Nurse Jackie 1x06, "Tiny Bubbles"

“Nurse Jackie” is my favorite thing airing this summer. A large part of this is because Edie Flaco is amazing in practically every way. She could blink at the screen for twenty minutes and I would be riveted. She was brilliant in “The Sopranos,” and it’s wonderful to see her acting again in this convoluted role as a nurse who isn’t nearly as saint like as she sometimes gets painted out to be. (Unlike “HawthoRNe,” where Jada Pinkett Smith plays the Virgin Mary reborn every week.) The other half of why this show is so good is because it’s subtle enough to let the audience draw their own conclusions and it’s complex enough to tackle dark humor in conjunction with genuine tragedy and loss.

Long Live Jeffster!

In case my intention isn’t clear yet (oh nebulous void that is the readership of this blog), I’m trying to catch up on stuff. Not everything, as that would take roughly the rest of my natural born life, but there’s stuff that I’ve heard is good and that I want to watch, so I have been at my leisure. But I don’t exist solely in the past! I’ll be writing a review of the latest “Nurse Jackie” episode tomorrow, and I’ll be responding to “Torchwood” once it finishes its shortened season.

But right now I’m going to talk about the gem of critics and fan-boys eyes, the amazingly charming “Chuck.” Buffy meets Bond meets “The Office” meets all of that left over pop culture from the 80s. It’s a combination that really shouldn’t work, but somehow does through charm and a wonderful sense of fun.

The Wire


This show could be good watching if…

- You like your shows with a liberal smattering of social commentary
- You’ve got the patience of a saint and an eternal attention-span
- You think that there aren’t enough multi-racial (okay, okay – bi-racial) casts on television
- You have an appreciation for Greek tragedy

Interested yet? Well hopefully you are, because this is by far the best show that I've ever had the good fortune to come across.

I love “The Wire.” It’s just… GUH.

Okay, right. Not squeeing. Converting people over to my new twisted obsession. 

The Big Bang Theory and the Wonders of Schrodinger's Cat

I don’t usually like many sitcoms. I think that the writing, by nature, has to be cliché, that the characters tend to be shallow, that the plot is limited to one, maybe two episode story arcs, and that laugh tracks are the most annoying things ever. Every now and then, however, there’s a sitcom that breaks all the rules and proceeds to rule my heart above all others. (“How I Met Your Mother,” I’m looking at you, even with your inconsistent writing. And your annoying but necessary laugh track.)

This leads me to “The Big Bang Theory,” which while not quite taking over a portion of my soul, is a lot closer than is probably comfortable for my cardiologist. Take two physics geeks working at a university, a young hot thing arrived in LA to become an actress, geek-tastic jokes, sci-fi references like whoa, stir well and you have a little taste of “The Big Bang Theory.” It’s a show where those on the fringes take center stage and people like us (you, me and to a certain extent Penny) get to sit back and watch them in their ‘natural habitat.’ It’s a hilarious if slightly corny show, with good actors (in the case of Jim Parsons in his role, even great ones) and a love story bound to keep us entertained for quite some time… But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t flaws.

TV is awesome

TV is still something I feel the irrational need to apologize for. It’s not really taken seriously by many people, it’s ridiculously easy to exploit, and the best stuff is usually ignored. Why?

I think there’s the perception that TV is nothing more than mass entertainment. Alas, in the case of a great deal of television, that’s definitely true. I could list off a huge list of current television shows that don’t serve much of a purpose other than to keep us glued to our boob-tubes… However if I did that I would probably upset a great many people, including my inner softy self. (I’m notoriously hard to impress when it comes to television – not hard to please, but it’s certainly difficult for a series to earn my respect. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them regardless!)

Glee is opening yourself up to joy...

The problem with a first post, no matter what it is that you're trying to do or in what format you're trying to do it in, is that there's just no way to encapsulate everything that you're attempting in a single entry. Plus, you also sort of have to have this grand 'mission statement' about yourself implied to boot, as if right off the bat you're supposed to have your goals, aspirations, dream date, and favorite Backstreet Boy all picked out and ready. (As if I can pick just one of my boys...)

That's the same way I feel about pilot episodes. What jerk decided that a first episode has to have everything already worked out? It's supposed to be a tester, you know? A feeler. A little mini piece of potential that may or may not come out as originally intended.

All that being said, if I really had my way pilots honestly would be the best episode of a show, and all of the kinks would be worked out and any changes that occurred there after would be simply improving upon something that's managed to be awesome instantly. Yep, that's what I want. But as a person with no power to enforce these unrealistic expectations upon poor, hapless TV writers, I get to feel indignant about it on their behalf. Wonderful, how that works out, eh?

Which brings me to "Glee."