Category: TV

The Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a sitcom about a group of dysfunctional cops working in the 99th Precinct.  It is made by Universal Television and airing on Fox.  I had my doubts about this show due to the fact Andy Samberg can get annoying, but he works well in this show, and it is probably the best new sitcom on TV.  The Golden Globes seemed to agree, giving this show two statues.

Samberg plays Detective Jake Peralta who is quite immature, but surprisingly effective at catching bad guys.  He is always competing against the also effective Detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero).  The show starts when the new captain, Ray Holt (Andre Braugher) takes over the precinct, and he tries to get everything back under control much to the chagrin of Peralta.

The reason this show works is that while Samberg is definitely the star, the rest of the characters stand on their own, and they are able to carry on a conversation that is not about Peralta.  Since Samberg can be very irritating, it is nice that the show doesn’t completely lean on him, and gives us a break from his antics.

Now having good sub-characters only works if the cast is good, and the people making Brooklyn Nine-Nine really put together a great one.  Andre Braugher, Terry Crews, and Joe Lo Truglio probably all could have had their own shows, so to get them to lend their talents to this show was quite an impressive piece of cast directing.

With all the cop shows on TV these days, the idea to make sitcom out of one was a brilliant idea.  It plays off everything we know about police procedurals, and it gives Fox another winning comedy.  If you need a laugh brought to you by a talented cast and crew, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine might just be what you are looking for.  I haven’t regretted tuning in yet.

Season 4 of the popular British show has now started, and it is just as good as it ever was.  The writers have brilliantly written off two major characters: Matthew sadly from the end of last season, and a fun little surprise at the beginning of this season, but they use these departures to add interest to the story.  Will Lady Mary be able to snap out of her grief?  Will they able to replace the loss of staff with someone capable (You know the answer to this.  Of course not, they will get someone who is crazy-pants because that is more fun)?  Will the staff be able to figure out who loves whom?  Oh the humanity!  I kid, but it is quite good.

The only real downside so far, is that the Granthams are now firmly the heroes of this story.  Before there was always hints that the show may take a more objective look at the political structure of the day, but it looks like the writers have decided that the aristocracy was the way to go.  They have completely absorbed the freedom loving Tom in to the Grantham household, so that anti-lord viewpoint has been wiped out.  I hope that side of him comes back though because it makes the show more interesting.  The show now wants us to want Downton Abbey and its Lords and Ladies to survive.

This show is all about survival not unlike The Walking Dead, but instead of zombies, it needs to survive the loss of its sons and daughters, and against the oncoming tide of democracy and capitalism.  History says it can’t, but we are rooting for these stuck up Lords to be able to pull it together and fight the odds.  It takes a good set of writers and actors to make millionaires the underdogs against the rise of regular folks, and to have the regular folks watching the TV root for the millionaires, but they continue to pull it off.

Downton Abbey looks to be just as good in its fourth season as it was in its third.  I will be watching and waiting to see if Downton can survive the zombie apocalypse political and social upheaval.  Something tells me that as long as Maggie Smith is on board they will be just fine.

To the shock of just about everyone, Community is back on NBC.  Last year they kicked out the creator of the show Dan Harmon, so they could make it less weird and more accessible, but all they really did was make it more unwatchable.  This year they brought back Dan, and the show is much better with him.

The writers answer the questions about why the study group would all come back to Greendale after graduating, by showing how woefully Greendale prepared them for life outside its walls.  It also makes some great Scrubs references along the way.  Community has gone back to its roots of showing weird people doing weird things for inexplicable reasons, but it did take on a darker tone.  As I stated before the study group was not ready for post Greendale life, and they paid dearly for trying to venture out in to the world beyond.  This may truly be the darkest timeline, but for now they are back doing what they do best, being a dysfunctional family/study group.

The group has changed, with Peirce being gone, <Spoiler>Jeff is now a teacher</Spoiler>, and the writers preparing to write Troy off the show.  These changes have seemed to work to the show’s benefit for the most part.  I will miss Troy, but he was always just a sounding board for Abed, so I think it will be fine.

Community is still not for everybody, but it never was, so when they changed it up last season, now known as the “Gas Leak” year, they just made it so it was for nobody.  It is back to being a show for a select audience, but at least we few who watch it are now much happier.  If this season is its last (we say that every season), at least it looks like it will be remembered fondly, and not as the less funny “Gas Leak” version.

Netflix finally got the last season of Futurama for streaming, and I of course gobbled it up.  It is hard to see another great show end its run, but this last season was one of the best.  The last episode “Meanwhile” in particular was an excellent way to wrap up the series and say farewell to Fry and Leela.  It was funny and showed real heart and emotion.  Most live action shows can’t do that.

I am now torn since there are rumors that Netflix wants to buy the show and develop more episodes, but it is nice to see Futurama go out on a high note like Breaking Bad, and not limp out of retirement like Arrested Development.  No matter what the future holds for this show, at least season 7B (10 on Netflix) gave the fans everything they loved and wanted plus a little extra.

If you haven’t seen the show, you really should, and you need to give it until the second season because that is when it finds its footing and really takes off.