Good Television?

I have a love hate relationship with TV. 99% of it is outright crap or just plain disappointing, but increasingly TV is being used as a storytelling medium that, unlike cinema, can take its time about telling a story. Writers can develop characters and plot without having to be as ruthless economical as in cinema. Yes, there is an art to being economical with storytelling and some can do this brilliantly, but a TV series can expand on a story in ways a feature film cannot.

A case in point is The Wire. I regard this amazing 5 season work of art as the pinnacle of  TV excellence. The plot that wends its way into your brain in a languid and almost imperceptible pace, leaving you with something to think about after every episode. Virtually every character down to the most minor are interesting and intriguing in a way that you normally only find in a good novel. It really is literature for television.

At the other end of the scale you have rubbish like Lost where the characters are predictable archetypes and the plot drags its feet to the point of ludicrousness. I guess they sell more advertising space that way, eh?

Anyway, I love a good TV show and here are some of the better shows I have been watching lately.

Shameless (US Version)

Its very are that a TV translates so well from Britain to the US. In fact, in some ways Showtime's Shameless pretty much surpasses its sibling from across the water. It has all the warmth and depth of character the I loved about the original early episodes, but it expands upon  it to produce a much edgier show. It has its contrived moments and they try to hard to market it's TV taboo breaking (the intro and its 'what you missed last week' sequences being a case in point) but this can be forgiven as the whole is much better than the sum of its parts. William H Macy is a standout as a devious and duplicitous Frank Gallagher but all the characters are solid. A cracking soapie.

The Walking Dead

Well this is a crap show, really. The scariest thing about it is Andrew Lincoln's southern accent. But I like it. The Zombie Apocalypse is a great schlock genre and although this show dwells too much on a story that the writers aren't capable enough to write, it has enough going for it to be watchable and the odd episode is even quite good. Now in its third season, my pleas of 'more zombies - less phony pathos' seemed to have been answered in part and I quite enjoyed it. 

Infinitely inferior to Channel 4's 'Dead Set', but worth a look for shits and giggles.

Justified

Those of you who have seen the awesome HBO drama Deadwood will remember Timothy Olyphant as the uptight do-gooder sheriff. Well, Tim plays a similar character here in Justified.  In a nutshell, a rednecked but moral US Marshal reluctantly returns home to Kentucky where he confronts his family and his history. Its a rootin' tootin' gun totin' slackjaw infested Kentucky yokelfest to be sure. Pretty daft and gratuitously gun-centric but full of southern charm and the writing is just about good enough to elevate it above the usual TV cop dross.

I enjoyed this show which has now just finished its 4th series. Worth a look if you're bored. Yee-haw!