TV Meme: Day 2 - A Show Needing More Viewers.

Welcome to Day 2 of the TV Meme where I will be discussing a show needing more viewers. This one was an easy choice for me, mostly, though it's a bit of a wasted discussion. Rachel used the same show for hers, though we're almost the only two people I know of that watched it. But I'll get to that in a minute, because I did have a runner-up.

The reason I didn't go with my runner-up is because of the massive format change for its third season. The show is called In Plain Sight and it's about a pair of U.S. Marshals that work for Witness Protection. Now, up until this season, the show did it right. It had great character interactions, great humor, and great stories. In fact, the second season was probably the best. Now, I can't say too much bad about the current third season since I've only watched about a third of it (mostly due to DVR issues). But the USA Network got new bosses who decided that they wanted to take the show and make it your run-of-the-mill procedural instead. They cut literally half of the main characters, added in some new ones, and made it essentially about the "witness of the week" instead of the personal lives of Mary and Marshall (the two main characters). The format changed completely, we're missing a couple wonderful characters, and some relationships that spent the entire second season building was almost for nothing now. Therefore, I'm not going to ask more people watch the show, except for maybe the first two seasons, which are great (again, not to say the third isn't... it's just... different).

Instead, I'm going to ask that you watch a show that is about to be canceled called Greek.

Greek has been going on for a few seasons now on ABC Family. I was a bit wary when I first went to watch it because, well, it was on ABC Family... and those shows tend to suck. But this one didn't. At all. The show is about a handful of young adults going to college and their adventures therein, usually involving the Greek System and sororities/fraternities. And we're basically given two main characters, each with their own story going on that usually end up intertwined. That's one of the cool things about the show is that these two completely different stories can be going on, and they'll go to each other for advice, and somehow whatever was going on in one story will spark inspiration or give help to the other... and you never see it coming. But anyway, on to the main characters.

First we have Rusty Cartwright, who is a major science nerd. It's his first year of college, and he wants to make a name for himself, to do all the wild party stuff he never did in high school... in other words, he wants to join a fraternity. During Rush (where they go around looking for where they wanna go), Rusty befriends Calvin, a former high school football player whose family has a Legacy with the rich Omega Kai fraternity... and he has a secret--he's gay. And yes, this ABC Family show is NOT afraid to show two guys kissing. Rusty also befriends (though not really at first) his dorm roommate Dale (Played amazingly by Clark Duke), who is a very southern, very religious, anti-everything (sex, homosexuality, etc.) kinda guy. Needless to say, Dale and Rusty don't exactly hit it off at first, with Dale constantly trying to save his soul (for partying and promiscuity) and the soul of his friend (for being gay). Anyway, Rusty ends up with the slummy party fraternity, the Kappa Tau's, run by slacker (and genius) Cappie. Calvin, on the other hand, ends up with the Omega Kai's, who are rivals with the Kappa Tau's mainly because of Cappie and the Omega Kai leader, Evan.

The second main character is Casey Cartwright, Rusty's sister, who is a few years older and has been at the college for a little while now. Along with her best friend Ashleigh, she's part of essentially the best sorority on campus, the Zeta Beta Zeta's (or ZBZ's, as commonly referred to). Now, Casey starts off the show in a pretty heavy relationship with Evan, and it isn't long before you discover that she used to date Cappie... and that Cappie and Evan used to be best friends. I'm sure you can figure out where the animosity came from.

There are other side characters, too; mainly the other people at the fraternities/sororities. But those are the main ones. I usually found myself more invested in the Rusty side of the episode, but that could be that I'm a guy and could identify more with another guy? Or maybe it's just that Rusty was more of the main character than Casey, so they focused more energy on his stories. Casey's stories were generally the same things over and over again, particularly later on in the show. Ashleigh was having some kind of boy problems and Casey was trying to find a way to save the house from utter doom. The only other real main characters I didn't mention were Frannie (who is only in the first season and a half of the show) and Rebecca Logan, a rich, snooty girl with quite a few problems of her own. But Rebecca's character got really strange later on in the show, as if the writers had no idea what to do with her after her main story arch completed.

(From Left to Right: Rebecca, Evan, Casey, Rusty, Cappie, Dale, Ashleigh, Calvin)

Anyway, Cappie is probably one of the best written characters on television. He's quite the slacker and has changed his major numerous times to the point he knows a lot of stuff, but not enough to graduate with any specific degree. He did this more early on in the show, but I always loved when he came out with some random bit of knowledge to show he's not just the dopey frat guy that he's made out to be. I always thought he should get into psychology or counseling, as he's constantly giving advice to Rusty and others. But we'll see. And his relationship with Casey is like the Luke and Lorelei of this show (bonus points if you catch the reference... and you should), though not as drawn out and in depth as theirs. But it's still a great one, you always wanting them to end up together. Dale is another great character, as well, who really evolves over the course of the show. In fact, almost all of the characters evolve immensely over the course of the show. The only one that struggles with change or growth is Rebecca, as--again--it seems the writers weren't sure where to take her.

Alas, though, the series is being canceled. But I have to agree with Rachel, who says it's probably a good thing. I mean, they can't keep coming up with excuses to keep the cast in college forever. Sure, Rusty, Calvin, Dale, and Rebecca could last a few more years, but Casey, Evan, and Ashleigh gotta move on. And who knows about Cappie, who never wants to leave. I just wouldn't want him to end up the Tommy Oliver of the show (extra bonus points if you know that reference), where everybody else is moving on, the rest of the cast is changing, yet he's one of the only originals left simply for being the fan favorite. Fortunately, though, ABC Family is giving it one last mini-season to wrap up the storylines it has left. This rarely seems to happen these days. But yeah, we'll be getting a 10-episode Season 4 that will hopefully give closure to the show and the characters.

As for now, I ask that you give Greek a try. It's an amazing show that way too few people watch. And if for nothing else, watch it for Clark Duke and his break-out role, because it's a truly hilarious one.

TV Review: 24 - Day 2.

Warning: Here be spoilers.

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Season Two: Day 2.

Season 2 picks up 18 months after Season 1. The main plot this time deals with a nuclear threat on L.A. Jack must deal with the consequences of the last season, stop the bomb, and help President Palmer figure out who is behind it all. But the season really seems, much like Season 3, to be split in half. The first and second halves are quite different in feel to each other. But which half is better? It's really the characters that make one half better than the other.

So let's check out the character stories this time through.


Jack Bauer

After the death of his wife at the end of last season, killed by the one person he thought he could trust, Jack leaves CTU and basically becomes a bum. Kim hardly talks to him. But after the government tortures information out of a man that somebody was going to drop a nuke on L.A., newly appointed President Palmer requests Jack Bauer to head the mission.

This season isn't as personal as the first (or even the third), but it's still pretty intense. Jack's not connected to the baddies this time out, and he only has two real personal issues: protecting his daughter by getting her out of the city, and having to work with Nina--who killed his wife--to help stop the bomb. But besides the Nina angle, it's really not until Jack teams up with Kate Warner (who I'll get to next) that his story becomes really interesting.



The Warner Family

The Warners are new to the show this season. Their story begins as younger sister Marie is getting ready to marry a man named Reza who works for her father, Bob. Older sister Kate is trying to get everything in order, but she doesn't exactly trust Reza. Eventually, Bob and Reza are taken into custody, both accusing the other of being involved with the terrorist plot, having done business with the man supposedly behind the threat. Kate, on the other hand, eventually teams up with Jack to help him locate the bad guys. And the budding romance that begins between them starts to help Jack slowly get over the death of his wife.

The Warner plot really only holds up for the first half of the season and then disappears until near the end. The interactions between Jack and Kate are fun. There's one episode in particular that I thought was excellent, wherein Kate infiltrates a Mosque in order to locate CTU's prime suspect. I won't spoil everything here, just in case, but only Kate really continues as an important character in the second half of the season. But overall, the Warner plot is interesting and added a nice change of pace to the story.


George Mason/CTU

The CTU building itself has its own plot. At one point, in order to stop CTU from helping, the bad guys plant a bomb and nearly destroy the place. So for most of the first half of the season, they're working through rubble and trying to get things back up and running. Meanwhile, George Mason--who took over for Jack during his rogue spell last season and just stayed in charge after Jack left--gets exposed to a high dose of radiation. So for the whole of the first half of this season, George is slowly dying, and he tries to keep it a secret from most people, only letting a few people (like Jack and Tony) in on the secret. And speaking of Tony, he's essentially the second in command now (though eventually taking over for George), and this season is when he begins his relationship with Michelle, another CTU employee.

George Mason has one of the most interesting stories this season, despite you knowing exactly how it's going to end (and I don't mean dying of poisoning). I think anybody with a brain could figure out what he would decide to do. And it's once his story ends that the season shifts. Tony's story is interesting, too, especially now that you know he's a good guy (after all of last season having you never know until the end). Also, the second half of the season, I believe, is when we finally see Ryan Chappelle, the big boss man at Division (the people who control CTU). And he's a total ass... but I'll get more into Ryan in Season 3.


President Palmer

After successfully becoming President of the United States, David Palmer is immediately hit with all sorts of crazy issues. First, there's the whole nuclear bomb threat. Then there's the fact that, apparently, there are people in his party that want to overthrow him. In fact, there might be a lot more of a connection between that and the nuclear threat than originally thought. Sherry Palmer also makes a return, having been forced into divorce from her husband after the last season. She's a little less unlikable this time out, but she's still awfully unlikable. Anyway, the second half of the season primarily focuses on Jack and Palmer. There's a voice clip that connects the bombing to a foreign country. Jack tells Palmer that he thinks the tape has been forged, and, of course, Palmer believes him. But the rest of the government does not. They do everything they can to remove Palmer from office, while Jack tries as quickly as possible to find proof of the tape's unauthentic nature.

This is probably Palmer's most interesting storyline (thus far, anyway). There's really not all that much to say about it. Jack is tied directly into Palmer's storyline, as Jack has to race against time to get information that will help both Jack's part of the story and Palmer's part of the story. The character of Mike Novak returns, as well, and he's always been a pretty likable character, though I'm not sure I cared for him in the second half of this season. And speaking of things I didn't care for...


Kim Bauer

Here's the weak link of this season. It was the only plot that wasn't directly related to anything of importance. Kim starts off as a nanny for a young girl of some rich family. But after she realizes that the father of the family is a psychotic asshole, the mother tells her to take the girl and leave and get to safety. And then, after her father finally lets her know of the bomb threat, she calls up her kung fu boyfriend to help out. All sorts of stuff happens to Kim during all of this. She has to kidnap the girl twice, gets arrested for murder, gets into a wreck, gets lost in the woods and chased by a mountain lion, and then shacks up with a crazy man for one episode that we never see again. You can really tell that the writers were like "Well, we have to keep her in the story somehow... but we don't want to tie her directly into the main plot again. Let's keep it fresh. How about... mountain lions!"


Overall Thoughts

It's a pretty good season with a couple rough spots here and there. I asked a question earlier: Which is the better half? If you couldn't figure it out from my comments, I think the first half of the season is the better half. It gives us most of the good Warner stuff, the suspense of finding the nuke, the bombing of CTU, and George Mason's story. The second half is good, but not up to the par of the first half. The Warners all but disappear, George Mason is gone, CTU miraculously goes from rubble to completely operational, Tony miraculously goes from crutches to hardly a limp, and we switch from finding a nuclear bomb to finding proof that an audio tape is forged. Most of the good of the second half comes from Palmer's storyline, as you're just rooting for him to overcome his cabinet and persevere. Not to mention the season ends on a major cliffhanger dealing with him. So, yeah, the first half is better than the second, but it's all around a pretty good season. But it's nothing compared to Season 3.