The 2010 Primetime Emmy Award nominations were announced yesterday morning. ‘Glee’ and ‘The Pacific’ led the pack with 19 nominations and 24 nominations respectively. I’m sure both programs will bring home a lot of those trophies. Follow us after the break for a rundown of the major categories, plus some commentary.
I know that I’ve said this before, but ‘The Good Guys’ on Fox continues to settle into its groove, getting a little bit better episode to episode. Last week’s episode, ‘The Dim Knight’, starts with a (literal) bang. As Jack and Dan walk to their car, oblivious to the people fleeing frantically from the house behind them, that house explodes. In characteristic fashion, the episode then rewinds back to show us the events leading up to this development. As usual, it’s a small crime that leads to a bigger one.
I’ve decided that I’m rooting for ‘The Good Guys’. The show isn’t quite there yet, but I really want to like it. I want it to be good goofy summer fun. It’s very close, really. The premise is funny, the cast is strong, and the ideas all sound good on paper. If it hasn’t quite gotten its act together yet, it has continued to improve over each of its three episodes so far. Last week’s ep, ‘The Broken Door Theory’, is pretty decent overall, and another step in the right direction.
‘Glee’ concluded its first season last week with an episode titled ‘Journey’. What a great journey this show has been over the past year. Yes, some of the storylines in the first half of the season were misjudged. (I’m of course referring to the Will and Terri fake pregnancy, and to Finn believing that he impregnated Quinn despite never having sex with her.) Even during those lower ebbs, the show was always terrifically entertaining overall, and a blast of fresh air on the television scene. Since coming back from the mid-season break, the series quickly corrected those mistakes and has been pretty consistently strong. And now it’s capped off the season with a very good finale.
I wasn’t bowled over by the first episode of ‘The Good Guys’. Although it sounds on paper like a spoof of bad ’80s cop shows should be a great deal of fun, something about the episode’s tone was off and the cast’s chemistry didn’t gel. Still, the series seems to have potential if it can just find its footing. While I wouldn’t say that the second episode, ‘Bait & Switch’, quite lives up to that potential, it’s at least a little better.
Not even all that long ago, summertime used to be a TV wasteland of nothing but reruns and castoff episodes of cancelled series. But the traditional television season structure has been eroding in recent years. The networks have slowly started to realize that there are still audiences out there clamoring for new programming to watch over the summer. Nowadays, even though the summer schedule may be dominated by crap reality shows, many networks are willing to sprinkle in a mix of new series and returning favorites as well. The following are some that have caught my eye, for better or worse.
Oh, you clever ‘Glee’ writers. Look what you’ve done. You’ve given us an episode called ‘Funk’, which is naturally (and expectedly) about funk music. But you’ve also made all of the character depressed, because they’re in a figurative funk. Aren’t you so smart?
Fox’s new summer series ‘The Good Guys’ had a “preview event” back on May 19th. I’ll be honest, I DVR’ed it at the time and didn’t get around to watching it until recently. The network re-ran the premiere this past Monday, and the show’s remaining episodes will begin their regular run on the 7th. As such, this seems like as good a time as any to offer my thoughts. Unfortunately, while the premise for the show sounds great and I liked most of the early promotion around it, the pilot episode (not-so-cleverly titled ‘Pilot’) doesn’t quite pull together.
In ‘Theatricality’, the ‘Glee’ kids learn to let their freak flags fly. This lesson comes courtesy of Mr. Schuester’s assignment for the week that they cover the songs of Lady Gaga. What a perfect fit. Once again, the show tackles the big issues of adolescence in a manner that could be preachy or heavy handed, but somehow manages to keep the overall tone light and entertaining.
I should have seen this coming. I don’t know why I let myself get my hopes up. Toward the end of yet another lackluster season, ’24′ really seemed to turn a corner a few weeks ago. The last three episodes were pretty good, especially last week’s ass-kicking rampage. I wanted to believe that the show’s producers could get their acts together and let Jack Bauer go out on a strong note. I almost couldn’t believe that I found myself looking forward to the series finale so much. And then, well, there’s this. One word can sum it up: LAAAAAAME…
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