Archive | November, 2011

Ranking the Shows That I Watch – 7: Archer

8 Nov

Archer is an FX cartoon by the creator of Adult Swim fixture Sealab 2021 about a super spy named Sterling Archer, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, who works for a private intelligence company called ISIS, run by his mother, Malory Archer.  The other main super secret agent is his ex, Lana, and they work with accountant Cyril, HR director Pam, secretary Cheryl and mad scientist Doctor Krieger.  Archer is a giant unabashed self-centered asshole who everybody mostly can’t stand but who is constantly making hilarious sarcastic comments at the office and throughout his super agent missions.  Much of the humor comes from Archer’s dickishness, and it’s unquestioned that he’s the primary reason that the show is so high but the supporting cast is consistently entertaining as well.

I liked the first season or Archer – I watched it all in one day, but, with all due respect to Archer, it was more because I had absolutely nothing to do that day than because I was absolutely and wholly consumed by Archer.  That said, I enjoyed it.  It was funny, pleasant, fun, and starred the never overrated vocal talents of one H. Jon Benjamin.  I watched it, remembered a few jokes here and there, and put it away in my brain, figuring I wouldn’t think much about it until the next season started.

Some number of months later the second season started, and I started watching weekly, and at the beginning I felt more or less the same way.  But as the season got maybe a third of the way through, almost at once, I realized that the show had made a bit leap that some shows make around this point in time  (Parks and Recreation, yet to come on this list, might be the best other recent example of this).  It’s certainly not as if old Archer was bad, and I’m also curious if going back and watching the old episodes, they’ll seem better than I remember them being.  That said, this Archer has just reached another level.

My friend invented the phrase “hit the jukebox” to be an opposite of the internet adage “jump the shark.”  When “jumping the shark” refers to a TV going over the hill, like Happy Days did after Fonzie jumped said shark, “hitting the jukebox” in when a TV show (or anything else really) goes into overdrive and really hits its stride.  Archer hit the jukebox and has not looked back.

Why It’s This High:  It’s funny, and it’s quotable is which one of the best compliments you can give to a comedy of this ilk

Why It’s Not Higher:  We’re at the rank where there aren’t too many ways to bash these shows.  It’s pretty much a crapshoot, and I could change my mind any time,  It’s more because I had more reasons for the shows above it at the time.  I suppose if I have to say anything, it’s just because it didn’t quite hit its absolutely top form until a dozen episodes ago or so.

Best episode of the most recent season:  Looking over the list of episodes, I’m reminded of just how excellent the last season was.  Realizing I don’t remember more about each episode makes me want to rewatch the entire season, but just reading each of the descriptions make me laugh.  I wish I could take the three episode arc aired this fall about Archer’s capture by pirates as one episode, but that would clearly be cheating so I’ll go with “Placebo Effect,” about Archer’s dealing with his diagnosis of breast cancer.  After he finds out that the drugs he’s been on are fake, he goes on a rampage, dragging around his IV, to figure out who was responsible for the fake drugs.  He turns his rampage into a film with the working title “Terms of En-Rampagement.”

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Power Rankings: M*A*S*H

7 Nov

(Power Rankings sum up:  Each week, we’ll pick a television show and rank the actors/actresses/contestants/correspondents/etc. based on what they’ve done after the series ended (unless we’re ranking a current series, in which case we’ll have to bend the rules).  Preference will be given to more recent work, but if the work was a long time ago, but much more important/relevant, that will be factored in as well)

It’s been almost three decades since the legendary finale of M*A*S*H aired and the cast had various levels of success since then.  You’ll see lots of Murder, She Wrote episodes, lots of TV movies (I continue to insist that TV movies have the best names around) and as I was familiar with fewer of the cast members than with other shows I’ve ranked, a genuinely surprising ordering.  Also typing M*A*S*H is incredibly irritating – thank goodness for find and replace.

11.  Gary Burghoff (as Walter Eugene “Radar” O’Reilly) – He was in a couple of episodes of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island as well as two of spinoff After M*A*S*H.  He was in an episode of Burke’s Law before taking a 15 year retirement, breaking it only to appear in Christian movie Daniel’s Lot in 2010.

10.  Loretta Swit (as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan) – Most of her post-M*A*S*H work was in TV movies.  These include The Execution, Sam, Miracle at Moreaux, 14 Going on 30, Dreams of Gold: The Mel Fisher Story, Hell Hath No Fury, A Matter of Principle and A Killer Among Friends.  She was in episodes of Batman, Murder She Wrote, Burke’s Law, Cow and Chicken and Diagnosis Murder.  She hasn’t worked in film or TV since the new millennium began.

9.  William Christopher (as Father John Francis Patrick Mulcahy) – He appeared in two seasons of After M*A*S*H as Father Mulcahy, and also in episodes of Murder, She Wrote, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Diagnosis Murder, Team Knight Rider and Mad About You.

8.  Jamie Farr (as Maxwell Q. Klinger) – He appeared in Cannonball Run II.  He starred for two seasons in M*A*S*H spinoff After M*A*S*H as Klinger.  He was in episodes of Murder She Wrote, Men Behaving Badly, Mad About You, Port Charles and Hey Arnold!  After years without work, he appeared in an episode of The War At Home in 2007 and TV movie A Grandpa for Christmas.

7. Larry Linville (as Frank Burns) – Burns left M*A*S*H after the fifth season.  The next year he co-starred in ridiculous sounding one season series Grandpa Goes to Washington with Jack Albertson.  He was in four Love Boat episodes, two of CHIPs, one of Lou Grant and two of The Jeffersons.  He was three Fantasy Island episodes and co-starred in the one season Paper Dolls, a primetime soap set in theNew York fashion industry.  He was in episodes of Airwolf, Riptide, Night Court, Dream On, A Different World, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and of course, three of Muder, She Wrote.  He was in Earth Girls are Easy.  Sadly, Linville passed away in 2000.

6. Harry Morgan (as Sherman T. Potter) – Morgan is the oldest major cast member, still kicking at the age of 96.  He was one of three cast members (with Farr and Christopher) to appear in spin off After M*A*S*H.  He was in a short-lived series with Hal Linden about a magician who solves crimes called Blacke’s Magic in 1986 (I really hope it’s as amazing as it sounds).  He also co-starred in a short-lived series based on the play You Can’t Take It With You.  Like many of the cast members, he was in an episode of Murder, She Wrote.  He was also in episodes of The Twilight Zone, Renegade, Grace Under Fire, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and three of 3rd Rock From the Sun.  He was also in TV movies 14 Going on 30, The Incident and Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore.

5.  Wayne Rogers (as John Francis Xavier “Trapper” McIntyre) – Rogers left M*A*S*H after three seasons.  After leaving M*A*S*H, he starred in one season Stephen J. Cannell detective show City of Angels and in 1979 began starring in three season CBS hospital drama House Calls with Lynn Redgrave and Sharon Gless.  He filled out the ‘70s and ‘80s with an impressive resume of TV movies, including but not limited to Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, Having Babies 2, The November Plan, It Happened One Christmas, He’s Fired She’s Hired, The Girl Who Spelled Freedom, Drop-Out Mother and One Terrific Guy and mini-series Chiefs.  He appeared in five episodes of Murder, She Wrote, as expected, and in single episodes of Diagnosis Murder and The Larry Sanders Show.  He now appears as a regular panel member on Fox News Channel investment show Cashin’ In, having made tons of money post M*A*S*H through investing.

4. McLean Stevenson (as Henry Blake) – Stevenson, like Wayne Rogers, left M*A*S*H after three seasons.  He finished out the ‘70s and early ‘80s with an incredible run of four one-season sitcoms.  First he starred in The McLean Stevenson Show, then In the Beginning, then Hello Larry and finally in Condo in 1983.  Wikipedia adds the particularly harsh statement that “All four sitcoms were dismissed by audiences and lambasted by critics.”(lambasted! ouch!)  He appeared in six episodes of Diff’rent Strokes as his Hello, Larry character.  He guested in four episodes of The Love Boat, one of Golden Girls and three of beloved childhood learning program (to me) Square One TV.  He also appeared in the one season Dirty Dancing show, based on the film (with Melora Hardin in the Jennifer Grey role).  He guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 58 times, into the mid-80s.  He sadly passed away in 1996 at the age of 68.

3. Mike Farrell (as B.J. Honnicut) – He spent the ‘80s working in TV movies, from Memorial Day to Choices of the Heart to Private Sessions, Vanishing Act, A Deadly Silence, Incident at Dark River, The Price of the Bride and as JFK in J.F.K.: A One Man Show.  He was in episodes of Murder, She Wrote like all good M*A*S*H cast members and Coach and two of Matlock.  He was back to TV movie work in the ‘90s, with appearances in Silent Motive, Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die, Vows of Deception and Sins of the Mind.  He voiced Jonathan Kent, Superman’s dad in Superman in 9 episodes.  He co-starred in NBC’s five seasonProvidenceas Dr. Jim Hansen, the father of main character Dr. Sydney Hansen.  He was in episodes of Smith, Without a Trace, Ghost Whisperer, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Miami Medical and three of Desperate Housewives.

2.  David Ogden Stiers (as Charles Emerson Winchester III) – He was in The Innocents Abroad episode of Great Performances and in TV movies Anatomy of an Illness and The Bad Seed.  He co-starred in two editions of popular ‘80s civil war miniseries North and South.  He co-starred in several made for television Perry Mason movies as DA Michael Reston in the mid-to-late ‘80s.  He was in two episodes of ALF, three of Matlock and TV movies Day One, Final Notice, The Kissing Place, How To Murder a Millionaire and Wife, Mother, Murderer.  He was in single episodes of Wings, Married People, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Jack’s Place.  He was in movies such as The Accidental Tourist, Meet Wally Sparks and Jungle 2 Jungle and in Woody Allen films Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.  He had several major voice roles in Disney films Beauty and the Beast as Cogsworth, Pocahontas as Governor Ratcliffe, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Atlantics; The Lost Empire and Lilo & Stitch.  He was in three episodes of Murder, She Wrote, 13 episodes of Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place and 13 of short-lived show Love & Money.  He was in four episodes of Bull and three episodes of Stargate: Atlantis.  He was in forty episodes, half of the run, of USA’s The Dead Zone in the mid-00s as Reverend Eugene Purdy.

1.  Alan Alda (as Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce) – I think the top three are really close – they’re a tier above the rest of the cast members, and I had a hard time deciding between them.  I gave Alda the slight edge because the show in which he appeared regularly in the ’00s was the most well known, even though he appeared in the fewest episodes.  Alda’s been active since M*A*S*H ended in 1983.  He appeared in a couple of Woody Allen movies, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Crimes and Misdemeanors and Everyone Says I Love You.  He appeared in Murder at 1600, Canadian Bacon and TV movie and And the Band Played On.  He was in Mad City, The Object of My Affection, What Women Want and appeared as Senator Brewster in The Aviator.  He was in five episodes of ER and 28 of The West Wing as moderate Republican presidential candidate of Senator Arnold Vinick.  He was in three episodes of 30 Rock as Alec Baldwin’s possible father and in three of The Big C.  He’s now in Tower Heist as a Bernie Madoff-like figure.

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Fall 2011 Review: Enlightened

5 Nov

When I started HBO’s Enlightened I knew less than I do about most shows going on.  The premise is told in the first ten minutes or so of the episode.  Laura Dern is a high-powered corporate manager who has been sleeping with a married colleague and has a high-profile extremely embarrassing nervous breakdown at the office in which she curses out several co-workers.  She goes to breakdown/stress rehab, whatever the technical name for that is, in which she relaxes in tropical climates for a while and learns to access her inner chi and relaxation techniques and shit like that.  She comes home newly centered and tries to put her life right again, back at work, with her ex-fuck buddy, with her mom, played by Diane Ladd, and with her ex-husband, played by Luke Wilson.  The show is created by Mike White who I know best for writing School of Rock, but who has also written such classics as Nacho Libre, Orange County and The Good Girl.

It’s a half hour comedy, but it’s more in the vein of a makes-you-smile Entourage style comedy than a laugh out loud comedy.  That said, it didn’t make me smile all that much.  This is largely because I couldn’t stand the main character.  I have no problem with Laura Dern as an actress, but her character, Amy Jellicoe, when she comes back from rehab has this hippy-dippy, uber-positive, meditative and vaguely cosmicly spiritual personality which I find to be one of the most irritating personality archetypes out there.  Since, so far at least, she pretty was the show, and was in every scene, there wasn’t much else.  Not only would I find her incredibly obnoxiously in real life, I really don’t want to spend a half hour a week with her on screen either.

Enlightened was already off to a bad start and there was simply nothing else that pulled me in about the show.  I could buy feeling bad for someone who had a nervous breakdown, and watching her search for redemption but not when she acts like that when she’s trying to claw her way back.  The supporting characters were fine.  I didn’t have any particularly strong feelings about that one way or the other.

There’s certainly a chance they’ll tone her oppressive personality down as the season wears on and she starts acting more within the realm of the normal, and that certainly wouldn’t hurt the chance of the series actually being good.  In some comedies though it feels like if they could just remove a couple of small kinks, the show would be off and running.  The essential premise here isn’t the problem, but the level of tuning up needed here to make the show a success far exceeds a couple of kinks.  If New Girl is an oil change and a new set of tires from being good, Enlightened needs a new transmission (the analogy is admittedly a stretch, particularly because I don’t know enough about cars; just go with it).

Will I watch it again?  No, I’m not going to.  If I take a peek in later during the season, I’ll hope they’d made her character a little more tolerable, but even then I’d need a little bit more to make it compelling viewing.

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Show of the Day: Cowboy Bebop

4 Nov

As people who actually know anything anime go, I don’t really know very much at all.  As people who know nothing about anime go, I know a relatively fair amount.  I watched very little until I was in college, only a little bit of what was on Cartoon Network’s Toonami or Adult Swim, mostly Dragonball Z.  I started watching it when it turned out a good number of my college friends were high ups in our school’s anime club.  I never got into it the way the most devoted club members were, but every once in a while a show would come along that captivated me, and I would download it and watch the rest.

Anime, unsurpsingly to me, is like most television.  There’s a lot of it, some of it is bad, most of it is mediocre, and some of it is very good.  That said, some of it is easier to get into for people who aren’t into anime or even animation than others.  Some are more approachable series for novices to dip their toes in the japanimated water.

If there’s one series that from my limited anime experience, but my ability to appreciate learning to become an anime fan, would serve as a good opening note, it’s Cowboy Bebop.  Many animes have a limited number of episodes, which makes for relatively easy viewing, and Cowboy Bebop has a mere 26 (of course, some, like Dragonball Z with 291, are the exact opposite).  It’s a space western, in the spirit of shows like Firefly (which it preceded), which is basically what it sounds like – a show with a western feel in terms of wide open spaces and lawlessness but set, well, in space.  It’s only loosely serial as  most episodes stand on their own, with the exception of a few at the beginning and the end and a couple in between.  It aired in 1998-99 and features four main characters, two bounty hunters, Spike and Jet who travel around space on missions, and Faye, an attractive gambling addict and fugitive, and Ed, a young computer hacker girl, who join the ship later.

Cowboy Bebop is an action adventure show, and the plots are accessible and interesting, with a mix of comedy, action and drama.  Generally each episode features the gang trying to capture one bounty, complete with pratfalls and dangers along the way.  The major on-going plot involves Spike and his relationship with his ex-Crime Syndicate partner Vicious (yeah, that name should probably be a sign you’re not dealing with somebody great).  The animation style is relatively similar to American animation for an anime.  This is largely not coincidence, as the style is geared towards looking distinctly American, though a bit old-timey, with a 1940s and ‘50s film noir feel.  The theme sequence, displayed below, is also fantastic and has received praise on its own regard.

As someone who hasn’t watched an anime series almost since college, I shouldn’t really be advocating anything to do with anime, but one of the benefits of this blog is that I’ve pored over lots of TV I’ve watched over the years and put aside, remembering some shows I haven’t thought about in years but loved.  I’ve also tried out new TV I probably wouldn’t have given a chance before.  Basically, if you’ve never given anime a chance and you’re at least ever so slightly interested, Cowboy Bebop is a very good way to go.

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Ranking the Shows That I Watch – 8: The Venture Bros.

3 Nov

Venture Bros is a comedy and has a humorous tone at all times but takes its complicated web of continuity as seriously as any show I can ever remember on televison.  This ridiculously confusing continuity is one of the strongest aspects of the show.  What’s interesting about it is that it’s not as if all of it was planned out back when the show began; the writers seem to make something up, and then they keep that in mind when they work on later episodes and work around the changes they made.  It seems like this make-it-up-as-you-go philosophy would never work, and feel slapdash (and ill-prepared – Lost, Heroes, anyway) but it just about never does feel forced.   It feels very natural and thorough in a way that might be difficult to plot out from the beginning.

Venture Bros. is the story of an egotistical scientist (Venture and the next show on this list and their arrogant main characters have a fair amount in common) Dr. Rusty Venture who was the son of an uber-popular super scientist and struggles with not living up to that legacy.  He has two sons, Hank and Dean, the titular Venture Bros., and a bodyguard Brock Sampson.  They have to contend with Rusty’s arch-villain The Monarch, bent on Venture’s destruction along with other villains like Baron Underbite and Phantom Limb.  The show as a whole is a humorous take on programs like Johnny Quest and it’s silly and ridiculous, but it is so much more than simply a parody.  The Venture Bros. lives in a world where villains are governed by an organization known as the Guild of Calamitous Intent which has rules, such as forcing villains to temporary release their captives for certain medical emergencies.

Plot is central in the Venture Bros, but not in a true serial way – many episodes have plots which mostly are only relevant in their episode, even though anything mentioned is always fair grounds for a reference or to come back unexpectedly in later episodes.  Some forces like Brisby and the Orange County Liberation Front pretty much never show up again, but sometimes characters that initially seem like one-offs like Sergeant Hatred go out and become semi-major characters.  Because of the way episodes are often very non-serial even throughout a complicated continuing storyline, Venture Bros. has some episodes that are all-time classic and warrant frequent re-watches.

Why It’s This High:  There’s really no other show like it on TV – it’s fantastically irreverent, makes you smile without always being laugh out loud funny and a joy to watch

Why it’s not higher:  Really, the only common bane of any of the shows this high on the list – episode to episode consistency – the top episodes are better – that, and some overuse of gay characters Shore Leave and Sky Pilot, but that’s a small complaint

Best episode of the most recent season:  A few stand out, but it comes down to two.  First, the first episode of the season, which skips around in time, and does it as brilliantly as any show or movie told with this device, with the ordering of the scenes is denoted by the value of an expensive comic book Dean has.  Second, which is my official choice, is “Everybody Comes to Hank’s,” a film noir homage.  While often the best episodes of the show involve utilizing many of the wide universe of characters Venture Bros. has to choose from, this episode focuses on very few characters, primarily Hank who acts as a gumshoe solving the case of why his friend Dermott didn’t get picked up by his mother, and in the process, figuring out whether Dermott is Brock’s son.  He does this along with his sidekick, the Alchemist, a member of The Order of the Triad who gets some good screen time here.  Anyway, the noir is spot on and some big time plot details come out of the episode in the process.

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The Zeljko Ivanek Hall of Fame: James Rebhorn

2 Nov

(The Zeljko Ivanek Hall of Fame is where we turn the spotlight on a television actor or actress, and it is named after their patron saint, Zeljko Ivanek)

Known for playing WASP-y characters and authority figures, James Rebhorn is a character actor legend.  He’s spent thirty years acting in over 100 films and television shows, remarkably getting more busy as he’s gotten older.  Many words could be spilled on his fine film work, but we’ll concentration here on his television roles.

Rebhorn’s first role came in an episode of television show The Doctors in 1977.  He didn’t work for a couple of years, with his next role coming in an episode of Texasin 1981 and then in TV movies Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Libby (seriously a movie?) and Sessions.  He appeared in an episode of Guiding Light, as “Man on Phone” in TV movie “He’s Fired, She’s Hired” (I swear TV movies have the best names) and in ABC Weekend Special episode, “The Adventures of Con Sawyer and Hucklemary Finn.”  When TV mini-series ruled the world in the mid-80s, he appeared in small roles in Jeffrey Archer adaptation Kane and Abel and North and South.  He appeared in an episode of soap Search for Tomorrow and two episodes of Kate & Allie, Spenser: For Hire and The Equalizer.  He also appeared in TV movies Rockabye, A Deadly Business, and Kojak: The Price of Justice.  He finished the 1980s with roles in the Our Town episode of Great Performances, a role in ABC Afterschool Special “A Town’s Revenge” and in Kojak: Ariana (as a different character than in the previous Kojak).

He started the next decade with constant TV movie work as well with roles in kids classic Sarah, Plain and Tall, Plymouth, Dead or Alive: The Race for Gus Farace (Tony Danza played mobster Farace) and Kojak: Fatal Flaw (same role as in Kojak: Ariana).  He was in three episodes of Wiseguy, one Against the Law, and one I’ll Fly Away and yet more TV movies including Deadly Matrimony, J.F.K.: Reckless Youth, and Mistrial.  He was in episodes of The Adventures of Pete & Pete and The Wright Verdicts and TV miniseries The Buccaneers.  In the late 1990s, he worked in an episode of New York Undercover and in TV movie A Bright Shining Lie and in an episode of astronaut miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.  He also had the notable role of playing the district attorney in the final episode of Seinfeld who prosecutes the four main characters for violating their duty to rescue by watching a fat man get carjacked.  Rebhorn calls as witnesses to the stand various characters who Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer offended over the course of the show.

As the ‘00s began, Rebhorn appeared in two episodes of Now & Again, two episodes of The Practice, in one episode of UC: Undercover and in TV movie Amy & Isabelle.  He was in six episodes of Third Watch, two of David Morse led Hack and in TV miniseries Reversible Errors based on a Scott Turow novel and also starring William H. Macy and Tom Selleck.  He was a main cast member in 2006’s controversial The Book of Daniel, in which Daniel, played by Aidan Quinn is a Reverend who is addicted to painkillers and sees hallucinations of Jesus.  Rebhorn plays Daniel’s father.  He appeared in Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Candles on Bay Street starring Alicia Silverstone, in an episode of the short-lived The Knights of Prosperity, and in Larry McMurtry novel adaptation miniseries Comanche Moon on CBS.  He was a recurring character in Law & Order most notable for playing defense attorney Charles Garnett in five episodes.  He also played a serial killer in second season episode “Vengeance” and a doctor who participated in a botched lethal injection in season 18 episode “Executioner.”

He was in one Canterbury’s Law, two Boston Legals, and one Royal Pains.  He portrayed Dr. Kaplan in two episodes of 30 Rock, a dentist at whose office Tiny Fey meets British Wesley played by Michael Sheen.  Rebhorn co-starred in one-season Comedy Central series Big Lake with Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell.  He currently has a recurring role in USA’s White Collar as Reese Hughes, Peter and Neal’s boss in the FBI’s White Collar division.  He also appeared in the most recent episode of Homeland as Claire Daines character Carrie Mathison’s father.

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Rankings the Shows That I Watch – 9: Justified

1 Nov

Justified is part of a two-some of shows, along with Terriers, which proceeded Justified on this list, that are examples of what USA shows could be without their inherent USA limitations.  They’re shows that very much feel like the “characters welcome” brand of USA show except unleashed to be a little darker, a little bit more serial and generally just feel like the creators have a little bit more control over them.

Justified is a show that grew on me over the course of the last season, which was significantly better than an already solid first season.  Part of what makes the show so enjoyable is the wonderful Timothy Olyphant, who yes, maybe always plays a type, as the tough, speak-softly-but-carry-a-gun honest guy with attitude, but plays it as well as anyone.

The show tries to posit as the second most interesting character Boyd Crowder, played by Walter Goggins, who was apparently in the Shield, a massively long show that I have not dared attempt yet.  Fowler was the primarily antagonist for most of the first season going from a work-a-day Dixie mafia leader to a crazy quasi-religious drug runner.  I knew the creators of Justified wanted to keep Fowler as a character long after the season, but I thought it would either seem forced or repetitive as shows often do when they keep around an interesting character past his or her expiration date (is Sylar still alive?), and to the show’s credit it hasn’t felt that way as Fowler has transitioned from someone seeking honest work to a gangster again, but one who ends up on the same side as Olyphant’s Raylon Givens at the end of the season.

The second season was greatly enhanced by the increased emphasis on a serial plot which was spread out over the course of the season.  The key antagonists in the second season were the Bennett clan, a Dixie mafia family who control their local county (fittingly named Bennett county).  Ma Bennett was the matriarch, and she had three sons, one of whom was the local police chief.  (By the way, I credit Justified along with Winter’s Bone for learning what the fuck the Dixie mafia is and being scared that these people could command police forces.)  The other two are mostly kind of moronic henchmen, one of whom is played by the always enjoyable Jeremy Davies, who is hilarious to hear in a southern redneck accent.  Ma Bennett is portrayed by Margo Martindale, who won an Emmy for her role (for whatever that’s worth) and actually deserved it.

Why it’s this high:  Olyphant is fantastic, the show sets a nice western tone, and Ma Bennett was a great villain

Why it’s not higher:  I greatly enjoy this show, but it lacks the scope and maybe a little bit of the depth behind Breaking Bad, Mad Men or Game of Thrones (not to give away shows coming up on the list)

Best episode of the most recent season:  “Bloody Harlan” – the season long plot more or less ends in the final episode of the second season and shit goes down.  I won’t reveal exactly what happens, but the ending is fairly final and satisfying without feeling cheap or implausible in context.

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