You know what I love about good TV? It’s like a
movie that you can watch every week and get a new ending. It’s like Christmas
actually lasting for 12 days, instead of opening up all your presents on the
first day. To me, watching a really, really good TV show is like getting
a group Skype call from your best friends. You’re not just watching. You’re
experiencing. You genuinely can’t wait to find out what they’ve been up to
while you’re away.
My favorites are the ones that the critics don’t
always like. (Big surprise, right?) I love finding fledgling shows and watching
them grow up. I love hearing people say “Oh that won’t last, it’s a niche show,
the audience is too specific,” and then seeing that show last eight or ten or,
hell, eleven seasons. (I’m looking at you, Supernatural.) I love
shows that let you fall in love with the characters over time, instead of
trying to cram all the character development into the first episode so you’ll
get hooked and keep watching. I love shows that seek to emotionally wreck their
audience. (And if that isn’t a shout-out to Joss Whedon then I don’t know what
is.) More than anything I love shows that drop all the flash, all the gimmicks
and just try to tell the damn story.
Reality TV doesn’t do that for me. Never has.
And I’ll watch Friends and Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your
Mother and all those in the company of others, but when I need something to
really get into? This is what I go for:
Sleepy Hollow
(Fox, Monday nights)
I can see why critics aren’t exactly worshiping
this one. I’ve heard it described as “a more racially diverse Supernatural,”
and okay, that’s kind of accurate, but hear me out. The people running this
show aren’t pulling random crap out of their asses. They aren’t thinking “Gosh,
what shall we do this week? I know, let’s have them chase an 8-foot voodoo
doll.” The showrunners have an end in mind, and that’s what made the first
season so good. The storytelling in the second season is a little less tight,
but the snooze-you-lose pacing--as well as the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it
humor--that made the first season fly by lives on. The cast is brilliant and,
as noted above, incredibly diverse--the first season alone featured John Cho,
Orlando Jones, Amandla Stenberg, Nicholas Gonzalez, Katia Winter, Lyndie
Greenwood, and Michael Teh. But my favorite thing about the show is that it’s
one of the rare and amazing ones that features a strong platonic bond between a
kick-ass woman and an equally kick-ass man. Any show that doesn’t play up a
romantic subplot between its two lead characters and refuses to reinforce the
stereotype that men and women can’t be “just friends?” Pure gold, in my book.
Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
Okay, so you’ll have to wait a while until
season three. But it’s worth it. Why do I love this show so much? I don’t even
know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the lead character, the
one we’re supposed to empathize with (or, at the very least, sympathize with), does
some really despicable things and we still root for her anyway. There are
few shows that can pull that off, but Orange is one of them. The
character development is astounding. There are characters who change
drastically, characters who never change, characters who have good motives and
characters who scare you with how selfish they are. And if there’s one thing Orange
knows how to do better than character development, it’s work a cliffhanger. Not
to spoil anything, but the season 2 finale gave us nuns, scandals, a
hit-and-run, and not one but two daring escape attempts. So the bottom
line is that whatever emotions Orange is the New Black brings out in
you, boredom will not be one of them.
Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family, Tuesdays)
Okay, this is radical but hear me out: Everyone
says Glee is progressive, but I don’t think it’s got anything on Pretty
Little Liars. Don’t believe me? Think about Emily from PLL vs. Kurt
from Glee. Sure, Emily is “sporty” (she’s a swimmer, for anyone who
doesn’t watch the show) but she’s still distinctly feminine, wears makeup and
keeps her hair long, and knows how to rock a sexy steampunk Victorian dress
when the occasion arises. Also? Like pretty much every character from Orange
is the New Black, she’s imperfect--she makes her mistakes, and the
villainous “A” is always there to point it out. Compare that to Kurt, who
satisfies maybe 80-90% of the gay stereotypes we’ve been fed since the dawn of
cinema--and who is often portrayed as the “angel” of the show and practically
worshiped by the fandom. Moreover Kurt and Blaine are played as “true
loves”--friendly reminder that they met at 15 and 16, roughly--whereas Emily
has dated around and refused to compromise herself just to stay in a
relationship. You go, girl. ...And, okay, maybe the fact that this is a
female-driven murder-mystery drama (and, for anyone who cares, it passes the
Bechdel Test practically every damn episode) really appeals to me. I get
that it won’t appeal to everyone but please, everybody--don’t knock it until
you try it.
Agent Carter
(ABC, Tuesday nights)
Yeah, I know. My Marvel Nerd is showing. For the
record, I also love Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.--but I’m telling you this one
is better than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and okay, maybe I’m only
saying that because I love Hayley Atwell to an almost unhealthy extent.
But--serious now--this show does what Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. still seems
to struggle with: it puts the character development ahead of the action. If you
miss one episode of Agents, good luck catching up with whatever the hell
is going on (“Uh...well...my best guess, someone is trying to take over the
world again…?”). The plot of Agent Carter is still pretty heavy (it is a
Marvel show, after all) but it’s a little easier to catch up, due to the
emphasis on characters as, well, characters, rather than firmly locking every
single participant into the role of “action hero” or “mastermind villain.”
Sure, there are cheesy moments--again I say, it’s Marvel, hello guys,
need I remind you of the talking raccoon that starred in their last big
blockbuster?--but overall this is one of their best efforts.
Parks and Recreation (NBC, Tuesdays)
Leslie Knope is basically me in 15 years (and in
politics instead of film, but hell, same difference). Refusal to give up?
Check. Loves her friends and hates her enemies with equal intensity? Check. Has
wild ideas and moves heaven and earth to make them happen? Check. Fights for
what she believes in, no matter how silly or small the issue might be? Oh, God
yes. (Ask anyone who was in my senior class how I went around passing out red
ribbons to promote a “drug-free lifestyle” the entire month of October. Or ask
anyone at my public high school about the time I decked myself out in Red
Jumpsuit Apparatus merch when their new album came out. Or...I think I’ve made
my point.) And whether you like it or not, there is at least one character on Parks
and Rec that you can relate to. I guarantee it. Yes, the plotlines can veer
off into farce-land before you even realize it’s happening, but it’s funny--and
with a cast including Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Nick Offerman, and
Aubrey Plaza, you’d damn well expect it to be.
Supernatural
(CW, Tuesdays)
Man, there’s a lot of good TV on Tuesdays, isn’t
there? Thank God for Hulu. (Or, if you don’t have Hulu, feel free to sub “DVR”
or “DVD burning software” or other means of recording TV.) Okay, back to Supernatural--honestly,
even I don’t know what I see in this show, other than the fact that Sam, Dean,
and Castiel dish out snark that would make Lorelai and Rory Gilmore green with
envy. Yes, there are plot holes (even bigger than the ones in Gilmore Girls,
now that I think about it), yes, some of the meta crosses a line and yes, some
of the horror elements can get a little over-the-top…but honestly, that’s what
makes it fun. The meta-episodes, most notably “The French Mistake,” are
basically love letters to the fans, which makes sense considering that certain
characters (like Castiel, for instance) were brought on as cameos and turned
into series regulars because of the fan response. And even if all that doesn’t
impress? The cast is amazing. Seriously, can someone please tell me why
no Oscar-baiting director has snatched up Misha Collins yet, because that man
is a boss.
No comments:
Post a Comment