TV's Best of the Decade: No. 23 -- 'Dexter'
Dexter Morgan has killed dozens of people. Because of Michael C. Hall, we cheer on the slaughter.
Comments: 8
Michael C. Hall of 'Dexter'
Credit: Showtime
The auteur theory is alive and well on the small screen, albeit not in the same way as you'd see in the movies.
Folks like David E. Kelley, Stephen Bochco, Aaron Sorkin, David Chase, Joss Whedon, David Simon, Matthew Weiner, Alan Ball, Josh Schwartz, Shonda Rhimes or Cuselof may not get a "TV Show By" credit before the start of each episode, but the industry's super-powered writer-producers and showrunners are generally considered to be the arbiters for the voices of many of our favorite shows.
Mostly it's the creators whose names are associated with the oversight of excellent programming, but sometimes you get somebody like Howard Gordon, whose association with "24" has been so long-term that I link the FOX thriller's success or failure to him. And sometimes these uber-powerful figures go that extra step and also direct, but not necessarily. Aaron Sorkin has never directed an episode of any of his shows, nor has David E. Kelley.
It's an illusion, of course. Yes, we get the legends of a Sorkin or a Kelley ultimately handwriting whole whole seasons on notepads. But for the most part, American television is characterized by the image of the writers' room, of a group of talented collaborators capable of turning out 13 or 22 episodes per season. The adherents to the British model are few and far between, though there are anomalies like Showtime's "The Tudors," which will go to its grave with only Michael Hirst as a credited writer.
Yet as I look over my Top 31, every single show has a single name or a tiny cabal of central names who enjoy the credit when things succeed or take the blame when the whole endeavor goes off the rails.
Well, every show but one.
Coming in at No. 23 of my list is Showtime's "Dexter," apparently TV's most glorious bastard.
[More after the break...]
TV's Best of the Decade: No. 24 -- '24'
The clock never stops ticking for Kiefer Sutherland on FOX's real-time favorite
Kiefer Sutherland of '24'
Credit: FOX
It's a day of coincidences on The Fien Print's list of TV's Best of the Decade.
First, who would ever have guessed that "24" would come in at position No. 24 on my Best of the Decade list? I mean, what were the odds of that? A total coincidence! [Somewhat.]
And then what should show up in my mailbox this morning? That's right. The first four episodes for Day Eight of "24." I mean, what were the odds of that? A total coincidence! [Totally. Though I didn't check my mail yesterday, so who knows?]
Day Eight.
What do you think Kiefer Sutherland and series creators Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow would have said if you'd approached them in 2001 and suggested the possibility that this gimmicky formula of theirs -- It's an action drama told in real time, over a single day, with each episode representing an hour -- would be good for even two seasons. Or three seasons. Or four. Or five. Or six. Or seven. Or eight, plus a TV movie? I'm assuming the response would have been somewhere between incredulity and outright dismissal.
"24" was supposed to be a cute parlor trick. Surnow and Cochran probably weren't even certain they could make it work for a full day. But FOX called their bluff.
You'd be hard-pressed to make an argument that "24" has changed network television in any major way, unless you happened to have been a big fan of ABC's "Big Day." I guess you could say that it, along with "Lost," helped pioneer the model of TV dramas so serialized that they could never be aired in repeats, which in turn prompted changes in the network scheduling model.
Even if it didn't change the way the game was played, "24" played the game in a different way. I've always compared "24" to the little girl with the little right in the middle of her forehead. When it's good, it's very, very good and when it's bad, it's horrid.
Fortunately, it's been very, very good enough to justify placement at No. 24 on my list.
[More thoughts after the break...]
TV Review: ABC's 'Better Off Ted' returns for Season Two
The gang at Veridian is back and they're still as funny as they were last season
Portia de Rossi and Jonathan Slavin of 'Better Off Ted'
Credit: ABC
There aren't that many problems with ABC's "Better Off Ted," which kicks off its second season on Tuesday (Dec. 8) at 9:30 p.m. Before "Parks & Recreation" kicked into overdrive in its fall episodes and before "Modern Family" found its early consistent footing, "Better Off Ted" was probably my pick for the year's best new comedy, in fact.
One of the things that *is* wrong with "Better Off Ted" isn't at all the fault of the Victor Fresco-created workplace sitcom, but it's this: I may have written about "Better Off Ted" too many times. I reviewed it (positively) when it premiered and then celebrated it again when ABC initially decided to cut its first season short. Then, when ABC decided to bring the show back in the summer to burn off the first season at random intervals, I wrote about it as part of a feature from an interview that Sepinwall and I did with Fresco at the August TCA press tour. I advocated for Portia de Rossi, Malcolm Barrett and Jonathan Slavin in my Emmy nomination preview pieces and if I'd remembered, I probably would have been a booster for Andrea Anders as well.
If I didn't think it'd be unpopular to say, I might try claiming I like "Better Off Ted" more than I like "Modern Family." That wouldn't be true mostly because "Modern Family" has a big heart and "Better Off Ted" is a show about heartlessness (or a life at a heartless corporation), so it's far easier to warm to one than to the other. That doesn't mean I can't think "Better Off Ted" is often the funnier show.
But after having seen 15 episodes of "Better Off Ted" -- 13 in the first season and two on screener from Season Two -- the show is exactly what it was. Any fears that ABC brass might have made certain demands of the show as requirements for renewal can be swiftly allayed. That also means the one or two things that might have been improved by tweaking have gone untweaked.
[Anyway, a few words about the season-opening episodes of "Better Off Ted" after the break... Bottom line? Watch "Better Off Ted."]
TV's Best of the Decade: No. 25 -- 'The O.C.'
All together now: 'California... California... Here we cooooooooome'
The cast of 'The O.C.'
Credit: WB.com
Bear with me while I try something out here...
"The O.C." was "The Decameron" for The Aughts.
Like I said, bear with me.
In Giovanni Boccaccio's "The Decameron," 10 young people flee Florence in the midst of The Plague. Holing themselves up in an isolated villa, they recount stories, many of them tales of deceit and debauchery, as a way of passing the time and avoiding directly facing the tragedy below.
Created by Josh Schwartz, "The O.C." premiered in August of 2003 and aired 2007. Examined now, years after its 92-episode run, "The O.C." stands as a time capsule glimpse at the second half of the second Bush Administration, a snapshot of an artificially inflated real estate boom and the fruits of an economy on the brink of collapse. Down on the ground, we might have had a sense of the growing unrest, of the increased frustrations of the lower classes, or the near-depression to come. But up in the hills of Orange County, we rooted for Seth and Summer, we pined over and then mourned for Marissa, booed Julie Cooper and gradually learned to love her, we went to concerts at the Bait Shop for a little while and then entirely forgot it existed, we celebrated Chrismukkah multiple times. Maybe society was teetering on the edge of an abyss, but we were driving over that edge, singing Phantom Planet's "California" as we fell.
Maybe we could have learned from Jimmy Cooper's corruption? Maybe we could have seen some of our own high profile CEOs in Caleb Nichol? Maybe when Marissa shot Trey to the halting strains of Imogen Heap's "Hide & Seek," that was the slo-motion death of our collective innocence? Maybe when Taylor Townsend donned a groundhog costume to woo Ryan Atwood, that was all of us descending into furry perversity?
No? Not buying it?
How about this: I just happen to love a good teenage soap opera and for two of its four seasons (and some moments in those other two seasons), "The O.C." was either an addictive guilty pleasure or, quite often, a cleverly written, sharply performed treat.
If you prefer that explanation to my "Decameron" pitch, go with it.
Either way, "The O.C." stands at No. 25 on my list of TV's Best of the Decade and I'll stand by that.
[More after the break...]
HitFix Interview: Sarah Chalke talks 'Prep & Landing' and 'Scrubs'
'Scrubs' star discusses her favorite holiday specials and what it was like to get animated
Sarah Chalke doing recording for ABC's 'Prep & Landing'
Credit: ABC
While new seasonal interlopers arrive every year, the Christmas Special market is still dominated by the old classics featuring Charlie Brown, The Grinch, Rudolph and Frosty in the same form they've had for decades.
ABC will attempt to produce a new classic with Tuesday (Dec. 8) night's premiere of "Prep & Landing," the network's first television special produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The story has a leg-up on achieving classic status thanks to the presence of Pixar mastermind John Lasseter as executive producer.
"Prep & Landing" reveals the untold story of the elves who make up Santa's advance team, dropping before the jolly fat guy to perform pre-presents reconnaissance. The special's focus is Wayne, a 227-year veteran of the force who becomes disgruntled after failing to get a promotion. With the help of eager rookie Lanny, Wayne's about to be reminded of the holiday spirit.
The special features the talents of Dave Foley, Derek Richardson and Sarah Chalke, voicing Magee, the ultra-efficient North Pole Christmas Eve Command Center Coordinator.
Before the Dec. 8 premiere of "Prep & Landing," Chalke caught up with HitFix to share her favorite holiday special memories and discuss her reduced role on the eighth season of her medical comedy "Scrubs."
[NOTE: This interview was conducted when "Prep & Landing" was scheduled to air on Dec. 1, just before a two-episode block of "Scrubs." The special was postponed for President Obama's television address.]
Click through...
TV Review: TNT's 'Men of a Certain Age'
Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher usher in MiddleAgedManSploitation
Andre Braugher, Ray Romano and Scott Bakula of 'Men of a Certain Age'
Credit: TNT
Here's how Hollywood works:
When an actress reaches 40-ish and producers stop thinking of her as a sex object, she becomes nearly unemployable in movies, especially if she isn't prepared to transition immediately into "mother" and "grandmother" roles, she's referred to as a "woman of a certain age" and she either stops working, or she comes to TV. [This is industry logic, mind you. Not necessarily reality, since the top movie in America stars a 45-year-old woman.]
When an actor reaches 40-ish, he continues to work and nobody really notices or cares or thinks twice about pairing him with a 20-something actress, regardless of romantic chemistry or the actor's recent box office track record. You know what Hollywood calls an actor who's a "man of a certain age"? An actor.
That's why there's something unavoidably disingenuous about TNT's new dramedy "Men of a Certain Age," from creators Mike Royce and Ray Romano. It's not exactly a pity party for its stars, Romano, Andrew Braugher and Scott Bakula, but amidst the frequently clever dialogue and likable performances, there's still a lot of "Woe Is Us" MiddleAgedManSploitation.
[Full review of "Men of a Certain Age" after the break...]
TV's Best of the Decade: No. 26 -- 'House'
Hugh Laurie anchors the decade's best medical drama, where the diagnosis is almost never lupus
Hugh Laurie of 'House'
Credit: FOX
In yesterday's entry, I praised "Weeds" as a show that didn't shy away from pushing and evolving its main characters and premise, taking it to such an extreme that the show today, after five seasons, is almost unrecognizable as the show from the pilot.
Permit me, with today's slot on the list, to reverse field a little and praise a show that has proven that change isn't always mandatory and that even the most formulaic of procedurals can still retain its edge if it happens to be built around one of the best characters and one of the best actors in primetime.
"House" stands at No. 26 on my list of TV's Best of the Decade not because it has reinvented the medical genre or because its serialized aspects keep me on the edge of my seat, but because the pleasure of watching Hugh Laurie's Dr. Gregory House browbeating patients and colleagues alike remains largely unabated after more than 100 episodes.
[More on "House" after the break...]
TV's Best of the Decade: No. 27 -- 'Weeds'
Mary-Louise Parker and company started off in little boxes and kept getting darker
Mary-Louise Parker of 'Weeds'
Credit: Showtime
TV fans. We're a fickle lot.
Sure, we say we want our shows to change and evolve and grow, to reflect the lives the characters actually might be living. But when we say that, which we really mean is that we want them to get occasional haircuts, to keep up with reasonably priced fashions and sometimes to have cute sitcom babies we rarely see.
We want a simulacrum of change, not actual CHANGE. Because actual CHANGE is messy. It reflects that when a group of five high school chums go to college, they don't all decide, at the last minute, to attend the fictionalized state school that was just build down the street. It reflects that when five or six friends in New York City age, get married and have children, they sometimes move to apartments farther away than across the hall or across the street. It reflects that sometimes once-happy couples get divorced, sometimes people get fired and change their professions and sometimes life goes from comedy to tragedy in the blink of an eye and merely adding David Spade isn't enough to bring the laughter back.
At the very least, taking quality out of the equation for just a second, Showtime's "Weeds" deserves credit for bucking industry creative convention. In its five seasons, "Weeds" had gotten darker and darker and darker, to the point at which calling it a comedy today seems like a misnomer. As a result, more than a few fans have turned on "Weeds," accusing it of no longer being the show they fell in love with in 2005. I'm sure if you look back at things I've written in the past two years, I'm probably one of those fans. I may not have been completely fair.
As I step back and look at the arc of the series, I can see the logic to the journey that "Weeds" has taken and that's why it stands at No. 27 on my list of TV's Best of the Decade. Well, that at Mary-Louise Parker, giving one of the decade's great and under-recognized (one Golden Globe win, no Emmys to date) performances.
[More on "Weeds" after the break...]
TV's Best of the Decade: No. 28 -- 'The Amazing Race'
Viewers have loved going around-the-world in 15 seasons with Phil Keoghan
Phil Keoghan of 'The Amazing Race'
Credit: CBS
In the fall of 2001, TV viewers were given the choice between two shows with difficult-to-distinguish race-around-the-world formats. One of them was Bertram van Munster's "The Amazing Race." The second, as I like to periodically mention, was NBC's "Lost."
At the time, it seemed as if you needed to choose between the two, to pick which format was most appealing to you.
Naturally, I chose "Lost."
And I'd do it again.
In case you've forgotten, "Lost" felt like the edgier, least "produced" of the two shows. Two-member teams, previously unacquainted with each other, were dumped in the desert of an unidentified country, with only the most basic of provisions. Period. Their goal was not only to figure out where the heck they were, but then to find their way from that spot to the finish line at the Statue of Liberty. The story goes that "Lost" premiered on September 4, 2001. I don't need to tell you why the second episode was preempted, not that the ratings for the first episode were so superior.
There was something appealing about how desolate and amorphous "Lost" seemed to me. And, in contrast, there was something exhausting and over-programmed about "The Amazing Race." The two-member teams already know each other? Where's the fun in that? They get clues telling them where to go? Where's the challenge there? At each destination, they have to play games? Why does globetrotting have to be "Survivor"?
It turned out that "Lost" was on its way to a speedy cancellation, with the added ignominy of having its name usurped so totally that whenever I've mentioned "NBC's 'Lost'" in past articles, I've invariably had readers attack me for not knowing that "Lost" is on ABC, something any good TV critic ought to know.
And "The Amazing Race" went on to win all seven Emmys for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program. Thinking myself a "Lost" devotee, I skipped "The Amazing Race" for its first three seasons, but the 12 subsequent seasons that I've watched are enough to place the series at No. 28 on my list of TV's Best of the Decade.
[More on "The Amazing Race" after the break...]
TV's Best of the Decade: No. 29 -- 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'
The Gang smokes crack, travels back in time, sings and makes us laugh
'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'
Credit: FX
The lyrics from that awful theme song to "Friends" told you everything you needed to know about the hit NBC comedy. "I'll be there for you/ Like I've been there before/ I'll be there for you/ 'Cuz you're there for me too."
All together now... "Awww..."
Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler and Phoebe (yes, I always forget Phoebe [NOTE: As a commenter notes, it was actually *Joey* I forgot. Sorry, Matt LeBlanc.]) *were* always there for each other, when they weren't sleeping with each other and dealing with the repercussions of sleeping with each other. "Friends" was a safe zone in which viewers could rely on the therapeutic powers of camaraderie to overcome any adversity and in which we could count on never hearing a single mention of *anything* related to the real world outside of this hermetically sealed bubble. [Oh and yes, at its best, "Friends" was a tremendously funny and effectively performed multi-camera comedy, one that would have made my Best of the '90s list.]
"Friends" ended its run in May of 2004. After a respectable mourning period, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" premiered on FX in August of 2005 as almost the anti-"Friends."
Replace Central Perk with Paddy's Pub and you had a filthy petri dish that served as a breeding ground for the friendship between Mac, Dennis, Sweet Dee and Charlie, four chums united by the awareness that each one would throw the other under the bus given half the opportunity. Be there for each other? Perish the thought. The characters on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" thrive on torturing, humiliating and denigrating each other. They find happiness in getting in the way of each other's happiness, which means that over the course of 50-plus episodes, they've never lacked for happiness.
I'm eventually going to have to split hairs over this. After all, I have at least five comedies (possibly two or three more depending on how open your definition of "comedy" is) ranked higher than "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." But while some of the decade's comedies may be more consistent or more artful or brainier, it's very possible that no show makes me laugh harder than "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
[More on my choice as TV's No. 29 Best of the Decade after the break...]
