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TV Madness Sweet Sixteen - The Comedies and Dramas

In the interest of wrapping this up before the end of March, which I guess isn't going to happen now but at least before the end of April, we're doubling up on the Sweet Sixteen posts, which means you better hurry up and vote in yesterday's matchups because we will see them again very soon.  But we'll start with the Comedies, from which we have a Final Four.

1 - Seinfeld vs. 5 - South Park
2 - Cheers vs. 6 - Arrested Development 

In my round 2 post, I mentioned that Cheers and Seinfeld had a run of success at the top of my favorite yearly shows list and it looked a little something like this:

1987-88  Cheers
1988-89  Cheers
1989-90  Cheers
1990-91  Cheers
1991-92  Cheers
1992-93  Seinfeld (Cheers' last season)
1993-94  Seinfeld
1994-95  Seinfeld
1995-96  Seinfeld

So yeah, for 9 straight seasons, these two NBC series that were at some point back-to-back were my favorite shows on television.  Which is how they earned the top 2 seeds.  And in the voting, Seinfeld is well ahead, scoring a 9-3 lead as of Sunday against the subversive animated comedy South Park.  On the other hand, Arrested Development has an 8-3 lead over the longer running Cheers (longer running by about half a decade).  I agree with the voters on Seinfeld, whose reign of unrestrained excellence between seasons 2 and 6 or 7, peaking with the season 4 "show within a show" concept and the classic Keith Hernandez two-parter just cannot be matched by South Park.  But in the second matchup, while I clearly agree that I would watch an Arrested Development episode that I've seen a dozen times a thirteenth time right now rather than anything featuring Diane Chambers, I don't want to give short shrift to a show that brought us Norm and Frasier and Carla and Woody and Robin Colcord and of course, Sam Malone.  "One-two-three-four, I declare a thumb war."  Yeah, that was some great stuff.  And what you may not remember is that most of those brilliant episodes, at least in my mind, came AFTER Shelley Long left to pursue her great film career and was replaced by the then normal sized Kirstie Alley.  I liked the Sam and Diane years, a lot, and I certainly mourned the loss of Coach.  But I really didn't love the show -- and it didn't jump to my #1 favorite until Rebecca Howe came on board and the situations got zanier and there was less Diane Chambers bringing everyone's mood down.  Unfortunately, let's be honest, that was a long time ago.  And the more recent brilliance of Arrested Development shines so fucking bright that it's tough to see anything else.  Come on! (tm Gob Bluth).  I don't know where to go here.  My head says Cheers had a much longer run of greatness but my heart says it never reached the peaks of Arrested Development, mostly because no other show possibly could.  Because really, Cheers did not come up with Tobias Funke, Analrapist.  I don't know, I guess it's a toss up in my mind and I said at the start of this I would side with the voters when I couldn't pick a clear winner.  So Arrested Development slips into the Elite Eight in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

Winners:  1 - Seinfeld vs. 6 - Arrested Development (vote below)

Lost

And so it ends.  I know I'm a little late with this post but I didn't see the last episode until this weekend since I was out of the country when it first aired, but I'll assume that everyone reading this has seen it by now and if you haven't, well stop reading, because I'm pretty much going to reveal everything that happened.  Or everything that I think happened.  Because, as fully expected by any long-time viewer of the series, there were hundreds of loose threads left unexplained, but there was no way they were going to have the time -- or the ability -- to fill in all the disparate details of a series this sprawling and with this many mysteries and with too many characters and too much time travel and too much confusion to ever explain it all again.  But you know what?  I didn't care.  I liked the final episode, I liked the conclusion of the series, and the fact that I still don't know what the hell that stupid light that Jacob was protecting does or doesn't do is only a minor disappointment in an episode that came full circle and explained  the endings for Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and the remaining survivors of the plane crash, as well as offering reunions for all the characters and their true loves.  I know a lot of people were disappointed that they didn't get all the answers they craved (or any real answers, other than what the "sideways" universe that we've seen all season was) but to be honest I've long since given up on ever finding out what the hell was going on at the island and was just happy to see a satisfying story arc for most of the characters I've come to love (and hate).  And shockingly, for someone who hated Jack this series as much as anyone, he was definitely redeemed in the end.  And that was brilliant storytelling, even if the whole supernatural storyline surrounding the island made no sense at all.

2009-10 TV Season in Review

I have to say that despite my lack of time this year to watch a whole lot of television -- or perhaps because I didn't have time to waste it on guilty pleasures that have populated my lists in years past (The Real World/ Road Rules Challenges, The Hills), this has been one of my favorite television seasons in recent memory.  I'm pleased with every single one of the shows in my top 10 and would recommend them to anyone, even as the season winds up in the coming weeks.  I had a hard time even keeping my list to a recommended 10 as there were a couple shows that had solid seasons (The Office, The Big Bang Theory, South Park, 30 Rock) that didn't quite make the list.  In fact, I also excluded HBO's The Pacific, a great 10-part miniseries on World War II, mostly because I've only made it through 3 or 4 episodes so far, but also because I didn't want to bump any of the following shows from the list.  The top 10 has comedies, dramas, reality shows, and several shows that seem an oddly wonderful combination of the three.  There are network shows, cable shows, and pay cable shows.  But mostly, it was just a great season for television.  Maybe it's good that I couldn't watch more of it.

I Hear Dead People

Last night's episode was basically one big long shout-out to diehard fans of the show, mixing in humorous Hurley with serious Miles and throwing in a bunch of callbacks to previous episodes while explaining a lot of mysteries and opening the door to next episode's exciting adventure.  It was just, completely, awesome.  If you haven't watched yet, stop reading now.  I don't want to ruin it for you.  If you have... make sure you erase the videotape in case it falls into the wrong hands.

He's Our You

What a freaking awesome episode.  But you can't just end it after the most awesome scene ever!  I mean, yeah, I kind of saw it coming -- that Sayid is trying to change fate all by himself, that his very purpose for returning to the island in such incredible fashion was to change the world that would be created, but... I never thought they'd actually do that.  Wow.  I don't want to give any spoilers before the jump in case anyone hasn't watched it yet, but let's just say, I'm very pleased the show went back to a character-specific episode after jumping around in time so much.  I'm not even mad that we're still in the '70s anymore.

Rousseau!

Holy shit, what a show.  I fucking hate Lost and love it at the same time.  In the same episode.  In the same scene!  You can't get that anywhere else.  And it's fucking brilliant.  Tonight's episode was a snooze-fest for the first 20 minutes or so (literally, I was nodding off -- not a good sign for a show known for its dramatic tension), but then Sayid was attacked and fought off his attacker (despite being unconscious for the 40 hours preceding the attack) and then it was all systems go -- and twists and turns galore -- to suck me right back into the program.  Stop reading now if you haven't seen it and don't want to be spoiled.  Otherwise, read on...

Lost Season Premiere

A conversation with my friend immediately after the Lost season premiere last night.

"Huh?"
"Yeah, what just happened?"
"No clue."
"Who was that old woman?"
"No clue."
"Have we seen her before?"
"Probably, but I don't know when."
"She wasn't the same lady as in the meat store, was she?"
"No, that woman was much younger."
"So now what -- everyone has to get back to the island or the whole world is going to end?"
"Yeah, I guess so.  I guess that's the new setup for the last two seasons."
"Sort of like Desmond had to press that button every 108 minutes or the whole world was going to end?"
"Except that one time when they didn't and then the hatch exploded, but the whole world didn't actually end."
"True."
"And Locke's probably not really dead."
"He's not?"
"I don't think so.  I mean, why would they be carting his dead body around Los Angeles?"
"They're trying to remake Weekend at Bernie's?"
"That movie made a lot more sense than the last two hours of this show."
"Good point."
"Not that I wasn't riveted --"
"Of course."
"And you know I'll keep watching."
"Of course."
"When that guy -- whatever the fuck his name was -- got hit with the flaming arrow on the beach --"
"Neil."
"Huh?"
"Neil.  His name was Neil."
"Whatever."
"Sawyer kept calling him something else."
"Yeah, I know, it was probably an inside joke or something."
"I didn't get it."
"But the point is -- the flaming arrows on the beach scene was awesome."
"Oh yeah.  There were all kinds of awesome in the episode -- the beach scene; Sayid killing his attacker with dishwasher knives; when Hurley says to Ben 'you're on our side now?'"
"Nice."
"And it was nice to see Cheech Marin try to become as fat as Hurley in order to make the father/son connection more believable."
"That's true."
"And it was also nice that a drug-addled doctor who presumably is on suspension from his hospital can wander into an operating room with a passed-out Pakistani and give him drugs to save his life without anyone from the hospital having a problem with it."
"That was nice of them."

There's No Place Like Home

The Lost season finale featured fistfights, knifefights, gunfights, and a massive explosion, the Oceanic 6 rescue, the death of at least one major character (and almost definitely two others), a handoff of power over "The Others" and a whole host of brand new questions, in an annoying, exhilarating, annoying, exciting, annoying, spectacular, and annoying season four finale.  And the finale gave us more reason to really, really hate Jack, as if we didn't have enough reasons going into the episode.  If you haven't seen it yet -- and if so, what the hell are you waiting for? -- look away, because the rest of this review will be spoiler-heavy.  And if you think it was simply magnificent and didn't make your blood boil about the gaping holes in the plot logic or the way more questions were asked than answered (yet again), then you probably don't want to read on, since you probably won't agree with me.  Of course, just over a week ago, I named Lost as the best show on television, and I do stand by that.  But boy was the finale frustrating.  It was also pretty damn wonderful.  Confused?  You don't know the half of it.

2007-08 Season in Review

An abbreviated disaster of a television season is receiving an abbreviated disaster of a blog post from me, due mostly to the fact that there was basically one good prime time show on television and a bunch of massive disappointments.  The writer's strike was obviously a factor and most of the returning shows -- really, all except one -- did not return to anything close to their previous heights.  The Office was probably the biggest disappointment for me.  After shooting from nowhere to my #1 favorite series in last year's season review, the show seemed to be decidedly less funny, with decidedly less memorable lines than last year.  It was still my #2 favorite show of the year, which kind of gives you an idea of how disappointing the season was overall.  But I guess it is what it is.  Read on to see the full list.  And believe me, a top 10 was a difficult number to reach.  Even with a 50" plasma screen television.

Donte Leave

Ok, this might only be of interest to someone who is both a Syracuse basketball fan and addicted to Lost, but this video from Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician is absolutely brilliant.  It's about the defection of Syracuse freshman Donte Greene to the pros, a probably disastrous move for him (he's not ready) and a hard hit on a team that was likely to be a preseason Top 10 next year by returning the entire starting five of freshmen and sophomores along with the injury recovered veterans Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins.  Now, no Donte, and there's really no one with his size and skill to replace him.  A very disappointing decision by the kid.  But this video nearly makes it all worthwhile.  Enjoy.