Part I: HBO Throwdown
I’ ve taken metformin hydrochloride 1000 mg tablets to spending most of my “watching time” on television shows lately. Last month I was watching Louie, and when I ran out of Louis C.K. related things to watch, I had to find another drama. For years I’ ve heard metformin hcl side effects many lay claim to The Wire as the greatest television show ever made. I put off watching if only in the hope that HBO would re-release them on Blu-Ray, but now that I don’t have a BD player, or a TV, that’s kind of irrelevant. I’m also wildly against renting TV shows from Netflix because it just takes so damn long to get through a series without Instant Watch or borrowing from a friend. In the case of The Wire, most of the discs only have two episodes per. It’s just stupid.
Anyway, I decided to have an HBO Throwdown between The Wire and another show I’ve heard was great, Deadwood. Most of my interest with Deadwood came from catching up on, and absolutely loving, Timothy Olyphant in the FX drama Justified. Seeing him in a time-period western seemed interesting so I rented the first discs of both series’ first seasons. Who won a chance for my affection and sole owner of my Netflix queue?
Well, both of them did. Let’s start with Deadwood, a show so rich and awesome in character and atmosphere, beautifully re-creating the Western genre in television format. The first three episodes I enjoyed, but I was actually about to just pass (for now) and devote my time to The Wire. Then I watched the 4th show, and it was freaking awesome, for several reasons I don’t want to spoil. Anyway, I’m gonna keep watching and I’m excited for more. Well acted, well written and contains one of the best badass female characters you’ll see who doesn’t come off as melodramatic and an over-actor. Great stuff.
Holy shit The Wire is awesome. What struck me most about the show was how well developed the pilot was. Making a good pilot is no easy task for a lot of reasons. One of the things that I see most is that you don’t yet have a sense for who the characters are, and it can often seem like the actors don’t either. Even the best fall into this category because it’s just near impossible to perfectly portray character in a matter of minutes into the story of a pilot. I almost assume this will always be the case in a show because of how difficult it is.
To The Wire, this does not apply. It’s flat out amazing how quickly you’re dropped into the thick of things and understand exactly what’s going on, who the players are and what the tone of the show will be going forward. Setting all those aspects in motion is the Holy Grail of Pilots. I love the character dynamics, I love the politics, and I love how completely realistic everything feels in every scene. It’s like watching a documentary.
There’s this ridiculous scene where the two lead detectives re-visit an old crime scene where a woman was murdered in her kitchen, shot through the chest. They lay out pictures, figure out bullet trajectories and shooting angles, all while pacing around saying “fuck.” They use variations, such as “motherfucker” and “fucking shit,” but in a 2-3 minute scene, this is the only word they use. Think about how insane a concept this is and how stupid you think it would, or should, be. Yet somehow it makes perfect sense, and with only a single word, the entire thought process of both detectives is communicated to the audience. It’s fucking awesome.
I guess no one really won the HBO Throwdown, or at least it’s too early to tell (but really, lets get serious, The Wire won). Though maybe I did because I didn’t find one awesome show, I found two.
Part II: The Lonely Robot Who Stole My Heart
I’ve probably seen WALL-E a dozen times by now and I’m not sure I can really recall a character I cared so deeply about in film or television before. And he’s a robot. And an animated robot, at that. He’s a robot with the soul of the best of us. He’s a guy going after the woman he loves. He’s a hard worker, one who continues to fulfill the purpose for which he was made, one cube of trash at a time, even when he’s the only remaining of his kind and the cleanup seems a rather futile effort.
But don’t tell WALL-E that. He’ll continue to do it anyway. He punches the clock every morning and punches out every night, returning to his studio apartment by the sea (or what used to be the sea), playing with his toys he’s collected over the years, unsure of how to classify a spork into his collection of spoons or forks, choosing to keep the box of an engagement ring rather than the ring itself, and rocking himself to sleep. Forget about sports and musical icons (especially these days, the great ones are few and far between), forget about looking to heroic politicians or trying to find actors not involved in drug scandals. Need a hero, kids? Look no further than WALL-E. He has the heart of Rudy Reuttiger and will do anything in the service of the greater good, even forget about his one true love in the face of death.
WALL-E’s technological capabilities may be dated and limited, but he never gives up. Not on the woman he loves, not on the job he was made to do, not on the task he has taken on to return the Axiom home to Earth. Plus he’s got his friend back home, a robot grasshopper, or whatever he is. For all these reasons and more, I absolutely love this film. 2008 had many great films and WALL-E, along with The Dark Knight, shares credit for forcing the Academy to expand the Best Picture race to 10 nominees. Most would have picked TDK as their Best Picture at the Oscars. Or maybe Let The Right One In (definitely in my top 5). The Counterfeiters, Man on Wire, The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire, and Milk were all worthy choices as well. Me? If I had a vote, what WALL-E accomplished in character and storytelling wins above the rest. And that goes for holding it up against the rest of Pixar’s lineup as well. Not only is WALL-E an all-time favorite character of mine, but the film itself is one of my all-time favorites.
Part III: The Underrated Network
I was going to stop with WALL-E but I just finished watching another TV Pilot for a show I’ve been wanting to watch and just discovered the Pilot available for free on FX’s website. I’m really impressed with the work FX has been putting out. Terriers not being renewed for a second season was a huge letdown, but it had nothing to do with the quality of the show. It’s real unfortunate, but life goes on.
In it’s wake we’ve got a strong new show, Lights Out, and two returning shows in Justified and Archer, the latter being the aforementioned Pilot I just saw and laughed my ass off watching. Archer is about Sterling Archer, master spy at the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), a service run by his mother. The characters and dialogue are absolutely hilarious, and while most over-the-top humor comes off as clichéd stereotypes in situations like this, Archer succeeds in pulling it off. Archer’s behavior is wildly inappropriate and he treats people horribly. And that’s exactly what makes the show so great. It’s early in the second season now, I believe episode four just aired last Thursday, so it’s not hard to catch up with S1 through Netflix or at least check out the Pilot at FX’s website. Enjoy. You’re welcome.
