Awesome Sauce

October is usually a pretty slow month for me in terms of this blog. After the deluge of shows in September, things cool down considerably in October, right along with the weather. Oh, and there's the small matter of me being worn out and weary from September. The fact that no one actually reads this blog is also a minor factor.

It seems my laziness comes with consequences. Having given Revenge only a good-ish review of the pilot, that's the impression that seems to have stuck with the few out there who read this. Being so very "meh" about life in general led me to neglect my television watching duties and I never got around to mentioning that that show is actually pretty damn delectable. As such, I feel it's necessary to recount the awesomeness of some of my shows, starting with, of course...

REVENGE
My friend at work seemed to take away a rather more negative critique of the pilot than I had intended in my review, but that might just be revisionist history. The pilot wasn't perfect or anything, and it's a night-time soap after all, but I enjoyed it. Based on my new love of the show,
I could very well be misremembering my initial impressions. Whatever the case, this show has gotten good. The first few episodes had a "revenge caper of the week" aspect that gave me pause. Sure it's fun and all to watch Emily eviscerate her foes in creative ways, but I couldn't help but think, "Geez, at a person a week, she better have about 87 people she needs revenge on or this show won't even make it a season..." I had high hopes that the more week-to-week elements would come together at some point, but feared that the writers might be taking the "procedural" to new levels. Much to my delight, not only did everything start to come together last week, but it came together in a nail-biting, awesomely soapy, devious, twisty way. I was initially a little worried about Emily Van Camp's ability to carry a show like this and a character like hers, but she's absolutely wonderful in the role. The whole show is insane, so her cool, calm iciness is a wonderful grounding element and also a lovely foil for the hot-blooded nutjobs all around her. She's been playing the long con for a long time and now it's all coming together... with disastrous results. In last week's episode, elements from all the revenges she'd had so far came together to bite her in the ass and nearly expose the whole gambit. It's a deliciously tense soap opera that I have been sucked into hook, line, and sinker. Because it's a soap, it's wonderfully over the top and outrageous. Will it be winning a ton of Emmys? Probably not (even though many of the actors do a really lovely job). But that doesn't mean it isn't a hell of a lot of fun. The writers have a plan and as a viewer, I can tell. They clearly figured things out before they started filming, unlike so many other shows that just simply spiral out of control. This show is focused and has a season endpoint in mind (as evidenced by the opening sequences of the pilot). Jessica and I just went back and rewatched the the first part of the pilot and it's a hell of a lot more intriguing now that we know who everyone is. If you're watching the show, go online and rewatch the first 10 minutes or so. And if you're not watching, get caught up. It's malevolent fun. In all honesty, it's the only new pilot that I'm this invested in. I'm enjoying Pan Am well enough, Ringer seems to be getting better, Prime Suspect is pretty good... but really, Revenge is the winner so far of the new fall slate. I've only seem one episode of Once Upon a Time though, so stay tuned. Parting thoughts for those of you who watch the show? I can't remember his name on the show, but that friend of Daniel's? Yeah, methinks he's secretly in love with Daniel and that he's not actually wealthy at all. Con artist all the way. I think a con artist knows a con artist when he/she sees one and that's why he and Emily are about to explode. That and, of course, the fact that Emily is dating the man that he loves. Muahahahaha! So good. So soapy. Yes, please.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but this show is so freaking fantastic I can barely stand it. For anyone out there still holding onto the always erroneous assumption that this is a Twilight rip off, allow me to once again disabuse you of that notion. TVD is not a cheesy, tacky, predicable tween romance of a show. It's just a kick-ass supernatural show, plain and simple. Okay, so it's not plain and simple at all, really. This show covers an insane amount of ground at a breakneck pace, but somehow, they totally pull it off. It never feels forced or lame. It just feels awesome. And thrilling. And surprising around every corner. And it just keeps getting better. Seriously, the first two seasons were fantastic. The third season is even better. They have brought their A-game in a big way. Even if you think you might know what's about to happen, you don't. Just accept it. You'd think after 50 something episodes of twists and turns that they'd surely have run out of road by now, but no. Best of all, they tie all the storylines and characters and supernatural creatures together in such a way that no one gets left out in the cold and you pretty much have to be invested in everyone and everything because they all affect each other in equal measure. With True Blood, good lord, you could completely forget about half the characters on the show and it wouldn't make a bit of difference. With TVD, even if you think something might be inconsequential, it probably isn't. Last season got a little convoluted toward the end, but pulled itself together. So far in this season? The storytelling is tighter than ever and the Originals are even more awesome than I ever could have expected. Now they just need to pull that effing dagger out of Elijah's chest and thing will really reach a zenith. There have always been characters that I cared about less than the others, but holy hell, nowadays, even Matt is kind of interesting. Truly remarkable. Oh, and the new Elena? Much improved. Speaking of Elena, how insanely hot was that scene between her and Damon in the gym when he was showing her the way to stake a vampire? Holy shit! Those two have some insane chemistry, I tell you what. (It seems the practice they get off screen is doing nothing but good...)

THE GOOD WIFE
You know that dead horse that I was beating with TVD? Well, here's that horse's sister. Also heading into it's third season, The Good Wife is just as delectable as ever. After as insane and explosive as last season was, I'm not sure I can say it's better now than then, but it's at least on par, which is pretty damn fantastic. TGW knows how to write characters and knows how to reinvent people and storylines in a way that always keeps you on your toes. Kind of like TVD, you may think you know where something is headed, but you don't. Even the most seemingly innocuous B-plot totally matters. In this last episode, brilliantly titled "Marthas and Caitlins", Alicia is giving the ostensibly random task of selecting a new employee. She opts for the Martha (and I think we all have an idea in our heads what a "Martha" is like) over Caitlin (again, it's impossible not to have a preconceived notion here), but later finds out that Caitlin is David Lee's niece, who is given the job for that very reason. It might seem like the show is simply highlighting nepotism in the workplace, but they always pull storylines together that affect the characters on a deeper level. As it turns out, this isn't simply a throwaway arc or random instance, Alicia was the "Caitlin" when Will got her the job. Will had to hire Caitlin because David Lee helped him get Alicia over the more qualified "Martha". OUCH. The payoff was brilliant. What's more, I'm hearing rumor that Martha will be back at some point in a big way. Prediction? She and Alicia will be squaring off in the courtroom and Martha will be out for blood. So awesome. Also this last week, we got to see more of the unbelievably satisfying and delightful interactions between Eli and Kalinda (that these two never paired up before is a travesty) and we also got to see Alicia and Cuddy bond (sort of). Drunk Alicia is one of my favorite Alicia's, and even though I'm sure Cuddy has some evil up her sleeve (or was she wearing it on her sleeve?), it's always incredibly refreshing to see people in fiction interacting in a way that isn't juvenile or annoying. Cuddy and Alicia are at odds, but they're adults, and they act like it. Well, most of the time. I know TGW has a reputation out there for being a show for old women (Dear Happy Endings, not only does this show appeal to more than just old women, but it's funnier than your show, even though it's a drama, so maybe you should back off), I've turned a number of people onto this show from a wide range of demographics and they all love it as much as I do. It is, quite simply, the best show on network TV.

Aside from those three, there are some returning favorites that bring me joy (Nikita still kicks ass and Castle always makes me smile), but those three are the real standouts right now. I'll keep you posted.

TV Review: Once Upon a Time

Going into any high-concept show, you have to measure your expectations. With your typical genre shows (i.e. crime procedurals, sitcoms, lawyer shows, cop shows, medical shows, etc), especially genre shows that air on network TV, you pretty much know exactly what you're going to get from the moment you hear the title of the show. There's only so many different directions The Rememberer can go (fortunately, one of those directions was to the "new title" department... not that Unforgettable is home run or anything). It's easy to strip down a genre show, systematically assess its long-term potential, size it up against its genre cohorts, and summarily dismiss the bad and adopt the good. For the most straight-forward genre pieces, all you really need is the pilot to tell you if it's worth keeping or not. For someone who watches as much TV as I do, it's a vanishingly small number. If you've seen one, you've seen 'em all, and I've seen about 143,000...

With unique, high-concept shows, it's a different story. You never know exactly what you're going to get in the pilot, and even after the pilot, its hard to tell what you're in for in the long-run. While you can instantly break down a crime procedural into story arcs and seasons within about 10 minutes of the pilot, shows that fall outside the tightly defined circle are less predictable, and in my book at least, a welcomed change. A show like Pushing Daisies, Glee, Being Human, or Dollhouse will instantly win itself a lot of points in my book because I haven't seen it before. Unfortunately, that seems to be the same reason that shows like these oftentimes have a hard time finding a substantial audience. For whatever reason, a lot of people out there like to know what to expect. That's totally fine. If you don't want to come home at the end of a long day and have to really dive into a show and pay attention, I totally get it. I have a few of those on my slate as well. More than anything though, I tend to enjoy shows that surprise me and keep me on my toes. Even if its more a matter of structure than story, anything that's fresh and unique gets a lot of leeway from me. When you're making a show that no one's ever seen before, you're writing your own playbook. It's the reason I give Glee as much of a chance as I can, even when it's patently awful. Say what you will about the show, they don't have 615 previous examples of what works and what doesn't to follow. As such, even at their worst (and there's plenty of that to go around), I give them a wide berth and a lot of leniency.

That lengthy preamble sets the stage for my thoughts and views of ABC's new high-concept drama, Once Upon a Time. Based on my appreciation for shows that step out of the box, it should come as little surprise that I quite enjoyed the pilot. That said, as with any unique show, it's going to take some time to assess the long-term potential of the show. Based on the pilot alone, I'm intrigued and excited for as many episodes of this show as the network is willing to give me.

Once Upon a Time is a high-concept show. I define a show as "high concept" when I can't sum it up in six words or less. While I appreciate genre shows for shortening my reviews with such stirring descriptions as "crime procedural with stoic anthropologist" and "medical drama with lots of sex" (generally saving me a whole paragraph), they don't exactly stir the cockles of my heart either. Indeed, I find more often than not that the longer it takes me to describe a show, the more I enjoyed it. Not a hard and fast rule by any stretch, but anecdotal at least. Once Upon a Time is... really hard to describe on paper. In as short as I can possibly muster, the show is a blend of modern-day fairy tale and actual, literary fairy tale. An evil sorceress has cast a spell on all of the beloved fairy tale characters in the land so that they can't remember who they were. They now live is Storybrook, Maine where time stands still and no one knows that they're Snow White, Geppetto, or one of the Seven Dwarves. We're drawn into the story by Emma Swan (played by Jennifer Morrison), the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White, who was spared from the witch's curse at the last moment, transported from a magical wardrobe to the real world where she grew up a presumed orphan. Now, the son she gave up for adoption 10 years prior (and who was adopted by the evil queen--dun, dun, dun!) has tracked her down and brought her to Storybrook so that she can right the wrongs and save all the characters. I know, it sounds like a horrible mish-mash, but they actually pulled it off pretty well. The Emma Swan angle didn't quite captivate me as much as the magical kingdom angle, getting a bit sluggish here and there versus the sparkle of Snow White and Prince Charming, but for this kind of a pilot, I'm pretty forgiving. It must have been hell trying to figure out how to present this set-up in a way that worked.

The show is a blending of the modern context with Emma Swan and the fairy tale context, set before the evil queen cast the spell. From what I can tell and conjecture from the pilot and scenes from next episode, this is the motif the show will employ for the long-run, using the fairy tale timeline to elucidate the backgrounds for all of these characters and the "now now" timeline to tell Emma's story to save the kingdom, essentially. As mentioned, this is new territory in a lot of ways, so it's hard to tell exactly where we're going from here. I, for one, am thrilled at the promise of making no promises. This show has the liberty do whatever it likes, essentially, and while I can't be sure it'll succeed over the course of several seasons, I'm excited to see it regardless.

It sounds completely ridiculous on paper, I grant that, but that's one of the things I liked the best about it. It's a bizarre conceit, one that I've never seen before, and they actually pull it off. I wouldn't say the pilot was perfect and I'm not entirely sure how everything works, but I got swept away. I can see where a lot of viewers would find it completely cheesy and lame, but I have a soft spot for fairy tales and fantasy, so it hit home with me in a big way. The writers and producers embraced the crazy and ran with it, seemingly deciding that if they were going to fail, they were going to fail big. Fortunately, Once Upon a Time was not a fail. The blending of timelines and the overlap of characters was effortless and clearly spelled out. There's little room for confusion, although I can see where some of the ways in which they define their universe might get muddled down the line. Like I said, I'm not sure how everything works exactly or who knows what or why, but I'm confident I'll find out and that the writers will present these answers in a way that follows the rules they choose define. Most high-concept shows end up changing the rules as time goes by, but I'm largely fine with it. So long as the changes themselves make logical sense (relative to the show's surroundings), I'm more than happy to allow the writers to take as many liberties as they wish.

Other viewers might not be so forgiving or willing to learn a whole new set of universe vocabulary. Which is fine. This is not a show for everyone. What I found magical, others may find hokey. I'm hoping the more traditional viewer will give the show a chance, however, because even if fairy tales aren't your bag, there's a lot to enjoy about this show. The cast is wonderful and neither takes themselves too seriously nor writes this gig off as a flight of fancy. The writing and acting makes for a nice balance of modernity and fantasy. When I first saw the trailer for this one, I was a little afraid that it might get carried away with itself (and not in a good way), but to my delight, it paints a picture that's both grounded and whimsical at the same time. The transitions between the here and now never felt jarring or forced and I found myself genuinely invested in both.

What really helps to sell the concept is the production values. In essence, the show has the money to make this work. I'm not saying a show needs a high budget to make fantasy work (indeed, most of my favorite fantasy was made on a shoestring), but for a network show with this kind of concept, a few extra dollars certainly doesn't hurt. I'd more than likely be on board regardless, but to draw in the errant viewer, a heavy dose of "oooohs" and "awwws" goes a long way. Borrowing visual aesthetics based in fairy tale and Disneyland, this high concept is presented in a warm, visually stimulating, but familiar way. It actually kind of had an Enchanted vibe to it with mix of new and old, reality and fantasy, which I quite enjoyed. Even the best visual effects and set designs won't save you if the writing is bad, however, so they're lucky they've got capable writers and charming actors en tow. "If you care about the characters, nothing else matters. If you don't care about the characters, nothing else matters." Words to live and die by, in the television industry. In only a pilot, it's hard to really form connections with characters right off the bat, so the "else" matters a lot more. When Ringer Buffy's greenscreened boating expedition is the only thing you can remember, you're in trouble...

All in all, I rather enjoyed the pilot, although not without reservations. I'm not sure I found the modern storyline as captivating as the fairy tale background, but I'm willing to wager that will even out over time. I think that may be because I don't know the modern characters as well as their fairy tale counterparts. Even though this was only the pilot, I know who Snow White is and what the Seven Dwarves are all about, Rumpelstiltskin's true character, and how Jiminy Cricket rolls. It was easy to care about these characters because I already do. Emma Swan and her son don't have that kind of background with me. That said, I think Jennifer Morrison did a lovely job and I honestly didn't hate the kid (which is big for me). I'm not sure I found the whole show quite as enchanting as I would have liked, but it was enchanting enough. At the very least, I'm excited for more and I was even a little bummed when the pilot ended. I want to see what happens next. That's about all a pilot can ever ask of its audience.

Will this work for a whole season? Or several seasons? I haven't the faintest idea. Am I really, really hoping that it does? Yes, absolutely. I think this show may have a hard time finding a sizable enough audience to justify its budget, but a girl can dream, right? According to the show at least, that's a big yes. I may be more attuned to this kind of concept than a lot of people, but I think even the casual passerby could find a lot to love about this show. It's familiar and unique at the same time, which is a tall order to fill. Unlike a lot of fairy tale reimaginations (like Wicked), this show doesn't seem so much bent on reinventing who these characters really were so much as putting these characters in a whole new context. In most ways, who these characters are are who we've always thought they were. That makes the show accessible to even those who might pooh-pooh a higher concept show in general. I certainly hope so.

Pilot Grade: B+

Fall Ratings: Should you be worried?

I wasn't sure how to structure this post and the next one... I wanted to do a post which looked at the ratings for shows (assessing survival prospects) and I wanted to do one with the shows that I'm keeping and the ones I'm kicking to the curb. I was determined to make these two separate posts, but they kept overlapping. I'll separate as best I can, but bear with me, there may be some redundancy...

Please also note that there will likely be some shows left off this list. I'll mostly focus on new shows, but there might be some returning favorites as well.

For credentials sake, you should know that I follow show ratings week-to-week, keep a going list of ratings for all new shows and for returning shows who might be in trouble. I've been doing this long enough that I have a pretty good sense for what kind of ratings a show needs to survive, adjusting for network, timeslot, financial investment, and any number of other factors. It's kind of pitiful how well-versed I am in this.

Anyway, on with the shows!

**EXTREMELY SAFE ZONE**
(SHOWS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN PICKED UP FOR A FULL SEASON):

• NEW GIRL
  I can't say I'm over the moon about this show, but it's ratings are impossible to argue with. I had a feeling the show would do well, but holy shit. Apparently there are even more doe-eyed Zooey lovers out there than I thought! Not only were the key demo numbers impressive by even Fox's standards, but it routinely outpaces Glee. Not only does this speak to New Girl's success, but it also speaks to Glee's precipitous fall. Don't get me wrong, Glee's demo numbers are still more than solid, but I'm sure the execs at Fox were shocked. Even with the baseball-induced hiatus, this show should do just fine in the long run.
  
  
• UP ALL NIGHT
  This pick-up has more to do with NBC's pathetic-ness than with the ratings. The numbers have been good by NBC standards, but if this show were on CBS, it wouldn't have made it past the second week.
  
  
• 2 BROKE GIRLS
  This one is just depressing. This show is awful, but it's ratings are insanely high. Even by CBS standards, which are ridiculously higher than NBC's.
  
  
• RINGER
  Only on the CW, folks. The ratings are bad, really bad, but when you're on the CW, it doesn't matter so much. I've been trying to give this show another chance, having heard it got a lot better, but only time will tell. I would have said that this pick-up had more to do with SMG's high profile than anything else, but that was until...
  
  
• HART OF DIXIE
  Yeah, this was a surprise, even for the CW. This show's ratings are only a tick above Nikita's (which airs in the worst time slot ever conceived). Even by CW standards, I didn't think they'd keep this one. At the very least, I thought they'd give it another week of numbers before they made a decision. I wouldn't care, but the more shows the CW picks up, the more in danger Nikita is. Or, I guess looking at it another way, if they're willing to keep this, they're willing to keep anything.
  
  
• THE SECRET CIRCLE
  No brainer. It's ratings aren't great by most broadcasting standards, but they're better than 90% of the CW's slate. It's no TVD, but it's hanging in there.
  
  
• WHITNEY
  Given NBC's "barely above the CW" standards, I can't say this was a total surprise, but the speed with which it came was a bit of a shock. After two weeks of ratings freefall, they give it a full-season order? I don't know what is being smoked over at NBC, but this show is terrible and its ratings are only getting worse. But, now they're stuck with it. Smart.
  
  

Now that we've moved past the shows that have already gotten the definitive green light, we're headed into more speculative territory. Please bear in mind that it's still early on, so these predictions are just that. Predictions. Anything can happen, folks. Based on ratings and everything else, here's how the new shows (and some old shows) are doing. To be honest with you, most shows that haven't been picked-up already are at least sort of in trouble, but here goes...

**SAFE ZONE**
(SHOWS WITH GOOD NUMBERS, BUT HAVEN'T BEEN PICKED-UP FOR A FULL SEASON (OR ANOTHER SEASON) YET):

• SUBURGATORY
  It's only aired a couple of episodes so far, but the numbers are solid. If it stays on trend, it will certainly get a full-season pick-up. [UPDATE: With last night's ratings totals in, this show is a lock for a full-season. Announcement should come any day.]
  
  
• TERRA NOVA
  Okay, to say this show is "safe" is a bit of a misnomer. It's numbers aren't what Fox had hoped for, but it's initial order was for 13 episodes. When speaking in those terms, in spite of the ratings, I'm willing to wager it will air all 13 episodes. That said, while the numbers for its first two episodes were good and showed no signs of slipping, there was a pretty big drop off for episode 3. If that continues, even the small order won't save it.
  
  
• PARENTHOOD
  Yeah, yeah, it's not a new show, but it's perennially on the bubble, so I thought you fans would want to know that it's going to be just fine. No, it's numbers aren't great, but they're decent by NBC standards, and more importantly, they're consistent week to week. In short, it's doing fine.
  
  
• THE GOOD WIFE
  On any other network, it's numbers would be stellar, but for CBS, they key demo ratings are disappointing. Why is it safe then, you ask? Because it's the best show on network TV, the only network drama that receives any kind of critical or awards acclaim at all, and because CBS likes to have bragging rights. What's more, CBS is so insanely successful that it can afford to have a critical darling under its wing. The numbers have been fairly low for CBS, but they've been consistent, even in spite of the new timeslot. No worries, Eli and Kalinda aren't going anywhere.
  
  
• REVENGE
  I think the ratings have finally settled and they're in a range that ABC can definitely get behind. ABC is almost as pitiful as NBC and it can't be too choosy, so to have a show genuinely do well is a no-brainer. Revenge can even stand to go a little lower and still be just fine. [UPDATE: With last night's ratings totals in, this show is a lock for a full-season. Announcement should come any day.]
  
  
• LAST MAN STANDING
  Okay, so it's only aired one episode, but they numbers were very, very good for ABC. The show, unfortunately, is very, very bad in every conceivable regard, but when has that ever stopped anybody? I'm hoping for a shocking drop-off next week, but I doubt it. Even if it's numbers were cut in half, it would probably be fine. I'll pause while everyone goes and weeps for humanity.
  
  
• HAPPY ENDINGS
  I'm as shocked as you are. After getting a miraculous pick-up after last season, something rivaling Biblical times, this show is back and is actually doing pretty well. It looks like in the shuffle of things, Happy Endings has come out on top (well, middle really, but you know what I mean).
  
  
• CASTLE
  Numbers could be better, but ABC is fully invested in this one. It's not going anywhere. Even if Nathan Fillion's track record would suggest otherwise.
  
  
• GLEE
  A lot of people have been wondering about Glee's ratings after the disaster that was season 2, so I'm including it on the list. For the record, the numbers have been noticeably lower and have been sliding a bit week-to-week. That said, it's key demos are still among the highest in the biz and the show isn't going anywhere. It has actually been better this year, but that doesn't seem to be enough to bring back all the folks who broke up with it after last season. Can't says I blame you.
  
  

**DANGER ZONE**
(SHOWS THAT ARE DOWN, BUT NOT OUT... YET):

• PAN AM
  This show started off flying high in the ratings and looked to be ABC's saving grace from the loss of Desperate Housewives, but it's numbers have been in freefall since the premiere. It's a shame, because I'm really enjoying this one, but if its numbers go any lower, it's going to be in serious trouble. I think the only thing that will save it is ABC's need to save face and their growing acceptance as being "barely better than NBC"...
  
  
• NIKITA
  Oh, my darling Nikita. This show has always struggled a bit even by CW standards, but now that it's stranded in the worst timeslot ever, I'm worried. Anchoring Friday nights? Yikes. I'm sure the CW had low expectations, but still. It's numbers honestly aren't that much worse than the rest of the CW's slate, but with Chuck starting up in a couple of weeks, I'm worried that Nikita's numbers will sink even lower. I think the show's saving grace will be that this is the kind of show that does well abroad and may make money for the network in the long run. Fingers crossed!
  
  
• PRIME SUSPECT
  The numbers aren't good, at all really, but they're holding steady and NBC is desperate. They just ordered 6 more scripts, so that bodes well for the show, even if not for NBC as a whole. I'm actually enjoying this one to an extent, so I'm happy to see it'll be around for a while.
  
  
• HARRY'S LAW
  This one is the real head-scratcher. Based on key demo ratings, this show would almost be at home on the CW, garnering worse numbers than The Vampire Diaries (although it does do okay in total numbers). NBC just ordered 6 more scripts, but I think it was a bad call. I have a feeling NBC sees this as their The Good Wife, hoping it'll bring some reputability to the network. Sorry NBC, it will not.
  
  
• UNFORGETTABLE
  CBS loves its crime procedurals, but viewers aren't exactly flocking to this piece of shit, and they know it. It's numbers have been going steadily down and even if it stays where it is, it's going to have a hard time. It may get a full season, but I'd be shocked if it got a second year. I guess watching Poppy Montgomery stare off into space just isn't as riveting as CBS hoped it would be... Note to Poppy, save the money you spend on lip injections and spend it on a dialect coach.
  
  
• PERSON OF INTEREST
  Its future looks rosier than Unforgettable's, but only by a bit. The numbers are okay for now, but they've been going steadily down. It's an expensive show to produce, but it has an impressive pedigree. If it can stay were it is, I think it'll be fine. If it goes much lower, it'll be in trouble. I think it's going to come down to one or the other and this will get picked up and Unforgettable will get the axe.
  
  

**DEAD ZONE**
(SHOWS THAT SHOULD PROBABLY REVIEW THEIR WILLS):

• CHARLIE'S ANGELS
  Not long for this world, peeps. I'm guessing it'll be the next to get cancelled. Terrible show, terrible ratings. I'm kind of surprised it hasn't already bitten the big one.
  
  
• A GIFTED MAN
  Even with a Friday timeslot, there's no saving this one. CBS will likely give it the axe the moment it has something to fill the timeslot with, if not sooner.
  
  
• FRINGE
  Again, Friday can only forgive so much. Fox seems to be behind this one though, so I guess a miracle could happen. In my heart of hearts, I suspect this will be its last season, but I'm guessing it'll be a full season.
  
  

**EXTREMELY DEAD ZONE**
(SHOWS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN CANCELED):

• THE PLAYBOY CLUB
  This one never stood a chance, and it has nothing to do with the PTC. If anything, the right wing uproar is the only thing that brought in any ratings at all. This show just couldn't work on network TV. The leads were lackluster for the most part and the writing was sloppy.
  
  
• FREE AGENTS
  Even though the ratings sucked, I thought this one would last a little longer by simple virtue of being a half-hour comedy... I was wrong. Go forth, Giles, onto better gigs.
  
  
• HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN
  Hats off to CBS for pulling the plug on this piece of shit after only one episode. On any other network, the ratings would have been cause for celebration, but CBS has a higher threshold and the luxury of axing anything it chooses.
  
  
• H8R
  I never saw a single episode... and neither did anyone else. You get canceled by the CW, you know you've got problems. The CW doesn't do a whole lot right, but getting rid of this horrendous assault on television was one of the best moves in recent history.
  

"It's over. We're safe. I won."

If you haven't watched Breaking Bad yet, you need to start. For all the people out there who think television is a pulp medium and a vacuous waste of time, take notice. I'm not saying there isn't a truly depressing amount of total shit on the airwaves right now (the E! network relies on such shows to feed their families), but if you sift through all the awful, there are some absolute gems. Right now? None rises higher on my list than Breaking Bad, which, after completing four seasons, is better than ever.

This show keeps you on your toes, even when you don't realize your on them. It's like when you've been tensing a muscle for so long that you forget about it until the tension releases. With Breaking Bad, the knots grow tighter and the water gets hotter so gradually that by the time you reach the end of the season, every single moment, no matter how seemingly calm or staid, is a blood pressure spiking nail-biter. I think the best part of the show is the many and varied and surprising ways in which it builds the tension.

**SPOILER ALERT**
If you haven't seen the entire series to date, do not read the rest of this post. Trust me, you don't want to ruin it.

Each season examines Walt's and Jesse's descent step by step, but with each new season comes a new focus, a new perspective that narrows the magnifying glass on a new facet of the hell they've created for themselves. When trying to sum of the "theme" of sorts of this season, it was hard for me to boil down. My first thought was, "Well, it's all about seeming compromise and concurrently, a total lack of any compromise at all--the goal is to use the notion of compromise to one-up everyone around you." I think AV Club summed up that murky notion of conflicting agendas well with a single word: negotiation. Throughout the season, each and every character has to negotiate with the people around them, the forces acting upon them, their own moral compasses, the factors that are out of their control, and even more perilously I think, the factors that are within their control. When it boils down, this show has always been about control and it uses each of its characters to maximum effect in driving home what control actually means and how it creates and destroys.

One of the most powerful aspects of the show is that the characters are allowed to change over time, with the balance of power shifting almost seamlessly beneath their feet. This season saw so many terrifying voltas that my loyalties would almost sneak up on me. Seriously, from one episode to another, the game can change so entirely that I the viewer could barely keep up with who I wanted to succeed, let alone the players on the board. As the characters were negotiating their own existences, I was negotiating my allegiances. "Wait a minute, am I really pulling for Gus Fring all of a sudden? When did that happen?" It's the hallmark of an amazing show when each character is so layered that he or she is both beloved and loathed at any given time. Breaking Bad has such characters in spades. By the end of this season, I found myself hoping Walt, the shows seeming protagonist, would get the worst of it, and somehow ended up hoping Gus Fring, so feared and hated just a few episodes back, would rise the victor. My emotions were entirely fluid though, and these fleeting acknowledgments would flit in and out of my conscience almost the moment they were acknowledged. When I tried to reconcile how my desperate hope that Walt would go undetected had morphed into a begrudging tolerance of his existence, and how, conversely, my fear and loathing of Gus Fring had somehow transformed into a sort of respect, I found myself ending up at the same place. Jesse.

When I watch Breaking Bad, I see the world through Jesse's eyes and view the succeeding events in terms of how they affect Jesse specifically. For me, he's the heart and soul of the show. Over the past four years, the writers have done an amazing job of formulating two characters who aren't what they seem. When the show began, we had a desperate, dying, reluctant chemistry teacher who got caught up cooking meth with a low-life addict. As the show as gone on, however, it has become more and more painfully and terrifyingly apparent that while both of these characters have gotten in over their heads, Walt is at home here, Jesse isn't. In the panoply of dark, crazy shit that goes down on this show, Walt emerges as the character who drives the risk higher and higher, even when it's unnecessary. He feels alive doing bad, bad things, probably for the first time in his life, and he'll tighten the noose around his own neck if it means he gets to be the big, bad, powerful Heisenberg rather than the weak, ineffectual, insignificant Mr. White. While that progression is thrilling and terrible to watch, it puts a certain bent on his character that makes him the bully, the bad guy, the architect of destruction that's hard to pull for. Jesse, by sharp contrast, never really wanted any of this at all. Where Walt exerts control (even when he only thinks it's his to exert), Jesse seems eternally subject to the forces around him. Sure, his behaviors are self-destructive most of the time and his decisions affect his well-being in a direct way, but when it comes to Jesse, there just doesn't seem to be much of any control at all. Even at his most powerful, it seems he's being manipulated by the alpha males around him. I think that's where the turn came for me between the two father figures in his life. I pull for whoever treats Jesse the best because Jesse has no power to control his own destiny. In my negotiation with my own loyalties, Jesse's best interests always prevail.

Playing Jesse as the heart of the show, the lost boy, the son, comes to into deadly focus in the finale when it's impossible to fully comprehend in just how many ways he's being manipulated by his fathers. The more caring and fatherly Gus became, the more suspicious I became, but by that same token, the more confident and assured Jesse became. I found myself slipping into Gus' web in much the same way Jesse did. When Jesse found a shelf full of blood bags intended for him in Mexico (preparations to save his life), it was like he felt truly valued and cared for for the first time in his life. After several episodes of watching Jesse spiral completely into the abyss, seeing anyone, even Gus Fring, pull him back from the edge was endearing. In the back of my mind, I always felt that Fring was manipulating Jesse is some grand way, but it was hard to argue with the day-to-day improvement in Jesse's well-being (even if, when being totally honest, I think Mike had a lot more to do with Jesse's rehabilitation than Gus ever did). At the end of the day, while Walt and Gus were hurtling toward each other on the evil expressway, Jesse pretty much just needed a hug most of the time. Indeed, even when Jesse is at his most badass, he's one small step from being completely horrified by the people around him. Seeing the absolute panic on his face when the Mexican cartel started collapsing and Mike garotted that one guy served as a potent reminder that in spite of all this, Jesse is a sensitive kid who's mixed up in a whirlwind he can't get out of. It should be noted, however, that in spite of Jesse's innate constitution, he's in the thick of things, he knows it, and he does his best with it. Both he and Walt have murdered people at this point, they've both done a lot of things to hurt the people around them, and they've both gone against the other at times. The big difference in my eyes is that Jesse has an innate goodness and Walt... well, who knows what's at his core these days, but I don't think anyone would characterize it as "good." When Heisenberg kills someone, it's in his own self-interest. When Jesse kills someone, it's for the sake of others.

Walt and Gus are more alike than Walt would ever like to admit and more than Jesse will probably ever know. That's how Walt used Jesse to such a spectacularly bloody end. We, the audience, know more than Jesse does about Walt and that leads our negotiations to other ends. Jesse has this almost childlike view of the world. His morals are black and white in theory, but he's so impressionable and susceptible to outside influences that it takes a real shot across the bow to bring his resolve to the surface. From early on in the show, we've known how much Jesse cares for children. Nothing brings out his rage or wrath like acts against kids. We know this, Walt knows this, and Jesse suffers for it. Walt, that soul-sucking, game-playing bastard, knew full well that the way to get Jesse to turn of Gus would be to exploit Jesse's love of children. Jesse would never kill someone who had wronged him solely. Jesse has had the crap kicked out of him in every way possible for years. If he killed the people who had wronged him, no one would be left. No, Jesse acts out when people even more helpless than he is get hurt. He's all to aware of what it's like to be the victim in this way. He's the little guy, but not the littlest guy, and watching the helpless get screwed is more than Jesse can bear. Walt knows this. When Jesse had the gun to Walt's head and was (as it turns out, quite rightly) accusing him of poisoning the boy, Walt plays on Jesse's goodness and convinces him that he isn't capable of hurting a child. "Do you really think I could do that?!" As an audience member, who watched him actively let Jane die a couple of seasons back, the answer is a resounding, "Yes." Having seen the entirety of Walt's digression in vivid technicolor, there isn't anything I wouldn't put past him at this point. Jesse doesn't know this, however. What he does know, is that Gus is someone who hurts kids. In Jesse's black and white logic, it must be Gus. At this point, I honestly wasn't sure who had poisoned the boy. While in the back of my mind, I didn't want to believe Walt had done it, his moral compass points any which way but north these days, so he had to be a possibility. On the other hand, I couldn't see how Walt had access to the Ricin. Also, when Gus takes a stab at someone, it cuts to the core, so he was just as likely a suspect. Geez, I feel like I'm picking Iocaine here and I clearly can't choose the baddie in front of me.

In the closing scenes, when it's revealed that it was actually berries from Lily of the Valley that poisoned the boy, my theoretical mind splintered. I still thought Walt was a fair candidate, but I also know that the writers are just ballsy enough to have the poisoning have nothing to do with anything. While the reveal that it really was Walt made for a searing WTF moment, in a weird way, I think it almost would have hit harder if the boy's illness really had been an accident. When you're in the middle of a shitstorm, you can't see accidents for what they are and that has deadly consequences. In the end though, I was absolutely thrilled by the closing shot of the pot of flowers in Walt's yard. Some critics have felt it was a little too explicit, I appreciated having definitive proof. This show leaves a lot of things up in the air, makes the waters murkier and murkier with each successive episode, and shifts the balance of power often enough that it was nice to have something more grounded, more, well, explicit. It lacked some the nuance of the show's greatest moments, but it hit hard and worked extremely well. Had they not been so explicit, viewers would have been left with some thrilling uncertainty, but that would have sapped some of the mega impact of learning that yes, Walt is willing to kill children if it accomplishes his own ends. If it, in effect, helps him "win." The best part of it all was that it called back to Walt sitting in the backyard earlier, spinning the gun. I can usually see a plot point telegraphed from a mile away, but with Breaking Bad, I oftentimes read it wrong. When he was spinning the gun, and it pointed at him twice, and then at "nothing" the third time, I thought that was telling Walt that there was only him left. Little did I know that it was actually pointing to that potted plant-- that seemingly innocuous, random set dressing. Masterfully done, show.

There are a million other things to talk about with this show, the final story arcs, and the finale itself, but this is getting interminably long and difficult to organize. Here are my other random thoughts on the closing episodes of this season:

• We may have gotten closure on whether or not Walt poisoned the boy, but there's still a lot up in the air. Did Ted actually die? What's going to happen with that? Where does Gus' empire go from here? Does Jesse suspect Walt after all? Does he really believe it was an accident? Will he ever learn the truth? And so on...
• For as many times as my loyalties shifted from character to character, I could never bring myself to root for Hank. I know I'm in the minority here, and I honestly can't put my finger on why, but I've hated his character since minute one and haven't been concerned for his well-being or reputation for even a second. Most people wanted his theories to be proven and vindication to be had. I kept hoping he'd throw a clot and die. Even at his most awesome, he's the last person I'd want to spend a day with. I think the final straw for me came with how he treated Marie after he was injured. Ugh. I can see the reasons behind it, but that doesn't make me love him anymore. The problem with Hank is that I get the feeling I'm supposed to love him, but I don't.
  
• Skylar, Skylar, Skylar. I love her, I hate her. It was when I realized that I was supposed to kind of hate her that I started to appreciate what she brings to the show. Most recently, her bid to save herself by pretending to be Ted's dingbatty accountant was pure gold. "Do you use Quicken? That program is amazing. It's like there's a calculator in the computer." Awesome. She has her issues to be sure, but she has some true moments of badass in her own right. I wish Anna Gunn had laid off the plastic surgery/botox though. Skylar was downright difficult to look at this season.
• Best. Death scene. Ever. It may have strayed from the gritty reality of the show's core and aesthetic, but when you're as supremely awesome as Gus Fring, you deserve better than a conventional death. Calm, cool, composed, and well-dressed, even when half his face has been blown off. Badass in every regard. I'm sad to see him go.
• I've very glad to see that Mike was conveniently recovering in Mexico for all of this though. Mike is probably my favorite character on the show and the only true father figure among them. I can't wait to see what they do with him in season 5--which had better come soon, dammit!
• Speaking of people I can't wait to see again, Saul Goodman is fantastic. It's not easy to inject a believable amount of levity to a show like this, but Saul cracks me up at every turn. I'm so glad he survived the finale and I'm really hoping we get to me his guy who can disappear you if you order the right vacuum part.
  
• I love Jesse so much. And I have a ridiculous crush of Aaron Paul, who is just so unbelievably talented. Even when he knows damn well that telling the doctors about the Ricin possibility will likely land him in jail, he doesn't hesitate for even a moment. He runs into the hospital to make sure the boy is okay. Walt, even if he hadn't poisoned him himself, would have stood in the parking lot weighing the pros and cons and ultimately deciding that it wasn't in his own best interest to save the boy. He would have watched him die to save himself. As always.
• Hats off to the show, the writers, the producers, the directors, and the entire cast and crew. All the actors do such a fabulous job that there's no point in singling people out (although Aaron Paul breaks my heart, Bryan Cranston pisses me off, and Giancarlo Esposito scares the hell out of me). That said, the man who played Tio Salamanca gets extra points for being just as amazing as everyone else without saying a single word. Truly inspired. You know you have an amazing show when the death of two of the shows super-villains isn't met with a cheer. He and Gus will be sorely missed.