FTW vs. WTF: The TV Week in Review (September 14–20)
To those of you with kids: Sure, the onset of a new school year seemed like the perfect reprieve from responsibility and parenthood, a time to make real progress in polishing off the contents of your wine cellar, quilting, and getting busy in the bedroom. But instead you sent your child into a petri dish of disease, and your little spawn proved to be a perfect viral host. Now there's an outbreak of snot-itis at your house, no one is getting any sleep, and you want to die. But at least you can force your whole brood to sit on the couch in their Snuggies and reassert your dominance by taking total control of the remote. Get some payback on your little rugrats by forcing them to watch The Good Wife. That'll teach 'em.
To those of you without kids: You lucky bastards.
And now let's review what was great about TV and what made you want to throw something out a window in the latest edition of FTW vs. WTF!
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't finished watching this week's new episodes (of Sons of Anarchy, Extant (LOL), Outlander, etc.), we suggest that you hold off on reading this story until you do.
FTW:
Doctor Who proves it can still be great when it wants to be
We hadn't yet seen "Listen" when we published last week's edition of FTW vs. WTF, so please forgive our tardy recognition of its greatness. The episode had all the hallmarks of a classic Steven Moffat outing—and in a good way, not in a "welp, this problem got too convoluted and then was solved too easily" way. By visiting the past, present, and future of several characters, the hour skillfully played with the concept of time being non-linear. And by addressing the universal nature of fear as a motivating factor, it served as a creepy and fun reminder that Moffat is still one of the best episodic writers the series has... as long as he doesn't try too hard to one-up himself.
FTW:
Bryan Fuller's High Moon was one refreshingly wacky failed pilot
High Moon? More like Fuller Moon! On Monday, Syfy aired the Hannibal creator's passed-over Lotus Caves adaptation as a one-shot TV movie, and it returned Fuller to the same weird roots that spawned such whimsical series as Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls. Featuring a giant robot T-Rex, an android with detachable hands, and some high-couture space fashion, High Noon never had a chance at a series order, but it was vintage Fuller at his most fun.
FTW:
Jax's ballsy behavior is fully befitting of Sons of Anarchy's final season
In just two episodes, FX's biker drama has set the stage for burning everything to the ground before it signs off for good. Jax is waging war not only with Lin and the Chinese, but now he's taking down some of the other SOA charters as well? While Gemma's misinformation-based lies and reactions aren't exactly the best plot devices, Sons seems set on making sure that its last ride leaves no doubt in viewers' minds about anybody's fate.
FTW:
Play It Again, Dick rises to the occasion
The CW debuted the first episode of its much-hyped Veronica Mars spin-off web series on Tuesday, and it more than delivered, from the '70s-inspired opening credits to Ryan Hansen's dancing. The actor's innate charm and unlimited energy are what make him the perfect Neptune expat to anchor this new chapter in the Marsiverse—especially because it means we finally get to spend some quality time with Dick Casablancas, a character who was always relegated to the comic relief role and therefore rarely had storylines of his own. The fact that Dick's not very deep shouldn't keep him from giving the people what they want. More Dick is always a good thing.
FTW:
New Girl tries to get laid... fails spectacularly... begins to renew our faith in the series
New Girl returned on Tuesday with a mission: Sex Fist. You know, because the five loftmates are the fingers... on the... fist... and they're all single now in need of some nookie. Whatever—gross or not, it kinda made sense. Jessica Biel guest-starred as a babe-tacular Amy Farrah-Fowler type, and the competition between Jess and Jess in their race to bed the best man was New Girl at its self-deprecating finest. In the end, everyone went home empty... errrr... fisted, but the party was far from a bust, as "The Last Wedding" was a strong opener that gave us hope that the show will bounce back in Season 4.
FTW:
As long as The Mindy Project continues to let Chris Messina show off his dance moves, we'll be happy
The show may not be perfect, but we're still thrilled it's back.
FTW:
Red Band Society's prognosis: good!
Some people may've been turned off by the pilot's high saccharine levels, while others might question the fact that a group of hospital-bound teens who are apparently suffering from life-threatening illnesses act like perfectly healthy young adults. But the debut of Fox's new drama hit us right in the chest area where our hearts have reportedly been seen once or twice, and we've got high hopes for what's to come. How can we join this Breakfast Club-y group without, you know, getting really sick and stuff?
FTW:
Golden Is the New Black
Even if you've grown tired of the internet video genre known as "TV opening titles mash-ups," this one's really good.
FTW:
The Honorable Woman offers a master class in pulpy and relevant espionage thrills
The BBC Two/SundanceTV miniseries was a gripping take on imagined, actual, and abdicated responsibilities, played out across the geopolitical backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hugo Blick's writing was terse and his direction was impeccable, allowing for delightful use of silences and meaningful shots. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Stephen Rea turned in performances that are sure to rack up awards. The project was by no means perfect (some early plot points were more about the drawn-out withholding of information than anything else), but it was also the closest TV has come to an original story in the vein of John le Carré.
FTW:
Jeopardy! returns with a long-lost friend
Alex Trebek grew back his mustache! OUR DECADE-LONG INTERNATIONAL CRISIS IS OVER.
FTW:
Outlander ups its swoon factor with "The Wedding"
The episode was an indulgent, decadent hour of romance and sex—like, so much sex—that actually deepened a feeling of intimacy between the characters without coming off as gratuitous, pay-cable nudity. Well, okay, maybe it was little gratuitous, but after seeing the chemistry between Claire and Jamie, we can hardly blame those crazy kids for making the most of their wedding night. And thanks to some unexpected humor and several nicely edited cuts between ceremony prep and newlywed sexytimes, "The Wedding" was an all-around enjoyable outing for Outlander fans new and old. Frank who?
FTW:
Jimmy and Gretchen take the punk-rock route in You're The Worst's season finale
The FX sitcom turned out to be the summer's best comedy thanks to its sharp writing, great performances, and real understanding of contemporary courtship and commitment, and this week's finale put a lovely button on it all. "Fists and Feet and Stuff" was both extremely funny and legitimately moving, a combo that You're The Worst has been pulling off for weeks now. Most impressively, the finale managed to feel cumulative without being too convenient, or without betraying the characters' particular brand of instability. We need FX to renew this show, and then we're getting lit up on trash juice!
FTW:
A Big Brother twist finally pays off
Big Brother twists are historically dumb—and even worse, ineffective—in the grand scheme of the game itself. But this season's big reset button that erased an entire week of gameplay actually succeeded in making the game more interesting, and more importantly, it led to the ousting of late-season villain and egomaniac Frankie. Meanwhile, after the quick booting of goofball Caleb, the show has suddenly arrived at the conclusion many viewers expected: Derrick and Cody dueling for the title. Oh yeah, and Victoria is still around too.
FTWTF:
FX renews Tyrant, for reasons
The Middle Eastern political soap didn't quite catch on with us here at TV.com, but apparently enough viewers elsewhere are into it. FX renewed the show for an extended second season, which is a little odd in its own right and especially tough to stomach for fans of The Bridge and You're the Worst, two of this summer's best shows.
WTF:
The Mysteries of Laura is bad at being a mom, bad at being a cop
NBC's new Debra Messing vehicle drove off a cliff in its pilot episode, bouncing between "bad lighthearted dramedy about a woman with a messy personal life" and "lame police procedural"... and that was before it crashed and burned with one of the worst "twists" in recent memory. But the show's biggest problem is its characters, especially Laura's deadbeat husband and unruly kids; why should we want to hang out with such monsters?
WTF:
Extant concludes its first (and please-let-it-be-only) season in typically boring fashion
Talk about anticlimactic! Extant's final episode was devoid of all tension, full of gaping plot holes—how did Molly and Sean not infect everyone when they reached Earth?—and featured the most unexciting exploding robokid we've ever seen. (Also, apparently he's now "everywhere"?) While the show started out with some real potential as a silly summer sci-fi series, it turned out to be a piece of uninspired garbage that belongs in one of the futuristic trashcans we saw way back in the series premiere. (We'd totally watch an Ethan-centric spin-off, though.)
What's on YOUR list of TV loves and hates this week? The finales of Rush and Satisfaction? Ken Burns' The Roosevelts on PBS? John Oliver's takedown of the Olive Garden? Share your own FTWs and WTFs in the comments!
