Television Rules The Nation: Mad Men, Community, Sunny
November 12, 2009
I fully admit to being a complete TV junkie, something which at times even rivals my music junkie status (mostly while LOST is on). So I’m introducing “Television Rules The Nation” (”Kicking Television” was taken), a semi-weekly post about what I’m currently watching. Here it goes.
First and foremost, we have to talk about that Mad Men finale. I mean, holy crap that was a brilliant episode. It offered a perfect mixture of resolving big picture plot lines (Don/Betty’s marriage crisis, Sterling Cooper being sold) in a satisfactory and coherent manner, while providing some fantastic character moments (the Peggy / Don conversation tops this category for me), and a few huge crowd-pleaser moments (Pryce’s “very good. happy christmas!” phone call, the return of Joan).
Another way the finale triumphed was in building a huge amount of anticipation for next season (AMC has dibs on SterlingCooperDraperPryce.com if you were wondering). If this continues, Mad Men may actually surpass Sopranos in the drama category for me (still can’t compete with The Wire though). Here’s the highly transportive song played over the credits:
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Perhaps my favorite new show this season is Community (which actually features Mad Men’s Trudy as a key player). The best character though is the pop-culture obsessed, meta-referencing Abed. In just a few episodes, he’s already become one of the most fascinating, funniest characters on TV. This Dark Knight parody from a couple weeks back absolutely killed me:
Also, here’s Abed’s classic Breakfast Club speech from the pilot.
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I think everyone’s seen this by now but if not, here’s Charlie’s Kitten Mittons video from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia last week. If you’ve never watched the show, A. What are you thinking? and B. Let this be your introduction:
That’s all for tonight. I’ll have much more TV to talk about next week.
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Tags: Community, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Mad Men
Posted by Taylor in Television
I absolutly love it!
content rss
November 12th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
I love this Roy Orbison tune – Love it more after Mad Men used it
November 12th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
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November 13th, 2009 at 12:26 am
I appreciate your blog post Taylor, as these are some of my favorite shows. I love the music played during mad men because it brings be back to a place I’ve never been. Post more!
November 13th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Thank you zissou, as I didn’t really believe that was a website and that’s about as awesome a gag as any ever to be on the show. It should reoccur, like Franks gun, Charlie and cats, the McPoyles, etc. The christmas special is up on ninjavideo, and it’s insane. I thought the show had been losing steam all season until that one.
Funny
Functional
Sexual
http://dicktowel.com/dicktowel.html
November 13th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Community has easily been the best surprise of the television season so far. I did not think a new show would be able to hit its stride so soon, and its only getting better with each episode. Another new show that is worth checking out is Bored To Death on HBO. It has a solid cast (Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, and Ted Danson) and some pretty good writing.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Community is amazing. It’s always the first show on a great Thursday schedule that I watch on Friday night. Always been a Joel McHale fan & this is a great vehicle for him. I love the ensemble cast & how each of them are getting time to shine. Let’s hope it’s around for a long time…
November 13th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Yeah, Abed doesn’t have any unfunny lines.