Fall 2010--Where Have We Been?

Next week is Premiere Week on all the networks, the time of year where all of your favorites come back from summer vacation with sexy tans, great hook-up stories, and a few scars they can't explain because the statute of limitations isn't up yet. That's right, it's time to see all of your old friends again and begin the journey that will be the 2010-2011 television season. BUT! You can't move on without taking into consideration where shows have been. So, here you go...

Fall TV 2010--Retrospective Recap!
SPOILERS, SPOILERS, EVERYWHERE!

Monday, September 20th
HOUSE:

After years of abusing Vicodin, House entered rehab and came back to the 5th season clean and sober. The rest of the season was spent watching him adapt to his new life, which he did surprisingly well, considering how much he relied on the painkillers for all of the time we've known him. Towards the end of the season, a few temptations to begin using again arose, but House only seemed to meet one real challenge: the consequences of doing everything right, but not having any of  those choices matter. After a downtown disaster left a woman crushed by a piece of rubble, House spent hours at her side keeping her company as rescuers tried to free her crushed leg.

While others wanted to amputate her leg free, he convinced her to wait, and when it became obvious she would not be freed any other way, he had to go back on his initial advice and convince her to allow her leg to be cut off. The usual king of snark had one of his most endearing monologues of the entire series, talking to the woman about his struggles with daily pain in his own leg and the road it led him on, essentially admitting major regret for being so stubborn about keeping his leg after his infarction. This blunt honesty convinces the woman to allow him to do the deed, to cut her leg free from the rubble. It was a moment that made this long time House fan feel instantly proud to have watched the show from the beginning, to have seen this character develop to this point. They could have ended the series right there and HOUSE would have felt like a truly victorious program. In a bitter turn of events, once the woman was on her way to the hospital, she suffered from an unexpected fat embolism and could not save her.

This left House in a place we've rarely seen him-- completely lost. He believed he made all the right calls, but his patient died anyway. In the last moments of the show, House rips the bathroom mirror from his wall, revealing a secret stash of Vicodin. Before he can take any, Cuddy shows up. She convinces him that he is stronger than that, and admits she has feelings for him and would like to see where they could go. The scene eerily mirrors House's drugged up fantasy from season five, but this time it's real...and the two kiss. Where the show goes from there is anyone's guess. It's definitely been a roller coaster ride getting to this point, and for the first time I personally see a stable House in our future...perhaps for good.

Tuesday, September 21st
GLEE:

We spent the first season of Glee watching New Directions struggle to the beat of teenage angst. While most definitely a comedy, it's better described as the most bittersweet hour on television. We've watched the mismatched team of jocks, nerds, preps, and underdogs come together by a shared need of a place to call home at McKinley High School, all while their coach fought back and forth with the head cheer coach who wanted the club's destruction for reasons she probably forgot a long time ago. What makes Glee so interesting is watching the most extreme stereotypes simultaneously accept and overcome their various labels. Each week, the audience was treated to a warm hug of acceptance with a bit of song and dance on the side. We all stood up and cheered in our living rooms when they won Sectionals, and all wept like babies when they lost regionals and almost were disbanded.

While there were too many plots to touch on all of them, there are some big ones that need mentioning. Will thought his wife Terri was pregnant, but it turned out she was lying to keep them together as his interests seemed to drift towards the cutie counselor, Emma Pillsbury. After it turned out there was no baby, Terri and Will got divorced, but that didn't mean Will and Emma got together instantly. They struggled with his newfound sense of freedom, and in the end Emma asked for a break. In the finale, she admitted to Will she was seeing her dentist.

The other baby storyline was wrapped as well (probably) with celibacy club president Quinn Fabray giving birth to her and bad boy Puck's baby. The two decided to give the baby up for adoption, and the coach of New Directions rival glee team (Vocal Adrenaline) adopted the baby girl. Tina and Artie had a back and forth relationship developed mostly off screen, though they struggled a little with his being in a wheelchair and her lying about a speech impediment. But, no one was more back and forth than Rachel and Finn. They were dating other people, then together, then not together, etc, etc. In the finale, though, it looked like the two would really make a go of it. Finally, in my personal favorite storyline, Kurt Hummel struggled with coming out to his father and his undeniable crush on the very, very straight Finn.  In an attempt to spend more time with Finn, Kurt set up their parents, but this backfired when Finn and his father Burt started bonding. Though Finn and Kurt worked out a few homophobia issues, it remains to be seen what lies ahead for the almost-step-brothers.

Wednesday, September 22nd
MODERN FAMILY:

Coming off the Emmy win for Best Comedy, the sky is the limit for Modern Family in terms of storyline. Unlike many of the shows mentioned in this blog, most of Modern Family plots are wrapped within the episode and there are few elements that bleed over into longer arcs.

The show is filmed mockumentary style following an extended family at their core united by Jay Pritchett and his children Claire and Mitchell, each who have families of their own. Jay has remarried a younger, gorgeous Columbian woman named Gloria, who has a (mature-for-his-preteen-age) son named Manny. Claire is married to Phil Dunphy, and they have three children, only one of which seems to have a brain, which she uses to annoy her siblings. Mitchell is openly gay and lives with his partner, Cameron Tucker. The two raise a Vietnamese girl (Lily) they adopted.

The first season revolves around the growing pains of a rather diverse family. Claire deals with her perfectionist tendencies and worries that Gloria only married her father for his money. Jay worries he's not young enough for his wife and finds it hard to connect to connect with his stepson. Phil tries and fails to be a "cool dad" and kinda, sorta having a crush on his "mother-in-law" Gloria. Mitchell worries about his father not being comfortable with his sexuality, and he and Cameron both deal with the mishaps of being new to parenthood.

The show truly hasn't even began to tap into all the stories this family could deliver.

Thursday, September 23rd
COMMUNITY VERSUS THE BIG BANG THEORY

Thursday nights are going to be just awful for this television fan. It seemed like all the networks got together and decided to put every single freakin' amusing comedy on at the exact same time for no other reason than to watch the audience struggle with choosing what to watch. No other struggle will be as difficult as the choice between Community and The Big Bang Theory, both ridiculously funny and on at the exact same time. Which will I be watching live and which will I be DVRing?

It's come down to a matter of comparing balls.

With Community, you have the appeal of quirky characters coming together in a study group at a college that probably offers a degree in crazy. Every single episode tries to outdo the last one in terms of clever comedy. The audience got to watch Jeff go from pompous cool guy who thought he was better than everyone else to the slightly less pompous even cooler guy who still thinks he's pretty good but is more open to other people being awesome too. This show isn't afraid to explore multiple types of chemistry, rotating the cast with different pairings each week. One week Troy and Britta might be taking interpretive dance class together, and the next Shirley wants to baptize Annie. Also, just as you think the show wants Jeff and Annie to be their Ross and Rachel, they sneak in the undeniable chemistry of Jeff and Annie. Community revels in its silliness and each character is portrayed as though God herself cast the show.

Then there's The Big Bang Theory. Every episode is a nerd's dream come true. You watch for the pop culture references and the chance to test yourself on how much you remember from college physics. The show develops a back and forth relationship between head nerd Leonard and the cute girl next door, Penny, but after three seasons this has kind of run its course and is getting into beaten-dead-horse territory. But besides the romance, the cast is always good together and truly feels like a nerd family, connecting with its audience very well. The writers of the show are aware that they have a formula that works and allows them to tell relatively fresh stories each week. However, that might be its biggest problem. The "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude seems to leave the show uninterested in experimenting. Will Sheldon's new pseudo love interest change that? My instincts say no. TBBT has a pattern of starting stories and ending them off screen. Perhaps this isn't a problem. It will alway be funny. It will always have classic Sheldon scenes. But when looking back at The Big Bang Theory, all I can see is a pattern of comfortable repetition.

Undoubtedly, The Big Bang Theory will probably win in the ratings department, but in terms of quality and ballsiness, my money is on Community for being the bigger risk taker in the name of comedy, making it the real winner in my eyes and the show I will choose to watch live. With Community choosing to be play all its cards and The Big Bang Theory warm and cozy in its place, I do wonder if in the long run CBS regrets the decision to move TBBT.

Friday, September 24th
SUPERNATURAL:

It was the end of the world, but the show must go on. I know very little about this show, but what I do understand is that the season five finale provided a completely clean slate for the show to go just about anywhere. At Comic Con, this panel left such a big impression on me that I started watching the show when I got back. I'm still in season one, but I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about regarding this finale, because every single one of my internet friends was buzzing about it when it came out. I got the impression that the creators put out a piece of television they were truly proud of, something they'd been building towards for a long time, and anytime that happens I'm always intrigued. Not every show sets out long term goals and commits to them. Now that they have achieved those things, I would assume it's now given them a confidence to attempt something new.

Sunday, September 26th
DEXTER:

I'll keep it short. After the single most shocking finale of television I have ever witnessed, you only have two choices: go bold, or quit. The creators of Dexter have chosen to continue on, and I can only assume last years shocking ending has put everyone under pressure to deliver a fantastic followup. It's going to be a challenge to top the feeling the audience shared seeing a puddle of blood and a beloved character killed off. We've all had a year to think about where they could go. Expectations are high. Then again, this is DEXTER, and they don't play around with expectations. They always go bigger and more impressive than anything we lowly viewers could ever dream up.

So, what are your predictions for the Fall? We've only got a few more days until the season premiers decide to sweep us up into another whirlwind of plots and shocks.