[The following is part one of an email conversation between Jesse and Jim with our thoughts about the new television season.]---
From: Jesse Craft
To: Jim Fisher
Subject: The writer's strike strikes again
Jim, you and I are probably the two biggest media consumers we both know. Your DVD collection is the stuff of legend, and there are occasions when I miss television shows I would otherwise watch because I'm already recording 2 while I watch a third. So I'm glad we both decided to put the new fall season to the test of our collective tastes. We're going to discuss what each of us are watching this season, what we like and don't like, and maybe, just maybe, we'll figure out what the hell happened to Heroes?
Before we even get into the shows, though, we have to talk about the dark cloud that still hangs over the television landscape; the writer's strike of aught-seven. Last year, I watched, or at least sampled, seven new series: Chuck, Reaper, Gossip Girl, Bionic Woman, Pushing Daisies, Damages, and the Sarah Conner Chronicles. Sure, Reaper fizzled, I hate Gossip Girl but watch it with the Suze, and I missed the premiere of Bionic Woman and then only made it through 15 minutes of the second episode, but that's still 4 shows that I'm watching or intend to continue watching this season once they return. This year? I watched 20 minutes of the Fringe pilot before punching myself in the face until I passed out. And that's it.
So is the new fare from this fall season treating you any better? Anything I'm missing out on? And, seriously: what the hell happened to Heroes?
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From: Jim Fisher
To: Jesse Craft
Subject: This email will return in 90 seconds
Heroes hit a severe sophomore slump last year, and was righting itself
just about the time the writers went on strike. Then they had to wrap
up the storyline in three or four episodes, and all this stuff happened
and Peter's Irish girlfriend got stuck in a future that may or may not
happen. And they never did find the iPods.
I've actually enjoyed the first three installments of Heroes this
season. I think the problem is the show started so well, that we're
comparing it to that lightning-in-a-bottle that was Heroes season 1.
Try comparing it to reruns of Las Vegas on TNT. They make Heroes look
like Citizen Kane... but look, if this season reaches its potential
it's going to be awesome -- we have super-strong Marlo Stanfield, Sylar
the Company Man, Future-Petrelli, The Ghost of Malcolm McDowell...
what's not to like? Oh, right, Mohindar and Matt Parkman.... and
Nicki's twin sister (or perhaps clone) who was seemingly "made" by
crazy Doc Zimmerman. Heroes remains on my "watch" list, despite a few
bumps in the road last season.
Speaking of crazy doctors, how about that Fringe? It's my first
experience with JJ Abrams television. I absolutely hated the pilot, but
decided to give it a second chance. The second and third episodes were
a lot better. I like the crazy doctor character, although at times he
is a bit *too* crazy. Cedric Daniels has moved from the Major Crimes
Unit to the Abrams-X-Files Unit of some government organization.
Despite every case being related to crazy doctor's 1970's experiments,
and the whole concept of this "Massive Dynamic" company that seems to
be responsible for all the ill in the world, I'm going to give Fringe a
very, very hesitant recommendation. Watch an episode that isn't the
pilot -- if it doesn't grab you, delete it from the DVR list...
otherwise, it may be an hour a week.
And speaking of Fringe, what do you think about these shortened
commercial breaks? I loves 'em. "Fringe will return in 90 seconds." I
still fast-forward through non-"I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials, but
now I have an idea how long I have to fast forward for.....
----
From: Jesse Craft
To: Jim Fisher
Subject: Always cite your sources!
I don't want to derail the whole discussion into a nit-pickity
discussion of the pros and cons of Heroes, but I must say two things:
1) The whole "where did the iPods go?" question is a microcosm of
everything that is (still) wrong with Heroes. No other show takes me
out of the world that it is trying to create by making me ask, "Wait a
minute, what about this enormous, Mack-truck-sized loophole?" more
often. Like two or three times an episode.
2) I'm still watching it.
Which is more than I can say about Fringe. It's funny/fitting that you
should mention the crazy doctor: it was his introduction that finally
made me change the channel, accurately timed commercial breaks or no.
The whole "hey, I found this random scientist on the internets somehow,
I insist that I be granted permission to meet him based on nothing
whatsoever" was Heroes-esque in how hard it pulled on the strains of
credulity. Plus, I've already seen John Noble do the crazy thing and
it was way better the first time. If his character ever sends his son
off on a suicide mission, and subsequently lights himself on fire and
jumps off a cliff, let me know: I might start watching again.
Your observation that you are delving into "JJ Abrams television" is
astute: JJ Abrams is, on the strength of Lost, Alias, and, um,
Felicity, a bona-fide brand unto himself. Did you know that Fringe had
fan sites and save the show campaigns running before the first episode
even aired? Sound like anybody else with a show debuting soon that you
can think of?
Oh, and PS: I've heard two interviews with Abrams about Fringe. Both
interviewers asked him what his influences were in creating the show;
basically, they were giving him an opportunity to admit, once and for
all, that he was just ripping off the X-Files. And what references
does he cite? Kolchak the Night Stalker and the Twilight Zone. FUCK
YOU JJ ABRAMS YOUR SHOW IS THE X-FILES.
But enough about nerdy network television! You and I both know that the
real action is on cable. The darling of the Emmy Awards, Mad Men, is
approaching cultural icon status for AMC. Whenever I'm watching the
show I thoroughly enjoy it. So, tell me: why can't I be bothered to
watch it regularly? I know you are watching True Blood on HBO, which I
should also be doing to justify my subscription, but... meh? And are
you finally ready to admit that, approaching the back half of its 12th
season, South Park is better than ever?
----
From: Jim Fisher
To: Jesse Craft
Subject: The guilty pleasure
Points taken on Heroes. I'm still watching it too. Maybe we're just suckers?
I think I'm liking Fringe because it is just the right amount of
absurd. Everyone is playing it straight, with all this wackiness
happening around them, and then you have crazy John Noble rambling on
about root beer floats. I'm going to keep watching it, if only for the
awesomely bad 3d rendered location identifiers that pop up on the
screen (my favorite: "Federal Building" - how generic is that?). They
remind me of what I used to make in freeware 3d rendering programs on
my 486...
But yeah, it's the X-Files. I can't believe he won't fess up to that.
It's blatant. As for Joss Whedon, poor, poor Joss Whedon... we can talk
about him in a future installment. I still need to watch his Nathan
Fillion/Neil Patrick Harris musical.
Oh, and speaking of future installments, shark jumping, and absurdity.... 24 starts at the end of November!
Aaaahh, Mad Men. I thought it got off to a rocky start this season,
spreading itself a bit too thin with different plots and subplots and
subsubplots..... but it seems to have righted itself. I really wish
that Directv carried AMC in HD, though. Watching that show in standard
def is a travesty; thankfully the first season was day&date on
Blu-ray and DVD, so I'll expect the same for season 2. I think you may
have trouble tuning in due to the complexity of the show's narrative. A
season of Mad Men is best consumed in a weekend, not over 13 Sundays.
And speaking of complex narratives on cable, FX is currently running
the final season of The Shield. I had a bit of trouble really getting
jazzed up for the first few episodes -- and this is coming from someone
who counts the best years of the show as perhaps the greatest cop show
ever (sorry Hill Street, Homicide, and The Wire, but Vic Mackey is my
boyfriend). Now, five episodes in or so, I'm really liking it. Things
are coming together, and I think that this season will be a nice finish
for those of us who have been watching the show since the beginning.
Now, True Blood. I can't believe I'm watching True Blood. I almost gave
up on it, but now it's growing on me. I'm a bit worried about that
fact, because I don't think it's that good. Anna Paquin is nice to look
at, and vampires are always fun.... but, well, I never watched
Moonlight, but this has got to be so much better than Moonlight, right?
And that's the story of how I talked myself into enjoying True Blood.
It's solidly in my guilty-pleasure folder on the DVR. A show I'll
watch, but it is not something I will buy on DVD... and we all know how
many DVDs I have. (An aside, the big reveal at the end of Sunday's
episode, I saw coming from a mile away.... which usually infuriates me,
but for some reason I'm not bothered by it here.)
When does South Park start again? I'll admit, you were right on that
one. I tuned out during the Norman Lear season and I should have given
the show another chance after that experiment ended. Thankfully Comedy
Central runs it all the freaking time.
Have you given Sons of Anarchy a chance as of yet?
