Monthly Archives: February 2014

TV Time: New Girl 3.16

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Title Sister

Two-Sentence Summary Winston’s attempt to bring everyone to Bertie’s apartment for a dinner party falls apart when Schmidt needs Nick to be his wingman and Jess has to deal with her sister, Abby, after she was sent to jail. The lone dinner party attendees are Coach and Cece, who are forced to deal with the fact that they made out and then never discussed it again.

Favorite Line “It takes two wings…for a bird to dance.” (Schmidt)

Episode M.V.P. Sometimes giving every character something to do in a half-hour episode of television results in an episode that feels too crowded for any one story to be given enough time to develop and stick with the audience. I think that’s what happened with “Sister.” It was admirable to try to use every member of this ever-expanding ensemble, but I’m not so sure it worked exceptionally well this week. Putting groups of characters into completely separate storylines meant that no one group of characters was really given enough time to shine. The episode was entertaining enough, but I think it could have been much better if it would have revolved around one (or maybe two) stories instead of three.

However, in an episode where it seemed that no actor was given enough time to make a memorable impression, Jake Johnson somehow managed to once again steal the show. His sincere concern that Jess was embarrassed to introduce him to her sister was balanced with his insane attempts to be Schmidt’s wingman. “Sister” did have some great standalone moments, and most of them involved Nick—rambling, strangely hitting on (all-too-willing) old ladies, calling Schmidt out for monologuing. It’s rare when an actor can make me cringe and laugh at the same time, but Johnson is proving himself to be a rare actor. And that fact that he can make me believe that a guy like Nick genuinely loves a guy like Schmidt only further highlights his talents.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (2/2 – 2/9)

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February sweeps got off to a strong start this week with a handful of great episodes of television and some equally great sports moments. Sunday kicked off with the Seattle Seahwaks huge Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos, and it continued with strong post-Super Bowl episodes of New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Monday’s Castle was an excellent exploration of Kate Beckett’s character growth and moved Castle and Beckett’s wedding plans along in some major ways. Tuesday’s New Girl used both Nick and Jess’s exes to bring Nick to a confession almost two years in the making, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine introduced us to Captain Holt’s husband, wine drink, and the wrong way to eat crab. Wednesday gave us an episode of Nashville featuring some excellent music (from Deacon and Will), genuinely sweet romance (from Avery and Juliette), and a crazy cliffhanger (from Teddy and Lamar). Finally, the Winter Olympics began on Thursday, and there have already been plenty of great moments to watch and discuss already—from the new team figure skating competition to the pomp and circumstance of the opening ceremonies.

Both New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine had two chances to impress viewers this week, and I think both shows made the most of those opportunities. In fact, I have to especially commend Brooklyn Nine-Nine for using these two chances to so clearly show its voice, which is remarkably well-developed for a freshman comedy.

“The Party,” Tuesday’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, was full of the show’s awkward charm and genuine humor throughout, but it was the episode’s ending that was my favorite TV moment of the week. I was surprisingly moved by the reveal that Captain Holt’s husband didn’t want to warm up to the Nine-Nine team because of the prejudice that had been directed at Holt during his time with the NYPD. In giving such a peripheral player real, human motivations for his behavior, this show once again proved that it has more of a handle on its characters than some sitcoms that have been on TV for ages. And the episode’s final scene, with the team joining together to give their captain and his husband a romantic dinner was something so warm and unashamedly kind that it felt like an ending to Parks and Recreation (and I mean that as the highest compliment), while still using each character in just the right way to maintain this show’s unique tone.

I couldn’t find a video of the end of “The Party,” but here’s another highlight of the episode—and my favorite line—”Stop eating crab wrong!”

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?

Nerdy Girl Reads: Fosse

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Fosse by Sam Wasson

Title: Fosse

Author: Sam Wasson (Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.)

Genre: Nonfiction (Biography)

Page Count: 723

The Basics: Fosse gives readers an in-depth look at the thousands of pieces that made up both Bob Fosse the musical-theater legend and Bob Fosse the man: the dance style that has often been imitated but will never be duplicated; the pills and the cigarettes; the innumerable women; the hunger for the spotlight; the manic-depressive drive and perfectionism; the narcissism and self-loathing; and his complicated love affair with showbiz that influenced every career choice he ever made. Wasson’s comprehensive portrait of Fosse is also a comprehensive portrait of the American musical—from its roots in vaudeville, to its many revolutions on both stage and screen, through its dark days in the 1980s (when years went by without a Tony Award given for Best Choreography). Opening with Fosse’s memorial, Wasson then flashes back to his subject’s earliest years, using each chapter to bring us closer and closer to his death. This technique gives the biography the feel of a well-crafted novel, and the book’s masterful weaving of style and substance would have made its subject—the ultimate dance style icon—proud.

Strengths: Sam Wasson is my current favorite nonfiction writer because of his ability to take one subject and seamlessly show how it’s reflective of a cultural movement much larger than itself. In Fifth Avenue, Five A.M. Wasson showed how Breakfast at Tiffany’s was much more than just a film; it was a major touchstone for the feminist movement in America. And in Fosse, Wasson linked the life of Bob Fosse to the collective life of American musical theater, creating not just a definitive look at Fosse’s life and career but a definitive look at an entire medium of American art. To see the way Fosse’s beginnings in vaudeville, his rise to fame in the early days of Broadway, his growing cynicism, and his death paralleled the rise, success, and fall of the American musical through the 1980s was nothing short of revelatory. I picked up this book expecting to learn about my favorite choreographer and the director of one of my favorite films (Cabaret), and I ended up learning incredible amounts of information about a genre that has always been close to my heart. It was a pleasant surprise of the highest order, to say the least.

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TV Time: New Girl 3.15

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Title Exes

Two-Sentence Summary Nick and Jess debate the validity of friendships between exes after Nick runs into Caroline and Jess reveals she’s still close with her ex-boyfriend Berkeley. Meanwhile, Schmidt’s attempt to get his mojo back is thwarted by Winston and Coach.

Favorite Lines
Nick: She cut off the power!
Berkeley: No, Nick, that was you. You turned off the light. All the other lights are still on.
Nick: My bad. Thank you.

Episode M.V.P. This episode had a lot of fun moments for all of the actors, including its guest stars. (Well hello there, Adam Brody, it’s nice to see you again after you stole my heart all those years ago as Seth Cohen.) But “Exes” was at its best when the focus was on Jake Johnson. It’s no surprise that the best New Girl episodes of this uneven season have done the best job balancing Nick’s more broadly comedic character traits with his surprising depth, and that happened again in this episode. All of Nick’s moments of panic over interacting with Caroline again were phenomenal—What if she hurts me physically? What if she hurts me with words? I especially loved his increasing paranoia over her texts.

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TV Time: Castle 6.14

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Castle Dressed to Kill

Title Dressed to Kill

Two-Sentence Summary The death of a famous magazine editor’s assistant brings Beckett back into the world of high fashion after her brief period of time spent working as a model. A wedding dress modeling session and a discussion of venues and dates causes Beckett to come to terms with the fact that her mother won’t be present for her wedding day.

Favorite Lines
Beckett: Do you know what else I wish she could have experienced? You.
Castle: Really?
Beckett: She would have loved you.

My Thoughts Sometimes life gives you moments of reflection, moments to stop and think about how much you’ve grown and how far you’ve come. “Dressed to Kill” gave Kate Beckett one of those moments—a moment to literally look in the mirror and see who she has become in the last six years—and, in doing so, it gave us as fans a chance to reflect on this character’s journey and the way it has changed from a story of loss to a story of love.

To be honest, I thought the majority of this episode was standard, midseason Castle fare. It featured a great guest star (Frances Fisher, whose presence gave me a case of some serious Titanic nostalgia), a pop-culture inspired plot (in this case, The Devil Wears Prada), and a series of elaborate twists and turns before cycling back to name a character introduced near the beginning as the murderer (who I totally called as the killer as soon as I saw him—not to brag or anything).

I didn’t feel much emotional attachment to anyone related to the case, which was strange considering how much time the episode spent trying to get me to feel invested in the relationship between Beckett and Matilda. I understand that Beckett modeled for her for a brief time, but I had difficulty believing Matilda would care enough about her to give her a wedding dress and make “daughter” comments about her. I wish we could have seen those wedding dress scenes with Martha instead, because that’s a relationship between Beckett and a mother figure that I actually care about. I know the show wanted to make the most of Fisher’s appearance, but her scenes with Beckett felt forced to me rather than familial.

I suppose my larger problem with Beckett and Matilda’s scenes might boil down to one basic fact: I really don’t like the wedding dress, and I like it even less when I think of it as Kate Beckett’s wedding dress. It actually took away some of the emotional power of seeing Beckett in a wedding dress for the first time—that’s how much I don’t like it. Part of my problem with it is that it was kind of forced on Beckett; she didn’t get to choose her wedding dress, which seems wrong to me. My other issue is that it just doesn’t feel at all like something Kate Beckett would wear.

I have been feverishly following Beckett’s fashion choices for quite some time, and what I’ve always loved about her style is that it’s so simple and so effortlessly elegant. I always expected her wedding dress to be a simple white or cream sheath—not that mess of tulle and print. The bodice might have worked without the tulle, but it still would have felt too opulent for the no-nonsense woman we know Beckett to be. I never thought there would be a dress Stana Katic couldn’t pull off, but I think they actually found one. My only hope is that the dress is a big red herring, and Beckett ultimately wears something more suited to her character.

Let this be a lesson to all future TV creators and costume designers: If you give audiences a character with as a well-defined a sense of style as Kate Beckett, don’t be surprised if they don’t like it when the most important garment the character will ever wear doesn’t fit that style at all. It’s not just dialogue and actions that can be out-of-character; clothes can be, too.

I suppose I should stop playing “fashion police” and actually get to what the wedding dress represented for Beckett—because it was so much more than just a dress for both her and the audience. Perhaps that’s why I bristled at Matilda giving Beckett the dress; in an episode that focused on mothers (with Martha being ever-present in the wedding planning and Johanna being gone) the gesture seemed to overstep some boundaries. I wanted Beckett to politely send the dress back and do something like alter her mother’s wedding dress, invite Martha to go dress shopping, or even go by herself (or with Lanie) to pick out her own dress. But there’s still time for something like that to happen.

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TV Time: New Girl 3.14

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Hello, fellow Roomfriends! I hope you all had a nice Super Bowl Sunday (especially all of you who are Seahawks fans—Go Hawks!), and I especially hope you all tuned in for FOX’s post-Super Bowl comedy showcase last night.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my New Girl reviewing format lately, and I decided to add a new section to my weekly list of talking points—Question of the Week. Many times this season, I’ve been left with a question about a character’s motivations or why an episode had the tone it did—or even bigger questions about where New Girl is going as a show. I hope this allows me to still keep these posts a fun, quick breakdown of each episode while voicing any pressing concerns/questions I have as they come to me. Feel free to ask your own questions, too!

Title Prince

Two-Sentence Summary The guys attempt to crash a party at Prince’s mansion after Jess and Cece get an invitation. At the party, the host himself helps Jess work through her anxieties following Nick’s unplanned, first “I love you.”

Favorite Line “Hey, guys, how are we going to transport all this cargo? Oh, great, we have Nick’s pants—we’re saved.” (Schmidt)

Episode M.V.P. “Prince” was a fun ensemble piece that introduced each of New Girl’s characters to a wide, post-Super Bowl audience by showcasing what they do best. Max Greenfield pronounced things strangely and swerved between d-bag tendencies, awkwardness, and sincerity with the dexterity only he possesses. (Schmidt in Prince’s tree was a personal favorite moment of mine.) Jake Johnson screamed like a little girl, gave audiences a taste of drunk Nick, and disarmed us all with the way he looked at Jess like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. (Seriously, Jake Johnson, you need to stop having such a perfectly expressive face. It’s not helping me set realistic standards for the male gender.) Hannah Simone was the queen of reaction shots (and ping-pong, apparently). Zooey Deschanel had some fun moment of physical comedy and got to show off her great comedic timing opposite one of music’s biggest stars (the whole pancake scene was just zany, fun TV gold). And even Prince himself was a fantastic treat for viewers—not taking himself too seriously and proving himself more than capable of holding his own with such a talented comedic cast.

But the true stars of this episode were a little duo I like to cal Fire and Ice. Lamorne Morris and Damon Wayans Jr. proved just how great they could be as a comedic duo in “Birthday,” and I hope their continued pairing off in this episode is a sign of things to come. These two actors have very complimentary comedic energies, and putting them together seems to finally have given both of these characters something both fun and productive to do on the show. From the “warm water!” unveiling of Fire and Ice to their interrupted flirting session with supermodels, these two were a dream team. If I were a first-time viewer, I would want to tune in again just to see what antics Winston and Coach would be taking part in next, because whatever it is, it’s sure to be hilarious.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (1/26 – 2/2)

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This was a relatively slow week in terms of new episodes of my favorite shows, which was fine with me—because one episode used up an entire week’s worth of feelings for me. Sunday’s Grammy Awards showcased some memorable performances—from Beyonce and Jay Z’s too-hot-to-handle opening to what was quite possibly my favorite Taylor Swift performance ever. Wednesday’s episode of Nashville pushed Scarlett to her limit and brought Avery and Juliette together at last. Thursday’s Parks and Recreation allowed us to say goodbye to Ann and Chris. And last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live brought back the incredible Melissa McCarthy for yet another hilarious turn as host.

If you thought anything I saw on television this week would be better than Parks and Rec‘s perfect little tribute to the love stories we create with our friends, then you must be new to NGN. From Ben and Chris’s heartfelt farewell to April admitting she loves Ann, everything about the way this episode handled the friendships between the show’s characters was perfect. And then there was Leslie and Ann’s perfect sunflower of a friendship, getting one last glorious moment in the spotlight—a place where it has been much more often than female friendships on most other television shows. Their conversation while waiting to break ground on Pawnee Commons was such a beautiful, honest look at female friendship and the way our platonic soul mates can change us for the better just by being our friends. Even more than the episode’s conclusion, this moment—when Leslie tells Ann, “You totally changed me, you know?”—makes me cry every time I watch it (which has already been more times than I should probably admit).

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?