Bid farewell to Big Love

It seemed like yesterday I wrote about how Big Love was ending after its fifth season, and now, the time has come. Tonight, HBO will air the final episode of the polygamist drama. And, surprisingly, I'm excited about it - excited for the right reasons.

I'm not excited for the reason I thought I would be - putting a formerly good show out of its misery. No, I'm actually excited because this season has been fairly good. The show has gotten back to its roots (the family and its drama), and there has been plenty of family drama to keep the show going. Without spoiling too much, the usual suspects at Juniper Creek are proving to be a great threat to the Henrickson family, which is facing self-implosion due to drama from a straying Barb, an emotional Nicki and a conflicted Margene. Oh, and Bill may go to jail. And Rhonda, quite possibly one of the most abhorrent characters in television (the one you love to hate) is back, which has yielded plenty of rage and emotion from me.

Sure, there are a lot of plot lines on the show right now that will need to be tied up tonight, and this season wasn't perfect because of them. Yet, last week's episode, Exorcism, was fascinating and kept me interested. I think the show did a good job of using a self-imposed ending to return to its roots and make a strong final season.

I'm glad that I'm excited for the series finale of a show I liked - I'm glad they were able to make audiences care enough to watch the finale (unlike shows like Nip/Tuck). Amanda Seyfried and Aaron Paul are expected to return in this episode, and I'm glad we'll get to see them one more time. I'm looking forward to the prospect of something bad happening to Bill and Rhonda. As a whole, I'm looking to see if they end the show on an optimistic note (where Alby goes down, Bill avoids jail and the family stays together) or a dim one (the family splits, Bill goes to jail, people die). It could go either way this evening, and I'm interested to see what they do. As ONTD user "arrogant_sage" said perfectly, this is a "great little train wreck of a show," and I'm glad that it's going out on a fairly strong note.

HBO posted a few clips of the finale:







What are your expectations for the finale?

Charlie Sheen's crazy quotes offer plenty of joy

I love award shows. So, you'd figure this update would relate to the Academy Awards. However, that's not true, first of all, because I was at work, and I missed most of the show. Second, from what I hear, the show was a dud, and much of the blame is placed upon co-host James Franco. I can't help but love Franco, so instead of focusing on his Oscar performance, I'll instead think about his brilliant Twitter account and photos, like this:



Anyway, the Academy Awards are not my main form of entertainment. No, my great joy this week comes from Charlie Sheen. Always a powder keg, the Franz Ferdinand moment came in January when he was sent to the hospital (and rehab) and production on his show "Two and a Half Men" was shut down due to Sheen's absence. In this last week, Sheen and "Men" creator Chuck Lorre have gotten into a war of words that turned anti-Semitic when Sheen mocked Lorre changing his name to sound less Jewish (which is rich, seeing as how "Carlos Estevez" wasn't Hollywood enough, and "Charlie Sheen" was better).

It turns out, those shocking comments were just the tip of the iceberg. In the past couple of days, Sheen has appeared on "the Today Show," "Piers Morgan Tonight," "20/20" and more, delivering mind-bogglingly scary/crazy/awesome/perfect (they're a little of all of these adjectives) phrases. To list them all would take forever, but, among the highlights:

*Frequent references to the word "winning," as well as "bi-winning: "I’m not bi-polar, I’m bi-winning. I win here and I win there."
*"I'm tired of pretending like I'm not bitchin', a total rock star from Mars, and people can't figure me out; they can't process me. I don't expect them to. You can't process me with a normal brain."
*"Clearly I have defeated this earthworm [Lorre] with my words, imagine what I would have done with my fire-breathing fists."
*Frequent references to having "tiger blood and Adonis DNA," and being a warlock.

And, my personal favorite: "I am on a drug, it's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available because if you try it you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body." That's right, everyone, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have lied to you for 30 years, the Nazis were brought down by Sheen, not the Ark of the Covenant.

Debate continues over Sheen's mental condition - is he bipolar, having a manic episode? Is he high now, or is he now sober and crashing?

I'm not going to say that Sheen doesn't have some sort of mental anguish, but I honestly get the sense that the majority of his issues have to do with his massive ego. He's desperate to remain in the spotlight and truly believes he deserves more money for his work on "Two and a Half Men." Compared to someone like Gary Busey, a celebrity who has obvious mental issues/brain injuries, I see Sheen's meltdown as a different kind of breakdown. It's largely ego-driven.

This man has been pushing the limits for years, between the Heidi Fleiss scandal, the cocaine overdose(s), charges of domestic violence against his wives, and more. He knows he can get away with it - "Two and a Half Men" still became and remains a hit regardless of the stunts he pulls. So, he's going to pull out all the stops, all the egocentric thoughts in his head to get what he wants. This isn't a mental breakdown, it's an ego-driven one. Or, at least, that's what I'm going to tell myself so I don't feel bad about laughing endlessly at his "Sheenanigans."

If you haven't seen any of Sheen's recent interviews, here's a small clip of his "Today Show" interview.



Also worth checking out: Cats Quote Charlie Sheen and Sheen's new Twitter account.

What do you think? Are people being insensitive to a public mental breakdown, or is this just desserts for years of celebrity entitlement?

Four Weddings and an angry viewer

Let me start by asking: Does anyone remember when TLC branded itself as "the Learning Channel"? These days, it's impossible to actually learn anything from the network, as most of their shows are pointless at best (I maintain that "Cake Boss" is a poor man's "Ace of Cakes"), exploitative at worst (anything involving the Gosselins or Duggars).

Somehow, on Friday nights, even though the show annoys me, I find myself sucked in by the network's "Say Yes to the Dress," which chronicles bridal shops in New York and Atlanta. My mom makes a habit out of watching these shows, so any time I go out in the living room, I inexplicably end up watching the entire episode to see what dress the woman picks.

However, I can't say the same for "Four Weddings," the network's competition show where four brides grade each others' weddings, with the winner receiving a honeymoon trip for her and her husband. This show bothers me on many levels, the most notable being the unnecessary competition and jealousy it creates among women during what should be an incredibly happy time in their lives. Sure, brides have certain desires for their weddings and they're allowed to spend a certain amount of money on their special day to celebrate marrying the person they love.

I feel a wedding should be special for each couple; it shouldn't be about competing with other couples to see who has a "better" wedding. There's already a gross stereotype about brides that exists (and is rehashed through shows such as "Bridezillas" and movies like "Bride Wars"), portraying them as vicious, picky monsters, who, as shown in "Bride Wars," compete against other women for a ridiculous notion of bride supremacy. Every woman can have the wedding they want, why does it have to be a competition with other women?

Shows like "Four Weddings" take away the romance and importance of a wedding and instead turn it into an unnecessary competition that elicits the worst in women. On the few episodes of "Four Weddings" I've seen, I've been amazed at some of the awful comments women make about the other contestants' weddings, likely so they can improve their chances at winning a honeymoon. I vastly preferred the network's "A Wedding Story" (even though it usually was a too saccharin for my tastes), because it just focused on one couple and the devotion they had for one another. It showed them preparing for the wedding they wanted to have, not the one that was going to be better than fellow brides.

I realize I may be reading too much into a guilty pleasure show. Yet, I'm still really bothered by "Four Weddings." Anyone else?

Parks and Recreation returns as 30 Rock shines

This semester is killing me, much like the cold, possibly flu I currently have. So, I haven't had the time to update this blog, sadly.

However, this week for the BG News, I reviewed episode one of what is currently the funniest show on television, "Parks and Recreation." Words cannot adequately express my happiness now that the show is back on the air.

So, check out my review of "Parks and Rec" at BGNews.com.

Not only was last week's season premiere funny, but "the Flu," last night's episode, also delivered, largely thanks to Aubrey Plaza's April and Rashida Jones' Ann's hilarious hospital beside exchanges. Everyone, do yourselves a favor, please watch this show. If you watched season one and didn't find it funny, forget about that opinoin you formed and come in with an open mind, becasuse the show has become amazing.

Also, "30 Rock" was quite hilarious last night, mainly for making fun of the Jack/Liz shippers, even if this hilarious scene got the annoying OneRepublic song in my head.



My personal favorite joke? Upon the success of the NBC telethon for Mel Gibson and Jon Gosselin's private island, according to Jack, "It was our highest rating since that episode of 'SVU' when the detectives watched 'American Idol,'" which I took to be a blatant jab at the "Office" episode from November which revolved around a viewing party for "Glee."

This network. I think the Jan. 14 episode of "SNL" summarized it best:

James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson use Dawson's Creek fame for humor

I like seeing people in the public eye becoming Internet savvy, realizing they can use it to help their careers, poke fun at themselves and connect with fans.

For those of us who grew up in the late '90s, even if we didn't watch the show, we were all familiar with "Dawson's Creek" and Katie Holmes' Joey Potter and her love triangle with Pacey Whitter (Joshua Jackson) and Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek). One season three episode of the show yielded an emotional reaction from Dawson that lived in infamy on the Internet, "crying Dawson." For years, Internet users have been using the awkward cry to feign sadness and express sarcasm.



This week Van Der Beek partnered with FunnyOrDie.com to create James Van Der Memes, a website which recognizes the permeation of "crying Dawson" online by allowing Van Der Beek to create a series of new emotion-filled animated gifs. My personal favorite, "No You Didn't":



Similarly, at last year's ComiCon, Jackson took a break from promoting his Fox show "Fringe" to hold his own "Pacey-Con" to celebrate his character, complete with Pacey fan fiction Jackson wrote:

Pacey-Con with Joshua Jackson from Joshua Jackson

Sure, these acts could be seen as pandering to the Internet and past fans in order to resurrect popularity (especially in Van Der Beek's case, since his last show, "Mercy," did not make it past season one). But I think it's funny that these two former co-stars are using their breakout roles and dumb Internet jokes to acknowledge their fans. With Van Der Beek, he's laughing at his own awkward acting moment, and as someone who collects gifs, his myriad of new expressions are quite nice additions to my collection.

Fall in love with Misfits this holiday season

You can watch Misfits here on YouTube, no fuss. Or via SideReel links. There. You have absolutely no excuse not to watch this show.

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about the brilliance that is Misfits, the British dramedy about a group of kids in a community service program who are suddenly given supernatural powers. The synopsis of the show sadly underscores how entertaining and fascinating the show is, so please do not judge the show based on the synopsis alone.

Well, since I blogged about it, the show only became more brilliant. I don't want to give too much away, but the second season of the show made the show even more addicting. New characters and character pairings were created and embraced by the show's fans. Episodes that are filler are still jarringly gut-wrenching (literally - I warn you now, while season 2, episode 6 is great, don't eat or drink anything while watching it) and emotionally affect the viewer. I don't like to waste time when I'm watching TV - I like plot forwarding episodes. But if an episode that doesn't really forward the plot can still be good, that's the sign of a great TV show in my eyes.

I realize I'm being really obtuse in my descriptions, but I don't want to inadvertently give anything away. Being surprised is half of the fun.

I liked to places to watch the episodes above. There's only six episodes in season one and seven in season two, so it's not a major time commitment. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have never heard of someone who watched the show and didn't like it. It's charming, fascinating and addicting.

TV addicts, make a wise decision during the holidays and watch Misfits. Plus, when it's inevitably poorly remade for American television in a few years, you can say you knew about it before anyone else.

Do yourself a favor, stay 'streets ahead' and watch Community

Back during season premiere time, I wrote about how Community started the season off on a high note. While this season has been far from perfect, I still find myself enjoying the show, and Thursday's Christmas episode was genius.

As shown above, the entire episode was filmed as stop-motion animation, which could have been a cheap gag, but instead, established a high point for the show. Now, for the most part, I kind of hate Christmas. I'm not saying that in an attempt to be an ironic grinch, I just find other times of the year more enjoyable, and in recent years, I've become jaded by it. So, I was awfully surprised by how moved I was by this episode.

Abed, everyone's favorite television obsessed oddball, wakes up one day with his entire world in stop motion, and the study group tries to get him out of his funk. What follows is an episode that both satirizes and embodies holiday television traditions in a funny and sweet way. I'm not entirely sure how much of the episode's dialogue and events were real, or figments of Abed's imagination and worldview, but it was a fun ride that also put me into the Christmas spirit, which is a pretty remarkable feat. Plus, I have to love any show that manages to work the phrase "wash your dupa" into the plot (as a Polish person who hears her grandma, excuse me, Busia, say the word "dupa" all too often, I was cracking up).

Please, do yourself a favor and watch "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas." Community is one of those shows where it's fairly episodic, and you can watch any episode and understand what's going on. I'd like to also recommend 4 other episodes that showcase the show at its finest:

Modern Warfare (season one): As the title suggests, this episode involves war. A paintball game, more specifically, a campus-wide game for early class registration. It turns into an all-out blood bath straight out of a video game, complete with jabs at Glee.

Contemporary American Poultry (season one): The Godfather (and other mob movies), revolving around chicken nuggets. Need I say more?

Anthropology 101 (season two): Here's how good this episode is: Betty White is the weakest link.

Basic Rocket Science (season two): This was another episode that was so outrageous it was funny. I think what sold me on the episode was the KFC product placement. I can't help but laugh and smile at a great Colonel Sanders joke/reference:

Why am I here? Why do I watch shows like SNL?

Those of us who watch TV on a regular basis have probably found themselves asking why they are watching something that is terrible.

I'm not talking about "guilty pleasure" terrible, where something is enjoyable, even though it is lowbrow. I'm talking about deliberately sitting down to watch a show week after week, even though it consistently disappoints, out of sheer loyalty, a desire to not miss a potential great moment, or some other reason. While this semester has left me unable to follow as many television shows as I'd like, I still have this relationship with Saturday Night Live.

Rarely can I say that I enjoy a full episode of SNL, where I can recall sketches, recall laughing at them and find more hits than misses. Most weeks, SNL is filled with painfully unfunny skits that drag on far too long with only the occasional chuckle, which is how this season has been for me. Last night's episode, hosted by Anne Hathaway, was probably tied with the Amy Poehler-hosted season premiere for the best episode of this season, but sadly, that's not saying much.

Yet, every single week, I sit down, put aside whatever I'm doing, open up the ONTD discussion posts for the episode, and sit complaining (or occasionally expressing amusement) at the episode with fellow commenters. I usually don't enjoy the episodes enough to warrant spending 90 minutes watching them in real time.

So why do I do it? Well, the aforementioned discussion posts are a big reason. They help me get excited about the episodes, even though I'm eventually disappointed by them. As ONTD user "whop__dedooo" (that's a perfect username given the discussion) said, "the formula for our snl posts is pretty much: soo excitied --> ehh this skit is boring --> the writers dont know what to do with them ---> why did i watch again." I'd like to add a fifth step: "Oh yeah, I watch because it's better than homework."

For me, even the most painfully unfunny episode is better than toiling away on a Word document for hours and hours on a paper I care little about. It's a chance to complain about something other than my procrastination and my schoolwork. It can also assure I don't miss a potentially funny moment (I still remember watching "Dick In A Box" live, thinking it would be a hit, and going online immediately after the episode to be proven correct). But mainly, it's a chance to procrastinate, quality or not.


Does anyone else have similar relationships with shows?

Misfits is one of British television's finest

The above image explains exactly why Misfits, a sci-fi dramedy airing on Channel 4 in the UK, is so engaging and addicting.

The show centers around a group of young delinquents who are performing community service in London. During an electrical storm, the group is given superhuman powers and must deal with the outrageous fallout that results (it sounds familiar, yes, but unlike Heroes, it doesn't take itself too seriously). I would give the rundown of their powers, but I think it's more fun to discover them as the episodes unfold, because it creates a sense of suspense and intrigue. These characters are not the only ones who are affected by the storm, and, without giving too much away, as the above gif hints at, at least one of their probation workers ends up dead, and the gang has to work to cover up the death.

The fist six-episode season aired last fall/winter in the UK, and season two began on Thursday, and it came back with a solid episode that reminded me exactly why I enjoyed the first season. I'm not normally a fan of sci-fi shows, but I love this. I think my love partially stems from the fact that it's not simply a sci-fi show. The mythology of why the characters got their powers is fairly secondary to their subsequent dealings with them.

There are numerous moments of hilarity from the sharp-tongue characters, especially Kelly and Nathan. There is high drama from start to finish. Simon (otherwise known as Barry) is a character that is just so down on his luck, you can't help but feel sympathy for him. There's plenty of violence and sex, suspense twists and turns. And the second episode is incredibly heartbreaking. The show does a fantastic job of running its audience through the emotional gamut.

I realize my synopsis may be vague, but I have a feeling that the majority of regular readers have never even heard of the show, and I don't want to give much away. I began watching the show fairly blindly, and I'm glad I did. It made the experience so much more rewarding.

With Dexter falling short of its previous season, my own schedule preventing me from watching Chuck and Breaking Bad off the air until July (yes, I know AMC's Walking Dead is supposed to be great; I have not had time to watch it yet), Misfits is providing me with my drama fix. It won the prestigious 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series for a reason.

For those of you who are in the UK, or have an IP proxy, Channel 4 has each episode on their website. How I wish I could recommend NinjaVideo to everyone as a means to watch the episodes in high-quality. Since that's no longer possible, I'll recommend Sidereel to get the links (MegaVideo is my source now, but zshare and wisevid are good, too, if possible).

Anyone else familiar with Misfits?

Conan O'Brien returns to television

Once I see a few more episodes of Conan O'Brien's new show, I'll be able to critically evaluate it, with more coherent language and maybe a little criticism (hopefully, not much). In the meantime, I am giddy knowing that I cracked up many times during his show tonight. Of course, if my brain explodes due to the amazing pairing of Tom Hanks and Jack McBrayer, it'll be a bit difficult to update.

Anyway, it's just so nice to see Conan back on television. I missed his interactions with Andy, I missed his rapport with guests, and I miss him singing! His performance tonight with Jack White had me dancing in my seat like a crazy person (in other words, thank God I was watching it alone in my room, because that would have been too embarrassing for anyone to see). I remember the euphoric high I had in May after seeing Conan at Michigan State University; just being reminded of how amazingly funny and how big of a smile he brought to my face. I have that same high again, and it's nice to know that my exposure to him won't be limited to that one tour date, but now, he'll be on my TV four nights a week.

I think the highlight was, no doubt, the Halloween mask, even if it will likely haunt my dreams:


(via jenpero on LiveJournal)

I think David Sims of the AV Club gave a really well-stated review of the episode. I would highly recommend reading it.

So, what did everyone else think? Overall, I think his "Tonight Show" opener was more entertaining, but that show was so good, it would be difficult to top it. This was certainly a fun show. List your likes/dislikes in the comments!