Hello fellow pop culture fans,
If you're anything like us, you must know that television these past few years has been the best it's been in a long while. Scripts are better and more serious actors are committing to parts on the small screen. This past year was an amazing year for several shows, and we would like to take this time to highlight some of those successes. Now that the primary TV season has ended, we will take the time to highlight three shows they loved this past year (a comedy, a drama, and a guilty pleasure) and hopefully you agree with us or you'll be motivated to start a new show. Either way we win.
C's picks:
Comedy: 30 Rock
Well, knowing J's preferences, I'm going to start with the most controversial show between the two of us: 30 Rock. I absolutely loved this season, whereas J cannot stand Tina Fey and refuses to acknowledge this show's greatness. Maybe someday J will be able to look beyond this and watch the show, but I'm not holding my breath.
This show is great because it manages to crack jokes at every level. There's the savvy political/topical humor, the overtly sexual jokes/slapstick comedy, and jokes that are sly and require a moment's thought to understand. This is the first show since the late, great Arrested Development to tackle humor so effortlessly and with so many different styles. What 30 Rock lacks in self-referentiality (this might not be a word), it makes up for in the boldness of its satire. What other show lampoons trashy reality TV one week, and then references Amadeus a few weeks later?
Another great thing about 30 Rock is the fact that each supporting character is hilarious and unique, which gives the show new layers of depth. Alec Baldwin does some of his best work as Jack (when he's not telling his young daughter that she's fat and worthless), Tina Fey's conservative and business-minded boss. Tracy Jordan plays a stereotype while poking fun at the stereotypes that appear in show business, and the dude from Mariah Carey's Touch My Body music video is great as Kenneth (okay, I'm not that stupid. His name is Jack McBrayer), the simple NBC page who does his best to stay true to himself, even if he is awkward and super religious. My personal favorite is Jane Krakowski as Jenna, the self-involved faux-diva who thinks she is way more talented and attractive than she actually is. She's the one who sees a positive pregnancy stick and thinks immediately, "Oh no! Somebody's going to get more attention than me." Perhaps that isn't as funny out of context, but if you watch the show you'll appreciate every little thing each character does.
Best moments: It's a toss-up between Al Gore's cameo (Somewhere a whale is in trouble!), Jenna's audition video for Kenneth's Beijing application (He can lift almost 100 pounds), and anything involving Dennis, Tina Fey's slovenly ex-boyfriend (If it's a girl, we should name her Judy because I used to boff this chick named Judy and I would love to honor her). Classic moments. However, I think the single funniest moment occurred when Jack role-played Tracy's family in a twisted therapy session. I can't even begin to describe how ridiculous that scene was. Watch this show!
Best Drama:
Well, I haven't seen the second season of Brothers and Sisters yet (which I suspect would take this honor had I seen it) and Buffy has been off the air for about four years now, so I'm going to have to give this award to Lost. Heroes almost claimed the top spot, and in some ways I could see Desperate Housewives taking this honor, but the former wasn't quite as engaging as Lost and the latter is considered a comedy by the Emmy board and I will obey their laws.
Lost managed to bounce back this season after about a season and a half of mediocrity. I was so bored with the show in the third season that I stopped watching it. However, a friend convinced me to watch the show this season and I couldn't have been more impressed. Lost really managed to save itself by saying, "Yes. They do get off the island. However, you don't know how they did it and why only a few of them made it. Furthermore, why does Jack want to go back?" As a former fan, my faith was restored in the show and I felt like I was finally getting some answers to the hundreds of thousands of questions that the show had posed. I supposed the fourth time is the charm, especially since the fourth season of Desperate Housewives was also exceptional. Let's ignore the fact that the fourth season of The Office was a bit disappointing.
Favorite moments: Well, there were a ton of WTF moments. I think the episode called "The Constant" was outstanding in its concept and the acting. Desmond has always been one of my favorite characters and his emotional struggle to keep his hold on reality was both extremely poignant and mysterious, something Lost manages to combine really well. I think the single most stunning moment was (SPOILER ALERT) when you realized that Sun's episode was both a flashforward and a flashback. Jin was in flashback, and at the very end you realize that he is dead in Sun's flashforward and she gave her child the name Jin wanted. It was emotional, surprising, and begged the question, "How does Jin die?" Brilliant. (END SPOILERS)
Guilty Pleasure: Gossip Girl
As you may have guessed by the opening line at the top of our blog, we love this show (or at the very least, we love trying to talk like Gossip Girl). There's almost nothing better on TV than high school drama unless that high school drama involves spoiled Upper East-Siders screwing and scheming in a rich, preppy setting. In some ways the show is just a reheat of the OC, but when the writing is this snide, who cares. Now, J and I both agree that this show lost some steam before the writer's strike, but it bounced back in a dramatic fashion (more on this later). Each week I wondered how the show would manage to find new drama, and it always delivered. Also, Chace Crawford is HOT!!!
SPOILER ALERT: Unlike 30 Rock, I can't discuss the plot without feeling like I might be ruining the experience of Gossip Girl for those who haven't seen the show. Suffice to say, I wonder where the show will go next season. The Georgina/Blair drama seems to have run dry for now, as has the Blair/Jenny storyline. Suffice to say, most of the huge drama wrapped up nicely at the end of the season without a gripping cliffhanger. The only real question in my mind is whether or not Dan and Serena will get back together, but that doesn't excuse a season finale that left me a little cold. That being said, this show is still an amazing guilty pleasure and I have faith that the drama will continue in the fall. Unless the CW goes down the tube. Then I don't know what I'll do.
Favorite Moment: As I said earlier, the show lagged a little bit before the Writer's Strike. However, once the strike was over the show recharged itself with the addition of Michelle Trachtenberg as Georgina, the cunning and manipulative friend from Serena's past. The single greatest moment came at the end of the season, when Serena finally admitted what she had done. That single sentence sent chills down my spine and I absolutely had to know what happened. Although the resolution of that was a bit disappointing, the actual confession was the single best moment of the season, and perhaps one of the most dramatic moments in all of television this year. Watch this show. Save the CW. Tyra will be happy.
Well that's it from C. Stay tuned for J's picks in the near future.
XOXO-J&C
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