Wonder Woman 2011

It's not good. It's not bad. It's not even interesting. Wonder Woman (the un-aired 2011 pilot) is full of half-baked ideas. If it just picked one of the half-baked ideas, it could have made it. Instead, it just tries to throw all ideas it was even remotely interested in, and hope one sticks.

I was wondering if I really could criticize a pilot for trying to set up too much for a series, but I thought about it a bit more, thinking about pilots of other shows. A pilot has to do so much already. it has to introduce a bunch of characters, the main premise, and the setting (which is often a character in and of itself.)

I don't think this pilot understood that concept. Each character is glossed over, there is no clear main premise, and the setting is poked at, but mostly, again, ignored.

Wonder Woman opens like a crime procedural's victim of the day, which, incidentally  is the most characterized person in the pilot. He's a black teenage boy, who presumably receives a scholarship to go to college, before a "near exploding heart" causes eye-bleeding. (I don't get it either.)

Then, ideas are introduced and dropped in quick succession:

* Wonder Woman sells action dolls and other products to fund her crime-fighting.
* Wonder Woman doesn't play well with police.
* Wonder Woman breaks up with her boyfriend before becoming Wonder Woman because he might get hurt.
* Wonder Woman inexplicably has an alternate identity.
* Wonder Woman has a cat.
* Wonder Woman is a Woman, hear her roar.
* Her ex-boyfriend is back, but he's married!

The only idea that looks like it'll get followed up on is the idea that she doesn't play well with police, but the ex-boyfriend shows up, saves the day, and it looks like this too will be quickly ignored.

Really, the most interesting idea here, and the most topical idea (even during the time it was made) is the idea of the relationship between the super-hero and the police. If the pilot had ended with Wonder Woman potentially facing legal ramifications for what she did, as parts of the episode seemed to be building up to, (Like a pundit exclaiming she wasn't exempt from search and seizure laws) then it might have been going somewhere.

However, it seems mostly confused.

I don't know what it is about a female super-hero that seems to get writers confused. You give the hero tits and suddenly you want to shoehorn in rom-com misunderstandings like her ex-boyfriend having been in town for a while but not talking to her and being married, alternating with feminist outbursts (like her saying that the 'tits' on the action figures are too big to properly represent her.)

I would have been fine with them treating her as an essentially male super-hero for the pilot episode. You'd have had plenty of time to show us she was a woman.

The New Normal

When I delved into my past looking for tv shows I specifically didn't like, I didn't expect so much vitriol. I was supposed to kill this with hours of meditation, art therapy, and religion. So with this, I'm moving back up the scale of Cooper's Likability. Today's show is a show that I surprisingly like. Will I finish season 1? I doubt it. Have I been okay with every episode seen so far? Yeah. I really have.

Yes, there are three pregnant people in this picture.

People.

The biggest jump this show took was the two gay leads. I didn't think it was going to make it. In fact, I was pretty sure this show was going to take a flying leap and land face-first like I think Glee did (in my happy place.) And while one of them is the absolute stereotypical homosexual (that Nowhere was conspicuously absent of), the other is a normal dude who happens to be gay. 

It touches on a lot of issues that normally, would make this show somewhat un-watchable for me. Young sexuality (Shania, the little girl, falls in love with a boy, is kidnapped by her grandmother, along with the boy, and taken to Planned Parenthood) teen pregnancy (two out of the three female leads were teens when they had their kids, the other is a kid), political divisions (the mother is a staunch republican who actually manages to stay just barely likable by being more than just the stereotype I'd expected her to be), and of course, the center of attention is Goldie's surrogate pregnancy for the two gay men. 

I expected this show to run right up to the screen, climb on top of THE BIGGEST soapbox, and start screaming its lungs out. It does have some of that, sure. There are moments you don't expect from this sort of attitude, however. It isn't afraid to swing both ways. That's this show's greatest value. The aforementioned kidnapping ends with the boy's mother being very glad it happened, because she didn't know when she should talk to her son about sex, and it prompted that conversation. 

It isn't exactly funny (rarely does it get laughs from me, in fact), and it isn't exactly great. It may have very well already earned its place in history though, and that's the best reason to give it a go.

Breaking In

Want to see a show that beat records? I do!

Yaaay!

Booo.

Continuing my history with doomed shows (which will be better explored during Joss Whedon day. This is postponed until I've finished watching Angel), there's this show. It's obvious that I'd like it. I liked Leverage (to be reviewed when I get up-to-date on THAT show), I enjoy wacky workplace comedies (which is odd as I've never been in a 'traditional' workplace) and I could relate to them each in one way.

So what was I saying about breaking records? It's one of the few shows out there to be cancelled twice. (No points for guessing which network this show is on. -1 points if you just looked up to the second picture to see.) 

I could cry executive meddling, but that'd be unfair of me. So I'll scream it. I'll pound the ground, say 'Firefly' once or twice, and then shake my fist at the air screaming: "Foooooooxxxx!!!!11"

The reality is, we're all in this to make money. I won't blame Fox for trying to make money. Fox invested in this show, then felt it wasn't making good enough returns, and cancelled it. Then Fox saw post-cancellation that this show really did have all the elements of a successful show, picked it up again, and butchered it. 

There are a few things I think TV networks forget about with shows. 

1: Not every show is an American Idol. (Don't hold your breath on a review for this one. If I start making money at this, sure. I'll throw you guys a bone. But until then, never watched an episode of it.) You can't expect everyone to watch every show on the air. 

2: Their current system of judging shows is outdated. The problem is, it's hard for them to reclassify it. After all, they already have a system in place that works some of the time. Why change it? Why take into account the quality of fan-bases, or alternate revenue streams? Does it truly matter if Dollhouse's fanbase was more likely to buy DVDs of the show than American Idol's? Does it truly matter if a show doesn't get the best ratings first-run, if it excels in re-runs, and alternate late-streaming sources such as: Amazon Instant, Hulu, Netflix, and Itunes? I think it should. But it's hard to quantify something like that, and I can understand that.

3: Scale down expectations. Examine the competition, examine the timeslot. Shows shown on Fridays on Fox are more likely to get cancelled, and shows that follow American Idol are more likely to do well? Why? Well, it's suspected that people in THE target demographic don't stay home Friday evenings. Alternatively, shows that follow a more popular show give it a chance to pick up some of the first show's audience. (This is sometimes accounted for by noting what percent of audience members follow a show to a new timeslot.) 

Likewise, if you have a show that's meant to compete with American Idol, don't get too upset if it doesn't seem to compete with your other shows. 

With that tangent over, onto Breaking In. 

Season 1 of Breaking In has a very solid premise, with very solid characters. A kid has hacked himself into his college's mainframe and convinced it that he's there on full scholarship. He's earning degree after degree, for free. He makes money doing simple hacks. It is noted by Breaking In's crew, and he is recruited. (It's more noted that they can recruit him, or turn him over to the authorities.)

This kid, Cameron, quickly grows to like his team. His vaguely threatening, mysterious boss Oz, his rivalrous friendship with Archetypal Cash (at first), the 'semi-jock' Josh, his crush Melanie, and her goofy boyfriend Dutch. 

Each character had bits and pieces about them that made them unique. The show was genuinely funny, though it has a frat-boy sense of humor to it that I usually don't appreciate. The premise was one I always enjoy, even though I admittedly have seen it before.

Season two on the other hand, introduced the most obnoxious character I have ever seen. (I feel lucky that she is this, by the way.) Fox tried to use her as the incentive to jump back on the Breaking In bandwagon, but she didn't have enough star-power to bring new interested parties, nor was she meshing well enough with the story to hold onto the fan-base. I refuse to even give her a name. I'll call her OB. You figure out what that stands for. (Hint: B is what you think it stands for.)

TV doesn't really get me angry. It doesn't. Even shows that people dog-pile on, eager to rip a piece out of its already rotting carcass I don't hate. (See Work It!'s review for proof.) But the second season of this show made me angry. I had genuinely enjoyed the first season of this show greatly. I feel like they brought the show back just to stomp on it in front of me.

No, I feel like I ripped out my heart as a sacrifice to get this show back, and they gave me a new heart, which periodically makes terrible jokes, counts how many steps I take, (and how many hours I sit with an increasingly mocking tone). No, I feel like they did that, and severed my brain in just the right way that I lose control of my right hand (my writing hand, not that it makes a difference as my writing sucks either way), then implanted it with a device to randomly punch myself in the breast. 

NoIdon'tknowwwhatI'mgoingonaboutgoaway 

Emily Owens, MD

It's pretty rare that I have to pause a show, just so I can handle the awkward it just spat at my face (yes I'm calling this show a camel. Never say I wasn't creative with my insults.) This show is happy to do this to me ALL THE TIME. Between the dead-fish of a metaphor it has been smacking my face with since the trailer, and the awkward-machine-that-rivals-Deb of a main character, this show is uncomfortable to watch. And not in the 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' way.

Emily Owens, in the first few episodes, manages to pick up a mentor that's at least a decade younger than her, confess her love to her best friend (who doesn't reciprocate) befriend the in-the-closet-gay-daughter-of-the-chief-of-medicine, and get mistaken for gay. Oh, and she's also picked up a perceived catty rival who doesn't seem all that interested in being her catty rival.

This show seems to be more about a woman who desperately needs therapy, rather than a medical intern. She was soo scarred by High School she can't leave it behind, even though everyone else seems pretty happy to.

This is definitely one to skip. The only scene I found any worth in, I wasn't able to find on youtube, but will transcribe for you (from memory/google rather than watching that show again--you can't make me!) For reference, Tyra (whose name I didn't know until I googled the quote. Having seen my last review, it made me lol a bit. Another point for Emily Owens, MD.) is the in-the-closet gay, Emily is the main character.

Emily: When did you know? 
Tyra: That I was black? It’s so interesting. People always ask the gay girl when she knew she liked girls. No one ever asks the straight girl when she knew she liked boys.
Emily: I was nine. I asked this boy if he wanted to be my boyfriend and he spat at me.
Tyra: There’s no a-ha moment. You know from an early age that you’re different. And you start having these intense friendships with other girls and you think it’s normal. All girls feel passionately about their best friends, right? Until your best friend starts dating a boy. And you feel like your heart’s going to explode.

There you go. You have now seen the only thing of worth this show offered. You know there has to be someone who was gay on the writing team for this episode, because it feels very raw. It feels real. If Tyra wasn't surrounded by Awkward! and bad writing, I'd watch the show for her. But unfortunately, she is.

America's Next Top Model

I am very glad I found this image without much work... because I expected to have trouble finding a good image to truly represent the shallowness, pettiness, Tyra-Banks-centric, yet strangely fascinating show. An image with Tyra Banks in the middle, so heavily photoshopped I barely recognized her (except for the fact that she's in the middle, and she's ALWAYS in the middle) and the fact that she, and all of the other kids, looked like barbies.

This show has become so popular, it has been replicated in 77 different forms. (Only one of which I've watched fully, Canada's Next Top Model.)

I will give this show props--it has actually launched careers. Just rarely the ones that 'win' the show. It seems to actually be better for your future career to be second or third in the show. The photos, at least up until the last two seasons, were interesting artistically, and even when I just watched the show in the background, (usually the best way to watch it to dull the shame) I always paused to see the photos that were shown in judging.

The first season was rocky, but it had something to it, and it showed. I'll admit at one time, I wanted to be on the show. It wasn't really that I wanted to be a model, but I wanted to be part of the photos. Then I found that I was more interested in being behind the camera. I was more interested in the art than the work. That's one of my major disappointments with the later seasons--one of the people that left (Tyra has replaced the entire judging table besides her) took the good ideas with them.

Everything felt fake from the start. The bible-thumping Christian and the Militant Atheist were obviously put together not because of their talent, but because they were going to clash. Every girl cheers when Tyra enters. There's always the "weird" girl, the tough chick, the one you hate, the 'plus-sized,' and the one with the sad story. They read "Tyra Mail" out loud. Tyra's face is all over their homes. Each house is usually short a bed for the first week, to enforce fighting with the contestants over bedding. Each time, someone gets upset over the makeovers.

Most of these girls have put their life on hold for this show. You hear it again and again: "I don't know what I'll go back to if I don't win."

You usually have a contestant that you just want to hug, and that's the one you hope will win. But at the end of the day, they're mostly forgettable. The show insisted they weren't, by bringing back the "All-Stars" but I barely remembered most of them.

The show does seem to start becoming self-aware with the editing, but it doesn't make up for it.

Verdict? Guilty pleasure at best.

Dexter

This may be giving away my opinion too soon, but I looked at all the shows on my list of reviews to open with, all the ones I keep watching, and except for those I'll be reviewing today, I liked all of them enough to watch them voluntarily. This would be pretty boring, and I might as well change the name to "Shows Cooper Likes."

So, the special today is, "Shows Cooper Doesn't Like."

If you stay tuned, there may be a free gift basket in for you (spoilers: There isn't.)

When reviewing Dexter, it's important to take note that I have only started the latest season, and not finished it.

Dexter was like a new relationship.

Seasons 1-2: The first date. It's great. He's charming, and funny, and seems to like strip clubs too much, but that's okay, because he's smart, and you've never met anything like him before.
Seasons 3-4: You're just not feeling it anymore. The sex is lackluster, the romance is gone. He no longer lights candles for you when you come home. You stay because you hope he still has a few surprises left in him, that he's still the man you knew.
Season 5: He's started seeing another woman behind your back. He tries to make it up to you, but it's just not the same.
Season 6: Now he's found religion. He leaves you behind, with only a few cryptic biblical clues, and the pictures of his former self.

The extended metaphor is done, I promise.

Dexter is a show on Showtime, a premium cable channel. They are allowed to be pretty graphic, which explains why there was constant nudity in the first few seasons--this was given way to less sexual nudity in the fourth season, and pretty much abandoned entirely by the fifth--and why there's more swearing than in an average high school cafeteria. (It's cool, yo.)

It's a very interesting, and to the 'save our children' crowd, controversial concept. Dexter is a serial killer, who exclusively goes after serial killers. His foster father discovers Dexter's budding sociopathy, and rather than attempt literally anything else, decides to use Dexter as a weapon, encouraging him, and training him to get away with, going after those the system couldn't catch, thanks to all that pesky red tape.

This has elements of the typical crime procedural, down to each character (including Dexter) working in the Miami Metro Police Department. I do admit, the first two seasons worked out extremely well.

Season one is a season-long character analysis of, who else, Dexter. We learn why he does what he does, what drives him to kill. We learn about the important people in his life, but they are nothing but basic caricatures (a phenomenon I'll discuss more in-depth later in shows like Daria, who employed this tactic entirely on purpose) to prop up the main character.

In season 2, another good character arises. The foil to Dexter, Doakes. I feel this season had a great idea--Dexter's crimes being uncovered, and him alternately trying to feed his need to kill and throw the police off his trail--but it was a trump card played too soon.

In my ideal world, this would have been season 4, with each season previous taking a point to characterize everyone else beyond: "foul-mouthed-tom-boy-awkward-machine," "alcoholic-man-married-to-job," and simply "backstabbing-bitch." With everyone else having been fleshed out, grounding the show deep in the gray, it would have been even more tense to see the Bay Harbor Butcher try to outfox people we've grown to care about.

But wait, I hear from my metaphorical audience of 5. Isn't Dexter already a pretty gray show, on the morality scale?

I would say that it operates more on a Blue and Orange morality scale. Dexter is a man doing bad things to bad people, because of a good man's frustration that bad people get away because good people have to have lines. So the good man finds a man who does not have those lines, and gets him to clean up the messes good people can't touch. It could be viewed as an eye-for-an-eye, the show postulates. Deeply aware of irony, Dexter kills each killer in a clean chamber filled only with two killers, and their victims. (The room he sterilizes for the killing usually has great importance to the killer, as well as whatever tokens Dexter can drag up from their murders.)

It starts off decently gray, but as the show goes along, it loses that sense of irony. It loses the sense that we are rooting for the bad guy, because the enemy of our enemy is our friend. Dexter takes fledgling serial killers under his wing--done for one episode early on, but quickly dropped--for season-long arcs (see season 2 and season 5).

When it started portraying Dexter as the good guy, it tries to balance this out by having the serial killers make this more personal, like the end of season 4's death, or the entirety of season 6.

Meanwhile, Deb, Dexter's adopted sister, devolves into Awkward Machine. The show tries to be aware of this, then gives up and just demands you accept it when her sexual prospects get slowly more awkward, then she's handed a Freudian Excuse, and then, not kidding, she falls in love with Dexter. No excuse, no nudge with a knowing grin. Straight-faced, she falls in love with him.

Can I call Jumping the Shark yet, or does it count if the show was initially in Kansas, moved closer to Florida (home of crazy), ordered the shark, lit a hoop on fire and attached it to the shark, then jumped it? Repeatedly?

Community

What kind of TV geek would I be if, not only have I seen this show, but adore it? Yes, add my puny, mostly-ignored voice to the tons of adorers this show has. I've been with this show since Day 1 (Does that get me cool points? I hope so.)

This is a common ensemble TV show gimmick, really. You take a group of stereotypes and make them work together. Community very quickly moved beyond this, but each character still has their box. You have:

The Leader: Jeff. He is what is considered a charismatic leader. Without him, the group would be lost. He's a smooth-talking, very smart lawyer who loses his job before the show starts, because he faked his degree.
The Rebel/Activist: Britta. I'll very happily admit, however, that Britta is not a traditional one. It's weird to put together a traditionally counterculture and subculture character together, but it works with Britta. She wanted to be cool (hipster-style), and dropped out of school. She gets herself worked up over every little thing, acting like her shoes are mini-soapboxes that give her a free pass to scream at everyone about everything.
The Top 10er: Annie. This is the girl that would be in the top ten of her class, if not a valedictorian. She's the girl that cries if she gets an A- on her test, because it'll bring down her average.
The Jock: Troy. He was a football player at his old school.
The Angry Black Woman/Bigoted Christian: Shirley. Thankfully the bigot in her is very much an undertone, but sometimes takes a step forward. You can usually see this most strongly in the Christmas special episodes.
The Old Guy/Trust Fund Kid: Pierce  Rich, with the ability to say whatever he wants with basically a free pass.
The Weirdo: Abed. He isn't quite there, but he's nice enough.
The Psychotic Teacher: Chang. He will make your life a living hell if he feels like it (and he always feels like it.)

Now, as critical as I sound of every one of these characters, I'm really not. Every character balances each-other out very well. They all have great relationships, and are very well-rounded. They all grow and change throughout the show (some more than others.) They all feel real, mostly because I know these people. I'm Abed. My closest friends in high school were Annie and Shirley. My grandmother is Pierce. (Doesn't everyone have a grandparent Pierce?)

I could write a novel about the relationships between these characters, and that's a very good thing, especially considering each episode is only 23 minutes long. Shows with at least four times the time (40+ minutes long, 8 seasons) don't have as complex relationships as these. At the same time though, you don't have to study them to figure them out... because if you want, even their relationships can fit into boxes. You only have to go as deep as you want to. Pierce can be the group scapegoat, Jeffery can be the leader in a love triangle between Annie and Britta, Shirley can be their surrogate mother, and Abed and Troy can be Heterosexual Life Partners.

This show is akin to a kid, standing on a roof with an umbrella, insisting it'll work as a parachute. You know it's going to be bad, but you can't look away. When the kid jumps off the roof, the umbrella doesn't work, but they land in a pile of mattresses. It isn't afraid to take risks, risks you wouldn't believe they would even dare to try in what is essentially a sitcom.

A list of the show's great achievements:

* Genre episodes: Modern Warfare as action, Basic Rocket Science as space adventure, Epidemiology as horror, Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design as a thriller, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as fantasy, Critical Film Studies as indie, Intermediate Documentary Film-making and Documentary: Redux as rom-coms (just kidding, documentary), Paradigms of Human Memory as a clip show, and so on.
* Christmas Specials. They have some of the best, and darkest, Christmas specials I've ever seen.
* High Concept ideas that work: Animated episode, a show that deals with String Theory, and a musical episode? Yup. They're all great.

Standout Episode

Originally, I wasn't going to pick a standout episode. I was going to tell you they're all great, and I adore every single one of them. But while I was looking through the show, picking out genre episodes, I found one episode that I specifically wanted to mention.

Remedial Chaos Theory is a show all about string theory. They roll a die to see who gets the pizza in every segment... then explore what happens when that person leaves the group. It's a subtle examination of each person's role in the group. It's hilarious, and very well done.

Be sure to watch each episode to the end, or you'll miss Troy and Abed's stunts, which are easily some of the best jokes of the series.

Work It!

Chances are, you don't remember this show. It made a short splash from people who love to be outraged, and then died a quick, but painful, death. This show only lasted two episodes. ABC has veritably tried to wipe this thing off of the internet, meaning that I don't get to do my usual pre-review re-watch, but perhaps this style of review, less formal, more fun and experienced based, will be better liked.

To be honest, I'm vaguely relieved. I share my Hulu+ and Netflix account with my parents, and I'm a bit afraid to explain to them what I was doing watching a cross-dressing show in 2012. (I also really don't want to know what Amazon thinks I would like to see if I ordered these two episodes over Amazon Instant.)

At the same time though, I'm disappointed. Because, let's be honest, this show was horrendous. It was terribly bad. But it was like watching "The Car" where even I had to shut up, stop asking questions like "Why don't they just get out of the way?" or in this case: "How the hell did this company not get sued?" and watch the trainwreck.

It was fascinating. I rarely watch TV with my full attention, but I just stared at this, mouth open, gaping. It became almost ironically funny.

To be fair, this is definitely not my kind of show. This is the only cross-dressing comedy I've seen in my life. (How can I live with myself?) I only ended up watching it because I couldn't believe it existed. It fell into "so bad it's good" for me. (Sorry guys, I take responsibility for the next two weeks of your life you'll lose following that link.)

I won't discuss characters, or premises here, because, honestly, it's all secondary. Go watch this TV show, if you can track it down. It's "The Room" of TV Shows. You won't regret the 40 minutes you put into it.

Better off Ted

Status

Ran from 2009 to 2010. Cancelled.

Quick Opinion

Watch it. Now. You should have watched it yesterday. The acting is good, the show is deeply funny (even to me, who has never worked in this sort of environment)

Premise

Veridian Dynamics is every super-villain's dream, and perhaps, every corporation's dream. It's the Wal-Mart of the science world. Omni-present, constantly cutting corners to save money, rich-as-all-get-out,  but for the most part, full of decent, ordinary people. For the most part. 

Story

Ted desperately seeks approval from the company he works for, almost viewing them as his father. However, they aren't a loving parent. He runs into a woman named Linda, one of the few people there considered 'normal.' She isn't a genius, she doesn't have a silver-tongue. She's just supposed to test the products the company comes up with.

She is most frustrated with the company and its policies. Every time their obsession with efficiency interrupts her life, she steals coffee creamer and hoards it in her desk. She acts like an prisoner. 

Just as Ted is about to share his interest in Linda with Linda, she admits she wants to run away. Ted decides that he can't put his daughter--and himself--through another flighty mother/wife figure, and decides against it. 

Major Characters

Veronica: Carl.

Ted: (correcting her to the side) Gordon.

Veronica: Carl Gordon.

Ted: Jenkins.

Veronica: Carl Gordon Jenkins.

Ted: Gordon Jenkins!

Veronica: Carl Gordon Jenkins Gordon Jenkins. (aside:) Are you sure that's right?

Ted: (giving up) That's fine.

Ted Crisp: Ted is a good person at heart, though he can easily get swept away in all of the chaos and wonder of the company. He is probably the weakest character, as little more than a center point for all the other people around him to be focused on.

Lawyer: Can you describe your job?

Veronica: Yes.

Lawyer: * pause* How would you describe your job?

Veronica: Cleverly.

Veronica Palmer: She is a high-powered executive whose job is to spew bullshit. She's extremely good at it. Unfortunately, her character shines brightest in an episode that was unaired by cable, but is still available online: It's My Party and I'll Lie if I Want To. She's one of the funniest female characters I've ever seen.

Ted: You stole a baby?
Linda: Only for a few seconds. Turns out, just because you write your name on something doesn't mean you get to keep it.
Ted: Yeah, I think babies have to be notarized.

Linda: Linda loves Ted, though doesn't want to be the first to admit it. Her standout feature is the great lengths she goes to to make sure that Veridian Dynamics's attempts at saving money with employees go to waste.

Lem: Ted, we need your help.

Phil: We were working really hard in the lab...

Lem: And we had this pinata...

Ted: Pinata? That doesn't sound like really hard work.

Phil: It was stuffed with science.

Phil and Lem: The 'evil scientist' duo. They don't truly realize what they are doing is evil until an episode where they go through their lab and realize everything they have invented was used to kill someone.

Ted: Did you do your math homework?

Rose: Yes.

Ted: Six times eight?

Rose: Yes, that was one of them.

Rose: Ted's daughter. She is taken in by both Linda and Veronica. Veronica tends to use her for the Scheme of the Day, after discovering that people took being fired a lot better from a little girl than her. She acts as Ted's conscience, when she isn't Veronica's pawn.

Standout Episode: 

Racial Sensitivity

Ted: And so, if the company keeps hiring white people to follow black people to follow white people to follow black people, by...

Lem: Thursday, June 27, 2013.

Ted: ...every person on Earth will be working for us. And we don't have the parking for that.

Veridian Dynamics sets up a new automated system for everything, but there is one major oversight: It can't see black people. The intend to ignore it until it goes away. Hilarity ensues. 

I know it's weird to pick so early of an episode as the standout one. It isn't to say that this is as good as the show got, but it's a very good starting point to introduce people to the show.

Introduction

My goal is pretty simple: I want to review every TV show I've ever seen. I watch TV obsessively, and with a highly critical eye. But here's the catch--I do not have cable. Most TV shows I review will be behind a season, out of syndication, and so forth.

I'm a teen who is too analytical. I rarely am able to just have fun, and this shows when I watch films or TV.

Just last night, I was scoffing at a Hollow Man character who was upset that another scientist wanted to dissect the animal subject in a completed experiment--because that was S.O.P.

It would be much easier to do this over Youtube, try to get on That Guy With the Glasses,  but let's face it: I suck at editing, I hate my face, and I have no friends who I can rope into being my face and editing my stuff.

I mostly watch TV post 1990s, Buffy being the oldest show that I've watched episode-to-episode. However, I intend to change that. I'm going out of my comfort zone--if my queue full of Mad Men and The X Files has anything to say about that. 

Why TV? 

Well, it all started when this little country girl from the rural outskirts of Nowhere You'd Ever Know, Mi was uprooted from her life in Nowhere, to a city I'm sure we all know, Detroit. Well, to be more exact, a city near Detroit, still affected by the complex socioeconomic--okay, I get it, I lost you. We'll just say Detroit.

My parents still wanted my sister and I, mostly me, as my sister was still in the mute phase of her childhood, to play outside. That was, until the combined incidences of a kidnapping from our apartment complex, and the police searching our apartment in the middle of the night like they already KNEW we were dead because our door was ajar at night, convinced my parents that it wasn't such a good idea to encourage me to go outside. (This incident also convinced them to move. Go figure.)

Best solution to this? Get cable. Hey, we already had a TV, and a laptop would have been expensive.

With Cable, I was introduced to a brand new world. I used to only watch TV in hotel rooms, and sometimes on rainy Saturday mornings. I was convinced there just wasn't enough content to keep me busy. But, between The Disney Channel and SyFy, my kid needs for entertainment were more than set. There was something new for me to watch every minute of every day; I just had to go find it.

Once this world was introduced to me, my parents never could take it away. Even when we moved back to Nowhere, Cable went with us. Of course, so did the recession. So we said "Goodbye" to cable, and welcomed Netflix Instant Streaming with open arms. I personally added Hulu to the collection, and sometimes Amazon Instant, just in case. I am your friendly-overly-academic-sarcastic-and-sardonic-neighborhood-girl, Cooper.

Welcome to my life. Because after all, if I have this much time for TV, I clearly have none.