there are no major spoilers in these reviews
In a format blatantly stolen from the Sunday Source, you can find my thoughts on every full season of TV show I own or have watched. Use this if you're looking for something new to watch in these cold winter months, and let me know if you want to borrow something! Have another show to recommend? Use the Comments section!
24 (Thriller):
Counter-terrorist agent, Jack Bauer, saves the world in a continuous twenty-four hour span. High in intensity and mindless entertainment if you can stomach a few horrible actors and more inter-office backstabbing than a high school girls' clique. I've watched five of the six available seasons.
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jack Bauer is a bad-ass and always one step ahead in his attempts to save the President from assassination. | Kim Bauer is annoying as sin. Watching all the episodes at once makes you realize that they didn't really know how to resolve certain plots until the end. | B |
2 | Having a nuclear bomb in the city raises the tension. | Kim does not get eaten by a mountain lion. Jack's love interest is weak. | B- |
3 | Jack goes undercover to reinfiltrate a drug cartel while also being a heroin addict. | You'll start to get frustrated at how rarely people realize that Jack is usually right. | B+ |
4 | The writers start to learn that you can have a suspenseful show without cheap cliffhangers and eight million plot twists. | Not much to hate. | A- |
5 | The story formula is perfected. | Not much to hate here except that Kim gets to be in a few episodes. | A |
4400 (Sci-Fi):
4400 humans vanish into thin air at various points in the twentieth century and they all suddenly reappear in the present day. Cheesy effects are counterbalanced by smart writing and interesting characters. Fourth season recently aired on TV.
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Trying to figure out what the heck is going on. | The first couple episodes feel rather sophomoric. Only six episodes in the season. | A- |
2 | The foreshadowing across the season really shows off how tightly written the plot is. | The Lily storylines get old. | A |
3 | The storytelling is amazingly strong. | Isabelle's an annoying character. | A |
Alias (Spy Thriller / Character Drama):
Sydney Bristow thinks she's working for the CIA but discovers she works for the enemy, as does her father. The two try to take down the enemy from the inside while its criminal mastermind works to solve the mystery of Milo Rambaldi, an ancient prophet who may have discovered the secrets of immortality. Ended after five seasons.
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | The most Byzantine plot to ever appear on a TV show. | Sydney cries every four minutes. | A- |
2 | The plot with Sloane's wife culminating in the famous Super Bowl episode | Francie gets annoying. | A+ |
3 | A few incredible episodes. | Writers had no idea where they were going. Melissa George guest stars and her eyebrows are a different colour than her hair. | C+ |
4 | Mia Maestro is hot. Episodes are fun the way they were in the first two seasons. | Episodes are more standalone. Strength of finale is undercut by a weak cliffhanger. | B+ |
5 | A different tone, but a few interesting episodes. The series finale is perfect. | Feels too much like a spin-off. New characters aren't particularly compelling. | B+ |
Arrested Development (Mockumentary):
A narrated comedy about a rich, dysfunctional family. One episode alone will not turn you -- but the laughs reach a critical mass as you realize that every episode's inside jokes builds upon previous ones. Cancelled.
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | The lack of a laugh track makes the smart jokes even better. | Recaps tend to be overused. | A- |
2 | Another great season. | Not much to dislike here. | A |
3 | Realizing that the show was going to be cancelled, the writers went crazy. | Realizing that the show was going to be cancelled, the writers went crazy. | B+ |
Boston Public (School Drama):
This show never made it to DVD, but I really wish it would. Tells the stories of public high school life from the perspective of the teachers. The first two seasons were excellent. The later seasons featured Mini-Me hiding in a locker to give students test answers and were not so hot. Cancelled after four seasons.
Dexter (Crime / Character Drama):
A blood-spatter specialist on the police force is also a serial killer, albeit one with a social conscience.
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Different, intriguing, and very sharply written. | Though there's surprisingly little gore, there's copious amounts of blood. | A |
Firefly (Sci-Fi / Western):
Captain Reynolds and his crew fly through the "Wild West" of space, taking odd jobs and staying one step ahead of law and order. Cancelled during the first season
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Great characters. Watching the season makes the movie Serenity twenty times better. | You'll get frustrated by the fact that it was cancelled so abruptly. | A+ |
Freaks and Geeks (Sitcom / Drama):
High school stories of the geeks and weirdos.
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Hearing Bill prank calling his gym teacher (Biff from Back to the Future) to call him a butt-sniffer. | Drags occasionally. | B+ |
Friends (Sitcom):
Twenty-somethings living in New York City. Obvious brain-dead comedy, which is sometimes exactly what you want.
Season | Pro's | Con's | Grade |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Feels fresh. | Shows with pet monkeys are generally running low on ideas. Hasn't quite gotten the "Friends" tone down pat yet. | B |
2 | The season where Ross finally gets together with Rachel and Monica dates Tom Selleck. | B | |
3 | The introduction of Frank Jr. | Ross and Rachel bicker all season long. | B+ |
4 | The season where Ross marries Emily and Phoebe has her brothers' children. | B+ | |
5 | The season where Monica and Chandler are secretly dating. | Ross is crazy all season long, and mostly annoying. | B |
6 | The season where Monica and Chandler get engaged. | Ross is still crazy and annoying. | B- |
7 | The season where Monica and Chandler get married. Most episodes are Super Sized. | Some of the clips episodes are horrible. | A |
8 | The season where Rachel has a baby. | B+ | |
9 | The introduction of Paul Rudd as Phoebe's boyfriend. | Shows with new babies are generally running low on ideas. Chandler is in Tulsa (a.k.a. Rehab) | B |
10 | The season where Monica and Chandler move away. | Rachel and Ross are so 1996. | B+ |
To be continued next week...(Heroes through Veronica Mars)
tagged as
reviews
|
permalink
| 2 comments
|
|
Previous Post: Memory Day: Saturday Mornings |
Next Post: Friday Fragments |
You are currently viewing a single post from the annals of URI! Zone history. The entire URI! Zone is © 1996 - 2023 by Brian Uri!. Please see the About page for further information.