Sundays, still Super?

The NFL Football season, (the BEST part of the Sunday experience), is over, making today the worst Sunday ever, right? ... Well, wrong. Very far from it, in fact! Sunday is now (Sunday NIGHTS, at least) , here in the middle of February, the best its EVER been!

Need proof? Well grab your DVR remote and check THIS out!:

#1 - The return of the Walking Dead - tonight on AMC, maybe one of the best horror themed TV series of all time is back from its mid-season break. If you haven't heard people sweating the balls outa this show, you've been living under a rock. And unless you hate horror, checking out this show once, will make u see why. This season may be the best yet! Michonne ... the Governor ... Even Carl has stepped his game up, and become ... dare I say ... Awesome? Yep. I'll say it.  We have a whole slew of new survivors that just joined up. Governor lost his zombie daughter as well as an eye and is on a rampage, and Dale and his brother are about to fight for their lives ... Cannot wait!

#2 - Showtime on par with HBO? - Believe it! Everyone talks about Dexter, which is fine, but the best show on Showtime is without a doubt - Shameless. I don't say this often, but this is one of BEST shows on TV right now. For complete quality, I'd put it second ONLY to Game of Thrones. Yep. I said it. Its that damn good. Some of the best characters and best stories you've ever seen. And SOOO fuckin funny. Check it out, and then try and come back and tell me I'm wrong.

#3 - House of Lies - Still on Showtime, we have House of Lies with Don Cheadle. It took me a minute to get into this show ... had trouble with Cheadle as the anti-protagonist that is so popular on cable these days (ever since Tony Soprano) .... but now that I've cast my original notions aside, I've really gotten into it! Not the BEST show on the network, but very very good, and at 30 min, its just enough. The cast has great chemistry, and Nia Long has joined up this season, so for all those missing her ... There ya go!

#4 - HBO's Girls - I like it, but I shouldn't. Most shows - you LIKE the main characters ... Or at least you are supposed to. Girls is different in that I just HATE these girls and everyone on the show. ESPECIALLY Lena Dunham, who totally "George Lucas's" the show as star, writer, director, and executive producer of most of the eps.

Her character and her friends are just disgusting, and I don't just mean physically ... They actually sicken me. But that being said, the show is actually awesome in how it strays from convention. You never quite know what will be said, or what is going to happen next, and that's definitely a mark of strong writing, and refreshing in today's TV landscape. It also does well to capture the NYC experience for 20-somethings, being one of the best shows to do it since How to Make it in America. (which HBO never should have cancelled) Oh, and the only exception to hating all the characters, is the mousey friend - Shoshanna, whom I love. Even though she gets the least screentime of the 4 of them, she's the best. So ... yeah. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend trying it out for a few eps. cuz Girls is, in fact, worth it.


And #5 - last, but not least, for those that may be cable-impaired, I submit - Fox's Animation Domination -Their successful Sunday night of animated comedies for many years running, which is as solid as ever! Simpsons - ok. Ain't what it used to be, but still better than most TV out there, and occasionally knocks one out of the park, still! Cleveland Show has really hit its stride over the last 2 couple seasons, and is worthy of the spinoff it was given ... Only suggestion - More of Tim the Bear! Family Guy - like the Simpsons, isn't what it used to be, but almost never disappoints, especially with Stewie and Brian together. Then there's American Dad which has found it's groove and become the BEST of the Sunday night bunch. Everything "Roger" is genius, and the fringe characters like Principal Lewis and Haley's husband Jeff give the Simpsons supporting cast a run for their money!

All this is on just ONE night of Television! And that's not even to mention that Game of Thrones is coming back at the end of March. Yeah. Even without Football, Sunday is DEFINITELY still Super.


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Dear Diaries ... You Suck.

So I gave CW's Carrie Diaries, the "prequel" to the hit Sex & the City series, set in the 1980's with a teenage Carrie Bradshaw, a shot ... and its an absolute disaster.  Candace Bushnell, who also did SATC and is Executive Producer on Carrie Diaries, should be ashamed of herself.

The problems are as follows:

#1 - It doesn't embrace the 80's - with SO much nostalgia attached to the 80's, you'd think this show would try harder to grasp what the period was all about, but it doesn't. Quite the contrary, it works extra hard to feel more "timeless", so as not to scare off its core CW demographic ... Most of whom would have no recollection or appreciation of the 80's. So other than an occasional wink, it NEVER feels like the decade its set in, which is a purposeful blunder on their part...

... But then when Carrie Diaries TRIES, it gets it all wrong. Characters looks like they are wearing "80's costumes", instead of looking like 80's people. They don't walk like its the 80's. They don't talk like its the 80's. They don't even do their hair like the 80's. Everything looks like stage props, from the worn, vintage "Interview magazine", to the walkman they revolve a whole scene around, just to remind you which decade they are in. They should consult "That 70's Show" to take notes on how to get the feel of a period RIGHT.

#2 - Highschool Cliche 101 - its the CW, so they resort to most of the typical highschool drama cookie-cutter BS, with the "mean girl bullies", including the Queen bee and her racially diverse subordinates, cuz ... that's real. You've got the cheerleaders dressed in their cheerleader outfits on the first day of school, along with half of everyone else in letterman jackets, cuz that's what people can relate to. Girls that tolerate having a nickname like "Mouse" and guys affectionately referring to people by their last names ... I mean, does anyone actually DO that?!? Then, of course, you have the usual dynamic of the "evil rich kids" vs "poor, victimized, upper middle class kids". They're just not TRYING.

#3 - Too much of Nothing - the ORIGINAL Sex & the City was harmless, lighthearted, escapism for 30 min each week. The Carrie Diaries is TWICE as long, yet with only a fraction of the substance. Carrie's stick-figure of a father is just thrown in as a set piece/recurring obstacle, yet we're supposed to care about him somehow ... Her friends are boring and one dimensional with their *yawn* "stories" consuming half of every episode ... And then the token 80's hipster socialite black chick (go, diversity!) that "adopts" Carrie into her circle and teaches all about "the big city"... She's got a British accent, so you KNOW she's trendy and worldly ... yet completely oblivious to the fact that's she's hanging out with a 16 year old. Trash.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and ON with everything that's wrong with Carrie Diaries. But suffice it to say that it is just BAD. People that loved SATC would hate it, and people that are unfamiliar with it, won't get the point.

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