A Farewell To Parks and Recreation

The first season of Parks and Recreation, which thankfully is only six episodes long, is horrendous. It's still close to being unwatchable to this day. Having left The Office midway through its run, writers Michael Schur and Greg Daniels tried to create a second version of that show with Amy Poehler taking on Steve Carell's role. It was a disaster. I started watching Parks and Rec when it originally aired because the trailers looked funny and I was excited to see a vehicle for former SNL alum Amy Poehler. Then I quickly bailed after seeing the final results.

Despite the train wreck that was Season One, NBC, for some reason, greenlit the show for a second season. I did not watch it, but my roommate at the time did. He gave the show another chance and tried to convince me to do the same. I was rightfully skeptical at the time, but he did just get me hooked on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I watched Episode One of Season Two and from the beginning moments where Leslie Knope starts rapping The Fresh Prince's "Parents Just Don't Understand", the show that we all know and love not only stopped being bad, but became one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. The show has never looked back since, and I was hooked.

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Outstanding Comedy Series

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Comedy Series category. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the series isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life, then it's not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

COMEDY

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Girls (HBO)
- Louie (FX)
- Modern Family (ABC)
- Orange Is The New Black (Netflix)
- The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
- Veep (HBO)

2014 Emmy Predictions and Hopefuls: Best Writing

Recently, the Emmy's released every person and show eligible in all of their categories for the 2014 Primetime Emmy's for their nomination ballot. This post is dedicated to everything related to Outstanding Writing in both the drama and comedy categories. It will be both who I think will actually earn a nomination as well as who I think deserves to earn a nomination. However, there is one main ground rule- I have to go off of the actual Emmy nomination ballot. Which means that if the series isn't actually eligible to earn a nomination in real life, then it's not eligible to be mentioned in this post. Makes sense, doesn't it? Let's begin!

DRAMA

WHO I THINK WILL GET A NOMINATION:

- Erin Levy (Mad Men) "The Monolith"

- George Mastras (Breaking Bad) "To'hajiilee"
- Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) "Waterloo"
- Nick Pizzolatto (True Detective) "The Secret Fate of All Life"

- Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad) "Felina"

2014 Weekly TV Recap (April 20 - April 26)

CURRENT SHOWS AIRING

Sunday April 20th

Game of Thrones (HBO), Episode 3 "Breaker of Chains"

GRADE: B+

Brief Description: After the thrilling episode of last week that included The Purple Wedding, there was no way that "Breaker of Chains" wasn't going to be a let down. Game of Thrones is at it's best when it can stay in one location for a long period of time. That's what made Season 2's "Blackwater" the show's best episode. Spending so much time at Joffrey's wedding was just a delight, so going back to the normal pace filled with a litany of scenes was disappointing. I get it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. We're at the beginning of the season, so characters and arcs are still being set up. Once the season goes along and these arcs come to a close is when the show gets really good. 

Mad Men (AMC), Episode 2 "A Day's Work"

GRADE: B-

Brief Description: Creator Matthew Weiner is a true artist. There's so many things to talk about and discuss on this show, and so much symbolism and themes pouring at you. I can understand why TV critics love the show, but the show's getting extremely boring. Mad Men is starting to feel like a book your forced to read in a high school English class rather than a show that brings your satisfaction.

Silicon Valley (HBO), Episode 3 "Articles of Incorporation"

GRADE: B+

Brief Description: For the first time this season, I finally enjoyed an episode of Silicon Valley. The show is full of great comedic actors and stand up comedians such as Kumail Nanjiani, TJ Miller, and Martin Short and for the first time I feel like these actors were able to just be funny. While there was of course a problem to be solved (this week getting naming rights to Pied Piper), the scale seemed smaller which allowed the humor to be bigger.

What's The Best Show Currently On Television?

What's the best show on television? 12 months ago the answer to this question was easy. The answer was "Breaking Bad". Despite how annoying people like me talk about how awesome Breaking Bad is, there is not a single person who watched the show and didn't love it. Even if you personally didn't think Breaking Bad was the #1 show around, it was certainly in the running. Breaking Bad is the current reigning champion of the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Television Drama, and it's probably gonna repeat after the incredible final 8 episodes it aired in the summer of 2013.

However, Breaking Bad is no longer in the running for best show currently on television. It's now 2014 and Breaking Bad will no longer air any more new episodes ever. Shows like Boardwalk Empire, True Detective, Masters of Sex, Homeland, Justified, and House of Cards have already aired full new seasons while Game of Thrones and Mad Men are just starting up their newest seasons. This was probably a great March Madness style bracket idea, but c'est la vie; it's April now. Here are the legitimate contenders for the best show currently on television. But first, those that just missed the cut.

THE RUNNERS UP:

- HOUSE OF CARDS (Netflix): It's currently aired one great season and one pretty bad season. I know I'm in the minority for that latter statement, but the show is still good, but not great. Most critics aren't fans of it and therefore don't review it. Those who do review the show seem to do it out of necessity rather than enjoyment.

- BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO): I personally am a huge fan of Boardwalk Empire, but critics seems to be mixed on it. That could be forgiven if the show was HBO's staple show; the show that brings in subscriptions. But it's not (more on that subject later). However, the biggest blow the show took was not earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama last year. It's two year reign ended when it was replaced by House of Cards. Even when Breaking Bad wasn't winning Emmy's, it was still getting nominated.

- THE WALKING DEAD (AMC): Stop it, just stop it. It may be your personal favorite show, but there's a huge difference between entertaining and good. The Walking Dead is entertaining, but it is not good. The show's had 3 different show runners and zero major, non-technical Emmy nominations. The Walking Dead is not even close to being in the running. I guess it'll just have to settle for being the most watched show in America. Oh, well.

- JUSTIFIED (FX): I only include Justified on this list because it's a personal favorite of mine. Its Season 2 is probably on my Mount Rushmore of single greatest TV seasons and I actually put Justified as my #1 favorite show of 2013, even above the final Breaking Bad season. However, not only has Justified had up and down seasons, but it's never been nominated for Outstanding Drama at the Emmy's, and it's not within the cultural zeitgeist like any other show on this list is.

- HOMELAND (Showtime): While it did win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama in its rookie year helping Claire Danes and Damien Lewis come home with Emmy wins as well, the show has never even come close to being up to par in terms of quality with its next 2 seasons as it was in its first. The show actually earned more Emmy nominations during its sophomore season thanks to one excellent episode and the praise it earned from the year before. But now, people are off the bandwagon and I'm confident that will show come award season this year. One good season, as excellent as it was, is not good enough to make you a legitimate contender.

THE CONTENDERS:

GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

PROS: Outside of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones is the most popular show in America. It's the most torrented show out there, and the second episode of this past season broke the record for the most torrented episode of all time. Game of Thrones is HBO's tent pole show, and it's the reason people buy HBO subscriptions. It's been nominated for Outstanding Television Drama at the Emmy's for its first 3 seasons. Even people (like yours truly) who don't like this type of fantasy genre are huge fans of the show. The show is so popular that teachers who have read the books threaten to spoil major deaths if his kids misbehave. It's a cultural phenomenon that can't be stopped.

CONS: As awesome as Game of Thrones is, it never feels as though it's THE BEST show out there. It's very, very good, but it always felt inferior to shows like Breaking Bad and another AMC show soon to be mentioned. The show's creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff openly criticize the notion of continuity and claim "themes are for eight-grade book reports". The books have been a blessing and a curse to the show. While Benioff and Weiss are able to pull the best stuff from the books to create an amazing show, the show is still limited creatively by the books nonetheless. George R.R. Martin's anthology creates a high floor, but a low ceiling. Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall wrote an excellent book entitled The Revolution Was Televised about the very best TV dramas and The Golden Age of Television. Game of Thrones seems to fall in the class directly below this Golden Age, a Silver Age if you will.

 ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix)

PROS: Outside of Breaking Bad, Orange Is The New Black (OITNB) was the single greatest television show of 2013. OITNB was the second best show of last year according to Metacritic and Hitfix's television critics poll. It stands to reason that if the #1 best show is not eligible, then the #2 show becomes the de facto #1. Jenji Kohan's female prison dramedy was excellent. It created a vast world full with a litany of incredible characters. After House of Cards and Arrested Development, OITNB was just a random show Netflix released. However, because of the quality of the show and word of mouth, the popularity of OITNB boomed.

CONS: The show has only aired one season. Like I mentioned for Homeland above, one season, even a season as good as OITNB's rookie season was, does not necessarily make you the best show out there. Take a look at the show's sister House of Cards. That had an excellent rookie year, but a terrible sophomore year. Time will tell if OITNB becomes the next Breaking Bad or the next Homeland. Award season also hasn't been that favorable to it either. Failing to gain much love from the Golden Globes, the show decided to make itself a comedy as opposed to a drama at the Emmys. I expect many nominations for the show, and possibly a win, but again, only time will tell.

PARKS AND RECREATION (NBC)

PROS: Who says the best show on television has to be a drama and an hour long? There's no reason the best comedy on T.V. can't also be the best show on television. Alan Sepinwall rated Parks and Recreation as the best show of 2011- even ahead of the great Season 4 of Breaking Bad. The show has been so damn good for so long, that I put it as the second best sitcom of all time behind Seinfeld. The show created three dimensional characters that you care about which forces you to feel every emotion possible. There's not a whole lot more you can ask for out of a work of art.

CONS: Yeah, it's still a sitcom, and a poorly rated sitcom at that. The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family consistently blow the show out of the water in terms of both ratings and award nominations (and wins). Amy Poehler got her first award ever for playing Leslie Knope at 2013's Golden Globes, and even that win feels more like a "thank you for being such an incredible host" versus how good her acting is. Parks and Recreation is still consistently the best comedy of this era, but unfortunately that title still probably puts it as the 4th best show on this contenders list.

MAD MEN (AMC)

PROS: If this really was a bracket, then Mad Men would have the best #1 overall seed. It would be the equivalent of what Florida had in the actual 2014 March Madness bracket. There are four shows that consistently and unequivocally get labeled as the four best shows of all time: The Wire, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men. Mad Men (and Breaking Bad) helped lead the tail end of the pack of The Golden Age of Television. It's one of the best written shows of all time, and it's one of only a few shows ever to win the Emmy for Outstanding Television Drama for a record FOUR straight years. It's a creative juggernaut.

CONS: Well, it all depends on how you define this list. In terms of the quality of the series as a whole, Mad Men is easily the best show on this list. But if you're defining this list as which show is currently producing quality episodes in 2014, then Mad Men is last- because holy shit is the show boring as hell now. It's brilliant and each episode is like an incredible classic piece of literature, but it's just not that fun to watch anymore; at the end of the day, this medium still requires entertainment value. The best piece of advice AMC gave Mad Men's creator Matthew Weiner was "Don Draper needs to have a secret". What Weiner did with that note was genius and helped propel to show to its Emmy wins, but in Season 5 and 6, the show took a strong dip in quality as AMC's note became of little to no use anymore. Season 7.1 didn't start off all that strong either.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST SHOW CURRENTLY ON TELEVISION?

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The Best Television Episodes Of 2013

We now live in an age of television where it's more about seasons as a whole as opposed to individual episodes. That's why I had no trouble writing my top 10 list of the best television shows in 2013, but had a little bit more trouble with this list. That being said, there were some pretty great episodes in 2013- including 2 series finales to some of the all time great sitcoms. Here's my list:

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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