Empty Box

Hello stranger,





so, the winter TV season is coming to a close and I'd like to discuss a few of the under-appreciated programs of the past season.



First off, I'd like to congratulate ABC on promising to bring back Pushing Daisies, the best new show of the season. Each frame is so beautifully and meticulously shot that it makes me hungry... for pie. And the narrator has the perfect voice as it brings back my pleasant memories of nostalgia. I remember nostalgia, it was awesome, wasn't it? Then, there is the totally ludicrous plotline about a guy who can bring back the dead for one minute by touching them and return them to eternal slumber by touching them a second time. If he does not touch the zombified corpse a second time within the one minute allotted, something else (seemingly of equal weight) dies in its place and he still can't touch the dead-alive thing lest it dies anyway. And then of course, he becomes a pie maker and works on the side with an opportunistic, yet fascinating private detective solving homicides. But, yes, you guessed it, Pushing Daisies is a romantic comedy. Throw in a few musical numbers and orchestrated dance sequences; its pretty much a full-fledged romance. Ned, the heroic introverted socially stunted hero has pined over a girl named Chuck his whole life, and now that he is reunited with her remains unable to touch her because of the rules described above; and thus they slowly develop a loving relationship that is forced to compensate for a lack of physical intimacy (and several dark secrets, well, some dark secrets and some not so dark secrets, but most of them secretive). Then, of course there is the uber-competitive diminutive singing dancing, terminator named Olive, who works in Ned's pie shop, oblivious to his "ability" and madly and hopelessly in love with the piemaker. It has already vaulted to my favorite shows and its a heart-warming experience that will make you laugh and make you swoon (not me though... I don't swoon, but you... you will swoon.)



From a girl named Chuck to a show named Chuck about a guy named Chuck... Bartowski, Chuck Bartowski. The plot of the show is a normal very smart guy who gets an email, which makes him privy to nationally-protected intelligence information, unwittingly forcing the "everyman" to become a spy hero. Foremost, this is a show about a ridiculously hot girl, Sarah Walker (whose availability makes me less sad about Jessica Alba's pregnancy anouncement. But seriously picture Naomi Watts, only somehow even hotter... somehow much hotter, prancing around in sexy spy garb and fantasy role playing faire.) Of course, there are the two doctors (to contrast his saving the world with their saving individual lives,) Chuck's sister who is solid and her boyfriend, Captain Awesome (because of his repeated use of the word "awesome" and his apparent flawlessness, but which is also an excellent nickname that I have incorporated into my vernacular.) There is a male, best-friend soul-mate, which was the weak link of the show and has become tolerable over time. There is the illustrious Adam Baldwin whose nuanced gruff performance is a not-so-subtle reminder of the greatness that was Jayne Cobb and Firefly/Serenity. And then, there is Chuck himself, who is a veritable puppy dog, whose sad sack performance is perfect for the role and leaves you constantly rooting for him to overcome whatever superspy mission he's on and to get the girl described at lust above (I meant at length above, but I didn't say it). But, like that puppy dog, whenever Sarah shows less interest in him, he poops in her shoe and makes me (and I guess her) angry with him.



Speaking of anger, how about the devil in Reaper (a show that would have Goethe spinning in his grave, and laughing at Sock, the best new character of the season.) The devil pulls off a constantly eerie performance where you cannot really tell where he stands and whether he is trying to help the embattled, over his head, demon-catcher Sam (who my law school roommate pointed out is a lot like Chuck). Sam, the main character, "everyman", is a little too frustrating and unhappy as a lead, but pulls it off just well enough to make his boldness in catching demons and in his timidity in his personal life believable and sympathetic. Oh, by the way, Sam's parents sold his soul to the devil before he was born to save a parent's life, and the devil is collecting by making Sam, Hell's bountyhunter, collecting escaped evil souls. And to collect the souls, Sam has two friends by his side (and an endless supply of Home Depot equipment), one good character, and one great character. Disgusting, shallow, fat, pathetic, loud, and obnoxious, but still witty and still occasionally moved by sentiment, Sock is funny. His love/hate relationship with the devil, who he has not met... yet and his flirtation with the 50 year old DMV employee, Gladys has me in stitches. But, his main strength is his overconfident demeanor as he leads the scraggly unimpressive bunch from one ridiculous premise to another: from catching demons with a vacuum cleaner to breaking into the District Attorney's office to acquire otherwise attainable information to hitting on girls that he has no chance with (including his ex-girlfriend who works at the D.A.'s office.) Sock singlehandedly elevates the show from good, (good dialogue, moderately funny premise, plausible but tame love interests, often silly individual episode storylines, etc.) to very good.



From the Devil and Daniel Webster to some good clean evil fun in Dexter. I know its not a new show, but its my first year with the blog and I didn't have Showtime last year, so I watched all the episodes in the last few months, so its new to me... Besides, my blog, my rules, you don't like it, get your own. Dexter is awesome. Dexter is Captain Awesome. Aside from accurately portraying Miami as ridiculously hot, and having interesting characters like a spunky sister, the Ice Truck killer, and Angel, the show is filled with bits of comedy and slabs of heart. The show is about a sadistic serial killer (who analyzes blood spatters and patterns with the Miami P.D.) who was pushed by his adoptive father to try to use his evil urges for good causes. Dexter repeatedly tells himself (through internal narrative) that he has no feelings, but the show, in every episode, takes great pains to demonstrate that he does have feelings: not only a lust for killing, but also slices of caring for his girlfriend and her two children, and chunks of warmth for his sister and his "friends," as well as interspliced desires for self-preservation and self-sacrifice. And his father, Harry, whose code he lives by, leaves you with a lot of questions about whether Dexter's killerocity was totally inevitable or possibly evitable and learned and honed. But, Dexter, himself leaves, at least this viewer, in a constant state of self-doubt and inner turmoil as I struggle to figure out how or why I have so much in common with this monster; my best guess is that he is so intricately woven in that his human parts are commonplace and his monster parts are so understandable (and it is presumably written by non-serial killers for non-serial killers). To be clear, I have never killed anyone (as of the date of this posting), nor do I have any desire to kill anyone (as of the date of this posting,) but I know what Dexter means when he says he doesn't feel anything or really when he deludes himself into believing that, because I do that too. We both also like to drive and eat. So, I dare you to watch the show and find out how much you have in common with a brutal serial killer. Sometime, I might have to tell you about my theory on the lack of feeling versus the lack of passion, or maybe I don't have to do that. Truth to tell, you don't deserve it.



Are any of these shows like Lost or 24 or the Office or Arrested Development or Seinfeld; are they destined for prolonged excellence? Its too soon to tell, but somehow I doubt that Dexter is the next Seinfeld.



So, the writers struck (striked? strook?) and we are left with less TV, which may not be such a bad thing. I can see more movies and have a chance to get more of a social life. I can take that cruise I've always been joking about. I can go skydiving or learn to samba or to make a creme brulee with only the crackable tops. But, I'm not going to do any of these things because re-runs are on, and I can't miss those. Watching those shows again, reminds me of the nostalgia I used to have... (wait, I talked about that already?). Right, at some point, I should talk about the top 5 shows I have listed above or maybe some other quality shows and characters like Sylar from Heroes or Barney from How I Met Your Mother or Saracen from Friday Night Lights or Dr. G. House from House, or Lex Luthor from Smallville, or the Turk-J.D. relationship from Scrubs or... man, I watch way too much TV.



I have to return some videotapes,

Mark "PB" Ellis