Top 5 Shows I'm Putting On Hiatus

When I moved a couple of years ago, I opted out of setting up a cable package. I figured there would be plenty of times when I would be working during the evening, and that it would make more sense to catch up on things on Hulu and whatnot. So I've gone the quarter- or maybe even half-hipster route in that I still have a TV but no signal, and watch plenty of stuff online or via Netflix. Perhaps even too much stuff, it sometimes seems.

The list of shows I keep up with is gradually shrinking. Rescue Me wrapped up last year, others have been canceled, and even though I took up watching Alcatraz there should be a net loss before long once Breaking Bad brings things to a close. As I've kept up with shows, however, I've realized there are some series that I shouldn't really be committing to. They still have their moments, but it's clear that they've lost direction or that the networks are trying to milk it as much as possible beyond its best years. It's possible that I'll dig them back up again sometime later, but for these series I've decided that it's time to put things on hold and stop giving them any sort of viewer points in the hope that they'll obey the "Please Wrap Up" sign:

5. The Walking Dead

(screenrant.com)

I hadn't heard of the comic book series this TV show is based on, but I've tended to enjoy the various zombie survival tales that have showed up in the past few decades. It seems the comic is one of the most expansive storylines in this genre, following a group of survivors as they deal with both the undead and hostile bandits. The pilot, and for the most part the first season, didn't fail to disappoint. A creepy atmosphere, incredible zombie creations, impressive sets, and so on.

You'll notice how storyline and character aren't included in this list, which is a little troublesome. I'm not sure how it's handled in the graphic novels, but the series suffers from the fact that while zombie movies can tell a survival tale in a couple of hours, a TV show has to keep an ongoing narrative. Unfortunately, that means that when the survivors find a safe haven where they can settle down for awhile, they do so. And then the story slows right down, too. Most of the past season of The Walking Dead has involved the characters hanging around a farm, occasionally killing or getting killed by zombies, and otherwise whiling away their time feuding with one another. The characters themselves have been drawn much too thin, as the show accumulates a massive cast and generally assigns a few cursory attributes to each person and calls it good.

This season just wrapped up recently, and I'll have to see whether I renege on this decision. There have been some improvements as of late, with some good scenes and surprising moments. But if this last season is any indication, I worry that each time a new one starts it will simply involve the survivors hanging around a new shelter and arguing.

4. Weeds

(news-tracker.com)

I started watching Weeds when five seasons had already aired, and by that time I'd already been sucked in by Breaking Bad. So even from the first episode, Weeds seemed just a bit too cutesy in some aspects. It made some arguments or jokes on religion and Middle America and a lot of other topics with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Still, it brought in a lot of good characters, amusing dialogue, and some clever storylines. At least until it decided to break out of the cloistered community of Agrestic where the series was originally set and send the characters cavorting around North America.

The early seasons of Weeds worked so well because they managed to weave so many factors together. There was the absurdity of Nancy Botwin turning immediately to the drug trade after her husband's death, the dramatic undercurrent of the stress Nancy faces as a widow trying to provide for two children (and the dangers of drug trafficking itself), the many signs that Nancy has no idea what the hell she's doing, the haughtiness and hypocrisy of the Agrestic community itself, and the general interplay between the various characters.

And then it just seemed like the show didn't know where to go. Agrestic burned down as something of an offshoot of a turf feud with a group of bikers, several (but not all) of the characters found themselves in another California community, then the Mexican cartel got involved, then there was a road trip all around the country, and suddenly we're in New York with a fraction of the original cast (although a couple older ones were clumsily shoehorned in). The original focus of the series has vanished, and what we're left with is characters who are generally unlikable and have no clear motivation. And considering that Nancy's children are now grown up and have proven themselves able to care for themselves, and that the most recent season started with Nancy being freed after serving a prison stint for murder, it's clear that even the titular marijuana isn't really a focal point or point of danger anymore. The show is coming back for at least one more season, but hopefully it's the last.

3. South Park

(clutch.mtv.com)

South Park is the success story aspired to by any student who gets by and even does well in school but spends at least some of class doodling raunchy cartoons. The series from creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone saw the gradual rise in quality typical of any good TV show anywhere. Even if some of the early episodes may have relied a little too heavily on potty humor and catchphrases (there's a reason South Park is probably most watched by people around my age, who first heard of the show in elementary school), it grew to become uproariously smart and entertaining. Parker and Stone mercilessly skewered countless people and topics and approached subjects in ways few people would have thought of.

As of late, however, it seems the show has been following a formula of finding something recent in news or trends and mocking it. The show still adds some originality to these stories, but virtually every episode for the past few seasons seems to have at its core some recent movie or political issue. There's been at least one article where Parker and Stone have said they're getting stressed out coming up with new ideas for the show. And considering how they've had successful side projects, namely the movie Team America: World Police and the Tony Award winning Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, I've also seen suggestions that the duo would prefer to quietly wrap up South Park and move on to other things. When the last season finale dealt with the main character coming down with crippling cynicism after his 10th birthday and his parents getting divorced, reviewers generally saw it as a reflection of the creators' increasing frustration with the show and there was even a rumor that it was a surprise series finale.

And then suddenly they did a bit of a reversal and proclaimed how much fun they were having making the show during a Daily Show interview. Shortly after that, the show was renewed not just for another year or two but all the way through 2016. I've generally had a problem with shows getting renewed for multiple seasons, especially comedy shows that rate well but are much more susceptible to decline in quality. To renew for five years just seems like they're dragging it out well past its lifespan. Best of luck, but I think I'm going to sit these hopefully last seasons out.

2. Dexter

(psychologycorner.com)

Network television debuts some kind of shows in waves after one model catches on. Remember when Survivor and Big Brother did well and so every godawful reality show got greenlighted? I read a lot of books in those years. As of late, it's been cop shows as Law and Order and CSI each had a few successful spinoffs. These in turn have been followed by a slew of replicants as networks decided we apparently want to follow the fictional cases of any criminal investigation group anywhere.

So it was a bit of fresh air when Showtime began Dexter, a series based on Jeff Lindsay's novels. Sure, it involves a lot of people in the Miami Metro Police Department's homicide division. The hook is that the titular character is also a serial killer, molded since a young age to control his homicidal urges by going after murderers and other criminals who manage to worm out of the justice system. It was a cop show with a clever premise, and you became captivated by both the individual episodes' stories as well as the underlying season theme involving Dexter going after another serial killer.

The risk, of course, is that this model gets a little formulaic after you've seen a few seasons. Right around the fifth season, Dexter started to slip. Characters had been bumped off and the show's few attempts to replace them have fallen flat. Other characters are still underdeveloped and underutilized after six seasons. It wouldn't be fair to say the show has consistently declined in quality from season to season (I liked the fourth season better than the third) but the latest, sixth season was pretty much universally panned. Between problems such as an underwhelming villain, a mid-season twist predicted by fans after just a few episodes, and a few vestigial plots that went nowhere, there were plenty of viewers suggesting that they wouldn't come back for season seven.

The show has been renewed for two more seasons, and the cliffhanger at the end of the latest one was certainly enticing. But if the latest run of episodes is any indication, it just won't be worth it to check them out.

1. The Office

(blogs.nytimes.com)

The British model for sitcoms sometimes seems to be: 1) Get a good idea, 2) Produce some hilarious television, and 3) Call it good after two seasons so the show can wrap up before getting stale.

This is certainly the case for the original run of The Office. The primary plot involved a documentary crew following the employees at a dismal office, focusing in particular on the romantic tension between unmotivated salesman Tim Canterbury and secretary Dawn Tinsley. Much of the supporting cast was more loosely sketched, though Ricky Gervais made an unforgettable performance as asinine boss David Brent while Gareth Keenan also became an easy fan favorite as an overzealous, oddball employee. The whole thing wrapped up in a mere 14 episodes, with Tim and Dawn finally getting together and Brent ousted from the company but finally achieving some maturity.

The American version had its weaknesses when it first came out, such as the pilot essentially being a word for word remake of the original's first episode, but it eventually found its own footing. It was at its strongest when it kept the same focus as the original, following a similar romance between characters Jim Halpert and Pam Beasley. The show managed to develop the characters in a new way, and bring in a successful reimagining of Gareth and Brent. It also worked on developing the other office workers with their own personalities. It all made for some great episodes and a successful enough show that even some British viewers have said they prefer it to the original.

But, once again, American TV seems to enjoy a formula of extending successful shows well past their natural lifespan. The Jim-Pam thread pretty much wrapped up at the end of the third season, and much of the motivating factor for the show went with it. There were some decent plots involving Michael Scott and the ailing health of the company. Jim and Pam's story collapsed into an everyday domestic tale of marriage and children, and when the show decided to forge on even after Steve Carrel left you knew it wasn't likely to have anywhere near the quality it once did. This past season has just been a meandering collection of episodes that halfheartedly contemplates whether or not to bring back a long dormant relationship between Dwight and a coworker and starts up a few more love stories as well. The show has pretty much completely aimless, wrapping up its most compelling plots and having no idea where to go without them.

Double Feature Review: 50/50 and Drive

50/50

(filmcritic.com)

Synopsis: A 27-year-old man is diagnosed with a rare type of cancer with only a 50 percent probability of survival, and tries to cope with the illness with the help of his family and a friend.

The bad news first: Since I did enjoy this movie quite a bit, I'll admit that I glanced through IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes for this one. And thanks to the Internet being a giant whiny vortex of negativity, there were a few things to pick up and add here. The first, more salient point is that the movie has a somewhat meandering narrative. You're following Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) through his medical treatment and psychological treatment and family interactions and romantic entanglements and so on, and some reviewers felt that this never really coalesced into a story. There's also the fair warning that Seth Rogen isn't exactly breaking new ground here (he's kind of playing himself), and while it's a little more understated than previous roles it's likely that you'll be annoyed by his character if you've tired of the stoner buddy roles he's played in several films already.

There's also something of a character shortcoming in Adam's girlfriend Rachael, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. Writer Will Reiser, who based the movie on his own battle with cancer as a young man, said Howard's character is an amalgamation of people who abandoned him in his time of need. As such, there are certainly scenes where Rachael is likeable, and even though her ultimate failure to stand by Adam is selfish you could see how someone could feel as she does. Other moments, such as one where she forgets to pick Adam up at his chemotherapy, seem to take a bit too broad of a route to paint her as a villain.

The good stuff: The biggest complaint I've seen related to this movie, and I wholeheartedly agree, is that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was snubbed in the Oscar nominations for best actor. He covers a wide range here, from the uncertainty he feels about how he should be reacting to the disease to the foil he plays for Rogen to the downright terror that he might die. 50/50 is always right on the line between drama and comedy, and Gordon-Levitt's strongest scenes are undoubtedly in the dramatic roles. A few scenes near the end of the film are incredibly moving, and they rest mostly on his shoulders.

There are plenty of other strong performances as well. Anjelica Huston does an excellent job as Adam's caring but overbearing mother ("I only smothered him because I loved him"). Even if Rogen's character as Adam's friend Kyle is a little familiar, he still hits just about every comedic note. Anna Kendrick makes her character as Adam's psychiatrist endearing from her first scene where she admits that Adam is only her third patient on her way to earning a doctorate. Even the more minor roles, such as Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall as Adam's chemotherapy buddies and Serge Houde as his Alzheimer's afflicted father, are very memorable.

If the characters are the strongest part of the movie, the dialogue is a close second. Rogen carries most of the comedic parts, but the interplay between the cast is enjoyable to watch.

Verdict: Well worth a watch.

Drive

(therealkatiewest.tumblr.com)

Synopsis: A mechanic/stunt driver/getaway driver finds himself caught up in a dangerous plot while trying to help out a neighbor.

The bad news first: A fellow I know went to the same show as me, and I noticed that he soon after complained on Facebook that the movie would have been better entitled "Staring" and that pretty much every substantial scene from the 100-minute movie had been distilled into the two-and-a-half minute trailer. Indeed, there was a woman who actually filed a lawsuit complaining that the trailer was "misleading" because the the movie turned out to be a character-driven, art house type of film rather than a Fast and Furious style romp of car chases and adrenaline.

I do have to admit a certain disappointment with the way the automotive focus dwindles into nothing about halfway through the film. You get a glimpse of each of the unnamed main character's professions, a couple of car chases, and then it becomes a bit more of a gritty drama. I don't consider it aggravating enough to file a friggin' lawsuit, though. The more noticeable weakness, as my pal there already pointed out, is that sometimes the stoic nature of the Driver and other minimalist aspects slow the pace to a crawl. When the film ramps up the violence and machinations in the second half, it seems a bit out of place thanks to the rather more lighthearted opening.

The good stuff: The only love Drive got from the Oscars was a nod for best sound editing, but it could have easily been in the running for a few other production categories. The film is extremely stylish, making great use of its sets and location. Every shot makes excellent use of the light or, if the sun's on the other side of the planet, of the bright lights of Los Angeles. It's all helped along by a soundtrack, hot pink credits, and a few other factors lending a certain 80's feel to the modern setting.

The movie is also buoyed by some strong acting performances. I was kind of on the fence about Ryan Gosling, since it seems like the director explicitly asked him to keep his facial expressions to a minimum. Ultimately, though, this means he has to convey a lot of emotion through subtle means and he manages to do this quite well. And since I'm a Breaking Bad fan, I'll generally trust anything Bryan Cranston is in.

And even if the movie hits a sluggish plateau after the first 15 minutes or so, it does pull you in once the main part of the story starts.

Verdict: Drive is certainly flawed and maybe a tad overrated, but it's worth putting on your Netflix queue (hey, if yours is like mine they've passed you over for Moneyball five times anyway).