I Just Read About That…

2014 continues to throw new shows into the mix while other shows are already reaching their conclusions.  It’s very hard to keep regular track of shows when networks don’t follow the rules.  It also means that new shows pop up and quickly become favorites before going away possibly never to be seen again.

We’ve learned about the cancellation of a number of shows (but fortunately, none of the great ones and surprisingly not all of the bad ones).  And of course I’ll be sad to see How I Met Your Mother end, but it had a very good run.  And Cosmos has been mind blowing.

But I find that more and more my attention is turning to cable shows.  Although we don’t watch horror shows, I’m intrigued by Fargo.  And the cable shows are so much better at taking risks with their comedies.  We started to watch Orphan Black a while ago and then lost it, but I think we’ll be trying to catch up this summer.  And in old TV news, we just learned about Destroy Build Destroy (from 2010) and we are hooked.  Good thing there’s only 20 or so episodes.

So last time, I did a tally of networks.  Let’s see who wins this time (nightly shows like Late Night boost the numbers so I put them in parentheses):
FOX: 5 NBC: 4 (6)  CBS: 3 (4)  ABC: 3 SyFy: 3 Comedy Central: 2 (4) Lifetime: 1  IFC: 1 FX: 1

I can’t believe Fox still wins, but it has four comedies that I really like.  Actually Fox comedies are almost always good until they cancel them.
NBC is teetering away, but Thursday night helps it.
CBS is the old person’s network, and they’re losing a comedy that I like (and none of those promised new comedies look any good).
ABC is slowing building it’s comedy line up back, which is nice
And the cable networks combined really shine.

Oh and speaking of TV…how awesome was the Veronica Mars movie!!!!!!

NEW FAVORITES

Broad City (Comedy Central)
Holy crap this show is funny.  I looked forward to this more than anything else during its brief run.  Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer are geniuses.  And yeah Hannibal Burress!  They burst onto the scene, did ten episodes of side-splitting, exceptionally vulgar comedy and left.  Damn, I can’t wait for it to come back. And now…to the webisodes!

Archer (FX)
Archer Vice is genius.  This show just gets better and better.

Portlandia (IFC)
I’ve enjoyed this season a lot and I’m really happy its back on.

SUNDAY

The Simpsons (FOX)
This show has been very funny lately. It’s not just parodying ideas wholesale, it’s cleverly integrating them. Very sad about Mrs Krabappel dying in real life.  They have been handling it with quite touching scenes.

Bob’s Burgers (FOX)
Bob’s Burgers continues to thrill me with how funny it is.  I look forward to it more than just about any other show.

MONDAY

How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
This show is ending in a few days.  I have been very moved by this season.  But I feel that they’ve done an excellent job wrapping it up.

Sleepy Hollow (FOX)
I grew a little tired of this show. In fact, we hadn’t watched the last two episodes (and didn’t realize the season was actually over).  We tuned in to one last night and found it interesting, but I’ve lost the plot and don’t care all that much anymore.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)
This show is slowly creeping out of its doldrums.  I’ve really enjoyed the last couple of episodes.  Once they finish off a couple of plot lines, I think the show can really soar.  I’m glad I stuck with it.

TUESDAY

New Girl (FOX)
New Girl’s season has been less than stellar this year (although I loved seeing True American come back this week!).  I don’t know if it’s too many guest stars or what, but the plots weren’t that engaging.  Now that Jess and Nick have (spoiler), I’m hoping that more drama well ensue.  I feel like the regular cast might actually be too big right now, and there needs to be some more outside interactions..  And for god’s sake, please stop making Winston such a loser.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
I’m thrilled with how good this show has turned out.  I don’t know if it’s the best show on TV, but it’s extremely solid.  And the two things I didn’t like about it–Detective Rosa Diaz and Administrator Gina Linetti have changed into less cliched or bizarre characters and have really strengthened the show.  And the theme kicks ass! I’m curious about what next season holds given the season finale–are they going to keep the show the same or try for something totally new?

Elementary (CBS)
This is my favorite hour-long drama.  I’ve really grown attached to the characters and it’s more than just mystery of the week.

The Goldbergs (ABC)
Man, has this show improved since the pilot.  It went from being a  so-so family show into a witty and clever sitcom with some very funny characters.  I went from barely watching it to really looking forward to it,

WEDNESDAY

Modern Family (ABC)
This season has been better, although I fear the season finale wedding.

Face Off (SyFy)
Face Off continues to amaze me with their designs.  And, more impressively, with the fact that the artists actually help each other.  It’s still one of the nicest reality shows around.  My only question is why are all the women so unlikable? Surely they are just edited that way, but I’m virtually never sorry to see any of the women go because of their personalities.

Jim Henson’s Creature Shop (SyFy)
I actually don’t know if this is on Wednesdays.  We watched the first episode and it was interesting.  It’s different from Face Off in subtle ways, but most importantly, it gives people an outlet to be creative, so I’m in!

Foxy & Co. (SyFy)
I also don’t know exactly when this is on or even how many episodes they made of it.  It’s basically several favorites from Face Off working together on projects.  I didn’t love the debut, but it’s interesting to see them work when they aren’t in a competition.  And I loved seeing Roy again (but really, he hasn’t gotten offers from anyone else yet?)

Workaholics (Comedy Central)
For the most part this show is still very funny.  They’re pushing envelopes that don’t need to be pushed, but that’s okay.  It’s also weird to see all of these guys in network TV shows.

THURSDAY

Big Bang Theory (CBS)
I’ve enjoyed this season quite a lot and I like the way the arcs are progressing.  But please make Raj less of a loser.

Parks and Recreation (NBC)
Boy I know it would change the show but I need Leslie to take that real job.  It’s a dream come true.  Don’t pass it up!  I’m also thrilled with how great the supporting cast has become this season.

Community (NBC)
It’s back!  It’s back!  Oh man, I love how the show fell back into character with Harmon at the helm.  Of course, losing Troy has been harder to take than I thought it would.  And I’m not sold on the new Pierce yet, but there have been some great episodes.  Six seasons and a movie!

Parenthood (NBC)
Okay so for unclear reasons, we missed pretty much this whole season.  Not because we didn’t want to watch it but we were suddenly 7 episodes behind and the DVR deleted an episode or two and they never repeat them.  So it’s a Netflix season I think.

FRIDAY

Grimm (NBC)
Such a good show.  I still don’t care about the baby plot, but I do love the Monroe/Rosalie story.  And of course I love all of the vessen.  Will Wu (wait, Stew Wu?) be let in on the secret?  I sort of hope so because I feel badly for him.

LOOKING FORWARD TO THEIR RETURN

Key & Peele (Comedy Central)
Absolutely nothing on TV makes me laugh as hard as Key & Peele.  Their parodies are spot on, their original jokes are hilarious.  Everything they do is, simply, great.

Warehouse 13 (SyFy)
Coming back in a few weeks. It’s the final season.  What is in store for our fearless heroes?

NIGHTLY

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
I have never really cared about the Tonight Show before, and I’m sure I’ll grow tired of this (I already can’t believe how often he repeats the same jokes), but I find him so likable and I hated Jay leno so much, that I really want him to succeed.  We don’t really care about the guests most of the time, and just watch the monologue and sketches.

The Late Show with Seth Meyers (NBC)
I’m thrilled that Fred Armisen is the musical dude on this show.  And I’m delighted with Seth Meyers as host.  Like Fallon, he;s very likable and quite funny.  And his “segments” are very solid.  We don’t really care about the guests most of the time, and just watch the monologue and sketches.

Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)
I admit we haven’t watched this in quite some time (now that we have other monologists to watch).  I never really liked Jeff the robot skeleton–Craigy Ferg don’t need no stinking sidekick.

The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
We don’t watch this all the time, but it’s always good for a laugh, so it’s nice to have a  few of these saved up.

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)
We don’t watch this as much as The Daily Show, but he always makes me laugh.  And sometimes it seems like it’s better than The daily Show.

Still hanging out on the DVR:

The Mindy Project (FOX)
Everyone knew the theme song sucked so they changed it!  The opening scene before the theme song is still funny, but I honestly just don’t care about the characters, and I’m not really sure that Fox does either.

Project Runway/Under the Gunn (Lifetime)
I love Tim Gunn, but this show is bad.

The Crazy Ones (CBS)
There’s nothing I want to change from what I said last time.  It’s just an okay sitcom: This show is trying so hard for us to like it.  So very hard.  I love Hamish Linklater and I’m happy to see Sarah Michele Gellar try her hand at comedy (even if she is the straight woman), but this show is just never as funny as they think it is.  But we haven’t cancelled the season pass yet.

CANCELLED:

Super Fun Night (ABC)
I’m bummed that this show was cancelled as I think it was really starting to hit its stride. There were some terrible elements of the show–things that they should have gotten out of earlier (that whole Richard romance was lame).  And his romance with Kendall was also a waste of time, because the real stars were Helen Alice and Marika, and I will miss them terribly.

Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell (FXX)
Wait, what?  They moved Kamau to a new network, put him on five nights a week, told nobody and then cancelled the show after a month?  Damn.  And I bought a T-shirt, too.

The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC)
Just as well that this show was cancelled.  It never really moved past sitcom land.