really miscellaneous television

[vaznetti]

As usual, I am not dead, just dragging my feet about updating. It's so much easier to read my friends list than to think of something to write -- and the less I write, the more I need to write when I finally do get around to updating. It's like a vicious cycle! And there are so many things to talk about (and I am so behind at work...)

On the televisual front...

I don't know what to do with my Saturday Sunday nights, now that Being Human is over. (I have a non spoilery theory about that show. You know the myth about the Norns, or whoever they are, where there's three of them and they only have a single eye and have to pass it around? Well, Mitchell, Annie and George only have one dose of common sense between the three of them: one of them can exhibit common sense at any given time, but no more than one of them. Exhibit A: pretty much every episode in season 2.)

I have other things to say about Being Human, but they belong in a post of their own, under a cut.

As usual with American shows, I'm more than a step out-of-step. So I am enjoying Glee very much (in part because I've never seen such a collection of horrible people in a single show), and wondering why everyone on my friends list is so enthusiastic about The Good Wife (I saw the first few episodes, and it seemed very by-the-numbers; obviously this changes at some point?) And even though I mean to watch NCIS (only two seasons behind!) somehow I keep forgetting to.

I actually acquired the most recent flashback episode of Supernatural, despite not having seen any of this season or the last. I haven't watched it yet, mind you, but it's on my computer. The next question is: will the desktop melt down before I get around to viewing the episode? I have concerns about that.

And on that bombshell, as they say (and this is a whole 'nother issue, because I totally blame Jeremy Clarkson for the fact that Spartacus' favorite word is "car"), I must go figure out how I managed to lose all my ink pens, and why I still have so many essays to mark for tomorrow.

Comments

[cofax7]

The Good Wife does build slow; I got into the show by watching episode 6 or so and then backtracking to get the rest. What I like is the ambiguity of a lot of what's going on: what does Alicia actually feel for Peter? Is Peter guilty? Did Childs frame Peter? What is Kalinda's game (and orientation)? Why did Will hire Alicia? Is Cary as skeevy as he appears? Will the firm go down in flames, and if so, will Alicia go with it?

The acting is excellent, and the casting top-notch; recent guests have included Alan Cumming, Gary Cole, Joanna Gleason, Peter Reigert, ad Joe Morton. The legal stuff is simplified for tv, but still smarter (messier) than in most legal dramas--they spend time on unglamorous stuff like depositions and motions, and they often don't have all the information they need when they need it. There's a lot of believably frantic running-about as deadlines approach.

Finally, the show ultimately is, I think, about the conflicts faced by a lot of working women: balancing demands of motherhood versus the intellectual rewards of professional life, the danger of relying on a male partner for financial security, the conflicts that can arise from the use of outside child-care, the interference of office politics with personal relationships (and vice versa).

But on the surface, the show is about a big-old conspiracy and how that affects this one woman and her family, without making any of the effects simple.

So, that's why I like it. I am not fannish about it, I just think it's smartly done and well-acted.

[vaznetti]

Hm. Maybe I will give it another try; I think we're on episode 8 or 9. The first seemed very courtroom-drama, with some life/work stress thrown in, and the mixture didn't really appeal to me. I do like shows that are about grown-ups, and the Chicago politics side of things is interesting.

(Have you ever tried Being Human? I think you might enjoy it.)