2014 Satellite Awards- TV Winners

Here's what the International Press Academy liked in TV last year. Lots of love for Breaking Bad and Orange is the New Black:

• Drama Series: Breaking Bad
• Genre Series: Game of Thrones
• Drama Actor: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Drama Actress: Robin Wright, House of Cards
• Comedy/Musical Series: Orange is the New Black
• Comedy Actor: John Goodman, Alpha House
• Comedy Actress: Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black
• Supporting Actor: Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
• Supporting Actress: Laura Prepon, Orange is the New Black
• Miniseries/TV Movie: Dancing on the Edge
• Actor in a Miniseries/TV Movie: Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
• Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie: Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake

REVIEW: "Downton Abbey" Season 4

By now, fans of Downton Abbey have come to know what to expect from this show. There are those who say it was never as good as it was in the first season, but I don't see how it drastically  changed from that season at all. To me, Downton has always been a lavish period soap opera from day one (was Mary's suddenly dead lover any less melodramatic than the burned soldier or Sybil's deathbed?) So it's always been easier for me to enjoy the show without nitpicking it to death like its most devoted obsessives, who seem to expect a lot more out of it than I ever did.

So on that basis, I though the fourth season was a consistent continuation of the series, with some highly dramatic moments (the pattern seems to be to employ one really major, life-altering character event per season), mixed with the only thing that really does bother me about Julian Fellowes' writing- his constant tendency to  introduce interesting stories, only to have them peter out and never go anywhere by the end of the season. All that setup for nothing.

I'll start with the big shocking moment of the year- Anna's rape in Episode 3. The entire episode was actually terrific, Downton Abbey at its best, with the whole cast being put to good use as the Crawleys threw a big party, the downstairs people having to mix it up with the upstairs set, and the smooth, Altman-esque fast-moving rhythm between all the characters was top-notch. Then comes the horrifying moment where Anna is cornered by the villainous Mr. Greene, the valet for one of Lady Mary's visiting suitors, who beats her and rapes her in the abandoned kitchen while everyone else is upstairs in the audience for a concert performance. This action set up the potential for a ripple effect that could have involved several characters, and the fallout was ultimately minimized to the point where it seems hugely obvious that Fellowes blew all possibilities to mine any good drama from this situation. It causes a problem for Anna and Bates, yet all the tension seems to be directed toward the question of what Bates will do about it, and that goes on for the rest of the season, only to amount to something that may or may not have happened off screen. I mean, what was that about? They tease Thomas's potential involvement (he keeps trying to find out what happened) only to have that completely fizzle out, when it could have provided a great story line of its own (can you imagine Thomas and Bates teaming up, or having this revelation change his own relationship with Anna?) I'm playing the writer here, but I can't help it, as I was practically shouting at the TV screen while watching this whole thing come to nothing, because the potential for explosives was so great and so completely knocked down.

So that was a major letdown to something that could have been one of the show's most intriguing storylines ever but the rest of the season was harmless fun as usual. Rose embarked on an interracial romance with a jazz singer (also a potentially interesting situation that again went nowhere- come on, Fellowes), and Mary was dogged by three separate suitors who are all in love with her and wanting to fight for her, even though she's not quite over Matthew's death. I know that Julian Fellowes has stated that from his point of view, the show is about Mary and Mary's love life more than anything else, and that's very obvious when you watch it, but these three guys were frankly interchangeable and boring, so count me as someone who hopes they suddenly shake things up by putting her with Tom next season. It won't happen but he's also one of the better characters on the show, still the out of place former chauffeur who lives on the estate with the family for his daughter's sake, but saddled with a very unlikable love interest, so I say have Tom and Mary ditch the dull outsiders for each other. Edith finally got some action this season too, as she had an affair with the married older man Michael Grayson, only for him to mysteriously vanish in the bowels of pre-Nazi Germany, leaving her stranded and pregnant, forced to make a disappearance of her own in order to have the baby and give it up for adoption in secret.

As for the downstairs cast, there was the ongoing endless flirtation between Daisy, Aflred, Ivy and Jimmy, a love square that also, again, went nowhere, not that this particular plot (by far the weakest of the past two seasons) created any rooting factor at all regarding any of those minor characters. At least it served to have jettisoned the characters of Ivy and Alfred entirely by the end of the year, good news only because it squashes that boring subplot. And the show continues to not know what to do with Thomas, preferring to keep him on the fringes of the action most of the time, which is a shame because Rob-James Collier is absolutely hilarious in this role and steals scenes whenever he appears by virtue of his smarmy delivery of just two or three lines- he's like the british James Spader. The nicest ongoing arc is the Remains of the Day-esque unspoken but clearly affectionate relationship between Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes, the heads of staff who get the last lovely moment of the season, as they stroll down the seaside hand in hand.

The good thing about Downton Abbey, what makes it eminently watchable is the fact that the cast is so huge and so sprawling (and usually all good except Elizabeth McGovern as Cora, who I'm sorry to say has either become bored with this role or forgotten how to emote) that if you're sick of watching one person or bored with a particular story line, you never have to stay with anyone longer than 2-3 minutes, as the show jumps back and forth between so many different characters all the time, and quickly enough so that it's always fast-paced and never dull in execution at least. The Christmas special this year was one of the best episodes, simply due to all the opulence put into Rose's debutante ball, the costumes, the dances and the presence of royalty on the estate and Paul Giamatti in a guest spot as Uncle Harold (he's so good that I hope he comes back next year). It remains a fun, mostly absorbing show and now that I'm this far in, I'll be sticking with the Crawleys till the end.

Grade: B+

FEATURETTE: "Veep" Season 3

A behind the scenes look at the upcoming season 3 of HBO's Veep, starting April 6th. Can't wait!

REVIEW: "House of Cards" Season 2

(Warning: this review is very spoiler-filled)

Season 2 of Netflix's House of Cards is essentially more of the same. If you loved the first season I'm sure you'll love this one as well, and if like me, you had reservations about it, those reservations are more or less still there, although I did look at the series from a slightly differently angle this time around.

Kevin Spacey is once again Frank Underwood, the former House majority whip now turned Vice-President of the United States, thanks to his scheming and maneuvering his way into power last year. Of course, as you'll remember his evil deeds last season eventually amounted to the murder of the show's most sympathetic character, and while I think you were supposed to feel the drama of that moment as if it was something he'd never submitted to before- this season Frank's just murdering people left and right, as the shocking moment in the first episode shows us. To be honest, I actually kind of like that better, as I now see the show as a trashy, political soap opera and I'm able to enjoy it more on that level. This is basically Scandal with bigger names and a bigger budget.

The show still takes itself too seriously though, as there is so much time spent in the weeds of political machinations, getting bills through Congress and an awful lot of talk about Chinese politics and foreign affairs that amounts to nothing really- it just seems like a way for Beau Willimon to show off how much he knows about the details of how Washington supposedly works (they also purposely tie in timely topics like rape in the military and continue to use real life cable hosts for numerous cameos). But that pretense of realism clashes with the fact that our main character is a vice-president who personally murders people on a whim, has threeways with his bodyguard, and sabotages the president of the United States, forcing him out of office so that he can take his place less than a year after he's been sworn in himself. I mean, come on- the actual events on this show are ludicrous and would be better served by a trashier, less self-serious tone, since the actors remain pretty great overall.

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright remain the Clinton-esque, devious power couple who destroys everything in their way, but even though Spacey is entertaining as always, I find myself rooting against them through virtually every scheme they concoct, hoping the people who suspect them of evil might actually come through for once. Frank and Claire Underwood are not antiheroes, they're more like straight villains, given even less dimension this time around as they manipulate their path to even more power and crush plenty of innocents along the way. The difference between an antihero and a villain is that the viewer kind of wants the antihero to succeed in the bad things they do- but me, I just can't wait to see the Underwoods taken down in each and every episode. Unfortunately that never happens and there's not even a hint that it might, as anyone who dares to threaten them is quickly crushed like a bug- that may be a problem in the future as far as creating tension, but if the show's following the British version, then this all has to lead to Frank's downfall eventually, so I can wait.

Despite some of my issues with the show it does remain eminently watchable. The cast is uniformly great, and the additions this year of Molly Parker as the new majority whip and now regular Michel Gill as Garrett Walker, the weakest, most pathetic fictional president in U.S. history, fit smoothly into the ensemble. I also enjoyed the increased presence of Mahershala Ali as Frank's former ally Remy Danton, and Reg E. Cathey as Freddie, the owner of the BBQ joint and maybe the one guy with the hint of a soul on this show. I will say that no one quite replaces Corey Stoll's role last year as the one genuinely good person in the series, and that does leave a hole, because it so hard to root for any of these people, seeing as they're all so despicable. But House of Cards remains intriguing, and I'm still hooked to see where Frank's antics end up taking him in seasons to come.

Grade: B

FIRST LOOK: "The Americans" Season 2

A behind the scenes look at Season 2 of FX's The Americans, a really good show about a spies during the Cold War. Season 2 starts a week from today, on the 26th:

TEASER: "Orange is the New Black" Season 2

Finally, Orange is the New Black has a release date of June 6th, when the second season will drop on Netflix. Can't wait! Here's the teaser for the new batch of episodes:

TRAILER #2: "Game of Thrones" Season 4

The build-up continues, as a new exciting trailer for Game of Thrones (starting April 6th) drops:

REVIEW: "The Spoils of Babylon"

IFC's The Spoils of Babylon finished airing last Sunday night, and if you missed it, I encourage you to check it out. Produced by Funny or Die and created by Matt Piedmont and Andrew Steele, this was a six-part miniseries of sorts, a spoof on the epic miniseries of the 70's and 80's, with an all-star cast filling out every bit part over the course of each 22-minute episode. 

Will Ferrell is "Eric Jonrosh," the author of the non-existent novel the story is based on, and he opens and closes each episode with his recollections about the filming of the series, which he of course directed himself. A story that spans decades, it covers the classic tropes of the genre that are familiar to fans of old miniseries like The Thorn Birds or Rich Man, Poor Man- there's forbidden love, war,  corporate feuding, illegitimate children, etc. There's a joke about every two minutes, and while the show could be hit and miss at times, the hits were pretty great, and the series was so well cast that you almost get caught up in the actual story despite the soap opera ridiculousness of it all.

Tobey Maguire and Kristen Wiig are the stars, the Morehouse children who grow up as adopted siblings but of course fall in love at first sight. Maguire is unexpectedly funny as the pretentious and tortured Devon Morehouse, but Kristen Wiig especially is fantastic as Cynthia, whose lovelorn character actually seems to develop and change over the course of the series. Wiig is always game for silliness but she really nails the overwrought melodramatic scenes so well she could have easily fit into an episode of the genre they're spoofing. I hope she gets Emmy recognition later in the summer. Many actors seemed to want to be a part of this, and the supporting cast is filled out with people like Tim Robbins, Michael Sheen, Val Kilmer, Carey Mulligan, and most surprisingly, an all grown up Haley Joel Osment, who's actually pretty great as the treacherous son of Devon and Cynthia (once you get past the distraction of his having gained about forty pounds since the last time you saw probably saw him onscreen). Robbins is the other standout as the family patriarch- his every intonation and mannerism is hilarious without even trying.

There are jokes in every frame, from the way it's shot, lit, and acted- and you have to pay close attention sometimes to the introductions by Ferrell in the beginning to even get all of them through each particular episode. The whole project is kind of an oddball creation, but the actors are having a great time, and it's so outlandish and bizarrely funny that I hope it catches on and they can maybe do another one some time next year. Definitely worth watching.

Grade: A-

Sid Caesar 1922-2014

Legendary comic and television icon Sid Ceasar died today at the age of 91. He was an early TV star and comedian who starred in the famous NBC variety series Your Show of Shows, from 1950 to 1954. On the show he became part of a comedy team that consisted of Carl Reiner, Howard Morris and Imogene Coca, while writers of the show's sketches included Reiner, Mel Brooks, and Neil Simon. He then started another variety show called Caesar's Hour (1954-57) with a team of writers and performers that included at times Howard Morris, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Bea Arthur, Nanette Fabray, Mel Brooks, and Larry Gelbart. He was nominated for 10 Emmys in his career, winning 2, was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985, and made appearances in several movies and tv shows in the 70's and 80's, including Grease and the Mel Brooks films Silent Movie, History of the World, Part 1, and Airport 1975.

Here's the "Birthday Sketch" from Your Show of Shows, a series that was essentially the birth of the variety/sketch show on television, and served as the inspiration for Carl Reiner's The Dick Van Dyke Show:

RECAP: Justified 5x06 "Kill the Messenger"

Justified continues to weave an incredibly complicated web of interweaving plot threads this season, as we open up with a ponderous scene of Art sitting alone in bar, seemingly depressed after what Raylan confessed to him last week. When Raylan pulls up outside in the rain, he hesitates before walking in to face his boss. Turns out he was right to be cautious, as when Art sees him he stands up and decks him one across the face, knocking him down in the process. He then shakes his head in disappointment as he charges out of the bar. Raylan looks surprised but resigned to the reaction as he gets up and places his trademark cowboy hat back firmly on his head.

When we get back from the credits we're at the Kentucky State women's prison, where Ava is being led into her cell and put in the grey uniform (it resembles a scene from Orange is the New Black actually). Boyd meanwhile is sitting in his car, wiping away tears before he heads into the place of his old white supremacist pal Gunnar, who we haven't seen since the first season. They catch up on old times as Gunnar expresses slight concern about Boyd working with black customers in his business, but Boyd brushes that off and asks him for the favor he's there for. He wants to pay Gunnar's sister Gretchen, who's currently in the state prison, to look after Ava (who he notes as his wife) while she's in there. He seems to accept the offer nicely enough, but as we'll see later, it's a bit misleading.

Alison is walking up to a fancy house where she encounters Danny Crowe's vicious dog, whom he holds back as Darryl comes into view, inviting Alison into the house. She's there to check on Kendall and Wendy, who have now moved in and are putting away groceries as Alison wonders why they didn't go back to Miami. Wendy turns on the charm, casually mentioning her knowledge of Alison and Raylan's relationship while she shows off the rental agreement for the home. Alison leaves the house nervously as she walks past the chomping-at-the-bit dog, while Danny himself barks at her nastily (I'm really starting to hate him, by the way). As she's driving home a truck seems to be following her and starts ramming her tailgate, running her off the road into the woods. She looks back after the crash to see Danny laughing at her as he drives off (how stupid is he, anyway?)

At the marshal's office, the atmosphere is pretty frosty in a meeting as Tim wonders whether Raylan's black eye and Art's swollen fist have anything to do with each other. Art ignores the comments and Raylan volunteers to do some money counting desk work, which Art gruffly accepts. Rachel volunteers to go with him but the two of them run into Alison in the hallway, whose own beaten face grabs Raylan's attention. At Audrey's, Darryl is wondering what happened to the MIA Baptiste, and Kendall nearly gives away the game with his shifty and suspicious eyes. Danny quickly comes up with a story of Baptiste talking shit about Darryl behind his back and deciding on his own to go back to Florida. I don't know why Darryl buys this, as the two are so obviously lying it's comical, but he seems to accept it. As Rachel and Raylan get in the elevator, Rachel deduces that Raylan's going after Danny Crowe now and jumps at the chance to go with him.

Meanwhile, Dewey is trying to sell his shot up pool for $800, but the guy who's buying it notices how trashed it is and offers him $20 for the whole thing. Dewey is offended and chases the guy off, telling him the pool was his dream and he's not giving it up. Danny then comes out carrying an unconscious bar customer while Dewey wonders if his relatives would really leave if they could get that money back from Boyd. When Danny confirms they would, Dewey comes up with the ridiculously stupid idea to hold a gun to Boyd's head and make him surrender. Yeah, that's happening. Ava is now brought out to meet her lawyer, who guarantees her they're doing everything they can to find that guard but he's taken off and the cameras were turned off at the time of the assault. He then gives her a message from Boyd, who's promised her protection on the inside, as poor Ava continues to suffer her unfortunate circumstances. I'm starting to wonder if she's being made to pay for Boyd's sins here, and will dump him when (or if) she finally gets out of this.

The two dumb D's, Danny and Dewey, make their way into Boyd's bar to find Karl sweeping up, who simply dares them to make a move on him. He's not giving up Boyd for anything and even when Dewey pulls a gun on him, puts up a pretty good fight against both doofuses, before Danny ultimately knocks him out. Dewey of course, doesn't know what to do now, but Danny says Plan B is to ransom Karl for the money. Brilliant! Seriously, these two guys are so mentally challenged it boggles the mind. The adult criminals meanwhile, Boyd and Duffy, are now meeting with Picker, who's setting up the connection with the Mexican border gang in what looks like a hotel room. The associate they meet is a Mr. Yoon, who's played by James Kyson and may look familiar to fans of Heroes. Boyd and Duffy are concerned about paying upfront given their recent experiences, and Yoon is willing to go along with it, since his employers aren't ones to be taken in. 

Ava's finally taken out of solitary and sent into the crowded prisoner's quarters, where she's given the top of a bunk bed and the woman on the bottom is named Nikki, who tells her to keep to herself. Back at the Crowe's, Wendy is pissed and also thinks the idiot D's plan to kidnap Karl was a bad idea, but then the marshals pull up and she goes outside to handle it. Raylan is upset and wants to bust into the house (which belongs to the hardware store owner Mike- I was wondering whose house it was) to find Danny, but Wendy stops him going in, saying they need a warrant. Raylan just about makes it in anyway, where Danny is waiting behind the door with a knife, but Wendy diverts them to the hardware store at the last minute, where they can find Mike.

Ava heads into the prison yard now and comes face to face with the aggressive inmates, who bat at her while she sides up to a friendlier one named Penny, who tells her her best bet is to keep to herself. Ava doesn't think that's her decision as a group of black female prisoners come up to her. They seem to like the fact that she attacked a guard though, so Ava doesn't deny it, but the group walks off when confronted by another one, which happens to include Gretchen. Ava is at first relieved, but Gretchen turns out to lead the white supremacist crowd, and jumps Ava anyway as payback for Boyd being a "race traitor." Ava screams as she's held down while her hair's cut.

Boyd and Jimmy come back to find the bar a mess, when Boyd gets the call from the lawyer that Ava's been attacked. He's extremely upset by this, especially when told that it was Gretchen who did it, and he's been betrayed by Gunnar. He sends Jimmy over to presumably get rid of him. At the hardware store, Rachel and Raylan find Kendall behind the counter and Darryl messing around with a chainsaw, as he leads them to old man Mike in the back room, who's been pressured into letting them move into his house. Raylan tells him to order them out and Darryl objects, but Mike lets it drop that they've taken his hunting cabin too. Jimmy returns to Boyd to tell him that Gunnar's got a group of skinheads with him now, waiting for Boyd's retaliation and that they're outnumbered. Boyd hesitates, trying to figure out what to do next, and then Jimmy tries to call Karl, whose phone Dewey answers. Unfortunately, Dewey has the worst possible reception and all the threats he tries to issue go unheard by Boyd and Jimmy, who don't even realize it's him. 

The marshals pull up to the hunting cabin and Dewey takes off when he sees them, as Danny has Karl inside, tied to a chair as he's beating him up. Raylan and Rachel bust in when he answers the door and Rachel gets to be the one who clocks him as Raylan agains threatens to shoot the damn dog, who tries to attack when Danny gives the order. Karl twists the situation though, saying he's there of his own free will, as he and Danny are engaging in mutual S&M, and maybe if they just let him go the whole thing gets put behind them. Danny's for it, even though he realizes this is exactly what Karl wants so he can get back to Boyd, but there seems to be no choice. Back at Audrey's, Wendy is insisting they hightail it out of the state, much to Dewey's delight, as the marshals have won, but Darryl still doesn't want to leave. Danny suddenly shows up out of nowhere, telling them what happened, and Darryl is mad that he let the guy go after screwing everything up, and of course, right then Boyd, Jimmy and Karl burst in with guns pointing. This time though, Boyd has a new proposition for the Crowes, offering them a chance to make the money they want.

Boyd walks into the skinheads' place, with Gunnar laughing about his deception of him, but he's got his new friends the Crowes behind him, who burst in to hold them up while Darryl beats  Gunnar to a pulp. Boyd holds a gun up to his head, threatening him to call his sister back and let her know if a single thing more happens to Ava, he'll be the one who suffers for it. Boyd then skulks out, ordering his guys to take back his money. Ava's awake at night now and asks her bunkmate Nikki for her razor, offering her commissary for a month. Nikki gives it up, but instead of going after Gretchen, Ava cuts her hair off in the bathroom. Boyd is on the phone with Dunham now, who's clearly talking under pressure, but Boyd is wanting to make sure everything's set for their Mexican heroin smuggling operation. To his credit, Dunham manages to express in code that the operation will go as smoothly as the last time they worked together, and as Boyd hangs up he realizes Dunham's been compromised, since the last time they worked together Boyd robbed him. Things just can't go right for Boyd this week can it?

In the car on the way back, Rachel asks Raylan if he's upset he didn't get to kick Danny's ass, but Raylan says it was nice to watch her do it instead. He also calls her out for going with him to keep him in line, so she can report back to Art, but Rachel takes offense at this, saying she went along in case he wanted to talk about what happened between them. Raylan apologizes, telling her he trusts her with his life but he can't tell her what went down. Rachel sighs as she realizes that it's because it would compromise the whole office if he did. Raylan's now with Alison, getting drunk as she wonders what kind of a guy he really is, and surmises that he may be a hero who likes to avenge his lady's honor and save people from burning buildings, but he's often the one who starts the fire. Raylan doesn't seem to disagree. 

In the final scene of the episode, Wendy and Darryl are happily counting their money when Boyd storms into their abode, offering up another job. Boyd sends Wendy out of the room so she can keep up her pretense of not "knowing" what's going on with the family, as Darryl wonders if this next thing will be as fun as beating up skinheads. Boyd says maybe, as it depends on how fun it will be to help him kill his cousin Johnny. Ha! I was wondering how long it'd take for him to reach that conclusion about Johnny. We'll find out in two weeks if Boyd can concoct a plan where everything goes right for once. He was awfully close last week if not for that horrid little guard- can't wait to see how that one shakes out. See you on back on the 25th everyone!