Television's Amusements of the Week (10/13-10/19)

Most weeks, a handful of amusing moments from TV shows stick out at me. Sometimes these moments are intentional; many times they're not. Regardless of their intent, here are five that caught my eye last week.

1) Silas Goes Greek (The Vampire Diaries)

The flashback styling on The Vampire Diaries never fail to amuse me, but Silas's ancient Greek style might take the cake for funniest costuming yet. Forget the outfit; the curls alone would have earned this moment a spot on the list.

2) Mellie's Drunken Monologue (Scandal)

 

 

I love Mellie in just about any form, but drunk Mellie might take the cake. With just one scene in which she celebrates her continued ability to make her "puppet husband dance," the bouffanted first lady stole the show.

3) Julia's Nightmarishly Hideous Vest (Parenthood)

 

Sometimes when I'm cold, I'll wrap a blanket around myself as a makeshift poncho. It's not a good look, and yet it's still 10 times more fashionable than this sartorial monstrosity. I know Julia's supposed to be in a rough place on the show, but this vest needs to be burned with fire.

4) Sarah's Gummy Bear Scheming (MasterChef Junior)

 

Don't be fooled by the cute exterior of MasterChef Junior's youngest competitor Sarah. As she enjoyed the perks of a challenge win, safety and a massive container of gummy bears, she explained to Gordon Ramsay her plan to make Jack think she's his friend so it will be "that much easier to wipe him out." She then called Jack over so she could drop a gummy bear from above as a sign of good will.

 

 

 5) The Return of Jessie Spano (Dancing with the Stars)

 

 

I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so ... happy that this actually happened. Last week Elizabeth Berkley reenacted her iconic caffeine addiction scene from Saved by the Bell on Dancing with the Stars, and it was everything I wanted it to be.



What television moments amused you last week? Chime in with a comment below.

Early Previews of Fall 2013 TV Pilots

For the past several television seasons, a number of shows have released their pilots online prior to the shows' actual premiere dates. These pilots tend to sporadically pop up over a period of weeks. So to make things easier for you, I'll be keeping a running list of the 2013 fall pilots you can preview before their television premieres.

Early Pilot Previews

• Trophy Wife
• Watch on Hulu
• Watch on ABC
• Back in the Game
• Watch on Hulu
• Watch on ABC
• The Goldbergs
• Watch on Hulu
• Watch on ABC 
• Welcome to the Family
• Watch on Hulu
• Watch on NBC
• Ironside
• Watch on Hulu
• Watch on NBC
• We Are Men
• Watch on CBS

Bonus

You can also watch The Mindy Project's second season opener a week before its premiere date Tuesday September 17th.

• Watch on Hulu
• Watch on Fox

Who's laughing now?: The use of laugh tracks on broadcast television last season

Laugh tracks have their fair share of critics. They're often derided as outdated, obnoxious and even insulting to the audience's intelligence. Yet it's hard to argue that they're a relic of the past when the highest rated comedy this past season, The Big Bang Theory, heavily features one. Given these conflicting sentiments, I thought it would be interesting to examine the use of laugh tracks on television last season.

Before I get to the laugh track breakdown, I'd like to make a few clarifications about the data I used. First of all, I only examined live action comedies on the big five U.S. broadcast networks. Second, the shows used are from the past 2012-2013 TV season (including mid-season shows that aired at least one episode), not from the upcoming 2013-2014 season. Finally, by using the term "laugh track" I'm referring to both canned and audience laughter.

Here's a chart demonstrating the split between comedies with laugh tracks and those without them.

Next, here's a separate graph for each network's breakdown of comedies.

Here you can see the number of each type of comedy each network has.

This is a representation of how the 11 shows with laugh tracks add up by network.

Finally, here's the list complete list of comedies used for data.

Some Observations: 

• With 11 laugh track shows and 23 non-laugh track shows, just under a third of the comedies had laugh tracks. If anything, I'd probably have expected a slightly higher number of laugh tracks. I'd just assumed that several of the shows I haven't watched, such as Animal Practice or The Family Tools, had them.

• CBS is known for its use of laugh tracks, but I hadn't realized that all of their comedies last season used them.

• In fact, both FOX and CBS are in the extremes when it comes to laugh tracks. CBS used a laugh track in all of its comedies, and FOX didn't use one in any of theirs. NBC and ABC are more mixed, leaning towards no laugh tracks.

• I was surprised to see that The CW had no comedies, either with or without a laugh track, on its line up. 
  
  
  
  

7 Reasons to Watch Hannibal

I'll admit it; Hannibal sounded like a terrible idea for a TV show. A prequel to Silence of the Lambs?  Really? Upon hearing the premise, I rolled my eyes and prepared myself for some snark upon its premiere. Then I read that Bryan Fuller was the creator. And it was starring Hugh Dancy. And then an intriguing trailer was released. And then positive reviews started rolling in.

So I entered the pilot with pretty positive expectations, but even so, I've been blown away by how good Hannibal is. Not only is it absorbingly entertaining, but it's also a really high quality show. Rather than just focusing on Hannibal the cannibal (Mads Mikkelsen), the show also pushes Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) to the forefront as a special agent to the FBI who uses his ability to empathize with murders to help solve their crimes. Hannibal serves as Will's unofficial psychologist, helping him deal with the emotional toll of the job. The dual leads provide variety to the show and have led to a far more interesting story arc than I'd expected.

Unfortunately Hannibal's ratings haven't correlated with its quality. For some reason, a lot of people just aren't watching. If you're one of these people, I'm here to convince you why you should start watching.

However, I will give one caveat; if you can't handle gore, don't watch Hannibal. It's such an excellent show that I don't mind a little bit of cringing, but if you're easily grossed out, Hannibal probably isn't the show for you. That being said, if you can handle some gore, Hannibal is excellent and well worth your time for many reasons including these seven.

1) It's visually beautiful.

I've said before that Pushing Daisies is the cutest show about murder ever. If Pushing Daisies is the cutest, Hannibal has to be the most gorgeously filmed. There's something very intriguing about the juxtaposition of disgusting body parts filmed in a beautiful way or a lush but cannibalistic feast. As gross as its content may be at times, visually Hannibal is an absolute treat.

2) The acting is top notch.

As mentioned earlier, I was a Hugh Dancy fan before watching Hannibal, but having only seen him in movies such as Ella Enchanted and Confessions of a Shopaholic, I had little indication as to how strong his dramatic acting chops are. However, they're on full display in Hannibal as he plays vulnerable, mentally unstable Will Graham. Mads Mikkelsen is also fantastic in his role as Hannibal. He plays a different, more sophisticated Hannibal than Anthony Hopkins that allows his work to stand on its own rather than suffer from comparisons of quality. The supporting cast is great as well with no real weak links.

3) Hugh Dancy

Hugh Dancy's acting in Hannibal is fantastic, but I also just like to look at his face. If you tune into Hannibal, you can too. Plus isn't his name just fun to say? If you start watching, you'll have plenty of opportunities to say "Hugh Dancy" as you tell your friends how much you love the show.

4) There are familiar names and faces for Bryan Fuller fans.

If you're a fan of Bryan Fuller's previous shows (Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls or possibly even the short-lived Mockingbird Lane) and aren't averse to the aforementioned gore, you definitely should give Hannibal a try. Caroline Dhavernas (aka Jaye Tyler from Wonderfalls) is a series regular, and several actors from Fullers' other shows have made briefer appearances, including Ellen Greene (Pushing Daisies) and Eddie Izzard (Mockingbird Lane). Additionally, Dead Like Me's Ellen Muth is set to appear in an upcoming episode. Even more, an actual character has crossed over between worlds. Wonderfall's Gretchen Speck-Horowitz appears in an episode of Hannibal as a diabetic picking up a prescription. In another episode, a Miriam Regina Lass appears, a name that should ring some bells for Dead Like Me fans.

5) The fun community

For such a dark show, Hannibal's crew, cast and fans have a lot of fun with the show online. Bryan Fuller shares tons of tidbits and jokes on Twitter and is very interactive with fans. Aaron Abrams, who plays one of the crime scene investigators on Hannibal, made me laugh with a tweet about his method of positively reinforcing Hugh Dancy. A quick search for Hannibal on Tumblr or Twitter will also reveal a trove of fun comments and gifs from the show's fans. In particular, the dark humor of the "blank is people" jokes seldom fails to amuse me.

6) It's creative.

I'm not always a fan of procedurals. While there might be a standout episode here and there or a great cast that elevates the writing, I find most of these shows tend to be a little boring and monotonous from week to week. The grotesque yet captivating imagery of Hannibal, however, is far from boring. For instance, a memorable episode features humans used as mushroom fertilizer. Fans of Pushing Daisies should remember, Fuller's flair for creative deaths; it's just that deaths in Hannibal are coated with gritty realism rather than the cartoonish surrealism of Pushing Daisies.

7) Doggies!

I can pinpoint the moment in Hannibal's pilot that Will Graham won me over. He picks up a stray dog, only to take him home and introduce him to a whole pack of strays. Cute dogs are almost always plus. And those like me with lingering memories of the puppy torture chamber from The Following's pilot need not fear; Bryan Fuller has tweeted a guarantee of dog safety.


If you want to check out the creativity, acting and cinematography (or Hugh Dancy) yourself, you can watch Hannibal Thursdays on NBC at 10/9c.

Some Thoughts on The Following 1x01, "Pilot"

If you're planning to watch The Following but haven't yet, this isn't the review for you. There are spoilers in this post for the first episode, and it doesn't contain a rehash of the show's plot. If you have watched the first episode, please read along and share your thoughts.

Even though the trailers weren't particularly appealing to me, I was excited for The Following. The premise of a serial killer leading a cult intrigued me, the show seemed to generate a fairly positive buzz early on (although that buzz has become more divisive in the past few weeks), and most of all, Kevin Williamson, known for Scream and The Vampire Diaries is the show's creator.

The Following wasn't as original as I was hoping it would be (especially given Scream's fresh take on the horror genre), but I feel like it's still different from a lot of shows on television at the moment. In fact, it had a cinematic feel to it. The show is largely a crime thriller, but it also has a dash of horror movie in its DNA. The scene where Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy searches for Sarah in her house and then her neighbors' house genuinely held me in suspense. While I suppose it could veer off into disjointed follower of the week stories, The Following appears as if it's going to stick largely to an cohesive and overarching story of Joe Carroll and his followers. If so, the shortish episode order (I believe the promo said fourteen or fifteen episodes) could lead to an solid, connected story told in weekly increments.


I was a little surprised that Sarah met her end so soon into the show. The revelation of Sarah's neighbors and Joey's nanny as followers of Joe also took me by surprise. I probably should have caught on that the nanny was a follower, but the idea of the neighbors as followers was a pretty solid twist. There's a limited number of times the "so-and-so is secretly a follower" twist can be played, so I'm hoping they'll dial back on it for a while in future episodes. Still, I'm betting at least one major player will be revealed as a follower in the future.

Unfortunately, quite a few of the other twists and turns of the pilot were pretty predictable. Sarah's screams were obviously prerecorded. It was clear far before the reveal that Claire and Ryan had a relationship in the past. Even some of the surprises, like Sarah's death, were made obvious a couple beats too early, lessening the suspense. To be fair, part of the episode's predictability might stem from my prior viewing of the trailer, but it still didn't stray too far from the cliches.

The Following also seemed to take itself slightly too seriously for my taste. The subject matter didn't lend itself to a lot of jokes (and slightly too serious is much better than too buffoonish), but a little bit of dark humor would have gone a long way. The show also seemed to think it was a smarter show than it actually was. It wasn't that The Following was dumb, but it wasn't brilliant or original enough to justify quite such a serious tone.

This serious tone was least compatible with the Poe angle of Joe's murders. Gouged eyes are nothing to laugh about, but the Edgar Allen Poe theme is a slightly campy concept that seemed off when taken so seriously. I'm not opposed to the idea of Poe-based murders in the show if used as a loose theme or even done in a more fun manner, but the idea was applied in too heavy-handed a manner. The thick application of Poe's stories wasn't done particularly creatively either, and I felt like a handful of Poe ideas were repeated over and over (repetitive eye gouging, quite a few references to unfinished business and Poe's unfinished story, Poe quotes recited/written on a wall/written on a body/etc.). I'm no Poe scholar, but it felt like the writer read a Poe story in high school, thought it was cool, and looked on Wikipedia for a couple of facts to tie in. Given that Joe was an English teacher, a wider variety of literary allusions might have worked better and allowed for more creativity. I'm just hoping that Joe sticks to his word about moving onto a murder plot with wider appeal.

The response to The Following's pilot seems to have been fairly divisive, but I actually fall somewhere in the middle between love and hate. I liked it more than my multiple critiques probably suggest and think it could become a really interesting show, but it definitely had its flaws. Given that this was only The Following's first episode and that it had a lot of story to cover, I'm definitely willing to tune in for at least another week and see where the story goes.

Some random thoughts on The Following:

• I spent several minutes during the episode pondering Claire Matthews's (Natalie Zea) face. At first I thought she looked like Ellen Pompeo. In another scene, I noted a striking resemblance to Rebecca Gayheart. For a brief moment, I even caught a very mild resemblance to Blake Lively. Yet in some scenes, I thought she looked like none of them at all.
• When the puppy torture chamber made an appearance, I (as did many others, I imagine) made a comment along the lines of "I can handle dead bodies, but I can't take dead dogs" (in reference to on-screen violence, of course). It cracked me up when Shawn Ashmore's Mike made almost exactly the same comment right afterwards. 
• In retrospect, I should have seen Maggie Grace's death coming from the start. It was a very Scream-esque move to kill off the actress with a decent level of name recognition early on.
• With dead puppies and eye stabbings, The Following is pretty heavy on the gore for a network show. However, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting from the responses I'd read about the show's violence. It seemed gratuitous at times, but I managed to make it through the episode just fine.
• It was somewhat of a cliche song choice, but I really liked the use of "Sweet Dreams" at the beginning and the end of the episode.
• Whether or not it turns out to be true, there's definitely some suspicion being raised that Joey is really Ryan's son, right? Claire's mention of her relationship with Ryan "eight years ago" seemed too blatant to be a throwaway line.
• I can never seem to keep Shawn and Aaron Ashmore's roles straight in my mind. During the episode, I wondered if Mike was played by the X-Men/Animorph Ashmore or the Veronica Mars Ashmore. It turns out that Shawn is the X-Men/Animorph one.

Did you catch the premiere of The Following? What did you think of it? Was the violence worse than you expected or not as bad? Do you plan to keep watching?

Review: The Mindy Project 1x04, "Halloween"

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder; in the case of The Mindy Project, that cliche held true for me. When the show finally returned last night after a two week break, I was pretty pumped for a new episode.

"Halloween" focused on two storylines. The A story dealt with Mindy's relationship with Josh and her quest to find the perfect costume to wear as Josh's date to a Halloween party. The B story consisted of Danny and Jeremy's quest to get their driver's licenses.

I feel like being mean, so let's talk about the B story first. There was almost nothing I liked about this storyline. I mentioned in my last review of The Mindy Project that Danny is growing on me, and I didn't necessarily dislike the idea of his character in this episode. In practice, however, he just wasn't that fun to watch. I suspect that this was largely due to his sharing the storyline with Jeremy.


I really don't like Jeremy's character. His story in "Halloween" centered around his supposed ability to charm anyone, but I had a hard time buying him as charming when I dread watching his scenes. More than anyone else on the show, he feels forced and unoriginal. He just drags down the show, and it would be much better off without him.                                

There were only two somewhat positive things I have to say about the driver's licenses plot. One, I thought it was kind of funny that Danny had taken the test enough times that the DMV workers recognized him. Second, I liked that there were touches of Halloween in this portion of the episode like costumes and trick-or-treaters walking about but that it wasn't really a Halloween story. It was an interesting choice to balance a non-Halloween storyline with a more festive one; it's just a shame that it wasn't a better story.

Fortunately, the Mindy portion of the episode was more enjoyable.

While I don't necessarily like him, I continue to be intrigued by Josh's character. I'm honestly not completely sure what to make of him. I'm used to rom-com love interests being classified as either the good guy or the jerk. The better rom-coms might introduce a third category of okay guy that's just wrong for our heroine. Josh seems to fall into all three, although he probably fits best into the jerk one.

Bragging about taking a model to last year's Halloween party and talking about all the Caitlins in his phone definitely fall into the jerk category. Plus, there's something about Josh that's slightly serial-killer-esque. While it could maybe still be classified as serial-killer-esque, dressing up as Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride after finding out that it's Mindy's favorite movie showed that Josh at least has a genuine interest in Mindy. That seems to reveal that he's at least a little bit of a good guy. However, the two don't have a lot of chemistry together or much in common. These two things along with the likely future pairing of Mindy and Danny mean that Josh also falls into the third category.

In addition to the Josh stuff, Mindy also spent much of the episode in search of a costume. Costumes are one of the best parts of Halloween episodes, and this was a fun way for us to see a bunch of them. I have to admit that I was partial to her Tinkerbell Tailor Soldier Spy costume, but I liked that her costume ended up being something she threw together at the last minute. It was a little bit ridiculous that Mindy and her coworkers seemed to spend the whole work day trying to find her a costume, but it was still fun to watch.

I didn't feel like the reappearance of Mindy's ex-boyfriend Tom (Bill Hader) contributed much to the episode (other than giving Mindy a reason to accept Josh's invitation), but I did greatly enjoy his and Mindy's conversation about Breaking Bad spoilers.

The funniest part of the episode for me was when the stray cat suddenly appeared in Mindy's lap. It reminded me a lot of an episode of Happy Endings where Penny finds stray cats in her "haunted" apartment, but Mindy really sold the moment.

It's hard to give an enthusiastic two thumbs up to an episode where I really didn't care for half of it at all, but the other half of the episode was strong enough that I can it at least give one thumb half-up and maybe a pinky. The Mindy Project still has quite a few kinks to work out and doesn't feel like it's hit its groove yet. Still I'm probably going to miss it when it's preempted by election coverage next week, and that's a good sign.

Review: Grey's Anatomy 9x03, "Love the One You're With"

Grey's Anatomy has had its ups and downs over the years. Those downs have been pretty low at times, but it's always, in my opinion at least, been able to recover. After the first two episodes of this season, I was started to wonder if it had finally hit a bottom it couldn't come back from. The episodes bored me, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what was happening. I liked both Sloan and Lexie a lot, but their deaths didn't even affect me.

I think my biggest problem with the current state of Grey's Anatomy is there's far too much trauma. Look, I appreciate some trauma on Grey's Anatomy from time to time. I loved the Denny storyline, and the season six finale with the hospital shooting was what convinced me to go back and watch from the beginning.

However, the trauma has reached a point of saturation on the show. A lot of beloved characters have died: Denny, George, Lexie, Henry, Sloan and for a brief period of time Meredith (Remember that time she drowned? Although I can't quite remember if she technically died.). There's been a shooting at the hospital, a bomb, a car crash for Arizona and Callie, a plane crash and worst of all a musical episode. I won't even go into all of the relationship drama that has taken place of the course of the show. I feel like I'm drowning in the trauma, and I need some fun and humor to keep me from becoming overwhelmed.

That's why I mostly enjoyed last Thursdays's episode, "Love the One You're With." While it wasn't a perfect episode and was still bogged down with some drama, it was a breath of fresh air compared to the first two episodes of the season.


My absolute favorite storyline to come out of last night's episode was the relationship between Mr. Feeny (whose character is technically named Dr. Thomas, but there's about zero chance I'll be able to refer to him as that) and Cristina. I love Cristina's misanthropy, but I always enjoy seeing her bond with another person. The budding friendship between her and Mr. Feeny was incredibly sweet and exactly what she (and the show) needs right now. I want sweetness and humor not tragedy and tears. I will even suffer through the awkward product placement iPad scenes if it means that Cristina stays in Minnesota for a while and we get more Mr. Feeny.

While Cristina's storyline provided sweetness to the episode, Bailey's was a nice dash of humor, at least initially. Bailey's exasperation with Meredith and company joining the attendings' lounge was fun to watch and reminded me of her relationship with them in the earlier days of the show. I laughed at the camera panning to her during April and Jackson's relationship conversation and her sticky-noting everything. I was really annoyed with the motivation for Bailey's actions that was tacked onto the storyline: that Bailey's upset about everyone in her life moving on. I was so appreciative to have this silly, fun plot, and then of course Grey's had to make into an emotional thing.

There were also some fun, small moments in the episode that I liked. Jackson and Meredith talking about the chief's relationships with their mothers was a nice way to give the two a bonding moment (and I got a kick out of Meredith asking if he was talking about Owen), and Cristina's attempt at a smile was funny.

I was somewhat ambivalent about Alex's story. The new girl, Jo, is a little annoying and reminds me a little bit of a second-rate Lexie. Even though I wasn't crazy about her, I didn't enjoy Alex's being a jerk towards her. However, I'm hoping that their probable relationship will be a nice, normal one and will lead towards a permanent, positive change in Alex. I'm tired of seeing Alex go through some character development towards becoming a nicer person, only for it to be retracted. I'm also tired of seeing him in disastrous relationships. So while I didn't exactly enjoy his portion of this episode, I'm hoping it will lead towards good things.

My two least favorite storylines were Derek's and Arizona's. Unsurprisingly, these were two of the more dramatic elements of the episode.

Before I start talking about Derek's portion of episode, I'm going to give a warning that you might want to skip the following paragraph if you're a Derek fan. I'm definitely not a Derek fan, and it's hard to not go into rant mode when I'm when I'm writing about him.

I found Derek incredibly annoying in this episode. His speech about not accepting the settlement was one of his most self-righteous moments in the show (no small feat). I'm not saying that it was necessarily a bad idea to reject the settlement, but he went about it in the most self-righteous way possible. Not only did he hold back on sharing his thoughts on the matter until they were actually in the meeting, he gave some long-winded speech about how doctors are better than people who work in airlines. Plus, this means that the plane crash plot is going to be dragged out even longer. Great, more melodrama. The only tragedy I want to see right now is Derek's death.

I'm finding Arizona's story very annoying as well. I understand that losing a leg is a huge deal, and the scene where Arizona was lying in the bathroom was pretty sad. However, the segments with Arizona really drag down the show. I don't want to see this angry, bitter Arizona; I'd rather see the cheery Arizona who's great with kids. Like I've already said, I'm tired of watching tragedy. I want fun, and this storyline is not bringing it.


My hope for the rest of this season of Grey's Anatomy is that it will abstain from inflicting tragedy on the main characters and leave it for the patients. I want good things to happen to them (other than Derek of course) and for the show to lighten up a bit. Both the characters and we desperately need it.

Review: The Mindy Project 1x03, "In the Club"

When I reviewed The Mindy Project's pilot a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the show didn't quite live up to my expectations and that I was hoping for improvement in future episodes. While The Mindy Project still has some growing to do, I do feel that the show has made some strides in the two episodes following the pilot.

Last's night's episode, "In the Club," featured a club night outing for Mindy and her coworkers. I didn't completely love the episode, but it was pretty fun and wisely fleshed out some of the supporting characters. Because "In the Club's" primary accomplishment was allowing us to get a better idea of who these characters are, I'm going to spend most of this review talking about them.

One of the biggest surprises to come out of last night was that I realized I'm warming up to Danny. I was pretty harsh on him in my review of the pilot. While he was somewhat more likeable in the second episode, I enjoyed Danny far more in this episode. I was expecting him to spend the whole episode feeling like a fish out of water in the club setting, but it was a good choice to let him dance and show off his fun side. Given that The Mindy Project is deeply rooted in the romantic comedy genre, it's important that the leading man be likable. While the writers have some work to do before I'm fully team Danny, "In the Club" proved that Danny can be more than a jerk who tells Mindy to lose fifteen pounds.

I was somewhat surprised that Morgan was added to the work crew last week. While I found him pretty funny, he seemed more like a ridiculous one-off character. However, I surprisingly enjoyed his pretending to be an attendant in the bathroom. I think the writers are going to have to be careful not to let Morgan get too out there if he's going to be a regular part of the show (Moments like the roofie joke are a little much for me and err on the wrong side of the line between endearing weirdo and overly broad caricature.), but he can actually be pretty funny and fits into the group better than I expected.

I don't really have strong opinions about Shauna or Betsy, but it was nice to see them get more than a line or two in this episode. Jeremy, on the other hand, is just a weak link in the cast. I felt no connection to his character, and frankly, I find him cliche and grating. In both this week's and last week's episodes, his storylines have been somewhat disconnected from the main cast (other than a pep talk from Morgan this week) and could have easily been cut without much of a effect on the episode. Because I've managed to warm up a bit to Danny after hating him in the pilot, I'm not going to say that Jeremy is a completely unsalvageable character. However, the writers need to majorly retool him and figure out how to use him or cut him out completely.

While Mindy's coworkers got some additional screen time in this episode, Mindy's sister friend Gwen only had one brief scene. I was excited to see Anna Camp in the cast list when The Mindy Project premiered, but she's been underused so far. Given that this was a very contained episode focused on Mindy's work crowd, it's understandable that this wasn't a Gwen-heavy episode. Still, I'd love to see her used as more than one-an-episode sounding board for Mindy.

Steven Tobolowsky's character Marc Shulman was also missing from the episode. While I think Tobolowsky is great, he got enough screen time last week that I didn't really miss him.

"In the Club" was a very loose episode and light on plot. While plot-light episodes can be great, in this case, it felt a little bit scattered. There were a couple of stories thrown in like Mindy's ovaries before brovaries (sorry, I can't resist a Parks and Recreation reference) dilemma, Jeremy's seduction of a bachelorette, Shauna's infatuation with Danny (This felt a bit hasty, considering that he won her over solely with his sweet dance moves. This isn't Grease, you guys. Then again, Danny kind of won me over with his sweet dance moves. So who am I to judge?), and Morgan's imitation of a bathroom attendant, but they felt uneven and disjointed.

Still there were plenty of jokes and fun moments scattered throughout the episode to make it worth watching. I loved Mindy quizzing the NBA players and Josh on their favorite Tom Hanks rom-com.

Speaking of Josh, I'm kind of intrigued by his character. He gave off creepy vibes, and I was fully expecting his storyline to take a "jerk who's trying to take advantage of Mindy" path. However, his gift of a limo ride home and return of Mindy's pashmina suggested otherwise. IMDB suggests that Josh will return in a future episode. While I'm not sure what the writers were going for with his character, I have to say that I'm intrigued.

"In the Club" was a fun installment of The Mindy Project and provided some much needed character development. I'm finding it hard to unbiasedly judge the show because I'm watching through Mindy-Kaling-loving glasses, but I feel like it's on its way to becoming to a really fun show.

Edit 11/21: I'm not sure why I assumed Mindy and Gwen were sisters, but apparently that's not the case. I've corrected my mistake above.

Review: Doctor Who 7x02, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"

As a fairly new viewer of Doctor Who, this seventh season is the first that I've watched the show live (Well, relatively live. I watched it on BBC America, several hours after it aired in the UK.). I know some viewers had issues with last week's episode, "Asylum of the Daleks," but other than a few problems, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I enjoyed this week's episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" even more.

I imagine that some will criticize "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" as crowded, flashy, silly, filler, and frantic. I totally agree with all of these assessments; they are why I loved the episode so much. I like Doctor Who a lot, but I don't watch it because I think it's a super well-written show. Please don't start throwing things at me, but sometimes it's kind of awful. I watch it because I like to sit back for an hour and get lost in the fun. That's exactly what "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" brought to the table: a bucket of fun.

R.I.P sweet Tricey, the dinosaur of my heart

The dinosaurs were obviously part of the fun (I can't be the only who fell in love with Tricey), but the Doctor's "gang" was probably the best part of the episode. Queen Nefertiti was awesome. She was sassy, brave, and really likeable. As a clever viewer on Reddit pointed out, in fitting with her storyline in the episode, the actual Nefertiti did disappear from historical records after a certain point. I would loved to have seen a whole episode devoted to her set in Egypt, but the randomness of her being in an episode about dinosaurs added to the chaotic fun.

Rory's dad Brian was a fantastic addition to the gang as well. He was utterly adorable, particularly in his interactions with Rory, and he reminded me a lot of Donna's grandfather Wilf. It's always fun getting to see a character become introduced to the craziness of the Doctor's world, and I particularly loved the effect that the Doctor had on Brian. Brian's transformation from homebody to travel nut was a sweet note on which to end the episode. Plus, the scene where he's sitting on the edge of the TARDIS and looking at the world was gorgeously filmed.

Gorgeous. It's fun to imagine what this scene would have looked like on the earlier seasons' budget.

I know this was supposed to represent Brian's learning to love traveling, but it looks more like he learned how to use Photoshop.

I like the Ponds, but they sometimes rub me the wrong way (Amy moreso than Rory). The appearance of Jenna-Louise Coleman, the actress who's going to play the Doctor's new companion, in the first episode of the season actually got me excited for the Ponds' departure. However, if they're written in the next couple of episodes the same way they were in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," I really might miss them. Both had plenty of great, funny lines in the episode. One of my favorites was Rory telling his dad that he no longer has a Christmas list at 31 (and the Doctor's response that has one). More than anything, they both looked like they were having a lot of fun.

Since I usually do really like Rory, I was more impressed with the improvement in the writing of Amy in this episode. Amy was written as a competent companion rather than the sassy damsel in distress she often is portrayed as. While the group of Rory, Brian, and the Doctor was a bit more fun, I liked seeing Amy getting a chance to lead the group of her, Nefertiti, and hunter John Riddell. She showed her smarts in figuring out the computer system, her general awesomeness in helping to take down the dinosaurs, and her humor in letting Nefertiti believe she was also a queen. My only complaint with Amy in this episode is that Karen Gillan's acting seemed a bit off to me. It wasn't terrible, but I feel like she had a little bit of trouble with the differences in Amy's writing.

As much as I loved "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," it did have a few drawbacks. The pacing in the first ten or fifteen minutes had me feeling like I was on a roller coaster, and the ending was thrilling, but the episode lost a bit of its momentum in the middle. Most of this was due to the episode's villain Solomon. I liked Solomon's goofy minion robots, but Solomon was a bit of a bore. I feel like such a fun episode could have used a more fun villain. I was a bit shocked that the Doctor sent the missiles towards Solomon and let him die, but reading some Internet comments from more avid fans than I has convinced me that it was indeed in character for him. My other minor issue was that I didn't care for Nefertiti's crush on the Doctor. It was thankfully a very minor part of the episode and not a terrible idea, but it seemed a bit repetitive after seeing so many historical women act similarly towards the Doctor.

While "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" was mostly a filler episode, there were a few moments that hinted to the show's larger picture. The most obvious foreshadowing was a moment between Amy and the Doctor. He tells her "You'll be there till the end of me," and she ominously jokes "or vice versa." While I thought this was probably a bit too obvious, it's nice to see a bit of a lead up to the Ponds' last episode. 

A subtler and more visual bit of foreshadowing was the scene in which Amy and Rory appear in the foreground both wearing blue and bathed in cold, blue light; the doctor, on the other hand, appears in the background in the lively, warm light of the TARDIS. This could simply be representing their distance from the Doctor as they live their own lives, but I think it could also foreshadow death for at least one of them. 

Even her nails are blue.

After the Daleks forgot the Doctor in the last episode, I also have to wonder if Solomon's machine not recognizing the Doctor (I wasn't sure why it didn't recognize him, though) ties into a season-long theme of the Doctor's enemies forgetting him. I'm not sure how this would be used as a story arc or if it means anything at all, but it's something that stuck out to me.

"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" wasn't the cleverest or most well-written episode of Doctor Who, but it was ridiculously enjoyable. Dinosaurs are cool, and the episode embraces that. It also brings together an interesting group of people that looked like they were having fun. I know there are some out there that will disagree with me, but between "Asylum of the Daleks" and "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," I think season seven is off to a great start. I'm excited to see what will happen next.

LOL, Okay: A Review of Revolution 1x01, "Pilot"

For the past several years, many shows have tried to fill the television void left by Lost. These shows vary, dealing with everything from aliens (The Event) to dinosaurs (Terra Nova) to worldwide blackouts (FlashForward), but they all try to replicate Lost's complex mysteries and mythology. Even if these shows don't intentionally imitate Lost, the comparisons are inevitable.

This fall season's Lost-esque contender (which actually has J.J. Abrams attached as a producer) is Revolution, a show about the world 15 years after all electricity has been shut off. More specifically, it focuses on Charlie Matheson (played by relative newcomer Tracy Spiridakos), a plucky young woman trying to find her uncle and obtain his help to get her brother Danny back after he's been taken by the evil "militia."

So is Revolution any good? 

Let's start with the positive. During the 44 minutes I was watching Revolution's pilot, I was never bored. There's some exposition and a few flashbacks, but most of the episode focuses on the show's here and now. The pilot is pretty well-paced and moves along fairly quickly. There's a good bit of action, but there's also some smaller moments that let viewers begin to get to know the characters and understand what they're going through. One of my favorite moments of the pilot was a short scene right after the power goes out where Charlie's parents let her eat as much melting ice cream as she wants and tell her to remember what it tastes like.

The characters themselves are a bit of mixed bag. I'm going to need a few more episodes to decide how I feel about the show's female lead Charlie. I think she could be a likable character, but her can-do spirit and repetition of the "we're family" argument could also become grating. Her gruff uncle Miles (played by Twilight's Billy Burke) serves as a nice foil to Charlie. Miles is probably my favorite character. He's kind enough to be likable, but his pessimism adds a nice element of spice that the show needs. My second favorite character is Aaron (Zak Orth), a semi-dorky ex-Google employee, who provided a not overly over-the-top bit of comic relief.

I loved Giancarlo Esposito's performance as Gus on Breaking Bad, but his performance here as Captain Neville, part of the militia, is decidedly less impressive. His threat to Charlie's dad to "re-educate" his teenaged children so that they wouldn't remember his name is a joke compared to Gus's threatening of Walt's family. Pretty much everyone who plays a bad guy in Revolution is similarly campy and over-the top. Watching them trot around on horses made me laugh rather than fear them. Monroe, presumably at least the show's intial big bad, didn't get enough screen time for me to decide if he suffers from similar campiness. However, his giant tattoo of his own name on his arm points to yes.

It isn't just the villains of Revolution that are campy. The whole show is pretty silly. I admittedly don't know much about what the world would look like if electricity everywhere was shut off (and maybe Revolution is spot on), but I feel like Revolution takes some major liberties with the concept. It explains that many people died from lack of medicine and other complications of the electricity blackout, but the world looks far more deserted (and full of vegetation) than I would expect it to a mere fifteen years after the blackout.

I enjoyed watching Revolution quite a bit, but I managed to do so by saying "LOL, okay" to many of its aspects and embracing the silliness. Here's a sample of those "LOL, okay" moments.

Warning: This section may contain spoilers from Revolution's pilot.

These children's clothes? LOL, okay.

This magical electricity necklace? LOL, okay.

Danny using a crossbow? LOL, okay.

Gus on a horse? LOL, okay.

More 19th century clothing? LOL, okay.

The idea that Danny could even temporarily escape the militia's capture? LOL, okay.

Expecting us to think Elizabeth Mitchell's character is really dead? LOL, okay. (Although I suppose I may have to eat my words on that one if she really is.)

Nate's general existence? LOL, okay.

Danny's general existence? LOL, okay.

Extreme vegetation? LOL, okay.

The fight scene where Miles takes on a hoard of men with only minimal help? LOL, okay.

This tattoo? LOL, Okay.

Vague, covert instant messaging using the handy, dandy electro-pendant? LOL, okay.

Revolution is no Lost. It's silly and will probably end up suffering from some of the same problems that Lost's failed successors have. Still, it's pretty fun, and I'm interested to see where it's going. If you enjoy high-concept, mysterious shows and can accept the absurdities of Revolution with a "LOL, okay," (I promise guys. That's the last time I'm going to use that phrase. Well, it's the last time in this post.) it's worth a shot.

If you're interested in Revolution, you can check out its pilot now on Hulu or NBC.com. Alternatively, you can wait until its television premiere on NBC on Monday, September 17 at 10/9c.

Have you seen Revolution's pilot yet? What did you think? Who's your favorite (or least favorite) character? What moments, if any, stood out as absurd to you? Do you plan to keep watching? Let me know in the comments.

Review: The Mindy Project 1x01, "Pilot"

I love Mindy Kaling. I find Kelly Kapoor, her character on The Office, to be hilarious. I particularly enjoyed Kelly's music career. I read both of Mindy Kaling's blogs, The Concerns of Mindy Kaling and Things I've Bought That I Love. I check her Twitter fairly often. Most of all, I loved her book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns).

All of this is to say that it was pretty much a given that I'd be watching her new show The Mindy Project. When I saw that the pilot had been released early on Hulu, I was really excited, and of course, watched it instantly.



Given how much I like Mindy Kaling, I'd pretty much committed myself watching The Mindy Project before even watching the pilot. It could have been completely wretched, and I'd still probably watch a minimum of half a season. Thankfully, it is far from wretched. However, it is also fairly far from perfect.

One of The Mindy Project pilot's weaknesses is that it doesn't offer much new. It focuses heavily on rom-com cliches and fails to add a fresh twist to them. I particularly didn't care for Mindy's drunken wedding speech. The whole scene feels particularly tired and a bit lazy. Rom-com cliches can be fun, but I'm hoping that The Mindy Project will eventually find a way to help its use of them to feel a bit fresher.

I enjoyed Mindy Kaling's character, but I'm a bit iffy on some of the supporting characters. Anna Camp who plays her sister friend Gwen doesn't have a lot to do in the pilot but does well with what she is given, and I enjoyed the appearances by Bill Hader and Ed Helms. Everyone else is either bland or unlikable. The two main love interests are particularly disappointing. It took me a while to tell them apart, and when I finally did, it was mostly because of Jeremy's accent. Mindy's British-accented fling Jeremy is like a watered down, doctor version of Russell Brand. The show is presumably setting up Danny as Mindy's hate-turns-to-love romantic interest; he has the hate part down pat, but I'm curious how convincing the love part will be because Danny isn't very likable.

After all of that criticism, you might be starting to think that I hated The Mindy Project, but I actually did enjoy it. I'm a sucker for Mindy Kaling's brand of comedy: cute, girly, slightly shallow, and a little immature. The Mindy Project reflects all of these concepts. Most of the pilot's references, ranging from Downton Abbey to Sandra Bullock, are right up my alley. The pilot had plenty of fun lines, although none really stick out in my mind. Most of all, I thought it was a really likable show; I want it to succeed.

So yes, The Mindy Project's pilot is a little rough, but I strongly believe that it's going to find its voice.  Mindy Kaling's brand of humor isn't for everyone, but if you're a fan of hers, I suggest you give The Mindy Project a shot. I know I'll be sticking with it for a while

If you want to check out The Mindy Project, you can watch the pilot now on Hulu or wait to watch its television premiere Tuesday, September 25 at 9:30/8:30c on FOX.

Have you seen The Mindy Project yet? Did it live up to your expectations? How do you feel about the romantic interests? Do you plan to keep watching? Let me know in the comments.

Edit 11/21: I'm not sure why I assumed Mindy and Gwen were sisters, but apparently that's not the case. I've corrected my mistake above. 

7 TV Show Substitutions to Tide You Over Until Fall

If you're like me, you're eagerly waiting for the return of your favorite fall shows. Sure, there are some great summer shows (such as Breaking Bad and shockingly Teen Wolf), but fall programing offers a much wider selection. While you're waiting, here are substitutions for some popular fall shows.

1) If you like Once Upon a Time, you should try The 10th Kingdom.



If you're still watching Once Upon a Time, you're clearly fine with cheesiness. You may find this hard to believe, but Once Upon a Time isn't the cheesiest of them all. The 10th Kingdom, a mini-series from 2000, is quite possibly the cheesiest show I've ever seen, and I devoured all 400 or so minutes of it in one weekend. Like Once Upon a Time, it mixes the fairy tale world with our world; a girl and her father from our world are sucked into a magical world with an obligatory evil queen. There's also plenty of familiar faces, including Ed O'Neill as a troll and Gilmore Girl's Scott Cohen as a werewolf.

2) If you like Hart of Dixie, you should try Everwood.




Admittedly I've only seen about one and a quarter episodes of Hart of Dixie, but Everwood's premise is so similar that I feel it would make a good substitution. Both shows feature a city doctor's move to a small town. Granted, widowered father of two Andy Brown of Everwood is somewhat different from the shorts-wearing young woman Zoe Hart of Hart of Dixie; so if you're just watching Hart of Dixie for the hot southern guys, you may not fill that void with Everwood. If you, on the other hand, love the small town medicine in Hart of Dixie, Everwood might be right up your alley.

3) If you like The Vampire Diaries, you should try Buffy the Vampire Slayer.



I have such a weak spot for supernatural teen dramas. The Vampire Diaries started out as Twilight-esque mess worth of little more than eye rolls, but by the middle of the first season, it had developed into a fun, twisty ride worthy of only a few eye rolls here and there (although season three drew quite a few more of them). If you're a Vampire Diaries fan and have never experienced Buffy the Vampire Slayer, get thee to Netflix and get your marathon on. The shows share more than a few elements in common, and there's seven whole seasons of Buffy to tide you over until The Vampire Diaries returns. You might be thrown off by the extreme 90s cheesiness of Buffy at first, but once you get to season two, you may even find yourself looking forward to the next Buffy episode more than the next Vampire Diaries one.

4) If you like How I Met Your Mother, you should try Happy Endings.



Unlike the other substitutions on this list, Happy Endings is actually still on the air. It's such a great show that I couldn't help but include it. It doesn't have the same framework as How I Met Your Mother, but they both fall into the group of Friends-esque comedies. While I was ready to swear off Happy Endings after its lackluster pilot, it quickly found its footing. Season one had some great episodes, but season two was full of them. There's nothing wrong with just re-watching How I Met Your Mother reruns of FX (particularly if they're from the golden years of HIMYM), but if you're looking for some new material, Happy Endings shouldn't disappoint you.

5) If you like Castle, you should try Firefly.



On the surface, a police procedural and a sci-fi western may not seem to have that much in common. Okay, they may not have that much in common internally either. What they do have in common, however, is Nathan Fillion. It's hard to imagine Castle achieving the level of success it has had without Fillion's charm, and those of you suffering from Nathan Fillion withdraw can get that fix from Firefly. Don't be turned off by the show's genre; a sci-fi western didn't sound very appealing to me, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show's short run. Plus, after watching Firefly, you'll be able to understand the references to it on Castle.

6) If you like The Office, you should try Summer Heights High



If you've never seen Summer Heights High, you're in for a treat. Like The Office, it's a mockumentary featuring kooky cast of characters. Unlike The Office, the three main characters are all played by the same actor.  Chris Lilley plays all three excellently, but I'm partial to snobby, private school girl Ja'mie. While Summer Heights High features a similar off-color humor as The Office does, I should give a warning that the language used on it is somewhat stronger than the language on The Office. I doubt that many people are actually looking forward to The Office's next season (sorry, I had to throw a jab in), but if you are or are looking for a show that's reminiscent of The Office in its glory days, you should check out Summer Heights High.

Alternative: I hated to give another currently airing show as my main suggestion, but fans of The Office should also consider watching Parks and Recreation if they've yet to do so. It's similar to The Office but with more heart. It starts out a bit weak but really finds its footing starting in season two. It's hilarious, and the characters are fantastic.
 
7) If you like Revenge, you should try Veronica Mars.



I confess: I raked my brain for any current show resembling Veronica Mars because it felt wrong to write a list of TV show recommendations and not include it. Revenge and Veronica Mars aren't exact matches, but they have plenty of similar elements. Although Veronica is more of white hat and and Emily's more of a black hat, both enter their series with revenge for a loved one on their mind. Both are strong female leads, both go on undercover missions, and both pilots start in medias res (okay, the similarities are getting little thin). I'd recommend Veronica Mars to just about anyone, but I feel like Revenge fans will particularly enjoy it.


What fall shows are you eagerly awaiting the return of? Do you have any suggestions of TV show substitutions? Leave a comment, and let me know.

4 Reasons Why Season Three of Veronica Mars is Better Than Its Reputation Suggests

Warning: There are spoilers in this post. If you've yet to see Veronica Mars's third season, I'd strongly recommend that you not read it. Seriously, just go watch Veronica Mars instead. It's really good.

Last Friday I posted a list of my reasons why the third season of Veronica Mars is my least favorite. Because I still also have a lot of love for the third season, it's only fair that I follow that up with a list defending it. Your mileage may vary on some of my reasons, but here are four reasons why season three of Veronica Mars is better than its reputation suggests.

1. New Characters

 

This will probably be the most controversial statement I make in this post: I'm a fan of Piz. It seems that a lot Veronica Mars fans think Piz is one of the worst parts of the worst season, but I consider him one of season three's highlights. I thought he was adorable, sweet, and endearingly awkward. Even though I don't agree with them, I can understand the viewers who simply found him annoying, but I don't understand those who disliked him simply because he wasn't Logan. As much as I liked Piz, he was a terrible match for Veronica. I feel like he was purposefully paired with Veronica to show that she needs a guy like Logan, not Duncan 2.0. Piz provided season three with both an enjoyable character and a nice foil to Logan.

In addition to Piz, a lot of other new characters worked really well in the season three. Near the beginning of the season, Parker seemed like she might be an annoying presence, but she turned out to be a likable, fun character (for the most part). Dean O'Dell was a nice replacement for Principle Clemmons. Even Professor Lasky Landry was an interesting addition to the character mix. It was fun to see Veronica win the respect of a qualified teacher in her field (even if he turned out to be a sleaze).

2. The Finale is Not That Bad

 

 

I'm always surprised when people complain about the series finale of Veronica Mars. It's not perfect, but it's a fantastic episode and even a pretty great finale. The pace of the episode is a little rushed, but really, this just ensures that episode is action-packed. The episode cleverly uses the Castle plot to bring back two of the major players from the earlier seasons, Jake Kane and Clarence Wiedman, in addition to referencing Lily and Duncan through the use of portraits.

I think I've said before that I appreciate series finales that convey a show's central theme. Veronica states her disillusion with Neptune several times throughout the series and given the show's noir-ish vibe, a downer ending just felt right.

I also appreciated how Veronica's life in the finale mirrored her life from the beginning of the series. By the pilot, Veronica and Duncan have broken up. While Piz (Duncan 2.0) and Veronica aren't broken up by the series end, the looks that Veronica, Logan, and Piz exchange in their final scene together make it clear that the relationship won't last much longer.

Additionally, the Veronica of season one had given up her popular crowd status to support her dad who had been ousted as sheriff. The Keith of season three gave up his reputation and likelihood at being elected sheriff to cover up Veronica's crime. In the pilot, Veronica's high school reputation had been ruined as a result of her being drugged at a party. In the finale, Veronica's college reputation had been ruined by a sex tape.

All of these similarities demonstrate that "the more things change, the more they stay the same" principle that Veronica expresses throughout the series. This quote from season two's "One Angry Veronica" springs to mind: "New Years Eve...Someone just needs to change the name to 'Same Old Years Eve.' Because that 'New', implying all that hope and promise, it's not fooling anyone."

Ideally, the finale might have been less open-ended. It might have been nice to see Logan and Veronica back together and to have had a few more episodes to deal with the Castle story, but I feel the series finale had a decent sense of closure and is far undeserving of the hate it gets.

3. Bigger Scope

 

 

One thing I really liked about season three is the sense it gives of Veronica becoming a big time detective. The move from high school to college really allowed the show to widen it's scope a bit. While plenty of the cases still revolved around students, the college setting felt a lot more like Veronica was in the real world than the high school bubble. It was satisfying to see Veronica enter the real world of the PI business and earn a license. While she solved some pretty serious cases in high school (as an obvious example, Lily's murder), it was enjoyable to watch the people around her start to take her more seriously as a detective in season three.

4. It Still Felt Like Veronica Mars 

 

 

Despite the changes, both good and bad, season three of Veronica Mars still felt very much like Veronica Mars to me. Even though it's my least favorite of the three seasons, it's still a good season of television. Kristen Bell was still excellent as Veronica. Most of the major players from the earlier seasons returned. There were still plenty of good mysteries. Most of all, I still enjoyed it. It's very much a part of the Veronica Mars story and well worth watching.


What are your thoughts on season three of Veronica Mars? Do you feel it's deserving of the criticism it receives? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.