Five Star

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2007-08 TV Wrap Up

It’s Wednesday, the middle of the week, “hump day,” the gaping hole between CAT and T3. Also, this week is free of televised entertainment, with most shows having finished their season by now and the rest on hiatus for some reason. Sure, we’ve got Indy to look forward to, but for now, let’s take a look back at this last chaotic season of T.V.

Because of the WGA strike, almost every show had a painfully short season, making every episode that much more important. Some floundered under the pressure, others rose to the occasion. Let’s take a look.

Note that all star ratings rank this season versus all previous seasons.


It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Sunny had another very strong season in 2007. Sure, not every episode was a complete knockout, but we got a number of classics this time around. From their adventures with garbage, to Dee dating a possibly retarded rapper, to the dance competition, this will definitely be a hard season to follow. But I think these guys can rise to the challenge.


The Office

Overall, this season of The Office was weaker than the previous three. While we got off to a great start with the extra-long “Fun Run” and “Dunder Mifflin Infinity” episodes, the majority of the post-strike episodes failed to hit the mark. I’m a big fan of a lot of what they where doing pre-strike, some of my favorite scenes from the show occurred then. But when they came back, the show felt really embarrassing, and some of the characters, especially Andy, began to feel played out. The finale was pretty strong, let’s hope that with with some more time to work the show picks up again for season five.


Curb Your Enthusiasm

Not too much to say about CYE, really. Adding in the adopted family made for some really hilarious situations, and the show definitely remained at least as strong as it has been in the past. The season finale was my favorite thus far.


Scrubs

The sixth season of Scrubs was pretty weak compared to the first few, so I was glad they decided to end it this year. Then the strike messed that up. What we got was very little growing up on JD’s part, despite everyone telling him he had to. In fact, there was really only one character development during the whole season. And the episode that aired as the finale clearly was aired out of order. Let’s hope this classic can go out the right way this fall on ABC.


30 Rock

For the first few episodes of 30 Rock, I was scared that they had lost the charm from the first season. Then David Schwimmer showed up as Greenzo, and I realized the show was as funny as it had ever been. With a great season finale, this year 30 Rock cemented itself as must-see TV.


South Park

South Park seasons go throughout the year, so just to make sure you’re on the same page as me, the 2007 season started with “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” and ended on “The List.” Ultimately, this was a pretty good year for the show. While the show usually is pretty hit-or-miss, I think they hit most of the time. Plus, Imagination Land was a pretty sweet arc, even if it did make up like 25% of the season.


Heroes

The second season of Heroes definitely lost a lot of steam. We spent way to much time on stories we didn’t like with characters we didn’t care about. They’re gonna need to do something pretty huge to keep me watching this fall.

The rest: I only watched My Name is Earl every once in a while this year. The episodes I saw seemed fine, but I’m just not really interested in the show anymore. Sorry. Similarly, I only saw a couple episodes of The Simpsons. I am one of those people that thinks it’s time for the show to end, perhaps giving the writers a chance to start up a movie franchise. What I saw of Family Guy seemed as good as ever. Due to leaving the country, I missed a good chunk of Rescue Me. What I saw seemed as edgy as ever, it was probably pretty good. Of course, Battlestar Galactica has this week off. We’re already seven episodes into this half of the 20-episode final season, and it’s been darker than ever. Here’s hoping we get something resembling a happy ending when it finishes… next year.

Here We Go Again

Grand Theft Auto IV

Everyone’s favorite murder simulator (ugh) hit the ground running last week, focusing all the media and gamers in the country on the dangerous streets of Liberty City. Just like how the game didn’t steal Iron Man‘s weekend (it had one of the best non-sequel openings ever), the media couldn’t be more incorrect about their presentation of GTA4.

This fourth entry in the series is by far the most sophisticated and satirical. The story, while perhaps not on-par with the cinematic greats, is still very good and engrossing. The folks at Rockstar put us in the shoes of Niko Bellic, an Eastern European ex-soldier who recently moved into Liberty City, which is essentially New York City. What follows explores the American dream, family, and much more. I haven’t finished it yet, but this has by far the best GTA story ever, because you real feel a connection with Niko.
But the real star of the show is Liberty City itself. The game delivers a realistic, living, breathing city unlike anything we’ve experienced before. There are drivers and pedestrians all over the city, each of them with a unique look and objectives. You’ll hear people having cell phone conversations, eating, even fighting with each other and getting arrested. Not only can you cause havoc in the city with, but you can go on dates and hang out with your friends. You can go bowling, to a restaurant, or get drunk (and then risk drunk driving, which is a dangerous as it should be).
There is so much detail put into this game. If you take a date to a comedy club and leave early, she’ll complain you didn’t stay. If you break a window to steal a car, passerbys will scream and run away. The amount of realism and freedom you’re allowed is incredible.
There’s a great multiplayer too, I haven’t really gotten to play it, but it seems absolutely fantastic. This is a polished and entertaining game, worthy of being the best-reviewed game ever made.
But the media doesn’t present it like that. It is so annoying for me to see the media so clearly uninformed about an issue. Every time I see it mentioned on any station, from CNN to Fox News, they seem to be pulling out the default responses we’ve been hearing since GTA3 so many years ago.
For one, the media needs to realize that gaming is something for the kids any more. The average gamer is in his 20s/30s. We’re a mature bunch of people worthy of mature entertainment. The average person on a video gamer strikes me as a much more sophisticated person than the average movie goer, yet there’s no outcry when an Eastern Promises or Hostel II comes out.
People seem to think that playing video games turns people into killers. What they don’t seem to take into account is that killers are crazy people. And these crazy people are living in a scary world. We hear about horrible violent things on the news, on TV, in movies, but some how people think its fair to pin it all on video games. When someone plays Mario, they don’t go out and try to jump on everyone. When someone plays Burnout, they try to get into high speed crashes. When someone plays Elite Beat Agents they don’t tryout to become a male cheerleader. But when they play Grand Theft Auto, they go on a killing spree?
No, video games are not the reason people become violent. But its a lot easier for our media to say it is. After all, that’s what brings in the viewers, and it’s an easy issue to mislead people with. Yes, in GTA you can go to a prostitute, which recovers your health, and yes, if you want, you can kill her after that. But the game doesn’t encourage that, it doesn’t suggest that, and the story itself makes you not want to do that. You can drunk drive, but its not fun and if you do get drunk, it becomes clear the game wants you to take a cab. With this GTA, you even might find yourself following the rules of the road.
At the end of the day, this is entertainment. People don’t want to watch movies or shows about people living normal, legal lifestyles. We watch The Sopranos, Goodfellas, and The Godfather. That’s what is interesting to watch, why can’t that be what’s fun to play. Gaming is pure escapism, the one art-form that allows people to truly live in a different world. Mass Effect lets you be a soldier fighting to save the universe, Call of Duty 4 shows us the true horror of modern combat, and GTA4 gives us a taste of life in those crime films.
GTA4 is an incredibly well-made game. Perhaps even the best game ever made. For the people that are missing out on it, I have nothing but pity.