Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad has been on my radar since it started in 2008.  At the time, Mad Men had only been on the air for one year and AMC hadn't established the fan base that it now holds with Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead and others.  I didn't start watching Breaking Bad until a few years ago when my friend told me there was a scene in the first season that made her want to puke.  This particular scene involved a dead body, acid, a bath tub and a plan-gone-wrong situation.  That was enough to make me watch the first season.  I liked the premise and the writing but early into the second season I was bored with the pacing and decided to stop watching.  Fast forward to season 4 when every Sunday night on Twitter all everyone could talk about was Breaking Bad.  I decided I had to give it another try and I'm sure glad I did.

Once you get over the hump of late season 2 into early season 3, things really start to pick up.   This show is very raw and seems to portray an accurate picture of the crystal meth production business and all that goes along with it. 

The evolution of Walter White has been incredible.  Beginning as an awkward, bumbling, nervous school teacher, Walt has transformed from the hero nice guy into Heisenberg...the cook.  My favorite episodes of the series were "Half Measures" and "Full Measure".  Though those episodes didn't feature the most prominent deaths, they were, in my opinion, the deaths that made it impossible for Walt and Jesse to ever go back or try to deny what they had become.  And speaking of Jesse...

Jesse Pinkman has become one of my favorite TV characters of all time, which is saying a lot considering how many shows I watch and have watched.  Aaron Paul expertly portrays Jesse Pinkman and should win every award for which he is nominated and he should be nominated for every award for which he is eligible.  To go from super emotional edge of your seat drama (visiting Gale, questioning "Mr. White" about Brock) to the most awkward and/or hilarious situation (dinner table with Walt and Skyler; "Yeah Mr. White, Yeah Science!") takes some serious talent. 

Much like my "Lost" marathon in 2009, I watched (most of) Breaking Bad in record time.  If you aren't watching this show you have 1 year to get caught up before what are sure to be a mind blowing final 8 episodes next summer. 

The Bachelor Premiere and a Letter to Anna

It's that time again.  The time of year when we all argue with ourselves about whether or not we are going to watch this season of The Bachelor.  First you say to yourself, "no, I'm not watching it.  The Bachelor is so incredibly dumb and cheesy I WILL NOT waste any more of my life or brain cells watching this dumb dumb show."  Then you begin to see previews for the premiere and you start to reconsider, "oh yeah, I did feel pretty sorry for Ben last season.  I do kind of want him to end up happy.  No, no, no!!!  Don't give in!  This is how they get us.  They recycle the same people so you keep watching.  I WILL NOT watch."  Then it is the night of the first show and the only other thing on TV is the 400th football game of the week or Suzanne Somers on the home shopping network so you think, "ok, I'll just watch this episode, just to see if there are any interesting people but I definitely won't tell anyone that I am watching" and BOOM, you're hooked.  And you find yourself blogging about this dumb show again.

A few notes from Episode 1:

What is the deal with Lindzi and Lyndsie spelling their names like that?  Yes, I realize their parents named them but still.  What is the world coming to?

Lots of fake eyelashes this season.  Is the competition really so fierce that women now must resort to adding extra pieces of hair to their faces?  In 200 years anthropologists are going to be very confused by the fake eyelash trend.

"Babe, Welcome to Dumpsville, population YOU".  There is no way that actually happened.

I realized during this episode, as I was completely zoning out, that the sit down with Chris Harrison just before the limos pull up is the exact same conversation on every season.  Here are some of the highlights (if you think back to ANY of the previous bachelors and bachelorettes you will agree that it is the same): "when I was on the show last season the emotions were real; I was hurt but I learned a lot about myself and now I'm really ready to open up and give love a chance; yes, if I find the right person I think I will be in a place to propose at the end of this journey, blah blah blah"

I choose not to comment on the Carrie Bradshaw love blogger girl crying in the bathroom or the ponytail girl getting a little too friendly with the girl with big teeth.

And now...A letter to Anna:

Dear Anna,

(slow clap)  Nice.  Nice.  Although it didn't end up working out for you, walking straight past Ben without introducing yourself or saying anything at all was a very creative move.  I tip my (gigantic Kentucky Derby) hat to you.

Karen

Boardwalk Empire Season 2 Finale

Warning: Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire Spoilers below

HBO and I are not friends right now.  We had a bit of a falling out a few months back when they killed Ned and Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones.  I wasn't too terribly upset over Ned, just shocked that they would kill what appeared to be THE main character.  Poor Drogo, that was a different story.  I was so upset.  Then I realized it was not actually HBO that killed them, it was George R.R. Martin who authored the Game of Thrones books.  I apologized to HBO and we were friends again. 

But now....I don't know if I can recover from what they did on Boardwalk Empire. 

I kind of wish I had a picture of how I looked when Nucky killed Jimmy.  In the moments leading up to the shooting I was thinking that at the last minute Nucky would shoot Manny instead and it would turn out to be a double-double cross.  But noooooo.  Poor Jimmy.  Yes, he cheated on his wife, he killed lots of people, he slept with his mother but somehow he was the most likable character on the show.  And any redeeming qualities that Nucky had were tossed out the window when he shot Jimmy, twice, in the head.  Rothstein said to Nucky, "Flip a coin.  When it's in the air you'll know which side you're hoping for."  I love that; but I do not love that Nucky was hoping for the side that ended with Jimmy dead in the rain.  The only person left alive at the end of season 2 that I like is Richard Harrow.  I'm interested to see what they do with his character since the only two people who really cared about him are now dead. 

So HBO, thanks a lot.  Jerks. 

Desensitized

Believe it or not, I used to be pretty sensitive.  Well, sensitive to some things at least.  I remember when I was about 10 years old I was in the car with my parents driving through Dallas.  We passed a big building with no windows.  The neon sign above the door of this building read, "The Crystal Palace".  There were no crystals on the exterior of this building and it in no way resembled what I would consider a palace.  I remember asking my parents what sort of establishment the Crystal Palace was and they informed me that it was a strip club.  I had heard about strip clubs before but this was the first time I had actually seen one.  (Sidenote:  I had driven by the billboard on I-35 for Cabaret Royale several time but always thought it was a clothing store where they only sold leather pants and gold bikini tops)  For some reason, seeing a real live strip club, even just from the outside, was very upsetting to me.  Like I said, I was sensitive. 

Fast forward 7 years...

My parents would not let me watch R rated movies until I was 17.   It was more about the violence than the foul language or lewd behavior.  I think they were trying to protect my innocent little eyes and didn't want me to have nightmares.  I have always had a very guilty conscience and therefore actually obeyed this rule rather than just going to my friends' houses to watch the R rated feature films like everyone else did.  I remember making a declaration around the time of my 16th birthday:  "Fine!  If you won't let me watch R rated movies until I'm 17, I'll just keep a list of all the movies I am going to watch and as soon as I turn 17 I'm going to start watching them all right in a row and never stop!!!"  (storms off to room, considers slamming door then remembers guilty conscience and closes door gently).  I pretty much followed through on that declaration and haven't stopped watching violent movies since I was 17.

Fast forward another 13 years...

I know this makes me sound like a sociopath but I really like violent movies and TV shows.  I don't like the violence per se but I tend to enjoy the story lines of movies and shows that also have violence.  Make sense?  I recently realized that I have been completely desensitized to violence on TV.  A few weeks ago my friends asked me about the show Boardwalk Empire.  (which I really like)  They said they heard it was good but that it was kind of gory.  I thought about it for a minute and nothing was coming to mind about the show that would make me consider it overly gory.  I told them it was fine and not too violent other than the common occurence of throat slashing.  The very next episode had a guy get scalped and another guy get beat to death (in the face) with a wrench.  So, maybe it is a bit gory afterall.  Oops. 

So what is the point?  2 things: if you are wondering if something is violent I am not a good person to ask, also, if my parents had only let me watch R rated movies when I was younger I wouldn't have started my 10 year long parade of R rated movies and TV shows and would therefore not be so unbothered by violence and gore now.  So there. 

 

My Opinion On: Up All Night, New Girl, Free Agents

Let's start with the best and work our way down, shall we?

Up All Night 
If there was a show about a guy who just sat there and drank glasses of water and didn't really do anything other than drink water and blink occasionally BUT the part of the guy was played by Will Arnett, I would watch that show.  Up All Night not only has Will Arnett but also Maya Rudolph AND a premise to which I can relate.  Also, I was happy to see that Lorne Michaels is the executive producer.

There were two scenes that I found particularly funny:

1. Reagan and Chris each accusing the other of being asleep while they were awake with the baby.  I have had that conversation many times.  "I could see that you were asleep because my eyes were completely open because I was wide awake"

2. After getting very little sleep, Chris offers Reagan one million dollars to go take care of the baby when she starts crying.  I have had this conversation many times as well.

I give this show 2 thumbs up and will indeed be watching again next week.



New Girl
If you aren't aware, itunes has the pilot episode of this show available as a free download right now.  I have mixed feelings about this one.  Don't get me wrong, Zooey Deschanel  is great.  She plays her same old quirky, lovable character but has added a little extra geeky-ness that I really like.  I like the character of Nick and the actor they chose to play him.  I like the Damon Wayans Jr. character (even though he has been replaced with a different actor since he is shooting Happy Endings) but I do not like that his name is Coach.  My biggest, and maybe only, problem with this show is the actor that plays the part of Schmidt.  I don't like him, he bothers me.

Overall though I enjoyed the premiere.  The positives of Zooey Deschanel greatly outweigh the negatives of other cast members.  I have the same habit of making up songs for every aspect of my life (cooking dinner, tying my shoes, shopping for cheese etc.) and it was nice to see this awesome personality trait displayed on the show.

I give it 1.5 thumbs up and will watch again next week.

Free Agents
This one hasn't been publicized as much as some other new shows.  I didn't have very high expectations going into the premiere and unfortunately my low expectations may not have been low enough.  I like Hank Azaria and some of the other supporting cast.  This is the perfect example of a show that may take a few weeks to get into its groove.  You know that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry is dating the girl who sometimes is beautiful and sometimes is weird looking?  I felt like that's how it was for Kathryn Hahn in this show.

Free agents gets 1 thumb at a 45 degree angle but I will give it at least one more episode.

Fall TV Schedule Reveal

In my defense, let me just say that I am relatively certain I will drop several of these shows by about mid-October.  I always start with a bunch of the new shows at the beginning knowing that only about 10% - 25% of them will make the official cut.  I will give pretty much any show at least 2 episodes to entertain me, if after 2 episodes it is still dumb and/or boring I stop watching.

That being said, here is the less complicated version of my spreadsheet.  I did not feel it was necessary to display start date, time and channel on here...just day of the week and title of show.  Which old shows are you looking forward to seeing again?  Which new shows most interest you?  Hmmmmm???

Fall 2011 TV Schedule

Monday

How I Met Your Mother

2 Broke Girls

Castle

Terra Nova

House

Real Housewives

Tuesday

Biggest Loser

Man Up

New Girl

Tosh.O

Wednesday

Suburgatory

Modern Family

Happy Endings

Up All Night

Criminal Minds

The X Factor

Free Agents

CSI

American Horror Story 

Thursday

How to Be a Gentleman

Person of Interest

The Office

Community

Project Runway

Friday

Grimm

The Soup

Say Yes to the Dress

Saturday

SNL

The Nerdist

Sunday

Once Upon a Time

Boardwalk Empire

Hell on Wheels 

The Walking Dead 

Pan Am

New Shows Just Around the Corner

Sorry for the lengthy hiatus.  This has been a busy summer for me with work and I have neglected to update the blog, but rest assured my TV watching has not slowed down one bit. This time of year is very exciting for me.  The new fall TV season is right around the corner!  I have completed a rough draft of my TV spreadsheet but I still have a bit more research to do.

Last year I dropped a few shows that I had been loyal to for years and years.  This year it doesn't look like I will be dropping any of my shows and will, of course, be adding more.  I know what you are thinking, how can I add more shows without dropping any?  Well, just like every year, some of the shows I watched last season have ended or been cancelled making room for new ones!

I don't want to reveal my spreadsheet until it is finished but I will let you know that as of today there are 30 shows on there.  I will be posting a summer show recap soon; just a brief update of what I have been watching for the past couple of months.  Thanks again for reading this.  Hopefully we can all find some new good shows (or bad ones) and discuss them this fall.