Dream Emmy Ballot 2012: Guest Actor in a Comedy

Max Adler - "Dave Karofsky", Glee
Jimmy Fallon - "Host", Saturday Night Live
Will Forte - "Paul", 30 Rock
Dermot Mulroney - "Russell", New Girl
Paul Rudd - "Bobby Newport", Parks and Recreation
Doug Stanhope - "Eddie Mack", Louie

I noticed when I was pulling these together that a lot of the guest comedy performances mirrored across the gendered divide. To wit: it's always baffled me that the Glee writers have never given Adler more to do instead of dragging him out intermittently to advance his character in a generally heartbreaking direction. But nevertheless, he's maintained an emotional consistency across those appearances that paid off in his big showcase this season in "On My Way." Like Maya Rudolph, Fallon brought a sense of sheer glee in simply returning to SNL that enlivened his whole show. (And the Weekend Update joke-off was a highlight of the season, if not the past few years.) Forte fits in with 30 Rock's tone, and particularly its more absurd flights of fancy, in a way that feels less forced than almost any other guest actor the show's used over the years. Mulroney brought groundedness to Russell that provided a needed counterpoint to Zooey Deschanel at that arc's point in the New Girl season. Rudd scaled Bobby's good-natured idiocy just right, making him frustrating but fundamentally un-hateable. While I didn't love "Eddie" as much as some critics, I can't dismiss Stanhope's misanthropic performance at the heart of the episode. Louis C.K. glories in showing off the talents of the people he uses on Louie, and Stanhope was Season Two's exemplar of that impulse.

Honorable Mentions: Christopher Abbott, Girls; Dane Cook, Louie; Sean Hayes, Parks and Recreation; John Goodman, Community; Jason Lee, Up All Night; Justin Long, New Girl; James Marsden, 30 Rock; Chris O'Dowd, Girls; Mike O'Malley, Glee; Carl Reiner, Parks and Recreation; Chris Rock, Louie; Michael Kenneth Williams, Community; Dean Winters, 30 Rock

I Wouldn't Be Surprised to See: Alan Alda, The Big C; Ed Asner, Hot in Cleveland; Matt Bomer, Glee; Bobby Cannavale, Nurse Jackie; Michael J. Fox, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Ricky Gervais, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Jon Hamm, 30 Rock; Don Johnson, Eastbound and Down; Greg Kinnear, Modern Family; Liam Neeson, Life's Too Short; Carl Reiner, Hot in Cleveland; Ray Romano, The Middle

Dream Emmy Ballot 2012: Guest Actress in a Comedy

Pamela Adlon - "Pamela", Louie
Lizzy Caplan - "Julia", New Girl
Patricia Clarkson - "Tammy One", Parks and Recreation
Kathryn Hahn - "Jennifer Barkley", Parks and Recreation
Dot-Marie Jones - "Coach Shannon Beiste", Glee
Maya Rudolph - "Host", Saturday Night Live

I've mentioned my love of "Subway/Pamela" before, but here want to specifically credit the way Adlon's acerbity keeps the story tethered to the ground even as Louie attempts to lift off into romantic ambitions. Caplan's dry humor brought a unique quality to her arc on New Girl and Julia functioned well as a vehicle for the show's writers to demonstrate that they understood how Jess plays to people not naturally receptive to whimsy. Clarkson lived up to the promise of the threat of the first Mrs. Swanson, hilariously undercutting Parks and Recreation's crew of optimists. Hahn similarly reveled in Jennifer's mercenary cynicism, providing a "real world" view of Pawnee and its citizens that still fit with the show's tone. Jones, who never gets enough to do on Glee, found the emotionally authentic heart of an episode otherwise written like an after-school special. Rudolph's returns to SNL are not only funny, but suffused with what feels like a genuine love of her former castmates and of the show's capacity for zaniness.

Honorable Mentions: Gideon Adlon, Louie; Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock; Zooey Deschanel, Saturday Night Live; Hadley Delany, Louie; Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live; Idina Menzel, Glee; Megan Mullally, Happy Endings; Megan Mullally, Parks and Recreation; Becki Newton, How I Met Your Mother; Joan Rivers, Louie; Kristen Schaal, 30 Rock; Sherri Shephard, 30 Rock; Kiernan Shipka, Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23; Mary Steenburgen, 30 Rock

I Wouldn't Be Surprised to See: Ellen Barkin, Modern Family; Barbara Barrie, Enlightened; Kathy Bates, Two and a Half Men; Margaret Cho, 30 Rock; Lauren Potter, Glee; Doris Roberts, Hot in Cleveland; Susan Sarandon, The Big C; Susan Sarandon, 30 Rock; Alicia Silverstone, Suburgatory; Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock; Lily Tomlin, Eastbound and Down

Mood Music LXVIII

This is A) the best mash-up they've ever done on Glee and B) the only track I bought from all the performances in the third season. I might give it a couple of episodes in the fall, just because their "plan" for following half the characters into their post-graduation lives sounds like a recipe for disaster and I love some good train-wreck television. But I've already deleted the season pass off of my DVR, and I'm probably going to chase that liberating feeling right out of regular Glee viewership.

What's all this new activity all of a sudden? I'm glad you asked, mythical reader. I'm trying to clear some, if not all, of the backlog of draft posts I've accumulated as I ready myself for Dream Emmy Ballot season. Half-finished movie thoughts from the winter, your hour is nigh.

Idle TV Thoughts

Somehow, even though the person being sung to was wearing an eyepatch, that rendition of "Ben" still wasn't quite as whacked-out as I once hoped it would be. 

Dream Emmy Ballot 2011: Supporting Actress in a Comedy

Yvette Nicole Brown - "Shirley Bennett", Community

Busy Phillipps - "Laurie Keller", Cougar Town

Aubrey Plaza - "April Ludgate", Parks and Recreation

Naya Rivera - "Santana Lopez", Glee

Yvonne Strahovski - "Sarah Walker", Chuck

Sofia Vergara - "Gloria Delgado-Pritchett", Modern Family

Pregnancies involving suspect paternity can seem awfully cliched, but Brown did great work with Shirley struggling to maintain her cheery optimism in the face of a situation over which she has no control. I think Phillipps might best embody what's great about Cougar Town - the show's capacity for both deep silliness and emotional heartbreak. Plaza's arid deadpan is becoming a trademark, but the way she shows the flickers of April's affection for Andy and her coworkers makes her performance great. Rivera got the best material of this season of Glee in communicating both Santana's razor-sharp snarkiness and her roiling internal conflict. Strahovski is always great, but this year in particular she did a great job with Sarah in both action mode and in coming to terms with embracing a domestic commitment she hadn't previously envisioned for herself. Vergara moderates beautifully, letting Gloria be big without feeling too manic or shrill.

Honorable Mention: Julie Bowen, Modern Family; Alison Brie, Community; Rosemarie DeWitt, United States of Tara; Gillian Jacobs, Community; Brie Larson, United States of Tara; Christa Miller, Cougar Town; Heather Morris, Glee; Amy Ryan, The Office; Phyllis Somerville, The Big C; Casey Wilson, Happy Endings; the Perfect Couples ensemble of Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Olivia Munn and Christine Woods

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Jane Adams, Hung; Eve Best, Nurse Jackie; Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory; Jenna Fischer, The Office; Anne Heche, Hung; Ellie Kemper, The Office; Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock; Jane Lynch, Glee; Anna Deavere Smith, Nurse Jackie; Betty White, Hot in Cleveland; Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live; Vanessa Williams, Desperate Housewives

Dream Emmy Ballot 2011: Guest Actress in a Comedy

Frances Conroy - "Sandy Gregson", United States of Tara

Dot-Marie Jones - "Coach Beiste", Glee

Megan Mullally - "Tammy Swanson", Parks and Recreation

Gwyneth Paltrow - "Holly Holliday", Glee

Parker Posey - "Lindsay Carlisle Shay", Parks and Recreation

Sherri Shepherd - "Angie Jordan", 30 Rock

Conroy brought a light touch and a loopy energy to Max's mother, providing a low-key counterpart to Tara while also suggesting a rich history. Jones sadly didn't get enough to do in the post-Regionals half of the Glee season, but she balanced the character's quirks with a real sense of pathos and a grounded adultness that isn't always present in the show. With a second appearance as the second Mrs. Swanson, Mullally elevated her character to the Parks and Recreation version of Event Television. I get why some people don't like Gwyneth, but I think she brought an appealing zaniness to her turn as Glee's wanderlust-driven substitute teacher. Posey's glorious snootiness as Lindsay Carlisle Shay was a great example of an actor playing an established niche to the hilt. I've always enjoyed Shepherd's performance as Angie, but this season in particular the "Queen of Jordan" episode was a highlight for 30 Rock.

Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock; Carol Burnett, Glee; Margaret Cho, 30 Rock; Mo Collins, Parks and Recreation; Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live; Ashley Fink, Glee; Carolyn Hennesy, Cougar Town; Cloris Leachman, Raising Hope; Shelley Long, Modern Family; Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live; Susan Sarandon, 30 Rock; Gabourey Sidibe, The Big C; Celia Weston, Modern Family

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Sasha Grey, Entourage; Melanie Griffith, Hot in Cleveland; Queen Latifah, 30 Rock; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 30 Rock; Mary Tyler Moore, Hot in Cleveland; Jennifer Morrison, How I Met Your Mother; Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock

Dream Emmy Ballot 2011: Guest Actor in a Comedy

Robert Clendenin - "Tom", Cougar Town

Darren Criss - "Blaine Anderson", Glee

Timothy Dalton - "Alexei Volkoff", Chuck

Eddie Izzard - "Dr. Jack Hattarras", United States of Tara

Jim Rash - "Dean Pelton", Community

Ben Schwartz - "Jean-Ralphio", Parks and Recreation

I don't think there's another actor or actress who got a better introductory scene this past year than Darren Criss did with "Teenage Dream." It was essentially Glee telling America to meet their new Fake TV Boyfriend, and I think Criss rose to the challenge. (Tangent: The more I think about it, the more I really wish they would do some sort of bit at the Emmys involving Darren Criss, Jon Cryer, and Ducky's lines from Pretty in Pink musing on the name "Blaine.") Dalton was far and away the best thing about Chuck this year, and is probably the best villain the show's ever had, playing Volkoff with a twinkle in his eye that made even psychotic threats of violence seem positively delightful. Clendenin, Rash and Schwartz all proved to be vital oddball contributors to their shows' universes in the second season of all three - Schwartz always throws himself whole-heartedly into Jean-Ralphio's oblivious toolishness, and Rash in particular gets bonus points for multiple costume changes, some involving short shorts. Izzard played well off of Toni Collette, infusing Tara with gravity as he took Hattaras from skeptic to believer.

Honorable Mentions: Will Arnett, 30 Rock; Kevin Corrigan, Community; Matt Damon, 30 Rock; Matt Dillon, Modern Family; Buck Henry, 30 Rock; Ken Howard, 30 Rock; John Lithgow, How I Met Your Mother; James Marsden, Modern Family; Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live; Stephen Tobolowsky, Community

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Alan Alda, 30 Rock; Tim Conway, Hot in Cleveland; Richard Dreyfuss, Weeds; Will Ferrell, The Office; Zach Galifianakis, Saturday Night Live; Don Johnson, Eastbound and Down; Michael Keaton, 30 Rock; Nathan Lane, Modern Family; Liam Neeson, The Big C; Carl Reiner, Hot in Cleveland; John Slattery, 30 Rock; John Stamos, Glee

Week in TV: May 22-28

Game of Thrones - 1.6, "A Golden Crown"

- Peter Dinklage and Jane Espenson: a match made in snarky-fantasy-TV Heaven. (I'll also add props for Arya's excellent "bitch, please" asides when Sansa talks about how much she wants to stay in King's Landing and bear Joffrey's babies.) Of all the show's characters, I think Tyrion's voice is losing the least in translation from the original book, and Dinklage is doing a bang-up job. When I read A Clash of Kings, I kept thinking that if that material made it to the show relatively intact then he'd probably end up with an Emmy, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he sneaks up and becomes a frontrunner for the award this season.

- I have mixed feelings about having read (most) of the books before watching this show. (I don't know that I've mentioned before that I'm in the middle of A Feast for Crows. It's slower going than the first three.) On the one hand, knowing who dies when and how terribly tinges some scenes with an air of tragedy that's hard to shake (the different combinations of people who don't know they'll never see each other again in the departures from Winterfell in the second episode made me unexpectedly burst into tears - I didn't realize before then that I cared that much). On the other, it does occasionally give things a bit of "yelling-at-the-screen-during-a-horror-movie" flair. Like that scene where Sansa made up with Joffrey - sometimes it's an "Oh, Sansa," sometimes it's a "Girl, RUN," sometimes it's a "Ooh, honey, this is not going to work out in your favor." Good times.

Glee - 2.22, "New York"

This episode ended up seriously frustrating me, and I'm trying to put a finger on why without devolving into a pure rant. I just still can't believe that they tried to play off Rachel and Finn kissing as the reason that the club didn't make it past the first cut at Nationals and not their unformed, unfocused, bullshit "rehearsal" "process." It seems insulting to a) songwriters and b) actual glee clubs who actually work to prepare themselves for competition to suggest that a group - even with the "pluck" and "determination" of the New Directions - would show up at a competition like this with barely a day's work on their performances and not be repeatedly and dramatically shown up. (Sure, they didn't make the cut, but twelfth? Seriously?) I haven't been in a chorus in over a decade, but chunks of songs I sang then surface out of my mind all the time. You know why? Because we practiced them - ad nauseum. As much as the show tried to sort of place Jesse in the non-dreamer villain column in critiquing the club, he was also mostly right. There have been enough song performances that have landed more in the "flight of fancy" realm than the "actual performance" one this season for me to think must be some way for this show to show the club taking the competition structure as seriously as they pretend to and still showcase a variety of songs.

I keep thinking about this show in comparison with Friday Night Lights - last season, I kept thinking that Will is the kind of character who imagines himself to be someone like Coach Taylor, but is actually more like Assistant Coach Stan. (Except I actually wish FNL would follow up on that one time when Julie awkwardly ran into Assistant Coach Stan at that gay bar, and never want to see another story about Will's romantic life ever again.) FNL lets the structure of the competitive season shape the show, and even though its characters are sometimes underdogs, it never pretends that the team's success happens without focused hard work. I wish Glee had enough confidence in its storytelling to do the same.

Other Shows:

Oz

- The first three seasons felt like some of the most human television I've ever seen, asking the viewer to consider people and society and how they're all held together in a way that felt truly unlike any other show I've watched. It's a fascinating snapshot of domestic politics in the United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and I doubt that another show will ever offer as thoughtful a portrayal of the issues involved in the death penalty. The later seasons devolve a bit into sensationalism, more melodramatic storytelling and distractingly prominent guest stars, but it remains a singular show. I can see seeds of the cable TV revolution in Oz, though I can also see why the show may not have received a lot of awards attention even with its superlative acting ensemble. I'm even more intrigued now to watch The Sopranos and The Wire.

- The fact that nearly every character on this show is a Bad Dude or Lady has given an unsettling air to so many things - Criminal Intent, Fringe, those Farmer's Insurance ads with J.K. Simmons...I'm not sure I could go back to watching Dexter even if I wanted to. I think the only media that doesn't feel adversely impacted is Dean Winters' set of "Mayhem" ads for Allstate. That being said, that ubiquity just reinforces the feeling that the casting directors who work with HBO's shows don't get nearly enough credit as star-makers, or even just as discoverers and highlighters of talent. (In my dreams, next year Vanity Fair devotes one of their excellent photo spreads to 15 years of HBO dramas.)

- It was interesting to finish watching this show in the same week when Christopher Meloni's decision to leave Law and Order: SVU was announced, as Oz repeatedly made it dramatically clear that SVU was wasting Meloni's boatloads of God-given charisma.

- This was the first full series I watched via HBOGo, and while I'm not overly fond of watching things on the computer I was pleasantly surprised by the streaming service. While the actually streaming software (or maybe just the site's bandwidth, I don't know, I'm not a techie) still seems to need some tweaking (it's not as consistent for me as, say, the Netflix player), the selection of series in particular is great - the streaming counters the main frustration of watching HBO dramas through Netflix, where the breakdown of episodes-per-disc means that watching multiple seasons can move at a snail's pace. It's verrry tempting to blaze through the relevant remaining entries on my "best of the 00s" wishlist (four down in the last 18 months - holla!) - for now I'll settle for figuring out how it can best supplement the reading I'm starting to work on for comps.

Week(s) in TV: Thoughts on...Glee

"The Sue Sylvester Shuffle"

- It's a bit regrettable that they wrote Karofsky so broadly in the earlier episodes that kicked off the arc that sent Kurt to Dalton. This episode suggested that there's a great, subtle performance in Max Adler that hasn't been serviced as well as it could, showing flashes of a kid who lashes out because he's paralyzed by fear and constantly at war with himself. Who knows where the rest of this season will go, but hopefully there's room to give more shading to Glee's designated bully.

- I really liked the performance of "She's Not There," but would've loved it if they hadn't thrown in Will's totally inelegant explanation of the joke therein. Come on, guys. Googling only takes a few seconds - make the kids work for it a little.

"Silly Love Songs"

- And it would seem they're on a roll, as both Blaine and Lauren were granted more complexity in this episode. Blaine in particular really needed the shading - the show's been coasting to some extent on Darren Criss' God-given handsomeness and letting Blaine be some sort of shaman of well-adjusted gay teendom.

"Comeback"

- I'm of two minds about this episode's generally excellent take on "Take Me or Leave Me"; on the one hand, it's so insanely well-suited to Lea Michele and Amber Riley's voices that it's sort of astonishing that it took so long to show up on Glee (and that this is the first Rent song they've done, although admittedly I don't know whether Rent is still the go-to show for musical-theater-loving teens. I assume that it's sort of been superseded by Wicked and Spring Awakening, but what do I know?) On the other hand, how do you have two characters sing a duet where they both sing the same part? I understand that Joanne's section has a lyrical specificity particular to the song's context within Rent that Maureen's "I'm a fabulous diva, look at meeee!" doesn't, but the duet-that-wasn't aspect was jarring to me as someone familiar with the original.

- Maybe it's just because I've been rewatching episodes of Friday Night Lights in anticipation of the *sniff* final season, but I'm really confused (and, frankly, kind of irritated) by Glee's vagueness around the competition structure of Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals. It seems pretty clear that the show is pointing towards New Directions going to Nationals, regardless of whether it ultimately makes sense or not, and that they presumably would re-encounter Vocal Adrenaline there. But wouldn't they still be competing in the same Regionals, especially since the show's specifically laid out that the other opponent from last year will be there? I know it's not really Glee's "way," but it would just be easier to invest some measure of interest in whether or not they win if it seemed like the competitions were governed by some sort of consistent rules.

"Blame it on the Alcohol"

- The character has extraordinarily few really endearing moments, so I was extra-charmed by Will's drunk grading. A lot of this episode made me sit back and think, "Sometimes it really is super-fun to just get tanked with your friends," which may or may not indicate that the after-school special aspect missed its mark. I guess it depends on who you think the show's intended audience is, age-wise.

Week(s) in TV: Catching Up

I'm supposed to be working on a paper, but I figured that this was not entirely useless as a stalling tactic as it gets me writing something, which is better than writing nothing even if it's not germane to the task at hand. I keep starting weekly posts and then having them sort of fade into the ether as I get farther and farther into each successive week without posting, so this is sort of a multi-week commentary compendium including the various cable shows that have concluded their seasons in the past few weeks.

Boardwalk Empire

- When I do the Dream Emmy Ballot in the summer, the supporting drama categories are always the ones where I end up with about twenty performances that I love, and BE added some great actors there. Michael Kenneth Williams never seemed to get enough to do, besides that unbelievably excellent scene with Chalky and the guy from the Klan, but still used every second he appeared on screen to radiate a kind of simmering menace that made Chalky seem like the greatest badass of all time. Similarly, Jack Huston made a lot out of relatively little screen time, particularly in selling Richard's war wounds as more than a gimmicky period flourish.

- Try as I might, I just cannot bring myself to care about Angela and her problems. The whole "drifting along ineffectually, letting oneself be swayed by whomever happens to be physically closest" thing is likely very true to the way a fair number of people go through life, but it's terribly boring to watch. And unlike, say, Mad Men, where I think the writers made a decent case for Betty's continued presence by emphasizing the degree to which Don places importance on his children, the same can't really be said here for Angela in relation to Jimmy. The writers made me care more about Pearl in two episodes than they did about Angela through the whole entire season.

- I honestly wasn't sure for much of this season whether I would be excited for the next when it wrapped, but the finale sold me - I'm genuinely interested to see where the alliance between Jimmy, Eli and the Commodore goes. It seems like BE has all the tools necessary to pull out a superlative second season, and I'm looking forward to seeing whether they stick the landing.

The Walking Dead

Conversely, I don't know if I'm just that into The Walking Dead. It wasn't bad, but the first six episodes didn't feature the kind of character development or plot advancement that makes a show feel like vital viewing. (This post from io9 delves really well into the differences between the show and the comic - which I started reading over the summer, then tapered off - and how those differences tended to make the show a bit shallower.) Depending on how many shows I'm watching next fall, I may pick it back up again when the second season starts, but at present I'm not burning to see more.

Gossip Girl

Last week's episode concluded what is easily the best-executed narrative arc the show's ever done. (Considering the entire Schwartz/Savage oeuvre, it may be the best-executed narrative arc on GG or The O.C.) Eleven episodes must be some kind of record for them as far as sustaining a storyline, and the writers managed to make Juliet's motivation logical (as logical as Gossip Girl ever gets, anyway) and to resolve the story with a decent payoff. The only disappointment is that Juliet and Serena ended on good terms - Katie Cassidy could've made a stellar recurring villain for the show.

Glee

While watching both "Special Education" and "A Very Glee Christmas," I was struck by how little I cared about the seeming dissolution of the relationships between Rachel and Finn and Will and Emma. For all of the show's emphasis on the pairings of characters, there isn't a huge degree of chemistry among any of them. Some work well plot-wise, but there's no real, say, Matt Saracen/Julie Taylor or Chuck Bass/Blair Waldorf in this group. That said, I will observe that Artie and Brittany seem to be shaping up to be a great example of the Dream Relationship - that being when one finds someone who takes in the various things about them that are maybe a little nutty, crazy, flaky, whatever, and finds those things charming.

Sons of Anarchy

- I'll be interested to see how this season plays back on DVD. I watched both prior seasons within the span of about two weeks, so this season was going to feel like slow going no matter what happened, and I suspect that the trip to Ireland will play better within a shorter span of time and that the way it eventually circled around to bring John Teller's history in will fit better with the show's mythology as it's been laid out so far. Regardless, it's difficult to quibble with the story's denouement in the finale. If you're going to dispatch with a pair of villains who've outlived their narrative usefulness, best to do so with extreme badassery as the culmination of an epic triple-cross. The potential for a degree of narrative resetting with Jax, Clay and company coming out of jail (presumably) at the beginning of next season seems really promising - why is next fall so far away?

- I so hope that this season's finale, like the prior two, appears on the DVDs with a cast commentary. Kurt Sutter gathers together a giant group of cast members, then they proceed to basically ignore whatever gravity the plot would seem to dictate and replace it with a lot of catcalling, insults of each other's stage fighting and motorcycle riding abilities and general raucousness. I really, really want to rewatch the moment when Chibs slices Jimmy up with a cast commentary soundtrack.

- I found him kind of one-note in his early appearances, but I have to say that Chucky is growing on me. Once they minimized the masturbation jokes and focused on his potential as an odd-but-game friend of the club he became a great figurehead for the community built around SAMCRO.

Terriers

Between the time when I initially planned to write about this and now, Terriers was officially cancelled by FX. As was frequently true throughout the season, I find myself at a loss for words to encapsulate what was so good about Terriers. There were the perfect marriages of character and actor with Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James. The ensemble of smart female characters like Katie, Maggie and Steph, truly unlike any other on TV. The marvelous frayed-edges and lived-in-ness of the universe of Ocean Beach. The push and pull between laid back amiability and tangible danger that somehow never seemed to tip the balance too far any one way. I wasn't surprised that the show got cancelled - all I could really do was shrug and sign up for an Amazon update when the DVDs are available - but man, will I miss it.

I suppose the other side of the coin as far as The Walking Dead is that in the past six months alone we've had both Rubicon and Terriers come and go, and while I feel like I'll miss the characters and their universes and chase down other work by the actors from the latter two, right now I feel like I could quite contentedly never watch TWD again.

Week in TV: November 14-20

Glee

- I know lots of people think she's too smug, or pretentious, or out of touch with common people or whatever, but I kind of love Gwyneth. While all the celebrity-guest-star announcements were initially worrying, Glee seems to be building a stable of tertiary characters who could reasonably recur - more Friends than Will and Grace.

- This isn't a show where I frequently identify with the characters, but when Mercedes was questioning Kurt about the guy he tried to set her up with, ultimately figuring out that he matched them up mainly because they're both black? I have been there, girl.

- There's bad timing, and then there's using yet another spectacularly awful "mash-up" to close your show on the day after the new Girl Talk album hits the web. He's probably far too legit for the job, but Glee should try to hire Gregg Gillis as a mash-up consultant, because that business is sounding pretty rough.

Sons of Anarchy

- I was skeptical about the Irish storyline, and I still ultimately feel that Kurt Sutter seems to have a clearer sense of how it all fits together in the show's broader mythology than is necessarily being communicated on-screen, but I have to say that I really like how the Abel kidnapping storyline has come back around to inform Jax's thinking about his father and his feelings about the club. The twist of Abel getting adopted initially felt like one plot turn too many, but was ultimately worth it for that wrenching sequence of Jax following Abel around with his new family.

- Images like Gemma pointing a gun at a baby are why I love television, truly.

The Good Wife

I'll talk more about For Colored Girls in my November movie post (mixed feelings) but I have to say that I think I sold Tyler Perry a bit short, because I still feel totally wigged out when I see Michael Ealy, even in TGW's "hobnobbing with Chicago's legal cognoscenti" mode.

Also Watched: Chuck, 90210, Gossip Girl, Raising Hope, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Hellcats, Terriers, Community, 30 Rock, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Degrassi

Week in TV: October 24-30

Boardwalk Empire

- The theme song is slowly growing on me. It's still not the kind of song you can imagine playing in the background as someone makes their way from the audience to the podium at an awards show, but it's got its own sort of swagger.

- Somehow, this episode managed to reference not one, but two different things that have come up in my reading this semester that make my skin crawl: the phrase "feeble-minded" and the contraceptive concept of douching with Lysol. Ew.

Glee

- I don't think I've previously discussed A.V. Club writer Todd VanDerWerff's breakdown of Glee's three showrunner-writers and what each brings to the episodes they write, but it's gotten a strong example this season in the way Will's been written in the episodes by Ryan Murphy. Where he normally seems like an enthusiastic, if occasionally hapless teacher, in Murphy's two episodes so far this season he's come across as a psycho with no boundaries, who then wonders why acting like a psycho with no boundaries isn't immediately winning Emma over to his side. Murphy can usually make his particular brand of heightened reality work within Glee's universe, but when a character's doing something so cringe-inducingly awful that you want to avert your eyes from the television, that's when you should maybe re-evaluate that character's path.

- Over the summer, I had designs on writing a post about what I though Glee could learn from other high-school shows, which obviously never quite materialized. (If this season is structured like the first, with the multi-month winter hiatus, it still might make an appearance.) The repeated mentions of the club going to Nationals brought up one of those points - where the first season's first thirteen episodes were loosely structured around the trip to Sectionals, there's been no real mention of them so far. The show I'd refer to here as an example is Friday Night Lights - each season of FNL, especially the first and third, where the team actually makes it to the State Championship game, utilizes the game-by-game structure of the football season as a narrative frame. Given that they didn't make it past Regionals last year, all this talk about New York is increasingly seeming like a) totally wishful thinking that is b) completely divorced from reality and c) not in a wacky, fun way.

Sons of Anarchy

One of the things I love and hate about cable dramas is that you never quite know where the writers set their boundaries. When you're not beholden to the same kinds of Standards and Practices as the networks, where do you draw the line on what's too much, especially when your show takes place in a relatively insane, violent universe? I'm thinking specifically about Jax's new Belfast flirtation with the girl he doesn't know is his half-sister, which seems to bring up these two voices in my head as I watch. One says, uneasily, "Even on a show as crazy as this one, incest is totally a line that they wouldn't cross," and the other says, "OR WOULD THEY?!?" And then both yell at the TV for persons in the know to intervene.

Private Practice

This television season seems to be featuring a disproportionate number of actors jumping around the dial - Zosia Mamet, Kevin Alejandro, Paula Malcomson, etc. - but none have been quite so disorienting as the Wednesday/Thursday juxtaposition of the Gustafson-heavy Terriers episode and Rockmond Dunbar then appearing on PP as a guy on the downlow. I mean, it partly indicated to me how quickly I've embraced Terriers (so good), but it also made for a weirder-than-it-was-supposed-to-be hour of television on Thursday.

Also Watched: Sherlock, Luther, 90210, Gossip Girl, Raising Hope, Detroit 1-8-7, The Good Wife, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Hellcats, Terriers, Top Chef: Just Desserts, Community, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Degrassi

Week in TV: October 10-16

Boardwalk Empire

Best episode yet, and a great episode for fleshing out previously underserved characters in Margaret, Gillian and Chalky. In some reviews I've read, people have found the scenes highlighting Margaret and Chalky somewhat heavy-handed, but then I don't know what period television they're watching where such moments are "expected" or "obvious." Maybe it's just years spent in history classes where people feel compelled to excuse "the way things were back then," but I think it's important to showcase resistant voices in media like this. Thinking critically about the past helps us understand then and now, and if this is the kind of writing that BE's going to continue to employ, then I'm in for the long haul.

Rubicon

I'll be honest, I really didn't think they would ultimately have the terrorist act seen through to completion, but I think that doing so distinguishes Rubicon from every other show airing right now. The whole season has gradually ratcheted up the tension in a glorious slow burn; many shows are daring, but few do so without also being showy. I'm on pins and needles waiting to see what happens in the finale - now that that tension has culminated in an explosion, what do the characters do next?

Mad Men

- Unusually low-key penultimate episode, at least as far as this show goes, which makes me a little concerned that something crazy is going to happen tonight. Like, both Sterling and Cooper keeling over dead or something. A plot point like Don publicly rejecting tobacco work represents a dramatic shift in the show - Lucky Strike is the client that forms the backbone of the pilot - but I think it would be uncharacteristic of Weiner to have some new savior show up in the finale. Most of the storylines feel right now like their implications are designed to play out in the long-term rather than the short-term - an exciting feeling after a finale, but an unnerving one beforehand.

- I usually like the oblique collection of out-of-context quotes that fill the "Next Time on Mad Men" teasers, but I wish that if they'd only been pulling from past episodes that they'd used the prior season finales rather than selections from this season. Not because I haven't liked this season (I definitely have) but because the past three finales are among the show's best episodes. A teaser with, say, Don's carousel speech and Peggy in the hospital from "The Wheel," Peggy's confession and Don's righteous smackdown of Duck from "Meditations in an Emergency," and various company-heist hijinks from "Shut the Door. Have a Seat." would actually get me excited about next week. As it is, I have to say I'm more intrigued to see how Rubicon closes out their season.

- This is mostly unrelated, but I really hope that somewhere among the lead-up to the Broadway arrival of the How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying revival we get a picture of Robert Morse and Daniel Radcliffe together. Just because I'm pretty sure it would be adorable.

Chuck

- I'm not dreaming, right? This season has been mad boring thus far? I'm sure a lot of outlets will blame it on Chuck and Sarah being together, but the problem is not their relationship as much as it's the fact that they never stop talking about their relationship. There's a rational level of insecurity involved in any new pairing, but I think we passed "rational" sometime in Season Three's back six and now we're veering off into "grating". All I know is when 8 on Monday rolls around, I increasingly want to watch 90210 live and time-shift Chuck instead of the other way around.

- I know I should probably be offended by the incidences of obvious product placement, but there's something so blatant about the way they mention Subway that it just makes me laugh.

Glee

- Now that's how you use a song from A Chorus Line.

- When the characters were reviewing their summer vacations in the premiere, did we somehow skip over Artie's lobotomy? Or are we supposed to believe that breaking up with Tina prompted some sort of dramatic break with rational thought? Where he seemed essentially smart, though occasionally misguided last season, now he just seems like he's taken leave of his senses. (The football thing stretches even the bounds of Glee's universe. Rules or not, there's no way that a school system lawyer wouldn't intervene in the interest of liability there. I'm pretty sure the apprehension of being sued transcends hyper-reality.) I just wish that he could've had a serious, low-key discussion with Brittany about the implications of losing his virginity instead of condemning her for manipulating him with her slatternly ways.

Sons of Anarchy

- I was struck in this episode by the difference between the ceremony involved in accepting or dismissing a member from the club and Jax's cursory break-up with Tara; I don't think SoA's ever before delineated quite so clearly the status of women in the club's milieu. I'm interested to see where Tara's path takes her now; I suspect that like Bill and Sookie on this past season of True Blood, she and Jax may be more interesting apart than they are together. It's not classy, but I'd love to see Tara totally lose her shit.

- Where's Wendy in all this kidnapping rigamarole? If I recall correctly, when last we saw her she was headed for a halfway house to become accustomed to sobriety. To some extent, it makes sense that they wouldn't tell her what's going on, in a variation of what kept them from sharing the news with Gemma for so long - don't alarm the recovering addict. But it would be nice if they'd mention her every once in a while, even if it's just to say that they're continuing to keep her in the dark.

Undercovers

Just what I was hoping for - oblique references to mysterious secrets! There may be hope for this show yet.

Hellcats

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the new crop of shows this fall, at least on the networks. The pilot was a little obnoxious, but Hellcats has actually turned out to not be terrible - its recent episodes have bestowed its main characters with decent development, and though it's depiction of both college cheerleading and the life of a pre-law student may not be 100% "accurate" in a real-world sense, the show does know its universe and communicate its ins-and-outs clearly. Special credit to Ashley Tisdale, who may be one of least broad actors to come out of the Disney/Nick machine in a while.

Terriers

Whenever I'm watching Sons of Anarchy and catch ads for Terriers, I'm struck by how mismarketed the show seems. The commercials highlight the goofy vibe and amiable banter between Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James, and if I wasn't watching the show I think I'd think it was pretty lightweight. Since the third episode, though, the show's been tempering that goofiness with some serious doses of darkness that make the show unique, and very, very good. That last scene with Hank and Katie was heartbreaking, and the kind of scene that makes you realize that you've become totally invested in a show's characters.

30 Rock

- I can't believe this is the first time I've wondered this, but something about the use of the TGS sketches in the live show brought it to mind: Does SNL exist at 30 Rock's NBC?

- While I like Jon Hamm a lot, I've never really found Drew terribly funny, and I think his ad (in both versions of the show) was the most SNL-esque moment of the show just in distance from reality. Later in the evening I saw one of those Allstate "Mayhem" ads with Dean Winters, and thought how much funnier it could've been with an ad from Dennis instead.

Also Watched: How I Met Your Mother, 90210, Gossip Girl, Raising Hope, Detroit 1-8-7, Caprica, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Top Chef: Just Desserts, Law and Order: LA, Community, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Degrassi, Gigantic, Law and Order: UK

Thoughts on..."Britney/Brittany"

So, clearly the "Week in TV" post for September 26 to October 2 never quite materialized. By the time I had time to think about it, it was Thursday, and I realized that many of the points could carry over to this week. I watched the pilots for both No Ordinary Family and Law and Order: LA, and thought both were solid, but feel no burning desire to continue on with either one. And I was curious to see where both Lone Star and My Generation were going, but as much as I liked/was intrigued by both, it's hard to mourn a show of which one has only seen two episodes. Lone Star could've been great, and for that matter, My Generation could've executed some major course-correction, but we'll never know for sure. Such is Fall TV.

Upon reflection, I realized that the only show I really had extended thoughts on for that week was Glee. (Hopefully, Lane's girlfriend on Mad Men wasn't a one-off and we can get back to her later.) I didn't really land on the "love" or "hate" sides of the Britney episode. There were pros and cons.

- While the whole device of characters hallucinating under the influence at the dentist was a little...implausible...I kind of liked that the show switched up the structure a little bit in terms of the way the songs were incorporated into the show. Usually Glee operates as a kind of hybrid between a backstage musical and a book musical, so it was interesting to see them try more of a revue. Songs presented largely independent of plot is where musical theater started, and I think Glee's loosely-structured enough to sustain episodes like this one every once in a while. Honestly, I'd love to see them tackle a week of performances with no plot at all, sort of Ziegfeld-Follies-style.

- I understand the impulse to draw upon the iconic video imagery in Britney Spears' catalogue, but I'd have loved to see some different song choices, maybe some non-singles. Rachel and Finn's storyline was begging for one of Britney's classic "I'm my own woman now and you can't tell me what to do" songs; my personal favorite is the underrated Oops!...I Did it Again track "What U See (Is What U Get)".

- There have been little odds and ends in Glee that are reminiscent of Ryan Murphy's prior high school show Popular, but none so much as Jacob Ben Israel, who's essentially the second coming of Popular's April Tuna. Murphy seems to have this affection for characters too strange to be real; in this episode, it worked for the increased focus on Brittany, but Jacob's off-putting manner was stretched a little too far beyond the limits of where the show can contain him. It's difficult to criticize any part of Glee for being excessive, but I feel comfortable in saying that the yelling during "Toxic" was too much.

- There has to be some occasion in the future where they have a dance-off between Heather Morris and Harry Shum, right? I mean, come on: