TV on DVD

Before I get to my assessment of the TV shows that I am trying my very best to keep up with each week, I wanted to give a shout-out to Netflix, and the shows that I have been catching up with lately. Shortly after I first got my Netflix subscription in early summer '06, I started using it to make up for the time I'd lost during the first two years of college when I didn't have a TV anymore. If it weren't for Netflix, I wouldn't be watching some of the shows which I consider to be my current favorites, like LOST, Grey's Anatomy, or The Office.

I am now caught up with the first four seasons of Nip/Tuck, and I have been totally sucked in. Now, I've heard from the show's fans that after the first two seasons it disintegrated into a pointless soap opera with more twists than necessary. For this, I am grateful. Yes, the first two seasons made me care more about the characters than I do currently, but the show wouldn't be as sensational and addictive if it didn't push the boundaries of believability, network standards, and comic hyperbole. For a while during season 4 I was displeased with Sanaa Lathan's character and with the departure of Julia, but the way that the season wrapped up was very satisfactory. I am quite looking forward to the complications that will arise from Sean and Christian's relocation to my sunny neighborhood of Los Angeles. Also, as I mentioned in my last post about Death at a Funeral, I have become very impressed with Peter Dinklage. I was very happy with his character in Nip/Tuck, especially the romance between him and Julia. The flash-forward episode was a little "LOST" though, and I wasn't over the moon about that.

Also, I am two discs away from being finished with season one of Ugly Betty. I had seen a couple of episodes of La Fea Mas Bella when I was younger, and did watch the pilot of Ugly Betty last year, but I guess I had quite underestimated the quality of the show. Once I catch up, I plan to keep the show as part of my general rotation of primetime programming, and I can't wait to see if this show will have legs. My favorite parts (so far) are the snippets of telenovelas that we get to see, and the interactions between Mark and Amanda. Also, I think that America Ferrera is a very good actress, and I like seeing her do something much more comedic than Real Women Have Curves or, my guilty pleasure, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.