Best TV shows of 2013 (and onwards)

Nowadays, TV series are arguably as impactful and culturally significant a medium as movies. Hell, all you have to is look at how many bring up The Wire, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad or True Detective in a typical conversation for you to see just how many people are leaning towards that sector of the entertainment industry to get their fix.

The following is a list of shows I watched in 2013.

New Girl is a show that has been adopted by many as their casual weekly 20-minute comedy. Featuring Zooey Deschanel (and her gang), it used to be pretty damn funny, but has now entered relationship territory, and becomingly increasingly more dull by the episode. This is a shame, though Schmidt continues to be amusing, and everyone wishes Zooey would just shut up for once.

Happy Endings was cancelled in 2013, a decision which annoyed many. Although its cast have made their way elsewhere, in search of longer lasting success, it's very frustrating, especially as it had arguably the best writers on television.

Speaking of Happy Endings, Adam Pally, who played Max, has now found a new home in The Mindy Project, what is essentially a comedy set in an upstate New York surgery. It starts actors from Six Feet Under, Workaholics, The Office and The League, which right now, is reason enough for me to keep watching.

Californication is still going, with season 6 ending in 2013 and season 7 due to start in April 2014. Although this is good news, the show has gone downhill fast, and the "Will they? Won't they" situation between Hank and Karen has grown somewhat thin.

I don't remember how, but I somehow discovered Workaholics in early 2013, and made an effort of watching it with my girlfriend. Its amateurish production values, immature tone and three main actors made it really great to watch, and although in its new season, it's not quite as strong as it once was, it's still worth watching.

Suits is still going, and if you ignore the awful catchphrases, tryhard putdowns, and 'moments of clarification', it's still watchable, even if romantic story arcs are somewhat overshadowing the actual drama.

Modern Family remains arguably the best comedy on television, and in spite of being placed as a family friendly show, it manages to get away with a lot of dialogue and suggestion that you might not think you'd find on a network show of this nature. Phil Dunphy is joint best comedy character on television (with Ron Swanson) and although repetition is creeping in, it's done well to wake up from some relative slumps in quality over the last season or so.

Speaking of Ron Swanson, Parks and Rec is still going, despite Ann and Chris leaving, and its narrative structure and sources of comedy are waning a lot. Chris Pratt has shown that he has what it takes to find success in Hollywood, but it's hard to see where the other actors will go after this show is over, whenever that happens. Though I wouldn't mind seeing Adam Scott finding a home on another network comedy.

 

The Office US finally finished in 2013, and my God it wasn't a moment too soon. The only ray of light was Michael Scott making an all too brief appearance in the final episode.

The Big Bang Theory is the US's most watched non-sports or reality show. Sadly, its ratings don't match its quality, and what used to be a very entertaining show, and somehow (seemingly completely unaware) fallen in line with the rest of America's God-awful sitcoms.

The Walking Dead continues to lurch onwards, and despite its videogame counterpart, things aren't really moving along in a particularly interesting manner. This past week's episode was arguably the most eyebrow raising of the season, but that's not exactly saying much.

Southland, the mature cop drama set in Southern LA, was cancelled in 2013, much to the annoyance of its diehard fans. Though, I have to imagine its ratings weren't enough to keep it on air, and although the show had certainly picked up towards the end, all natural story arcs had probably run out of gas too.

How I Met Your Mother finishes on April 1st. Not a moment too soon.

Community is back, and although its level of writing is still decent, I'm not sure anyone actually cares about the characters any more, and with Donald Glover leaving the show, the end can't be too far away.

Mad Men returns on April 14th, and although its sixth season was a huge departure from its early proceedings in terms of style, themes and incident, it feels like season seven (its final season), may finish with a whimper. The season will be aired in two parts, presumably to squeeze as much out of its final innings as possible.

The Newsroom Season 2 aired in 2013 and was mostly decent, with moments of blandness and equal measures of excellence chucked into the mix. Season 3 will be its last, and it'll hopefully focus on some very interesting news stories.

Breaking Bad has its final season in 2013, and boy did everyone watch it. Or at least that's what it seemed like if you were an avid social network user. It's safe to say the show did not disappoint.

It's Always Sunny Season 9 aired in 2013, and it was a mixed batch, much like The Newsroom. Some forgettable episodes, mostly good and the odd excellent one thrown in for good measure. Although the show feels somewhat jaded after 9 seasons (tenth is already planned), that's only natural, and it would be a shame to see the gang leave our TV screens just yet.

Boardwalk Empire season 4 was a veritable triumph, though it lacked a real sense of direction, owing to its impressively depth of characters, most of whom haven't really been explored yet. Even with two of the show's main characters meeting their grisly end between during season 3 and 4, and with Season 5 (its last) on the horizon, it certainly feels like there's a lot more to come.

The League season 5 was a letdown, not much else to say about a show that started off excellently. Somehow managed to make Fantasy NFL seem interesting, but that element has all but vanished.

Fresh Meat series 3 was a solid return for the show, from the creators of Peep Show. Although the show felt narratively stretched at times, there was just enough of a shake-up to keep things fresh. Whether that still applies after series 3 remains to be seen.

True Detective seemingly came out of nowhere, and within days of its premiere airing on HBO, the world of social media was ablaze with gossip, comment, and praise. It features Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as a bitter duo trying to solve a murder case they thought they'd closed in the 90s. With McConaughey at his best, season 1 was definitely worth watching, despite its rather languid pacing, and although its finale wasn't exactly what many had expected, it was still stronger than many television dramas of 2013, let alone 2014.

Supernatural is the penultimate show on my list, as it's been the show I seemingly watch more than most. That's down to my girlfriend, who loves the show, and has done for years. What is essentially a 'brief horror movie plot' per episode, with a long-term narrative feeding through each season, it's solid, if not exactly spellbinding.

Last but not least; First Dates, Channel 4's fly-on-the-wall documentary show about people meeting for the first time. As someone who met their girlfriend online in 2012, it's interesting to see how others approach a situation I myself had to go through once upon a time, and although it's often funny and sweet, it's equally as cringeworthy.

Oh, and Gogglebox...

Best Videogames of 2013

For me, 2013 was all about three games; Bishock Infinite, GTA V and FIFA 14.

Not only unknown games by any stretch, nor should they be.

FIFA 14 was a highly divisive game, many finding its gameplay mechanics a step backwards and others simply preferring previous iterations, such as '12 and '13. Personally, I've played it to the point that it's essentially blurred into the same as the more recent games, and although there are certain problems, I still find it enjoyable to play every now and then.

GTA V was arguably the biggest game of the year, and I believe was the biggest 'entertainment launch' of the year, racking it insane sales figures and receiving critical acclaim across the board.

This entry in the series, the last to appear on (then) 'next-gen' consoles, was unique in that you were controlling three characters, rather than one as was the case in every other GTA game in the series. Although the premise and previews made it sound a complicated and potentially awkward feature, when it was actually put into practice (not a great deal, it has to be said), it worked well. Off the top of my head, there are only a few actual instances where two or more characters are controlled 'simultaneously' but it was certainly an interesting concept.

That aside, the only other main complaints were the game's music catalogue (and relative lack of quality talk radio) and its somewhat underwhelming ending. While the game has some big and well-known tracks, and some unusual but surprisingly excellent choices (Pure Shores, With Every Heartbeat), players felt a little short-changed in terms of the radio chat shows, which were absolutely fantastic in GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas. It was more a case of what had previously been overshadowing a solid and nevertheless entertaining radio selection.

The biggest complaint for me was the game's ending, although there are actually three choices available to the player. I won't go into detail about any of the options, because you would be unfair on those still to play the game, but it was essentially a case of a very ambitious and intriguing build-up leading to a somewhat anti-climatic finale, leading to many simply wondering "Was that it?"

And indeed, that is it, at least in terms of main storyline gameplay. There have been subsequent multiplayer and 'single player' DLC packs, which have left a lot to be desired, at least from the GTA fans I've heard discussing the situation.

Although The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned single player downloadable content both gave players more of what they wanted from GTA IV last time round, those story packs came a fair while after the main game had shipped, and if Rockstar Games are planning on following suit with more single player DLC for GTAV, people could be waiting a while. With the 'next-gen' in full flow, will anyone bother...?

Bioshock Infinite was almost as big a release for me as GTAV was, in 2013. Released in March, the game promised a departure from Rapture, the fictitious undersea gameworld which basically made the Bioshock franchise what it is. Infinite would instead take place in Columbia, a world that existed in the clouds, and follow very different narrative threads.

There were lots of similarities between Infinite and its predecessors (Bioshock and Bioshock 2), especially in terms of visuals, the only real difference in that sense being that Infinite was a wholly brighter experience, with lots of flushed out colours; yellows, ambers and lighter tones throughout.

Although it was certainly an impressive game, and its ending left many scratching their heads (and one particular moment evoking an almighty "Wow" from everyone), there seemed to be a lot of people left disappointed, especially with its DLC, which has been received somewhat poorly to say the least.

Perhaps as a result of the mild disappointment surrounding the main game, and seemingly as a result of in-house division, Ken Levine (the man in charge of it) has since disbanded Irrational Games, and has moved on with a select number of employees.

In terms of what I intend to play in 2014, the following is a list of mainly-PC games that have piqued my interest:

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Papers, Please
Gone Home
Stanley Parable
Divekick

Although I have started the first Amnesia (The Dark Descent), my interest has faded somewhat, and I'm looking to see how much a proper PC would actually cost, as that game and its sequel seem somewhat too heavy for my lowly laptop. I have also sampled Papers, Please but again, my interest and enthusiasm for the game has waned somewhat.

Hotline Miami is another, but its difficulty level (or my general ineptitude) means it may be a while before I actually play it again, or even attempt to complete it.

The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead Season Two are both games from TellTale Games that I've dipped my toe into, indeed completing the first episode of each season. I will be continuing both, but not until time allows it, and both games are perfect for playing with my girlfriend, as active decision-making is constantly involved.

Best of 2013 update

I mentioned in a past blog entry that I'd be doing a personal 'Best of 2013' blog post for the videogames, films and TV shows that I had enjoyed (or not) last year.

I haven't gotten around to actually doing that yet, but I intend to do so within the next week or so.

The biggest challenge is trying to find a format which makes it as enjoyable for me to write it, as it for the reader to read it. I've collated the IMDB links for the films, and I can recall my opinions on the various titles I'll be mentioning, but it all seems like a slog.

It'll get done, but I think I just need to take on the mental hurdle, and probably just get the smallest one out of the way first, and that'll be videogames.

More to follow.

CSI; Grissom

I hadn't planned to write an entry about CSI or William Peterson until the show finally ended, but I recently read an article about both the show and the actor.

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, Peterson said the following:

“I didn’t even know he married Sara!” Petersen tells EW. “I found out later on. How nice! That was never my intention for Grissom. You are in the hands of puppeteers, and after a certain point you aren’t sure what’s going to happen to your puppet.”

That’s why Petersen isn’t so keen about the idea of returning to the show if and when it finally signs off CBS. “I didn’t want it to be like he’s back, he’s not back,” Petersen continued. “It should be a clean break, leave when you’re supposed to. It’s like breaking up with a girlfriend. If you keep calling her every month, you’ll never move on!”

This is certainly an interesting take on how Grissom's character has been written into the show, following his departure from the hugely successful US TV series. With occasional mentions, nods and the odd Skype-enabled appearance, the show's producers are clearly keen for Grissom to be associated with the show, however Peterson's own comments suggest that not only does he think the series should have concluded but also that Gil should no longer be a recurring 'character', more a fond memory.

Of course, all long-time fans of the show like myself (however, I gave up at the end of last season) would love to see one last Gil appearance, presumably in the series finale, but as the man himself says, it's sometimes best to just move on...