New Girl Is Now One Giant Game of True American

Fox’s New Girl ended its fifth season recently where the fictional drinking game True American, played by the main characters of the show, reared its beautiful head. No one quite knows what the rules of the game are (although The Internet claims itknows how to play), but the rules are unimportant. The game is an excuse for the characters to shout random, funny things, and the few True American scenes we’ve seen throughout the series’ run have always been guaranteed laughs. The second half of New Girl’s series run has essentially become a version of its fictional game- random, unstructured, nonsensical, and really funny.

Back in 2014, my Cord Cutters Podcast host and I werediscussing the series finale of How I MetYour Mother, which led to a discussion of our favorite sitcoms of all time. I mentioned that New Girl had a chance to make my Top 5. While it was coming off of a horrendous first half to its third season, the show had an excellent second season to follow up a very good rookie year. I though at the time that if New Girl could right the ship and return to the level it was at for its sophomore season, then it had the potential to be transcendent.

Grading The Best TV Shows of the Year (So Far)

2014 is only halfway over, yet there have been a litany of great television shows that have aired. Many of them I've seen, a good a majority I have not. We live in an era of television that is classified by quantity over anything else, and seeing as I am just one man, I can only watch so much. But I have watched a buttload of shows, and here are my thoughts on every television show I've seen this year.


Community (NBC)
Season: 5
Created By: Dan Harmon
Original Start Date: January 2, 2014
Grade: A

Brief Description: While I was in the minority feeling that Dan Harmon deserved to get kicked off of his own show after the atrocious Season 3, I'm glad he was brought back for Season 5. Season 4 show runners Moses Port & David Guarascio did their best Dan Harmon impression, but easily came up short creating a soulless monster. Harmon dialed back the insane extremes he took his characters to in Season 3 (mainly Abed) in this new season, and in turn created one of the smartest and funniest sitcoms around. #RIPCommunity.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
Season: 1b
Created By: Dan Goor & Michael Schur
Original Start Date: January 7, 2014
Grade: A

Brief Description: Brooklyn Nine-Nine was one of the smartest and funniest sitcoms of 2014 and is competing against Community for the best comedy of the year. Like most sitcoms, it took a little bit to get its bearings and its voice straightened out, but those stumbling blocks came in 2013. What the FOX sitcom aired in 2014 was a well-defined and hilarious work of art filled with three-dimensional characters. Based upon how strong Season 1 was, I have no qualms with the rookie comedy wining the Golden Globe last year for Best Comedy Show, and I hope it gets a handful of Emmy nominations in a few weeks.

2014 Weekly TV Recap (May 4 - May 10)

CURRENT SHOWS AIRING

Sunday May 4

Game of Thrones (HBO), Episode 5 "First of His Name"

GRADE: B

Brief Description: Hands down, the three best Game of Thrones episodes have been "Baelor", "Blackwater", and "The Rains of Castamere". Those three episodes were the penultimate episodes of Seasons 1, 2, & 3 respectively. The second to last episode of every season of Game of Thrones is the explosion to what the season has built up towards. I have no doubt that the same will hold true for Season 4 of the show. But in order to build up to this big event, we need to have episodes like "First of His Name" to move chess pieces on the board. And like the middle of the past few seasons, "First of His Name" is pretty dull. The show has done a great job building up Dany, and this week it gave her an out to go fight for the Iron Throne in Westeros, but instead, she's going to go back and mull around in Essos. Last week we got a glimpse of the White Walkers threat, but they've been mulling around in the North for so long and get so little screen time, that they barely seem like a credible threat at this point in the series as well. For all the talks of the threat to the Lannister's power, that's all they have been: "talk". Now, I said the same thing at this time last year, and the season turned out quite alright, so I'm confident I'll enjoy the show by season's end. I'll power through these "pawn mover" episodes because I know it'll eventually lead to a check mate. Plus, no Tyrion and almost no Jamie this episode, so a dull episode feels even duller. 

Mad Men (AMC), Episode 4 "The Monolith"

GRADE: B

Brief Description: The title of this week's Mad Men is purposefully meant to evoke thoughts of Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" which every reviewer of course has to bring up in their review. The only reason I'm even bringing it up is because I think both Mad Men right now and the Kubrick film have this in common: they are genius works of art that are quite frankly boring to watch. I had the "luxury" of watching "2001" for the first time only a few years ago, so admittedly my perspective on the film is tainted. But even still, the entire movie is not enjoyable to watch, and the end just goes off the rails. Mad Men feels like it's going off the rails in its later years. Not so much for being as out there and as symbolic and dramatic as "2001" was, but I think its glory days are behind it. I have constantly critiqued this show for feeling like a high school English assignment and I think "The Monolith" is a great representation of why. There's so much symbolism and things to analyze, that it's easy to fill up an entire online review even though nothing happened on the show. Yet at the same time, watching is starting to feel like homework. I think a lot of why I liked "Field Trip" so much was because it reminded me of the days where Mad Men would actually *do* something while also having characters we love to hate. As much as I hate Betty Draper and the old, weasely Pete Campbell, I needed them to balance out the show. Since Season 5 of the show, nothing really has happened, which just makes the show dull with the appearance of bright lights.

Silicon Valley (HBO), Episode 5 "Signaling Risk"

GRADE: A

Brief Description: It's no coincidence that the best episode of Silicon Valley's rookie season is the episode where you see the least amount of the show's main character Richard. Plus, what little you see of Richard, you at least see him being authoritative and taking charge. There's humor in T.J. Miller's Erlich and others bossing Richard around, but it's mostly annoying. Instead, what "Signaling Risk" does is create a low risk story line that not only allows its characters to just be funny, it also advances the plot. The A story line of this episode is Erlich paying a local graffiti artist (who initially wants to be paid in stock options) to create a logo for Pied Piper, while the B story line is of Peter Gregory demanding Richard and his company to present at the TechCrunch Disrupt. I imagine the season finale will be Pied Piper's presentation at the conference, and hopefully we'll get a better sense of just how rewarding it will be of Richard to start his own company. But until then, we'll get little funny moments like Gilfoyle and Dinesh arguing with each other, which is really what makes this show. Kumail Nanjiani's face at the end of the episode when he couldn't go outside to see the logo because he was in competition with Gulfoyle was laugh out loud amazing.

Lastly, on a more somber note, "Signaling Risk" will be the last episode in which we'll see Christopher Evan Welch's Peter Gregory because the actor died while in production. While Peter didn't have a lot to do in this episode, his awkward conversation with Gavin Belson was fantastic. I also imagine Welch's death will bring the show's only female star, Amanda Crew's Monica, more into prominence- which will be a refreshing change of pace.

2014 Weekly TV Recap (April 27 - May 3)

CURRENT SHOW AIRING

Sunday April 27th

Game of Thrones (HBO), Episode 4 "Oathkeeper"

GRADE: B

Brief Description: Recently I wrote a post about the 4 shows in competition for the title of the best show currently on television. If I had to cast my vote right now, I would probably cast it for Game of Thrones. Not only does it have the ability to be the most entertaining show on television, but it's one that is starting to weave in themes and consistency more and more. That's extremely tough to do considering David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have to tell the best story based upon George R.R. Martin's books first and foremost. But an episode like "Oathkeeper" does a great job of having characters live up to this title. From Brianne of Tarth keeping a promise to Jamie Lannister (from which the title of the show obviously gets its title from) to Daenerys doing what she can to free the slaves of Meeran as well as using editing to weave together seemingly random scenes (i.e. having Margie and Olenna talking about Cersei, smash cut to Cersei yelling at Jamie), Game of Thrones is contradicting its own motto that "themes are for 8th grade book reports".

 Mad Men (AMC), Episode 3 "Field Trip"

GRADE: A-

Brief Description: Another show in the running for being one of the best on television is Matthew Weiner's masterpiece. Even though not a whole lot has happened this season, "Field Trip" is my favorite episode so far. It's not nearly as thematically rich as "A Day's Work" or "Time Zones", but that's probably why I like it so much as "Field Trip" doesn't play out like a high school English assignment. After spending two episodes (and a handful of months in Mad Men time) in limbo, Don Draper finally goes back to work for Sterling Cooper (& Associates). I never understood why Don just didn't go to another firm (like what Jim Cutler wanted him to do) and we get an explanation here why. Don is still a partner and with that comes some hefty consequences if he's let go. We'll now get to see if Don Draper truly has changed, and if so, will that change bring enjoyment to the audience. Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the return of Betty. She was used in just the perfect small dose here to show us why we all hate her, yet need her around to mock.

Silicon Valley (HBO), Episode 4 "Fiduciary Duties"

GRADE: B+

Brief Description: It is very possible to have a successful sitcom without caring for the lead character and/or having the lead character being the least appealing of them all. Ted is by far the least appealing and most annoying out of the five friends in How I Met Your Mother. J.D. could be funny at times in Scrubs, but his annoying childish nature helped Turk, Kelso, Elliot, and Cox be funnier. This formula seems to be the success for Silicon Valley. Richard plays a bumbling nerd who has borderline Asperberger's (the farmer in last week's "Articles of Incorporation" even joked about that) who is tough to watch. A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago why anti-heroes are so popular in television and mainstream, and Silicon Valley shows us why. We're so insecure in our own life, that we don't want to see the same thing on the screen. We use television for escapism, and we want to see the characters act out our inner most fantasies. That's why it can be nails-on-a-chalkboard frustrating to see Silicon Valley's main protagonist, Richard, be so cliche nerdy. But this archetype can work to help accentuate the supporting players around him, in this case played by T.J. Miller, Kumail Nanjiani, and Martin Short. All three are incredibly funny people, and their comedy stylings can be enjoyed more when compared to the straight man Richard. That's what made "Articles of Incorporation" so funny last week, and that's what made 'Fiduciary Duties" work this week, albeit to a lesser extent. "Duties" gives more power to T.J. Miller's Erlich by making him a board member of Pied Piper, and thereby increasing Miller's screen time. Erlich is also by far and away the most outgoing and social out of any member of this main cast, and giving Erlich and the comedy of T.J. Miller a chance to shine is always a plus.

5 TV Shows That Failed To Capitalize On Great Storylines

5) Homeland- Brody Dies At The End Of Season 1

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: Brody tries to kill himself in a suicide bombing but his vest malfunctions, so Brody survives for 2 more dreadful seasons.

WHY THIS STORY LINE SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED: This is an easy one, so I'll get it out of the way first. I also don't fault Homeland's show runners Alex Gansa and Howard Gordan for wanting Damian Lewis (the actor who played Nicholas Brody) to stay on their show. Lewis won the Emmy for Best Actor at the Emmys in 2012, and he deserved it. He was fantastic in Homeland's rookie season, and if you were running Homeland, you'd probably want this great actor to stay on as long as possible. Vince Gilligan was planning on killing off Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman during Season 1 of Breaking Bad, but didn't because he realized what a great actor Paul was and what a gem he had on his hands. Gansa and Gordon probably thought they had the same thing with Lewis. And the fact that Brody didn't actually blow up didn't change how great Season 1 of Homeland was.

However, Brody's existence did change how "good" (a term I use very loosely) Seasons 2 & 3 of Homeland was. Now there were many problems with the later season of Homeland that have absolutely nothing to do with Brody, but the fact that he was around and the writers were shoehorning him with scenes with Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) didn't help anything either. Plus, the reason Lewis was such a great actor and performed so well in Season 1 was because you weren't sure what side he was on. After Season 1, not only was his side very clear, but he wasn't given any nuances to work with.

The Best Episodes Of Television in 2012

10) On My Way- Glee (FOX)
Season 3 / Episode 14
Directed By: Bradley Buecker / Written By: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Brief Description: As bad as Glee is, it is great at bringing to light social issues that high schoolers and today's youth struggle with. Glee is especially great at dealing with homosexuality in today's landscape. "On My Way" focused on the Karofsky story line to help bring awareness to the struggle that young gay kids unfortunately have to face with on an every day basis. Plus, the story line at the end dealing with texting while driving was very powerful as well.


9) Q&A- Homeland (Showtime)
Season 2 / Episode 5
Directed By: Lesli Linka Glatter / Written By: Henry Bromell

Brief Description: As crazy and out-of-control as Homeland got in 2012, it still stopped to take moments to highlight its best feature- Carrie Mathison and Nicholas Brody and all of their great chemistry together. Nothing was better this this year than having Carrie and Brody alone together in an interrogation room. Grantland's Andy Greenwald called that interrogation the Best 15 Minutes Of Television This Year.

8) Louie C.K. / fun.- Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Season 38 / Episode 6
Head Writer: Seth Meyers

Brief Description: Despite SNL not being any good since Tina Fey left the show, I still continue to watch it on a weekly basis for some unknown reason. It's probably because you get amazing gems like this episode. When you get the best comedian on the planet to host your show, great things ensue. His Lincoln sketch is one of the funniest things you'll ever see.

7) Far Away Places- Mad Men (AMC)
Season 5 / Episode 6
Directed By: Scott Hornbacher / Written By: Semi Chellas

Brief Description: Despite my constant public bashing of Mad Men, it did have some incredible moments. I saw TIME choose "At The Codfish Ball" as the best Mad Men episode in 2012 and it's hard to argue with that selection. I chose "Far Away Places" because it had Roger Sterling's (the show's most charismatic character) take an incredible LSD trip. It just seemed for fitting for this season of Mad Men because the entire season felt like an acid trip.



6)  Win, Lose, or Draw- Parks and Recreation (NBC)
Season 4 / Episode 22
Written and Directed By: Michael Schur

Brief Description: For four long seasons we have sat beside and cared for Leslie Knope. We knew it was a huge dream of hers to become a city counsel woman (as a stepping stone to eventually becoming President) and in the Season 4 finale "Win, Lose, or Draw" we finally got to see if Leslie's dream came true or not.

5) Two Imposters- Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Season 3 / Episode 11
Directed By: Allen Coulter / Written By: Howard Korder

Brief Description: The last three episodes of Boardwalk Empire were incredible. B.E. took a giant leap this year to become one of TV's elite and best dramas. If I could choose all three I would. While the finale had the incredible rampaging of Richard Harrow, I ultimately chose the show's penultimate episode because the episode narrowed in on two of its most amazing characters (Nucky Thompson and Chalky White) and that was it. Despite the big cast, it is nice to settle down and focus on the show's best characters.

4) Pillows and Blankets- Community (NBC)
Season 3 / Episode 14
Directed By: Tristham Shapeero / Written By: Andy Bobrow

Brief Description: I am a Community fan but I hated Season 3 and thought the show imploded on itself. I was glad to see Dan Harmon leave. But during this implosion, we did get greatness like "Pillows and Blankets"- an episode mocking War documentaries such as the ones Ken Burns makes. Community was always at its best when it was doing parodies or poking fun at pop culture and "Pillows and Blankets" was the perfect representation of that in 2012.

3) Eggs- New Girl (FOX)
Season 2 / Episode 9
Directed By: Neal Brennan / Written By: Kay Cannon

Brief Description: "Eggs" was probably THE funniest episode that aired this year. I was literally laughing out loud and Schmidt's scene describing his sexual moves was incredible. Despite the amazing laughs and the frequency of them, the show never lost its heart and still had its characters at the core of the episode. Plus, writer Kay Cannon (30 Rock, Pitch Perfect) makes a wonderful cameo at the beginning. Great all around.

2) Dead Freight- Breaking Bad (AMC)
Season 5 / Episode 5
Written and Directed By: George Mastras

Brief Description: The beginning of the episode was just a kid on a dirt bike riding around in the desert and you think, "That was weird". And then the very last moment of the episode brings everything full circle and makes you scream, "Oh, Shit!" at the top of lungs and you can't wait for more. The Great Train Robbery was one of the best scenes Breaking Bad has ever done. And that's saying something considering this is Breaking freaking Bad.


1) Blackwater- Game of Thrones (HBO)
Season 2 / Episode 9
Directed By: Neil Marshall / Written By: George R.R. Martin

Brief Description: Even though I thought GOT was only the fourth best show in 2012, it without a doubt, aired the single greatest episode of 2012. This episode was solely about the Battle of Blackwater- when Stannis Baratheon finally comes to King's Landing and the great Tyrion Lannister attempts to fight him off. Because Game of Thrones has the biggest freaking cast in the world, we normally see about 10 different scenes with about 20 different characters on any given week. But the show's penultimate episode was solely about this one battle with the vast majority of the cast never to be seen. The limited storytelling made for the best episode Game of Thrones has ever aired and made for the best episode during this great and deep year that was 2012.
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The Best Television Shows Of 2012

10) Key and Peele (Comedy Central) Season 1
Created By: Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele

Brief Description: It's easy to call this show the 2012 reincarnation of Chapelle's Show, but please do not. While there are many similarities, Key and Peele's humor is smarter and their skits are more well crafted. This is one of the smartest and funniest shows on television right now.

9) Suits (USA) Season 2
Created By: Aaron Korsh

Brief Description: The show started off amazing as a brewing war in the Pearson Mardman law firm between current firm partner/creator Jessica Pearson and the main character Harvey versus absent firm partner/creator Daniel Hardman but ended sourly because it ended up being the predictable USA show that it is.

8) Homeland (Showtime) Season 2
Created By: Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa

Brief Description: What made Season 1 of Homeland great was that it was 24 except character driven instead of plot driven. However, Season 2 (especially the latter half of it) is now full on 24 with glaring plot holes which diminishes what was an incredible rookie season for Gordon and Gansa.

7) Justified (FX) Season 3
Created By: Graham Yost

Brief Description: The show was not going to live up to its incredible second season but it sure came close. They added two new villains in Season 3 (Quarles and Limehouse) and I thought that muddled the plot because there were too many moving pieces at once. Hopefully, they'll simplify that for Season 4

6) Mad Men (AMC) Season 5
Created By: Matthew Weiner

Brief Description: Despite Season 5 being extremely boring for the vast majority of it and is easily the worst Mad Men series to date, it's still Mad Men. It's still doing things other shows wouldn't dare to do and pulling them off. Despite my constant knocking of the show, there were still many amazing moments like Roger's LSD trip and the Lane Pryce story line during the second half of the season.

5) New Girl (FOX) Seasons 1/2
Created By: Elizabeth Meriwether

Brief Description: While the show took a few episodes in 2011 to figure out its characters and where they wanted to take everybody and everything, by 2012 the show was rocking on all cylinders. The show started focusing more or Schmidt and Nick which made Meriwether's good idea great.

4) Game Of Thrones (HBO) Season 2
Created By: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Brief Description: The show aired the best episodes of the year ("Blackwater") and found a way to not only be completely fascinating and mesmerizing but also found a way to focus on character development this season. The one problem I had with Season 2 is that there are so many characters all over this world and some sub-points are getting tiresome (mainly Dany and Jon Snow). I know everyone will converge eventually but right now it feels like the show is dragging its feet at times.

3) Boardwalk Empire (HBO) Season 3
Created By: Terence Winter

Brief Description: "You Can't Be Half A Gangster". Words uttered by the immortal Jimmy Darmody in the show's pilot. Nucky Thompson becomes a full gangster in Season 3 which in turn causes Boardwalk Empire to turn a corner into greatness. The show found a damn good balance between character arcs versus plot points to make this season of Boardwalk the best one to date.

2) Parks and Recreation (NBC) Seasons 4/5
Created By: Michael Schur and Greg Daniels

Brief Description: Parks and Recreation is simply the best comedy on television right now. I think it's surpassing The Office for one of the greatest and recent NBC comedies. Parks and Rec have been on an amazing roll since Season 3 and have not let up on the gas pedal since.

1) Breaking Bad (AMC) Season 5.1
Created By: Vince Gilligan

Brief Description: While normally a Breaking Bad season is 13 episodes long, this "half" season of Breaking Bad was only 8. That in turn affected the storytelling. Gilligan and company are amazing at spending time articulating every detail of everything but they were forced to cut corners with 5 less episodes. That in turn created the worst Breaking Bad season to date since it's first season (which was shortened by the writer's strike). That being said, it's still the greatest show ever and the best show of the year. Even a "bad" season of Breaking Bad is better than anything currently on television.



Shows That Missed The Cut

- Archer (FX): A show that just missed the cut and is 11th on my list. I probably enjoy Archer more than I do Key and Peele but Archer will go through slumps (both mid episode and mid season) and has done so throughout its three year run. I'd like to see Archer be at a higher level more consistently before I throw it on a top ten list.

- 30 Rock (NBC): I have come to grips that 30 Rock will never be as good as it was in Seasons 1-3 but it's sixth season in 2012 was excellent and easily made an argument that it deserved to make my top 10.

- Modern Family (ABC): I know I'm alone on an island on this one but I don't like Modern Family anymore. The characters and the beats of the show have become repetitive and I feel like I'm watching the same episode over and over again.

- The League (FX): Holy cow is Season 4 of The League bad. It was never a great show because it sacrificed both plot and characters for a laugh (which used to work) but now it's not even generating laughs.

- It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX): It's still great but the season is too young for me to properly judge it.

- How I Met Your Mother (CBS) / The Office (NBC): One of my favorite comedies of all time and now have become completely unwatchable (I have stopped watching). Please die already.

- Glee (FOX): it was never that good of a show to begin with but with more worse plot lines (which I didn't think were possible), crappier songs, and poor handling of important teen issues, the bloom is officially off of the Glee rose.
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