What's Happening On Television These Days? (Part 1)

Tweet It has been a really long time since I've done a serious 'entertainment' post. On a blog that prides itself on writing about sports and entertainment, you would think something like this would be written more often. In my defense, there really has not been anything interesting to write about entertainment-wise, since breaking bad ended. Yes, there have been a few movies that have come out but are you really going to care about our reviews when you have websites like collider, rottentomatoes, and IMDB? I thought so. Luckily for you (all six of you that care about my TV opinions), there has been a flood of watchable shows on television recently, well... maybe not a flood, but enough to give me material to write about. So without further ado, here is a mini rundown of some shows that I have been watching. There maybe some minor spoilers ahead so be careful.

Dexter

With Dexter seasons you just know. Seasons one, two, and four were good; the other seasons either sucked or were very forgettable (with season 6 being being just mediocre at best). This season, I am happy to say, falls in the 'good' category, at least so far. I wont get too much into it as I am considering doing full out reviews for the rest of the Dexter season, but I will point out some things that I like about this season. In no particular order, here are the things that are making this season click, presented in note form:

-The main villain is actually pretty interesting

Who would have thought that Isaac would make for a really decent 'main' bad guy? He is smart, ruthless,and the king of some weird human exploitation empire. He already found out that Dexter killed one of his henchmen (and we are not even at episode four yet), and who ever the actor is that is playing him, is doing a really good job. We have not had a villain this interesting in Dexter since season four (the trinity killer), which was easily the best season, so these are all good things!

-The supporting characters actually have things to do

Whereas in past Dexter seasons, particularly the brutal third season, LaGuerta, Quinn, and company had really dull and useless side-plots (usually culminating in personal problems and self-rediscovery) this season there is actually *gasp* development! LaGuerta actually acts like a police officer and starts investigating a Dexter mistake (a forgotten blood slide) which is leading her to re-opening the 'Bay-Harbor Butcher' investigation. This is a genuinely interesting side-plot that does not make you groan when it comes up. Louis was shaping up to be an interesting character (more on him in the future), Quinn's story-line is just asking for trouble. For the first time in a really long time, Dexter episodes are complete and not just 20 minutes of content you care about with the rest being fast-forwarded.

-The story is developing at a good pace

A lot of people who watch the show complained that the second episode of the season was a major disappointment. In some sense they had a point. The episode did not really have much action and focused more on the characters and their development. So why did I still enjoy it? Because unlike other seasons' this was actually interesting. It is fun watching a story grow into something bigger (a simple 'Dexter' kill that leads to Ukrainian mob bosses coming to Miami for example).

That is all I will choose to comment on at this time about Dexter, as you can see, I will probably write about the show a lot more.

Arrow

Based on the popular DC comics character "Green Arrow" This is a new show on the CW (think Smallville) that takes a darker and more gritty approach to a super hero story (I know, I know shocking). To be fair, the original story is pretty dark in itself so this is not much of a reach at all, in fact, it works really well. For those of you who don't know: "Green Arrow" is the super-hero identity of one Oliver Queen (Bruce Wayne without the dead parents). There are a lot of variations to his origin so I will keep it basic. Essentially, Queen is left for dead in the middle of the Ocean, betrayed by the same men who betrayed his father, he washes up on an island and has to learn how to survive. For five long years he hunts, builds arrows, and forages on the unknown island until he notices a ship and promptly signals to be rescued. The experience on the island changed him vastly. No longer will he squander his wealth on partying, but will instead seek to avenge his father by bringing an end to the corruption of Star City (basically Gotham). Sounds cool right? Here is a trailer if you aren't convinced.

The best part? The writers have promised that other DC universe characters (Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern to name a few) will be making appearances in the show and will probably be significant parts of the story. For now I am definitely in on arrow.

So this took up a lot more space than I initially imagined, so I will make this a 2-part feature! I will leave you with this clip from South Park that just screams awesome.

The Right Decision for DC Comics

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A few years ago during a reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling revealed to all of her fans know that one of her most beloved characters, Albus Dumbledore, was gay. This didn’t affect anyone who had already read the books because Dumbledore was such a lovable character and a favorite to many readers, including myself. Of the people who hadn’t read the series, it probably had the greatest effect on the gay community (now that the best character in one of the most popular series of all time was a homosexual).

Let me explain why I don’t care about J.K. Rowling’s announcement, and why you shouldn’t either. Rowling said that it was apparent in the books that Dumbledore had been a homosexual all along… What? There was not a single line in the book that even remotely suggested that Dumbledore was gay. It’s evident that Rowling’s decision to make Dumbledore gay was simply an attempt to gain publicity from the gay community, and I’m sure it worked to some extent. It didn’t really affect the future of Harry Potter because Rowling had finished writing all the books and Dumbledore’s sexual orientation was meaningless.

Just recently, DC Comics announced that one of their “iconic” characters was coming out of the closet. Evidently, this is an attempt to gain publicity in the same way J.K. Rowling did, and with U.S. President Barrack Obama recently stating that he supports gay marriage, there is no better time for DC to convert one of their lead males to the other side. But is it a good idea? Will it generate publicity in the same way Harry Potter did? I don’t think so, unless DC chooses the right character.

The Comic Side of Things

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Full disclosure: I actually spent more time thinking of how to explain the title of this post then actually writing it. Finally, I settled on 'the comic side of things' because what I will be talking about in these posts mainly stems from comic books, more specifically, comic books about super heroes. Who doesn't like super heroes? In this generation of great super hero movies (Iron man, Captain America, Thor, The Dark Knight etc.) we should recognize that most of the inspirations for the movies came from the comics. I will not bore anyone with detailed character history, but will provide some of my opinions on the chosen content. I should probably mention that I will not be talking exclusively about comic books, but will talk about movies and television shows based on these super heroes as well. In this opening edition I will talk about Batman: Year one and a comic book titled 'Old man Logan'.

Year one is a DC animated movie that examines the first year of Batman and commissioner Gordon's efforts to bring the corruption and crime in Gotham city to an end. Obviously, as it is based on a series of comics it will be different from the movie versions but not unrecognizable. Bruce Wayne still received training from the league of shadows (although it is not directly shown, it is heavily alluded to), Wayne's parents are killed in the same way, and Batman's goal is to make criminals fear him using the symbol of the bat. The voice acting for year one is really, really well done. Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I met your mother) do very good voices for Gordon and Wayne/Batman respectively. The animation is also excellent and the characters look and move very realistically, the fight scenes are particularly engaging and make the fights look authentic. The story itself is interesting and it is always fun to watch any hero in his/her early patrols (for lack of a better word) trying to figure things out and overcoming obstacles. Of course we are treated to some scenes where Gotham's criminals and citizens are describing Batman as an otherworldly being possessing super-natural abilities. I honestly have no idea why I enjoy these so much, but it probably has something to do with making Bats look like a complete bad-ass. My one criticism of the story is that they switch from Gordon's to Bruce's to the criminals perspectives way too often. The story feels like its presented in chunks rather then a smooth ride from start to finish and that hurts it a bit, especially for the non hardcore fans who may be confused by the constantly changing perspective. All in all, the short film is done really well and I would recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, or even has some time to kill.

7.5/10 - Nothing sensational, but very enjoyable and very well put together. Definetely watch if you are a fan of Batman.

The next 'comic side' we look at will be from an actual comic. 'Old man Logan' is about Wolverine 50 years into the future. It ran as an eight issue-long story that ran from 2008-2009. I was lucky enough to read this in one book that just combined the eight issues for convenience, and was also lucky to have had no idea what it was about when I started. This probably made the events of the comic 100x better and more interesting for me. There were instances where I literally stopped reading just to observe the pictures, it was that good. Having said that, I'm not sure how much I should say about it because it might ruin it for those of you who hopefully decide to check it out after reading this. I will leave it at a few things that hopefully will not ruin anything for you and maybe even intrigue you a little. Yes, the story is 50 years into the future and the main character is very much an older version of Wolverine (you would have eventually guessed that from the title). The back story is that the Marvel villains realized that they out-number the heroes 10-1 and decide to organize themselves and just wipe them out completely. Going against all of the villains proves too much and our favorite heroes start getting picked off one by one (this is not shown in the comics much, but the writer has expressed an interest in writing sequels where he would showcase some of the events of the villains assault). The world is then divided among the villains and civilization collapses. I'll let you find out the rest.

9.8/10  - Even for causal fans of super heroes I think this is a must read. The details I described above don't even compare to the ones that happen in the story.