Summer Watch List

So, as you may have noticed, it is summer.  And aside from a time where some of us like to engage in this little-known activity called reading, it is also a time when the cable networks put out some of their best shows.  So what have I been watching?  Not Breaking Bad.  But lots of other things!

Episodes

I'll admit that I've already finished Season 2 of Episodes.  Much like Downton Abbey, it airs in the UK months before it comes to the States, and so it's easy to find links online.  And so even though I only started watching the season last weekend, I'm already done.  The reason for this is that it's SO EFFING GOOD.  Literally everything about this show is fantastic, but especially the actors.  Matt LeBlanc continues to be great at playing a parody of himself, and Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan are always brilliant as the transplanted British writers/producers, but this season gave more of the spotlight to the supporting actors, and Kathleen Rose Perkins shines like a goddamn star.  Her portrayal of Carol is at once pathetic and empowering; infuriating and endearing; hilarious and sad.  She's taken the character from the one-note Rigid Studio Executive and turned Carol into someone we root for and whose motives we come to understand.  And she's just SO fucking funny.  John Pankow as the studio head Merc Lapidus is a comedic gem, and Genevieve O'Reilly as his blind wife Jamie plays her role with a quiet subtlety that'll make you laugh out loud (as two characters are fighting and chaos erupts amongst the cast, she just keeps yelling, "What's going on???!!!").  Daisy Haggard as the erstwhile, clueless exec with the weird moaning voice steals every single scene she's in and Joseph May as Andy Button is the type of character who would eat a popsicle made of shit if you told him it was fudge - while smiling.  I honestly can't pick a favorite character because I love them all, and I didn't mean to brush past Greig and Mangan because they carry the show, and both actors' abilities to transform from glib to gutwrenching in the blink of an eye is astounding.  They grab you by the heartballs, and just won't let go.

Anyway, not to give anything away, but the season finale is one of my favorite moments of comedy of the entire year.  There're only nine episodes, so get watching and seriously, don't miss out on this show.

My Favorite Things

I have a problem with "Best Of" lists. I'm not very good at ranking things, and the end of the year always brings these lists where one thing is often ranked above or below a different, almost incomparable thing. Why must I decide which is my absolute favorite? I've been watching a lot of Arrested Development lately, as I am wont to do at this time of year, and I love it so much - but I can't say I love it more or less than something else...I have enough love to go around! Television and I have a polyamorous relationship. So here are my favorite shows, moments, people, and things from 2011, in absolutely no particular order.

Emmys, Premieres, And One Blogger's Eternal Struggle

The Emmys are tonight, and Monday marks the real return of real television (The CW's fall season minus Gossip Girl started this week, but we don't count that). This means that, in addition to working, studying, and having a life that involves life-size, tangible people, I've got a shit-ton of shows to watch, recap, and opinionate on. Don't get me wrong; I'm super-excited. But just to give you a sense of what I'm up against here, these are the new shows that are showing up on my Sidereel schedule this week:

How I Met Your Mother

Castle

Glee

Raising Hope

Parenthood

SVU

Up All Night

Modern Family

CSI (on Wednesdays???)

Person Of Interest

The Big Bang Theory

Community

The Office

Parks & Recreation

Archer

Fringe

A Gifted Man

And that doesn't even count the summer shows I'm still watching like The Big C and Project Runway, or the shows that decided to do TWO premiere episodes like the effing Big Bang Theory (it's never the ones you hope for), or the shows that already premiered that I haven't watched yet, like Up All Night and Parenthood. So, you can see that it's gonna take me a little while to get through it all, and that posts will, by necessity, hopefully be somewhat abbreviated. It's actually kind of a good thing that the brand new shows mostly look like crap, because otherwise I'd be completely bogged down. I will do my best to watch everything and post in a timely fashion, but some shows' fall evaluations may have to wait until next week.

Now on to The Emmys. I won't say too much about it because most of my frustrations with the whole Emmy system are expressed in this post, but I will say this: The Emmys are broken. I do not, as of yet, have a solution to the problem of how to get Emmy voters to watch more than one or two episodes of a series, but I'm working on it. The system wherein shows submit their favorite episodes for consideration completely ignores the painstaking and incredible continuity work that goes into a show like Community, and instead rewards those shows who display a complete LACK and DISREGARD for continuity, aka Glee. I'm not surprised Glee got an Emmy nom; there were a couple good episodes this past season (if you ignore the rampant biphobia and absolutely awful and nonsensical character arcs for EVERYONE and focus instead on that one time Gwyneth Paltrow sang a Cee-Lo song), but there is no way it was a better over-all season than Community. Or Episodes. Or Archer. Or any number of fantastic shows that did not receive a nomination. This system of selecting single shows for judgment also totally dis-favors shows like Fringe and Lost that have season- or even series-long plotlines. Now, I know it's silly to rail against something as ultimately meaningless as The Emmys, but it really does make me sad when I see programs and actors that I know are great and deserving because I have watched ALL of their episodes lose to programs and actors that I know are equally undeserving because I have suffered through all or most of their episodes (ugh The Big Bang Theory UGHHH). So here's hoping that tonight will be all about Mad Men (The Best), Parks & Recreation (The Best next to the infuriatingly ROBBED Community), and Louie (also just The Best). Down with Boardwalk Empire (unless the Emmy is for set direction), Glee, and The Big Bang Theory! Give the rightly deserving all that they rightly deserve.

Seriously, though, you do not want to be in my house if Mad Men doesn't win best drama for their spectacular fourth season, because it is an indisputable FACT that everything about that show is meticulously awesome and even Friday Night Lights (which I have heard is great and is the only other nominated drama I will even slightly concede to) doesn't have the total package of top-notch writing and acting and directing and costumes and set direction and lighting and cinematography and EVERYTHING that Mad Men has.

My Glee issues do not extend to Jane Lynch, whom I LOVE, and who I am very excited to see host tonight. I love how the major awards shows just get gayer and gayer every year. Here's hoping for some excellent pantsuits.

Ok, I'm off to get some sun and live some semblance of a life before the season of opinions officially begins. Expect outraged commentary in the morning!

I Went To Yosemite, Maybe You Saw Me There?

I was the one riding a mule in lime green leggings.

Anyway, that is why I've been absent for eons...well, that, and the fact that I am now working three jobs AND attempting to study for the GRE in a few weeks AND supposedly also applying to grad school even though I haven't really started on any applications yet because of jobs and hiking and studying and all of that. But I'm going to, I promise. Additionally, there hasn't really been any significant tv to talk about, and I know I'm gonna have crazy work ahead of me real soon what with it being premiere season and all, so some slack is gonna have to be cut. Don't think I don't wish I could just write in here all day about what a dick Gay Ryan Reynolds is being on Project Runway, because that's the dream, friends.

(A terrible, tiny, total dick, in case you were wondering.)

I will try my best to keep writing about what interests me, and doing recaps for whatever shows I decide to recap, but I'll warn you right now: there are almost no new shows on the networks' fall schedules that interest me very much. That Ben Linus show. Alcatraz. POSSIBLY that show with Kat Dennings or that show with Will Arnett. And that's it. I'll be keeping my ear to the ground to try and find something that's any good, but I'm afraid that the disparity between quality television and terrible television is following the same exponential growth pattern as the wealth gap. I know that nobody else misses Mr. Sunshine because nobody else watched it, but it was great and I miss it a lot and can only imagine how much better it would have fared with a fall premiere instead of a shitty mid-season horn-in. Anyway, I'll still be watching all my shows from last year, and I can't wait for the new seasons of Parks & Recreation and Community. The Office....ehhhhhh, not so much, but we'll talk about that when we get to it. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the finales of Wilfred and Louie (I did, but not as much as I enjoyed other episodes from earlier in both seasons) and that, like me, you are using this much-needed television lull to FINALLY start watching The Wire (which is pretty awesome and very cynical and while not yet as perfect as some might have led me to believe, still very entertaining and smart). Despite my busy schedule, I am here to stay, do not worry! I know you were SO worried.

Summer Discussion Points!

So it turns out that summer isn't a great time for writing lots of blog posts when you're traveling and have family visiting and are otherwise working full-time. And since Psych is the best show on USA it's not coming back until the fall, and so I haven't had those recaps to write. I should really stop apologizing at the top of every post for my sporadic behavior, but REALLY I should just stop being a slacker and write about the things that I want to write about. So here's a mish-mash of what's been on my mind and my screen lately.

Ice Loves Coco

This is it, guys. We have reached the pinnacle of reality television programming. I'm not really sure what it is about Ice Loves Coco that has me so enthralled, but I do know one thing: Ice sure does love Coco. I mean, if there is one person in this world who loves somebody the most that you can love somebody, it is Ice loving Coco. And the great part is that this isn't some gross Hugh Hefner shit - Coco also loves Ice. That she chooses to express her love by being quite "traditional" and "domestic" is 100% her business, especially since in return she gets all the shoes she can fuck. Maybe it's because Ice-T is awesome, maybe it's because Coco is mesmerizing, but I am certain that this is the best example of the "follow a minor celebrity around their daily life" type of show. That reminds me, I need to go buy my dog a doppelganger coat for her interview with the dog agent to get all the Hollywood dog jobs and whatnot. Good thing I didn't forget, I've always dreamed of my dog having an agent. HAHAHA just kidding famous people are weird and not like me at all even if they do eat hamburgers and wear pants (I don't wear pants).

Louie

Louie is back!!! You should watch it. Louis C.K. said on The Daily Show, "You don't have to be smart to laugh at a fart joke, but you have to be stupid not to." I said, just now out loud to myself, "You don't have to be smart to watch Louie, but if you don't I will call you terrible names." So I watch because I don't like to be mean but I also don't make empty threats. Also, because it is awesome. Thursdays at 10 on FX and I only take the time to look up the air times of shows I really think you should be watching SO don't make the 20 seconds it took me to find that out worthless and just watch a great half-hour of comedy, please.

Jon Benjamin Has Awesomeness

So, for whatever dumb reason, I waited until today to watch Jon Benjamin Has A Van. For whatever dumber reason, Comedy Central only has ONE episode available to watch on their website, which seems pretty ridiculous since the show just started. Regardless, after I get off work I'm going a-internet hunting for the first two episodes because JBHAV, like all things Jon Benjamin graces with his greatness, is hilarious.

It's hard to describe what kind of show it is. It's kind of like sketch comedy, with a main skit that runs through smaller gags. It reminds me of Mr. Show crossed with Louie (which is back starting Thursday! Even though I'm still angry at my lover Louis C.K. for his dumb Twitter remarks about the Tracy-Morgan-is-ignorant-and-terrible imbroglio, I will continue to allow him to make me laugh), meaning that there's no real structure other than what Jon Benjamin wants as structure. And that's a good thing. Some of the best comedy comes from naturally hilarious people just fucking around and doing their thing, and that's exactly what JBHAV is.

There's not much to say about the show besides it's really funny, you should watch it. Jon Benjamin totally has some kind of magical comedic energy - just having him around something automatically makes it great. And I'm being serious when I say that the best thing about JBHAV are Benjamin's eyes - they twinkle, they laugh, they deadpan, they draw you in to their rippling blue depths. It's surprisingly fantastic how much Jon Benjamin can make me laugh with just his face when he's been mostly a voice actor for the majority of his career - although I shouldn't really be surprised, since he's such a brilliant voice actor. He has some of the best comedic delivery in the history of laughing, and Jon Benjamin Has A Van takes complete advantage of his fine, fine skills (and his sexy-ass face).

This is going on the Summer Watch List, guys. I just hope Comedy Central ponies up some new episodes soon, and that JBHAV doesn't get lost behind the murky puke that is Ugly Americans.

Images via CleftClips, HitFix, PirateShows

An Open and Honest Love Letter to Louis C.K.

Dear Louis,

This is just to say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox that you were probably saving...ha ha, just kidding, I'd never send you that bitchy William Carlos Williams poem, although it would most likely make you laugh. No, instead I'm going to tell you just how impossible it is for a girl like me to not fall a little in love when a man like you makes a mostly fictional television show about his life.

To begin with, let me just say that I don't do red-haired men (or "ginger fucks", as Ricky Gervais might call them). This is probably due to a combination of having a platonic redheaded male best friend and having seen that scene in She's All That where the dude puts his ginger pubes on the pizza and then eats them too many times, but whatever the reasons are, pale dudes with red hair never, ever did it for me. Until you, Louis. Until you.

This is not to say that you're an especially "conventionally" attractive guy, but you're unique and funny and those two things combined are enough to get my loins a-warming. I am attracted to unconventionality. Being self-deprecating and, for the most part, shameless in no way hurt your chances with me. And then you had to go and make an awesome TV show and any hope of saving myself from this ginger-hued path I'm heading down disappeared.

"It rubbed off...from friction."

Ok, I just watched an insane amount of TV in like, two days. As a result, I have a lot I want to say but the organization of my brain isn't working too well, so I'm just going to start wherever it wants and will probably end up with a super long and slightly discombobulated post. Stick with me, kids.

Mr. Sunshine

How often is it that a pilot episode surprises you by being miles better than you thought it was when you already thought it was going to be awesome? Not very. Mr. Sunshine brought it SO UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY to the table that I cannot wait for the next episode. Allison Janney is a comedy goddess and a dream come true; she should honestly share top billing on the show. Matthew Perry is a master of acerbic wit and Mr. Sunshine was tailor-made to cater to his strengths - even the theme song reminds me of him. And somebody must have known that I'd be watching to include the brilliant and fabulous Jorge Garcia cameo, even if he is only around for one episode. I would highly recommend this show to anyone who has ever enjoyed Friends, Studio 60, Allison Janney in 10 Things I Hate About You, or has ever been to San Diego. You can find plenty of links here at my new favorite TV streaming site, Project Free TV.

Archer

I was planning on writing a long Archer post the morning my computer died, but it probably boils down to "Archer is hilarious. If you like Arrested Development or South Park or Adult Swim, you will love Archer." So watch it - it's a much better way to get your Jessica Walter fix than that painful guest role she had on The Big Bang Theory this week, and sometimes Jeffrey Tambor shows up as well! You can even watch them out of order, it doesn't really matter, although starting from the beginning will give you a better idea of why they treat Pam like crap or why Cyril is such a douche. Oh, and H. Jon Benjamin gives me a susan. If you're as enchanted by his mellifluous voice as I am and want to see what he looks like in person, you can watch the episode of Parks And Recreation where Leslie fills in the pit and Andy ends up in the hospital; Benjamin is the city lawyer.