2006-2007 school year in TV

I don't normally talk much about the other medium known as television on this site, so I figured I would breifly cover the shows that enthralled and disgusted me this year as best I could and some of the things I loved that networks did.

First and foremost in my mind is the AMAZING show Heroes. This show has so many arcs and has started off clunky but has found its footing and a devoted fanbase due to the twisting and mesmerizing story arcs. I hated having to wait for new installments...twice! but, the awesome amount of detail and interaction NBC and Tim Kring developed for the show online plus the ability to watch any episode with commentary or not online helped a Lot in case I missed and episode. Definately the best show of the year.

My next favorite show is now sadly canceled after getting some bad press and no confidence by Fox, a little show called Drive of which only four of the six episodes were ever shown. The idea is fascinating and its great to see how the writers weave the story to have this overseeing evil corporation manipulating the people who are all in an illegal cross country race. Some people thought the story was silly, oters hated the cars and the fact that there weren't crazy car chases. Its an ensemble show which took away a lot of the money for crazy car scenes, and the show uses its setup as a way to enter its characters which is what a show should do people. I would hate to see a cross country race full of nice cars. I'd call it Fast and the Furious, too lame for theaters or something else if it was just about the race. Anyhow, I'll stop bitching. It's gone. Tear.

Another good show includes the currently running Raines. I find it be very similar to all of the other detective that sees dead people shows except it does a great job of going in depth as to how the detective perceives these people and how his perceptions are affected by evidence. Plus, Goldblum is highly entertaining with his dry laconic humor.

Sadly, Raines partner show Andy Barker P.I. is also canceled. This was a show created by Conan O'Brien which gave me no reason to see it. But after seeing an episode it was nice to see such a fun show making a smart spoof on all the old detective noir films and plots. The cast was great and the dialogue fun. Also, it has Tony Hale as a sarcastic movie clerk...perfect! If you want to see all the episodes, I highly recommend watching them online and then when you're done transferring over to Raines and watching those.

Perhaps one of the disappointments for me is House. Ever since the second season, I have not been that big of a fan. Oh yea, sure Hugh Laurie is still great. It just has to do with the decision to make every episode very gory, or gross, or somethng that will make you cringe and lose a little respect for House and then gain it back later because he is an arrogant smug always right specialist...not good enough and I don't apprecate the turn to gore. I liked it better when the stories focused on more interesting diseases or combinations of that didn't require things like balls exploding. With that said, I will admit that I only saw one or two episodes this season, so I might have caught the wrong ones.

Prisonbreak is trash. I have to watch this show because of the people I stay with love it and we eat dinner, after its over thogh, I'm off to Heroes. The actors just can't act, except for that one crazy cajun guy who is creepy as hell. Also, the entire story arc is ridiculous and highly annoying. It's obvious at this point that the series shoudl have been over long ago. It was made to be a great 1 season story arc and never knew what to do with itself after it got renewed. Bleh.

Although I haven't seen much of it, I do appreciate Psyche. I find it to be a fun show with an interesting premise and not terrible acting. I just wish the dialogue included more fun partner banter than it does, but besides that its a good detective show that feigns at the I see dead people approach. Amusing!

Used to watch Family Guy and Amercian Dad, but last year was enough. I'll watch them eventually when they hit Adult Swim maybe. Speaking of which on Adult Swim I found several new series highly amusing and a welcome break from their nonsequitor humor. Frisky Dingo was a Great new addition. Of course Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks is awesome and I anxiously await the new season. Metalocalypse was sort of mish mash. I enjoyed the humor and how each epidoe tied together and still found great ways to create humor based on rock and roll and other topics, but the episodes never feel that they were meant to be tied together. Take out te scenes with the satan or whoever monitoring them in each one and each episode could stand on its own. It was still enjoyable though. Saul of the Mole Men was a great idea to bring back that crazy style I remember growing up on cheap kids shows with an adult theme. The premise is classic. The execution though is a textbook example of how to screw up big-time. While the visceral feel of the show is done right, the plot and the ridiculous characters make the show feel like it was meant to be a replacement for all the Ren & Stimpy fans out there, just add live-action and crack. Oh yea, Morel Orel is awesome. Ihave come to love this little show as a great satire on American life and religion especially. It takes on some big issues and sometimes it becomes a bit too heavy handed and or disgusting, but usually it gets the feel just right. Robot Chicken is, well, robot chicken and it is either on or off. Ghost in the Shell is interesting to me as was Paranoia Agent by the great Satoshi Kon, who happens to have a movie coming out soon in the US called Paprika (Go find the trailer, it looks awesome!), But the best Japanime yet is Shin Chan. This little show reminds me Family Guy back when it was funny and full of commentary on society. The show isn't for anyone and makes a lot of jokes about bare butts and adolescence, but it is a funny reminder to me at least of how simple the world seemed as a kid and how easy it was to screw up with that assumption. Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Tom the Mayor, and Aqua Teen have gotta go. The first two were never good and the last one has dropped off significantly since season 1. I really wish they had made a season of Korgoth the barbarian since that would have been a great addition in a back to back hour with The Venture Brothers, which I admit is on my to own list at some point. It's just a great show.

Other than that, there hasn't been a whole lot of any interest on for me. I am a well known despiser of reality television, except for Iron Chef. Smith was good while it lasted but it was quickly canceled which was sad. Now I have to buy the episodes on iTunes. The Nine was also a great show but it too was canceled due to lack of watcher so I will never know the ending. 30 Rock was great but I never knew when it came on so I usually watched it online. Apparently Alec Baldwin has some comedian in him, go Alec! Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip never captured my interest but it had several of my families as they were all in love with Aaron Sorkin's West Wing. Sorry, but the show just didn't have as many likeable characters and the dialogue was a bit much. I liked West Wing, but it took a whole season on DVD to get me into it. Numb3rs is a good show if it was showing during the middle of the day with soaps. But for Primetime, it's lacking and doesn't offer a whole lot of anything new. I refuse to watch the Law & Order : enter subtitle here series or NCIS or CSI or any other of these generic detective cop precinct shows as much as I refuse to watch Ghost Whisperer or Medium or any generic cop talks to ghost show.

Oh yea, and on Discovery Planet Earth rocked HARD! Man that show was amazing! If you haven't seen it, go buy it and find out why everyone was talking about it. The great white shark and the seals was a great bit. Also, big fan of their show Mythbusters. I also like their show they have during the day where they will take 15 minutes and do a quick narrated montage showing you how something is made like a speedboat. Very informative and very fascinating. Future Weapons scares me as much as it awes me. The Dealiest Catch and Dirty Jobs are just not my shows.

Although I'm forced to watch TLC and shows like What Not to Wear by she who will not be named, I will admit that for such regurgitated ideas and build a ____ shows, the quality and the designing aspect to all of the shows on the channel keep them intriguing and sufferable to people who could usually care less. Although you know what, all those wedding shows like Bam's wedding on MTV and a wedding story and Real wedding Crashers...just stop. Stop those shows right now and help me keep some sense of sanity and faith in television.

My biggest recommendation to the networks and some are beginning to do this, make the episodes available on your website for free so that people can catch up if they miss it. NBC has a great system going. Also, create extra content in depth for fans. The amount of interactive content you can wade through for Heroes is ASTOUNDING. Hell, they create viral interactive experiences for the viewers online that will then later affect the show and it doesn't hurt if you don't know what they are talking about but it adds a bit of umh to your step to know you helped or to know what is going on (Wireless, you die in the future!). I also have to give props for great openings to shows. I can't get the images of the intro to Raines out of my head. Unfortunately, it's set to the intro music from Drive which I also can't relinquish my grip on. Lastly, I do appreciate the amount of riskier and interesting shows that channels took a chance on this year so far. I just hope they continue to do so instead of churning out the same old same old due to a lack of viewer interest in the more different intellectual properties. Anyhow, that's my assesment of T.V. land. Why don't you write in and tell me about yours? I'm listening...I can hear you...Because I'm SPECIAL....

Wannabe(Sylar)