Network: CBS
Time: Mondays, 8:00-8:30pm
Cast: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris
Summary: Barney must choose between his suits or a hot new bartender. Ted gets closer to meeting "the mother."
Review: Now, I admit I came a little late to the How I Met Your Mother game. So when I say this is the best episode I've seen, you have to take it with a grain of salt. It'd be more accurate to say this is the best episode I've seen this season, I suppose.
So I'll say it: this is the best episode I've seen this season.
That said, I think HIMYM is on its way to winding down. We're so close to meeting the mother now that I can't imagine how many more ways they can tease the audience. I'll be sad to see it go, and I certainly think it can last at least another year or two, but the hard truth is that they're going to run out of ways to drag it out soon enough.
OK, on to this episode. So many things to love about it, and they don't all center around Neil Patrick Harris and his awesomeness. Though he is awesome. And I guess I have to start by saying any episode where he sings and dances automatically ranks higher than an episode without it.
The episode focused on two things: Barney's obsession with a hot bartender who won't date a guy who wears a suit, and Ted's date with his future wife's roommate. Both stories were strong, funny, and ultimately very sweet. I'll start with the Barney story, since I've already been talking about it.
Seeing Barney dress in something other than a suit was worth watching the episode for, even if nothing else had been good about it, but watching Marshall and Lily argue about the bartender was actually sweeter than it was funny. Marshall refuses to say that the bartender is hotter than Lily, no matter how much she tries to convince him. You can tell in the way he says it that he truly believes Lily is the hotter one, and something about that was so sweet that even I fell a little in love with Marshall.
Of course, the nice moment is ruined by Barney's escapades. He is so devastated by not wearing his precious suits that he runs into the bathroom to wear one for just a few minutes and accidentally rips it. In horror, he runs to his personal tailor (whose identity I refuse to reveal because every show deserves some secrets). The scene that follows is so hysterical that it is easily in my top three favorite scenes of the episode.
Of course, the bartender ultimately finds out that Barney's really a suit-whore, and she tells him he has to make a decision. Which he does. With song. And dance.
Then there's Ted's story. He goes out on a date with a PhD student he meets on campus, Cindy, who turns out to be the roommate of the future mother of his children (which young Ted obviously doesn't know, but older Bob-Saget-acted Ted makes abundantly clear). Cindy clearly has roommate issues, and she spends most of the date trying to keep Ted from liking her roommate, though older Ted keeps pointing out that everything she mentions is something he loves about his wife. As much as Ted tries to convince her that he doesn't want to date her roommate, he ruins the effect later, when he tries to tell Cindy how much they have in common and instead points out the only things in her room that are really her roommate's.
Like Modern Family, I find the real draw of HIMYM to be the interaction between the characters, not the jokes, despite its sitcom status. This episode had the perfect combination of funny moments and sweet moments. I feel like they got rid of some of the awkwardness that always seemed to be around when Barney and Robin were dating (sorry, 'shippers, but that relationship never really worked for me... not in the canon sense, at least), and the characters have settled into a fun, relaxed state. Like I said before, my fear is that, as Ted draws nearer to finally meeting the mother, the show is going to run out of places to go.
But for the time being, the show seems to be thriving, and I look forward to seeing what antics the group will get up to every week.
Favorite line:
Ted (to Cindy): "I promise I will not fall in love with your roommate."
Older Ted (VO): "Oops."
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Modern Family - Up All Night
Network: ABC
Time: Wednesdays, 9:00-9:30pm
Cast: Ed O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter
Summary: When Gloria encourages Jay to get along with Javier, Manny's father, he gets a little carried about with his male bonding. Phil has a kidney stone and proceeds to milk it it for all it's worth. Mitchell wants to use the Ferber method to get Lily to sleep, but Cameron has a lot more trouble with it than he expected. Guest starring Benjamin Bratt.
Review: In the last few months, this has easily become one of my favorite shows on television. It's one of the few sitcoms I've ever watched where I've really grown attached to the characters, enough so that I truly care about what happens to them.
I'd like to say this episode was the best so far, or that it wasn't quite up to par, but the truth is, there hasn't been a single episode I haven't loved, and there hasn't been one that I thought really rose above the rest. Modern Family is consistently great, and this episode was no exception.
We've heard talk about Manny's father in several episodes, and I certainly had an impression of him going into this episode. I imagined he was a smooth-talker, deadbeat dad who showed up just enough to keep his son's hopes up. And... I was pretty much right. Benjamin Bratt, who I adore, did an excellent job portraying Javier--and showing Jay exactly how easy it was for Gloria to be seduced by him. The downside to this was that they didn't have time to show much of the relationship between Manny, his father, and his stepfather. I would have liked to see more tension there, maybe a little possessiveness on their parts. Instead, the episode focused on developing the relationship between Jay and Javier. It was probably my least favorite of the three storylines (which makes it sound much more negative than it was).
Next up was the Dunphy family drama. Phil had a kidney stone and, being Phil, acted like he was dying from it, leaving the family no choice but to call in the hot firemen to take him to the hospital. I'm not really sure why firemen came to take him to the hospital, but we can ignore that minor plot hole in favor of the far funnier idea that Claire paused in caring for her ill husband (and a kidney stone is something he could legitimately get worked up about, even if he wasn't Phil) to put on a nice shirt and heels to impress them. The family dynamic was great in this story, from Luke's fear that he would have to be the man of the house, to Phil's overdramatic line, "If I never wake up, I'd hate for the last thing you ever said to me to be a lie," to all the ways Phil thought Claire could pay him back for lying to him.
And then there was my favorite story: the Ferberization of Lily. Mitchell wanted to use the Ferber method to get Lily to get herself to sleep (which basically consists of letting her cry herself out instead of cuddling her every time she fusses, obviously within reason). Cam has... difficulties with this. Most of the episode deals in short spurts with Mitchell trying to stop Cam from picking Lily up every time she cries. But the best part came when Mitchell finally confronts Cam and tells him he's tired of always being the bad cop. There's such a realism to Mitchell and Cam's relationship; it's always funny, but, in the end, it's usually the sweetest part of the show. I appreciate a sitcom that takes a gay relationship and doesn't overdo it. So many shows make the characters overly flamboyant and the relationship really tacky. And Modern Family certainly has its flamboyant moments. But the relationship is always real, and it's much more like you'd expect a committed relationship to be than most sitcoms offer.
The only thing this episode was lacking was the part where the whole family comes together in the end. It wasn't necessary, and it wasn't something I missed until I looked back and thought about it, but it's something I've enjoyed about the other episodes, the big, happy family bit.
What this episode did have that most of the others don't, however, were interviews with the kids. In fact, most of it was dominated by them. The theme of the day was, "What do my parents tell me to do that annoys me the most?" I think we can all, no matter how old, relate to that.
Favorite line:
Cam (after a small scuffle causes Mitch to hurt his ankle): "I'm sorry I hurt you."
Mitch: "No, no, don't be. I could just have easily have hurt you."
Cam: "Well, it's cute that you think that."
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Time: Wednesdays, 9:00-9:30pm
Cast: Ed O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter
Summary: When Gloria encourages Jay to get along with Javier, Manny's father, he gets a little carried about with his male bonding. Phil has a kidney stone and proceeds to milk it it for all it's worth. Mitchell wants to use the Ferber method to get Lily to sleep, but Cameron has a lot more trouble with it than he expected. Guest starring Benjamin Bratt.
Review: In the last few months, this has easily become one of my favorite shows on television. It's one of the few sitcoms I've ever watched where I've really grown attached to the characters, enough so that I truly care about what happens to them.
I'd like to say this episode was the best so far, or that it wasn't quite up to par, but the truth is, there hasn't been a single episode I haven't loved, and there hasn't been one that I thought really rose above the rest. Modern Family is consistently great, and this episode was no exception.
We've heard talk about Manny's father in several episodes, and I certainly had an impression of him going into this episode. I imagined he was a smooth-talker, deadbeat dad who showed up just enough to keep his son's hopes up. And... I was pretty much right. Benjamin Bratt, who I adore, did an excellent job portraying Javier--and showing Jay exactly how easy it was for Gloria to be seduced by him. The downside to this was that they didn't have time to show much of the relationship between Manny, his father, and his stepfather. I would have liked to see more tension there, maybe a little possessiveness on their parts. Instead, the episode focused on developing the relationship between Jay and Javier. It was probably my least favorite of the three storylines (which makes it sound much more negative than it was).
Next up was the Dunphy family drama. Phil had a kidney stone and, being Phil, acted like he was dying from it, leaving the family no choice but to call in the hot firemen to take him to the hospital. I'm not really sure why firemen came to take him to the hospital, but we can ignore that minor plot hole in favor of the far funnier idea that Claire paused in caring for her ill husband (and a kidney stone is something he could legitimately get worked up about, even if he wasn't Phil) to put on a nice shirt and heels to impress them. The family dynamic was great in this story, from Luke's fear that he would have to be the man of the house, to Phil's overdramatic line, "If I never wake up, I'd hate for the last thing you ever said to me to be a lie," to all the ways Phil thought Claire could pay him back for lying to him.
And then there was my favorite story: the Ferberization of Lily. Mitchell wanted to use the Ferber method to get Lily to get herself to sleep (which basically consists of letting her cry herself out instead of cuddling her every time she fusses, obviously within reason). Cam has... difficulties with this. Most of the episode deals in short spurts with Mitchell trying to stop Cam from picking Lily up every time she cries. But the best part came when Mitchell finally confronts Cam and tells him he's tired of always being the bad cop. There's such a realism to Mitchell and Cam's relationship; it's always funny, but, in the end, it's usually the sweetest part of the show. I appreciate a sitcom that takes a gay relationship and doesn't overdo it. So many shows make the characters overly flamboyant and the relationship really tacky. And Modern Family certainly has its flamboyant moments. But the relationship is always real, and it's much more like you'd expect a committed relationship to be than most sitcoms offer.
The only thing this episode was lacking was the part where the whole family comes together in the end. It wasn't necessary, and it wasn't something I missed until I looked back and thought about it, but it's something I've enjoyed about the other episodes, the big, happy family bit.
What this episode did have that most of the others don't, however, were interviews with the kids. In fact, most of it was dominated by them. The theme of the day was, "What do my parents tell me to do that annoys me the most?" I think we can all, no matter how old, relate to that.
Favorite line:
Cam (after a small scuffle causes Mitch to hurt his ankle): "I'm sorry I hurt you."
Mitch: "No, no, don't be. I could just have easily have hurt you."
Cam: "Well, it's cute that you think that."
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Sunday, January 10, 2010
NCIS: Los Angeles - Breach
Network: CBS
Time: Tuesdays, 9:00-10:00pm
Cast: LL Cool J, Chris O'Donnell, Daniela Ruah, Peter Cambor, Barrett Foa, Adam Jamal Craig, Linda Hunt
Summary: When a petty officer is murdered, the team finds a link to Sam's past. Meanwhile, Hetty examines how her agents are coping with the stress of the job.
Review: NCIS: Los Angeles has the unfortunate tendency to have one really great episode and follow it with a mediocre episode. It's one of the hazards of a new drama--it's still testing the waters, seeing what it can get away with and what is just out of its reach.
This was an out of its reach day.
I don't know which part was the worst. Perhaps it was the unnecessarily complicated storyline. Perhaps it was the three or four names that sounded exactly the same, making it nearly impossible to tell who was responsible for what. Perhaps it was watching the normally wonderful dialogue between the characters degenerate into something forced and uncomfortable. Whatever it was, NCIS: LA was just not on its game this week. I watched the episode twice before I wrote this review to try to understand the case, and I never quite got there.
That's not to say this episode was without its merits. I enjoyed the interaction between Callen and Hetty in the last five minutes of the episode more than almost any other moment on the show, even if it was a little corny. And Sam had a nice storyline involving a Sudanese boy who he'd helped (even if that part didn't end exactly the way I'd have hoped).
I missed my characters. Sure, they were still there, but this episode focused almost exclusively on the case, and not enough on the characters. We're not at a point yet with the Los Angeles team where the writers can focus solely on a case. Character development is important, especially in the first season. If the characters aren't being affected by the case, why should I care about it? And, in this episode, only Sam (if anybody) was affected at all, and even that was minimal. I want them to develop the team more, especially the supporting characters (Eric, Kensi, Dom, and Nate). I know enough about Callen and Sam right now, but I haven't really formed attachments to anyone else for reasons other than the ones I've created by having an overactive imagination and a lot of free time to think about them.
Overall, I had trouble focusing on this one because it was too complicated, and I didn't have a reason to care because the characters didn't seem to be personally affected by anything that was happening. I've really liked NCIS: LA so far, but there are times when it's really hit or miss... and this week was a miss for me.
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Comments? Leave them here.
Time: Tuesdays, 9:00-10:00pm
Cast: LL Cool J, Chris O'Donnell, Daniela Ruah, Peter Cambor, Barrett Foa, Adam Jamal Craig, Linda Hunt
Summary: When a petty officer is murdered, the team finds a link to Sam's past. Meanwhile, Hetty examines how her agents are coping with the stress of the job.
Review: NCIS: Los Angeles has the unfortunate tendency to have one really great episode and follow it with a mediocre episode. It's one of the hazards of a new drama--it's still testing the waters, seeing what it can get away with and what is just out of its reach.
This was an out of its reach day.
I don't know which part was the worst. Perhaps it was the unnecessarily complicated storyline. Perhaps it was the three or four names that sounded exactly the same, making it nearly impossible to tell who was responsible for what. Perhaps it was watching the normally wonderful dialogue between the characters degenerate into something forced and uncomfortable. Whatever it was, NCIS: LA was just not on its game this week. I watched the episode twice before I wrote this review to try to understand the case, and I never quite got there.
That's not to say this episode was without its merits. I enjoyed the interaction between Callen and Hetty in the last five minutes of the episode more than almost any other moment on the show, even if it was a little corny. And Sam had a nice storyline involving a Sudanese boy who he'd helped (even if that part didn't end exactly the way I'd have hoped).
I missed my characters. Sure, they were still there, but this episode focused almost exclusively on the case, and not enough on the characters. We're not at a point yet with the Los Angeles team where the writers can focus solely on a case. Character development is important, especially in the first season. If the characters aren't being affected by the case, why should I care about it? And, in this episode, only Sam (if anybody) was affected at all, and even that was minimal. I want them to develop the team more, especially the supporting characters (Eric, Kensi, Dom, and Nate). I know enough about Callen and Sam right now, but I haven't really formed attachments to anyone else for reasons other than the ones I've created by having an overactive imagination and a lot of free time to think about them.
Overall, I had trouble focusing on this one because it was too complicated, and I didn't have a reason to care because the characters didn't seem to be personally affected by anything that was happening. I've really liked NCIS: LA so far, but there are times when it's really hit or miss... and this week was a miss for me.
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Comments? Leave them here.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
NCIS - Ignition
Network: CBS
Time: Tuesday, 8:00-9:00pm
Cast: Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo, Sean Murray, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Rocky Carroll
Summary: When a Navy lieutenant is found dead in a bizarre manner, Gibbs lets McGee take lead on the case. But when a stubborn attorney shows up, Gibbs steps up to butt heads with her. Guest starring Rena Sofer.
Review: I truly believe NCIS is one of the few shows that is getting better and better with age. From the very first episode of season seven, I've been hooked harder and stronger than any other season before it.
This episode was no exception. It's been a long time since we've had a McGee-centric episode. There was a lot of Ziva in the beginning of the season, and Gibbs in the last few episodes, and the big Tony episode has been teased for months (next week, for the 150th episode, when his dad comes to DC), but McGee has been relegated to a strong supporter character for awhile, so it was nice to see Sean Murray step into the starring role for a little while.
Another person who got a much bigger role than we've seen him in lately is Palmer. He's been basically absent for most of this season, and he's had just tiny parts in the episodes he's been in. But not in this one. Palmer got to channel Ducky for awhile while performing his first solo autopsy and telling an only tangentially related story in such a perfect Ducky imitation that I couldn't stop laughing. They really need to use Palmer more often; he's such a fun little guy.
The banter between the characters was strong in this episode too. From the back-and-forth about all the useless things on the Internet to Tony and Ziva's good-natured complaining as McGee got geekier and geekier, the timing was spot on through the whole thing. It's good to see that they've truly gotten rid of the awkwardness that was left over from the end of the season 6. Yeah, there's always going to be a little sexual tension between Tony and Ziva. Yeah, McGee and Tony are always going to be stuck in this big brother/little brother relationship. But it's nice to see that those things are just part of the relationships between the characters, not the whole thing anymore.
The story, which focused on a man who died while flying a jet pack, was interesting, but definitely went so far into geek-ville it was difficult to understand. And McGee, with his love of all things technology and his knowledge of all specifications, didn't help. I had a little trouble following the complexities of the technology, and who would want to kill the guy flying it. It sort of sorted itself out in the end, but it definitely could have been a little easier to understand through most of it. Maybe a second watch will help me understand it better.
The other big twist in this episode was the introduction of attorney Margaret Allison Hart, played by Rena Sofer. She comes in as the attorney of a jet pack creator, but she immediately establishes herself as someone who knows all about our favorite NCIS team, and she's looking for a fight with Gibbs. Despite himself, he's intrigued by her and, as we know from spoilers, she'll be back.
The chemistry between Gibbs and Hart was a little weird, and I've had more than one friend tell me they didn't like her, but I'm kind of interested in any attorney that is causing Gibbs to break his personal rule about attorneys (Never involve lawyers). And it's about time someone called Gibbs out on his unorthodox crime-solving style. Not that it's going to change anything. But it's nice to see someone challenge him on it. Plus, it's been so long since Gibbs has had a relationship outside of NCIS (not counting his father), and certainly longer since it's been a possible romantic one. So I'm eager to see how this will play out.
Favorite lines of the night:
Gibbs (to Hart): Did you used to be a redhead because I feel like I know you?
Ziva: Slow drivers.
Tony: Bad drivers.
Ziva: What is so hard? You go as fast as possible, and when something gets in your way, you turn.
Ziva: There's nothing good on the Internet anymore.
McGee: Yeah, I think that whole Internet thing has run its course.
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Comments? Leave them here.
Time: Tuesday, 8:00-9:00pm
Cast: Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo, Sean Murray, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Rocky Carroll
Summary: When a Navy lieutenant is found dead in a bizarre manner, Gibbs lets McGee take lead on the case. But when a stubborn attorney shows up, Gibbs steps up to butt heads with her. Guest starring Rena Sofer.
Review: I truly believe NCIS is one of the few shows that is getting better and better with age. From the very first episode of season seven, I've been hooked harder and stronger than any other season before it.
This episode was no exception. It's been a long time since we've had a McGee-centric episode. There was a lot of Ziva in the beginning of the season, and Gibbs in the last few episodes, and the big Tony episode has been teased for months (next week, for the 150th episode, when his dad comes to DC), but McGee has been relegated to a strong supporter character for awhile, so it was nice to see Sean Murray step into the starring role for a little while.
Another person who got a much bigger role than we've seen him in lately is Palmer. He's been basically absent for most of this season, and he's had just tiny parts in the episodes he's been in. But not in this one. Palmer got to channel Ducky for awhile while performing his first solo autopsy and telling an only tangentially related story in such a perfect Ducky imitation that I couldn't stop laughing. They really need to use Palmer more often; he's such a fun little guy.
The banter between the characters was strong in this episode too. From the back-and-forth about all the useless things on the Internet to Tony and Ziva's good-natured complaining as McGee got geekier and geekier, the timing was spot on through the whole thing. It's good to see that they've truly gotten rid of the awkwardness that was left over from the end of the season 6. Yeah, there's always going to be a little sexual tension between Tony and Ziva. Yeah, McGee and Tony are always going to be stuck in this big brother/little brother relationship. But it's nice to see that those things are just part of the relationships between the characters, not the whole thing anymore.
The story, which focused on a man who died while flying a jet pack, was interesting, but definitely went so far into geek-ville it was difficult to understand. And McGee, with his love of all things technology and his knowledge of all specifications, didn't help. I had a little trouble following the complexities of the technology, and who would want to kill the guy flying it. It sort of sorted itself out in the end, but it definitely could have been a little easier to understand through most of it. Maybe a second watch will help me understand it better.
The other big twist in this episode was the introduction of attorney Margaret Allison Hart, played by Rena Sofer. She comes in as the attorney of a jet pack creator, but she immediately establishes herself as someone who knows all about our favorite NCIS team, and she's looking for a fight with Gibbs. Despite himself, he's intrigued by her and, as we know from spoilers, she'll be back.
The chemistry between Gibbs and Hart was a little weird, and I've had more than one friend tell me they didn't like her, but I'm kind of interested in any attorney that is causing Gibbs to break his personal rule about attorneys (Never involve lawyers). And it's about time someone called Gibbs out on his unorthodox crime-solving style. Not that it's going to change anything. But it's nice to see someone challenge him on it. Plus, it's been so long since Gibbs has had a relationship outside of NCIS (not counting his father), and certainly longer since it's been a possible romantic one. So I'm eager to see how this will play out.
Favorite lines of the night:
Gibbs (to Hart): Did you used to be a redhead because I feel like I know you?
Ziva: Slow drivers.
Tony: Bad drivers.
Ziva: What is so hard? You go as fast as possible, and when something gets in your way, you turn.
Ziva: There's nothing good on the Internet anymore.
McGee: Yeah, I think that whole Internet thing has run its course.
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
Comments? Leave them here.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
HIATUS
Hey, all. This DV Rebel is taking a TV posting hiatus until the shows return from their midseason breaks in January. At that point, I'll begin posting reviews from the first episode back. I'm catching up now on all the shows I've missed, and, I've got to say, there are some really good ones this season.
Also, when I return, the rating system will be a little different, and I won't be watching the same shows as I was before, but otherwise things'll be mostly the same. I'm also going to make a conscious effort to do a couple movie reviews a month, because this is a guide to television and movies.
I'll be back and better than ever in early January!
Also, when I return, the rating system will be a little different, and I won't be watching the same shows as I was before, but otherwise things'll be mostly the same. I'm also going to make a conscious effort to do a couple movie reviews a month, because this is a guide to television and movies.
I'll be back and better than ever in early January!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Mercy - Can We Get That Drink Now?
Network: NBC
Time: Wednesdays, 8:00-9:00pm
Cast: Taylor Schilling, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jaime Lee Kirchner, James Tupper, Diego Klattenhoff, Guillermo Diaz, James LeGros
Creator: Liz Heldon
Summary: With the cancellation of ER, NBC has decided that we need another medical show on television, so here it is. Mercy follows three nurses who work at a hospital in Jersey City. Each one of them has their baggage, of course, and the show tries to mix their personal lives with some medical miracles that might even impress Dr. House.
Review: Watching NBC struggle for quality programming is a constant source of amusement for me. I feel like their strategy is to find a show that works and find a similar, but less good, version of it. Mercy is no exception. ABC found TV-ratings success with Grey's Anatomy, a soap opera-esque show about doctors (not to be confused with a medically focused show like ER). NBC found Mercy, a soap opera-esque show about nurses.
If Grey's could spawn a slightly impaired clone, it would be Mercy. Where the characters in Grey's are quirky in amusing ways (or at least they were when it started), the characters in Mercy are quirky in socially retarded ways. The show focuses on three nurses. There's Veronica, who was a nurse in Iraq and occasionally has these post traumatic flashbacks. She's clearly not handling being back in the States too well. Also, she had an affair with a doctor in Iraq who followed her back to New Jersey to be with her, only to have her reject him in favor of the husband she cheated on him with (hmm, shades of Meredith and Derek there). Confused yet? We're only getting started.
If Grey's could spawn a slightly impaired clone, it would be Mercy. Where the characters in Grey's are quirky in amusing ways (or at least they were when it started), the characters in Mercy are quirky in socially retarded ways. The show focuses on three nurses. There's Veronica, who was a nurse in Iraq and occasionally has these post traumatic flashbacks. She's clearly not handling being back in the States too well. Also, she had an affair with a doctor in Iraq who followed her back to New Jersey to be with her, only to have her reject him in favor of the husband she cheated on him with (hmm, shades of Meredith and Derek there). Confused yet? We're only getting started.
There's also Sonia, who has some weeeeeeird view on relationships that I can only liken to Cristina Yang's view of them. Sonia wants to find a man with money. Instead, she falls for the cop who shows up in the ER with a wounded suspect. She's sassy, with an attitude and a chip on her shoulder.
And there's Chloe, who's sweet and naive and really thinks she can make the world a better place, kind of like Izzie in the first season of Grey's (before they took her character, ran her through a blender, smashed her with a hammer and put her back together with the parts all looking funny). She's played by Michelle Trachtenberg, who was my childhood idol as Harriet the Spy, and who was actually my main draw for watching this show. And I have to admit... she doesn't deliver. Out of all the nurses, none of whom I'm particularly wild about, Chloe annoys me the most. She acts like she's never run into a difficult situation in her life before. I know she's supposed to be from East Nowhere, Middle America, but come on. She is just way too unrealistic. At least Veronica and Sonia, for all their faults have a little bit of spunk. Chloe just gets steamrolled by everyone. And then she whines about it.
The guys are, for the moment, pretty unremarkable. There's the pretty doctor who moved from California to New Jersey to be with Veronica. Right now, his role seems to be confined to being the pretty doctor. We'll see if he develops a character somewhere along the road. There's Veronica's husband Mike, who is a struggling architect who's building their house. Also, he and Veronica are trying to make their marriage work when she's, to put it quite simply, not putting in an effort. Veronica has some brothers who I remember laughing at, but not much else. Her parents are alcoholics, and she's not a big step away from it, which is more irritating than amusing. It's one thing to have the characters drinking occasionally, like to unwind after a tough shift (for example, hanging out at the bar in Grey's after work sometimes). It's another thing to go too far and have them just drink all the time, which Mercy was bordering on with Veronica's family.
Even the plot structure is pretty much a rip off of the early seasons of Grey's Anatomy (I only watched Grey's until season 3, so all my knowledge of that show is based on the early years). There are three important medical cases, one for each nurse. Somehow, these cases tie in with their personal life. Like a formula.
I know I'm really ripping into this one, but it actually wasn't all bad. There are certain aspects about Veronica and Sonia that I find intriguing, and I'm hoping to get to know a little more about them as the series goes on. I am really interested in the idea of Veronica as a former military nurse. I think that's an aspect of the show that hasn't been done before, and they could really run with it if they want to.
I also really like that Veronica didn't get back together with the pretty doctor (Chris) when he moved to New Jersey. I like that she's trying to make it work with her husband, and that the problems they're having aren't really related to the relationship she had with Chris. They're more to do with Veronica's own issues after serving in Iraq. I'm so sick of the shows where the main character throws away a perfectly good guy (or girl) for their "one true love." I'm all for romance, but I'm sick of the predictability. I'm glad Mercy is at least acting like they're going to be different. We'll see if they doesn't do the Meredith-and-Derek-hooking-up-in-every-room-even-though-they're-not-together thing.
I'm going to give this one a shot, but I may drop off mid-season. Life is too short to watch shows I don't like just so I can give them bad reviews. For now:
Rating (this episode):
[1] Run in the other direction
[2] Don't bother
[1] Run in the other direction
[2] Don't bother
[3] Worth a watch if you've got nothing better to do
[4] Definitely try it out
[5] A total keeper
[4] Definitely try it out
[5] A total keeper
Monday, November 2, 2009
Modern Family - Pilot
Network: ABC
Time: Wednesday, 9:00-9:30
Cast: Ed O'Neill, Sophia Vergara, Rico Rodriguez II, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter,
Creators: Christopher Lloyd, Steven Levitan
Summary: This show follows three individual families that make up one larger family. There's one nuclear family: husband, wife, and three kids. There's one gay family: two boyfriends and an adopted daughter. And there's one divorcee who's now married to a much younger woman and raising her young son. The story has a documentary feel to it, with all the characters doing confessionals and speaking to the camera either by themselves or with their spouses.
Review: As a general rule, I'm a much tougher critic of a one-hour show than a sitcom. For a sitcom to be good for me, all it has to do is make me laugh a few times and not bore me. I don't have to like the characters. Oh, sure, it's nice when I do, but it's not essential. Generally in a sitcom, characters are fairly static anyway. Look at Friends or Seinfeld as an example. The characters age, sure, but they don't actually *grow*. There's little personality change between Chandler of season 1 and Chandler of season 10. The audience expects their characters to be a certain way every time they watch the show. Whereas the Josh Lyman in season 1 of the West Wing is a much more relaxed, humorous character than the Josh Lyman in season 7 who takes the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The point of that mini-rant is that, unlike dramatic television, a sitcom's greatest weapons and biggest liabilities are snappy dialogue and good jokes. Without both of those, nothing else in the show matters.
Modern Family has the whole package. Right from the start, you are walking into a funny show. It's set up like a mock documentary (read: mockumentary), with The Office-style confessionals to the camera. These confessionals can be solo, but usually each couple is together. It's better that way because it allows them to play off each other.
And, boy, are they good at that. I don't know who was in charge of casting for this show, but they managed to find a set of actors with the kind of chemistry most shows can only dream of (so good, infact, it made me end my sentence with a preposition). From the first episode, we're supposed to believe all these people are related--a father and his two children from one marriage, each of their families (one heterosexual, one homosexual), his new wife (who's roughly his daughter's age) and her son from a previous marriage.
And I buy it. For awhile we only see each individual family and their troubles. There's Claire, who's trying to raise a teenage girl (Haley), a pre-teen girl (Alex), a pre-pre-teen boy (Luke), and a husband (Phil, who, frankly, is the least mature of all of them). The entire family dynamic is real enough that I turned to my viewing partners and said, "If I had had an older sister, I'd have been exactly like Alex." Sure, they're wittier and the comebacks are snappier than most families are, but, at least in the case of my family, it gives us something to aspire to.
The point of that mini-rant is that, unlike dramatic television, a sitcom's greatest weapons and biggest liabilities are snappy dialogue and good jokes. Without both of those, nothing else in the show matters.
Modern Family has the whole package. Right from the start, you are walking into a funny show. It's set up like a mock documentary (read: mockumentary), with The Office-style confessionals to the camera. These confessionals can be solo, but usually each couple is together. It's better that way because it allows them to play off each other.
And, boy, are they good at that. I don't know who was in charge of casting for this show, but they managed to find a set of actors with the kind of chemistry most shows can only dream of (so good, infact, it made me end my sentence with a preposition). From the first episode, we're supposed to believe all these people are related--a father and his two children from one marriage, each of their families (one heterosexual, one homosexual), his new wife (who's roughly his daughter's age) and her son from a previous marriage.
And I buy it. For awhile we only see each individual family and their troubles. There's Claire, who's trying to raise a teenage girl (Haley), a pre-teen girl (Alex), a pre-pre-teen boy (Luke), and a husband (Phil, who, frankly, is the least mature of all of them). The entire family dynamic is real enough that I turned to my viewing partners and said, "If I had had an older sister, I'd have been exactly like Alex." Sure, they're wittier and the comebacks are snappier than most families are, but, at least in the case of my family, it gives us something to aspire to.
Then there's Mitchell, who lives with his boyfriend Cam. In the pilot episode, they just adopted a little girl from Vietnam, and they (read: Mitchell) are worried about how to tell his father, who's just accepted the fact that Mitchell is gay. This is another realistic relationship. They have their stereotypically gay quirks, but it's refreshing to see that even they know when they take it too far. It seems that homosexuality is the new "in thing" to have in a television show. See Glee for an example of what happens when all the gay characters are unashamedly flamboyant, and you'll see, as I do, that's it's refreshing to see a gay couple that acts more like real people.
Finally there's Jay, Mitchell and Claire's father, who lives with his new wife Gloria and her precocious grade-school son Manny. This is a point to consider later, that Mitchell and Claire's stepmother is roughly their age, and their stepbrother is the same age as Claire's son. Ed O'Neill is probably the only name I recognized going into this show, and he delivers spectacularly. His wit is dry, his demeanor is gruff, and his bluntness is balanced with a dash of sweet.
All of this combines to give the first episode a lot of laughs and a heart-warming ending that makes you realize that all families are dysfunctional in their own way. Because, when you get to it, all these related characters make up a pretty normal family. They have their craziness, but, really, what's normal anyway?
Rating (this episode):
[1] Run in the other direction
[2] Don't bother
[3] Worth a watch if you've got nothing better to do
[4] Definitely try it out
[5] A total keeper
[1] Run in the other direction
[2] Don't bother
[3] Worth a watch if you've got nothing better to do
[4] Definitely try it out
[5] A total keeper
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