Pop Journal: House; Season 8

House; Season 8 (TV / 2011)

This should be the way every show ends.

At the beginning of the year I was bummed that Cuddy was no longer in the show and that Foreman had taken her position in an incredibly nonsensical stretch for the show. With Cuddy no longer in the picture it gave the House and Wilson's friendship the spotlight, and I wonder why Cuddy was in the show to begin with. Hugh and Robert were amazing, particularly towards the end of the run, and the cancer story line at the end paid off in spades during the series finale.

Seriously, those two were so good that I cared little that the rest of the cast was relegated to brief mentions in the finale. We did get treated to some fun "After House" moments for the cast, and I am truly bummed that we won't get to see more Park continuing on as she was a fun counter to House. This is an ending that makes you forget about a lot of the highs and lows and leaves you with some hope that House has turned the corner on that whole "incredibly bitter and miserable" thing.

I felt that last years finale would have served the show well with House worry free strolling on a far away beach, but having House and Wilson ride off into the sunset was a lot more gratifying. It saddens me to see this show go as it was one of my last "destination" views for the last couple of years, but I will look back on it without any qualms with how the ending was handled.

Pop Journal: Diablo III

Diablo III (Video Game / 2012)

Blizzard delivered the goods on this game. I just recently picked up Diablo II and tried to play it and couldn't. It was terrible. That game really falls into the "If you didn't play it then, there is no nostalgia to make it any good now." So I was a little worried about Diablo III, but all of those fears were put to rest after picking up the beta and playing for a couple of hours. And now that I have "beat" the game I am happy to spend dome more hours inside the depths of hell.

This game took a long time to make, like a really long time. At first I felt that all of that seemed unnecessary as the game is fairly simple, but the polish really shows in skill systems and the pacing of the fights. I spent a couple of nights staying up real late looking for that next drop and it was hard to turn off the game. Typically I don't like the random generated dungeon games, but this proves as a huge success in that every time you play you get something new and different.

I do have a couple of issues with the story, but those are minor in the face of the greatness of everything else. Deckard Cains death is sullied by the reveal that the girl he spent the last 18 years protecting turned out to be the vessel of Diablo. You can see it coming a mile away, yet there is nothing you can do to stop it since the big reveal comes off screen. Nothing is resolved in the Leah story, hopefully they are leaving that to the eventual expansion which I greatly look forward to playing.

Pop Journal: Sherlock; Series 2

Sherlock; Series 2 (TV / 2012)

First let me lament British television descriptors and point out that if this was made in the States it would be Sherlock season 2. I don't get why they refer to seasons as series, but I will deal with it because if it was made here they would recast Watson as a woman just for publicity (this is actually really happening with next years Elemntary).

Besides the Brits being Brits, how is the show? Freaking amazing. Seriously, this is television at it's best. It's a weird show because it is really made up of three 90 minute TV movies, with both the first and third having a good enough story to make it on the big screen.

Greatest named man ever Benedict Cumberbatch shines as Sherlock and Martin Freeman (Bilbo!) give his best performance here. That being said it's Andrew Scott's Moriarty who delivers the home run here, or game winning goal since this is a BBC show. The time Sherlock and Moriarty spend on screen together is amazing, with the ending leaving many questions about the status of both characters I cannot wait for series 3.

Pop Journal: Saturday Night Live; Season 37

Saturday Night Live; Season 37 (TV / 2011)

SNL just finished its 37th season on TV, one that may be forgotten about with the upcoming season corresponding with the Presidential election. Add to that many of the cast members are leaving, (Kristen Wiig and Andy Sandberg are all but confirmed to go) this could well mark another end of an era for the perennial late night show.

What worked this year? Many new cast members carved out a niche (Pharaoh, Killam and Pedrad) while stalwarts like Hader, Sudekis and Wiig continued performing well. Stand out sketches this year would go to Fox & Friends, Secret Word and Stefon. Oh, Stefon... Hader and Meyers are easily at the top of the SNL food pyramid delivering amazing segments. Speaking of Meyers, he continues to carve his way to the top of the "Best Weekend Update Host" pile.

What didn't work? Fred Armisen, Kenan Thompson, and (I hate to say it) the SNL Digital Shorts. A couple of thought on Armisen: He has to go. He does amazing work on Portlandia, a show much more suited to his talents. This last season was a mess for him, as well as Thompson who continues to get repeat characters for no apparent reason. The Digital Shorts? I don't know, but they seem to be sloppy and all over the place. The last Digital Short "Lazy Sunday 2" sums it all up: It's all been done.

One final word on Wiig. She has obviously been a standout performer over the last 7 years, but to be honest I will not miss her that much. She was best served as an addition to a sketch, never as the focus. She is so talented, with the Judy Grimes segment really showing off her comedic chops, but I feel the writing never met up with her talents. That said, she and Sandberg will leave a pretty big hole in the lineup, one that I can see a couple of upstarts (Killam and Pedrad in particular) taking advantage of next year.

Pop Journal: Supernatural; Season 7

 Supernatural; Season 7 (TV / 2011)

Well, they all can't be the best season, right?

Sam and Dean went on a journey this year, one that stripped them of many of the familiar parts of the show we've come to enjoy (Bobby, Castiel, the Impala) in an effort to have them rely more on each other in the face of... Leviathans. Who are the Leviathans? Who cares, they got destroyed and we are moving on.

Really, you start with some pretty good episodes of Castiel going "God" on everyone and then dump the Leviathans in his place. It felt as though the writers (again) could not figure out a good way of making what amounted to the culmination of all of season six mean anything, and quickly wrote it all off by the second episode. I love Supernatural when it is at it's "Monster of the Week" best, but the Leviathan threat held no real danger even though it took a lot from the boys.

The first five seaons were a little disjointed and all over the place, but they were all leading to Armageddon. Season six made some real head room dealing with the aftermath of the failed end of the world, but like I said this season ginded all of that to a halt.

What we were left with was the promise of some pretty cool stuff for next season, if the writers don't magic Dean and Castiel right out of Purgatory and never speak of it again after the first episode.

Pop Journal: The Mentalist; Season 4

The Mentalist; Season 4 (TV / 2011)

Patrick Jane, you are a clever man.

This show is the standout of all "Blue Sky" shows, which is not saying a whole lot but you take what you get. This last season threw a couple of unnecessary curve balls into the mix all dealing with the CBI crew around Jane. Van Pelt is angry and emo after killing her fiance; Cho is dating a call girl Confidential Informant; Rigsby has a kid now... and it all just takes away from Jane's screentime and the show is called "The Mentalist".

This show works best when Jane is front and center with Lisbon playing the Dean Martin to his Jerry Lewis. Again The Mentalist shows off by not giving into the "Will they, Won't they?" of other shows (I'm looking at you Castle) giving Jane and Lisbon a stronger bond than just physical attraction. It also excels at intertwining the mythos of Red John throughout the show, although it does fall prey to overly dramatic finales compared to the rest of the season.

All in all a great year for the show, I only hope the writers leave the issues of the rest of the crew to focus more on Jane's struggle to find Red John.

Pop Journal: Community; Season 3

Community; Season 3 (TV / 2011)

I don't know how this show stays on the air, but I am super happy that it does. No other show on network TV is as absurd as this show gets, and it works so well.

This year the "Greendale Seven" tackled 8-bit video games, Civil War documentaries and Law & Order all to hilarious ends. The documentary was easily one of the funniest episodes of any show this year, and 2 Broke Girls continues to get huge ratings while Community lives on the bubble. This upsets me.

I'm glad Community will get to live on, although I would be happy anyway as it has given me a great 3 season of laughs I can return to again and again much like Arrested Development before it.

There were some "Dark" moments this year, and they seem to put more in just too see how much they could get away with. I didn't mind them all to much, but hope to see less as we move to Friday nights graveyard next year.talk about Dark.

Pop Journal: 30 Rock; Season 6

30 Rock; Season 6 (TV / 2011)

I still watch 30 Rock. I do, and to tell the truth it feels more like I'm doing it as a responsibility and not because I want to. Is it still funny? Yes, at least I think so until I measure it against some other comedies I watched this year (Community; Happy Endings; New Girl; Parks and Rec; etc).

I blame Jenna for most of my issues I have with this year. Perfect example of this is when I watch my favorite episode of 30 Rock (and quite possibly my favorite half hour of TV ever): MILF Island. It is so good. It is TV comedy perfection... and Jenna is not in the episode. In fact, with the early money issues she missed a lot of episodes, only I didn't miss her. I feel bad as I write this because it has nothing to do with Jane Krakowski, just her character is best served as a catalyst and not the A or B story of the week.

There were some stand out episodes this year, with "The Tuxedo" feeling most like the show at its creative heights. And much like Fringe, 30 Rock is getting 13 episodes to tie up the story and retire to repeat viewings on Comedy Central. A good thing, I think knowing there is an end will give the writers a lot of good things to work with and we can hopefully leave on  the show on a high.

Pop Journal: 11/22/63

11/22/63; Stephen King (Book / 2011)

This was a very enjoyable read, much like the other King novel I read earlier this year: Under the Dome. This was presented in the first person which threw me off a little at first, and the truth is I heard King's voice more in the telling than that of the main character Jake.

The story can be broken up into the first time event and the actual assassination of JFK, the novels name sake. The first event in Derry Maine was much more of a compelling tale simply because King gets to paint his own fictitious story with overt foreshadowing to the second act. Once Jake arrives in Dallas the story hits some major pacing issues and I felt myself forcing a lot of pages through quickly. The finale falls a part a little, due to the fact we get a 40 page explanation at the end that is not really an explanation at all. This is a common trait in a lot of King's books and sometimes I wish he would leave well enough alone. It's my "Groundhog's Day" theory: If the movie explained why Bill Murray was living the same day over and over again it would kill the movie.

Even with all of that I enjoyed the read a lot. I felt a real connection with the characters King painted and save for the middle 300 pages (I know...) I couldn't put it down, which in the end is how I measure a good book.

Pop Journal: How I Met Your Mother; Season 7

How I Met Your Mother; Season 7 (TV / 2011)

First things first: I hate how CBS handled HIMYM this season. In fact, the same can be said for how CBS has always treated the show, but this year was awful. For the last 3 months we had one new episode maybe every other week. This made it very difficult to follow. The show itself? Legendary.

I just wrote a blurb for 30 Rock's sixth season lamenting it, but HIMYM is still as strong as it ever was. We didn't get a whole lot closer to meeting the mother, but we did find out who Barney is getting married to. Marshal and Lily are still the greatest couple in TV history and now we get a baby in the next season! The Quinn storyline felt a little weak as we all expected the eventual reveal and as such didn't buy to much into it.

One last thing: The writers need to stop making new history. Too many flashbacks of situations that didn't happen on air (much like the "Trilogy" episode) in a show with such a strong library that you can mine what's already there instead of shoehorning these events in.

Pop Journal: Once Upon a Time; Season 1

Once Upon a Time; Season 1 (TV / 2011)

I finished it.

I know, not a glowing review, but I made through this mess of a season. Wow, how many times can we come back to Prince Charming and Snow White deciding to be together and then call it off? I mean, really!?! They crammed ten seasons of Ross and Rachel into one season, and it made me want to hurt myself.

But, I finished it.

I think a lot of it comes with the hope that this is the first season and they will find their voice in the second season. The show became a lot more watchable in the end, and I am interested enough to tune in next year.There is a good show somewhere beneath all of this unnecessary mellow-drama.

Also, the show introduced us to the heretofore unknown eighth dwarf: Stealthy. So there's that.

Pop Jounal: Fringe; Season 4

Fringe; Season 4 (TV / 2011)

What can be said about this last year? A lot happened? Questions got answered? Crazy things happened? People are the same but, wait for it, there not?

I don't know.

What I do know is I have a lot invested in Olivia and Peter staying together and that made this years journey enough. The opening reveal of the universes being "bridged" and Peter being erased from time felt a little off, especially with the hindsight of what happened since. What we were left with were the same but different people we had seen the previous 3 years, including the already different alternate universe people. So if season 1 was timeline A, and the alternate universe was timeline B, after this we now have timeline A to C and B to D...

SO UNNECESSARY!

It really felt like the show runners said: "We have 3 million people watching and no one else will, so let's go way out there... for the fans." Like we asked for this mess, and I loved most of the season! Why is that? It was a mess but still one of my favorite shows of the year, and now we have a final 13 episodes next year to wrap it all up. Let's hope that it's as much of a mess again next year.

Pop Journal: Parks and Recreation; Season 4

Parks and Recreation; Season 4 (TV / 2011)

Yes, it's time to talk about Parks and Recreation. I feel that my words can't do my favorite comedy this season justice. So I'll let them speak for themselves.

Andy: First of all, you did the right thing by hiding underneath this table.

Tom: He's just playing hard ball. Let me tell you how it's going to go
down. In a few minutes, we'll walk in there, we'll give him our
demands, and then BAM -- I start crying.

Ben: Hypothetical crisis: Leslie just tried to answer a question, but audibly farted and then threw up. Spin.
Chris: Leslie Knope is literally overflowing with ideas for this town. And speaking about methane, have you heard about her plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions?

Ann: I bought this Mackerel at the Supermarket. I've been standing in the water with the fish on my hook for 30 minutes. I saw it on an episode of I Love Lucy. Pathetic? Maybe, but it feels pretty good to have a bunch of little boys be super in to me. That came out wrong.

Leslie: It's like dealing with a strict mother who I am confusingly attracted to. Ben is like a MILF.

April: I don't want to do things. I want to not do to things like you taught me.

Ron: Never half ass two things, whole ass one thing.