rewind 2012: tv

It's been awhile, since I posted anything.  I thought I would have finished these by now, but what the heck, it's still relevant to me.  As  I wind down on the rewinding 2012, here's my thoughts on TV.  

1.  Breaking Bad

This show gets better and better every year.  This year really had Walt going to an especially dark place even freaking out Jesse his partner in crime.  I can't wait to see how this ends as the final season wraps up this summer.  An inventive and just unbelievably well done show.  

2.  Fringe

I have loved this show from the beginning and it finished up this year in January 2013 after 5 years.  The final season that started in September 2012 was riveting and a definite departure as they flash forwarded several years to an observer controlled society.  The previous season that ended in May 2012, wrapped up the alternate universe storyline they had built up for several years.  This sci-fi show was always a bit crazy and for whatever reason I just loved every second of it.  

3.  The Walking Dead

This show got really really good this year.   The current 3rd season has been one of my favorites.  The people are more fearful than the zombies I think.  The addition of David Morrissey as the Governor is absolutely fantastic.  The biggest craziest and emotional moment that made me realize that this season was gonna be amazing came in episode 4 of the 3rd season.  Lori died while giving birth!  We lost T Dog.  This episode was so good that it could've been a season finale and it was only a few episodes in.  I cried like a baby.   This show is must watch right away TV.  

4.  Parenthood

This show makes me cry every week.   This year's cancer storyline struck me so close to home it's just plain riveting TV.   One of the most normal shows in my top 10, this is a top notch written show created by Jason Katims and starring a fantastic and huge cast.  The Braverman clan gets to me like not many others.  I really hope that this show continues on the air and is back for more next year, since this was an especially good season.

5.  Parks and Recreation

This show makes me laugh like not many others.  I don't always watch live, but so funny.  The supporting cast is as good as the main leads.   It makes me laugh and their small town politics are just crazy.   Leslie Knope ran for council woman this year!  The relationship between Adam Scott & Amy Poehler's characters are just the heart of this show right now.   

6.  Awake

Kyle Killen created a trippy weird crazy drama that had me glued to the TV every week.  I even watched most episodes twice to try to get the connections.  I'm not sure that a show like this is intended to survive in the television landscape, but I really love it when they try.   Great show! 

7.  Survivor/Amazing Race

I listed these 2 shows together since they are a good guilty pleasure and are both reality shows on CBS.  These are fun and constantly getting dumber people to play.  The Amazing Race is fun to see where they go and what people are willing to do.  Survivor is always interesting to watch for the social politics.  I'm not sure why I enjoy them so much after all these years and I definitely have soured on other reality television, but these ones keep me watching.  

8.  Revolution

This show had such a good pilot that I was hooked right away.  Now, the idea that they are trying to build a mythology is a little off putting and the cast isn't super awesome, but each week I'm entertained and willing to see where they go.  Any show with Elizabeth Mitchell also gets a lot of chances to succeed with me.  I'm curious to see more about why the lights went out and what's going to happen now that they are starting to come back on.  

9.  Cougar Town

This show with Courtney Cox and a very funny ensemble cast is always hilarious.  I was a bit concerned when they were leaving ABC, but to my surprise, they came back in 2013 to TBS of all places.  It's a sweet and funny show and always makes me laugh - most of the time out loud.   

10.  Community

This show is funny and crazy all at the same time.  Chang trying to kill everyone at Greendale and take over as a dictator.  Troy and Abed in everything.   Their handshakes, their "morning show", and Troy's foray into the dark side of refrigerator repair.  You never know what will happen with this show.  I purchased Hulu Plus this year with the specific reason of watching all the episodes over the summer this year.  

Now, that you've seen my favorites, let's delve into some things that personally made me very disappointed.  American Horror Story: Asylum, had me very excited.  Last year's original American Horror Story was inventive, scary and riveting.  I found this season to be mired in clichés and gross out tactics each week.  I didn't enjoy Asylum and surprisingly stopped watching it mid way through the season.  Same for Boardwalk Empire.  I've also enjoyed this show, but it's pretty dense.  This year, it just got too dense or slow or something.  I wasn't enjoying it and with only 4 episodes left, completely stopped watching it.  Maybe I'll pick it up again on Netflix or something, but I was generally bored this year.  Others that started with high hopes and I quickly got bored with were Missing, The River, Alcatraz and perhaps most disappointing Sarah Michelle Gellar's Ringer.  The show was so complicated that I just couldn't wrap my head around it or enjoy it.  I gave it many chances since I loved Buffy, but not my type of show.  Pan Am, was a great period piece, but it just got boring too.  Animal Practice was heavily advertised during the Summer Olympics so I was very excited by it, but the show was not funny and it had a MONKEY!  The Olympics had me transfixed at times this year too.  I'm never sure with the Olympics, but it was very entertaining this go round.  

Other shows that I enjoyed, but didn't make my top 10.   Game of Thrones is fantastical and amazing each week. The seasons are much too short, but I love this show.  Looking forward to more dragons this year.  Scandal is a crazy little political thriller type soap and Kerri Washington is fantastic.  New Girl, How I Met Your Mother and Raising Hope make me laugh whenever I watch and even The Mindy Project.  I just don't find these to be must watch TV.  In new comedies, I seem to have grown the most fond of Go On with Matthew Perry.  The supporting ensemble is funny, but the premise of a support group for people who've lost loved ones is a bit on the depressing side, but it makes it real.   Good Wife is always interesting and kind of soapy.   NCIS is always fun to watch, but mostly for my cousin Chris's writing.  Veep with Julia Louis Dreyfuss got me hooked this year and I found it to be hilarious and I'm hoping it comes back for more soon.  Girls on HBO, I watched several times, but I just couldn't get into it. I know it wins tons of awards, but just not my cup of tea.   Newsroom by Aaron Sorkin is interesting but not sure if I'll stick with it next year.  We'll have to see.  Got a little bit boring as the season went on, but I did stick with it.  The reboot of Dallas was surprisingly fun and Falling Skies was interesting again.   Being Human always gets a space in the DVR too.   2012's big storylines were great and best when I watched 3-4 episodes at a time.   Finally, last year I was riveted by Revenge, but this year the show has gotten overly complex.  It's still sexy and filled with beautiful people and fun, but a little less addictive this season.  

As you can tell, there's lots of TV that I'm interested in checking out, but not a lot makes it to appointment TV.   What's for sure is that there is a lot of good TV being done and some of the best storytelling is found on TV.   Let's see what 2013 brings.  I've already noticed that so far for 2013 Arrow on CW is keeping me watching and looking forward to Game of Thrones coming back.  I'm sure Walking Dead will finish off great since each week has been even better than the last.  Finally, this summer will see the final season of Breaking Bad, which as you can tell from earlier in this post, I'm completely excited for.   

I'll try to write more as we go, but you never  know since I'm slow to update.   

American Idol - Top 4 ROCK WEEK

May 5th, 2009 - Top 4 ROCK WEEK

My initial reaction is that this was an excellent show. Freaking great. All the performances were fantastic. I loved it. I know that someone has to go tomorrow, but I'm glad to have watched and heard such great performances.

Adam - Crazy ass Adam. He pulled out an amazing performance tonight.
Alison - I loved it. I thought it was one of her best.
Kris - I really liked his. I guess if someone has to go, it could be him. But I really liked his "Come Together".
Danny - I enjoyed this immensely. I know I should say "i wasn't into it", but I liked it.

Duets: I really liked the idea and the performances. I didn't like that it was part of a performance night, since this was definitely something that should have been better suited for elimination night. I mean you can't vote for a duet? Strange. But the performances were great. Adam and Alison should release some music together because they kicked ass. Kris and Danny should consider it too since they sounded great together.

A very talented group. I loved all the performances. I guess Kris will probably go, but who knows. It will be interesting and I hear that Daughtry is performing a new song tomorrow night. Looking forward to that.

Watch Dollhouse Week #4 & #5

DAY 4: A Spy In The House Of Love
This was originally episode 9.

It starts out with Eliza Dushku in a dominatrix outfit. Excellent. This episode is a non-linear story which jumps around a bit. Here goes. Spy discovered inside the dollhouse when Topher finds a chip. Questions a bunch of folks. Dominic enlists the help of an imprinted special agent Sierra. She goes on a Sydney Bristow "Alias" like mission where she grabs government documents to help pinpoint the spy. Meanwhile, Echo tells Topher to let her help. Interesting... Ballard finds out that Millie is a sleeper doll and gets another message from inside the dollhouse. This fast paced episode doesn't let up there. We found out that Victor's repeated lonely hearts mission involves him having an affair with DeWitt. DeWitt is imprinting a doll for her own use? Again, interesting. Echo finds out that Dominic is the spy. AWESOME! DeWitt orders him to be sent to the attic. Basically a memory wipe and being put in a box. Might as well have killed him. But before that, he tries to kill Echo, AGAIN! Boyd becomes the new head of security. Fast paced, multi-layered, lots of secrets revealed. Excellent stand out episode.

DAY 5: Haunted
This was originally episode 10.

This episode is a bit different than the others. This involves Echo getting imprinted with the memories of a dead woman to help her solve her murder. It mostly involves guest stars and not cast members. We found out that this woman is a friend of DeWitt's. We also see that Topher is allowed by DeWitt to imprint a doll for a "diagnostic" session. It really is Topher's birthday and he's imprinting Sierra to be his buddy & companion. I liked this episode even though at times it was playing out like a murder mystery or playing Clue. Either way, it's a good episode that shows a few more layers. I do miss the main storyline and cast though in this one since we see them so little. I guess this universe is growing on me. I'm allowing for the stories to go off on tangents and I'm starting to engage in the characters, even though a good deal of them are changing a bit every week. I like that this show is constantly putting its characters into moral grey zones. Looking forward to seeing what Mr. Whedon and company have in store for us next time.

Next up is tonight's all new episode #11 "Briar Rose" and then next week is the season finale. This is the end of Watch Dollhouse Week.
REMEMBER
You can always watch episodes online on Hulu, plus you can get them on FOX ON DEMAND. Both Hulu and Fox on Demand are FREE. Plus, you can buy from Amazon or iTunes.

In the next 2 episodes I'm looking forward to finding out more about Alpha - the doll that went crazy that we keep hearing about. I think he may be behind all the leaks, but I'm really curious to see what's going on.

Watch Dollhouse Week #3

A little late again with Wednesday's episode post, but I'm trying to stay up to date at least. Looking forward to the new episode Friday, but this is fun catching up.

DAY 3: Needs
Episode 8 - Actives Escape! Thought it was more about super glitching and then suddenly realized that DeWitt wanted this to happen. Ballard isn't in this episode much, but last week he got a message from inside the dollhouse. Pretty cool and the story is becoming multi-layered which I love. Topher says they are running a test. At the end we realize it was Dr Saunder's idea. It was a self-contained episode that really only dealt with the ideas behind the series and not resolve anything. I found it engaging, but I craved the need for more mystery which I got in the last 30 seconds. I also got to see glimpses of the actives' past which I really enjoyed since the characters of the actives are hard to engage in. This episode made me feel for them and got me thinking about why they would enter the dollhouse to begin with. Good episode.

REMEMBER
Hulu has all the episodes online, plus you can get them on FOX ON DEMAND. Both Hulu and Fox on Demand are FREE. Plus, you can buy from Amazon or iTunes. Watch Dollhouse Week has all the links you'll need too.

Again, I can't say it enough. Watch Dollhouse. It's a great show and Eliza Dushku looks fantastic each week.

American Idol Results

For a minute I thought Adam Lambert might go home. Alas, my prediction of Matt G came true. Good luck Matt! Looking forward to hearing your record.