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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

2 Broke Girls and Terra Nova: Listen, Battlefield Earth

2BG - “And the Pretty Problem”

We’ve heard two main criticisms of this show, and now we’ve heard these criticisms again from a source that we actually like, so we shall name them and respond. They are 1) Max is too mean to Caroline and the show can be mean-spirited in general, and 2) the show is racist. As for the first thing, we agree with half of it. Max can sometimes say cutting things to Caroline in a way that comes across as cold and disrespectful. While we hope that is toned down as the show goes on (the last couple of episodes seem to have gotten rid of it, for the most part), it doesn’t ruin the show for us. We are more concerned with the number of groan-worthy sex jokes. Friends did sex jokes right. This show doesn't really get how to make those funny.

As for the show being mean-spirited in general, we don’t care about that. The world the girls live in is snooty and harsh. Hipsters and hippies always deserve to be mocked. Also, people who are rude to waitresses should be mocked. Regarding the second point, we think Han is funny, so we don’t mind that he is a caricature. The Ukrainian guy (Oleg) needs to go though, stat. Last night, the show stereotyped American/Jersey Italians (not regular Italians. There's a difference). While these criticisms are true, they don’t ruin the show for us, and we can see them becoming less of a problem as the girls bond and more side characters are introduced. We already have Johnny, and he’s pretty cool. The “insult cupcake” idea is perfect for these girls and the show. Decent episode this week.
Episode grade: B-
TN- “Bylaw”

This show is lucky it’s on Mondays, the stalest night of the TV week, except for Saturdays. One thing annoying that we noticed is how Elizabeth is always so perfect in her interactions with the ever-annoying Zoe. When Zoe played sick to visit Elizabeth at work, Elizabeth’s reaction just didn’t feel authentic. That’s not how parents sound. We’re not saying she should have screamed at the kid. She just shouldn’t have sounded so rehearsed and like a Brady Bunch mom. None of the parent/child interactions feel real to us.

Something we like? The female cop. She seems like a no-nonsense professional. And we also still like Taylor. During this episode, we were most interested in Josh’s fight to get his girlfriend to Terra Nova. He described the future as a place so bad that some of his friends killed themselves. That makes sense. There’s a saying that goes, “What you believe about your future controls what you do in the present.” That’s why hope is so important, we guess. It makes sense that Josh would do anything, even work for Mira, for someone he cares about. We like that kid.

We liked that Jim and Elizabeth had a little fight in the episode about what should be done with the prisoner. This family needs to start acting more like a Friday Night Lights family and less like the Cleavers. The plot was decent, but we can’t say the show has hooked both of us yet. It’s halfway through its first season, so that’s not a good sign. And OF COURSE Zoe has a pet dinosaur now. Ugh. Ok, ok. We admit it’s a little cute.
Episode grade: C+

6 comments:

  1. Heh. Looks like me and you guys are going to stick with Terra Nova til the end.
    I sort of think it's improving but also think it's just going to end up being just another average show. This show needs Jason Katims for the family drama part of the show and JJ Abrams for the Sci-Fi/mystery part of the show...or I guess something like Once Upon a Time. That show is family friendly and it doesn't really feel stupid. I'm sticking to it..damn it!

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  2. Ugh, agree. We've said it before and we'll say it again: nerdy stuff needs to be intelligent. You can do family friendly AND smart in the same show. You just have to work at it.

    One of us really likes this show. One of us hopes it will be cancelled after the season and serve as a cautionary tale.

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  3. Seems like next year will have a lot more shows on Mondays. :D Assuming Alcatraz, Touch, and Awake will be on Mondays. Also...Smash and Pretty Little Liars. The rest of the Monday shows probably won't be back until summer.

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  4. If all of those shows you listed are on Mondays, then Monday will quickly become the best TV night of the week. We're pretty excited about all of those.

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  5. Also, The Lying Game (which I don't/haven't watched) Both PLL and TLG will be returning Jan 2. Tuesdays will be pretty busy with Southland, Switched at Birth and White Collar. There is already Glee, Ringer, New Girl, Raising Hope and Parenthood to look forward to. (Sons of Anarchy will be gone before that night gets crazier) Midseason looks tits!

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  6. The Lying Game is something that amuses us, but it's not something we could recommend.

    Southland!!!!! Midseason rules.

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