Tag Archives: television

TV Time: Parks and Recreation 7.01/7.02

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Welcome, fellow Parks and Recreation fans to the first of my weekly recaps for this show’s final season! I hope you’re all ready to laugh and cry with me as we spend these last few weeks in Pawnee together.

Source: glamour.com

Source: glamour.com

Title 2017/Ron and Jammy

Two-Sentence Summary As we catch up with the gang from Pawnee in 2017, we learn that Ron and Leslie had a falling out, and both of them are competing for land that the Newport family is looking to sell; Leslie wants to build a national park, while Ron is helping Gryzzl with their bid for the land. The two call a momentary truce, however, to get Councilman Jamm out of Tammy’s evil clutches.

Favorite Line “Who cares if they have more money. I have the most valuable currency in America: a blind, stubborn belief that what I’m doing is right!” (Leslie)

My Thoughts It felt so good to have Parks and Recreation back. There’s nothing on television quite like this show, and no other show makes me feel as ridiculously happy as it does. It’s been tough for me to even think about Parks and Rec over the last few weeks, because whenever I do, I want to cry. However, the winning combination of “2017/Ron and Jammy” made it possible for me to finally look at this final run of episodes with excitement instead of sadness. It may be the final season of one of my favorite television shows of all time, but if these two episodes were any indication, it’s going to be a triumphant final season full of all the things that make Parks and Rec so special.

With this being the final season of Parks and Rec, I’ve been thinking a lot about its legacy. In my opinion, the most enduring thing about this show should be its message that kindness and warmth are strengths and not weaknesses—that nice people can be funny, too. This was never a comedy for cynics, and, as such, it turned out to be the perfect comedy for me. Despite the three-year time jump dealt with in this premiere and all of the changes that came from that, some things about our favorite citizens of Pawnee stayed the same, and one of those things was their collective big heart—no matter how reluctant some of them may be to show just how big their heart really is.

I thought every character’s development over the course of the three years we skipped over was perfect, and it was because they grew in some ways but stayed the same where it mattered.

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TV Time: Castle 7.11

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Source: spoilertv.com

Source: spoilertv.com

Title Castle, P.I.

Two-Sentence Summary As Beckett attempts to readjust to life at the precinct without Castle after he was banned from helping the NYPD, she begins to investigate the murder of a teacher at an elite NYC preschool. The complicated case gets even more complicated when Castle, now a licensed private investigator, tries to solve it, too.

Favorite Lines
Castle: Did I tell you I got pepper-sprayed today?
Alexis: You say that like it’s a good thing.
Castle: Yeah.

My Thoughts Although no TV fan enjoys a hiatus, sometimes they can be the best thing for a show. Castle’s last episode, “Bad Santa,” left me feeling depressed and blindsided by its big cliffhanger ending, but it appears that some time away from the precinct has done both Rick Castle and me some good. Having some distance from the bombshell ending of “Bad Santa” and some time to process what things could be like for Castle as a private investigator allowed me to approach “Castle, P.I” with an open mind. And the result was an hour of TV-watching that made me even happier than I’d imagined it would.

It’s tough for shows to stay fresh in their seventh season, and I think we can all admit that many of the procedural aspects of Castle were starting to feel stale. However, making Castle a private investigator breathed new life into the crime-solving part of this show, and it even added a nice little spark to the romantic part, too. The time in between “Bad Santa” and “Castle, P.I.” allowed the latter to have a light tone even after the former had such a heavy ending. Airing them only a week apart might have felt too jarring in terms of their vastly different tones when it came to Castle’s dismissal from the precinct. However, airing them a month apart made it seem less jarring and more of an example of the kind of tonal shifts only Castle can pull off so fluidly.

In my recap of “Bad Santa,” I mentioned that the case in that episode—which was neither emotionally compelling nor nerdy in nature—was downright boring. Imagine my surprise when I found myself thoroughly enjoying the case in “Castle, P.I.,” which was also without a fun theme or an emotional component tied to one of our protagonists. Instead, it was the pure thrill of good-old-fashioned crime solving that did it for me this week (and did it for Castle and Beckett, too—but more on that later). I really liked watching the different ways Castle and Beckett used their various skills and resources to take steps closer to solving the case. By putting the focus on the actual detective work, this episode reminded me of what made Castle so special even when it was a very young show: It features two main characters who approach the world in very different ways but whose different approaches are perfect complements for each other.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (1/4 – 1/11)

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This week saw the return of a bunch of great TV shows from their winter hiatuses. Sunday’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine took all of its characters on a weekend trip, and The Good Wife featured a huge sigh of relief for Cary while tensions rose around Kalinda. Monday gave us the return of The Bachelor with farmer Chris looking for love. Tuesday staked its claim as a fantastic night for television in 2015 with an excellent series premiere for Agent Carter and our first look at Mindy’s time at Stanford on The Mindy Project. And there were plenty of things for sports fans to cheer about as the NFL playoffs kicked off.

This may have been one of the most difficult choices I’ve had to make yet for the best thing on television this week—between Captain Holt eagerly playing a game designed to poke fun at him on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Peggy threatening a sexist jerk with just a fork on Agent Carter, and Cary’s sentencing on The Good Wife. Ultimately, though, I went with what moved me the most—and that came from The Good Wife.

Matt Czuchry’s performance as it dawned on Cary that the case against him was being thrown out was so incredible that I want him to get an Emmy nomination this year for that moment alone. The pure relief and gratitude on his face was paired with a deeper sense of exhaustion that made the relief feel even more powerful. Playing “overwhelmed” can lend itself to overacting, but Czuchry proved that he has taken lessons from the Christine Baranski/Julianna Margulies playbook with the subtlety he brought to that moment. Being able to convey so much emotion in just a facial expression is something every member of the cast of The Good Wife excels at, and Czuchry’s reaction provided perhaps the most earned and cathartic moment I’ve seen on television this season.

The way The Good Wife balanced the relief Cary felt and we felt for him with the fear Kalinda felt and we all felt for her just added to the brilliance of that scene. Nothing on The Good Wife is ever simple; everything is layered. And that kind of emotional complexity made what was already a fantastic scene even better by showing that Cary’s freedom and happiness has a cost, and that cost is one Kalinda is going to have to pay.

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

Fangirl Thursday: New Year, New Loves

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Welcome back, fellow fangirls (and fanboys!), to one more Fangirl Thursday post before this feature goes on another little hiatus until March to make room for more TV reviews here at NGN! I hope all of you had a lovely holiday season and are enjoying a nice start to 2015.

The holiday season is a great time to catch up on the media our busy lives often cause us to miss out on. Between books and movies and TV shows given as Christmas gifts and holiday hiatuses giving us some time to indulge in new interests, it provides the perfect combination of new things to fall in love with and more time to fall in love with them. There are also plenty of people who make New Year’s resolutions to read more, start a new TV series, or watch or read something from the past that has a lot of critical acclaim surrounding it. (We all know that one person who has a New Year’s resolution to watch The Wire in 2015.)

When I was 13, the holiday season was when I binge-read the first four Harry Potter novels. In college, winter break meant exploring the world of Doctor Who and Torchwood. A few years ago, New Year’s Day was the day I discovered Once Upon a Time and proceeded to watch the first seven episodes all at once. Last year, I spent the week after Christmas devouring Season One of Orphan Black.

This year, I was given the gift of three TV shows I’ve been wanting to watch for a long time by two people I know and love and trust (my sister and Heather). Heather’s gift of Eli Stone is waiting for me to explore this spring when I’ll need something to get me through the start of hiatus time. And one of my sister’s gifts for me—the first season of Veep—has already helped me start to heal from Amy Peohler’s Golden Globes snub and finally appreciate the brilliance of Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

My sister also got me the first season of The Americans, and, in doing so, sent me down a rabbit hole of thoughts and feelings I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from (and we all know I love a good rabbit hole of feelings!). Philip and Elizabeth Jennings have now joined the ranks of Harry Potter, Emma Swan, and Sarah Manning as characters I first met over a holiday break but who stayed with me long after the New Year started. When I began watching my DVDs of the first season of The Americans, I had a goal of finishing Season One and then watching Seasons Two and Three after the third season wraps up this summer. Now I only have nine episodes left to watch in Season Two, with every intention of watching Season Three as it airs, starting on January 28. I’m not sure I’ve ever binge-watched a drama series this quickly before, but if there’s a show worthy of being a weird combination of devoured and savored, it’s The Americans.

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TV Time: The Mindy Project 3.12

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Title Stanford

Two-Sentence Summary Mindy starts her fellowship at Stanford off on the wrong foot, which prompts her to try to win over her professor, who is a friend of Danny’s from med school. Meanwhile, Tamra tries to channel her complicated feelings about Morgan after their breakup into a charity basketball game.

Favorite Line “What’s more important, your relationship with Dr. Lahiri or this basketball team I made you join two days ago?” (Morgan)

My Thoughts “Stanford” was a solid—if slightly formulaic—return episode for The Mindy Project. However, I don’t mind formulaic if the formula works, and this pattern that the show’s developing of episodes ending with Mindy making huge strides in terms of her personal growth is a good example of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Another pattern I hope this show continues to run with is crafting really fun B-plots. I enjoyed basically everything about the basketball storyline. I loved that Morgan’s game tapes were just VHS copies of Space Jam, because any Space Jam reference is a good Space Jam reference. I loved Jeremy’s total confusion over the rules of basketball. I loved the use of “All I Do Is Win.” And I loved Tamra’s confidence in her child-sized shorts (which—let’s be honest— Xosha Roquemore looked amazing in).

I loved Tamra in general in this episode. Roquemore is such an underrated comedic talent in this cast, and I especially love any time she gets to play Tamra’s reactions to people discovering she pays no attention to the details of their lives. (Her inability to realize that Peter is in the same situation as she’s in with Morgan reminded me of her total confidence that Mindy’s name was “Glob” back in Season Two’s premiere episode.) Roquemore is also underrated in terms of the hints of softness she gives what could be a one-dimensional character. I really believed her feelings for Morgan, but I also really liked that they aren’t getting back together right away. Seeing her hit it off with Mindy’s intern was nice, and I hope it leads to more fun places for this character.

Sometimes watching characters develop apart from their relationship is a great thing, which I’m thinking it will be for Morgan and Tamra. It’s also a great thing for Danny and especially for Mindy. This was another really strong outing for Mindy as a character, and it makes me hopeful that the growth that landed her on my list of best character arcs in 2014 will continue into 2015 and beyond.

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The Busy Season Is Upon Us

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I hope all of you had a lovely holiday season and are refreshed and ready for more great TV and more great TV discussions here at Nerdy Girl Notes!

Over the next couples of weeks, things will be getting pretty busy here, mainly because of NBC’s decisions concerning the final season of Parks and Recreation. I’ve been reviewing that show for the last two seasons, and I’m excited in a very bittersweet kind of way to review this last season, too. However, the decision to move that final season to Tuesday nights puts me in a bit of a bind as far as a posting schedule goes, which is why I’m looking for some help as I prioritize my writing for the next several weeks.

On Tuesdays, I’ll be watching both The Mindy Project and Parks and Rec, but (because I have to deal with a pesky thing called “my 9 to 5 job”) I won’t be able to write about both shows on Wednesdays. Therefore, I want to hear from you, fellow TV comedy fans, about which show you’d rather read my review of the next day and which you’d be willing to wait until Thursdays to read. (Fangirl Thursdays will be taking another hiatus after this week until Parks and Rec’s short run is over at the end of February.)

I’ve included a handy poll here that I’d love for you to participate in, because I want to get a good feel for what you as readers would like to see as far as my posting schedule goes.

 

Thanks in advance for the input, and I can’t wait to start talking with all of you about new episodes of our favorite shows!

NGN’s Best of 2014: TV Shows

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Once again, The Good Wife topped my list of the year's best TV shows.

Once again, The Good Wife topped my list of the year’s best TV shows.

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone (or Happy New Year depending on your time zone and when you’re reading this post)! For my last installment of NGN’s Best of 2014 series, I want to take a look at the best TV shows of the year. If you’re interested in reading a list from someone who has an even more comprehensive grasp of the current TV landscape than I do, I strongly suggest checking out Heather’s list. And, as always, I hope you leave your picks in the comments, so we can talk about what a great year this was for television.

From dramas that made me weep to comedies that warmed my heart and everything in between, here are my picks for the very best the world of television had to offer in 2014.

1. The Good Wife
The Good Wife is a show that has mastered the art of reinvention, emerging from each huge shift in its plot as a stronger and more compelling show. This year, it took a big risk and used the departure of Josh Charles, one of its lead actors, to create one of the most realistically devastating examinations of the grieving process I’ve ever seen on television. It created a story arc that allowed the audience to mourn a sudden, shocking departure along with the characters, and I think the show has never been better than it was in those episodes immediately following Will’s death. And this season has upped the tension in a remarkable way with Cary’s impending jail sentence, once again effortlessly shifting the show into new territory. With each new chapter, The Good Wife is buoyed by some of the strongest writing and one of the most brilliant casts on television. I challenge anyone who believes there are no good network dramas anymore to watch The Good Wife and still hold that assumption.

2. The Mindy Project
Television is becoming the place where the best romantic comedies are found, and leading the charge in that movement is The Mindy Project. This was the year this show found its voice, giving more depth not just to Danny but also to Mindy, allowing Mindy Kaling to show her range as an actress alongside Chis Messina. And by giving these characters room to grow, the show created one of the most entertaining, funny, and heartwarming couples on television. Romance isn’t dead; it lives and breathes and makes me laugh and cry every Tuesday night on FOX.

3. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
This show has become my happy place. It makes me laugh harder than probably any other show on television right now, and that’s not even my favorite thing about it. It’s only in its second season, and already Brooklyn Nine-Nine has richer characters and more compelling relationships between them than most other comedies on television. Yes, the budding romance between Jake and Amy is adorable, but this show remembers what so many seem to forget: Life is about more than just romance. The friendships on this show (most notably the one between Jake and Rosa) are wonderful, and I could watch every possible combination of members of this cast interact, which is great because this show excels at pairing different characters together in fun situations. And no mention of this show is complete without stating that Andre Braugher keeps getting better and better, and if you’re not watching his work as Captain Holt, you’re missing out.

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NGN’s Best of 2014: TV Episodes

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danny and mindy

This was another great year for television, featuring a plethora of memorable episodes that will live on long after 2014 is over. For today’s installment of NGN’s Best of 2014 series, I attempted the difficult task of choosing just 10 of the best episodes of television I saw this year. Remember to leave your own picks in the comments because there are plenty of amazing episodes to discuss! (And be sure to check out Heather’s list of the year’s best episodes, too!)

1. “Danny and Mindy” (The Mindy Project)
I’m a sucker for a good romantic comedy, and the best romantic comedy I’ve seen in years was this glorious season finale of The Mindy Project. Mindy Kaling’s writing has never been sharper, funnier, and more emotionally evocative than it was in this half-hour tribute to a genre she holds close to her heart. Every rom-com reference was perfect, but this episode was about so much more than just referencing a genre’s classics; it was about creating a new classic. From the heartbreaking bathroom confrontation between Mindy and Danny to their perfect concluding kiss, this was an episode filled with both the strongest acting and writing this show has ever seen. And I dare anyone who loves romantic comedies to say they didn’t smile during this episode’s Springsteen-backed climactic race to the top of the Empire State Building.

2. “The Last Call” (The Good Wife)
The Good Wife is becoming known for its ability to reinvent itself, and what’s most impressive about that is the different tones with which its reinventions announce themselves. Last year’s “Hitting the Fan” was a game-changer defined by bursts of anger, while “The Last Call” was another sharp turn for the show defined by quiet grief. There was nothing flashy about this episode; it was driven by emotional honesty and realism rather than melodrama. Every talented member of this show’s ensemble was given a moment to shine in this episode, and each moment of grief beautifully reflected each character—from David Lee’s private tears to Alicia and Diane’s heartbreaking hug. “The Last Call” was about sudden, senseless death—the ways we deal with it, the helplessness and confusion it leaves in its wake, and the support systems we lean on when it happens. It was one of the most moving episodes of television I’ve ever seen, and it had the best acting of any hour of television that aired this year.

3. “Ann and Chris” (Parks and Recreation)
Friendship is very important to me. It’s one of the driving forces in my life, and my best friends will have been there—positively influencing my life—long before any romantic partner someday finds their way into my heart. For a long time, I felt like this strong belief in the power of friendship (especially female friendship) was one I’d never see reflected on television. But then “Ann and Chris” happened, and an entire half-hour of TV was dedicated to honoring the importance of having a supportive best friend. The episode itself had plenty of moments of laughter, but it was the emotional beats that focused on pairs of friends—Ann and April, Ben and Chris, Leslie and Ann—that gave this episode its soul. “Ann and Chris” represented the way Parks and Rec is so utterly fearless when it comes to wearing its heart on its sleeve, and the fact that this episode’s heart was so firmly focused on friendship made it unlike anything else on TV this year—in the best possible way.

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NGN’s Best of 2014: TV Moments

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Orphan Black's big dance scene was my favorite moment on television in 2014.

Orphan Black’s big dance scene was my favorite moment on television in 2014.

This year was a great one for television, featuring plenty of memorable moments to keep us talking from the beginning of 2014 to its end. Whether those moments were happy or tragic, they stayed in our hearts and on our minds long after the episodes that featured them were over.

Today’s installment of NGN’s Best of 2014 series features my picks for the 10 best moments on TV this year. I hope you all share your picks in the comments because there are so many excellent moments to talk about!

1. Clone Club Dance Party (Orphan Black: By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried)
Orphan Black is a thrill-a-minute kind of show, but it was at its most impressive when it took a deep breath and allowed its characters to simply have fun dancing together. What made this moment the best of the year, though, wasn’t just its happy tone in the middle of chaos, it was the technical brilliance that went into making that scene. Besides the wonderful Jordan Gavaris, every other character in this scene was played by Tatiana Maslany. The way Maslany was able to convey the distinct personalities of each clone through their dance moves speaks to her incredible talent. There’s no one on television like Maslany, and there was certainly no scene on television in 2014 like this one.

2. Will Gardner Dies (The Good Wife: Dramatics, Your Honor/Last Call)
Death often blindsides us, and The Good Wife’s ability to blindside its audience with the death of one of its lead characters was one of the most talked-about happenings in the television world this year. In the two episodes surrounding Will’s death, The Good Wife delivered the most emotionally resonant hours of television in 2014. Every actor rose to the challenge, giving each scene weight and ensuring that no one would end either hour with dry eyes. Will’s death made everyone who watched The Good Wife think about the senseless nature of tragedy and the unanswered questions left behind when loved ones die. But even more than making us think, watching these characters grieve made us feel—and that’s what great television is all about.

3. Castle and Beckett Get Married (Castle: The Time of Our Lives)
I love a good wedding. And after months of waiting, Castle gave its fans a great wedding. Cheesy backdrops aside, everything about the scene was beautiful—from Beckett’s perfect wedding outfit and the way Castle looked at her in it to every word of their deeply personal vows. Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic put such joy and love into their performances in that scene, and it created a beautiful moment of joy for casual viewers and longtime fans alike. And as someone who has been invested in this relationship since the show’s pilot first aired, I can say this wedding produced more happy tears than any other scene I watched on television in 2014.

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NGN’s Best of 2014: TV Relationships

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I hope all of you who celebrate the holidays had a very Merry Christmas yesterday and a Happy Boxing Day today!

Once Upon a Time's Emma and Hook were my favorite TV couple in 2014.

Once Upon a Time’s Emma and Hook were my favorite TV couple in 2014.

The television landscape in 2014 was filled with complex, compelling relationships—from old friendships to new romances. This was a great year for “shippers” of all kinds, with kisses we all rewatched 100 times, weddings that made us cry, and romantic moments that filled our hearts with joy. It was also a great year for platonic relationships, with friendships playing an even more important role than ever on some of my favorite television shows.

For today’s installment of NGN’s Best of 2014 series, it’s time to take a look at my 10 favorite relationships that developed on our TV screens this year. After you’ve read my picks, I’d love to read yours in the comments section!

1. Emma and Hook (Once Upon a Time)
Is there anything better than watching a brand-new fairytale develop right before your eyes? That’s what Once Upon a Time is doing with the slowly-developing love story between a princess with a fighter’s spirit and a pirate with a hero’s heart. The beauty of this love story is its realism in the middle of a world of magical true love and soul mates discovered by fairy dust. It’s a story about two people who’ve been broken by love slowly learning how to open their hearts again to a sense of hope and happiness. That’s a kind of love story that’s easy to believe in and rewarding to watch—from first dances and first dates to emotionally-charged kisses and moments of quiet intimacy that highlight the fantastic chemistry between Jennifer Morrison and Colin O’Donoghue. Emma and Hook’s relationship has made both characters stronger and happier, and their scenes together this year have been some of the show’s best and most beautiful.

2. Mindy and Danny (The Mindy Project)
In 2014, the best romantic comedy wasn’t found in a movie theater; it was found every Tuesday night on The Mindy Project. Through smart writing and excellent performances all year from Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina, the relationship between Mindy and Danny went from everyone’s favorite “Will they or won’t they?” to everyone’s favorite “They did, and it’s awesome!” Mindy and Danny’s relationship is an exploration of what happens after the ending of a romantic comedy, and it turns out the answer is even more great comedy and character growth. The chemistry between Kaling and Messina is electric, and it shows no signs of faltering now that these characters are in a real relationship. From a race to the top of the Empire State Building to a very revealing striptease, this relationship has found the perfect balance of heat, humor, and heart.

3. Leslie and Ann (Parks and Recreation)
Once upon a time, a beautiful tropical fish met a passionate, stubborn steamroller, and the two of them became one of television’s best examples of female friendship. This year, Leslie and Ann’s friendship took center stage as the latter moved away from Pawnee to start a family in one of the year’s most emotional episodes of any television show, “Ann and Chris.” That lovely episode paid tribute to the power of female friendship in a way that was touching and true-to-life. It’s a rare thing for a television show to let one of the great loves of a character’s life be their best friend, but Parks and Rec is a rare television show that honors the beauty of friendship as much as it honors romance. Leslie and Ann’s friendship is as genuinely supportive and healthy as it gets, and that’s such a wonderful example for people to see in the media. My wish for every woman is that she finds the Ann to her Leslie (or the Leslie to her Ann)—a friend she can talk to about anything and a friend who loves her like the first soul mate so many of our friends often are.

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