Unseen TV

The Spy Who Charmed Me

2014-09-03T16:59:00.000-04:00

As I spoke about two weeks ago, some great TV shows go unseen by audiences during their original air dates. They can fail for any number of reasons, but most shows are ultimately cancelled based on viewership stats. If a show isn't watched, then advertisers won't pay for commercials during that time slot, then the network has little choice but to cancel the program. Others may have just not been marketed correctly, or were on a network that not a lot of people knew about/watched. When Veronica Mars was on the air from 2004-2006, all of these factors probably played a role in its ultimate demise.

The eponymous Veronica, played by Kristin Bell, is a teenage girl in sunny Neptune, California who works for her dad, a former police sheriff turned private investigator. Veronica, still scarred by her best friend's murder and her mother running away, takes on PI jobs at her school to earn some money and get info about her classmates. With the help of her trusty friends Wallace and Mac, as well as her dad (played by Enrico Colantoni), Veronica spends her high school hours navigating seedy Neptune to avenge her friend's death, as well as knock the rich jerks that infest her town down a peg.

The dialogue throughout is fantastic and is only outdone by Bell and Colantoni's outstanding chemistry as father and daughter. Veronica's foil and later love interest Logan (played by Jason Dohring) is also great as the local wealthy asshole with a heart of gold. The show's two central mysteries during the first two seasons are incredibly compelling and equally dark. Underneath the sunny exterior of a wealthy town lies a bedrock of infidelity, rape, murder, and all the other not-so-great stuff that seems to haunt Neptune. The show takes a minor left turn in the third season when Veronica goes to college, and it's glaring that the people behind the scenes are trying as hard as they can to keep the show on the air anyway they can. The finale was utterly disappointing and unfulfilled, making the fact that there was never a solid conclusion all the more painful.

Thankfully, Veronica Mars was a much bigger success after its initial run. Countless people, including myself, caught up with it via Netflix or Amazon and added to the show's posthumously rabid fan base. Rumors about a feature film adaptation swirled around as well, but nothing serious ever seemed to materialize. Luckily, fans rejoiced in March 2013, when series creator Rob Thomas resurrected the property by launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund a movie. The fundraiser raised almost $6 million, breaking numerous Kickstarter records before the campaign ended one month later. The enormous success of the fundraiser gives renewed hope to fans of many other great shows that didn't get enough time to flourish and reach their full potential.

The entire 3-season run of Veronica Mars is available on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

All the Vice President's Men and Women

2014-08-26T11:10:00.002-04:00

Politics on television, as well as real life, have always been a tricky proposition. Power, greed, and desire all come in to play as countless politicians vie for whatever it is they -- or their constituents and financial supporters -- want. This can be an entertaining vein to dig into, given the natural drama and conflict that comes with running an entire country. Scandal and House of Cards seem to be the newest, juiciest iterations of tapping into political drama.

But will all the dire seriousness and importance that can be rested on politics, it can be refreshing see representations that offer levity and humor. The West Wing, for most of it's run, was the best possible combination of these two styles for it's effectiveness in interspersing significant political ideas with fast dialogue and clever banter (fans of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Last Week Tonight, among others, could argue the same). The show never took itself too seriously and avoided getting mired down in the minutia and boring aspects of White House life.

HBO's Veep certainly follows in the footsteps of those great shows, albeit with a more strictly humorous bent than it's predecessors. Created by brilliant political satirist Armando Ianucci (the film In the Loop being a prime example), Veep follows the everyday lives of the Vice President of the United States (the always terrific Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) and her staff as they try to make a difference from the historically limited office. Her staff, including In the Loop alum Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh, Tony Hale, Timothy Simons, and Reid Scott, each give fantastic performances as inept staffers vying for attention and responsibility and failing misserably. Their chemistry is fantastic and the jokes are hysterical. Complete with excess profanity and over the top screaming matches, nothing is taken seriously and no topic or joke is off limits. Veep is simply one of the funniest shows on TV. The show just wrapped up it's third season on HBO, all of which can be streamed on HBO GO.

Partners in (Stopping ...and Sometimes Committing) Crime

2014-08-19T11:28:00.000-04:00

One of the bastions of quality television is the cancelled-to-soon, critically adored show that only ends up being on the air for a season or two. There are a myriad of reasons for these cancellations, but the most often culprit is simply that no one watched it. Terriers on FX is a great example of this unfortunate, all too often occurrence.

Created by Oceans Eleven screenwriter Ted Griffin and produced by The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, Terriers follows Hank Dolworth (Donal Logue) and Britt Pollack (Michael Raymond-James), two struggling (unlicensed) private detectives in a coastal California town (think San Diego or Veronica Mars' Neptune, but not as wealthy). Hank, a former cop and recovering alcoholic, is the brains of the operation, while Britt brings his experience as a thief and petty criminal to get the out of tricky situations. Most of their time is spent helping similarly down-on-their-luck clients who are desperate for their assistance, but as the show progresses, a bigger and more impactful criminal conspiracy unravels.

From stealing back a dog to helping a kid with amnesia, Hank and Britt are the lovable duo you'd want to handle your problems. The actors' chemistry with one another is readily apparent, so much so that it's hard to imagine these two people are friends in real life. Their authenticity also comes through during their interactions with people in their personal lives. Hank is still in denial about his relationship with his ex-wife, and even impulsively buys the house they used to live in to reach for a time of normalcy and happiness. Hank also continues to battle alcoholism, something his former cop partner and friend Mark Gustafson (Rockmond Dunbar) remembers all too well. Britt also struggles to keep his criminal past a secret from his girlfriend Katie (Laura Allen) and commitment as their relationship gets more and more serious. If you enjoy good crime stories and rooting for charming underdogs, this show is for you.

Terriers' first and only season can be streamed on Netflix.

The Dog Ate My Soul

2014-08-12T11:25:00.000-04:00

Rarely does a television show's basic premise seem so far-fetched that you can't believe it made it to air. Wilfred on FX (and later FXX) fits that bill. The titular Wilfred is a dog, but not just any dog. In the mind and vision of protagonist Ryan Newman (played by Elijah Wood), Wilfred appears to be a talking man dressed in a dog costume (series co-creator Jason Gann). Ryan's also, unfortunately, the only person who can see Wilfred this way, which leads to a lot of awkward and unexplainable situations with his friends and family. No one ever really catches on, but there are a lot of close calls. The show begins with Ryan being depressed and suicidal after leaving his abusive father's law firm. With no clear direction or purpose in his life, Ryan and Wilfred strike up a friendship after Wilfred's owner Jenna moves in next door.

I definitely wouldn't characterize the anthropomorphized Wilfred as a "good dog." He cheats, lies, steals, and does anything necessary to get what he wants (as well as smokes weed and has sex with a giant teddy bear). Co-creator David Zuckerman perfectly describes Wilfred as “part Labrador retriever and part Russell Crowe on a bender.”

Despite all of this, Ryan's growth and recovery throughout the progression of the show are due in large part to Wilfred's antics. Each episode concentrates on one word or idea and explores that concept as it applies to Ryan's personality or relationships with his family and Jenna. Although Wilfred is incredibly self-involved, his deepest motivation is to help Ryan and make him a better person. Many of the show's sweetest and funniest moments are Wilfred and Ryan having fun in the basement where they often talk about Wilfred's obsession with Matt Damon and smoke an excessive amount of pot.

Wilfred really shines in its portrayal of mental illness, existential exploration, romantic relationships, and family strife. Although a lot of the life lessons and moral platitudes make the show repetitive and sometimes one-note, Ryan and Wilfred's likability and charm shine through and make it a program worth watching.

Wilfred is currently wrapping up its fourth and final season on FXX. The first three seasons can be streamed on Netflix.

The Bold and the Beautiful

2014-08-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

Serialized television can be a visceral and all-consuming medium. Devotees to certain shows lap up every piece of content they can find, spend money on merchandise, and even create their own fan art. They scour online fan communities, social media sites and message boards to speculate and theorize about what everything means and what's going to happen next. Obviously, the internet has catalyzed a lot of this growth by organizing fans from all over the world over their mutual love for a given show. House of Cards and Orange is the New Black appear to most recent examples of this phenomenon, while Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead seem to be on a whole other level by themselves. Netflix, on-demand, and other streaming services have helped proliferate these shows to reach audiences they wouldn't have reached five or ten years ago.

While so much fanfare and internet attention is devoted to these big tent pole properties, other smaller shows still get unnoticed; criminally so in some cases. In many ways, that's what this blog will be devoted to; taking the shows relegated to the TV-darkness and bringing them into the light. Let's get started with two of my recent favorites.

Rectify
Set and filmed in the lovely Georgia countryside, Rectify keeps one word firmly planted in my consciousness: beauty. This show is simply beautiful. From the outstanding acting and writing to the stunning cinematography, this show -- centering on a recently-released death row inmate -- sings and dances like few other offerings currently on television. While similarly-set shows focus on the grimy underbelly of southern life and culture (True Detective, True Blood, and Justified come to mind), Rectify sets its sights on everyday struggle and redemption. Created by local Georgian Ray McKinnon, this show exudes southern charm and hospitality while also dealing with the isolation and fervent gossip that comes with small town life. Appropriately so, Rectify moves at its own graceful pace, not concerned by onlookers who may be used to a more high-intensity and volatile drama. If you slow down just a little bit, there might not be a more rewarding experience available on TV right now. Recitfy is currently airing its second season on the Sundance Channel. The first season is also streaming on Netflix.

Hannibal
On the other side of TV spectrum lies Hannibal, which focuses on the eponymous popular character from the Silence of the Lambs film and its many sequels. While Hannibal is shown on a big network (NBC), the show still attracts a meager audience and has been stuck in the not-so-attractive Friday night slot for most of its run. This show is not for the faint of heart. For a show that deals with Dr. Lecter and his relationship with serial killer profiler Will Graham, Hannibal might just be the skin-crawliest thing on TV. With countless indistinguishable sounds and images throughout every episode, Hannibal meticulously subverts the stereotypical detective/serial killer with its distinct visual style and creepy,borderline masochistic tone. Hannibal just wrapped up its second season and the first can now be streamed on Amazon Prime.