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Friday, January 25, 2013

2012 in Review (Part 3): TV Farewells and Welcomes


This January, for my traditional reviewing of the previous year, I will be writing a series of articles that would recap or evaluate some (if I have the time, then all) of the highlights of 2012 that involved, concerned, compelled, and/or fascinated me… this is the third part…


This past year I had to say farewell to three of my favorite TV shows. 

 
With just one season without Cuddy, House has to end?  It gives the appearance that the show lost its spirit with the absence House’s love interest.  Which is a wrong perception, of course.  Even without Cuddy, the show has been solid and fresh.  Yes, the verbal sparring and wit wars between House and Cuddy were missed, but the show remained as funny, intense, and exciting.  Even more so in some episodes.  House is, after all, a show about House – the most awesome TVcharacter ever.  The Hugh Laurie-portrayed character alone is enough to carry the show.  Such a shame House had to end considering that it was still going strong and just had to end because of lack of appropriate support (i.e. financing) from producers.  Such a shame indeed.  I felt it was still good enough for two or three more seasons.  Heck, something like Smallville (which had its moments but was clearly inferior to House) lasted ten seasons, and House only had eight?! (Sigh)

Leverage’s season 5 was its last.  And its cancellation came as a sad surprise to me.  The finale though was an awesomely written episode.  But I don’t dig the “wrap-up” of the story in which Nate and Sophie had to retire, leaving the team to just three members with Parker as the new mastermind.  It doesn’t work.  In the last scene, Parker would even replicate Nate’s awesome monologue during the final scene of Leverage’s pilot episode.  That scene had been iconic because Nate smoothly delivered that monologue which empathically defined what Leverage is all about.  Parker’s was flat.  Moreover, my greatest disappointment was I had been always hoping that the team’s line-up would have expanded – with new members gradually joining the team – during the show’s run… and it didn’t happen.  Thus, though the story of the final episode had been awesome, the closure of the show was unsatisfactory to me.         

 
This year also marked the end of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the greatest superhero animated TV series since Justice League Unlimited.  This was the superhero TV animated series that brought all of these heroes together…
Not as impressive as JLU, but still awesome.   

With House and Leverage gone, what’s left for me are Psych and SherlockPsych’s new season, however, didn’t start late in the year, as it usually does, but will just be starting this February.  Sherlock’s second season run last year – after we, fans, waited since 2010.  That’s 2 years!  And it’s as if there will be no Sherlock this year.  Now, Sherlock is an awesome show – one of the best shows ever created for TV.  The problem with it, though, is it takes two years for each new season to arrive, with each season having only three episodes!  Granted, that each episode’s length is that of a mini-movie, it’s still not enough!  It’s very very frustrating. 

In 2012, however, I also got hooked with two new shows.

 
Castle has been around for a while but it was only in 2012 that I started watching it.  My bestfriend Madel was the one who introduced me to Leverage and House; so after House ended, as I was searching for a new awesome show to follow, I asked for her recommendation.  She pointed me to Castle.  I watched its pilot, and I got hooked.  Before Season 5 started this year, I have already watched all episodes from the previous seasons (Thank God for the Internet. LOL).  Castle got me re-acquainted with the geek god Nathan Fillion, who I first encountered and adored as Capt. Mal in Firefly.  I’ve never really been a big fan of Nathan prior to Castle; but because of this show, I was led to check out his personality, interests, and career which made me grew fond of the guy.  And now, Nathan Fillion is probably my most favorite celebrity. 

 
The second show I got hooked this year is Sherlock’s rip-off, Elementary.  Like Sherlock, Elementary is also a modern take on Sherlock Holmes.  However, the setting is set in New York instead of London, Gregson works for the NYPD instead of Scotland Yard, and Dr. Watson is female instead of male. Among the three, what I don’t like most is the last one.  Watson should always be male!  The friendship between Holmes and Watson works best when both are male.  Aside from these differences, Elementary also lacks the clever allusions to the original material that Sherlock has.  Each case is almost always unique in itself, with no reference to the adventures of the literary Holmes.  Lastly, Jonny Lee Miller performance as Sherlock Holmes is terrific, but he’s no Benedict Cumberbatch, who’s just perfect.  The better thing about Elementary than Sherlock is that it follows the traditional episode scheduling of a TV season.  Thus, with a new mystery to look forward to each week, we get more dose of Sherlock Holmes with Elementary than Sherlock

You might be asking why I haven’t tried Game of Thrones yet, considering it’s probably the best show out there right now.  The answer is, I want to read the books first before I check out the show.  TV episodes are readily available in Internet, anyway, so what’s the rush? LOL.    

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