Week in TV: September 18-24

Good lord, TV. I am only one person!

How I Met Your Mother, 7.1: "The Best Man" and 7.2: "The Naked Truth"

My patience for this show's mythology shenanigans has grown so thin, but something in me just can't give up on it. The plan going in was to mostly let episodes just sort of accumulate on the DVR and watch them in blocks, and nothing I saw in this hour really dissuaded me from that position. (I'm going to be time-shifting like a fiend this year. Lots of moves to Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening.)

Sons of Anarchy, 4.3: "Dorylus"

I'm so curious to see where they go with the plot point of Juice's secret background. SOA does Imitation of Life!?! (It's brief, but Sutter wrote an interesting blog post about the upcoming storyline.)

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, 13.1: "Scorched Earth"

It's interesting - they seem to have done so much to try to shore up the show to compensate for Christopher Meloni leaving that this episode felt much more focused than others I've seen from the past few years. Ultimately, I wonder if the show didn't wait too long to start introducing new detectives into the mix (as opposed to when Criminal Intent started rotating D'Onofrio with Noth), but Kelli Giddish fit in well in this episode. And while it feels a bit manipulative, I was a big fan of the last detective/ADA quartet of OG Law and Order, so I'm glad to see Linus Roache back as Michael Cutter. As premieres go, they put together a fairly solid argument for Meloni's departure not being the incentive to abandon viewership that it originally seemed.

The Playboy Club, "Pilot"

- This show was both not as bad as I thought it would be and not as good as it could be. And while the potential for a better show lies somewhere among its multiple storylines, I fear its association with a still-existing corporate entity means that there won't be an incentive to find and cultivate that better show. It could find depth in deconstructing the tightly corseted facade of the Bunny. Instead it persists in glorifying an imprecisely-defined concept of empowerment, introduced not by one of said empowered women, but in the voice of "Hef" as a shadowy Big Brother figure. It's like someone read Enlightened Sexism and took it as an instruction manual instead of a criticism.

- Reviewers keep bringing up Mad Men in comparison with this show, and certainly that show's current place in the zeitgeist undoubtedly had an impact on getting this show greenlit. But the show that came more immediately to mind watching this was American Dreams - not only because of the performance from "Ike and Tina Turner" (another missed opportunity in contrasting image and experience?) but also due to the similarities between Hefner and Dick Clark, their presence as shadowy background figures on the show and their presumed behind-the-scenes ability to influence how they're depicted. I only hope Playboy Club grows to encompass the kind of scope that American Dreams did.

- Fall TV Footnote! Gloria Steinem's website put up a PDF of her famous undercover piece about working at New York's Playboy Club. (The points made in the show's voiceover sound suspiciously similar to the P.R. she cites and ultimately rejects as presenting a false picture of how Bunny life really is.)

Unforgettable, "Pilot"; Person of Interest, "Pilot"; Prime Suspect, "Pilot"; A Gifted Man, "Pilot"

Ah, network dramas. None of these was bad or offensive, and each one has at least one actor who I like, but life's too short to accumulate crime procedurals. I'll definitely give Prime Suspect another episode or two, and I'm so wiped out on Friday nights this semester that I may keep up with A Gifted Man (or, as I started calling it in my head midway through the pilot, Dude Providence) at least until Chuck starts.

Charlie's Angels, "Pilot"

I think a go-for-broke, full-tilt camp remake of Charlie's Angels could be sort of fun, but, unfortunately, this is not that show. The tone was way too serious for the core premise, and it made the whole show feel like it was aiming for a portentousness that was never quite there. And as much as I love Victor Garber, I think he was missing a bit of the warmth that John Forsythe had in his voice work as Charlie.

2 Broke Girls, "Pilot"; Whitney, "Pilot"

Watched them, can't even really think of anything germane to say about them, not getting added to the schedule.

Miscellaneous Links

- Interesting piece from Wired on Dan Harmon - I feel like every interview I read with him makes me worry about his health.

- The A.V. Club has really been stepping it up a notch with their series of showrunner interviews. This week's set with Louis C.K. really showcased how much he thinks about every aspect of Louie from script to screen, and how much cachet he's built up among comedians and other artists.

Dream Emmy Ballot 2011: Supporting Actor in a Comedy

Keir Gilchrist - "Marshall Gregson", United States of Tara

Donald Glover - "Troy Barnes", Community

Nolan Gould - "Luke Dunphy", Modern Family

Nick Offerman - "Ron Swanson", Parks and Recreation

Danny Pudi - "Abed Nadir", Community

Jason Segel - "Marshall Eriksen", How I Met Your Mother

Gilchrist's performance has always been a highlight of Tara - this season he made Marshall's exhaustion and anger at his family's situation palpable without veering into what could come off as rote teenage pettiness. Glover and Pudi have a great wacky chemistry as Community's dynamic duo, but both also shone in some of the season's quieter episodes ("Mixology Certification" and "Critical Film Studes,"respectively). Gould makes me laugh more consistently than any other performer on Modern Family (and maybe including other shows, too). The things that make Offerman's performance so great are difficult to articulate...the basketball coaching to the mourning of the Indianapolis steakhouse to the Snake Juice dancing to Lil' Sebastian's funeral...it's Ron Effing Swanson, you know? The death of Marshall's father was one of the few story arcs that was consistently well-executed in this season of How I Met Your Mother (if not the only one), and a lot of that has to do with Segel's wonderfully understated work as Marshall contended with his grief.

Honorable Mention: Max Adler, Glee; Aziz Ansari, Parks and Recreation; Chevy Chase, Community; Chris Colfer, Glee; John Corbett, United States of Tara; Garret Dillahunt, Raising Hope; John Benjamin Hickey, The Big C; Josh Hopkins, Cougar Town; Chris Pratt, Parks and Recreation; Adam Scott, Parks and Recreation

With quality ensemble work in: Happy Endings (Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr.); Modern Family (Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O'Neill, Eric Stonestreet); Perfect Couples (Kyle Bornheimer, Hayes McArthur, David Walton)

I wouldn't be surprised to see: Fred Armisen, Saturday Night Live; Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men; Ted Danson, Bored to Death; Peter Facinelli, Nurse Jackie; Zach Galifianakis, Bored to Death; Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live; Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother; Ed Helms, The Office; Ken Jeong, Community; John Krasinski, The Office; Jeremy Piven, Entourage; Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live; Jason Sudeikis, Saturday Night Live; Rainn Wilson, The Office

Week in TV: May 15-21

Game of Thrones

- I kind of loved the scene with Renly & Loras, if only because it makes me really excited for the show to introduce more of the Tyrells - doesn't "capitalize on an intimate or vulnerable moment with your partner to advance your personal agenda" seem like a move straight out of the Queen of Thorns' playbook? I love the way the books increasingly present the Tyrells as super-schemers, but with less of the overinflated sense of self you see in other houses, and I think that the show's original writing could draw Margaery in particular as an interesting counterpart to Sansa.

- The beginning of the trip to the Eyrie was just the best - the uneasy side-eye action between Catelyn and Tyrion while Lysa rants crazily from her throne? THE BEST.

- I forgot to mention previously how much I love the opening credits. I can't wait to see how they render Riverrun, the Twins and Harrenhal.

The Killing

I'm going to start letting episodes accumulate on the DVR and watch them all closer to when the season ends. I was just so disengaged during this hour, and found at the end that I didn't particularly care about that disengagement. Still well-performed by its principal actors, still drearily-paced.

Law and Order: Criminal Intent

I don't know that I've ever seen an episode of any Law and Order franchise use a flashback like this one did. Connecting Goren's therapy back to his interplay with Nicole Wallace was cleverly written and well-edited; I hope they keep drawing on that sort of continuity in this set of episodes.

90210

I couldn't let the season finale pass without observing how much I enjoyed the storyline of Adrianna switching out Silver's meds. It was Classic Spelling: a circumstance that would be horrible if it occurred in real life, but that made for excellent melodramatic television (like Adam Carrington painting Jeff Colby's office with lead paint to gaslight him back in the day on Dynasty). This episode's appearance of the Ghost of Javier was just the icing on the cake.

How I Met Your Mother

The semi-reveal of the wedding at the end of this episode was so terribly frustrating, and perfectly encapsulated the things that have been distancing me from my former status as a fan of HIMYM. The writers keep throwing the ball out ahead and then promising that the journey to get where the show is going will be worth certain information remaining shrouded in mystery. But - it isn't. I used to be so excited for this show, but when I heard that it was being renewed for not one, but two more seasons, I just felt exhausted. I believe that they could still have great stories remaining for the characters. I believe they could mine good material from Lily and Marshall having a baby. I believe they could find their Paul Rudd, so to speak, in casting a girlfriend for Ted who's not an unbelievably grating character (or even, Heaven forbid, the Mother). It just doesn't seem like Bays and Thomas are willing to go there without a set endpoint, and I don't know how much more patience I have for wheel-spinning.

Friday Night Lights

I love how Billy and Mindy are a) turning into Taylors-in-Training, with various hits and misses as mentors to the teens in their lives and b) adopting Luke and Becky as surrogates for Tim and Tyra. Their messiness is so endearing.

Week in TV: January 2-8

How I Met Your Mother

There were a lot of things to like about this episode - after watching a lot of Angel this past summer, I was thrilled to see Alexis Denisof return as Sandy Rivers - but I ultimately can't get behind the countdown. Using such a distracting gimmick to lead up to such a grave moment felt callous, and made me wonder if the show's writers are no longer sure of how best to utilize the tools at their disposal. Hopefully, the coming weeks will show that they still know how to maintain the balance between broad comedy and emotional authenticity that served the show so well in its early seasons.

Greek

As the series-concluding half-season continues, I imagine that I'll decide whether I think the show is pushing it narratively or not. The premiere made the almost-everyone-stays-at-CRU premise seem a little plausibility-stretching, but they've managed to do a lot within a relatively formulaic structure before, so we'll see.

Grey's Anatomy

- It was not at all surprising, and felt like it might have been ripped from an old ER, but I have to admit that I teared up a bit when they had the big reveal of Christina in the back of the ambulance. The Grey's writers haven't squandered any of the emotional potential of the fallout from last season's finale, and Sandra Oh continues to do some of her best work in the entire series.

- Today in Shallow Observations: It's been like a decade since Felicity, but Scott Foley is still totally cute.

Rewatched

Skins, Third Series

- Both the upcoming fourth series DVD release and the premiere of MTV's American version prompted me to rewatch the third series of Skins for the first time since it aired on BBC America in 2009. I was pleasantly surprised by how much more I liked it this time around - maybe it's the pacing, or that my first viewings of the first two series were fresher. While I still have some narrative quibbles, I was better able to appreciate the work of the young actors and the episodes as individual showcases, and I find now that I'm genuinely curious about the fourth series.

- What narrative quibbles, you say? Namely, this: I can appreciate any show that's willing to do something as dramatic as a season-to-season full cast change. However, the ties that remained between the first and second generations of Skins characters at times served to undercut the narrative arc of the third series. I understand that Nicholas Hoult was off becoming Tom Ford's new favorite person, but to me it seemed completely implausible that the dissolution of the Stonem's marriage and Effy's subsequent down-spiral would all occur with no intervention whatsoever from Tony.

- It seems to me that it's a major failing of American English that we have no pejorative equivalent to "wanker."

- One of the things that's been interesting about the press regarding the MTV remake and what distinguishes Skins from American teen shows is the tendency to classify the characters' actions as consequence-free. And while Skins tends to eschew the kind of immediate cause-and-effect framing of actions and consequences that one sees in a show like, say, 90210, watching any stretch of the show reminds me that a lot of really terrible things happen to any number of the characters. They may party like there's no tomorrow, but one of the great things about the show is that the writers don't harbor any illusions about the characters' actions not being unbelievably self-destructive. The greatest crime in the show's universe is avoiding confrontation with deeper emotional truths about oneself, and that, much more than any tawdriness, is what truly distinguishes Skins from its contemporaries.

Also Watched: Detroit 1-8-7, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Top Chef, Private Practice

Week in TV: October 3-9

Boardwalk Empire

For an American Studies scholar, this show is kind of a smorgasbord of references. (1920 is right in the sweet spot of an era that a lot of historians like to work in.) Allusions to Uncle Tom's Cabin and Horatio Alger in the same hour? Nice.

Rubicon

I love how quiet this show is. The writers really trust the actors to communicate the paranoia and foreboding that sell both the broader conspiracy and the terrorist plot, and it's made the show uniquely good.

Mad Men

- It remains to be seen how the departure of Lucky Strike will play out long-term (I can't possibly be the only fan sitting there all, "Bring back Sal! BRING BACK SAL!"), but I think it will color rewatching of prior episodes in an interesting way. As embarrassingly desperate as the party in "Christmas Comes But Once a Year" is, how much more awful will it feel when you can put a date on when all that effort proves to be for naught?

- I've never really understood those people who believe in the Great and True Love of Joan and Roger, and I think the past few weeks have shown many reasons why they shouldn't be together. I mean, I get it: almost anyone seems like a better option compared with Dr. Greg. But Greg being kind of a horrible person doesn't make Roger not a horrible person too. The selfishness? The lack of respect for anyone besides himself? Betty gets a lot of press for being essentially a child, but I'd argue that Roger's development is similarly arrested.

- I like Abe.

- I don't think I've talked before about the wonderfully smarmy performance Kevin Rahm's given this season as Ted Chaough. I love straight-up shamelessness in a television character.

How I Met Your Mother

HIMYM is actually one of the major reasons I decided to try to do a weekly TV post. Back in the spring, I started to write a post about why I felt the show needed to establish an end date - it felt like they were spinning their wheels, and I didn't care about or like Don at all, to the degree that the writers' attempts to push him as Robin's potential soul mate actually made me angry. (The post was a tandem commentary on HIMYM and Big Love, and if that show's issues continue on to its next season, then I'll bring up those points again too.) The post sort of faded away, half-written and unpublished, and I finally deleted it when I realized that the points weren't really timely anymore. Hence, week-to-week observations. All of which is to say: I'm pretty sure that much of the audience got "closure" on Don a while ago, so hopefully Robin achieving the same will prompt the writers to pretend that whole thing never happened in the first place.

Glee

As far as Glee's themed episodes go, this was pretty middle-of-the-road for me. The question of how religion functions in people's lives is one that television shows rarely engage, so that was nice to see, but other shows have done it in recent years with a lot more nuance (Friday Night Lights, to mention one. This week's Community, to mention another.) Chris Colfer knocked it out of the park, though - among the show's main cast, I think he makes the most out of his showcase episodes - and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" did make me tear up.

Sons of Anarchy

We've had enough of a break from Stahl's all-consuming craziness that I'm excited to see where her deal with Jax goes. Like everything on this show, it seems inevitably doomed to fail spectacularly, but it's always an interesting ride getting there.

Undercovers

I think this week pinpointed for me what's making this show so boring so far. While I understand why they wanted to stay away from a major conspiracy angle, there's also nothing cohesive driving the show from week to week. When you look back at the early episodes of Alias, the storyline that comes out of Danny's murder drives Sydney in a way that gave Jennifer Garner's performance a propulsive fire (Nikita, so far, has been similarly passion-driven). On Fringe, the circumstances are so crazy that they demand action. Chuck's writers have managed to make the wheels turn with a combination of Chuck v. Intersect and CIA/NSA v. various nefarious external groups and conspiracy-mongerers. "Spies plus marital drama" is an interesting idea, but without interesting execution the show is going to fail sooner or later. I really want to support this show and keep watching it, but without a creative bump it's going to turn into a chore.

Top Chef: Just Desserts

There's "not here to make friends" and then there's the cast of this show, who seem to have built up a serious amount of mutual animosity in a relatively brief period of time, even for a reality competition. You'd think that with people deciding to leave of their own free will, or having some sort of oblique not-entirely-on-camera meltdown, that the other contestants would just sit back and let it happen. You already look like the good ones by default! It's Sibling Politics 101! Instead, the overly critical tone from various others comes across as hyperbolic, needless bitchery and the whole thing seems like it's teetering on the precipice of descending into total mania.

Bones

If the writers aren't careful, Hannah is going to land firmly in the same territory as Don on How I Met Your Mother last year. Telling us a new character is awesome is demonstrably not the same thing as actually introducing a new awesome character.

Also Watched: Nikita from last week, Chuck, 90210, Gossip Girl, Hawaii Five-0, Raising Hope, Detroit 1-8-7, Caprica, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Hellcats, Terriers, Community, 30 Rock, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, Nikita, Private Practice, Degrassi

New Shows:

Law & Order: UK

It was interesting to watch this after seeing the Law and Order: LA pilot. The Los Angeles version made me doubt whether the franchise could really work in another city, but then the UK version restored my confidence. The show sticks very closely to the original show's template, but with a unique chemistry among the permanent cast that makes it work almost immediately.

The A-List: New York

True story: I turned this off after about 45 minutes. I'm not big into the Real Housewives genre of shows - after the cast members introduce themselves and start talking to one another, they tend to achieve a level of vacuousness where my brain just completely tunes out. Also, teen Liz, who rooted for Reichen and Chip to win The Amazing Race back in the day, is disappointed that Reichen seems to be kind of a fame whore. I believed in your love!

Gigantic

The N's original programming isn't bad, necessarily, but their writing is never quite as sharp, and the drama not quite as daring, as some of the comparable-age-group offerings from ABC Family or the CW. Still, half-hour shows are perfect for morning coffee, and the mix of actual children-of-actors and former child actors in the show's main cast suggests that the show could demonstrate a more knowing sense of the scene it depicts than was on display in the pilot.

Week in TV: September 19-25

Mad Men

- Only Mad Men would use a scene in a character's love life to distill an issue that still makes the feminist movement seem unapproachable to some women of color. While I sometimes wish that the show would take a more direct line on race in the sixties, it's difficult to fault the subtle portrayal of Peggy's increasingly willful naivete when I've known people who made the same kinds of rationalizations about why their particular milieu is predominantly white. We're heading into the years when militancy started to seem like the most viable option for some activists on the left side of the political spectrum, and I'm interested to see how the show's old-school conservatives react.

- Weiner is so specific about the way he wants things to play out that I'm sure it's not an accident, but I'm really fascinated by the way Kiernan Shipka and January Jones have started to sort of mirror each other in their performances. The subtle way that they've shown Sally picking up on Betty's mannerisms, particularly when she's upset, really distinguishes Shipka's performance from those by other actors around the same age.

- A second viewing didn't make her soup/pot metaphor make any more sense, but Joyce remains delightful.

- The moving of Miss Blankenship's body joins the lawn mower sequence as one of this show's all-time greatest dark yet hilarious set pieces.

How I Met Your Mother

Modern Family

Cougar Town

Community

30 Rock

The Office

- I decided to group these all together because it's difficult to write about comedies without it turning into a quotefest, and these were all good, but not superlative episodes. All ultimately made me happy to see the characters again, and all made me laugh at one point or another. None challenged my feelings from last season that my affections for HIMYM, 30 Rock and The Office are on the wane, but they didn't make me want to completely stop watching either. Solid week all around.

- My favorite line of the week, from Community - Jeff's observation that the message of Twilight is "Men are monsters who crave young flesh."

Glee

- I love Community, but I have to give "Best Meta Reference to Internet Commentary on the Show" to Glee's opener.

- So...Matt transferred out, and Sam and Sunshine transferred in? Does McKinley not have freshmen or graduates? The whole discussion about Will stating that New Directions welcomes everyone audition-free made me think that they could construct a really great episode around someone showing up with lots of enthusiasm and no singing ability. Not saying that this is true of me back in high school, necessarily, but upperclassmen who are established in an extracurricular activity can build up some serious ire towards green, excitable freshmen with no idea what they're doing.

- "Getting to Know You": Using the history of the musical to make a sly wink at criticism of the show's broad handling of minority characters, or just the first song that came to mind when they needed something to sing to a group of Asian children? Also, as much as I like Artie, it's hard to quibble with Tina's call there. Those are, indeed, magnificent abs.

- It's always nice to see the show repurpose show tunes, but I'm a little disappointed at the context surrounding the episode-concluding "What I Did for Love." A Chorus Line is all about people pursuing careers in the arts and the sacrifices they make to do so, and shares a lot with Glee in that respect. If Glee ever elected to do an episode with original songs, I think A Chorus Line's hyper-confessional libretto could serve as an interesting model for the kinds of songs they could do. The titular love is specifically of dance, the love that unites the disparate characters of A Chorus Line, which made it somewhat disheartening to see it turned into Rachel's tribute to her own narcissism. The show can use as much candor as possible in addressing how shallow its characters can be, but I couldn't help but think how much better it could've worked as a group number.

Sons of Anarchy

Robin Weigert! More Deadwood! Can we have John Hawkes next, please?

Terriers

With this third outing, Terriers distinguished itself from other mystery-of-the-week style shows with a dark, unsettling resolution to the episode's central case. The writers are showing that they're unwilling to simply coast on Donal Logue's natural charisma, and as a result he's turning in a standout performance.

Grey's Anatomy

Private Practice

- Good follow-up to last season's Grey's finale, particularly with the layered flashback structure and the use of the therapy sessions. The myriad ways that PTSD impacts the different characters seems like a rich dramatic vein for the show to tap throughout the coming season, with great performances by Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson and Chyler Leigh in this particular episode. I also liked the way it sort of bled over into PP - they've managed to maintain the ties between the two shows without it feeling too strained.

- With the PP subplot, I had to include a link to Gene Weingarten's amazing, Pulitzer-winning Washington Post piece about parents forgetting their children in the car.

Also Watched: Rubicon, Chuck, Gossip Girl, Parenthood, 90210, Life Unexpected, Hellcats, Top Chef: Just Desserts, Nikita, Bones

Next: I watched allll the pilots...

Best of the 00s: Favorite Episodes

Alias, "Phase One," 1/26/03

It's always interesting to see how the networks use the post-Super Bowl slot. Some launch new shows, others feature guest-star-packed episodes of already popular shows. Another tactic is to use the slot to try to juice the ratings of a good show that may not be getting the attention it deserves. At the beginning of 2003 Alias was in the middle of its second season, critically beloved but with middling ratings. Blessed by ABC with the post-Super Bowl opportunity, J.J. Abrams and company pulled out a "Go Big or Go Home" episode that functioned as a rare mid-season gamechanger in exploding the show's structure. The elimination of SD-6 and its partners, which erased Sydney's status as a double agent and freed her to finally make out with Vaughn, was an unquestionably bold move for the show and one that paid off, at least until the season-ending time jump. The episode-ending shot of Francie shot through the head by her double remains, for me, one of the most haunting images of the decade in TV.

Arrested Development, "Motherboy XXX," 3/13/05

One of the things that made AD great was the show's offbeat universe. Motherboy is one of the more fantastically weird creations, building on Lucille and Buster's codependent relationship by introducing a creepy mother-son costumed dance. The building insanity that ensues when Lucille decides to kidnap George Michael rather than deal with Buster's recent hand loss features some of the show's funniest situations and images - my personal favorite is Jessica Walter and Michael Cera in costume as Sonny and Cher. What's more, the episode also features the excellent meta reference of having Henry Winkler jump over a shark, which the writers must have found too irresistible to exclude.

Veronica Mars, "A Trip to the Dentist," 5/3/05

I've already written about how much I love this episode, so those points don't really need to be reiterated. Tightly written, evocative of the insularity of high school, fully rooted in the show's universe, features Teddy Dunn's best scenes as Duncan, brilliantly sets up the following season finale. What more could you ask for?

The Office, "The Dundies," 9/20/05

As the show's second-season premiere, "The Dundies" was a big show for The Office. The show's writers needed to prove that they could move out from the shadow of the British original and be more dynamic than the slow-starter first season. The Mindy Kaling-penned episode does all that and more, working to more clearly establish the Dunder Mifflin staff outside of the main credits group and making Michael Scott a noticeably softer character than David Brent.

How I Met Your Mother, "Slap Bet," 11/20/06

HIMYM is a show with writers who love continuity - that is, continued references to people, places and things contained within the show's universe. One of the best things about "Slap Bet" is that the first time you watch it, if you're unspoiled, the ending is impossible to predict. Robin's cagey refusal to go to the mall leads to the rest of the group speculating on her rationale, leading to the infamous titular bet between Barney and Marshall. The ultimate revelation of Robin's past as a Canadian pop star (with hit single "Let's Go to the Mall") makes the episode great. The launching of the running joke of the slap bet, with Marshall ultimately winning the opportunity to slap Barney five times from now until he dies, makes the episode classic.

Battlestar Galactica, "Unfinished Business," 12/1/06

Any show that utilizes a significant jump in time - say, a year or more - ultimately faces the dilemma of how to deal with the lost time afterward. Too much exposition renders the jump essentially pointless, while too little can leave viewers with a surplus of unanswered questions. "Unfinished Business" found the perfect level of revelation - focusing on one hopeful day early in the New Caprica settlement emphasizes the origins of the descent into misery that defined BSG's third season, while still leaving much to the imagination in the time jump. The framing device of military-rank-independent boxing serves the flashbacks so well that it doesn't feel as abruptly introduced as it could have been and allows for great little character moments from Tigh, Cottle and especially Roslin. Truthfully, it's also probably the last time Lee and Kara's relationship (see clip below) didn't seem like it was based on creating needless drama out of thin air.

30 Rock, "Hardball," 2/22/07

30 Rock's stellar first season is full of gems, but this has always been my favorite. One of 30 Rock's best ongoing devices is bringing in real NBC personalities to give the show's universe a semi-fictional air (the best, in my opinion, have been Lester Holt announcing that the Black Crusaders are after Tracy, and any time Brian Williams is on.) This episode's use of Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson, as Jenna appears on Hardball to apologize for an unintended slight against America's troops, results in some of Jane Krakowski's best work as Jenna. The subplots of "Jack loves negotiating" (which culminates in the clip below) and "Kenneth joins Tracy's entourage" (featuring what I believe is the first appearance of "I love x so much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant." - the first "x" is cornbread, and Jack McBrayer's quiet "Pregnant cornbread...?" is an unbelievably great line reading) make this an example of 30 Rock firing on all cylinders.

Friday Night Lights, "Mud Bowl," 3/28/07

FNL's first season march to the state championship provided a lot of great moments, but "Mud Bowl" was the best. A train accident leads to a chemical spill that disrupts the Panthers' home field advantage, the coach finds a replacement in a cow pasture (with live cows!) and pouring rain turns the field into a mud pit during the climactic game - all fabulously serving FNL's homegrown/verité aesthetic. The show has always used filming in Texas to its advantage, but this is the episode where the show really dug into its non-Hollywood, non-soundstage location and brought up a gem.

Best of the 00s: Best TV Music Moments

Television offers so many different examples of the rich potential in uniting images and music - both original to the show and previously recorded. This list seems a little intense, but here's my chronologically-ordered rundown of some of my favorite television music moments of the decade:

"Lady" - Styx and Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel), Freaks and Geeks - "Boyfriends and Girlfriends" (1/16/00)

It seems fitting that this particular moment came only a few weeks into the decade, because Freaks and Geeks still feels so formative to me as a television viewer. There isn't much to say about this that I haven't already, but I'll add that I love that nearly a decade later I can still see Jason Segel being goofy on television on a weekly basis.

"Heat Wave" - Martha and the Vandellas, American Dreams - "Pilot" (9/29/02)

A few weeks ago, I was reading a quote from Jon Hamm where he observed that Mad Men is not American Dreams, particularly referring to the latter's featuring black characters within its narrative. The musical moment here, which comes about four minutes into the clip below, highlights the fundamental difference in tone between the decade's two major depictions of 1960s life - while Dreams featured many of the conflicts that defined the 60s, it also placed some value on a sense of warmth and community. The explosive sense of joy that came when "Heat Wave" kicked in, emblematic of the show's use of popular music, made this a truly wonderful pilot.

"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" - Clay Aiken, American Idol - "Season Two Wild Card Performance Show" (3/4/03)

True Confessions Alert: When the second season of Idol aired, I was sixteen years old and I loved Clay Aiken. I was never one of those fans that was deeply invested in his mythic heterosexuality - I just though he had a beautiful singing voice, and voted for him every single week. There are other performances I could have chosen (this past week's Community reminded me of how much I liked his "Somewhere Out There," and he had one of the few non-terrible finale songs in many seasons of the show) but I went with the wild card performance that got him into the top 12.

"Shakin'" - Rooney, The O.C. - "The Third Wheel" (1/7/04)

Before they added the Bait Shack in Season Two and built performances by popular musicians into the show, the first season episode featuring this performance by Rooney felt novel. (To me - I mean, I wasn't old enough to have seen the same kind of thing on previous teen shows.) It also remains a favorite for introducing me to a band I continue to love.

"If You Leave" - Nada Surf, The O.C. - "The Goodbye Girl" (3/3/04)

Music Supervisor Alexandra Patsavas has been behind several TV music moments that prompted me to then purchase said music - I believe this was the first. She chose several gorgeous covers for moments on The O.C. - Ryan Adams' take on "Wonderwall," Petra Haden's "Yellow" - but this may have been the best. It featured the departure of a great character before that kind of thing took the show downhill, and drew upon the John Hughes music legacy without feeling forced.

"It Ain't Easy Being White" - G.O.B. and Franklin Delano Bluth (Will Arnett), Arrested Development - "Righteous Brothers" (4/16/05)

Was there ever a more perfect representation of G.O.B.'s all-consuming self-absorption than Franklin? This song serves as just one example of what made Arrested Development totally unlike anything else on television.

"Muffin Top" - Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), 30 Rock - "Jack-Tor" (11/16/06)

I think it says a lot about popular dance music of the decade that this is what a parody of it sounds like. Props to Jane Krakowski for her 100% commitment to Jenna's insanity and total lack of self-knowledge.

Muffin Top - Celebrity bloopers here

"Let's Go to the Mall" - Robin Sparkles (Cobie Smulders), How I Met Your Mother - "Slap Bet" (11/20/06)

I think with How I Met Your Mother, a lot of people can't get past their association of the multi-camera setup and the laugh track as relics of a bygone age of comedy. It's too bad for them, because then they miss awesome stuff like "Let's Go to the Mall," the denouement of perhaps the show's best episode. It is simultaneously hilariously goofy and insanely catchy, making it a winner in every way.

"Open Your Eyes" - Snow Patrol, The Black Donnellys - "Pilot" (2/26/07)

This comes from a time when Snow Patrol seemed to be everywhere, particularly "Chasing Cars." This is an example of a song that I heard previously on another show (Grey's Anatomy in this case) but in this specific circumstance, it made me sit up and pay attention. The cascading notes that close the song, paired with the pilot's framing of the violent origins of a destructive crime family, gave the scene a dire, apocalyptic air that I still remember even though the show was short-lived.

"Wild World" - Cast, Skins - "Everyone" (3/22/07)

To some extent, this moment is emblematic of how significant music can be to a show, and how much can get lost in translation. The music rights for Skins, a British show, don't apply to the U.S. releases of the show, which in most places just means that popular songs get switched out for genre-similar approximations. However, the DVD version of the first season finale cuts out this moment - where members of the cast sing the Cat Stevens classic - out completely, causing a scene jump that makes little narrative sense. On top of that, it's also a unique, beautiful moment that serves as an example of what makes Skins so excellent.

YouTube won't let me embed: Link

"All Along the Watchtower" - Bear McCreary, Battlestar Galactica - "Crossroads, Part Two" (3/25/07)

"Crossroads, Part Two" was the first BSG episode that I ever watched on a television (as opposed to my computer) and the closing moments featuring this song epitomized that increase in quality. The ties between the people BSG depicted and people today was always sketchy - references to "Earth" and Greek gods made it clear that we weren't totally distinct, but bringing in Bob Dylan to *spoiler alert!* introduce four of the final five Cylons was a gamechanger. BSG composer McCreary's take on "Watchtower" is hauntingly beautiful, and though the associated backstory introduced in the show's fourth season never completely worked for me, the closing shot of this episode zooming in on our Earth is one of the show's best.

Someone's super-litigious, as I can't even find the associated clip on YouTube. This is one of many coupling McCreary's take on the song with pictures from the show: Link

"Sweet Dreams" - Eurythmics, So You Think You Can Dance - "Season Three Top Six Performance Show" (8/8/07)

The third season of SYTYCD is still my favorite - I think it was the one group of dancers that had an ideal balance between technical ability, versatility and personality. This is my all-time favorite routine of the show - the moment where Neil does the "plange" (my phonetic spelling) propelling himself up and over Sabra on the table, it felt like time was standing still.

"Hopelessly Devoted to You" - Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), Pushing Daisies - "Dummy" (10/10/07)

There's a moment at the end of the Pushing Daisies pilot where Ned and Chuck hold their hands behind their backs, pretending to be holding each other's hand, where when I originally watched it I thought to myself, "I think I love this show." This moment, from the second episode, is when I thought to myself, "I know I love this show."

"Stripper" - Sohodolls, Gossip Girl - "Victor Victrola" (11/7/07)

From yet another Patsavas-supervised show, this moment functioned as the genesis for a great TV couple in Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass, and also served notice that Gossip Girl was decidedly departing from its source material.

"Mr. Roboto" - Jeffster (Scott Krinsky and Vik Sahay), Chuck - "Chuck vs. The Ring" (4/27/09)

This moment, from Chuck's second-season finale, represents the kind of go-for-broke spirit that defines the show's tone and makes its fans love it so fervently. That this was written and made it to air well before the creative personnel knew that the show would be renewed for another season just makes it that much better.

"Don't Stop Believin'" - Cast, Glee - "Pilot" (5/19/09)

Just when it starts to feel like network television is stagnating, something like Glee comes along. The pilot builds all the way up to this joyous burst of song, which managed to make "Don't Stop Believin'" feel fresh even at the close of a decade where it appeared regularly across channels and shows.