Interesting Summer Distractions, Part 1B: More Television
Posted on | August 6, 2006 at 10:42 pm | 4 Comments
Sadly, I did not win the $208 million powerball jackpot this week (someone in Wisconsin did), though I did win $10. If only I believed in the power of prayer.
Anyway, now to conclude the summer TV watching summary…
The Venture Brothers (Cartoon Network) is back for a second season on Adult Swim, and I couldn’t be happier. The quality has not diminished at all, and the show has definitely grown beyond its origins as a Jonny Quest parody (especially seeing as how older versions of both Jonny Quest and Race Bannon have actually appeared on the show). Thank God that Hank and Dean “survived” their deaths at the end of last season, as the show just wouldn’t be the same without their inspired naivety. And what other show would dare to have a Part Two of a story without ever showing the Part One? Lunacy. You have to admire supervillain The Monarch’s monomaniacal quest to get Dr Girlfriend back, though what’s going on with his henchmen is turning out to be the more interesting story. This week’s episode had the return of Professor Impossible, voiced by it-moment-guy Stephen Colbert.
The Colbert Report (Comedy Central) is entrenching its way into the national zeitgeist even more than parent The Daily Show. Hardly a week goes by when something from the mouth of Colbert doesn’t make the national media. I had my doubts in the beginning about how long this show could last, since it’s basically a one-joke premise about Colbert playing Devil’s Advocate and impersonating a clueless right wing pundit. But damn if he doesn’t keep it fresh and funny. I’m still trying to figure out if the UN ambassador from Palau (interviewed by Colbert last week) really has anything to do with Palau. All Stephen had to do was make few off-handed comments about the accuracy of Wikipedia, and a firestorm erupts around the online encyclopedia. And who can forget Colbert saying the District of Columbia is not part of the United States to the DC congresswoman, and her blasting him back for pronouncing his name wrong? Ah, good times.
30 Days (FX) is back for a second season as well, and Morgan Spurlock’s neo-reality show where people are put into uncomfortable (for them) environments for a month, remains as interesting as ever. I was especially intrigued by last week’s episode, where a computer programmer who lost his job to Indian outsourcing went to live with a family in Bangalore for a month. He came back still not a fan of outsourcing, but with an understanding of it and the people involved. When he said “They need the jobs more than we do”, you could’ve knocked me over with feather. The parts that I found most interesting involved the various dichotomies in modern Indian culture. The wife in the family was torn between her traditional role of house manager (including looking after her husband’s parents) and wanting a job outside of the house as part of the new middle class job boom. And even though there are a lot of people benefiting from this boom, there’s still a vast caste of people living way below the poverty line and not reaping the benefits of this change in society. It seems like India is a country on the edge, ready to tear apart along the rich/poor and traditional/modern seams. The scariest part of the show was when our American got caught in a riot that broke out when a popular local actor who was apparently a champion of the downtrodden died, and various factions used this an excuse for an uprising, complete with burning cars, broken office windows, and all. US companies lost $40 million in productivity that day. Next week’s episode looks equally fascinating, as an atheist goes to live with a Christian family for a month.
Blade: The Series (Spike TV) wisely does not focus on the one-dimensional character of vampire hunter Blade, but on his associate Krista who is infiltrating the vampire society from the inside (which she did by becoming a vamp herself, against her will). It’s kind of like the first season of Alias, but with vampires instead of international criminals. And being on Spike, there’s enough swearing, gore, and sexy women to keep me interested.
The 4400 (USA) keeps ramping up the conspiracies in its third season. Too often, soft-SF shows like this fall into a rut and become a case-a-week thing not too unlike a police procedural, doling out bits and pieces of the overall story arc in small dribs and drabs (fellow USA show The Dead Zone is becoming guilty of this). Every episode advances the greater plotline and this season has been one revelation after another. There’s a real sense of direction to this show about 4400 people who were abducted by people from the future and returned to the present with special abilities in order to ward off (or start?) some future catastrophe. I hope they can keep it up and not dissolve into an X-Files mythology mess. I will be interested to see how NBC’s new fall show Heroes, which has a similar premise, differs from this show.
Last Comic Standing (NBC). Go, Denver local Josh Blue!
The Chelsea Handler Show (E!) is pretty much a one-joke show: Chelsea plays herself as a drunken slut interacting with real people not always in on the joke. But it’s a funny joke. New episodes start again this Friday.
Deadwood (HBO) continues to be of interest to me in the third season, especially seeing how George Hearst is uniting everyone in the town against him. But I’m getting really tired of the flowery language (profanity or no profanity) and sometimes I just want someone to translate it all for me so I can figure out what’s really going on. I’m more entertained by the show it is followed by on HBO, Entourage, still funny as hell in its third season.
Battleground, the opening episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From The Stories of Stephen King (TNT) mini-series was fantastic. Too bad the remaining seven stories didn’t live up to it.
I’m still waiting to pass judgement on Life On Mars (BBC America) about a policeman from 2006 who suddenly finds himself back in 1973. There’s some intriguing bits, especially the relationship between the hero and his near-thuggish police captain, but I’m not sure if it will keep holding my interest. These British dramas tend to move a bit slow – I gave up on Hex after three episodes or so because nothing seemed to be happening and it kept putting me to sleep.
That’s about it. Amazingly, this isn’t all I watch, but it’s the cream of the crop right now.
Latre.
Comments
4 Responses to “Interesting Summer Distractions, Part 1B: More Television”
August 7th, 2006 @ 12:06 pm
Finally, FINALLY, Jordan Collier is back.
FINALLY.
August 7th, 2006 @ 3:36 pm
I think Chelsea is really something special. Can’t someone find a decent movie or sitcom for her? Dan Hedaya could be Uncle Gary.
To me, 30 Days has run out of ideas. Why’d they have to ship the Minuteman to Mexico? Wasn’t the immigrant’s life dismal enough here? Yes, it was. I still like Morgan Spurlock, but if the first two episodes of this season are any indication, the show’s running on fumes.
Yeah, I felt bad for Stephen Colbert when they announced that he’d have his own show. I never thought it would last. The fact that it’s still going strong(er) after 100+ episodes is a real reflection on Colbert’s talent. Then consider the fact that it’s a one-man show and it’s even more impressive. That said, I sure wish Paul Dinello and David Cross were regulars.
August 7th, 2006 @ 3:51 pm
Finally, FINALLY, Jordan Collier is back.
FINALLY.
Or IS he…?
I thought it was weird that they killed off Lily right at the beginning of the season (using a different actress). Did the actress want too much money to come back?
August 7th, 2006 @ 3:53 pm
but if the first two episodes of this season are any indication, the show’s running on fumes.
Then I guess you think it’s a good thing they only do like 6 episodes a year.
I really liked the “binge drinking mom” one last year, which was a bit different from the established formula. I wonder if they will do something like that again this year.