The new fall shows came and went more or less with a whimper. I am not watching a single new show that premiered in the fall (well, unless you count American Horror Story: Asylum as "new," but I'll discuss that one later...)
Some of the winter debuts seem more promising. Such as Law & Order: Special Victorian Unit on BBC America. Oops, I mean Ripper Street. I loathe Downton Abbey. But I love British police procedurals, and BBC has a ton of pretty creative shows. For instance, I loved The Fades.
If you have not seen that series, then you are truly missing out. Of course, once you fall for its charms, you'll be hungry for more, and then denied because the Brits canceled it after one season. Yep, Planet Bunheads.
So, back to BBC's SVU show, Ripper Street. The premiere episode plays a little with motion picture history, as it foregrounds the fact that almost every technological advancement was/is driven by pornography. This sordid milieu allows the show's women to be almost entirely prostitutes or "models," which got my eyes rolling. The detective work is performed by a bunch of guys in snappy period attire (see above), and if it's anything like that Gangs of NY wannabe show, Copper, I'll be losing interest fast. The other issue is that BBC America, like IFC, does not come in High-Def for us, so, as my partner succinctly stated, "it's like watching the radio." Yeah, we're spoiled.
I'm mostly liking Kevin Bacon's new show, The Following, especially because it stars Kevin Bacon. That man can act. The weight of the world is in those eyes, although we do not really need another flawed guy genius detective/agent show. We just don't. Still, the idea of serial killers having cult followings, especially via the internet, is pretty fascinating. James Purefoy, though? Milquetoast. I do not see why anyone would follow this guy. And I am so over the Edgar Allen Poe crap. That part of the series is so unnecessary, as if some high school English teacher got a job as one of the writers on the show, and thought that this hackneyed connection between Poe and death was "new." Perhaps new to Two and a Half Men watchers who get him confused with Stephen King. Yeah, Snark.
Anyway, both of these shows are unfortunately filled with dead and victimized women, so in order to balance out these shows, there's Continuum--brought to us by the same Canadian geniuses who brought us Lost Girl.
Canada doesn't seem to have a problem with women as the stars of their procedurals, and this fact, amongst many others, would be reason enough to move there. Rachel Nichols' "Keira" is a badass, and so far this show is wildly satisfying even though it contains that dreaded TIME TRAVEL element. (Really, the only person who should be allowed to time travel is Dr. Who and the people on Warehouse 13). As a synopsis, the government in 2077 has been bought out and taken over by corporations. They have their own police force, known as protectors. As the series begins, a group of domestic terrorists are about to be executed, and Protector Keira is on the floor guarding them. One of them smuggles in some techno gizmo and zap, she's tossed back to 2012 with only a nifty tech skin suit as a link to the future. The ideological ambiguity stems from the idea that corporations are bad, and the desire to change the past in order to prevent their powerful ascension is a good one. Yet, that desire is carried out by a bunch of nasty criminal thugs, and Keira's hellbent on killing them. Hmmm. She has a husband and kid in the future, but she thankfully doesn't spend all her time moping over them. Oh and the show also stars The Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) as a corporate guy from the future who Keira befriends in the past. Pretty cool.
I always watch one show that's completely vapid and embarrassing, and I just do not care. I watched Gossip Girl for a bit, but it was just too terrible. Then Revenge, which also was pretty awful. Now I'm onto The Carrie Diaries which is all about the lives of teenagers in 1984. No, it's not a dystopian show, but it's not entirely "double plus ungood" either. I watch the show for the soundtrack, the fashion, and the City (NY circa mid-to-late 80s). I also subscribed to Interview magazine and dreamed about NYC then, and the sights and sounds of those times give me quite a bit of nostalgic pleasure. We'll see how long New Order can sustain me. One thing, though. These kids do not talk like they are from the 80s. Kids sound different now, and these kids sound like 2012, except for the token cool denizens of the Downtown NY scene. We'll see how long I last.
RETURNING SHOWS
Justified is always worth returning to, especially because Timothy Olyphant is smoking hot as Raylan Givens. He's also great in The Crazies (2010) and The Perfect Getaway (2009), but I first spotted him as a smoking hot drug dealer in Go (1999), where he makes out with Katie Holmes to a Massive Attack song. Yes, I am a fan of this man. His name will always be preceded by "smoking hot" for whatever role he has. Yet, he is often outshone by Walton Goggins, as Boyd Crowder, who thankfully has enough of his own storyline now to not steal all of Tim's scenes. Although, each season, the incredible guest stars on the show steal plenty of scenes as well. Margo Martindale, Mykelti Williamson, Neil McDonough, Jere Burns. This list goes on and on.
Of course, I'm thrilled that Bunheads is back, and in the first episode, Fanny retrieves Michelle from the Nevada Hinterlands where, after macing the entire ballet school, she has been forced to survive by joining a cheesy, terrible magic act. An act in which both of the "assistants" wear tight jumpsuits and top hats, and throw glitter confetti on the magician. Very sad. This television show is so damn impossibly quirky that I am expecting the axe to drop after every episode. Amy Sherman-Palladino brings back uptight but wonderful Liza Weil (Paris from The Gilmore Girls) as the marvelous Millie. Also, the new kids in town are simply awesome. If you need a smile, this show and Parks and Recreation should do it for you.
Then there is American Horror Story: Asylum. This show is the WTF show. I utter those words repeatedly whenever I watch it. I can only take it in small doses, since the series is so over-the-top, bat sh** nuts, week after week, that I need regular breaks. What is NOT happening on this show??? Demon possession? Check. Cannibalism and genetic mutations? Check. Nazis and Medical Experiments? Check. Serial Killers and Space Aliens? Check. Check. Check!!! I forgot to mention homicidal Santas and evil Nuns. This show is the very definition of excess, and that's probably a good thing, since if I took the time to actually examine the politics of this show, my head would surely explode. I can say that about every Ryan Murphy show I've ever watched, though. This show is the car crash you cannot peel your eyes away from, yet it simultaneously makes you never, ever want to drive. Perhaps this is the show about which I am truly embarrassed. Bah. No shame.
Lost Girl is back, and our favorite bisexual succubus has finally made a romantic decision. And the winner is: TEAM LAUREN! Wooo! Of course, this turn of events will be temporary, but who cares. Plenty of gorgeous super-natural sex abounds on this Canadian show, and that's why one tunes in--if not for one of the most wonderfully represented female friendships on television. Kenzi and Bo are unstoppable. Sure, this show is goofy and hokey, but blows True Blood out of the water.
