smallville

in preparation for the summer gig, i've been watching all of smallville, beginning to end (i'm currently staring at a paused frame from episode 7.14). i was a fan of the show when it started, but hadn't partaken in a while. to my (mild) surprise, the show's is fantastic. they do an incredible job blending genres, and constantly keep the origin story interesting. it has its annoying procedural elements, and often is full of horrible acting, but when its at its best (seasons 2-6) it is a wondefully crafted almost-greek tragedy with multiple parallel, illuminating narratives about heros' journies, father/son relationships, and love. episode 5.12 is one of the best i've ever seen on tv.

another impressive feat worth mentioning is that the show has managed to keep dramatic irony interesting this entire time. i know who's going to live and who's going to die (for the most part), yet i am still gripped at every moment. ...and those damn d.i. jokes still haven't gotten old. now, let's just see if my opinion changes once i get to the disowned seasons, post gough + milar...

school's out for summah!

as the minute hand clicks its way to 3:37, then back to 3:36, and then finally to 3:38 for the final bell of the school year, aggrocrag (the sentient blog) salivates at the idea of being given attention once again. so here's my vow to do so. ...and to bring content of actual significance. so with that, let us begin...

ahhhhhhhh

jesus christ, graduate school--stop killing all my blogs!

of course, all it takes is a new south park season (and maybe some spring break) to bring us back into action.
after the controversy surrounding their potential display of the profit mohammad, i'm shocked south park got away with displaying the american profit mickey without us hearing about it beforehand. notorious for their rapidity in suing anyone who displays a trademark in any sort of way (example: preschools), disney is sure to get a bit annoyed over south park's anti-christian, hitler-meets-napoleon version of their iconic anthropomorph. but maybe the higher-ups at mouse will realize any law suit will just fuel matt n' trey's fire; maybe this will go ignored.
either way--brilliant comeback with very littler cartman is a good sign for things to come. let's see where this goes next.

that malcolm thing, described below, will come eventually--i just need to wait for the cycle to reset.

i've moved on to the shield now (almost done with season 3), and am catching up with dexter (half way through 2). both are very strong. mad men as well.

the new season of degrassi has been fantastic. and flight of the conchords s2 is kicking the living crap out of s1, which is an impressive feat.

east bound and down: weak first three episodes, although you could see something good was brewing. amazing fourth episdoe. david gordon mothaffffffudgin green.

24's new season has been almost as good as the first three, and the last episode was one of the best yet. they've finally taken it back to where it needs to be.

tim and eric have outdone themselves 50-fold this season.

best show you're not watching: deeper throat. showtime porn reality show about remaking the 70s classic.

breaking bad season 2. cued up on my tivo....NOW.

puck you, miss!

ok, okay, oh kay--i've been a bit slow at updating lately. but you try doing this grad school thing. and the other bloggers haven't shown their faces in years. so there will be more coming. including a mini-essay on malcom in the middle. and by "mini-essay" i more mean "missive." but something. not yet, but soon.

for now, let me just tackle californicatin's finalie, which really was more like a season 3 finalie, with season 2's finalie being the second to last episode. seriously--they skipped an entire season of plot and just gave us the wrap up, but it would have been a kind of boring season, so i'm glad they did. still--quite a long progression. it'll be interesting to see where they go with this, because right now it seems extremely predictable (meaning going anywhere else that's sensible and good will be very impressive and welcomed).

in other news, henry jenkis is coming to usc. BOI!

what what whaaaaa?!?!!

obviously last week's south park must be discussed. and that odd but amusing it's always sunny should be mentioned (and now has been). but first--

summer heights high. worst advertising campaign of all time, but a rare free half hour on sunday led me to watching, and i was blown away. the best mocumentary style show yet, perfectly capturing these personalities. possibly the best pilot i've ever seen. start watching if you aren't.

and 'park. less than 24 hour turn around? how'd they do that? my guess: they assumed obama was going to win (and figured if he didn't they'd just do the episode anyways and bite the bullet?), made the episode's shell, and fought like hell to get the details in in time. whatever the case, a great episode.

and entourage continues like it's been all season. awesome.

my apologies that this blog has become only about two or three shows. more to come as soon as there's time.

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod...

lots to update.

first: WE HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT COME JANUARY AND IT'S THE RIGHT ONE.

a few years ago, when time/newsweek/otherfakeishnewsmagazine came out with a barak cover and the question: is he our next president, i remember being ecstatic that the question could even be asked. never could i have dreamed that the answer would be yes. thank god, america. faith is restored.

now, on to the show.

the last two episodes of the office have been unreal good. so, so awkward, yet so perfect. they've gotten back to their roots by moving on--if that makes sense.

entourage: another two great ones. ari handled the offer semi-perfectly (i'd have liked to have seen him take the job, but this works, too), and smokejumpers has the makings of a great arc. and all of the characters have for the first time in the show's history REALLY hit their strides. let's see how this all plays out.

south park. two weeks ago: abysmal. confusing as all hell. as a huge pan flute comedy fan (check my track record), i found this to be a terrible use of a potentially brilliant set piece. and stan's dad? but it was all just a setup for one of the most brilliant episodes of the past few years. bravo. all i couldn't understand--why send the kids to peru? why not just send them somewhere else? or kill them? if you know craig's the key, why even put him in the same country as the lock? amazing, though.

it's always sunny. rob thomas and sinbad's episode was just kind of confusing--the least sensible one yet (which is saying a lot), but still hysterical. last week's, however, with the mail room jobs and dee's heart attack, is among the best ever. it was politically poignant ("we don't have government provided health care in this country?! what is this, socialism?") and hysterical (charlie, as per usual, was unreal).

24's on its way back, as is breaking bad. --or breaking bad might already be back, actually. i really should be more on top of all this.

entourage...

and entourage? oh BOY entourage. he's not going to take the offer, but he should...

snl

i haven't enjoyed an snl episode in years, but living with ben kramer you can't help but catch an episode or two every so often. the season premiere was perhaps the worst of all time, but this past week's actually made me laugh. raging liberal alec baldwin had a chance to say all he wanted to sarah palin's face (whose appearance should barely even be considered an appearance, although seeing her attempt to dance during weekend update was priceless), mcgruber was a hysterical allegory, and a pierre escargot-inspired kenan pseudo frenchman made an appearance. i was a bit shocked, however, how frequently they referenced the terrible economy--an attempt to influence palin fans who were watching? or just rubbing it in the face of americans saving money by staying home this saturday with their families?

reDOMption, south park e2, it's always sunny kidnapping

the unwelcome return of dom to entourage--even if it was a sendoff--comes in the middle of the most formulaic episode of this otherwise stellar season. back to the e/vince turtle/drama mode, which they thankfully (like with dom) cut the ties with before it got too far. i'll mark this one up to doug ellen doing a friend from home a favor (at the wga he said dom, who basically plays himself, was getting heckled on the street because of his "character." the title says it all...), and we'll move on...

south park's second of the season (breast cancer) is among the best of all time. they returned to the bare bone of their strength and made an episode about the innerworkings of eric cartman. it felt...real. for the first time in a long time.

...which is the exact pattern i've been expressing fear it's always sunny was falling into, but tonight's--the first without devito since he started--dispelled that notion. the indian neighbor's arch was perfect.

a good week for television on the whole.

true bood, entourage

almost a week late, but here's an update on those HBO showz:

true blood is getting good. and good--because it looked from the beginning like it was squandering all of the potential in the world. crazy, redefining ending to last episode, though. let's keep a close eye on this one.

entourage--tripping in j-tree. amazing. i'd heard about this episode a while ago when i saw doug ellen speak at the wga, and it followed through on expectations. fantastic. truly.

new seasons: south park, degrassi

while last night's south park season premiere was great--doing right by the cartman butters formula it so recently did wrong by--, i'm afraid it's suffering from the same syndrome as described for it's always sunny below: it doesn't seem novel anymore (and it did for a long, long time). still, it wasn't nearly as terrible feeling as last season, and the episode itself was funny enough for this to be mostly overlooked. it's just ominous--that's all.

degrassi continues to go there, despite an almost entirely unrecognizable cast. it's as though they're slowly transitioning into generation 3 (or 4?) instead of taking a long gap. goodbye everyone we know and love, hello gifted class. i see the potential for great things here, though.

it's always sunny in philadelpiha

the new season is doing well, but it may be in danger of acknowledging its own goodness soon and getting too full of itself. the hour-long episode (as opposed to the almost-normal back-to-back) last week was weak, although charlie's butt eating monologue was amazing, and this week's poop-search was fantastic, but for the third time this season it relied too much on itself (green man; repeated, more often than usual visits by the waitress; etc). i'm still loving it, but i hope the end of that isn't as in sight as it may appear...

up in 'dem california GUTS

californication premiere sucked. but it may just be a setup for a season, so we won't judge it yet as a legit episode.

entourage continues its streak.

GUTS is back--in some form. so far, positive reviews, although i haven't seen it.

and how have we forgotten to mention man bites dog? best missed show on TV since stella. check it out on itunes.

it's always sunny in the bigoted south...and heroes. OH! and skinamax!

the second it's always sunny double-header of the season featured two episodes that helped ease the fear of shark-jumping, but brought forth a fear of formulaic writing. nonetheless, two episodes that started off slowly and finished amazingly does bode well--it's the antithesis of what south park's been doing lately, and that's a good thing.

true blood kind of reinvented itself this week. kind of. it's still hard to fully judge where it's going, but i know that it's treading dangerous waters: it's going to be hard to keep up an interesting supernatural allegory without feeling hammy (it already kind of does).

heroes: i can't believe it's taken me this long to realize that i don't like these characters or actors. writing in the two hour premiere was HORRIBLE, but the plot lines are somewhat interesting. as dan points out, though, adding time travel elements to a show like this just makes it too unnecessarily complicated. it adds in a diagetic rule that nullifies all other diagetic rules. tough.

and finally, co-ed confidential. those of you who are fans of brian belot's work (see: claremonttelevision.com) will love this currently on-demand softcore semi-porn show about four college freshmen and they're craaaaazy overseers. highly recommended. in depth analysis of each episode coming soon.

ps. congrats to the marlins for pooping on the mets' parade this afternoon. HUZZAH!

entourage

thank god, entourage. thank god. you're actually very good--really for the first time in your run.

that car chase scene? beautifully choreographed, an actual part of the plot and not just a gimmick, and it didn't end the way everyone thought it would, yet it was still satisfying. wow.

where it's at--two turn tables and a microphone.