It’s time for another Tales of Rothschild, where, in the spirit of the opera The Tales of Hoffman, I pick three stories to write about that have something in common. Today, let’s look at three baseball stories, all having something to do with a New York player or team.
1. A Cy Young Dark Horse
In the National League, it looks like Ubaldo Jimenez is the obvious front-runner for the Cy Young Award, with Adam Wainwright in a close second. Nobody else will challenge either one for the honor. In the AL, it’s a different story. There’s no obvious front runner, with David Price, Clay Buchholz and CC Sabathia looking like contenders, but it’d be tough to say which really has the obvious advantage. With no clear top candidate, how about Mariano Rivera? He took the loss on Tuesday against Texas, in a rare poor performance for him this year, but his season remains outstanding and borderline absurd. He has 23 saves to only 2 blown saves, and his era is at 1.09, and was as low as 0.88 before giving up the run to Texas. The 23 saves don’t look that impressive, but the Yankees have had an odd way of either winning by 4 or 5 runs or losing by about that many, so the work for him hasn’t been as much as in past years. This has been as good a season for him as any in his career, and it would be a shame if the best closer of the era went his entire baseball life without winning a major award, assuming that we’re not taking the Rolaids relief award as a big time thing. New rule, in the words of Bill Maher: If you get a sponsor for your award, and the sponsor is a heartburn medicine to take after eating a few too many chicken wings at Hooters, we aren’t going to take you seriously. If he were to win the award, skeptics would claim that the Cy Young isn’t meant to be a lifetime achievement award, and should reward the best of the best. It’s a fair point, but there really hasn’t been a more dominant pitcher than Rivera. Price was hit hard at Yankee Stadium in a big game for his Rays a few weeks ago, Buchholz is still young and proving himself, and Sabathia has been shaky on more than a few occasions. Cliff Lee could be in the discussion as well, but he didn’t put up incredible numbers in Seattle, and voters rarely reward a pitcher that switches teams midseason. Rivera has given up 5 earned runs this season. Not this month, or in his last 10 outings. This ENTIRE year. That’s pretty unbelievable. Despite his loss against the Rangers, he needs to be in the discussion. He’s going to be 41 after the season. There’s no better time than the present to give an award of this magnitude to a pitcher that has endured like Rivera has.
2. Teixeira, Dunn, and the Post-Steroids Era
After a very slow start, Mark Teixeira has put the Yankees on his back for the last few weeks, and with 26 home runs and 85 rbi, he’s put himself in a position to hit around 35 to 40 homers this year, and drive in between 110 and 120 runs. He joined a small class of players that have hit at least 25 home runs in the first eight years of their careers, which is something that hasn’t been done often. Despite never playing for a contender, Adam Dunn continues to be a force with the long ball, hitting 30 home runs already this year. He’s well on his way to another 40 home run season. His numbers throughout his career are ridiculously consistent, as for the last 6 years he’s hit between 38 and 46 home runs every year, and driven in between 92 and 106 runs in every year since 2004. There’s no reason why he wouldn’t hit almost exactly to those numbers again this year. Teixeira turned 30 at the beginning of the season, and at this point has 268 home runs to his record. Dunn turns 31 in November, and is sitting at 346 homers thus far. Teixeira looks to have a chance to get near 500 home runs in his career, if he keeps it up, and Dunn could exceed that with 4 or 5 more years of putting up his consistent numbers. Neither guy has ever had a sniff of PEDs attached to them. Both are considered to be good guys without any sort of track record of controversy. In any other era, both players would be prime candidates to be on their way to Cooperstown. But in 2010, can we really be sure?
I’ve said this before, and I’ll likely say it again: The entire steroid era doesn’t really resonate with me as being that terrible. Players needed to keep up with the times, and they did what they needed to do in order to succeed. Is it morally right? Probably not. But I understand the rationale, and I don’t really begrudge them. But, ethics of the era notwithstanding, the numbers that players put up are ridiculously inflated and are impossible to compare to the current day and age. A couple of weeks ago, I watched part of the 2000 MLB All Star Game on the MLB Network. It was the heart of the steroids era, and the numbers were through the roof. Ivan Rodriguez strolled to the plate. The league leader for home runs at the 2010 All Star Game was 23 by Jose Bautista, and Josh Hamilton led the league at the time with 77 RBI. Here were Pudge’s numbers: .366, 26 HR, 80 RBI. And he wasn’t even leading the league! He was a catcher! I went to Washington DC to see the Nationals play the Marlins (another story for another time), and Pudge had 2 home runs on the year as he was playing in mid-August. That’s just crazy. The point is, when players like Rodriguez put up those numbers only ten years ago, it makes Dunn and Teixeira look worse by comparison. When countless players from the era hit 500 home runs and weren’t even close to the best players at their positions, how are we supposed to evaluate what these two first basemen are doing? Most people wouldn’t claim that Fred McGriff, Carlos Delgado, Rafael Palmeiro or Jim Thome were ever indisputably the best first basemen in baseball. Yet, they each hit over or around 500 home runs for their careers. When Dunn and Teixeira put their eventual career numbers against those, they’ll at best look like equals, when in reality they were better.
And that’s where the shame of the steroids era comes in. I’ll never get worked up about the game being ‘disgraced’, because I think that’s a really immature way of looking at it. But baseball records are so strongly based on numbers that losing the ability to compare players from different generations is really too bad. It will hurt these two, and it will hurt fans in the future that want to learn the history of the game. That’s really a bummer.
3. The Mets Fade Into Obscurity; Now What?
The Mets have faded away in the last month and a half, and it looks like another year without a playoff race for the Mets fans. They haven’t won back to back games since June 23rd, and they still haven’t won a road series against an NL team. Things have gotten ugly, fast. With this season all but over, it’s time to put it in the rearview mirror and look at where they can go from here. Fred Wilpon said last week that Omar Minaya will be keeping his job next year, since he has another year on his contract. With money tight and rumors flying about exactly how much money the Wilpons lost to Bernie Madoff, it doesn’t look like they’ll be letting go of people that don’t have expiring contracts. That being said (courtesy of Jerry Seinfeld), the Mets need to send a message to their fans. It’s one thing to tolerate another losing season, but something altogether different about letting players that aren’t contributing continue to play, only because of their contracts. Here’s my three-step process towards a brighter future for the Mets.
-Fire Jerry Manuel…today. He’ has an expiring deal, and keeping him at this point is just making the ownership look like they’re accepting what’s happening. Wally Backman can be promoted cheaply, so it wouldn’t cost a whole lot more money to bring him in, even on an interim basis. Even if the Mets have to live with the laughable Razor Shines as the manager for 2 months, the world will go on. But keeping Manuel just makes management seem lazy, even if not everything that’s happened has been his fault. There’s no better way to send a message than to fire the manager. He’s the fall guy, and it’s not all his fault, but that’s part of being an MLB manager. These things happen.
-Cut Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo. I know that only two paragraphs ago I said that the Mets can’t cut salary of players that have contracts next year, but this is an exception, and the cost wouldn’t be much more anyway. Ruben Tejada can be the regular second baseman next year, and he’s not making more than a few hundred thousand dollars a year, so Castillo is expendable, despite owing him money. Perez hasn’t been in the starting rotation for the Mets since late-April, so it’s not like they really need to replace him. He’s owed a good amount of money next year, so he should be cut, despite my defense of him a few weeks ago. The Mets need to send the message that positions on the team will be earned based on merit, and not due to the mistakes ownership has made with long-term contracts. This would be a good start. With that in mind…
-Promote Angel Pagan and Josh Thole to regular starters on Opening Day. Like I said before, it’s time for the Mets to start giving out positions based on what players have done, and not what they make. Pagan has been the most consistent Met all season, hitting over .300 and playing his hardest every day. Thole has given the team a spark off the bench, and has played well enough behind the plate to warrant the starting position. If these guys get rewarded, it will send a message to the clubhouse that if you play the game the right way and work hard, moving up on the team is very possible. I’ve never been a professional, semi-professional, or even a high school athlete, but I can’t imagine it feels great to play hard and succeed, only to learn that you can’t move up due to other contracts and commitments. We’ve all been in jobs where someone unworthy gets a position over us due to something other than the work at hand. Maybe it’s knowing the boss, or having a family tie with the company as a whole. Either way, it sucks. It sucks for workers, and it sucks for athletes too. Keeping Perez and Castillo will only enforce that, and moving Pagan and Thole up will give everybody something to strive for.
If the Mets can do all that, they should be competitive next year. A lot of their future is dependent on how well Carlos Beltran comes back from his knee injury, and if Jason Bay can turn it around. But, at the very least, they should be able to get their farm system to be a positive to support the stars.
August 13, 2010 · Filed under MLB
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This is Part 1 of a two part piece on the MLB playoff situation. Part 1 looks at the American League while next weeks Part 2 will examine the races in the National League.
The division races in the American League could come down to the wire, with perhaps the AL West, where Texas has a comfortable lead, being the lone exception. The AL East is the unquestioned best division in baseball with what are probably the three best teams in the American League, if not all of baseball, with perhaps apologies to Texas. The Yankees, Rays, and Red Sox are all battling for what will likely be two playoff spots.
AL East: The defending World Series champions, the New York Yankees, lead the way in the division and currently have the best record in baseball, however, the Tampa Bay Rays are right on their heels. In a division where four of the five teams are currently over .500, each division game will be tough to win. The Red Sox currently sit 5 games back of the Yankees and are still in the thick of the race as well. The Wild Card winner is also likely to come down to the 2nd and 3rd place teams of this division, although the team that doesn’t win the Central out of the Twins or White Sox could also be a contender. The Yankees are my pick to repeat this year, although I know I’m not really going out on a limb on that one, and I think they will hold off the Rays and Red Sox to take the division. The Yankees do have certain questions they have to answer before the postseason, particularly in their bullpen and with the health of certain players. Joba Chamberlain hasn’t faired well this year when he was put in the set up role to get to closer Mariano Rivera and David Robertson has become the 8th inning man recently. Kerry Wood was also added to the bullpen at the trade deadline and he picked up the win in the Yankees comeback win against Texas last night. Andy Pettitte should come back soon fully healthy and ready to continue his all-star season. A.J. Burnett has been inconsistent, but this isn’t anything new in his career. Tampa Bay has the pitching to contend, but I think they are lacking slightly offensively compared to the Yankees and that might just be enough for New York to take the division.
AL Central: The Twins won the division last year after defeating the Tigers, who did their best Mets impression by having a collapse down the stretch, in a one game playoff to decide the AL Central winner. They went on to get swept by the Yankees and an injury to closer Joe Nathan which has forced him to miss the entire year had some people question whether they could repeat. Minnesota is right there again largely thanks to Jon Rauch who has stepped in for Nathan. They also boast the best bullpen in the American League in terms of ERA. They are currently battling the White Sox in a pivotal series for first place while Detroit sits a ways back and will need a big comeback to win the division at this point. Joe Mauer isn’t having the MVP season he had last year, but he still is 5th in the league in batting. After Chicago’s win last night, the White Sox and Twins are in a dead heat for first with the rubber match coming tonight to decide who claims first place. Minnesota’s offense has been strong this season as they are 4th in baseball in runs scored. Chicago’s pitching has been strong as they are 4th in the league in team ERA, but Minnesota isn’t far behind them as they are 7th. I think Minnesota has the edge coming down the stretch and they have the experience of being defending division champions. It will likely come down to the wire between the two clubs, but I see the Twins repeating as AL Central champs.
AL West: The Texas Rangers have always had a potent offense, but their pitching has recently become the reason for their success, and with Nolan Ryan as Team President, maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise. They currently have the 3rd best ERA in the American League and boast a particularly strong bullpen full of hard throwers. Ryan has made it clear that he doesn’t regard pitch counts for much and is preaching for his pitchers to build up their arms and throw longer outings throughout the organization. They currently have the largest lead of any team in baseball with a 7.5 game lead, 5 more games than any other division leader currently has. The Mariners have been a disappointment this season and recently fired their manager, while the Angels, who have been the class of the division in recent years, are also struggling with their former ace John Lackey being traded to the Red Sox at the beginning of the year as well as slugger Kendry Morales being sidelined for the remainder of the season. Texas should be in line to win the division and make their first playoff appearance since 1999 barring a surprising turnaround. Outfielder Josh Hamilton is having an MVP type season and is leading the majors in batting with a .357 average. DH Vladimir Guerrero, who played for the Angels last season, is also having a resurgent year for the Rangers and is currently 4th in the AL in RBIs with 86. Neftali Feliz has been strong at closer and the addition of Cliff Lee provides the Rangers with a legitimate ace to head their rotation. Come playoff time, they could surprise a few people and make a deep run.
AL Wild Card: The Wild Card winner is likely to come from the East, and the Rays currently lead the way. The Rays currently sit 1.5 games behind the Yankees for first in the East and have the 2nd best record in all of baseball. They lead the Red Sox by 3.5 games for the Wild Card and boast a 5 game lead over the White Sox and Twins, who are tied for the Central lead. After that, another AL East team, Toronto, is actually the next in line so it’s safe to say no other team will likely contend for the Wild Card. The Red Sox were supposed to be built on pitching and defense, but Jon Lester has really been their only consistent starter all year, however, their offense is 2nd in the league in runs scored. The Rays on the other hand, lead the AL in team ERA and are led by young David Price, who leads the league in wins. The Rays young arms are comparable with any rotation in baseball and I think they have the pitching to hold off the Red Sox and win the Wild Card, although Boston is giving them a strong test and will be right in the thick of things until the end.
August 12, 2010 · Filed under MLB
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This is Part 2 of a 2-part column, ranking the top comedies of the 09-10 TV year. For Part 1, click here.
Before we start with the final 6 shows, I should mention that I didn’t rank South Park, since it’s never clear exactly what label it should get. But it should be acknowledged that it had an outstanding season, and one of its best in years. If I had ranked it, I probably would have put it between numbers 4 and 5 on this list.
6. 30 Rock Still funny, but the element of surprise seems to be gone here. All of these characters have been used so much that nothing that they do or say seems surprising or even particularly interesting anymore. At this point I get that Liz Lemon is a slob, Tracy Jordan says ridiculous things and Kenneth had a crazy upbringing in the south. What can the show do that’s unique? They’ve tried to bring in guest star after guest star, which has worked to a degree, but even that’s getting boring. They need to shake things up, or things will get stagnant quickly. The jokes are still good, but without caring about the characters, like on The Office, it could be a problem. This show would have easily been number 1 for the last 2 or 3 years, so having it this low either means that a lot of fresh blood has come into the comedy scene (which is true) or that this show has really fallen (also true).
5. Curb Your Enthusiasm It feels like years ago that this was on HBO, but it was only one year ago. Larry David put together one of the best seasons in the show’s run, and the Seinfeld reunion to cap it all off worked nicely. He managed to give each person in the show some moments to shine, as well as leaving a few episodes for his usual craziness. At least three or four of the episodes were instant classics, and this season will be remembered for awhile, even if I almost forgot to put it on this list. The one other thing that I took from this season is how funny Jerry Seinfeld is, and that we may have all forgotten that. Each of the other characters were decent on Curb, but Seinfeld and David’s interplay was what really made the season work. Without him, it wouldn’t have been nearly as well done.
4. The League I may be ranking it a bit high at number 4, since it only had six episodes and was still a bit rough around the edges. But I can’t remember a comedy that has ever represented what it’s like to be a sports fan and to be around a group of male friends as well. This is the first show that has accurately described fantasy football. It’s clear that the writers have actually played, and that really helps. But the most important part of the show was the fact that people that don’t like fantasy football could still enjoy it. There’s a fine line between not having the credibility to produce a legitimate comedy about fantasy football and using it so much that it alienates every other person to the show. The writers managed to maintain that balance, and it paid off. Each character had fantastic moments, and the season finale was possibly the best half hour of TV of the entire season. Before judging this show, watch the finale. It’s on Hulu. I beg you. It’s 22 minutes of pure greatness. Was the overall season of Curb better than League? Very possibly. But the potential that The League shows earned it this spot. The other proof: of every show coming back in the fall, I’m the most excited for either this or Eastbound and Down. For that alone, it deserves this high spot.
3. Parks and Recreation What a difference a year makes! In its first season, Parks and Rec felt sloppy and slow; the ugly sister to The Office. But, in its second season, things changed. In the same way that The Office formed its own identity in its second season, after its first season felt like a copy of the British version, P&R did as well. The first season made Leslie Knope, Amy Poehler’s character, seem too much like Michael Scott, but the writers went away from that this season. Leslie’s coworkers began to respect her, even though she was certainly quirky. A dynamite supporting cast was formed, led by rising star Aziz Ansari and Nick Offerman as boss Ron Swanson. The show got better and better, even as ratings fell. It’s amazing how Community and Parks and Recreation made for one of the finest hours on TV all year, but was one of the lowest rated. Bummer. In Parks’ first season, I felt that it had the same potential that The Office showed in its initial six episodes. They were raw, but had the makings of a great show. Parks and Recreation proved me right, and I can’t wait for it to come back midseason.
Now that we’re down to the final two, it’s time to get down to business. Two shows remain, and they’re by far the best two of the season. Let’s match these two up, in a final showdown, to see which deserves the number 1 spot.
Glee Vs. Modern Family
Pure Comedy: Let’s answer a quick question: which one was funnier? While Glee had great characters and some priceless lines, every character on Modern Family was a riot. The one-liners here were unparalleled. Edge: Modern Family
Characters: This is among the closest calls. Both shows have created so many complex, deep characters that it’s impossible to choose one. The entire Dunphy family was fresh and totally unique, yet Sue Sylvester may be the best character to come along since Tony Soprano…did I just go there? You bet I did! Both shows created such rich characters in one season, that I can’t choose. Edge: Push
Guest Stars: This one’s a blowout. While Fred Willard, Chazz Palminteri and Benjamin Bratt did nice jobs on Modern Family, Glee’s group of stars were unprecedented. Neil Patrick Harris stole an episode, Kristen Chenoweth was fantastic and Idina Menzel added to the show towards the end of the season. Each person brought in was everything the audience could’ve asked for. Big Edge: Glee
Unsung Heroes: For Modern Family, it’s the kids. Phil and Claire’s three kids, along with Manny, Jay and Gloria’s son, brought far more than anyone could’ve expected. Luke and Manny together could be a sitcom in itself. But a certain ex-host of GUTS stole this category. As Kurt’s straight father, Mike O’Malley may have been the best actor on all of Glee, in his unwavering support of his gay son. If I had given you 100 to 1 odds 5 years ago that Mike O’Malley would be nominated for an Emmy as one of the best serious actors on a hit show, would you have taken it? I doubt it, although to quote Kevin on The Office, “I take 100 to 1 odds on anything. If John Cougar Mellencamp ever wins an Oscar, I’m going to be a very rich man.” O’Malley’s been a revelation, and his presence alone put this show on higher ground. Edge: Glee
Overexposure/Burnout: Both of these were big hits in their first season, leading to worries about both of their future. Fortunately, Modern Family has kept a low profile ever since its season finale, quietly showing reruns on ABC and not doing a ton more. Glee, however, has been everywhere. The cast has gone on tour, a book has been released, albums continue to be cranked out, DVD sales are through the roof, and a phenomenon has been born. What worries me about its future is that the song-and-dance element to the show, which I haven’t even mentioned yet, could become too important to the show’s success. While the music was nice, and I’m always a proponent of more Broadway in my life, what made the show were the characters and the humor. If it weren’t for Sue Sylvester, I believe that this show would have failed. If there’s too much music and not enough story, we’ll lose our commitment to the characters and the show will become almost a revue of old music, in an American Idol world. That’s not a good thing. Fortunately, creator Ryan Murphy said this week that he plans on lessening the music for next season, and keeping the focus on the characters. That’s a good sign. But, still: Edge: Modern Family
Degree of Difficulty: For one, Glee is twice as long as Modern Family, so they had double the content to write for the season. Both shows had to be confined within network TV standards, so there’s no edge there. While Modern Family did show heart in many of its episodes, showing us why we should care for the entire Dunphy family, Glee’s ability to mix humor with true emotion was unparalleled. The ability to go back and forth with verbal sparring between Sue Sylvester and Will Schuster, and then deal with legitimate issues like homosexuality and anorexia, was amazing. There were plot holes galore (How did the musicians in the music numbers always know exactly what song the kids were going to sing, when the kids decide to just sing spontaneously? Are they the greatest players in the world? How did the glee club show up for rehearsals every day and have a fully lit stage waiting for them, lighting cues and all? How did they have a constant struggle for money, yet could afford such a detailed lighting and sound system, and then pay for a professional choir to sing behind them occasionally?), but the ability to tackle these problems made up for them. Edge: Glee
And, finally, the last, and most important questions:
Which was more unique? Which could never be duplicated? When I think about this season in 10 years, what will pop up in my mind? Modern Family is an outstanding show, and will have a great shelf life. It’s extremely well written, and it deserves every accolade it gets. But it’s not hard to imagine another smart, funny, well-written show about a big family coming down the pipe in a few years. The show already feels like a relatable mix of 70 percent Arrested Development, and 30 percent The Office, mixing into a nice hybrid. But I can’t compare Glee to anything that I’ve ever seen on TV. It is completely unique, and it feels like a once in a lifetime phenomenon. Glee captured the country’s attention this year, and it’s high points were higher than anything else’s. Modern Family was more consistent, for sure, but Glee is the one that climbed the furthest. I’ll remember that. So, while it was a nail biter:
2. Modern Family
1. Glee
As Sue Sylvester would say, that’s how I see it.
August 9, 2010 · Filed under Pop Culture, Uncategorized
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I’ve considered myself to be a big TV fan for years. From my early years of watching every Nickelodeon show there was, to my more recent years of…watching every Nickelodeon show there is (iCarly and Big Time Rush are outstanding, and I refuse to be told otherwise), I’ve always had an eye on the TV world. But, I realized in the last year that while I’m always on the lookout for new shows to interest me, I have a knack for comedies above all else. Even the dramas that I’ve enjoyed in the past have had strong comedic elements, like The Sopranos, for instance. So, while I may not be an expert in dramas, I have an eye for comedy. It’s been a renaissance year for comedies as a whole, with three strong shows debuting on network TV, as well as another having a major improvement between season 1 and season 2. A new show premiered on cable TV that only had a short run, but has me optimistic of a long, prosperous future for it. With the Emmys about a month away, let’s run down the best shows of the 09-10 season. In reverse order…
First off, here’s the notable comedies of the year that I didn’t watch. I can’t compare them to the shows that I ranked. For fans of these shows, I’m not disrespecting your show by not ranking it; I just can’t without watching it first:
2 and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Weeds, Cougar Town, The Middle, Ugly Betty, Better Off Ted, Hung, Bored to Death.
1,987. Scrubs: Med School I’m having war flashbacks thinking about this show, that was on in the later parts of 2009. Is this what it’s like to come back from Vietnam? Not only was this show a complete and total disaster, but it may have ruined 8 years of one of my favorite shows of all time. The episodes in which Zach Braff returned as JD weren’t awful, but the others were as bad as anything I’ve ever watched. I felt bad for Kerry Bishe, a likable enough girl that was strapped with having to play the main part on this new show, picking up where Zach Braff left. Creator Bill Lawrence and the rest of his staff had moved on to Cougar Town, leaving the remains left for us to watch. Donald Faison and John C. McGinley stayed on, but didn’t have even close to the impact that they had on Scrubs. While the last season of the real Scrubs wasn’t very good, the finale was spectacular. It seemed like Lawrence and Co. had written it for whenever the last season would be, and it was as good as any episode in the show’s history. It left a great taste in my mouth, and it should have been left at that. But the new show came, and I watched like a sap. And I was punished for it. And honestly? I love some of the characters from Scrubs enough that if, in a bizarro universe, the new Scrubs was renewed, I’d probably still watch it. I’m a sucker.
12. Entourage To call this the 12th best comedy gives it WAY more credit than it deserves. I’m confident that if I watched any of the shows in my list above that they’d be ahead of Entourage on this list. At this point, even reviewing Entourage seems like a waste of time. Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) remains a fascinating character, although he becomes a bit less interesting each year. Everyone else on the show remains as stagnant as ever, and the stakes for each character have never seemed lower. The last legitimately interesting storyline to come from the show was in 2007, when Medellin tanked at its premiere. Since then, nothing remotely interesting has happened on the show, and every character has gotten his way enough that every obstacle thrown at them seems temporary. If there’s no realistic chance that a character won’t get what he wants, why bother at all? Yet, I continue to watch every week, and will continue to. I think there’s three main reasons why:
1. Summer Programming- There’s not a whole lot to watch on TV over the summer, so Entourage smartly positions itself as the thing to watch. What’s its competition, anyway? Not a ton.
2. No commercials- This may seem stupid in the age of DVR, but it’s nice to just plop down in front of the TV for 30 minutes, shut the brain off and watch a TV show. After each episode, I almost feel like I’m awaking from a nap. It’s a 30 minute period of relaxation, without anything to really think about. In a way, it’s nice.
3. Selection of women- Entourage does this better than any other show on TV. Emmanuelle Chriqui is always some nice eye candy, and Alexis Dziena’s run last year was among the few highlights of the season. Plus, each random girl that gets to live it up with Vincent Chase each week is always fun to look at. This is what constitutes great TV in the barren desert of summer programming.
11. Californication This is a show that isn’t that different from Entourage, but has more likable characters. David Duchovny’s Hank Moody is a far more sympathetic character than anyone on Entourage, playing a frustrated writer trying to keep a family together while dealing with his flawed self. Along with Evan Handler’s Charlie Runkle, this is a likable cast that has the viewers emotionally invested in them. Since actual bad things have happened to each character throughout the show’s run, the stakes actually seem high. This isn’t the funniest show on TV, but it’s a solid, well-rounded show. The first legitimately good show to make the list. The selection in women on this show might not be at Entourage’s level, but it’s a close second.
10. How I Met Your Mother Bit of a down year for this show, after a strong few years before. Still, this show at its best may be better than any show on the list. Two episodes in particular, “The Playbook” and “Perfect Week”, stand out as being as good as it gets. The episodes where Neil Patrick Harris carries the show are usually among the best, such as those two episodes. But, the second half of the season really faltered, with little plot development and too many individual episodes that don’t relate to others. There were also too many guest stars, and while I love Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lilly (Alyson Hannigan), their quest to have a baby wasn’t intriguing. I think the show will turn it around, though, and soon.
9. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Another consistent, strong year, from this show that gets away with more on FX than I can remember any show getting away with on either HBO or Showtime. Lots of good things here, but nothing that stands out to put it higher than 9. I’ve described this show as “Seinfeld” with less boundaries, and the main 5-person cast works as well together as any on TV. I wish I had more ways to describe the show, but I really don’t. It’s always a fun half hour. It was overshadowed a bit by the show that followed it on FX , but we’ll get there later.
8. Community It was a rocky first season for the new show on NBC, starring Joel McHale, among others. While it started strongly, it went into a major lull in the middle of the year, to the point that I was able to walk around and do other things while watching it and not fear of missing anything. But, by mid-March, it had regained its early season form and its final month was as good as any network show. Its third-to-last episode, Modern Warfare, was an instant classic. At some point, the show decided to stop taking its characters so seriously and used them to parody different things left and right, and it culminated in this episode. Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Daniel Pudi) found ways to be funny even when not caring a ton about their character development. When that can happen, a show really starts to succeed, because it gets the freedom to do whatever it wants without risking judgment on the characters. Unfortunately, Community’s ratings went downhill as the year went on, and its final few, and best, episodes were among the least watched. Hopefully it can rebound in this coming year, or it could be a candidate for cancellation. But, with NBC’s state right now, it wouldn’t be wise to cancel a fresh, funny show that gets good reviews. NBC has done dumber things in the past.
7. The Office This may be a bit high, for how the season went, but I’m biased. The Office is my favorite show of all time, and its second and third season is as good as anything that I’ve ever watched. But it’s slowly gone downhill, not in the quality department, but more so in its humor. There seems to be a need for drama constantly now, and that wasn’t always the case. Instead of highlighting the absolutely fantastic supporting cast, there has been more and more emphasis on real-world problems, such as the shutdown of Dunder Mifflin and the downturn in the economy. That’s made the show less enjoyable as a whole. The acting is still excellent, with Steve Carell putting on a weekly clinic, and Ed Helms is consistently great. Jim and Pam’s romance was a key part of the first few seasons, but with their plotline resolved, they’ve each turned into far less likable people. They’ve gone from being the two people with sanity in an office of crazy people into characters as flawed as everyone else. This isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but they haven’t given us a reason to root for them. It’s tough for us to root for Jim to prank Dwight in some mean way when we realize how flawed Jim is, as well. In fact, an argument could easily be made that Dwight is a better person than Jim. That’s a bit of a problem. But I love this show and these characters so much that I couldn’t put it any lower than 7th. With Steve Carell leaving after this season, here’s hoping that it reverts to its old form. We have 22 episodes left with Michael Scott. Let’s make the most of them.
Come back on Friday for Part 2, as I reveal the top six comedies of the 2009-10 year.
August 4, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized
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“My number one rule is you don’t fall in love at the Jersey Shore”
But we did. We all did. And now we’re reconciling.
Jersey Shore premiered on MTV on December 3rd, 2009. For the following 9 weeks, we all fell in love at the Jersey Shore. Each week the show had a party element to it, and people gathered with each other to watch it. It was mass viewing at its best; people could come together to have a good time, and not have to struggle to grasp the meaning of what was happening. Everyone understood how crazy the show was, and most people loved it. If it were 1992, things would have been different. The show would have taken a while to gain traction, and it would have gathered a cult following of diehard fans that wouldn’t miss it for the world. The stars of the show would have stayed relatively unknown, and they could have gone on to continue to make the show and make their loyal fans happy. Not one person on The Real World was ever even a fraction of the celebrity that the Jersey Shore cast has become. Unfortunately, it was 2009, and things heated up faster than The Situation suggesting that Snooki ‘had some rolls’.
In the generation we live in, things don’t build up slowly, with very few exceptions. They skyrocket instantly, or they never really gain traction. Within the first few weeks of Jersey Shore, the cast had been on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Jay Leno’s 10 o’clock show and countless awards shows. By the time that the holidays rolled around, there were really only two topics of conversation at parties: Tiger Woods and Jersey Shore. I talked about beating up the beat with people more than anything else for a whole month. GTL hadn’t been established yet, so we didn’t go there. But every other little reference was talked about over and over again. I’ll remember the 2009 holidays for family, friends, grenades, hippos and smushing (Ronnie’s term for sex). For at least a few weeks, the show was ours; everyone who watched it had a coolness factor that others didn’t have. We were in an exclusive club. By the time New Year’s Eve rolled around, the show had exploded into a phenomenon. Michael Cera was given the Guido Look by the cast for promos for his movie. The cast was co-hosting MTV’s coverage of the ball dropping in Times Square. The overkill had begun.
In the coming months, the first season of the show came to an end. We were introduced to GTL, The Situation’s routine of gym, tanning and laundry each day. We learned about Single J-Woww and the gorillas and juiceheads on the beach. My go-to declaration of victory became “That’s one shot, kid!” But, in due time, the season ended, and we were left without the show itself, but with the greasy remains that spread themselves out over the pop culture world. The cast continued to yuk it up with Jay Leno, every talk show had members on, and New Jersey jokes were everywhere. Bobby Moynihan played a parody of Snooki on Saturday Night Live, and Ellen Degeneres made Jersey Shore references on American Idol, the least cult-y show in the history of TV. Slowly, the initial fans started to lose interest, since they were only getting the watered down version of each character without the actual show. Plus, a huge part of what made the show great was how it was edited and put together. One of the best jokes from the whole season was when Snooki was describing a guy that she had decided that she was in love with, and had potential with. As she finally said his name, it was revealed to the audience that she had completely gotten his name wrong, and it was something different altogether. Those kinds of moments couldn’t happen on talk shows. After a while, everyone needed Jersey Shore to go away for a few months, in the same vein as eating only fast food for two weeks. After all, how much bad food can you eat in a row without a break? It may taste really good, but after awhile you’ll just want a salad. We all needed some vegetables to counter the fried fat that was Jersey Shore, but it wasn’t being given to us. It was constantly being forced down our throats. It was announced that the cast was going to Miami for the second season, and it seemed to be a sell-out move. When the 2nd season was set to begin on July 29th, I wasn’t even sure if I would watch it. It had come to that.
But, fortunately, things turned around. As filming of the second season started, the talk show appearances died down. The talk from all sources about the show gradually wilted. The housewives and 70-year-old men started to eliminate Snooki, guidette, and every other Jersey Shore-ism from their vocabularies. Now, as commercials promoting the new season have kicked up, I’m as excited as ever. Snooki announced that she didn’t want to cheat on her boyfriend, but “Put a bottle of So-co in front of me and who knows what’ll happen”. Pauly D announced that “We’re living in a GFA, a Grenade Free America”. The Situation talked about wearing his “shirt before the shirt”, meaning that he’ll put his going-out shirt on later. I forgot how much I missed these people, for brilliant moments like these. How could these ever be replaced? Finally, MTV showed a video of the whole cast beating up the beat and dancing in a packed Miami club to Enrique Iglesias’ I Like It, arguably the catchiest song of the summer. With that, I was in. Done. Let’s do it. But there are still questions about what we witnessed.
The fact of the matter is that as long as we have hundreds of channels on our TV, limitless websites to promote shows, and the ability to use Youtube at our fingertips, overexposure will be a part of life. Whatever the next show is that becomes an overnight sensation will face the same problems. Let’s just deal with that matter, and get over it. More importantly, what does the backlash and then the backlash to the backlash say about us? Why are we so influenced by the media that our perceptions of something can so radically be changed by something we can’t control? By mid-April, if I never saw The Situation and Vinny again, it would have been too soon. (Sidebar: It would be unjust to do an entire Jersey Shore column without once mentioning and giving ample props to Vinny, the one cast member that seems to be smarter than it all. He seems like a bright guy who just happens to live in this culture. His jokes were on a totally different level than the other cast mates throughout the first season, and it’s clear how much more intelligent he is than everyone else. Thought that needed to be said.) So how can I go from being madly in love with a show to being tired of it to hating it and then going back to loving it, without the show even being on the air? I actually felt bad for MTV at one point as this was going on. All they did was produce an enjoyable show; they didn’t ask for all the hype that made everyone tired of it. The problem is within. We all decided to judge Jersey Shore for what was happening with it on other TV shows. If we had only judged it based on the episodes of the show, we would have still loved it. If John Krasinski has a lame appearance on Leno, I’m not going to start hating The Office because of it. It’s a totally separate entity. The same must be applied to Jersey Shore if the show is going to have any sort of lasting impact. The show is what matters. The hype around it is all just noise trying to drown out its actual voice. I know that I’m making this goofy, stupid show to be much more than it actually is, but even if it were a great work of art, the fact would remain the same. Judge the product, not the hype. As we go into season 2, the show will have to address this pressing topic: How will these people’s lives change now that they’re famous? I can only hope that we find out not from Jay Leno and Billy Bush, but from The Situation, Snooki, J-Woww, Vinny, Pauly D, Ronnie and Sammi Sweetheart, our voices of truth.
The Situation, Snooki, J-Woww, Vinny, Pauly D, Ronnie and Sammi Sweetheart. Voices of truth. God help us all.
July 29, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized
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