2008 was a little rough for the tube. I’m hoping for good things in 2009 — the return of many favorites, and maybe even some new shows to get behind!
My Favorite Thing of the Year, and Also The Only Good New Thing
The writers’ strike was a depressing time for everyone: no work for writers, no TV for us. And it had long-term repercussions, including the current dearth of high-quality new programming. But the writers’ strike did bring us one amazing thing: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. With Neil Patrick Harris as a geeky singing evil-do-er, Nathan Fillion as a smarmy strongman, Felicia Day charming us all, and the funniest script of the year, Joss Whedon & Family have made the internet work the way it’s supposed to.
Let’s do the math: The entire musical (42 minutes, the length of your average one-hour TV show) is available online for free. I watch it repeatedly (free for me, indeterminate ad revenue for them). I buy it on iTunes to carry around on my iPhone ($5.99). I (maybe someday) buy the soundtrack on iTunes ($9.99). I get the DVD — featuring a WHOLE NEW musical commentary track, Commentary! The Musical — for Christmas ($14.99). One day I hope to buy Commentary! The Musical on iTunes, in which case they’ll get another $9.99 out of me. Basically, they hooked me with their awesome free entertainment, and subsequently I will buy whatever they want me to. Creatively and business-wise, excellent job all-around.
Also thank you for NPH’s delivery of the line “Emails!” which is how I say that word now.
Best Episode That Everyone Else Likes, Too
There’s not a lot of “event” TV any more; we’re all off in our little corners, watching TV on our laptops and twittering about facebook videos or something. So it was a rare feeling, watching Lost’s “The Constant,” and knowing in your gut that lots of other people saw it and liked it all at the same time. (You can watch it via ABC’s extremely annoying propriety video player here.) I like Lost episodes that play with the form (I admit to being a fan of the Nikki and Paolo episode), and this one played it up while finding an emotionally resonant story that built tension in the best possible way. It’s the only time this year that I was literally on the edge of my seat.
Best TV Show to Help You Deal With Your Crazy Family
The BBC America import Gavin and Stacey follows the courtship and marriage of geographically diverse Gavin and Stacey, but it’s really about their bizarre collection of relatives and friends. There’s the sincere to the point of madness Uncle Brin, the sensitive and emotional best friend Smithy, the panicked mother Pam, the dry and shock-proof best friend Nessa — this is a group of people that should not get along. They have absolutely nothing in common. And yet, for the sake of Gav and Stace, they willingly place themselves in the same room over and over again. And they end up having a pretty good time.
Diamond in the Rough Award
I’ve already talked a lot about how under-appreciated Greek is, but it’s worth saying again. This year, it was a show that I never felt hesitant about switching on — it was always going to be a treat. I don’t know if their writers aren’t in the union (it is on ABC Family, after all) or if it’s a quirk of scheduling, but they managed to put out great shows in even this year’s darkest strike-dimmed months. Yes, it is an hour-long dramedy about the running of fraternities and sororities at a fake college. But it’s also surprisingly funny and sweet. This is a show about young people that doesn’t take itself too seriously (cough-GOSSIP GIRL!-cough) and so manages to make us actually care about what happens to the characters.
Runner up: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I don’t think we need to apologize for this show. But I’ll do it anyway: sure, it’s sometimes a little on the nose, and I wish there weren’t such a steady stream of time-travelers (otherwise why not just overwhelm us with them?), but overall it’s weird and dramatic and I like it. So there.
The Wish-for-More-Wishes Award: Five Amazing Performances
And five words to sum them up.
Neil Patrick Harris in How I Met Your Mother: Scheming sleaze hides sensitive heart.
Kristin Chenowith in Pushing Daisies: Itty Bitty has big voice.
Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock: Every line delivery absolutely perfect.
Stephen Colbert in The Colbert Report: Crazy person bends truth, reality.
Jennifer Carpenter in Dexter: Duped foul-mouth best sister ever.
Current TV commissioned a video about my Truth @ 15 Frames Per Second web series and I am happy to announce that it will premiere tomorrow on Tuesday December 16, 2008 at 11pm on the Brand Spanking New Show. I know you’ve never heard of it. It’s a cable channel Al Gore co-founded in order to democratize television or something. I’ve watched it a bit, and they have some really great stuff. It’s like an all-year short documentary film festival. If you have cable or sattelite TV you probably get it. My beloved new provider DirecTV has it on 366. Time Warner Cable is 103 in NYC and on various other channels in other cities. Dish is 196. Comcast is 107 in most cities. AT&T U-Verse is 189. Visit their website if you can’t find it on your local provider.
If you prefer to watch television on the Internet, you can watch the video here instead.
Well, since NBC refuses to come up with more original programming, we’re going to have to look elsewhere — particularly on cable. And while we’re waiting for the upcoming seasons of Battlestar and Damages, the Internet can always provide us with something worth watching.
Take this show: Horrible People. It’s a soap opera spoof with creepy romantic and familial relations (with a mother who is a basically a more profane version of Lucille Bluth). It’s chock full of alternative comedy superstars (Kristen Schaal) and alumni of The State (Joe Lo Truglio).
I’ve watched the first few episodes and it’s somewhat funny and pretty entertaining — I don’t want to build it up as incredible (if you want something more inspired, check out the new VGL Gay Boys episode). But the holidays are coming and the office is going to be empty, so maybe you can shut the door and watch all of these in a row.
Also, the star, Mather Zickel, is kind of dreamy if you get past the turtleneck and the hair product.
John linked to this YouTube series a while ago, but I really can’t imagine it attracted the appropriate amount of attention it deserves.
Basically, this is an internet-based television show (actually, more like sketch comedy) called the VGL Gay Boys, featuring the “straight” (har, har) man Jefferey and his wacky sidekick Cole. While the YouTube channel is named after Jefferey, the real star of the show is Cole — who unself-consciously and flamboyantly revels in the spotlight.
Here’s the clip we linked to earlier, wherein Cole takes on the role of a bizarre-o Bernadette Peters. Like most of my favorite impressions these days, Cole’s take on Bernadette really bears no resemblance to reality. The more non sequiturs and bizarre affectations the better, I say.
Here’s my second-favorite, which includes Cole as Meryl Streep.
Sure, this isn’t about “real” TV, but why have a blog if you can’t promote your stuff? I had a web-based video series called “Truth @ 15 Frames Per Second” way back in 2006. They were crazy times. YouTube still put everything 4 frames out of sync, and nobody had even heard—let alone forgotten—the name Jessica Rose yet. Some time soon I’ll have a video airing on Current TV (it’s a channel!) about the series and people’s reactions to it. Check your local listings.
Well now everybody has a web series and I’m back with another one. It’s called “Time Travellin’” and it’s about the wacky time travelling adventures of the same two people who are in all my movies. Here’s the first episode. Please tell all your friends. Future episodes will be at my new website Canny Valleys.
I can’t believe Stephen Colbert hasn’t weighed in on this terribly important, patriotic example of awesomeness yet.
Maybe the bear is bothering him.
Related: The New York Times knows what’s up. If Disney is smart they will relaunch The Muppet Show, because the world needs the Muppets more than ever.