Welcome to Part 3 of The 2014 T.O.Y. (Television of the Year) Awards! This is the awards show where I give prizes to shows I actually watch. (Here’s Part 1 and here’s Part 2)
In this week’s section:
- Best Show I Gave Up On
- Best Show I Enjoyed More Than It Merited
And The Nominees For Best Show I Gave Up On Are…
This was once a great show, and still has great moments. Modern Family has succeeded so well because each of the characters represents a stereotype, but has layers beneath that. This season, the luster of past seasons has faded. There were moments of greatness, such as the climax of the Vegas episode. However, these moments were drowned beneath Cameron and Mitchell turning against each other, Gloria, Manny, and Luke becoming caricatures of their original self, the an entire episode turning into a mega-commercial for the Australia tourism bureau.
I want to keep liking this show, but I gave up soon after the Australia episode. I was tired of the wedding drama, I am sure there are moments of greatness and hilarity in the two-parter wedding, especially with Nathan Lane’s Pepper involved, but I can’t bring myself to watch the last four or five episodes.
It may find its footing again next fall, but I hope they don’t win the Emmy. There are shows that have held up better this season.
There is only one reason to watch The Blacklist: James Spader. He is a fascinating anti-hero and manipulator, whose motives are not clear, but clearly not entirely good. The rest of the cast, while good actors, are weak characters. The plots are sometimes interesting, but many times fall into the “FBI Cliche” handbook.
As I watched the first half of the season, I would be just about to give up, when James Spader would give some remarkable, slightly ridiculous speech.
As I entered the second half, however, I reflected on my personal low tolerance for violence and gore. (This is part of why I don’t watch shows like The Walking Dead) The Blacklist already hovered right on the edge of how much I can tolerate, when there was a pair of episodes pushing right past that edge. I had to give up the show.
If you can handle more violence than I can, and you’re a James Spader fan, then I would recommend it.
And the Winner Is…
Modern Family, because if Season 6 can pull it together, I might start watching it again. The Blacklist, however… I just can’t do it.
And The Nominees For Best Show I Enjoyed More Than It Merited…
In other words, this is the section of my guilty pleasures. These may not be great shows, but they are really fun to watch, especially with a group, after a long day at work, or during flu season.
Oh, American Idol. You and I have a troubled relationship. You have brought forward so many good artists, and yet… there are so many hours of Coke, Ford, and Jennifer Lopez commercials in between blips of greatness. And this season… oh, this season… Not even the one thing I watch the show for – the actual singing – was as good as it can be. What I am grateful for? That the performances are posted online the next day, and I can condense 3 HOURS of programming into about 20 minutes while I eat dinner.
With the program cutting out “results” shows next season, and the unknown factor of who the contestants will be, I’ll be giving this show one more season. Maybe.
At least this show brought us this song:
The Amazing Race is insidiously addicting. Like many reality shows, there is clear manipulation of editing and circumstances to develop the heroes and villains of the show, yet it still draws me in.
This All Stars Seasons was a fun ride, the experience and savvy of each teams pushing them on. The final six teams all had the skills to win, and through each twist and turn of this race around the world, the alliances and rivalries, the American’s talking louder to try to get someone to understand English while others use their manners, eliminations came down to small mistakes.
This show is best watched with my sister Natalie. Unfortunately, that is impossible right now, because she is on a LDS mission in Panama. She loves fashion, and gets really passionate about thegood and bad decisions the designers make.
I don’t care so much about the drama and stress. I care more for the fabulous clothes, the ugly clothes, and Tim Gunn. Tim Gunn is amazing.
Similar to other shows, White Collar was better in previous seasons. This season… there was almost too much effort put to divide Neal (Matthew Bomer) from Peter (Tim DeKay). The show works best when these two are able to work together, Neil bringing out the cleverness in Peter, and Peter bringing out the goodness in Neal. The plot this season felt forced and false, and went against much of the character development of the series. When this show is on point, it is slick and fun, and worth the time. When it loses that fun in the face of drama, it drags on.
At least Neal Caffrey has really fine suits.
In short, I enjoy the show, but I am really glad it is ending next season. Also, it’s great to see Matthew Bomer’s career take off. Similar to Sebastian Stand (The Winter Soldier), the man is too good looking and too good of an actor not to have better parts.
Say hello to American Idol’s cooler, younger cousin. So sleek, so smooth, so suave… Or, at least it wants to be, and sometimes even achieves it. While there is less effort made in product placement in the show, there is more time spent with the “coaches” joking and chatting with each other than on the contestants.
As for this year’s two seasons, the contestants were a strong group, and the winners deserving.
From the Fall, here’s Tessane Chin
From the Spring, here’s Josh Kaufman
Yet, the one main problem remains: While The Voice provides a boost for contestants, it has yet to produce a someone with a solid hit song or record like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, or even Adam Lambert and Jordan Sparks.
And The Winner Is…
The main reason this wins is because I hadn’t watched the show in several years, then, one night my mom started watching it, and I couldn’t look away. I got pulled into the twists, the turns, the alliances, the betrayals. I cheered with the Accidental Alliance against Team Brenchel, even if they weren’t always heroes. The, I found I had just watched 4 episodes in a row, and no more were available.
It may not be the best show, but it’s a lot of fun.
__________________________________________________
Stay tuned for next week, and the winner of the Best Overall Show…
- What is the best show you’ve given up on?
- What is the point when you decide to stop watching a series?
- What shows are your guilty pleasures?
- Would you watch if The Voice or American Idol did an ‘all stars’ season?
- Would you watch if The Voice or American Idol did an ‘all stars’ season, with the contestants having to sing while doing cage matches in giant robots?
- Which show should win best overall show?
Side Note 1: Here are the nominations for the Emmys themselves. I have seen few of these shows.
Side Note 2: Now that Revolution has ended (that show could have been so much more than it was), Once Upon A Time is bringing back Giancarlo Esposito (Sydney Glass / The Mirror / The Geni) and bringing in Elizabeth Mitchell as a character related to Frozen.
Side Note 3: Here’s the trailer for Season 8 of Doctor Who!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I might be excited… Really, there’s no better show with spaceships on television)
Side Note 4: If you like random Japanese sci-fi and Doctor Who, then you’ll love this random video:
The L. Palmer Chronicles 
I gave up on Modern Family this year, too.
And I was juuuust about to give up on Parks & Recreation until I saw the season 6 finale.
Oh, the season 6 Parks and Recreation finale, particularly a certain hologram that is amazing, will definitely be discussed in part 4.
Heyyyy nice! You have a lengthy TV post, too! Gossip Girl was my guilty pleasure show for a while. But after Chuck and Blair finally got together I lost interest. That was the main reason I kept watching it for as long as I did!