My Own Little World

I grew up watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood more mornings than not. My mom probably remembers it better than I do, but from what I can recall I loved the show in my early childhood. In retrospect, Fred Rogers’s demeanor was probably a big part of that; the man was warm, compassionate, and more sophisticated than many of the other main characters of the other shows I watched alongside his. One of the questions that has sat in my mind about Rogers, though, is whether he was like the man on the show. To have that kind of demeanor in everyday life would completely shock me in the cynical, jaded world in which we live. The documentary on Rogers’s life Won’t You Be My Neighbor? answers this question of many with a resounding “yes.” This film is overwhelmingly optimistic yet not without a sense of grounded realism that Rogers himself possessed. It feels exactly like Fred Rogers the character which, it asserts quite confidently, was Fred Rogers the man. Instead of focusing ...

When I first heard about The Good Place , it sounded like a neat little idea: one of the brains behind Parks and Recreation and The Office, the afterlife, Ted Danson, and Kristen Bell. It appeared to be a slightly quirky but still conventional take on the single-camera sitcom, and I knew at some point I would need to watch it. Oh, how wrong I was. The Good Place in its first season has become one of the best sitcoms currently on television. With its clever, witty writing and excellent performances, The Good Place is poised to become one of the best places to turn your attention to on Thursday nights. Part of this is because of its premise. Kristen Bell plays Eleanor, a recently-deceased woman who sees herself put in “the Good Place” in the afterlife. What’s off about this, you ask? It’s simple: there’s no way she belongs there. By any stretch of the imagination, Eleanor is at best an average person who compares extremely unfavorably to the philanthropists, environmentalist...

If I was writing my review of Breaking Bad  after its fourth season, I would be telling you that this is easily one of the best things I have ever seen on television. Every season is better than the last, and the character development and pacing is more on point than any other film or TV series. However, the fifth season changes everything. In its final sixteen episodes, Breaking Bad  goes from one of the best television series of all time to one of the best things ever put to film. This is  entirely due to the show's writing. Vince Gilligan, the creator of the show, is an absolute genius when it comes to pacing and character development. In reality, despite a lot of breakneck tension and thrills through its first four seasons, Breaking Bad  is quite a slow burn of a show. The character of Walter White, brilliantly portrayed by a never-to-be-underestimated Bryan Cranston, often seems just on the cusp of turning into an absolute monster; however, somehow, someway,...

I'm going to say this once, and I want you to know that I really, really, really mean it. Arrested Development  is the best sitcom I've ever seen. This show has three perfect seasons, one lesser but still really solid season in its Netflix revival, and an absolutely riotous sense of humor. Its casting is perfect, its writing is top-notch, and its performances are dedicated and stellar all around. A lot of that stems from the show's biggest advantage: its humor. There's so many inside jokes that Arrested Development continually makes throughout its four season run (and will undoubtedly continue during its fifth season next year) that I almost can't explain why the humor works so well. It just does. It’s infused with a sense of irreverence and absurdity that, quite thankfully, matches the characters and the situation in which they find themselves. It is those two things that I find make Arrested Development work so well. These characters are actually quite...

One of the things I've discovered over my time binge-watching is that I love unique shows, especially when it comes to sitcoms. Yes, there's something nice about sitting back with something familiar and typical, but on the other hand things with originality can be much more refreshing than the typical fare. Enter 30 Rock . For those of you who haven't seen any of it, 30 Rock  was a game-changer at the time it was first released in 2006. There wasn't another show with its unique brand of comedy (no thanks to writer, creator, and star Tina Fey) or its unique style. To this day, the only show that comes close is Fey's other creation Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt  (which I've already talked about twice). This uniqueness of style is primarily due to two things: the show's single-camera setup and smash cuts. The camera setup distinguishes it from most more conventional sitcoms that run in the vein of Cheers , Seinfeld , Friends , and the like. Instead of havin...

In the past 25 years, there has not been another show like Friends . No show has been more universally well-liked throughout its run and inserted itself into culture as much. No show has been as popular as it has been after its run has ended (no thanks to Netflix). No show has as much hype on the "let's make a reunion" train as this one. Friends  is a really good show, don't get me wrong. It deserves most, if not all, of that acclaim. That being said, there is a certain level of polish to the show that makes  Friends  feel very tailored to be a popular show. This level of polish does make the show good and even great for a majority of its run, but there's also part of me that feels it could have taken more risks later on in the show's run to make it feel a bit fresher rather than rely on its established formula. The one thing that definitely was perfect about Friends  was the casting. David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa ...

(I need to open this review with something a little different than usual: a disclaimer. Typically, the reviews on my blog and the ratings I give should be some kind of indication as to whether or not you should watch or listen to something. This time, that is not the case. 13 Reasons Why  depicts sexual assault and suicide in quite graphic manners that could bring emotional and/or mental instability to those who have either gone through these traumatic acts (either as a first or third party), as well as those considering suicide. Therefore, despite the fact that I will give a positive verdict at the end of this review, if the things that the show depicts could be too much for you, then I urge you to not even risk watching this show. Your emotional and mental health is not worth it.) I remember when I read Jay Asher's novel 13 Reasons Why . That thing was one heck of a way to tell the story of a dead girl in a fresh way, and that made me want to see how it could be depicted on...

Over the summer, I decided to finally watch The Office , one of the most beloved sitcoms of my generation. I watched it for two reasons: first, so I could understand all the references my friends made to the show; second, so I could relate better to a girl I was very interested in (update: it worked). To be honest, though, I really did not like the show at all that first time through. I found a lot of the characters very grating and a lot of the comedy racy at best and offensive at worst. Yet, for some reason, whenever I thought back to the show, those weren't my gut reactions. Instead, I thought of the great prank war between Dwight and Jim. I thought of the wonderful romance between Jim and Pam. I thought of the character arc that Michael has and how transformed he was by his time at Dunder-Mifflin. Those kind of thoughts don't come for shows I liked better "on paper" than The Office , so I decided to take another crack at it to see if I liked it better. And y...

There's something about watching these shorter shows I've been into recently. I think it's allowed me to get some much-needed variety in my binge-watching habits. Case in point: going from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , I decided to watch something I had first encountered thanks to one of my bandmates: the SNL alumni project Documentary Now! My first exposure to the show came one late night while we were at our homestay for the weekend and decided to spend some quality time on Netflix. One of us suggested that we watch the second episode of Documentary Now!  because it was an absolute riot, or so he claimed. Well, now I'll claim the same thing: this show is a riot. However, what may be surprising to many of you is that, despite being helmed by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers, Documentary Now!  is not a laugh-out-loud kind of show most of the way through. Instead, it possesses a huge amount of dramatic irony that all good parodies do. Most of the comedy i...

It's been a little while since I've updated you on my binge-watching, so yesterday when I finished my most recent show, I decided to write a little bit about it. I didn't think I'd have a whole lot of good to say about this show, especially because of what my opinion of it was early on in its run. I don't think I've ever had a show where I've hated the central character so much. Well, what's the show and main character I'm talking about here? The American version of The Office  starring Steve Carell as Michael Scott. (And if it weren't for me having to put a title on each post, this would have been a great reveal. Oh well.) I went through an intense love/hate relationship with Michael for the first four seasons of The Office , mostly because he is a character that has no boundaries, or even an awareness that he should have any in the first place. He is offensive, idiotic, and downright stupid. Yes, I do understand that that's the entire...