End of Year TV meme

[selenak]

...last sighted at 12_12_12's journal.

Which TV shows did you start watching in 2012?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. Homeland, Breaking Bad, Elementary, Spartacus, Walking Dead, Silk, Call the Midwife and, courtesy of the BBC iPlayer, New Tricks, about which I'll post sooner or later. (The first four seasons are up on the iPlayer and I'm looking forward to the fifth; I hear there are eight or so already, which makes me simultanously thrilled and afraid, because Inevitable Loss Of Quality Is Almost Inevitable cynicism.)

I also watched the first season of Rizzoli & Isles, but did not stick with it.

Which TV shows did you let go of in 2012?

Downton Abbey, Dexter and Fringe.


Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2012? Why?

Once Upon A Time (I'm waiting for the first season dvd to become available as something over than a horribly expensive import), Teen Wolf (silly bias strikes again: I haven't seen a single second of this show, but the squeeing and hype about Derek/Stiles has been so overwhelming and everywhere that it was unintentionally off putting; I'm working on that; but will probably get to OUAT first, because I've been promised heroine and female arch nemesis there). Also, I didn't watch the latest season of Damages yet. Mostly technical reasons and a little bit of fear of decline of quality; I thought s3 was the high point and s4, while still good in many ways, wasn't quite there. Hence the fear.

Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2013?

OUAT, Teen Wolf (probably, no guarantee), The Wire (am v.v. embarassed at still not having watched it).


Which TV show impressed you least in 2012?

I just checked, and Dexter's previous season ended in 2011, so Fringe it is. I still don't understand how anyone in the production team could believe making Peter the main character instead of Olivia was a good idea. Wait, I withdraw that, Fringe at least still had Walter and John Noble going for it, so let's say Downton Abbey. As it turns out, I could stomach the classism and the soap (err, literally), barely, but break up my One True Friendship of Ambiguous Smokers, i.e. make Thomas and O'Brien enemies, and I'm out of there.


Which TV show did you enjoy the most in 2012?

In terms of "that's consistently fantastic, emotionally and intellectually challenging storytelling on every level - writing, visuals, acting" - Breaking Bad, no question. In terms of "aw, never mind plot or logic, but do I ever love this characters when I hadn't expected to and feel happy just watching them interact with each other" , it's a double surprise neck to neck between New Tricks (pilot was too slapsticky for my taste, but am I glad I watched more, because mid s2 I knew I loved no-nonsense Sandra Pullman and her team of grizzly old timers, and not just because the very premise gives the BBC the excuse to let any number of fabulous older actors guest star) and Elementary (haven't liked a Holmes and Watson so much since THE Holmes and Watson, i.e. Jeremy Brett and his two Watsons of blessed memory).

Comments

[surexit]

I am on the edge of starting New Tricks, I think you might be about to finally persuade me. :D

[selenak]

As I said, the pilot is a bit heavy on the slapstick type of humor. But that evens out. And also, the dynamics that develop between our 40something heroine and her 60 and 70 something team are so delightful. They're all strangers and distrustful of each other at first (except for Sandra and Jack, who is her ex mentor), but by the time the first season ends, cautious friendships have developed, and in s2 they really gel as a team, and every combination of the three old gents (Jack, who is the wise old retainer type but still fiercely grieving for his dead wife Mary, Brian who is a geekish genius but also depending on medication to remain remotely stable, and Gerry, who is the lothario with three ex wives and assorted off spring (whom he's on good terms with, however) and the record of not exactly being Mr. Incorruptible) with each other and Sandra is great fun to watch and emotionally endearing. Also, recurring characters like Brian's wife Esther get fleshed out in s2 and become important. The three actors - James Bolam as Jack, Alun Armstrong as Brian, and Dennis Waterman as Gerry - are all minor legends. And because the team usually tackles old cases, the guest stars tend to be Britain's middle-aged to old finest, female and male, playing suspects, evil doers and belatedly justified hero(ine)s with zest. Sandra is Amanda Foreman and that rarety, a heroine around 40 on tv who is the unquestioned (after the getting-to-know-and-stop-distrusting-you stage is over) boss of everyone, with both strengths and flaws. The show has its bad sides, too; there's a s1 character who is essentially Charlie from West Wing and thereafter not heard of again, which I found annoying, for example. But I've grown to love it quite a lot.

[surexit]

This really does endearing, I'm going to give it a try. :D

[lonelywalker]

For what it's worth, Dexter this season has been far better than seasons 5-6... but we haven't had the season finale yet, which I guess could go either way.

[selenak]

I'm burned and will wait till the season is over before I consider going back. :) abigail_n has tried to lure me by saying Deb punches Dexter early on, which admittedly at that point was a longed-for prospect...

[blueswan]

I'm totally stealing this meme. *G*

It's a good thing Fringe has Walter and Astrid, because at this point, without them, I don't think I'd really much care about the show.

[selenak]

You're welcome to it! :)

Your icon was one of those moments where Fringe was really inspired, because it was the perfect Walter reaction to finding himself as a cartoon...

[bagheera_san]

I still think you'll find that OUAT doesn't live up to the promises, whereas Teen Wolf is better than its fandom might make you think. True, I keep watching OUAT, but mostly to mock it. It's a case of fandom wanting it to be good because it has lots of female characters, and the show wanting us to think that these are STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS but the characterisation just isn't very strong and too uneven. It tries, but mostly it's a mix of adorably stupid and disgustingly saccharine.