Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Best Of . . .

Wow, an actual new post from me- it's been awhile! As Heidi said, that whole having a baby (and doing so in dramatic fashion, once again!) has really taken it out of me. And I of course should be sleeping right now since the baby is, and the toddler is, and its 11:34 pm, but I'd rather do something that brings back a semblance of my old life. Blogging, hooray!


It's time for a year in the review for the 2009-2010 TV season. I'd love to know what the rest of the Hacks think too, since everything is now in reruns I can catch up on something you all loved that I may have missed this past year. Hard to imagine that I missed much, since between 26 weeks of morning sickness and bedrest at the end of the pregnancy, I'd say I definitely watched more than my fair share of TV this year, but still, I may have missed something fabulous that I can now watch while nursing the baby. Thank God I was born in the era of two TVs minimum in every home!

1- The best thing about this past season was that comedies are back! Hooray! These are my favorites, I'm all about the half hour sitcom in most cases, and pretty much since "Friends" signed off there's been a dearth of them in my TV viewing. But now, thanks to "Modern Family," "Cougar Town," and the fact that I've started watching "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory," there's a good two hours of solid laughs. Cameron from "Modern Family" is perhaps one of my favorite characters on TV right now (I crack up just thinking about him shrieking when they left their adopted daughter Lilly on the elevator in the Hawaii episode). We would totally be friends (you know, if he was real.) And although I was initially very off-put by the idea behind "Cougar Town," I discovered that its a quality ensemble comedy with an absolutely terrible, misleading title. Give it a chance!
2- "Glee" deserves the award for the best new thing in TV. I can't think of another show like it, or one that has influenced other aspects of pop culture so well. I read an interview with Ryan Murphy, the creator, where he said at first he was having a hard time getting artists to agree to let their music be used. But after the Madonna episode's soundtrack went to #1 on the Billboard 100 chart before the episode even aired, musicians are now asking him to use their stuff on the show. He brings in a good mix of show tunes, modern, and more classical stuff, and all of the actors are insanely talented. Any show that can give plum spots to Idina Menzel and Neil Patrick Harris is tops in my book.
3- Crazy, complicated, irritatingly addictive dramas ruled the one hour drama spot with the end of "Lost" and the rising popularity of "Fringe." I should admit that I don't watch either of these shows (well, sort of- Shiloh watches "Fringe" so I see it but don't pay that much attention), but I'm going to start streaming "Lost" on Netflix as soon as I figure out how to get our Wii hooked up to our WiFi and then use that disk I got from Netflix, and I believe I'll love it, from what I know, but also be super annoyed by it. I love J.J. Abrams, I've watched everything he's done starting with "Felicity," so I will always give his work a chance.
4- And finally, "Community" wins my award for the Show with the Most Characters that I Wish Were Real People. This show cracks me up week after week, I seriously want to join that study group or teach at Greendale Community College. Abed is my favorite (love his encyclopedic knowledge of all things movie/tv), but Troy got some great storylines as well (favorite line: "Troy, why do you have a monkey?" "It's an animal that looks like a dude. Why don't I have ten of them?") and Joel McHale is my new favorite comedian. He's even got me watching the "E" network, something I would never, ever have done before seeing "Community," because only one half hour a week of Joel McHale's snarky, sarcastic humor is just not enough, and thus "The Soup" has become another show I'll pretty much always stop on.

I've read up a little bit on the new TV lineup for fall, so a future post with what I hope will be the best of the next season is coming. But I think it needs to be stated that summer TV is pretty freaking awesome right now too. I know Abbey loves "Wipeout," she and Heidi got me into "So You Think You Can Dance" this past year, and who doesn't love every single show on USA Network? Not sure why NBC can't get decent programming on their primetime lineup, but God bless whoever is in charge of programming on USA. "Burn Notice," "In Plain Sight," "Royal Pains," "White Collar" and "Psych" are all pretty much must-see viewing for me (and blessedly available for free from Medicom On Demand, so I can watch during these many, many nursing sessions every day.)

0 comments: