Year In Review: TV

Year In Review

TV

This is the final post in my blog series "Year in Review" and is easily the one I feel most comfortable writing. I know people will disagree with my rankings and that is fine but I have watch enough TV, both bad and good, to know what quality TV is. Here are the lists of my ten favorite comedies and dramas. Also I will add three other lists containing my five favorite new shows, Late Night Show and reality TV shows.

Drama

1. Breaking Bad

The final season of Breaking Bad has been broken in to two parts. The first part which aired this year, which is amazing and is why it's ranked number one, left so many questions with fans that I can almost easily say that my favorite show of 2013 will be one about Meth and i'm not talking about Intervention.

2. Game of Thrones

The battle in the second last episode of the season that built up to the exploding river (if you haven't seen it the YouTube it right now) is one of the biggest TV moments of 2012. Not only was that episode good but the season as a whole was just epic and groundbreaking TV. All I can ask for is that Daenerys can keep a hold on her dragons.

3. Mad Men

This season of Mad Men had Matthew Weiners son with a mustache  It had fraud, fighting, prostitution, suicide and even dream murder. It was all over the place thematically and went a lot of unexpected ways. But when you have a product as good as Mad Men you have the ability to do that without the product suffering or the fans loosing interest. And let me make this point I never once lost interest.

4. Homeland

After an off season of how are they going to keep Brody around and how are they going to bring Carrie back into the mix. And after a season of roller coaster fan support and people jumping off the bandwagon because they didn't believe some of the things on the show. Homeland ended their second season with a bang (literally) and with what in my mind was the best episode of this season closed some loose end story line and set it up for an interesting  third season. I can't wait!

5. Sherlock

Sherlock airs on BBC and you can watch it on Netflix (even Canadian Netflix) which makes it one of those shows that is too good not being watched. The seasons are three episodes each (each episode is about an hour and a half long) which makes them pretty easy to catch up. You could have a Sherlock night and get through most of them pretty easily. If you don't understand what i'm saying is that you should be watching this show.

6. Justified

After a season where Margo Martindale steals the show and Jeremy Davies limping his way through a great acting performance you wonder if the next season will be able to match up. In 2012 Justified did it's beat to bring in some heavy hitters in Neal McDonough and Mykelti Williamson as the new baddies but they just didn't live up to Mags Bennet. Don't get me wrong the season was great that's why it's number six on the list but it couldn't hold a candle to season 2 of Justified.

7. Parenthood

This has always been one of my favorite shows but it is also one of the hardest shows to watch. It is so emotionally draining sometimes and some of the episodes feel like they have 13 different endings it's constant  But this season they seemed to be able to get all of that under control and everyone in the Braverman family seemed to have their place, even the little Mexican one.

8. Dexter

Season 6 of Dexter was way outside the box and almost everyone knew what was coming by the middle of the season. Season 7 on the other hand took what season 6 left us (Deb finding out who Dexter really is) and played on it extremely well. Then adding Yvonne Strahovski as Dexter's love interest and Ray Stevenson as the main baddy were two casting strokes of genius. Hopefully they keep on this upward path and when they finally do end this show (long overdue?) I really hope they can tie Dexter's story together well.

9. Sons of Anarchy

Another season of Jacks getting into trouble and in the last episode or two unraveling everything for everyone else and coming out on top. Or did he? With Tara going to jail for something that is related to the club his conscious can't be clear. We'll see if ha can get himself out of this predicament as well ( I bet he can). Oh, and Jimmy Smits did a good job playing a pimp.

10. The Walking Dead

Zombies getting killed, zombies being used as torture devices, zombie daughters having their hair combed by human daddy... Yeah, all that happened. The effects were crazy though and I enjoyed seeing the new people and hope they play a bigger role in the second half of the season.

Honorable Mention

Alphas

X-Men meets Heroes meets CSI. This is a great show if you like shows about powers.

Treme

Come for the New Orleans music and stay for the New Orleans music. That;s all there really is.

Comedies

1. Louie

Louie is taking a year off before he puts out another season of his critically acclaimed show, so my advice would be to buy/download/steal a copy of the third season of Louie and watch it as many times as you can before then.

2. Parks and Recreation

I am absolutely astonished by how often Parks and Rec. came to my mind when I though about favorite comedies. Most of it was remember crazy stuff Aubrey Plaza and Chris Pratt do or the insane the Aziz Ansari and Amy Poehler's characters say. But they aren't even the best part of the show that would be the bacon and eggs Mr. Ron mmm-f-ing Swanson.

3. 30 Rock

This was 30 Rocks last season and they came out firing on all cylinders. Tina Fey said she wanted the show to go out on top and she has no worries of that not happening.

4. Community

Even thought the best episode of Community's third season (Remedial Chaos Theory) didn't air in 2012 it had enough great shows that did air in 2012 to secure a top spot in my rankings  By the way did you hear the news about Dan Harmon?

5. Misfits

This show is about a group of teens on community service duty who end up getting powers from a freak storm. I ranked it as fifth on the comedy side of things because of the character named Rudy and all his ridiculous antics. If you haven't seen it well you are definitely missing out.

6. South Park

Another season of hilarity by the boys who brought you Team America: World Police and the Broadway play The Book of Mormon. This is their 15th season putting south Park on the air and if you thought that would hinder the amount of stories they have to tell you are dead wrong. Not only that but they seemed to push the bar even further this year, and what more can you ask for from the guys who created Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo.

7. Wilfred

A man see's a dog as a man in a dog costume. How much more do you need?

8. The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon and the boys do it again. Mayim Bailik, who used to play Blossom back in the day, is easily a surprise hit and this season she has turned up the funny.

9. Modern Family

As long as you have this cast together this show will be this great.

10. Eastbound and Down

The final season left us with the death and resurrection (not really, he never died) of one of the greatest characters in fictional baseball pitching history.

Honorable Mention

Workaholics

We met Durs' father and found out how the boys met, this was a "loose butt-hole" season.

New Girl

With Nick and Schmidt killing it this show could easily move up in my top ten in 2013.

New Shows

1. Girls

I didn't know whether to put this is comedy or drama so I had an easy cop out and put it as the best new show on TV(which it was) in 2012. Lena Dunham has a voice that speaks to many people (good and bad) as you can see by all the controversy she had over this show. But the season was well put together and you definitely felt like it was a world you could have living in and that's always a nice thing for a TV show to do.

2. House of Lies

Don Cheadle has a lot of sex. Kristen Bell has a lot of sex and Ben Schwartz makes some hilarious jokes. This show came out at the starting of 2012 but is still one of my favorites of the year. It could have made a run at the 10th spot in my comedy side had it been a weaker year for comedy.

3. Awake

This show has already been cancelled so don't feel like you need to watch it but if you have some time and nothing to do...

4. Go On

Matthew Perry doing Matthew Perry things.

5. Penn. 1600

This show just started and I really like the pilot and because I haven't watched Nashville, Revolution sucked and most of the new comedies were terrible it gets this spot by default.

Reality TV

1. Duck Dynasty

This show has become a cult classic within the first season. Now we just have to wait and see if it ends up like Pawn Stars and Storage Wars before it.

2. The Voice

If you watch any other singing competition I can't be your friend. The Voice has the best judges and it lets people who might have already had a small break in the industry try out, which leads to a lot better musical performances.

3. Amazing Race

Another season of Amazing Race is in the books and this time a gay couple won the whole thing after being underdogs the whole time. It had to be one of the more exciting seasons in a while.

4. Big Brother

Before the last couple of weeks I would have called this season of BB the best since the All Star season. But then Ian had to go and win and makes this game about people being liked and not Dan's amazing gameplay.

5. The Challenge

The Real World/Road Rules Challenge on MTV has been said by some to be America's fifth major sport. It is a crazy show where a bunch of random people fomr The Real World or Raod Rules (two other MTV shows) come together and compete for a large sum of money. Most of the season it is just a party and drunken fights. But the last episode or two is devoted to the namesake, Challenge, which usually has contestants running a certain distance while doing puzzles and other competitions at different intervals. The team that finishes the whole thing as a team are crowned the winners.

Late Night TV

1. Jimmy Kimmel Live

Jimmy Kimmel has quietly toiled in late night for years and is now finally getting some recognition and in the new year will be in the 11:35 slot.

2. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

This dude get's everyone to sing with him. He has brought a new game to Late Night and i like it.

3. The Colbert Report

I think Colbert is starting to outshine his mentor and is making a huge name for himself. I don't know where he goes from here but the likely path seems up. Is that possible.

4. The Daily Show

John Stewart is still winning Emmy's and still killing Bill O'Rielly just like everyone wants.

5. Saturday Night Live

I like to think SNL had a pretty good year so far with Jamie Foxx, Anne Hatheway, JGL, Louie C.K., Daniel Craig and even Bruno Mars, who did double duty.

Alpha’s Beta Season Primer

Season 2 Primer

 Alpha’s was somewhat of a breakout hit for Syfy in its first season. The show’s set in a world filled with people who have the unique power to stretch the capabilities of the human mind giving them superhuman physical and mental abilities known as Alphas. The main premise is that a team of Alphas were put together by Dr. Lee Rosen in order to protect the world for Alphas who want to hurt people or to capture and try to help the ones who don’t know how to use their abilities. (The show has drawn comparisons to X-Men or even Heroes but one thing it does differently is that they cannot just use their powers without regard for anything. All the abilities have their own side effect.) The show does a great job at having a procedural feel to it by having the team chase new cases almost every episode, at the same time having a larger antagonistic presence lurking in the shadows for the whole season. That presence was none other than the “terrorist” group of Alphas that call themselves, Red Flag. We don’t know a lot about Red Flag meeting their leader in the last episode of the season and only meeting a couple other members during the season.

The first season ended with Dr. Rosen letting the world know that Alphas existed and lived among them every day, only to be reprimanded to (what looks like from the season 2 previews) an insane asylum. So in order to get you ready for the second season I’m here to shed a little spot light on the main characters from season one.

Good Guys

Dr. Lee Rosen

Ability: None

Bio: He is the leader of a team of Alpha’s that solve crimes that are usually related to their own kind. He is a neurologist and a psychiatrist with a long history of working patients who had neurological disorders. He is not an Alpha but has a daughter who is.

Last Time We Saw Him: He was being reprimanded by guards while he let the world know about the existence of Alpha’s.

Gary Bell

Ability: Tranducer (He can read electromagnetic wavelengths with his mind.)

Side Effect of his Ability: He is diagnosed with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Bio: Gary is a twenty-something who lives at home with his mom. Being autistic he is sensitive to many factors of his environment, and dependent upon rigorous routine. His mother is very loving but is concerned that his job for Dr. Rosen will get him hurt. Gary has grown a lot in the first season being a lot more independent and gaining a great friendship with Bill.

Last Time We Saw Him: He was helping patch Dr. Rosen’s live stream speech over the internet from their office.

Bill Harken

Ability: Hyperadrenal Alpha (He is able to summon amazing strength by consciously activating the “fight-or-flight” response. He experiences super human strength and a resistance to harm that borders on invulnerability.)

Side Effect of his Ability: He will become cripplingly fatigued if in that state for too long.

Bio: Bill is a former FBI agent, who has a tough time with other people’s boundaries. He has a little bit of a temper but also can be a jokester. At the start of the first season he hadn’t told his wife about his abilities and she still thought he was working for the FBI. (He was fired for breaking his superior’s clavicle.)

Last Time We Saw Him: He was at the office watching Dr. Rosen’s speech on the internet.

Nina Theroux

Ability: Influencing (She disrupts the specific neural pathways in the cerebral cortex leaving the brain vulnerable to suggestion.)

Side Effect of her Ability: Influencing people can become very addictive if used to often.

Bio: When Nina was younger she would use her ability to gain all sorts of things that would benefit her, without any regard to how her actions would affect anyone else. Nina has grown to have feelings for Cameron over the course of the first season leading Dr. Rosen to express his concerns about a relationship within the team.

Last Time We Saw Her: She was at the office with the team watching Dr. Rosen’s speech on the internet.

Rachel Pirzad

Ability: Synesthete (She can enhance one of her sense to super human levels)

Side Effect of her Ability: She can only enhance one sense at a time, leaving her other senses useless.

Bio: Rachel lives at home with her parents, who are very protective and traditional. They want Rachel to find a husband and settle down but don’t know if she ever will. Rachel has a hard time standing up to them and is timid with most people. Her abilities make her a vital member of the team leaving her with the task of identifying most clues.

Last Time We Saw Her: She was at the office with the team watching Dr. Rosen’s speech on the internet.

Cameron Hicks

Ability: Hyperkinetic (His mind's imaging systems and muscle control is perfectly in tune with the motor skills center of the brain. As a result he possesses flawless aim, perfect balance, and greatly enhanced motor skills.)

Side Effect of his Ability: When stressed his abilities lower to a below average level of a regular human.

Bio: Hicks became a part of the team after he was arrested for an assassination that he committed under the influence of another Alpha. He joined the team but has always been wary of Dr. Rosen’s motives. He does not trust authority but was a marine before he joined the team of Alphas.  

Last Time We Saw Him: He was at the office with the team watching Dr. Rosen’s speech on the internet.

The Bad Guys

Stanton Parish

Ability: Immortality (doesn’t age, doesn’t’ get sick, doesn’t seep)

Side Effect of his Ability: He has become cold and has a complete lack of empathy.

Bio: We know very little about Stanton because we first meet him in the last episode of the first season. What we do know is that he is the leader of “Red Flag” and he doesn’t seem to age. His life very well could span two centuries, but it is very possible that he has been alive longer. He is a scientist and wrote a manifesto for the terrorist group “Red Flag”. He also has some sort of connection with Dr. Rosen.

Last Time We Saw Him: He was in what appears to be Dr. Rosen’s house with his daughter Danielle discussing her father’s internet speech.

Griffin

Ability: Invisibilty... Kind of (She affects peoples optic nerves, expanding the normal human blind spot to accommodate her.)

Side Effect of her Ability: Unknown

Bio: She is a mercenary for hire that shows up in one episode to kill an Alpha that the team has imprisoned and are interrogating. Griffin doesn’t leave without letting them in on the name of the leader of Red Flag.

Last Time We Saw Her: She snuck out of the offices without anyone knowing.

The Other Guys

Skylar Adams

Ability: Quantative Aptitundinal (She can invent devices ahead of their time, build things fro random pieces lying around and she can escape from situations very easily.)

Side Effect of her Ability: Unknown

Bio: Skylar is a former patient of Dr. Rosen’s who’s now living on the outskirts of regular society. She lived in a warehouse creating and inventing things like a device that when used for 20 minutes gives you the rest of an eight hour sleep. The team tracks her down and then lets her go when they discover the government wanted to capture her and her daughter (who had inherited her mother’s ability)so they could use her ability for their own means.

Last Time We Saw Her: She was escaping from the team with her daughter. (She will be back in season 2)

Anna

Ability: Omnilinguism (She can understand any language in the World, even technical languages.)

Side Effect of her Ability: Severe Appraxia (A neurological disorder that affects the ability to repeat 

muscular movements.)

Bio: When the team raided a Red Flag safe house she was found, left behind. They initially believe that she was being used to encode messages for Red Flag but discover that she is actually in fact a high ranking member of the terrorist organization. After befriending Gary Anna tries to recruit him to Red Flag with little success. They continue their friendship behind the backs of Gary’s team, in the end netting Gary the info that Stanton Parish is alive.

Last Time We Saw Her: With a bullet in her head. She was one of the many Alphas that were a part of Red Flag that wanted to let people know of their existence. Stanton Parish set them up to be found by the police ending up in a gun (power?) fight and leading to most of the Anti Parish Red Flag members dead.

Red Flag is on the loose, Dr. Rosen is locked up and we have no idea what happened to are team of good Alphas. That’s what we are left with. Luckily we only have to wait until Monday to figure out what will happen next.