Last night, I watched the second episode of this season's Big Love. This puts me almost a quarter of the way through the season (here's why), and I still don't know what's going on. Too many storylines, too many new characters, and not enough of Bill's crazy mom.
But what I do know is that I LOVE the new opening credits.
Check it out on YouTube sometime. It's been compared to Mad Men's opener, with the lead character falling through space. But unlike Mad Men's opener, Big Love's isn't animated. Set to the song "Home" by Engineers, it features Bill and his three wives falling through black space, sometimes in slow motion, and sometimes suspended in mid-air.
It is haunting. Captivating. And absolutely gorgeous. I've seen it twice, and both times, I couldn’t tear my eyes off it.
The old theme, which featured Bill and his wives ice-skating and the ice cracking between them, was set to The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows." It, too, was terrific.
Seeing the new opener got me thinking about theme songs and opening credits in general. Chuck's is really fun, and I watch it all the way through each time. Mad Men's music draws you in, and the art/graphics are neat. I also love Dexter's, even though I can't watch the part where he gets bitten by a mosquito, and the part where he nicks himself shaving.
I can never watch people shave on TV. Too traumatic.
On the other end of the theme song spectrum, you have songs that go on foreverrrrr. You could probably take a shower and blow-dry your hair in the time it takes for the Family Guy theme to play through. Then there's Survivor, with all that tribal chanting...gahhh.
The latest theme song abomination I've discovered is Damages. Great show, but horrible theme. It's some guy mumbling, "When I am through with you...there won't be anything left..when I am through with you." He also mumbles some other things but they are incomprehensible. The singing is combined with bleak shots of NYC sculptures and architecture I've never seen, and I've lived here all my life. Yeah. Come visit New York!
I recently read an article saying that these days, traditional opening credits are getting supershort, even disappearing altogether. I hope not (unless your name is Survivor). Openers can be done well, and Big Love has proven it--twice.
Showing posts with label Mad Men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mad Men. Show all posts
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
2010 Golden Globes: Winners, Losers, and Michael C. Hall's Hat.
Last night was the Golden Globes awards. I normally don't watch this show, but 24 wasn't starting for another hour.
Here, in no particular order, are the big TV winners of the night:
Best drama: Mad Men. Love this show, and happy that it won. While it beat out Dexter, I can't hate on Mad Men, since it didn't win any other awards. By the way, Jon Hamm, what was up with the beard?
Best comedy/musical: Glee. YES! I am so happy for the cast. I may/may not stalk all of them on Twitter, so I may/may not know how truly excited they were to be at the show, never mind if they won or lost. What a great group of kids.
Best actress, drama: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife. Dang it, still can't spell her name right on the first try. I've never seen an episode of The Good Wife, or ER, for that matter. But she seems like a nice lady.
Best actor, drama: Michael C. Hall, Dexter. I totally cried when he went up on stage. Dude has been getting treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. "It's nice to have a justifiable excuse for accessorizing," he said, in reference to the hat he was wearing to cover up his loss of hair.
Best actor, comedy/musical: Alex Baldwin, 30 Rock. Never watched this show. By the way, why are musicals and comedies lumped together? Are there that many musicals on television that it needs its own name in a category? And while we're at it, Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester on Glee), was also nominated for this category, and he was great at the musical stuff AND the comedy. On this alone, he should've won. I'm just saying.
Best actress, comedy/musical: Toni Collette, United States of Tara. Never seen this show either. And yes, I believe Lea Michele should've won, for the aforementioned reason.
Best mini-series made for...zzzzz I'm sorry what were we talking about?
...Skipping over the best actor/actress for mini-series/motion picture made for TV, since none of us have actually seen any of those performances...
Best supporting actor: John Lithgow, Dexter. AWESOME. The man was stupendously frightening this season. Out of habit, I shrank away from the TV as he gave his speech.
Best supporting actress: Chloe Sevigny, Big Love. I'm torn on this one. She's great on Big Love (funny, emotional, relatable), but I just don't know. I mean, she plays one of three wives, all of whom are terrifically portrayed. So it's hard for me to see why she should be nominated (let alone be given the award) over the others. Also, I have soft spots for the scene-stealing Jane Lynch (Glee) and underrated Rose Byrne (Damages).
That's it for this year's Golden Globes!
Here, in no particular order, are the big TV winners of the night:
Best drama: Mad Men. Love this show, and happy that it won. While it beat out Dexter, I can't hate on Mad Men, since it didn't win any other awards. By the way, Jon Hamm, what was up with the beard?
Best comedy/musical: Glee. YES! I am so happy for the cast. I may/may not stalk all of them on Twitter, so I may/may not know how truly excited they were to be at the show, never mind if they won or lost. What a great group of kids.
Best actress, drama: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife. Dang it, still can't spell her name right on the first try. I've never seen an episode of The Good Wife, or ER, for that matter. But she seems like a nice lady.
Best actor, drama: Michael C. Hall, Dexter. I totally cried when he went up on stage. Dude has been getting treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. "It's nice to have a justifiable excuse for accessorizing," he said, in reference to the hat he was wearing to cover up his loss of hair.
Best actor, comedy/musical: Alex Baldwin, 30 Rock. Never watched this show. By the way, why are musicals and comedies lumped together? Are there that many musicals on television that it needs its own name in a category? And while we're at it, Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester on Glee), was also nominated for this category, and he was great at the musical stuff AND the comedy. On this alone, he should've won. I'm just saying.
Best actress, comedy/musical: Toni Collette, United States of Tara. Never seen this show either. And yes, I believe Lea Michele should've won, for the aforementioned reason.
Best mini-series made for...zzzzz I'm sorry what were we talking about?
...Skipping over the best actor/actress for mini-series/motion picture made for TV, since none of us have actually seen any of those performances...
Best supporting actor: John Lithgow, Dexter. AWESOME. The man was stupendously frightening this season. Out of habit, I shrank away from the TV as he gave his speech.
Best supporting actress: Chloe Sevigny, Big Love. I'm torn on this one. She's great on Big Love (funny, emotional, relatable), but I just don't know. I mean, she plays one of three wives, all of whom are terrifically portrayed. So it's hard for me to see why she should be nominated (let alone be given the award) over the others. Also, I have soft spots for the scene-stealing Jane Lynch (Glee) and underrated Rose Byrne (Damages).
That's it for this year's Golden Globes!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Mad Men: Next Time Joan, Use a Titanium Vase.
I've heard Mad Men described as "the best movie I see each week," or something to that effect. And it's true. The show, in all its exquisitely shot time period glory, carries all the weighted drama of a Best Picture contender. Beautiful costumes. Glamour. Gorgeous cast. Superb writing. And tension, tension, tension.
This past Sunday's Mad Men was one of the best episodes of the series by far. It's a pivotal episode--that episode where, from that point forward, everything changes, and there's no going back.
For example, that Grey's Anatomy two-parter where Meredith is holding a bomb in someone's chest? Pivotal. With that, Grey's established itself as the best show on TV, the one everyone talked about. Of course, now hardly anyone talks about it anymore, but that's beside the point.
Mad Men was pivotal this Sunday because finally, finally we saw Don Draper break down. And those ten minutes or so where he is explaining his past to Betty? Painful to watch, and yet I hung on his every word. The hardest part was watching him talk about how and why his brother killed himself. Poor Don. I think in that moment, Betty could see herself truly forgiving all his infidelities. Only in that moment, though. I'm sure when she finds out about him and the teacher, the sh*t will hit the fan again.
Also in the episode, the craziest thing happened: Don dropped a cigarette, he was so nervous. Don is the kind of guy who never drops anything. He is just too cool. In fact, he is the kind of guy who looks at you and makes you drop YOUR cigarette.
Another great moment in the episode came out of nowhere, as all the great moments on Mad Men are wont to do. Joan and her husband Dr. Rapist, I mean Greg, are arguing. Well, Dr. Rapist is arguing about how he can't get a break and how his life is crap because first he tried to be a surgeon but he failed at it and then he tried to be a psychiatrist and he changed his mind because that's not even a real science or something (ouch) and blah blah blah waa waa waa. We're all sick of his whining by this point. That "we" includes Joan.
So what does she do? She goes behind Dr. Rapist, picks up a vase, and BASHES IT OVER HIS HEAD.* Then she walks out the door. WOW. I officially love Joan.
Roger Sterling also had his own storyline this episode involving some woman from his past, but it was far outshadowed by Don and Betty and Joan. There are only two more eps of Mad Men this season, and I cannot wait to see how it ends.
*No, sadly, he didn't die. By the way, the actor, Sam Page, is slated to guest star on Greek, playing Rebecca's dad's colleague on Capitol Hill.
This past Sunday's Mad Men was one of the best episodes of the series by far. It's a pivotal episode--that episode where, from that point forward, everything changes, and there's no going back.
For example, that Grey's Anatomy two-parter where Meredith is holding a bomb in someone's chest? Pivotal. With that, Grey's established itself as the best show on TV, the one everyone talked about. Of course, now hardly anyone talks about it anymore, but that's beside the point.
Mad Men was pivotal this Sunday because finally, finally we saw Don Draper break down. And those ten minutes or so where he is explaining his past to Betty? Painful to watch, and yet I hung on his every word. The hardest part was watching him talk about how and why his brother killed himself. Poor Don. I think in that moment, Betty could see herself truly forgiving all his infidelities. Only in that moment, though. I'm sure when she finds out about him and the teacher, the sh*t will hit the fan again.
Also in the episode, the craziest thing happened: Don dropped a cigarette, he was so nervous. Don is the kind of guy who never drops anything. He is just too cool. In fact, he is the kind of guy who looks at you and makes you drop YOUR cigarette.
Another great moment in the episode came out of nowhere, as all the great moments on Mad Men are wont to do. Joan and her husband Dr. Rapist, I mean Greg, are arguing. Well, Dr. Rapist is arguing about how he can't get a break and how his life is crap because first he tried to be a surgeon but he failed at it and then he tried to be a psychiatrist and he changed his mind because that's not even a real science or something (ouch) and blah blah blah waa waa waa. We're all sick of his whining by this point. That "we" includes Joan.
So what does she do? She goes behind Dr. Rapist, picks up a vase, and BASHES IT OVER HIS HEAD.* Then she walks out the door. WOW. I officially love Joan.
Roger Sterling also had his own storyline this episode involving some woman from his past, but it was far outshadowed by Don and Betty and Joan. There are only two more eps of Mad Men this season, and I cannot wait to see how it ends.
*No, sadly, he didn't die. By the way, the actor, Sam Page, is slated to guest star on Greek, playing Rebecca's dad's colleague on Capitol Hill.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Mad Men: There Goes My Foot
So I'm watching Sunday's episode of Mad Men, thinking this is another one of those calm, borderline boring episodes. Joan is leaving Sterling Cooper, and the office ladies have thrown her a small party and bought a nice sheet cake. The men are standing around drinking champagne and talking about the PPO merger. One of the guys rides in on his new Deere lawn mower (Deere is his new client). Peggy is thanking Joan for her advice. Everyone's just shooting the breeze.
Then one of the women decides to get on the lawn mower. It becomes quickly apparent that she has no idea what she's doing. The mower zips all over the office, and people dive out of the way while others continue chatting. Next thing we know, a spray of brownish-red liquid shoots through the air and lands on three people, the lawn mower has crashed through one of the office doors, taking the walls down with it, and a guy is lying on the floor screaming bloody agony.
The lawn mower has shredded his foot.
Well, that's one way to wake us up. Thanks, Mad Men!
Then one of the women decides to get on the lawn mower. It becomes quickly apparent that she has no idea what she's doing. The mower zips all over the office, and people dive out of the way while others continue chatting. Next thing we know, a spray of brownish-red liquid shoots through the air and lands on three people, the lawn mower has crashed through one of the office doors, taking the walls down with it, and a guy is lying on the floor screaming bloody agony.
The lawn mower has shredded his foot.
Well, that's one way to wake us up. Thanks, Mad Men!
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Primetime Emmys: My Favorite Winners
Along with 291 million Americans, I did not watch the Primetime Emmys Sunday night. As funny as Neil Patrick Harris is, I’m not much for watching Hollywood congratulate itself on a job well done. I’m all for recognizing hard work and talent, but why don’t these people just give themselves the awards via a Facebook vote-off and send out a press release?
In any case, here are the three winners I am happy for, because I love these shows and winning is a sure sign they will not be canceled anytime soon (with the exception of #3):
Mad Men, for best drama and best writing for a drama series. Yes, that “writing” includes racist comments. And sexist jokes. And blackface. But this show is terrifically understated, with impeccable acting and a gorgeous, authentic look—you really feel like you’re in the 1960s, smoking like a chimney and wearing a garter.
The Amazing Race, for best reality/competition. This makes TAR’s 7th win in a row. Survivor host Jeff Probst said, “Maybe ‘Amazing Race’ should do what Oprah did and pull itself out of competition.” I don’t think he was joking. Probst, calm down. You won for best reality host. Anyway, would you really want your show to win because the BEST SHOW ON TV withdrew from the ballot? You would? Oh. Okay.
Kristin Chenoweth, for best supporting actress in a comedy, Pushing Daisies (R.I.P.). Pushing Daisies was canceled too soon. Fortunately, Kristin’ll be appearing on Glee this fall. I am SUPER EXCITED for that. Kristin needs to be on every show on TV.
To everybody else who won, congratulations. Little Dorrit, I never heard of you, but you put PBS on the map. The Daily Show, I watch you every day, but still prefer The Colbert Report. 30 Rock, I never watched a single episode of you, but maybe I should start. Are you casting Kristin Chenoweth anytime soon?
In any case, here are the three winners I am happy for, because I love these shows and winning is a sure sign they will not be canceled anytime soon (with the exception of #3):
Mad Men, for best drama and best writing for a drama series. Yes, that “writing” includes racist comments. And sexist jokes. And blackface. But this show is terrifically understated, with impeccable acting and a gorgeous, authentic look—you really feel like you’re in the 1960s, smoking like a chimney and wearing a garter.
The Amazing Race, for best reality/competition. This makes TAR’s 7th win in a row. Survivor host Jeff Probst said, “Maybe ‘Amazing Race’ should do what Oprah did and pull itself out of competition.” I don’t think he was joking. Probst, calm down. You won for best reality host. Anyway, would you really want your show to win because the BEST SHOW ON TV withdrew from the ballot? You would? Oh. Okay.
Kristin Chenoweth, for best supporting actress in a comedy, Pushing Daisies (R.I.P.). Pushing Daisies was canceled too soon. Fortunately, Kristin’ll be appearing on Glee this fall. I am SUPER EXCITED for that. Kristin needs to be on every show on TV.
To everybody else who won, congratulations. Little Dorrit, I never heard of you, but you put PBS on the map. The Daily Show, I watch you every day, but still prefer The Colbert Report. 30 Rock, I never watched a single episode of you, but maybe I should start. Are you casting Kristin Chenoweth anytime soon?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Mad Men Drives Me Mad Sometimes
I just watched the 3rd episode of Mad Men, season 3. I'm all caught up. And I agree with what some people are saying--NOTHING IS HAPPENING THIS SEASON. Nothing. Nada.
Here is what I remember from last night's ep:
-Sally stole money from Grandpa, who passive-aggressively blamed the black maid (like we didn't see that coming). Eventually, Sally gave it back. Then she read a book to him and everything was A-OK.
-There was a fancy party that Don and Betty went to. An old guy asked to feel Betty's baby bump. Not creepy at all.
-The Sterling Cooper staff smoked pot. Peggy has a new secretary who is older than she is.
I rest my case. The show was a whole lotta nothing. And yet I still love it.
There are some things that bother me about this show though. One of them--and this is a big one--is that they never resolve anything. Ever. Pete throwing the chicken out the window? Best moment of season 2, and yet...nothing. Joan getting raped by her fiance? Still with the guy. Peggy telling Pete she had his baby and gave him/her away? Life goes on. Nobody addresses anything from the past, nobody says "Hey, I'm still mad at you for blah blah."
I loved the dance Pete and Trudy did though. Afterwards, I turned to Matt, my fiance, and said, "I wish you would--" but he shook his head no before I even finished the sentence.
The other show I watched last night was Big Brother. Jeff & Jordan make a cute couple and it's sad they will be broken apart. But Jordan is basically dead weight (along with Natalie) and she doesn't deserve to win anyway. I hope Kevin takes home the money and goes on a fabulous vacation with his hot boyfriend. Jeff already has that Hawaii trip anyway, and Michelle won a gigantic new TV and Blue-Ray player. I'm not jealous.
Here is what I remember from last night's ep:
-Sally stole money from Grandpa, who passive-aggressively blamed the black maid (like we didn't see that coming). Eventually, Sally gave it back. Then she read a book to him and everything was A-OK.
-There was a fancy party that Don and Betty went to. An old guy asked to feel Betty's baby bump. Not creepy at all.
-The Sterling Cooper staff smoked pot. Peggy has a new secretary who is older than she is.
I rest my case. The show was a whole lotta nothing. And yet I still love it.
There are some things that bother me about this show though. One of them--and this is a big one--is that they never resolve anything. Ever. Pete throwing the chicken out the window? Best moment of season 2, and yet...nothing. Joan getting raped by her fiance? Still with the guy. Peggy telling Pete she had his baby and gave him/her away? Life goes on. Nobody addresses anything from the past, nobody says "Hey, I'm still mad at you for blah blah."
I loved the dance Pete and Trudy did though. Afterwards, I turned to Matt, my fiance, and said, "I wish you would--" but he shook his head no before I even finished the sentence.
The other show I watched last night was Big Brother. Jeff & Jordan make a cute couple and it's sad they will be broken apart. But Jordan is basically dead weight (along with Natalie) and she doesn't deserve to win anyway. I hope Kevin takes home the money and goes on a fabulous vacation with his hot boyfriend. Jeff already has that Hawaii trip anyway, and Michelle won a gigantic new TV and Blue-Ray player. I'm not jealous.
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