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I wish more people understood this simple fact!
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The Americans
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Hannibal, Ep.1.08: “Fromage” inches the series closer to becoming a small screen masterpiece
Breaking Bad; Boardwalk Empire; Mad Men, Justified; Sons Of Anarchy; Louie; Girls; Shameless, The Americans; Game of Thrones; The number of new quality TV series keeps growing and we can now addHannibal to that list.
Over the past 30 years, television has undergone vast improvement. The wave of high-quality niche series may have started as early as the 1980s, and broke into the mainstream with the success of Twin Peaks in the 90′s, but it was only recently that these intelligent niche productions have been leading the pack with the highest ratings. Back in the days, a network’s goal was to equally please as many viewers as possible. Now the aim is to please relatively fewer viewers but keep them coming back each and every week. So why is it that almost nobody seems to be watching Hannibal, which is arguably the best series currently airing on network television?
Doctor Who Podcast Episode 46: ‘Nightmare in Silver’
After his first and much beloved 2011 episode, “The Doctor’s Wife”, writer Neil Gaiman’s return to Doctor Whohas been much anticipated. Inspired by challenge from Steven Moffat himself to make the Cybermen “scary again”, his latest opus titled “Nightmare in Silver” faced nearly impossible expectations amongst Whovians. So, did “Silver” shine? This week the gang is joined by Special guest the Examiner’s house Whovian, Heather Maloney of the Geekport Podcast as we talk about the season’s penultimate adventure, as well and our hopes and fears for next week’s finale.
Watch all the trailers. Let us know which show you are excited about.
Grimm Episode 2.21 “The Waking Dead”: Don’t let your womb be a tomb
his week Grimm gets in on the zombie action, but as usual isn’t shy about acknowledging its sources, hence the slightly cheeky title. But hey, why should Georgia get all the undead? As the US’s northern representative of all things weird (as shown by my map), it only seems fair that Portland should get a chance to play host to some resurrected bodies. And let’s be practical, they’ll keep better in a cool climate.
The job of playing Wesen is placed in the competent hands of Reg E Cathey (The Wire, House of Cards) who inhabits the role of Baron Samedi with cadaverous glee and the usual spark of subversive mischief in his eye. The Baron is at his usual job of animating corpses, but with the traditional Grimm twist that he does so by transforming himself into…what?
Bates Motel Podcast Episode 9: “Underwater”
On this week’s episode of the Bates Motel Podcast, Editor in Chief Ricky D and SOS contributor Randy of Processed Media sit down with SOS Staff Editor Deepayan Sengupta to discuss the ninth episode of the A&E show Bates Motel, titled “Underwater”. Among the topics discussed are .
Arrow Ep 1.23 ‘Sacrifice’ is an entertaining, somewhat satisfying finale
With a title like ‘Sacrifice’, there was no denying that someone was going to die in tonight’s episode. And although ‘Sacrifice’ tries to get clever with a few expected misleads (one that lands really well), Arrow decides to eliminate the easiest option – but one I wished they hadn’t, for reasons I’ll explain later. But with the wonky character development pushed to the side, ‘Sacrifice’ sets its sights on one event, and executes it with confidence, keeping things moving even when some of the emotions fall flat.
Unfortunately (a phrase I feel I use often on this show), the island material for the season culminates a single explosion, a fitting end for what was largely an empty parallel to Oliver’s adventures in Starling City. There were occasional attempts at trying to ground Oliver’s emotions in his experiences on the island, but these didn’t really add up to much, thanks to the convoluted double and triple-crossing characters and large sense that people were running in circles. And that’s what the ending feels like: as Yao Fei lies dead on the ground, Oliver breaks the three of them free, and they take out the entire camp by re-routing one of the missiles right back into the camp (apparently re-routing consists of unplugging and replugging a single wire). Then Oliver kills his first man with an arrow (the dickhead general who had a lot of time on-screen, but never amounted to much), and that’s the end of the island material, for this season. Hopefully season two will accelerate oh… four years forward in the island timeline, and we can start with Oliver learning Russian and becoming part of the mafia (remember that?).
The Televerse TV PODCAST - #89 - Spotlight on The Prisoner with Zack Handlen and Hannibal
The premieres and finales continue this week, giving us plenty of TV to discuss on the podcast. First we look at the comedies, then break down the genre offerings, then Kate looks at the Voice for our reality segment, and then we look at the prestige dramas before spotlighting the latest episode of Hannibal, “Sorbet”. Finally, we welcome Zack Handlen from the AV Club to the DVD Shelf to help us take a look at the influential, and delightfully crazy, 1967 cult series The Prisoner.
Our Week in Comedy (11:32-29:20): Make Kate Watch Adventure Time, Inside Amy Schumer, the Family Tree pilot, the Community finale, the Bob’s Burgersfinale, Veep
Our Week in Genre (30:00-45:43): Game of Thrones, Grimm, The Vampire Diaries, Doctor Who, Orphan Black
Our Week in Reality (46:50-52:55): The Voice
Our Week in Drama (54:12-1:02:48): Rectify, Mad Men
Spotlight (1:03:25-1:14:25): Hannibal, “Sorbet”
DVD Shelf (1:16:35-end): The Prisoner with Zack Handlen
Game of Thrones Podcast #17: “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” with guest Ryan McGee
Ryan McGee from the AV Club, Boobtubedude.com, and Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan (among other things, joins Kate and Ricky to discuss the seventh episode of the third season of Game of Thrones titled “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” We’ve now come to expect author George R. R. Martin to write one episode per season. Last year, he gave us the truly excellent “Blackwater”, but how does “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” compare? Tune in and find out what we think.
Survivor 26.14, “Last Push”: A messy season ends with a clean winner
Despite the unpredictable second half of Survivor: Caramoan, a sense of inevitability dominates the finale. Cochran has avoided the vote throughout the game, and his victory feels secure after he wins the final immunity challenge. The only question is whether Dawn or Sherri will receive any votes, and the bitter jury makes it clear neither has much chance to crack the scoreboard. While Jeff Probst makes a huge deal about Cochran being unconventional, it’s not a surprise to see him win the million. Along with playing a strategic game, he has the likability factor that’s eluded powerful contestants like Russell Hantz at their Final Tribal Council. The jury needs to feel good about giving the million dollars to the winner, and only one possibility fits that requirement. Dawn received unfair nastiness from fans after Brenda’s exit, but that move’s role in her game isn’t in question. That move confirms the jurors’ beliefs about her cold play and makes her emotional outbursts look phony. Dawn clearly was not playing a character, but the contradictions are too significant. Instead of providing an underdog story of how she overcame adversity to reach the end, Dawn becomes a symbol of victory at any costs. Cochran voted out almost everyone on the jury, but it was always about the game. Whether it’s fair or not, the jurors decide to reward a likable guy who makes no qualms about his focus on strategy.
