2042 - Nurse Jackie: season six

We're six seasons in, so if you're reading this without having seen anything yet - go back and read my previous posts, 'cause there are SPOILERS AHEAD...

FINALLY, Jackie has gotten her ass kicked by all the shit she's put people through.  As much as it was fun watching Jackie be a total shit this season and just be a proper addict and fuck everyone else over - it was frustrating because usually she pulls a horseshoe out of her ass at the last minute.  It looks like heading into the seventh, and I hope final, season that they're working on an exit strategy.  Having watched Showtime continually renew both Dexter and Californication until they were creatively sucked dry I hope that they know what they're doing this time around and resolve this story in a way that pays tribute to it's golden days.  The show has meandered and stalled a bit, but where this season ends I feel in pretty good shape.

2037 - Californication: season seven

You were the show whose pilot knocked me off my chair - I was so in awe with what I’d seen, so jealous of the power of the writing.  As you went along I had a troubled relationship with you - I had a hard time taking you seriously during your goofier moments but you always pulled me back when you got around to being poignant.

The problem with sustaining a series with a troubled hero like Hank Moody is that you can only go so far in his growth without abandoning what was exciting about him in the first place.  So it’s hard to sustain this long-standing story of the love of his life when he’s constantly with other women.  After a few seasons of that you kind of start to feel like those two aren’t really destined to be together.  I believe it was season five that ended with his crazy girlfriend trying to kill him.  That was an inspired story choice, and really gave us material to go somewhere real and honest and dark with the character, but it largely got squandered and Hank set off on another kooky adventure in show business.  This season worked as a swan song.  I liked the idea of him connected with a long-long son, and having the dual relationship between his two baby mamas - though I have a hard time buying he wouldn’t have given it a shot with Heather Graham - not just because she’s gorgeous, but because they have a clean slate like he and Karen never could.  Alas.  

Evan Handler has always been a joy, and there’s a special place in my heart for Pamela Adlon.

If you’ve never seen this series I’m not entirely sure I can advocate for it’s entire run.  I definitely think it’s first three or four seasons are worth your time - after that it’s a little hit or miss.  David Duchovney is always delightful though, so there’s that as well.  I’ll miss the characters a little and seeing where they go, but I can’t say I need anymore.  Let’s see what Tom Kampinos has up his sleeve next.

1950 - Homeland: season three

Late getting this up because I fell behind.  This season got a lot of flack from some critics early on, and from what I could tell was that most came around to it by the end.  There will be some SPOILERS going on here below, so if you're not caught up - here's your warning.

So the biggest complaint I've heard is about keeping Brody alive past his expiry point in the show.  I was one of those people who thought that the show pussied out by not having him blow everyone up inside of the bunker at the conclusion of season one.  The show has well made up for that with the Langely bombing as well as the mission that lead to (HUGE SPOILER) Brody's death - which redeemed him to all (the only thing that was missing was a final moment with Dana seeing how she reacted to discovering her father was a hero after-all.  Like any one else I love Mandy Patinkin's Saul, and seeing him in charge was a breath of fresh air - I pray they find a way to keep him in the story moving forward 'cause losing him would easily be the show's biggest loss.  I could watch a Homeland without Carrie if that came to pass - but one without Saul is just hard to imagine.  It's hard to imagine how the show will reinvent itself now that it's main storyline from the beginning is more-or-less resolved.  I feel confident that the freedom will allow for awesome things in the writer's room.  Although I thought the same about Dexter in the aftermath of season four, and later learned that we had just seen the show's peak.  Let's hope Showtime doesn't make the same mistake twice.  Keep it going, by all means, if you've got story to tell - but please don't milk it.  No one wants another lumberjack ending.

1911 - Dexter: season eight

Somewhere in the second season of this series I remember being so amazed at where they were going with it that I had to keep asking "Where are they going to go with this show?  How are they going to keep up how solid this is?"  And now we have the answer.  They didn't.  Or maybe they just couldn't.  The third season of this show was it's first valley after a series of peaks.  The fourth season (Trinity) was a return to form with what ended up being Dexter's best adversary that culminated in the series strongest moment.  After that it was a lot of waiting around to see if it would get back to greatness, and it never really did.  The 6th season was terrible, and the beginning of the 7th showed a lot of promise - in general I liked the 7th season, but this last season… geez.

Now - if you haven't finished watching this series - stop now.  Spoiler heavy shit coming below.

First off, let's start at the end.  What a terrible ending for this show.  Although, to be fair, there was no good ending for this show.  It was almost an impossible task.  But watching the finale was like watching a bad fan-boy script.  Having the final thought of the show being that all the work Dexter had done to become a rounded human was pointless?  That he couldn't changed, despite evidence that he was changing?  It all felt a little random.  It made me feel like I'd wasted my time watching this show all together.  And the fact that the show never put Dexter's feet to the coals in the end and exposed him to his world… what a missed opportunity.  We got to see Miami Metro be bumbling idiots for years, it would have been amazing to watch them go toe to toe with Dexter and Debra caught in the middle… but alas… instead we get Oliver Saxon - as boring as they come.

The writing on this season was terrible.  Just little things like the idea that Hannah has come back, and is a wanted woman.  You'd think the first thing they'd do is cut and dye her hair.  Something, ANYTHING to change her goddamn appearance.  But no.  Whatever cleverness was in the writing early in the series has long since evaporated.  The stuff with Masuka and his daughter was such a last ditch effort to give that character some depth - and the fact that it resulted in… nothing.. what a waste.  

And Debrah… fuck it… at that point it just felt like the whole thing was being written by a fan who didn't really understand the show.  I like that it was Dexter that took her out and was protecting her, that he put her in the water, and that he "died" there as well.  

I could go on and on, but I'm not entirely sure the point.  This last season was such a wasted opportunity given how strong this series started.  But… well at least it's over… 

1854 - Nurse Jackie: season five

Oh Nurse Jackie.  You may very well be the most frustrating show that I like.  Here's the deal - you've got some great characters - the writing is often very strong - the stories… I don't know anymore.  It just feels like the show is spinning it's wheels and, especially following the finale of this season, does' t know what to do with it's premise anymore so it's starting to circle back to old territory.  The final beat of this season felt like a plot move, not a character one.  Shame.

Edie Falco is fantastic as Jackie.  Merritt Wever steals every scene she's in, but the new addition of a love interest was my high-light of the season and Adam Ferrara was pitch perfect.

I honestly just don't know how I feel about this show right now - mostly frustrated 'cause I know I'll come back to watch the next season, but I also know that my expectations are so low now.  If you haven't seen this absolutely start from the beginning - the first few seasons are pretty fantastic.  

1826 - Californication: season six

This show is one of my guilty pleasures.  I love the tone of it and how it balances the wacky and the poignant, and Hank Moody is one of the more delicious television anti-heroes ever created.  This series has had some rockiness to it as it balances how to move Hank forward without losing who he is.  I think this season was one of, if not, the most successful in that regard.  It's gone a long way into delving into the fuckedness of Hank.  Maggie Grace was a much welcome addition to the cast - so much so that I actually have a hard time buying the outcome of Hank's decision at the end.  If you haven't been watching this series yet you've got a lot of road to catch up on, but it's bi-and-large worth it for the moments of heart.  Looking forward to more when it returns, of course, although I'm just not sure what tricks this show could still have up it's sleeve - unless the final season is about Hank trying to be in an honest, celibate relationship.  That could be interesting… after six seasons of watching these characters behave like children, can they become responsible adults?

1793 - Dexter: season seven

It takes a lot to come back from something that was the shit-show of season six of this series, but I'd argue that Dexter has done it.  I've read complaints that this was a half-solid season and a half slippery slope.  I can't imagine you're reading this without already having seen the show, but let it be know that there are SPOILERS BELOW...

The only decent thing about season six was, literally, the final few seconds where Debra walked in on Dexter - changing the fate of the show forever.  This season was all about Debra coming to grips with who Dexter is, and also more-or-less becoming his sidekick in a weird way.  All that fueled with a bizarre love-triangle with the fantastic Hannah and you've got a pretty solid season - top that with a half-season villain of Isaac Sirko and it's even stronger.  A lot of people complained that Isaac was taken out too early - I'd argue that it would have been hard to keep him up and build towards this season's climax.  I was actually hoping that Hannah would be the one to take out La Guerta and thereby protecting Dexter and making Debra owe her one - possibly the one way to get her off her back and make it so that Dexter and she could be together - although turning Debra into a killer is a pretty smart move forward for the show.  Will she spin out of control?  Should be interesting, especially since Hannah is still in play.  Could the two of them still have a happy ending?  I'm interested to see where the final season will take us since things have (somewhat) been brought back to a status quo.  I have to say that I want a final season that sees Dexter, somewhat, on the run - how else can this end on a happy note without him faking his own death? 

We shall see in the fall of 2013...

1787 - Homeland: season two

There are shows that you look forward to watching each week and then there are shows that you just absolutely can't wait to get to the next one.  Homeland is in the latter category.  Here's the thing - this show is immensely popular so if you're not watching it yet then you really just need to - it's got a great premise, solid cast, and fantastic storytelling.  So for all intents and purposes expect the rest of this blog posting to be SPOILER HEAVY - turn back now and catch up with this show.  You've been warned.

So I was pissed when they didn't kill Brody at the end of the first season - I thought it was a cop-out and didn't know how they would extend that character.  The brilliance of what they did was the first season you spent rooting to kill Brody, and they managed to flip it where here you're rooting for him to make it out alive. Very very strong reversal for us emotionally as an audience member.  For Claire Danes character this season has been a redemptive one, and she's as good as she ever was.  And so if they coped out with how they ended the first season they emptied the kitchen sink here.  This season was doing things in the second episode that I thought would take the entire season to get out - but they just plowed through a lot of great material with what seemed to be reckless abandon.  A risk that paid off in spades.
This season moved along like a freight train and made the world much bigger - I think some people preferred the smaller scale of the first season and, really, I like both and I think they can work together as well.  I love where this was left and how I can already see the seeds of the third season.  Clean slate for everyone in a really wonderfully heartbreaking way.  Hopefully the future seasons can sustain this quality, or they get out while they're still in fighting form.  I loved this and can't wait to return to it next fall.

1762 - Weeds: season eight

It has been a long-ass ride to the end of this series.  Regardless of quality it's one of the more unique series in it's willingness to completely re-invent itself and it did so in some pretty amusing ways.  I was ridiculously impressed when the series actually sent Nancy off to prison and forced her to pay for her crimes.  This season was all about coming full circle, getting back to the suburbs and the heart of the story, and it did so in kind of a clunky way.  What comes now will be SPOILER RIDDEN, so proceed with caution…

As previously mentioned, this series has never had an issue re-inventing itself, jumping ahead in time, etc… so it wasn't a huge shock that the finale would jump ahead…. eight years?  Is that right?  And looking at the other jumps in time, and the seasons themselves it seems as if the entire series takes place over… what 13-15 years?  That's kind of amazing, really.  It almost felt like they re-watched the first season of the series to see what they should revisit here…. Scotson.  Check!  Shane's fascination with Pittsburg - check!  Silas and Megan - check!  Andy and the Rabbi chick - check!  Doug and his gay son - check!  Jumping ahead so far for the finale also meant forcing a lot of focus on a new actor as Stevie, the character who was probably given the least amount of focus for the rest of the series.  Am I happy that they all found peace at the end?  Sure - and I like that it left Nancy feeling pretty fucked up, and that Andy never gave in.  Their relationship was always the highlight for me.  Both Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Kirk are absolutely phenomenal, and their chemistry has been a huge plus to the show, and probably the chief reason that I always returned to it.  Their scene on the spot where her first husband died was a thing of beauty and pain and was easily one of the shows finest moments. 

So farewell to this show - I can't say I'll miss it terribly as I watched it more to see how it would end up - it ceased being the must-watch show that it started out as.  Kind of like an ex-girlfriend whom you have an amicable break-up with.  You still like them but you don't love them anymore, and don't think much about them when they're away. 

1753 - The Big C: season three

When the second season ended on a cliff-hanger that assumed we might not be seeing Oliver Platt returning, I was pretty impressed by the bold move.  I was instantly unimpressed when they whisked it away right from the get-go in this season.
I'm going to rant for a moment about what I think is an essential issue when it comes to the Showtime series of shows.  It's a company that fosters really bold and original ideas - but doesn't know what the hell to do with them to the point where it just feels like it drags stories on to no end and for no good reason.  It has a laundry list of shows like this one, Californication, Dexter, United States of Tara, Nurse Jackie, wherein these fucked up main characters do whatever is most convenient at that moment to ensure that the series continues on a few seasons more, rather than offering an honest progression.  Some of those shows above do it worse than others - but sadly none of them really feel like the series are going towards anything, or have an over-all game plan.
In a world where almost everyone has been touched by the illness of cancer, I have no idea why I'm supposed to like the character of Cathy who is a bi-polar bitch.  Gotta give Linney props for making her human and likeable in small doses, but you can't fix what's a problem at the core.  We have no reason to care for her, and less for her family as they go on.  The supporting cast has become cartoon characters with quirks.  Andrea (now Ibabu) has absolutely no reason to be on the show outside of being the quirky outsider.  Son Adam is now, for whatever reason, religious.  Paul is a self-help guru, and brother Sean, the character whom had the most morals and dimensions, is not a running gag. 
Will I come back for a fourth season?  I'm sure I'll check out an episode or two, but I just don't know - in a world full of shows I've yet to see, I'm not sure this one is worth my time anymore.  It's a shame since there's a lot of great talent involved.  Alas.

1748 - Nurse Jackie: season four

This is a show that had one of the best pilots I'd ever seen, and then subsequently had an amazing first two seasons and then really really started to feel like it was repeating itself.  I recall not really enjoying the third season all that much mostly because I was just hating Jackie - she kept getting close calls and the universe kept giving her a get out of jail free card.  There were no consequences to her actions and it annoyed the shit out of me.  Enter Mike Cruz.  Adding Bobby Carnivale to the cast gave it a dynamic that it absolutely needed.  A show like this requires a character like him to make you want to root for Jackie again - someone whose head is so far up their ass that you can see what good she's doing again.  All of Jackie's past actions came back to bite her in this season and it made for a great (maybe best) season of the series.  If you haven't gotten around to this little gem just yet, do yourself a favour and get on it, just keep in mind that the third season, while not great, comes back around in the fourth.  Given how this season ends I have absolutely no idea what they'll do next - but I'll be there when it comes back!

1713 - Californication: season five

When discussing television series I often resort to food metaphors.  Something like Breaking Bad, The Wire, or Louie are, for me, like main course meals.  They absolutely fill you up with their goodness - they nourish you.  Then there are shows like Entourage, which no offense, but is more like a dessert.  It's not essential, and it's nothing you want every day (or need really) - however when you get it it's usually pretty good, but you might regret wasting your calories on it soon after.
Californication is somewhere in between for me.  It's always been a slightly uneven show, somewhere being poignant and just plain silly.  I think this season they were finally able to find the balance and work a more consistent tone. 
My one complaint about this season was how they took a lot of really strong and layered supporting characters from the top of the season and really reduced them to stereotypes by the end.  Even poor Becca felt like her character was downgraded by the end of this season.  I don't want to say that this was the best season of the show, but it's the season where I feel like they finally really found the show's voice.
This season ended on a pretty solid cliffhanger and I can only hope that they do it justice by playing it out when the show returns next year.  I think Hank Moody is easily one of the most charismatic and fun characters on television and I for one am gain to follow him a little while longer.  If you haven't started yet this season isn't actually a bad one to start at, since the previous ones all kind of lead up to the fourth season and Hank dealing with his misdeeds.  This is almost a reset.  Although I recommend going back and starting from scratch - fair warning though - it's a bit of a bumpy ride here and there.

1677 - Homeland: season one

Let me get the generic stuff out of the way so that I can talk about specifics.  I'll let you know when I head into spoiler territory...
So I'm just slightly behind others on this season but my wife and I quickly caught up over the holidays.  This is a series about a CIA operative who is told that a POW (Prisoner of War) has been turned and then months later one shows up, having been gone for nearing eight years.  What follows is a hell of a lot of cat-and-mouse as you try to figure out whose in on the plot and if the CIA agent, played absolutely brilliantly by Claire Danes, is brilliant or crazy (minor spoiler - she's a bit of both :) ).  While not a perfect show it's pretty goddamn great and well worth checking out if you haven't yet.

And now.  SPOILERS BELOW!!!

I was pretty impressed with how quickly they burned through story here, and quite shocked that they had Danes and Lewis hook up - although the reasons make sense for the story it surprised me a bit for her character.  Still not sure how I feel about that.  I loved how this season played on your prejudices - as we watch Brody take part in a morning Islamic prayer we have to force ourselves to remember that just because he's converted to Islam doesn't mean that he's a terrorist.  It's a very effective thing to make us feel bad about our thoughts.
I was also impressed by how harsh they went with Danes character in the end of the season.  Having her removed from the CIA was a bold move and I was sure that Brody would be found out just to help clear her name - it but wasn't so - he'll be around next season... and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  To be fair, I'm not sure this is a show that can go on for too many seasons without diminishing returns.  Already this season ended with us feeling like the system can never be beat - the powerful will always be corrupt and rise above the others.  The idea of potentially giving Danes amnesia is annoying and a bit of a cliche.  I like that the "mole" is still out on the lose, as well as the recording that Brody did and hid in the wall (who took it???  very exciting!).  But now we're back to square one, Danes suspects Lewis but no one is going to believe her, and whats worse everyone knows that she's a bit crazy now.  How do you keep that fresh?  And how do you keep the twists coming when you've more or less given everything away about your turncoat?  With Brody alive and entering the political arena I can't see the show keeping up to itself.  How would the CIA stay involved?  How does Carrie?  All great questions and I have to put faith in the creators who gave us a pretty damn solid first season of television.  I'm intrigued to see where they'll head next in this story and how they'll keep it exciting.  It's no small feat.

And last but not least, I love Mandy Patinkin in this series.  I love him in general, but he's the warmth that a show like this absolutely requires.

Give this show a shot, for sure, but be prepared for frustration with how the season ends...

1663 - Dexter: season six

So we're six seasons in, which means that this review is going to be extremely SPOILER HEAVY.  If you want to know my thoughts on previous seasons, click the link at the bottom of this.
Let's get the worst of it out of the way… this was a terrible season of Dexter.  I'll defend the last (Lumen) season quite a bit, but I have a hard time doing so here.  That's not to say that the entire thing was worthless.  Mos Def was a great addition to the cast - shame he wasn't used more - and there was a lot of fun in having Dexter's deadly brother take over for Harry as his voice-over partner in the middle of the season.  I don't know about others, but I hate the Harry character (he was absent in the season finale - thankfully), he seems to be there just so that the writers can fill in bad exposition.  Often they misuse the voice-over to do the same thing. I don't like to think that the writers think we're idiots but… well… you listen and tell me what you think.
The big-bads this season was pretty lame.  I like the idea of tackling a religious fanatic, but it was pretty clear, pretty early on that Gellar was not alive and just a figment of Travis' imagination.  But it treaded along and then tried to shock us with the reveal, which was just kind of sad by that point.  I think that they tried too hard to make Dexter feel a personal connection to the killer, whereas other seasons it was quite organic.  This felt like a stretch, and a majority of this season felt like filler.  There were some great moments - the four horsemen, etc… but all-in-all it felt like they were treading water.
Have I written the show off?  No.  Because they've made a great move at the end.  First, I'm curious as to where they're going to go with creepy Louis.  But, as everyone is, I really can't wait to see how they deal with Deb having witnessed Dexter killing Travis.  On one hand she's going to be relieved that the DDK case will be closed, but on the other hand, she's just found out something about her brother that's going to change their relationship far more than them hooking up romantically.  Rita's death was a huge shock, and a great one, but this is actually a far better game-changing-ending for the season.  Lots of different ways that it can go, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with it.  This could be a chance for the show to return to greatness, putting Dexter under intense pressure, or they could just as easily screw it up the way that they have the rest of the season.  We'll have to wait till next fall to find out.  With at least two more seasons left the show has an opportunity to go out on a great note, or just slowly die.  Hopefully it's the former. 
If the writer's are reading this I have but one request for next season - kill Quinn - and make that annoying asshole suffer.  LaGuerta can go too if you'd like.  Oh, and find a purpose for that new detective 'cause he just kind of stood around this season.  Boring.  Touch Jennifer Carpenter and we'll have issues - I'll probably stop watching.  She annoyed me when the series began, but over the last few seasons she's shown how talented she is, especially in this season finale when she's battling her feelings.  I'm fine with an incest subplot so long as they keep Carpenter around.
So all in all, a very very bad season, but I think that there could be light at the end of the tunnel.  Or it's an on-coming train.  We'll see...

1652 - The Big C: season two

The first season ended on quite the gut-punch that could have easily been a finale - it was ridiculously strong and made me weep like a child with a skinned knee.  This season ended on a different kind of kick to the gut - but I'll get to that.  And, clearly, here's your SPOILER warning up front. 

I think this show has improved quite a bit.  The first season was good, but this one really stepped it up a notch.  I like that their relationships are moving in new directions and that they don't just keep beating the same horse.  The stuff with the brother and the baby was solid and heartbreaking.  Wonder if we'll see the lovely Cynthia Nixon again.  I like her a lot.  I loved that we saw Cathy dealing with her cancer and getting involved in other patients.  I loved her relationship with her son and husband.  I was meh on the son's sexual issues and felt like the Parker Posey storyline died way too fast.  But the worst storyline, or worst two, come off of the same new character - Mick.  The storyline with Andrea was clearly obvious from the get-go and she was a smarter person than that for it to have never come up.  And the cocaine thing just didn't feel like it fit at all... In fact, if they really have decided to kill Oliver Platt off then they've made a seriously bizarre choice.  He's a great actor and addition to the cast.  Although it would create an interesting dynamic - everyone has been working to mentally prepare for Cathy's death, but it's a death that they weren't expecting that they have to deal with - that I think is quite interesting.  They've renewed the series for another go-around so I suppose we'll get to see how they play it out.  I'll be there. 

All in all a solid season for a show that continues to improve.  Give it a whirl - both seasons are on Netflix.

1586 - Episodes: season one

Holy shit did I love this series, and I'm so damned happy that it's been renewed for a second season.  This is an insider show, and those are tough, but this one is pretty unique.  It's about a British couple with a hit series in the UK, hired to adapt it for American television, and the process involved in doing so, and how their series about a witty headmaster at a boy's school eventually ends up being about a hockey coach starring the guy that played Joey on Friends.  And yes, Matt LeBlanc plays himself, or at least a wonderfully over-the-top-charming-asshole version of himself. 
What makes this show so wonderful is how grounded Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig are against characters like Matt LeBlanc and the wonderfully hilarious Kathleen Rose Perkins (fucking LOVE her in this). 
Because this is a first season I won't give any spoilers, but if you haven't heard of this show do yourself a favour and check it out.  The first season is only seven episodes and there isn't a single one that isn't fantastic.  This season features one of the best man-on-man fights in the history of television and one of the best season ending cliff hangers.  I for one can't wait to see what they do with this show when it returns.
Episodes - Season 1 - 2-DVD Set ( Episodes ) ( Episodes - Season One ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - United Kingdom ]

1584 - The United States of Tara: season three

And so it ends.  Was it really only three seasons?  Feels like it's been a lot more than that.  Alas.  I really really liked the direction of this season, seeing the inside of Tara's mind, her making deal with the alters.  Loved Eddie Izzard's cameo (shame it didn't last the entire season - although it's understandable by, story wise).
This season saw both the kids have to face real life and deal with it.  It saw Tara's sister finally get over herself and see the amazing man that was standing right in front of her.  It also saw Max finally lose his shit and say what's on his mind (the entire building/sequence of which was masterful), but most importantly it saw Tara confronting her alters and the first step of getting her shit together.  I think this show finally found it's legs, and ironically just as they decided to cancel it.  I think getting a glimpse into Tara's mind is a great thing to play with (except for that over the top finale with the water-boarding and being saved by Max entering (eyes rolled a bit there).
I'm disappointed that this show will not continue.  I was looking forward to writing a spec of this series, but it's pointless now.  Although intended to be a season finale, I think that this worked out just as well to have it as the series.  Everyone here felt a little older and wiser, like it mattered that they'd been here and done these things.  For fun I think I'll revisit some season one stuff to just see how far everything has evolved.  
If you've never seen this show you owe it to yourself to check out the first batch of episodes, only a dozen episodes a season - not too hard to catch up.  And remember, it's never too late to discover an amazing new series.
***The other thing that I wanted to add, having thought about it, is that what I really loved about this season was the new alter Bryce, but more so just what it did to the dynamic of ALL the characters.  I loved that, for the first time, we felt genuinely concerned and worried about her and all the other characters.  Good stuff, indeed! 
United States of Tara: Third Season

1583 - Nurse Jackie: season three

So, being that this is the third season of this series I think it's safe to say that this blog will include some spoilers.  In fact I'll declare it up front - if you haven't watched the season finale of this season and don't want to ruin anything - stop reading..... now.

Okay.  Back to business.  I absolutely loved the first season of this show, the second as well.  I don't know what the hell happened to me while watching the third season but all of a sudden I realized "This is a group of horrible people.  I don't enjoy spending time with them" with the exception of Zoey (LOVE Zoey) and Dr. O'Hara.  The biggest problem is that Jackie is given almost absolutely zero consequences for her actions.  They dangled the carrot over us in this finale but then, FOR NO FUCKING REASON, her drug filled urine is thrown out.  WTF.  Talk about taking the wind out of the sails.  And yes, you can argue that Jackie's marriage breaking down is a something, but it's not a consequence.  When Kevin announces that he's cheated (nice touch) Jackie could have easily cleaned the slate and let it all out - instead she got what she wanted:  freedom.
I'm curious what will happen with the next season and so I'll tune in.  Clearly they've only hit the tip of the iceberg with Kelly and, although I hate the character, I'm curious what's next for Coop now that he's been embarrassed in such a major way.
So if anyone from Showtime is watching - take a cue from some other great series out there - fuck some shit up some more and make your characters accountable for their actions.  Your audience deserves it.
Nurse Jackie: Season Three

1543 - Nurse Jackie: season two

We devoured this season, as is the case when you find a show this good and are late to the game.  Now, of course, we'll have to wait a week between installments (once we catch up, that is).
This season went by in such a wonderful blur.  Losing the character Mohammad seemed like an odd choice, especially since he was more or less replaced by Sam - although Sam does offer a more interesting dynamic so I'll let that one go.  Zoie continued to be one of my favorite characters, and all the others shone as well.  I don't want to get into each one because I'd rather you just discover them yourselves.
This season was all about Jackie spiraling downward.  It's final episode had a perfect quote as someone told her, "Any one who knows you knows that they don't know you."  Jackie is a really wonderfully complex character and it's nice to start to see the cracks show.  Given the mess that's left at the end of this season I'm very curious where the show is headed - but more excited than anything.  If you're like me and late to this series, there is no time like the present to catch up!  You'll just wish there were more episodes to catch up on.
Nurse Jackie: Season Two  Nurse Jackie: Season Two [Blu-ray]

1541 - Californication: season four

At some point during this season David Duchovney did an interview in which he talked about the arch of a television character - particularly on a show like this where the story is character driven and continues to grow.  He said that it's a difficult balance because if a character doesn't move forward than it dies - but if it changes too far from it's origins then the audience grows detached from it.  And when it comes to this particular show the character of Hank Moody is probably one of the most charismatic man-childs in television history - but the one thing that happened consistently in this season was that the people closest to him (save perhaps Charlie) told him time and again that he needs to get his shit together and change.  This season ended, I believe, with him realizing that that was indeed true.  And the beauty of how this season ended is that the story is now free to move in practically any direction that it wants to - and I look forward to that.  Will it have a major shake-up ala Weeds?  I doubt it - but it could be interesting - like Becca says in the final scenes - "Sometimes you just need to shake things up". 
This season was all about Hank having to deal with the fall-out, coming full circle with the events that happened all the way back in the first episode of the series.  This is a show that has a really unique tone - it gets down right goofy at times but almost always ends on a moment of poignancy - sometimes that hits home better than others.  This season more so than any of the others I think the series achieved the balance and had it's strongest ongoing arc - because the stakes were so high.  It's hard to imagine a situation where they could be higher.  I'm very curious to see where this series will go - the creators claim to have a long term plan, so that excites me.  What will the next chapter of Hank Moody's life bring us?...  Looking forward to it. 
If you've never seen this series you'll probably want to start back at the beginning - but beware there are some rough patches and unnecessary tangents (I'm looking at you, seasons two and three!) but I think its worth it in the end.  Enjoy!