[here] Culture Schlock
Issue: Sep 3, 2009
It is hard to believe that summer is almost over, but the good news is that means it’s time for some new shows and returning favourites.
I’ve been partially satiated this summer by True Blood, the southern US based vampire series on HBO that has escalated to the point of ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong; this is still entertaining stuff, and the cast is generally great, but this “whole town is completely nutso evil” plotline doesn’t fit in with where the show started last year. The attractive premise of the show when it began was that vampires were coexisting relatively well with humans, and could drink commercially developed faux-blood called Tru Blood. Vampires appeared on TV and companies marketed products just for them. It was almost like they were an immigrant culture integrating into America. It was a darkly comedic parody of the current state of race relations.
But now it is just all apeshit crazy. I’ll watch the rest (Sundays and Tuesdays on HBO and Bravo, respectively) but I may give it a pass next season if they don’t pull back a bit. I have not read the books the show is taken from, but if this is the direction they go, I won’t bother.
The returning shows I’m awaiting with the most anticipation are Dexter, Supernatural, and Dollhouse. So, if you are like me, and actually pay for regular cable AND the specialty channels so you can see the best that the boob tube has to offer, or even if you watch online, download them or wait and buy the season DVD’s, here’s what to look for this season for my favourites.
Dexter (premieres September 27 on HBO)
When we last saw our favourite vigilante serial killer, he had escaped detection yet again, and was in the process of fathering a child with his new wife, who is still oblivious to what Dexter gets up to at night. If you can suspend reality for a moment, which you must do to truly enjoy my favourites, then you can get past the fact that Dexter should have been busted several times, and has the proverbial luck of a shithouse rat. They need to end this show this year, in my opinion, which means Dexter either gets caught, killed, or ends up icing himself. When great shows go on too long, they dishonour themselves. This season sees Dexter having to get used to life with a newborn child of his own. Will this baby be born with the serial killing gene too? In the meantime, a serial killer returns to town making for new prey for Dexter.
Supernatural (Premieres September 10, 2009)
This show has advanced several levels in quality and complexity over its 4 seasons. Now we are approaching the supposedly last season, although, if the sponsors love the results, it may be extended. After last season’s exciting conclusion, “Lucifer Rising,” where the devil was apparently released from hell onto earth, the show’s producers and writers must have found themselves in an awkward position. “Um, where do we go from here?” Or maybe it was all part of a well planned out 5-season plot. Who knows? In the season premiere, “Sympathy for the Devil,” we’ll get to see where they go with this Devilish plot. I’m curious, but concerned.
I’m hoping that they spend at least half the season doing old fashioned Sam and Dean shows, where each episode is a self-contained story in which they go to a town and solve a supernatural mystery, and humour abounds, with Ben Edlund (The Tick) writing the funniest, quirkiest episodes. This integrated, complicated “hell plot” can wear on you at times, and it’s pretty serious stuff. It reminds me of how X-Files deteriorated into that government conspiracy mess. All we X-Files fans ever wanted was more Scully and Fox dialogue.
Dollhouse (premieres September 25 on FOX/Global)
Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly) had a slow start with Dollhouse’s first season, but it picked up steam and is a highly anticipated show this fall, at least if you talk to his legion of acolytes (I’m one). Great news is the addition of Summer Glau (River from Firefly and the only half-decent part of last year’s terminated Terminator TV series) to the cast. The wiry Glau plays Bennett, a recurring character at the Dollhouse who somehow knows Eliza Dushku’s equally wiry Echo from their past. I’m not sure if Dushku will appreciate the hot chick competition, but I’m sure fans will.
Craig Pinhey likes weird shows and is therefore weird. Discuss. Visit Craig at www.frogspad.ca.