What I saw: October 5th, 2016

I actually checked out a new show that started this season. I heard about it from a podcast I recently started listening to, Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan, which take a similar approach to discussing TV where they focus on the quality of the storytelling. Thanks to them, I have yet another show to talk to you guys about.

What I watched:

The Good Place S1.E1-2 - "Pilot" & "Flying"
Shameless (U.S.) S2.E7 - "A Bottle of Jean Neat"

What I saw:

Starting off with The Good Place.
This is a comedy with the same creator as Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I actually haven't seen Brooklyn (although I've been meaning too for the longest time), but I am a huge Parks and Rec fan. This new show is just as thought provoking as Parks, only instead of looking at the role of government in community building, this show looks at what makes a moral individual. The premise is there is "Good Place" and a "Bad Place," and only the best of humanity makes it to the Good Place where a special neighborhood is crafted perfectly for a small group of people at a time. Except when a new architect making this neighborhood accidentally takes someone who was supposed to go to the Bad Place and puts them in the Good Place. This bad person is our main protagonist, Eleanor. Now her "soul mate" Chidi, who was a professor on ethics and philosophy, is left with the dilemma of reporting her to send her to the Bad Place or teaching her to be a better person to earn her right to stay in the Good Place.

In the show people's actions in life are provided points. We get a hint of where the writers are coming from with this snapshot of an orientation video that they give the newcomers, showing the point value of some of those actions:

Some of these are jokes, which the good ones are in the smaller print (rooting for New York Yankees is a no-no), but some of them seem legit. Like Genocide makes you lose a bunch of points, and ending slavery earns you a whole bunch. (I don't know about you, but I plan on scratching my elbow as much as possible for some easy points). Anyways, since this show will be talking about morality, it is important to know who's morality they are using. With Chidi being a professor on ethics, I am hoping that will give them a way to explain how they arrived to their conclusions as the show goes on.

Now a show with depth and meaning is great and all, but the since it is a comedy the real question is this: is it funny? The answer, thankfully, is yes! I say thankfully because that will help to ensure the show continues on at least for one season. TV is a business after all, and if it doesn't make ratings then it wont exist. The show does a good job of making you think while at the same time making you laugh at some of the ridiculous examples they give. Right in the beginning they had me rolling when they talked about which religion got it right, and the answer was all of them were about 5% right, but the punchline right after was hilarious. I am definitely going to keep watching.

Now on to Shameless.
All the emotions and thoughts the characters had been holding in are starting to come out. Today, everyone had the feels. I kind of liked how the show made everyone come to this realization at the same time, as the last day of summer comes to an end and school begins; very metaphorical. This episode was about how being true to yourself is a lot easier than trying to be something you are not. Steve (aka Jimmy) is an extreme example of this, since he was literally living a double-life and it cost him the person he loves most. Karen is another good example, where after she spent some real time getting to know the man she married, and realized she was lying to herself that she could live a life with him.

Jasmine has been rather flirty and grabby with Fiona all through-out their friendship, but today she finally confesses she is in love with Fiona. Her double-life of partying and heating on her husband also caught up with her, and she has been kicked out. She has been living several lies, and it finally got too much for her. Veronica then breaks down about Ethel leaving her and Kevin, revealing just how much having a kid meant to her. Kevin and Stan had been avoiding the fact that Stan needs someone to take care of him, but nearly drowned in the tub or burned the bar down.

Ignoring problems doesn't mean they are going away. Sooner or later you have to deal with them or they deal with you. Grammy Gallagher was a problem Fiona thought she could ignore until her basement meth lab almost blew up the house. Then Frank's problem became her problem. Stage IV cancer may resolve the problem for them, but I foresee Grammy causing a lot of damage before she goes down if they don't take her seriously.


So there you have it! Today's lessons: be a good person (whatever that means), and deal with your problems head on. What do you guys like to see in your comedies? What show do you think does a good job of tying the characters' struggle together, even if it is not the same struggle per se? Let me know in the comments below.