Grid Effect

Well, she’s not exactly George Jung, but after episodes “The Whole Blah Damn Thing” and “Lady’s A Charm” were working our way there. I guess the attempts to make our favorite MLIF look even remotely sympathetic are over, but I’m not sure if the writers understand that. They still seem to be forcing the “poor old unfortunate hot widow” thing, and it doesn’t really fit the context of the story or her behavior anymore. She is now willingly working for criminally violent gangbangers and will no doubt unwittingly play a hand in the murder of several rival gangbangers. Whatever, it’s just collateral damage so the Botwin’s can live somewhere and not have to work.

I’m sure at some point they will have Andy attempt to justify this in one of his rants. Something along the lines of they will find another lacky to smuggle their drugs for them, she’s just profiting off the inevitable. Which is all fine and well and I understand this is a satire, But the tone of the series seems to almost encourage her participation instead of just begrudgingly accept it as a virtually harmless reality.

I just want to make it clear that I’m not morally outraged. No, I’m simply annoyed that the series couldn’t seem to grow within their given confines. This is like if Tony Soprano had up and moved south to sell pots in Peru like he often referenced, or if Tommy Gavin had stayed with Sheila at the beach house. If either of these series made those changes it would be a complete upheaval from what we were accustom too, and most likely piss off viewers something fierce. We want to see Those two getting into as much shit as possible, not meandering around casually and comfortably while life happens in lieu of them.

As our way of making amends for being out of service, here’s Mary-Louise Parker’s naked, digitally enhanced ass. Enjoy.

This is probably in step with the ever changing genre of the series, which is now the lightest dark comedy of all time. So far, the punchlines have involved illegal immigration, “dead Iraqi children”, prison rape, euthanasia and parental absenteeism. If it wasn’t already prefaced as a comedy, it wouldn’t exactly be a barrel of laughs. Again, not terrible, but in almost stark contrast to everything we’ve come to like about the series.

Still, we get a lot of enjoyment out of watching Justin Kirk interact with Albert Brooks, and we’re ecstatic that Kevin Nealon will be joining the Botwins in their sleepy coastal town. We’re just going to accept the fact that the series is completely different from when it was set in Agrestic. Which is fine, we were growing tired of Majestic and welcome the change. I just wish the series creators would recognize that fact and quit teetering between what was and what will be.

Extremely busy at work today, we’ll try to get a post up about the mini Rescue Me episodes if possible. Hence why we guaranteed multiple postings for the tomorrow, not today.

See, you take a week off from doing links, and there is some actual worthwhile shit to relay. I need to come up with more ideas for arbitrary lists so this isn’t such a rare occurrence.

Peter Tolan, co-creator and writer on the now scorned Rescue Me, is developing a new series with Mathew Perry. In which the Friends alum will utter the seaward, or the “C” word to you non-Arrested Development fans and those who follow and understand English. Apparently we’re supposed to care about the slur, but what’s more shocking to me is that Peter Tolan is developing something without Dennis Leary, and Mathew Perry is still able to find work. It appears being married to Courtney Cox, be it in real life or in fiction, is terrible for your career.

There is talk of a Weeds spinoff in the works with Conrad and presumably Heylia. Normally I would applaud such a decision being that these are/were two of the better actors/characters on the series. But the writers are overwhelmed as it is since they seem to be making it up as they go with the Botwins, so I don’t know if they can handle the workload of writing for two series. And a new writing staff generally doesn’t write for already developed characters all that well (see: Family Guy).

Speaking of which, despite it slagging in quality, Weeds’ fourth season premiere brought Showtime the biggest audience it has ever had. It seems like this is a common theme for series’ on premium networks. That theme being, whenever one of their series’ takes an abnormally long hiatus, the premiere for the following season brings in a huge number (see: Sopranos season four premiere).

Steve Carell promises to be on board with The Office for at least three more seasons. We’re probably at a point now where the series could survive without him, but I am still amazed at his loyalty. This is like if Clooney were still on ER. Also in the link he states that he is fully expecting Amy Ryan to return for the fifth season, which gives the series more star power than any series we can remember.

We think she’s on to his fake serial killer ruse.

Actually, that honor might go to Damages, who is sporting a cast made up of Glenn Close, Ted Danson & now William Hurt. At this point, this series could just as easily be confused with an 80’s movie. Throw in a Michael Douglas or Emilio Estevez for a strong lead and BOOM! That shit would be box office gold twenty-five years ago.

I hate to crush everyone’s hopes, but Lyndsay Lohan is waiting until 2009 to submit her work on Ugly Betty for Emmy consideration. I know, just when you think things are looking on the up and up for her, she’s going to have to miss out on the booze soaked awards show.

US Magazine did a countdown of top reality TV villains. Omarosa led the pack, followed by some guy named Spencer Pratt, Johnny Fairplay and Puck from Real World: San Fransisco rounded out the top four. Um, I remember Omarosa from the first season of Apprentice, and she was a little loopy and a bit accusatory, but beyond that she wasn’t terribly villainous, just comical. Puck, on the other hand, verbally berated a terminally ill AIDS victim pretty much until he was dead and buried. What did Omarosa or “Spencer”– if that is your real name — ever do to top that?

Jason Bateman is now under contract with FOX to create series for them. This is great and all, but isn’t FOX the same network that canceled the critically acclaimed series that he was the lead actor on? Doesn’t this seem like a conflict of interests? He claims to be an “avid consumer of television”. In non-Hollywood speak that generally means you’re a lazy ass, not someone who creates multiple series for a broadcast network. This might not end well.

Finally, given that we have watched Meet The Press every week for the past two or three years, we would be amiss if we didn’t say something about Tim Russert, whose objective and impartial analysis and questioning represented the last bastion of respectable journalism on television. We have no idea who NBC will choose to replace him with, but whoever it is, those shoes he left behind will prove to be too big to fill. His absence will be palpable for years to come.

Links or something similar tomorrow.

For all the hype this series seems to get, it’s good to see their season premiere’s, particularly this one, are essentially like every season premiere for every TV series: 90% setup & recalibrating the past season, 10% plot development.

For this episode, and for a lot of Weeds episodes, it’s hard to tell when the plot is developing and when we are just listening to another throwaway conversation, because everything pivotal moment seems to be delivered with the same methodic and partly annoyed tone that a conversation about birds shitting all over the place would be. So the story kind of happens with everyone just casually sitting around discussing a dog barking doorbell or a terminally sick grandmother while Nancy sips an iced latte and everyone looks to her for answers.

This isn’t to say the episode didn’t have its moments. We love the change of location to a coastal city somewhere along the Mexican border called Ren Mar, we’re going to assume it is just as fictional as Agrestic and Majestic were, but if someone wants to enlighten us otherwise it would be much appreciated. If nothing else, it should give us a couple new characters in addition to Albert Brooks as Judah and Andy’s father who hates Nancy.

This series needs Doug Wilson like The Sopranos needs Tony.

Then again, one concern related to the move is how in the hell are they going to transplant Doug, Isabelle and Dean into the picture for the long haul. They could end up doing some sort of networking from whatever is left of Majestic, in which Nancy is supplying drugs to Doug, Sanjay or Celia for the entire city/suburb. Either way, they just need to make sure Doug is getting his reps.

Speaking of the selling of drugs, why is Nancy still so determined to commit illegal activity and put her family, particularly her sons in harms way? Is she still really indebted to Guillermo for anything? Probably in the drug trade she is, but she is actively seeking him out and is fully prepared to carry drugs across the border for a violent Latino gang. We understand there is no show without this, but how and why should I sympathize with her if she seems to actively enjoy selling drugs, whereas before it was depicted as a means to an end? Listening to her get excited for early retirement by way of becoming a drug mule was painful. You’re a pawn not a kingpin, Nancy. Haven’t you ever watched The Wire? Oh, that’s right, no one involved with this show has.

Still, we’re anticipating to see where they take this show. All that really happened in terms of forward progress was that Nancy & Andy decided to stay at his grandmother’s with his dad while they think of a more suitable venture. That’s it. If you watched the entire three seasons that preceded this episode but missed last night’s for whatever reason, then congratulations! You are now all caught up. Oh, and while Celia is under heavy interrogation for drug cultivation and distribution, everyone else is pinning the blame on her while she tries to pin it on Nancy. See, sometimes it doesn’t pay to be a heartless bitch.

When it comes to Marie Louise Parker’s and Jenji Kohan’s Showtime dramedy Weeds, we’ve waffled as much on this show as any in the past. For one thing, the text and tone of the series is original. A spoiled, upper-middle class housewife is suddenly widowed, then forced to deal with the economic reality of maintaining the lifestyle her and her kids have become accustomed too without that massive paycheck that her dearly departed was bringing home.

At first we were relatively enamored with the series, and thought the second season improved on its debut. Maybe we were running low on television to watch and needed something to cling to, but after watching this third season, they seemed out of new ideas, and the third season turned into a fifteen episode long nosedive that ended as conveniently as possible. The problem is, while Nancy has never been perfect (though the show has always wanted us to root for her), she became almost completely unlikable during the third season. Everyone, whether it was Conrad, Heylia, Silas, whoever she is fucking at the time, is put into some kind of danger just by associating with her.

There is a little self-awareness throughout the season. One scene in particular when Nancy confesses to Andy that she did, in fact, play a part in Peter’s (The CIA agent she was technically married to) death. Not that she intentionally sought to have him murdered, but rather that by virtue of knowing her, he died. Andy offers up a hilarious but not quite accurate analogy (paraphrasing): “I taught Natalie something how to give her first blow job, three years later her boyfriend drove his car into a river while she was giving him head and they both died. Does that make me a murderer? No, it makes me a good teacher. And her boyfriend a bad driver.”

It’s moments like these that make the series redeemable, because they speak to the motives and logic of the characters. These moments were few and far between, and there was little interlacing of storylines that worked so well in the first two seasons. So what do they do instead of trying to work through it? They have Nancy and her new Mexican business partner/eventual fuck buddy burn down the city in a brush fire, which the series still manages to blame partly on global warming.

In short, the season seemed aimless, and filled with too many new, one-dimensional, unlikable and uninteresting characters (namely Peter’s ex-wife, the motorcycle gang, the latino gang, Sullivan). You can be unlikable, and still be a worthy screen presence, see: virtually every show with its own category to the left. But this just seemed to jump from scene to scene with little or no connection to anything that has taken place. Character’s emotions and intentions seemed to shift dramatically with no explanation for why they did so, and there was just too much failed humor.

That can be chalked up to a limited amount of Justin Kirk and Kevin Nealon. By far, the two funniest (and by extension) and most interesting characters. Kevin spends the season butting heads with the city council of majestic, and has some brilliant lines about the nature of political elections and he simply epitomizes how low-brow politics tend to be. Kirk spent the third season trying to get out of the Army (in what was probably the series’ most absurd plot line in three seasons) then the rest of it hitting on disgusting biker women and fucking porn stars with his three toed foot.

We have to admit, his inability to fit in was hilarious.

Not that they were completely wasted, but doing a borderline slapstick comedy that centered on these two would be world’s better than what they produced this season. We don’t necessarily think everyone else is irredeemable, but these are the two comedic highlights, and for a series that is supposed to be a satirical comedy, they sure were underused.

Another complaint about the series is how proud of itself it appears to be. A series has never been so unapologetically liberal and completely hostile to the other side of the argument, yet these people really feel like their making a difference by having Andy say something along the lines of, “the war in Iraq is for oil”. Wow, what a terribly unique and original concept. I mean, it hasn’t been made a talking point for the last five or six years or anything.

Look, I have no problem with a series taking a stand on certain political issues, or even unabashedly aligning itself with a political party (The Wire has certainly made its thoughts clear on No Child Left Behind and the war on drugs). But there are sensible and rational ways of doing this, and then there is Weeds, who seem more offended by religion being taught in schools than their protagonist participating in drive-byes.

Again, we know it’s satire, but when you are going to attempt to voice an opinion very controversial issues, you can’t have it both ways. We’re not going to take you seriously when your series revolves around a woman who drinks iced lattes all day, but in the peripheral has the Army killing its own soldiers for essentially no reason. If you want to see what intelligent, nuanced, scathing social commentary looks like, Mrs. Kohan should watch The Sopranos or Mad Men for her queues.

All this aside, we’re still tuning into the fourth season Monday night to see if they can recover from the drudgery that was their third season. We think the new setting might help, but are dutifully unimpressed that they needed to revamp the entire series after a paltry three seasons. Christ, even Nip Tuck waited until its fifth, and it spans over the course of several years. If you’re looking for a half hour comedy to compare it too, Curb waited until the end of its sixth season to have Larry and Cheryl separate for good.

Considering each Weeds season picks up in the same scene that the season before it left off, three seasons for them equates to what? Maybe six weeks? If you look at it that way, Nancy Botwin has managed to go from dealing dime bags to her neighbors, to being an accomplice in several murders, to burning down her entire town in a bout of gang warfare, it looks even more ridiculous. Her little “I tried, Judah” memoriam right before she burnt down her own house and pulled off on a segway (seriously) was hard to take literally.

We’re going to cut it short here and not even delve into how tiresome it is that Nancy’s genitals manage to get her out of every situation. Relative to the website, maybe we’re too forgiving, too loyal to series’ we begin watching on appointment. But this series has so much potential that it wasted in season three, were optimistic that it will turn things around in its new setting hopefully with more Silas, Shane, Andy and Doug; and less caricature gangsters, Celia (whose appeal we understand but we just see her as vile), and essentially everything else that didn’t involve Conrad or Heylia.

That’s it for the week, have a good weekend.

I come from a rather tolling weekend as the bearer of good news: in only one week we’ll actually have a television series to discuss. Well, eight days. Weeds’ 4th season premiere airs a week from today, given us fodder for Tuesday’s post. The at times unbearably self-satisfied and unapologetically liberal series just might be the saving grace for this blog. It’s a shame we’ve had to lower our standards so, but it is what it is.

In the meantime, we will, of course, be offering more of the same. Here are some links to kick off your work week. We might take a break from this and do a list of some sort before the week is out.

New York Magazine wonders what is up with all these crazy women on reality television? Because apparently NYM has never understood the concept of ratings. It’s not like a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest type of situation. Either these women are hamming it up for attention or they were borderline dysfunctional/certifiable long before they were cast on some reality series, and that is why they were cast on some reality series. You could just as easily make one of these lists for male reality stars, particularly Real World cast members.

Jimmy Kimmel is only slightly slagging in ratings behind Conan O’Brien, who is now looking like a suspicious candidate to replace Leno. Say what you will about Leno, we certainly have, but he’s a surefire ratings cannon. Maybe some of O’Brien’s viewership is falling off because they are waiting for him to be bumped up an hour? But while we’ve defended him in the past, losing nights to Craig Ferguson and Kimmel now being viable competition, it stands to wonder if this isn’t a sign of things to come. It is almost like jumping in front of a camera and making cat noises doesn’t have any staying power.

Some writer for some shitty newspaper believes the problem with the Obama imitation on Saturday Night Live isn’t that Fred Armisen is white, but rather that he doesn’t capture Obama’s charisma. Yeah, because mocking imitations for comedic effect only work when they are extremely flattering. Norm McDonald really personified a realistic and fair minded portrayal of Bob Dole, that’s what made it one of the better impersonations in the show’s history. Its accuracy.

If only they gave him more credit for being affable, this would be hilarious.

Survivor: Gabon is behind schedule. Apparently shipping has turned into something of a hassle, and makes it all the more clear why disaster relief is so wildly inefficient in this country and around the world. A private company can’t even supply a TV show with enough goods to film for thirty-nine days, what chance does anyone have in the wake of tragedy?

Semi-related, John Slattery admits to watching Progect Runway, and takes a shot at Survivor while doing so, “What I like is the show is about the creativity, not just, ‘Let’s vote the biggest asshole off the island.’” You take it back John Slattery, how dare you trivialize our guilty pleasure to compliment your guilty pleasure. Why can’t you be more like Vincent Kartheiser and simply say the show you like, then fail to offer an explanation for why you would like something so tedious and trite.

HBO forced a local Baltimore purse shop to change its name from “Handbags In The City” to “Handbags and The City”. I’m just glad to see they’re not picking on the little guy. That store was profiting marginally from using a ridiculously stupid pun on one of their show titles that hasn’t been on the air for four years without proper copyright access. Damn right they have to change that sentence connector. No free passes when it comes to similar language.

And finally, if you’re all clamoring to know what John Stamos has been up to — Like all of us — well, here is your answer. I couldn’t read the article, I fell into mild paralysis with elation that Jesse does indeed have more projects on the way.

That’s all we’ve got, I hope your day goes as quick as mine will slow.

What makes a Thursday morning better than average? When you can return to writing the same tired useless bullshit that you always did, without feeling guilty because you never tried anything new. No, instead you get to feel guilty because you tried and it failed miserably. Your welcome, 451 press!

So here are some links to help tide you over while we wait patiently for Weeds to kick off its fourth season. But even then our expectations are nil after the most recent effort. We have some issues with that series that we’ll address in our season three recap that will be posted sometime late next week before the June 16th premiere. In the meantime, enjoy reading whatever I can trudge up here.

Alan Sepinwall, probably one of the better TV critics around, only had his blog for the last two seasons of The Wire, of which he wrote detailed recaps for every episode. So instead of letting all reasonable obligations end like that, he’s going back to the pilot episode, and writing a weekly recap for every episode in the first season. Not only that, but he’s doing two separate recaps for each episode, one for people who have seen the entire series, and one for people just tuning in. This is something we would contemplate doing if we had the time, patience, interest or resources to actually see it through.

Here are your top ten series’ with opening credit narrations. It’s tedious, pointless and ultimately kind of idiotic, but we read and enjoyed it anyways. Who doesn’t love a good list?

Mad Men will have moved forward past Don Draper sitting on his steps alone for Thanksgiving for the start of the second season. It didn’t end the first season with the characters in peril, and the season two premiere won’t pick up with them in the same exact scene. In other words, it isn’t Weeds. For which we can all be thankful.

The quintessential American romance.

Comparing and contrasting the strengths and weaknesses of the American and British versions of The Office. Seems like apples and oranges at this point. I mean, the American version has had four seasons, three of which are longer than the entire series of its British predecessor. Next week, I’m writing a post about the dichotomy between The Critic and South Park, mainly because they’re both animated.

Speaking of which, South Park will be available on HD for DirectTV subscribers. It’s a widely known fact that watching comedy in HD makes everything exponentially funnier. Its like being stoned, but on technological advancement.

Rescue Me “minisodes” will debut on June 24th, we might have mentioned that on this site. I know we mentioned the eventual existence of them, but no confident that we had a date. Either way, here it is. I, for one, am tickled to see what exactly a minisode is, other than a thematic commercial.

What a surprise, Mad Men and The Wire lead the way in nominations at the Critic’s Awards. Really, there is nothing comparable in quality, originality and style to these series’ on television. Lost can go fuck itself.

And finally, our other national nightmare might come to an end. Eventually. The Simpsons is guaranteed at least a total of twenty seasons, but for some reason it is speculated that after that 20th season, the series will come to an end. We’d be elated, but we’ll believe it when we see it. The show is an institution, but a crumbling one that needs to go away.

That’s it for today, expect a nightly preview tomorrow.

Technical difficulties have afflicted Grid Effect, and while we are more inclined to neglect the site altogether and call it a wash, it’s unspeakably boring at work. So we’re more than happy to contribute to the mass of worthless information that comprises most of the internets. Here are some links, enjoy.

Mad Men’s official second season debut has been scheduled for Sunday, July 27th at 10pm est. Hopefully Pete Campbell hasn’t killed his bastard child by then. This, compounded with Generation Kill and Weeds (a coworker recently dropped HBO in favor of Showtime & Starz for the same price, I’m sensing an oncoming trend), should make July an unusually good TV month.

It looks like Jericho fans are just as insufferable as Friday Night Lights fans, except only for a far inferior television series. Still, best of luck to them and all their future endeavors, with any luck they’ll get Quantum Leap back on the air as well.

A preview of season four of Weeds. We haven’t seen the third season yet (starting tonight, actually), but we’ll just say that after the first two seasons, we’re kind of hoping either Nancy Botwin redeems herself in some way or else she experiences some comeuppance. A little too reckless/negligent for us to always want to see her succeed.

Tivo will have an option to record all the series’ recommended by the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan (see Mad Men link). We enjoy Miss Ryan’s prose, but why she was chosen over the thousands of TV critics in the country, we’ll never understand. Anyway, don’t be surprised if you select this option, only to see your Tivo overloaded with Friday Night Lights reruns.

MTV will have cameras follow rapper/wannabe actor TI around while he completes his court ordered 1,000 hours of community service. It’s like a Scared Straight for those with penchants of loitering and starting bar fights. TI was found guilty of much heavier charges, but he’s a celebrity. And it’s a widely known fact that celebrities are better than regular people, thus receive lighter sentences. If for whatever reason (we can’t think of one) this doesn’t sound like its for you, don’t worry; I’m sure MTV will manage to condense the 1,000 into about 180 minutes.

The Hills goes out of their way to illustrate their “personalities” as non-celebrities so as to make it still seem relatable, because they know that no other media exists in the entire world, and no one could figure this out for themselves. Said MTV programming head, Tony DiSanto: “It’s not a documentary about Lauren who is a star because she’s on a show called ‘The Hills.” He followed that up with, “I don’t give a shit what you fucking muts say, MTV has programming standards, and we will not lower our brow for any of you unless you can guarantee us higher ratings”.*

I just can’t place why this show is popular.

Terrence Winter is working on a new project with HBO, and reflects fondly on working with Sydney Pollack. If you don’t know who Terrence Winter is, then go look it up because we’ve mentioned his accolades enough on this website. We’ll just link to his IMDB page to make it easier…This guy loves the northeast, apparently.

Speaking of which, if you’re looking for an overpriced, (most likely) oversized suit, then look no further: James Gandolfini is auctioning off twenty-four of the suits he wore as Tony Soprano. A couple questions: First, he got to keep those fucking suits? All of Them? Did he ever wear the same suit twice? Or just one an episode? I’d be looking to hawk some of those as well. Second, does it come with his chronic wheezing? I don’t want the suit unless respiratory disease is promised.

I love that we live in a world where Ashton Kutcher is now in a position to hire Kelsey Grammar and not the other way around. We have no idea what for and we’re already disinterested.

Reynoldsburg, Ohio native “Bow Wow” has joined the cast of Entourage. One of the five characters (likely Turtle) will almost certainly call him “dog” in some lame attempt at a pun, and everyone in the scene will laugh…this show needs to end.

Drea De Matteo is getting the Michael Richards treatment after her asinine decision to leave The Sopranos in favor of a spinoff sitcom on NBC. We said at the time it was probably the smart move since she was going to be killed off regardless, but we’ve heard contradicting reports. If in fact she opted to leave before discovering she would be killed off instead of as a result of it, then this website has little sympathy for her. At the same time, the failures of Joey had little to do with Matteo’s acting, and what little success they did have you could attribute at least 40% to her looks. True story.

Finally,HBO is set to air Bad Girls, a women’s prison drama that’s going to ruin all of our lesbian fantasies. Or maybe enhance them, who knows? If there is anyone that dreams of men hooking up with each other at a fervent pace, Oz most likely fulfilled those. Unless you like to live through your sexual encounters, then probably not. Seriously though, it looks great!

Have a thoroughly rewarding weekend.

Slow, slow TV weeks ahead. With no Office, Survivor or South Park, the next TV event we’ll write about is probably Recount which airs next Monday. Unless we start dating someone with Showtime, we should be on hiatus from all television series until Generation Kill in July. So, here is the first of what’s sure to be many links posts over the next couple months.

Ian Ziering, one of the cast members from the original 90210, is now a MySpace “star”. Funny, because I thought the term “star” implied that you were recognizable to the mainstream, not that you developed a miniseries then put it on your MySpace page. Because if that is the case, my niece is a “star” as well. Poor guy. Although he was probably sick to death of her, he went from being married to this, to developing an internet show that virtually no one realizes exists.

Jerry Springer officially apologized for the Jerry Springer Show, presumably because he’s running for office in the near future. He’s so sorry and was so aware that the show was contributing to the decay of culture in this country, that he starred in a film satire about the whole thing.

Portia de Rossi (Lyndsay Bluth) is marrying Ellen Degeneres. One of these two is marrying up, but I’m not really sure who. We have no barometer for things like this with same-sex couples, probably because they often seem too content to worry about such matters.

Aside from them both being women, this matrimony will probably be a lot more traditional than anyone will give it credit for.

Probably the best indicator of how poor these network crime dramas are in terms of character development, is how interchangeable the actors are, and cliche and ridiculous their characters descriptions tend to be.

The fourth season of Weeds is at least partially set in South America, and here are photos from it! We still haven’t seen but the first two episodes from the third season and we have them queued up on Netflix for their June 3rd release. We might due a brief synopsis of the third season before the fourth airs, simply for lack of anything else to do.

In a tragic blow to the film industry, Jimmy Fallon is retiring from the big screen to focus on his late night career. There are so many things wrong with that sentence, including Jimmy Fallon having a late night talk show and Jimmy Fallon having a movie career to retire from. I don’t think the nation understands the impact of this decision. This means no more Taxi, and no more minor Hornby. You know you’ll miss him when he’s gone.

And finally, some actress is going to be playing some doctor that “challenges” Sean on the next season of Nip Tuck. One, I can’t believe this shit was renewed. Two, “challenges” for an actress in Nip Tuck land means she collects penises and sells them on the black market in a third world country or something. Say Adios to your member, Sean, it’s not like you ever used it all that often, and the few times you did you were brow beaten by every other character on the show. So, maybe it’s for the best. Maybe now we can get along to a storyline that doesn’t resemble every other storyline the series has had.

And on that note, have a great day.

We’re still in the precipice of a hectic work week, so bare with us as we offer up day old news for the first three days of this, the third week of April.

Now desperately seeking an edge to regather its once dominant Nielsen score, Survivor is going HD. Assuming this is the case, the editing team better be working around the clock to verify there are not any exposed body parts.

TV critic Tim Goodman sums up the mentality of NBC comedy fans quite aptly in this op-ed piece. In short, he says we’re comedy elitists who denounce more traditional CBS comedies without giving them a chance. This describes the attitude on Grid Effect almost to a tee, and the odds of us changing up are about 100/1. Call us a snob if you will, but we’ve watched Big Bang Theory and we were mightily unimpressed.

Albert Brooks will play Nancy Botwin’s father-in-law in the fourth season of Weeds. Now, if only they would release the third season DVD’s so I could prepare to watch the fourth season, I’d be all set. But no, Showtime keeps me in suspense, at least with DVD releases and not actual storytelling.

There’s a picture of Mary Louise-Parker’s digitally enhanced naked ass that we wanted to use, but chose this instead. Mainly because violence is so much less-threatening than sex.

Here’s something you don’t see everyday: A reality TV director has been arrested on charges he falsely imprisoned eight women. Apparently he led them into his house with the promise of putting them on a series. A few things about this, first, I thought people that lied about being in showbiz to get women actually had no affiliation with the industry. If you actually have some kind of pull, what’s the point of promising a woman a spot you never plan to give to her, if you can actually put a good word? I suppose you can always be a sick fuck, so maybe that’s the case. Secondly, I think this is another argument for the abolishment of reality television. If it is so mind-numbingly boring for the people involved that they resort to multiple kidnappings, then it’s time to rethink the genre.

A.O. Scott, who we’ve sometimes felt to be pompous, writes a piece about Roger Ebert’s television career that is anything but. Regardless of your opinion of Ebert’s approach to movie reviews, his contribution is undeniable and hopefully a “Better Know a Congressman” segment.

Stephen Colbert is doing his show from Philadelphia all week. We watched last night as Colbert always brings his A-game for the away crowd, and last night was no exception. We recommend tuning in tonight to see an interview with Michelle Obama.

It seems like state employees were really fond of The Wire. Which is strange since that is who the show is usually hammering away on, even with the obvious degree of affection the series portrays the majority of its characters with, they are still perceived as ineffective at best and expendable at worst. But yeah, City Hall in Nashville is still in mourning over its conclusion. I guess that speaks to the caliber of programming that The Wire brought every week.

And finally, Newsday has a column about the difficulties sports-oriented TV series face. We mentioned it yesterday with The Contender, the article focuses mainly on Friday Night Lights, the problems the two shows face might vary, but we think a lot of it is related to sports movies being such a staple in US cinema that diverting from that is unlikely. Sports fans generally have amazingly short attention spans, we think FNL’s ratings failure stems directly from that mindset.

More of the same tomorrow.

Were back from the weekend, finally. And I have to tell you, nothing sucked the life out of me quite like that Oscar blog. I’ve lived a relatively charmed life, so when I say that’s the closest I’ve been to any sort of torture, you know I’m being serious. It’s about what I imagine being an Al-Qaeda detainee is like, except for the longterm physical abuse and potential death. But it was bad enough that we couldn’t bring ourselves to post yesterday without a specific topic, which we seldom have nowadays.

So here are a few links, the first three days of the week are turning into a mini-preseason. We gear up for writing about Survivor and The Wire by reusing and rehashing the same tired gimmicks over and over again. And though we feel as if we’ve perfected these gimmicks about a year ago, there still might be some benefit in this repetition. Not really, but that’s how we kid ourselves, and we’ll be damned if anyone can take that away from us.

The Oscar’s had their lowest rating since the inception of ratings. “Only” 32 million people tuned in, and while it’s the lowest rating since 1974, the fact that they got 32 million people to watch that tripe is impressive. How often do 32 million people ever do anything simultaneously?

If you’re looking for an endless amount of HBO teasers, well, look no further. It appears the cable network has fully embraced the glory of new media by creating their own youtube page. This is the perfect way for them to lure in non-subscribers to pay for something they probably can’t afford.

Few non-murderers/rapists disgust me more than Heather Mills, and the fact she can actually make me care about her either way I suppose is why she keeps being rewarded for her contribution to the downfall of humanity. Yes, Ms. Mills is parlaying her barely a marriage to Beatles icon Paul McCartney into a cooking show. For the love of all that is holy can she please drop off the face of the Earth?

Prison Break is pulling a Nip Tuck and moving to Miami. Well, I hope they’re moving the fucking prison as well, since the premise of the series is that someone is breaking out of it. Didn’t they ever consider the idiocy of that title if it was going to last passed one season? This fuck-up just about embodies why we rarely watch network television.

NBC is picking up a series based on the classic novel, Robinson Crusoe. We read this book for college and the fucking thing might as well have been in hieroglphyics. If they keep the same diction, we’re probably going to sit this one out.

Isn’t there a more recent novel to base an island series off of? You know, like one written in the past 280 years.

You know there is no justice in the television industry when Women’s Murder Club and Lipstick Jungle are both extended while Friday Night Lights and Arrested Development get the ax. Oh well, we suppose there is a reason your television is often referred to as an “idiot box”.

We’re somewhat hesitant to post anything about a Wire episode before we do our recap and review of it on Friday (If you haven’t seen it yet this is a huge spoiler), but Michael K. Williams has said he wished the character had stayed in Puerto Rico. From a fan standpoint we tend to agree (even though we’re not supposed to like the guy), but we consider his downfall a privilege to watch.

Oh, this is why we don’t watch any primetime television: the broadcast networks apparently do not want me too. Or, at least that’s how I interpret the airwaves being overrun with “cougars”. For those completely turned off by contemporary nomenclature (I usually am, but am unfortunately in tune with it), a “cougar” is an older woman who sleeps with a significantly younger guy, the female equivalent to the older guy who has a trophy wife. The only time we’ve found this unique or interesting is in Weeds, and the woman is a widower.

Speaking of which, Weeds apparently shares a number of similarities with Breaking Bad, a series we kind of regret missing and now it is only enhanced.

That’s it for today, we’ll try to keep to fresh tomorrow. An essay of some sort, maybe. Probably not, but maybe.

Jesus, what a slow fucking week this is. This reminds me of the time when I actually had a social life and didn’t woefully turn to the television for any sort of entertainment, only to be disappointed with my options when I actually did. At least now I know there is nothing worthwhile and have the good sense to not even bother turning to it.

So here it is, presented by default in accordance with my laziness, yet another batch of links. Nothing all that riveting or telling, but when your best viewing option consists of something like a two-hour long television episode about a group of people trapped on a tropical island with a polar bear, then perhaps links about off-screen industry news are for the best.

Montel Williams is leaving his talk show after seventeen years of tried-and-true exploitation. Call me crazy, but I was quite certain he parlayed his talk show into infomercials for pharmaceutical companies and had given up the talk show circuit awhile ago. Either way I could give a fuck, he’ll still be all over Fox News pimping anti-depressants.

The parents tv council (which I refuse to capitalize, because an organization with as much time on their hands as this one should really have a more creative name) is imploring CBS to reconsider airing Dexter on their home network. Supposedly the council is concerned about graphic violence (despite the show and the network already promising to edit the series heavily), which is a new one for them; typically they’re concerned about graphic sex. And while I would like to see CBS relegate Dexter to Showtime, it’s for a completely different reason. In short: that show fucking blows. The plot isn’t so bad, but the acting (from everyone other than Michael C. Hall and maybe the girl who played the doctor on OZ) and the dialog makes me squirm it’s so forced and unnatural.

He’s just using that knife for debate leverage, we have no idea what these people are worried about.

Gee whiz, it would be swell if HBO thought to greenlight another series not revolving around psychiatry. Judging by these ratings for In Treatment, it might be sooner rather than later. So wait, these ratings are indicating that the average American doesn’t have the patience to watch two strangers talk for a half hour? Wow. I never would’ve figured. But honestly, if the average American’s attention span can’t get him to watch The Wire, then it’s not going to respond to something like a grueling marathon of melodramatic swill that is in Treatment.

A “grow-house” was found in the neighborhood where Weeds shoots all of its offset scenes. Allegedly the plants were worth as much as $8 million. Man, so regularly you hear about marijuana being a gateway drug, but if that is the case, then how are they’re still enough customers to consumer $8 million worth? If everyone is eventually graduating to coke or whatever, then why the need for millions of dollars of weed in SoCal? Also, it might be a gateway drug, but I think that’s more the case with the dealers. Such a high percentage of them seem to delve into more illicit substances after a stint with cannabis.

James Gandolfini went after an aggressive fan, then took a picture with him. While the guy seemed like a baiting cocksucker, we have to wonder about this emotional fluctuation with the actor who played Tony Soprano. I don’t want it to be true but can’t help but notice: clearly Gandolfini is on steroids. That, or he was trying to avoid a frivolous lawsuit.

The LA Times took a beating from its readers emails lamented the paper spoiling Prop Joe’s death on The Wire. Most of the complaints were along the lines of, “some of us can’t orchestrate our lives around a television show to watch a second after its available”. While I can understand this brand of complaint (if there is one show that has the potential to make me homicidal for being spoiled by it, it’s The Wire) that not everyone can watch the new episodes immediately (not me, but you know, other people), the emails used as an example are so high and mighty that I’m almost glad they had “Transitions” ruined. Besides, if you didn’t see Prop Joe’s demise as an inevitability in the prior episodes, then you probably should find something else to watch.

And finally, some old Survivor castaway from a season before I started watching is starting a record label for reality television contestants. Good lord, we always knew 90% of reality show contestants were desperate, we had no idea they were also delusional. Not that the two character traits are always mutually exclusive, but this is a whole new level of delusion we didn’t think possible without being in a straight jacket. Anyone remember David from the Real World: New Orleans season? Yeah, expect more of that.

FNL recap tomorrow.

After staying up until 2am waiting for HBO to post the new Wire episode on demand, we called it a night. Problem being, we are dead tired and keep drifting off at work, so we’re sorry if this post doesn’t thrill and amuse.

Two series’ this website is incredibly favorable of, Weeds and Mad Men, have both received exemptions from the writer’s strike. Supposedly they cut a deal with their respective production companies or something? I don’t know, I wouldn’t be surprised if enough high ranking members of the WGA liked these two shows enough that they decided to let it slide.

Nielsen ratings for The Wire continue to fall, and I have one question for those who may be concerned with this, does it really seem like fewer people are watching the show than at the end of the fourth season? All the people I know who watched it still do, and all the blogs, websites, message boards, etc. I visit all have the same frequency of posts/comments. Does anyone know if DVR/Tivo recordings and On Demand views are factored into these ratings? I sincerely doubt it. Also, some dickhead leaked the first seven episodes online, so several loyalists aren’t even using HBO to watch the episodes.

Let me extrapolate on this point to vent, I like that the episodes are posted earlier On Demand, but between that, the online availability of episodes that have yet to air, and the regular showing on Sunday nights, it makes the series impossible to talk about with other fans. If you talk to seven people, they’re at six different stages in the season, so every conversation is bogged down in a series of qualifiers such as, “well, have you gotten to (fill in this scene here, and just asking about it spoils the series)?”, and “I know you’re not up to this point, but…”. For someone who likes to dissect every facet of every episode, I’d probably simply prefer it if they did away with all the On Demand shenanigans and advanced copies, and force me to watch every Sunday night. If not for myself, then for everyone whose been incidentally spoiled and for the series’ ratings (even though they’re kind of irrelevant now).

Speaking of The Wire, Lance Reddick has gone from the critically acclaimed series, to Oz, to movies that share a name with a Norm McDonald comedy to Mercedes commercials and now to FOX pilots. While we have no doubt this project will sink like a stone, it’s always good to see good actors from legendary series’ get more work. Anyone seen JK Williams (Bodie) sine he was shot dead on his corner? Didn’t think so. That kid should be able to find work solely for his spit takes.

The king stay the king, Bodie. Until he’s murdered, then someone else is the king.

Here’s wishing Roger Ebert all the best after yet another surgery. His Great Movies List has provided me with countless entertainment recommendations for slow weekends over the years, we need to see another hundred added to that list before it’s all said and done. We also hope he regains his voice and makes it back to his show, which has been influencing our theater outings for about seven years now.

So apparently, and this is going to come as a huge surprise, Americans love them some schaudenfruede, as evidenced by 24 million people watching Moment of Truth. If only everyone’s personal and domestic conflicts could be aired on national television, we would all be so happy. Maybe there should be some sort of mandate on this to help pull us out of a looming recession: if you have some deep-seeded secret or revelation you’re planning on making to a family member/close friend, it must be done on Fox, so we can have a cast of judges humiliate you more than you could possibly humiliate yourself. Though I will give the series credit, it takes balls to invite Roger Clemens onto a show with such a premise. There is no telling how that ‘roided up entitled freak will react.

And finally, to send you out of here on a sour (or positive, depending on your perspective) note, ABC has cut a third of their fall pilots for 2008. Not pulling any punches, the network is taking a meat axe to the union, who seems to have gotten in over its head. I think this might mean that the end is nigh for October Road.

Back tomorrow with something other than a Nip Tuck recap tomorrow.

Great weekend of television. Or rather, a great weekend of football with a couple good series’ on. So many people are skeptical of the McNulty development on The Wire and I’m just not understanding the knee-jerk reactions. We are five minutes into his caper and already people have voiced discontent over its fallacy. How it’s any more farcical than Hamsterdam this website will never understand, but it provides an excellent way for the media to become intrinsically instead of peripherally involved in this season’s arc, and that is what they’ve been so far to the commercial viewer: a distraction to the characters we’ve come to know and love.

Also this weekend Bill Maher’s show returned. This website doesn’t claim any political affiliations in fear of losing half of its already minimal audience, but watching one party set up a forum to verbally berate a single member of the other party is always enjoyable. Maher now brings in some guy from Rolling Stone he refers to as a field reporter or some shit, just to pile on whichever republican has shown up for his medicine. This week it was Tony Snow, who despite still recovering from Chemo treatments stood tall against the semi hate-fueled panel and audience. Seriously, regardless of which side of the aisle you happen to land on, you had to admit being impressed. Then again, debating politics with Marc Cuban probably isn’t a daunting task for a former press secretary. Simply put, if he’s the Dallas Mavericks then Helen Thomas is the San Antonio Spurs.

The Golden Globes took place last night. Not an actual awards show because those who would have scripted it would have been outside protesting its very existence. And since we had absolutely no idea it was taking place, we were surprised to see it being hosted on NBC with two, two person “panels” going back and forth talking vapidly about the winners and nominees in the name of killing time. It was a strange broadcast, and since they were doing much more succinct shows on E! and CNN (NEWS!), we couldn’t really fathom why any one would watch it.

Anyhow, while we were somewhat intrigued by who won, we weren’t too adamant about it since the nominees were so random, at least in the television categories. How can you hold an awards show for television and leave The Sopranos completely off the docket, sans Edie Falco? We have no idea, either. Never the less, it was good to see Mad Men garner recognition for best drama and best actor, for a series that should appeal to everyone with a brain over the age of twenty, maybe it will grow on its already large (cable) audience. Extras taking home best comedy series didn’t come as a surprise since foreign press essentially means European press. But the win was warranted, and we can’t recall Ricky Gervais’ sophomore series being recognized in any awards capacity to date.

Because of the strike, Gervais managed to avoid all public embarrassments.

A few gripes, namely David Duchovony getting the win for best comedic actor when his series is hardly a comedy. This seemed like a novelty to have him nominated in the first place, and I think we all kind of assumed it was Alec Baldwin’s to lose, or even Ricky Gervais or Steve Carell. For a field as loaded as this one was, seeing the guy from The X-Files win because his show is new kind of cheapens the already cheap award show. Also, we were pulling for Mary-Louise Parker (finally saw the third season premiere of Weeds this weekend, it was…chaotic) in the best comedic actress but can’t argue too staunchly against Tina Fey.

That was the weekend in a nutshell. We’ll try and return this afternoon with something worthwhile.

We here at Grid Effect we’re particularly enamored with the past year in television and film, but in most instances the two mediums at large cater to an audience we simply can’t relate too. For every No Country For Old Men and Flight of The Conchords there’s ten Evan Almighty’s and five Big Bang Theory’s, not to say we always scoff at the commercial pieces, we love Grindhouse and The Office, but those are two exceptions. While these both have their shallow characteristics there is still an emphasis on originality and characterization, the same cannot be said for their mainstream counterparts.

Given this is a TV blog, at this time of year we like to recognize series’ that might otherwise go unrecognized, regardless of how trivial and irrelevant the recognition actually is. We’ll countdown 10-6 today, and finish 5-1 on Monday. To read about last year’s best series as donned by this blog, go here and here.

First off, lets take some time to acknowledge the series’ we excluded, including Entourage, Rescue Me Nip Tuck and Survivor. The latter of which had secured its place on the board until this dreadful last season. And we tend to think that producing the worst season out of fifteen warrants barring you from any top ten lists. Rescue Me and Entourage, last year ranked 10 and 8, respectively fell off completely this year for a variety of reasons.

That’s pretty disappointing when two of the series’ on last year’s list weren’t even up for consideration (AD and The Wire). Each had their moments, but neither series seems to have a clue as to where they are going, and are just meandering around for the networks while they still grab decent ratings. And Nip Tuck’s absence shouldn’t come as any surprise.

10) Weeds
A bit of a sham because we haven’t even seen their most recent season, but the first two were good enough that we’re going to take the liberty of saying we’re confident in the product. A series about ultra-liberal potheads for ultra-liberal potheads might seem like a cliche given the current Hollywood environment, but this series produces the goods with great performances from Kevin Nealon as Doug Wilson, and Mary Louise-Parker and Justin Kirk as Nancy and Andy Botwin. A comedy as much as it is a family drama, this series produces great bits of dialog and plot development like no other sitcom to date. And trust us, had we been privy to season three, it would be much higher than #10.

You know it’s good when we haven’t even seen this year’s season and still have it ranked.

9) Flight of The Conchords
As quirky as it is fresh (the antithesis to Juno in that regard), FoTC follows the lives of two aspiring yet hopeless New Zealand musicians in New York. They get into mostly self-inflicted misadventures and handle all of them with a bumbling beta-maleness that can only be accurately described as impotent indifference. This would have earned a higher spot if it wasn’t for the all too frequent uncomfortable musical bits, but with Bret, Jermaine, Murray, Mel and Dave all churning out consistent comedic bits, the place as worst best series we actually saw in full in 2007 seems appropriate.

Friday Night Lights
God we hate putting this series so low. The first season was probably the best network drama we have ever seen. The exposition on a small Texas town and its football team couldn’t have been less imperfect. But this second season, with its uneven episodes and murder plots and surplus of adult-child relationships, we couldn’t rationally put it above anything else left. It has a glimmer of hope that they can get back on track, but they’ve effectively ruined Landry (probably the best peripheral character from season one) and taken several characters down paths I’m not entirely interested in nor do I find them to be as organic as the first seasons conflicts and resolutions. Right now, Taylor Keitsch and Scott Porter as Riggins and Street are saving that series.

7) Curb Your Enthusiasm
Surprised we decided to rank it this high given the frequency of letdowns for their first season in almost two years. But the last three or four episodes (starting with whenever Cheryl left Larry) completely redeemed the season’s initial outpour of implausibility. We suppose this speaks to the longevity of Larry David and his capacity for comedic development, but really we’re not so sure we aren’t putting it on here solely for the last minute of the season. They need to return for a seventh so we can see that final sixty seconds elongated.

6) The Office
Fell a couple spots from last year, though still remained strong despite all our incessant nitpicking. We like to hold great series’ to a higher standard and not resort to the old, “it’s still better than anything else on television” defense. But in all honesty, it is. Even the best 30 Rock episode, which is a highly respected and critically lauded series, doesn’t produce as many great moments (comedic or otherwise) as does the worst episode of The Office. So, for all the unnecessary declarations of love and relationship quarrels, we’re still placing it here at number six.

Back with the top five series of the year on Monday.

With the current drought of quality new and original programming, we took it upon ourselves to catch up on a series that we have since overlooked. And given our penchant for television you have to pay extra to receive, we thought Weeds would be an appropriate choice. It’s a half hour long, we had never seen even a millisecond of it and they’ve burned through four seasons in three years. For a network taking a stab to be the “new HBO” of original programming, they sure as shit don’t act like it. Generally that’s the length of hiatus’ on HBO.

Anyhow, the series revolves around our protagonist Nancy Botwin, a recent widow with two sons, a maid and a freeloading brother in law, played with an understated coolness by Mary-Louise Parker, the hottest +40 year old we can think of. We never get any back story, but presumably she had limited options after burying her husband and resorted to selling marijuana to make ends meet (Yeah, I really want a back story, the woman virtually lives in a mansion). All while coping with the pressure of raising two boys on her own and maintaining the facade as a law abiding citizen in the town of Argrestic (I’m assuming on the outskirts of LA) to all the wives and mothers and dealer to all of their husbands.

She buys her packages from the Shepard’s, a sharp witted black family that seems genuinely concerned for her but still prioritizes business over her well-being, particularly the matriarch of the family Heylia, who not only initially sold her cheap marijuana but also took her car then wedding ring as collateral when she was unable to make payments. Six episodes in she has yet to recollect her ring, but got the car back after the Shepard’s house was shot up (not a norm for the series).

When not buying/distributing drugs or tending to her sons Shane and Silas, she’s gossiping with a neighborhood “frenemy” that she mostly likes (and admits to her as much), Celia Hodes. Celia is a gossip monger while claiming to disapprove of gossip. She’s married to a pothead who carries as much disdain for her as she does him. It’s really quite depressing. They casually cheat on each other and seem all but content to go on that way, presumably because both of them are worried about getting slighted in a divorce. Celia is probably the simplest and most cliched aspect of the show. She saunters around insulting everyone from her own children to her husband to run of the mill middle schoolers.

Everything about this series is for people on drugs.

It isn’t Celia’s unpleasantness that undoes the character, it’s the obviousness of everything that she spouts. She’s essentially like the blond from Sex and The City, except married, less slutty and more self-conscious. Even by episode five we discover that she has breast cancer. The similarities are endless I tell you.

Occasionally we are treated to flashbacks of Nancy’s deceased husband Judah, usually through video footage. And honestly, their is a stockpile of footage of this cat. They could make a documentary on this guy’s foreplay from what we’ve seen. The scene always ends with either Shane or Nancy looking longingly at the camera, Nancy is generally in tears but at one point displays some frustration/bitterness that her husband died prematurely when she chucks the camera into the wall of the house.

The show has its downside, like the introduction of characters that we never see again. Namely Josh, a rival dealer still in high school who made his bones selling to preteens. I use the past tense because the kid was in the pilot episode and has yet to reappear. And considering he’s the son of Kevin Nealon’s character Doug Wilson, Nancy’s biggest client and CPA (also city council man), it isn’t really consistent that he would disappear from the cast like that. At least when they got rid of Quinn, Celia’s daughter, they provided an explanation (Celia sent her to boarding school after Quinn flicked her off through a hidden camera device Celia conspired to spy on her daughter with). But Josh seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.

The humor often seems to try a little too hard and remaining unfunny. Kevin Nealon and Nancy’s suppliers are the comedic highlights of the series, but to often are the kids left with comedy material that the actors seem ill-quipped too handle. Not only that, but too maintain a semblance of realism, some of the humor in this series should be met with some hostility as it is very disparaging, but usually it’s brushed off and never touched on again. The characters all seem ambivalent in this regard, and it’s distracting.

Still we recommend it if you’re looking for something new to watch during these strike ridden days we’re living in. If you want a short review of this series, an adapted for television version of American Beauty is pretty accurate, minus the Kevin Spacey character. It’s set in a bland suburban community (as the oddly hypnotic opening credits would suggest) full of duplicity and deception from its inhabitants. Not exactly uplifting but a solid half hour of entertainment. We’d conclude that the series starts to hit its stride by the third episode, so don’t judge it by its pilot or sophomore efforts.