Dream Emmy Ballot 2013: The Unsubmitted

Post dump! I've been so delinquent about posting this entire calendar year that I really wanted to try to get these in under the wire, pre-nomination announcement.

Natalie Dormer - "Irene Adler", Elementary

I don't expect Elementary to make a big showing among the nominees this year, but was still disappointed to see her name only in play for Game of Thrones. Coming at the end of the season, long after Lucy Liu's Watson had disproved initial suspicions of gimmickry in the show's gender swap, Dormer's performance reinforced the extent to which Elementary is gloriously doing their own thing. For the twist to work, Dormer had to present herself as equally self-assured in Irene's banter-heavy chemistry with Sherlock, and Moriarty's egomaniacal delight in presenting herself as the criminal mastermind. 

Raymond J. Barry - "Old Nick", New Girl
Merritt Wever - "Elizabeth", New Girl

Both were standouts in a season where New Girl made a big leap forward in their use of guest stars. Barry's crabby energy made it believable that Nick would entertain the idea that a future version of himself had travelled back through time. And Wever's skill with her particular combination of enthusiasm and deadpan - if there's such a thing as acerbic joie de vivre, she might be the master of it - played perfectly against Max Greenfield in working to undercut Schmidt's vainest tendencies.

Chris Coy - "LP Everett", Treme
Michiel Huisman - "Sonny", Treme

Treme has regrettably never been a big Emmy contender, but still draws upon a number of affecting performances to travel down different paths in the show's New Orleans. Coy's non-native investigative reporter spoke to an enduring belief in the potential for the press as a vehicle for change in the face of an entrenched system designed to resist any accusation of corruption or malfeasance. Huisman, like Andre Royo on The Wire before him, shone in the addiction-downfall-and-redeption storyline this year, something most Treme viewers probably couldn't imagine at the end of the show's first season.

James Wolk - "Bob Benson", Mad Men

I actually flipped back and forth between the Supporting and Guest Actor pdfs a few times because I was so shocked not to see Wolk listed. Among viewers of Mad Men, his performance was the buzziest of the season. As the season progressed, the unrelenting cheeriness of Bob's public face grew more unsettling among the increasingly cynical cast of Mad Men characters, and Wolk excelled in the season's later episodes, letting Bob's mask drop by only millimeters and showing in flickers how fast and hard his mental gears were always turning.

Tony Hale - "Buster Bluth", Arrested Development

I can't have been the only Arrested Development season 4 viewer who felt by the middle of the season like they were constantly wondering, "Where's Buster?" Hale's absence from much of the season was the clearest failure of the show's "film whoever's available" model, and even coming near the end the Buster-focused episode was one of the season's best and most narratively cohesive. The Bluths' maniacal egotism needs Buster's guilelessness to be easier to handle in the aggregate.

Nat Faxon - "Ben Fox", Ben & Kate
Lucy Punch - "BJ", Ben & Kate

Again, I don't blame them for sitting this one out, as Ben & Kate was gone by midseason, left only to the fond memories of its fans. But Faxon and Punch's manic irreverence was key to what made the show unique. I was also disappointed not to see Faxon because I always have trouble filling a full slate in the Lead Actor in a Comedy category.

Cheyenne Jackson - "Billy", Behind the Candelabra

Coming at the beginning of Behind the Candelabra, Jackson's performance quietly signals to film's arc largely through body language. Jackson as Billy refuses to be ignored - it's through his hostile looks and defensive postures that we can see Scott's downfall as Liberace's romantic cycle clicks back to the start again in the last third of the movie.

Jessica Brown Findlay - "Sybil Branson", Downton Abbey
Allen Leech - "Tom Branson", Downton Abbey

I hope Julian Fellowes varies his m.o. a little and kills off fewer characters played by departing actors in future seasons. But it's difficult to quibble with his tactics when they result in an episode as heartbreaking as the one in which Sybil dies in childbirth. In a season where the dramatic engine behind Downton Abbey's storylines often felt rote and uninspired, the unexpected tragedy was affecting, and more, felt historically honest.

Misc. Cast of Bunheads (Bailey Buntain, Emma Dumont, Kaitlyn Jenkins, Julia Goldani Telles)

The young cast of Bunheads are not only skilled, emotive dancers, but jumped in feet-first with Amy Sherman-Palladino's notoriously quick patter and formed the show's strong emotional core.

Misc. Cast of Call the Midwife (Jenny Agutter, Laura Main, Stephen McGann)
Misc. Cast of The Bletchley Circle (Anna Maxwell Martin, Rachael Stirling, Julie Graham, Sophie Rundle)

I'm not surprised that PBS seems to be throwing whatever campaign muscle they have behind Downton Abbey and Mr. Selfridge, but I'd have liked to see more names from Call the Midwife, and any names from The Bletchley Circle. Together, the two shows portrayed a vibrant and complex range of post-World War II womanhood. Sister Bernadette's story in falling in love with Dr. Turner and deciding to leave the order was Call the Midwife's best story arc across its second season. And Anna Maxwell Martin seems able to jump in at any point across the last 200 years of British history with portrayals of quiet yet strong women.

As an addendum, I'll say that I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of returning players from last year's post show up on the ballot this year. I like to think that the post made it to the eyes of some beleaguered intern toiling in the bowels of a talent agency somewhere tasked with collecting favorable notices of their clients.

New Years Ambitions

I feel like I write one of these every year around this time, if only to get the yearly counter in the sidebar restarted. But it's still true that I want to make the most of this space as a writing outlet, particularly as I enter a period of needing to clearly delineate between that which is and is not relevant to my current academic work. This year, I won't try to hold myself to a goal of any specific number of posts generated by December 31. I want to post promptly on whatever I'm thinking about when I'm thinking about it, since posts can linger in draft stage forever. I want to clear the old posts I have lingering from the past few years. I want to embrace what interests me, and not hold myself to juggling endless series posts or projects with a disproportionate work-to-fun ratio. I want this space to compliment the other ways I'm working on organizing my thoughts. I hope it will be a good year.

To kick it off, here's two pieces I found interesting within the past week:

- Maureen Ryan's pro/con breakdown regarding Downton Abbey in anticipation of the third season airing in the U.S. articulates several good points regarding the show's strengths and weaknesses, particularly regarding the depth of the character writing and the vagueness of the timeline. I'm looking forward to the new season, though the tenor of certain headlines in the past few weeks makes me worry that I'm going to spend the whole time waiting for something untoward to happen. (I mean, more so than usual.)

- This Smithsonian article is a few years old, but got linked in this week's Longform roundup for Slate. It's interesting to me the way that, in the time since the article was published, popular culture has interceded to imagine life back into the masked veteran in the figure of Boardwalk Empire's Richard Harrow. The work done by Terence Winter's writing staff and Jack Huston seems all the more impressive in light of the article's description of a life experience largely lost to the ages.

In Which I Am Psychic, Part II

Julian Fellowes agrees: A Downton Abbey prequel would probably be totally rad.

So what's the fiercer hypothetical casting competition? American ingenues for Cora or British veterans for Violet?

Dream Emmy Ballot 2012: Lead Actress in a Drama

Claire Danes - "Carrie Mathison", Homeland
Michelle Dockery - "Lady Mary Crawley", Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies - "Alicia Florrick", The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss - "Peggy Olson", Mad Men
Madeleine Stowe - "Victoria Grayson", Revenge
Kerry Washington - "Olivia Pope", Scandal

I've liked Danes for a long time*, but I don't think I realized that she had a character like Carrie in her. Her nervy energy made Carrie immediately distinctive and showed very early on in the season that the terrorist mystery wasn't Homeland's only draw. Mary Crawley might be my current favorite television character - I'm fascinated by her continual inability to act in favor of her own self interest, and I like how Dockery lets Mary's frustration with herself simmer just under her restrained surface. Margulies helped give more shape to the world of The Good Wife as Alicia took a step back to evaluate her relationships with her friends, family and coworkers. Moss' performance in the fifth season of Mad Men was a great slow burn, showing not only Peggy's growing discontent but her attempts to sweep it under the rug to keep up appearances and to try to save her relationship with Don. I keep using the phrase "classic soap" when I talk about Revenge, but that's just because it felt somehow refreshing to see that actors like Stowe could still embody that mode of melodramatic serial storytelling and produce a real diva turn. Washington made Scandal's claims of Olivia's power and capability feel like they weren't hyperbolic, and the show's puzzle pieces of people and relationships fell into place around her strong center.

*This is a digression, but as I first observed some time ago, repeat viewings of the 1994 version of Little Women at a young, impressionable age undoubtedly have an impact here. I sort of alluded to it in the unsubmitted post, but recent viewings have really made me appreciate Danes' work as Beth March and how much it avoids stereotypical sentimentality.

Honorable Mentions: Glenn Close, Damages; Emily Deschanel, Bones; Mireille Enos, The Killing; Katie LeClerc, Switched at Birth; Vanessa Marano, Switched at Birth; Jessica Pare, Mad Men; Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy; Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy; Anna Torv, Fringe; Emily VanCamp, Revenge

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Kathy Bates, Harry's Law; Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: SVU; Marg Helgenberger, CSI; Taraji P. Henson, Person of Interest; Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey; Debra Messing, Smash

Dream Emmy Ballot 2012: The Unsubmitted

It's well past time to get this show on the road. Ideally, I like to get these done and posted before the nominations get announced. We'll see how far we get before tomorrow morning.

Andrew Scott - "Jim Moriarty", Sherlock

Here's where I wish for a site that focused on the mechanics of how the television academy votes, because I'm not sure whether PBS electing to submit "A Scandal in Belgravia" for Sherlock precluded Scott from submitting his work in "The Reichenbach Fall". (It's a curious decision overall, as I think "Reichenbach Fall" is a stronger episode all around, especially for the central actors.) If that isn't the case, it's not surprising, necessarily, that Scott didn't submit, given that Cumberbatch and Freeman didn't get nominated last year, but his performance was such a standout that it's disappointing regardless. (He just won a BAFTA, for goodness' sake.) The scene where Moriarty insists he's actually an actor was eerie perfection in sowing little seeds of doubt.

Indeed, there's a whole chunk of British actors who I was surprised to see unlisted in the ballot of prospective nominees. Underinformed management teams across the pond?

Jack Gleeson - "Joffrey Baratheon", Game of Thrones
Charles Dance - "Tywin Lannister", Game of Thrones

More than the others, I think these two being absent from the ballot represents someone asleep at the wheel in compiling HBO's submission package. Gleeson and Dance helped the show's writers demonstrate a sense of scope in depicting the Lannisters and their thirst for power - Tywin as the craftiest guy in the room, but also a man who recognizes the potential inherent in being the one pulling the strings instead of the public face, and Joffrey as the rotten manifestation of all his family's foibles.

Laura Carmichael - "Lady Edith Crawley", Downton Abbey
Zoe Boyle - "Lavinia Swire", Downton Abbey

The Downton Abbey-as-convalescent-home storyline gave Carmichael an opportunity to grant some much-needed shading to Edith as she discovered a sense of purpose in helping others. (And Carmichael pretty much single-handedly kept that whole potential-heir/burn-victim story from going too far off the rails.) I think the fundamentally good-hearted but ultimately doomed young woman (Beth March, Melanie Wilkes, etc., etc.) is a deceptively difficult role, but Boyle performed hers capably.

Anna Chancellor - "Lix Storm", The Hour

An old-school character for a period show, Chancellor's savvy, experienced newswoman provided good low-key balance to the energies brought by Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai. (And her character feels more and more valuable the more I watch of The Newsroom. Another rant for another time.)

Alex Karpovsky - "Ray", Girls
Andrew Rannells - "Elijah", Girls

Both Karpovsky and Rannells performed admirably in their roles as the blunt truth-tellers of the Girls universe, keeping the show on an even keel by tempering the self-absorption of other characters. They also had my absolute favorite moments in the finale - Karpovsky's scenes with Zosia Mamet (there is like not even enough material there to get shipper-y over, and yet I am slightly obsessed with the concept of Ray and Shoshanna together. I need it to happen in Season Two) and Rannells' line reading of "Girls who huff." (The tone of which is difficult to communicate here, but it cracks me up every time.)

Matt Ross - "Dr. Charles Montgomery", American Horror Story

I already think Ross was criminally underrecognized for his work on Big Love, so that's probably giving him a boost here. But he made Dr. Montgomery's Frankenstein-esque forays into medical experimentation some of AHS's best trips over the top.

Lamorne Morris - "Winston", New Girl
Dan Byrd - "Travis Cobb", Cougar Town

I tend to take a sort of "Throw your hat in the ring! Why not?" attitude towards most potential submissions, especially when most or all of the other members of an ensemble present as contenders. It took New Girl's writers longer to "find" Winston than it did for Nick and Schmidt, but by the end of the season, Morris had turned in some good moments too. (Like the Theodore K. Mullins speech). And some of Byrd's best work on Cougar Town came this year in their exploration of Travis and Laurie's relationship.

Taran Killam - "Mr. Rad", Community

Maybe Community's best one-off, grounding the show's Glee parody in crazy-eyed mania and subtly sending up Matthew Morrison's performance as Will Schuster.

Roger Bart - "Mason Treadwell", Revenge
Ashton Holmes - "Tyler Barrol", Revenge

Bart was the best of the characters against whom Emily sought revenge, showing the cracks in his man-about-town facade where his image of himself as a journalist comes into conflict with the knowledge of how he sold his soul and screwed the Clarkes over. And Holmes' performance fit perfectly into the vein of classic crazy soap villains, from quiet menace to devourer of scenery.

Jay Jackson - "Perd Hapley", Parks and Recreation

Jackson has become Parks and Rec's most valuable tertiary player over four seasons, representing the heart of Pawnee's absurd media culture. The fourth season's depiction of the election cycle gave him ample opportunities for more examples of Perd's affable cluelessness - my favorite might be his running out the clock on Leslie's response in "The Debate."

Morena Baccarin - "Isobel Swift", The Good Wife
Mary Beth Peil - "Jackie Florrick", The Good Wife
Parker Posey - "Vanessa Gold", The Good Wife

Baccarin held her own as a foil to Dylan Baker's Colin Sweeney, a character who is essentially designed to suck all the air out of the room. Peil was great both in shrouding Jackie's machinations in a faux-innocent "who, me?" exterior, and in muddling her motivations as potential mental issues came into play in the latter episodes of the season. And maybe it's residual Josie and the Pussycats love, but I thought Posey and Alan Cumming were delightful together as politically minded exes.

Kate Burton - "Vice President Sally Langston", Scandal

Burton had twice as many potential submissions as ultimately ended up on the ballot, so I'm not surprised that her Scandal role fell by the wayside. Nevertheless, her scenes as the evangelical Christian VP of Scandal's universe didn't veer over into caricature when they easily could have and suggested that the show going forward may have some very interesting things to say about women in politics. (And as a lover of troupe-building creators, I love that Shonda Rhimes gave her such a different character from Ellis Grey to play here.)

Alison Brie - "Trudy Campbell", Mad Men
Embeth Davidtz - "Rebecca Pryce", Mad Men
Christine Estabrook - "Gail Holloway", Mad Men
Sam Page - "Greg Harris", Mad Men

None are terribly flashy performances, but all contribute to the fully realized world of Mad Men, particularly in the interplay and contrast between home and office beyond whatever Don's situation is in any given year. I've always been disappointed not to see Page submit his name for consideration - true, most (if not all) Mad Men fans hate Greg, but Page has always done a great job of presenting him without judgment, with all his weaknesses. You want Greg to accept responsibility for why things in his life are the way they are, but also understand why he doesn't feel the need to be introspective. I don't think Page gets enough credit for that.

On Downton Abbey Season Two

I always seem to have finale posts that linger for months after their respective shows aired, and I wanted to actually post this before the next cable cycle revs up.

- I ultimately liked the second series, but can't say I disagree with some of the criticisms that labeled it too soapy.  I think the notable difference between the first and second series is that in the second the seams felt more visible in Fellowes' pastiche.  The dramatic plot machinations sometimes felt overheated or specifically designed to postpone plot resolution until the latest possible moment rather than to drive the story organically.  While the first series was great, I don't think it bought Fellowes the kind of goodwill that prompts people to give a free pass to similar plot developments in nineteenth-century classics of the genre.  Nor does he seem terribly interested in trying to subvert some of those well-worn tropes instead of playing them straightforwardly.  The highs were still high enough to carry the rest of the material, but hopefully the criticisms of the season will prompt a more measured take in the third go-round.

- The one development that really deserved the "soap opera" qualifier, though not necessarily with the negative connotations intended? Matthew's paralysis. Paralysis (and blindness) is like the Chekov's gun of soap operas; if a guy gets paralyzed in the first act, he's not still going to be in that wheelchair when you've reached the story's conclusion. They skipped a fairly standard step, in which the person (usually a man, I'm sure gender theorists could speculate as to why that is) who is paralyzed/blind realizes that they can walk/see again but keeps it a secret because they don't want to lose the relationships they've mended/created during the time of their injury. Then you get the emergency situation where they're suddenly forced to reveal that they have regained the ability to walk/see. It seemed like they were going to go there with Matthew, but I guess the suggestion of it got lost in all the characters' relief over his junk working again. (The other day, I happened to catch a few minutes of The Young and the Restless, where Jack Abbott is currently in a wheelchair and the day's story revolved around people discovering that formerly blind Adam Newman was responsible for the situation leading to said paralysis. At some point, someone said "Jack will never walk again!" and I think I said, "Oh, PLEASE." aloud to the television. Soaps are magical and wonderful, is basically the moral of that story.) In a set of episodes awash in classic melodrama, I think this was my favorite "oldie-but-a-goodie."

- So...babies and in-law drama for the third series? I could get behind that. (Plus, I guess, springing Bates from jail? That storyline kind of lost steam for me there towards the end.) Even with Matthew and Mary together, I think that the show's established enough about the characters that I feel semi-confident predicting that A) certain of the ensemble won't feel truly at ease until she's had at least two boys and B) Mary's the kind of person who will not take kindly at all to the feeling that her womb is being monitored. I also hope they use the Bransons to introduce some of the Irish conflict into the story - for whatever reason, I like the idea of DA and Boardwalk Empire having a bit of overlap in historical fictive space. It seems like the growth of new family lives for the young Ladies Crawley should be enough to propel the story organically. *fingers crossed*

- Apparently, they're moving the show (as they should) from Miniseries/Movie to Drama for this year's Emmys. This Hitfix piece from Dan Fienberg does a good job of dissecting some of the issues at play in the Drama field, specifically why "Can Downton Abbey derail Mad Men?" is the wrong question to ask. (The Drama field is so dense this year, and we haven't even seen Mad Men or Game of Thrones yet! Emmy prognosticating is so much denser and more fun than trying to predict the Oscars!) Hopefully, the move will be accompanied by at least Michelle Dockery's name being put on the nomination ballot. (I ended up not posting my "Unsubmitted" list for last year's Dream Ballot, but she was at the very top of it.)

A Distinct Sense of Accomplishment

Talking to my friends last week, I realized that I never posted these pictures, which I meant to do shortly after these mittens reached their intended recipient (as a Christmas present for Hanna). We noted in our conversation that academic work can often feel awash in a sense of dissatisfaction with one's work that never really achieves resolution, and I observed that part of what I enjoy about knitting and baking is that there's an end where you can point to something definitive that you've completed. This was the first big Fair Isle project I'd done, which made it that much more rewarding.

I watched a lot of British miniseries while I was working on these. Watching The Buccaneers convinced me that there's nothing I'd like to see so much as a Downton Abbey prequel where we go back to the days of Robert as the titled fortune-hunter and Cora as the rich American. Imagine - meeting the previous Lord Grantham, he of the Entail of a Thousand Problems! Violet at what I assume must have been the very height of her powers as the mistress of Downton! Young Carson!

*pattern from Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine, Fall/Winter 2010*

Idle TV Thoughts

I think at this point we can all agree that nothing Mr. Pamuk might have had in his bag of tricks could possibly be worth all this drama, right?

Week in TV: September 4-10

Sons of Anarchy, 4.1: "Out"

- The few reviews I've read of this premiere emphasize this season returning the focus to the club as it functions in Charming as opposed to the more wide-ranging search for Abel last year. While I'm looking forward to the return to that scope of storytelling, in this episode I was most excited to see the show introduce new antagonists (and, at least based on their first appearances here, specifically non-crazy antagonists) for SAMCRO. By the end of last season, Stahl became too manic and desperate, to the point that, while it didn't rob the triple-cross in "NS" of its dramatic weight, it felt inevitable that her all-consuming desire to entrap the club would come back to bite her in the ass. And Hale's death left the show with a void regarding a practical, reasoned perspective on the club and their role in Charming. I also come in already liking Rockmond Dunbar and Ray McKinnon, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how the show uses them across the season's arc.

- Not only was Ryan Hurst great in infusing the wedding scene with just a hint of sadness, but the show demonstrated a lot of respect for the audience's ability to retain information in letting that subtle undercurrent of grief be the episode's most direct reference to Donna. Semi-Related: I also love Lyla's tacky wedding platforms.

- They're awfully fond of musical montages on this show, with this episode bookended by them, so this EW gallery with Kurt Sutter and Paris Barclay breaking down the one that closed out "Out" was an interesting glimpse into that particular creative process.

The Hour, "Episode Four"

- I've enjoyed this show from the beginning, but I think this was the episode where the tone really clicked and the disparate storylines felt like they were all of a piece, joining comments on suppression and repression to construct a portrait of people striving together to challenge a status quo that leaves too many things unquestioned and unsaid.

- How great is Jessica Hynes? Her terse, matter-of-fact tone in her scene at the beginning of the episode beautifully established the tension that drove the remainder of the hour. In recent weeks, I've also seen her appear as an oversharing hippie on Skins and as an Edwardian-era boys' school matron on Doctor Who, so I'm sort of in awe of her range. (I also watched Paul over the weekend, and it's really interesting to see the more drama-focused track she seems to have taken post-Spaced as opposed to the genre work for which Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have gained international attention.)

- I've gone down a slight rabbit hole of British television recently, and it's really highlighted why comparisons between this show and Mad Men are simplistic and unfair. It's not just that the only thing they really have in common is the era, and even then not really. There's the difference in years, but more importantly, there's the different trajectories in global identity that the United Kingdom and the United States take during those years, which necessarily and dramatically inform the goings-on on both shows. But the striking thing you notice after watching more than a few British productions? Quite simply, they've been owning us at period pieces for decades, and have a deep pool of acting talent to back up that continuing engagement with the past.

- Just because it's not really like Mad Men in any way doesn't mean I can't still obsess over the fashion. I love everything about Bel's wardrobe, especially the scarves-as-headbands. And this show really makes me want to try to work some red lipstick into my repertoire.

Doctor Who, 6.10: "The Girl Who Waited"

- A great episode, with one of Karen Gillan's best performances in the series - I was particularly, and somewhat unexpectedly, pleased to see the return of Amy's bitterness towards the Doctor, which has largely dissipated in the episodes since "The Eleventh Hour."

- I again felt like I was waiting for a direct reference to what happened with Melody - you'd think that that's a thought that would come up in thirty-six years of stewing. In interviews I've read with Steven Moffat, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, it seems like they've got a handle on what keeps Amy and Rory traveling with the Doctor after that kind of traumatic experience, but I'm not sure that that's coming through on screen. There's an argument to be made that it would make sense for them to decide that being on the TARDIS is better than staying in Leadworth alone with their thoughts, but I think they need to specifically say so out loud, instead of leaving it to conjecture. I'm not sure how long the issue can go under-addressed without the arc (or lack thereof) starts undermining the quality of individual episodes.

Revenge, "Pilot"

I was really intrigued by the specific promotion offered for an early viewing of this pilot - ABC offered the pilot script as a free Kindle download on Amazon, which concluded with a link to watch the episode online. The changes from the script to the screen made for an unexpectedly interesting glimpse into the creative process of setting up a show's world to start off a drama series, particularly one like this where a good chunk of the story is dependent on past events. I love a good primetime soap, so I hope this one sticks around long enough to dig into its central mysteries. The pilot shows a lot of potential without seeming too high-concept to be sustainable past thirteen episodes.

The New Girl, "Pilot"

- Took advantage of this one showing up free on iTunes. I liked it, though I felt like I'd already seen about 90% of the pilot in the ads that have been running all summer for the show. I also feel like this pilot is difficult to use as an indicator of how the show will be going forward, since they had to replace Damon Wayans, Jr. and the pilot is so focused on the four roommates. Still, I like Zooey Deschanel (and Max Greenfield - Deputy Leo!), and as a nerdy, crafty twenty-something, I'm excited to see how they develop her character in further episodes.

- I found this profile of Zooey Deschanel from New York Magazine really interesting, especially in its take on both positive and negative reception of her star persona.

Miscellaneous Links:

- I love a good Mad Men dissection, so this Daily Beast post with Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm breaking down "The Suitcase" was right up my alley.

- An interesting AOLTV piece (shared by Katie) by Mo Ryan about declining numbers of women writers on television staffs.

- More Downton Abbey! (The pieces coming out about the show right now must drive PBS's marketing people crazy.) This time, a New York Times article profiling Julian Fellowes. I love that he defends Thomas to the interviewer.

Trailer Thoughts Shrieks of Dismay Regarding Delayed Transatlantic Transmission

WHY DO WE HAVE TO WAIT FOUR MORE MONTHS FOR THIS OMG?!?

Ahem.

As I mentioned in my big books post, one of my summer reads was Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars, which focused on Britain's involvement in World War I - and, indeed, a major factor in my wanting to read it was prompted by the announcement of the declaration of war at the end of Downton Abbey's first series. I read and liked Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost back during my brief high school obsession with the history of the Congo (you know, like all kids have), and after I read a complimentary review of To End All Wars, I couldn't quite keep my curiosity under wraps. I've never been particularly engaged by military histories, but Hochschild managed his scope well and utilized a variety of perspectives that made it more interesting than a strict accounting of battles, especially in his focus on radical politics, labor unrest and Britain's conscientious objectors. Looks like the show is going to dive in to a good deal of that history, and I obviously can't wait to see it. Normally I don't have any problems finding enough patience to resist the urge to hunt down "alternative" means of watching shows that take a while to make the trip over here, but right now I feel like I'm going to have to sit on my hands once September 18 rolls around.

Weeks in TV: August 21-September 3

True Blood, 4.9: "Let's Get Out of Here" and 4.10: "Burning Down the House"

- It's made for kind of a whackadoo mix of storylines, but I love how the various spiritual possessions, skinwalking ventures and V-induced dreams have broadened the range of material that TB's ensemble has to play with.

- I'm sort of of two minds about this season. On the one hand, I think this season has done the best job of any so far of drawing upon the books; the books take place from Sookie's point of view, so she sort of darts in and out of the situations concerning different characters, and the show has established a broad enough cast of regulars that each of those stories has someone we know in it, which I think makes the audience more invested in everything that's going on than we've been in past seasons. On the other hand - like I said above, the mix has tended to be more crazy than cohesive.

Pretty Little Liars, 2.11: "I Must Confess"

- Oh, Dr. Sullivan. As soon as she told Emily that she knew, I was all, "Tell her over the phone, you're obviously going to get murdered!" Between the therapist's disappearance and Emily's Tragic Massage of Epic Creepiness, A's really starting to transgress some serious boundaries.

- Speaking of A, I loved the little "Update on Major Suspects" sweep through the audience for the doctor's hilariously unsubtle speech on text bullying, especially since Noel, Lucas and Mona had no lines or other scenes in the episode. I love when a show grinds the gears into place for a finale.

- Mr. Hastings, making a late-in-the-game play for Creepiest Weirdo in Rosewood! (Amid stiff competition!)

Pretty Little Liars, 2.12: "Over My Dead Body"

- PLL is approaching Lost-esque levels of obliqueness with their persistent refusal to offer concrete answers to their ongoing mysteries (I believe Garrett and Jenna were behind most, if not all, of the machinations of this episode, but enough of the notes related to that business were unsigned that I don't think they're necessarily A), but they do totally out-there creepiness better than just about any other show on television. Those dolls were truly something else.

- The idea of doing a one-off flashback Halloween episode is genius. More cable shows should have holiday episodes independent of their seasonal arcs. A Sons of Anarchy Christmas! Valentine's Day at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce!

Doctor Who, 6.8: "Let's Kill Hitler" and 6.9: "Night Terrors"

- I've tended to like the episodes focused on the quartet of the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River, but more and more it seems like the actors are landing the big emotional moments while having to spackle over some increasingly gaping plot holes. Like, as an immediate reaction, I would say that I liked this episode a lot, but if I think about it for more than about five minutes, my head swarms with unanswered questions and a creeping desire to try to pick apart the timeline. (see also: Point #5 in the io9 article linked below) Still, a delightfully energetic performance from Alex Kingston and great banter from Steven Moffat. Obviously, I'm torn. Strike this one down to revisit when the arc picks up again.

- "Night Terrors" is a solid episode, with a legitimately scary conceit in the dollhouse of horrors, done a serious disservice by airing out of production order. Declining to tie the episode's themes of the importance of family love and embracing an unconventional child to the broader arc of the story of the Williams-Ponds makes the characters seem flaky at best (and callous at worst: Rory's joke about letting the monsters get the boy feels...inappropriate given that, you know, his baby got kidnapped by nefarious aliens) and makes the writers seem like they're not paying attention to what's going on. If they absolutely had to move things around, it might've been better to switch this one with, say, "Curse of the Black Spot."

- This post is about to get totally linktastic. First! An interesting piece from io9 about things Doctor Who could do differently.

- AND: Steven Moffat is seemingly everywhere giving interviews about the second half of this series

- Daily Beast Interview

- Alan Sepinwall at HitFix Interview

- Mo Ryan at AOLTV Interview

Miscellaneous Other Links:

- Not terribly detailed, but with awesome, military-uniform-including cast photo: On the second series of Downton Abbey (Aside: Dear PBS, If the BBC can work it out so Brits and Americans can all watch the same new episode of Doctor Who on the same calendar date, can we please work on the timing of the Masterpiece selections' trip across the pond? I feel antsy just thinking about having to wait extra months for DA and Sherlock. Affectionately, Liz)

- Between Comic-Con, the TCA and the upcoming Emmys and start to the fall season, there's a veritable smorgasbord of showrunner interviews popping up all over the place online. The Daily Beast interview with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss is kind of delightful; they're clearly really jazzed to have the opportunity to dive further into George R.R. Martin's sprawling cast of characters.

- A.V. Club interviews with two of my very favorite TV people: Victor Garber and Martin Starr

- I'm fascinated by the ongoing discussions around AMC, their evolving brand identity, and what seems to be a growing suspicion among commentators that within the next few years their whole original programming enterprise could collapse like a house of cards. I started in on a post a few weeks ago, following the whole rigamarole around Kurt Sutter leaving Twitter - various outlets tried to frame it as some sort of showrunner smacktalk showdown, but I think that at the heart of what Sutter was saying about AMC, Mad Men and The Walking Dead was a criticism of the network for not managing its properties in a balanced way - but it sort of got lost in the shuffle (as too many posts do.)

Anyway: a fairly comprehensive timeline of this year's developments for the network from the New York Times and an excellent Vulture piece from this week. Potentially more thoughts on this in the future, maybe with the end of this season of Breaking Bad (a show I like, and certainly I can recognize why people love it, but I've had a few Sundays this summer where I've missed watching programs that night, and Breaking Bad is never the show I'm really burning to catch up on, you know?), especially if there are any more announcements that give off that "throwing things at the wall to see what sticks" vibe.