Maybe it\u2019s just my personal preference, but I\u2019ve noticed that the current crop of television dramas is infinitely better than the current crop of comedies. I love a good comedy, but almost all of the ones I\u2019ve watched this season are formulaic and a bit dull. That\u2019s not to say they\u2019re completely bad, but they\u2019re largely unremarkable. In plots, characters and settings, we\u2019ve seen them all before. I can\u2019t believe all the good ideas have been used up. The vast majority could use a serious injection of creativity. Some examples include ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘The Michael J. Fox Show’, ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘Modern Family’ and ‘The Millers’. None are without charm, but none reinvent the wheel either. On the other hand, when it comes to drama, my cup runneth over. <\/p>\n
‘The Walking Dead<\/strong>‘ returned to television last week to the fevered excitement of its legions of fans, evidenced by its record-breaking ratings. It was kind of an unusual season premiere for the show, in that the plot unfolded at a relatively slow pace. I’m fairly certain that this is deliberate, showing how the group has fallen into a comfortable routine in a pastoral, bucolic setting, only to rip it all to shreds later. I noticed that there’s more putrification in the zombies; they’re more gray and decayed. Apparently, a virus is causing zombification in people before they die! I’m sure that the show has plenty of shock and gore to come.<\/p>\n In ‘The Good Wife<\/strong>‘, the partners at Lockhart\/Gardner are trying their best to force Diane out after she gave an interview casting Will in a negative light. Meanwhile, Diane is doing her best to stay put, and it looks like the fight could be epic. Alicia’s alliance with Cary is put to the test, because Will wants her to take over Diane’s position as a managing partner. But Alicia is fed up with all the maneuvering and chaos at the firm, and ended the episode by telling Cary that they need to leave post-haste!<\/p>\n Kenny Powers is back in fine form in ‘Eastbound & Down<\/strong>‘. In the latest episode, Kenny takes his family and friends to a water park for some hedonism and fun. After a night of bingeing on booze and cocaine, he turns away a woman who was flirting with him after telling her he wants to stay faithful to his wife. You almost start to admire the man, but then he tries to take her up on the offer later. He’s shot down, but clearly, fidelity will be problematic.<\/p>\n ‘The Blacklist<\/strong>‘ had an impressive episode and its first truly excellent villain. The Stewmaker is a creepy dentist who’s also the go-to man for powerful criminals when they need a body disposed of. His technique is to strip naked, extract a tooth from his victim as a trophy, don a gas mask, and chemically dissolve their bodies in a bathtub. Hairless, scarred and soft-spoken, he’s also clinical and quite deliberate. After the Stewmaker kidnaps Elizabeth and prepares her for disposal, Red saves the day and subsequently dispatches of the villain in his own disturbing fashion.<\/p>\n I’m still euphoric about the return of ‘American Horror Story: Coven<\/strong>‘. In last week’s episode, Zoe and Madison created their own Frankenstein’s Monster of sorts from the remains of the frat boys (including Kyle’s head) killed in the premiere. Zoe seeks the help of a Fleetwood Mac-loving swamp witch to reanimate him. Meanwhile, Mme. LaLaurie adjusts to modern times. We learn that Marie Laveau has cursed her to live forever, and LaLaurie almost evokes sympathy in her bewilderment at her predicament. This show is wild and elegant. It never disappoints me.<\/p>\n ‘Sons of Anarchy<\/strong>‘ slowed its momentum down a little bit, for better or worse. After destroying their clubhouse in an act of vengeance, the Irish move their gun-running business to Clay. Jax and his crew attend a big SoA summit, where he tells the other chapters in attendance that they’re transitioning to legitimate business only, and that he would be happy to help them do the same. Which begs the question: What need does anyone have for the club if they’re all above-board businessmen?<\/p>\n HBO aired a trio of Academy Award-nominated short documentaries. ‘Mondays at Racine’ features two Long Island sisters who open up their hair salon to women with cancer. ‘Open Heart’ is about the plight of Rwandan children who travel to a cardiac hospital for surgery that might save their lives. The best of the three was ‘Redemption’, which takes a look at struggling New Yorkers who try to make ends meet by collecting bottles and cans for cash. They have their own community of sorts on the city streets, and you can almost smell the city as we follow them.<\/p>\n ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine<\/strong>‘ pulled off its best episode to date with ‘The Vulture’. Dean Winters (‘Oz’, ’30 Rock’) plays the arrogant, condescending Major Crimes detective Pembroke, who’s notorious for swooping in on cases that are almost solved to take credit for the arrest. The gang comes together to outmaneuver him, and the results are hilarious.<\/p>\n Against all odds, the Robin Williams comedy ‘The Crazy Ones<\/strong>‘ is kind of growing on me. A little. In the last episode, the gang procrastinates instead of doing the brainstorming needed for marketing a breakfast burrito. This is a throwaway plot, to be sure, but as I get to care a bit more about Simon, Sydney, Lauren, Zach and Andrew, my resistance is starting to melt and it’s getting less and less likely that I’ll axe the show.<\/p>\n I kind of enjoyed the ‘Walking Dead’ recap show, ‘The Talking Dead<\/strong>‘, when it was a brief 30 minutes. At a long, bloated 60 minutes, however, it’s full of boring bits and details that keep my finger on the fast forward button.<\/p>\n NBC has thankfully canceled ‘Ironside’ and ‘Welcome to the Family’. I don\u2019t believe either will be missed. This network introduces ‘Dracula’ to its schedule this week, and I\u2019m hoping that\u2019s good. However, I noticed that the show is scheduled for Friday night, which doesn\u2019t bode well for its future. I\u2019ll check it out, but scheduling like this is certainly not a vote of confidence.<\/p>\n Which shows are your current favorites? Which do you find unbearable? Join the conversation below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe it\u2019s just my personal preference, but I\u2019ve noticed that the current crop of television dramas is infinitely better than the current crop of comedies. I love a good comedy, but almost all of the ones I\u2019ve watched this season are formulaic and a bit dull. That\u2019s not to say they\u2019re completely bad, but they\u2019re…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":57418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[3716,6855,6859,924,3415,1185,6768,1176,6834,6766,799,6863],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57382"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57421,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57382\/revisions\/57421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}