ShowDown: Elimination #11

This was one of those weeks that I love; three really fun shows delivering three top-notch episodes.  It was therefore also a very tough week, leaving me with no clear loser as a sacrificial lamb.  It was also a weird week, as it was actually spread out over ten days.  But, after the long wait, we do finally have our third place show as well as our top two shows, which will face-off in next week’s championship.  But I’m getting ahead of myself; here’s what happened this week.

New Girl has surprised me all season long with how much I like it.  I’ve never been a fan of the “four silly friends living in one quirky apartment” genre but this one has got me quite hooked.  It has a lot of laughs, a lot of heart, and a good smattering of brains as well (sounds very Walking Dead), which makes it a rare triple threat in TV comedies.  This week’s episode proves that it has settled quite comfortably into its groove, with an episode that was both stupid and clever.  The bell ringing subplot was dumb funny but the roommate battle between Schmidt and Nick was hilarious and truthful.  Schmidt has also somehow unbelievably become my favorite character, something I would have sworn impossible eight weeks ago.

Not much new to report about Prime Suspect.  Maria Bello still rocks, the supporting cast is still amazing, and the writing is still the smartest and the most truthful we’ve heard all season.  This episode got extra points in my book for having Marin Ireland as a guest star (and murderer!).  Ms. Ireland is a stage actress whose work I have admired since I moved to NYC and I’m so glad to see her expanding into TV.  She was predictably great on the show.  The other big accomplishment of the episode was to make me start liking Duffy again.  Instead of a clown, he came off as a sad, lonely, angry man, which was so much more compelling.

If you had asked me three weeks ago who the winner of This Show Sucks was gonna be, I’d have told you that Revenge had it in the bag.  But, since then, my interest in the show has slowly been waning.  The Nolan/Tyler storyline is beyond absurd and the Declan/Charlotte storyline is yawner.  That’s not to say that I don’t thoroughly enjoy this show.  It’s still a scenery-chewing, grand old time that I love tuning in for.  But the constant suspension of disbelief kept eating away at me (Lydia’s been in a coma, out of it, lost her memory and regained it; all in two months?) until eventually I had a hard time hiding it.  So, to my surprise, it will be receiving third place in our competition, rather than vying for the one of the top two.  However, I will absolutely be tuning in next week.  And the week after.  And the week after that…

ELIMINATED: Revenge

The Eleventh Elimination

My apologies for being MIA this past week.  Thanksgiving and all that.  Luckily, television also took a break to stuff itself on turkey and white chocolate cheesecake (I miss it already) and only Revenge had a new episode.  We’ll catch the other two shows, New Girl and Prime Suspect, this week and then review the three of them.  We’re down to three shows on three different networks and only two weeks left.  The end approaches!

ABC: Revenge

NBC: Prime Suspect

FOX:  New Girl

ShowDown: Elimination #10

With only four shows left, I feel like I’m barely watching TV anymore.  But it’s a lovely stage in the competition because I’m enjoying everything we watch.  Some certainly more than others but it’s nice to be looking forward to everything we’re watching.  That being said, we definitely had a loser this week, but let’s look at the best shows first.

In the aftermath of its announced cancellation, Prime Suspect delivers one of its best episodes yet.  It makes me so frustrated with America for not watching this show but then rewarding the mediocrity of Once Upon a Time with a full season order.  I’ve never liked a procedural cop show before because they seemed so clinical and distant.  But Prime Suspect has more heart than any other cop show or anything else we’ve watched this season for that matter.  Its so honest and funny and this week’s episode was genuinely scary.  It’s such a perfect mix of emotion, story and smarts; I just love it.  Maria Bello: you’re amazing.  I’m just sorry America’s tastes are so sophomoric that we won’t get the chance to see more of you.

New Girl continued its streak of quite good episodes.  This one was funny, touching, and just the right amount of absurd.  Justin Long was a welcome addition to the cast, as the male equivalent and current love interest of Jess.  The on thing I will say is that every character can get annoying on this show.  They’re all so quirky and weird that sometimes it’s just tiresome. However, there are so many of them that the writers have done a good job of juggling who we’re focusing on so that I rarely get more than a little annoyed.  I’m also a little confused about what city this show takes place in but that’s neither here nor there.  It’s a solid comedy with long term prospects.

As usual, I had a great time watching Revenge.  It’s a really fun and addicting show.  But sometimes it goes too far into soap opera land and this week was one of those times.  The coma/amnesia storyline is downright absurd and the new Amanda Clarke feels fake and flat as a character, whose only dimension is her sex drive.  That’s what I don’t like about this show, when it feels totally false and hollow hearted.  Of course, I’m still madly addicted to it.  Madeleine Stowe is Maria Bello’s only real competition for my favorite female performance of the season.  I could watch her for hours.

The thing with Grimm is that I’m just sort of over it.  I’m totally ambivalent about it as a show.  I don’t care about the characters or the story or even the mythology anymore.  And that’s the kiss of death for a TV show.  In order for you to convince your audience to come back week after week, they have to care about SOMETHING, and Grimm hasn’t offered anything to keep me coming back.  Also, I’ve noticed that this show isn’t really about fairy tales so much as fantasy things.  What fairy tale has bees in it?  And those quotes at the beginning of each episode mean nothing to me and come off as though they’re trying to be intellectual.  But all these problems are rather minor compared to the fact that I just don’t care about the show at all.  So saying goodbye to it certainly isn’t hard.

ELIMINATED: Grimm

The Tenth Elimination

And then there were four.  With only three more eliminations, the water is really starting to boil on these shows.  And such different shows they are.  We have the cop procedural, the soapy melodrama, the fantasy tale, and the screwball comedy all vying for the title of best fall TV show.  Grimm has the most to prove this week, coming off a rough last episode, and should certainly feel that boil now.  It’s Prime Suspect‘s last competing episode, as it will be taking the next few weeks off, so this week needs to be a really strong showing if it hopes to stay in our memories by the end of the competition.  Here’s who’s left:

ABC: Revenge

NBC: Prime Suspect, Grimm

FOX:  New Girl

ShowDown: Elimination #9

This was, hands down, the hardest choice we’ve had in a ShowDown yet.  However, it wasn’t because everything was so good.  It was because two of the shows were so unbelievably awful that I couldn’t decide which one I wanted out more.  I almost bent the rules to be able to get rid of them both.  But, alas, we did finally decide on which should go and which should stay.  That being said, the other two shows were great, so let’s start with them.  (Revenge took the week off, in case you forgot.)

Prime Suspect is back, and thank goodness.  The new episode was so much better than the last two, finally reversing its alarming downward trend.  It still wasn’t quite as good as the first few, but it was definitely the best show of the week.  First and foremost (and because I haven’t said it in a while), Maria Bello is so dang good.  She gives a strong, multi-layered performance that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else on network TV.  And when this show takes advantage of that and gives her an emotional arch for the episode, it’s just fantastic.  Also, after complaining about him last week, I have to say that Duffy’s subplot this episode was really great and actually emotionally affecting.  And, though not unexpected, I’m bummed that NBC hasn’t put Prime Suspect on it’s winter schedule and has halted production after its 13th episode.  Sigh.

The other show that didn’t disappoint this week was New Girl. It was a little more strained than last week, with quite a few moments that were trying too hard for laughs, but overall it was very funny.  I am so hooked on this “Will they?  Won’t they?” storyline with Jess and Nick and I’m disappointed in myself for admitting it.  So, while the show’s certainly not bulletproof, it’s a fun show that doesn’t take itself too seriously with some genuinely hilarious moments.  I’ll definitely keep watching.  (And it doesn’t hurt that I’m desperately in love with Jess’ best friend…)

Which leaves our two fairy tale shows as the disasters of the week.  Both Once Upon a Time and Grimm were disappointing in their own ways.  First off, Grimm reminds me of Fringe, in all the wrong ways.  We follow a silly mystery that feels totally peripheral to the stuff we actually care about, and then at then end, they’ll tangentially link it to the mysterious bigger mythology that you can tell the writers haven’t fully developed.  But the difference between the two shows is that Fringe had interesting characters and pretty good writing, two things Grimm sorely lacks.  The protagonist is dull and the supporting cast is just as uninteresting.  In fact, they killed off the most exciting character last episode , Aunt Marie.  Speaking of which, didn’t Nick lose his only family last episode?  Is that just gonna be glossed over, with no emotional consequences?  This is the kind of irresponsible TV writing that I hate.

That being said, Once Upon a Time was literally unwatchable.  Everything was wrong with the episode.  Remember how we handed Charlie’s Angels the dual crown of worst writing and worst acting of the season?  Turns out we were a little premature with that award because OUAT has taken both.  The poor young girl who played Cinderella was simply disastrous.  I have tried to come up with something nice to say about her but I can’t.  With her costume and her makeup and her “acting”, she looked like a knock-off princess Barbie.  The writing was equally unpalatable and, combining it with Cinderella, the two then create the perfect storm of crap.  And all of which is such a shame because Rumpelstiltskin, the Evil Queen, and Emma are such good actors and so much fun to watch.  They’re just drowned out in the sea of awfulness.  I think that’s actually an apt description of the show as a whole: a good idea being suffocated by silly costumes, bad writing, and even worse acting.

So the decision came down to do we reward an inconsistent show with high highs and low lows like Once Upon a Time or do we keep the one who’s consistent, but consistently pretty lame?  In the end, I just couldn’t stomach the possibility of another terrible hour spent with Cinderella, so Once Upon a Time had to go.

ELIMINATED: Once Upon a Time

The Ninth ShowDown

I can’t believe we’re just four ShowDowns from the end.  But I suppose it’s good timing; a couple of our shows have almost reached their midseason finales.  It’s getting harder and harder each week.  Our list is growing thin and, with Revenge taking this week off to make room for the CMAs, we’ll only have four shows in competition.  Will we finally settle the Battle of the Fairy Tale Shows?  Will Prime Suspect reverse its downward spiral into mediocrity?  Watch this week and let us know what you think!  Our thinning list of survivors:

ABC: Revenge, Once Upon a Time

NBC: Prime Suspect, Grimm

FOX:  New Girl

ShowDown: Elimination #8

In what turned out to be a mixed blessing, we had the most solid week of quality TV that we have ever had in the eight weeks of our competition.  It was great to watch six hours of fun, well-done television but we are now stuck with one of our most difficult eliminations yet.  With five returning shows and one final new show, it was a hard decision to make but I’m happy with the decision.   Also, our battle of the Fairy Tale Shows continues this week.  Keep reading to find out if one of them finally won!

I used to be almost ashamed to admit it but I can’t hold it in any longer; I love Revenge.  I know it’s soapy and I know it’s a little absurd but it is so much fun to watch.  The characters are really great; you can’t help but love the good guys and you can’t help but love hating the bad guys.  This week had some awesome moments (who knew she’d kill him?!) but also some perplexing ones that pushed us a little too far into the soap opera world (Nolan and TYLER?!  Come on).  But luckily, and surprisingly, the emotional core of the show is still driving it.  I have so many burning questions.  Who does Emily really love?  Will Victoria ever be happy again?  What is Tyler’s secret?  Why am I so addicted to this show?

After a taking a month off, New Girl is back and better than ever.  In this wholly inappropriate and wildly absurd episode, the comedy worked like a charm.  It was consistently funny throughout and all the characters felt truthful, like they finally had found their groove.  Jess wasn’t annoying and the roommates didn’t seem cartoony.   It proved exactly what it needed to after that month-long break; the last episode wasn’t a fluke; this show has finally found its sea-legs.

Though New Girl has deservedly won the Comedy ShowDown, the Battle of the Fairy Tale shows rages on.  When I heard that this week’s episode of Once Upon a Time was a Snow White episode, I sighed in disappointment and prepared to sign this show’s death certificate.  What I got instead was pleasantly surprising.  Turns out Ginnifer Goodwin can act (and is even quite likable!), as long as she isn’t doing anything emotional.  When she’s a wild, spunky thief, she does a great job and is fun to watch.  She was also allowed much less stupid hair for the fairy tale segments.  In fact, this episode featured the most successful foray into the fairy tale world yet.  I didn’t notice the special effects, the costumes didn’t look like they were from my high school production of Into the Woods and the set turned out to be actually quite beautiful.  The show itself still only has mediocre writing at best and is full of groan-worthy lines and missed opportunities but the concept is so compelling that I just have to keep watching.

As for Grimm, we asked for a reason to keep watching, and this episode it delivered.  To be honest, I sort of expected it to be the sacrificial lamb of this week.  I didn’t expect it to improve much and then we could have easily cut it, without any hurt feelings.  But I really enjoyed myself this week.  They finally started developing some characters (the fiancee got more than one line this time) and some of them, especially our protagonist, really started to grow on me.  I will sat that, although I like him, the wolf friend’s lines are often written too obviously for laughs.  Although it doesn’t have as enthralling a concept as Once Upon a Time, the mythology of the show is exciting and it was once again really well-done.  I think it’s overall quality is higher than that of OUAT but I’m a story guy; if I don’t care as much, it will lose the Fairy Tale Battle.  Nonetheless, I’m starting to care, which is a big first step.

In its new episode, Prime Suspect continued its disturbing new trend towards mediocrity.  Similar to last week’s episode, the characters are still great and the comedy mostly still works but ultimately it’s becoming very forgettable.  In fact, I’m having a hard time remembering which episode was which.  The problem is that nothing is really affecting the characters in the way it had been.  We’ve reached a happy stalemate with the sexism in the office and any of the exciting tension has evaporated, especially that between Timoney and Duffy.  He has almost become a misanthropic clown, rather than the unpredictable explosive he was in the pilot.   Though it still a good show, if it doesn’t rediscover what made it a great show, it will be outlasted by shows far worse but more memorable and interesting.

As with all AMC shows, Hell on Wheels looks fantastic.  I have no idea how they create that high quality of production value on a TV budget.  With the music and the costumes and the cinematography, it could’ve been a film.  However, it would have been the slowest Western since Sergio Leone.  For a show about locomotion, Hell on Wheels is surprisingly static.  Not much happened; or perhaps a lot happened and I just couldn’t freaking understand anyone long enough to get it.  All that could have been overlooked, though, if the show had been enjoyable.  But it just wasn’t.  Similar to American Horror Story, all the right pieces do not a good show make and no caliber of set design would have helped me swallow the bleakness of this show.  It just wasn’t fun to watch and left me with one thought, “Ugh.  I would’ve hated to live in those times.”  And watching people live them wasn’t much better.

ELIMINATED: Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels, AMC

What it’s about: A former Confederate soldier comes to the Wild West under the guise of building the transcontinental railroad, but his true purpose is much more sinister: he’s pursuing the men who killed his wife in the war, with vengeance on his mind.

Why we chose it: AMC is heralded as the new paragon of TV, and with such hit shows as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead, the reputation is certainly deserved.  So when AMC announced that they’d have a new show this season, we immediately added it to the list.  We don’t know anyone on the creative team or in the cast (except for Common, and he’s not a huge draw); we’re watching this one on AMC’s reputation alone.

OUR REVIEW
Production Value: First things first: the show looks fantastic.  Clearly, gobs of money were spent on this show.  The costumes look great, the sets look real, and the world feels very fully realized.  The music is perfect and supports the show in a very cinematic way.  The washed out color scheme emphasizes the bleakness of the setting and it creates a very compelling mood.

Acting: My biggest note for the entire cast is that I cannot understand ANYTHING that ANYONE is saying.  Call me old but if you want me to follow your story, you have to speak clearly.  That being said, the style of acting overall just doesn’t really work for me.  It seems that they’re going for a little larger than life feeling but it’s coming off as hammy.  The lead gunslinger is clearly milking the angry glares and Common is just not good.  The head of the railroad company is borderline “twirling mustache” villain.  I think the style is a choice, but it’s not working yet.

Writing: Hot damn, if this show wadn’t the slowest thing I ever did see.  Once again, the slow tempo fits the slow-boil style of the show but it just took forever for anything to happen.  And then when it did, I couldn’t understand a word they were saying!  There were some weak lines and some cliche ridden scenes (thank goodness the TB case died; I couldn’t have stood another awful love scene with he and his wife) and I think the writing supported the stylistic choices but certainly didn’t make the show enjoyable.

OVERALL: I’m gonna start with a confession that will make my older brother disown me: I hate this time period.  It’s grim, depressing, and very bleak, in a soul-sucking way.  And the problem is that Hell on Wheels serves that period perfectly.  Watching anything set in this time makes me feel empty and listless, and this show is no exception.  It was so brusque in its violence and so lacking in morals, it’s just not a pleasant show to watch.  That being said, there is a lot of good stuff going on.  All the technical elements are great; the question is if they alone warrant a second episode.

The Eighth ShowDown

Even though I’m still teary-eyed at the departure of The Secret Circle, the competition charges on with our Eighth ShowDown.  It’s an especially exciting one, actually, because it will feature the last of our new shows: Hell on Wheels.  After this week, we’ll have seen all of our competitors at least once.  Also, after a few weeks off, New Girl is rejoining our ranks, so this elimination will feature all six of our remaining shows.  Additionally, this marks weeks two of “Battle of the Fairy Tale Shows”.  Will Grimm‘s second episode be the jumpstart it needs?  Will Once Upon a Time be able to maintain the fun from last week?  Tune in and check out our reviews, coming next week!  Here’s who’s left:

ABC: Revenge, Once Upon a Time

NBC: Prime Suspect, Grimm

FOX:  New Girl

AMC: Hell on Wheels

ShowDown: Elimination #7

We’re finally getting to that sad and scary point in the competition where it is no longer a matter of cutting the worst show, but rather cutting the least of the good shows.  No matter who we send home at this point, we’re going to be a little sad.  This week also featured our first battle of the fairy tale shows; will it be the last?  Keep reading.

To Once Upon a Time, I say, “Wow.  What an improvement.”  After barely moving past the pilot, the second episode has certainly evened out.  The characters are starting to gain some depth and don’t sound so stilted this time around.  The writing was actually pretty great; I loved all the scenes between Jennifer Morrison and Lana Parrilla, both of whom are so great.  Luckily, this episode featured both of them prominently.  Ginnifer Goodwin, consequently, was barely in it and her part was small enough that it did not allow her the opportunity to be awful, so no complaints about her this week.  However, the big problem with this show is the fairy tale flashbacks.  The less time spent in fairy tale land, the better.  The costumes look like they were stolen from a well-funded children’s theater production and only contribute to the over-the-top style that permeates the flashbacks.  The writing and the acting lose any grounding in reality; everyone’s emotions are broad and unspecific and even Parrilla is chewing up the scenery.  And then, on top of it all, CGI is sometimes just plain terrible (that witch fight?  OOF).  But the show has vastly improved and I’m actually excited to see the next episode.

One of the things about Revenge that I love is that, as soon as I have a complaint, they address it.  I was getting really tired of  Nolan doing everything for Emily and her being totally ungrateful for it.  It didn’t really make sense for either character.  But, with the bodyguard catching Nolan and Emily, it looks like that’s about to change.  As I said before, the characters are all quite compelling, especially Daniel’s old roommate, Tyler, who I freaking HATE so much.  He’s an excellent villain.  My big complaint of the week, though, is the revelation that Lydia is not actually dead but rather in a coma.  Really?  The show is already walking a thin line between drama and soap opera, it doesn’t need characters in comas to push it off the edge.  And, it makes the show less brave, too; you can’t tell me you’ve killed a character and then bring them back the next week.  I hate that crap. But overall the web of this show grows deeper and it just gets more addictive.  Keep ’em coming!

We had an inevitable first for Prime Suspect: a weak episode.  The mystery was ho-hum, the curse subplot felt forced, and Maria Bello wasn’t given any opportunity to shine.  It was the first episode where there were moments I didn’t buy and jokes that rang a little untrue.  However, even though this episode wasn’t as great as the others, it’s still better than most of the other shows we’ve been watching.  It may have felt a little generic this week but the characters are so strong and the series has been so solid that I’m absolutely willing to look past any small grievances I may have had.  It was still a fun time.  However, when your ratings stink, you can’t afford even a weak episode.  I just pray this doesn’t get it cancelled.

As for our newbie show, Grimm, I think it’s a little to early to deliver a fair judgement, so we’re gonna keep it around another week.  Especially after seeing the jump in quality from episode one to episode two in Once Upon a Time, we think this one deserves another chance to show us what it’s got.  This first run was pretty unremarkable all around.  It had some good ideas that it executed moderately well, with decent actors on an okay script.  The style was very reminiscent of Buffy and Angel, both of which were produced by the same people.  But if Grimm wants to live past next week, it has to give us a reason to bring it back.

Which leaves The Secret Circle as our eliminated show.  This is a little bit of a heartbreak for me.  Since its beginning, I have been a huge fan of the fun mythology, the intriguing story and, of course, Britt Robertson.  But the show has been on a slow yet steady descent since its pilot.  The good acting has slowly been evaporating, the writing has gotten pretty terrible and very demonstrative, and the story is getting more and more contrived.  That being said; I still love this show.  It’s totally addicting and so much fun to watch.  But I don’t think it’s deserving of the title “Best New TV Show”.  I feel like I have to look past all the CW-esque crap in order to see the great show underneath and for that reason, we’ve had to let it go.  But don’t think this means I’m going to stop watching it.

ELIMINATED: The Secret Circle