TV Roundup: Volume 3
Family Guy (Seasons 1-4)
The common accusation to make regarding Family Guy is that it’s nothing more than a rip-off of The Simpsons. But where the latter skidded around touchy topics to remain TV-PG, Family Guy hits them head on, backs up, ties a rope around them, and drags them through a thistle patch. And yet I have to admit that this show is a guilty pleasure. The only thing that keeps me from feeling like a total lowlife for finding humor in racial and religious jabs is that I have enough decency to say, “That’s terrible!” after a big laugh. Unfortunately, Family Guy suffers from the same disease that every elementary school class clown suffers from: it doesn’t know when to stop. Even after you’ve already gotten the joke, they keep playing it out, keep twisting it into your gut, going against all their intentional political incorrectness to ensure that everyone, no matter how dim-witted or slow, understands the funniness. But by then, it’s no longer funny. And neither is Stewie. There, I said it.
Burn Notice (Season 1)
Spy stuff is cool. Getting insider tips from a spy as he narrates his own escapades is even cooler. It doesn’t matter if most of this information is false and/or exaggerated, it still makes you feel like you could be a spy, too, although if you ever did try any of this at home, you’d probably wind up in jail or in a coffin. Take your pick. Nonetheless, Michael Westen makes for a great hero who, like 24’s Jack Bauer, has a knack for getting out of sticky situations but, unlike Bauer, also has a sense of humor about it. Plus, not everyone he knows dies. Which is a shame, because his gun-toting girlfriend has got to go. She doesn’t have the show-ruining presence of Sylar from Heroes, but she is definitely an unattractive, unappealing, unconvincing, un… un… uh… I got nothing else. If they don’t have the heart to let her go, though, the least they could do is replace the editor. Seriously, the editor either couldn’t put his/her foot down against the director’s ridiculous ideas or was given too many creative liberties, because the final product is full of cheesy cuts, close-ups, transitions, and music that make Burn Notice feel ten years older than it really is. Bruce Campbell’s in it, though, and he would never attach himself to B material, right? Right?!
Supernatural (Seasons 1-3)
I’ll let you in on a secret: I scare easily. And this probably has a lot of bearing on why I find Supernatural so creepy while a regular horror buff would just laugh. The show does lay on the angst and melodrama a bit thick (enough to make teenage girls swoon) and has to attempt to be scary within its TV-14 limits. Then again, The Ring proved you don’t need buckets of human innards to make a good mystery/horror film, and when Supernatural is at its best, it’s equally effective. At its worst, when not even the fail-safe “supernatural” moniker can justify how ridiculous the monster of the week is, the show’s still amusing thanks to the love/hate brotherly relationship between the two leads. This is why Season 3 is still good even though I don’t really like the direction it went. Season 3 focuses too much on demons instead of the regular threats, and demons just aren’t scary. Fortunately, there are still random ghost hunt episodes that are every bit as fun as what’s in Seasons 1 and 2, but the overall story takes a major shift.
Dexter (Season 1)
Public television has softened me up to the point where it’s very hard to sit through a show that bypasses all censorship to create a world where everyone—and I mean everyone—has a foul mouth. Children and well-meaning parents included. Of course, if you can’t really stomach that, then I guess Dexter’s scrapbook of blood splatters and severed limbs won’t make you feel any more comfortable. The subject of serial killers is a very interesting one, though, and I like the idea of a serial killer who works for the police (though he does his killing in secret; it wouldn’t be much fun if everyone knew). The problem, here, is that you’ve got essentially three hours of really good material drawn out across 12 one-hour episodes. These kinds of TV shows aggravate me. It’s not like you can ever rewatch a favorite episode (or have a favorite episode), because it’s only a small piece of a larger puzzle that already consumed way too much of your life. 12-hour stories require a hefty pay-off which, unfortunately, Dexter doesn’t offer. But then, the kind of pay-off I expect is to have the TV start dispensing money along with certificates that say, “Thank you so much for to watching my show!”
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