With the fall television season upon us I'll soon be posting up My Fall Television Schedule for the 2013 - 2014 season, but first I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the past year of television. You can check out my proposed plans for my 2012 - 2013 season here.
Sitcoms are shows that easily fall by the wayside for me. Unless I really enjoy them, they're going to come off of my television schedule out of necessity. I had planned to start watching How I Met Your Mother, which is now heading into its ninth and final season, after catching majority of the last half of Season 8. However, it didn't stick. I had four pretty solid comedies too keep me satisfied throughout last season in Happy Endings, The Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock & New Girl, so How I Met Your Mother wasn't a necessity. And neither was NBC's new Will & Grace-esque comedy Partners either apparently, I didn't watch like I said I would, and apparently no one else did either with NBC cancelling the series after six episodes. This was despite the show being placed in the pretty cushy timeslot between How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls at 8.30 on Mondays. Also on Monday's was the surprise post-apocalyptic hit Revolution, it being the first new show of the season to be renewed after airing only three episodes. It also had a cushy timeslot behind The Voice at 10.00, and it will be interesting to see how its ratings go with its drastic move to Wednesdays at 8.00 this season. I recorded the first six or seven episodes of Revolution before I started watching any, and ironically I probably only watched three until I stopped. I considered returning to the show, and still do, but other than the cliff-hangers I found majority of it to be rather dull. It's also been critically panned by many, and while this doesn't inspire to watch Revolution as a good show, it does inspire to watch it as a train-wreck you can't look away from, which is why I'm still considering catching up. I wont be able to do this during this season though, so I'll have to wait and see whether things improve for the show in the meantime. Similar critical distain was given to The Following, which I've recorded all of, but now am very uncertain as to whether or not I should watch. I also tried out Deception but left it after three episodes, and it was cancelled at the end of its 13 episode run.
On Tuesdays New Girl really hit its stride, and surprisingly Jake Johnson stole the show as lazy yet lovable Nick Miller throughout the season. The verdict's still out on whether or not the show can make Nick and Jess work as a couple for the long-term, but I'll be tuning in to find out. I still can't help but hate New Girl a little though, since Happy Endings was running at the same 9.00 timeslot on ABC, but was quickly shuffled off to die on Friday nights after its return from mid-season break. While I don't think the third and now final season was at good as its season (its reliance on the ridiculous and over-the-top storylines for humour is a turn-off for me with comedies), it was still easily the best comedy on television, and it's my hardest felt cancellation from last season. I considered also watching the comedy paired with Happy Endings, Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23, along with checking out a whole host of new comedies that premiered on Tuesday last season, like Go On and The New Normal in an attempt to find a new comedy. Ultimately I'm glad I didn't with all of these being cancelled. I also recorded all of Cult which aired at 9.00 on The CW during mid-season after the cancellation of Emily Owens, M.D., but that too is now cancelled and I haven't watched a single episode.
Supernatural remained solid viewing on Wednesdays during its eighth season, and many believed it was better than Season 7. The show mostly becomes an interchangeable monster-of-the week blur to me, but there were some intriguing story arcs like Dean's return and escape from purgatory, The Men of Letters, and of course, the highly dramatic Trials Sam undertook (although lets all just forget about his horrible flashbacks to when Dean was away). Nashville was prime to become the best new show for me early in the season, but by its finale it had become so convulsed and melodramatic that I'm worried I'll have to start watching it the way I watch Revenge, for a good laugh. Arrow did exceptionally well for The CW at 8.00 before Supernatural, and I still want to watch it eventually, but as with comedies, unfortunately CW fair hasn't yet earned the respect of necessary viewing (except maybe Nikita), but hopefully their promising pilot season this year can continue to change that.
We said goodbye to 30 Rock on Thursday's last season, and while there were some memorable moments throughout its final 13 episode seventh season run (Hazel really came into her own), the show ultimately ended on a rather sentimental note, which felt quite out of character for such a normally untraditional show. While I've said that comedies aren't a necessary watch, The Big Bang Theory really has come to deserve it's title as the best comedy on television. I know there are a lot of people who don't like it compared to some of the more quirkier and out there comedies (like Arrested Development or Community, which it was up against in the 8.00 timeslot), but for a traditional sitcom, laugh track included, The Big Bang Theory is a very good show. The Vampire Diaries may have lost some of its bite (sorry, but it works), but is it highly serialised, so I'm willing to stick with it through is numerous and very long dry-spells with several characters and storylines in anticipation for the big mythology aspect of the show. ABC's high concept drama Last Resort was my most anticipated new show of last season, but I only tuned into four or so episodes myself before giving up, and ABC gave up too, it being cancelled after six episodes, the remaining ones still airing. The timeslot and high concept probably didn't help the show, but for me, it just took itself too seriously, and needed some humour to break up the drama that quickly became incessantly tedious. I was initially weary to check out Hannibal, despite it being developed by Bryan Fuller. By mid-season though, nothing was on, and boy am I glad I tuned it. With its great acting and beautiful cinematography, this slick psychological thriller turned into the best new network show of the season. As I was last year, I'm still finding the time to be inspired to catch up on Scandal and Person of Interest, with both doing extremely well with the amount of buzz and critical acclaim they received last season.
Fringe finished is unbelievable five season run on Fridays. While die-hard will no doubt be happy with the conclusion of the series, the vast change in setting and the relationships shared between the characters made it difficult for me to appreciate the season, despite its heavy mythology. I followed Happy Endings to Friday, which I'm still so so sad about, and continued to record Cult when it was also shuffled here before cancellation despite not watching it. I still haven't caught up on Grimm, and it falls low on the list on the shows I want to catch up on. I'm now just waiting for Nikita to end to buy the DVD boxset so that I can consume this great show all at once, although I'm a little disappointed that I didn't watch it while it aired.
On Sundays Revenge continued to do its thing. Despite some people thinking its become too convoluted, Revenge was always like this, only now it's more obvious. However, when it's not having its well dressed utter ridiculous dialogue at one another, Revenge can be an enthralling drama, and I'm willing to stick with it through all the bad. I mean, did you see that finale? 666 Park Avenue was actually quite enjoyable, but after it was cancelled before its mid-season break after airing seven episodes, but I wasn't inspired enough to finish watching once I knew it wouldn't be back. I wasn't inspired to check out Once Upon A Time either, and now I'm wondering if I ever will be. I'm in the same situation with The Good Wife as I am with Nikita, the show is heading into its fifth season, and doesn't look like it has long left, so maybe I'll just hold out until it finished before watching.
There were two late mid-season shows this year, Under The Dome and Siberia, which I also hoped to check out. Under The Dome, while ridiculous, has an entertaining mythology, and the show doesn't really deserve all the hate its receiving from critics. I'm yet to watch an episode of Siberia, but I have recorded it thus far.
Onto cable, and of course, majority of them also air on Sunday's. Boardwalk Empire withstood the loss of prominent character Jimmy Darmody at the end of season two and produced an entertaining third season, and season four looks set to do the same. Dexter's seventh season was a spectacular resurgence for the show, but unfortunately critics and fans alike have panned its eighth and final season, which will air on Sunday. The Walking Dead had its moments, but ultimately had difficulty maintaining momentum splitting its time between the prison and Woodbury throughout its third season, resulting it quite a bit of filler. While Homeland's second season, particularly its second half with the conclusion of the Abu Nazir storyline, received mixed responses, I loved it, and cannot wait for the new season to start in a couple of weeks. Breaking Bad showcased itself as one of the most talked about shows of all time, and while I have a problem with the change of tone of previous seasons in 5A, 5B has done nothing but deliver and I'm expecting a spectacular finale from this show.
Other shows on cable that I watched this year included American Horror Story (it had a strong season but fell short in its last couple of episodes), Californciation (the season focus on the rock and roll music industry was entertaining, but the characters and their relationships have gotten stale). I caught up on Awkward before the start of it's third season, and am interested to see where it's heading in the second half. British import Doctor Who is slugging along as a tedious pace despite its out-there storylines, while Ray Donovan is probably my favourite new cable show of the season, with a good balance between Ray professional and family life and great acting. Bates Motel, The Bridge, Twisted, and Defiance were all shows I watched a couple of episodes of but didn't feel the need to finish watching them. And I haven't got to Low Winter Sun yet.
Playing catch up I've watched the first season of Pretty Little Liars, but am struggling knowing that I'm no where near finding out the identity of A. I've watched the first season, and half of the second season of Parks & Recreation in an attempt to fill a solid comedy gap left by Happy Endings and 30 Rock, and while not as good as those, it has its charm. I'm also about to start watching The Newsroom after watching part of a season one episode with a friend and loving every minute of it.
Television isn't just on your TV anymore either, and I tried to check out majority of Netflix's new original programming to see how it'd fair. House of Cards was decent, but wasn't overwhelmingly good for me, and Hemlock Grove, despite being very much my genre, has failed to convince me to watch the first episode. Orange is the New Black, however, is most definitely the best new show of the year, despite it not even airing on television.
So there you have it, my 2012 - 2013 year of television in review. Of the nine new shows I planned to watch at the beginning of the season four were cancelled, 666 Park Avenue, Cult, Deception, and Last Resort. Of the shows I already watched 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Fringe, and Happy Endings all ended all were cancelled. So how was everyone else's year? Found a new favourite? Disappointed about an undeserved cancellation? Let me know, and here's to the next year of television watching.
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