litlover12

TV is supposed to be comfort food. That's my philosophy. I don't go for all this "It's supposed to break you in pieces and rip your heart out" stuff; I want my nice soothing mug of hot chocolate, metaphorically speaking.

So it's too bad my shows are all getting gloomy and dark and depressing, not to mention badly written. Person of Interest had one stellar episode when Carter came back as a guardian angel/ghost/hallucination/whatever, then reverted back to the soulless crap we've been getting for most of season 4 (with a dose of torture porn thrown in). Juliette's storyline on Nashville has gotten horrible -- I've heard they're heading towards a diagnosis of postpartum depression, but apparently they don't know how to write "depressed new mother" and went for "raging Godzilla terrorizing the citzenry for miles around" instead. They threw away all her character development and made her way more over-the-top than she's ever been. I just know they're going to break up her marriage, just as I was starting to really get into it.

At least the political storyline on The Good Wife has been good for some wry chuckles. I know a lot of people hate it, but it offered such a healthy dose of realism I couldn't help enjoying it, in a cynical way. It was just adorable of Alicia to think she actually might get fairness or loyalty or decency from a gang of Chicago politicians!

But other than that, TV, you are seriously letting me down.

This town is in the grip of RGIII-mania. (That's the Redskins quarterback who was forced to play and injured himself badly in the playoff, for those of you who follow football about as closely as I do.) I was watching the news crawler on the bottom of the screen after Nashville ended, and saw this:

"DOCTOR WHO PERFORMED SURGERY . . ."

There was something more after that, about what the doctor said, but I missed it. I was too busy wondering if he used the sonic screwdriver.

So, I saw the Nashville pilot, and my review's just been published. Short version: I like it. I like it a lot. If TV's going to tackle country music, I want them to get it right, and it looks like they're bending over backwards to do just that. It would be fantastic if this series could help country gain a little mainstream attention.

Of course, if this means that a couple of months from now, people will be walking around acting all knowledgeable about bands and singers that they've only just heard of for the first time, it'll be hard not to giggle. But I shall attempt to giggle in a kindly and encouraging manner!

As for the show itself, there are a lot of nice dramatic storylines to follow, and I like the characters just enough to be interested in following them, but not enough to be devastated when they do stupid things. (Because they will. This is a soap. Stupid things are a given.)

So, yep, I think this one's a keeper!