4 posts tagged “buffy the vampire slayer”
Salon has an interesting duel of sorts. Not really a head-to-head competition because the authors are not arguing one the superiority of one show to the other but rather each author argues the reasons for the greatness of each show.
From Laura Miller's essay on The Wire:
In a way, it doesn't make sense to talk of "The Wire" as the best American television show because it's not very American. The characters in American popular culture are rarely shown to be subject to forces completely beyond their control. American culture is fundamentally Romantic, individualistic and Christian; when it's not exhorting you to "follow your dream" it's reassuring us that in the eleventh hour, we will be saved. American culture is a perpetual pep talk, trafficking in tales of personal redemption and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. We don't do doom. "The Wire" is not Romantic but classical; what matters most in its universe is fulfilling your duty and facing the inexorable with dignity.
I can't argue that the classical view is superior to the Romantic one; to even introduce the idea that art is meant to nudge us toward moral improvement and social awareness is to concede to Romantic hope. But for some people, in some places, the classical view is more true, and in such cases, the artist's duty is to show us that these lives are no smaller for that. And it is -- as we always, always seem to forget -- not depressing but strangely exhilarating to see this truth about humanity acknowledged for once. It may not be the only truth, but it's a truth all the same.
I think the line "fulfilling your duty and facing the inexorable with dignity" could well apply to my other favorite show of all time - Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (In fact, Salon awarded their inaugural "Buffy" award for most underappreciated show on television to The Wire.)
What is your favorite show of all time and why?
Although greatly anticipating the return of 24, I doubted it could live up to the opening of last season even though once again employing the heart-stopping 4-hours-in-two-nights format of last year. However, even though this season didn't start with the same jolt, I'm finding it enjoyable for different reasons.
We begin the morning by meeting the new White House team as they deal with terrorist attacks happening across the country. Special Advisor Thomas Lennox (Peter MacNicol revealing where the spaceship he left Numb3rs on landed - Planet Bauer) suggest that President Wayne Palmer (Palmer 2.0) consider placing all Muslims in detention camps (because placing Japanese-Americans in internment camps ended WWII, right?). Karen Hayes, now National Security Advisor, opposes the idea and instead argues that killing notorious terrorist Hamri Al-Assad (Assad) will end the attacks. 2.0 goes with Karen Hayes' plan.
During some snarky repartee at CTU, we welcome back Chloe's ex-husband Morris, now division-trained and in charge Milo from Day 1 (played by Eric Balfour who rocks one look in every role he plays - "I'm a badass! No, seriously - see the goatee, the soul patch, the earring even sometimes?!? I'm badass, I tell you!!"), Bill Buchanan (who is married to Karen Hayes now) and we meet Nadia Yassir, Bill's new second-in-command.
Jack returns from China looking like a boxcar hobo and we learn that he's been gone for 20 months, he hasn't spoken and 2.0 paid a big price to the Chinese to negotiate his release. Although we don't know how 2.0 sweet talked the Chinese Consulate into giving up Jack (Is it just me or does the Chinese revenge seem awfully out of proportion to Jack's transgression against them?) we do learn that 2.0 paid $25 million and promised the opportunity to torture and kill Jack to Assad's assistant (Abu Fayed) who promises to give up Assad's location so that Assad can be assassinated and then the terrorist attacks will be done and all will be right with the world.
Jack is told of all this and he accepts his mission. Jack is then given the opportunity to clean up because when you're about to be handed over to a terrorist who wants to torture and kill you, it is important to look good.
Curtis and Bill drive Jack out to a drop spot. As Bill Buchanan is apologizing to locking Jack to a fence and for the sacrificing of his life, Jack explains that he stayed alive in the Chinese prison because he didn't want to die for nothing and now it will be a relief to die for something.
We then see a nice suburban couple, watching the news of the suicide bombing that just happened in LA to go along with the ten other attacks and mom insists that son go to school because he has a geometry test. You know, it's moments like this, more than Jack's apparent lack of a bladder, which really makes it difficult to suspend my disbelief. Dad notices an Arab neighbor being dragged out of his house and arrested by the FBI. The arrested man's son (Ahmed Amar - played by Kal Penn, i.e. Kumar) protests loudly and is apparently buds with the geometry-learning son so when soccer dad sees the neighborhood rednecks trying to rough up Ahmed he charges across the street to stop the fighting.
Meanwhile, back at CTU, Morris helps Chloe gain access to an illegal Uzbeki satellite so they can try and track Jack since, in addition to the money and Jack, 2.0 gave up access to all government satellites and whatnot so that Fayed could make sure they weren't trying to double cross him. Fayed's team still manages to find out about the Uzbeki satellite and threatens not to play ball.
But, Fayed is happy once he has his hands on Jack and begins to taunt and prepare to torture Jack just as Jack did to Fayed's brother years ago. While taunting, Fayed drops a little bombshell that Assad is not behind the day's attacks since Assad has decided to give peace a chance and that Fayed has orchestrated this little maneuver so that the U.S. government will kill Assad for betraying the true terrorist cause that Fayed is now masterminding. Fayed also asserts that since the attacks will not stop, Jack will die for nothing. Jack has told us he won't do that. Something's coming.
Fayed's torture session is interrupted when he gets a call from Ahmed telling of his father's arrest. Ahmed assures Fayed that he still has "the package" and will deliver said package. While Fayed is distracted, Jack is back! Jack takes a bite out of crime by literally biting his guard to death. It's a good thing that 2.0 is the son of a slayer because it will be handy if it turns out that what happened to Jack in the Chinese jail is that he was turned back into a lost boy. And as Jack escapes into a sewer I wonder if he's going to meet up with Jesse, um I mean Milo.
We begin the morning by meeting the new White House team as they deal with terrorist attacks happening across the country. Special Advisor Thomas Lennox (Peter MacNicol revealing where the spaceship he left Numb3rs on landed - Planet Bauer) suggest that President Wayne Palmer (Palmer 2.0) consider placing all Muslims in detention camps (because placing Japanese-Americans in internment camps ended WWII, right?). Karen Hayes, now National Security Advisor, opposes the idea and instead argues that killing notorious terrorist Hamri Al-Assad (Assad) will end the attacks. 2.0 goes with Karen Hayes' plan.
During some snarky repartee at CTU, we welcome back Chloe's ex-husband Morris, now division-trained and in charge Milo from Day 1 (played by Eric Balfour who rocks one look in every role he plays - "I'm a badass! No, seriously - see the goatee, the soul patch, the earring even sometimes?!? I'm badass, I tell you!!"), Bill Buchanan (who is married to Karen Hayes now) and we meet Nadia Yassir, Bill's new second-in-command.
Jack returns from China looking like a boxcar hobo and we learn that he's been gone for 20 months, he hasn't spoken and 2.0 paid a big price to the Chinese to negotiate his release. Although we don't know how 2.0 sweet talked the Chinese Consulate into giving up Jack (Is it just me or does the Chinese revenge seem awfully out of proportion to Jack's transgression against them?) we do learn that 2.0 paid $25 million and promised the opportunity to torture and kill Jack to Assad's assistant (Abu Fayed) who promises to give up Assad's location so that Assad can be assassinated and then the terrorist attacks will be done and all will be right with the world.
Jack is told of all this and he accepts his mission. Jack is then given the opportunity to clean up because when you're about to be handed over to a terrorist who wants to torture and kill you, it is important to look good.
Curtis and Bill drive Jack out to a drop spot. As Bill Buchanan is apologizing to locking Jack to a fence and for the sacrificing of his life, Jack explains that he stayed alive in the Chinese prison because he didn't want to die for nothing and now it will be a relief to die for something.
We then see a nice suburban couple, watching the news of the suicide bombing that just happened in LA to go along with the ten other attacks and mom insists that son go to school because he has a geometry test. You know, it's moments like this, more than Jack's apparent lack of a bladder, which really makes it difficult to suspend my disbelief. Dad notices an Arab neighbor being dragged out of his house and arrested by the FBI. The arrested man's son (Ahmed Amar - played by Kal Penn, i.e. Kumar) protests loudly and is apparently buds with the geometry-learning son so when soccer dad sees the neighborhood rednecks trying to rough up Ahmed he charges across the street to stop the fighting.
Meanwhile, back at CTU, Morris helps Chloe gain access to an illegal Uzbeki satellite so they can try and track Jack since, in addition to the money and Jack, 2.0 gave up access to all government satellites and whatnot so that Fayed could make sure they weren't trying to double cross him. Fayed's team still manages to find out about the Uzbeki satellite and threatens not to play ball.
But, Fayed is happy once he has his hands on Jack and begins to taunt and prepare to torture Jack just as Jack did to Fayed's brother years ago. While taunting, Fayed drops a little bombshell that Assad is not behind the day's attacks since Assad has decided to give peace a chance and that Fayed has orchestrated this little maneuver so that the U.S. government will kill Assad for betraying the true terrorist cause that Fayed is now masterminding. Fayed also asserts that since the attacks will not stop, Jack will die for nothing. Jack has told us he won't do that. Something's coming.
Fayed's torture session is interrupted when he gets a call from Ahmed telling of his father's arrest. Ahmed assures Fayed that he still has "the package" and will deliver said package. While Fayed is distracted, Jack is back! Jack takes a bite out of crime by literally biting his guard to death. It's a good thing that 2.0 is the son of a slayer because it will be handy if it turns out that what happened to Jack in the Chinese jail is that he was turned back into a lost boy. And as Jack escapes into a sewer I wonder if he's going to meet up with Jesse, um I mean Milo.
Wow - this is quite the week for Whedon alumni! Last night Tom Lenk (Andrew from Buffy) and Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly and Serenity) guested as Baristas on Alyson Hannigan's (Willow from Buffy) series, How I Met Your Mother. And tomorrow night Nathan Fillion (Mal from Firefly and Serenity) will guest on Lost (as Kate's husband in a flashback). Joss Whedon, in addition to being a genius, is apparently an ABC soap fan as Buffy was Bianca on All My Children and Mal was Joey on One Life to Live.
HIMYM was awesome as Swarley would say. Swarley is the nickname that name-challenged crazy-eyes Chloe gave Barney, much to his dismay. Oh, and, Marshall and Lily got back together. That's how great this show is, that what would be the most important plot point in most other shows was almost an afterthought.
Everybody Hates Chris was a weak outing with Jason Alexander as the new principal and wanna-be guru who tries to get Chris and the racist Caruso to resolve their differences by making them field trip buddies. The big lesson? The experiment mostly fails and the principal is wrong.
Studio 60 continues along with strong acting, snappy dialogue and little heart for me. For instance, while Nate Corddry was very good as the focus of this episode, I had a very hard time believing that, in addition to him being one of the "big three" stars of the fictional show that Tom is so popular that a teenage girl would rope her business executive father into flying halfway around the world so she could meet him.
Tonight is mostly election coverage but I'll watch the all-boy Dancing With The Stars final three and record Gilmore Girls and Law & Order: CI.
HIMYM was awesome as Swarley would say. Swarley is the nickname that name-challenged crazy-eyes Chloe gave Barney, much to his dismay. Oh, and, Marshall and Lily got back together. That's how great this show is, that what would be the most important plot point in most other shows was almost an afterthought.
Everybody Hates Chris was a weak outing with Jason Alexander as the new principal and wanna-be guru who tries to get Chris and the racist Caruso to resolve their differences by making them field trip buddies. The big lesson? The experiment mostly fails and the principal is wrong.
Studio 60 continues along with strong acting, snappy dialogue and little heart for me. For instance, while Nate Corddry was very good as the focus of this episode, I had a very hard time believing that, in addition to him being one of the "big three" stars of the fictional show that Tom is so popular that a teenage girl would rope her business executive father into flying halfway around the world so she could meet him.
Tonight is mostly election coverage but I'll watch the all-boy Dancing With The Stars final three and record Gilmore Girls and Law & Order: CI.
Some of the Project Runway designers whipped up some Halloween costume ideas (hat tip to TVgasm) and Diana Eng continues on with her geek fashion goodness.
For some reason I continue to find hilarious any reminder of the song "Summer Girls" by boy band LFO. The shear absurdity of the lyrics crack me up every time:
I however can't quit Gilmore Girls. I definitely miss the much better pop culture references of Amy Sherman-Palladino but the Lorelei-Chris reuinion isn't bugging me as much as I thought it would. And, even though I don't dig Logan on GG, I would have enjoyed seeing dueling Logans last week on Veronica Mars. But I suck because I don't watch even though I would probably love it (teen girl heroines are a fav like in my favorite series Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I was especially bummed when I saw that last week's episode was titled "Charlie Don't Surf" in homage to my favorite film, Apocalypse Now.
And let me just warn you that I also suck because the only series I watch on Fox are 24 (my favorite show last season) and American Idol. Yes that means no House, no Bones, no Prison Break, no Simpsons... Bad TV watcher, bad!
So tonight it will be Gilmore Girls on the DVR and watching Dancing With The Stars plus Law & Order: CI and SVU. Nip/Tuck is not bad but I've never been drawn into watching an entire season.
And, last night, not much to report back on. How I Met Your Mother was a good, classic S1 episode showcasing Ted in all his hopeless romantic glory and Barney in all his quippy bad boy glory. Girlfriends was suprisingly good. Not one "heifer" and, unlike most shows where if an actress leaves to do Baileys Irish Cream commercials and everyone just pretends not to notice, Girlfriends is actually dealing with the breakup of the central, longest-standing girlfriend
relationship between Joan and Toni and powerfully so last night.
For some reason I continue to find hilarious any reminder of the song "Summer Girls" by boy band LFO. The shear absurdity of the lyrics crack me up every time:
Tim Goodman from the SF Chronicle has an excellent rundown of what to watch and what to record. I have a few difference but I overlap with most of his recommendations. One difference comes tonight where Tim recommends Friday Night Lights in its regular time slot but as I mentioned I'm just not feeling that one.New Kids On The Block had a bunch of hits
Chinese food makes me sick
...
I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch
I however can't quit Gilmore Girls. I definitely miss the much better pop culture references of Amy Sherman-Palladino but the Lorelei-Chris reuinion isn't bugging me as much as I thought it would. And, even though I don't dig Logan on GG, I would have enjoyed seeing dueling Logans last week on Veronica Mars. But I suck because I don't watch even though I would probably love it (teen girl heroines are a fav like in my favorite series Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I was especially bummed when I saw that last week's episode was titled "Charlie Don't Surf" in homage to my favorite film, Apocalypse Now.
And let me just warn you that I also suck because the only series I watch on Fox are 24 (my favorite show last season) and American Idol. Yes that means no House, no Bones, no Prison Break, no Simpsons... Bad TV watcher, bad!
So tonight it will be Gilmore Girls on the DVR and watching Dancing With The Stars plus Law & Order: CI and SVU. Nip/Tuck is not bad but I've never been drawn into watching an entire season.
And, last night, not much to report back on. How I Met Your Mother was a good, classic S1 episode showcasing Ted in all his hopeless romantic glory and Barney in all his quippy bad boy glory. Girlfriends was suprisingly good. Not one "heifer" and, unlike most shows where if an actress leaves to do Baileys Irish Cream commercials and everyone just pretends not to notice, Girlfriends is actually dealing with the breakup of the central, longest-standing girlfriend
relationship between Joan and Toni and powerfully so last night.
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