Swamp of Boredom

Each summer Alan Sepinwal, the New Jersey Ledger's media critic, fills the summer doldrums with re-watches and reviews of past television series. Last year, he reviewed the short lived and brilliant ABC show, Cupid (not to be confused with the muddied re-boot that ABC subjected us to this spring) and the first season of the HBO drama The Wire. This year, he's recapping season 2 of The Wire and HBO's 2001 war drama miniseries, Band of Brothers.

We've never subscribed to HBO, unless we've gotten it on a free trial, so I've missed quite a bit of their programming, such as the aforementioned series, The Wire and Band of Brothers, along with The Sopranos (although I've never had a desire to watch the mob drama), Angels in America and John Adams, to name a few. I have caught snippets of Band of Brothers on the History Channel over the years but have never taken the time to find the DVD and watch the series. Until now.

I'm four episodes in and finally getting a handle on who's who and the army hierarchy. Luckily, neither is necessary to be moved by the story. The characters may seem stock or stereotypical, but cliches are cliches because they are based on reality. The hard ass commander with a inferiority complex, the silent but strong and well respected leader, the loudmouth that questions authority, the dirty fighter, the All American, the stoic sergeant are all there. But, the difference between this and other Hollywood productions is that these are real people and the experiences protrayed in the miniseries are based on their accounts of what they went through. Knowing that makes everything you see on the screen that much more moving. Hell, I get choked up during the opening credits.

This is definitely a mini-series that will improve on repeat viewings. In fact, it's one of very few series that I can see myself watching over and over. If you have the time, I recommend watching along with Alan and reading his recaps and the comments of his readers. Unlike some blog commenting sections, Sepinwal's readers are routinely polite and extremely intelligent.

Patience is not my virtue. My family will attest to that. Just as my curiosity compels me to flip to the end of the book when I'm about 30% in, my need for closure and to Know What Happens keeps me from watching and being invested in television shows with long mythological arcs such as Lost. I have no doubt that once the last episode of Lost has aired and I know how the story ends, I'll start renting season one to see how they arrived at that point. In short, I want the whole story and I want it now! If I can't have it, I'm happy to wait and fill my time with other entertainment options.

I write all of that to, of course, contradict it with my love of Fringe, a Sci-Fi show from none other than JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost. Of course there is a mytharc (The Pattern). Maybe it's because I was on board from the very beginning, or maybe it's because even Fringe's monster of the week (MoW) episodes deal with The Pattern, if only tertiary, I'm invested in this show, or at least interested, unlike I have been with any other mythologically based show.

I almost gave up about mid-season. The first half of the season was shaky and a bit hokey. I didn't connect with any of the characters and John Noble's brilliant portrayal of mad scientist Walter Bishop wasn't enough to keep me around. Especially, when up against Simon Baker's dimples and artfully tousled hair over on CBS's new hit, The Mentalist. Why yes, I am shallow. Have you seen Simon Baker lately?



I rest my case.

But, thanks to Alan Sepinwall's episode reviews (his blog, What's Alan Watching?, is a must read for anyone that loves TV), I stayed in the Fringe loop. I think I missed one episode before I realized Fringe was up on Hulu the day after airing and I could have my cake and eat it, too, by Tivoing The Mentalist and watching Fringe on Hulu on Wednesday. (CBS, true to it's old geezer reputation, doesn't have full episodes of its series online. WTF, CBS? That's sucky.) Modern technology has allowed me to have the best of both worlds - the eye candy of The Mentalist and the brooding threat of the end of the world with Fringe. God, I love the 21st Century.

Fringe greatly improved in the second half of the season, reminding me of The X Files and how it also hit its stride beginning with the Scully-centric episode "Beyond the Sea." It's hard to say when Fringe clicked for me, but if pushed, I would have to point to when the airplane passenger turned into a monster in the lavatory and then went on a mid-flight rampage. That was pretty awesome.

In the season finale that aired on Tuesday we were given answers and were left with a final shot that, like all good finales, generates more questions. Instead of being frustrated with these questions, I'm intrigued and anxious for the new season to start. Will Fringe continue to answer questions logically - or with as much logic as a show so loosely based on science can have - or will it fall into the same trap that The X Files did and have such a convoluted conspiracy that by the end, viewers don't care what the answers are as long as they get them? That, I don't know. Some people will point to Lost and say that yes, we should trust JJ Abrams to have a big picture. I remember Alias and am skeptical.

I wish that Fox would decide to air all of the episodes uninterrupted, like they do with 24 and ABC does with Lost, because Fringe is a show that would benefit from that greatly. Right now, I'm going to content myself with the fact that it has been picked up for a second season and gear myself up for the ride that the new season will bring.