What's Joe Watching 12/4/14

What's Joe Watching? 12/4/14

What’s Joe watching? The answer is a lot. After moving cross country, I got behind on a few of my favorite shows. The obvious answer: a nice day of watching a wide variety of stuff. I’m not going to do these for everything I watch, it’ll get exhaustive fast.

NCIS: New Orleans s1e1, s1e2 s1e3

 NCIS has never really clicked with me. The gimmick it employs- showing the final image before commercial at the beginning of that segment- is annoying at best and spoils what’s going to happen at its worst. And the chemistry of the cast only can get it so far before the show is just boring. “So far” is, in this case, just me watching a couple random episodes in syndication out of morbid curiosity. It is the most watched show on the most watched network, after all.

 Why the hell am I watching NCIS: NOLA? My dad loves it. It’s the only thing he has DVRed, and I’m too lazy to leave the room when he puts it on. Unfortunately, it carries over that freeze frame gimmick. I like Scott Bakula and CCH Pounder a lot, though. Lucas Black has a truly awful Alabama accent that must be heard to be believed. It was really funny in these first three episodes how desperate they were for viewers. The premiere brings in Ducky, the second episode has DiNozzo, Vance, and Abby, and finally the third brings in Gibbs.

 The most interesting thing about it is Stephen Weber as the typical slimy politician / councilman with eyes on being mayor of New Orleans. The first episode teases a conflict with him and Pride (I am not making up that character name) over the “soul of New Orleans”. Maybe I’ll check back in at the season finale when that comes to a head.

Brooklyn 99       s2e8, s2e9

 This show is firing on all cylinders and easily the funniest thing on TV. There’s not much more to be said about it.

 Wait, I lied. I cannot believe they blew up that grenade between Jake and Amy so early! The metaphorical grenade. I’m being slightly vague to avoid spoilers. But I’m really interested in where this continues to go for the rest of the season.

 The subplot thrown in there between Boyle and Holt was very, very appreciated and made me realize they might be the only two characters who haven’t really interacted until their little cooking escapade.

Marry Me             s1e5, s1e6

 Alright, the Thanksgiving episode was pretty manic and cute, but it really hit the same dumb beats anyone could have expected in a “first thanksgiving episode”.

 I vastly preferred the episode where Ken Marino’s character gets a nice, long storyline with Annie (Casey Wilson)’s dads, Tim Meadows and Dan Bucatinsky. They were both really great and funny playing off of Marino. I thought it was a little bit… I don’t know. It felt too pat that her dads get engaged at the exact same time (nearly) as the main couple. And it feels like this is going to make too many similar storylines with two couples wedding planning at the same time. But this show has been really funny and cute filling in the margins with bad storylines, so I have faith.

Mulaney     s1e6

 This episode opens laying pretty bare that it’s going to be an episode all about “the troops”, and this produced a pretty instant UGH reaction from me. Not to mention the opening seems almost completely identical to a Louis CK bit. Also, Lou’s subplot about the USO is incredibly hackneyed and fast forward worthy.

 Mulaney still provides the odd chuckle here and there, and is at least a little weirder/different than a lot of shows. But I’m barely still watching it.

Top Chef       s12e4

 The episodes between the premiere of Top Chef and Restaurant Wars are always a slog to get through. This is no different. The most positive thing I can say is that they eliminated two chefs who I knew absolutely nothing about.

@Midnight   12/1 12/2

 These were the first episodes I’d ever seen of the show. It’s a kind of fun, short, more risque and lowbrow version of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. The comedians in these two episodes were all pretty funny, and I’ll continue to watch it as long as I remember to watch it. That sounds like a huge insult, but shows like this (dumb internet / twitter commentary panel shows?) have such a short shelf life. If I don’t watch it within 24 hours, there’s no point. But I’m still watching until it stops being funny!