30 Days of Television - Day 02

A show that you wish more people were watching

There aren't a lot of shows that I watch that aren't extremely popular. The ones that are obscure are typically ones that I find on Netflix after they're cancelled (you know, like Terriers). I also don't follow the ratings, so I don't know what shows I watch NEED more viewers to be sure they get renewed. However, that's not what the prompt is asking.

Just what show I wish more watched....

ABC's new show "Secrets and Lies" is one of the shows that fits Hollywood's new theme of "shows we've taken from other countries and just put our actors in them". This one comes from Austrailia and dang if it isn't good (in a lot of ways it's a lot like Fox's Gracepoint which was a knock off of the British show Bridgeport... NBC is also hoping to get in on the craze this fall with their "new" show Game of Silence which is based off a Turkish drama). We're six episodes into the 10 episode series. It's a mid-season series, so it's short and most likely won't see a second season. So get it while you can!

The story follows Ben Crawford (played by Ryan Phillippe) who we meet as he's running out of the woods panicked and calling for help. He's just found a young boy's body in the woods - turns out it's his neighbor's kid. Because he found the body the cops immediately focus their attention on Crawford. As he tries to clear his name and prove his innocence his and the neighborhood's secrets are revealed. Phillippe is surprisingly sympathetic in the lead role, and Juliette Lewis is an incredibly good antagonist in the cop pursuing him. I keep waiting for her to give a line like "we're not driving all the way out here just so you can buy one of those stupid ties with the Santa Clauses on it", but somehow I don't think she's going to be very Audrey Griswold in this role.

A quick glance at the wikipedia page for the show, shows that ratings aren't good. So, come on people, watch! I have no doubt it will finish out the 10 episodes, but I wouldn't mind a second season. I mean, if William Shatner can stand to watch it, can't you?

30 Days of Television - Day 01

Show that shouldn't have been cancelled

Oh there are so many shows that I've been sad to see go - Shark, Smash, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland... to name a few. But I think I have to go with the show that I just rewatched for the countless time... and that's the 13 episode long FX series Terriers. The show aired in 2010 and starred Donal Logue (Gotham) and Michael Raymond-James (Once Upon A Time). It wasn't your typical crime drama - in was kind the anti-hero version of a crime drama - and the two played a couple of down on their luck Private Investigators. The show had nothing to do with yappy little dogs, but was a metaphor for the two main characters' outlook on life.

The dry humor is what gets me, every time. Doesn't matter how many times I see it, I still crack up at the antics and sarcasm. It's the perfect show for me. It got great reviews from critics and viewers alike, but it was poorly marketed by the network and the title was... misleading? A title that has to be explained isn't a good one, IMO, but then again I'm not in the business. However I remember when the show was being promoted as a "must watch" and thinking I knew nothing about it and therefore wasn't interested.

My favorite character is, of course, Britt Pollack played by Raymond-James. He's an "ex-con" who saw the error of his ways and partners up with an ex-cop to work the PI beat. He lives with his girlfriend Katie - whom he met after robbing her house and seeing her picture and thinking she was cute, so she looked her up at the bar she worked at - and we meet the couple dealing with the idea of possibly moving on to become parents. Katie wants a baby, Britt not so much. So he's in a foul mood in the opening scene of the series. Still he's pretty good natured throughout the show and definitely has the best lines. His story is relate-able and compelling, and you can't help but cheer for him.

His buddy (both on the show and in real life), Hank Dolworth played by Donal Logue, is an ex cop who had to leave the force due to his drinking problem. He was drinking on the job, and screwed up a major rape case that got him forced out. Just before that, he met Britt who was caught trying to jack a car. At some point the two partner up and we get to witness them foul up and save the day for 13 awesome episodes.





The only reason I watched it 4 years after it was cancelled and on Netflix was because I fell in love with MRJ in Once Upon A Time and needed something else of his to watch. I wish I'd seen it as it aired, though I have a feeling I'd have been very angry that it didn't get picked up for a full season. Though maybe if more folks had watched it, it'd have made it.

So I'll just keep hoping that FX brings it back for a special event, as there have been rumors for a while now... Donal has found success on Fox's Gotham, and MRJ is currently working on a new show hoping to be picked up for the NBC fall line up "Game of Silence" sounds like a GREAT show. Really have high hopes for him and the show.

Welcome back, Ultimate Survival Alaska!

Tonight marked the premiere for Nat Geo's reality based competition "Ultimate Survival Alaska". In the third season, we see the competition hasn't changed much from last year... though there's more of a female presence and this year we have a team of nothing but Cheechakos! What does that give us? TONS OF WHINING to start out the new season.


The teams started out heading to the first USAlaska flag by either crossing an ice covered lake or go around it. These competitions are held in late spring/early summer in Alaska. The lake ice is sketchy at best, still we see both Team Endurance (led by Dallas Seavey) and Team Military head out as it's the quickest way to the flag. After all, this competition is all about the win -  nothing else matters. Nevermind there's not a huge cash prize at the ends, they get bragging rights.

Not 10 minutes in, Dallas Seavey - two time Iditarod champion - falls through the ice. It's a dramatic moment like only reality can bring. The dude is soaked from head to toe, so of course we get a quick striptease where we get to enjoy the sight of his albino chicken chest for a split second or two. Both teams on the ice do make it to the flag without any other incident and exchange a few friendly verbal jabs at each other.

Meanwhile I can't recall them showing Team Alaska much at all in the first half, which is sad because Marty and Tyler are both incredibly popular with the Survival Alaska fandom (even though Marty drives me nuts) but this season is all about the Endurance-Military rivalry which they've made quite clear and typically remind us several times every quarter hour. We get it. Grady's ticked that Dallas won last year. We get it, he wants to beat him. We get it, Dallas only knows how to win. WE GET IT.

The way they break up the intense rivalry, is with the "comedic" (read MORONIC) relief given to us by the non Alaskan team of Team Lower 48. For two hours we're stuck watching the team scream and curse at each other all the while getting lost and being slower than slow. They are the very definition of Cheechako, and it's a total waste of screen time.

Thankfully we get less of the rivalry and more of Team Alaska in the second hour of the premiere - but only because Tyler nearly collides with a teammate while skiing down a very scary mountainside. And all the while we get to listen to the Lower 48 team continue to argue and scream and curse and otherwise annoy the crap out of the audience.

If they could be disqualified in the next episode that would be GREAT.

Dallas demonstrates the danger of a
dog cooker during the Wildride
Sled Dog Rodeo. Summer 2008

There's no dog sled portion in the first episode (though judging by previews next week we'll get that), but Dallas still managed to bring his mushing skills to the table with the construction of his "dog cooker" which is a high heat cooking pot that mushers use to heat up water and food for the dogs (and themselves). We watch him construct one out of a coffee can, and he cooks up a lovely meal of beans and rice on a mountain side as his teammates look on with admiration and praise. Ah. Alaska at its best.

Meanwhile we get to see common sense once again go out the window as the Military team hits the glacier. Their newbie to their group decides that since he's never worn crampons, he doesn't want to try and wear them as they cross the ice with giant crevasses on each side. Shockingly several steps in he slips and slides into the crevasse - thankfully his team knows how to belay and gets him out of the jam. Whew. They tell him to put the crampons on. Why they didn't enforce that to start off with I don't understand.  I'm sensing this will be a theme throughout the whole show. Yay.

I will say that this season premiere kept my attention the entire two hours, unlike last season that I never did finish watching. I'm sure I find more to snark at than I should based on the fact that I do know a lot of it may not be fake, but is staged for dramatic effect or because the cameras didn't capture it as it happened... plus knowing one of the main players in the competition it's hard NOT to find everything overly humorous. It's not like these guys don't know that they're needing to be a little more like caricatures so that fans are entertained. Dallas and Marty are experts at it by now. Marty was somewhat subdued in this episode, but I'm sure we'll see him steal the show in no time.

Endurance clearly has the edge at this point - even with the missteps they had in this episode. Military is right on their heels though.. so far, but we know with this show anything can change. I don't expect Endurance to win. It wouldn't make for good TV.

But we'll see.