Boardwalk Empire Boardwalk Empire is new this season and I think HBO may have finally found their new Sopranos. Boardwalk Empire takes itself a lot more seriously than the Sopranos did, though. From the period sets and costumes (which are amazing), to the heavyhanded themes of each episode (sort of like Mad Men, but without any subtlety at all), to the history and politics, Boardwalk Empire plays everything up with as much high drama as possible. Not that I’m complaining, the show is a lot of fun to watch. I look forward to seeing where it goes next season, now that the characters are more or less established.

Eastbound & Down Even if this show sucked, I would probably watch it just because of the CLT connection. Luckily, it doesn’t suck. It is, at times, the funniest show on TV. Strangely enough, I have a friend who pretty much is Kenny Powers and he doesn’t get the show at all. The 2nd season, like the first, was only 6 episodes (not enough!) so it has already ended. Shelby represent!

Dexter The writing has fallen off quite a bit this season. I’m not sure if they’re intentionally dumbing it down, if they are hiring cheaper writers, or if they’re just getting slack/lazy. It isn’t bad, there is still quite a bit of tension, great guest stars (Julia Stiles [Erika Christensen?], Peter Weller), and a good overall season story arc, but there are some very lame moments (especially the dialog) and some lazy/annoying character development. Still worth watching, I just hope the quality doesn’t fall much further.

Weeds Yet another show that has already ended for the season. The last few seasons have been very different from each other, this season was no exception. This season had a “life on the road” theme that could have turned to “death on the road” at any time. The last episode of the season caught me by surprise, I wasn’t sure how they were going to resolve everything but that wasn’t one of my guesses. I wasn’t sure if the show would be back for another season but Showtime has announced a 7th season which, like the last few seasons, will have to be totally different that the previous season.

So… what are you watching?

Because I know you care, here is what I’m watching on TV these days.

Mad Men – Now in season 4 and still the best show on TV, as far as I know (but what do I know?).

Louie – I was a fan of Louie CK’s last show (Lucky Louie on HBO) but I prefer this one. It is a warped play on the Seinfeld formula but is possibly more warped than Curb or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is saying a lot. My only 2 complaints: 1) The first episode was probably my least favorite and a lot of people stopped watching after that one. 2) 22 minutes is way too short. Every episode ends too soon.

True Blood – I won’t say it is good but I do enjoy watching it. I’ve come to accept my guilty viewing pleasure for what it is: Twilight for bad adults instead of good tweens.

Action Sports – Summer is my favorite time of the year for sports thanks to the X-Games and Action Sports. The Dew Tour is a 6(?) month tour across the country with vert and street events for BMX and skateboarding. Action Sports airs the Dew Tour stop each month over 2 days on NBC, making it the only show I watch on network television.

Entourage – Entourage is like today’s version of The Love Boat: we tune in to see who will be the surprise guest stars as much as we do for the comedic soap opera of the regular characters. I recently coined a new (to me) phrase after seeing yet another episode end with a happy resolution after one of the main characters happened to run into some rich guest star who saved the day: douche ex machina.

Boondocks – yes, this ended a couple weeks ago but I have to mention it. It is my favorite cartoon on these days but seriously, why does every good show have to come on Sunday nights?

Respect.

I’m interested in seeing how Breaking Bad continues after its very short first season, but I am more interested in rewatching season 2 of the best show on television, Mad Men.

Something about this show moves me but internally, subconsciously or something, an undertow. Maybe it’s like the Waltons was for my parents (or little house on the prairie for my great grandparents), making me nostalgic for something I never experienced.

Mad Men is so amazingly well done, it blooms like a song or ballet. Something majestic, complex and beautiful while understated with a rhythm that makes me forget to notice how perfectly it is all laid out, seamlessly, every part doing exactly what it should so that each piece becomes almost transparent in the whole. The writing, direction, production, the acting, everything about the show is outstanding. It makes me remember when HBO had incredible programming, except without the cursing and nudity (not that there is anything wrong with that, it is just too easy to get distracted when you know there is a possibility of seeing Joan disrobe).

The Jimmy Kimmel Live site is the most annoying site I’ve seen in a while… every frakin click causes another video ad to play before you can do anything. This vid is kinda small but not bad. This is “The Mummy”, the 2nd song Benji and friends played that night; the song they had just started when the show ended.

Good stuff. Benji is the man.

[UPDATE: here is the video for the second song: Benji Hughes - The Mummy ]

At 12:01 AM on January 1st, just after the ball drops in Time Square, Time Warner Cable’s 13.3 million subscribers will lose 19 Viacom channels — Comedy Central; CMT: Pure Country; Logo; Palladia; MTV; MTV 2; MTV Hits; MTV Jams; MTV Tr3s; Nickelodeon; Noggin; Nick 2; Nicktoons; Spike; The N; TV Land; Vh1; Vh1 Classic; Vh1 Soul.

if this is true, I’m canceling cable tomorrow.

And then things started going downhill. Deadwood was getting better, as was Carnivalé. But it was time for Sopranos to end. Instead of letting it, HBO decided to string it along on life support even after it became painfully obvious that the crew in charge of the show wanted to be elsewhere.
Carnivalé could have ended nicely but instead it was cancelled between seasons, ending with a cliffhanger that never should have been written, let alone aired as the final moments of what had once been a great show. This was the first time HBO screwed me (and every fan of one of their original series) but it would not be the last.
Six Feet Under ended so well that it made up for a few seasons of crap, completely redeeming the show in by eyes. That was the last time I saw an HBO series end well.
Rome was also great and also ended early but at least the producers knew this in advance and were able to squeeze a couple seasons of material into the second and final season. Deadwood’s producers were promised at least one season that was then taken back in exchange for a pair of 2-hour HBO movies that would be used to wrap things up. HBO did this so the Deadwood writer (and many others involved with Deadwood) could begin working on a replacement for the Sopranos slot while Sopranos wastes away in a coma and finally ended in a baffling anticlimax that almost made you forget how terrible the final 2 seasons were, 2 seasons that were made up of 1 season of material and a half season of filler.
So the Sopranos replacement began and, boy was that weird. John From Cincinati had problems (most of which were due to non-actors in costarring roles ruining their every scene) but how it was ever supposed to replace Sopranos is beyond me. It was much too smart for the masses. And then HBO shortened the first and only season of JFC from 10 to 8 episodes. So the show that cases the premature death of Deadwood was itself dead in the water. But at least those 2 Deadwood movies were still on the way. And then they cancelled those.

So of the 8 HBO original series I have watched, here is the score:
2 have not ended (Curb and Entourage)
1 ended well
2 ended early but were given notice
1 ended badly 3 seasons late
1 was cancelled between seasons with no real ending
1 was cancelled as the final season was wrapping up but the producers were promised 1 movies that were later cancelled.

So, except for 2 ongoing series and Six Feet Under, I don’t see a single successful and complete series from HBO. You could say Sopranos was complete but those last 2 seasons were insulting at best and the ending was worse.

So tell me, why should I bother watching True Blood? Given HBO’s track record, I have to assume that the series will end badly. Fool me once, shame on you. I don’t even want to think of what fooling me 5 times means…

He died of Cancer today at age 89.
Respect.