Captain's Log
It's a short week of television and a busy week outside television, so here is a short article
My time is going to be needed elsewhere for the short term, so these articles may be pretty brief.
There isn’t much to catch up on when there isn’t much airing.
Abbott Elementary, “Mall” – As we left for the winter break, Abbott had to move into an abandoned mall while the repairs on the building commenced… and as wacky as this premise sounds, it’s apparently based on some real incidents, like Palisades Charter High School and others having to move to temporary locations after the California wildfires a year ago. And, again, for a wacky-sounding premise, the episode is surprisingly realistic about the challenges that would arise from this, while being pretty funny about it, too. I feel like this is a good indicator for how the show is going to use its new premise.
St. Denis Medical, “This Is From Joyce” – Decent episode, with a couple of solid plots— Matt trying to help Joyce return Sanderson a box of his things, then trying to help Joyce prove she’s doing great after the breakup; Ron’s slow-and-steady financial-planning approach gets introduced to Bruce’s pumping and dumping memecoins— and a third plot that got really cringe at points but was fitting enough for the characters, with Serena asking Alex to fill in as the nurse for one of her “Botox parties,” and Alex turning the whole thing into a living nightmare. Nice surprise guest appearance from Kristen Schaal, who I assume wouldn’t only show up for such a brief scene.
High Potential, “Under the Rug” – A bit of a twisty case that involves what appears to be a hitman having his brake lines cut, which leads to the team’s discovery that the hitman was contracted to hit a wealthy investor… and there are a few more twists along the way, which is always good. Not as much in the overarching “search for Roman” story, although there’s a little grace note of a home story with Elliot and Ludo, and the whole gang gets to get involved in the case of the week, so that’s pretty fun.
Best Medicine, “Bean There Done That” – Martin is immediately frustrated with the Port Wenn residents and their refusal to listen to any of his medical advice, particularly when they all insist that their symptoms of illness are due to a seasonal moth allergy. It also turns out his childhood bully is still in town. But the Baked Bean Supper is coming up, and everyone refuses to miss that as well, even after Martin correctly diagnoses that everyone is sick not with some passing allergy but an infection that’s passed from animal to human. So, this is fine— some good performances so far, most notably from Josh Charles, of course, and Abigail Spencer and in particular their chemistry together. But while the supporting cast has a bunch of good actors, Josh Segarra’s weird mix of earnest and hurt as the bro-y sheriff is probably the most distinctive. Oddly, while over-quirkiness can doom a show by taking its characters out of the realm of plausibility, the individuals might not be quirky enough so far if you want this show to have more of a Northern Exposure feel. The Baked Bean Supper is a nice weird thing as far as a communal weird thing, but I’d like to see more individual wrinkles and foibles that are distinctive in some way. We still enjoy the show well enough, though, so hopefully those come with time.
Haven’t had much time to write lately, but I’ll put out the year-end list eventually.
Still going through Fringe at a pretty fast clip. By the time you read this I’ll be somewhere into season 4. I don’t know how to discuss this show in any possible way that wouldn’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, which even though I am watching episodes that are 15 years old I am still reluctant to do, because nobody spoiled it for me. I guess the pace I’m going through the show says all you need to know about how much I’m enjoying it.
Expect this section to be dry for a while.
Tonight, Animal Control officially kicks off season 4 (although they’re not rerunning the “sneak preview” season premiere, so catch up on that on Hulu if you missed it), and Going Dutch premieres season 2, both on Fox. Tomorrow night, Stumble resumes airing new episodes on NBC. And Sunday night, HBO premieres the latest from the George Robble Robble Martin Adapted For Television Universe, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
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About the writer
Captain Nath
Born on the bayou, thriving in the mountains. Writer, gambler, comedian, singer-songwriter, bon vivant, globetrotter, and all-around Renaissance Man with perfect opinions about TV and music. Pronounced with a long A and with the H.
It's a gaming ship.
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Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
M*A*S*H, Season Three, Episode Ten, “There’s Nothing Like A Nurse”
“She’s my nurse.”
“I’ll give you five hundred dollars for her.”
“Sold!”
“Oh come off it, Major, you can’t keep a nurse in bed for one month! Although there are some who’ve tried…”
“You know you have this thing back here?”
“What thing?”
“My tongue.”
This has a very simple premise – the nurses have to leave due to a potential air raid, which hilariously turns out to be Five O’Clock Charlie dropping propaganda – and then barely figures it into the story. Instead, this is mostly setpieces that are each individually funny; there’s that incredible classic scene of Frank and Margaret doing the ‘you hang up’ thing, counting down to a hangup, then getting interrupted by Hawk and Trap. Even better is the scene where the guys watch Frank’s wedding video; it’s already intensely funny, but it’s elevated by Mclean Stevenson deliberately playing Henry as more coolheaded and distant than usual, like he’s finally in his comfort zone. Also by Jeane Schuller playing Mrs Burns and living up to Frank’s descriptions of her (apparently she played nurses in other episodes of that season, which I think would give her a bit of insight into the show’s process and humour that she could bring to the role).
This contains the first of many times Hawkeye made out with Margaret for a laugh (“Pierce, cut that out.”).
This has Spalding – the doctor with a guitar – as an actual character with lines. He even gets his own Hawaiian shirt – a white and red number.
“Let’s keep those sponges coming, Father, ‘nurse’ is also a verb.”
Some good lines from the wedding video:
“They sure invited a lot of empty chairs.”
“This is the happiest day of her life.”
A good episode, but the premise is sort of silly given that the nurses are more or less in a combat zone all the time, though it’s easy to see that the Army would pretend it is protecting the women to maintain some illusion for the benefit of the public.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “Help Wanted” – This here’s a good one. More later.
The Pitt S1E03 – The show does a good job with visuals and sound – Whitaker tries so hard to bring his patient back that he audibly cracks his ribs – and with emotions. Dr. Robby is under terrific strain and the script never underlines that even on a good day, this job is hard. (The man is so busy that he literally doesn’t have time to pee.) Like The Shield, insane crisis after insane crisis is normal here, and an ambulance getting stolen is JUST ANOTHER DAYYYYYYYY. Cried near the end as the sister says goodbye to her brother.
Best scenes: The ribs cracking. The procedure of how to get new scrubs from the machine is fully shown, one of the best elements here is the interest in detail and how things are done in a hospital. “My son’s dead, isn’t he?” Heather standing on the bed because she saw a rat. “I could call you cocksucker.” “…You know, fruitcake does have a certain ring to it.”
Twin Peaks, E6: “Cooper’s Dreams” – great episode, a perfect mix of iconic stuff (the first major appearance of Margaret), funny stuff (Jerry and the Icelanders, Hawk’s incredible reaction to being offered cookies) and darkness (Leland breaking down at the party, Dr Jacoby using his knowledge of Laura to completely break Bobby down). There is no better television than this show when it’s on top form.
Seinfeld, “The Chaperone” – cracking start to season 6. George is still living his best life (at least to begin with), Elaine gets a new job as the personal assistant to a wealthy eccentric and Jerry’s date with a Miss America contestant gets derailed when she decides to hire pageant-obsessed Kramer as her coach. All of this is good – Kramer being revealed as a Miss America expert was the funniest plot for me, but Elaine brushing up against the concept of “grace” was very good and I was pleased to see that this new job wasn’t a one-episode thing as her new employer is very amusing. I don’t think the Yankees uniform debacle was George’s fault!
One thing I really enjoy about Seinfeld is how the character’s lives aren’t static – they change jobs, gain and lose partners, that sort of thing. Keeps the energy going.
Yeah it’s nice that it has these little character developments to keep things interesting. Although it still catches me off guard when one of them has a romantic engagement that lasts longer than a single episode!
I wish my wife and I had more time and energy for Stranger Things faster. (A rotten cold killed her attention span for three days, too.) So glad it’s only eight episodes.
Three episodes into the final season, and there is not a lot to say since: a) it’s hard to judge till we get to the end; and b) there is little effort here to do anything differently than before. What it does with its characters and its storytelling style, it does well or at least well enough that it’s hard to find fault. I don’t love almost killing Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, but they never seemed like characters anyway. I do like the mix and match character interactions – Will and Robin, which is going to pay off when each comes out to the other, is also just a good combination – and episode three (the first one directed by Darabont) had that killer “hey, it’s Max” ending.
I also had a thought that Maya Hawke did as well: a sequel series could be a wacky Scooby Doo style show. I even have a title for it: “Strange Enough for You?” Duffer Brothers, let’s talk. Interestingly, while I don’t think there is a single bad actor in the pack here (though you can kind of see that something is off about David Harbour), Maya Hawke has really started to steal the show. I suspect pretty much everyone here will keep getting work, but she is the one I want to see get the good parts.
Ruck will be happy to know I’ve been rewatching Happy Endings! Easy to do given the fast pace, wordplay, and strong jokes, even when there’s the odd moment of dead air/impressions I blame on 2000’s/2010’s improv. Eliza Cuthbert was apparently the one on set who tried hardest as she wasn’t seen as a major talent and goddamn is she funny doing a spin on the dumb blonde. Strange thought: future Oscar winner Ludwig Goransson is the one doing Vampire Weekend guitar and keyboard for scene transitions. (It’s 2011!)
Year of the Month update!
Coming in February, we’ll be looking at 1957, including all these movies, albums, books, TV, yadda yadda.
Feb. 2nd: Tristan J. Nankervis: Throne of Blood
Feb. 6th: Gillianren: The Story of Anyburg, USA
Feb. 13th: Gillianren: The Truth About Mother Goose
Feb. 16th: Tristan J. Nankervis: The Incredible Shrinking Man
Feb. 20th: Gillianren: Our Friend the Atom
Feb. 27th: Gillianren: Sleeping Beauty’s Castle
And there’s still time to sign up for January! Here’s some of the movies, albums, books, TV, and games you can write about.
TBD: Ruck Cohlchez: Tim and/or Fables of the Reconstruction
Jan. 9th: Gillian Nelson: Advice on Lice
Jan. 16th: Gillian Nelson: The Wuzzles/The Gummi Bears
Jan. 19th: Tristan J. Nankervis: The Breakfast Club
Jan. 23rd: Gillian Nelson: The Golden Girls
Jan. 29th: Cori Domschot: Jewel of the Nile
Late-breaking news: NBC has decided to air a preview of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins Sunday night after the football game.