Joss Whedon's New PG13 Supernatural Thing for Teenagers (TV thread)

[elpollodiablo]

I still really adore the American Office. It hit a rough patch in season five and Danielle and I stopped watching, but we've caught back up in the last few weeks, and it's been great.

[dieblucasdie]

Hey, speaking of how every comedy on television is now a deadpan-documentary-style-workplace thing; since you guys are all finally reading Sepinwall now, does that mean y'all are on board with Party Down?  That show has improved pretty much by the week, and rivals Parks & Rec now as far as I'm concerned.

[dieblucasdie]

S4 is the tough one, because it has a season-long arc where the key new characters are horribly cast, the pacing is all wrong, the big bad is completely unscary, and the ending is pat and underwhelming.  But it also has a bunch of the best single episodes of the series (Hush, Something Blue, Superstar, the Faith two-parter, Restless),and even some of the customary eye-roller MOTW episodes have some great stuff in the them (the Spike stuff in "Pangs," the Giles stuff in "A New Man").

I'm a little surprised so many people placed 7 over 1.  7 is so, so, so bad you guys.  At least 1 is bad in a fun, cheesy way; 7 is duuuuuuuullllllll.  There's like 15 episodes in the middle of that season where seriously nothing happens.

One S4 episode that comes to mind in which they make so much out of a typical MOTW scenario is "Fear Itself." It's hilarious and full of sad character stuff, all in the service of a purposefully lame demon. It is also the episode after which I looked forward to anything written by David Fury, but it seems he lost everything that made him good by season 6? (He wrote the finale of that one and it is pretty much a haven of stilted, awkward dialogue).

Meanwhile, I only rate 7 over 1 because 7's great episodes are better than that of 1. "Selfless," "Storyteller" and "Lies My Parents Told Me" (oh hey, a good post-S5 Fury episode) especially.

Man, I disagree.  The only S7 episode I like without qualification is "Conversations with Dead People"; the Anya stuff in "Selfless" and the Andrew stuff in "Storyteller" are good, sure, but those episodes are still weighed down by humorless terrible S7 angry-folded-arms Buffy and lame boring First Evil stuff.  And you liked "Lies My Parents Told Me"?  Man, the whole Spike-as-sleeper-agent/Principal-Wood's-vendetta is one of the dumber and more pointless ongoing subplots the show ever did.  "I, Robot, You Jane" even compares favorably to that shit.

[jebreject]

Hey, speaking of how every comedy on television is now a deadpan-documentary-style-workplace thing; since you guys are all finally reading Sepinwall now, does that mean y'all are on board with Party Down?  That show has improved pretty much by the week, and rivals Parks & Rec now as far as I'm concerned.

I'm a pretty big fan.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

The subplot's dumb as hell, yeah, but I argue it worked in that episode, which also served to completely close off that arc. But I suppose the reason "Conversations with Dead People" is somewhat ruined for me is that it starts off so many stupid, stupid things.

Also the point of "Storyteller" is to make fun of militant Buffy, so.

[Anne the Man]

As season 7 episodes go, none of you have mentioned "Him". That one's great!

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

I know some people who hate the fuck out of "Him," but I think it is hilarious.

A Season 7 Episode So Bad that It is Irredeemable: "The Killer in Me"

[Anne the Man]

Hating on Him is weird. It'd be like hating on Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered! And y'aint allowed to do that.

[dieblucasdie]

I know some people who hate the fuck out of "Him," but I think it is hilarious.

A Season 7 Episode So Bad that It is Irredeemable: "The Killer in Me"

At least I like, remember what happened in "The Killer in the Me."  I think the worst are those runs of nondescript First/Slayerette episodes:  "Bring on the Night," "Showtime," "Potential," "Get It Done," "Empty Places," "Touched."

One thing that's really striking about S7 is how AWESOME Faith's arc is on Angel S4, and how lame it is on Buffy S7.  After her stint on Angel, I was like, "OK, OK, awesome, Faith is going to come in and save this season of Buffy."  Then, she like, stands around for a while?  And has sex with Principal Wood?

[jm]

Hey, speaking of how every comedy on television is now a deadpan-documentary-style-workplace thing; since you guys are all finally reading Sepinwall now, does that mean y'all are on board with Party Down?  That show has improved pretty much by the week, and rivals Parks & Rec now as far as I'm concerned.

The lady got me into that; I've been liking it more and more.  Didn't I have a conversation with coldforge and/or pollo wherein at least one of them admitted to liking that show?

[Greg Nog]

I've been talking it up for a while now, but possibly not on the board?  At any rate, I continue to like it, but I REALLY miss Jane Lynch, who was easily my favorite part of the show.

[dieblucasdie]

'Tis true, but dear sweet Lord is Megan Mullaley ever an improvement over Jennifer Coolidge.  I might've quit watching the show if they'd kept her a permanent replacement. 

[elpollodiablo]

I really dig Party Down! I also think it's getting stronger, though not funnier, as it goes on. The early episodes had bigger laughs; now it's just a dark, amusing, character-driven dramedy. I actually appreciate the fact that they don't feel the need to always go for the big yuks.

I also miss Lynch, though. That episode with Begley was great.

[Greg Nog]

Man, there are few lines in that entire series that I find funnier than when, in the porn-episode, Lynch asks what ecstasy is.

[davy]

So I've decided to watch every episode of The X-Files, front to back, because A) I've seen fewer than half of them, and B) they've been added to Netflix Instant. I figured it would get off to a really slow start and be kind of embarrassing for a couple of seasons and all, you know, like a lot of 90s TV...

But I'm on the 4th episode of Season 1 right now, and my god, I'm shocked. This show got off to a pretty amazing start. A lot creepier than I remember. I'm already hooked.

[reebty]

I watched every season last year and season 1 didn't hold up for me. There were definite highlights, though, such as the one with the glowing bugs, the one with the volcano and the one with the creepy little girls. It really picks up in season 2, then drops a bit in season 3. Season 5 was the first season with episodes I hadn't seen, and I was watching out of duty by then. Fortunately the quality had fallen gradually enough that, like the first time around, I'd redefined my idea of what the show was just as the writers had and therefore I was able to appreciate the episodes from that season and beyond that were a cut above the rest and/or went off in bizarre directions. The ongoing conspiracy arc ended at the end of season 7, Duchovny left and I saw hardly any episodes after that back when they were aired.

[hannah]

'Tis true, but dear sweet Lord is Megan Mullaley ever an improvement over Jennifer Coolidge.  I might've quit watching the show if they'd kept her a permanent replacement. 

What! Jennifer Coolidge was awesome. Though I also like Mullaley.

I really, really love Party Down. I just rewatched the first season last week. I forgot how fucking depressing Ron is all the time—and how he is in fact the show's heart and soul, not Henry/Casey as I had remembered.

[hannah]

And re: X-Files, I've been rewatching episodes from seasons six and seven, and have been pleasantly surprised by how good they are. 

[Greg Nog]

So you all want to talk about True Blood?  Maybe discuss that there is no other show on TV that seems quite as consistent about reading people's slashfic, then making it happen?  Maybe talk about how the greatest single moment in the entire series so far was when Sookie did an impression of Bill saying "SOOKEH"?

[elpollodiablo]

Nope.

[dieblucasdie]

So you all want to talk about True Blood?  Maybe discuss that there is no other show on TV that seems quite as consistent about reading people's slashfic, then making it happen?  Maybe talk about how the greatest single moment in the entire series so far was when Sookie did an impression of Bill saying "SOOKEH"?

Man, Nazi Eric is basically the only compelling plotline right now.  Sookie's search for Bill? DON'T CARE.  Tara's downward spiral? DON'T CARE.  Whatever the hell they're doing with Jason?  DON'T CARE.  Even the Jessica/Hoyt stuff is getting pretty tedious.

[Greg Nog]

WEREWOLVES, THOUGH

NAZI WEREWOLVES OF THE SS

[elpollodiablo]

...really?

[Greg Nog]

Really!  The first two episodes have thus far included:

- Nazi vampires fighting a naked werewolf lady
- a scene in which two of the male characters strip their shirts off, then move in for a kiss
- a pit bull that turns into a bird
- Lafayette

[dieblucasdie]

Oh yeah, that Nazi Eric and Godric scene was awesome.  And at least this episode didn't have any Evan Rachel Wood.  But we did get those extended scenes with Sam and his family. NO ONE CARES SHOW MORE NAKED ERIC.