My Favorite Things of 2013: Television

Avatar: The Legend of Korra- Was Book Two as good as Book One across the board? No. But it was still pretty fucking awesome. Switching animation studios was the best thing that could have happened to this show. Episodes 7 and 8 may very well be the best looking episodes ever seen in the Avatar franchise thus far. The writers clearly pulled a couple of "uncharacteristic" stunts with the characters in the first half to shake things up, but the second half more than makes up for it.

The Walking Dead- For a show that never seems to get the comic to tv translation quite right, this show still manages to be the best ongoing survival horror series (maybe) ever.

The Newsroom- The second season of Aaron Sorkin's news media melodrama managed to highlight the fact that a). even fictional liberal media can't ever catch a break and b). no matter how much viewers like him, critics will never be happy with any non-West Wing thing Sorkin ever does "because fuck him, that's why." Granted, I don't agree with changing his format in season 2 just to pacify critics who whine about its preachy tone (funny how those same critics never seemed to have a problem with 24's overall theme of "America is awesome because America"), but the Operation Genoa story arc was a very intriguing experiment in the potential of Sorkin drama (at this point, Sorkin drama is a genre unto itself) to highlight that journalism, in reality, is less draconian and conspiratorial and more incompetent and rushed. Yes, Jeff Daniels, more or less carries this show and sure, there are a couple of plot points that can go ahead and die, but this is still one of the best shows on HBO that isn't Game of Thrones....or Girls....or Boardwalk Empire. You get what I'm saying.

Arrow- This one is on my good side mainly because I consider it like the "most improved student" in the classroom of comic-based media. When it debuted in 2012, I was highly unimpressed with the lackluster pilot and dismissed it. However, I eventually came back to it out of curiosity, shocked to see that, despite a couple of episodes clearly being written by Geoff Johns (I like the guy but Explainer's Disease), the show grew on me quickly. This show is a good example of what I was talking about in an earlier opinion piece when I mentioned that movie/television ideas can enhance a character and make them digestible for the collective consciousness. Although he's a personal favorite of mine, Green Arrow is definitely a character who I've always believed would benefit from some retooling. I think it was a smart move to basically turn him into a primetime Batman surrogate (since it's been plainly obvious for years that DC has wanted Batman on primetime tv soooooo badly). I also like this show because it seems to be every bit as polarizing among fans as Man of Steel was. Arrow is either either fanboys love about comic book television or it's the bane of their existence. My hypothesis is that the nerds who hate it subconsciously hate that it has the stigma of CW tween-vision, land of shirtless men and feelings, hanging over it. But let's be honest; how are the things fans complain about ANY different from Thor or Spartacus which seem to be immensely popular?

-"Oh, it's so melodramatic. It's obviously pandering to women."

Something based on a comic book that's been around since the 40's has "Damsel in Distress Disease" and pretty people in it? The hell you say. How awful. Gee whiz, why can't Arrow be more like Thor, where homely men like Chris Hemsworth stand next to homely women like Natalie Portman who don't ever get themselves into danger, bludgeon their relentless enemies to their vomit inducing deaths and would NEVER spend half of a movie making pouty doe eyes at each other?

You know where I first saw the trailer for Thor: the Dark World? During the previews before Baggage Claim, a myopic piece of syrupy romantic comedy Kool-Aid that my girlfriend at the time dragged me to. You know what other trailers were featured? Black Nativity, a musical bastardization of Langston Hughes' play followed by About Last Night, a rom-com with Kevin Hart in it. I was one of maybe 7 other men in a packed theater. Thor: The Dark World currently holds at 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Thor movie before that one is at 77%. I hate to break it to you, fellas, but comic book movies beat you to the pandering punch. Try again.

-"He's always got his shirt off for no reason. And the women always look like models."

Oh, please. Because we all know hit action shows like Spartacus are such winners because the heroes and heroines are all such fully clothed bastions of modesty and virtue. And remind me again how Thor is known for his long sleeved, baggy shirted adventures.

I said all that to say....suck it up and learn to let go. Arrow is awesome.