The Blacklist - Pilot Review

Well it’s that time of year again, where the major networks open the gates and release a mix of terrible garbage and fantastic shows. One of the most advertised in the recent month, and most anticipated, is the serial national security drama “The Blacklist” starring all around crazy fucked up Hannibal Lecteresq James Spader (Stargate, Boston Legal). I was intrigued by the 1,000 promos shoved down my throat by NBC and Global TV in Canada so I figured last night I’d sit down and check out the pilot.

So this program is about Raymond Reddington (Spader) who is a long time fugitive and former armed forces member who disappeared on Christmas eve many years ago. He magically appears at the FBI headquarters and turns himself into the FBI. And tah dah he refuses to talk to anyone but this cheeseball oversimplified FBI newb named Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boon). What bothered me right off the bat is that she was really nice and kind of naïve and ditzy. This isn’t a problem until she’s pulled into meet with Reddington and the first thing she says is that her former coworkers thought she was a Bitch. What the fuck is that all about? I didn’t know a kind woman dedicated to her man and was trying to adopt a kid was a bitch.

So after the awkward and cheesy character intros are done with, the story actually picks up and makes the Reddington character actually seem pretty cool. He has some daring escapes and there’s some inventive archs as the story goes on and you’re introduced to one of the people on the blacklist.

So Reddingtons blacklist is list of crazy mercenaries, terrorists, hackers, criminals etc. that the FBI isn’t even aware of but for some reason Reddington is willing to help agent Keen capture these baddies.

So the first guy on the list is this crazy Scandinavian guy who is terminally ill and wants to detonate a chemical weapon in Washington as some kind of revenge. As you’d expect his plot is foiled, but I don’t want to go into too much detail in case you’re actually interested in seeing the pilot.  

In my opinion this pilot suffered from what I’d like to refer to as “Pilot Syndrome” where a really good show has a shitty first episode which turns picky assholes like me off. For this reason, when binge watching shows, I usually start at the second episode to know if I like it. This way you’re not watching the intro show that they are putting out for the purpose of the network picking it up, but rather starting on the episodes where the real artistic intention of the show is realized. Overall this pilot was cheesy, but also showed a strong premise, the promise of good twists and turns and some decent actor (mostly from James Spader). I’m definitely interested in seeing more of this show in the coming weeks. I don’t see a reason to rate a pilot but I’ll just give it a comme ci, comme ça and the hand flipping back and forth that goes with it. 

Glee... Exactly what I expected

Personally I have television shows and movies that I absolutely refuse to watch. Usually my reasons for boycotting such outlets stem from seeing snippets, knowing the premise of said entertainment, or on many occasions it’s because the fan base surrounding it is absolutely retarded.
There are some points in time though where I am put into a situation where I watch the piece of material, either because I'm forced too or I decide to give it a shot for the sake of knowing its utter shit.

In today’s particular case I ended up seeing an episode of the highly successful, Emmy award winning program Glee. This was a mistake. This show (at least to someone of my ...unique? taste) was absolute garbage. I know what you’re thinking

“But Camgore, you can’t judge and entire TV show based on one episode!”

And to that I say “eat shit”

For one I am extremely bias, in the sense that I hate almost every musical ever created. Accept for Grease... just because at its core a it is a badass movie (and Olivia Newton John is so damn hot!). Anyways, so from what I gathered Glee is a rip off of Saved By The Bell but with less interesting setting, story line, characters and filled with song and dance routines that are in some way supposed to explain what going on in the “story line”
I stuck story line in quotations because from what I gathered the show spends so much time setting up its ridiculous musical numbers that it completely lacks a good plot or structure. The characters are completely unrealistic (which is how they connect to Saved By The Bell) and the comedy is more eye-gougingly pretentious and riddled with as many over-the-top obvious pop culture references as a Diablo Cody movie. It seems that the only thing that keeps its audience (mainly made up of 12-25 year old girls) is the musical numbers, which usually butcher classic rock songs or rehash terrible songs many music lovers wish would have stayed buried.

The episode I saw focused on the music of Britney Spears and how important her music is to everyone... yea. The plot of the episode was about a bunch of underage girls and a disabled kid (who looks like Warowitz from The Big Bang Theory) getting gassed with Nitrous by John Stamos and them tripping balls and having Britney Spears related fantasies. I've had nitrous, and it definitely didn't send me into musical fantasies... I think maybe Stamos slipped those kids a little GHB. Overall the plot was stupid and only reminded me how annoying the singing groups were in my High School's music department.

This show obviously isn’t for everyone. If you like very little plot and popular music this is probably the show for you. Personally I like getting more than 2 minutes of story out of a 45 minute program.
As one final note: I think they should change the name of their fans from “Gleek’s” to Gleetard’s

Skins

Skins was one of those TV shows that was like no other, one that could transcend boundaries without getting cheesy or stupid. For me I can honestly say it's one of the best programs I have ever watched, and it makes me sad knowing it was only 2 seasons.

Skins was a British TV show that aired on channel E4 in London. It is about a group of friends living in Bristol and all the shit they go through; and their is a lot of shit. I was first turned on to this show after the 1st season was over by my good friend Joel. I was looking for something to ease the boredom brought on by the writers strike and turned to the internet to fill the television gap. After watching the first episode I was automatically hooked. The way everything was presented was so near perfect in my eyes.

The show dealt with real problems, and not in a cheesy watered down way like Degrassi: The Next Generation but more like the 1980's Degrassi: Jr. High/High series'. It covered everything including drugs, alcohol, serious injury, death, stalking and just about everything a high school kid can get into. And all of these problems and good times were wrapped into a group of characters that were all encapsulating real in their own ways.

When I got word that this show was done, well at least the cast from seasons 1&2, was over I was shocked and right pissed. It seems the creators of the show want to do this whole thing where every 2 seasons it's going to be a new group of kids, which I guess is a mixed blessing. On one hand you'll get a new bunch of characters to keep the format fresh, but on another hand its like falling in love with a new group of friends and then they die off every 2 years; jesus the show is emotionally draining enough as it is!

This is a beautiful show, absolutely beautiful. All of the episodes are on the internet at: http://www.greatstufftv.com/skins/ and i highly suggest you see this. If you're like me and had lost faith in alot todays programming, this will be a welcomed surprise.