A weekly post with the purpose of highlighting the shows I watched during the week and how I ranked them. It’s not intended as a list of all shows on the air, only those that I actually watched during the week. Watching something on Monday that aired on Friday won’t make the cut.
Like everything on this site it’s for my own enjoyment but feel free to comment.
Now this is more like it. A week of solid TV watching to go along with playing NBA 2K10, plus I also managed to fit in writing a uni paper and I got a new tattoo. All around it was a good week both in terms of things done and quality of TV. I had a hard time deciding which was the 3rd best show of the week. It was a real toss-up between HIMYM, Parks & Recreation and Dollhouse because all three were great this week. Chances are The Office would have been in the top 3 had I watched it but I couldn’t find the time. I couldn’t bring myself to watch Flashforward this week either. It just comes across as a mix of 24 and Heroes and for me that’s a terrible combination. It feels like every episode is gonna be full of shitty acting, macho bullshit, and lame storylines. As for next week I’m really looking forward to the return of 30 Rock. Hooray.
1. South Park – “Celebrities” (13×08) – Finally a new South Park. I often find that I can’t guess what the next episode will be about, but when I see it the basis for the show that week is obvious. That’s exactly how this played out. I never would have guessed that the show would be about all the celebrities that died over summer, but when you think about it that’s prime material for South Park. A great episode playing on A Sixth Sense and Ghost Hunters. The ongoing debate between Cartman and Kyle about bloody underwear was hilarious. 8.5/10
2. Fringe – “Momentum Deferred” (2×04) – Another great mythology episode, this time with some substantial stuff in the alternate universe. Olivia got her ass handed to her by Charlie but ended up shooting the shit out of him. I guess Kirk Acevedo is gone for good now. I’m glad they didn’t drag out the Nina Sharp is the shapeshifter story for a bunch of episodes. That would have been too much like Alias and that’s not a good thing. I think that hippie lady knew something was “off” about Peter when he shook her hand. How long is it gonna be until he discovers that he’s from the alternate universe? It’s gotta happen by the end of the season. AHHHH, I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! 8.5/10
3. Parks & Recreation – “The Practice Date” (2×04) – It’s so great that Parks & Recreation continues to deliver such quality. I had high hopes when it debuted last season but I honestly didn’t think it would be this good this quickly. This weeks episode continued the 2nd season trend of featuring Aubrey Plaza more and I think that’s a real positive. Between this weeks dirt digging contest and her being upset that no-one found any dirt on her despite filming herself riding through a department store on a lawnmower (and posting it online) and last weeks interactions with Ron and his hernia, I really think that she delivers the comedy gold. Hopefully she’ll continue to get more screen time. Louis C.K. continues to be his brilliant self too. It’s such a shame that he’s only a guest star and not a regular. It’d be fantastic to have him on the show for good. 8/10
4. Dollhouse – “Belle Chose” (2×03) – So far this season Dollhouse has been great. The more serious moral dilemmas that the show has presented have been great, as have the moments which foreshadow the events from “Epitaph One”. One such moment occurred in this episode when Topher attempted to remote wipe Victor. It was cool seeing that and Topher’s ego getting the better of him in accepting the challenge. I really liked how the two storylines ended up crossing over and the tag at the end of the episode where Echo once again holds onto something that she was imprinted with. Ballard was also put to good use this week. I especially liked his interrogation. I did miss Sierra but there was a lot going on this week. I’m also really liking the performances of Fran Kranz and Olivia Williams. In fact, despite how sexy Eliza Dushku is (and that’s the main reason I started watching the show last season) I really think that Topher is my favourite character on the show. Kranz just plays him wonderfully. All that said, I can’t help but think that Fox will cancel the show soon. Even though it’s on the second shitest night of the week, the ratings are still pretty bad, and we all know Fox has no loyalty whatsoever and doesn’t tolerate low ratings even when they should be expected on a Friday or Saturday night. As sad as it is to say, I really think the show won’t make it through the midway point of the season, and when a show has jumped so dramatically in quality like Dollhouse has that’s a real shame. 8/10
5. How I Met Your Mother – “Robin 101″ (5×03) – A great idea for an episode considering how bad Barney is at relationships/intimacy and how well Ted knows Robin. Plus it fed in nicely with Ted’s new job and him gaining experience in a safe environment. The snapshots of Robin that were used in the lectures were priceless. Especially that one of her drinking beer on the toilet. On the flipside though was Marshall’s terrible story of trying to get rid of a barrel he had in college. Who in their right mind thought that this would be a good story for him. That alone is the reason HIMYM falls down to #5 this week. 7.5/10
6. Community – “Social Psychology” (1×04) – Nice to see John Oliver back. I loved the psych experiment with Senor Chang freaking out straight away. God Ken Jeong is awesome. In fact, all the stuff with Annie, Abed and Troy was gold. I didn’t much care for the stuff between Jeff, Britta and Shirley though. Plus I’m really hoping that we don’t get a “will they or won’t they” scenario between Jeff and Britta every week. It’s already getting old after only four episodes. 7/10
7. Bored to Death – “The Case of the Missing Screenplay” (1×03) – The worst of the three episodes so far but it was still highly enjoyable. There really wasn’t a “case” this week. Jonathan just kinda stumbled into a situation of having to retrieve a screenplay from a psychiatrist that was given to him by Jim Jarmusch. To do that he enlisted the help of Ray and some decent comedy came out of it. Last weeks episode with the brilliant Kristen Wiig was far better, but you can’t expect gold every week. Zach Galafianakis continues to absolutely rule though. 6.5/10
8. Survivor – “Hungry For a Win” (19×04) – More Russell greatness, plus the right person was voted off again. It’s not the Survivor way for the early people who are voted off to actually deserve it, but so far I agree with just about all of the tribal council decisions. Russell is fast becoming one of my favourite Survivor contestants, but no matter how good he gets, he’ll never overtake Steph. She was so damn good I named my dog after her. 6.5/10
9. The Simpsons – “Bart Gets a Z” (21×02) – I couldn’t even make it through the episode it was so average. It had just about no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It’s sad how irrelevant The Simpsons has become. Here ends my two week trial of The Simpsons. 5/10
