Smallville fucking rocked. That’s all I can say. As my girlfriend said, “When did it go from being a good show to make fun of to being a good show, period?” I’m guessing season three. This has been an amazing nine months for this show. It started out by outshining Angel’s last season (not very hard) and proceeded to put to shame just about everything else I was watching on a regular basis. This definitely wins my show of the year or best season award. (If I had one. Maybe I’ll invent one, just for this.)
No other show this season really produced indelible moments like the November sweeps cliffhanger placing Lex in a mental institution to the strains of Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt,” or the final Godfather-esque moments of this season, culminating in one of the coolest-looking shout-outs to the superman iconography we’ve had yet on this show. And could Papa Luthor look like more of a bad-ass? Seriously, I was waiting for him to throw down some mad Tupac jams at the end. Just wait. It’ll happen. As soon as he gets his prison tats.
And then came Angel. The last Angel. Well, it was better than the last Buffy. Again, not very hard. In fact, the whole last season of Angel (which had some serious lows, mind you) was far better than the last season (maybe even the last two seasons) of Buffy. It even included one of the best. Angels. ever. I’m writing, of course, about Puppet Angel. You have to see it to understand. It is perfection. It is also curious that Puppet Angel emoted more convincingly than David Boreanaz. I would have liked to see the final episode involve perhaps all of the gang turning into puppets at the end. That would have been a twist. Instead we got�
An OK episode. Very cool in some respects. I liked Angel v. Agent Smith, er, Knowle Rohrer, er, Hamilton. Right. Hamilton. Good battle and smart resolution that used the fact that Angel’s a vampire. Nice Machiavellian moves by Angel throughout. Like how he poisoned the “drink” of his target demon. Or his handling of Lindsey. But why couldn’t we have an evil hand moment? Meanwhile, well-adjusted Conner is much more tolerable than, well, Conner. And I was impressed that Anne showed up. The scene itself was pretty boring, but the fact that they remembered any of season two (of Angel, much less Buffy) is impressive, considering how far the show fell from that peak.
Speaking of which, the last shot? Weak. I get it. The battle is all. Evil is never destroyed, neither is good, yadda, yadda, yadda. But you could make that point without sucking.
Speaking of sucking, I’m not kidding when I say that Smallville outshined just about every other show I watch. West Wing was weak this season, but that was kind of a given and for a lack of Sorkin, it was surprisingly passable fare. Law & Order has been on a lower plateau (I wouldn’t call it a decline) for a few seasons now and I have no idea how they’ll recover from the loss of Lenny. Who’s gonna make fun of all the dead people now? I think if they got Puppet Angel to replace him, that show would return with a vengeance. Law and Order: Special Puppets Unit. I’m tellin’ ya. Mad ratings.
Simpsons has been okay for a while now. I still love it, but it’s nowhere near the best show on television and hasn’t been for many seasons. But there are still moments. Like when Homer has to go into a dark attic. So he grabs a flashlight and sets in on fire and holds it like a torch. That’s why I still watch.
24 has certainly jumped the shark. But I keep watching. Every now and then Kiefer or the bad guy does something so incredibly bad-ass that it seems worth it. But I’ve lost all hope that the plot point that ended last season will ever be resolved, or even acknowledged again before the end of the season. The solution is obvious. It starts with a “P” and ends with an “-uppet Kiefer.”
Friends, which I didn’t talk about when it ended because I was just so fucking distraught and definitely not because I had better things to write about, had about as good a season as it’s had since Monica and Chandler hooked up, which is to say sub-par, but amusing. And as good as Joey’s been this season, I don’t think he can carry a show.
CSI has had a good season. Not great. Not bad. As good as pretty much any other season they’ve had. They’re like the gold standard. Except not quite as lavish as gold. Maybe a lesser metal. Yeah, they’re the molybdenum standard.
Actually, two other network shows I watched regularly this season had an outstanding year. I hesitate to mention the first because I think my fandom will get it cancelled. I’m talking, of course, about Arrested Development, which I didn’t watch at first but on the recommendation of several friends quickly got addicted to. Funny. As. Shit. And yes, kiddies, it has been renewed. The other is Scrubs, which kept up the high level it’s been at since it started.
Really, though, cable is where it’s been. The second season of The Office was better than the first, which was classic. Ditto Monk (minus the Randy Newman, of course). Dave Chappelle outdid himself, producing more memorable moments in one season than the past ten years of SNL. Of course, I haven’t been watching SNL for the past ten years, but I’m guessing I’m right. Adult Swim made more revolutionary and consistently entertaining content than most anything else I watched. And, arguably the best show on cable, The Daily Show had another oustanding�well, they don’t have seasons but the entire time these other shows have been on it’s been more reliable and awesome.
So I will pay Jon Stewart my highest complement. I see no need to replace him with a puppet.
{PS: Check out Jon’s commencement speech at William and Mary. (via Bill).}
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