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The Clarion \ Oct. 7, 2011
The top 4 TV shows on right now
By Alex McCracken
staff Reporter
4. Fringe: Fridays 9:00 pm Fox,
Hulu.com (weekdelay)
You’d think that a high budget serial that
eagerly learned from all of Lost’s and The X
Files’ story telling mistakes would have gone
over like gang busters by now. You could
think that. But sadly, you’d be wrong.
It’s a minor miracle this is even on the air
this season, and if you started watching now
you’d be able to follow the case of the week
well enough, but you’d never appreciate the
intricate and lovable world that was built
from the ground up four years ago. Yeah, I
said lovable and I meant it. So rarely does
science fiction create characters of this caliber
(I’m looking at you, terra nova), something
new and interesting to do every week, with
a stomach drop twist at the end of each
season. In fact. I’ll go on the record and call
the first season finale the greatest cliffhanger
in television history. It gave me chills and I
don’t get chills.
This is top tier sci fi and I understand that
means very different things to very different
people. But for those willing to give it a
chance and you know who you are; Netflix
the hell out of this under watched, gorgeous
gem of a show and meet me when you’re
done. We’ll both argue over which Walter
would win in a fight.
3. Parks and Recreation
Thursday, NBC, Hulu.com
The Office always rubbed me the wrong
way for some reason, and it wasn’t until I gave
Parks and Rec a chance before I understood
why. The Office is a show you laugh at. Parks
and Rec is a show you laugh with.
Every main character could carry their
own show on their shoulders. Amy Phoeler’s
Leslie Knope is the most effortlessly lovable
government bureaucrat ever conceived. Dwell
on that, this show has a lovable government
bureaucrat. But it doesn’t stop at a rock solid
lead character, first there’s her secretary, Aziz
Ansari’s Tom Haverford:
Who also moonlights as a promoter for The
Snakehole lounge: Pawnee Indiana’s Sexiest,
most dangerous nightclub.
This show has grown so much since it began
three years ago, becoming more focused
and surprising then the office ever was. For
one, their “will they/won’t they” romance
was actually funny as well as emotionally
satisfying. Plus they nipped it in the bud in
the middle of last season. And what’s more,
they still have places to go story wise. That’s
amazing.
So if you never cared for the office or even
if you did, there’s still plenty to like about
Pawnee Indiana, and even more to love.
2. Community: Thursdays NBC,
Hulu.com
There isn’t a show on this list that has
gone after my heart with more conviction or
dedication than NBC’s community. I could
try to explain what makes this surreal satire
of American education like literally nothing
else on television, but like all memorable
experiences, you kinda have to see for
yourself
Maybe you’ll like it, maybe you won’t. It
won’t change my personal opinion of you, but
choosing the latter would make me sad... so
very sad. It’s hard to pin point specific reasons
why my feelings for Greendale Community
College are so strong, but here goes.
First off, it’s story based. It cares more
about having comedy arise from situations
and dynamic characters then murdering some
entitled jerk in a bowling shirt off camera*. I
also can’t tell you what episode in particular
won me over, because it honestly started off
decent, but it was also pretty cynical and
uneven.
But gradually, things started to pile up.
Actors became comfortable in their roles.
Writers settled into winning formulas, a
campus wide mafia was formed over fried
chicken. Jack Black was dragged kicking
and screaming and pant-less from a library,
post-apocalyptic paintball wars were waged,
a Christmas special was filmed entirely
in stop motion from the perspective of a
possibly schizophrenic student, a blanket fort
became a blanket city-state, a documentary
style episode was made purely to satirize
documentary styles, and a well-meaning,
but crippling depressed boy was saved from
thoughts of suicide with the greatest game of
D&D ever played.
That and Donald Glover is the next Will
Smith.
1. Breaking Bad: Season
Finale, Sunday 10:00 AMC
I’m Tired. I’ve been banging the Breaking
Bad gong for almost three years now and
no one seems to be listening. I’d make the
argument that this may be the greatest series
ever aired on television so you bet your ass I
think it’s the best thing on right now.
Turning people on to on to a show about
crystal meth is an uphill battle, but I’m
gonna keep swinging because Vince Gilligan
(the show’s creator) hasn’t let me down yet.
That’s four seasons of a white knuckled
psychological thriller perched on the razor’s
edge of plausibility, an unmatched creative
tightrope walk bolstered by a universally
praised cast of consistently surprising acting
geniuses.
Bryan Cranston didn’t win the best male
lead Emmy three years in a row because they
thought it’d be funny. He won because his
Walter White character has been a gradual
evolution. He has been inching, little by little,
away from Ward Cleaver all the way to Tony
Montana.
By the end of this season he has become
a completely different person. A character
I now no longer watch with my previous
feelings of sympathy but with disappointed
fear Walter White used to be my hero, but
he could easily become the show’s villain . .
. maybe he already has and I just choose not
to see him that way.
But this isn’t a show I can keep throwing
purple prose at and expect people to line up
with bells on. This is not for the faint of heart,
or for those with strong feelings for the kind
of Laissez-faire attitude the show has toward
meth pushing. Though it’s never shied away
from the horrific nature of meth addiction, the
drug has always been a metaphor for power
and abuse. This isn’t a show about catching
drug dealers; this is a show about desperation
and greed and the varying degree of innocent
people that get caught in the way.
But I guess the ace up my critical sleeve
would be a three minute scene that ended
“Crawl Space” two weeks ago. It’s the kind
of scene countless other shows have bragged
of having but never had the stones to follow
through. It’s a moment that the entire series
has lead too, where every decision and
mistake over Walt’s legendary blue meth
recipe collides and implodes in a single
performance. If the next lead actor Emmy
goes to someone else, he will know he doesn’t
deserve it
So if you think you’d like to check out
a season or two on Netflix then I wouldn’t
suggest plugging “Crawl Space-Ending
scene” into YouTube, but if you think people
like me, the Emmy awards, and a standing
army of television critics are just screwing
with you, then by all means, spend three
minutes of your life on this show then call
us all liars.