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.

My Top 20 Favorite Shows of 2015

20) Fargo (FX)
Season 2
Created By: Noah Hawley

Thoughts: I have no doubt that Season 2 of Fargo will end up being #1 on many people's year end list, but for me, the FX show almost didn't crack my Top 20. However, I started comparing it against other shows for this last spot (Catastrophe, You're The Worst, Community) and I realized no other show in competition with Fargo made me tune in every week to see what fascinating and exciting new adventure was awaiting me. I absolutely believe that season 1 of Fargo- as a result of better and more interesting characters (both main ones like the ones played by Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, and Allison Tolman, but also the minor characters like the ones played by Glenn Howerton and Kate Walsh)- is better than this current season, but that shouldn't take away from my enjoyment for what Noah Hawley and company created in 2015. Also, please give Bokeem Woodbine all the awards.

19) Mr. Robot (USA)
Season 1
Created By: Sam Esmail

Thoughts: When Fargo's Noah Hawley spoke with Andy Greenwald to promote his show, he never referred to his product as a "show"- he always referred to it as a movie. Television shows have become more serialized than ever nowadays that they basically are 10-13 hour long movies. This concept couldn't be more true than with Sam Esmail's great, of-the-times masterpiece Mr. Robot. Esmail starting writing a script for his new movie that was so long that he just decided to make it a television series. Season 1 of USA's amazing new show about a schizophrenic hacker trying to take down the fictional E-Corp was just Esmail's first act. If this is just beginning, then I can't wait to see what's in store for Seasons 2 and 3. Also, check out Sam Esmail's interview with Andy Greenwald, but only after you've been on the exhilarating roller coaster that was Season 1 of Mr. Robot.

Click here to read my thoughts on how Goodfellas influenced Mr. Robot's voice over

18) Other Space (Yahoo!)
Season 1
Created By: Paul Feig

Thoughts: I originally came to Other Space thanks to Yahoo! airing the sixth (and hopefully final) season of Community, but I stayed thanks to Paul Feig's (you know, the guy that brought us Freaks and Geeks and Bridesmaids) simple yet hilarious new show. While I don't expect Yahoo! to air a second season of Other Space thanks to the massive amount of money they lost trying to get into the television game, I still enjoyed the 8 episode first and final season. The premise of the show is straight-forward, a small group of 20-something's in a Star Trek -esque Star Fleet Academy get lost in space and attempt to get back home; however, the success was in the execution. The humor works thanks to the relationships the show was able to give us from the get go, and it turns out those actors you see in commercials are actually great when given a larger opportunity.

The Greatest Show You're Not Watching: Black Mirror

Black Mirror is a television program that originally aired in England. Late in 2011, it aired its first season. Being British, that first season was only three episodes long. In 2013, Black Mirror aired another three episodes. For the longest time, Black Mirror was just this underground greatness that TV critics flew to England in order to get a glimpse of it. Recently, the States have received it as the DirecTV channel aired it. Luckily for us normal television watchers, Black Mirror's six episodes recently came to Netflix. Having just heard of this show on the periphery of the zeitgeist, I wasn't all that thrilled in checking it out. However, after the American fall TV period ended, I needed a show to fill the void. The first show that popped up to me was Netflix's Marco Polo, but after three plus episodes of that pile of garbage, I picked another show. That show just so happened to be Black Mirror. Boy howdy am I glad I stumbled upon this pile of greatness.

Black Mirror is an anthology series that shows the dark side of technology. Charlie Booker, the show's creator, stated, "If technology is a drug- and it does feel like a drug- then what, precisely, are the side-effects?" The elevator pitch you hear about this show is that it's the modern day Twilight Zone. While that's a pretty good comparison, it's somewhat of a misnomer. The Twilight Zone was genuinely freaky and scary and when you think of The Twilight Zone you think horror and suspense. That's the wrong way to think about Black Mirror. While both are works of science fiction, Black Mirror steers very much towards drama and many of its stories seem like they could happen in the very near future, There's no flying cars or hover boards, but Black Mirror is science fiction in the truest sense of the genre- it shines a mirror on society and shows us the ugly sides to life.

Every single episode of Black Mirror is its own isolated story. There's nothing that connects the characters in episode 1 to the characters in episode 6. This allows for each individual episode to tell a brilliant 45 minute story about one particular topic. In an era where mini-series are becoming the new king of television; where programs like Fargo and True Detective dominate Best Of lists, Black Mirror's finite-ness is the perfect treat to modern day television watchers.

At the end of the day, whether I'm watching a TV show or a film, all I want is a good and compelling story. I know that seems really dumb and obvious for me to say, but so many filmmakers seem to stray from this course. It's why shows like Mad Men can fall down the drain into oblivion and why we allow films like Foxcatcher to exist. Black Mirror gives me a new story every episode that leaves me both satisfied and makes me think. It's a series that I cannot recommend enough.

Despite how awesome Black Mirror is, I can't fully describe it without going into detail about each particular episode. So that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to describe in detail the entire series episode by episode. It's OK, You can go watch the entire series. I'll wait. You watched it? All of it? Good. Let's begin. Spoilers ahead (duh!).

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 Television Shows of 2013

10) Boardwalk Empire (HBO)- Season 4
Created by: Terrence Winter

I'm a huge supporter of Boardwalk Empire, and was screaming until I was blue in the face about how excellent Season 3 of the show was. Since its inception, Boardwalk Empire has just gotten better and better. At least for the first 3 seasons. I thought Season 4 was a huge step back for the show. For starters, there was no big bad for the show's "lead" Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi). Sure, Dr. Valentin Narcisse (Jeffrey Wright) was a great big bad for the show in general, however he mainly was the villain for Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams). And as much as I love Chalky (aka Omar from The Wire), I realized this season that I really enjoy him as a supporting player to Nucky, and I'm not a huge fan of him as a co-lead.

Boardwalk Empire has always been a show that was carried not by its lead, but by its more entertaining co-stars. And there's nothing wrong with that. Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother made excellent careers out of that dynamic. But now that many of the sub-players are in different states with little to no connection to Nucky Thompson, this show felt like more of a jumbled mess than Game of Thrones. Nucky Thompson is a pretty boring character by himself (as Season 4 has really brought to our attention), but the plot still needs to run through him for the show to work. It's still really good, but it didn't live up to its full potential in 2013.

2012 Emmy Predictions: Drama Series

And the nominees are:

- Mad Men
- Breaking Bad
- Homeland
- Game Of Thrones
- Downton Abbey
- Boardwalk Empire

MY REACTION TO THE NOMINATIONS:

Season 4 of Breaking Bad (the nominated season) is one of the greatest single seasons ever produced on television. The only thing that is probably better than Season 4 was Season 3 of Breaking Bad. I say this without hyperbole or exaggeration that Breaking Bad is the greatest television show ever made. It's just fucking awesome. If you disagree with me then you just haven't watched the show yet... Season 5 of Mad Man (the nominated season) was probably one of the worst seasons the show has ever had. It started off slow, then got good for a few moments, then it took a HUGE dip in quality, then the problem arose with Lane Pryce, and then the show ended on a really high note. That being said, a "bad" season for Mad Men is still better than 99% of the crap (and good stuff) put out there... Season 1 of Homeland was just excellent. Despite the show being run by a couple of people from 24, Homeland had amazing characters and character development. We saw the story and lives of two damaged people (one from genetics [Claire Danes] and one from external forces [Damian Lewis]) and they came together so beautifully to unwind and solve a (possible, maybe) terrorist plot.... Season 2 of Game Of Thrones (the nominated season) was very, very good but just wasn't as good as its first season. The main problem GOT had was that a) they were trying to cram too many characters and way too many plot points into an entire season and b) they did a more worse job explaining things to audiences like me
who did not read the book. This is a television show and as such it should be judged as a television show. That being said, the penultimate episode of the season, "The Battle Of Blackwater" was probably the single greatest episode that aired during this Emmy eligible period. [SPOILER ALERT FOR GOT] At some point I need the White Walkers/whatever lies North of The Wall and Dany and her fucking dragons to actually invade Westeros. I've invested two seasons around Dany and Jon Snow and there's been a looming threat of war for two seasons now and it just hasn't come. When I first began to watch GOT I was worried it would be too plot-driven with little characters and while the show is plenty plot driven it turned out to have some amazing characters that I've grown fond of (in particular Tyrion Lannister) but Season 2 moved away from that to focus more on the potential and upcoming wars. [END OF GOT SPOILER ALERT]... Season Two of Downton Abbey was extremely boring with the writers doing a terrible job by dragging on plot points FOR-EV-ER (think The Sandlot). The Emmy voters are full of old people who love this sort of crap but it's not for everybody- mainly everybody under the age of 55. Season One of D.A. started off super slow but then it really picked up in the second half. The last episode of Season One added an amazing plot point which I thought would make for an amazing Season Two. Oh, how I was proven wrong... Unfortunately I didn't get around to watching Boardwalk Empire but I'm sure it's great. And let's face it, anything's better than what Season 2 of Downton Abbey was.

If I Had An Emmy Ballot:

- Breaking Bad
- Mad Men
- Homeland
- Game Of Thrones
- White Collar
- Justified

MAJOR SNUBS:

Truthfully, I am proclaiming I would vote for Justified mainly just because I saw it. I'm sure if I also saw Boardwalk Empire then it would take Justified's place. Justified's Season Two was amazing but Season Three added too many characters which diminished the overall quality. I know many critics loved Season 3 and would claim it is a snub but I have no problem that it was left off of the list. Being typically me, I am being too critical of Justified because, like Mad Men, a bad season of it is still really, really good.

WHAT WILL WIN  / WHAT SHOULD WIN:

What Will Win: Breaking Bad
What Should Win: Breaking Bad

For the past four years Mad Mad has won the Emmy for Best Drama Series. If you were a betting man  you should bet on past winners being a repeat winner, but Mad Men already set the record for the most Best Drama Emmy's won by a television show ever when it won its fourth Emmy in 2011. If Mad Men wins for a 5th straight year it would be beyond unprecedented. This is absolutely a bit of a bold call by me but I just feel Mad Men finally loses out on the big prize.

If Mad Men does lose then I think Breaking Bad wins it. I'm probably discounting the Emmy love for Downton Abbey (I mean a vast majority of the Emmy voters are old white dudes which is Downton Abbey's ONLY demographic) but I just think Breaking Bad is so good and has been continuously good that it finally gets his due. Season 4 of Breaking Bad is just so much better than every nomination that I believe its quality will win out. This is probably just wishful thinking but that is my pick.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mad Men's 4 Emmy wins is tied for the most ever won by a television show. If they win this year they will set the record. Still don't think they do it.

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