I guess I jumped the gun on that teaser the other day. Funnily enough, the trailer doesn't even look much like a parody of a Lifetime movie- it could pass for the real thing. Is it me or are Ferrell and Wiig playing it pretty straight here? If it's just the tawdriness of the subject matter, this could well be an average Lifetime movie with two comedians in it. I'm still there for it though. It airs June 20th.
Aden Young Returns in Trailer for 'Rectify' Season 3
Yay! My favorite show on TV, the one I'm pretty sure I'm the only person watching, comes back July 9th for Season 3, and I can't wait. I've heard conflicting rumors about whether or not this may be the last season, but I do know that the order was reduced from ten episodes to six, which doesn't bode well. Still, I'm excited. You should try catching up with the first two seasons on Netflix if you can. It's soooo good. When it comes to abstract surrealism on television, I actually prefer this to Hannibal. The characters are more emotionally affecting.
Teaser for Will Ferrell/Kristen Wiig Lifetime Movie 'A Deadly Adoption'
Everybody thought it was some kind of April Fools joke when the rumors were flying that Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig had starred in a Lifetime movie, but lo and behold, the teaser for it is here, and it looks like it could be hilarious. My biggest shame is that I can sometimes be sucked into a regular Lifetime movie, as nutty and awful as they always are, so I'm so there for the parody (although Lifetime movies are pretty much parodies of themselves anyway). A Deadly Adoption airs on Saturday, June 20th.
REVIEW: "iZombie" Season 1
Boy is it nice to have Rob Thomas dialogue back on TV. If that was the best thing about his new show iZombie, it would be enough to keep me watching it, but luckily the whole premise and the casting is good enough to launch what was a very entertaining first season of a show I could easily see going on for quite a while. The 2014-15 season turned out to be quite the banner year for the CW, with the critical and commercial successes of Jane the Virgin, The Flash and now iZombie leading the way to a new, more critically lauded era for the network, which seems to finally be finding itself.
iZombie is set in Seattle, Washington (represent!), and loosely based on a DC comic book that was just begging to be made into a television show. Created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, it was about a girl who got turned into a zombie and must survive on the brains of homicide victims, which give her visions of the victims' memories, which she then uses to solve their murders. Perfect, right? It almost could have been a weekly series in the 1960's, when weird fantasy shows were all the rage. Olivia Moore is the newly minted zombie here, played to a tee by Rose McIver, who gets scratched at an out of control boat party and wakes up in her new form, hungry for brains and desperate to get them. Luckily, when she was alive she was a doctor, and so now she uses her position to get a job at the local morgue with every day access to the brains she needs to survive.
At the morgue, each new brain gives her those crucial visions, but also the victims' personality traits, which give McIver the chance to stretch her flair for comedy as she inhabits an alcoholic, a cheerleader, a gamer (hilarious), or a military sniper, while she teams up with Detective Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin), to solve the case of the week. I said this was perfect material for a weekly procedural, and to be honest, that might be my one complaint, as seeing Liv take on the random personalities is often the best part of these cases, many of which are kind of forgettable. Veronica Mars, Thomas' last series, had many cases of the week, but the fact that they involved the 1% teenagers of Neptune and were not always murders, put a necessary spin on it that felt fresh. Here it veers pretty close to cop procedural territory.
But not to worry- the cast sells all of it, from McIver's confident pluck and wit (which remind me eerily of Kristen Bell, right down to her narration and inflection- could that be why she was cast?), to Goodwin as the bemused Clive (who thinks she gets visions because she's a psychic), and Ravi (Rahul Kohli), her boss at the morgue, who immediately figures out she's a zombie and spends his time trading quips and trying to find a cure for her condition. You wouldn't think being a zombie and dealing in murder could be so entertaining and amusing, but Rob Thomas and longtime co-writer Diane Ruggiero-Wright find the perfect tone for this world that makes every moment enjoyable, yet emotional in the character's plights. You feel for Liv, as she keeps her identity as a crime fighting zombie secret (she's kind of doing the female superhero thing), while her former friends and family think she's flipped and gone either goth or crazed (the deathly white skin and hair, plus the new cravings for hot sauce being odd tip-offs).
And even though most of this first season is the case of the week stuff, there's a serialized arc that begins to take shape, involving fellow bad zombie (and the one who turned Liv) played by David Anders (always Sark of Alias to me), perfectly cast as the devilishly villainous Blaine, who procures his brains through much more murderous means, and ends up turning other Seattle-ites into zombies for the benefit of his small brain business. Anders has a way with the dialogue too of course, that makes him an especially entertaining bad guy, one I'm glad they figured out a way to keep on for next season, even if I think they made him a little too evil too quickly. It's hard to bring someone back from killing homeless teens for their brains, even if he's played by the charismatic Anders (but hey, they did it all the time with the vampires on Buffy- monsters be monsters and all). The one other quibble I had with this season, which for the most part was a lot of fun, was Robert Buckley as Major, Liv's ex-fiance and supposed true love- he's not terrible, but he's unfortunately saddled with the role, usually reserved for the female love interest on these kinds of genre shows, of being kept in the dark about everything that's going on, and his resulting actions due to this situation make his level of stupidity a little too high to sustain itself. Thomas seems to want to figure out how to make his "decent guy" characters compelling, and he hired a better actor here than he did with Teddy Dunn's Duncan , my least favorite Veronica Mars character ever, but there's still nothing inherently interesting about Major that the show couldn't live without, to be honest.
Despite some growing pains, I loved where the season ended up and I'm looking forward to Season 2 come this fall, hopefully with the full 22-episode order. Having the humor and the fast, snappy dialogue of Thomas and Ruggiero on TV again is such a treat it makes me want to jump up and down in glee just hearing it. It's not quite as stellar as that first season of Veronica Mars (then again, few things are), but this could be its sister show in so many ways that I'm there in a heartbeat for whatever they've cooked up next. Welcome back, guys.
Grade: B+
Behind the Scenes of 'Orange is the New Black' Season 3
With the third season dropping tonight at midnight on Netflix, here's a featurette on the new episodes, which look like they're going to be giving us a lot more Piper and Alex, since Piper made the call that got her thrown back in prison with her. I'm not sure exactly why Laura Prepon bowed out of the second season in the first place, only to apparently change her mind and jump back on board, but she was always good on the show, so I'm not complaining.
'Masters of Sex' Teases Threeway Marriage
Another promo for the new Masters of Sex season shows us the new "normal" for Bill, Libby and Virginia, while Masters and Johnson get ready to become national celebrities in 1966. Can't wait. July 12th is the premiere of Season 3.
Stephen Colbert Shaves His Beard for 'The Late Show'
It's nice to see Stephen back. In his first Late Show promo, he makes an appearance to shave off his Kris Kringle-esque beard (note to the guys- if your beard's coming in all white, it's probably never a good look). I'm on the lookout to see if his new comic persona sans the Colbert 'character' is actually going to be all that different from what we Colbert fans already know. I'm starting to suspect it won't be- Stephen did plenty of non-political silliness on the Report all the time, and this little vid fits right in with all of that already. I guess what's going to be new is his take on politics in general, especially with the next election coming up. Will he take that typical, politically neutral stance the other late night guys all line up behind? That'd be a shame, since we know he can do better- here's hoping he's brave enough.
TCA Noms Embrace New Shows 'Empire,' 'Transparent'
So here's the second and final group of pre-Emmy nominations wannabe precursor awards, but again, don't expect the Television Critics Association, just like the Critics Choice, to have any impact on those nominees whatsoever. Still, they made some interesting choices here. Funnily enough, Silicon Valley was snubbed across the board after winning at the Critics Choice just the other day (and still with The Big Bang Theory instead? Really?). And for the record, "Program of the Year" is kind of like, show with the most cultural impact that season, so expect that to be Empire this year for sure.
Program of the Year
"The Americans" (FX)
"Empire" (Fox)
"Game of Thrones" (HBO)
"Mad Men" (AMC)
"Transparent" (Amazon)
Outstanding Achievement in Drama
"The Americans" (FX)
"Empire" (Fox)
"Game of Thrones" (HBO)
"Justified" (FX)
"Mad Men" (AMC)
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy
"The Big Bang Theory" (CBS)
"Inside Amy Schumer" (Comedy Central)
"Jane the Virgin" (The CW)
"Transparent" (Amazon)
"Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (Netflix)
Outstanding New Program
"Better Call Saul" (AMC)
"Empire" (Fox)
"The Flash" (The CW)
"Jane the Virgin" (The CW)
"Transparent" (Amazon)
Individual Achievement in Drama
Viola Davis, "How to Get Away With Murder" (ABC)
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men" (AMC)
Taraji P. Henson, "Empire" (Fox)
Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul" (AMC)
Matthew Rhys, "The Americans" (FX)
Individual Achievement in Comedy
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep" (HBO)
Gina Rodriguez, "Jane the Virgin" (The CW)
Amy Schumer, "Inside Amy Schumer" (Comedy Central)
Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent" (Amazon)
Constance Wu, "Fresh Off the Boat" (ABC)
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials
"Bessie" (HBO)
"The Honorable Woman" (Sundance TV)
"The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" (HBO)
"Olive Kitteridge" (HBO)
"Wolf Hall" (PBS)
Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming
"The Amazing Race" (CBS)
"The Chair" (Starz)
"Dancing With the Stars" (ABC)
"RuPaul's Drag Race" (Logo)
"Shark Tank" (ABC)
Outstanding Achievement in News and Information
"CBS Sunday Morning" (CBS)
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central)
"Frontline" (PBS)
"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" (HBO)
"60 Minutes" (CBS)
Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming
"Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" (PBS)
"The Fosters" (ABC Family)
"The Legend of Korra" (Nickelodeon)
"Sesame Street" (PBS)
"Switched at Birth" (ABC Family)
Heritage Award
"Friends" (NBC)
"Late Show/Late Night with David Letterman" (CBS/NBC)
"The Shield" (FX)
"Star Trek" (NBC)
"Twin Peaks" (ABC)
Looks like I really need to catch up with Jane the Virgin, huh? It was actually quite a year for the CW overall, as it landed four nominations here, even The Flash for best new program, beating the wrap that befalls all superhero shows of not being taken seriously by critics/awards bodies. I also like how comedy performer is Jeffrey Tambor versus four actresses. That's right ladies, bring the heat!
Sexual Revolution Takes Off in New 'Masters of Sex' Teaser
The third season of Showtime's Masters of Sex premieres July 12th, and this season will jump forward in time to the publication of Masters and Johnson's book in 1965, right as the sexual revolution was taking off. We also get a tease of the three way marriage Bill, Virginia and Libby were engaged in around that time here. The second season was fairly uneven last year, with some really good episodes paired with some material that was wildly hit and miss, but that may have been due to the show having to cover some of the gap years in the Masters and Johnson autobiography. This one should be back on track, as the duo are just about to become national celebrities with the publication of their research.
REVIEW: "Louie" Season 5
I wasn't the biggest fan of last year's ambitious Louie season, and even though I will always give someone credit for attempting something different, there's also a lot to be said for doing what you do best and, you know...trying to be funny. Louis CK is hilarious, and inherently so- I missed the laughs of some of his earlier season episodes, and there were times last year when I seriously wondered if all the elite critical praise had gone to his head and he was so determined to create "art" that he forgot or maybe just didn't want to be funny anymore at all.
Well, after this newest season I have to consider whether he himself took a step back and thought that same thing, because these eight episodes were some of the simplest, cleanest, funniest episodes of the entire series, and for my taste, this was a season of perfection and Louis CK at his absolute best. It was a shortened season, but for this brief run he returned to the roots of the series. Each episode includes the typical Louie vignettes and occasional flights of fancy and moments of weirdness, but something huge was included here that was mostly missing last year, and those were the laughs. That's right, this season was hilarious, and I laughed out loud multiple times during every episode. There was no overarching theme this time, it was simply Louie trying to be funny as well as poignant, the way the very best of the first and second season episodes accomplished so effortlessly.
With that said, there's no real way to describe the season, except maybe to list some of the highlights. With this year especially, you remember moments over the course of the run, even compared to overall episodes- there's an all time classic cold open here where Louie and his daughters have race home from the grocery store because Louie knows he isn't going to make it into a public restroom (yeah, that's right, for number two). There's also another great moment with the kids when Louie has to explain how and why he got beat up on the street by a five foot tall blonde girl, and then Lily's slumber party where Louie tries to stay out of the girls' way as he attempts to have phone sex with off/on love Pamela. This was really the girls time to shine this year as CK has kept the same actresses in the roles since the start of the series (two of the few recurring characters on the show) and now it's obvious how much they've begun to age as they hit adolescence and they continue to get more screen time. Pamela Adlon of course is back, as she and Louie attempt a fairly disastrous sting as a couple before going back to being friends, but as always she gets her own moments to kick ass and steal every single scene she's in (there are those who can't stand her, but she is my absolute hero in her awesomeness), and then there's the alway outstanding guest stars booked for this season. Particularly Michael Rapaport, stands out in the third episode as an old cop friend Louie can't stand who insists on taking him out, and I'm almost positive that his role here will land him at least an Emmy nomination, if not a win outright (which makes up for his less than impressive turn on Justified last year).
Finally, Louie capped off the season with a two parter of him traveling through some of the red states for a tour which is not received well, and coming across a lowbrow comedian who lives to tell fart jokes, which Louie pretends to hate, only to eventually break down in tears and admit he loves being funny more than anything else and that pretending comedy is art is where things get messed up in the first place. Um, if that's not an endorsement of my own view of this series, whose artsy turns I've sometimes loved, other times not, and Louie's own contradictory feelings about the comedy he creates, than I don't know what is. As is usually the case, a season of Louie defies description for the the most part- I can only tell you that I loved every episode of this run and that it contained some of my all time favorite Louie moments. A stellar effort, and I remain a devoted fan. What else is there to say?
Grade: A
