TWO Much TV! Summertime Viewing Summary (On and Off My Shelf) PART II
As I said in the previous post... we watched a lot of TV this Summer, so my movie-viewing was slacking a bit. Here's more of what we watched when we weren't watching movies...
Twin Peaks: The Return (aka Season Three)
On the off-chance that you're not familiar with the original Twin Peaks, and not wanting to spoil anything for you, I won't go much into this here (although I could probably write a whole post, or two, or three, about this topic). At my writing this, we are two episodes from finishing the run... and I have extremely mixed feelings about the show.
First of all -- my mixed feelings are not about the performances, or the actors, or cinematography, or anything like that. (That's all been good, even when it's not; clearly, even actors who are bad at acting were chosen with care specifically due to their bad acting skills...) The first four episodes of the show were solid; solid enough to get us excited and get us to buy a subscription to Showtime in order to watch it. But then, the middle episodes were a constant back-and-forth, up-and-down experience (with some really good episodes and some really, really bad, waste-of-time episodes)... it was so drawn out that it was painful, and I was honestly dreading watching it each week. And now, three episodes to the ending, I can say confidently that the last couple episodes have been good, but now it feels terribly rushed. Finally we're getting to see things involving our favorite characters from Twin Peaks. Finally a Very Important Character has come back. But at this point, I do have to say my overall feeling is that the bulk of the show has editing and pacing issues. And as Mr. Hall put it, "It's like all this other stuff in the series [i.e. the 16 episodes leading up to this point] was just set-up for a two-hour Twin Peaks reunion show."
UPDATE: I have now watched the last two episodes of Twin Peaks. The second-to-last was quite enjoyable. The final episode proves that either a) they are planning a fourth season, or b) David Lynch despises and disdains his fans. I'm really leaning towards the latter. If he's not planning on a fourth season, I'm really unsure, now, whether I want to recommend this show.
Recommended... WITH BIG RESERVATIONS (about pacing and editing and content. And ONLY recommended for fans of the original series. People who try to hop into this season with both feet without having seen the original show will absolutely unable to follow what's happening.)
↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔
Fargo - Season 2
Initially, I actually liked Fargo Season 2 a bit better than Season 1. It makes the interesting choice of going back in time about twenty-something years, to the 70's, and dealing with some of the same people (or their parents) and many of the situations that set up season one.
There were more characters that were actual likeable people, and the scenario was intriguing. I liked the acting; I really enjoyed getting to see Kirsten Dunst again, as an insane housewife (after basically not seeing her at all between this and Spider-Man 3); I enjoyed Ted Danson as an elderly sheriff; and I really enjoyed Jean Smart's performance as a grim, Germanic matriarch. However, ultimately I felt the show suffered from the same major flaw as season one -- too many unlikeable characters, and the ending was anticlimactic. I don't know if I really care to see Season 3 at this point (in spite of the fact of an intriguing Ewan McGregor dual-role) because both season one and season two were let-downs for me!
Recommended... WITH STRONG RESERVATIONS. (Most of the show was very enjoyable but the ending was a wet fish!)
⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹
Lovejoy - Season 2
The second season of Lovejoy is an improvement on the first (as far as tone and consistency) -- but drops off a lot in storytelling. Every episode we've watched, so far, as been a variation on "Lovejoy helps poor old people". Granted, it's nice to see the nice side of Lovejoy -- but it's also fun to see his ruthless, crooked side, and I don't feel there has been enough of that.
The weird thing, though, about the difference between season one and season two is that the first season took place in the mid 1980's -- and the second season doesn't pick up again until the nineties. There's a weird change in tone there. I still really like the character and the setting, though, so I'm not quite sure what to say about this. Ultimately, I probably just need to finish this season before passing judgement on it.
NO RECOMMENDATION EITHER WAY. THE JURY IS OUT.
⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹
Danger 5 - Season 2
Danger 5's second season is a weird, funny departure from the first season; as I previously mentioned, the first season is a pastiche of WWII movies, foreign movies, and 1960's spy/action shows. Well, the second season takes place in the 1980's: after winning WWII, the Danger 5 team disbanded and went their separate ways, only to get together again after a team member is assassinated by the newly-returned-to-life Adolph Hitler.
This season looks, feels and sounds different than the first season. After the first episode I wasn't quite having it -- it got so outlandishly silly at some points that it passed the point I was willing to accept the silliness. (And it's got to be pretty darn silly for me to reach that point.) I believe my precise words to Mr. Hall afterwards were, "Eh... I don't know if I like this or not..." However, we gave it a chance, and after that, the show got really funny. (Favorite episode: "Johnny Hitler" -- Hitler is masquerading as an American high school student in order to steal the prom queen. That episode was a parody of high school movies and 1980's high school horror movies... it turned out really, really funny.)
One thing that kind of put me off the show, though, was that, in many cases, the personalities of our main characters had shifted slightly between this and season one. I liked the main character, Tucker, much better in season one; in season one he was straight-laced and masculine in an old-fashioned way -- in season two, he was whiny and feminized (although that might say more about the 1960's vs. the 1980's than it does about the writing of the show, in a certain sense). And a couple characters I really enjoyed in season one (Pierre and Claire) really don't return... although they do. In a sense. (It's complicated.)
In the end, I liked the look of season one more, I liked the feel of season one more... but season two just might have been a more consistent, better-made, and funnier season.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... (If you like Monty Python and South Park and Mystery Science Theater 3000 and that sort of thing.)
Twin Peaks: The Return (aka Season Three)
On the off-chance that you're not familiar with the original Twin Peaks, and not wanting to spoil anything for you, I won't go much into this here (although I could probably write a whole post, or two, or three, about this topic). At my writing this, we are two episodes from finishing the run... and I have extremely mixed feelings about the show.
First of all -- my mixed feelings are not about the performances, or the actors, or cinematography, or anything like that. (That's all been good, even when it's not; clearly, even actors who are bad at acting were chosen with care specifically due to their bad acting skills...) The first four episodes of the show were solid; solid enough to get us excited and get us to buy a subscription to Showtime in order to watch it. But then, the middle episodes were a constant back-and-forth, up-and-down experience (with some really good episodes and some really, really bad, waste-of-time episodes)... it was so drawn out that it was painful, and I was honestly dreading watching it each week. And now, three episodes to the ending, I can say confidently that the last couple episodes have been good, but now it feels terribly rushed. Finally we're getting to see things involving our favorite characters from Twin Peaks. Finally a Very Important Character has come back. But at this point, I do have to say my overall feeling is that the bulk of the show has editing and pacing issues. And as Mr. Hall put it, "It's like all this other stuff in the series [i.e. the 16 episodes leading up to this point] was just set-up for a two-hour Twin Peaks reunion show."
UPDATE: I have now watched the last two episodes of Twin Peaks. The second-to-last was quite enjoyable. The final episode proves that either a) they are planning a fourth season, or b) David Lynch despises and disdains his fans. I'm really leaning towards the latter. If he's not planning on a fourth season, I'm really unsure, now, whether I want to recommend this show.
Recommended... WITH BIG RESERVATIONS (about pacing and editing and content. And ONLY recommended for fans of the original series. People who try to hop into this season with both feet without having seen the original show will absolutely unable to follow what's happening.)
↔↔↔↔↔↔↔↔
Fargo - Season 2
Initially, I actually liked Fargo Season 2 a bit better than Season 1. It makes the interesting choice of going back in time about twenty-something years, to the 70's, and dealing with some of the same people (or their parents) and many of the situations that set up season one.
There were more characters that were actual likeable people, and the scenario was intriguing. I liked the acting; I really enjoyed getting to see Kirsten Dunst again, as an insane housewife (after basically not seeing her at all between this and Spider-Man 3); I enjoyed Ted Danson as an elderly sheriff; and I really enjoyed Jean Smart's performance as a grim, Germanic matriarch. However, ultimately I felt the show suffered from the same major flaw as season one -- too many unlikeable characters, and the ending was anticlimactic. I don't know if I really care to see Season 3 at this point (in spite of the fact of an intriguing Ewan McGregor dual-role) because both season one and season two were let-downs for me!
Recommended... WITH STRONG RESERVATIONS. (Most of the show was very enjoyable but the ending was a wet fish!)
⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹
Lovejoy - Season 2
The second season of Lovejoy is an improvement on the first (as far as tone and consistency) -- but drops off a lot in storytelling. Every episode we've watched, so far, as been a variation on "Lovejoy helps poor old people". Granted, it's nice to see the nice side of Lovejoy -- but it's also fun to see his ruthless, crooked side, and I don't feel there has been enough of that.
The weird thing, though, about the difference between season one and season two is that the first season took place in the mid 1980's -- and the second season doesn't pick up again until the nineties. There's a weird change in tone there. I still really like the character and the setting, though, so I'm not quite sure what to say about this. Ultimately, I probably just need to finish this season before passing judgement on it.
NO RECOMMENDATION EITHER WAY. THE JURY IS OUT.
⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹⇹
Danger 5 - Season 2
Danger 5's second season is a weird, funny departure from the first season; as I previously mentioned, the first season is a pastiche of WWII movies, foreign movies, and 1960's spy/action shows. Well, the second season takes place in the 1980's: after winning WWII, the Danger 5 team disbanded and went their separate ways, only to get together again after a team member is assassinated by the newly-returned-to-life Adolph Hitler.
This season looks, feels and sounds different than the first season. After the first episode I wasn't quite having it -- it got so outlandishly silly at some points that it passed the point I was willing to accept the silliness. (And it's got to be pretty darn silly for me to reach that point.) I believe my precise words to Mr. Hall afterwards were, "Eh... I don't know if I like this or not..." However, we gave it a chance, and after that, the show got really funny. (Favorite episode: "Johnny Hitler" -- Hitler is masquerading as an American high school student in order to steal the prom queen. That episode was a parody of high school movies and 1980's high school horror movies... it turned out really, really funny.)
One thing that kind of put me off the show, though, was that, in many cases, the personalities of our main characters had shifted slightly between this and season one. I liked the main character, Tucker, much better in season one; in season one he was straight-laced and masculine in an old-fashioned way -- in season two, he was whiny and feminized (although that might say more about the 1960's vs. the 1980's than it does about the writing of the show, in a certain sense). And a couple characters I really enjoyed in season one (Pierre and Claire) really don't return... although they do. In a sense. (It's complicated.)
In the end, I liked the look of season one more, I liked the feel of season one more... but season two just might have been a more consistent, better-made, and funnier season.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... (If you like Monty Python and South Park and Mystery Science Theater 3000 and that sort of thing.)
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