The Best TV of 2006

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Now that Christmas is over and it'll be the New Year tomorrow, I figure I'd do a bit of looking back on things. So, the best TV of this year:

New TV

This was the year that the television networks picked up on the fact that serialized TV might sell really well. Following the sucesses of LOST and Prison Break, it seemed like a no brainer. Odd thing is, it didn't really work as well as people'd predicted. Critic favorites like the Nine and Six Degrees bombed and were cancelled, although a couple held on nicely.

1- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - I like TV, the industry, writing, everything. I'd heard about the show earlier on in the year and thought that it sounded bad, but when I saw the pilot episode online, it hooked me from then. This show's the most important one on there. It takes on religous, governmental, politics, broadcasting theory and ethics in its episodes, stuff that you don't really see. This is smart TV. The dialogue, characters, plots, all fantastic stuff, and it's a shame that this show didn't catch on as well as it should have. Hopefully, we'll see a season 2 to this.

2- Heroes - This is a fun show. Can't take it too seriously, but it's just one of the best geek shows out there. There's a good kick back to the community with references and things like that that makes it fun to watch, as well as a really cool storyline and characters to match it.

3- Day Break - This was cancelled just the other week, which makes me very unhappy. The good news is that this show's got all the 13 episodes filmed, or so I heard, so they'll be out sometime. Detective Hopper's reliving the same bad day, and while this show couldn't last very long, it's got the strongest of all the storylines of any tv show. They should have just billed this as a miniseries or something.

TV That Came Back

Battlestar Galactica - I didn't think that it could get any darker, but it did, and man, the opening five episodes just blew my mind. There's been a couple of episodes that I wasn't thrilled with, but on the whole, Battlestar's back and kicking ass. Can't wait to see the next ten episodes. As far as Season 2 went, this year's half of the episodes was weaker than season 1 and the first half, but they really pulled themselves together towards the end.

Veronica Mars - Season 3's on a new network and doing pretty well, although they're not going to be doing an overall mystery this time around. The rape mystery was brought to a conclusion, which was pretty good, and the writing and characters are just as good this time around. Can't wait to see the next half of the season.

House, MD - House was cured! Sort of. After getting shot, he could walk for four months. Then he's back to drugs again, and he's got a cop after him, a former actor from the show Hack, who's one of the cooler new characters that's been in the show, much better than Vogler from season 1. House is sarcastic still, and downright mean at times, and they're really pushing his character around, which doesn't happen that often.

Prison Break - Okay, they broke out of Fox River, and they're on the run. A good chunk of them have been killed, right from the first episode. It was good to see the show change gears so quickly, but I don't think that this has much life left in it. While they're still alive, they're still running, and they've done a terrific job with it.

Other good ones this year - Supernatural, LOST, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis. Supernatural's gotten into more of an arc, which is interesting, and they've really forced some characterizations out of the brothers, LOST has been interesting and Stargate's really gotten into it's stride again, only to be cancelled.

Foreign TV

1- Life on Mars - Aired earlier this year on BBC1 while I was over there. I didn't catch the show while I was in England, but I did recently. It's one of the more imaginative and interestin series that I've seen, mixing police drama with science fiction and the 1970s. Brilliant show.

2 - Green Wing - This show is hilarious. Simply brilliant show, great acting, really fun sense of humor there.

Misses this year were The Nine, which should have been a movie, Six Degrees, which had an interesting concept, but handled poorly with some bad characters. Smith was promising, but it never took off, which was a shame, that one I actually liked.

In the upcoming year, I'm only looking forwards to one show, and that's The Dresden Files, airing on SCIFI in January, based off of the books by Jim Butcher. It looks really good, and I can't wait to watch it.

And the Light Shines on, While we all Ride On

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The viewing/funeral was depressing. There was probably over a hundred people there, packed into the house. Sam looked different, like plastic, which was hard to see. Looked like Sam though, with snowboarding goggles, a Flogging Molly shirt, headphones and a couple cans of Red Bull. Good for him. I saw a couple of other guys from camp, and Sam's brother Gabe, who's been either in my cabin or village for the past four years. He looked good, as did his dad. They're opening up a scholarship for kids to go to camp in his name.I broke down in the car on the way back. This shouldn't happen.

I've had a little to divert me though. I called Sarah, which always seems to help. Watched Daybreak and got pissed off at the recent Veronica Mars news*, ate dinner. It's been a crappy day.

* Turns out that they're going to be abandoning the Season-long mystery thing after the second arc this season, and going with standalone episodes. They'll also be doing some overarcing romance things with the show, which is just plain annoying. Hopefully the show'll still be good after that.

You only get what you give

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Mundane day today, with an evening filled with many interesting things that will be listed. I puttered. I changed out all of the lightbulbs in my house with energy savers, finished out a couple more loaves of bread and fullfilled my obligations for Thanksgiving dinner, watched some more of Veronica Mars, did a little reading and yeah. No major progress on my reports or other readings, but that'll be coming soon. Hopefully.

Interesting / Noteworthy things:

  • Prison Break, Heroes and Studio 60 were on. Prison Break was decent, but Heroes and Studio 60 were brilliant.
  • Studio 60 made fun of Jessica Simpson and FOX and really dug at the network for product placement.
  • Veronica Mars has been picked up for a full season, or twenty episodes.
  • Steven Spielburg told people today that he'll be working on a Tintin miniseries and a new WWII one.
  • The trailer for Harry Potter 5 came out, and it actually looks good.

Bad things:

  • Peter Jackson isn't going to be directing or working on the upcoming Hobbit movie. Between financial things between his studio, Wingnut Films and New Line Cinema, over the gains from LOTR, they're not being asked back. Between that and the Halo movie, he's not having a good fall.

Also, I'm jointly posting on this blog and the livejournal that I've sorta, kinda, not really kept up for about the same amount of time.

Finally! Someone notices!

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The New York Times just did their review of The Nine, which starts this week, and included an interesting paragraph:

This year, suspense is the new forensics: instead of grisly crimes that are neatly wrapped up by episode’s end, many of the new dramas stretch the plot through an entire season, holding viewers’ attention by withholding a denouement and ending each episode with a cliffhanger.

Anyone with their eyes open could have told you that - it's nice to see some bigger recognition of this though. TV has gone from standalonish episodes to longer story arcs. LOST is commonly assosiated with this, but it goes further back, to Babylon 5 and to the new Battlestar Galactica. LOST, Smith, Veronica Mars, Battlestar and numerous others are taking this on. It's a good change.

In other random happenings: I found my camera, got my iPod to work, turned into a zombie at work and am now back on my bike. Wee!

Veronica Mars : Season 3, Episode 1

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The first episode of the third season of Veronica Mars! I picked up the first two seasons of the show on DVD, and it's one of the best and brightest out there in TV world.
The past two seasons have chronicled Veronica's Junior and Senior years in high school. This year goes to college. Unlike the past two seasons, where the mysteries have been solved over an entire season, in addition to the smaller things that Veronica solves, this season will employ three seperate mysteries one at a time, one after the other.
Spoilers for the first episode:
One of the really cool things about the second season is the storylines that are carried over from the first season. Same happens with the second season and coming into the third season. When Veronica was looking for colleges, there was an episode that dealt with a rapist. This seems to be the first major storyline of the season, revealed at the end of the first episode.
It's a seamless transition between seasons and this time, networks. Some of the characters look a little different, which is fairly realistic, but the humor, darkness, camera work and tight storylines are still there. The opening credits are different, with the same song, just sounding more stripped down than in previous years. It looks and sounds great.I can't wait to see the rest of the season.Oh, and there's an awesome Battlestar Galactica reference in the episode.

What To Watch

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In recent years, I've become a big fan of a lot of the TV shows that have come out on television, mainly because of the recent rise in quality in a lot of the storytelling that's been coming through. LOST has been one of the biggest movers and shakers thus far, causing a bit of a change among a number of stations and a number of new shows coming out with a much different focus than before.

So, as a friend described, I did something incredibly geeky over the summer, and set up a table comparing the shows, times, days and what they go up against. Thus, I've come up with a list of shows that I suspect will do well, and which ones I'm recommending for the upcoming season.

Returning Shows:

Prison Break (FOX) - This was one of the best scripted and arched series that came out last year. Now, the inmates of Fox River Penitentrary are all on the run, and now that the show's in it's third episode, it looks like they're keeping up the intelligent storytelling and scripting. Can't wait to see what happens next.

House, M.D. (FOX) - Doctor House and the doctors are back, and they're picking up where they left off, after House was shot last season. This show has some of the more interesting characters in TV, although they don't have the tight storylines that Prison Break has. However, the sarcasm makes up for it nicely.

Veronica Mars (CW) - Remember Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Now imagine it without the vampires, supernatural elements and keep the cute blond girl, who's father is a Private Investigator and the various problems that she solves over the year, and you've got Veronica Mars. It's highly and tightly scripted and has some of the best dialogue and characters to date.

LOST (ABC) - I don't think that I really need to talk too much about LOST, do I? 48 or so survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 land on an island with a mysterious creature that eats people and a couple of hatches with computers and other things like that. Oh yeah, and everyone's connected somehow. And, after last Season's cliffhanger, the next six episodes are supposed to be a sort of miniseries to clear everything up. Can't wait to see what happens next. Season 2 comes out today on DVD.

Supernatural (CW)- Last season, the two brothers lost their parents, their mother (and one of their girlfriends to a monster) and the father who vanished. They hit the road and work on taking out monster after monster. It's a little formulaic, but it's got great camera work and some very fun stories. Season 1 comes out today on DVD. Great watching for Halloween.

Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)- Coming up in October, this is the show that I'm waiting the most for. Season 2 left us with a year long jump ahead in the story that left the remains of the human race under the control of the Cylons and the Galactica and Pegasus jumping away to who knows where. The SciFi channel is leading up to the show with a small series of webisodes that'll lead people into the 3rd season, as that there's another gap in time. This season is going to be darker, deeper and better than the last two. The DVD for Season 2.5 will be released on September 19th.

And now that the shows from last year have been looked at, there's several new shows coming that also look very promising:

Heroes (NBC) - Around the globe, a number of people start finding that they have powers. A girl can heal quickly. A cop can read minds. A painter can paint the future and another man can fly. And, it's not based on a comic book, but it's rooted in the tradition. Reports are that this show's got potential and interest, although a little formulaic to start, but it's going to be launching into a full blown story arc. I'm excited for this. Also airing on the SciFi channel.

Jericho (CBS) - In a small, midwestern town called Jericho, one character comes in mysteriously. As people start asking him questions, a nuclear bomb blast is seen on the horizon and communications are cut off from the town. As the season goes on, we learn why. I'm not sure that this is going to do terribly well, but it should be interesting if it does.

Six Degrees (ABC) - The Six Degrees of Seperation states that anyone knows anyone six people down the line. One person knows another, who knows another, etc. Small world, right? This show's about six random people in New York City, who's lives are impacting each other's in some way. The really interesting part of this? J.J. Abrams has some hand in this. He also did LOST and Alias.

The Nine (ABC) - Nine people are caught in a bank robbery. As it goes bad, they're held for 52 hours. These nine people are linked together somehow, and that's all that I know. It's an interesting concept, but I can't see it lasting for very long.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC) - This one looks amusing. It's about back stage life behind a sketch comedy show, and it's been getting some of the biggest buzz than almost all of the other new shows. It's created by the guys who did The West Wing, and from the previews that I've seen online, it looks interesting.

Vanished (Fox) - Comes on just after Prison Break, so it's got some of the audience from there. The wife of a senator goes missing, and there's a wider conspiracy that will be uncovered. I haven't seen any of it yet, but it's getting decent ratings. I've heard that it's a little predictable.

Those are the ones that I suspect will do well, although there's several others, such as Shark, Justice, Kidnapped, The Unit, Smith, and maybe a couple others that might do okay during the season. It should be interesting to see where this will be taking TV and the storytelling that it tells.

Now, just to end, a couple of the shows that I'm going to be missing in the upcoming Season:

Alias (ABC) - Going from being a double agent to missing a year of her life to various other drama in the spy world, but also great action and a very tight storyline, Alias was a very fun show. The first two or three seasons were really good, especially 1 and 2. While it dragged a little 3 to 4, the show did leave on a good ending. Despite that, I do wish that it was still going. Season 5 will be released shortly.

Surface (NBC) - This was very short-lived, but it was very interesting. A new life form appeared in the oceans. Big new life forms. They trashed a nuclear submarine, one small one was raised by a small kid and the government got really paranoid. Had a lot of potential, but I guess it didn't really appeal to the audiences. Complete series was just released on DVD.

Arrested Development (Fox) - Quirky, deadpan and hysterical. This is probably the one show that I'll miss the most, especially after watching all of last season, which only lasted 13 episodes. The writing and characters were the best and funniest. If only Fox listened to the fans again. Season 3 was just released on DVD.

Theshold (CBS) - An alien spacecraft lands in the ocean and the government enacts a plan to contain the situation. Too scifi for CBS apparently, as this was killed off in just 13 or so episodes. I only caught a couple episodes of this, but it seemed interesting. Now out on DVD.

The West Wing (NBC) - I heard that this was really well done, well acted and well written, and the awards that it won certainly means that it has some of those. I personally haven't seen it, but given what some people have said about it, I might give it a short somewhere down the road.

And that's it. I doubt that I'll be able to see most of the ones that I'd like to see, but given the fact that a lot of the shows are making their way onto the internet on the show's network's official sites, I'll probably be able to get an episode in here and there.

Veronica Mars : Season 1

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I just finished the first series of Veronica Mars, which I picked up because of several positive reviews from friends and a number of really positive internet reviews. I did a bit of research with it, looked up the soundtrack (http://veronicamusic.blogspot.com) was an enormous resource with the music of the show (which is outstanding set of music) and several transcripts of episodes. I wasn't 100% sold, but I knew that it would be enjoyable.

I was completely right - Veronica Mars is one of the best shows that I've seen on television to date. For me, it's right up there with Firefly, Battlestar, LOST and Prison Break, although at the moment, better than the last two, at least for now.

Several things really stood out from the pilot episode, and hooked me from the start. The writing, the plots, the cast, the camera work and overall feel to the show. Everything just seemed to click for me.

I've always liked mysteries, they were some of the first things that I read as a kid, and the interest has continued. The show is about mystery. The main story is centered around the title character, Veronica Mars. A year before the show starts, her best friend, Lilly, was murdered. Her father was the town sheriff and accused her father of killing her - something he was kicked out of office for. As a result, Veronica is shunned by her previous friends and comes to at a party with the impression that she might have been raped. Over the course of the season, she works with her father and various friends and classmates as new mysteries and problems as they arrive.

One of the big comparisons made with the show is that it's similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even more so, Joss Whedon, who created Buffy, has deemed the show the best show ever created and even guest starred in a season 2 episode.

There are quite a few parallels. Youngish, blond heroine, shunned by her classmates, works to solve some major problem, with a couple friends here and there. Minus the magic, mysticism and vampires, and we have the framework of the show.

However, there's more to it than a Buffy clone. The stories are much more structured - overall, there's the main story with Lilly's Death, and everything assosiated with that, and generally another couple mysteries that she works on as well.

In addition to stories, there's also a much higher attention to film work and camea movements. Flashbacks are indespersed throughout the stories everywhere, and they're usually accompanied by different shadings, as well as some extremely innovative slow motions, circling camera shots and angles. In addition, there's a huge noir influence to the stories and filmwork, which really helps with the mystery aspect to it.

The show also really benefits from it's fantastic cast. Most of all from Kristen Bell, as Veronica, who really carries the show. She's very cute, smart, sarcastic and funny. She's joined by Wallace, (Percy Daggs III) who's her best friend and helps her father, Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni). Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn), Lilly's brother, is Veronica's ex, best friend of Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), the smartass son of an actor. Weevil, the last of the title characters, is the leader of a motorcycle gang who's constantly in and out of trouble. The acting on the part of these guys is fantastic.

Bring all of these elements together and we have a great show, one that's lasted two seasons thus far, despite fairly low ratings, and has been upped for season 3, which will air this fall on the new channel, CW.

Happenings

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Hopefully everyone is have a restful and productive Memorial Day. Not much has been happening around here for the last couple days.
Big thing: I have a mobile phone now. For people that I know directly, drop me an e-mail or check my facebook account for the number. I'll be handy now that I have a car, in case I have a problem with it.
Almost done with Veronica Mars, and slowly making my way through Battlestar Galactica Season 2. Outstanding, the both of them. I'll post a review of VM later on tomorrow or sometime this week, whenever I get a chance to sit down and review it.