Alright, alright, alright, alright. It is time for the TV post. As I continue my month of weekend travel these next two weeks, do not expect another one until early November. If you want to see the previous post, you can find it at the following link: https://facebook/pagemasterjim/posts/10152384285766918 Now, onto the list, with a full breakdown below that! Currently Airing Shows: 1.) The Flash 2.) Sleepy Hollow 3.) Arrow 4.) SHIELD 5.) Homeland 6.) Doctor Who 7.) Blacklist 8.) Gotham 9.) The Walking Dead 10.) American Horror Story 11.) Constantine Side Project: Avatar The Last Airbender Firstly, let me open with how much difficulty I had with sorting this top five, and even then I had issues sorting the back six. Of those top five, yes only one of them is not comic-based or feels like it. There is a lot of serious, brooding, thought-provoking stuff out there. I am sure that SOA is spectacular, and maybe one day I will check it out. For now, I am sticking to my guns. To be honest here, usually I see shows on my list that I am sure will fail or get cancelled. I dont see that happening here. That is kind of refreshing. At the same time, I look at a lot of these shows, and I see similar patterns in storytelling. At the end of the day, it seems that genre tv has a firm foothold on the masses. The Walking Dead beat out Sunday Night football. Game of Thrones when it returns will continue to dominate. It is a good time to be a geek. Ok, well, if you have time to watch tv. Anyways, onward we go! 1.) The Flash tops my list this time around. With only three episodes under it so far, this show is far from perfect. But you know what? It is fun. It tops my list because of how much I enjoy it. I dont overthink this show. I just roll with it. They do a great job with the lore, and have some VERY lofty goals set out in its first season. I honestly expect them to payoff big. The writing is a little slapdash at times, to be fair and critical. But the cast give it their all. Barry is a relatable kind of guy for someone like me. Grant really feels comfortable in the role, and you can tell he is having fun. I have fun watching this show. Am I worried that at times it feels a little too Smallville? Sure. But early Smallville was great. It took years for it to become a verb, and I would argue that Supernatural is gunning for that position. That is a talk for a different time. 2.) Sleepy Hollow continues to be hilarious, for the best of reasons, and sometimes for the worst. They have brought in a new character, sidelining a couple of others. They introduced us to Franklinsteins Monster, and more. They also dont know how to handle the Katrina storyline, and sadly that is the shows weakest point of storytelling. For me, this is drawing a tight parallel to Prison Break. Prison Break was a show that never really planned to get a second season. It had tons of clever ideas, and executed them wonderfully. They lost their way, but went on for five seasons. Nothing felt as tight as the first. I worry that Sleepy Hollow lives in that shadow, however they continue their super tight and fast paced style of moving the story forward. 3.) Arrow is a show that has really matured with its time. That is not to say the show reaches the aforementioned broodiness, but the show has its found its path. It sticks to its presentation, and the story advances at a manageable pace. That is not to say the show does not have its issues, either. Laurel being the top of that list. It saddens me to see two shows that have issues with writing female leads. To be fair, both shows have excellent female leads, at least two sets for each show in fact. But it just seems like they get lazy with the writing. The actresses are doing a great job, but the material is lacking. Again, a sign of a larger problem. Arrow has done a great job of laying the groundwork. They dont often surprise the viewer, but then they do, it is often enjoyable. The opening of the season was strong, and it has stayed that course. 4.) Agents of SHIELD wows me, week in and week out. The show is brave. If you quit the show and have not given it a chance, I understand. Really, I do. But so far, every episode in season two, has been better than practically every episode in season one. I am interested in the show to the point I have trouble working on other things at the same time. That was the big sign for me in the first season, being able to not pay attention and not care. I care about this show now. It doesnt wow in a storytelling sense, but it has done great work with progressing the characters while progressing the main story. Few shows can balance that. Well done, SHIELD. Well done, indeed. 5.) Homeland has been a favorite of mine since the start. With season four just starting, they are rebooting the entire show practically. The core cast mostly remain, and retain the chemistry that made their interactions compelling. It took four episodes for the show to effectively show its hand this season. It is not a show with quick rewards, so this is not abnormal. The acting on this show remains brilliant, but the writing still feels off. They are trying to find their new path, but are keeping it compelling as they do so. There has yet to be a jaw-dropping moment, as this show has been known to do at times, but it does well without it so far. 6.) Doctor Who has been a roller coaster for me. When it nails it, like it did with Listen, oh my how they nail it. I commend them for also retooling the style of the show. Making it darker, more character driven. I absolutely love Capaldi. He is great. I worried that they would have issues with Clara considering they wrapped her main story with the previous season. Her story and their bickering have been a distraction from great storytelling. I get it. I understand the direction they are taking here. But at times it is comfortable to watch. No one enjoys watching their friends bicker. And yet, we have been treated to that for many weeks. Despite that, the show remains strong, just not as strong as I would have liked. 7.) The Blacklist continues to be more of the same. If you like The Blacklist before, then you probably still like it now. As previously stated, James Spader owns this show, and because of his role here I am stoked for that new Avengers trailer. There is more to the show than Spader, but really, it all comes back to him. If you have never seen the show, I understand this may not be a good sell. Check out the pilot. If that is your cuppa, then you are going to have that delivered consistently. If not, so be it! 8.) Gotham is a problematic show. The only reason I have not ranked it lower is because the others have less episodes aired. That is not to say I dont enjoy this show. But I reaaaaaallly have to not think about this show a lot to enjoy it. The acting is why I come back to this show. Robin Lord Taylor is a wonderful, sleazy, scheming rat. And Donald Logue, you know the taxi driver from those old MTV ads back when they still had music, is perfect as Bullock. The rest of the cast has been perfectly cast, too, but these two are standouts. My biggest issue with the show is that I wish we did not see Bruce as much. Their reasoning is sensible. I just dont care. I know that he is going to grow up and become The Dark Knight. Yay. I care about everyone else. I want to see how they became the icons they are. For now, this show reminds me a lot of Almost Human, except that is has more direction because of established material. They are having fun with the perp of the week drama. I just hope they can maintain everything. 9.) The Walking Dead should be higher on this list. But with only two episodes going for it so far, it has not quite gotten there. The writing remains tight. Very tight. They show the audience things, and allow us to figure it out, versus spending every second explaining it. They are treating the viewers as thoughtful, and it shows. Expect this show to climb the ranks next time around, by a good margin. I say this being tired of the zombie genre. But this show is more than that. It is now good storytelling, even if it is brutal. 10.) American Horror Story Freakshow is delightful. That is not to say it is good. Every season we go through the same pattern. I was done with the show after Coven, but they brought me back with this setting. And they are not really pulling punches with the freakish and the fantastical. One of the odder points of the show has been the modern song number in every episode. Not that is is a bad presentation of it, but it certainly detracts. I think the showrunner got a taste of making music videos in Coven for Stevie Nicks, and wanted to keep at it. Still, the show is hitting its usual notes. And lets be honest, Twisty makes for a damned good creepy clown. Next episode has some of his story explained. Lets see where it goes! 11.) Constantine is on the list early. It starts on Friday, and I will be out of town at GMX. I have seen the pilot already, and really enjoyed it. I understand there will be some changes to it, to account for changing the lead character that supports John after a few episodes. I think they are lining up the show well, considering this is on NBC. I worry the network will be more restrictive of the content, and wish this had been on AMC or FX. But it gets a fair chance. The lead actor has yet to wow me after one episode, but I feel he gets it. He understands the role, and will only get better. The show has no shame setting it in Atlanta, and I love that. They will be making the city as much of a character as John. I do not think this show will be as big for this city as TWD was and continues to be, but it will definitely leave its mark. Side Project: I wrapped Bobs Burgers some time back. I was tempted to go ahead and start Archer, but Avatar has been itching to be seen for years now. I am wrapping up season one currently, and am floored by how good of a show this is. I have made it this long without spoilers, so please be mindful of that in the comments. I expect to demolish this show and move onto Korra in the coming months. There you have it, folks!
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:46:53 +0000