Television

Parks and Recreation Casts Patricia Clarkson as Tammy 1

The critically acclaimed comedy from
NBC announced recently that Oscar nominated actress, Patricia
Clarkson will be coming on to play Ron Swanson’s first ex-wife, Tammy
1. The character earned her moniker for having the same name as
Ron’s second ex-wife. Though the names are the same, Executive
Producer Michael Schur has insured that the new character won’t be a
clone of Ron’s other ex; “…all we knew is that we didn’t want
to do the same thing we did with Tammy 2.”

The reveal that Ron’s first ex would be
joining the show came at the end of the third season, and inspired a
slew of suggestions and speculation as to who would fill the role.
Oprah, Glenn Close, and even Nick Offerman himself, were among the
names tossed around as potential candidates. In the end it would be
Clarkson that earned the gig though. Too bad, as not putting
Offerman in drag seems like a missed opportunity.

Entourage – Out With a Bang

“Out With a Bang” was an odd episode for Entourage.
After exploding onto screen last week with massive plot progression,
quickly setting up the entire season and dealing with the aftermath of
last year, things were slowed down perhaps just a little too much this
week. Now that everything is in place, the show has set about adding
some depth to the frame that it has laid out. Whilst ordinarily I’d be a
firm proponent of such a move, the balance wasn’t quite what I
expected. Dealing with the characters’ relationships is paramount – evident by their weight in this episode –
and Vince’s career is the show, but when Turtle’s “relationship” with
Alex is played up just as much as Eric’s is with Sloan, you’re doing
something wrong.

Haven – Love Machine

Last
week’s episode flew so high that “Love Machine” had nowhere else to go
but down. Still, it did not crash and burn but rather dipped a little.
Using the qualities that sustained the series throughout the first
season and some of the newfound momentum, the writers delivered a story
that was touching, even if it lacked both the beauty-of-the-parts and
beauty-of-the-whole appeal of the previous episode.

The
investigation followed the pattern we are now familiar with. Audrey,
with the assistance of Nathan, first went after the wrong suspect. It’s
only after several more incidents that she set her eyes on the troubled
resident unwillingly breathing life into machines. Here, unlike last
week, she had an epiphany, and this is where the already flimsy idea
fell apart. Having no issues whatsoever with the supernatural or
science-fiction doesn’t mean suspended disbelief, but rather broadening
one’s mind so as to work with whatever construct the author provides.
Things still make sense — they have to or the mind complains — but they
do it in a universe where rules are not quite like those in the real
world. Sentient machines could have worked better if the writers had
prepared us properly. Also, the breadth of knowledge required to be able
to fix machines from such diverse engineering fields is staggering and
shouldn’t have been simply ignored.

Breaking Bad – Open House

The women took center stage in “Open
House,” and while one was building herself up; the other was
falling apart. Flexing its comedic muscle with this episode,
Breaking Bad showed it has not lost its sense of humor,
despite its subject being darker than ever. The episode did however
feel like the inevitable comedown from the high-strung tension of the
previous two.

The cold open was a gambit of emotions
for Walt, as he starts his day at the lab. Reminiscing fondly over
Gale’s chemistry-born coffee maker, Walt smiling to himself is
quickly cut short as he follows the memory all the way down. Gale’s
death has definitely had the least effect emotionally on Walt, who is
too preoccupied with paranoia over Gus’s next move to register guilt
or mournfulness. Those feelings crashing home -even for a brief
instant- proved Walt’s conscience is not completely hollowed out yet.
His obsession over what Gus intends returned quickly though, as he
spots the new security camera. At this point, Walt is so on edge
that he is looking for reasons to be angry with Gus, and the
security camera is the perfect excuse; despite Walt knowing it is a
completely reasonable move after what he and Jesse did. For Walt,
waiting for a retaliation is becoming as bad as the retaliation
itself would be. Being powerless has him so frazzled all he can do
is defiantly and fruitlessly “flip the bird” to the camera.

Louie – Subway/Pamela

It’s amazing how much humor C.K. is
able to squeeze out of both surreal and heartbreaking moments. He
was at it again with “Subway/Pamela.” Louie’s dual adventures
take the audience on a journey to see where the comic’s material
comes from, as well as hanging out with Louie’s friend, the always
hilarious, Pamela Adlon. The character’s underlying want for
affection was present in both stories, and while it wasn’t the
funniest, the episode rose far above what is expected from a typical
comedy.

While Louie’s trip on the subway lasted
only a few minutes, it was comprised of very impressionable scenes.
Rather disturbing, there was still something to appreciate in the
stunning contrast between the tranquil beauty of the violin player
and the raw, repulsive vagrant washing himself. Louie -who has seen
much worse- is less shocked by a man using a subway platform as his
shower, than he is disgusted by having the violin music interrupted
by such loathsome figure. What it says about the character, and
likely much of the audience that felt the same way, is something we
don’t want to think about. Which is exactly why C.K. brings it up.
We should feel pity, or at the very least not contempt for one who
has fallen so low in society. But once the initial disbelief at the
sheer bizarreness of it all passes, you can’t help but think, “How
dare he?” Which is soon replaced with the appropriate sense of
guilt over so callously forgetting the man’s misfortunes. Not
exactly a humorous moment, but one that still had the comic’s mark
all over it.

Wilfred – Conscience

Coming off the series’ best episode
last week, “Conscience”
was right behind it in terms of laughs. As the title suggests, Ryan
is struggling with the angel on one shoulder and the
devil-in-a-dog-costume on the other, a struggle that leads to some
uproarious moments. The episode did have some dry spots, but it was
saved by again making one-liners and witty dialogue the primary
source of comedy.

The episode’s driving force was Jenna’s
boyfriend, Drew. Played by Chris Klein (American Pie), the
character was a humorously annoying blend of a frat-guy jock and a
smarmy salesman. The kind of guy you would hate to be around, but
would love to watch others have to endure. Which is exactly what our
pair of protagonists are doing, as Drew brags to Ryan about putting a
man out of business, and demoralizes Wilfred by dominating him
physically. (Does Jenna really have the right to call Drew out on his
bragging when she just got a hospice shut down in the last episode?)
Klein brought an insanely high level of energy to the character.
Especially in the ping-pong scene, in which he also nailed Drew’s
obsessive need to win and poor sportsmanship.

Will Alcatraz Be the Next Lost?

With the recent screening of the pilot
episode of Alcatraz at Comic-Con 2011, many are wondering that
very thing. Only a few months past the one year anniversary of Lost
ending, it seems like fans have already been clamoring for ages for a
show to take its place. Will Alcatraz be the series to do it?
Lets find out, and take a closer look at this new series that is
already generating buzz, just by its connections to one of the most
discussed television series in recent history.

Before we get into what Alcatraz
might be, let’s take a look at what it is. The plot centers around a
group of over three hundred inmates and guards disappearing from the
infamous prison in 1963. As they begin to reappear decades later in the present,
none of them have aged a day. A team is quickly formed to find all
of those missing, while also investigating what caused the
phenomenon. The series will be set up in a “Prisoner of the Week”
style, with each episode dedicated to tracking down one of the time
jumping prisoners. The mystery behind how and why these men traveled
nearly fifty years into the future will also provide an arcing plot
running throughout.