Television | Jmunney's Blog

2014 Emmy Ballot Reactions

June 12, 2014

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The 2014 Emmy ballot is out. Before I post my nomination wish lists (and possibly predictions), here are my thoughts on some oddities and other points of interest:

-Mads Mikkelsen submitted as Lead for Hannibal after submitting as Supporting last year. An argument could have been made either way for Season 1, but in Season 2 he was definitely a lead. (Meanwhile, Laurence Fishburne was not even submitted.)
-Despite not even appearing in the last nine episodes, Rob Lowe STILL submitted as Lead for Parks and Recreation.
-Allison Tolman submitted as Supporting for Fargo, even though she’s arguably the main protagonist.
-Last year, Tatiana Maslany’s roles for Orphan Black were listed as “Sarah, Beth, others.” This year, that was wisely expanded to “Sarah, Beth, Cosima, Rachel (and more).” (Why didn’t she include Alison?)
–Amy Schumer once again submitted as Supporting, even though she appears in every one of her show’s sketches, and her name is in the title. Also, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein for Portlandia, and Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Key & Peele, all submitted as Supporting, ignoring the fact that it is possible to have two leads in one show. Maybe they are thrown off by the weirdness of sketch and alternative comedy performers competing against sitcom performers. I mean, really, where does something like Comedy Bang! Bang! truly belong? Maybe it is the collaborative ethos of improv comedy that led Scott Aukerman to submit as Supporting even though he’s the host of his show.*
-Several Mad Men regulars took advantage of the vagaries between the Supporting and Guest categories and submitted as Guest. This is nothing new, but it was particularly egregious for Robert Morse in a year that Bert Cooper died and then had a posthumous song-and-dance number.
-Speaking of Guests who were really Supporting, Damon Wayans, Jr. is a regular now on New Girl.
-Miniseries do not have a Guest category, so folks like Key & Peele – who have only been in the last few episodes of Fargo – must enter as Supporting; meanwhile, fellow anthology series True Detective entered the Drama field, so Alexandra Daddario was able to opt for Guest.
-Here is the summary for Charles Grodin’s guest submission for Louie: “Dr. Bigelow is philosophical.” (All of the Louie guest summaries are wonderfully minimalist.)
–The Neighbors’ Clara Mamet’s last name was misspelled as “Memet” (unless that was intentional and she’s trying to branch off from her famous family).

*-I have been told that this may be because performers on shows submitted in the Variety category are not allowed to submit in the Lead field. See this article: http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/06/emmy-questions-why-is-amy-schumer-a-supporting-actress-for-inside-amy-schumer/372495/

Best Episode of the Season: Comedy Bang! Bang! Season 2

June 11, 2014

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Season Analysis: Season 2 of Comedy Bang! Bang! reached the heights of 2013 television as its absurd brand of deconstruction made it one of the best shows about putting on a show of all time.

“Gillian Jacobs Wears a Red Dress with Sail Boats”
In playing around with the conventions of talk-based television, Comedy Bang! Bang! understands that effectiveness is achieved by specificity. The ubiquity of Chris Hardwick hosting live recap shows is ridiculous, and it would be even more ridiculous if one of those recap shows were recapping a talk show (parody or regular). Thus, the Comedy Talk! Talk! segment is spot-on and filled with crazy details (one of Hardwick’s guests will be Jacoby from the band Papa Roach, the winner of a Twitter-based contest will receive a “bucket of backyard bourbon burgers”). It is not too of-the-moment, because it must be of-the-moment to effectively skewer the state of television. “GJWaRDwSB” also gets a lot of mileage out of its parody flashback/flash-forward structure, going so far as stretching the gag out to a future beyond episode’s end, as “It Was Onions” (the in-universe name of the episode) completes the EGOT, with Adam Scott himself presenting the Tony, and then taking the flash-forward to the past, as time travelers head to the prehistoric era to present this episode for caveman Reggie Watts’ viewing pleasure. There really is no opportunity to catch your breath with all the structure-breaking of this episode, as also exemplified by the “clip” from Gillian Jacobs’ “new movie,” which seems to be taking place backstage during this episode. Finally, “GJWaRDwSB” is chock full of great performances, particularly from Jason Mantzoukas as vampire chef Emeril Luigi (actually Lugosi), who isn’t particularly monstrous or even a jerk. He’s just professional and annoyed that Scott isn’t; you may think that, as a vampire, he would want your meats to be bloody, but he’s more concerned about cooking food properly, so as to avoid watery shits.

Best Episode of the Season: Futurama Season 7-B

June 11, 2014

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Season Analysis: Futurama was energized in its final batch of new episodes, adding a few new entries to its pantheon of all-time classics.

TIE: “Murder on the Planet Express” and “Meanwhile”
Throughout its run, Futurama established a reputation for engaging both the head and the heart. It explored legitimately engaging science fiction concepts and managed to be one of the most poignant animated series in television history. I had to pick two episodes as the best of Futurama’s 2013 output, as they respectively exemplified these two major aspects. “Murder on the Planet Express” mish-mashed the trickery and paranoia of The Thing, The Game, and Alien in a nifty tale in which a trust-building exercise for the Planet Express crew quickly turns into a fight for survival as a hitchhiker turns out to be a murderous shape-shifting alien that mimics and eats the members of the crew one by one, and then it turns out this shape shifter was part of the trust exercise all along.
The series finale, “Meanwhile,” used a much simpler concept to achieve a much deeper emotional effect. The Professor has invented a device that can send the user 10 seconds back in time. Fry plans on using it to watch the sunset over and over as he proposes to Leela, but all the time-jumping goes awry and the device gets broken, thereby freezing time. Fry and Leela are the only ones who remain unfrozen, and they live out an entire married life together, against the backdrop of the universe at the moment their marriage began. Eventually, the Professor breaks through via some dimension-hopping and everything is reverted back to pre-10-second-time-travel shenanigans. Fry and Leela will not remember this time together, but it surely remains in existence in some realm, just as Futurama itself bids us farewell but surely lives on in some way.

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 6/10/14

June 10, 2014

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Each week, I check out FUSE’s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea – “Problem”
2. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX – “Fancy”
3. Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong”
4. John Legend – “All of Me”
5. Jason Derulo ft. Snoop Dogg – “Wiggle”
6. DJ Snake & Lil’ Jon – “Turn Down for What”
7. Pharrell – “Happy”
8. Calvin Harris – “Summer”
9. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
10. Paramore – “Ain’t It Fun”
11. Ed Sheeran ft. Pharrell – “Sing”
12. 5 Seconds of Summer – “She Looks So Perfect”
13. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch”
14. Rixton – “Me and My Broken Heart”
15. MKTO – “Classic”
16. Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake – “Love Never Felt So Good”
17. Katy Perry – “Birthday”
18. Sia – “Chandelier”
19. Kongos – “Come With Me Now”
20. Pitbull ft. G.R.L. – “Wild Wild Love”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Summer
3. Happy
4. Fancy
5. Come With Me Now
6. Latch
7. Turn Down for What
8. Stay With Me
9. Am I Wrong
10. Ain’t It Fun
11. Love Never Felt So Good
12. Birthday
13. Problem
14. Sing
15. All of Me
16. Wiggle
17. Wild Wild Love
18. She Looks So Perfect
19. Classic
20. Me and My Broken Heart

What Won TV? – June 1-June 7, 2014

June 8, 2014

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In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.

Sunday – Silicon Valley
Monday – Louie
Tuesday – Fargo
Wednesday – Gael Monfils-Andy Murray, one of the strangest tennis matches ever
Thursday – It’s the series finale of Comedy Bang! Bang!, but there will be a new episode next week.
Friday – Jeopardy!
Saturday – Maria Sharapova-Simona Halep, one of the best Grand Slam finals in recent memory

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 6/7/14

June 7, 2014

jmunney Music, Television, VH1 Top 20 Countdown Leave a comment

Each week, I check out VH1′s Top 20 countdown, and then I rearrange the songs based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Paramore – “Ain’t It Fun
2. Katy Perry – “Birthday”
3. Calvin Harris – “Summer”
4. Ingrid Michaelson – “Girls Chase Boys”
5. Nico & Vinz – “Am I Wrong”
6. Phillip Phillips – “Raging Fire”
7. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX – “Fancy”
8. Rixton – “Me and My Broken Heart”
9. Neon Trees – “Sleeping With a Friend”
10. Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake – “Love Never Felt So Good”
11. Sara Bareilles – “I Choose You”
12. Sia – “Chandelier”
13. John Legend – “All of Me”
14. Sam Smith – “Stay With Me”
15. Lorde – “Tennis Court”
16. Kongos – “Come With Me Now”
17. Ed Sheeran ft. Pharrell – “Sing”
18. Magic! – “Rude”
19. Demi Lovato – “Neon Lights”
20. Chvrches – “The Mother We Share”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Chandelier
2. Summer
3. Fancy
4. Come With Me Now
5. The Mother We Share
6. Stay With Me
7. Tennis Court
8. Am I Wrong
9. Sleeping With a Friend
10. Love Never Felt So Good
11. Ain’t It Fun
12. Birthday
13. Sing
14. All of Me
15. I Choose You
16. Rude
17. Neon Lights
18. Girls Chase Boys
19. Raging Fire
20. Me and My Broken Heart

Best Episode of the Season: American Dad! Season 10

June 6, 2014

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Season Analysis: American Dad! is getting to the point in its run when it is starting to repeat itself a little too often, but it still has enough awesome episodes every year to make you realize there is nothing else quite like it on television.

“Familyland”
Nearly 50 years after his death, Walt Disney continues to be a fruitful source of satire, as demonstrated by American Dad! with Roy Family, the founder of the theme park Familyland, who had been frozen upon his death so that he could one day return to life should the denizens of his park no longer deserve to enjoy his creation. But this episode wasn’t really about exposing the prejudices of one of America’s most beloved figures, at least not entirely. “Familyland” was mostly an excuse for American Dad! to indulge its apocalyptic side, which is its best side. A week after Mr. Family has sealed off all the exits, each section of the park has become a kingdom ruled by one of the Smiths. The details of Cartoon City (ruled by Steve), Wild Wild Wild West World (ruled by Stan), Fairy Tale Land (ruled by Haley railing against the princess role model), and Outer Space Land (ruled by Roger, who inexplicably notes that this cheesy attraction got everything right) are thoroughly impressive. American Dad! is one of the best animated shows ever in terms of understanding that it is a cartoon, and knowing that that means it can destroy its status quo whenever it feels like it and pretend like nothing happened the very next episode, and “Familyland” was the best example of that in Season 10.

Best Episode of the Season: Childrens Hospital Season 5

June 5, 2014

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Season Analysis: Going in the direction of M*A*S*H by transplanting the staff of Childrens to Japan for the season proved there was still plenty of material left to be mined in the medical procedural parody genre.

“My Friend Falcon”
One of my long-gestating ideas for a movie is one in which the protagonist(s) suddenly switch in the middle. Like, initially, it’s the story of Bob and Alice, who meet Carol and Charlie about 45 minutes into it, and then about 10 minutes later Bob and Alice disappear for good, and now we focus on Carol and Charlie. So I was naturally inclined to love Childrens Hospital’s homage to the Werner Herzog documentary My Best Fiend, as it switched midway from being David Wain’s documentary about his working relationship with Ken Marino’s Just Falcon to Falcon’s documentary about his relationship with Wain. This show has consistently been interested in breaking apart form, as Childrens Hospital is actually a show within a show. This documentary and its making are presented outside the show within the show, but within the (Adult Swim) show. This documentary within a show in turn is broken apart and examined, as its existence seems to be beyond the control of any one person. It is a force all its own. Bonus points for this episode’s remediating nature are also due for its repurposing of a video from Ken Marino and guest star Kerri Kenney’s time at NYU, presented as a pre-Childrens Hospital moment from Falcon’s career. “My Friend Falcon” is a fascinating examination of the nature of filmed reality and quite a heady experience for a 12-minute piece of television.

Best Episode of the Season: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6

June 5, 2014

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Season Analysis: My first foray into the world of drag queen reality television was as breezy as I was hoping for, but it was also poignant, with these ladies finding their way into my heart much more than I was expecting.

“Snatch Game”
As a novice Drag Race viewer, I was promised that the Snatch Game episode is the most reliably entertaining of any season, and this year’s edition did not disappoint. It helped that I was already predisposed to love several elements, as I used to watch Match Game reruns on Game Show Network, and one of the guest judges was Drag Race superfan Gillian Jacobs, one of the stars of my favorite show, Community.
Joslyn Fox may have been too spacy to be the next drag superstar, but that persona allowed her to perfectly capture the spirit of Real Jersey Housewife Teresa Giudice (“prostitution whoreses,” “cumin”). BenDeLaCreme didn’t play Maggie Smith so much as the Dowager Countess, but that was the right move, as it allowed her to kill with bemusement about modern culture, asking us if we could imagine something like a citrus-flavored drink! Not every impression worked, but luckily there was Bianca Del Rio’s Judge Judy (a bold, but ultimately successful take on one of Ru’s idols) to keep everyone in check. (“Beauty fades, dumb is forever,” she snapped at Gia Gunn’s Kim Kardashian.) I haven’t seen any others, but I’ll take Ru’s word that it was the tightest snatch … game in history.

Runner-up: “Drag Queens of Comedy”
Bianca del Rio dominated far and away this year’s race for America’s Next Drag Superstar, and never more so than with her killer stand-up set. Guest judge Jaime Pressly was upset that she wasn’t the target of any of the material, to which Bruce Vilanch noted that it is the mark of a truly great insult comic when the audience is begging to be insulted.

Best Episode of the Season: How I Met Your Mother Season 9

June 5, 2014

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Season Analysis: Stretching out one weekend over an entire season of 24 episodes was a more satisfying experience than expected … but then the series finale rushed to fit decades’ worth of story into less than an hour, and we were all very confused.

“Sunrise”
Some of the best love stories of all time are the ones in which the lovers let go of each other: Rick insists that Ilsa get on that plane, Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper are not meant to be, Jack and Ennis cannot be together. So to have Ted Mosby pining after Robin Scherbatsky season after season, when the audience knew from the very first episode that she was not destined to be the mother of his children, was not wholly unprecedented, even though it was always going to be tricky. Ted had tried to let go of Robin on many occasions before their walk on the beach in “Sunrise,” but he had never truly been able to. On the cusp of Robin’s wedding to Barney, he still was not really ready to, but he knew he had to. Ted ranked his top 5 ex-girlfriends, and, no surprise, number one was fan favorite Victoria. His subsequent revelations – he broke things off with Victoria because he did not want to end his friendship with Robin, and he actually does not have a top 5, because Robin has always been number one – are heartbreaking. He is still not ready to let her go, but this time he knows he has to, and the shot of Robin floating away into the sky is beautiful. (This perfect moment is one of many reasons why the route that the finale took is utterly incomprehensible.)

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