Pixelated Vision: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Rock Center with Brian Williams

When I was in middle school, I used to spend my Friday night watching 20/20 – both because I liked how it made me feel more mature than my peers, and because I didn’t have a social life. (Frankly, the latter was the bigger influence on my decision to watch the show.) I’m not going to say that it was great journalism, and I now recognize that it could at times focus on stories that were sensationalist and/or overly frivolous, but it was never as crass as I remember say, Dateline, being, as it was a fairly slick and classy way for me to get some extra news into my television diet.

Terra Nova - "Bylaws"

Season 1, Episode 5

Dropping in on the show, as continues its middling path

I must admit that I feel sort of bad for not following through on my promise to write about Terra Nova on a weekly basis. I mean, it’s a pretty bad show – worse in fact than I would have thought based on the pilot – and I don’t really have the energy to write about another subpar show every week – that’s what Modern Family is for. (Sadly, a few months ago that slot used to belong to Glee, but the latter show has picked up this season.) But because I heard that the show is planning on picking up its serialized elements – and because I don’t have class tonight, as lack of time was another reason I quit my coverage of this show – I’m offering up this review for those three whole people who were disappointed that I haven’t followed through on my initial commitment.

I just wish that this was a better episode; I don’t know when exactly it was that we’re supposed to enter serialized territory, but it certainly wasn’t tonight.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Walking Dead - "Save The Last One"

Season 2, Episode 3

How a television show about zombies can turn boring real quick

Once Upon a Time - "What You Love The Most"

Season 1, Episode 2

More like TWICE Upon a Time, am I right?

Friday, October 28, 2011

Chuck - "Chuck Vs. The Zoom"

Season 5, Episode 1

Resetting the formula causes a few bumps

Parks and Rec - "Meet 'n' Greet"

Season 4, Episode 5

The problem with Tom

The Office - "Spooked"

Season 8, Episode 5

I feel like I’ve seen this before…

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Community - "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps"

Season 3, Episode 5

A good or lazy episode, depending on how you look at it

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Happy Endings - "Spooky Endings"

Season 2, Episode 5

What a weird, wonderful world

Sons of Anarchy - "Family Recipe"

Season 4, Episode 8

Well, that was different…

Monday, October 24, 2011

How I Met Your Mother - "Noretta"

Season 7, Episode 7

Freud just ruins everything, doesn’t he?

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Walking Dead - "Bloodletting"

Season 2, Episode 2

When less zombies is a good thing

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Review: ABC's Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time premieres Sunday at 8/7c.

When I was in my pre-teen and early teenage years, my family and I would gather around the television set in the early hours of Sunday evening to watch The Wonderful World of Disney, the latest incarnation of the long-running anthology program and the third version of such to air on ABC. Though it was mostly a way for Disney to deliver cheap made-for-TV movies, repackage those that films failed to make theatrical release, and (very rarely) air actual theatrical hits (the last leg of the show coincided with Disney’s purchase of ABC) it was a way for my family to watch television together when they still had a person living in the house who was not mature enough for most primetime programming (that is, me). And given that WWOD has been off the air for three years now, it’s impossible for not to look at ABC’s new series Once Upon a Time as a way to recapture that audience. Unfortunately, playing towards that audience perhaps isn’t the best thing for the show, as a good idea gets diluted down into something more palatable for the “family” senses, and suffers because of it.