television

Compared to most, I don’t watch that much television. I don’t mean that in some sort of douchey and superior way. As this blog makes clear, I actually really love good scripted TV. There is plenty of TV that is smart, heartfelt, funny, moving, and/or engaging. The problem I sometimes have with television is never in a “only the stupid and low-cultured folks watch TV” sort of way, but is rooted far more in the trouble with trying to carry ongoing serial storytelling, which is really hard for writers, as evidenced by great shows that have terrible episodes, and even terrible seasons.

Anyway, there are so many shows I need to catch up on, revisit, and try on for size. So many, in fact, that I don’t even know where to begin. Thus, I come to you, my friends out there in the internets, to help me decide. I’ve got some time to figure it out. The next few months could get a little crazy school-wise, and there are some shows I’m only a few episodes behind on that I will polish off first. However, soon, many of the shows I do watch will be over, and school will no longer be a part of my life. Thus, even though I probably won’t start any of these shows for several months, I’m looking ahead for three primary reasons: one, coming up with a plan of attack will make it easier to tackle the mountain of TV waiting for me; two, looking forward to this will help keep me going through the school work; and three, I love doing dumb shit like this.

Basically, there are a few categories of shows that I want to watch. The Unjustifiably Unfinished: the shows I started, loved (or at least liked), and for whatever reason never finished. The ‘Why The Hell Haven’t I Watched That Yet?’: the shows I’m pretty confident I’ll enjoy, some are even undisputed classics, but for some reason (or no good reason) I never got around to watching them. The Curiosities: the shows that could go either way, but that I really need to check out some time (or in one case, give another chance).

Hopefully, a few of you will vote to help me decide which ones to watch first. Hell, a select few of you may even decide to join me in watching some of them. Anyway, here are the options, and the numbers mean nothing. [I left off a few non-negotiables, that I know for sure I will be watched over the next few weeks/months.]

The Unjustifiably Unfinished:

1. Breaking Bad
2. Dexter
3. Bored to Death
4. Californication
5. Battlestar Galactica
6. Six Feet Under
7. Deadwood
8. Veronica Mars
9. Chuck
10. The West Wing

The ‘Why The Hell Haven’t I Watched That Yet?’:

1. Twin Peaks
2. The Sopranos
3. The Larry Sanders Show
4. Boardwalk Empire
5. Red Dwarf
6. Black Adder
7. House of Cards (US)
8. Veep

The Curiosities:

1. Supernatural
2. Wilfred
3. Misfits
4. American Horror Story
5. The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
6. Fringe

Well, what say you? What should I watch first from each of these lists? Help me prioritize!

Spending my whole birthday sick and most of it sleeping sucked. One of the few highlights was that Mad Men is back. How are we fortunate enough to live in a world where Game of Thrones and Mad Men return within the same eight days?!? Such great dramas, and the two hour season premiere of Mad Men didn’t disappoint me one bit. It was full of the foreboding imagery, the quiet desperation, and the same remarkable truth uttered in small moments. My favorite example from this week: “People will do anything to alleviate their anxiety.” Yep, that’ll preach.

Okay, okay, two posts in a row about Archer, but I need to update something I completely forgot about when I wrote yesterday’s post. Another great thing about Archer is that it is entirely and intentionally anachronistic. It is completely untethered from any single historical era. Just a small sampling of the limitless examples: the KGB and Soviet Union not only exist, but are still the primary enemy of the US in many episodes, the characters all dress like its the 60’s, the computers often look late 70’s early 80’s, Archer’s valet Woodhouse fought in World War I, they all have GPS cell phones, Dane Cook and internet pornography are joked about… seriously, the list is unending.

It’s a pretty great quirk, and allows the writers to tell whatever jokes they want without worrying about time period. In any other show, perhaps it would be tiresome and seem lazy. In Archer, it fits perfectly, somehow. Just another thing to love about Archer.

I promise tomorrow’s post won’t be about Archer. Probably.  

My love of Archer has never been a secret, but the fact that I’d now count it as my favorite tv comedy is a new development. For those unfamiliar with the show, it is about super-spy Sterling Archer, codename: Duchess, and the rest of his selfish, hilarious, insane coworkers at ISIS (International Secret Intelligence Service). To use some alliteration for a moment, the show is droll, dirty, and deranged. Also, delightful.

I still remember the first episode, when FX extended the listing for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to an entire hour so that DVRs would keep recording for folks to catch a special sneak peak of the Archer pilot. It was a few months before Archer actually aired in earnest. Right away, I was in love. The show’s smart, raunchy, irreverent, self-referential comedy, packed to the gills with pop culture references, is basically the sort of thing I would design if somebody asked me to sit down and create my dream comedy. All of my favorite tv comedies are like that, from Sunny to Bob’s Burgers to Community. And now, in my opinion, Archer has separated itself from the pack as the smartest and funniest of the lot.

Archer was created by Adam Reed, who tickled my funny bone in college on Adult Swim with Sealab 2021. I can literally watch this show over and over and over. And I do. Not counting the current season, I’ve seen every episode at least three times. Probably a lot more than three times. As is the case with the best comedies, in television and film alike, there are layers you only catch after repeat viewings. There are so many vague and obscure references in Archer that even a fairly knowledgable pop culture guy like me has no chance of catching all of the various references in every episode. It would be a fun group project to create a truly authoritative wiki that catalogues the references second by second for the purposes of allowing easy access in those moments when someone is watching and they just know something is a reference, but they’ll be damned if they could figure it out. The current Archer wiki only points out the most obvious references, which isn’t particularly helpful.

Anyway, the show has so much I love. The voice cast isn’t good, it’s perfect. Per. Fect. H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter, Amber Nash, Judy Greer, Adam Reed, Chris Parnell, Lucky Yates… each member of the cast couldn’t be any better. The guest stars are also always stellar, Burt Reynolds (as himself), Jeffrey Tambor, David Cross, Bryan Cranston, Peter Serafinowicz, Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Lennon, Ben Garant, Timothy Olyphant… the list goes on and on.

I love this show, and there are no signs quality is going to start slipping any time soon, last week’s episode ‘The Honeymooners‘ is one of my favorite yet!

Long live the king! Or, the duchess, I guess.