Charles Mullin
Staff Reporter
The way I watch television is the way I read a book or watch a movie. I watch it as a form of art. If something is terrible, I’m not going to keep watching it to pass the time. If something is good, then it can take a timeframe of an hour or thirty minutes and tell an original story. And those few that are good are why I love TV.
Good:
“Mad Men” (AMC, Sundays at 10:00 p.m.)
Set in 1960’s New York, “Mad Men” stars actor Jon Hamm as Don Draper, head of fictionalized Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency in Madison Avenue. The show finds Draper being not only a business man, but a ladies’ man as well. And the show deals with gender roles, sexism, and innovation in a swipe of a hand. It is the winner of an Academy Award for Best Drama and Best Actor, yet it also gets plenty of praise for its accurate costume design.
Bad:
“Heroes” (NBC, Fourth Season starts Sept. 21st)
The show that started off so well in its first season with complex characters, interweaving plotlines, and fascinating concepts eventually came to a crashing and horrifying halt when the second and third season came out. “Heroes” deals with special people who are given incredible powers and have a specific destiny, but then the writers throw in too many characters, too many plot holes, and too many filler episodes to count. Its ratings have plummeted as consequence. It is the worst kind of bad. It’s a show that strives to be smart, but looks incredibly dumb and pathetic in the process.
Something You May Have Missed:
“Battlestar Galactica” (Syfy, 2003 – 2009)
Critically acclaimed as the “TV’s boldest and best drama” by TV Guide and “politically relevant” by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and numerous others, “Battlestar Galactica” became known in only six years as possibly the best science fiction show yet. The show takes place in a very different, yet entirely relevant universe to ours. In the aftermath of their homes being destroyed by the cylons, a race of intelligent beings created by the humans, a ragtag fleet of the last surviving humans flee through space led by the Battlestar Galactica. Although this may seem like a regular old Star Trek or Star Wars, it isn’t. It is so politically relevant that it deals with abortion, suicide bombings, what it means to be human, assassination, fascism, racial stereotypes, prisoner abuse, terrorism, political parties, and peace, separation of state and religion, and war. That sounds like America. Add in fast-paced action, complex relationships, superb acting, and award-winning writing, and you got yourself a winner. A+
