2012 Summer and Fall TV Roundup

Now that the summer shows are finally finished their respective seasons, it's time to take a look back on how they fared. I'm also going to look ahead to TV shows I'll be watching in the fall, some of which have already started.

Summer

Deadman Wonderland
Although this anime was crazy and ridiculous, it was still fun and made me keep tuning in to see what would happen next. Although the show was a mere 12 episodes and only adapted parts of the manga, it doesn't look like it will get another season. Luckily the last episode tied up most of the loose ends, while still leaving it open for more just in case.

Aqua Something You Know Whatever
Aqua Teen Hunger Force has started to change its title every season now even though it's still the same show. That said, I was happy that the creators clearly tried this season, took more risks, and stepped up the animation (though the show was never about good animation). I felt that this season was much more funny and creative than last season which had its moments but overall was disappointing to me. My favorite three episodes of the ten episode season were Big Bro, The Granite Family, and Fightan Titan. Also, whatever happened to the promised new Aqua Teen, the baby pepper named Pepe? Maybe it was just another Adult Swim joke but there was a picture with him on the Cartoon Network website.

Black Dynamite
I have really enjoyed this show so far and can't wait for the next season. The transition from live action movie to animated TV series went smoothly as it allows for them to do whatever they want. This can manifest itself with crazy action scenes or actual people from the 1970s! The season finale was a sequel to the pilot.

Wilfred
I am a big fan of Wilfred and loved season two. This year built upon last season while still pushing the envelope and keeping things fresh such as Ryan getting a girlfriend. The season finale was good but there had better be a third season as there are still some mysteries left to be revealed. But most importantly I just want more Wilfred!

Louie
I started watching Louie last year but only caught about half the season. This year for season three I watched it from the beginning and it's right up there with Wilfred as one of my favorite current TV shows. The recent three parter about Louie having a chance to succeed David Letterman as host of the Late Night was great, as was the holiday themed season finale. Louie has already been renewed for next year, its fourth season. FX has been on fire for me lately with Wilfred, Louie, and Archer so I should probably make it a point to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia this season as I usually just watch it when it's on but never seek it out.

Fall

Robot Chicken
Adult Swim's Robot Chicken began its sixth season recently with a bang thanks to its DC comics special. My favorite segment of that episode was when the Green Lantern couldn't stop laughing while at the funeral of Captain Carrot because of the silly nature of his "zoo crew"!

South Park
The second half of the South Park's 16th season started last week. The show isn't as great as it used to be but still worth watching. The mid-season opener was titled "Sarcastaball" and is about football injuries. I thought they would've gone with something a little more timely, such as the recent NFL referee strike (though there was one joke about it) or election season politics.

The Boondocks
The fourth season of The Boondocks hasn't aired yet even though it was announced a while ago. I haven't heard anything since so I'm guessing it got pushed back. Maybe it will start late in the fall but I have a feeling it we won't see it until sometime next year.

Beavis and Butthead
Last fall we got the return of Beavis and Butthead. Although the first episode garnered about 3.3 million viewers, that number tapered off to under 1 million by the end of the season. I don't think the show has been officially canceled but it doesn't look like its coming back anytime soon.

Last Man Standing
Speaking of shows I watched last fall, Last Man Standing will be back on ABC for another season. However, the show is being retooled with the classic sitcom aging syndrome as the two year old Boyd will now be a five year old. Besides that age change two other characters (eldest daughter Kristin and her ex-boyfriend Ryan, the parents of Boyd) are having their actors replaced. While I enjoyed the first season, I do think some changes were needed but we'll have to wait and see if these are the right moves.

M.D. Geist II: Death Force (1997)

M.D. Geist II: Death Force (1997)

As its name suggests, M.D. Geist II: Death Force is sequel to the 1986 anime M.D. Geist. I have no idea why it took eleven years to make a follow-up. You can read my thoughts on the first M.D. Geist here.
M.D. Geist II is not as fun or even as good as the first installment. However, I'd say it's still worth watching if you loved the original, especially since like the first its only 45 minutes long. For me though I found parts boring or just rehashing from the original. I did think it was cool that this time there is another Most Dangerous soldier besides Geist, although that character turned was uninteresting and somehow more unlikeable than Geist. Vaiya, pretty much the only female character in both stories, returns but doesn't really do much. There is also a new character who looks like kinda Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
While I'm glad I watched M.D. Geist II for completion's sake, I will probably never re-watch it as it's mostly more of the same but not as fun as the first. It didn't grab me at all and was kinda boring at times, which is something I cannot say about the original MD Geist!
Both M.D. Geist OVAs (original video animation) can be found at YouTube and Hulu.
3/10

Summer 2012 TV shows: Wilfred, Louie, and cartoons

It's time to examine the summer TV shows I've been watching! As you can probably tell from the fact that I run a movie blog and not a TV blog, I generally prefer film to TV shows. I'm also not a big fan of current mainstream TV, though part of that is just because I don't have a lot of time to watch TV. All of these shows are a half-hour long (except Cartoon Planet which is a a bit different) and most are cartoons.

Wilfred Season 2 on FX
Last summer I saw a commercial for a new show called Wilfred. The ad explained the general premise of the show, which is that a young man named Ryan (played by Elijah Wood) sees his neighbor's dog (Wilfred, played by Jason Gann) as a guy in a dog suit. I thought the idea had potential as a strange mix of Harvey and Donnie Darko so I immediately started watching it. I quickly fell in love with the show and discussed Wilfred a couple of posts last year. I won't rehash what I wrote earlier so I'll just say that season 2 has been great so far. The first season ended with a huge cliffhanger and Wilfred found a creative yet satisfying way to handle that and let the show to keep growing. Wilfred is based on an Australian comedy of the same name, but having seen a good amount of that show, the FX version is going in a very different direction. Although I find Wilfred very funny, I don't really watch it for the humor anymore. I just love seeing the interactions between Wilfred and Ryan and well as the increasingly dramatic story lines. Wilfred is stretching the limits of what even a cable show can do and is constantly full of surprises. It may just be the best current show TV has to offer.

Louie Season 3 on FX
Last summer when I started watching Wilfred religiously I noticed that it was directly followed by a show called Louie created by comedian Louis C.K. At the time I was only somewhat familiar with the stand-up work of Louis C.K. but liked what I had seen so I gave it a shot. I already liked the FX shows It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Archer, and Wilfred and wondered if they could strike gold again. While I haven't seen the first season of Louie, seasons 2 and 3 (so far) have been fantastic. FX is really making up for FOX's reputation for canceling good shows early on. FX makes shows that of high quality and push boundaries. Then FX does a good job of marketing these shows, they become critically and commercially successful, and then are renewed for seasons to come.
Upon first glance Louie might seem like the show Seinfeld in that both are about the everyday life of a comedian who basically plays himself with short stand-up performances mixed in for good measure. While I enjoy both shows, Louie is quite different. When I said that Louie was created by Louis C.K., I mean that he writes, directs, edits, produces, and stars in the show. I think it is great that FX has given a talent like Louis C.K. full creative control over his own show, and their decision is certainly paying off. Louie doesn't rely on topical humor or reference jokes to be funny, simply draws inspiration from everyday life. The show is filmed almost like a documentary and the dialogue feels real. While the show has a great sense of humor, it also does a good job of handling the drama, which like the comedy is often the result of the awkward situations Louie finds or puts himself in.
Wilfred may or may not be the best current TV show, but Wilfred and Louie on FX at 10-11 PM Thursday night is without a doubt the best hour of Television on right now. 

Cartoon Planet on Cartoon Network
When I first heard that Cartoon Network was bringing back Cartoon Planet I thought it was a joke. There was no way Cartoon Network would bring back a show that featured Space Ghost: Coast to Coast characters Space Ghost, Zorak, and Brak hosting a variety show in the middle of classic cartoons! Now to be fair Cartoon Network did make some big changes to Cartoon Planet. First of all, Space Ghost is no longer part of the show so we just have Brak and Zorak. No big deal, though I love Space Ghost and his voice actor George Lowe. However, we do have brand new animations for Brak and Zorak which look great. The classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons between the host segments have been replaced with Cartoon Network cartoons from the 90s through the present. At first I was not thrilled with this change, but once I started re-watching Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy I realized that all these shows not only hold up well now that I am older, but are classics in their own right. I don't care much for the other shows aired by Cartoon Planet (most of which are more recent than the shows I mentioned) but that is why I usually watch this show on the DVR so I can fast forward through the ones I don't like... which does not happen often!

Deadman Wonderland on Cartoon Network's Toonami
I had Cartoon Network since I was a child and actually remember the very first incarnation of Toonami with Moltar from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast as the host. This was before anime ruled the roost at Toonami which mostly featured shows like the original 1960s Space Ghost, Johnny Quest, ThunderCats, and Batman: The Animated Series. I still watched the show as it went into more of an anime direction and enjoyed Steve Blum's work as the host, TOM the robot. Toonami ended in 2008 but was brought back in 2012 on April Fool's Day in honor or Cartoon Network's 20th anniversary. The April Fool's return of Toonami proved to be so popular that it was brought back permanently on May 26th. The current line-up features old shows like Cowboy Bebop mixed in with two new ones: Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins. I watched the first episode of both shows but Deadman Wonderland interested me more (plus its shorter with 12 episodes compared to 24) so decided to watch it. While I'm not a big fan of anime, I do like Deadman Wonderland. It's got a cool title, an interesting premise about an innocent boy framed for mass-murder and placed into a prison that doubles as a violent game show, and is dark as hell. Sometimes the show gets either too dark or ridiculous (hilarious creative cursing) but its all part of one unique experience and I can't wait to see how it ends.   

Aqua Something You Know Whatever on Adult Swim
Aqua Something You Know Whatever is the ninth season of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which was known as Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 last season. Besides the title, the opening and closing themes have been replaced yet again. Why the changes? Why not! It certainly helps keep things fresh and adheres to the "never know what you are going to get" spirit of the show. So far this season has been great and an improvement over last season. Not that last season was bad, but the show felt like it was getting stale with a lot of episodes feeling repetitive or on topics you thought the show already covered (Predators, the ShamWow Guy). This season has been great so far as not only have we had some hilarious episodes, but even the weaker ones have been very creative. The animation was never the point of the show as it always has a cheap cut and paste style on purpose. Now we have some nice creative animations that breathe new life into the show. I noticed that some stories that actually have a beginning, middle, and end which is a surprise for this surrealist show. There has even been a twist on the fact that the show has no continuity. Usually in the past this meant that if all the "Aqua Teens" died they would be alive and well in the next episode with no explanation. But in one episode this season Shake accidentally killed himself but was perfectly fine in the very next scene! It's nice to see the show changes things up in a way that sticks true to itself and is hilarious, but is new at the same time.

Black Dynamite on Adult Swim
I loved the original live action movie, Black Dynamite (2009), which I reviewed on this blog. So when I heard last year that they were making an animated Adult Swim show out of the movie I was ecstatic! Most of those involved with the Black Dynamite movie have returned for this animated show which was great news. But how does the show actually stack up? I saw the pilot last year, which featured a plot about evil hand puppets, and it was fantastic. Unlike the 10 minute Aqua Something You Know Whatever, Black Dynamite is in a full 30 minute time slot. The first episode (of the first, but hopefully not last, season) premiered on July 15th.  Although I've only seen one episode so far, I'm hooked! The show captures the feel of the authentic 70s blaxploitation era that the live action movie handled so well, this time with stylish animation. The first episode features Black Dynamite meeting up with a young Michael Jackson and there is some great satire here. I can't wait for more of this show!

The Boondocks on Adult Swim
Although The Boondocks has been confirmed for a fourth season, there has yet to be an announcement as to when it will air. I am assuming that it will premiere late in the summer (August or early September) but maybe The Boondocks will be pushed back until the fall. I love what I have seen of the first three seasons of The Boondocks, even though I haven't seen all those episodes yet, and am eagerly awaiting new episodes. I'm glad that creator Aaron McGruber is still involved, especially since he seems to be permanently done with the great comic strip that the show is based on.

I will update later on with a follow-up post after these seasons are over (or start in the case of The Boondocks) and will probably do a fall TV post as well.

Spring Wrap-up Part Three

I just realized that my blog has been up for over a year! Yay! Well since I just figured this out now and am over a week late I don't have anything special planned. Maybe I'll do something next year... if I remember! But in the spirit of this blog here is another post on three very different movies as my seemingly endless quest to get caught up continues!

Saved! (2004)
Saved! reminded me of Heathers as both movies are satires that take place in high school. Jenna Malone's performance even recalled Winona Ryder in that movie. But Saved! takes a different route as it's about religion, specifically fundamentalist Christians. However I never felt that the movie was mean spirited as there are some religious characters at "American Eagle Christian High School" who are perfectly reasonable.
Saved! features one of Macaulay Culkin's first film appearances since 1994's Richie Rich. Culkin's comedic timing was very good and its nice to see him acting again even though he hasn't done much since.
Pop star Mandy Moore has a major role in the movie and she did a good job, especially for somebody who is not primarily an actress. I am surprised she would accept a villainous role given her image, but commend her for taking the risk here as it paid off.
I quite liked Saved! and found it pretty funny but I felt that its biggest weakness was its shift in tone at around the midpoint. The first half of the movie is a satire while it turns into a straight-up teen dramedy for the last half.
7/10

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
I came into this movie ready for great special effects but not much else. I pretty much got what I was expecting, although to be honest it was a little better than I thought it would be.
I liked the angle of an older Alice coming back to Wonderland. In this sense it feels more like Return to Oz meets The Chronicles of Narina than an Alice in Wonderland movie made by Tim Burton. There are already tons of TV and movie versions of this story so I guess they tried to put a different spin on it while not making it too dark, which has already been done anyway. I'm only familiar with the Disney animated version, which I love, and have never read the original Lewis Carroll stories.
When it comes to the acting Crispin Glover (who has a surprisingly large amount of screen time) did a nice job, as did Helena Bonham Carter who played the Red Queen. Christopher Lee, Alan Rickman, and Stephen Fry all provided voices which was a lot of fun. Of course this movie was advertised as a Johnny Depp film but he isn't in the movie quite as much as you would think and wasn't as over the top as I was expecting for the Mad Hatter.
Alice in Wonderland won Oscars for art direction and costume design. It was also nominated for best visual effects but lost out to Inception. Lighting and Compositing technical director Brian Blasiak also worked on Avatar (among other movies) and worked his special effects magic for this film as well. Alice in Wonderland looked fantastic in High Definition. It was marketed as a 3-D film even though it was not filmed in 3-D but was instead converted in post-production.
Usually I have some issues with CGI but this is exactly how it should be used. The real world bookend scenes were done well made and are a nice contrast to the CGI world of Wonderland. The Jabberwocky was CGI but its design appeared to be influenced by the designs of Ray Harryhausen's monsters.
While this is not a bad movie, it's not very good either and is a movie I probably will never watch again. Still, I enjoyed it more than Burton's weaker efforts like Mars Attacks! or his 2001 Planet of the Apes remake.
I was surprised that Alice in Wonderland made so much money (11th highest grossing film of all time without adjusting for inflation), especially since it didn't come out in the summer or around Christmas. I'm don't think it deserved to make $1 billion worldwide but if you look at how much those Transformers movies made I guess I'm fine with it! It was rated PG so I could see it appealing to families with older and/or younger children as well as adults which is probably why it hauled in so much dough.
6/10

Garzey's Wing (1996)
Technically this is not a movie but a three part OVA (direct to video) anime with each episode being 30 minutes long. Garzey's Wing was written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the same man who developed the classic Gundam series. This is proof that even the best creators can have horrible misfires.
I'm not even going to bother describing the plot as Garzey's Wing is an incoherent disaster that is unintentionally hilarious due in part to a terrible dub. You can see what I mean here and here.
Garzey's Wing makes the infamous MD Geist (which I wrote about earlier) look like a masterpiece in comparison which is really saying something!
Despite being a total mess I must admit that Garzey's Wing is an enjoyable watch even though its for all the wrong reasons. If you want to watch a bad but fun anime with a group of friends this certainly fits the bill!
3/10

A double shot of 80s Anime

I generally don't watch much anime but have friends who do. I like it alright, but I'm the type of person who likes pretty much every genre of film, as long as its good! Both of these are from 1986 although I didn't plan that.

Fist of the North Star (1986)
Fist of the North Star features some gorgeous animation despite the fact that a lot of it takes place in a dirty, post-apocalyptic setting.
I liked it as the movie was violent fun yet still more intelligent than the anime below.
The story could be better but this was based on a Manga so it seems they had to condense a lot of it to fit the 110 minutes run time. Plus who watches this for the story, they just want to see a bunch of heads explode!
There actually is a live action version of Fist of the North Star but I've heard its pretty bad. Oh, I should mention that I watched the English subtitles for this movie.
6/10

M.D. Geist (1986)
I watched M.D. Geist with a group of friends right after we saw The Land Before Time XIII. This direct-to-video anime is pretty much the exact opposite of that children's movie as M.D. Geist is not just violent as hell but also features a topless woman! Although I don't watch much anime, MD (stands for Most Dangerous soldier) Geist has a reputation amongst anime lovers for being awesomely bad and it certainly upholds that high standard! I had actually seen this before a while back with a friend and it holds up as being a lot of fun even though it is incredibly stupid.
M.D. Geist liberally rips off every action movie of the 1980s with the main two being The Road Warrior and Escape from New York. It probably even borrowed ideas from Fist of the North Star which started in manga form in 1983 and also has a post-apocalyptic setting.
I watched the director's cut as the animation in the original is said to be so choppy there is even a scene where you can see Geist's head flapping in the wind! M.D. Geist clocks in at a mere 45 minutes and is exact what you want if you are looking for silly over the top fun. I almost always go with subtitles when it comes to foreign language films but this time I recommend the English dub since it's hilarious. There actually is a sequel to M.D. Geist which I will have to check out sometime.
I wouldn't say this is good, but I always have a blast watching it! M.D. Geist is a textbook definition of "so bad, its good".
5/10