Weekly Round Up

American Idol - Season 12 Top 3: My feelings for several of the contestants changed dramatically throughout this season. I love Lazaro at his audition, and Angie after her original song performance, and Amber after My Funny Valentine the first time around. But that love continued to diminish as time went on. In my opinion, Lazaro and Amber weren't good enough to get to the spot they got to (especially Lazaro - the people who kept voting for him were just cruel to keep subjecting him to that kind of humiliation). And Angie's personality began to grate on me real quick.

On the other hand, I started out hating Kree. I thought she had a good voice, but was such a wet blanket. Her early songs didn't make me empathize, they made me roll my eyes. It was actually an exchange between her and Nicki Minaj (when Ms. Nicki first refered to Kree as her wife) that I finally saw a spark of life in Kree and it began to translate into her music for me. Her stage presence could still use some work; she kind of wanders aimlessly around the stage a lot, but her voice is flawless.

Candice is clearly the most talented in the bunch, but she doesn't excite very much in me. Put her up against favorites from seasons past and she would lose every time. My top two would have been Kree and Burnell (his tone was gorgeous), but since that was obviously never going to happen, I'm good with how things turned out.

New Girl 02x24 - Winston's Birthday: New Girl is one of those shows that when I'm not watching it I forget how much I love it, but then as soon as it's on I fall in love again.

Am I the only one who isn't wild about Jess and Nick together? Like, I feel their chemistry and I feel that putting them together was inevitable, but I'm actually much more excited about their potential as exes than as lovers. I think their more of an important stepping stone for each other.

Schmidt continues to be my favorite character on the show. I'm really torn by the introduction of his college girlfriend. I'm quickly falling for her, but I truly believe that Schmist and Cece are meant to be.

Psych 07x09-07x11 - Juliet Wears the Pantsuit-Office Space: I am a big fan of shows that can cleverly break the fourth wall and shout out to their fans. Glee, for example, has had some good ones, but is just as likely to try to say something clever but instead comes out a cringe-worthy (lesbian fan bloggers, anyone?). Psych on the other hand is almost always on point. Sean and Gus' hatred and mockery of both The Mentalist and Entertainment Weekly? Pretty funny. It's not too blatant, just a quick inside joke for those in the know. Santa Barbarian Candidate was no exception. I  started watching Psych partly because of my love of Charlie Young from The West Wing, so watching Sean tease Gus into saying "yes, Mr. President" and really that whole scene? Perfection.

I'm enjoying the way they're handling Juliette finding out about Sean's not-so-psychic ability. Sure, there's some angst and strain in their relationship. I mean, they broke up, can you have much more strain than that? But even with them wading through this untrusting, not dating but still in love territory, the show can keep it riotously funny. And keep the characters true to themselves. They're going to get back together eventually, but in the meantime I'm okay with this break.

Community - Season 4: Yeah, I watched basically the whole season this week. I think there might have been a few episodes I had watched before, but pretty much the whole thing this week.

Community is consistently one of my favorite shows. It's smart. It celebrates television. It's unconventional in it's use of convention. And each year builds into something new.

It's a sitcom with good continuity, something I really appreciate. It doesn't change the characters to fit a particular story it wants to tell. All the characters are well formed with well thought out flaws and foibles, and they're believable in their un-believability. If that makes sense.

I am curious to see how the show will re-invent itself for Season 5. Throught the four seasons, there has been growth in what aspects of the characters' outside lives we've been privy to, to the point where we can witness full episodes outside the school walls. The growth will have to come to a full fruition in Season 5 now that Jeff has graduated.

Glee 04x22 - All or Nothing: Glee has a lot of problems, but I still can't help it being one of my favorite shows. It has so much to offer, and is a show I can't help but view as more than television. Maybe because I'm more invested in the fandom of Glee than anything else, I seem to see the show and everything it brings with it, as more of a social commentary, a contemporary look at today's history.

I'm not going to say too much else, as I'm in the process of putting together a Season Four reaction post. Suffice it say, I didn't feel like this episode was a season finale. None of the season story arcs got resolved, and I think a big part of that was because the season ends in the middle of the school year. The season isn't finished.

Pretty Little Liars 02x04-02x07 - Blind Dates-Surface Tension: Love me some trashy TV and this is taking the cake right now. I know the show is about to start Season Four this summer, so I hope I can catch up in time.

I am slightly worried that nothing will ever get resolved. Are they going to hold onto the identity of Alison's killer until the very end? Because that could get pretty old pretty quick. I mean, there's a lot of potential for A's exploitation even after they know for sure who the killer is. So don't count that out.

Letting Go

I've said it before, I love this time of year when you get to hear about all the new shows that have been picked up and start wallowing in anticipation for the new season.

But damn, at the same time, it is a freaking blood bath!

Shows I'm Sad to See Go
smash
happy endings
vegas (even though i hadn't watched it yet)

Shows I'm Super Happy Got Renewed Cause I Thought Maybe They Wouldn't
parks and rec
community

Lots of other TV I watch. But those were my biggest reactions.

Not to get looking at what's coming...

Blaine's dark side

I admit, the first time I watched the performance of My Dark Side I wasn't thinking too much about the meaning of the lyrics or how they pertained to Blaine's situation particularly. I was too busy being excited over Blaine singing with the Warblers again (in his blazer!!!) and swooning over Warbler Jeff (who I affectionately refer to as Cutie-Blondie Warbler, and who I realize is far too young for 27 year-old me to be swooning over). The second time I watched it I began listening to lyrics more and decided I didn't think it quite fit. My sister's boyfriend summed it up when he asked, "Why is Blaine asking the Warblers to stay?" And I had to think about that. Why was he asking the Warblers to stay? They're the ones who are always trying to lure him back to Dalton. They're the ones who want him. Did he think they wouldn't like who he'd become during his time at McKinley? Did he think they wouldn't be his friend without his talent? Was he worried they would judge him for what he had done to Kurt? I didn't really get it.

It was until the third time I watched the performance that it clicked. Blaine wasn't singing to the Warblers. And he wasn't singing to New Directions. No, Blaine was singing to himself. The place he knows that isn't so pretty, that hardly anyone ever goes? That's McKinley. And he's asking himself if he's going to stay, even if it hurts. He went there to be with Kurt. That was his only reason for transferring. And so yes, everything McKinley hurts now that Kurt is gone; gone from the halls, gone from his life. Going back to Dalton would be running away. Running to a place where he can go back to LBKPRBW (Life Before Katy Perry Rocked Blaine's World) and pretend this horrible thing that he did never happened. He's not asking if the Warblers really love him or if New Directions ever really accepted him. He's asking himself for forgiveness.

I'm finding Blaine's cheating storyline to be very interestingly handled. Let's be for real, cheating is hardly untouched ground for Glee. If I am remembering correctly Quinn, Puck, Finn, Rachel, Tina, Brittany, Sam, and Mercedes have all cheated on their respective love people. Puck, Finn, Rachel, Mike, Santana, and Sam have all been the "other" in a cheating scenario. Most of these other cheating storylines took place over an episode. Why have we had four episodes in row that have dealt with either the act itself or the aftermath? What makes Blaine's experience any different? In my opinion, I find it interesting that he's the first person to take any kind of ownership or responsibility for what he did. Blaine is devastated and does nothing but blame and berate himself. He's tortured with the guilt of hurting Kurt. In contrast, in season 2 Tina almost gleefully told Artie she had cheated with Mike and was leaving for him, Rachel tried to excuse her behavior by comparing it to Finn's past with Santana, Sam started dating Santana before breaking up with Quinn for revenge, and Brittany (bless her) still probably has no idea she cheated on Artie. To be completely fair, Mercedes also took ownership of actions and told Shane immediately after cheating with Sam, but since her and Shane's relationship was something basically no one was interested in (partially because Shane had no personality whatsoever, not to mention dude couldn't act his way out of a paper bag), it didn't need more than a quick side arc over two episodes.

I'm interested to see where they take Blaine from this. He's had so little character development outside of his relationship with Kurt, that I'd like this to be the beginning of him really finding himself (as he mentions in the song!!) as a person and not part of a couple. Even though I maybe didn't get it right away (again, I'm blaming Cutie Blondie Warbler's adorableness) My Dark Side turned out to be a fairly brilliant song choice for Blaine and sets the stage nicely for things to come. 

In fact, for the first time in a while, I feel like every song this episode was expertly chosen to both fit the theme AND the characters singing. Sure, if I so choose I could read too much into the differences in song choices between the two male duos and the female duet (such as why were both boy songs about being heroes while the girl song was about needing a hero?), but instead I'm choosing to reinterpret Holding Out for a Hero as Marley not choosing between her Mega-Studs, but needing to accept herself, warts and all, and be her own hero (just like Blaine has to accept himself as someone who made a mistake and hurt someone he loved). Because in the end, if they keep going with her bulimia story, she really is the one who'll have to save herself.

And what can you do?

I started watching Alphas solely because I miss Mr. Vincent Nigel-Murray on Bones. He was my favorite squintern, and I seriously wept at his death two seasons ago. The kind of science-fiction of Alphas is not usually too much my thing, but I was scrolling through Netflix options the other day and came across it and decided to give it a try.

Let's be for real, Alphas main premise, people with unusual abilities, has been done before. I mean Heroes, anyone? But there is enough in its universe to make it compelling and not a poor knock-off like it could have become. I really enjoy the tenuous relationship the main Alpha teams has with the government. And I hope they explore more how conflicting it must be for the team to do what they do, seeing as mostly they're finding people just like them for the sole purpose of locking them away. Their own fear of the government turning on them and locking them away too is palpable in many episodes, coming to a head when their handlers incarcerated them all looking for a mole in the group. I hope they delve more into the main team's thought process on what makes them different from those they put away.

I do really enjoy how, unlike say Heroes, the abilities often seem rooted in science. As if a certain bodily mutation could make the ability possible. Bill's ability is triggered by his fight or flight response. Cameron's was compared to someone with perfect pitch. My only complaint about their abilities, at least as pertains to the five main team members, is that they are all cliches that match their character. The autistic boy is a virtual computer. The big black man is super strong. The hot girl can push you to do anything she wants. The all-American white boy has perfect aim. And the shy, overly sensitive girl is literally over sensitive. Wouldn't it have perhaps been more compelling to watch the geeky autistic boy bust out his super strength? To see the shy, socially awkward girl bend people to her will? I think people who are more incongruous, have more layers and conflicting personality traits and abilities are more interesting.

I have only just finished Season One, which ended with quite a reveal (literally: the alphas were revealed to the world on national TV much to the dismay of the government) and am looking forward to where this will take the team.

Emmy Predictions

For the first time in a while I'm not all that invested in tonight's Emmy awards. Too many of the shows are ones I either haven't caught up on yet, or just don't watch at all. And as it's the third year in a row that  Modern Family (a show I attempted, but after three episodes of stereotypes decided I couldn't stand it) dominating all the comedy categories, it's less exciting. Don't get me wrong, I will be watching. And putting all my efforts into rooting for anyone who isn't a cast or crew member of Modern Family.

So here are my hopes and predictions for the night. Like I said, I'm not...super invested, so I'm only doing certain categories.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: COMEDY

After watching the last two telecasts, I'm sensing a pattern with regards to the Modern Family cast, and that is that we're just going to be rotating through them. While we still have two more of the men to go through, both ladies have gotten their trophies. Could we be seeing a repeat for either of them? It's possible, but with Kristin Wiig and Kathryn Joosten in the mix, I think maybe not so much. I have no real hopes for this category, seeing as The Big Bang Theory is the only show represented I consistently watch and Mayim Bialik's Amy Farrah Fowler is my least favorite character on the show. But my slightly cynical prediction is that, seeing as both the Modern Family ladies have already been recognized, Kathryn Joosten is going to get the posthumous award for Desperate Housewives.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: COMEDY

This category makes me crazy. Are the Modern Family guys really better than every other show out there? Better than the hilarious men of Parks and Rec, of Community, or of Raising Hope? I don't think so. And the fact that all of them continually get nominated leaves no room for anyone else with equal talent and keeps the race uninteresting. So while I think it's going to be Ed O'Neill's year (though if we have to go with another Modern Family win, I'd prefer Jesse Tyler Ferguson based solely on his guest judging stint on So You Think You Can Dance), I want it to be Max Greenfield for the upset so badly. I love Schmidt. He's the best part of New Girl, his character is so rich where it could have easily been a one-note douche. I will take Bill Hader, as he's the greatest SNL player in a long time (seriously I would watch and hour long Stefon skit if I could), but I'll be pulling for Greenfield.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: DRAMA

I am slightly more invested in this category, but not much I guess. I don't see Downton Abbey being much of a threat. The second season wasn't loved nearly as much as the first, and some people are a little hesitant about it being in the drama series at all rather than miniseries. I think either Anna Gunn or Christina Hendricks has the most chance (Gunn riding out a high point for Breaking Bad and Hendricks, despite a weak season, had a controversial storyline involving prostitution and climbing the corporate ladder). If I had my druthers, however, the win would go to the constantly stellar Christine Baranski.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: DRAMA

I loved that Peter Dinklage took home the win in this category last year. I don't see it being a repeat, however. Like Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones wasn't nearly as loved its second season, and no other actors have been recognized as nominees. I think the real fight comes down to the Breaking Bad men. While Aaron Paul has brought home the win in the past, I have no doubt this season is going to go to Giancarlo Esposito. His exit was the stuff of legend and I don't even watch Breaking Bad (a story for another time).

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY
I have yet to understand how Nurse Jackie is considered a comedy, but I guess that's neither here no there. I don't imagine we'll be seeing a repeat of Melissa McCarthy's win. Tina Fey is nominated every year, but 30 Rock is on its way out and is losing momentum on the way. I don't think Veep has had enough viewers or interest to really garner a win for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, despite her comedy legacy. Zoey Deschanel and Lena Dunham are both newcomers, but both shows were well received. Girls won a lot of praise from critics, and had its share of controversy to keep its name in print, and New Girl was a commercial success. Of the two, I see Dunham taking home the win over Deschanel (her brand of cute and quirky is far from everyone's cup of tea), but I'm not counting out Amy Poehler. Her Leslie Knope is one of the best female leads in comedy. She's smart and driven, loving and passionate. She's crazy and dorky and just one of the greatest characters.

BEST ACTOR: COMEDY
This one feels tricky. Like Tina Fey, I think Alec Baldwin's time is over. Jon Cryer's, while a mainstay nominee for sometime, it's been in Supporting Actor not Lead. Larry David may have a shot with the resurgence of Curb Your Enthusiasm (I'm still not 100% sure what happened there...didn't that show end?), but I don't think it's much of one. Louis C.K. is a big name in the stand-up world, and his show gets a good bit of critical attention. But I think it will come down to a repeat by Jim Parsons, whose Dr. Cooper has showcased a new side of himself with his new girlfriend Amy, and Don Cheadle. Voters love a movie star respecting the medium of television by taking on a series.

BEST ACTRESS: DRAMA
I love Kathy Bates. I do. But her nomination here is somewhat laughable. The show has been canceled, critics never liked it, and though Kathy Bate's has taken part in some incredible projects during her career, Harry's Law was not one of them. Glenn Close has won twice for the same role she's nominated for tonight, but I don't think any momentum for the show has come back since the win went to someone else in that third and fourth year. People love Peggy on Mad Men but if Elisabeth Moss didn't win last year for the Suitcase episode, I don't think she's going to be winning this year. As I keep saying, I don't see Downton Abbey's move to drama series really paying off which leaves of with the ladies of The Good Wife and Homeland. While my personal preference is for Julianna Margulies, I have to give the edge to Claire Danes.

BEST ACTOR: DRAMA
John Hamm, Michael C. Hall, and Steve Buscemi are all repeat nominees who haven't won despite being lauded for their shows and performances. This isn't going to change tonight. Of all the acting nominees, Hugh Bonneville is not going to be the one to prove me wrong on my thoughts of Downton Abbey. Bryan Cranston wasn't in the race last year, which allowed Kyle Chandler to sneak in with a win. While it's not quite what happened, with Chandler's win it seems like the invincible Bryan Cranston has been brought down. While I think he's got a good shot at coming back with a fourth win, I think it's likely Damien Lewis will sneak in for the upset.

BEST COMEDY
As much as I hate to say it, I think Modern Family is going to end up taking this again. Curb Your Enthusiasm and 30 Rock  are showing their age and not in a we're sad to see something so excellent go, kind of way. The Big Bang Theory has a lot of commercial love, but most of the critical love goes to Jim Parsons and that's it. Of the two new shows, I feel Girls has the edge over Veep as the one to upset.

BEST DRAMA
As I've been saying all along, I don't feel there's any way Downton Abbey made the right decision in entering into the drama series category. Of the other five, four are repeat nominees. Game of Thrones gets limited love for their actors, but a good amount of critical love for the show itself. However, genre shows never fair well when it comes to awards. Mad Men has been the winner of this category for some time now. Boardwalk Empire had a shot at a dethroning during it's first season, but the hype has long since died down. Mad Men had a rough season this year, with no standout episodes or performances like last season. I think this is the year it'll be taken down and it'll either be Breaking Bad whose lead has been able to keep John Hamm from the prize for so long, or Homeless, the newcomer with nothing but critical praise. My money's on Homeland. Breaking Bad took a year off, and I think it's momentum died with it.

So those are my predictions for the evening. I know it's coming down to wire, and we'll see what happens.

A new direction for New Directions?

Glee is easily one of, if not my number one, favorite show on the air right now. I have no problem looking past its (multiple) flaws and failures and instead throwing myself whole-heartedly into an episode by episode deep over-analysis of its literary merits and cultural significance. I can lose myself in its superficial candy coated shenanery and revel in its excellence when it digs deeper and gets things right.

Throughout Seasons 1 and 2, Glee found a pretty solid formula: in each episode, no matter what someone was going through, all problems could be solved with a song. That formula was compounded by a core group of virtually unchangeable misfits. Sure, they swapped out the virtually non-existent Matt for the delightfully doofy Sam. And yes, Lauren (who I just loved with Puck) briefly filled the void left by Kurt until she was unceremoniously dumped from the cast. But the core eleven stayed the same. More than that, they dove deep enough into some of those characters who were originally brought in as little more than background scenery (like Santana, Brittany, and Mike) to the point where almost everyone had enough to make them a character rather than an archetype, a person in their own right that an audience would be invested in.

It wasn't until Season 3 that the problem of making every single character fleshed out and beloved was realized. In that very first episode back in May 2009, Rachel had in no uncertain terms declared herself a sophomore. This was now senior year. This was the last year these kids would all be together. How was the show supposed to continue without these characters we'd become so attached to and still remain true to its original premise? How could the show follow all these beloved characters on to their lives throughout the country without becoming so fractured that it eventually just broke? Season 3 had to recognize that they were quickly coming to a cross-road.

And so Season 3 became one of transition. But...sneakily. Yes, we still had those core 11 and they continued on with the formula that had served them so well for the past two years. But at the same time, Season 3 slowly but surely moved towards new directions beginnings.

First up, the transfer of Blaine. A smart move, he was already an established character and half of a couple with an extremely devoted (and sometimes demonic) fanbase. His addition wasn't much of a shock. He was familiar, he was comfortable. There might have been some controversy over his newly revealed age and grade level, but his presence at McKinley was to be expected. Then we welcomed Sam back from his brief departure. His financial situation was still the same, we were reminded of his relationships with both Quinn and Santana, and his declaration of love for Mercedes was a reprieve for a previously dropped storyline. Again, familiar and comfortable. And another junior.

Throughout the year, we were introduced to Sugar, Rory, and Joe, interspersed enough to make each new addition unique and to not dump too much new on the audience at one time. For me, Sugar and Joe were especially welcome additions as their characters were so vastly different from anyone else in New Directions (whereas I felt Rory was just another Finn or Sam, kind of dorky and clueless). Of the three, Joe was my favorite as he was directly responsible for two of my favorite conversations during Season 3 (the God Squad's discussion of homosexuality was hilarious, and Joe and Sam's heart to heart on how to balance a sexual relationship with Quinn and a relationship with God I found to be a very honest look at that particular struggle without being remotely mocking towards Christians or preachy towards non-Christians).

Another very smart move made in Season 3? "Hold Onto Sixteen" gave us a Sectionals competition that was completely Rachel-free. The New Directions were also missing Santana and Mercedes, their two other power house female voices (though we did see them compete as members of the Troubletones). Instead Tina sang lead, Blaine and Artie had a duet, and basically everyone had a solo somewhere. Take note of who those three featured students were. All juniors. Those three will ease us in to Life After Rachel. And tell the truth, i found it to be one of my favorite competition episodes of the whole series (with my absolute least favorite costumes, both New Directions and Troubletones). Maybe more spotlight sharing will continue into Season 4?

All of these moves during Season 3, not to mention letting the audience cling to Tina and Artie (and a lesser extent, Blaine and Sam) as juniors, and Brittany as a super-senior, eased the shock that could have been Season 4.

I have some thoughts on the first episode back: the new characters and certain people or storylines I'd like to see more fully explored, but that will have to wait until tomorrow...

Is it time to find out who shot JR?

I should know better, but I kind of dismissed the new Dallas as soon as I heard they were making a continuation. To be fair, that was several years ago and the idea was to re-make it not continue it. And names like Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Lopez were being bandied about and it all seemed so cringe-worthy that when it really did happen I didn't give it much of a though.

Now, though, I've been hearing mostly good things about the new Dallas. It's even got some of the original cast to lend some legitimacy to the venture. And I'm almost thinking I should watch.

Being me, however, deciding I want to watch the new Dallas is a bit of an undertaking. Because, you see, I don't like to watch things out of order. I don't like to do anything out of order. And so deciding I'm going to watch the new Dallas really means I'm deciding to watch all 14 seasons of the original Dallas. And then I'll watch the new Dallas.

We'll see if this decision comes to fruit. I've blown through Sports Night pretty quickly (being as it's only two seasons) so maybe Dallas can be my new show when I'm done. Of course, the Emmy nominees are going to be announced in a week or so and I'll have to play some catch-up. Not to mention, the Olympics will take up a lot of time. I'm the most un-athletic person you'll ever meet, yet for some reason I can't get enough of the Olympics. The weirder the event the better. So yeah, Dallas just might have to take a back seat. But we'll see. Sometimes you need a giant and ridiculous undertaking, and 14 seasons of Dallas just might be the thing.