted it.  I was going to say TV was film's autistic brother, Film played by Tom Cruise and TV by Dustin Hoffman.  Mostly dumb, but some moments of genius.

There's been some real gems on TV recently, but considering how many channels there are, pumping out stuff to watch 24/7, it's a case of having to cut through the chaff to find the decent ones.  Personally, I download all the shows I want, as I now don't own a TV.  I had TV, couldn't find stuff to watch, so I got lots more channels just to find there were lots more things I didn't like.  The Internet has made picking and choosing for my tastes so much easier.

Exactly. The amount of crap that is out there doesn't really matter any more. It used to be that you pretty much had to watch whatever was on when you wanted to watch TV, so the proportion of good/bad programming was critical. But these days, with all the ways I mentioned to get hold of programs on your own terms (DVRs, DVD box sets, iTunes, Internet streaming, P2P, ...), and with plenty of ways to find the good stuff, the absolute amount of quality shows is more important. There's only so much TV one person can watch, anyway, and these days you can fill a full TV-viewing schedule with outstanding pieces of television. You never even have to see any of the crap.

(Huw Dawson, note the correct term is first season, not first series. All the seasons make one series).

Actually, in England they say "series" for what Americans call a "season". (Check this, for example.)

[Huw Dawson]

I was thinking about good TV over the last few years, and I am very suprised you didn't mention Life on Mars. That was not only well scripted individually, but the overall "is he in a coma?" plotline is so well scripted. Best written final episode I've seen in a while.

Also, I'm also supprised that nobody has mentioned House, it being my favorite American drama for several years.

If I recall anymore, I'll post em up.
- Huw

[Nostradamus]

(Huw Dawson, note the correct term is first season, not first series. All the seasons make one series).

Actually, in England they say "series" for what Americans call a "season". (Check this, for example.)

Ah, so that's where it came from, jolly good England. Well it still sounds wrong and weird.

[Obi]

Ah, so that's where it came from, jolly good England. Well it still sounds wrong and weird.

YOU sound wrong and weird! So nurr!

[Nostradamus]

OK mr. smart, if one season = series, what do you call all the seasons together, what the rest of the world calls a series?

[Huw Dawson]

A "Show".

So Nurr.

- Huw

[Nostradamus]

Point taken. I still prefer season though.

This thread is getting silly ..