Since my entire site appears to be turning into a Doctor Who site (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I thought I needed to bust out some talk about some other shows I’m into.
First up is Justified. For people who don’t know me, I live in WV, which borders KY. If I thought for one minute that Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) could actually be found anywhere in the tri-state area, I would be in the Scionmobile in a heartbeat. I’m surrounded by people who think they’re as cool as Raylan, but they are so, so painfully wrong. I don’t know where the show is actually filmed (and not bothered enough to look it up), but it has the feel of backwoods country goings-on. Normally, I would have passed on premise, but my dad raved about it, as did AICN, so I gave it a chance. I think the best way I’ve rec’d it to someone was as “Dexter, but without the serial killings.” 😉 It’s definitely worth buying on DVD, as Hulu has already lost the first half of the (short) season. This is the first FX show I’ve ever made it a point to tune in to, and I’ll be tuning in to every.single.episode they give us.
Another show I was surprised to find I had in common with my father is Happy Town. Right off the bat, I’m going to admit that yes, it is choppy. The scenes don’t appear to flow properly. There are too many things going on that don’t really make much sense or seem to be a good use of screen time. Most of the storylines are implausible. HOWEVER, I’m still intrigued enough to keep watching for some reason, so it’s gotta be doing something right, yes? I like the cast very much. Surprisingly, the weak link is Amy Acker, who I really do like. Sam Neill’s character is a blatant homage to Leland Gaunt (of Stephen King’s Needful Things fame), and may or may not be (and probably is definitely not) connected to the central mystery surrounding the Magic Man, but it’s Sam Neill, so I’m there. The sheriff doubles as the main baddie on Justified (and was also on Lost for a bit), so there’s a connection to ponder. The show has already seen ratings deathsigns and was pulled from May sweeps, but I’m hoping that ABC will at least let us see what they’ve already filmed. BTW, I still curse ABC daily over the whole Defying Gravity thing.
The last show I’ve just started watching is Persons Unknown, which again, was a recommendation from my dad. As a matter of fact, I’m going to call this whole entry a tribute to Father’s Day (which is this Sunday). Ha! Persons Unknown is best described as Lost meets Harper’s Island. I was impressed to see that the writer of The Usual Suspects (one the the finest cinematic efforts ever made) was the creator/writer of the show. This means the potential for greatness is already here. The only cast member I recognized immediately was Alan Ruck (aka Ferris’ pal Cameron). Alan has also appeared on Justified, so maybe there’s more to my grouping of these three shows that I thought. Hmmm. Anyway, the show is actually pretty tightly produced. The premise seems far-fetched, but not to the point of annoyance. Until we find out a little bit more about why all this is happening, I can’t say much more. It’s not that the show is boring, but every scene feels deliberate. I prefer this format a bit to Happy Town’s, in which everything seems a little bit rushed. The show is only two episodes in, and you can still catch them on Hulu, or watch on NBC on Monday nights.
So there you have it. New fandoms. Happy Father’s Day. 🙂
