365.25 Days of Media Part 1

Shakespeare's whiny lay-about Hamlet said,"There is nothing good nor bad, but thinking makes it so."

I say,"Shut your mouth, boy, and listen to what I tell you is good and bad."

Instead of a follow-up to last year's "All About Me" special, I decided on listing things things that have come to my attention.

We'll bang-out TV, first

Some things that have raised my ire, in ascending order:

Hank- Kelsey Grammer's abortive/aborted sitcom.
Heroes- it gets [I would like ever so much to say "got". Soon. Maybe] worse and worse.
MTV- it has spawned/is spawning a generation of vacuous creatures that believe in fame for no good reason and unbridled materialism- Pimp my Hills Crib Makeover.

Things that gave me an upside-down-frown, in ascending order:

Supernatural - It started out as pulp horror-fantasy. It is still tongue-in-cheek, geeky and violent, lately it has gotten all Apocalypse and the storytelling has improved as well.
It's not Whedon, but it has pretty entertaining episodes and dark ideas. Throughout the series, my favourite touch has been that most of those possessed by the same demons ape the mannerisms and ticks of previously possessed.

Glee - 'Tis a musical-drama based in a high school.¹ Some of the cast were recruited from Broadway. The music alternates between pop and broadway numbers.² The show, she opened with a quirky pilot that finished with a, like, OMG [Mairtin places hands on his cheeks and stares, agape]. Since then, it has generally improved and fleshed out the supporting cast for the better. Nonetheless, the leading ladies (Lea Michelle and Jane Lynch) are hands down the best things about it.

Breaking Bad - Bryan Cranston is back on screen in the form of a shockingly over-qualified high school chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with lung cancer. It is a straight-up Greek tragedy and Cranston's Mr White becomes more glaringly tragic by the moment. It has solid acting (Cranston is a scary mo' fo'), storytelling and cinematography.

Dexter - And now, the best closer of '09.³ The show about the serial killer next door has been consistent. Albeit, somewhat on the safe side: That thing with Doakes in season 2 was the closest it came to Dexter's life/way of life being at risk, but it wasn't suspenseful enough.
Who you gonna call to turn it all the way up to 11?
Ladies and Gentlemen, our challenger, in the other red corner, weighing in at 250lbs and standing a looming 6 feet 4 inches... Jonathan f*ckin' Lithgow.⁴
An amazing season, the best one. The last few episodes gave me goosebumps!

Honourable mentions - Dollhouse, a slow (and now cancelled [4 episodes into its sophomore season]) burner that got better and better in season 1, culminating with a bad-ass 13th episode that wasn't even released in the States (WTF). True Blood, its cheesy and Eric Northman is so cool. Life, got 2 seasons out of it, poetic-murder solving to the sound of one hand.

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¹Not to be confused with A High School Musical, which is just lame and unlikely to comment on a girls lack of a gag reflex.
²My favourite is in the season finalé: "Don't Rain on my Parade" by Rachel (Lea Michelle)
³Not to be confused with The Closer TV show, which is pretty "meh."
⁴I'd give a link but I don't want to spoil things. For the curious search "hello dexter morgan" on yout Like Vietnam, "you don't know what it was like, [if] you weren't there!"