Television of 2007
Feb. 1st, 2008 01:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustWhat I've been watching this past year.
My top three recommendations
Heroes (Seasons 1 & 2)
It's hard to remember now, after the disappointments of Season 2, how brilliant and groundbreaking Season 1 was. Heroes generated incredible excitement via word of mouth, it set the bar higher for all shows including itself, and it had viewers hanging out for each new cliffhanger of an episode, or, like me, mainlining the series in huge chunks. At a time when so many shows aspire to be dark and gritty and cynical, Heroes is unashamedly all about hope, courage, and love.
Ugly Betty (Seasons 1 & 2)
How could I not like a show where the hero is a nerdy young woman who is smart and principled and bold and doesn't care that she's daggy? And yet there is even more to admire. I love that Betty comes from a working-class, non-English-speaking background. I love that she has such strong ties to her family. I love that this show features so many women, so many characters of colour, so many characters of different sexualities. I love that even seemingly shallow characters are given hidden depths and humanity. I love that it's pure pleasure to watch and that I know I'll go away feeling good.
Life On Mars (Seasons 1 & 2)
The most brilliant show I have seen in a long time. It took seven years in the making, and you can see it in the polish and the craft, the way the characters bounce off each other so naturally, the way the plotlines come together so perfectly. I love seeing 1973 through the lens of our time and our time through the lens of 1973. I love the music and the cars and the clothes and even the hideous wallpaper. I love that you get the sense of nostalgia and the sense of alienation both. I love that Sam is not a saint and Gene is not a thug. I love the sense of history, that the future is rolling in like an inexorable tide, and that these days Sam is living in belong to a time that will soon vanish forever.
My other favourite shows
Supernatural (Season 2)
This was the show that plunged me back into fandom. It was the angst that hooked me, and it just kept on coming, even when I thought it must have hit the limit. "I'm not okay--but neither are you." "What's dead should stay dead!" "You have to promise me..." And the finale. Oh man. Cut out my heart and stomp on it, why don't you? I seriously don't know how they're going to top this, unless Sam and Dean pull a Butch and Sundance at the end of the series.
Doctor Who (Season 3)
The amazing thing is that I've never blogged about this show before. Over the past three years, it has been one of my consistent favourites - fun, uplifting, imaginative, terrifying, heroic, and heartbreaking. This season, we thankfully saw less of 21st century London and more of adventures in time and space. Martha Jones was made of awesome. And I think I'm one of the five people in the world who loved 'Last of the Time Lords'.
The 4400 (Season 3)
There are certain shows I don't jump up and down about, but which continue to deliver solid stories backed by quality acting and production. The 4400 is one of them. It's well-crafted but low-key, and even now I'm not sure how to describe its appeal. Maybe because it has characters who care about each other, who are trying to act with honour, while caught between conflicting sides.
Desperate Housewives (Season 3)
Way back in the beginning of 2005, the three new shows that had everyone riveted were Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. Out of these, the only one I still look forward to every week is Desperate Housewives. Clever, funny, and well-paced, it's a good balance of comedy and drama. By no means perfect, but the number of storylines means that every episode has something to enjoy. I'll never care much for Susan or Gabrielle, but Lynette's cunning and Bree's audacity are made of win.
My Name Is Earl (Seasons 2 & 3)
It's not the kind of show I would have expected to charm me, but there's something about these prickly, earnest, morally dubious characters and their dilemmas that gets to me. Maybe it's because they're completely unpretentious, or because they're genuinely good at heart. Or maybe it's just the underdog factor. This season's shift of scene to prison is refreshing and a good sign that the show isn't afraid to reinvent itself.
My biggest three disappointments
Torchwood (Season 1)
I was really looking forward to this, I was. Captain Jack! In his own show! With canonical slash! However, after the first couple of episodes, I was extremely perplexed. Was I watching the same show as everyone else? Was this badly plotted, awkwardly acted, clumsily risque show the same one that was generating so much squee? I was promised it got better. I persevered. It did. But only in uneven bursts. Maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe it is just all about the sex.
Lost (Season 3)
It's weird to think back to when this was the most awesome new show on the block. I remember how the pilot blew me away. I remember thinking Jack was such a fantastic hero. But it's been three seasons, and every single character has had a dozen meaningful and cathartic flashbacks, and we've learned all about the beast in the jungle and the radio transmission and the Black Rock and the hatch and the Others and the Dharma Initiative. Even my ship - Sawyer/Kate - has sailed into port. It's good to hear that the creators have now fixed an end point for the show, but I seriously don't know that there are three more seasons of story left.
Battlestar Galactica (Season 2)
I keep thinking I've watched to the end of Season 3, and then I realise no, it only feels that way. Not only was Season 2 a long and tedious journey - with the three Pegasus episodes and 'Downloaded' the only high points - but none of the characters were much fun to be around. Whoever said the writers have missed the distinction between 'flawed' and 'unsympathetic' was absolutely right. I'm not sure I care enough about any of them to trudge through Season 3, especially if all that awaits me are a couple more slaps in the face.
My top three recommendations
Heroes (Seasons 1 & 2)
It's hard to remember now, after the disappointments of Season 2, how brilliant and groundbreaking Season 1 was. Heroes generated incredible excitement via word of mouth, it set the bar higher for all shows including itself, and it had viewers hanging out for each new cliffhanger of an episode, or, like me, mainlining the series in huge chunks. At a time when so many shows aspire to be dark and gritty and cynical, Heroes is unashamedly all about hope, courage, and love.
Ugly Betty (Seasons 1 & 2)
How could I not like a show where the hero is a nerdy young woman who is smart and principled and bold and doesn't care that she's daggy? And yet there is even more to admire. I love that Betty comes from a working-class, non-English-speaking background. I love that she has such strong ties to her family. I love that this show features so many women, so many characters of colour, so many characters of different sexualities. I love that even seemingly shallow characters are given hidden depths and humanity. I love that it's pure pleasure to watch and that I know I'll go away feeling good.
Life On Mars (Seasons 1 & 2)
The most brilliant show I have seen in a long time. It took seven years in the making, and you can see it in the polish and the craft, the way the characters bounce off each other so naturally, the way the plotlines come together so perfectly. I love seeing 1973 through the lens of our time and our time through the lens of 1973. I love the music and the cars and the clothes and even the hideous wallpaper. I love that you get the sense of nostalgia and the sense of alienation both. I love that Sam is not a saint and Gene is not a thug. I love the sense of history, that the future is rolling in like an inexorable tide, and that these days Sam is living in belong to a time that will soon vanish forever.
My other favourite shows
Supernatural (Season 2)
This was the show that plunged me back into fandom. It was the angst that hooked me, and it just kept on coming, even when I thought it must have hit the limit. "I'm not okay--but neither are you." "What's dead should stay dead!" "You have to promise me..." And the finale. Oh man. Cut out my heart and stomp on it, why don't you? I seriously don't know how they're going to top this, unless Sam and Dean pull a Butch and Sundance at the end of the series.
Doctor Who (Season 3)
The amazing thing is that I've never blogged about this show before. Over the past three years, it has been one of my consistent favourites - fun, uplifting, imaginative, terrifying, heroic, and heartbreaking. This season, we thankfully saw less of 21st century London and more of adventures in time and space. Martha Jones was made of awesome. And I think I'm one of the five people in the world who loved 'Last of the Time Lords'.
The 4400 (Season 3)
There are certain shows I don't jump up and down about, but which continue to deliver solid stories backed by quality acting and production. The 4400 is one of them. It's well-crafted but low-key, and even now I'm not sure how to describe its appeal. Maybe because it has characters who care about each other, who are trying to act with honour, while caught between conflicting sides.
Desperate Housewives (Season 3)
Way back in the beginning of 2005, the three new shows that had everyone riveted were Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. Out of these, the only one I still look forward to every week is Desperate Housewives. Clever, funny, and well-paced, it's a good balance of comedy and drama. By no means perfect, but the number of storylines means that every episode has something to enjoy. I'll never care much for Susan or Gabrielle, but Lynette's cunning and Bree's audacity are made of win.
My Name Is Earl (Seasons 2 & 3)
It's not the kind of show I would have expected to charm me, but there's something about these prickly, earnest, morally dubious characters and their dilemmas that gets to me. Maybe it's because they're completely unpretentious, or because they're genuinely good at heart. Or maybe it's just the underdog factor. This season's shift of scene to prison is refreshing and a good sign that the show isn't afraid to reinvent itself.
My biggest three disappointments
Torchwood (Season 1)
I was really looking forward to this, I was. Captain Jack! In his own show! With canonical slash! However, after the first couple of episodes, I was extremely perplexed. Was I watching the same show as everyone else? Was this badly plotted, awkwardly acted, clumsily risque show the same one that was generating so much squee? I was promised it got better. I persevered. It did. But only in uneven bursts. Maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe it is just all about the sex.
Lost (Season 3)
It's weird to think back to when this was the most awesome new show on the block. I remember how the pilot blew me away. I remember thinking Jack was such a fantastic hero. But it's been three seasons, and every single character has had a dozen meaningful and cathartic flashbacks, and we've learned all about the beast in the jungle and the radio transmission and the Black Rock and the hatch and the Others and the Dharma Initiative. Even my ship - Sawyer/Kate - has sailed into port. It's good to hear that the creators have now fixed an end point for the show, but I seriously don't know that there are three more seasons of story left.
Battlestar Galactica (Season 2)
I keep thinking I've watched to the end of Season 3, and then I realise no, it only feels that way. Not only was Season 2 a long and tedious journey - with the three Pegasus episodes and 'Downloaded' the only high points - but none of the characters were much fun to be around. Whoever said the writers have missed the distinction between 'flawed' and 'unsympathetic' was absolutely right. I'm not sure I care enough about any of them to trudge through Season 3, especially if all that awaits me are a couple more slaps in the face.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-31 02:43 pm (UTC)Lost and BSG are shows that I keep in mind whenever I'm tempted to feel sad about Life on Mars (or any number of shows) having so few episodes.
Torchwood: Was I watching the same show as everyone else?
Your reaction is actually the exact one that I've from pretty much everyone. (I haven't sought out communities or anything). I think most people *want* to like it, and would really like it to, y'know, improve. I failed to catch the second half of S1, and heard that it did improve then, and ditto for S2. I was just thinking today about how Primeval is really what Torchwood should have been, in the sense of *fun* sort of way, and that quite possibly an ideal show would be a combination of the two. (Although, actually, I don't mind the fairly minimal snogging content in Primeval).
no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 04:43 pm (UTC)Torchwood could definitely use more of a fun factor. I think I only saw the first few episodes of Primeval, but adding dinosaurs to a show can only help. (Hmm, were there pterodactyls in the Torchwood pilot?)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 09:32 pm (UTC)I loved Last of the Time Lords, too.
Re:Battlestar Galactica Season 2. I thought the first half, the Pegasus episodes, Downloaded, and the last three were excellent. Standalones in the second half were disappointing. The network ordered that there be standalones, "to draw in new viewers", as opposed to arc-episodes. The fact that the coming Season 4 is the last season and the backfiring of the standalone idea should mean that this pressure is off in Season 4. And they may actually give the long-awaited arc-heavy Caprica spin-off the go-ahead.
I'm can't be sure exactly how you'll enjoy Season 3, since I'm not you. I personally found it to be mostly good, with occasional dull or awesome. I can only advise that you watch the whole season in order to find out. It won't hurt.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-10 03:31 pm (UTC)Woot, another 'Last of the Time Lords' fan!
I'll probably check out the start of Season 3 of Battlestar anyway, to see whether it has improved.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-10 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-22 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-23 04:10 pm (UTC)4.1 He That Believeth in Me
4.2 Six of One
4.3 The Ties That Bind
4.4 Escape Velocity
4.5 The Road Less Traveled
4.6 Faith
4.7 Guess What's Coming to Dinner
4.8 Sine Qua Non
4.9 The Hub
4.10 Revelations