TV Question Qorner: TV Midseason Report Card, Q-Z
Survivor: Ozzy v. Coach. I didn’t care for Christine, so the success of Ozzy’s bold move pleased me, but of course we won’t hear the end of it until he’s taken out — which, obviously, his tribemates should do at their earliest possible opportunity, but just as obviously they won’t, because you always have those people who put loyalty and faith in another man’s word ahead of common sense in a competitive game-show environment.
And then you have Jim spitting at Cochran, “Coward,” while at the same time looking like he’s about to cry — which he should, because he’s angry that he got played. Congrats, Jim, you’ve won the Lex van den Berghe Memorial Map to the Point. And it’s thisaway: dude wants to stay in the game. It’s clear to him, because y’all have said it to his face, that you don’t consider him an asset (or even worthy of politesse, really), and if you “let” him remain, he’ll do as you and Ozzy and whoever else decide, and tolerate your imperious tone of voice as well. Why wouldn’t he try his luck with Coach et al. and pick you dicks off one by one? Why wouldn’t he start with Keith, who’s a threat in challenges? This is how you win. Letting Ozzy ally “with” you is not going to get you a win, Jimbo. It’s going to get you fourth place, if you’re lucky.
I just don’t like Jim, never have, but nothing will make me think you’re an asshole faster than acting like another, less physically imposing player outsmarting you is by definition a betrayal.
Terra Nova. I only attempted it for Jason O’Mara, but sadly, it became the second show of his that I’ve given up on despite its potential. It just didn’t seem to have thought through what it would do in the non-dino scenes, and the son is a boring asshole, and again with the “I, the wife of a cop, resent your cop-ness.” Gave up after the second episode when I could actually feel my blood pressure rising.
Top Chef Just Desserts. The season felt a little long this time around, and the drama it attempts to create around showpieces doesn’t really work for me. I’d like to see more of the nitty-gritty on creating those, and learn more about how you build one, whether you focus on taste — just learn more about them. Right now, the presentation of those challenges feels kind of binary: the chef has a lot of experience with them, or she doesn’t; the piece works, or it doesn’t. And…they almost never work for me from a style standpoint. Maybe that isn’t the idea, but they inevitably look tacky to me, like they came out of one of the ads for the Grand Prospect Hall.
Work of Art. Okay, let me just get this out of the way right now: I love the Sucklord. I love that Simon de Pury is forced to say “Sucklord” in his business-French accent like five times in every episode, and the Sucklord himself cracks me up. He should probably go home soon, because he doesn’t seem to have much flexibility in terms of his approach — but I still really like the show. I like that it gets both artists and audience to think about what makes an object or a rendition “art,” about the balance (or tension) between intent and technique, about creating stories in a visual way. As I said when I discussed it last season, it’s particularly interesting for me because I really can’t execute visually that way, at all, so a peek into the process is really cool.
That said, I have to join just about every other viewer/critic in asking Bravo to post the full crits on the website, because it’s very obvious how far down they’ve gotten chopped; it would make the comments we do get easier to understand; it would add to the experience of reading Jerry Saltz’s recaps, which I also like; and for the Pop challenge in particular, I could have used a bit more background on why the judges blew off certain works as “not Pop at all” and others that seemed very derivative as totally on point.
Tags: Coach Wade Jason O' Mara Jerry Saltz Lex van den Shutuphe Ozzy Lusth Simon de Pury Survivor Terra Nova the Sucklord Top Chef: Just Desserts TV Work of Art
I totally agree about the showpieces. Why do they put so much effort into something that’s not meant to be eaten? I have a similar problem with all the wedding cake shows, sure they look aamzing but how do they taste? That never seems to be a concern for them. It’s all about getting as much fondant as possible on there.
I think Top Chef: Just Desserts could have benefited from pop-ups, like in Pop-Up Video or those pop-ups they used to have on Lost reruns. Regular Top Chef isn’t as tough for me to follow, but the pastry chefs on Desserts are always using these fancy French-sounding terms for dishes, ingredients, and techniques, and I just don’t know what they’re talking about. It’d be nice to be able to learn a little something while I watched. (I sound like my mother.)
Blech. I HATE fondant. My one rule when my friend made my wedding cake was NO FONDANT. I’m not investing in a damn cake I can’t eat! (It was beautiful white frosting with autumn leaves on it and little frosting replicas of my new husband and I in our wedding attire playing in said leaves. AND CHOCOLATE INSIDE. Best wedding cake ever.)
…ahem. Anyhoo, glad to see my instincts were right about avoiding Terra Nova. I could tell just from the promos that 80% of the budget/creativity/writing was wrapped around the dinos, leaving scant scraps for believability or characterization.
And laugh if you want about “believability” being important in a SciFi show about going back in time and having dinosaur neighbors, but trust me, it’s much more important there then in a “regular real world” drama. Because the premise is so out there, cognitive dissonance will sound like the drums of an angry heaven from all the little “oopsie” moments, highlighting the absurdity.
@Jen S 1.0 – I am with you 98% on the fondant. Only 98%, because while MOST fondant is redonk disgusting, my mom makes this fondant with melted marshmallows in it that actually tastes good! It doesn’t hold as well as regular fondant, and if it’s hot and/or humid forget it, but for a winter Buche de Noel or similar it’s FANTASTIC.
I am totally with you on your Terra Nova observations. The kid…the anti-cop wife…and don’t forget “overly indulged youngest child”.
I call the guy who plays the commander “Jungle Hardass” because that’s been his role in the last two things I’ve seen him in (Terra Nova and Avatar). I like Jungle Hardass. His character is actually showing an eensy bit of being multifaceted.
Oh, oh, for Work of Art there’s also recaps on the AV Club, which I like very much. He’s got a sharp sense of humor, and he actually does recap what happened without just sort of reciting the sequence of events that occurred. He also did the first season, and the past two seasons of Project Runway.
Fondant: Agree. There’s a reason they call it “gum paste”, and that reason is that it’s like eating a stick of gum that’s unaccountably been slapped all over the cake. It’s possible to make buttercream smooth and if you’re a professional baker you should know that.
Believability in SF: Also agree. Believability is the only thing that keeps your show from, basically, being a fantasy with rayguns, where “technology” replaces “a wizard did it”.
…Are they serious with the outrage at Cochran? I’m still only like 10 minutes into the episode, but I really can’t believe that people still get this pissed when people have the “nerve” to play the game. Shut UP, Jim!