I was challenged to get deeper with my HIMYM posts, but I really have no idea what to do with this episode. It wasn't funny. It wasn't interesting. It suffered from everything I've complained about over the last year or two. You know your show is in trouble when the best joke in the episode involves a married couples single parents getting it on. I was going to write something about the ratings going up while the creativity continues to free fall, but then I looked at the ratings and realized that just wasn't the case. As much as you hear about CBS and the creators thinking about going forward with a ninth season because the shows ratings have never been better, nothing could be further from the truth. While season 7 started at abnormal highs, the ratings have quickly found there way back to season three and four levels. It seems pretty obvious that the only people still watching are those of us who feel pot committed; the people watching are fans who are fighting through the pain to stay loyal and find out who the mom is, not some wider audience who actually finds it entertaining.
The show runners said that they have until the end of the month to decide if they are going to go another season or not. I'm not sure I could watch another season of this, loyal or not, curious about the mom or not. So I ask all of you to pray with me that Jason Segel and/or Neil Patrick Harris hold out or the creators come to their senses and realize they are running on fumes, so this show can be put out of its misery and we can be left with thoughts of when this show was great.
14 more (oh please, oh please, oh please only 14) episodes to go!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
New Girl: Bathtub
This week was far from the best New Girl episode of the season, but there was still so much to like. The jokes didn't come as rapid fire as the best of the season, but there was a lot away from the funny that worked. First of all, this is the first episode this season that was able to do some justice with Winston. It's still far from perfect, but it was nice to see him involved in a story line that he was a major part of. I would have loved to see his panic attack strip teases used in a solo story, maybe at a setting like his job, but baby steps. It's a wonderful angle to bring back now that it's established because I think there is still comedy gold to mine from it. I really hope the writers build off his envolvment and don't go back to keeping him in the perrifery.
Schmidt also had a solid episode and it had more to do with subtley then his normal over the top performance. The drunk scene between him and Cece, while funny as well, was a fantastic bit of acting between the two of them. Although the shows biggest strength is in it's jokes and one liners, there is a lot of heart and this scene is a perfect example of how to balance the funny with the emotional.
Of course the best part of the episode was Olivia Munn! Does it get any better then Zooey Deschanel and Olivia Munn on the same show?!?! I pretty much lost it. It's a geek boy's wet dream.
But let's not totally forget the funny. I chuckled every time I saw that lightning bolt on Schmidt's back. And his "might as well be bathwater, it's rose" was fantastic. I'm really starting to love the reaccuring Rami character. He's so uncomfortably funny and over the top, but it really works in the small doses we get him in. Probably the gag that had me laughing the most was the old man Sid rubbing Olivia's back as she made out with Nick at the bar. It had me in stitches.
It was far from the best of the season, but just because Olivia Munn showed up I'm giving it a win...6-1 (and yes, Ken, I know I'm too forgiving). Oh, I almost forgot Nick's quote of the week... "Neither of you have the right bra for this!"
Schmidt also had a solid episode and it had more to do with subtley then his normal over the top performance. The drunk scene between him and Cece, while funny as well, was a fantastic bit of acting between the two of them. Although the shows biggest strength is in it's jokes and one liners, there is a lot of heart and this scene is a perfect example of how to balance the funny with the emotional.
Of course the best part of the episode was Olivia Munn! Does it get any better then Zooey Deschanel and Olivia Munn on the same show?!?! I pretty much lost it. It's a geek boy's wet dream.
But let's not totally forget the funny. I chuckled every time I saw that lightning bolt on Schmidt's back. And his "might as well be bathwater, it's rose" was fantastic. I'm really starting to love the reaccuring Rami character. He's so uncomfortably funny and over the top, but it really works in the small doses we get him in. Probably the gag that had me laughing the most was the old man Sid rubbing Olivia's back as she made out with Nick at the bar. It had me in stitches.
It was far from the best of the season, but just because Olivia Munn showed up I'm giving it a win...6-1 (and yes, Ken, I know I'm too forgiving). Oh, I almost forgot Nick's quote of the week... "Neither of you have the right bra for this!"
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
The Walking Dead: Made To Suffer
I'll start by saying this was a great season. The building of tension and the development of character was stronger then we've seen on the show previous. We knew there was something dangerous about the Governor when we first met him, but what we've seen him go through has set up a man on the edge of insanity and what looks like one of TV's greatest villains. It's even more impressive when you compare it to a similar trip that Rick took, but seems to have had a different response. It was an amazing half season journey that leaves a ton of hope for how awesome the second half can be.
But that's not what I want to talk about. There's another issue that the season finale brought up that I couldn't help but dwell on. I'm not normally one to address issues of race, it usually feels petty to me whenever people complain about minority representation in media, but I'm finding it hard to ignore this year. With New Girl unable to find anything to do with Winston and The Walking Dead's seeming quota on how many black guy characters they have, I can't help but mention how horrible minority characters are being handled. Twice this season The Walking Dead writers introduced a new black male character, but only after killing off a black male character in the same episode. Coincidence? Maybe, but you would like to see, in this day and age, a show this popular find something better to do with minority characters then use them as zombie fodder. Those of us who have read the comics know that Tyreese is a major comic in the books and those of us who watched The Wire know that Chad Coleman is a major actor, so the chances that he stays around and plays a bigger role then T-Dog and Oscar are pretty big, but that still doesn't change how black males have been handled so far.
It's easy to play off as a corny joke or a stupid cliche, but why shouldn't we start holding writers to a higher standard. There is no reason that minority characters can't play as strong a role as the white ones. If this show wants to reach the next level, to be progressive as well as popular, it needs to find a purpose for the black males it writes into the story, it needs to not be scared to have more then one token for each race. Give them a little depth and meaning and stop making their main purpose to feed the zombies.
But that's not what I want to talk about. There's another issue that the season finale brought up that I couldn't help but dwell on. I'm not normally one to address issues of race, it usually feels petty to me whenever people complain about minority representation in media, but I'm finding it hard to ignore this year. With New Girl unable to find anything to do with Winston and The Walking Dead's seeming quota on how many black guy characters they have, I can't help but mention how horrible minority characters are being handled. Twice this season The Walking Dead writers introduced a new black male character, but only after killing off a black male character in the same episode. Coincidence? Maybe, but you would like to see, in this day and age, a show this popular find something better to do with minority characters then use them as zombie fodder. Those of us who have read the comics know that Tyreese is a major comic in the books and those of us who watched The Wire know that Chad Coleman is a major actor, so the chances that he stays around and plays a bigger role then T-Dog and Oscar are pretty big, but that still doesn't change how black males have been handled so far.
It's easy to play off as a corny joke or a stupid cliche, but why shouldn't we start holding writers to a higher standard. There is no reason that minority characters can't play as strong a role as the white ones. If this show wants to reach the next level, to be progressive as well as popular, it needs to find a purpose for the black males it writes into the story, it needs to not be scared to have more then one token for each race. Give them a little depth and meaning and stop making their main purpose to feed the zombies.
How I Met Your Mother: Lobster Crawl
I was challenged to bring more to these posts then just complaining about how horrible the show has become, so instead of just pointing out how trite and cliche having a story line about missing your child's first moments while someone else gets to experience them is, I'm going to try to go a little deeper. I'll probably fail, but at least I'm going to try... right?
One of the biggest problems the writers of HIMYM have written themselves into is the fact most of the characters in the show have become so unlikable. The style of comedy that the show has based itself on, or at least accomplished so well at one point, one where the emotion of the show is as important as the comedy, requires us to like and sympathize with the characters. Once that sympathy is gone, all the power behind the punch is gone and you are left with a shell of the what the show once was. If I don't care for a character or don't sympathize with what they are going through, the joke or the emotional moment gets lost. This has become the biggest problem with every episode that revolves around Robin and Barney. Both are such horrible people that we have very little emotional involvement with them. What made them compelling as a couple is that they were so perfect for each other because they we so awful towards everyone else. Do I feel sorry when one of them has there heart broken? No, because there is such a deep history of them not carrying about how they treat others I could care less about the feeling being returned. I know I'm supposed to feel bad when Robin shows up at Barney's apartment dressed in nothing but a tight negligee and gets rejected, but she was such a horrible person who had such horrible motivations for her actions all episode long that I felt nothing.
There's a long line of likable horrible people in comedy. Seinfeld was a show based on a series of characters that were all horrible people and many consider it the best sitcom ever made. When HIMYM was at it's absolute best Barney was a horrible person that everyone tuned in to watch. But what makes these examples different then where HIMYM is now, is that nobody every rooted for George to get the girl. We fell off the couch laughing when he did something horrible and it came back to burn him, but we were never asked to feel sorry for him. Barney has mistreated women for eight seasons, Robin has been nothing short of horrible, yet we are suddenly supposed to feel sorry for them getting a little bit back. It just doesn't work or ring true.
That's not to say that the characters aren't allowed to grow. There can be repentance for bad behavior, there can be redemption, and if that is where the show is going with these characters, then maybe I'm judging to early, but I can't help but feel that all these moments of late are unearned. Barney has showed more signs of reform then Robin, but neither has reached a point where I'm able to feel sorry for them. It also doesn't help that we know where the story is going, that they are going to get to the point where they are prepared to get married. I mean, knowing that, how can the story line that has Barney on a date with the weird fat girl end well? Where are they going to take that story that helps redeem Barney's behavior?
To end on a somewhat positive note, I did get a couple a laughs out of this episode. Lilly's play off her familiar "son of a beech" catch phrase, "son of me" got a chuckle. And the first Santa visit revenge Lilly and Marshal got on Ted at the end of the episode may have been the best joke we've seen from the show in a season or two. It was an original take on the cliche story line we had to watch for 20 minutes.
15 more pain sessions left!
One of the biggest problems the writers of HIMYM have written themselves into is the fact most of the characters in the show have become so unlikable. The style of comedy that the show has based itself on, or at least accomplished so well at one point, one where the emotion of the show is as important as the comedy, requires us to like and sympathize with the characters. Once that sympathy is gone, all the power behind the punch is gone and you are left with a shell of the what the show once was. If I don't care for a character or don't sympathize with what they are going through, the joke or the emotional moment gets lost. This has become the biggest problem with every episode that revolves around Robin and Barney. Both are such horrible people that we have very little emotional involvement with them. What made them compelling as a couple is that they were so perfect for each other because they we so awful towards everyone else. Do I feel sorry when one of them has there heart broken? No, because there is such a deep history of them not carrying about how they treat others I could care less about the feeling being returned. I know I'm supposed to feel bad when Robin shows up at Barney's apartment dressed in nothing but a tight negligee and gets rejected, but she was such a horrible person who had such horrible motivations for her actions all episode long that I felt nothing.
There's a long line of likable horrible people in comedy. Seinfeld was a show based on a series of characters that were all horrible people and many consider it the best sitcom ever made. When HIMYM was at it's absolute best Barney was a horrible person that everyone tuned in to watch. But what makes these examples different then where HIMYM is now, is that nobody every rooted for George to get the girl. We fell off the couch laughing when he did something horrible and it came back to burn him, but we were never asked to feel sorry for him. Barney has mistreated women for eight seasons, Robin has been nothing short of horrible, yet we are suddenly supposed to feel sorry for them getting a little bit back. It just doesn't work or ring true.
That's not to say that the characters aren't allowed to grow. There can be repentance for bad behavior, there can be redemption, and if that is where the show is going with these characters, then maybe I'm judging to early, but I can't help but feel that all these moments of late are unearned. Barney has showed more signs of reform then Robin, but neither has reached a point where I'm able to feel sorry for them. It also doesn't help that we know where the story is going, that they are going to get to the point where they are prepared to get married. I mean, knowing that, how can the story line that has Barney on a date with the weird fat girl end well? Where are they going to take that story that helps redeem Barney's behavior?
To end on a somewhat positive note, I did get a couple a laughs out of this episode. Lilly's play off her familiar "son of a beech" catch phrase, "son of me" got a chuckle. And the first Santa visit revenge Lilly and Marshal got on Ted at the end of the episode may have been the best joke we've seen from the show in a season or two. It was an original take on the cliche story line we had to watch for 20 minutes.
15 more pain sessions left!
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