Return to TV Land

I’m going to take a short break from political writing and do my version of the happy dance. Wednesday night (Thank you, DVR) marked the return of FX’s critically acclaimed drama The Americans. Honestly, this is probably my favorite show on television right now, and when coupled with offerings like Justified and American Horror Story, I think it’s safe to say that Chuck Saftler’s crew at FX has successfully redefined what a show on broadcast cable can be. 

While The Americans hasn’t garnered the type of ratings that other juggernauts of television’s renaissance have attained, I would stack up its storytelling, acting, and production values with anything else out there. Also, Keri Russell has managed to effectively shed any of her remaining delicate flower baggage remaining from her stint as Felicity and stake a serious claim to being one of, if not the, most badass woman on television. It’s not the type of show that you can just drop into, but I would seriously recommend grabbing the first two seasons on DVD and playing some catch-up.

Change of Plans

I was planning on watching last night’s State of the Union Address. In fact, I had been planning it for weeks. I was going to have a notebook so I could jot down ideas to research afterwards. I was going to have Twitter up and running so I could share in some good old fashion partisan fist pumping with fellow Democrats. I was even going to pop popcorn to munch on while I partook in what can only be described as world-class political theater. Then for reasons I can’t quite explain, I changed my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to watch the address (I am an admitted political junkie); it will just be later today as a recording.

I think that part of the reason I came to that decision is that it was simply an exercise in emotional self-defense. Watching a speaker with the talent of President Obama, it would have been easy to get caught up in the moment and forget that our current congress is an absolute dumpster fire, and any action taken to move the country forward will have to come from executive action, which will then be subject to scrutiny from a Supreme Court that is, at best, ambivalent about the interests of the average American. So to prevent myself from forgetting that the next two years are basically all about playing defense, and preventing the lunatics and vandals that make up the Republican Party from doing more damage than is absolutely inevitable, I’m going to watch it coolly detached, while sitting at my desk, this afternoon.

Of course, the President is sure to have made a number of attractive policy proposals. I just think that I prefer to analyze them on their own merits, uninfluenced by whether selected cable-news viewers liked the pitch well enough to turn the ridiculous ratings dials they’ve been furnished by our even more ridiculous punditocracy. Also, I absolutely didn’t need the image of Chris Matthews bloviating about the President’s ability to connect with “Joe Six-pack” or whatever euphemism for middle-aged white guy that he’s using this year, that close to bedtime.

I’ll almost certainly have a piece up later this week, discussing what I think is the most interesting, or promising, or potentially useful policy initiative. If you wanted breaking news, there are plenty of other places to go for that. I’m going to do my best to continue to discuss issues that I think are relevant, regardless if they took place a whopping two or three news-cycles ago. Besides, the season premiere of the final season of Justified was on last night. So at least my popcorn didn’t go to waste.

Winter Hibernation Guide Part 1

Growing up I was never a very much of a television person. I watched sporting events and would have it on as background noise, but my lifestyle just didn’t fit with the concept of appointment television. College and grad school was more of the same; professors weren’t very concerned with whether or not a show had its season finale when assigning term papers and exams. My relationship with television changed after I became a caregiver, both professionally and for members of my own family. My on-the-run lifestyle was replaced with long periods of being sedentary (punctuated of course with moments of sheer terror, but that’s a story for another time), and television is perfectly designed for long periods of killing time. Also, the seemingly never-ending stream of horrible news in the world (both far and close to home) has resulted in a sharp decline in my news junkie tendencies, and a strong desire to engage in a bit of escapism. Luckily, my immersion into the land of commercialized make-believe coincided with the airing of some really good programming. I’ve still managed to miss out on some of the shows that everybody (read: upper-middle class types) tells me are the best thing ever (So please no Mad Men, True Detective, The Wire, or Boardwalk Empire spoilers), but I have found some shows that I actually look forward to every week (the advent of dvr’s and on-demand television have definitely helped contribute to this, but I don’t want to shortchange my library card’s ability to let me play catch-up on some of the shows that I missed out on while I was busy cranking out term papers and PowerPoint presentations). So with the cold grip of winter upon us, and the end of most shows’ holiday hiatus, I wanted to give you a quick run-down of a few of the shows (both continuing and newly airing)  that I hope will get me through until the first pitch of opening day, or at least until pitchers and catchers report. I’ll start with the new shows, followed by continuing series in a part 2 posting. (You may notice that this entry is a bit heavy on the comedy. That’s actually not unintentional, given the flame out rate of network situation comedies and the heaviness of the of the shows that are returning from the Fall or starting a new season that I plan on continuing to watch, the inclination to load up on potential palette cleansers seems wise.)

Galavant: (ABC Sunday 8:00) Starting January 4^th

Shortly after the first round of the NFL playoffs conclude on Sunday, ABC will air the first episode of its four-part series, Galavant. Billed as a hybrid of The Princess Bride and a light hearted musical (you had me at Princess Bride), the show promises plenty of guest spots from celebrities like Ricky Gervais, Weird Al Yankovic (this show sounds like it’s perfectly tailored to the musical funny-man’s talents) and John Stamos. Even if the show isn’t exactly breaking new creative ground, a live-action Shrek, with attractive lead characters (played by Joshua Sasse and Karen David) isn’t the worst way to spend a few Sunday nights in the middle of a long cold winter.     

Agent Carter (ABC Tuesday January 6^th 2 hour premier 8:00, 9:00 afterwards)   

Hayley Atwell reprises her role from Marvel’s Captain America movies, and ABC is promoting the character as continuing in the lineage of other take-no-prisoners female lead characters (Sydney Bristo and Olivia Pope) that the network has found success with. I’m really excited for this limited-run series, partly because the Captain America movies are (in my opinion) the best of the Marvel movies, and a show set in that corner of their universe could be really enjoyable. I’ll admit to jumping early from Agents of Shield (too early if the articles I’ve read are true, something I might address this summer, perhaps), but hopefully Team Marvel has worked the kinks out of their television operation. I’ve heard rumblings that the Howard Stark character will play a prominent role, and as a fan of the Iron Man series of comic books and the first two films (I hated Iron Man 3, and if you disagree you’re just wrong) anything that gives me Stark-related backstory is too juicy to pass up.

Younger (TV Land Tuesday 10:00) Starting January 13^th

Tony Award winner Sutton Foster stars in a series from Sex and the City producer Darren Star about a 40 year old newly single mother that has to pass herself off as 26 in order to land an entry level gig. I’m mostly interested due to the inclusion of the always spectacular Debi Mazar as Sutton’s best friend, and for any potential age-defying techniques that I might pick up as I approach my seventh 29^th birthday.

Fresh Off the Boat (ABC Wednesday 8:00) Starting February 4^th

For some reason this show comes off as a Blackish, but for Asian Americans. (Maybe it has something to do with ABC’s tendency to plug the show multiple times during its commercial breaks.) The show, which premiers February 4, is based on a memoir by Chef Eddie Huang, who also provides voice-over work. The involvement of the original work’s author should hopefully help the series avoid falling into some type of self-parody of a network’s attempt at diversity. Also, the success of Blackish (a rare bright spot in a fall lineup littered with new comedies that couldn’t make it to November without being cancelled) suggests that ABC might have the skill to pull this project off.

Better Call Saul (AMC Sunday 10:00) Starting February 8th 
Breaking Bad is/was one of those much talked about shows that I managed to completely miss while I was pulling all-nighters in the library stacks. Better Call Saul is a prequel of sorts, following the exploits of lawyer Saul Goodman (played by Bob Odenkirk). The fact that this is a prequel and would allow me a way to jump into this universe (presumably) without risking spoilers is a real selling point. (I plan on playing catch-up with Breaking Bad at some point, even with having an idea as to the fate of some of the characters, the show’s good press is too much to ignore.)

12 Monkeys (SyFy Friday 9:00) Starting January 16th 
A television remake of the incomparable Terry Gilliam’s 1995 movie of the same name is a tall order, and time travel is incredibly difficult narrative device to pull off, but I’m interested (in a morbidly curious way, if nothing else) to see what can come from the attempt. A quick IMDB check unfortunately didn’t turn up a Jeffery Goins character (played by Brad Pitt in the film version) so we may be robbed of/blessed by the opportunity to watch someone attempt to recreate Pitt’s twitchy over-the-top performance. I can’t say that I’m overly optimistic that I’ll stick with the show for the entire season, but I’ll definitely be checking it out just to see what they can come up with.