We start with The Simpsons' new intro for the episode To Surveil With Love, a show so dull it's sole joke was a picture of 17 Hulks and a Spiderman on a baseball diamond.
We began, however, with a lip synched opening featuring the whole of Springfield relating to a song, which I was informed later was named Tik Tok, no c's in this stuff anymore, by someone who calls themself Ke$ha, no s's either, yoof of today.
Anyway, it's some autotuned shit that is just awful, and in addition to being a bad song, is irrelevant to the show, and as such the 2 minute opening, similar to the show's standard opening, only different enough to prove it's all new, but, I mean, WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!
Horrible in every way, it has no point, no use, nothing. This is the worst thing The Simpsons has done, yes, worse than retconning the kids in That 90's Show.
Just look at it:
The Simpsons has tarnished itself again. So be it, Al Jean, this is one of those straws that the camel's back will just about suffice pre-Buckaroo.
And yet. Breaking Bad's 7th episode in the season.
At the beginning of episode 6 we saw the cousins, those bad ass dudes who blew up the truck in episode 1, axe-d down poor Gomez, who took the Marshall job after Hank turned it down.
And then, when they couldn't go after Walter, they were allowed to turn to Hank.
And fuck me, the opening gave us a bit of history with the cousins and their uncle, humanising, and then the end of the aptly titled "One Minute".
Well.
After Hank beat Jesse to a pulp for the pranking of his wife's injury last week, and a wonderful performance from Aaron Paul, the show churned out lots of great performances, and then, the final 'minute', in a parking lot, violent, ridiculously tense, and the best stuff TV has given us since The Sopranos.
Start watching this show, and then get all the way to this fantastic episode. Perfection. Beautiful.
AMC, Walking Dead, That will rule, official.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Round up time
Sorry, been doing other things
So, we saw The PAcific fall on it's arse in episode 5, to the point that a beach landing scene shamelessly using the cliched stuff war movies have been doing since Private Ryan made me turn it off and never look back again.
The Simpsons had another solid episode when Smithers took charge of the Power Plant, but fell down when Homer and Wiggum became friends in one act, then needy dull shit for a further 3 acts, this tying in with the Simpsons in Jerusalum episode, the worst this season.
We've seen Walt get more and more domesticated once more, Saul being brilliant and find what's up with the two badass brothers in Breaking Bad, a show which many claim is getting worse, I just see we're in the second act of a really dark book, each episode part of a chapter, a tapestry of bleak drama getting darker before it gets to the season 5 finale, where shit will get fucked up.
Justified has balanced out the crime of the week and the interpersonal relationships, including Olyphant's father NOT uttering "Wrong kid died", a shame cos when I saw him, all I could think about was Cox, Dewey Cox.
I've realised why people like Chuck, and bought the first two seasons, enjoying them to all get out.
Treme has proven that interesting characters, an interesting setting and lots of swearing when drugs aren't the key factor make a better show than The Wire ever was. I've laughed, I've been enthralled, and I'm loving it.
The Ricky Gervais Show goes from strength to strength, brilliantly animated silliness from three very funny people.
TV gets better as cinema gets worse, and I'm glad I don't have to pay anywhere near as much as I would in the cinema.
So, we saw The PAcific fall on it's arse in episode 5, to the point that a beach landing scene shamelessly using the cliched stuff war movies have been doing since Private Ryan made me turn it off and never look back again.
The Simpsons had another solid episode when Smithers took charge of the Power Plant, but fell down when Homer and Wiggum became friends in one act, then needy dull shit for a further 3 acts, this tying in with the Simpsons in Jerusalum episode, the worst this season.
We've seen Walt get more and more domesticated once more, Saul being brilliant and find what's up with the two badass brothers in Breaking Bad, a show which many claim is getting worse, I just see we're in the second act of a really dark book, each episode part of a chapter, a tapestry of bleak drama getting darker before it gets to the season 5 finale, where shit will get fucked up.
Justified has balanced out the crime of the week and the interpersonal relationships, including Olyphant's father NOT uttering "Wrong kid died", a shame cos when I saw him, all I could think about was Cox, Dewey Cox.
I've realised why people like Chuck, and bought the first two seasons, enjoying them to all get out.
Treme has proven that interesting characters, an interesting setting and lots of swearing when drugs aren't the key factor make a better show than The Wire ever was. I've laughed, I've been enthralled, and I'm loving it.
The Ricky Gervais Show goes from strength to strength, brilliantly animated silliness from three very funny people.
TV gets better as cinema gets worse, and I'm glad I don't have to pay anywhere near as much as I would in the cinema.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Glee Season 1 "Hell-o"
Oh Dear.
Well, they gave it their best I suppose.
Yes, The world's new favourite show returns with the next 9 episodes, after 4 months for filming and the likes, we see where we're going, and we're going down the drain. Already Finn and Rachel are broken up, Terri is somehow back, and Sue wormed her way in, in a completely ridiculous, broad, stupid manner. Oh yeah, and Will and Emma are already broken up too. So all of the build up to Sectionals was for nothing.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the sour taste only increases with a hatchjob attempt at boring songs made worse, more auto-tune than you can shake a stick at, the unbelievably stupid amount of drama piled on, once again they must win the next challenge of the club is done, sigh, and nothing seems to be close to the hysterical, dark attitudes the show began with, now we're solidly in up it's own arse High School Musical style, and I for on hope that next week's is a return to form, or I won't be returning to McKinley high, ever.
1/5
Well, they gave it their best I suppose.
Yes, The world's new favourite show returns with the next 9 episodes, after 4 months for filming and the likes, we see where we're going, and we're going down the drain. Already Finn and Rachel are broken up, Terri is somehow back, and Sue wormed her way in, in a completely ridiculous, broad, stupid manner. Oh yeah, and Will and Emma are already broken up too. So all of the build up to Sectionals was for nothing.
And if that wasn't bad enough, the sour taste only increases with a hatchjob attempt at boring songs made worse, more auto-tune than you can shake a stick at, the unbelievably stupid amount of drama piled on, once again they must win the next challenge of the club is done, sigh, and nothing seems to be close to the hysterical, dark attitudes the show began with, now we're solidly in up it's own arse High School Musical style, and I for on hope that next week's is a return to form, or I won't be returning to McKinley high, ever.
1/5
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
The Simpsons Season 21 "Greatest Story Ever Do'hed"
Welcome to the usual season 21 fare.
The Simpsons go to Jerusalem, Sacha Baron Cohen plays an unfunny tour guide, Homer thinks he's the messiah in the last 2 minutes of the episode, and nothing happens, besides Bart getting beaten up by a girl in a 3 minute padding sequence.
It's neither smart nor funny, nor well characterised, it's simple, easy and ineffective, a complete waste of time, and not worth talking about.
1/5
The Simpsons go to Jerusalem, Sacha Baron Cohen plays an unfunny tour guide, Homer thinks he's the messiah in the last 2 minutes of the episode, and nothing happens, besides Bart getting beaten up by a girl in a 3 minute padding sequence.
It's neither smart nor funny, nor well characterised, it's simple, easy and ineffective, a complete waste of time, and not worth talking about.
1/5
30 Rock Season 4 "Floyd"
Yes, I'm still, for some reason, watching this broad, smug, self-referential yet obvious sitcom, even after 2 solid crap years, not meh years, between the Season 2 finale and the Season 3 premiere the show went from 5/5 to 1/5.
And in this episode, where Liz Lemon's old boyfriend Floyd (Jason Sudekis) returns from Cleveland, whilst Tracy and Jenna spend a day having their faces covered with plastic for masks, with Kenneth forcing them his stories, leading to the single, if really bad, funny moment of the episode, Kenneth stripping and dancing 'seductively'.
For all it's wants of being an insider snicker fest, 30 Rock is a show too broad and too obvious, the easy jokes are all it reaches for, the characters dull and the stories uninteresting, it's tired and needs to be put to rest, and all the awards love for the shoddy few seasons need to be sorted out, look at Community for your new single camera sitcom love, it deserves it more than this old horse.
1/5
And in this episode, where Liz Lemon's old boyfriend Floyd (Jason Sudekis) returns from Cleveland, whilst Tracy and Jenna spend a day having their faces covered with plastic for masks, with Kenneth forcing them his stories, leading to the single, if really bad, funny moment of the episode, Kenneth stripping and dancing 'seductively'.
For all it's wants of being an insider snicker fest, 30 Rock is a show too broad and too obvious, the easy jokes are all it reaches for, the characters dull and the stories uninteresting, it's tired and needs to be put to rest, and all the awards love for the shoddy few seasons need to be sorted out, look at Community for your new single camera sitcom love, it deserves it more than this old horse.
1/5
The Office Season 6 "Happy Hour"
And here we fall down.
Oh how this show used to reign supreme, a painfully funny show with amazing characters, all lovable enough and yet realistic too, now just a shell of itself, Jim is too smug, Pam too dull, Dwight too mean, Mike too stupid, they're all caricatures now, and with Happy Hour, seeing Darryl move up to his fancy new office, and the Warehouse guys moving up to hang out with him, Oscar's crush on the homosexual warehouse employee takes a step up, and to attempt to subtly go on a date with him, Oscar gets the whole office to go out for drinks.
It attempts to be one of the character based episodes, as opposed to the more situational episodes of late, but it felt dull, I can barely remember much of what happened, but all I know is that I think I might have laughed once, maybe, but it was another dull, uninventive episode in the weakest season of The Office yet, and I fear it'll go down rapidly even more next year.
1/5
Oh how this show used to reign supreme, a painfully funny show with amazing characters, all lovable enough and yet realistic too, now just a shell of itself, Jim is too smug, Pam too dull, Dwight too mean, Mike too stupid, they're all caricatures now, and with Happy Hour, seeing Darryl move up to his fancy new office, and the Warehouse guys moving up to hang out with him, Oscar's crush on the homosexual warehouse employee takes a step up, and to attempt to subtly go on a date with him, Oscar gets the whole office to go out for drinks.
It attempts to be one of the character based episodes, as opposed to the more situational episodes of late, but it felt dull, I can barely remember much of what happened, but all I know is that I think I might have laughed once, maybe, but it was another dull, uninventive episode in the weakest season of The Office yet, and I fear it'll go down rapidly even more next year.
1/5
Parks & Recreation Season 2 "Summer Catalogue"
As The Office started to fall, Parks & Recreation came in and Greg Daniels once again offered us a show full of real heart, and real funny people. Starting off as an Amy Poehler show, it's now become a showcase for Aziz Ansari, who rocks it as Tom, Aubrey Plaza who is as hysterical as she is ridiculously beautiful, Nick Offerman, who has levels of legend in him portraying Ron Swanson, and Chris Pratt, playing former boyfriend of Rashida Jones' Ann, who managed to make it through a tough time to now be employed in Pawnee's government building, shining shoes.
This season has shown real legs, lovable characters and painfully funny moments of genius, and once more this week we're offered some select skits that are brilliant. Opening with Tom taking Ron's squirrel hat and shouting as many hat related chat up lines to girls as he can, failing at each one, before we get to the premise, the Pawnee summer catalogue is coming up and Leslie has organised for Ron and the three former Parks Department heads to meet up for a picnic. Only problem, their old, cantankerous and hate each other, one a dope smoking hippie, one a racist, sexist old old man, and one an aggressive man who hated his days at the department, all got the position, including Ron, by backstabbing the former head, all at the table, yelling at each other before photo time.
The April/Andy friendship that's blossoming heavily into something wonderful is here in full force as the two are stuck at the picnic to help out with Leslie's idea, and it's clear there's a spark there, even if an I.D. issue at a local bar reminds Andy that April is just too young for him.
Ron was back as hysterical as ever, acting like a child in between moments of being mean to his former boss, and once more at the end we get to see Leslie excited that one day she'll go up in the political world. The characters are so strong now it's wonderful, and I'm happy the show retains it's heart when it goes for some brilliant jokes, including Tom making Ann and Mark do a photo shoot for the cover, and having problems because Ann just looks depressed.
Keep watching, it's one of the best shows on TV.
5/5
This season has shown real legs, lovable characters and painfully funny moments of genius, and once more this week we're offered some select skits that are brilliant. Opening with Tom taking Ron's squirrel hat and shouting as many hat related chat up lines to girls as he can, failing at each one, before we get to the premise, the Pawnee summer catalogue is coming up and Leslie has organised for Ron and the three former Parks Department heads to meet up for a picnic. Only problem, their old, cantankerous and hate each other, one a dope smoking hippie, one a racist, sexist old old man, and one an aggressive man who hated his days at the department, all got the position, including Ron, by backstabbing the former head, all at the table, yelling at each other before photo time.
The April/Andy friendship that's blossoming heavily into something wonderful is here in full force as the two are stuck at the picnic to help out with Leslie's idea, and it's clear there's a spark there, even if an I.D. issue at a local bar reminds Andy that April is just too young for him.
Ron was back as hysterical as ever, acting like a child in between moments of being mean to his former boss, and once more at the end we get to see Leslie excited that one day she'll go up in the political world. The characters are so strong now it's wonderful, and I'm happy the show retains it's heart when it goes for some brilliant jokes, including Tom making Ann and Mark do a photo shoot for the cover, and having problems because Ann just looks depressed.
Keep watching, it's one of the best shows on TV.
5/5
Friday, 26 March 2010
Community Season 1 "The Science Of Illusion"
Ah Community, thank you so much for proving NBC that a non-mockumentary sitcom can work if it's well written with a solid cast and not full of self indulgent easy gags that 30 Rock loves too much.
Dan Harmon and Joe & Anthony Russo have given us a grower, it was a show that was funny, but nice, and since they got rid of John Oliver (Thank god) the cast has settled into the roles, the writers knew exactly what to do and each episode consistently brings the funny.
Last week saw Buster Bluth teaching pottery, and banning anyone from doing the Ghost movements.
This week sees Chevy Chase's crazy Pierce Hawthorne being pranked for April Fools by Jeff and Troy using his new promotion in his Scientolgy-esque religion to make him wear a wizard's robe, hat and wand, with cookie.
And with April Fools comes Britta being a buzzkill, not wanting to pull pranks that make people feel bad, she plans to stick a hat on a frog and leave it on Senor Chang (Ken Jeong)'s desk.
In trying to do so, she pushes a human corpse out the window, leaving the Dean to hire Annie and Shirley as April Fools Security, Abed watching them, following them as they go through the buddy cop movie motions.
This show has so many great characters, a wealth of jokes and situations, and in 20 minutes we get some great stories, this is the rare idea that not only one plot, but several plots, can be done in the space of a show's run and never needing to jump to cutaways for the humour, maybe an extended unnecessary moment to add another gag, but never anything that slows the pace, this show is hysterical, fast paced and full of cynical sweetness, it's the best new show on TV, and at episode 20, it's simply perfect.
5/5
Dan Harmon and Joe & Anthony Russo have given us a grower, it was a show that was funny, but nice, and since they got rid of John Oliver (Thank god) the cast has settled into the roles, the writers knew exactly what to do and each episode consistently brings the funny.
Last week saw Buster Bluth teaching pottery, and banning anyone from doing the Ghost movements.
This week sees Chevy Chase's crazy Pierce Hawthorne being pranked for April Fools by Jeff and Troy using his new promotion in his Scientolgy-esque religion to make him wear a wizard's robe, hat and wand, with cookie.
And with April Fools comes Britta being a buzzkill, not wanting to pull pranks that make people feel bad, she plans to stick a hat on a frog and leave it on Senor Chang (Ken Jeong)'s desk.
In trying to do so, she pushes a human corpse out the window, leaving the Dean to hire Annie and Shirley as April Fools Security, Abed watching them, following them as they go through the buddy cop movie motions.
This show has so many great characters, a wealth of jokes and situations, and in 20 minutes we get some great stories, this is the rare idea that not only one plot, but several plots, can be done in the space of a show's run and never needing to jump to cutaways for the humour, maybe an extended unnecessary moment to add another gag, but never anything that slows the pace, this show is hysterical, fast paced and full of cynical sweetness, it's the best new show on TV, and at episode 20, it's simply perfect.
5/5
Justified Episodes 1 & 2
So a friend of mine tells me:
"Watch Justified" "Justified" "Watch That Frakking Show!"
Even though he wouldn't say what it was about, he'd tell me to view it, and like an idiot, I gave in without thinking, and started watching.
What did I get?
Timothy Olyphant in a big cowboy hat shooting a criminal, then going back to his home town, working in a small marshall department and finding white supremacist pricks.
It's not the most original, or even the most entertaining, show, it's too focussed on the premise and loves the lead character too much without letting him grow and trying to add some cliched characters, the boss who doesn't stand in his way, the girl he used to fancy, all growed up and the likes, it's nothing new, and although it could grow, so far we've had a story of a man with a hat and a gun shooting people on sight, then chasing down a fugitive and finding a further 2 evildoers, in the form of the ex-wife and new husband on the hunt for hidden treasure.
Whilst this second episode has it's moments and Olyphant is charismatic as ever, the show never seems to be more than man with hat and gun against bad guys, and even then it takes the 40 minute alloted time to get from entering the scene to shooting the man, if he even does that.
I'm hoping it's a grower, but so far, it's middle of the road leaning towards boring.
2.5/5
"Watch Justified" "Justified" "Watch That Frakking Show!"
Even though he wouldn't say what it was about, he'd tell me to view it, and like an idiot, I gave in without thinking, and started watching.
What did I get?
Timothy Olyphant in a big cowboy hat shooting a criminal, then going back to his home town, working in a small marshall department and finding white supremacist pricks.
It's not the most original, or even the most entertaining, show, it's too focussed on the premise and loves the lead character too much without letting him grow and trying to add some cliched characters, the boss who doesn't stand in his way, the girl he used to fancy, all growed up and the likes, it's nothing new, and although it could grow, so far we've had a story of a man with a hat and a gun shooting people on sight, then chasing down a fugitive and finding a further 2 evildoers, in the form of the ex-wife and new husband on the hunt for hidden treasure.
Whilst this second episode has it's moments and Olyphant is charismatic as ever, the show never seems to be more than man with hat and gun against bad guys, and even then it takes the 40 minute alloted time to get from entering the scene to shooting the man, if he even does that.
I'm hoping it's a grower, but so far, it's middle of the road leaning towards boring.
2.5/5
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
How I Met Your Mother Season 5 "Say Cheese"
How I Met Your Mother is one of those shows that I really shouldn't like, but I just freaking do. Since finding it shoved in the graveyard slot on a smaller channel here in the U of K, around 3-4am each night, I bought the first season, then the next two, imported because it's STILL not out here, then the blu ray of season 4, which whilst good, not as funny, and have been watching the 5th season as we fall down in quality more, with Barney being centre stage even though he's not got enough in the way of being important to the story Ted tells the kids.
I have tried but failed to enjoy a single episode this season... Until.
Say Cheese brings back the classic formula, one set, 5 characters, many call backs, flashbacks, issues that are only just being brought up, silly dialogue, crazy ideas and an all round ok basis to get ever closer to finding the mother.
The cast has great chemistry and each one is talented, put together it's an impressive bunch, with Neil Patrick Harris and the ever manly Jason Segal leading the pack, and in this episode, where the gang, to steal a name from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, are over at Marshall and Lily's place to celebrate Lily's 32nd birthday, until Ted brings in a young woman to make Lily's cake, a young woman Ted imposes on them, annoying Marshall, especially when she makes a cake with some poor choice of numbers and letters.
The episode culminates in the classic sweet college room flashback, adding more to the Ted Marshall Lily mythos (I do love the college adventure stories they have) and a subplot involving Robin trying to take a photo of Barney without it looking posed is funny enough (An addition with Marshall always blinking in photos, though, clearly lifted from My Name Is Earl).
All in all this is the classic How I Met Your Mother, fast, very funny, sweet and interesting, I hope this means we're going back to a better style of writing.
4/5
I have tried but failed to enjoy a single episode this season... Until.
Say Cheese brings back the classic formula, one set, 5 characters, many call backs, flashbacks, issues that are only just being brought up, silly dialogue, crazy ideas and an all round ok basis to get ever closer to finding the mother.
The cast has great chemistry and each one is talented, put together it's an impressive bunch, with Neil Patrick Harris and the ever manly Jason Segal leading the pack, and in this episode, where the gang, to steal a name from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, are over at Marshall and Lily's place to celebrate Lily's 32nd birthday, until Ted brings in a young woman to make Lily's cake, a young woman Ted imposes on them, annoying Marshall, especially when she makes a cake with some poor choice of numbers and letters.
The episode culminates in the classic sweet college room flashback, adding more to the Ted Marshall Lily mythos (I do love the college adventure stories they have) and a subplot involving Robin trying to take a photo of Barney without it looking posed is funny enough (An addition with Marshall always blinking in photos, though, clearly lifted from My Name Is Earl).
All in all this is the classic How I Met Your Mother, fast, very funny, sweet and interesting, I hope this means we're going back to a better style of writing.
4/5
The Pacific Episodes 1 & 2
So, I waited over a week to catch this show purely because I knew I had a free ticket to see them on the BIG screen (Like, serious, HUGE, in beautiful HD, and awesome surround sound)
And was the companion piece to Band Of Brothers worth the wait?
Yes.
Oh my yes. As soon as the title sequence was over I was enthralled (The HBO miniseries' have amazing titles, and the music, oh my goodness, amazing).
Clearly the huge budget helps, as this show looks stunning, seriously, absolutely gorgeous, every frame of it, amazing. I guess the real shame of this is that in the first two episodes, which are 2 hours overall but feel like maybe an hour or so, slickly paced as they are, we never really see the characters enough, especially to distinguish who they are in the night time battles, of which there are at least two, the second being a complete mess to understand, but that's as it is, a complete panic.
Building up quickly we open with a young man at church, about to set out with a Marine corp to face up against the Japanese Empire, meeting his friendly next door neighbour, a young woman who he promises to write to. Then we jump to a family Christmas dinner, two brothers going out to fight the good fight. Then an 18 year old kid who isn't allowed to go because he has a heart problem.
Soon enough we're on the sunny isles of Guadalcanal, the marines wait, ala Saving Private Ryan, on small ships, get to land. Beaten to the punch by other US infantry. Walking round the island, still beaten by others to any place of action. That is until the airports and the ships are hit, leaving them all alone. Soon enough they are fending for themselves, at one point coming into contact with another group, the first having the young man from church, the second with the brothers.
In between the amazing action sequences are some real heartfelt moments between characters and hysterical moments, lines and pieces.
The show is astonishing, it's a shame there were only two shown, but I will be watching the rest, you can count on that. A tremendous undertaking done well, better than any film I've seen so far this year.
Astounding.
5/5 (No shit)
And was the companion piece to Band Of Brothers worth the wait?
Yes.
Oh my yes. As soon as the title sequence was over I was enthralled (The HBO miniseries' have amazing titles, and the music, oh my goodness, amazing).
Clearly the huge budget helps, as this show looks stunning, seriously, absolutely gorgeous, every frame of it, amazing. I guess the real shame of this is that in the first two episodes, which are 2 hours overall but feel like maybe an hour or so, slickly paced as they are, we never really see the characters enough, especially to distinguish who they are in the night time battles, of which there are at least two, the second being a complete mess to understand, but that's as it is, a complete panic.
Building up quickly we open with a young man at church, about to set out with a Marine corp to face up against the Japanese Empire, meeting his friendly next door neighbour, a young woman who he promises to write to. Then we jump to a family Christmas dinner, two brothers going out to fight the good fight. Then an 18 year old kid who isn't allowed to go because he has a heart problem.
Soon enough we're on the sunny isles of Guadalcanal, the marines wait, ala Saving Private Ryan, on small ships, get to land. Beaten to the punch by other US infantry. Walking round the island, still beaten by others to any place of action. That is until the airports and the ships are hit, leaving them all alone. Soon enough they are fending for themselves, at one point coming into contact with another group, the first having the young man from church, the second with the brothers.
In between the amazing action sequences are some real heartfelt moments between characters and hysterical moments, lines and pieces.
The show is astonishing, it's a shame there were only two shown, but I will be watching the rest, you can count on that. A tremendous undertaking done well, better than any film I've seen so far this year.
Astounding.
5/5 (No shit)
Monday, 22 March 2010
The Simpsons Season 21 "Stealing First Base"
We all know The Simpsons hasn't been a lick of it's season 3 through 9 calibre, but the rare times that they've risen above the dreck have been great, seasons 15, 16 and 18 for example have some interesting plots, hysterical jokes, great character moments, but lest we forget the show still is a shell of it's former self, the self-referential, self-conscious jokes have been stolen by every other show, the cut away gags used and abused by Seth MacFarlane, and the characters are stuck in single dimensions, conventional, contrived and painful to watch, it's surprising that any of us still watch, but the poor few of us who still live in the past have been offered some appalling episodes the past few years.
And yet with Season 21, whilst we started slow, a second episode from an outside writer, in the form of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, of Superbad and Pineapple Express fame, proved once more that just because you like the show doesn't mean you can write the show, but shocking of late we've had two episodes in succession, post the Christmas break, that have been brilliant, funny, sure not inventive in plot, but willing to delve into character, and since the HD switch and the 4 act structure (more commercials) plots have kind of just disappeared, maybe coming back for a joke in between the tangents, but now they've mastered the show once more, for now.
The new episode, a second Bart in love ep of the season, has Sarah Silverman of all people as the female protagonist, in a second fourth grade class, and after some flirting, Bart kisses her, causing her parents to get up in arms, and forcing a no touching policy in the school.
Between shots at Twilight and a dated joke about how crap GPS systems are there are some moments of real brilliance, an overlong but very funny Itch and Scratchy taking the piss out of the Koyaanisqatsi trailer that really works, though goes on for a minute too long.
Unfortunately Ralph has lines, which means tired attempts at being funny for being stupid, the kind that's easy to write, hard to make funny, and he's not been funny for 12 years now, and an unfortunate ending where Lisa is called out for being smart by Michelle Obama, played by some woman that's not Michelle Obama, where every cast member seems to sing her praises for no reason what so ever in a painfully shameless act.
Thankfully if you ignore that 3 minute segment, you have a full on 5/5 episode, for the second time in the last 3 episodes.
Funny, well done, interesting if unoriginal, it's good Simpsons, but not classic of course.
4/5
And yet with Season 21, whilst we started slow, a second episode from an outside writer, in the form of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, of Superbad and Pineapple Express fame, proved once more that just because you like the show doesn't mean you can write the show, but shocking of late we've had two episodes in succession, post the Christmas break, that have been brilliant, funny, sure not inventive in plot, but willing to delve into character, and since the HD switch and the 4 act structure (more commercials) plots have kind of just disappeared, maybe coming back for a joke in between the tangents, but now they've mastered the show once more, for now.
The new episode, a second Bart in love ep of the season, has Sarah Silverman of all people as the female protagonist, in a second fourth grade class, and after some flirting, Bart kisses her, causing her parents to get up in arms, and forcing a no touching policy in the school.
Between shots at Twilight and a dated joke about how crap GPS systems are there are some moments of real brilliance, an overlong but very funny Itch and Scratchy taking the piss out of the Koyaanisqatsi trailer that really works, though goes on for a minute too long.
Unfortunately Ralph has lines, which means tired attempts at being funny for being stupid, the kind that's easy to write, hard to make funny, and he's not been funny for 12 years now, and an unfortunate ending where Lisa is called out for being smart by Michelle Obama, played by some woman that's not Michelle Obama, where every cast member seems to sing her praises for no reason what so ever in a painfully shameless act.
Thankfully if you ignore that 3 minute segment, you have a full on 5/5 episode, for the second time in the last 3 episodes.
Funny, well done, interesting if unoriginal, it's good Simpsons, but not classic of course.
4/5
Breaking Bad Season 3 Episode 1
That show no one knows, the one that's so good and yet still unknown that it's a crime, the Arrested Development complex show?
It's called Breaking Bad, and it's about Bryan Cranston's cancer ridden high school science teacher Walter White who goes into manufacturing methamphetamine to pay for his medical bills, with an old pupil turned dealer/user Jesse.
Almost automatically we had a car chase, a man in his underwear holding a gun and a sense of being completely out of time and place, and as the next 20 episodes went on, we saw the family life of Walter White, his pregnant wife, cystic fibrosis afflicted teen son, DEA agent brother-in-law and kleptomaniac sister-in-law, with Jesse's pals, dealers and users.
With each week it wasn't a clear cut case of having the show end with it's logical closure point, instead it's hard to differentiate episodes, even seasons, as it's all over the same period of time and absolutely everything carries on, no end of an arc in sight.
The best thing about the show? It still feels like we're in the early stages, no sign of an end in sight.
So in we jump with season 3, some serious stuff happened near the end of season 2, people OD-ed, and a culminating airplane crash giving us a sense of anything can happen.
We open the third season with Mexican people crawling on the ground, two men in a stylish car pull up and join them, before we jump back into the Walter/Jesse storyline.
This episode felt rather light in story, yes we're just sorting out the odds and ends with Walter admitting to his wife what he's been up to, but still, whilst there will be a lot to get through, the two stylish men turn out to be real badasses by the end of the episode, it's a shame that it felt more like an episode in the middle of a season, which I guess you could say it kind of is, but it still doesn't account for a lack of real plot with some characters, Walt really didn't seem to have much to do, and Jesse in rehab, well, at least he's out.
Still, Walt's speech about airplane tragedies was right on the money, and you can't REALLY badmouth this magnificent beast of a show, so why bother?
4/5
It's called Breaking Bad, and it's about Bryan Cranston's cancer ridden high school science teacher Walter White who goes into manufacturing methamphetamine to pay for his medical bills, with an old pupil turned dealer/user Jesse.
Almost automatically we had a car chase, a man in his underwear holding a gun and a sense of being completely out of time and place, and as the next 20 episodes went on, we saw the family life of Walter White, his pregnant wife, cystic fibrosis afflicted teen son, DEA agent brother-in-law and kleptomaniac sister-in-law, with Jesse's pals, dealers and users.
With each week it wasn't a clear cut case of having the show end with it's logical closure point, instead it's hard to differentiate episodes, even seasons, as it's all over the same period of time and absolutely everything carries on, no end of an arc in sight.
The best thing about the show? It still feels like we're in the early stages, no sign of an end in sight.
So in we jump with season 3, some serious stuff happened near the end of season 2, people OD-ed, and a culminating airplane crash giving us a sense of anything can happen.
We open the third season with Mexican people crawling on the ground, two men in a stylish car pull up and join them, before we jump back into the Walter/Jesse storyline.
This episode felt rather light in story, yes we're just sorting out the odds and ends with Walter admitting to his wife what he's been up to, but still, whilst there will be a lot to get through, the two stylish men turn out to be real badasses by the end of the episode, it's a shame that it felt more like an episode in the middle of a season, which I guess you could say it kind of is, but it still doesn't account for a lack of real plot with some characters, Walt really didn't seem to have much to do, and Jesse in rehab, well, at least he's out.
Still, Walt's speech about airplane tragedies was right on the money, and you can't REALLY badmouth this magnificent beast of a show, so why bother?
4/5
Let us begin
Right, well, I have a blog to throw on my shitty reviews of (mostly) shitty films, and as I've been so disenfranchised with the quality of films that I've moved to watching, and being addicted, to television.
In this time I've found shows to love, shows I used to love, and shows that just plain suck, so I figured, why not do what I do with films, but with individual episodes?
The bad, the good, the meh, the unnecessary, dissecting them all until you realise, hmm, what a waste of time it was reading this.
In this time I've found shows to love, shows I used to love, and shows that just plain suck, so I figured, why not do what I do with films, but with individual episodes?
The bad, the good, the meh, the unnecessary, dissecting them all until you realise, hmm, what a waste of time it was reading this.
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