The Top 10 Everything of 2011

What’s that you say? It’s mid-February, and I’ve managed to yet again go several weeks without posting, in addition to never finishing reviews of the last releases of 2011, and never listing my favorite movies, TV shows, actors, and actresses of 2011? Well now, that’s just rude. Of course, this “end” to my procrastination comes just in time for me to go to Italy for a week, so don’t expect this to be the beginning of a waterfall of posts… Read ahead and find out, very belatedly, what I chose as the best of 2011. I have trouble putting things in numerical order beyond a certain point, so these lists are purely alphabetical. BUT there will be a star next to my “Number One” on each list. Enjoy!

Let the Awards-Giving Begin!: Golden Globe Awards 2012 Predictions

The Golden Globe Awards, generally one of the most amusing awards shows of the year (mostly owing to the open bar, I think), starts in less than two hours. This year promises to be exciting and hilarious, with Ricky Gervais reprising his role as controversial host, and a few tight races in the acting categories. This list of predictions is coming probably a bit too late to matter much, but for posterity’s sake, here are my predictions for the 2012 Golden Globes, both who will win, and who should win.

Fall 2011: A TV Progress Report

This fall is tiring me out. I know, tough life, watching lots of TV and movies. But being invested in so many different series and spending so much time watching them every week is exhausting! Three weeks into the season might be a little early to give a progress report, but at this point new and returning series have really either hit their stride or become miserable failures. So, I’ve decided to recap and review briefly those series that I’ve been watching and that have been on or back for three weeks so far. Check back later this week to hear about the best of Sunday and Monday nights (mostly because thanks to football Sunday night was a mess), but in the meantime read ahead to hear about my favorites so far this fall in reality, comedy, and drama.

Side note: really, football. Stop it. If CBS is going to put “The Amazing Race” and “The Good Wife” on after football, then football needs to stick to the three hours already devoted to it. I need my Sunday night Julianna Margulies fix! 

Another Batch of Premieres, Another Dilemma of What to Watch

I mentioned in my post the other day how insanely high the average quality of TV shows has been of late. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how much free time you have), the past few days have proven that perhaps preemptive statement blissfully true. I finally took a couple of hours to get caught up on three of the biggest series premieres of this fall: “Terra Nova,” “American Horror Story,” and “Homeland.” My reviews will follow, but let me just take a moment to reiterate: it is a good time to be a TV head. Very, very good.

“Pan Am” Takes Flight (and Some Other Shows): Fall Premiere Week 2011 Part 4, a Review

While I’ve already mentioned how competitive and fantastic Wednesdays and Thursdays are this season, I am fully prepared to give the award for the best three hours of entertainment this fall to: SUNDAY. Talk about awesome. Tonight we saw the season premieres of “The Amazing Race” and “The Good Wife,” followed by the series premiere of “Pan Am.” The best part? There’s no worthy competition! You can just settle in and know that you’re going to get some great TV without missing anything else. Well, until “The Walking Dead” starts back up. Then you’re screwed.

Attack of the Lo-Def Angel-Glo Cam (and others): Fall Premiere Week 2011 Part 3, a Review

Like I’ve mentioned previously this week, Wednesdays and Thursdays this fall are jam-packed with good (or at least potentially good) TV. So much of it, in fact, that it looks like I’m going to be spending a lot of time on the weekends just catching up! With that, I’ll launch right into my reviews of two of the season’s biggest premieres, “The X Factor” and “Person of Interest.” I will also discuss briefly how Season 547 of “Law and Order: SVU” started. Very briefly, because they haven’t exactly changed the formula with this procedural.

Like Surgeons in a Sinkhole in Seattle: Fall Premiere Week 2011 Part 2, a Review

In the continuation of my endeavor to catch all of this fall’s important premieres – and there are a LOT of them! – I would like to report in on what I thought of some of the best shows on the exciting Thursday night line-up. Thursdays are as big a deal as ever this year, with NBC’s usual comedies facing off against “The X Factor,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Person of Interest,” and “Prime Suspect.” As promised, I’ll fill you in on “The X Factor” soon (that’s a ton of TV to watch at once online!), along with a couple of other shows I have yet to catch. For now, though, look ahead for some info on the season premieres of “Community,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

New Ratings System, Because Everyone Loves a Report Card!

I’ve been thinking a lot since starting this blog about whether or not I should actually institute a ratings system. I try to make my comments be very clear about whether or not I am actually a fan of a show or a film. That said, I also think that it’s pretty useful to actually be able to quantify this sort of thing, and I figure that I’ve been doing that plenty on my Rotten Tomatoes page already anyway. So from here on out you can expect to see a basic lettered grade at the end of every review (and, for those movies/TV premieres that I have already reviewed, you can look at the nifty new tabs at the top of the homepage for the scores I would have given them). Rating TV shows can be difficult, since episodes are always uneven, so the shows that I regularly review will have a second grade that changes weekly, assessing the season so far. Here’s what you can assume from a given letter (and note that some letters are skipped, because I really don’t see the point of a +/- system below a B-, and Ds shouldn’t exist. If you deserve a D, you deserve an F. At least where movies are concerned.):

Serial Killers, Sue Sylvester, and So Many Singers: Fall Premiere Week 2011 Part 1, a Review

Fall premiere week has hit TVs intensely over the past two days, with “Glee,” “New Girl,” “Unforgettable,” “The Middle,” “Modern Family,” “Revenge,” “Criminal Minds,” “CSI,” “SVU,” and “The X Factor” all appearing over the last 48 hours. I obviously haven’t had time to catch all of these shows yet, but I am at least going to provide my brief take on those that I have had the opportunity to see, and where I think they might be going this season. Read ahead for reviews on the premieres of “Glee,” “New Girl,” “Criminal Minds,” and “Revenge”; look back over the next few days for my thoughts on the two-night premiere of “The X Factor,” as well as Ted Danson’s new role on “CSI,” Poppy Montgomery on “Unforgettable,” Emmy winner “Modern Family’s” hour-long premiere, and others. Wow, there is a LOT of good TV this year!

“2 Broke Girls” Proves That the American Sitcom Isn’t Quite Broken

Monday night marked the official beginning of the television onslaught that is fall premiere’s week. There were plenty of big season premieres last night – just look at the fact that the (always) entirely mediocre “Two and a Half Men” had almost 28 million viewers, on par with a typical “Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol” premiere! Following “Men,” though was a series premiere that I would like to discuss for a few moments: “2 Broke Girls.”