1) It was the first day of classes. After almost two months of intense preparation, we kicked off our school year program at work today. The students arrived with that air of nervous excitement that kids only get on the first day of school, and I realized just how much fun this year is going to be.
2) It was the kick off day of premiere week, when all the major broadcast networks air season premieres of returning shows and pilots of purchased new ones that they hope will keep viewers' DVRs full to bursting with their company logo. As part of this momentous day, NBC, ABC and FOX kicked it off with two hour blasts of their front runners in "illiterate programming." I'm sorry, I mean "alternative" or "reality" programming. (For those of you who got the Studio 60 reference that I just made, you are the core of my audience, thank you.) CBS, though, did it right and kicked off their week of new shows with an hour long premiere of their half-hour comedy, How I Met Your Mother. The "hour long" premiere was really just two episodes aired back to back, but they were nicely tied together with continuous story, callback jokes, and a self-mockery of the show's style that I found highly amusing. Not to mention that the twist ending of the second episode nearly had me crying with excitement. My own love life all too often mirrors Ted's. Not in the sweeping general sense that all hopeless romantics follow a similar track of love and loss, but in the much more specific "I just lived that plot line point for point 3 days ago" kind of way. The chance for Ted to get a second chance on his 2am disaster is almost too exciting for words.
CBS then followed up their most beloved comedy with their most controversial one, airing Ashton Kutcher's return to television on the heels of Charlie Sheen's (character's) death - I really hope somebody finds this blog post after google searching "Charlie Sheen Death." I'll be checking the Stats section of this blog religiously for the next few days - and I have to admit, today marked the first day I've watched an entire episode of Two and a Half Men. Even though I know Nielsen wasn't counting my screen, I was happy to contribute to that look-in-audience tonight. I probably won't tune in next week, but it did manage to make me laugh a little more than I thought it would.
Then it was onto the first new pilot of the week, 2 Broke Girls. After hearing good things about the actresses in the title roles, and the multi-camera approach with an actual live studio audience, I was eager to give this show a try. As a storyteller who chose theatre as his medium because of the live audience interaction, I was intrigued by the network risk taken in returning to true laughs from the canned hysterics affectionately called "the laugh track." The show didn't knock me off of my feet, but I'm happy to say I'll probably be tuning in for that one again next week, especially since it's airing right after How I Met Your Mother, so I won't have to carefully dodge Two and a Half Men in the middle to keep from being part of that statistic again.
CBS followed 2 Broke Girls with Hawaii 5-0, and I followed by changing the channel over to ABC for the very dark premiere of Castle. I'd go into the writing brilliance that went into the opening episode, but it's 1am, and I would like to do it justice if I do it at all. That's what she said. We'll see if it makes it into tomorrow's post. Which brings me to my third and final reason why it was a good day.
3) It marked the return of my daily blog. I'm excited to challenge myself this year. I want to see if I can do the daily "article," and do it well enough to justify the return of my meager but loyal following, on top of a full time job. I considered making this a five day a week thing, as I don't plan to watch much on the weekends, and I'd like to have a chance to relax every so often, but I know if I give myself that inch, I'll surely take the mile. So instead I'll set the bar as high as I can set it and I'll see you back here every day for the next few months.
As a good friend of mine once said in response to a complaint of, "you raised the bar a little high."
"Did I? I raised the bar high? Sorry. Clear it." [elevator doors shut]
At this point, why am I still watching HIMYM? I'm probably just so plot committed that I can't go anywhere that's why - that said I have a few major complaints that could turn into me just tuning out until the mother legitimately shows up:
ReplyDelete1. Enough with the "psych" jokes - we didn't like it at the end of last season and we still don't like it.
2. Don't ever go back to Barney's wedding in the timeline again until it's legitimately the wedding episode - I'm not that patient
3. I can deal with the Nora-Barney-Robin triangle as long as all three characters are treated with equal dignity while Barney is able to maintain his Barney-ness (which was the show's lone appeal last season - well Marshall and Lily were solid too)
4. I'm fine with Ted not meeting the mom yet but I know that he doesn't meet her til Barney's wedding, so if you're going to tease me with other love interests, don't pretend it's going to be the mother.
5. I'm also fine with Ted dating other women just as long they don't suck the joy out of the screen like Zoey did (Jennifer Morrison has been awful ever since she left her limping genius boss Gregory House)
Those sound like I'm ready to quit, but I like everyone on this cast and I relate to Ted just enough to still tune in this season, but I am worried that the 2 season renewal HIMYM got (as opposed to the traditional 1 season renewal) will allow the writers to drag stuff out even more and just tease ceaselessly which would make me tune out again as well.
I think HIMYM faces legit competition in its timeslot with "The Singoff" which featured some fucking excellent groups last night and you know how insatiable America's appetite is for a good singing show!
This season doesn't have any promising new shows on network TV - though I will likely tune in for "Prime Suspects" and "New Girl" just because Maria Bello and Zooey have a special place in my heart (Up All Night also features two people that I really like Applegate and Rudolph but it will depend on whether Arnett can be un-Arnetty)- but cable has one in "Homeland" and I saw the edited pilot on youtube (showtime is streaming it right now) and it looks fucking fantastic. I'm ready for Claire Danes to be on my TV screen. It's only been like 16 years since I last liked her (yes, it was Romeo and Juliet with Leo).
Thursday night will likely be my favorite TV night with Community, BBT, The Office, and Parks and Rec (I'll likely drop the office if I don't like the new people in charge)and I'll also consistently watch Parenthood, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Dexter, The Walking Dead and I also plan on catching up on Breaking Bad. Of course I will also eagerly await the return of Mad Men and White Collar as well.
There is so much here to respond to, I don't even know where to begin. But I plan to. Give me a few days.
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