spiroville.com » TV http://spiroville.com/blog Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:16:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Farewell, Scrubs http://spiroville.com/blog/2009/05/12/farewell-scrubs/ http://spiroville.com/blog/2009/05/12/farewell-scrubs/#comments Tue, 12 May 2009 04:38:18 +0000 Randy http://spiroville.com/blog/?p=88 Scrubs wrapped up what looks to be its final season with a really good 1 hour finale.  The last 2 seasons have been hit and miss and rarely hit the incredible highs of previous years but it was nice to see Scrubs rescued by ABC so it could end its run on its own terms. The finale was a fitting end to one of the funniest and most under rated shows ever. Scrubs, more than any other show, could play broad comedy one minute and the next minute be deadly serious. You’d think the effect would be too jarring but somehow they made it work.

In honor of the finale here is my list of best Scrubs episodes (in no particular order — almost):

1. My Old Lady

2. My Monster

3. My Own American Girl — Elliot gets a backbone!

4. My Occurrence

5. My Screw Up

And, in my opinion, the best Scrubs episode ever:
6. My Way Home

]]> http://spiroville.com/blog/2009/05/12/farewell-scrubs/feed/ 0 CSI After Eight http://spiroville.com/blog/2008/10/14/csi-after-eight/ http://spiroville.com/blog/2008/10/14/csi-after-eight/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:32:45 +0000 Randy http://spiroville.com/blog/?p=52 No, not the mint.  CSI started it’s 9th season last week with a great conclusion to last years Warrick cliffhanger.  It is nice to see William Petersen getting some credit after 8 years (for example, here and here).  Despite the character’s introverted nature, his portrayal of Grissom has been the heart of the show since the debut episode.

The first episode of season 9 was one of the best single episodes in recent memory (the miniature killer arc was great from season 7) and Petersen’s performance was masterful in its controlled emotion.  In the opening scene, Grissom’s clenched jaw communicates so much.

]]> http://spiroville.com/blog/2008/10/14/csi-after-eight/feed/ 0 Anchorwoman http://spiroville.com/blog/2007/08/28/anchorwoman/ http://spiroville.com/blog/2007/08/28/anchorwoman/#comments Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:18:31 +0000 Randy http://spiroville.com/blog/?p=25 Well, Wednesday last week I watched a new show called Anchorwoman. The next day it was canceled by Fox.

I thought the show itself was ok to good. The reason I watched was I remembered seeing a Fox promo and thought it was worth a look and there is virtually nothing on TV this week.

That said, I came into the show with no knowledge or expectations about the show. I think the premise of the show (in the mode of Legally Blonde) was good but I think the turn off is the “reality/comedy hybrid” of it. As a reality show, it is so obviously semi-scripted and edited in order to make an entertaining story and characters that it is overly manipulative.

I think if you take the idea as an actual scripted comedy series then there is much more potential there. Keep the reality aspect to it — ala The Office or Arrested Development or even a Christopher Guest mockumentary — but pushed further and there are a variety of topics to mine. There are the obvious ones: fish out water, “bimbo makes good/screws up”, office politics that are fairly common. Then you there are a bunch of other topics that could be funny and provide some satire or insight: the nature of local news, hypocrisy in the news room (and TV in general), show business behind the scenes, nature of reality TV itself.

A satire of network TV on Fox; who am I kidding?

]]> http://spiroville.com/blog/2007/08/28/anchorwoman/feed/ 0