It’s time for the ever-present harbinger of the summer, the end of the television season. By the end of this week, pretty much every show I watch will have wound up its season (or at least, it’s half of a season) and next Tuesday the Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced, no doubt snubbing many deserving shows in favor of predictable staples.
I was a was a somewhat disgruntled viewer going into this year’s tv season, largely due to my dearly departed Veronica Mars. I also made a decision to try to limit the new shows I was going to watch the season so as not end up with a slew of shows that planted firmly in front of the television at all hours. I selected three new shows that I would add to my schedule. If these shows ended up sucking, I would stop watching them and would not use it as an excuse to start watching something else. I had not accounted for the writers’ strike or the increasing trend of mid-season replacement shows, so come January this did get a bit fuzzy. And for the curious, the three new shows I decided on were Chuck, Reaper and Pushing Daisies.
This roller coaster of a television season has brought with it some incredibly ripe, as well as slightly bruised fruit. I have an odd sense of discomfort when I look at the list of shows I watched and realize that all will be returning next year. I have become so accustomed to throwing my love into shows that live on the bubble that this seems incomprehensible. I do think that the strike definitely contributed to this embarrassment of riches, as the chopped up schedule meant that, after the winter sabbatical, there were a lot less choices for viewers to make and they ended up looking in new places for things to watch.
So now I’m going to take a look back at the shows I watched this year. Today’s post will cover the Monday shows (How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, Heroes, Weeds, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), the next post will discuss Tuesday and Wednesday shows (Reaper, The Riches, Pushing Daisies, Law & Order, Top Chef) and will not go up until after the Top Chef recap and the final post will cover Thursday through Sunday shows (Lost, Eli Stone, Scrubs, Battlestar Galactica, Law & Order: Criminal Intent) and will not go up until after this Friday’s episode of Battlestar Galactica. And with that, let’s begin!
How I Met Your Mother
I have begun to be resigned to the reality that HIMYM will never have the recognition it deserves. I don’t get why they constantly struggle with ratings while Two and Half Men is a lock for renewal every year. Mother succeeds in the daunting task of giving a refreshing look at what is, a fairly standard sitcom formula of a group of buddies looking for love and happiness in the Big Apple. I have found that with every season, this show gets better. Every year they find news way to play with the gimmick of the show (if you don’t watch, the premise is that the main character is telling his kids – 30 years from now – how he came about meeting their mother, so it’s technically all flashbacks from the perspective of this one guy). The Slapsgiving episode was a great example of this, in which Robin brought her new, older boyfriend to Thanksgiving and, because her slightly bitter ex is the one telling the story, older becomes old and the part is played by an elderly actor (how much fun do you think that guy had with that part). The Marshall and Lily plotlines could have easily suffered since they were pretty drama-free this year, but they actually got to have a lot of funny B stories that offered Allyson Hannigan many opportunities to show that she’s an amazingly funny lady. I’ve loved seeing a more tame, adorable side of Sarah Chalke, but I worry that the extension of Scrubs for another season will limit her availability to the Mother crew. And while I saw it coming from a mile away, I’m all for the Barney/Robin flirtation. I think it’ll add an interesting layer to the show’s most enjoyable character. But of course the big question, will season four bring us more Robin Sparkles goodies? We wait with baited breath.
Chuck
Chuck began with so much promise and under delivered for several episodes until, it seemed, the creators realized that what they were doing was much more comedy than it was action. Once that clicked, the show became much less of a guilty pleasure and instead, just pure pleasure. As a self-professed geek, the nerd humor in this show is custom-made for someone like me (actually it’s possibly made for people a hair geekier than me) and I eat it up all the time. I’m not looking for nerd chic to go the way of the dodo anytime soon. At the heart of this show is its star, Zachary Levi, who brings a sparkling charm to the title character. He’s just so darn likable and incredibly easy to root for and it’s easy to understand why Chuck has such devoted group of friends and family that anchor him to real life. The whole, he’s got a computer full of government secrets in his head plot is absolutely far-fetched, but it is because they sell the realistic aspects of the show so strongly that we buy into this concept. And then there’s Adam Baldwin. As a Joss Whedon devotee, it should be no surprise that his presence in this show was a major influence in my choice to watch it. In that sense, I was never disappointed. Baldwin’s Casey is a close cousin to his Firefly character Jayne. He manages to embody the comedy/action essence of the show. Chuck is really just good fun.
Heroes
Like many, I was underwhelmed by this year’s abbreviated season of Heroes. But unlike many, I it didn’t bother me that much. For me, the biggest disappointment was that the show was forced to come to a close just when it seemed to be getting back on track. Many seemed annoyed by the addition of so many new cast members, but for me this only really held true for the wonder twins Micha’s cousin (who could have been a good character, if they would have given her more to work with) and, oh yeah, Claire’s boyfriend (so forgettable, that I actually didn’t remember him until a few sentences later). I was, on the other hand, very happy with the inclusion of David Anders (Adam Monroe/Kensai) and Kristen Bell (Elle). True, the Hiro in ancient Japan storyline was too long (even moreso in a short season). True, scattering the heroes to the wind after they had spent an entire season finding each other was a dumb move. I could probably come up with several more missteps, but I’d rather focus on the things I liked about (plus, it’s been awhile and my memory’s a little worse for the wear). While slow (again), the Peter plotline did manage to be pretty engaging and he came off as way less whiney than last season. I dug a lot of the Matt stuff, and not just because I’m a Grunberg fan. His subtle turn to the dark side should prove to be very interesting next season. I mean, who wasn’t creeped out by him psychically commanding his adopted daughter to eat her cereal like she was his little guinea pig. I get chills just thinking about it. Bob and Elle are a fun foil for Claire and Noah, especially since the latter father/daughter duo was pretty yawn-tastic this season. In general, we seem to be getting into some deep Heroes mythology and I’m all for it. I’m anxious to see where the next chapter will go, especially because I think the creators have definitely learned some lessons after this rocky second outing, and they’ve certainly have plenty of time to think about them.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I’m not sure I would have watched Sarah Connor if it hadn’t started in the midst of the strike desert. I was certainly intrigued to see Summer Glau throw herself into the role of John Connor’s newest robot protector. Really, that was my main motivation. And now that it will be scheduled against HIMYM and Chuck and I only have the ability to record from two antennas, I’d say that I’m about 99.9% certain that this will be getting jettisoned from my viewing schedule. Terminator offered up nothing truly offensive to my tv viewing sensibilities, but it didn’t challenge me either. Everything was just so darn mediocre. After nine episodes, I was left wondering why they had bothered to re-boot this franchise, because they hadn’t really brought anything new to it in my estimation.
Weeds
I did a marathon run of the DVDs of seasons one and two of Weeds immediately prior to the start of the third. Let’s just start off by saying, season three isn’t the best. I wish that Zooey Deschanel had stuck around longer than that one scene in the opening episode to bring a little bit more color to this season. It’s just keeps getting harder to pull for Nancy when she continues to make some really ridiculous decisions. I mean, I can’t be the only one that thought she was out of her mind when she began stalking her dead DEA agent husband’s ex-wife. Season four of Weeds kicks off next week with Nancy and brood near the Mexican border, staying with her father-in-law (played by Albert Brooks). Hopefully they can reboot and get a little on track again, otherwise, I may have to dump it from my list.
My hat is off to the the folks in charge of casting over at Chuck. They’ve been doing a fantastic job of supplementing this season’s great storytelling with eye-catching guest stars that fit nicely into the atmosphere of the show. In the first eleven episodes of the show we’ve seen great turns from Arrested Development‘s Tony Hale, Michael Rooker (of Tombstone and Mallrats fame), Die Hard‘s Reginald VelJohnson, Gary Cole, Morgan Fairchild, Alias‘s Carl Lumbly, Jordana Brewster, Nicole Richie, John Larroquette and Michael Clarke Duncan. Yowza!
