ABC

Fall TV is probably the best season of TV.  There’s just about something on from Sunday to Sunday every night and it’s such a refreshing start after a dull summer of waiting every Sunday for Breaking Bad.  So with Fall TV having started most of it’s major players, I’m writing a little update to share with you everything I’m watching.  Looking at this list, I watch a helluva lot of television.  And I love every minute of it.

Read below if you’re following the….following…shows.  Otherwise spoilers beware!

• New Girl
• Happy Endings
• Modern Family
• Parks and Recreation
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• Dexter
• Homeland
• The Walking Dead
• American Horror Story: Asylum
• Boardwalk Empire
• South Park
• Family Guy

The Comedy Line Up

New Girl – Fox

Zooey Deschanel’s adorkable show is back and has learned quickly where to play its strengths.  With a strong second half of the first season, the writers seem to know where to take the characters and what works best.  Scmidt is playing his classic douche-metro sexual persona, Nick in his non-life-advancing nature, Winston…eh, maybe the writers still don’t really know what to do with him, but they’re noticeably trying, and then the screen hero Jess, who is taking a rather different turn now that she’s facing unemployment.  She’s being sexualized as of late, with her sexcapades and noticeably lower cut shirts, but hey, I’m not complaining.  New Girl isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but for dull Tuesdays, it’s kinda what I need after a Monday-less day.  And Nick and Jess totes need to hook up already [sorry for using the word ‘totes’].

Parks and Recreation – NBC

From NBC via

Parks and Recreation hit it’s fifth season and according to the usual history of television, this will likely be the peak of the television series.  And so far it has delivered.  Story lines have not repeated and having nearly half of the cast have a dramatic change-up was definitely good for the show to keeping it fresh.  With the incredibly contrast Ben and April [who have developed an adorable friendship]  in DC and Leslie seeming to make new enemies every episode as City Councilor, the show has definitely progressed both comedically and dramatically.  Of course, Nick Offerman’s Ron Swanson and Chris Pratt’s Andy Dwyer are the most hilarious characters of the show, bringing me to gut wrenching laughs every episode.

Post Written Update: My heart nearly stopped when Ben came back on last night’s episode.  SO MANY FEELS.

Happy Endings – ABC

Television’s best romantic comedy returned this week, with lightning quick pop culture references as fast as ever.  Seriously, this week’s premiere was riddled with pop culture references that I wasn’t able to hear the next joke because I was still laughing at the punchline of the previous one.  That’s the way Happy Endings has grown into over the past 2 seasons and it has developed quite well.  Brad and Jane still prove the most lovable in my opinion, but each of the other four definitely have their moments.  I might be too bold in saying this, but out of the 6 comedies I’m watching this season, Happy Endings just might be what I consider the funniest.  Not enough people watch this show, and that’s why there’s so much wrong in the world ;).

Modern Family – ABC

I got into Modern Family earlier this year and its return is pleasant.  But that’s about as far as I would give it.  As I mentioned in the previous article, I outlined how Modern Family ends all too vanilla for me and is albeit predictable for the most part.  After an incredibly strong season opener [Haley Dunphy Moving Co. brought a smile all to big to my face], the show has redipped back into its too feel goody nature.  Eric Stonestreet’s Cam and Ty Burell’s Phil continue to carry the show to provide the most golden moments, and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily is adorable as ever.  I love Modern Family with all my heart, but in all honesty, it’s one of the weaker shows [IMHO] comedically on this list, where the humor only goes as a far as the [some-what predictable] hilariousness of Phil and Cam.

South Park – Comedy Central

No other show pushes the boundary more than South Park.  After a crazy start of their 16th season [each episode was as genius as the last], the midseason has started with Football, Home Security, UPS, and Hawaiian ‘natives’ have been their targets so far.  Of course, with each episode’s manifest storyline, they have a surprisingly deep latent meaning.  Sure, the UPS episode was about parodying home security advertisements, but the ‘in-security’ stint that related to whenever we uncomfortable, our ‘in-security’ would go off was absolutely genius.  God I love this show for continually being relavent and hilarious at the same time.  Message brought to you by Butter’s Creamy Goo.  Dear God, I love this show.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – FX

FX via 

After 8 seasons, the sheer miraculousness of the consistency of Always Sunny astounds me.  The only thing getting old here is the characters, as the jokes are just as funny as they were 8 seasons ago.  Last week’s episode showed us how Sunny remains surprisingly fresh, as best explained by this website.  It essentially sums up how Always Sunny will never run out of context material because their plot lines are so absurd and strangely patterned, that it essentially engineered it’s own freshness.  It’s a lot more complex than I made it out to be, but I suggest you give it a show.  It might be too early in the season for the sequel to Chardee MacDennis, but I can totally wait until season 10 for another gem like that.

Family Guy – Fox

I kind of loathed watching this show as of recently.  Ever since reading Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s critical quote of Family Guy, I can’t help but notice the stupidity of it’s plot structure.  Cartoon Wars have summed up my opinion on how Family Guy is written.  It includes jokes that are not related to the stories and how it overuses gag/cut away humor.  That being said, it is pretty funny and it’s good to watch while doing laundry or something else not too mind consuming.  Here’s the quote that sums up my feelings to pretty much every episode I see of Family Guy.

we totally understand that people love it, that’s why we put it in the show, we understand that it speaks to some people and it can just be a simple laugh and that’s great and we certainly don’t think it should be taken off the air or anything like that, we just don’t respect it in terms of writing

So I’m not religiously watching Family Guy, but if it’s a lazy kind of day, I’ll definitely fire it up to watch.

Still Waiting on…

Community – NBC

Community was slated for an October 19th release.  NBC decided to change that.  But with a time slot for Friday night, it might not have been the best idea to keep Community on that date anyways.  It might mean a better time slot for Community, but it simultaneously means still no Community.  Here’s the cast summing it up.

The Drama Line Up

The Drama Line Up will contain MAJOR SPOILERS.  GET OUT while you still can.

Dexter – Showtime

Showtime

Dexter hasn’t been relavent in a long time.  After season 4’s cliffhanger/game changer of Rita’s death, the show has undeniably struggled to find another extremely compelling reason to continue watching.  We’ve seen Dexter go through Hell and back, we get his kill-mentality, and the appeal of rooting for a dark protagonist has worn off.  However, last season’s cliffhanger has definitely revived the show for something worthwhile.  Deb finding out has provided some solid drama, especially after the rather corny religious stint and unsatisfying Lumen arc.  Deb and Dexter’s relationship has never been more relevant than it is now and the fragility of it after 7 seasons is absolutely delightful in seeing if it will turn for the better or worse.  Everyone who has learned Dexter’s secret is either dead or completely removed from his life [I think only Lumen exists], will Deb be the same?

PS. Yvonne  Strahovski is adorably hot.

Homeland – Showtime

Now I’ve only finished the first season of Homeland and I thought it is in the running for one of the best dramas of the year.  The first half of Breaking Bad was good, but Homeland might edge that one out this season.  I was initially upset that it and Damian ‘Winters’ Lewis, beat out Bryan Cranston and Breaking Bad for Best Lead and Best Drama at the Emmys, but after watching Homeland, I couldn’t praise it enough.  And Claire Danes is absolutely amazing.  The fear, the emotion, the everything in Homeland is spine chilling and exciting.  I’m going to catch up soon!  I recommend you start if you already haven’t.

PS. Morena Baccarin is also an angel.

The Walking Dead – AMC

From AMC via

The Walking Dead is two episodes in and has definitely surpassed the mundaneness of last season.  There’s so much good drama, zombie killing, and fixed characters.  The writers know what the audience wants and have since then fixed it: Carl’s uselessness who has now become a child-badass, Daryl continued role as the group’s badas, and Rick’s damn-awesome Ricktocracy.  I can see that they’re trying to fix Lori’s ineptness as a human being, but I guess you can’t change 2 season’s worth of loathing in two episodes.  Regardless, this season is winding up to be killer and I can’t wait to keep watching.  Also considering picking up those graphic novels soon!

PS.  Maggie is adorable

Boardwalk Empire – HBO

If there were any show that I’m currently watching that I would consider a more a routine to watch than actually getting excited to watch it, it would probably be Boardwalk Empire.  The show is still compelling, but in all honesty, I’ve gotten a little lost in the mass amount of characters and the aggravating death of Jimmy Darmody, a character much more likable than Nucky.  It seems they’ve all but swept him under the rug minus his mother who has become grotesque in her obsession with him [find a man who looks like her son and sleeping with him?  Goddamn].  His apparent replacement Owen Slater is slick and cool, but not as memorable as Jimmy.  The season’s villain, Gyp Rossettti played by Bobby Cannavale, is a nice change up from spineless and articulate politicians in favor for someone who is ultra violent and dangerous.  He and Richard Harrow are carrying this season for me and are the only reasons I’m truly tuning in.

American Horror Story: Asylum

FX

American Horror Story might have been one the better new shows of the season last year [a title I would’ve held as ‘the best’ before I started watching Homeland].  The eerie, boundary pushing, sexual, and potentially scarring series returns for it’s second season with an all new setting and a [fairly] all new cast.  Among the returns are Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, and Evan Peters who are all affiliated with a church run asylum.  The series is just as dark, sexual, bloody, and difficult to watch as the last season which makes it such a delight to watch.  So many crazy things are happening and might be the freshest show I’ve seen this season [partly because I haven’t picked up any new shows, but still].  This very much could be the sickest and most perverse show on TV, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So what in the heck are you guys watching that I’m not that should be on my radar?

People still watch the Office?  More people going to praise Big Bang Theory?  I’m pretty interested into why some people watch TV.  Once Upon a Time trends quite a bit and has shown up on a lot of Entertainment Weekly covers.  I’m not a big network TV drama guy [once you go Premium cable, it’s hard to go back].  But I don’t like not giving things a chance before completely blowing me off.  I love geeking out about TV more than anything else in the world, so let’s geek.