A Good Case of VD

One month into the new television season, I remain impressed that my favorite new show is not FlashForward, or the brilliant and sweet Modern Family... It's Vampire Diaries(what did you Think this blog post was about?). This show is hitting on every conceivable level right now. The romance is not over-stated (and that's a big surprise considering the show's promos and the fact that it is run by Kevin "The Real Dawson Leery" Williamson) the mythology is interesting, and the plot actually seems to be moving in some new directions instead of just copying Twilight or Buffy. Select townspeople know about vampires and seem to stand ready to destroy them...? Love it. There's assorted gems and herbs that can help level the playing field and protect humans/ harm vampires? Fantastic. My only concern going into last week's episode was that too much evidence was piling up for Elena to not have figured out about her "cradle-robbing, creature of the night boyfriend" (credit to Joss "the originator of this genre" Whedon for the quote from Buffy). But, as of last episode, it appears that she has it figured out, and even that was done well as we watxh her add everything up in her head.

Truly funny in parts, legitimately scary in others, and always interesting... I hope to be following these characters all the way to college and beyond.

Favorite. TV. Wedding. Ever

After 5 long years, Jim and Pam finally got married. I appreciate the writing staff for not doing the "Ross/Rachel 10 year shuffle" and just giving the two lovebirds their due. More than that though, it was actually worth the wait.

After watching it, I can't help but wonder how good it could have possibly been a year ago... or a year from now. It's blatant (and hilarious) use of a current pop culture phenomenon makes the whole thing seem like it was just Meant to happen this year. What video could have been used a year ago? Will there be anything as "appropriate" in the year to come? I doubt it, and that makes the entire affair all the better.

As great as the episode was (Kevin's shoe funk, Dwight gettin' his swerve on, Michael actually Not being the one who spills the beans to Me-Maw) I have to admit that I was disappointed in the episode for a while. Andy hurting himself Again just didn't do it for me... the lack of Creed, the missed opportunities of uncomfortable behavior between Michael and Stanley's wife considering what happened in the first episode of the season, and all of the vomit (I'm just not a vomit fan... can't even watch Stand By Me and I Love that movie) all left me wondering if this episode was going to live up to my lofty expectations. When I go back and watch this episode again (and in future years) I'm sure that I'll be much more impressed, but during my intitial viewing, I was concerned.

Then came the last ten minutes. Every single second of the last ten minutes or so is perfection and it became my favorite episode of The Office ever. This show has had more than a few classic episodes and whether this is the best ever, who can say, all that I know is that when all is said and done I will have seen this one more than any other. I'm watching it twice a day until Jim and Pam get back from their honeymoon.

Speaking of which, I'm going to go watch it again now.

Disappointed in Ebert

I'm pretty disappointed in Roger Ebert's review of the number one movie this past weekend, Zombieland.

It's not that I disagree with his assessment (I don't... As per usual) but in his review he gave away the "cameo" that's in the film. Now look, it's not a big twist or anything, certainly not The Crying Game-ish, but not knowing what the "cameo" is, made the moment of it's appearancr all the more hilarious. At least in my opinion anyway.

I keep putting "cameo" in quotation marks because, as anyone who's seen the movie knows, it's like a 15 minute appearance, not a usual blink-and-you'll-miss-it fleeting cameo like Stan Lee does in Spiderman and Iron Man or like a shirt on Sawyer on Lost.

Anyway, I loved the movie, which is slightly amazing considering that there's not a single other zombie movie that I like... And yes, I've seen Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later. Zombies have just never been my thing. But, Zombieland I'd recommend to anybody... Well, except for children. And the elderly. And zombies. Everyone else should see it, though.

What Did You See?

Flashforward is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows. The second episode "White to Play" (whatever that means) lightened the mood significantly from the previous episode. From Demetri Noh's (by way of John "Kobe Lobster" Cho) conversation about his future wedding to Stanford Wedeck's (Courtney B. Vance) Cardio Urinary Resuscitation, I really liked seeing more humor being injected into this show. Also, the ending was great again, even though the writers of this episode cheated pretty blatantly by never letting the Benfords ask her daughter the very simple and basic question that is the title of this blog post. It was unintentionally humorous watching them spend the entire episode fretting over and wondering what their daughter saw and why it bothered her and yet the option of just Asking the child never occurred to them. Not that it matters though, leap of logic aside, this was still a very fun episode.

There were yet more instances showing that the future that was seen in everyone's visions... wouldn't have come to pass if they didn't have the visions. The visions led the FBI to Utah, which led to the explosion of the building full of dolls, which generated the picture of a burnt doll that ends up in Mark Benford's vision. I maintain that it seems as though this show operates on the theory that the future cannot be changed, and in fact, trying to fight it, may very well end up being what brings it to pass. It's been executed very well thus far, and while a large part of me hopes that they stick to that premise instead of cheating somehow, I will also greatly miss Demetri Noh if he is to actually die in March. So, either the show stays on course and paints a beautiful "mosaic"... or it gets changed somehow and one of my favorite characters survive. So, I guess it's a win-win. Unless you're Demetri Noh, anyway.

Oh, and welcome back Lynn (ages slower that Richard Alpert) Whitfield!

Something's funky in the kitchen

Ok, so what's going on with Hell's Kitchen? Don't get me wrong, I like the show... it's good, cheesy fun with a lot of overblown drama and theatrics, but this season feels like it's been going on Forever and at the end of last night's episode there were still 4 "chefs" left! At this rate we should have a winner by mid-February.

Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if it only aired in the summer (with all of the other good, mindless entertainment where it belongs) but right now I just wish it would end already. And what was with the last punishment? usually the punishments for losing a challenge would be at least tangentially related to cooking somehow... loading the stock room, cutting huge stacks of potatoes or cleaning out the dumpsters so they can fully appreciate just how much risotto they'd ruined. This time? They were dressed in orange prison jumpsuits and made to clean trash off the side of the road. Were the producers trying to give them "The Chris Brown Experience" or what? And what will their punishment be next time... cleaning elephant dung out of a circus tent? Painting over graffiti on the sides of buildings?

And yet no matter What the next punishment will be, I'll still watch...

Golden Age of Sit-coms?

I know I know...every couple of years, someone wonders if we are in a new "Golden Age of Television", but seriously, has there ever been a group of sit-coms collectively as good as 30 Rock, The Office, Big Bang Theory, Old Adventures of New Christine, How I Met Your Mother and now Modern Family? Maybe none of them are as great as Seinfeld, or as important as The Cosby Show, but I can't think of a time where there has been this many great sit-coms all airing at the same time.

30 Rock and Big Bang Theory thus far have gotten funnier every year that they air. They both took a year or so to really figure out what worked and what didn't (that's just about always the way with good television shows). The Office took a bit longer, but has grown into it's own separate identity from the Ricky Gervais original. How I Met Your Mother is one of the most original sit-coms ever written in that it's a hybrid of a standard sit-com and a flashback-driven affair like Lost. It continuously jumps backwards and forwards in time, and with a few exceptions, manages to maintain it's own continuity.

If Modern Family is what Dennis Green thinks it is, and Community grows into what it can be, then I think that 10 years from now people will look back at this time period in awe. Ok, "awe" is probably too strong and dramatic a word... maybe "doe-eyed wonder" would be better. Well, whatever it is they look back with, they'll be impressed.

Long Interview With Joss Whedon

I've never read an interview with Joss that was half as long as this. Looks like some interesting things are coming up on Dollhouse.