Category — Drama

If you saw the Emmys a couple of weeks ago, I hope you and your cats enjoyed it, because you were the only ones watching. However, you and the cats also bore witness to Bryan Cranston winning for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for his role in a really cool show, “Breaking Bad.”

Indeed, the dad from “Malcolm in the Middle” beat out Don Draper at the lowest rated ever Emmys, television’s highest honor, wherein television people celebrate themselves for like seven hours. On television. My feelings are torn, since I like both “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” but I figure Jon Hamm will get ‘em next time.

Anyway, AMC has been rerunning the first season of “Breaking Bad” after the “encore” airings of “Mad Men” every Sunday, and you can even pre-order the first season DVD if it turns out you love it, so check it out. The show is about a high school chemistry teacher (Cranston), who turns to cooking meth for extra cash, after he learns he is dying of cancer. He’s got a pregnant wife and a “special needs” son, so I can’t say I blame him. Desperate times, and all that.

Meth lab hijinks and drug dealings provide a nice chaser to the rampant alcoholism and womanizing of “Mad Men,” so kudos to AMC on nailing their first two forays into original programming. I, for one, can’t wait to see more.

Sunday nights are fast becoming my busiest TV night of the week. My DVR’s red “recording” light was already winking at me for a good chunk of the evening before, thanks to my old love “Mad Men,” my new love “True Blood,” plus all the old standbys like “60 Minutes” and “American Dad.” But as of last week, “Dexter” has returned to Showtime with new episodes. Consider the ante upped.

I’ve been a fan of this show since its beginning two seasons ago. It doesn’t spare on the high concept premises and story lines, but is still written elegantly enough to avoid becoming a joke. Michael C. Hall has proven his acting mettle beyond my expectations in his portrayal of Dexter Morgan, considering how hard it is to believe that this is the same man who played David Fisher all those years not so long ago.

Tune in to Showtime Sunday nights at 9pm to check out “Dexter.” I like the show so much it’s actually inspired me to read the book on which this series is based, called “Darkly Dreaming Dexter,” by Jeff Lindsay. I know right? I’m going to read an actual book! With pages and everything!

I fear I may have blasphemed by daring to mention the “B” word– book– on the interweb, and on a blog about teevee, at that. As an act of contrition, I’ll subject myself to a new reality show, get drunk and rant about it on here, later.

Oh, dear. “Paris Hilton Is My New BFF” started this week. Sounds like a fresh batch of hate stew a-brewin’.

After finishing up the second episode of “Heroes” last night, I decided that this season may be worth the dvr space after all. It seems that Tim Kring & Co. are weaving an intriguing season.  This season seems to be focusing on the idea of giving powers to ordinary people and the subsequent fallout. And they’re bringing back old characters and putting them in the lion’s den with people that hate them (i.e. Sylar and HRG, Claire’s biological mom and adoptive mom, Linderman and Nathan). The show is posing this main question: Can one still be a hero, if you have to make a deal with the devil to win? Or do you become a villain?

Things I liked so far on this season of “Heroes”:

1. The African future painter guy and Parkman’s spirit walk storyline. Their story is a good compliment to future Peter’s actions to change the future.

2. Sylar and HRG being paired up. Talk about opposites attract! I can’t wait for them to stop playing nice.

3.  Angela Petrilli (Peter and Nathan’s mom) running the show at the Primatech Paper (aka The Company). That lady has ambition and will kill anyone who stands in her way.

Things that still annoy me on “Heroes”:

1. Bringing back Ali Larter’s as a new character without explanation. Yeah, it blows my mind that she was made by Dr. Zimmerman, but did she really have to bond with Micah before getting to the bottoms of things?

2. I wish Linderman would go away, along with the God and politics metaphors. I love Mr. McDowell but his character as the devil on Nathan’s shoulders was played out last season.

3. Rebellious Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere). I suppose they do need to lay the foundations for evil future Claire (the one that shoots at her own uncle, future Peter). But could they find some original and non-predictable dialogue and situations to tell that story? We get it, she’s a teenager who can’t die and can do whatever she wants. Sheesh already.

“Dancing with the Stars” started this week, and I watched it for the first time. I would never watch such a show in my real life, but I figure I ought to expose myself to new and terrible things. Hey, it’s in the interest of finding television blog fodder. Nevertheless, rather than unleash my tirade over everything wrong with that show today, I’d rather keep spirits high. It is a Friday, after all. So, I’ll save it for another day, allow the hate stew to simmer, and tell you about something I do like: Carnivàle.

I remember this show when it first began airing on HBO back in 2003, but it looked weird. Too weird. So, I never bothered trying to get into it; plus, the only person I knew who did watch it was an imbecile. Years later, a non-imbecile friend swore up and down that it was his favorite show, and I began to reconsider it.

Long story less long, I put the first disc of Season 1 at the top of my Netflix queue, and wound up watching the entire series within a two week span, slowed down only by the sluggish pace of the United States Postal Service.

It even got to the point where I would bring some of the discs to work to watch at my computer. Granted, I was trying to get fired, but that’s neither here nor there. The moral of the story is, Carnivàle is indeed weird, but it’s a good weird, not “John from Cinncinnati” weird.

The show only lasted two seasons because it was too expensive to produce, considering it wasn’t getting “Sopranos” ratings. But, it is certainly one of the most unique shows I’ve seen, above all, and I watch loads of television. Even if you don’t love it as much as, say “The Wire” (and who could?), it’s worth a look. So, check it out. Go. Go do it now.

DVD shopping links:
Carnivale - The Complete First Season
Carnivale - The Complete Second Season

HBO’s new series about vampires, “True Blood” is well under way, and the third episode of the series airs tonight. I have to say I wasn’t excited to watch this series before the premiere at all, despite knowing this is Alan Ball’s first TV project since “Six Feet Under.” The whole marketing campaign was labored, uninspired, and It was trying too hard to be sexy and outrageous. Much like a drunk sorostitute dirty dancing in an ill-fitting dress, I was just embarrassed for the both of us. In the end, I only watched the first episode as a way to kill time while I waited for “Mad Men” to start. 

The show centers around Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin), a hick waitress in Louisiana who happens to be able to read minds, and Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer), a vampire, to whom Sookie becomes uniquely bonded.

Within the world of the show, vampires are a reality (obviously, since it’s a vampire show…), and vampires’ rights and social standing are in constant jeopardy. It’s vaguely allegorical to the plight of whatever is the oppressed group du jour, if you want to be joyless and intellectual about it.

However, I’m happy to say the show doesn’t totally suck, as you may have guessed from my subtle lede above. It has gotten progressively interesting in only two installments, and after last week’s episode, I will admit I actually have a twinge of genuine anticipation for tonight’s episode. In short, this show just may be getting good. 

Go ahead and tell your DVR to record it tonight while you’re watching “Mad Men” sweep at the Emmys. If things continue to improve on “True Blood,” it too just may be a contender at next year’s awards.

P.S. Did I mention I love “Mad Men”? Twice? In a post about a different show? Oh, silly me. Well, you should watch that tonight, too.

[Picture source: Cleveland.com]

Tuesday night of this week, the CW ushered in a new addition to the Spoiled, Rich and Vapid 30-Year-Olds Playing Teenagers in High School genre, with their “reimagined” and revamped “90210.”

In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit it: I Tivo-ed it. Worse yet, I then watched it. This is not my first, nor will it be my last, extremely regrettable decision.

Long story short, if you find “Gossip Girl” to be a little too well written and complex (you know, with their super sophisticated “OMFG” campaign and all), then the new “90210″ just may be the show for you. Well, “90210″ or Teletubbies.

Kelly and Brenda– that is, Jennie Garth and Shannon Doherty, respectively– both make appearances in the first episode, and considering neither has anything better to do, they’ll have recurring roles. I’m guessing Tori Spelling is in a padded room somewhere.

So, if you’re planning to stick needles in your eyes this Tuesday night, watching “90210″ just may substitute as a strange, new torture for you, my dear little masochist. I, on the other hand, will be picking up the old “Beverly Hills 90210″ on DVD to remind myself of why I hated this show the first time around.

FX has a new show called “Sons of Anarchy”.

It stars Charlie Hunnam (”Undeclared”) as Jackson ‘Jax” Teller, a member of a California biker gang that skirts the law and fiercely defends their right to ride on their own terms.

Watch the season premiere tonight at 10pm on FX.

Sure, they’re only characters from TV shows, but you do come to feel you know them if you watch them long enough. It’s hard to limit the list to five, but here are top picks—at least for today. It’s subjective, of course, and I may change my mind tomorrow, but at least two of these—Pembleton and Columbo–would make any list I compile.

Today’s Top Five:

1. Detective Frank Pembleton

Deftly played by Andre Braugher, the brooding Frank Pembleton was a departure from the less philosophical lawmen we usually saw on the telly. He and Richard Belzer brought something to “Homicide: A Life on the Streets” that was gritty and compelling. Pembleton captured the essence of being a cop when he said that he speaks for the dead because there is no one else to speak for them.

2. Lieutenant Columbo

Peter Falk was actually the third actor to play Columbo, but he was easily the most captivating. By the time the Falk “Columbo” series started though, those earlier incarnations of the character would be long forgotten. The series itself was often filled with clichés of the genre, but Falk’s shuffling Columbo brought such an originality to the series that it didn’t matter. Much of it was in the incredible timing he used when delivering his lines. BTW, the wardrobe (those trench coats and cigars) were Falk’s own.

3. Detective Lennie Briscoe

Jerry Orbach’s arch comments (Van Buren: “What about Dr. Hampton? Any man in her life?” Briscoe: “Yes, but his name is Fluffy and he’s been neutered. Other than that, her social calendar is pretty light.”) made me never want to miss an episode of “Law and Order,” the longest running cop show in television history. He was the anchor of the show while he was on it—until his untimely death. I miss him.

4. Dana Scully

Gillian Anderson’s tough, loner FBI agent lent a gravitas to “The X-Files” it wouldn’t otherwise have had. The cynical counter to her male partner, Fox Mulder, who is less skeptical. In one episode, she contracts cancer and she begins contemplating her own mortality and makes it less maudlin than the same subject usually seems on hospital shows. The show may have been far out, but Scully brought it down to earth—in a good way.

5. Detective John Munch

Back to “Homicide: A life on the Streets” for my fifth pick. Richard Belzer, previously known as a somewhat successful stand-up comic, proves he’s got some acting chops. He has also shown up in the “Law and Order” and “The Wire.” Actually, some of the lines he delivers as munch wouldn’t be entirely out of place in a comedy routine. But they work a lot better in context. Check out this line: “If a murder is committed in Baltimore and no homicide detective takes the call, did that homicide actually occur?”

If I missed your favorite gumshoe in my top 5, let me know in the comments.

Alan Ball, the creator of “Six Feet Under”, has a new HBO show about vampires living openly in the present day called “True Blood”.

From Alan Ball’s interview on HBO.com:
“It’s based on a series of books written by Charlaine Harris, and it takes place in a world where vampires have made their presence known to humans. They’ve come out of the coffin, so to speak, because of the development by a Japanese biotech firm of synthetic blood for medical purposes, which the vampires claim fulfills all of their nutritional needs. So they’ve organized, and they’re struggling for assimilation and for equal rights.”

The series focuses though on Anna Paquin’s character, Sookie Stackhouse. She’s a telepathic waitress who befriends one of these newly outed vamps in a small Louisiana town. Hmm, I guess that could prove interesting. However, those faux TruBlood beverage ads confused the heck outta me until I realized it was plugging HBO’s new show. Will viewers be able to tell when Ball is being serious or funny? Will he be able to balance the horror elements with the satire of society?

All I know for sure is vampires are no stranger to the television series format, see “Angel”, “Forever Knight”, or CBS’s now cancelled “Moonlight”. Thus, I’m sure a few fans of the genre will be tuning in on September 7th when the series premieres to weigh in on Ball’s take on the vampire mythology.

I missed the first season of “Mad Men,” but this week after it became difficult to avoid the hype, I succumbed. Now I’m hooked.

The series reveals more plot and character development with each episode. It has the kind of story arc you just can’t get in a movie. I also love that it really educates me on how the Golden Age of Advertising got its beginning. The shift was away from account execs running the show to an emphasis on creative. The Volkswagen “Think Small” campaign led the way. It broke all the rules and made new ones.

The show also focuses on how the roles of men and women were just about to change. Non-conformity was going mainstream. “Mad Men” is well written and well acted.

One tip: don’t download it from the web. The Japanese subtitles are distracting and the picture quality doesn’t do justice to its critically acclaimed attention to fashion and style detail. Do the right thing. Rent or buy the DVD.

Watch it on Sundays at 10pm on AMC.