Upcoming TV Shows to Get Excited About

Over the next several months, several hit tv shows will be premiering new seasons.  These shows have already proven to be critical and fan favorites at the top of their game.  Below are the 4 that I'm most excited about, and you should be too!


1. The Good Fight (CBS All Access, premieres March 14): For 7 seasons, The Good Wife on CBS was the sharpest and smartest legal drama/political thriller on tv.  Star Julianna Margulies earned an Emmy for the role of scorned politician's wife Alicia Florrick.  I was skeptical that the show's spinoff would be as compelling without her, but The Good Fight has expanded on the Chicago legal world created by its predecessor, taking bolder story risks and breathing more freely without the constraints of network tv.  The show's decidedly liberal-leaning point-of-view and "naughty-word" infused dialogue is more true to life for how I imagine high-priced law firms actually operate, but the downside to this freedom is that the show doesn't have nearly the level of exposure that it would had it aired on CBS.  Critics love it, but most people either don't seem to know that it exists or don't want to pay for yet another streaming service.  My suggestion: Wait til all episodes have aired, then get a free week trial of CBS All Access and try to watch them all within that week.  It won't be hard; like a good book, you won't want to stop.


The Good Fight season 3 trailer


2. Killing Eve (BBC Amercia/AMC, premieres April 7): This show came out of nowhere last year and completely blew me away with its 8 episode first season.  Following American Eve Polastri, working as a British intelligence agent in London, she is tasked with tracking a weird and totally psychotic hit woman cleverly nicknamed named Villanelle.  The cat and mouse game between Eve and Villanelle took them on a dazzling trip through Europe's major cities and led to an unusual love/hate relationship between the women that can't even really be described.  The two women's first face to face meeting was one of the most thrilling scenes on television last year.  Season 1 only began to dig into the backstories and these characters, and I can't wait to see more.  Like The Good Fight, many people didn't know about this show last year because BBC America is a relatively obscure cable network, but hopefully that will change some this season as it will now also air simultaneously on the AMC network. 


Killing Eve season 2 trailer


3. Game of Thrones (HBO, premieres April 14): The final six episode season of the fantasy epic series is the most anticipated tv event of the year for me.  The show has been off the air for an agonizingly long time (almost 2 years), but the amount of time spent writing and filming the final season gives me hope that these episodes could be some of the most incredible things to ever air on television.  The Battle of Winterfell episode, in which the White Walkers will invade the northern kingdom, is already said to be the most complex battle to ever be filmed, and that includes film as well as television.  There are a lot of stories to wrap up before the series ends (Who will take the Iron Throne? Will the White Walkers be defeated? Which characters will die?), and some fans will inevitably be unhappy with the ending, but here's hoping that viewers can just go along for the ride and enjoy it as much as possible.  I'm in a winner-take-all Game of Thrones pool in which I pay $10 to guess what will happen on the show, so here's hoping that my predictions make me richer as well.


Game of Thrones final season trailer


4. The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu, premieres June 5): This dystopian drama, which imagines a near-future when a misogynistic religious cult takes over America, is the darkest show on tv.  There's rape, abuse, and an overarching sense of dread and hopelessness.  The parallels to today's political landscape are numerous and terrifying, but the strength of the show really lies in its many Emmy-nominated performances, led by the terrific Elisabeth Moss as handmaid June, who is raped and forced to bear a child for a high-ranking military commander and his wife.  Joseph Fiennes and Yvonne Strahovski give layered, complex performances as the couple; they're not simply evil caricatures to be hated.  Add in other acting powerhouses like Ann Dowd, Samira Wiley, and Max Minghella, and you get a completely riveting drama.  After the heartbreaking ending of season 2 (I won't spoil it here), I can't wait for this show's return.     


The Handmaid's Tale season 3 trailer

Best TV Seasons

I have watched many many tv shows in my time.  Most, especially long-running classics, have peaks and valleys in their overall quality; this is only natural.  Specific seasons of some of my favorite shows, where the story is compelling from start to finish, stand out as classics in my mind.  Here are just a few...

24 (Season 5): I still have nightmares about the plot of this season, in which terrorists release canisters of toxic nerve gas throughout L.A.  Chemical weapons, after all, are one of my biggest fears (don't ask).  When the gas was released into the ventilation system of CTU and characters were forced to seal themselves inside a conference room, I was on the edge of my seat.  Even before this point in the season, the show had already shockingly killed off multiple major players in the preceding episodes, two of them just in the opening minutes of the season premiere.  Add to this the fascinating reign of the evil, unhinged President Logan (Gregory Itzin) and his wife Martha (Jean Smart), and it's no wonder that this season won the Emmy for Outstanding TV Drama. 

The Simpsons (Season 4): It's hard to imagine now that the animated sitcom, the longest-running scripted primetime series in tv history, now in its 30th (!) season, was once the most groundbreaking and funniest show on tv.  It started off a little rough, but by season 4 the show had definitely found its rhythm and was at its creative peak, mostly due to amazing writers like future late night tv host Conan O'Brien.  The season started with classic episode "Kamp Krusty" and ended with celebrity voice-packed "Krusty Gets Kancelled", but every episode in between was memorable, particularly my very favorite episode "Marge vs. the Monorail".

Dexter (Season 4): I was hooked almost from the beginning of this show about a police blood spatter expert/secret serial killer, but this season stands out as by far the best, mostly due to the memorable turn of John Lithgow as Dexter's nemesis the "Trinity Killer".  The entire season was a fascinating game of cat and mouse between the two men, culminating in the shocking murder of (SPOILER ALERT) Dexter's wife Rita in the season finale, which completely changed the dynamics of the show afterwards.  It's a shame that the show ended with one of the worst final seasons and most disappointing series finales in tv history, but none of that takes away from the truly incredible season 4.       

Lost (Season 1): Starting with the incredible pilot episode (the most expensive in tv history up until that point), in which a group of plane crash survivors are introduced to their new mysterious island home, Lost was a bona fide cultural phenomenon in its first season.  Like any great suspense film or tv show, the show was strongest when viewers still didn't quite know what was going on, and before its sci-fi elements became too-far "out-there" in the next couple of seasons.  The flashback format of the show introduced in this season, in which every episode focused on the backstory of a different character, enriched the viewers' understanding of the characters and became an often-copied plot device used by other shows.  While the show's ending after 6 weird seasons is often criticized, I would argue that it worked just fine.  After all, there was really no single satisfying way to conclude such a wild and crazy show.  Still, viewers seemed to most enjoy the fresh mystery and suspense of the island in the amazing first season.

My Favorite TV Character Right Now

This week I was going to share a list of my favorite current tv characters, but there's really only one character that comes to mind: the loudmouth, scene-stealing, hilarious Tammy Diffendorf on Mom (Kristen Johnston).  First appearing in season 4 as Bonnie's incarcerated ex-foster sister who held a grudge against Bonnie for getting her kicked out of their foster home, sending her down a dark path towards prison (she robbed an Outback Steakhouse), Johnston clearly made an impression.  This season, 2 years later, the show brought the character back full-time.  Newly released after a 7-year prison stint, Tammy is now having to readjust to life on the outside, in episodes focused on her finding a job, reentering the dating scene, and living with first Christy and Bonnie but now Marjorie.  Johnston steals every scene that she's in by imbuing the character with an unfiltered but endearing vibe.  Many have complained that the character is annoying, but I think that she's almost single-handedly revived a sitcom whose quality was starting to wane.  Instead of stealing time from other characters, her presence adds to their storylines.  She often annoys the heck out of her new friends, but her love for them is palpable, providing a needed break from the biting wit and sarcasm thrown around by everyone else.  I would compare her addition to that of Bernadette and Amy to The Big Bang Theory; it feels like she's simply part of the gang and has been there all along.

I've been a fan of Johnston since her time on the 90's sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun.  In real life she's gone through a lot of hardship since she first appeared on television, dealing with things like drug addiction and lupus (which has caused a noticeable weight gain).  One of the best things about Mom, a show about recovering addicts, is that it has a history of employing actors that are in recovery themselves.  Jaime Pressly, who plays the wealthy, snobbish divorcee Jill, is well-known for her alcohol addiction and DUI arrest in 2011.  These experiences give the actresses an advantage at believably playing their characters, but they don't need much help as they are both talented comics to begin with.

When Tammy was absent from a recent episode, her presence was definitely missed, especially considering that she was originally just supposed to be a guest star.  Here's hoping Johnston continues on the show during its just-announced 2 additional seasons. 

The Office: Ranking the Dunder Mifflin Employees

Several months ago I finally began binging the American version of The Office on Netflix.  I'm probably one of the only tv fans who had only seen a handful of episodes of the popular workplace sitcom, which ran for 9 seasons from 2005-2013.  I'm currently about midway through season 6.  Michael is dating Pam's mom, Pam is pregnant, and Michael and Jim are co-managing the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin.  I thought that it would be a good time to rank the show's many supporting characters.  It seems that fans have varying opinions about which characters they love and which they are indifferent to.  for the purposes of my list, I'm excluding main characters whose names appear in the show's opening credits: Michael, Jim, Pam, Dwight, and Ryan (who probably would have been near the bottom of my list...).  So, here we go.






17. Andy: His antics and dorkiness, although similar to those of Michael, to me make him more creepy and annoying than lovable.  His relationship with Angela didn't make much sense to me either.  I'm a little confused why the show felt the need to add a less-likable version of Michael in season 3.






16. David Wallace: As Michael's boss who works at Corporate in New York City, David is good at looking bewildered by Michael's antics...but that's about it.  Also, the show never convincingly explains why David never fires Michael despite multiple antics that threaten the company's well-being. 






15. Charles Miner: Yes, Idris Elba is cool.  But this was a nothing character who briefly ran the Scranton branch while Michael, Pam, and Ryan went off to start the short-lived Michael Scott Paper Company.  Although it was kind of funny how Angela and Kelly fought for his affection.






14. Karen: She's mostly there as a foil to Jim and Pam being together.  She's only a regular for about a season, and the show never takes much time to flesh out her character before she inevitably has to go.  Wisely, the producers decided against their original plan to build a spinoff around Karen, since Rashida Jones's character on Parks and Recreation turned out to be much more interesting. 






13. Erin: As the receptionist who takes over for Pam once she goes into sales, Erin is sunny and pleasant but mostly kid of boring.  I did like her with Andy though.

12. Angela: She's a shrill, religious, and a mostly humorless cat lover.  She has her funny moments, especially as the head of the office's party planning committee.  Her relationship with Dwight was odd but actually kind of worked.  But her unpleasant personality does get kind of old and unappealing after a while, especially in season 4-5 when the show over-uses her.

11. Jan: As Michael's original boss and eventual love interest, Jan starts off as being a tough corporate bitch but turns into a complete nutjob who is even crazier than Michael.  Still, she has some very funny moments, particularly in the dinner party episode.






10. Hannah: It's a shame that Hannah only lasted for a couple episodes.  Because, as one of the transplants from the Stamford, CT branch, Hannah is absolutely hilarious in her few appearances.  She uses a breast pump in the office and gets mad when Pam mistakes her son for a girl.

9. Oscar: As the show's only gay character, Oscar is actually my favorite "straight man" (sane, relatively normal character) on the show.  He puts up with a lot of teasing from Michael and actually takes advantage of his politically incorrect boss by taking freebies from the company in lieu of suing it.  The episode where Oscar's sexuality is revealed is probably the most politically incorrect but hilarious things that I've ever seen on network television.




8. Holly: As the short-lived replacement to Toby as the Scranton branch's HR rep and Michael's love interest, Holly seems normal.  In actuality though, she's totally weird but adorable, a perfect match for Michael.  She has several standout moments with Michael, such as their beat-boxing riff and their awkward sketch at the company picnic.






7. Kevin: Kevin is just adorable, like a wide-eyed kid in a candy store and without a mean bone in his body.  Dwight memorably tricks Holly into believing that Kevin is mentally challenged.  Kevin's brief relationship with the socially awkward Lynn is also one of the show's sweetest couplings.

6. Phyllis: She's one of the "normal" characters early on, but later on she gets some of her own quirks, like when she blackmails Angela into taking control of the party planning committee, or when she and husband Bob Vance have sex in a restaurant bathroom, leaving double date partners Jim and Pam to wonder where they went.  She's one of the sweetest and most likable characters on the show.

5. Meredith: As the office's resident alcoholic and promiscuous grouch, the show wisely uses Meredith sparingly.  But whenever she appears, she has some great one-liners and sight gags, mostly memorably when she reveals a bit too much during the office's casual Friday, or when Michael hits her with his car in the parking lot.

4. Kelly: Yes, her character is one-note (a pop-culture obsessed dimwit who is obsessed with a man who treats her like garbage), but Mindy Kaling breathes so much life into this role that I always want more of her onscreen.  It's no wonder that she left the show before the end to start her own sitcom, The Mindy Project.

3. Creed: Like Meredith, Creed doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, but his creepy and secretive criminal old man character is hilarious.  His conference room confessional scenes, where he drops details of his weird and criminal behavior, are the best of any character.

2. Stanley: Stanley, always annoyed by Michael, has some of the best facial expressions on the show.  He's one of the few characters to call Michael out on his bullshit, although Michael usually just ignores him.

1. Toby: I've had an ongoing debate with a friend about whether Toby is a good character; in fact I think he's the absolute best supporting character.  One of the best running gags of the show is how Michael absolutely hates Toby just for doing his job as an HR rep.  He's awkward and lovelorn, with an requited crush on Pam.  But the best part of Toby is just his overall look of constant exhaustion and absolute misery, in his job dealing with the absolute HR disaster that is the Scranton branch.

I Am Jazz: Meaningful Reality TV

The TLC network is known for its wide array of trashy but often entertaining reality shows.  Little People Big World, My 600lb Life, 90 Day Fiancee, Sister Wives, My Big Fat Fabulous Life, I could go on and on.  Some, like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and 19 Kids and Counting, have also courted controversy over issues like child sexual assault, leading to their cancellations.  Several years ago, in the same summer that the E! network premiered I Am Cait, its reality series about Caitlin Jenner, the most well-known transgender person in the world, TLC quietly premiered its reality series about transgender teen and activist Jazz Jennings, called I Am Jazz.  While Jenner, with her sometimes conservative views and frequent foot-in-mouth public statements, is a polarizing figure, I would argue that Jennings is the true face of the transgender movement. 

I Am Jazz follows the life of Jennings, now 18 years old, who has asserted from a very young age that she is a girl, even though she was born a boy.  Her parents Jeanette and Greg made the controversial decision to block her development of male puberty, to allow her to live a convincing and happy life as a teenage girl.  And looking at her, you would never know that she is different from any other teen girl.  The show delves into all aspects of her life, including her friendships with other trans teens like JoJo and Noelle, dating, and her activism for the LGBTQ community.  It also follows Jazz's other family members, including her older sister Ari, older twin brothers Griffin and Sander, and mom Jeannette's parents Jack and Jackie, who must reconcile their conservative upbringing with supporting their trans granddaughter.  The current season is following the weeks leading up to and after Jazz's gender confirmation surgery, which took place last June.  The surgery is particularly unusual and risky, considering Jazz's young age and the fact that her puberty had been blocked.  With unexpected post-op complications and Jack's own simultaneous health crisis, the last few episodes have been more dramatic than any network or cable drama currently airing.

Whatever your thoughts or hesitations about watching a show about a transgender person, I would encourage everyone to check out this show to educate yourself and be entertained by a truly inspiring, interesting, and actually pretty average teen girl.  The show is understandably serious when it needs to be (it's tackling some heavy issues after all), but it also allows the Jennings family's goofiness and fun side to shine through. 

   

A Day at the Movies (Part 2)

Last week I gave my thoughts on 3 movies that I saw during a marathon day at the theater.  This week, part 2, where I discuss 2 now-Oscar nominated films that I saw last weekend.  Both have gotten critical raves, but I had very different opinions of them.

1.  If Beale Street Could Talk: I didn't know anything about this film until I started reading some positive reviews and heard positive feedback on one of my favorite entertainment podcasts ("Pop Culture Happy Hour").  The movie follows Fonny (Stephan James), a young black man in 1960s New York who gets wrongly accused and arrested for sexually assaulting a neighborhood woman.  He leaves behind his pregnant fiancée Clementine (Kiki Layne) while sitting in jail for months and months.  Fonny is close to Clementine's family, especially her mother Sharon (Regina King), but he's mostly estranged from his extremely religious and disapproving family.  I enjoyed James's performance opposite Julia Roberts in the recent Amazon drama Homecoming, and here he's just as magnetic.  The core of the film is his character's sweet romance with Clem, and the actors do share a ton of chemistry, but this alone wasn't enough to sustain my interest in the film.  The message of injustice against wrongly accused black men is an admirable one, but the writers don't seem very interested in the case itself, keeping the details of the assault mostly in the background of the plot.  This takes away much of the film's overall impact.  There are some interesting scenes in which Sharon tries to talk to the accuser into dropping the case, in which King really shines.  But there are other extended sequences, such as Fonny talking to his friend about nothing in particular, which bored me to death.  The movie was far too long, and editing it down more would have made me enjoy a lot more than I did.

2.  A Star is Born: I had been wanting to see this film for a while, and I'm glad that I was able to do so before it ended its theatrical run.  The film follows aspiring singer Ally (Lady Gaga), who by chance meets the already-famous country singer Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) and soon becomes a star herself.  The two singers share a tumultuous relationship marred by Maine's alcoholism and resentment over Ally's fame eclipsing that of her husband.  By moving away from the weird image that she became known for early in her career and becoming a more down-to-earth performer, Lady Gaga has proven that her career has legs.  She's also stretched her acting muscles with her performance in American Horror Story, but that was also a weird, out-there type of performance.  In this film, she strips all of that down and proves that she's also a serious dramatic actress.  Her character's relationship with Maine is believable, and that's mostly due to the strength of both actors.  Cooper, who also directs the film (but shockingly wasn't nominated for a Best Director Oscar) is gruff and ragged; his character spirals downward for much of the film, culminating a shocking ending that I definitely didn't see coming.  He's a generous performer, letting Gaga steal much of the spotlight.  The movie also boasts several strong supporting characters, particularly Jackson's older brother and sometime manager Bobby (Sam Elliott, also Oscar nominated) and even several scene-stealing drag queens played by RuPaul's Drag Race alums Willam and Shangela.  I still haven't even mentioned the amazing original music which gives the movie much of it's life; it's no wonder that the soundtrack topped the music charts for week.  Even with a running time over 2 hours, this movie kept my rapt attention the entire time, and it deserves all of the awards that are coming to it.           

A Day at the Movies (Part 1)

I've been MIA from this blog for far too long because of, you know...Christmas, work, ...laziness.  Well never fear, because I'm back!  Recently I've done a couple mini marathons at the movies, trying to see as many holiday movies as possible during any free time that I've had.  I'm here to share my quick takes on these movies, so that you're hopefully a little more prepared for Oscars season.

   

1.  Mary Poppins Returns: I went into this not expecting much beyond a serviceable kids movie.  The trailers made Emily Blunt seem like a fine Mary Poppins, which was enough to get me to the theater, but I wasn't expecting to have such a toe-tapping good time and to leave in such a good mood.  To describe the plot as bare-bones is being generous: the children from the original Mary Poppins, now grown, are about to be foreclosed on their childhood home unless they can find a certificate proving that they own shares in the bank.  Young Michael (Ben Whishaw), now the father of 3 young children, is also dealing with the recent death of his wife and the children's mother.  Enter Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) to lighten the mood and help take care of the kids, with the help of lamplighter Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda).  The film features a variety of new, mostly catchy, songs, my favorite being "Nowhere to Go But Up", an imaginative ditty with an uplifting message, featuring the characters carried high into the sky by magical balloons.  Blunt was simply great in the role, and even though I've never been a huge fan of the overly perky Miranda, he did a fine job as well.  There were even cameos by Dick Van Dyke (of the original film), and Angela Lansbury, which both brought smiles to my face.  This is a great family film, and I fully expect to see some additional sequels to this sequel.

2.  The Favourite: Of all the movies that I saw on movie day part 1, this is the one that I was most looking forward to.  And it definitely didn't disappoint.  A twist on the typically stuffy Oscar-bait period piece, this film follows the power struggle between two close advisors of Britain's early-1700s Queen Anne (Olivia Colman): Duchess Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) and the queen's distant cousin Abigail Masham (Emma Stone).  The queen herself is nothing far from regal: she's sickly, grouchy, and a terrible public speaker.  She suffers from multiple debilitating ailments, including gout, and she enjoys taunting her handmaids and the palace guards.  The Duchess occupies the queen's confidence, manipulating her into doing her political bidding, until Abigail enters the picture and rises through the palace ranks.  The two women then into a bitter battle over their the attention of their queen and, yes,...lover, including even poisoning.  I've been a fan of Colman since I saw on the excellent British tv series Broadchurch, and she's soon to take over the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the also excellent Netflix series The Crown.  She adds an enjoyable dose of sardonic humor to her royal roles.  Weisz does a fine job in the film, but Stone somewhat overtakes her with her innocent-girl turned manipulative bitch role.  However, both are overshadowed by the sheer acting force of Colman, who I fully expect to take home an Oscar next month.

3.  Mary Queen of Scots: I honestly don't have much to say about this bore of a film, which was basically the complete opposite of The Favourite in every way.  It follows the story of the famous exiled Scottish queen (Saoirse Ronan) by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I (a completely unrecognizable Margot Robbie).  Ronan and Robbie do a decent job in their roles, but the real problem here is the writing.  Despite a bloated run time, the film never gets to real reasons that Mary was sent to the execution block by her cousin.  The action onscreen makes it seem as if the two women are in little more than a teenage spat.  So when, after their climactic meeting near the end of the film, which ended ambiguously, viewers see that Elizabeth had Mary imprisoned and years later killed, anyone unfamiliar with this true story would be understandably confused.  Mary seems like a sexually promiscuous young woman with little more to define her personality, and Elizabeth seems like a stuck-up bore with ugly hair and makeup.  The film lacks any semblance of humor, but doesn't make up for it in dramatic effect. 


Coming up in my next post, movie day part 2, featuring If Beale Street Could Talk and A Star is Born.  Stay tuned...