doctorpop: wiwt

Pop goes the doctor (

doctorpop) wrote,
@ 2007-10-12 10:05:00

wiwt
What I'm watching tonight: Friday Night Lights. If you saw the second season premiere, then like me you may have some trepidation about this season -- which is putting it very mildly for some people, I know, but I'm not going to let one potential plot misfire overshadow everything else. ... even if it's the kind of thing that by definition might come to overshadow everything else. First season began with shaking up a status quo we simply hadn't seen a season of, after all, with Jason Street's injury.

Last night:

Earl was all right, The Office dragged on waaaaay too long, but 30 Rock had some great moments. Practicology, the religion founded by the alien king living inside Stan Lee! Please let's have some callbacks to that in future episodes.

Mad Men was the TV highlight of the night, though. For the most part I would have said that the show -- created by a Sopranos writer -- uses 1960 the way The Sopranos used New Jersey: it's deeply informed by and tied to that setting, but doesn't devote any episodes to being "about" the setting. This is no Wonder Years or even China Beach -- this show has no idea it's in the past. I was curious whether an episode titled after the Nixon-Kennedy election would change that, but nope, it's still the same feel -- no knowing winks at all.

And the resolution to Pete finding out Don Draper's secret was just right.

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	amanofhats 2007-10-12 02:08 pm UTC (link)
	So, is The Office going to be an hour long from now on? Cuz, damn. (Reply to this)(Thread)

doctorpop
2007-10-12 02:11 pm UTC (link)

The first four episodes of the season are, at NBC's insistence -- hopefully none after that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do it during sweeps too. I'm sure it would work if the creators had said "hey we have this idea that won't fit into half an hour," but it just feels like they're stretching things out in order to fill time. The delivery boy kidnapping was weird, and then nothing really came of it!

(Although "nothing came of it" is how a lot of Office plots resolve, and I usually think that's a good thing.)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	herself_nyc 2007-10-12 03:30 pm UTC (link)
	Agree, it was brilliant. I sort of guessed that Cooper would just shrug his shoulders at Campbell's big indignant announcement, but the scene played out brilliantly. With FNL I am now full of curiosity to see HOW this trainwreck plotline will play out, so even if it sucks I'll continue to watch. (Reply to this)(Thread)

doctorpop
2007-10-12 03:33 pm UTC (link)

It was one of those things where I thought that's how it should go, but wasn't really sure the show would follow suit -- and then it did! And so nonchalantly! Don Draper's reaction shot was perfect, and of course now Pete has shot himself in the foot. What a little weasel. Even if I feel sorry for him, he's a little weasel.

I'll watch this season of FNL no matter what -- if it gets as bad as bad can be, I'll just keep hoping they recover from it. I can't think of a best-case scenario, so I'm hoping that at worst, we've just lost what worked about Landry's character last year, and that I can ignore it and watch the other plotlines.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	herself_nyc 2007-10-12 03:37 pm UTC (link)
	What really broke me on MM, was the flashback where the brother spots Dick on the train, and then chases after him. You know that's the moment in the kid's life that doomed him--it makes his suicide make sense, and shows you how bleak and confused the intervening years must've been. The brother is the opposite of Dick--he can't adjust, he's not a survivor. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

doctorpop
2007-10-12 03:46 pm UTC (link)

Absolutely -- and Dick had to have KNOWN that, which puts him in a ... morally precarious position. But we've always known that he's sort of ambiguous in that sense anyway, even aside from his adulteries -- and we can see that he's always had a tendency to run away (even at the birthday party, when he left to get ... what was it, a cake? ... and didn't come back for hours).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	herself_nyc 2007-10-12 03:51 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, it was a cake. And Dick is clearly a cipher. Even to himself. Hamm plays that well, those moments where we see Dick resisting introspection. I was also really struck by the scene where he tries to run off with his mistress, and she isn't having any. (Reply to this)(Parent)

mwwhitesf
2007-10-12 03:44 pm UTC (link)

no knowing winks at all.

It does play on stuff that feels very uncontemporary, though. When drunken Ken Cosgrove tries to determine what color the girl's panties are, we are aghast, but she takes it like a 'good sport'. It definitely toys with the past as a different place but subtly, so it doesn't feel forced or didactic.

I loved the scene with Rachel. I don't think we've seen Don Draper get beaten and outwitted like that before. Lo, he is a mortal after all.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

doctorpop
2007-10-12 03:50 pm UTC (link)

True -- it just does it without a voiceover explaining "it was a different time then" or something, or "of course, later she would become a high-priced sexual harrassment attorney" or anything like that ... which makes a huge difference. Not that I don't love The Wonder Years, I'm just glad this is a different show. Even putting these ad men on Nixon's side, when everyone watching except maybe a few teenagers knows that Kennedy not only wins the election but becomes one of the most popular presidents while Nixon will be remembered as one of the worst, is a bit of a wink -- what makes it work is the way they handle it.

Rachel was great! And I think that scene was led up to well with her scene with her friend last week, where she admitted to being in a relationship with a married man -- it was just enough of a glimpse of her that I completely buy her being able to see through Don at his most vulnerable.

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	pot80 2007-10-12 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	Office was better this week than the last two, but yeah, downhill slide. I like some of the things they are doing, but the two hour episodes drain the momentum and I feel like Jim and Pam being together is pretty boring. Actually I kinda dislike how the show is leaning heavy on the romantic pairings. It's getting to be a crutch. 30 Rock however - WOW. Best episode yet. (Reply to this)

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