Monday, September 1, 2014

TV Times

 
The Last Ship could have ended on a less menacing note than it did. I admit that after a ten episode season that I wanted a happier ending than what I got. You already sold me on a second season but you didn't have to leave me with another crisis to worry about.

If I get another to watch another season I will be there with bells on but you kinda cheated me at the same time by giving me nothing at the end of Season One. I wanted something good to happen to the crew. Now with their situation at it's most crappy, I have to wait to see if a second season will even be made to find out what happens to everyone I have gotten to know. The last episode would have been a perfect way to start Season Two without cheating your audience. Under The Dome did that to me last year by punking out at the end.

I KNEW Michael Bay would find some way to give me the 'ol screwgie and this is how he did it. But for 99 % of the time The Last Ship was a fun ride. They owe me just as good a second season but who knows with these fly by night cable companies like TNT.


I am still stinging from that crappy first season of Beneath the Dome. I am sad that people like my Brother Tim over in England will have to suffer through another season of that letdown just because he liked the first season. I am waiting for him to fill me in on what I am missing because I vowed never to watch another single second of that program.


Boardwalk Empire can't come soon enough. I will savor each second of that last season. I will argue with anyone that this production has the greatest collection of character actors who have ever been attached to a television project. This will be praised as the Godfather of HBO when it ends after this season and rightly so. This is gorgeous, complicated storytelling that perfectly captures the times it depicts.


Hell on Wheels is as unpredictable and dangerous as ever. Still filmed in my back yard, it has only become stronger. They grew them balls BIG on the prairies and everyone is willing to kill and die for their little piece of fame, fortune or folly. I am huge admiration for that little Mormon girl that Cullen got married to. She is stronger and has more class than anyone in that town. And what is with all the beat downs of major characters? They must have some great prairie medicine because I have watched many a guy get pounded and still be up and walking around the very next episode.

 
The Strain is developing into the kind of show that I love the most on TV. Introduce a group of interesting characters and put them in constant danger against overwhelming odds. Introduce monsters. Evil, scary, smart and multiplying monsters. Give the good characters a magnificent death, let old battles be concluded against ancient enemies and have our hero win out in the end. That is my formula for a fun story and The Strain is a hell of a lot of fun. So glad to see the Rat Catcher meet the Old Man. It's a great addition to the team. Plus there was a George Buzza cameo and I never miss a George Buzza cameo. (and if you get that reference, then you are REALLY my people).

2 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

George Buzza? Wasn't he the voice of The Beast in the X-Men cartoon?

Kal said...

I will have to look it up. He is a scruffy bearded actor that usually plays bad guys for comic effect in Canadian movies. He was in that crappy Sinbad show a few years ago and a great episode on Puppets Who Kill where he was going to make Cuddles the Comfort Bear into his bitch.