Other TV Shows blog
Posted by The TV Critic on 1 September 2009 | 1 Comments
Tags:
Curb Your Enthusiasm,
Dexter,
Mad Men,
The Cleveland Show,
Parks and Recreation,
Community
Hey everyone,
My Mondays and Tuesdays are ridiculously hectic at the moment as I catch up on Sunday and Monday's TV. But I am slowly getting there:
Curb Your Enthusiasm (702 - Vehicular Fellatio) was far more enjoyable than the opening episode. When you want Larry to succeed the show works a lot better for me. His attempts to get Loretta and her family to leave his home had me totally in Larry's corner and laughing at his unsubtle attempts to do so. The episode was classic Seinfeld really. Larry (George) came up with a scheme which didn't work out but fortunately Leon (Kramer) was up to no good and managed to indirectly help Larry out. Vehicular fellatio was the subject of the day and Jeff and his wife (Jerry and Elaine here) ended up falling foul of it leading to a really fun final scene.
Meanwhile Dexter (401 - Living the Dream) came back with a bang. Dexter has joined Battlestar Galactica as one of the shows I wish I could review but is too long gone for me to start on. The constant focus on Dexter's emotional situation and the possibility that he could be found out keeps the show constantly grounded and focussed on its major selling point. Here I found myself sympathising with a serial killer who just wanted to get away from the chore of family life and have some alone time. His sleep deprovation was built thoroughly until it finally put him in real danger to kick the season off. I also really liked the continuity of Quinn, Anton and Lundy. For the last couple of seasons, it has felt like the Morgans would get new playmates every season rather than life just going on. But seeing them all involved was encouraging. Laguerta and Batista getting together seemed very convenient but it should be fun to watch.
Finally saw the pilot of The Cleveland Show. I don't even know how racist it was, too many thoughts on that. But if you put that to one side it was just like Family Guy. Though one difference would be that Cleveland is a lovable character who is a nice to everyone. It made a for a pretty nice story.
Then I saw Mad Men (307 - Seven Twenty Three) which was pretty good. Don being forced to relinquish control was an interesting sight. One of the things Mad Men does which other shows don't is have drama with little consequence. Rather like in real life Don yells at Peggy, taking out his anger about his own situation and turning it on her. In real life we take out our irritation on people all the time and it doesn't destroy those relationships. But in most other dramas, such a scene would have been a major turning point in the relationship of the two characters. Here I suspect their relationship won't change much at all. It's moments like that that help make Mad Men feel very authentic.
