The show keeps so many stories going at once that it's difficult to comment on them while they're still getting to whatever crazy place they're going. It'll be interesting to see whether True Blood's fanbase will splinter as the show adds more elements from the book series it's based on. As a fan of the books, I'm glad to see the casting decisions they've made, but the landscape does seem to be getting a bit crowded.
Warehouse 13
Much of Syfy's original offerings tend to be a little too goofy in tone for me, but I was compelled to watch due to the presence of guest stars Jewel Staite and Sean Maher, formerly of Firefly. Maybe it's just because I have a big softy shipper heart, but I wish more shows would utilize actors with previously established chemistry. This episode certainly proves that they can have a beneficial impact on less-than-sparkling material - it wasn't bad, it just felt sort of rote. Still - Sean Maher: Remains Dreamy.
Covert Affairs
I don't know whether being an Alias fan made me more inclined to like or dislike this show, but I didn't think it was too bad. The action sequences were well-executed, and the exposition wasn't too clumsy as far as pilots go. It's always nice to see a show use an actor well, and they seem to have really capitalized on Christopher Gorham's innate likeability in a role that could be grating otherwise. USA has sort of perfected the Serviceable One-hour Procedural That's Good but Not So Good It'll Change Your Life, and I could see adding this to the slate for the summer just because I like having new things to watch.
So You Think You Can Dance
Hopefully the major injury stretch of this season has concluded and the show will finish strong. It's good to see them move away from the heteronormativity the judges have exalted in seasons past and introduce more same-sex pairings for their routines. I'm intrigued to see how the all-star format plays out as the contestant pool dwindles in the coming weeks.
Top Chef
Nice to see the show head into Virginia for this week's Elimination Challenge - it's a complicated state, but it's beautiful, too. It made me want to find a farmer's market and try to cook something inventive.
Ongoing:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
Getting to the tail end of what has become Whedonbinge 2010, completing Buffy Season 6 and Angel Season 3. Both seasons had somewhat underwhelming villains - Buffy got more compelling when the writers placed misogyny at the root of Warren's particular beef with their heroine, but it took too long to get there, and I don't think there was ever a time watching Angel when I found Holtz anything but tiresome. And as far as Angel goes, I also never really felt invested in the whole Connor storyline. This may be a casualty of watching the show years after the fact, when you don't have the week-to-week pacing of a normal airing schedule, so the baby feels even less important than the characters you've spent dozens more episodes caring about. Also, while I think Julie Benz was really good as Darla, David Boreanaz never quite sparked with her in the same way he did with nearly every other actress he's played against. Before this turns into a paper, I'll add that while I wish both shows could have lasted longer, I'm kind of glad that neither Firefly nor Dollhouse got to the point where Whedon & Co. thought it would be a good idea to add an annoying teenager to the show. I can understand why fans back in the day had issues with Connor - if I didn't already like Vincent Kartheiser from Mad Men, I'd probably be even less inclined to accept Angel's turn in events.
Deadwood
Wrapped up the second season, which ended with an unbelievably well-executed run of episodes. I was following the show, but wasn't really sure whether I liked it or not until I got to the finale and realized how much I enjoyed spending time with the characters. Deadwood is becoming one of those shows that makes me love all the actors and want to dive into each one's filmography as if I don't have other things I'm supposed to be doing with my time.
Rewatching:
Mad Men
Because I'm a nerd, I like to do a bit of a rewatch before a new season of a show I enjoy starts up again. I decided to start with the Season Two finale, "Meditations in an Emergency," and move on from there. For a minute, I thought about starting with "The Mountain King" because Anna is one of my favorite tertiary characters in the Mad Men universe, but then doesn't it just make sense to go back to "The Jet Set" and then before you know it you've rationalized your way back to the pilot. And I promised my DVDs to an interested party, so I just stuck with the finale. I got up through Season Three's fourth episode - "The Arrangements" - by Saturday.
- It's interesting to see how differently episodes play when there isn't a week-long buffer between them. I remember the season feeling like it was moving slowly up until "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" but both "My Old Kentucky Home" and "The Arrangements" were much better than I remembered. Of course, it's easy to recognize how important the characters introduced in "Kentucky" are when you know how the season ultimately plays out, but it's also a good, low-key showcase for Elisabeth Moss and Michael Gladis. Rewatching "The Arrangements" made me really interested to see what they end up doing with Sally this coming season - it often felt like they didn't quite know what to do with Gene, but I love the quiet scene where he tells Sally that her relationship with Betty doesn't always have to be dictated by Betty's craziness.
- I'm a fan of Bye Bye Birdie going back years and years and I really love the way it was used in the early section of Season Three. (I may actually have shrieked aloud when the opening chords played at the beginning of "Love Among the Ruins" when I originally saw it last summer.) The film actually adds an interesting layer to what's already a complex but brief scene in "The Arrangements" when Sal explains, and ultimately acts out, the Birdie-based commercial to his wife. I didn't notice before, but the negligee that Kitty wears in a futile attempt to seduce her husband is nearly identical to one that Janet Leigh wears in Birdie. In fact, it's one of the few moments directly acknowledging adult sexuality in a super-chaste film - Dick Van Dyke's character finally casts off the shackles of his former status as a mama's boy and embraces his fiancee, expressing a desire to get married as quickly as possible so they can shag already. Essentially the opposite of what happens in the Romanos' tragic bedroom - I'm still blown away by Sarah Drew in that scene. I don't know how intentional it was (I'm disinclined to believe that Janie Bryant does anything by accident - I highly recommend the Mad Style posts on Tom & Lorenzo for a more in-depth analysis than I could ever hope to attempt) but my over-analytical academic mind loves it. You can see around 2:10 in the trailer below (I swear, it looks greener in the actual movie) and compare with the clip and decide whether I'm crazy or not.
- The dream ballots didn't need any more augmenting, but yet another guest actor deserving of acclaim is Aaron Stanford, who's so hilarious as the deluded, super-rich Jai Alai enthusiast mired in daddy issues who SC takes on as a client in "The Arrangements."
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