Tag / Dexter

by jim

Post Mortem – Dexter

dexterLast summer, Showtime announced that the then-upcoming eighth season of Dexter would be its last.  I remember watching the pilot episode of Dexter and not really enjoying it, and I didn’t come back until season 5, when Julia Stiles joined on for a season long arc.  Just watching those final four seasons, I could see that it was time to bring things to a close.

The last season had some potential going for it, but things went horribly awry.  At the end of season 7, Deb had made the choice of whether she was going to protect Dexter or turn him in.  Season 8 started with her dealing with the effects of that choice, until the convoluted plot made her get over it in time to have Dexter mercy kill her, dump her body in the ocean, and then fake his own death.  Don’t worry if it doesn’t make a lot of sense, it didn’t at the time either.

One of these days, I may go back and watch the first 4 seasons of Dexter.  After the ending, though, I don’t know if I would even want to.

by jim

Midseason Review – Sundays

With the advent of winter premieres and with February sweeps around the corner, it’s time to revisit my thoughts from the beginning of the season and look ahead at what’s to come for Sunday nights.

7:00

Once Upon A Time – ABC found themselves a winner last year with this series about fairy tale characters who have been forced to live in the real world thanks to the evil Queen.  Last season ended with the characters remembering their true selves, which promises a new status quo for season 2.

 

Snow White and Prince Charming were split apart for most of the first half of the season, but were reunited in the midseason finale.  Now that the evil Queen’s eviler mother has come to Storybrook, it might allow Regina to be softened somewhat.

8:00

The Good Wife – Thanks to the great DVR crash of 2012, I missed the last few episodes of last season.  While never flashy, this show is always solid.  The big problem in the fall will be catching the entire episode when football runs long.

For the most part, The Good Wife continued to be its strong self, but it did have a slight misstep with the story surrounding Kalinda and her ex.  Fortunately, following fan backlash, that storyline was wrapped up quickly, hopefully to never be seen or heard from again.

Revenge – ABC’s other breakout hit of last season moves from Wednesday to Sunday as Emily VanCamp continues her secret rampage through the Hamptonites that ruined her father’s life.  This was a surprisingly good soap that delivered the goods last season.

The second season of Revenge has been more of the same, but seems to be lacking some of the excitement of the first season due to familiarity.  I am enjoying the show, but I can see myself burning out on it at some point.

Dexter – Speaking of shaking up the status quo, last season ended with Jennifer Carpenter’s Deb walking in on Dexter mid-murder.  To make things more interesting, former Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski joins the crew at Miami Metro.

Dexter wrapped up its season in December with another shocker, Dexter under suspicion for being the Bay Harbor Butcher and Deb murdering LaGuerta to cover his tracks.

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by jim

2012 New Fall Season – Sundays

It’s that time of year again.  The new fall season is upon us.  Time to delve into the offerings that will clog up the DVR every Sunday night.

7:00

Once Upon A Time – ABC found themselves a winner last year with this series about fairy tale characters who have been forced to live in the real world thanks to the evil Queen.  Last season ended with the characters remembering their true selves, which promises a new status quo for season 2.

8:00

The Good Wife – Thanks to the great DVR crash of 2012, I missed the last few episodes of last season.  While never flashy, this show is always solid.  The big problem in the fall will be catching the entire episode when football runs long.

Revenge – ABC’s other breakout hit of last season moves from Wednesday to Sunday as Emily VanCamp continues her secret rampage through the Hamptonites that ruined her father’s life.  This was a surprisingly good soap that delivered the goods last season.

Dexter – Speaking of shaking up the status quo, last season ended with Jennifer Carpenter’s Deb walking in on Dexter mid-murder.  To make things more interesting, former Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski joins the crew at Miami Metro.

Continue reading →

by jim

Midseason Review – Sundays

As we start to gear up for midseason premieres and February sweeps, let’s take a look back at what I said and thought back in September.

ABC

Pan Am – ABC’s attempt to hop on the Mad Men brigade premieres tonight, with Christina Ricci making her move to television.  It looks somewhat interesting, so I will give it a shot.

Not a bad show, but it didn’t take off (see what I did there?) as expected.  Kelli Garner made more of an impression than Christina Ricci did, but that still wasn’t enough to save the show.

Once Upon A Time, which I either didn’t plan on watching or didn’t include because it didn’t start until late October, turned out to be pretty good and one of the highest rated new shows of the season.

CBS

The Good Wife – Slowly built itself up to a top performer last season and should do even better on Sundays without much competition.  The only problem with the new timeslot will be in the fall due to football overruns.

Still a strong performer.  Should be much easier to watch now that football is over and it will air at a consistent time.

Not included in the fall were the cable shows that made up most of my Sunday night viewings, The Walking Dead, Dexter, and Homeland.  TWD started and ended strong, but spent entirely too much time on a plot that should have taken 2 episodes, 3 tops.  Dexter explored religion and whether it was possible for a serial killer to grow.  Homeland was the breakout hit of the fall, with both Claire Danes and Damian Lewis giving standout performances.

New shows for the spring include the second season of Shameless and the new show House of Lies, both of which premiered on Showtime earlier this month.