Final part of the three-part series, and my final blog for a while (probably). Enjoy!

maxpower03's TV Reviews 2008-2009
Again, each review contains spoilers for the show's whole season, while Pushing Daisies review is of all 13 episodes, not just the ones shown by ABC so far.



Pushing Daisies ABC [Oct-Dec '08]
More of the same from Pushing Daisies, everybody's favorite dead-person-touching show. While I still found Ned and Chuck's banter annoying, I liked the main arcs for all the cast, from Chuck's resurrected father, to Dwight Dixon's romancing of Vivian, and Emerson's search for his long-lost daughter (Lil' Gumshoe, aaahh...) Also loved any time that Olive and Lily were on screen, two characters who got a lot more to do this year. Some of the mysteries were a little hit-and-miss this year, at least compared to the first season. Almost all the murders and the motives of the killers seemed to follow a similar pattern (victim about to get a promotion, or special attention, killer bitter and jealous etc.) As always, the mysteries were stronger when they actually had something to do with the main group of characters, like Ned and Olive's detective-ry at the Cook-Off, or Emerson's on-again, off-again girlfriend Simone being involved in the Chinese restaurant mystery. The show usually became less involving when they mere just hired to investigate something, or when a murder occurred at exactly the same place they happened to show up at ("Jessica Fletcher" syndrome...) While I was (unexpectedly, I may add) not majorly bummed when ABC canceled the show, I was bummed that I had to watch the last three episodes online. I won't spoil it here, but I was happy that the finale brought some (admittedly shoe-horned in) closure to everything. Whatever the strength of the individual episodes, Pushing Daisies was always a charming hour due to the awesome chemistry from the show's ensemble, who you could always tell really loved working together. Rest in peace, show.
Favorite Scene While so many individual moments were awesome, the scene with Olive breaking into Eternal Flame just had everything that was great about the show: being moving, hilarious and undeniably sweet.
Favorite Character Olive Snook
Favorite Episode The Norwegians (2.10)
Rating B-

Smallville CW [Sep '08-May '09]
When you think about it, it could have been a lot worse. Considering the show lost its two best characters last year, season eight wasn't complete garbage. It was even, at least in the first half, actually pretty good. Tess Mercer was actually an intriguing character, clearly not Lex but still original enough to make her interesting. Davis Bloome was also a great addition to the cast, and played with an actually talented actor. I liked his chemistry with Chloe, and his growing concern that he may be responsible for all those squicky murders across Metropolis. Sure, there were blips along the way (Space Ho! Lie-Detector Dude!), but it was a strong opening to the season. Then, following the explosive Bride episode, things just spiralled out of control. Chloe realized journalism wasn't for her (uh... come again??!!), Lana became a superpowered goddess who was still pined over by Clark, and Jimmy became some lame drug addict. The poop hit the fan, and in a really bad way. Just when Smallville starts to grow, there's a sudden 180 and everything becomes contrived, ridiculous and lazy, filled with annoying Canadian guest stars who can't act and silly storylines involving Tori Spelling and Lois getting shoe-horned into as many dumb plots as possible, since the writers clearly can't think of anything for her to do. And don't even get me started on the hilarious retcon of Jimmy Olsen, his murder and his long-lost, never-before-seen little brother. Heh. Despite such a successful build-up, the season ended with a lame battle between Clark and Doomsday, Davis turning into a cold-blooded killer for no reason, Lois disappearing and Clark once again filled with guilt and gloom, because that's clearly what the audience wants to see. Snore.
Favorite Scene The Lois/Tess catfight in the finale was pretty trashy, even for this show, but admittedly fun.
Favorite Character Davis Bloome
Favorite Episode Prey (8.6)
Rating C

Others
It's an unpopular opinion (why?) but I personally hated 24 this season, so much that I tuned out around hour 18. The show has always been ridiculous, but Day 7 was just a mess of epic proportions. Tony's evil-turned-good-turned-evil-again shenanigans were stupid enough, but annoying characters (President Taylor, Chloe, Janis, Larry Moss, Juma, his dumbass second-in-command) and the increasingly nonsensical storylines (hostage crisis in the White House - whah?) just made me want to hurl. Plus, the general formula of the show just isn't surprising anymore. Ooh, there's a mole. Ooh, there's a bad guy, but he's actually working for somebody even more bad and even more adept at scenery-chewing. Ooh, FBI/NSA feds stop Jack from doing what's right. Gah! Call it a day already. F

While it got a little stung by Will & Grace-itis at the start of the season, 30 Rock maintained its natural awesomeness this year. Loved Liz and Jon Hamm's arc (especially the Bubble episode), the phone sex, thought Salma Hayek totally rocked in her arc, loved Tracy in 'space', the entire Oprah episode, and Kidney Now! was hysterical. But, for me, the best arc of the season was Jenna's Janis Joplin biopic, which was completely hilarious in its ridiculousness. Still completely adore this show, especially when it dips out of reality and goes into crazy territory. A

America's Next Top Model continues to be a lot of fun. Even though it's been on for what seems like decades it's still pretty entertaining. On Cycle 11, I loved McKey's win, absolutely hated that gross Marjorie. It's just a personal thing, but one of the qualities I find the most terrible in anybody is an exaggerated lack of confidence, especially when they're being constantly overpraised and complimented anyway. Gah! Onto Cycle 12, Allison had a great look and was completely robbed, but I wasn't completely devastated by Teyona's win, since it was telegraphed for so long that she had it. It's no Project Runway, but ANTM still delivers the fun. C+

My favorite sitcom of the season was, unexpectedly, ABC's midseason offering Better Off Ted, a hilariously original comedy about a bunch of disturbed individuals working in a scientific experimentation company specializing in things like cryogenic freezing or nuclear weapons or non-meat meat. Stealing the show every week was Portia de Rossi as the morally questionable Veronica, the emotionless android (maybe not a metaphor) who runs the place. Great one-liners and some truly insane storylines (the racist lights, Veronica using a child to fire employees, those crazy cat people) made for a show that I urge you to check out. A

CSI didn't survive the exits of three major characters this season, replacing Grissom, Sara and Warrick with uninteresting pains in the ass. I gave Laurence Fishburne a chance, but he just hasn't won me over. Lauren Lee Smith, great on The L Word, fails to breathe life into a pretty uninteresting character. Even the cases this year have rarely been interesting, and the less said about that embarrassingly pretentious 200th episode the better. Only three episodes actually captured my interest, the codas for both Grissom and Sara, and the Taylor Swift one. Ratings are down, the characters are tired, and the cases just aren't working. Time to call it a day? D

Dexter's third year lost some of the threat and tension of its previous seasons, but in general it kept me intrigued. One of the biggest successes (for me) was that I actually grew to like everybody. I used to find Debra insufferable, but she really grew on me this season. Maybe it was the hair. But I liked her. And while I always liked Maria, I loved that she was given some real growth this year, especially through her friendship with Ellen. I never really got into the Jimmy Smits arc, the Skinner mystery lacked the, well, mystery of the Ice Truck Killer, and several storylines went nowhere (like the whole Quinn non-event), but all in all the show continues to be mighty fine. By far the weakest Dexter season, but it was in no way terrible. C+

One of the biggest flops of the season but one with a truly epic feel and some powerhouse acting, NBC's ratings disaster Kings was actually a hotbed of complex characters, ambitious plotting and gorgeous visuals. Set in an alternate New York with its own monarchy and kingdoms, the show featured a host of mysterious subplots (Silas' affair, Michelle's dark secret etc.) and characters easily comparable to the dark protagonists of shows like Damages and Mad Men (most notably in King Silas' manipulating, Machiavellian wife Queen Rose). A crapload of subplots (involving big name guests like Brian Cox, Macauley Culkin and Leslie Bibb) were left dangling when NBC dumped the show to Saturday nights, before postponing the rest of the season till summer. Still, the episodes so far have been great. B+

While a lot of Medium is the same as it always was (imaginative mysteries, a great depiction of an ordinary family), this season sometimes lost me. This is mainly due to lazy writing. In many episodes this season, I worked everything out 20 minutes before any of the main cast did, in particular Allison, who was written as a complete dumbass sometimes. This only used to happen every once and a while, but I feel like I'm two steps ahead of Allison every couple of episodes now. Still, the season itself was pretty great. Loved the two-part The Devil Inside, the Morena Bacarrin plastic surgery episode, the Jeffrey Tambor body-swap episode, and the buzzer device one. To complain a little more, the three-parter (!) at the end of the season blew, Ariel bugged, as did the Scanlon/Lynn pregnancy arc (Tina DiJoseph being the worst actress on television, made even more sickening due to the fact that she is the wife of the showrunner...), and I didn't like how NBC was pretty much burning off the last couple of episodes at the end there. But, as always, the show has some great acting, amazing chemistry between Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber, and is pretty much everything you want in a late-night mystery hour. Hopefully it'll get more network respect from CBS next season. C+

Amy Poehler's attempt at her own sitcom with Parks and Recreation was a little "eh…". Unlike seemingly everybody else, I thought the pilot was really great and the season got progressively worse as it went on. There are flashes of brilliance there, and Amy Poehler is undoubtedly the only truly great thing on the show, but I haven't gained an affinity for any of the supporting characters (well, maybe besides Rashida Jones' crippled boyfriend) and I preferred the stories based around the development of the park than any of the personal crises the characters endured. Still, it can grow. C

I finally discovered Project Runway last year, something I'm kicking myself for missing for so long. Seriously, if you love America's Next Top Model, you'll absolutely adore this show, which has contestants with actual gifts and talent, non-evil, non-peroxide-overdosing judges (Tim Gunn = awesome) and, most of all, a beautiful, endearing, sweet and non-self-obsessed host in the goddess-like body of Heidi Klum. Love this show, and you'd be missing a treat if you don't tune in. A

Gah! What has happened to Ugly Betty? The show's been rapidly sinking since the start of the second year, and season three was just as annoying. Let's start with Betty, who is by far the most insufferable lead character in any show right now. I don't think a single episode goes by where I don't want to strangle the girl and her stupid, ridiculous family. What the show needs is to move away from the Suaraz family junk and return to the campy, soapy Mode-related storylines that made the show so unique in the first place. No more love interests for Betty (and, great, Henry's back... because he wasn't played out enough already), cut down on Betty in general (we don't need her in every single goddamn storyline) don't try and "humanize" Wilhelmina, utilize Amanda and Marc more, and stop writing out characters with so much potential (Alexis, Christina) and replacing them with moronic newbies (Connor, Matt). Snore. It even seems ABC's given up on this show, dumping it to Friday nights next season. The finale showed some signs of improvement, but if Betty continues to stink up the joint, I'm officially out. D

maxpower03's TV Awards 2008-2009

Best Drama Mad Men
Honorable Mention Fringe

Best Comedy Better Off Ted
Honorable Mention 30 Rock

Best Actor in a Drama Series Jon Hamm Mad Men
Honorable Mention Michael C. Hall Dexter

Best Actress in a Drama Series January Jones Mad Men
Honorable Mention Glenn Close Damages

Best Actor in a Comedy Series Alec Baldwin 30 Rock
Honorable Mention Lee Pace Pushing Daisies

Best Actress in a Comedy Series Portia de Rossi Better Off Ted
Honorable Mention Tina Fey 30 Rock

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series John Noble Fringe
Honorable Mention Vincent Kartheiser Mad Men

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Christina Hendricks Mad Men
Honorable Mention Natalie Zea Dirty Sexy Money

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Chi McBride Pushing Daisies
Honorable Mention Tracy Morgan 30 Rock

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Kristin Chenoweth Pushing Daisies
Honorable Mention Jane Krakowski 30 Rock

That's all, folks! Thanks to everybody who commented on the three blogs.