State of the Tube 2010

Once again, it is time for me to opine on the state of television as the new fall season is underway and all the new shows have been rolled out... and in some cases, have already rolled over. This year, we've had not one, not two, but three new series get the axe after just two episodes. I'm happy about one of them, that being Fox's "Lonestar", which got cancelled to make way for an earlier-than-expected return of "Lie to Me", one of my favorite shows. However, I'm disappointed that ABC's "My Generation" got yanked. Granted, it was not a show I could watch live because it was on opposite NBC's Thursday night comedies and CBS's attempt to counter with sitcoms (and that's likely what killed if off) so I had to watch on Hulu. But I cannot get into a series and then see the plug pulled but then be told that they'll continue to run the episodes they have. There's no point in continuing to watch. I thought it was a pretty decent show, but I found the "documentary format" to be limiting. They always had to remind you that the characters were on camera, so you got a sense that anything important happening wasn't going to be as good as it could have been, because they had to go through the charade of the characters telling the film crew not to record what they were doing.

Anyway, let's go through my rundown of what's on the tube and what you should be watching (because it's what I'm watching). Beginning with Sunday night... "The Simpsons" still pulls off the occasional decent episode but it's not appointment TV for me. I was relieved that what was billed as a "Glee"-themed episode was rather limited in that aspect and saved by the guys from "Flight of the Conchords". But I'm not inclined to go out of my way to watch the show anymore, it's just been on too long. As for what follows, well, "The Cleveland Show" is back for a second season and has ALREADY been on too long. "Family Guy" is still sharp; I'm not sure what the general reaction was to last week's Rush Limbaugh episode, but I think it had a lot to tell us about political discourse and respecting your opponent. Of course, there were things in that episode that made no sense (such as trying to convince us that Limbaugh and John McCain liked each other), but I was able to overlook that. And both sides were skewered equally; you had the Republican song-and-dance number, followed by Nancy Pelosi having to stash a lit crackpipe. However, it is still "Mad Men" that makes Sunday nights, and there are only 2 episodes left this season to enjoy it. Everything is building toward total collapse at Sterling Cooper Draper Price, and the last few episodes have been among the best in the series. Likely to win the show many more Emmys next year.

Monday night is still anchored by "How I Met Your Mother" on CBS, back for its 6th season. Yes, we're still waiting to find out who the "mother" is, but last season managed to come up with just enough triumphant moments (including not one, but two musical numbers) to warrant not only syndication but my continuing rapt attention this year. I'm not much of a fan of the other Monday night CBS comedies (especially "Two and a Half Men"). The return of "Lie to Me" after a gripping summer run of episodes makes 9:00 on Fox a regular routine for me. Although they clumsily wrote Mekhi Phifer out of the show (he got shot in the season 2 finale last month and Cal Lightman makes a throwaway line in the season 3 premiere about not working with the FBI anymore), the constant flux that is the Lightman Group's financial situation and the personnel of said organization provides a good backstory to the weekly attempts by Cal & Co. to spot the bad guys. This also has caused episodes of NBC's "The Event" to back up on my DVR. The pilot episode was intriguing enough and I want to find out what's going on and everything, but after going through the cancellation and the unsatisfying ending of ABC's "Flash Forward" last season, maybe I'm just hesitant to get jerked around again.

Tuesday nights have started to redeem themselves in my eyes. Last year, I couldn't find anything worth watching on Tuesdays, but now we have "Parenthood" on NBC and "Detroit 1-8-7" on ABC vying for viewers' attention in the 10pm slot. "Parenthood" is superbly written and has a great ensemble cast.

Wednesday nights are all about "The Middle" and "Modern Family" on ABC. The latter is clearly the best comedy on television (and has the Emmys to prove it), and the first few episodes of this season have all been home runs. Just a laugh-out-loud funny show and if you aren't watching it, you are missing out big time. "The Middle" seemed to stumble a little in its season premiere but has managed to retain the quirky charm that made it a hit last season.

Thursday nights continue to be the night when seemingly everything happens. With "My Generation" already suffering the same fate as "Flash Forward" last year (albeit MUCH sooner), things are only uncluttered a little. "Community" has its share of fans on NBC at 8:00 but I still don't really get it, and it's now up against CBS' "Big Bang Theory" which I also don't get but it got the guy who plays Sheldon an Emmy last year so it definitely has its core group of fans too. Do these two groups overlap and will that lead to a duel to the death for these two shows? NBC moved "30 Rock" to 8:30 to secure its audience from tuning out after "The Office" (more on that in a moment), and so far that show has also managed to knock every episode out of the park. From Tracy Jordan landing on "Cash Cab" in order to get to the birth of his daughter, to a hurried show of diversity in order to please a grandstanding congresswoman (whose sense of inflection without really saying anything seems to be a parody of a certain current president), the show is firing on all cylinders.

Meanwhile on CBS, you get William Shatner and "Shit My Dad Says" (which of course is bleeped for TV consumption but I don't bleep this blog). I want to like this show, but so far it only seems to be half a good show. By that I mean that for every great joke, there is one that completely fails. This is the drawback of the "heavy laugh-track" sitcom. When the jokes are really good, you don't really mind or notice the laugh track because you're laughing along. When the jokes are really bad, the laugh track comes off as silly to downright annoying. But I enjoy the chemistry between Shatner's character and the son, so the show has a chance. On the other hand, I forgot to record it last week, so maybe I've unconsciously made my call on that show...

I got into "The Office" a little bit through watching reruns and I kinda like the show but it's still not something I feel I have to watch every week. Having a show like that in syndication is kinda nice cuz I can catch up on it whenever I feel like it. But you kinda get a sense that they're REALLY trying to knock this season out of the park because it's Steve Carell's last season on the show and most hardcore "Office" fans have indicated that they're done watching the show when Carell leaves. As for the new 9:30 NBC show, "Outsourced"... well, remember what I said about tuning out after "The Office"? Yeah, that's what you want to do with this show. Big time. Fox's "Fringe" continues to be compelling, especially with the alternate universe figuring prominently into the way the show is presented. At this point, episodes alternate between taking place in one universe then the other, with the "red vs. blue" open of the show acting as your indication of which universe is the setting. It's fun looking for the various quirks of the alternate universe, such as the misspelling of "Manhatan" and the ads for the 11th season of "The West Wing", but you also want to know why is the air quality so bad? Did Walter kidnapping the Peter from this world cause that to happen somehow? Soon enough, our questions will be answered because you have to know they are moving toward a resolution of the switched Olivia Dunhams. I hear that the ratings are down for "Fringe", and if that's the case, it's disappointing and I also wonder where they've gone. Is "Nikita" on The CW that good a show for that audience to steal people away?

Oh, and speaking of the CW, there are werewolves on "The Vampire Diaries" now... because apparently you cannot have any vampire franchise that doesn't also have werewolves (see also: "Twilight", "True Blood", "Buffy", etc.)

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" has returned to the 10pm slot on FX for another season. The most recent episode that featured WMMR's Preston & Steve, Mac trying to learn the art of skating and the hockey slapshot, and Dee and Dennis' attempt at podcasting was just the latest in a long line of razor-sharp presentations. And the best is yet to come... such as the fact that with Kaitlin Olson (who plays Dee) being pregnant when they shot Season 6, they will incorporate it into the show... by suddenly making Dee 8 months pregnant. Should be a classic.

The CW brings us the only redeeming television on Friday nights, that being the fact that "Smallville" is FINALLY in its last season. They've teased us with the promise that at some point soon, Clark Kent will don the red and blue tights and become Superman (they even quoted Nietzsche last week in their effort to hint at the inevitable). But first, Clark must defeat his greatest enemy... himself. Just as the "mirror match" is the climax for your classic video games, so too does it appear to be for "Smallville". I made it this far with the show, I may as well see it through to the finish.

As we well know, Saturdays are a wasteland unless you like college football and come December, they will just be a wasteland period. So I use Saturdays to catch up on everything I have saved on the DVR. After all I am a busy grad student who has class 2 nights a week and therefore doesn't get to see everything I want when it's on. Sadly, I am fighting a losing battle. You will all just have to go on without me... happy viewing!