Monday TV Wrap-Up

So I'm kind of switching things up a little this week and talking about the shows I watched this year. You get a lot of reality TV updates, but I'm here to let you know a little about some of the excellent comedies and dramas that recently wrapped up their 2008-2009 seasons. With the exception of today's post (which will consist of shows that aired on Monday), all future posts will include reviews for shows that aired on that day. Without further ado...

Chuck (NBC) – You always know what you’re going to get with the Josh Schwartz-produced Chuck: solid acting, semi-cheesy plot lines, more-or-less slapstick action, pretty good humor, and above average indie music. Zach Levi is a strong leading-man, and the supporting cast of characters… from Chuck’s sister Elie and her husband (as of the season finale) Awesome, to Chuck’s best friend Morgan and the Nerd Herders Lester and Jeff, to Chuck’s government handlers Sarah Walker and John Casey… is really cohesive and makes the show enjoyable through side-plots that are often funnier and more entertaining than the requisite “missions” for each episode. Although they’ve had their number of episodes for next season reduced (and we can undoubtedly plan on more Subway product placement), having Chuck around for another year was great news to the show’s many (and vociferous) fans.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS) – Awesome… just a really really good season of television. The cast is quickly becoming one of the tightest in television, especially considering that this is a traditional sitcom (laugh-track included). No doubt benefiting from the star power of Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris, and even Alyson Hannigan, the writers have managed to stay smart while still appealing to the same audience as Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. Not a small accomplishment. Theoretically, this show could go on forever… and if they keep pace with the quality from this season, you won’t hear any objections here.


24 (Fox) – For about 16-18 hours, 24 was back. I still remember watching the first few seasons of the show and being completely swept up by it. Sure, the storylines and situations were probably as ridiculous as they are now, but you could always count on at least a few huge surprises that you didn’t see coming, but that actually made sense in retrospect. We were on our way to a gold-standard season and things started unraveling. Jack gets infected with an untreatable disease? He wants to die, although Kim wants to help save him? Tony is bad, then good, then bad, then good, then bad? And seriously, I’m supposed to believe that a group of foreign nationalists could invade the White House? Or that all it takes to smuggle a biological weapon into the US is to pay-off one night guard at the shipyard? Really??? In the end, this season was ruined by combination of unnecessary and nonsensical twists, a few annoying characters (I kept waiting for Renee and Olivia to die), and a nauseating commentary on current tactics against terrorist threats (“The FBI plays by the rules. Jack, what are your rules?!? How can you live with yourself??!?!?”). Just write something entertaining and let us enjoy our Jack Bauer Kill Count Drinking Game.

Heroes (NBC) – Gave up on it. Loved the first season. Hated the second season. Tried to forgive it and watch the third season, and although it was pretty decent for a while, it derailed fast and I lost all investment in the characters.

Castle (ABC) – I never saw this show when it was regularly scheduled, and I couldn’t record it because it conflicted with other shows on my DVR schedule. But I saw every episode online and it’s definitely worth the time. Nathan Fillion excels as the title character of Richard Castle, a successful crime-story writer doing research for a new sequence of books based off of his interactions with Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). It’s a different twist on the cop-show genre, and there’s plenty of humor to balance out the drama. The season finale served as a HUGE cliffhanger, and next season’s premier should be excellent. Already owning a strong supporting cast (Molly Quinn and Susan Sullivan are great as Castle’s daughter and live-in mother)… all this show lacks is a stronger viewership

The Dilemma of DVR

Digital Video Recorder. I remember fondly the day during sophomore year of college that I received a mysterious silver box in the mail from my sister. Little did I know that this box and the technology it held would change my life and television-watching across the world, forever. It was only a year prior when my roommate and I meticulously programmed my combo TV/VCR to the minute to record our daily fixes of Days of Our Lives and Passions that we would devour in the evenings. When it came to primetime TV however, there weren't enough VHS tapes to accommodate the programming we wanted to watch. So we had to choose. While it was difficult, the pre-DVR era forced us to commit to our shows whether it was the final season of Dawson's Creek or the new brand of reality, Joe Millionaire. We were singularly attached to these shows because we had to arrange our lives around them. Make time or miss it. The time I put into those shows automatically invested me in the characters and storylines because (sadly?) I was missing part of my life to be a part of theirs.

The advent of DVR has changed all of that and I fear it has ushered in an age of... television polygamy if you will. No longer do we have to pledge allegiance to our primetime players. Instead we have the option of recording multiple shows at once and catching others online. While this has undoubtedly increased convenience and access to shows (shout out to my TV Night crew) I'm here to confess today that I feel I am a television floozy, a harlot, a strumpet. Yes I have the shows I'm devoted to week after week but I still play the field, have my shows on the side that I can go to when I need a fun time or to change things up a little bit. Recently I've been feeling a bit guilty for leading on some old favorites. Kind of like that old friend who you know will always be there but recently prettier, shinier, more exciting friends have taken their place and you don't find yourself dialing them up like you used to. So readers of GSATW - I'm leaving this one up to you. I currently have 3 unwatched episodes each of Heroes, Brothers and Sisters and Ugly Betty on my DVR. Do I continue to lead them on with the prospect of future viewing? Or is it time to be honest with them, tell them things just aren't going to work out and let them loose and move on to greener pastures? Please leave your thoughts in the comments and save me from becoming the television watching version of Paris Hilton...because no one wants to see that.