Happy ID4! Or, Mid-Year Review

Happy Independence Day Blogulator Radio listeners and Blogulator readers! We're taking the week off for the holiday festivities (read: fireworks and family and laziness), but we'll be back next week with another rip-roaring new episode full of complaining about television. 

In the meantime, though, if you just absolutely need your fix of Chris, Qualler, Brigitte, and/or Jerksica, we'd like to point you to some instances of us talking about the best and worst of the boob tube for 2012 thus far. Need something to listen to while you drive to your in-laws' BBQ, all the while staring blankly at corn fields off the interstate? Click on the one of the links below to save yourself from boredom before we return!

First off, if you feel like you're wayyyy behind on the best that TV has had to offer over the past year, check out our Best of 2011 episode, which runs down 20+ shows that you really should be caught up with. To get more specific, you should probably be aware of how much Qualler and Brigitte love The Vampire Diaries, and if you're a fan too, listen to our first all-TVD ep, the second one, and the more recent full-season review ep. Speaking of campy goodness, Chris and Jerksica (along with special guest Lady Amy) spent an episode confessing their love for Law & Order: SVU, which is topical considering all the basic cable L&O marathons going on during the week of July 4th. Qualler and Brigitte also checked in on the most recent season of Parenthood with some critical analysis combined with genuine adulation. Probably the one show that received the most praise from BR this year, however, was Game of Thrones, which you can hear blathering praise about here (following the premiere) and here (following the finale).  On the sitcom end of things, Chris and Jerksica had some nice things to say about the latest seasons of 30 Rock and Cougar Town, while Qualler and Brigitte loved Girls' first season on HBO. And then there's reality television, which has largely gotten the short shrift on the 'cast in 2012, with the exception of Qualler and Brigitte catching up on the Real Housewives and Chris and Jerksica's near-unexplainable love-hate relationship with The Voice's sophomore season, which is endlessly analyzed here and here. They make up for this mindlessness, though, with a thorough rehash of Mad Men's stellar long-awaited new season.

If you prefer more snark and cynicism in your television criticism, look no further than our Gossip Girl Revisited episode. Or how about Chris and Sean (of theblogulator.com) picking apart the madness and sometimes complete idiocy of The Walking Dead's second season? And if you want a second opinion about Mad Men's fifth season, look back at Qualler and Brigitte's take on the first couple episodes. But the biggest dose of snark and guffaws comes from Qualler and Brigitte's skewering of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom, which has seemingly already become a caricature of itself after only one episode, despite its Oscar and Emmy-winning creator.

Lastly, we should mention that you have the option of not dwelling in the past. Looking forward to the new shows the networks have lined up for fall of 2012? Check out our two-part episode previewing all the sordid drama and sitcom premises and casts right here: Part 1 & Part 2.

Hopefully between all these options (and more: there are also some classic TV discussions on Dawson's Creek, the best pilots of all time (featuring guest host Cory Barker), and the best instances of parenting on television) you can find something to keep yourself busy until we return next week with a look at the new seasons of Louie and Falling Skies! We'll talk at you then!

This entry was posted by chris, on Wednesday, July 04, 2012. You can leave your response.