tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post3397236262163351203..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: Last Week In TV #4Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-24015947963994070642012-10-19T13:19:11.261-05:002012-10-19T13:19:11.261-05:00@Blam: Apples.
Ha! Totally missed that, but now t...@Blam: <i>Apples.</i><br /><br />Ha! Totally missed that, but now that you point it out, I can't not see it. <br /><br /><i>I was surprised at how many positive reviews the Arrow pilot got from certain quarters, especially good things being said about the very parts that, to me, didn't work. </i><br /><br />What turned me off from trying it, ultimately, was some reviews and interviews I read that suggested the show was going to adhere to something similar to <i>Smallville</i>'s "No Flights, No Tights" rule and downplay the superhero aspect of Green Arrow. <br /><br />Since I spent most of the first half dozen or so seasons of <i>Smallville</i> wishing they'd be more willing to embrace the comic book stuff (as well as other things...), I didn't feel like watching another show that seemed embarrassed of its comic book roots and actively tried to distance itself from them. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-13968157995540304882012-10-18T18:25:44.675-05:002012-10-18T18:25:44.675-05:00@Teebore: Care to enlighten?
Apples. Which could ...<br>@Teebore: <i>Care to enlighten?</i><br /><br />Apples. Which could just be my brain overthinking things.<br /><br />I was surprised at how many positive reviews the <i>Arrow</i> pilot got from certain quarters, especially good things being said about the very parts that, to me, didn't work. <i>Falcon Crest</i> Meets <i>Smallville</i> might be interesting in concept if the level of execution was above what that formula suggested, but it ain't.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-26053835813411908712012-10-17T11:05:40.721-05:002012-10-17T11:05:40.721-05:00@Blam: For some reason, I just got the (presumed) ...@Blam: <i>For some reason, I just got the (presumed) joke of Regina's mother being named Cora during this episode.</i><br /><br />I haven't gotten it yet, so don't feel bad. Care to enlighten? <br /><br /><i>however, Mr. Gold / Rumpelstiltskin certainly seems like the kind of person who would insist on exactly that</i><br /><br />Maybe we can chalk it up to them not knowing what would happen when the curse broke because, as far as either was concerned, it couldn't be broken? I'm not sure if that gels with all the Emma prophecy stuff or not, though. <br /><br /><i>All that said, I wondered at the end of the episode if Gold and Regina actually </i>wouldn't<i> lose their memories of Fairy-Tale Land due to some loophole since they never forgot them under the curse.</i><br /><br />Hmm...good thinking, though I doubt Mr. Gold is willing to chance it. <br /><br /><i>One is that I don't buy that all of those characters were going to leave, despite the herd mentality that the citizens of Storybrooke have shown in the past.</i><br /><br />Yeah, the extent to which EVERYONE seemed to be leaving was a bit much. A few people, sure, but that many? Maybe it's a good thing these people live in a monarchy...<br /><br /><i>But I'll buy into it all for now just because it's so neat.</i><br /><br />Agreed. <br /><br />I also agree with your other two pet peeves, incidentally, especially the first one, largely because it's more obvious than the second one, which I can usually ignore except when I decide to think about it...<br /><br /><i>I'm also frustrated that Victoria looks to be a goner over such a mundane issue.</i><br /><br />As much as I think Victoria is being very poorly handled, if she is going to go, I *really* hope it's for a more significant reason than messiness. <br /><br /><i>All I really have to add is that the bartender, Dichen Lachman, was on Dollhouse — which I'm not sure you saw — and looks insanely like a Gelfling.</i><br /><br />I did watch <i>Dollhouse</i> (well, most of the first season, save an episode that was unwatchable on my DVD and the DVD-only "Epitath One" which I just haven't gotten around to watching) and you're right: she does look like a Gelfing. <br /><br /><i>I'm happy for quality TV in the abstract but I sure don't "need" more to watch.</i><br /><br />I know what you mean. I ended up passing on <i>Arrow</i> entirely despite the comics connection, in part because I'd heard bad things about the pilot, but mainly just because I'm already watching enough/behind on too many shows to add another one. <br /><br />Hopefully my comments on <i>Revolution</i> were helpful. It's by no means a perfect show and it still has yet to fully click, but it has a lot of potential and I'm reasonably confidant it can attain at least some of it.<br /><br />Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-86675530856998499362012-10-16T11:25:08.544-05:002012-10-16T11:25:08.544-05:00Blam -- "That was one of MTV's slogans ba...Blam -- "<b>That was one of MTV's slogans back in the day. I remember a promo that jump-cut from one artist to another (your Sting, your Billy Idol, your Cyndi Lauper maybe) repeating it.</b>"<br /><br />Hmm, interesting. I never watched MTV (like literally -- never have I watched it for any purpose except the occasional episode of <i>Beavis & Butt-Head</i>), but maybe my friend picked it up from there. And all this time I thought he was just clever!Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-53643360011939903042012-10-15T21:21:44.980-05:002012-10-15T21:21:44.980-05:00@Teebore: Revolution is getting steadily better; t...<br>@Teebore: Revolution<i> is getting steadily better; the third episode was better than the second, and the fourth, if not better, was at least as good, and next week looks like it could be the "now you've hooked me" episode every show like this needs</i><br /><br />Hmm... Good to hear — I guess; I'm happy for quality TV in the abstract but I sure don't "need" more to watch.<br /><br />@Teebore: <i>I'm less compelled to keep up with [</i>Elementary<i>] than I am other more serialized shows</i><br /><br />I've realized that most, if not quite all, of the procedurals that I watch have either been around long enough that out of necessity they're often just as much about the character interactions or some semblance of a mythology and/or were created as a sort-of hybrid from the get-go. <i>Castle</i>, <i>Bones</i> for sure, and to some extent <i>Hawaii Five-0</i> all fall into the latter category; <i>CSI</i> is a case of the former. None of which is to say that I don't fall behind on them regularly, just that unlike with a real straight-up case-of-the-week thing like <i>Law and Order</i>, which I've never actually watched, I definitely feel like I'm capable of being spoiled on something beyond just a certain episode's plot the longer I let them sit.<br /><br />@Matt: <i>As far as fake Bond titles go, the best one I've ever heard was coined by a friend of mine back in college, and I've never forgotten it: "Too Much is Never Enough".</i><br /><br />That was one of MTV's slogans back in the day. I remember a promo that jump-cut from one artist to another (your Sting, your Billy Idol, your Cyndi Lauper maybe) repeating it. <br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-7653134854493149122012-10-15T21:11:26.726-05:002012-10-15T21:11:26.726-05:00How I Met Your Mother: Nannies
the whole "se...<br><b><i>How I Met Your Mother</i>: Nannies</b><br /><br /><i>the whole "search for a nanny" plot was a pretty basic sitcom trope, the kind of story every show that just introduced a new baby will eventually do</i><br /><br />Agreed on both the predictability and Chris Elliot, no surprise... <i>Ugh.</i><br /><br />I'm also frustrated that Victoria looks to be a goner over such a mundane issue. Messy vs. neat can be a big deal in a relationship, no question, but if this is the breaking point then I kind-of wish we'd gotten more play on the near-hagiographic potential of them together before everyone got schooled in how the reality of being together is different from the fantasy or the honeymoon phase.<br /><br /><b><i>Revolution</i>: The Plague Dogs</b><br /><br />My two episodes behind is about to become three, and I'm not sure it's surmountable but I still avoid coverage of it just in case. Would you say it's better than the first couple of eps indicated, or still about the same?<br /><br />The show is at least rising to the top of the bottom tier of my to-watch queue, since the <i>Arrow</i> pilot was even worse than I feared and I hear that <i>666 Fifth Avenue</i> may be a goner before I ever get around to it.<br /><br /><b><i>Last Resort</i>: Blue on Blue</b><br /><br />I'm with you on pretty much everything here. All I really have to add is that the bartender, Dichen Lachman, was on <i>Dollhouse</i> — which I'm not sure you saw — and looks insanely like a Gelfling.<br /><br /><b><i>30 Rock</i>: Governor Dunston</b><br /><br />l did get a kick out of seeing Liz's sexual awakening through organization, but I'm also ready for the show to end and feel like maybe it should've wrapped up at least one season ago.<br /><br /><b><i>Parks and Recreation</i>: How a Bill Becomes a Law</b><br /><br />Oh my Lord... "K-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i... Did you see that bird?" was fantastic. And so was everything else that you call out in this episode. Everyone is just pitch perfect.<br /><br /><b><i>Saturday Night Live</i>: Daniel Craig & Muse</b><br /><br />I gather that Daniel Craig was not as well received amongst the Interweberati as he was in my household. The material wasn't the best, overall, as you said, but he was game. I loved the Bond Girls reel, as I'm a sucker for impressions; I think that both Cecily Strong and, especially, Kate McKinnon (who, like Ashley pointed out, is the one who did Ellen... so to speak) are standouts among the new featured players — heck, among the cast as a whole.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-50060217899759387732012-10-15T21:06:36.845-05:002012-10-15T21:06:36.845-05:00Once Upon a Time: We Are Both
For some reason, I ...<br><b><i>Once Upon a Time</i>: We Are Both</b><br /><br />For some reason, I just got the (presumed) joke of Regina's mother being named Cora during this episode.<br /><br /><i>Interesting both that Mr. Gold's "please" clause no longer works and that he was seemingly unaware that he'd be unable to leave Storybrooke with his memories intact after the curse broke.</i><br /><br />Neither Regina nor Mr. Gold knowing exactly how the curse, or more specifically the breaking of the curse, would work is one of my big three issues with the show right now. It's not the <i>biggest</i> of the big three — a number that I only just counted and reserve the right to adjust 8^) — but it still feels wrong. Regina acquired it from Mr. Gold, who either created or acquired it himself, and I suppose that one doesn't have to know the curse to the letter to enact it; however, Mr. Gold / Rumpelstiltskin certainly seems like the kind of person who would insist on exactly that, and Regina is perhaps second only to him in that regard (which is why it surprised me that she hadn't known Mr. Gold remembered their previous lives).<br /><br />All that said, I wondered at the end of the episode if Gold and Regina actually <i>wouldn't</i> lose their memories of Fairy-Tale Land due to some loophole since they never forgot them under the curse.<br /><br />This was a pretty good episode overall, except for a couple of glitches. One is that I don't buy that all of those characters were going to leave, despite the herd mentality that the citizens of Storybrooke have shown in the past. The other? Forget clothes 'n' stuff... There's no way a kid Henry's age, no matter how mature, would leave all of his toys and books and things in his room at Regina's, never mind that he didn't even seem to pack <i>clothes</i>.<br /><br />I'm not sure that I was prepared for the show to head in this direction — or, I guess, "these directions" — before the curse was broken and magic returned in the Season 1 finale. But I'll buy into it all for now just because it's so neat. <br /><br />My other two of the big three issues with the show are those vernacular American English accents in Fairy-Tale Land, an ongoing peeve, and the fact that FTL seems to exist completely alongside the so-called real world, time not appearing to move at any slower a rate there (unless, I suppose, the curse affected that, syncing the dimensions after Emma was born) despite the fact that the incidents there that became legends in our world have to have occurred, in some cases, centuries ago.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-21706954778154656062012-10-15T15:58:09.823-05:002012-10-15T15:58:09.823-05:00@Matt: I was really hoping for some jokes on Famil...@Matt: <i>I was really hoping for some jokes on </i>Family Guy<i> about how antiquated the Nielsen system is in this day and age, but sadly, we got nothing. </i><br /><br />Yeah, that was one of those areas rife with potential that got overlooked. <br /><br /><i>I've never forgotten it: "Too Much is Never Enough".</i><br /><br />That is pretty awesome.<br /><br />@Spithead: <i>Not that I'm a fan of her myself, but I'd kind of like to hear you sum up everything you disliked about Kristen Wiig sometime. </i><br /><br />In all honesty, a lot of it isn't her fault. Basically, she bugged me because she came to dominant the show, stealing time from other talented performers while performing some pretty unfunny bits. She just became so popular that the show relied on her for everything, and I enjoyed very little of what she did. She's clearly very talented and I've enjoyed her in other things, I just didn't like the way <i>SNL</i> pretty much became "The Kristen Wiig Show" during her tenure. Heck, it probably would have bugged me even if I'd loved all her work. <br /><br />I also have a natural aversion to recurring sketches in general, because most of them just beat the same joke into the ground, which is fine if that joke is uproarisously funny, but very few are. And Kristen Wiig was the Queen of Recurring Sketches, few of which I found very amusing. Gilly? Penelope? The actress from <i>Secret Word</i>? That lady who couldn't keep a secret? None of them did much for me, and they got trotted out, again and again and again(the one recurring Wiig character I did like was the Target Lady, and that's just because she bore an uncanny resemblance to a women I worked with once). <br /><br />So yeah. There's where my Kristen Wiig ire comes from. Again, I can't really blame her for the show recognizing a good thing and running it into the ground, but it doesn't change the fact that I found most her sketches unfunny, and that we got a lot them during her tenure. <br /><br />@Ashlie: <i>I could be wrong, but I think you're confusing Cecily Strong with Kate McKinnon, who has been on fire lately on SNL. </i><br /><br />Not so much confusing as "typed the wrong name", but yeah, I meant Kate McKinnon. Cecily Strong hasn't really done much yet. Good catch. :) <br /><br />@Mock: <i>I absolutely LOVE "SagetTed" as a way to tell the characters apart</i><br /><br />I can't take credit for that one; I picked it up somewhere on the internet, though I can't remember exactly where. Television Without Pity, Onion AV Club, Alan Sepinwall...one of those probably. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-68403820658049040182012-10-14T20:56:01.850-05:002012-10-14T20:56:01.850-05:00I'll join in on the OUAT commenting sometime s...I'll join in on the OUAT commenting sometime soon, but wanted to say I absolutely LOVE "SagetTed" as a way to tell the characters apart. I gave up on the show many years ago but find the recaps worth checking in on....MOCK!https://www.blogger.com/profile/02854497329647596811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-79025011693771681352012-10-13T19:30:27.806-05:002012-10-13T19:30:27.806-05:00I could be wrong, but I think you're confusing...I could be wrong, but I think you're confusing Cecily Strong with Kate McKinnon, who has been on fire lately on SNL.Ashlie Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04819825642101427700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-79637127471111877312012-10-13T14:00:20.745-05:002012-10-13T14:00:20.745-05:00Not that I'm a fan of her myself, but I'd ...Not that I'm a fan of her myself, but I'd kind of like to hear you sum up everything you disliked about Kristen Wiig sometime.Spitheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08434638331512076136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-71750738539522809972012-10-12T11:49:49.812-05:002012-10-12T11:49:49.812-05:00I was really hoping for some jokes on Family Guy a...I was really hoping for some jokes on <i>Family Guy</i> about how antiquated the Nielsen system is in this day and age, but sadly, we got nothing. So I was a little disappointed by that.<br /><br />Steve agreeing with everything that other kid suggested because of his accent was a hilarious bit that stayed funny through the whole episode of <i>American Dad</i>. Also, I cracked up at his line, (paraphrased) "You're charming like Hugh Grant the actor, but stupid like Hugh Grant the person!" Scott Grimes nails Steve's manic exasperation perfectly every single time.<br /><br />The unadvertised appearance (at least to my knowledge) of Cooter Berger was the highlight of <i>30 Rock</i> for me. I never get tired of that name.<br /><br />I have to disagree with your least favorite sketch on SNL -- I was laughing non-stop at Bobby Moynihan in that one. And the stereotypical awful movie dialogue between the others was pretty funny too.<br /><br />As far as fake Bond titles go, the best one I've ever heard was coined by a friend of mine back in college, and I've never forgotten it: "Too Much is Never Enough".Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-86022792249349958522012-10-12T10:58:12.568-05:002012-10-12T10:58:12.568-05:00@Sarah: I'm glad I was able to turn you on to ...@Sarah: I'm glad I was able to turn you on to <i>Bob's Burgers</i>. It really is fantastic. <br /><br />I would LOVE to be a Nielsen family. Not only would it help my favorite shows, but I'd totally screw with it by, like, leaving the Weather Channel on all night while I sleep. <br /><br /><i>Revolution</i> is getting steadily better; the third episode was better than the second, and the fourth, if not better, was at least as good, and next week looks like it could be the "now you've hooked me" episode every show like this needs (a la "Walkabout" w/<i>Lost</i>, or the episode of <i>Heroes</i> where Future Hiro showed up for the first time). <br /><br />So you might want to stick it out at least until then. <i>Last Resort</i> is good, and has potential, and Andre Braugher is awesome, but I'm liking <i>Revolution</i> more, so far. <br /><br />We're watching <i>Elementary</i>, in that we watched the pilot and have the rest recorded. It seems more like a case-of-the-week show a la <i>Castle</i>, so I'm less compelled to keep up with it than I am other more serialized shows, but I'm a Sherlock Holmes buff and enjoyed the pilot, so we'll be watching it, even if I don't write about it every week. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-16708643215326250142012-10-12T10:32:12.209-05:002012-10-12T10:32:12.209-05:00I'm so glad you turned us on to Bob's Burg...I'm so glad you turned us on to Bob's Burger. It's definitley the winner every Sunday night, followed by American Dad.<br /><br />Mostly Family Guy just made me wish i was a Neilsen family, so i could have control over ratings to help keep my fav shows on TV.<br /><br />We've only watched the first two episodes of Revolution and i'm thinking we may already be done with it. And i've got all of Last Resort DVRd, but we haven't given them a shot yet.<br /><br />Are you watching Elementary?Sarah Ahiershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02795455714801965956noreply@blogger.com