I do my weekly DVR Purges, but let's be frank: they are crap. I don't proofread them at all most weeks. They're collections of scattered thoughts that barely even make sense a week later. What I've decided to do is, with most of these shows I watch taking a break, reflect on where I stand with them, assessing what is in the show's favor (assets) and what could get it in trouble (liabilities).
Now, not every show I watch will be included. In general, I'm sticking to shows that I've kept notes (be them from Purges or otherwise) as I've watched. That means, shows like The Bridge, Looking, Sherlock, and Dexter will not be included. To get my thoughts on those, ask me. This project, supposing I stay on schedule should take all month and I hope it does a good job summing up where these shows stand. In some cases, I'm hoping to convince you to start watching. Other times, it'll be nothing more than a postmortem for a show that's gone.
I hope you enjoy.
Favorite Episode(s): "Prince" & "Dance"
Stars: By that, I mean, the big names: Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, and yes, I'll include Max Greenfield. New Girl has people who can be legit stars on the next level. Zooey Deschanel could just as easily still be regularly making movies right now. Jake Johnson is showing up all over the place and in some pretty good stuff (Safety Not Guaranteed, Drinking Buddies). It's only a matter of time before he goes big time. Max Greenfield may never leave TV but he's got a top-billed TV show in him. Having big names like this can only help maintain popularity (which would be at dire levels without them), get big name starts (Prince, anyone?), and take chances that less protected shows can't (No examples of them doing this yet. Get on that, New Girl).
New Blood: By that, I mean Coach. Damon Waynes Jr. is a treat. One of the biggest casting disappointments of the past few seasons was that he had to pull out of New Girl (for Happy Endings, so I understood why and it's certainly the better show). Lamorne Morris is great but even in the pilot it was clear that the writers on New Girl had a clearer idea of who Coach was than they ever have Winston. It was a little rough at first, but Coach is a regular and comfortably fits in the group. Best of all, I keep getting to see Damon Waynes Jr. on my TV doing funny things and making me laugh.
Plot Freedom: By that, I mean they can do anything with this show still. There are no marriages, babies, or careers that any of them are tied to. Most of them live in the apartment. That's about it. Where other shows are going to be busy writing characters out of holes to begin the season, New Girl can jump immediately into what's next. If Jess wants to get everyone jobs at the school, she can do that. If they want to go on a road trip to the Grand Canyon, they can do that. If they murder someone and go on the run, they can do that. It's kind of nice.
Nick and Jess: They botched this and that's a shame. The second season ended on the strength and momentum built by those two coming together. Both characters are well established and have a great rapport with one another. It looked like the writers could have a lot of fun with them dating. Instead, it was mostly them arguing or realizing how they couldn't work as a couple. That's rubbish. Look at April and Andy from Parks & Rec. if you want proof that opposite-ish characters can be written as a couple well. The writers either never liked the idea or simply couldn't come up with anything for them. As long as this dating experiment remains a season three memory, the show can work its way out of this. If season four begins with stolen glances and unspoken feelings between them again, then it can be a real problem since we've seen how it ends (Think: Barney and Robin).
Cece: It's not her fault. She is the only regular who doesn't live in or next to the apartment. It's hard to write her visiting the apartment too much considering he ex-boyfriend (who sort-of cheated on her at the beginning of the season) lives there. She's the odd-man-out even more than poor Winston (more on that in a moment) is. This is improving with her working at the bar now which is becoming a more common hangout and she and Schmidt are getting along (even though we're destined for another rekindling soon), but there's still a long way to go. The writers should go back to old episodes of Friends to take notes on how they handled the romantic entanglements and living situations.
Crazy Winston: Lamorne Morris is very funny. I say this a lot because I worry that my thoughts about Winston could be taken as having something against Morris. I even like some of the things that Crazy Winston does. The problem is that it isn't really a character. I won't say the reintroduction of Coach has made this problem worse but it sure hasn't helped.* They've made strides, mainly with him wanting to become a cop, much in the way that his radio job in season one helped guide the character. The show is all too often relying on him to pimp out his cat or spend an episode reserving a table for dinner that he normally belongs on his own show entirely rather than function as "part of the gang".
*I want it to be clear that I'm not saying the show can't have two black actors, but rather that Winston and Coach were both designed for the same role in the structure of the show, so, even though the writers are writing for them differently, they do share more of the same creative space than the other characters.
I'm at a crossroads when it comes to New Girl. The first two seasons were very up and down. Season one began annoyingly "adorkable" and ended Fancy-Man strong. Season two began quietly and ended with a run of great will they/won't they scenarios for Nick and Jess. Season three though, sustained the disappointment. Nick and Jess dating was a bummer from start to finish. Then, the show did right by them when they broke up, but in the process, sucked the life out of the show. Schmidt went from two-timing women he likes, to being evil-Schmidt, to longing for CeCe yet again. Coach took most of the season to develop. Winston veered from being insane ("All In") to sad ("Clavado En Un Bar") to pretty normal (chumming it up with CeCe in "Thanksgiving III") a jarring amount. CeCe, didn't have anything going on. Going into season four, this is a show with two good half seasons, two bad half seasons, and one sustained underwhelming season. Coming off the bad breakup that was the How I Met Your Mother finale, I'm not sure how much I want to be watching a show that I don't enjoy over 50% of the time. The cast and the promise of more True American is enough to carry me into the fourth season. Without signs of improvement accross the board, I'm not as sure I'll still be watching by the finale.
Previously this Offseason...
Community
Brooklyn Nine Nine
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