Breaking News for Dexter Fans

Co-stars Michael C Hall and Jennifer Carpenter (who play siblings Dexter and Debra Morgan) eloped last week on New Years Eve.

The couple has kept their relationship under the radar for over a year and a half and will be making their first official appearance together tonight at the Golden Globes (where Michael is nominated for Best Actor in a Television Drama).

Congratulations Michael and Jennifer! Don't worry, I don't think it's that weird that you play siblings.

Blondes have a lot of Saturday Night Fun

Tonight was Saturday Night Live's first episode of 2009, as well as their first episode since the departure of Amy Poehler. And they coped remarkably well, at least in my biased opinion. 

The very fact that Neil Patrick Harris was the host made me like the show. It could have been the worst episode in history and I wouldn't have minded because it's an hour and a half more of NPH than I would otherwise have had. 

The sketches were a mixed bag. Obviously, Penelope's always a big hit and the cameo by Liza Minelli was a treat. The Broadway sketch, of course, made me giddy. I found the Whopper Virgins sketch borderline offensive (mostly because it wasn't funny) but very much enjoyed the Two First Name Talk Show and the Frost/Nixon parody (Darrell Hammond's impressions really are remarkable). The cold open and monologue were both decent but the digital short went straight over my head. 

Seth Meyers handled "Weekend Update" with his usual ease, though it makes me sad to see him all alone. I hope they name Amy's replacement soon so Seth has someone to play off of. It was a Kenan-heavy episode so I could have done without the Charles Barkley impression but I enjoyed Will Forte's song (which is saying something, because I usually don't like him much at all). 

Taylor Swift was the musical guest. Now, for some unknown reason, I am on a bit of a Taylor Swift kick lately and I genuinely like the girl (from what I know of her). So though she performed pretty terribly on tonight's show (OK, make that REALLY terribly), she looked like she was having the time of her life, so I'm OK with it. She has catchy songs and is absolutely adorable (she played Annie in the Broadway sketch, jumped up and down after her first song, and did you see her hug Neil at the end?) I don't need flawless vocals. 

All in all, a good start to the year.

But...

Betty drives me nuts!

While I agree with Rachael that it is ridiculous for the Suarez family to blame Betty for pursuing her career and that they only support her when it's convenient, I can't help but feel that they have a bit of a point. 

Absolutely, Betty should have gone to that networking party instead of staying home with Hilda. But she also should have gone straight home and convinced Daniel to entrust the dress pick-up to someone else (the ever-reliable Marc springs to mind). 

And yes the episode ending was unfair and doesn't fare well for the episodes to come. And who wouldn't silence their cell phone to talk to their idol? But perhaps setting it on vibrate could have solved all the problems- that way you can ignore it but also be aware if you're receiving an alarming number of calls. 

But the main reason why I refuse to jump right to Betty's defense on this issue is that I really don't like the girl. Easily my least favourite character on the show, Betty somehow manages to be selfish, clueless and preachy all at the same time. She disregards Marc on a regular basis: expecting him to help her whenever she wants, rubbing it in his face that she got him into YETI and generally assuming that he's not as clever or decent as she is (when Marc, in fact, is one of the smartest and most engaging characters on the show). She does the same thing to Hilda. 

It's one thing to make sacrifices to follow your dreams, it's quite another to perpetually act on a sense of entitlement. 

Blaming Betty

Rachael here.

This week's Ugly Betty focused on one of my least favorite story lines of the series, one which has colored every single season of the show thus far but which I thought we had finally left behind at the beginning of Season 3: the "Betty's family thinks she's choosing work over them and gets mad" storyline. The worst part about this, aside from her family being really unfair to her whenever it happens, is that the show tends to side with her family.

This week featured Ignacio saying to Betty, "No one supports you more than your family!" To which I screamed at my laptop "Except you don't support her anytime it's inconvenient for you!" Any time Betty's work life interferes with her home life, which, let's face it, is going to happen if Betty wants to get into a competitive (dying) field like magazine publishing, her family suddenly loses all their supportive instincts. Betty skipped a meet-and-greet with her classmates to hang with the fam, she stole supplies from Mode to use in Hilda's gift baskets, and she showed up to her sister's party and helped make cheese squares despite being practically fired that same day. She works her butt off at Mode and YETI, and her family only gives her crap for it. Don't get me wrong, most of the time I love the Suarez clan, but on these episodes, of which there have been far too many throughout the series's run, I find it tiring. We get that Betty's torn between Brooklyn and Manhattan, but I prefer when that's put more subtly and less blatantly.

In view of all this, the ending of this week's episode felt manipulative and cruel. Because Betty missed a call from her sister to speak to her absolute idol, she misses her father's heart attack. If Karma exists in the Betty universe, she must have done something pretty bad. But all she really did was take an opportunity that was handed to her. And I'm not looking forward to next week, watching Betty wallow in her guilt over this week's episode and Hilda self-righteously tell her off about it. I get what a huge deal this was for Hilda, and I'm certainly aware that Betty has a selfish (or at least self-centered) streak to her, but this was not a well-written enough episode to make me side with the family.

Betty can be a fun, good show when it has it's stuff together, but this week's wasn't either fun nor good.*

*Although I must say, I sort of love Connor and Willi, and not just because Connor looks like a slightly less menacing Daniel Craig.

Sports Night: a proper review

I couldn't resist giving Sports Night it’s own review. Sorkin is my favourite TV writer of all time. Felicity Huffman and Peter Krause are among my favourite actors ever on television (on Sports Night and later on Desperate Housewives, Six Feet Under and Dirty Sexy Money). Tommy Schlamme’s direction revolutionized the genre. The series (and it’s 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition Box Set) deserves at least one more post- so here it is:

Let’s start with the dialogue. It is often said that Sorkin’s dialogue is composed much like a symphony. Each character has a distinct voice and they all meld together like instruments in an orchestra. For example, Isaac has a characteristic sarcastic drone while Jeremy speaks with a notably brighter staccato sound, but Isaac can say in 3 words what Jeremy says in 12. Despite these differences, all the characters speak with intelligence and passion, their dialogue laden with references to everything from Ferguson Jenkins (MLB pitcher) to The Lion King (Broadway musical) to the geographical location of Helsinki (Finland). The distinct, varied and fast-paced dialogue is a big part of what makes the show so unique and engaging.

And what’s Sorkin dialogue without a signature Schlamme walk and talk? Tommy Schlamme took Sports Night out of the constraints of the 3-camera sitcom and gave it life and movement. The Sports Night set is built like a real television studio, allowing the characters to move from location to location without breaking the pace of the scene. 

Such a dialogue-based show could have been in danger of stagnancy but Schlamme’s direction makes it anything but.

Since Sports Night is, in essence, about teamwork, it’s appropriate to also acknowledge the achievements in the technical world. A large portion of the shots in Sports Night contains any number of television monitors, each broadcasting something different. 

Whether it is footage of Dan and Casey in the studio, a live feed from Mt. Everest or a pre-recorded football game, the time, effort and attention to detail paid to these essential pieces is quite astounding and unique in the television landscape.

Unique is a word that describes many aspects of the show; the spit-fire dialogue, groundbreaking directorial style and intricate technical details just barely begin to cover what makes Sports Night special. The stories, characters and relationships are what really keep me coming back to this fantastic show.

No sitcom had dealt with such weighty issues since MASH. Sports Night comes out swinging, dealing with divorce, abuse of power, illegal drug use and drunk driving within the first 2 episodes. 

By the end of the first season they have tackled sexual assault in a big way with a multi-episode arc about Natalie and a football player called Christian Patrick. One of the season’s most poignant episodes is when Isaac takes an on-air stand against the persecution of 6 young football players who refuse to play under the confederate flag; another tackles the issue of homelessness in New York City in a way that puts it all in perspective. One major character has an emotional breakdown, another has a stroke and yet another receives a death threat. The Sports Night characters suffer emotional tolls as well as physical ones as they battle their way through stories of true love, great loss, prejudice, passion, fear, loyalty, friendship, and everything else. But it’s funny; did I mention that it’s funny? It’s REALLY funny, delightful actually. There’s just the right amount of banter, just the right amount of whimsy, of physical comedy, of irony, to make the journey a lighthearted one.

Dealing with all this is a cast of characters so diverse and so engaging that it’s hard not to wish they were real. The supporting cast, the studio technicians and junior producers, are fully developed characters unto themselves. The guest stars are fascinating, everyone from the complex and enticing ratings man Sam Donovan (William H. Macy) to the slimy network rep JJ to Dana’s mournful football player brother Kyle, who gets caught in a steroids scandal. But it’s the main 6 that make the show what it is.

I’ll start with Jeremy, my least favourite of the lot. At times Jeremy, played by Joshua Malina, is a bit too much. He can be too eccentric, too emotional, too encyclopedic, but his dedication and what Dana calls “quixotic” nature save him at times. And who can forget that poker scene with Natalie, “Just this once, I’m asking you to trust me when I tell you that you have three 7s and I have a straight”.

And speaking of Natalie (Sabrina Lloyd), she’s adorable, if a tad annoying. In her most triumphant moments (nailing that breaking news story on Dana’s night off, confronting Christian Patrick) Natalie is a formidable and professional woman. In her stubborn and self-assured delusions (her confidence in her poker abilities, her refusal to be broken up with, her romantic advice to Dana) she’s endearingly human. It’s only when Natalie tries to be cute that she ceases to be so.

Dana, Casey and Dan (Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause and Josh Charles respectively) I’ll explore more in relation to each other when I talk about the relationships on the show. Suffice it to say that the three of them are some of the coolest characters I’ve ever met (you know, in the fictional world in my head, where I get to meet characters).

Then there’s Isaac Jaffe, managing editor of Sports Night (the show within the show). Played by Robert Guillaume both pre and post-stroke, Isaac is the rock of the show. He has his moments of weakness of course, but it’s the way he overcomes them and what he represents to the people who work for him that mark Isaac’s importance to the series. When everyone else is flailing, Isaac keeps his head. What can be more representative of Isaac’s role within the world of the show than the first season finale? Isaac re-enters the Sports Night newsroom for the first time after his stroke and in doing so gives Dana the “one good thing” that she needed in order to keep her head up after a series of disasters.

It’s in relation to the people around him that Isaac makes sense in the context of the series. How people relate to him reveals who they really are. That’s the way it is with many of the Sports Night characters. Jeremy didn’t really come alive until he told Natalie he loved her. The way Dan serves as a mentor to Natalie says so much about both of them. Dana’s daughterly regard for Isaac needs no explanation. 

It’s for this reason that to really understand Sports Night you have to take a closer look at the 2 central love stories: Casey & Dana and Casey & Dan. Natalie and Jeremy may be full of romance, but the real stories are with Casey and his 2 great loves.

Casey and Dana have one of the more complex and human TV relationships I’ve ever encountered. They were friends for 15 years, from college. Dana understands Casey like no one else does, standing by him through his abusive marriage and guiding him through his divorce with patience and understanding. And Casey loves Dana back. Early in season 1 they throw down, Dana accusing Casey of coming onto her whenever his life falls apart, calling him on unfair behaviour and asking him to stop. I thought this was one of the more interesting spins on the possibly non-platonic friends story. But then they backtrack on the whole thing. Natalie won’t let it rest, insisting that Dana is in love with Casey and vice versa. So they give in, surrendering to the ideal that maybe they are meant to be together. But they screw it up, completely consistent with their characters, and then move on, letting it go and staying friends. First time through the series I thought this was pathetic. I thought that Casey should have learned to not unfairly turn to Dana for love when he needed attention and that would be the end of their romantic potential.

 Then when that angle was abandoned I thought that at the end of season 1 Casey should kiss Dana and they would live happily ever after as the perfect “When Harry Met Sally” couple. So then that didn’t work and I figured they could break up but only if the friendship was irreparably ruined, affected by lost love, or some romantic ideal of the like. The fact that the show couldn't decide what these 2 were going to be seemed like bad storytelling to me; I thought it was inconsistent, backtracking and rewriting their dynamic for ratings or something. But on a second viewing I saw something more in the Casey/Dana saga. I realized that life is not a TV show (I know, I’m just realizing this now?). It is never clear, not even in their most romantic stages, how Casey and Dana really feel about one another. They love each other, that’s unmistakable, but what the nature of that love is, that’s unknowable (unless you’re inside Sorkin’s head). Maybe they were in love all along, maybe their fight in season 1 is them covering up their true feelings and maybe they resolve to be friends despite broken hearts in the end because they can’t bare to live completely without one another. Or maybe they were always friends, true, unmovable friends, who got caught up in what everyone else thought they were until they found their way out of perception and back to the reality of their platonic love. Or maybe it really was just inconsistent writing.

But I choose the lack of answers, it rings true to me. I think the complexity of their ever-changing dynamic is very human; what’s more human than lack of certainty? And as for them, no worries about their level of romantic interest, just as for them as them- I love them. I love the way they challenge each other, the way they understand each other. I love how Dana knows exactly how Casey will react to something and how upset she gets when she thinks that he doesn’t have faith in her. I love how much trust Casey has in Dana and how they demand the best from each other. I love that Dana’s never afraid to put Casey in his place and how Casey will stand up to anybody to defend Dana. I just love them, as lovers, as friends, or as whatever the heck they are.           

Whether his love for Dana is pure and chaste or not, Casey’s love for Dan is clear, strong and unquestionable. The friendship of Dan and Casey is the center of the show. Full of mutual respect and camaraderie, Dan and Casey’s relationship seems simple. But, much like Dan as a character, whom I never appreciated for his complexity and sheer awesomeness until my second viewing of the series, the Dan/Casey dynamic is as fascinating as it is fun. They banter, and it’s funny, but it pays to notice that the dialogue is always instigated by Dan. It becomes clear, within minutes of the show’s opening shots, how loyal Dan is to Casey; 

When Casey’s struggling on the air because of his divorce and is in danger of losing his job, Dan tells the network that he’ll do the show with Casey or he’ll walk out the door right behind him. And even though it comes to light that Casey turned down “Conan’s show” to work with Dan, it never seems quite like an even give and take. But then, in season 2, it takes a turn. Dan finally falls. 

You see it’s hard to be seen as someone who catches their friends when they fall if you’re always trying to stand back up while they’ve been standing tall the whole time. In season 2 Dan breaks down, everything, from his brother’s death to his father’s indifference to Rebecca’s rejection comes falling down on top of his head and, finally, as Dan’s feeling the impact, Casey tries to build a shield. But then they break. The friendship worked for years, with Casey as the morose and troubled one, with Dan jovially lifting him. But Casey miscalculates; Casey always demands the best from those around him, unfortunately giving little thought to what they’re going through or how patient they were with him when he wasn’t at his best. So when Dan let’s Casey down Casey doesn’t handle it like Dan would have, and they dissolve. Their fight only ends when Casey finally tells Dan that he wouldn’t trade what they have for the world. So they’re fine, they’re them again, and they’ve always been pretty great together. 

As the series nears its end and the threat of CSC’s destruction looms, Dan’s inferiority complex and complicated arc comes to light once more. Faced with a great job offer in LA and the knowledge that Casey has to stay in New York to be with his son, Dan prepares himself to make the choice to move away from the man to whom he attributes his greatness, his partner in crime, his wingman, his backup, his best friend. The show’s happy and somewhat abrupt ending leaves the audience without the knowledge of what Dan would have decided, but the very contemplation of success without Casey means progress for Dan, at least in my opinion. Dan, in many ways, is the show’s heart. He represents loyalty and morality and empathy. He brings out the righteousness in Isaac, the courage in Jeremy and the determination in Natalie. And in Casey, his best friend, Dan may reveal some weakness, but he also brings out his best. Did that all make sense?

Ultimately, Sports Night is full of sap. It's a show about best friends, about a makeshift family, about teamwork, hard work, passion and dedication. Sports serve not just as a backdrop for drama but as a reflection of life and a reminder of what people are capable of. Sports Night is every sappy inspirational sports movie you ever saw (The Mighty Ducks, A League of Their Own, Remember the Titans), but it's also character, comedy, drama and technological innovation in nicely packaged 22 minute installments. 

What I Love This Week/ Obsessions I guess

- December movies. It's Oscar movie season and so far this year I'm loving it. I saw The Reader yesterday and Milk the day before that and loved them both. I was pleasantly surprised by The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and was happy when Frost/Nixon met my high expectations, though I am of the minority opinion that Slumdog Millionaire is overrated and tonally inconsistent. But I'm not done yet- I'm still looking forward to Revolutionary Road, Rachel Getting Married, Doubt and Last Chance Harvey. And it's not even just Oscar movies that are making me happy- I haven't laughed so hard or cried so hard as when I saw Marley and Me last week, it was a true delight among some much less heartwarming fare.

- Josh Charles as Dan Rydell. My second time through Sports Night I've developed a supreme love for Dan, the anchor who was sadly overlooked last time through.

- Rob McElhenny. The man writes, produces and stars in a fantastically funny show (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Not to mention that he's the creator and showrunner of it all, plays my favourite of all the characters and is adorably married to his co-star (Kaitlyn Olsen).

What Bothers Me This Week

-Danny DeVito on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The gang is so funny on their own, why do they need a little fat man to make them more absurd?

- Mandy on Privileged. Seriously, where did that meltdown come from?

- TV online viewing area limitations. I can't watch anything on Hulu, NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, The CW, The WB or BRAVO from Canada, that's just not cool. It's officially not my fault if you don't get to count my viewership for your advertisers, I tried it your way.

2 Decades, 2 Genre-defying Sitcoms, 2 Ends of the Spectrum

Sitcoms adhere to a pretty stagnant format, but there are a couple of shows that circumvent the system spectacularly. MASH was an early one, weaving dramatic tension into it's comedic base. Arrested Development was another, a pioneer in both comedy and production style.

This week I finished the DVDs of 2 series that exemplify the progression of the American sitcom. Sports Night (10th Anniversary Collector's Edition) and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Seasons 1&2) have very little in common with each other. What they do share, however, is how little they have in common with with the average sitcom of their time.

In 1998 the 3 camera, laughtrack-laden situational comedy reigned. Then Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme came in with something totally new. With Sports Night, Sorkin and Schlamme pioneered the quick style that would make them famous. Their characters spoke fast, they walked fast and they learned fast. Sports Night scripts were 10+ pages longer than was average and the characters were always on the move, forcing production into a single camera format much of the time. The laugh track was dispensed with completely by the end of the first season. The set resembled that of an elaborate hour-long series, with dozens of meters of depth behind each shot. The language was denser, the subject matter was darker and the characters were deeper than was the average for the time. Sports Night was a sitcom that refused to believe that it was and consequently became something more.

10 years later the genre has morphed. If the downfall of last season's Back to You told us anything, it's that the classic sitcom format is out. These days we like edge: the fast talk of the Big Bang Theory brainiacs, the self-deprecating wit of Liz Lemon, the retrospective nature of How I Met Your Mother, the dead-pan Office style. But it was all within reason. Then a show came around that threw reason right out the window. Using the least elaborate technology and production style available to him, Rob McElhenny made It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 3 guys and a girl behaving VERY badly in a bar- that's the entire show. The Always Sunny gang is selfish, thoughtless, impulsive, full of bad ideas and more than a little bit racist. But the show is kind of genius.

Sports Night was classy; it had smart people wearing suits and working hard at their jobs. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has none of that stuff. They scheme all day and drink all night, Mac doesn't even own a long sleeve shirt. So how do I like 2 such different shows? They're both breakthroughs. Both shows saw the current landscape and decided to do something different instead. Sports Night pushed the technological and emotional limits of the genre, Always Sunny pushed the limits of propriety, the conceptions of character idealism and the guidelines of the FCC.

One Tree Hill... seriously?

This week we found out that Peyton (the 23 year old record producer)'s pregnant. Mia (the 18 year old rock star) returned and taught Chase (the born-again 23 year old) how to make a long island iced tea. Lucas (the 23 year old best selling author/high school basketball coach) attended Hollywood meetings about his movie. Ethan (is that his name?- the bartender) started drinking again. Millie (the 22 year old virgin who dumped Mouth last episode for flirting with an intern) slept with Ethan (Ian? Evan? what IS that guy's name?) and Mouth (the world's worst sports reporter) dumped her in return. Jamie (6 years old) wandered around town on his own (and didn't get lost). Nathan (who used to not be able to walk) made a pro basketball team.... Oh, and Sam (Brooke's foster child) ran away and got kidnapped by her friend's brother (who, it turns out, was responsible for everything bad that's happened in the past season that didn't have to do with Nanny Carrie). But don't worry, because Brooke (fashion designer/former head cheerleader/badass) has pepper spray, and a keen sense of danger, and a gun. So Brooke saves the day with some impressive Buffy moves and a dangerous mix of maternal instinct and desire for revenge. 

But I guess, after all these years, all these things are OK. You see, it's One Tree Hill's absurdity that makes it what it is. It is so absurd that it seems almost beyond criticism. It exists in a realm so far away from reality that to demand the same humanism from it as is demanded from other shows somehow doesn't seem fair. So I've adopted a new attitude towards the show, it goes like this: who cares, it's fun!

Why Rina Needs Help

Rina Mimoun has written for some of my favourite TV shows. She's given voice to Lorelai Gilmore, Ned the Piemaker, Ephram Brown and Dawson Leery, and what voices those were. But what Ms. Mimoun can't seem to do is run her own show. 

Privileged is so uneven that it sometimes makes me dizzy. The casting is a bizarre mix of perfection (Joanna Garcia, Lucy Hale, Michael Cassidy) and disaster (Ashley Newbrough, Kristina Apgar, Anne Archer); the plots range from fun (Rose and Sage plan a $10,000 a plate luncheon so Sage can flirt with her crush) to lovely (Rose struggles to follow her dreams without letting her sister down) to boring (Laurel decides to reconnect with her long lost lover) to stomach churning (anything involving Lily); and the characters flipflop between lovable and horrible on a regular basis (Megan makes an impassioned speech in which she quotes Spiderman then tries to get Will drunk so he'll sleep with her, Charlie gives Megan a shoulder to cry on then abandons and ignores her for a couple of weeks). 

Despite some rockiness in its first couple months, I though that Privileged had finally arrived on stable ground with their pre-Christmas finale. But after tonight's winter premiere it seems as those there's no shore in sight. Megan is still a time bomb, walking the thin line between sweetly quirky and sadistically selfish. Sage is involved in what could be a lovely romance if she weren't so heinous. Charlie's made a move towards self-improvement by applying to college but seems to be letting the women in his life pull him in whatever directions they want. Marco, out of nowhere, is getting some stories, but, sadly, not very interesting ones. Rose, of course, continues to be adorable, if a little two dimensional. 

The development that inspired this post, however, is Mandy's 180 on the Megan issue. Only weeks ago I praised Mandy for how freaking cool she was. She was coping with her boyfriend's female best friend far better than most women would (particularly TV women). Her understanding and self confidence not only made Mandy an engaging character but it also made her a real prospect for Charlie to stay with. But this week, one can only assume for the sake of drama, Ms. Mimoun threw poor Mandy to the wolves and brought the green-eyed monster to call. Mandy threw an unprovoked jealous fit to rival the best in TV history. Way to take the one thing about a character that I really loved and sacrifice it for an episode's worth of forced-plot. BOO. 

Privileged has enough elements that I genuinely like that I'll really be upset if it never finds stable footing. 

What Makes the Walkers Different

Brothers & Sisters returned to ABC tonight and I had yet another epiphany about what makes this show good. Despite what sibling squabbles and Nora's bi-monthly breakdowns may lead you to believe, the Walkers are adults. The writers aren't afraid to marry them off or let them recover from their afflictions or let them make smart decisions that may lead them down a slightly less dramatic path. The Walkers, unlike 2 certain sets of doctors I know, are allowed to be the adults that they are. Their problems are about careers and children and spouses and family. They deal with staying true to themselves and trying not to fall down too often just like those other TV characters, but the Walkers do it with just the right balance of maturity and vigour. 

Rachael Here, with a Season One Gossip Girl Review

When I started Gossip Girl a measly five days ago, I expected a soapy, fashionable dramady. Thanks to Kelly’s enthusiasm, I also expected to like it. I didn’t know how much I’d love it.

See when Gossip Girl first premiered, I watched the Pilot and found a barrel full of meh awaiting my troubles. None of the characters, save possibly Blaire, really compelled me, including the Seth Cohen-esque Dan and the resident psychotic jackass Chuck. But I’m happy to say five tv-filled (and very happy) days later, I was an idiot.

I just finished Season One, so here goes my review:

Lots of the characters follow an OC-esque archetype. The bitchy brunette best friend can as easily be applied to season one Summer as it applies to the substantially more deliciously evil Blaire. The troubled wafer thin blonde is clearly a Marissa throw back. The desperate to be popular ignored younger sister Jenny could stand in for Kaitlin. The nerdy outsider jewish looking smart boy is Seth Cohen as much as he is Dan Humpfrey. And the daddy-issue’d pretty boy is Nate as much as it ever was Ryan. And don’t get me started on how much Lily and Rufus resemble Kiki and Sandy. By this argument, I suppose, the only original character is Chuck Bass.

But the thing is, Gossip Girl ISN’T just The OC transported to the Manhattan locale. It maintains a ton of the good stuff from that series (the escapist soap-opera’y ness, the witty dialogue) and adds on its own charms.

The Rufus and Lily storyline is fascinating. Although near the end it seemed sort of inexcusable to me that Lily was willingly marrying Bart (a man who the show completely failed at making me believe Lily loved), watching Rufus and Lily stumble and flutter their way through discovering twenty year old love was as interesting an epic love as any the pimply set has ever created. Plus, the adults on this show act like adults, flawed and ridiculous adults, but adults. Lily gives up sexy goodness with Rufus for her daughter’s sake, and seems genuinely worried about the melodramatics surrounding both son and daughter, even if occasionally incompetent in dealing with said melodramatics. And tell me you didn’t tear up at least a little bit during Serena and Lily’s finale-episode reconciliation.. Mrs. Waldorf, although depressed and selfish, legitimately cares about the feelings of Blaire. And the near-perfect family dynamic of the Humphrey clan, even when going through a messy separation, is just as anchoring as the love between the Cohen’s on The OC.

Blaire Waldorf is, not to take anything away from Summer, a unique silver screen creation worthy of torrents of praise. First of all, it’s freaking fantastic to watch a character so smart she instantly cuts through all the other characters’ complicated bullshit. It doesn’t matter how complicated the scheme, Blaire uses her intelligence and badass bitchery to solve it (I’m thinking in particular of the scene in the Debutante Ball episode where Blaire, just by looking at Chuck’s face, unraveled an episode’s worth of scheming). As played by Leighton Meester, Blaire is full of heart, deliciously bitchy, and the chemistry between her and Chuck is enough to make a gal forget his date-rape escapades in that pilot. In fact, Chuck and Blaire’s relationship (which I’ve been promised is explored even more scrumptiously in Season Two) is probably the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, ever. Admittedly, I have a bad boy problem. In fact, for the first half of Season One, I found my growing adoration of Chuck Bass as the biggest, and possibly scariest, indication of how bad my bad boy fetish had gotten. But then they just kept adding layers upon layers onto the characters, and made him more fascinating and sexy and intelligent.

And S and B. Has there ever been a more compelling TV couple than Serena and Blaire? Whether they’re fighting, or most importantly when they’re protecting each other, S and B are compelling enough on their own to make this show worth watching.

And Serena, as played by Blake Lively, is way more compelling than Marissa ever was. The character is better written (and her romance with Dan way more interesting), but that’s not all of it. Even with all that, I occasional find the bad girl gone good storyline a bit boring. But Lively is surprisingly adept at navigating the melodramatics surrounding Serena’s life. And the relationship between her and Dan is surprisingly… adult. In the pre-Georgina era, the couple avoided the pitfalls of a TV-relationship. Misunderstandings were settled by honest communication, feelings were discussed openly, and sex was given a level of importance and reverence that I was led to believe Gossip Girl completely lacked.

Then, of course, there was Georgina. Up until Georgina, I pretty much thought Gossip Girl was a perfect show. There were some characters I found boring, and I always found Vanessa as a threat to Serena and Dan’s happiness kind of annoying, but I basically thought the creators and writers had a strong grasp of the characters, almost all of whom acted within reason and sanity. But then there was Georgina, a character so obviously created just to mess things up in the tidy(?) Gossip Girl universe that it was painful. First of all, she’s underwritten. Her own motivations never seemed to be anything more than “hey, I’m pissed at Serena’s goodness, let’s fuck shit up!!!” And the ending Dan and Serena mess- well I said earlier how much I loved the way they avoided the “misunderstandings equal break up” thing. And then G shows up, and suddenly it’s all “misunderstandings equal break up.” I understand why the characters had to break up, but it pained me the way they did it, because it seemed like these two reasonable and adult characters deserved better.

In fact, almost everything about the finale annoyed me. Serena and Dan, Dan and Vanessa, Serena and Nate. Lily with Bart. Rufus with… his band. Actually that wasn’t that bad. And despite my intense desire to see Chuck and Blaire make sweet relaxing love, I was kind of okay with the final ridiculousness of Blaire taking off with Mr. Wasp-y hair and Chuck making eyes at the help, especially since I can’t wait to watch them further flirt and torture each other next season. But the mess left over from G’s escapades was just annoying, and I’m infinitely glad that the ex-Ms. Dawn Summer’s wont be gracing Gossip Girl next season.

All in all, though, damn was Gossip Girl fantastic. It was everything a soapy teenage drama should be, plus the addition of truly great, compelling, unique characters who improved upon the archetypes that gave birth to them. And I can not wait to start up Season Two.



Until then,

You know you love me.

XOXO

My TV Resolutions

Now that 2009 is here I think it's time to look back at what's been accomplished in 2008 and forward to what I'm hoping to achieve in the new year.

In 2008 I caught up on, rewatched or enjoyed the whole of:
- Angel
- Firefly
- Sex and the City
- Dexter (seasons 1 & 2)
- Freaks & Geeks
- Undeclared
- The OC
- My Boys
- Flight of the Conchords
- Felicity
- Grosse Pointe
- Life As We Know It
- Popular
- Dirty Sexy Money
- Spin City
- Big Brother season 2
- Project Runway season 3
- Breaking Bad
and
- Wonderfalls

In 2009, I hope to finally conquer:
- Damages
- Chuck
- Battlestar Gallactica
- The Tudors
- Commander in Chief
- Dead Like Me
- Big Love
- Huff
- Bones
and
- The Sopranos

and rewatch and finish:
- Weeds
- Scrubs
- Alias
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Eli Stone
- Boston Legal
- The New Adventures of Old Christine
- The Rules of Engagement
and
- Jack & Bobby

Oh, and I'm going to force Rachael to watch:
- The West Wing
- Life As We Know It
- Popular
- Slings & Arrows
and many more...

Breaking Down Breaking Bad's Breakout Season

The critics love it. People with some of the most sophisticated TV taste I know swear by it. It's got an Emmy-winning star, a network on the rise and subject matter so edgy it's almost too sharp to handle. So how does Breaking Bad fare when evaluated by a slightly prissy TV nerd with a fondness for metaphorical mythology and inspiring characters? It's a bit of a mixed bag. 

Let me start off with the regretable news that while I recognize Bryan Cranston's performance as Walter White as inspired, I find, in the character himself, nothing to root for. Walt, a pitiful creature who's been supposedly pushed to his breaking point ("breaking" point- get the clever clever joke?), always leaves me feeling a mix of frustration and anger at his complete ineptitude at life. Sure the man's been dealt a couple unfortunate hands, but he's a genius for crying out loud, he should be able to cope with the world without shrivelling into a pathetic little grey ball. 

But it's not often that I like the protagonist of any story, I'm much more a sucker for the colourful sidekicks, complex villains and loyal posse people that fill out a show. Unfortunately for Walt, his family and friends aren't much help. Walt's well-intentioned wife (played by Anna Gunn) is little more than window dressing, both pushy and preachy in typical and annoying ways. Their in-laws, Marie and Hank, are even worse, serving mostly as grating comic relief and weak fifth business (Hank is a DEA agent who sometimes seems like he maybe might someday consider possibly entertaining the idea that it is not completely out of the realm of possibility that Walt may be somehow involved in suspicious activities). The only engaging member of the White family is Walter Jr (played by RJ Mitte). A relatively well-adjusted teenager with cerebral palsy, Walter Jr is the only character in the group who seems to know how to stand up for himself without delivering a sermon. I was convinced that the "intervention" scene was one of the worst I'd ever seen until the adults finally shut up and gave Walter Jr "the talking pillow". 

Youth seems to be the saving grace of Breaking Bad, because as much as I don't care about Walt and his plight, I find myself completely (and unexpectedly) on board with that of Jesse: the drug dealing, hooker frequenting, high school dropout meth-head whom Walt teams up with. As played by Aaron Paul, Jesse is not only complex and entertaining but also sympathetic. Jesse injects (pun intended) some much needed heart into the show and gives me someone to care about. 

Ultimately, Breaking Bad has it's moments. There were times throughout season 1 when I was so engaged that I didn't notice the time ticking by, and there were others when I sat looking at the screen and thinking "that was some brilliant writing" or "now that's good sound editing". But then there were the moments when I remembered just how much I hate Walter White and almost everyone he knows, and those times when I was looking at my watch and wishing I was watching anything else. 

So, once again, I'm going to have to contradict all those high-minded critics who only seem to watch TV shows that no one's ever heard of and give Breaking Bad just a B grade. It is, after all, on the breaking point of greatness, just missing a couple key ingredients. 

Kelly's 50 Favourite People on TV in 2008

50. Michael Cassidy (Charlie Hogan, Privileged)

49. Padma Lakshmi (Host/Judge, Top Chef)

48. Chi McBride (Emerson Cod, Pushing Daisies)

47. Nick Spangler (Winner, The Amazing Race)

46. Jason Segal (Marshall Erikson, How I Met Your Mother)

45. Tabitha & Napoleon D’Umo (Judges/Choreographers, So You Think You Can Dance)

44. James Spader (Alan Shore, Boston Legal)

43. Sitara Hewitt (Rayyan Hamoudi, Little Mosque on the Prairie)

42. Lucy Hale (Rose Baker, Privileged)

41. Katee Shean (3^rd Place, So You Think You Can Dance)

40. Kyle Chandler (Eric Taylor, Friday Night Lights)

39. Natalli Reznik (4^th Place, So You Think You Can Dance Canada)

38. Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky, How I Met Your Mother)

37. Chris Lowell (Dell Parker, Private Practice)

36. Carlo Rota (Yasir Hamoudi, Little Mosque on the Prairie)

35. William Fichtner (Alex Mahone, Prison Break)

34. Amy Pietz (Franny Tolchuck, Aliens in America)

33. Paul Adelstein (Cooper Freedman, Private Practice)

32. Matthew Rhys (Kevin Walker, Brothers & Sisters)

31. Kevin McKidd (Owen Hunt, Grey’s Anatomy)

30. Becky Newton (Amanda Tanen, Ugly Betty)

29. Ty Burrell (Gary Crezyzewski, Back to You)

28. Mark Indelicato (Justin Suarez, Ugly Betty)

27. Nico Archambault (Winner, So You Think You Can Dance Canada)

26. Connie Britton (Tammy Taylor, Friday Night Lights)

25. Seth Meyers (Head Writer/“Weekend Update” Anchor, Saturday Night Live)

24. Joanna Garcia (Megan Smith, Privileged)

23. Rainn Wilson (Dwight Shrute, The Office)

22. Eric Dane (Mark Sloan, Grey’s Anatomy)

21. Marcia Cross (Bree Hodge, Desperate Housewives)

20. Mia Michaels (Judge/Choreographer, So You Think You Can Dance/ So You Think You Can Dance Canada)

19. Dan Gheesling (Winner, Big Brother)

18. Zaib Shaikh (Ammar Rashid, Little Mosque on the Prairie)

17. Alec Baldwin (Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock)

16.  Sandra Oh (Christina Yang, Grey’s Anatomy)

15. Cat Deeley (Host, So You Think You Can Dance)

14. Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin, The Office)

13. Amy Poehler (Performer/“Weekend Update” Anchor, Saturday Night Live)

12. Yun Jin Kim (Sun Kwon, Lost)

11. Michael C Hall (Dexter Morgan, Dexter)

10. Rob McElhenney (Writer/Executive Producer/Mac, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

9. Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz, The Big Bang Theory)

8. Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass, Gossip Girl)

7. Leighton Meester (Blair Waldorf, Gossip Girl)

6. Lee Pace (Ned the Piemaker, Pushing Daisies) 

5. Michael Urie (Mac St. James, Ugly Betty)

4. Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory)

3. Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother)

2. Jon Stewart (Host/Writer/Executive Producer, The Daily Show; Executive Producer, The Colbert Report; Host, The 80^th Annual Academy Awards)

1. Tina Fey (Writer/Executive Producer/Liz Lemon, 30 Rock; Performer/Host, Saturday Night Live)

Fan-flippin'-tastic!

For the biggest laugh around, check out your favourite TV stars (from How I Met Your Mother, The Office, The West Wing, Scrubs, Saturday Night Live and more) starring in this fantastic video from FunnyorDie.com, directed and produced by Hollywood PoohBah and So You Think You Can Dance judge Adam Shankman. You may even learn a thing or two.

CLICK HERE

My 2008

As the year comes to a close it seems only fitting to pay it tribute. So here are some of the highs, lows and in-betweens of the year, in my opinion. 

The Best Network Decisions of the Year: 

- NBC giving new life to Friday Night Lights by striking a deal with Direct TV to split the costs instead of just giving the struggling series the axe. 

- ABC, way to give the people at Scrubs the chance to end on their own terms. 

- CBS comedy. Not a specific decision, but credit should be given where credit is due and CBS has been standing behind their comedy lineup with honourable resilience. Not only has fan favourite How I Met Your Mother lasted into it's 4th year of being on the bubble but critical darling The New Adventures of Old Christine is still standing strong, The Big Bang Theory has made it to their second season funnier than ever and underrated gem Rules of Engagement remains on the schedule, whether anyone notices or not. 

The Worst Network Decisions:

- ABC cancelling Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money, three of their smartest series in one horrid swoop. 

- ABC not bringing Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Private Practice back until almost a year after they last aired. The decision made sure that the fledgling series stayed out of the minds of viewers after the WGA strike ended and led to the eventual demise of 2 of the 3. 

- The CW re-booting 90210 and planning to do the same with Melrose Place. What made its predecessor The WB successful wasn't sticking with a proven formula, it was finding new and different shows and giving them a chance to find an audience (see Buffy, Roswell, Smallville, Jack & Bobby, Dawson's Creek, Everwood, Charmed, etc...). They had a shot at something with Valentine then let it go before letting it grow into its potential- rookie mistake. 

- NBC. Jay Leno. Way to take 5 hours of quality primetime off the market for scripted programming while seriously undermining Conan and the opportunity he's been waiting for. 

The Year in Showrunners:

- Though Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice have had some highlights in the past year, as a whole Shonda's been really letting me down. The characters haven't been consistent, the plots have been contrived and the total products have been underwhelming; I expect more from the powerful Ms. Rhimes. 

- Whedon Whedon Whedon. This was the year that I finally watched all of Angel and Firefly so I am, indisputably, on a bit of a Whedon kick. But you have to admit that the man's had quite the year. He proved the true scope of his influence when his web series Dr. Horrible had so much traffic that the server crashed. With his own resources, circle of talented friends and passionate fanbase, Whedon proved that he could tell stories on his own terms. Which is why I find it confusing that he's putting his promising new series Dollhouse in the incapable hands of FOX. Notorious for early cancellations, FOX is the same network that mishandled and ultimately killed Whedon's genius brainchild Firefly. So you should understand why his current affiliation with the killer network gives me pause, but if there's one showrunner I trust, it's Joss. 

- Damon and Carlton got a little too caught up in their plot this year on Lost but I'm on board until the end, whether they want to give me the deep character stories I want or the mythologically muddled puzzle I'm prepared to sit through. 

- Josh Schwartz. After my OC renaissance early this fall I'm newly a fan of TV's wunderkind. I'm absolutely loving Gossip Girl and about to leap full-heartedly into the world of Chuck so all I have to say to Mr. Schwartz is "keep on doin' what you're doin'"

- I have the same thing to say to super-producer Greg Berlanti. The driving force behind more of my favourite shows than almost any other producer out there, all Berlanti needs to do is come back from the cancellations of Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone with some serious determination and a couple great ideas and he's got Hollywood in his hands. 

The Year's Most Pleasant Surprises:

- So You Think You Can Dance Canada had better dancers than the American version. Their judges were more annoying, their choreography wasn't as interesting and their host not nearly as engaging, but the Canadian dancers (forgive the pun) danced circles around their American counterparts. 

- Sports Night gets new life on DVD. An All-Time favourite of mine, if there's any show I'd like to see a 10th Anniversary collection for, it would be Sports Night. And whadoyaknow there it is! With new commentaries and interviews, the new box set makes the great show even more celebration-worthy. 

- At this time last year Gossip Girl was a fun show with high production values and a welcome escapist quality. Now, thanks for the most part to the psychologically fascinating Chuck and Blair, the beautiful show is as full of genuine character drama and human emotion as it is full of top fashion and underage drinking. 

- Big Brother 10: the best non-AllStars season in 6 years; who saw that coming?

- Kevin McKidd on Grey's Anatomy.

- almost everything about Privileged. 

The Year's Disappointments:

- The Emmys. The nominees, the hosts, the winners, the fact that I was on a plane during the broadcast... boo. 

- GONE, DONE, DEAD: Aliens in America, Journeyman, Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Boston Legal, Valentine, The Ex List, Do Not Disturb, My Own Worst Enemy.

- Big Brother's inaugural winter season. 

- Private Practice somehow makes me not like Alexis Denisof, Meredith Monroe and Sarah Drew.

- Frumpy Gabrielle Solis isn't any fun. 

- The So You Think You Can Dance tour people won't let fans take pictures with the dancers. 

- All the other new people on Grey's Anatomy (crazy cardio lady, sadistic new intern, stupid ghostly Denny, etc...)

- The Big Bang Theory not available online- what is that?

Things I Wish I Started Watching Earlier and/or watched more regularly:

- Eli Stone

- Chuck

- Top Chef

- Project Runway

- Boston Legal

- Dexter

- Big Love

- Weeds

- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia