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.

Late again writing this up due to work.  I still haven’t watched any Dexter this season plus I’ve only seen the first four episodes of last season of The Office so I can’t really watch this season.  Add to that me being behind on both Mad Men and Rubicon and a good number of quality shows aren’t gonna make my Best of the Week for a while.  That being said, the stuff that I am watching I’m pretty happy with.

1.  Eastbound and Down “Chapter 8” (2×02) – “That’s racist.  I love to racist.”  That’s fucking comedy gold.  8/10

2.  Terriers “Manifest Destiny” (1×05) – It’s like a grown up Veronica Mars and is quite possibly the best show on TV right now.  8/10

3.  Modern Family “The Earthquake” (2×03) – More great stuff from Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winter, plus Julie Bowen was really good this week.  I didn’t care for the Cam and Mitchell story that much, but that’s probably because I’m not a fan of Nathan Lane.  8/10

4.  Community “The Psychology of Letting Go” (2×03) – Alison Brie covered in oil.  Yes please.  Plus some really good scenes with Ken Jeong and John Oliver.  Just a shame that Danny Pudi was pretty much absent.  7/10

5.  30 Rock “Let’s Stay Together” (5×03) – It was almost Seinfeld-like in how the various plots came together in the end.  Not a bad episode but I’m looking forward to the live episode way more than these early ones.  7/10

6.  Fringe “The Plateau” (3×03) – I was very surprised that I actually liked this alternaverse episode, but I can’t wait for the inevitable showdown between real Olivia and alternaverse Olivia.  7/10

7.  Detroit 1-8-7 “Nobody’s Home/Unknown Soldier” (1×03) – Pretty decent stories which also introduced the presumed season long antagonist.  I wonder what happened to Fitch in New York?  7/10

8.  How I Met Your Mother “Unfinished” (6×03) – The star of this weeks episode was clearly Cobie Smulders.  Her rage filled rants against her ex were the highlight of the episode.  Of course, I have a friend called Bean so “where’s the poop Bean” is gonna be used on him from now until the day I die.  7/10

9.  Bored to Death “Make It Quick, Fitzgerald!” (2×02) – Way way better than last weeks episode for no other reason than it felt and looked like an episode of Bored to Death.  7/10

10.  South Park “Poor and Stupid” (14×08) – Not that great a return for South Park but it was as delightfully offensive as it always is.  Plus South Park will continue to be the best animated show on TV until Archer returns.  6.5/10

11.  Outsourced “Party of Five” (1×03) – Eh.  That’s about it.  Not really that memorable but not bad either.  6.5/10

12.  Running Wilde “Oil & Water” (1×03) – Another consistent effort from Running Wilde which was bolstered by the increased presence of David Cross but dragged down by the lack of Peter Serafinowicz.  6/10

13.  Glee “Grilled Cheesus” (2×03) – Decent story but absolutely terrible music choices.  Losing My Religion is not a song about faith, it’s about obsession.  That song would have been far more appropriately used in Eastbound and Down if Stevie had sung it to Kenny. Glee succeeds mainly on it’s musical choices but I expect some semblance of a story.  This week there was a fairly decent plot but it was as good as ruined by poor music and some downright ridiculous (even for Glee) comedic choices.  Grilled cheese Jesus.  Are you fucking kidding me?  And again, nowhere near enough Brittany or Santana.  6/10

14.  The Big Bang Theory “The Zazzy Substitution” (4×03) – Average yet again.  What more is there to say other than this show sucks.  Bean, Crystal, Peter and Nathan, you all have terrible taste and shouldn’t be allowed to watch TV until your taste improves.  5/10

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.

Best of the Week is a bit late this week thanks to the release of FIFA 11.  It’s sucked a good majority of my time and I only got around to watching my shows late in the week.  So with one week down and I’ve dropped Chase, The Event and No Ordinary Family, plus Lone Star has been cancelled.  Premiere week is always exciting but the next week is when reality sets in and you realise that far more shitty shows are on the air than good ones and that generally the networks have no idea what they’re doing.  Although, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Outsourced wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be or as all the reviews said it was.  It probably helps that it’s not a laugh track comedy, because if it was I’d most likely hate it.

1.  Modern Family “The Kiss” (2×02) – I love that they took an episode which would usually be a sweeps stunt about a gay kiss and turned it into an episode about love, showing affection and how your parents hangups can become your own.  The episode was also a not so subtle confirmation that the writer’s are aware of criticism about Cam and Mitchell’s relationship.  To be honest, it was a little weird that they haven’t shown any kind of psychical affection over the first 20+ episodes.  One of the great things about the relationship between Willow and Tara on Buffy was that them kissing was never a big deal.  It was just what two people who’re in love do.  Hopefully this will be a stepping stone to showing a more natural relationship between Cam and Mitchell.  What I really liked about the episode was that when Cam and Mitchell do finally kiss it’s kinda in the background as Jay hugs Claire.  It’s almost missable if you’re not paying attention.  And let’s not forget about Alex (Ariel Winter) and Haley (Sarah Hyland).  I don’t think I’ve seen them get so much screen time yet.  Plus they got to do some great scenes together.  Right from the very beginning of the show I’ve thought that the kids on Modern Family had a bunch of talent.  This episode was further proof that I was right.  I love being right.  9/10

2.  Glee “Britney/Brittany” (2×02) – A typical Glee random, almost incoherent, plot that was overcome by the awesome Heather Morris.  Although there wasn’t nearly enough of her for me.  I’m not a fan of Britney Spears, the person or her music but it was a small price to pay to see Heather Morris display her amazing talents.  Naya Rivera also got some more stuff to do but just like Morris I’m always wanting more.  Mark Salling, a guy that’s always underused on the show, was kinda on the sidelines this week but I guess that’s understandable considering it was a Britney episode.  Overall it was a pretty poor episode except for the above mentioned Heather Morris, a great rant by Sue after the “sex riot”, and a subtle but very very funny John Stamos.  I hope that Heather Morris gets more and more stuff to do, and that she gets to cover Ke$ha in the future.  A good episode for Brittany fans but pretty poor story wise.  And I know that I rated this episode lower than a bunch of other shows I watched this week but it goes this high because of my love of Heather Morris.  6.5/10

3.  Community “Accounting for Lawyers” (2×02) – Much better than last week’s episode due to the presence of Rob Corddry (“I stopped doing blow, not being rad”) and a pretty strong episode for Alison Brie.  She was given a decent amount of stuff this week and was made the sexy object on more than one occasion.  The more of that the better.  Ken Jeong wasn’t used to great effectiveness this week but that may change as the season progresses.  Plus Abed and Troy didn’t do much either.  I really liked the tag where Troy was gonna try and run at the wall to cross over into the cartoon world.  Finally, how much of a shock was it to see Drew Carey that damn skinny.  Does he have AIDS or something?  God damn he looked weird.  7.5/10

4.  Eastbound and Down “Chapter 7” (2×01) – A great foul mouthed return for Kenny Powers with what looks to be an entirely new cast surrounding Danny McBride.  Holy balls that little midget was hilarious.  I can’t wait to see what type of antics Powers gets himself into, especially with that hot singer in the red dress.  7/10

5.  30 Rock “When It Rains, It Pours” (6×02) – Finally, the show acknowledges that Tina Fey is a hot piece of ass.  The video clips that Jack puts together for his future son was great, especially when he showed how to throw a punch using Lutz, and how to make love to a woman, using Lutz.  Paul Giamatti guest starred so that was fairly cool too.  7.5/10

6.  How I Met Your Mother “Cleaning House” (6×02) – A very touching and funny episode let down only by the writers insisting that Barney act like the black dude was his father.  It would have been a far more effective episode if Barney’s brother finding his dad didn’t have all that silly stuff involving Barney at the end.  Still, the gang was used effectively and it told a very sweet story.  7/10

7.  Fringe “The Box” (3×02) – Never thought I’d say it but I’m happy that this episode was a monster of the week type deal.  I just hate the idea of Fringe dragging on with our Olivia stuck on the other side.  I hate the type of storylines where you can tell the writers are padding out the season.  This week was good too because the fake Olivia is way more fun that the real Olivia.  She dances, she smiles, she tries to fuck Peter.  She’s better than the real Olivia in every way.  Peter continues to be a buzzkill though.  7/10

8.  Running Wilde “Into The Wilde” (1×02) – David Cross hells yeah.  It’s awesome to see him in anything but to have him team up with Will Arnett on a weekly basis like back in the good ‘ol Arrested Development days is all sorts of wonderful.  Keri Russell was way better this week and Peter Serafinowicz was amazing yet again.  I loved his carpet chest hair and the fact that he wears two Rolex’s on the same wrist.  I think Running Wilde has a great deal of potential but I’m just not convinced that Fox will let the show run if it continues to get poor ratings.  That’s simply not the type of network they are.  6.5/10

9.  Boardwalk Empire “The Ivory Tower” (1×02) – A much slower episode this week partly because there wasn’t the need to establish who all the characters are and what their motivations might be.  I can certainly see Boardwalk Empire following the season structure of The Sopranos.  Slow for the most part with one or two episodes of carnage.  6.5/10

10.  Outsourced “The Measure of a Manmeet” (1×02) – For all the complaints I read about this show last week the one that stuck with me was the whole Manmeet issue.  Critics complained that the writers hammered this joke into the ground.  Well just the other day I heard a news bulletin on the radio about the Delhi Commonwealth Games and the piece contained the name of a Games organiser called Sheila Dickshit.  That may not be how it’s spelled but that’s how it’s pronounced.  I laughed in disbelief when I heard the name and then the radio hosts also made constant reference to it.  When something’s funny it’s funny.  I get the feeling that a lot of critics are trying to find reasons or instances where Outsourced is racist or xenophobic but for me I haven’t seen any yet.  The complaint that the show is simply an endless look at how it’s different for an American who lives and works in India fails to understand the very nature of the sitcom.  It’s a situational comedy.  The show derives its comedy from the situations around the characters.  And a show about a guy stuck working in India is gonna derive its comedy from that very situation.  Get over yourselves critics.  Just because the comedy comes from the differences between America and India doesn’t mean it’s racist.  On a lighter note, the cast are all pretty fantastic so far, and I get a real Better Off Ted crossed with The Office vibe from this show.  I’m surprised to say that I’ve really enjoyed the first two episodes of Outsourced.  6.5/10

11.  The Big Bang Theory “The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification” (4×02) – Well the surprises keep coming because I actually found this episode of The Big Bang Theory funny without too many predictable jokes and a very funny premise.  Add to that Kaley Cuoco looking pretty hot in her running outfit and it was a solid effort from the show.  6/10

12.  Detroit 1-8-7 “Local Hero/Overboard” (1×02) – This week was a definite step down from the pilot due to rather uninteresting cases, but it’s still an enjoyable procedural which doesn’t appear to have the same kinds of trappings as every other procedural on the air.  The show is clearly going for a more gritty and real look in order to set it apart from the other cop shows and I can appreciate that approach.  I’m not so sure I like the character traits that Finch seems to possess but hopefully he’ll develop as the season progresses.  Oh, and there was too much shaky-cam again this week.  Just tone it down a tad and it’ll be an improvement.  5.5/10

13.  Bored to Death “Escape From The Dungeon” (2×01) – I remember seeing promos for the first season of Bored to Death was I was in New York in August last year.  It looked really unique and cool and for the most part the first season lived up to my expectations.  Needless to say I was looking forward to the return of the show.  Unfortunately the first entry in the second season left me kinda cold on the show.  The show’s always been slow and not really laugh out loud funny, but it’s had a style and charm all it’s own.  That wasn’t there in this episode.  I don’t know what else to say other than it was a disappointing season premiere.  5.5/10

14.  Survivor “Glitter in Their Eyes” (21×03) – A pretty damn ordinary season continues to be pretty damn ordinary.  At least the hot Asian chick is still around.  5.5/10

15.  Hawaii Five-0 “Ohana” (1×02) – More average TV.  I think Hawaii Five-0 is gonna be the new CSI: Miami.  Lot’s of nice visuals with some crappy dialogue, by the numbers plots and an annoying lead.  I’ll probably continue to watch it though.  5/10

16.  No Ordinary Family “Pilot” (1×01) – See my review here.  5/10

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.

For the first time since May 9th I get to write a Best of the Week.  God I’ve missed network TV.  Cable has been pretty good over the summer (especially True Blood which showed a significant improvement compared to its second season) but there’s nothing like having all my favourite shows back on the air and checking out all the new ones.  Premiere Week is kinda bananas this year because of the Jay Leno Show debacle and NBC picking up just about everything that came their way.  I’ll watch almost anything new this week or two, besides reality TV (I only watch Survivor), and will give even disappointing shows a couple of episodes before I decide whether they’re weekly viewing or not.  With that said, here’s what I thought of the shows I actually watched this past week.

1.  Glee “Audition” (2×01) – It’s back.  My favourite show from last season returns with everyone looking slightly more attractive, a new football coach, and a couple of new kids showing their singing talents.  Emma (Jayma Mays) was nowhere to be seen this week, but Cheyenne Jackson showed up right at the end as the new Vocal Adrenaline coach to poach another newbie Sunshine Corazon (Charice Pempengco).  Also new this season is Sam Evans (played by the impossibly named Chord Overstreet).  I’m hopeful that Jackson will still appear on 30 Rock this season but I guess it all depends on how fleshed out his stories are on both shows.  Time will tell.  Aside from that, there were some decent songs, I particularly liked how New York State of Mind was shot because it was kind of liberating seeing a performance outside of the auditorium or music room.  It wasn’t the knockout punch of a season opener that I like to get but it was a very solid effort that ranks up their with the best that Glee has put forward so far.  It didn’t hurt that the comedy was supplied from a number of characters this week rather than the usual lone source of Sue.  You can check out my full review here.  8/10

2.  Boardwalk Empire “Boardwalk Empire” (1×01) – It’s just as great as you’d expect it to be with the sheer number of talented people associated with it.  It’s like Goodfellas, The Sopranos and Deadwood had a three-way and Boardwalk Empire was the baby that came from this imaginary sperm soup.  I love that Kelly McDonald is in something that so many people will see.  I’ve loved her ever since I first saw Trainspotting.  The same goes for Steve Buscemi.  He’s so amazingly talented that it’s a crying shame it’s taken this long for him to land as the lead in something so ambitious.  I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season holds for this show.  And HBO obviously has a tremendous amount of faith in Boardwalk Empire because it was picked up for a second season after its first episode.  8/10

3.  Modern Family “The Old Wagon” (2×01) – I don’t know what to say about Modern Family other than it’s consistently great.  Every single person on this show is impressive and there hasn’t been a bad episode so far.  The premiere of the second season doesn’t change that fact.  All the stories were fun and heartwarming and perhaps best of all is that the season premiere got the best ratings the show has had so far.  I guess all those Emmy wins helped.  7.5/10

4.  Detroit 1-8-7 “Pilot” (1×01) – I’ve seen maybe two episodes each of Homicide: Life on the Street and NYPD Blue so I’m not the best person to compare them, but I really think that Detroit 1-8-7 is going for that kind of feel.  The shaky-cam look (which I think was perhaps a little overdone in this episode), the tone of the show, and the stronger emphasis on working the case made this feel far closer to the two shows I mentioned than the endless number of by the books procedurals on the air.  Another bonus was that unlike Chase, another new crime/procedural, Detroit 1-8-7 had some good acting, led by the super-awesome Michael Imperioli, and some pretty decent dialogue.  The really great thing about the pilot was that even though it was only 40-odd minutes long, just like every other procedural on the air, it didn’t feel like there were these quick jumps in clues or evidence.  It felt like actual time had passed and that the cops didn’t have these miraculous breakthroughs out of thin air.  All in all it was the best new show this week on network TV.  It simply has a feel that no other show on TV has and really tries to hark back to the good cop dramas of the 90′s.  It’s like a mix between the great cop films of the 70′s and TV’s love affair with the procedural.  If the show is able to stay based around the characters more than the crime then I can see this being one of my favourite shows in no time at all.  7/10

5.  30 Rock “The Fabian Strategy” (5×01) – It seems like more of the same but when the show is 30 Rock that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Jack hitting on the gay interior designer was pretty funny and I enjoyed the inclusion of CBS and The Late Show, but other than that this episode wasn’t particularly noteworthy.  Still, it’s 30 Rock and it stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin so this grade is par for the course.  7/10

6.  Running Wilde “Pilot” (1×01) – There wasn’t nearly enough David Cross but I’m hopeful that will change of the season progresses, and Kerri Russell wasn’t that great but she’ll probably grow on me.  But the best outside of Will Arnett of course was the clear Arrested Development vibe.  Still, Fox are assholes and it’ll probably be cancelled within 3 weeks.  Until then I’m looking forward to seeing how the show develops and how long it takes for some Arrested Development alumni to drop by.  6.5/10

7.  Fringe “Olivia” (3×01) – More woe is me from Olivia.  How long until she bangs her head and remembers she’s from the other dimension?  Or until fake Olivia screws up and Peter suspects her?  I get the feeling that this plot point is gonna drag on for a bit and I hated it when I saw it coming in last season’s finale.  6.5/10

8.  Community “Anthropology 101” (2×01) – Fuck Britta.  And fuck Jeff for talking himself out of hooking up with Annie.  I’d been looking forward to Jeff and Annie getting together since the show began and it took all of half an episode for the writers to undo what happened in last season’s finale.  That’s bullshit.  If there has to be a relationship between any of the characters it has to be between Jeff and Annie.  Or maybe Troy and Abed.  6.5/10

9.  Undercovers “Pilot” (1×01) – I really enjoyed the sharpness of the banter, plus Ben Schwartz, a guy I know from brief appearances on Parks and Recreation was very very good as Hoyt.  Leon was also pretty cool and added to the loose, fun vibe that I think the show is going for.  I just loved the lightness to the show and visually it looked very impressive.  My first impression is that the show may end up being a less dark, non-mythological version of Alias.  Just a fun escapist spy comedy thriller.  I can’t think of a show on TV that fits that description so hopefully Undercovers will find a place in the audiences schedule.  6.5/10

10.  How I Met Your Mother “Big Days” (6×01) – More God damn teasing about that fucking mother.  Ever since last season ended the producers have said that the 1st episode would be a gamechanger.  It wasn’t.  It was just more of the same stringing along and frankly I’m getting tired of it.  I want some development in my shows and a show about how a guy meets his kid’s mother should have introduced that mother by now.  Otherwise they should forget that premise and just make it a show about five friends living in NYC.  I’ll watch this show for as long as it’s on the air simply because of Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel but I’ve given up hope of this show ever being as good as the 2nd season again.  6/10

11.  Hawaii Five-0 “Pilot” (1×01) – See my review here.  5/10

12.  The Event “I Haven’t Told You Everything” (1×01) – They all want so desperately to be the next serialized show now that Lost if off the air.  Hell, they all wanted to be the next serialized show when Lost was on the air.  None of the shows that have tried to capture the magic of Lost have succeeded.  Either through poor acting, bad writing, shitty planning of the structure of the season or mythology, or a boring premise, all of the Lost wannabes have failed.  I’m sure that NBC will keep The Event around for this season, and I’ll watch another couple of episodes to give it a chance, but I’m supremely confident that it’s just another crappy knockoff filled with barely adequate acting, writing and directing.  The Event was completely uneventful in every way imaginable.  5/10

13.  The Big Bang Theory “The Robotic Manipulation” (4×01) – See my review here.  4.5/10

14.  Chase “Pilot” (1×01) – Oh my God.  It’s just like every other bland law enforcement agency procedural on the air, but in this case the lead is a stone faced woman with absolutely no appeal whatsoever.  It should come as no surprise that NBC has failed once again.  I’m usually willing to give a show a couple of episodes to convince me that it’s worth my time, but I won’t be watching Chase ever again.  There’s absolutely nothing here that can’t be seen somewhere else and done much better.  4/10