Blogulator Radio 80: Santa Klaus Is Coming To Town: A Vampire Diaries Roundtable

Click here for an important discussion on vampire zombies / zombie vampires.

Qualler and Brigitte invite The AV Club's Carrie Raisler (@TVandDinners) and Blogulator correspondent Chris Castro (@sarCCastro) to talk about all things season four of CW's stalwart series The Vampire Diaries. The four of them discuss such relevant topics like: Whoa, Jeremy's looking pretty jacked lately--has he been working out? Why can't Bonnie stop being a walking plot device? We haven't seen Klaus lately--could he be the real Santa (K)laus? They also talk about more specific plot-related things like, why can't the writers of the show just let Damon & Elena's budding relationship develop? Why must they constantly tell us that them dating is a bad thing? Sire-bonding? Come on. Seriously. Also, why is all of this love triangle stuff so strongly overshadowing the relatively well-constructed "main" arc of the season involving the totally-not-shady-but-yes-shady Professor Shane? Will "the experience" mean there will finally be zombies on the show? What would a zombie vampire be like? If a zombie bit a vampire, what would it turn into, and vice versa? We tackle all of these topics and more in our hour-long Vampire Diaries roundtable. Enjoy.

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The Blogulator Presents: Episode of the Month, July, 2012

It's been a busy last couple of months for the Blogulator crew, what with all the TV to watch! (And a few real life things, so back off.) They've squeezed in a few favorite episodes for the month of July (wait, how is it mid-August already? What is happening with time? Where am I?) and below are some of the crew's favorite episodes of TV that aired at the year's slightly-after-midpoint. And because we were all too Minnesota Nice to each other, none of us picked any episodes of Breaking Bad to write about.

Bunheads "Movie Truck" (ABC Family)

We missed doing an Episode of the Month post for June, but if we did, it would have been "For Fanny," the second episode of Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's new show, hands down. It took an infuriating twist from the pilot and did something extraordinary with it, imbuing a comic dialogue-driven drama with more genuine emotional heft than it really had any right to being a show on ABC Family. But we missed June, so I'll settle for "Movie Truck," which was more classic quirky Sherman-Palladino, but did something very important that the show has taken its sweet time doing: making me care about the teenagers. Michelle and her mother-in-law Fanny have been a pretty ideal odd couple pairing and anchor for the show, but they've been trying to shoehorn in stories of Fanny's dance students since the pilot with little success. This time, however, with a simple sneaking-out-of-the-house-after-dark scenario, we get to know Boo, Sasha, and the other two (okay, so some work is still needed) in ways that actually have made me want to see Michelle actually teach them and get excited for future episodes. [Chris]

Louie, "Daddy's Girlfriend Pt. 2" (FX)

Every episode of Louie's third season to date has been fantastic in its own way. Scenes like the season premiere's surprise parked-car-smashing scene, or the second episode's Gorilla joke, third episode's bar conversation between C.K. and his vacation bromance buddy, or "Daddy's Girlfriend Pt. 1" and its extensive use of Louie's "looking at pretty girls" music are among the highlights of the season thus far. But "Daddy's Girlfriend Pt. 2" has been the season's best to date. Parker Posey turns the Manic Pixie Dream Girl meme on its head by delivering as Emmy-worthy of a guest performance as one can possibly deliver. She's alternately terrifying, hilarious, tragic and life-affirming all in one episode. Woody Allen film editor vet Susan Morse has been this season's primary editor and has improved the general "independent film" feel of the show this season, but this was the most Allen-esque episode of all, what with C.K. and Posey walking around New York together in an Annie Hall-twisted-inside-out kind of way. And it ends with a moment of grace, with Posey sitting on the ledge of the building and affirming her love of life, and ending with a beautiful shot of Manhattan at night. I'm a sucker for those things, so naturally, I'm a sucker for this episode. [Qualler]

Bunheads, "What's Your Damage, Heather?" (ABC Family)

First off, use a quote from Heathers as your episode title and you're almost guaranteed to get some love from me. Secondly, this is the second episode in a row with almost no Kelly Bishop (last episode she had a quick on the phone cameo and this episode Sutton Foster had an imaginary argument with the Kelly Bishop in her head). And while I absolutely love Bishop, her absence really allows the rest of the cast to shine. Foster truly comes into her own in this episode, trying to not lose her mind teaching all the dance classes, being a surrogate mom (against her will) to the spoiled, yet troubled Sasha, then getting heat from the parent of one of her students. She also hired the one-eyed plumber that the whole town knows you never hire to do plumbing (they just use him to "keep an eye on things"). All in all, another hilarious episode that manages to tug on the heartstrings so sneakily, I found myself laughing just as I was tearing up. If this show goes away, I'm going to be so heartbroken. [Sarc]

The Importance Of Being Honest

Mindy Riggins just wants to be your Shih Tzu.

I hate The Newsroom. People ask me why I watch it if I hate it so much. The answer is simple: It's the summer and there's not much else on. If The Newsroom aired this fall, there is no way I'd be watching it. I probably still would have watched the pilot, out of curiosity. But that would've been it. Sunday night's normally a crowded night for television and this fall will be no different with The Good Wife, Revenge and other popular shows (like The Walking Dead, Boardwalk Empire and Dexter) all airing at 9pm, then Homeland and Treme airing at 10pm. Granted, The Newsroom would take the timeslot of Treme or Boardwalk Empire on HBO, but, in either case, there are shows airing at 9 and 10 I'd watch twice before even thinking about watching The Newsroom instead.

But, it is the summer and even though Breaking Bad airs at the same time The Newsroom does, there's not much else showing on television the rest of the week. I think the only other shows I watch during the week now are Louie, Futurama and the new ABC Family show, Bunheads. So, given the dearth of programming during these summer months, I'm not exactly forcing myself to watch The Newsroom. It's just that it happens to be a train wreck fascinating enough to watch when there's not much else going on. In fact, I'd say it was a brilliant move on HBO's part, airing it at this time of the year. I'm sure it would have gotten trounced if it aired in the fall or spring. It certainly wouldn't be getting the amount of attention that it does now. I know I certainly wouldn't be writing about it as I am now.

In fact, I'd much rather write about Bunheads. Much like The Newsroom, Bunheads was created and mostly written by a TV creator known for writing verbose and witty dialogue designed to be delivered at a fast pace. Amy Sherman-Palladino's most beloved TV show aired for six years way back at the turn of the century. Much like Newsroom creator Aaron Sorkin, her attempts to get other shows off the ground, after she left her most beloved creation behind, were not well recieved. With Bunheads, Sherman-Palladino has decided to err on the side of caution and go with what worked before: an unconventional outsider of a protagonist finds herself living in a quaint and quirky small town filled with charming oddballs. (Sorkin also stuck with what he's familiar with on television: a behind-the-scenes workplace dramedy filled with office romances and big issue sermonizing.)

Bunheads has turned into a delightful show, even though Sherman-Palladino's first few episodes were awkward, what with her machinations to get the main character, Michelle (played by Sutton Foster) into the small town of "Paradise"(*sigh*...I know, right?) and concocting a semi-believable reason for her to stay (the man she drunkenly married who wisked her away to Paradise dies in a car crash and inherits all his possessions, including the house his mother lives in and the dance studio wherein she teaches). Once that mess of a premise has been mostly dealt with, and even in the midst of all that cleaning up, that old familiar fast-talking, hilarious dialogue and charm reminiscent of Gilmore Girls shined through brilliantly.

While other shows have tried to capture the whimsical and light-hearted tone of Gilmore Girls (the recent CW show Hart Of Dixie springs to mind) none of them have been able to duplicate whatever magic Sherman-Palladino seems to have pouring out of her fingers. All the characters in the town of Paradise are almost instantly fascinating and/or endearing. From the laidback surf-doggy of a bar-owner to the tightly wound dress shop owner, Truly, who was in love with Michelle's now deceased husband. Bunheads is so expertly cast, written and performed that it's been six whole episodes for me to realize that Truly is played by Stacey Oristano who portrayed the vastly different character "Mindy Collette/Riggins," the sometimes stripper that married Billy Riggins on Friday Night Lights!

Anyways, it's hard to relate just what makes this show so special and wonderful, so here's some dialogue of the desperately lonely, yet adorable Truly trying to convince Michelle to let her tagalong on Michelle's birthday adventure with her best friend from Las Vegas:

"You know, sometimes, when you're going out, the two of you, it's nice to have another person along, to watch your bag if you get up to dance or watch the bathroom door if you need to use the Men's Room? A third person, LIKE IN CHARLIE'S ANGELS! There were three of them."

"Yeah, but only two stayed on the show for the entire run, so, really there were only two."

"There were three in the pictures?"

"Yeah, but only two in loyalty and spirit."

"But three in reality and number, I was thinking if you need a third-"

"We don't-"

"I could come along-"

"Two's fine-"

"And watch the Men's Room door for you."

Then Michelle's friend says to bring Truly along, "She's cute, like a purse dog. It'll be like having a Shih Tzu."

"Oh, please! Please let me be your Shih Tzu!" Then, Truly covers her face with the head of a teddy bear because she's so excited.

The happiness and joy of the characters on Bunheads is infectious. It gives me a warm feeling inside and puts a genuine smile upon my face. It's become one of the most enjoyable shows I've seen this year.

Now, there's an earnestness to the characters on Bunheads that I find easy to believe. Mostly because there are at least one or two characters at any given time looking at these other characters like they're from another planet. There's a lot of sarcasm on the show and it's well-placed and timed to keep the show from becoming over-saccharine or too fantastical. Sherman-Palladino knows how to look at this world through slightly disbelieving eyes, like it's too good to be true. That viewpoint never wavers in the face of all the wackiness and it makes Bunheads easy and enjoyable to watch without rolling one's eyes constantly.

Rolling my eyes has become a constant reaction to the things characters say and do on The Newsroom. Much like Sherman-Palladino, Sorkin likes to construct fantasy worlds wherein his characters are earnest, hard-working, super-great at their jobs and are always, always right in the face of so many others who are always wrong and bad and evil. This wasn't really a problem with shows like The West Wing or Sports Night because the worlds of those shows existed in their own little fictional bubble. The issues they dealt with were similar to things that occur in real life, but they weren't so close to home as to make dealing with those issues come across as unseemly. The Newsroom, however, is supposed to exist in our world.

The reason this doesn't work is because it makes "News Night"(*groan*...I know, right? It's literally the title of the show within the show of "Sports Night" but with "News" instead of "Sports!" Come on, Sorkin!) a time machine for Sorkin to use at will to concoct narratives that somehow flow into certain news events and make the protagonists of this show seem righteous and trailblazing. Take the episode from two weeks ago. The lead character, Will McAvoy has been attacking Republicans and the NRA about their stance on gun control. And, lo and behold, at the end of the episode, Congresswoman Gifford gets shot! Will was right! And then, all the other news shows are saying she's been killed, but "News Night" wants to wait until they have confirmation. The network ratings guy (who is somehow present ON THE STUDIO FLOOR DURING A LIVE BROADCAST?!) tells Will to say she's dead. Will says no. Seconds later, a medical technician tells them she's not dead. Will's right! AGAIN! Coldplay plays! The Newsroom wins!

Aside from how distasteful that whole thing is (and, rest assured, scenes like that happen at the end of every episode of The Newsroom), it might be forgivable if the characters seem grounded in reality or if even just one normal-seeming character that wasn't a caricature or a cartoon villain, would walk up to Will McAvoy and tell him, and even the rest of his coworkers, how much of an asshole he is and that the rest of them are unprofessional lunatics. Somehow, even though it's set in an almost magical town that seems untouched by the outside world, Bunheads feels more honest than The Newsroom simply because Bunheads isn't afraid to laugh at itself and its characters and all their faults. Characters on Bunheads realize that the outside world is pretty cruel and not everything is pristine and perfect. So the lighthearted moments make the more serious moments ring truer than they ever do on The Newsroom. (And I don't even want to begin to get into how terribly The Newsroom portrays women on the show. This already lengthy entry would then test the limits of this website.)

I can't help but wonder what it would be like if the cast and crew of Bunheads and The Newsroom switched places. Would The Newsroom become an enjoyable place to visit? Would "News Night" be run by spectacularly professional, but charmingly quirky, and largely female, ensemble? In Paradise, would Will MacAvoy learn to lighten up having drinks with his new father-in-law, the former DA from Law & Order? Would Allison Pill and Emily Mortimer get to show off some ballet skills to the sounds of They Might Be Giants instead of Coldplay? Oh, the possibilities!

In summation, while the characters of The Newsroom wish everyone in their world could be as honest as they are, the way they themselves are written makes them come across as false and fake. Meanwhile, the humor and general respect with which the characters on Bunheads are portrayed makes the world they inhabit feel more realistic than the world in which The Newsroom takes place. It also makes Paradise a more desirable place to visit each week.

Blogulator Radio 59: Our Favorite Blood Types: Vampire Diaries Season Three

Click here for a complete breakdown of The Vampire Diaries' third season, among other things. Like, Paul Wesley's hair.

In a Very Special Episode of Blogulator Radio (and aren't they all Very Special?), Qualler and Brigitte invite Vampire Diaries AV Club recapper Carrie Raisler to the netcast, along with Blogulator co-hort and #TVD megafan Chris Castro. Within the spoiler-heavy context of the hour-long episode, the crew discuss topics like: What is Caroline's favorite blood type? (Hint: Qualler knows, in a somewhat creepy kind of way.) Who is more handsome: Damon or Stefan? How has Elena evolved from mega-bland to somewhere-between-bland-and-not-bland? Isn't Bonnie just the worst? What are the long-term prospects for The Original Family to get their own sitcom? What's up with Jeremy always disappearing for a few episodes at a time? How does Elijah's hair stay so perfect? What's gonna happen in season four now that...well, damn, if you haven't watched the entire third season, you probably should go do that before you listen to this episode, right? For those who are caught up: stay tuned to the very end for a reminder of the awesomeness that was the third season of The Vampire Diaries.

RIP Seasons 1-3 of FRINGE

The only remaining characters from S1 of FRINGE

I used to love Fringe. I watched the first few episodes of the first season as they aired, but couldn't get into it. I heard something interesting happened in the season finale, so, when the season arrived on DVD, I gave it another shot. What started out as a more clinical, cold version of The X-Files eventually turned into a show with interesting characters and a lot of heart. It was quite a risk centering the show around a protagonist so emotionally distant and reserved, but it paid off handsomely as Olivia became tied to Walter Bishop, his assistant Astrid, and Walter's son Peter. The relationships between those four characters, and their boss, Agent Broyles, are what kept the show grounded during the first 3 seasons. Whatever craziness occurred in their universe, I always pulled for these characters to get back to one another and be safe.

That all changed in the fourth season as the creators and writers of the show decided to hit a huge reset button. Not only did they remove Peter from the show's universe, they "mind-wiped" the show's remaining characters(and the universe itself) and removed Peter from their memories making his existence a non-reality. So, every thing they had done with Peter, every way he had affected their lives and the lives of countless people around them, didn't happen.

Now, this was a pretty ambitious risk to take. I truly admire what the people behind the show were trying to do. It's pretty unprecedented. Unfortunately, this development did not work for me. And the reason why is pretty simple: they took away my show.

When I love a show, it's usually because of the characters. McNulty, Giles, Buster, Lorne, Coach Taylor, Boyd Crowder, Sawyer, Arya. These people are what kept me coming back, week after week, to see how they were doing and what they were up to. They're my TV friends. I care about them and want things to turn out OK for them. I don't like to see them disappear.

So, when Fringe decided to throw out all the emotional connections made in the show's first three seasons and introduced "similar" characters(played by the same actors, of course), I was not happy. Yes, these characters looked the same, had the same names, but they weren't my characters anymore. They weren't the characters I had seen triumph and fail, laugh and cry. These weren't the people I watched grow and change over the course of 3 seasons. These characters were as much strangers to me as the characters were in the pilot episode of the series. I didn't have a reason to care for those characters then, and I didn't once again.

Oh, sure, they eventually brought back Peter. But he, like me, wanted to get back to the show that existed before this season. But, as we eventually found out, that place didn't exist anymore. Luckily, his connection to Olivia was strong enough to bring her original character back, but this killed off the "new" Olivia's mind and experiences. The fact that none of the other characters in this universe seemed to care about this development after it happened shows just how little the show's creators and writers actually cared about these "new" characters. So, I ask you, if that character's death meant so little to them, and to the characters on the show, why should we care about the rest of these "new" characters?

This isn't the first time this has happened on a show. On a mico level, characters change or writing quality on a show goes down and character become stupid and do things they would never have done before(Sarah became progressively stupider on Party of Five and no character on Heroes remained consistent after Season 1). Alias "rebooted" itself several times, throwing its core characters into new situations, having the protagonists trust and work with villains from the first few seasons. The most obvious parallel to draw, though, would be the 5th season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

In the 5th season, Buffy suddenly had a younger, teenage sister named Dawn. On the show, characters acted like she had always been there. Later in the season, it was revealed that Dawn was actually a "key" used to open another dimension. This "key" was made flesh by some mystical monks who used the Buffy's blood(or something) to turn the "key" into a living being. Then they somehow alter the entire fabric of the universe to make everyone believe that Dawn had always existed.

Now, the show never really examined how this affected everything that has happened on the show before. Mostly, it ignored that little(GIANT) plot hole and had even minor characters just say "oh, hi Dawn" as if they had known and seen her before. It honestly didn't effect much. But, it was still a troubling development.

On Buffy, monsters that were killed in the past weren't suddenly still alive or anything because of Dawn's sudden existence. On Fringe, however, entire cases that were solved in the show's first few seasons were apparently never solved in the new Fringe universe and popped up regularly in the 4th season. All this really did was point out the fact that almost everything we watched previously on the show didn't really matter. It's practically like the makers of the show said, "all that stuff you cared about and watched intensely? That didn't happen. Now, watch this!"

Strangest of all, the character on Fringe seemed to have settled into the same rhythms and relationships with each other that were present in the 3rd season. So, it's like the show is trying to pretend that the characters are the same again, even though, with the exception of Peter and Olivia, they aren't the same. It's like they jumped ahead or just assumed these characters feel the exact same way without having the same experiences their "past" selves did. For a show that passes itself off as very intelligent and logical, such a development is damn insulting.

Fringe remains one of the most well-produced shows on network television. The direction is always tight, the cinematography is beautiful. The actors sell everything they're given. It's pretty much at the top of its game in almost every aspect. If it weren't, I definitely would've stopped watching the show near the start of this season. As such, I've watched this entire season, frustrating as it has been. Contrast that with a show like Supernatural were the writing and production have taken a severe hit the past two seasons, but characters like Dean, Castiel, and Bobby keep me coming back because it feels like I've been through so much with those characters. To abandon them now, even though what they have to deal with is no longer interesting, would feel like a betrayal. I would feel like investing all the time and energy caring about them over 5 seasons of television would've been a waste.

However, the makers of Fringe seem to not care about that and have effectively made me feel like I did waste my time and energy. But, I choose not to think that it was a waste watching those first 3 seasons. I just feel like it's now a waste watching the 4th season and, as I'm sure I will watch it, the upcoming final season. The show I loved is gone. I guess I'll see what happens next, as the show is well-produced and has one of the finest ensembles on television today. It's just too bad all but two of the characters I loved are now gone forever.

The Best Episodes of the Month: April 2012

As you may know by now, our opinions (about television) here at The Blogulator are valid. And as such as is true, we'd like to start helping you keep track of when the shows we love churn out particularly spellbinding and/or hilarious episodes. Below you will find five different opinions from five different Blogulator contributors as to what were the most successful episodes that aired (or were seen) in April of 2012. If there's one you've missed, get to Hulu, iTunes, Amazon, or your local cable On Demand menu stat!

Mad Men - "Mystery Date" (buy on iTunes or Amazon)

For as many gripes as I've had about the new season of Mad Men, I realize after every episode that my gripes don't really make a whole lotta sense, because this show is still one of the best shows on TV. And, specifically, outside of the somewhat bloated two-hour premiere, this season is knocking every episode out of the park in its own subtle way. Although, "Mystery Date" is perhaps one of Mad Men's least subtle episodes ever. Joan tells Greg to get the eff out of her house, poor little Sally learns about the nightmarish things going on in society, and Don has a literal fever dream nightmare where he freakin' strangles Madchen Amick to death and pushes her under her bed. It's an episode shrouded in darkness, so much so that this fake horror movie trailer made out of the episode actually isn't so far off from the overall tone. It certainly seems to be a harbinger of things to come as the season progresses. [Qualler]

Justified - "Slaughterhouse" (buy on iTunes or Amazon)

A lot rested on the third season finale of Justified. This season was more serialized than the two that preceded it. And with two new adversaries competing with Boyd Crowder for Marshal Raylan Givens' scornful looks, some have said this season tried to do too much in a short amount of time and paled in comparison to Season 2. While it did take a few episodes for Robert Quarles to gain some depth beyond being a wacky, volatile villain, once he did give us a peak into his disturbing past, steely-eyed Neal McDonough's performance jumped into Emmy-worthy status. And every episode subtly layered Mykelti Williamson's performance as Limehouse, a sort of down-home Wizard of Oz, smart enough to know when to strike, be even wiser to know when to just sit back and watch everything play out. And, for the most part, as exceptionally entertaining as this season was, the audience was also forced to sit back and watch how everything played out as well. Luckily, "Slaughterhouse" more than rewarded viewer patience a brutal final confrontation between Quarles, Limehouse and Givens. We were also given the extra payoff of Raylan realizing that, over the course of events spanning the entire series, his father had developed a deeper relationship with Boyd Crowder than he ever did with his own flesh and blood. So deep that to keep Boyd out of jail, Arlo took the fall for killing a man that betrayed Boyd in addition to confessing to shooting a State Trooper. Even just thinking about Raylan saying that Arlo "saw a man in a hat pointing a gun at Boyd" still gives me chills. What a way to cap off a ridiculously enjoyable season while adding one more thing to boil under that hat of our favorite US Marshal. [Sarc]

Revenge - "Scandal" (watch for free on Hulu)

God, this show. I started watching it at the beginning of the season with eyes narrowed in suspicion. The ubiquitous ad campaign and huge hype made me think that, like most things that networks (and studios and publishers) push heavily, it was expensive, but absolutely no good. I didn't think the sweet girl from Everwood could pull off being a cold-hearted vengeance machine, and figured that even if she could, she wouldn't be compelling because she was too inhuman and unlikeable. I didn't like the guy who plays Daniel when he was Max on Make It or Break It (yeah, that's a thing that happened), and don't even get me started on how much I dislike Madeleine Stowe. Nevertheless, I started watching--AND COULDN'T STOP. "Revenge" is probably one of the best shows on television, and for the most part lives up to its hype. Every time you think that the story is about to devolve, that Emily can't possibly lie her way out of this one, the show turns everything around, just to show you how wrong you are. "Revenge" is an intricate dance, a complex perpetual motion machine that defies prediction, and multiple satisfying surprises and twists give the impression that the show has so much more up its sleeve. I picked "Scandal" as my favorite ep of the month, but they're all good; "Scandal" does contain a couple of nice reveals, however--what really happened between Daniel and Tyler on the beach, Emily's emerging, genuine feelings for her ersatz fiance, the unsettlingly obtuse machinations of Emily's revenge master, Takeda (how awesome is it that she has a revenge master?), and heretofore uninteresting Ashley's attempt to leverage the Grayson family tragedy for her own gain by releasing bloody pictures of Daniel at the crime scene to the tabloids. I'm glad the show has another bit of scandal to chew on besides the David Clarke/terrorist/plane crash thing, which has always felt like a wrong note in the show, both because of its "too soon" element (anything that smacks of using a 9/11-ish event as a subplot in what is basically a really good soap opera is, I think, kind of cheap) and its general weird unbelievability. Not that I think it's going away--it's integral to the premise of the show--but the fact that other fucked up things are happening keeps it from turning into a stale old chestnut. Now if someone would just actually straight up kill Amanda, that would be super. [Anna]

Community - "Basic Lupine Urology" (watch for free on Hulu)

It's no secret how much I and 90% of the rest of the nerd contingent of the internet adores the Greendale gang, but upon returning after the dark nightmare that was its third season hiatus, every episode of this show just kept punching me in the groin more than the last - in a good way. And in particular, it took me a few minutes to realize why I loved "Basic Lupine Urology" (AKA the Law & Order ep) even more than the two other perfect episodes the show did this month (the Dr. Who/dreamatorium ep and the Ken Burns/pillow fort ep): because while I maybe wish I had a much deeper understanding of Dr. Who and/or Ken Burns documentaries, I am far more familiar with the tropes and minutiae of Dick Wolf's franchise. Just like great homage/parody Community eps of yore, such as the chicken fingers/GoodFellas one or the Charlie Kaufman/Abed is the Messiah one, every beat is played pitch-perfectly, a couple of my favorite details being the abundance of Greek NYC coffee cups suddenly on campus and Britta's role as the photograph analyzer (which in this case just means she can Instagram it to make it look old-timey). The biggest complaint that many have already hobbled at this twelve-jokes-a-second romp is that it lacks that tender center that deepens our love for the characters like so many forays into the study group's world has before, but I say they just had their cake and ate it too. The episode ends with yet another classic L&O bit, where the climax of solving the case is undercut with an out-of-left-field development that one of the case's primary constituents has died in the most horrifically tragic way possible, and here we got the off-screen death of one of the show's longest-running minor characters: Starburns. It's not huge, but it's a joke and a morbidly hefty moment at once, as we'll now always remember that the weird guy with the top hat and the cosmic facial hair died at the end of the Law & Order episode of Community. [Chris]

30 Rock - "Live From Studio 6H" (watch for free on Hulu)

"...because they thought two black people on the same show would make people nervous. A rule that NBC still follows today!"

Now, I wasn't the biggest fan of the initial foray of 30 Rock into a live episode.  Don't get me wrong- I LOVE a good gimmick.  Can't. Get. Enough. Gimmicks.  This is why I'm one of the only Blogulator crew that unabashedly watches competitive reality television (and not the high-rated shows either).  However, the previous live episode of 30 Rock just fell flat; it was live for the kitsch of being live without any, what do you call those?  Oh yeah, jokes.  Flash forward to the 2012 episode and it's genius.  All the gimmick, plus hilarious jokes and guest stars.  The live episode actually seemed like watching TGS. There were sketches, and funny ones at that.  I love the "flashbacks" to television past narrated by Kenneth, inserted for the purpose of "saving" TGS as a live show.  I watched several television parodies repeatedly, including the sketch of news reporters befuddled by Tina Fey's sex, and the Amos n' Andy spoof Alfie and Abner. Dr. Spaceman got some much needed play, Jon Hamm was in my two favorite sketches, and Paul proposed to Jenna after singing "Zou Bisou Bisou" from Mad Men - "A Little Kiss."  Perfection? Maybe not.  But consider my funny bone satisfied. [Jerksica]

sarCCastro's Debut: Who am I? Why am I here?

A few years ago (actually, probably closer to a decade ago) "bloggers" came under fire for ruining film criticism. Filmmakers and "professional" critics alike whined about how anyone with any internet connection could put their two cents in about movies and there was nothing they could do about it. Cut to present day, where just about every news organization has a website with "bloggers" (now just known as "writers") reporting news, press releases, or just whatever they think about any given topic, all filtered through their own individual lens.

Now, why the hell am I bringing this up? Shouldn't I be introducing myself and talking about what TV shows I like, which ones I hate, and which onesOMFGG, YOU DON'T WATCH TVD!? Well, I would do all that, but by doing so, I might hurt a showrunner's feelings. (Hashtag, sad-face.)

About a week ago, David Simon, creator of the best show ever created (also, Treme) expressed his dismay in an interview about how his show is being misinterpreted by the people that watch and discuss the show. He also mentioned how he didn't care about the opinions of people who didn't watch the show when it first aired, and that people who rank one season above another or talk about how Omar is cool just don't get what the show was about.

Now, Simon did kinda/sorta take back some of those remarks in a follow-up interview with noted TV critic Alan Sepinwall. He clarified that he was mainly irked by a website running bracketed showdowns between characters from The Wire, which, in his opinion, gave a short-shrift to the important themes and issues he tried to get across in the show. He also said that, while he doesn't like the idea of individual episode reviews in general, he does concede that "it's better to have people talking about what you're doing than not." (Don't forget to watch Treme, y'all! You know...whenever HBO decides to air it again.)

Then, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Kurt Sutter (creator of Sons Of Anarchy) called Hitfix and The A.V. Club "hack [The Big C-word] blogsites...sycophants" that post stuff about him because "they know it'll get them more hits. more hits, more pennies they're[sic] ads pay." (I wonder if KURT SUTTER's show SONS OF ANARCHY is still on NETFLIX, which sponsors the Blogulator Radio podcast?)

Sutter made all these remarks on Twitter, which is basically a giant AOL chat-room with faster load-times and also insanity. Now, the whole celebrity and artist presence on Twitter is a whole other can of worms to be opened another time (be sure to check the pull date!). Wherever he said it, Sutter was basically responding to an article defending him and other showrunners, like The Killing's Veena Sud. Chances are pretty high, though, that Sutter only read the headline of the article (Sympathy for Kurt Sutter... ) since he doesn't really care much for the "VDclub" website.

Since I don't want to write more words about Kurt Sutter than I did about David Simon, I'll just see if I can arrive at a point of some kind.

I don't know what I'm doing here. (You know, just in case that line about maybe arriving at a point wasn't a tip-off.)

I love TV. I love watching TV shows, discussing them, thinking about them, anticipating them, laughing and crying with them. I also hate TV shows. I hate watching bad ones, I hate watching good ones turn bad, I hate not being able to stop watching the bad ones even though I know they're really bad and now I can't even stop writing this sentence about bad TV shows because now I'm picturing Mrs. Coach Taylor eating brains please send help!

My point (I found one!) is that I love sharing my opinions about TV shows and finding out what other people think about the same shows. I even love hearing people say that I'm totally wrong about a TV show because I may discover another layer to a show I already like. Or I'll just get to laugh because I may never change my opinions of certain shows (because, honestly, I'm never going to watch True Blood or The Killing ever again*). To me, that's what television is for.

While David Simon is right for wanting people to discuss the issues of our broken educational and political systems, that doesn't mean it's invalid for those same people to express fondness or hatred for one The Wire's richly-drawn characters. And Sutter may not want to hear someone say that the pacing for a given episode of Sons of Anarchy feels off compared to another, or that a character is acting unrealistically, but it's going to be said anyway. And if it's not said by someone on his staff, then maybe it should be brought to his attention by a TV critic or even someone that follows him on Twitter. All opinions should be heard and considered. It may be ludicrous to suggest that Modern Family reveal that all of the characters on the show are aliens, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be considered for even a moment. (They could at least try it out for one episode and maybe even get John Lithgow to guest-star.)

So, to have the opportunity to discuss, critique, obsess over and throw out ridiculous ideas about TV shows here at The Blogulator is a true honor and I look forward to contributing to the rise (and/or downfall) of this website. Because, honestly, what every writer wants (even Kurt Sutter) is for people to devour their words, to validate their existence. And here, finally, my TV opinions are valid!

And, since I thought it actually would be a good idea to show you where I'm coming from, here are the shows I'm currently loving (besides what you see over on the side there), hating, or just not watching anymore. (Oh, and to avoid confusion, I don't mind if I'm referred to here as "Sarc." I'd probably prefer it, actually.)

Love:
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Justified
Parenthood
Louie
Misfits
Doctor Who
Treme
Archer
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Eastbound & Down
Suburgatory
Happy Endings
Community
Parks & Recreation
Supernatural
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Colbert Report
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson


Hate:
Most reality/reality-competition shows (besides The Amazing Race and Rupaul's Drag Race)
Any show with an acronym in the title (except for NTSF:SD:SUV)
Any medical drama (ER had enough of that to last me several lifetimes)
American Horror Story
Most CBS comedies
The Closer

Gave Up:
Glee
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter (I will not watch it when it returns*. Ohhhh, that damn show!)
2 Broke Girls
How I Met Your Mother
30 Rock
The Office
Smash


(* - I will totally watch anything if I'm paid to do so. Except, maybe The Human Centipede. Or NCIS.)