Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 9: Reign of the Legend of Sleepy Parenthorror Story

We got a real smorgasbord on this here Tim's TV Talk. From medieval tween soaps to future M. Night Shyamalan source material to the joyful butchery of Washington Irving to the Braverman clan to witches and voodoo and minotaurs, this hour-plus podcast's got it all. We even take brief sidebars for reviews of The Michael J. Fox Show and the Carrie remake, a move so bold and ballsy no other podcast would even dare attempt it. Go forth, brave listeners, and hear opinions about TV shows!

Podcast timecodes:

Reign - 0:00 - 7:30 (spoilers through episode 2)

The Legend of Korra - 7:30 - 19:50 (spoilers through season 2 episode 8)

Sleepy Hollow - 19:50 - 26:10 (spoilers through episode 5)

Parenthood - 26:10 - 48:05 (spoilers through season 5 episode 5)

The Michael J. Fox Show - 48:05 - 50:08

American Horror Story: Coven - 50:08 - 1:02:20 (spoilers through episode 3)

Carrie (2013) - 1:02:20 - 1:09:07 (spoilers)

End - 1:09:07 - end

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 9: Reign of the Legend of Sleepy Parenthorror Story

Best TV Episodes, September 2013

10. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. / Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 1 Episode(s) 1 – "Pilot"

Respectively the strongest drama and comedy pilots of this new fall TV season, neither Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which are both, frankly, kind of annoying to type!) came exploding out of the gate on fire, but both show promise. A runner-up to the list could be Fox's Sleepy Hollow, which has a bit of a fun Fringe-y, Supernatural-y vibe to it, but unlike S.H.I.E.L.D. lacks a pilot written and directed by Joss Whedon. Stay tuned for more thoughts on fall's new lineup later in the year, once I've gotten more of a feel for everything.

9. Parks and Recreation, Season 6 Episodes 1 & 2 – "London" (two-parter)

I've been vocally down on Parks and Recreation over the last year or so – increasingly, I feel like the show hit a peak in the nine-episode stretch between "Media Blitz" and "The Fight" back in season 3 that it's never been able to remotely match again – so, unlike with most critics, it actually means something when I say that "London" was a great season premiere. Better than any episode of season 5, in fact. It's the first episode in a long time to put a legitimately delightful new spin on Ron's uber-manliness, and the way it temporarily wrote out Andy to accommodate Guardians of the Galaxy's shooting schedule was actually damn clever. And unlike Friends' trip to London the photography was beautiful too, both of the city and in the countryside with Ron.

8. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 12 – "Rabid Dog"

Having now seen all of Breaking Bad season 5 1/2, I feel comfortable declaring "Rabid Dog" the weakest of its eight episodes. Which is to say it was merely very good instead of one of the best TV episodes of the last several years. It was clear even while watching the episode the first time that this was an hour dedicated to shuffling the pieces into place for the insanity soon to come – did anyone really think anything crazy was going to go down in that public square at the end? – but the bizarre, burgeoning relationship between Jesse and the Schrader family was just the right brand of strange and funny. I only wish we could see more of Jesse's confession tape!

7. Parenthood, Season 5 Episode 1 – "It Has to Be Now"

When it comes to Parenthood, the difference between an average, good or great episode often comes down to the absence or presence of one moment that reduces me from manly man to big dumb weepy baby. In the case of the show's fifth season premiere, said moment was found in the episode's final minute, where returning Afghanistan veteran Ryan York proposed to Amber, the preferred Braverman of all people with hearts, scored to Joshua Radin's "My My Love." No showrunner has ever used music as perfectly as Jason Katims, and that's as true in Parenthood season 5 as it was back in Friday Night Lights season 1.

6. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Season 9 Episode 3 – "The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award"

Surreally and against all the rules of television, Always Sunny is, nine years in, just getting more and more ambitious. Once, it commented on how terrible these specific people were; now it turns its sights on the entire medium of television, as the gang finds themselves trapped in a shitty ABC-style sitcom as they visit another award-winning (i.e. Emmy-winning) bar, where the people are "likable" and the colors are bright and the banter is phony and the will-they-or-won't-they romance is gag-inducing. Unlike Community's semi-takedown of Glee, there didn't appear to be much winking or loving about this parody: It was downright scornful of the shitty comedies Emmy voters throw gold at. And it was glorious. One of my favorite Sunny episodes in years.

5. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 15 – "Granite State"

"Granite State" was something of a schizophrenic episode: On the one hand, up in New Hampshire with Walt's story, Breaking Bad became as moody, quiet, introspective and methodical in its pacing (and snowy!) as we've just about ever seen the show. Even compared to similarly stationary episodes like "Fly" and "4 Days Out," Walt's story here lacked a goal or a purpose; he was just trapped, deteriorating. Rotting. Until he saw a certain TV interview, that is.

Meanwhile, back in the ABQ, with Jesse and all the rest, things went fucking horrifyingly nuts, with dead-eyed Landry Todd Alquist stepping up to join King Joffrey on the short list of contemporary TV's sickest, most unpredictably violent and terrifying villains. The two contrasting halves of the episode created an enjoyably odd mix, propelling events into the finale and ending with the show's first-ever onscreen use of the Breaking Bad theme song outside of the title card, which was just thrilling.

4. Futurama, Season 7 Episode 26 – "Meanwhile"

Futurama's last couple years may not have been what the show was at its peak – and, let's be honest here, a really freaking small handful of shows in TV history are what Futurama was at its peak – but "Meanwhile" was nevertheless just about all you could have asked for from its series finale. It was funny, it was emotional, it had crazy sci-fi time-warping shenanigans baked into its plot, and it wrapped up the series-spanning Fry/Leela arc in a way that was wonderful, joyful and just a touch bittersweet. It's one of the goriest episodes in the show's history and it leaves you with a smile on your lips and a tear in your eye. Classic Futurama right there.

It's also the first one of these long-lived animated sitcoms to have a true series finale that really feels like a series finale, wrapping up characters and story arcs in a manner that gives the impression of a finished story. The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy and American Dad live on and King of the Hill ended with a fairly non-eventful, non-climactic "life goes on" episode. But one day, those first four series will end, and "Meanwhile" gives them a good model for what kind of tone they might aim for in their final 22-minute slices.

3. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 13 – "To'hajiilee"

(Spoilers follow!) The final ten minutes of "To'hajiilee" are, without question, among the most stomach-churningly suspenseful I've ever witnessed in television or film. I'm talking about everything after Uncle Jack's gang descends on Hank and Gomie, of course, but arguably even more importantly I'm talking about the minutes before they arrive. I mean, they're coming. You know they're coming. Hitchcock's bomb under the table is primed at ticking loudly when Hank is on the phone with Marie, delivering classic "I'm about to die" dialogue about how it's finally over and he loves her, and you just fucking know the Albuquerque desert is about to turn into Naziville, population Hank.

But all my years of 24 watching conditioned me to expect motherfucking SHOCK! moments (and Breaking Bad, too, has delivered a couple over the years), so I watched this on edge, every nerve ending alert, adrenaline pumping in a way no TV show should logically induce, ready for a gunshot to blow out Hank's brains out of nowhere. It turned out Vince Gilligan and company had something a bit different in mind, but still, holy fucking shit, what a sequence. What a set piece. I would be very interested to see what this episode's director Michelle MacLaren could bring to an action/thriller/suspense feature film once she's done with her work on Game of Thrones.

2. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 16 – "Felina"

(Spoilers follow!) Part of what makes Breaking Bad great (and what makes it stand out in contrast to most attempts at "quality television" that have followed) is that, for all its darkness and misery and its focus on consequences and its character arcs of supreme, literary power, it's a really, really fun show with thick veins of pulp running through it. Always has been, from Walt destroying Tuco's office with magic bomb crystals to several instances of cool guys not looking at explosions to the half-Terminator/half-Anton Chigurh Salamanca twins to Two-Face Gus Fring fixing his tie before dying. And it's in that spirit that one of dramatic television's great narratives ends with its protagonist building and deploying a Nazi-killing robot. Awesome.

1. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 14 – "Ozymandias"

However, the flip side of Breaking Bad's deliciously pulpy essence is all that other stuff I mentioned: The darkness, the misery, the consequences, and it's all on full display in "Ozymandias," which Vince Gilligan himself has declared his masterpiece and the best episode of the series. I'm not 100% sure I'm ready to go that far – I need to rewatch the entire series and see "One Minute" and "Full Measure" and "Crawl Space" and "Face Off" and "Dead Freight" again first – but it is as intense, brutal and harrowing an hour of television as I've ever seen. If "Felina" is the climax to Breaking Bad, the entertaining crime/thriller saga, "Ozymandias" is the climax to Breaking Bad, the intensely bleak tale of a man losing his soul and the horrors he rains upon everyone around him. Beginning to end, "Ozymandias" is an episode about consequences, and karma brought its full fury against Walter White and his family in service of just that.

Breaking Bad was brutal, fantastic, glorious brilliance. It is unequivocally one of the greatest TV series of all time. Now, internet, let's please try to maintain my love for it and frankly my sanity by shutting up about it for at least a year.

Tim's TV Talk Drunkcast, Episode 1: Under the Drunkcast

This week I'm launching a spinoff of Tim's TV Talk Podcast entitled Tim's TV Talk Drunkcast. It's much like the original program, except with one added element that should be immediately obvious, but, in case it yet eludes you, is explained mere minutes into our inaugural episode, in which booze, podcasting and the mediocre CBS genre serial Under the Dome all combine to form a rambling, giggling, semi-coherent two-hour monstrosity.

In addition to Under the Dome, this drunkcast contains spoilers for the TV shows Hannibal, Friday Night Lights, The Walking Dead (through season 2), Lost, Sherlock, The White Queen, Spartacus and Game of Thrones (and its source novels A Song of Ice and Fire) and the movies World War Z, The Spectacular Now, Carrie, Spring Breakers, Pacific Rim, Skyfall, Star Trek Into Darkness, Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Lord of the Rings films and books.

So, in other words, things go a liiittle off topic. If you're just here for Dome talk, feel free to hop out around the one hour mark, but strap yourself in for the pop culture whirlwind in hour two if you yet dare. Intoxication isn't required for listening, but honestly couldn't hurt.

Cheers!

Tim's TV Talk Drunkcast, Episode 1: Under the Drunkcast

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 8: Korracast

Earth... Fire... Air... Water. Only the Avatar can master all four elements, and bring balance to the world. But in lieu of balance in the world, feel free to listen to this quick podcast on The Legend of Korra, which covers the entirety of Book One and the first two episodes of Book Two, "Rebel Spirit" and "The Southern Lights." Be warned, this podcast is a master spoilerbender, so if you haven't seen the show yet then by all means catch the hell up then listen.

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 8: Korracast

Best TV Episodes, August 2013

10. Longmire, Season 2 Episode 13 – "Bad Medicine"

Good news, everyone! As the summer TV hiatus ends in but a few shorts weeks, August should officially be the last month of "every halfway decent show gets a chance to play on the Best TV Episodes lists" season. One of the final recipients of this season's generosity, following in the footsteps of Defiance and Teen Wolf, is A&E's Wyoming sheriff procedural Longmire (which, despite my protestations in my best of 2012 list, I actually did pick back up and continue with, and it might even be a little higher on my 2013 list). The show's second season finale wasn't mind-blowing or anything, but it had a couple nice twists and some beautiful scenery, which is pretty much all you can ask for from Longmire.

9. Gravity Falls, Season 1 Episode 20 – "Gideon Rises"

Unlike Longmire, Disney's Simpsons-meets-X-Files-for-kids cartoon Gravity Falls is probably going to be lower on my best of 2013 list than where it stood last year. Not that it's been unenjoyable – it's just that my four or five favorite episodes of last year are still my four or five favorite episodes of the series. It's been entertaining this year, but not blowing my hair back. Nevertheless, its first season finale – which parodied mechs and giant monsters in a way that frankly might have been more entertaining than the overrated Pacific Rim – brought the show's first act to a reasonably funny and epic conclusion.

8. Longmire, Season 2 Episode 11 – "Natural Order"

Another Longmire? What gives, Tim?! Well, I'll tell you what gives: Jim Beaver guest spot! That's automatic bonus points right there.

7. Switched at Birth, Season 2 Episode 21 – "Departure of Summer"

I wasn't always in love with this summer-set and summer-airing half-season of Switched at Birth. This show, like pretty much all teen dramas, is stronger with the natural structure of the school year keeping the narrative cohesive. But still, Switched's second season finale (and yes, this makes three season finales in four entries) did a respectable and somewhat moving job of clearing the deck for next year, having characters split apart, confess to wrongdoings and start making amends.

6. The Newsroom, Season 2 Episode 7 – "Red Team III"

One of the more bizarre and pleasant surprises this month was seeing Aaron Sorkin's often preachy and formerly bordering on unwatchable behind-the-scenes-of-TV drama The Newsroom rise to the level of being, well, pretty watchable. A lot of that has to do with Sorkin finally letting his often unpleasantly perfect characters make more mistakes, and as the show's second season nears its end they made a truly massive one, doing a live special news bulletin on a war crime it turned out never occurred. The fallout has made for, if not quite The West Wing or Sports Night or The Social Network, pretty decent television.

5. The Fosters, Season 1 Episode 10 – "I Do"

In what is surely one of TV's better lesbian wedding episodes, the midseason finale of ABC Family's surprisingly moving new drama brought some of the titular Foster family closer than ever while other things fell apart. The show isn't quite Parenthood as far as family dramas go, but I've actually been pretty impressed at how deft it's been in its storytelling, character development and emotions. I can't quite forgive ABC Family for canceling Bunheads, but The Fosters is at least a band-aid on the wound.

4. The Newsroom, Season 2 Episode 5 – "News Night with Will McAvoy"

"News Night with Will McAvoy" is to The Newsroom as the pilot of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is to that show: Almost certainly the best hour it will ever put out, fleeting proof that buried somewhere inside is still the Sorkin who gave us Sports Night and The West Wing. In fact, this episode, which depicts one fast-paced, hectic, sometimes funny but ultimately tragic hour in Will McAvoy and MacKenzie McHale's newsroom, even calls to mind some similarly real-time episodes of those two classic shows, such as the "Draft Day" two-parter from the former and "17 People" from the latter. It's the one time I've finished a Newsroom episode and felt that it actually matched Sorkin's ambitions.

3. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 10 – "Buried"

And now we reach the 500-pound blue meth elephant in the room. I'm not bothering with weekly Breaking Bad reviews on this blog, because quite frankly the entire rest of the internet will already have discussed, debated, broken down, analyzed, gif-ized, and then looped back around for reanalysis for every single episode before I could possibly get around to even typing my first sentence on the matter. There'd be no point; I'd be spitting into a tsunami. But still, one of TV's towering achievements will certainly have its day in the sun on these lists, as it should. The chaotic aftermath of Walt and Hank's confrontation and Jesse's slip into full-on depressive psychosis were both gripping as hell. Bloody meth empire coups are just the crimson icing on the crystal blue cake.

2. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 11 – "Confessions"

Refusing authentic New Mexican tableside guacamole?! Walt's humanity is truly lost.

1. Breaking Bad, Season 5 Episode 9 – "Blood Money"

Confession: About two-thirds of the way through Breaking Bad's fifth-and-a-half-season premiere, I was thinking, "Well, this is good – Breaking Bad is always good – but it's not really blowing my mind like I'd hoped. They must be setting up the good stuff for next week." And then, blamo, like clear, climactic, revelatory thunder, the final garage scene between Hank and Walt. One of the most intense, gripping, powerful, brilliantly written and amazingly acted scenes I've seen on television all year long, and one of the best scenes of this entire stellar series.

Not gonna lie, I rewatched the scene on YouTube, like, ten to fifteen times the same night "Blood Money" aired, then probably another ten times over the course of the week. How brilliant it is to see five-plus years of television culminate in a moment like that. How rare. How awesome. I will not tread lightly when it comes to ranking this the best TV episode of August 2013.

Best TV Episodes, July 2013

10. Orange Is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 10 – "Bora Bora Bora"

Warning in advance: One show holds a tyrannical reign over July's Best TV Episodes list. This isn't just because said show is great – though it is – but because just about nothing else of note aired last month. Jenji Kohan's women's prison drama Orange Is the New Black revealed itself to be a pretty damn accomplished piece of work from early on, but its final five-episode run in particular is what makes it one of the best shows of the year. From Scared Straight visiting the prison – giving Piper and other lowly prisoners a chance to actually boss others around for once – to the tragic events at episode's end, "Bora Bora Bora" continued tugging the show's energy in simultaneously funny, sad and moving directions.

9. Teen Wolf, Season 3 Episode 6 – "Motel California"

Remember last month when I talked about how summer's thin TV schedule lets shows that probably wouldn't have made my Best TV Episodes lists in January-May or September-December slip through the cracks? Well, last month it was Defiance, now it's Teen Wolf, for a moderately fun, Buffy-esque hour where team teen wolf winds up staying overnight at a haunted hotel. As with Defiance, it's silly that Teen Wolf finds itself represented on a series of lists that I've yet to find room for far better shows such as New Girl or Scandal on, but unless New Girl or Scandal decides to debut a spare episode in June or July there's shit all I can do about it.

8. Orange Is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 5 – "The Chickening"

Much as the rat symbolized obviousness, the mysterious and fleetingly-glimpsed prison yard chicken in "The Chickening" was but thematic statement trapped in the flesh of a beast. But that doesn't mean that the feathered embodiment of hope and faith and freedom didn't work its magic on me just as it did Piper Chapman, and Piper's final, futile run to the fence at the episode's end to try to prove the bird's existence is one of my favorite moments of the first season of Orange Is the New Black.

7. Orange Is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 12 – "Fool Me Once"

The main reason Orange Is the New Black's penultimate episode makes the cut for this list is because of its pulse-raising, "Holy shit!"-inducing final line and the thrilling and perfectly-timed cut to orange that immediately follows. The rest of the episode was very good too, but the final ten seconds are what had me scrambling for my remote to fire up the season finale. That right there is TV playing you like a fiddle, and it's a good feeling.

6. The Fosters, Season 1 Episode 9 – "Vigil"

Like Defiance and Teen Wolf, ABC Family's new drama The Fosters (which I also highlighted last month) probably wouldn't be represented on these lists if it weren't airing during summer, but unlike Defiance and Teen Wolf I'm actually kind of glad to have an opportunity to talk up this little-known minor gem. In all fairness, this episode, which showed flashbacks to events before the beginning of the series from the point of view of a character currently in emergency surgery, is a pretty blatant ripoff of the classic West Wing two-parter "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen," but what worked back in 2000 still works damn well in 2013. My heart went out to the characters.

5. Orange Is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 13 – "Can't Fix Crazy"

I'll admit first thing that I can barely recall anything that happens before roughly the final ten minutes of Orange Is the New Black's first season finale (which I won't go too in depth on, because I know not everyone's gotten around to Orange yet). But man, what a moving sequence the prison musical is and what a dark and haunting but also kind of exciting and weirdly grin-inducing final image for the season to go out on. It's the kind of finale that both satisfies but also hooks you in for season 2; the sort of finale that's been in short supply this year.

4. Orange Is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 2 – "Tit Punch"

Truth be told, it took me a couple weeks to get around to hitting play on the first episode of Orange Is the New Black. Yes, TV critics went apeshit over it, but between the joyless House of Cards, the glacially-paced and emotionally dead The Americans and their continued fellating of the abysmal Girls, TV critics have burned me again and again in 2013. So when I finally did hit play on episode 1, it was with a hint of dread. That turned into curiosity by the end of the pilot, so I played another. And after episode 2, the less-salacious-than-it-sounds "Tit Punch," I was fully on board. The starving out of Piper is immediately frightening and visceral, gives her a great "puzzle" to solve for the episode and instantly establishes kitchen boss Red as a fascinating figure to be both feared and respected.

3. Orange Is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 9 – "Fucksgiving"

Any time you hear about a dark and mysterious location in any TV show that we the viewer haven't seen yet, you're gonna wanna see it. That's just human nature. Basic curiosity. This applies to everything from the hatch on Lost to the lands north of the Wall on Game of Thrones to the Special Housing Unit (or SHU) on Orange Is the New Black. Well, nine episodes in, our curiosity was sated, SHU was visited, and it was pretty terrifying. As a fundamentalist introvert, it's the first thing I've seen that actually makes me consider that if I wound up in prison maybe I wouldn't prefer solitary confinement after all. The drug smuggling and Thanksgiving subplots are just gravy on the cake, baby.

2. Switched at Birth, Season 2 Episode 15 – "Ecce Mono"

This isn't the first time this year I've put ABC Family's teen/deaf culture drama Switched at Birth higher than, well, higher than you'd expect a show called Switched at Birth to be on my Best TV Episodes lists. But it seems Switched at Birth has a bit of a creative streak. First there was "Uprising," the silent, all-sign language episode I discussed back in March, and now, with "Ecce Mono," Switched goes full alternate-universe and shows us a world where the show's titular switch was switched back. The alt-universe concept is so fucking inherently cheesy and in just about any other show would make me groan, but in this case the idea behind it was simple and immediately accessible and the new light it shined on the characters was interesting, engaging and surprisingly kinda dark. So more gimmick episodes, Switched at Birth! You're weirdly good at them!

1. Orange Is the New Black, Season 1 Episode 11 – "Tall Men With Feelings"

There's no question that the montage of the inmates huddled around their radios, reacting to the PBS interview Piper's fiancé Larry is giving about Piper's time in prison, is the best moment of Orange Is the New Black's first season and one of the best TV moments of the year.

It's enormously effective on a pure character illumination level, with Larry's secondhand impressions of Piper's fellow inmates – many of them based on what Piper had told Larry a long time ago when she first started her sentence – making various women alternately feel thrilled or proud at Piper's positive impressions of them or heartbroken at feeling betrayed by a woman they'd viewed as a friend. It's on the backs of that latter group that the scene also works as a riveting, dramatically thrilling "Oh shit, what's gonna happen next?!" shakeup to the show's narrative and character dynamics. This sequence is everything you hope for from great TV writing, operating at a level only three or four other dramas have managed to achieve in 2013.

Best TV Episodes, June 2013

10. Defiance, Season 1 Episode 11 – "The Bride Wore Black"

I'm gonna level with you guys: Despite scratching a certain nostalgic '90s-style cheesy sci-fi itch, Defiance isn't really all that great a show. But the thing about summer is that the ol' TV schedule thins out in a fucking hurry, so suddenly shows like this that wouldn't have made the cut in January through May suddenly find themselves on my "Best TV Episodes" lists while far superior shows like New Girl and Scandal, thanks to their in-season airing schedule, languish unranked. It ain't fair, but it's life. So here's a decent episode of Defiance about the human and alien frontier town of Defiance coming together for a human/alien interspecies wedding. Hooray!

9. Mad Men, Season 6 Episode 11 – "Favors"

As I've discussed before on this blog, on Twitter, on forums and in person with people who know me, I am, to the best of my ability to tell, literally the only person on the planet earth who watches and likes Mad Men but who has never at any point considered it to be one of my favorite shows. And, you know, that's fine. Everyone got their own opinions and shit. This episode probably wouldn't have made my top ten cut any other month this year either, but it was good. Sally discovered some harsh truths about Don, and the jolt it gave her character arc was genuinely engaging stuff.

8. Orphan Black, Season 1 Episode 10 – "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"

Though Orphan Black's finale isn't the season's best episode – that would be episode six, "Variations Under Domestication," which detailed the craziest, clone-iest suburban house party ever – I am glad to find room for this little genre gem, one of the best out-of-nowhere surprises of 2013. Sure, its fans can go a little overboard, but that's just what genre TV fans do. Berating them for it is like berating a dog for barking. The show's debut season ended strongly, bringing simmering Sarah/Helena tensions to a head and of course continuing Tatiana Maslany's unbroken streak of greatness.

7. The Fosters, Season 1 Episode 3 – "Hostile Acts"

Outside of the aberration that is Parenthood over on NBC, ABC Family is (fittingly, given their name) pretty much the only network on television working to keep the classic non-genre, non-life-or-death-stakes family drama alive. First there was Switched at Birth, and it was good. Now there's The Fosters, and I'd say it's pretty damn good too. Granted, part of why I like it is because it presents a Republican's feverish nightmare vision of contemporary American life – lesbian moms with an interracial family, holy shit! – but it's also written with emotional clarity and authenticity that I wish more shows would strive for. (I realize there's little discussion of this specific episode here, but that's because I doubt anyone reading this has seen this show yet. You should, though!)

6. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 10 – "Mhysa"

Game of Thrones' third season finale had about fifty storylines, as is par for the course with the saga of Westeros, but my favorites would probably be (spoilers, as if everyone doesn't already watch this show) Samwell and Bran meeting up, which has the fun feel of a crossover event, Arya and the Hound getting rough with some Frey men, and one scorcher of a King's Council scene as Tyrion learns about the bloody events of the previous episode. One of the best Tyrion/Tywin scenes of the series, which is saying something.

5. Mad Men, Season 6 Episode 13 – "In Care Of"

This was the best episode of Mad Men's sixth season (and the first episode on this June list that has a shot at making my top fifty TV episodes of the year) mostly because of Don Draper's journey, which is definitely something unusual for me to say as Don's relatively static inner life across six years of television is the main reason I can't really call Mad Men a show I love. But the end of this episode did a surprising and moving job of remedying that, and successfully sets the stage for a very different and very interesting final season next year.

4. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 12 – "Relevés"

As is the case with many a half-"mythology," half-episodic show, Hannibal dropped the cases of the week and focused in on the big picture as it entered the home stretch, in this case bringing the twisted and oddly emotionally affecting three-way relationship between Will, Hannibal and Abigail Hobbs to the fore. And I daresay they did a surprising and effective job moving towards closure on it, further securing Hannibal's almost inevitable legacy as the greatest new show of 2013.

3. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 13 – "Savoureux"

Great season finale. I don't want to say much for fear of spoilers, but I have a whole podcast on the subject available to make love to your ears. The one thing I'll say is that I really loved the episode's use of "Vide Cor Meum" from Ridley Scott's Hannibal movie, a use vastly more memorable and effective than in the film it was originally composed for. Hell, creating that song and lending it to Hannibal the show might be Hannibal the film's greatest contribution to popular culture.

2. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 11 – "Rôti"

One last hurrah for the more episodic side of Hannibal before the myth arc took over in the season's penultimate and finale episodes, "Rôti" is the sequel to the series' sixth episode, "Entrée," bringing Eddie Izzard's Dr. Gideon back into the fold. Gideon may not create corpse totems or cello men or mushroom people, but his unhinged lunatic style has its own charm, and between Columbian neckties and living vivisection and organ harvesting, I doubt "Rôti" left anyone wanting in the gruesome violence department. Will's mental problems deepened and all that good character development stuff, but first and foremost I'd say this episode kicked ass.

1. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 9 – "The Rains of Castamere"

Ok, I've been patiently holding this in for three years, so here goes: RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING. THANK YOU.

Man, that felt good to get off my chest. As everyone else on the internet has already discussed and dissected this episode's final ten minutes a million times over, I have nothing else to add to the conversation beyond a good old fashioned holy fucking shit!

Ranking New Fall 2012-Spring 2013 Network TV Shows

(Presented without comment)

Televised atrocities that are an embarrassment to the entire medium:

33. Do No Harm (NBC) Canceled
32. Beauty and the Beast (The CW)
31. 666 Park Avenue (ABC) Canceled

Very bad-to-bad shows:

30. The Mob Doctor (Fox) Canceled
29. Partners (CBS) Canceled
28. Malibu Country (ABC) Canceled
27. Family Tools (ABC) Canceled
26. Made In Jersey (CBS) Canceled
25. Zero Hour (ABC) Canceled
24. Cult (The CW) Canceled
23. Guys With Kids (NBC) Canceled
22. Animal Practice (NBC) Canceled
21. Red Widow (ABC) Canceled

Middling shows that inspire no emotion:

20. How to Live With Your Parents For the Rest of Your Life (ABC) Canceled
19. Emily Owens, M.D. (The CW) Canceled
18. 1600 Penn (NBC) Canceled
17. Deception (NBC) Canceled
16. Golden Boy (CBS) Canceled
15. The Neighbors (ABC)
14. The New Normal (NBC) Canceled
13. Vegas (CBS) Canceled
12. The Following (Fox)
11. Chicago Fire (NBC)
10. The Carrie Diaries (The CW)

Shows not worth seeking out, but watchable if they happen to be on:

9. Elementary (CBS)
8. Ben and Kate (Fox) Canceled
7. Go On (NBC) Canceled
6. Last Resort (ABC) Canceled
5. Revolution (NBC)
4. The Mindy Project (Fox)

Shows I actually kinda like:

3. Nashville (ABC)

Shows I like very much:

2. Arrow (The CW)

Bona fide great television:

1. Hannibal (NBC)

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 7: Hannibal Supreme

We've braved mushroom people, immolation, corpse totems, throat violins, mental breakdowns and many disturbingly delicious-looking cannibalistic dishes, and the first season of NBC's Hannibal has come to a triumphant close. Now let's make like those relatively anonymous lab techs and have us a post-mortem. Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers galore, so watch before you listen, lest you spoil your supper. Bon appétit.

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 7: Hannibal Supreme

Late to the Party: Veronica Mars, Season 1 Disc 2

(I've never seen Veronica Mars. Though I watched a few episodes out of context during its initial 2004-2007 run, the vast majority of the series remains unseen by me and I have little to no knowledge of where any of the major mysteries or character arcs are going. With the film continuation coming next year, I figure now is the perfect time to watch the show, and I'm going to chronicle my journey with mini-reviews written immediately after watching each episode.)

Season 1 Episode 5 - "You Think You Know Somebody"

First things first: Apologies for not posting one of these for, like, two fucking months. Chalk it up to one part being busy watching May season finales and Arrested Development, one part just being a standard-issue lazy ass, and one part a lack of being especially impressed with episode 4. But at least as for that last one it turns out I just needed to push a little further, because "You Think You Know Somebody" is my favorite episode of the series so far and the first to make me really see a hint of what Veronica Mars fans won't shut up about.

The case of the week here, involving Troy's stolen car and Luke's missing steroids, is both the first with stakes that feel immediate and personal to Veronica herself and the first to twist and turn in directions and end in a place I genuinely didn't predict. Benefits of knowing almost nothing about this show, I really thought Troy was just a nice kid! Him turning out to be the villain? Awesome, as was Veronica's owning of him by figuring out the truth, flushing his steroids and replacing them with piñata candy. In fact, Veronica dominated the bad guys satisfyingly every which way in this episode, with her also getting the roided out gym guy busted by border patrol with a simple fax.

All around fun, quick, twisty stuff that gives the Troy character the feel of a nice arc; a sort of tiny "big bad" for the first run of Veronica Mars. As for Veronica's relationships, she and her dad, while not really unlike many parent/kid bonds I've seen on TV before, are sweet enough in this episode. And Logan (who, as I mentioned in my last post, is one of the few parts of this show I did know about before starting, as ten years of internet love for a character is hard to avoid) and Veronica's relationship already seems noticeably softened from its toxic status in the show's pilot. Unless I'm mistaken, Duncan Kane was absent, which is also a plus.

And Veronica missing the phone call from her mom at the end? Great little capper that took me completely by surprise and grabbed my attention. Again, I have no idea what's going to happen in this story – this could be Veronica's mom's last appearance on the show, or she could be in twenty more episodes! And I don't have a clue! God, isn't being unspoiled the fucking best?

Season 1 Episode 6 - "Return of the Kane"

Aka Veronica Mars does Election. This episode's high school presidency A-plot seems like the most the series has really embraced its high-school-show roots to date, and it's pretty fun for the most part, if a touch predictable. It's the show's second instance in two episodes of revealing that the person initially cast in the role of victim is in fact the villain, which, you know, I find entertaining and don't object to on principle, though it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to space such episodes out just a little more.

But the thing that really stands out in memory is the Logan Echolls B-plot, which kicks off on the weirdest fucking note ever as Logan pays homeless people to fight each other. What the fuck?! I guess it is memorable, though, so I'll give the writers that much. His actor dad Aaron Echolls then whips him with a belt, which, I mean, I don't condone parents abusing their children or anything, but in this case can you really blame him all that much?

There's also a little stuff with Duncan and his dad (I mean, technically the election A-plot revolves around Duncan, but he's given thankfully little actual screentime in it, "thankfully" because this dude continues to seem like an extra who they've charitably given lines to), and I have to say, Mr. Kane does not seem like a killer. I know that Troy also seemed like a decent guy until episode 5, so this could be the same kind of fakeout, but my prediction as of this point is that Mr. Kane is a red herring in Lilly's murder.

Season 1 Episode 7 - "The Girl Next Door"

Ok, just like my "Holy crap it's Melissa Leo!" response from a few episodes back, allow me a moment here to go "Holy crap it's Jessica Chastain! Not looking especially different than she would ten years later when she started starring in a million fucking movies either!" She doesn't get the chance to do any especially juicy acting, spends the bulk of the episode missing and I doubt that if I was watching this in 2004 I would've pegged this minor redheaded guest star for future movie stardom, but it was a pretty fun jolt to see her nonetheless.

Beyond Chastain's presence, the case-of-the-week is alright, if a bit weirdly erratic in its pacing: Too slow when Veronica hears the thud in Jessica Chastain's apartment in the morning but doesn't bother going in there until evening, and too fast when we cut immediately from Keith telling Veronica to stay off the case to the very next scene, where Veronica tells us in one sentence of voiceover that she convinced her dad otherwise. It's also by far the darkest case of the week we've had so far, with rape and rape pregnancies and a guy attempting to murder his stepdaughter and a shooting. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with darker storytelling, but I did find it a little jarring after last episode's light-as-whipped-cream high school election shenanigans.

The highlight of the episode is unquestionably the (largely disconnected from the A-plot) Weevil/Logan B-story, which is easily Weevil's best episode of the series to date and marks yet another inch in Logan's heel face turn as he manages to rescue Weevil from expulsion. Detention poker, elaborate pranks against teachers, Logan shedding evilness – what's not to love?

Season 1 Episode 8 - "Like a Virgin"

So, unless Abel Koontz is lying out his ass or there's some other twists we don't know about yet, it seems that Veronica is genetically a Kane? Which both explains why Duncan Kane abruptly broke up with her and immediately fills this show with all kinds of bizarre incestuous overtones. Game of Thrones, eat your heart out!

Putting aside that final twist (which, by the way, is excellent, and the first ending on this show to immediately compel me to watch the next episode), "Like a Virgin" marks a quick turnaround from "The Girl Next Door," bringing the case-of-the-week immediately back to light high school shenanigans. Lighter than the election episode, even, as this one revolves around the teens of Neptune High taking online purity tests, which are then sold to the entire student body, sending everything into Mean Girls-esque disarray.

And, if not as much fun as Mean Girls, it's still actually a pretty good spot of high school drama fun. I wasn't massively impressed with where it all ended – the culprits were such minor nonentities that I hardly even remembered who they were – but all the slut-sneezing and general shellshock in the student body was pretty enjoyable stuff that actually felt a little closer to an authentic, if heightened, high school than the series has before.

The subplot with Keith Mars helping Wallace's family out with their dangerous tenant was a pretty good way to develop Keith into someone a little harder and more competent, although it was a little strange how what was seemingly starting as a Wallace story ended up having a resolution that involved Wallace basically zero. Guy just can't seem to evolve beyond Veronica's sidekick; at least not yet.

Pretty good episode for guest stars, too. We got Alona Tal as Veronica's cheerleader friend, who I'm a minor fan of from Supernatural, and the debut of computer genius Mac (who, despite not having seen this show, I still know just from general internet osmosis goes on to be a prominent character). I'm getting a definite Buffy and Willow vibe from Veronica and Mac's relationship, which, hey, you won't see me complaining about. Unless Mac turns into Dark Mac and attempts to give the world a computer virus or something later on.

Best TV Episodes, May 2013

10. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 8 – "Second Sons"

While I love Game of Thrones – and the sheer novelty of a high fantasy series on this scale on the small screen continues to delight – there's been some drag in Westeros this season, and several instances where I've found myself thinking, "Ok, feel free to step up the pacing any moment now." Thankfully, "Second Sons" did just that with a relatively tight focus on King's Landing, Dragonstone and Yunkai, capped off with a nice little Sam vs. White Walker tag. Tyrion and Sansa's wedding and especially its reception were great set pieces full of tension and humor alike, and as an added bonus this episode is the first in a long time that actually measures up to Game of Thrones' generally hyperbolic reputation for extreme nudity.

9. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 1 – "Flight of the Phoenix"

Despite initially claiming Michael's second spotlight episode, "The B. Team," to be my preferred of Arrested Development season 4's Michael episodes, I'm afraid I'll have to prove what a noncommittal coward I am by going back on that just a week later. On reexamination and a little rewatching, I've decided that the fourth season premiere is actually one of the season's better episodes, if only for the pleasure of initially catching up with everyone, seeing Sudden Valley fill in with houses (but not people), Gob force-feeding Michael a forget-me-now and of course Michael mistakenly being voted out of a four-person housing situation. It's a strong kickoff with a strong focus on Michael and George Michael's relationship, perhaps the series' bedrock.

8. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 9 – "Smashed"

I wasn't especially crazy about Tobias' first season 4 spotlight, which got way too bogged down in DeBrie and Fantastic Four spoofing, but those very same elements were turned into things going in favor of Tobias' second episode. We get a great Tobias/Michael scene, Tobias acting as a analrapist theralist onscreen at length for the first time ever, and the return of the sung "Mr. F!" stinger. By all means, read more thoughts here.

7. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 8 – "Fromage"

Hannibal turned its sights on the musical arts in this episode about a killer who very much enjoys crafting the strings for violins and cellos from human entrails. The beheaded "Cello Man" was one of the series' more chilling instillation-artist-kills to date, we pushed Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter's twisted friendship along nicely, and this normally patient and methodical series even found time for an amazingly kick-ass fight scene at this episode's climax. As an added bonus, "Fromage" also featured Dr. Lecter preparing some truly delicious-looking bread pudding, which I venture is probably even safe for non-cannibals to enjoy.

6. The Office, Season 9 Episode 23 – "Finale"

The Office's very good series finale at the tail end of two seasons I cared very little about is like a sudden orgasm seventeen minutes after you've lost interest in the sex you're having: It'd have been better much earlier, but still, you're glad for it. I'll miss the show very much and at the same time I'm so fucking relieved it's finally over. "Finale" wasn't often laugh-out-loud hilarious – sitcom finales rarely aspire to be – but managed to leave the show's entire cast in emotionally satisfying places. It went out with the bittersweet tang I'd always imagined this show, which was once one of my favorites on television, would have and should have. And yes, a salt-and-pepper Michael Scott showed up for a cameo, extended enough to be emotionally affecting but quick enough not to steal the show from anyone else. Thumbs way up.

5. Arrow, Season 1 Episode 23 – "Sacrifice"

Keeping in mind that we haven't seen what Hannibal has up its sleeve yet, Arrow has hands-down the best season finale of any network show so far this spring. It almost had a Buffy's "The Gift"-esque hugeness in scale and sheer climactic feel to it as Starling City began literally crumbling under the influence of the season's big supervillain plot. And the show didn't just tell, but showed buildings collapsing and streets imploding and anarchy abound, and it was huge and scary and awesome. The episode had big action, big emotion, big reveals and a twist that floored me in its final minutes. This is exactly what pulpy action/adventure TV serial season finales should look like.

4. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 12 – "Señoritis"

As I mentioned in my review of "Señoritis," I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Maeby's sole season 4 spotlight, as she'd never really been one of my favorite main characters in the original series. But this messy yet extremely enjoyable episode smooshes together a whole lot of character development, misunderstandings, Hollywood satire, reveals about previous episodes and Maeby and George Michael into of one the season's most entertaining and fast-paced half-hours. It also, in its final moments with the return of "Hey, whatcha tryin' to say to me?", contains one of the season's best callbacks to the original series.

3. American Dad, Season 8 Episode 18 – "Lost in Space"

American Dad is a maddeningly inconsistent series which, in any given run of four episodes, usually averages about one mediocre-to-crappy episode, two moderately enjoyable outings and one that's among the best sitcom episodes of its month, animated or live action. Those in the lattermost category include last year's "Ricky Spanish" and "Adventures in Hayleysitting," and now "Lost in Space," which isn't just good but phenomenal and one of the best episodes of the entire series.

Detaching entirely from the titular American dad and the core Smith family, this episode follows alien prisoner Jeff Fischer back to a space station above Roger's home planet, where he tries to figure out how to escape captivity in a big, stylish intergalactic musical action-adventure comedy extravaganza that might just be the year's most purely ambitious comedy episode. It almost felt like a whole space opera compressed into 22 minutes with jokes added, complete with a lot of really impressive alien design and massive, complicated "sets" that showed a hell of a lot of visual imagination. It had emotional depth that you never really associate with Seth MacFarlane and a bittersweet, melancholy ending. If only they'd ended the season here instead of one far lesser episode later.

2. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 7 – "Sorbet"

Aka the dinner party episode. I have a whole podcast where this episode and my thoughts on it are discussed at respectable length, but suffice to say I thought the whole thing was chilling, gorgeously rendered perfection. The show – and this food-centric episode in particular – is simply intoxicating in a way that I rarely associate with TV. Or really any fiction, for that matter. The atmosphere is so thick, the visuals so elegantly rendered with a care for framing and color and craftsmanship that puts most feature films to shame, and Mads Mikkelsen's performance so charismatic and frightening (Hugh Dancy is also great, of course, but "Sorbet" is clearly Dr. Lecter's hour) that the show simply demands respect. It's stellar fucking television.

1. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 7 – "Colony Collapse"

Will Arnett was put on this earth to play Gob Bluth and it's no surprise that I loved catching up with one of the greatest television characters of all time. It's a massively enjoyable episode, possibly the only installment of season 4 that I'd truly stack up against the show's original '03-'06 run. More thoughts here! And with that I'm announcing my retirement from writing about Arrested Development until late December when it comes time to do my yearend wrap-up, because I adore the show, but at a certain point, goddamn do you burn out typing about one show no matter what it is. But do check out my season 1-3 rankings if you haven't seen them yet.

Last week – the best TV news week ever?

About five weeks back when I discussed Parenthood's renewal for a 22-episode fifth season, I opined that one of the few pieces of TV news that could have possibly made me happier was Dan Harmon being rehired on Community. That I mentioned this directly alongside the possibility of a time traveler coming back to tell me that George R.R. Martin releases his novels fast enough for Game of Thrones to finish properly should indicate how little I actually believed this would ever happen.
Barring Friday Night Lights and ignoring its sans-Harmon fourth season (which had its high points, but a largely mediocre final arc that crashed and burned with a disastrous finale that's easily the worst episode of the series), Community is the best TV show to air episodes in the last five years. That's opinion, of course, but it's the correct opinion, and certainly no one but contrarians worthy of no thought beyond that needed to roll your eyes can deny the sheer bounty of ambition and creativity that poured forth from this amazing show under Dan Harmon. Frankly, I'll be a little surprised if we see a live-action sitcom season as singularly imaginative as Community season 2 again in my lifetime.
But more important than the formal experimentalism of Community – which season 4 tried without Harmon, and did an ok job with from time to time, but it really, really wasn't the same – this means we'll finally get these characters back on the paths of the emotional journeys their creator intended them to take. Except for Pierce, anyway, but the real Jeff and Britta and Troy and Abed and Annie and Shirley are back, baby. They're fucking back.
So yeah, I'm happy. I'm modulating here, because the sheer extent of how deliriously fucking joyful I am that I'm going to get my favorite TV show back (keeping in mind that I don't consider season 4 the same show) can't really be overstated. Just a few weeks ago I was terrified and depressed that the dreadful "Advanced Introduction to Finality" might be the series finale of Community. And now Dan Harmon is going to get to write the series finale of Community. What the fuck could be better than that?

The answer is nothing, of course. But you know what's a damn close second? The renewal of the spectacular work of horrific televised art that is Bryan Fuller's Hannibal; a vote of confidence for great storytelling in defiance of its mediocre-to-poor ratings. Hannibal isn't just good, it's utterly fantastic. As of this point in its season it's the best debut season for any TV drama since Game of Thrones in 2011 and the best debut season for a network drama since Friday Night Lights in 2006.
Barring Bunheads and The Legend of Korra, it makes me want to go back and reedit just about every positive review I gave a new series in the last two years, because it makes me realize I was faking that positivity all along. Because here is actual bona fide great fucking television worthy of true, unfettered enthusiasm.
And NBC renewed it, and we're going to get to watch this awesome show again come 2014. With Bunheads probably canceled at this point, this is the welcome renewal news I needed to keep going with this whole "being a fan of TV the medium" thing.
(Want to literally hear more on what I have to say on Hannibal? You're in luck, because I already have three podcasts on the topic, with a fourth on the way! Here, here and here. I'd advise one at a time, but if you can listen to three at once like some kind of multitasking beast, hey, rock on. Rock on.)
Dan Harmon rehired on Community, Hannibal renewed against all odds, Parenthood coming back for its fifth (and second full-length) season... What are these feelings I'm feeling towards NBC? It's not like envy, or even hungry... It's like my heart is getting hard.