I am reviewing the first season of Bron because I have no intention of watching future seasons. (Though I have heard the second season of the American version of The Bridge is very good so maybe if I do try the American version, I will get that far.) The following review contains spoilers.
Category: TV
Bored to Death (2009)
I can’t really tell you how much I love this show, a playful send up / take down of tired noir / hard boiled detective cliches mixed with a celebration / attack on the writer’s role in contemporary society, specifically, and the role of Brooklyn as cultural epicentre, more broadly. I get that it’s a …
The Fall (2013)
This is a mostly excellent British serial killer drama that manages a lot despite the reveal of the killer as one of the two main characters in the very first episode. The show plunges us into Northern Ireland with a great sense of place and little regard for our knowledge of how these things work …
House of Cards (1990), To Play the King (1993), The Final Cut (1995)
This review contains some mild spoilers.
Treme (2010)
This review of Treme contains some spoilers.
The Sopranos (1999)
The Sopranos has been seen by many many people at this point and so the fact that this review may include some mild spoilers should surprise no one.
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014, Ken Burns)
This is a very detailed and in depth documentary that attempts to link Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt not so much as a political dynasty but as men bent on the same mission.
Jazz (2001, Ken Burns)
Jazz is a noble attempt to be the defining documentary about jazz, “America’s art music” and one of the greatest things to happen in human history, in my humble opinion.
Baseball (1994, 2010 Ken Burns, Lynn Novick)
Burns and co.’s constant mythologizing is a lot more appropriate here than it was in The Civil War, and as such I feel like this effort is the more successful one, despite the greater historical importance of the first series. And to their credit, they only mythologize about certain things. For some examples, the game’s …
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Battlestar Galactica, the reboot, is probably the greatest science fiction TV show of all time. (That obviously depends on what we mean by “science fiction”, as if I included the original Prisoner in that genre, maybe I would be forced to rethink my position. And no, no version of Star Trek has ever particularly impressed …
Breaking Bad (2008)
This review obviously contains spoilers.
The Kids in the Hall Live at Isabel Bader Theatre, Toronto, December 6, 2013
I approached last night with a mixture of over-excitement and trepidation. The Kids in the Hall was the first thing I ever saw that said to me “it’s okay to be weird, in fact you can wear that as a badge.” I was a little young when I first caught glimpses of the show on …
30 Rock (2006)
When Seinfeld ended, I was done with the sit-com. I honestly didn’t see what it could possibly offer me any more. Television was getting smarter – and would get significantly smarter over the next decade – and I just couldn’t handle being told when to laugh or having to suspend my disbelief to laugh at …
Did Boardwalk Empire Jump the Shark at the end of its third season?
Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000)
I get this, I appreciate it intellectually, and I often find it amusing, but I have to say that, as someone who had a love-hate relationship with George on Seinfeld, I have trouble watching parts of this show. My problem is that I don’t like people like this and I have trouble relating to the …
The Shield (2002, Shawn Ryan)
Note: I have only ever watched the first four seasons all the way through, as far as I can remember.
The Daily Show, Conservapedia
A friend of my once mentioned that he didn’t like the Daily Show that much because it was too “left wing.” To call the Daily Show left wing is to buy in to the US bullshit about “right-left.” This supposed distinction (which isn’t much of one at all), makes these terms virtually meaningless except as applies …
TV
In the CD player: Cult by Apocalyptica I think I have to add Twin Peaks to my list of best tv shows ever. I’m addicted to it. I haven’t seen an episode in a few days and it’s driving me crazy. This despite the fact that I know what happens since I’ve seen the prequel, …