Nip/Tuck: Season Five, Part One

Nip/Tuck is the kind of show that people often refer to as a guilty pleasure. Normally, that’s a phrase that seems sort of hollow to me. After all, if you enjoy a TV show or movie, why feel guilty about it? But in the case of Nip/Tuck, and coming from someone who’s been with it every sordid step of the way, I can understand where the guilt might start creeping in. It is, after all, tasteless, vulgar, trashy, over-the-top fare that most people probably don’t care to admit they enjoy. I can count the number of people I know that watch it on one hand. And, yet, it’s FX’s biggest ratings grabber, so either I move in some strange circles, or some people are lying about what they’re doing on Tuesday nights.

Read the entire DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Bullz-Eye's 2008 Year End TV Review

I'm a little late in linking to this here at the Morgue, as it's been up at Bullz-Eye for about a week now - but in case you've not yet sifted through our collective wares, the goods remain relevant.

From the intro:

Join us, if you will, as five of Bullz-Eye’s finest take a look back at what they loved and loathed throughout 2008…and if you spot anything that sounds interesting to you but you haven’t yet checked out, we recommend doing so now.

Because if you don’t watch it today, it might not be there tomorrow.

Read the entire round up by clicking here and then clicking on the individual boxes from each writer. Be sure to check out Will Harris' list, as his is the most exhaustive, and certainly the most fun.

Swingtown: The First Season

Back when Swingtown debuted this summer on CBS, there was a mild hoopla surrounding the series. Mike Galanos of Headline News devoted a segment to its supposed rampant amorality on the day of its premiere, boldly proclaiming that network TV had, once again, stepped over the line, that our children should be protected from such filth, and so forth and so on. It goes without saying the Parents Television Council got involved and raised their usual stink as well.

Funny thing is, such criticism quickly waned in the subsequent weeks, as anyone who actually tuned in saw that it was a surprisingly sweet and moral show about being true to yourself and the ones you love – even if that means inflicting the occasional heartbreak. What was most noteworthy about the hypocrisy – which mostly arose from people who hadn’t even watched Swingtown – is that its characters were refreshingly honest with one another. If you openly swing with your partner, it’s considered amoral; if you cheat without their knowledge, well, somehow that’s okay to show on television. Well, actually it’s not, as I’m sure the PTC will tell you, but we see it so often that we’ve become all but desensitized to it. And don’t me started on the amount of senseless violence you can find on the networks any given night of the week. Oh crap, I’ve just turned into the very watchdogs I despise.

My point is this: Swingtown is a remarkably nice TV show, given that most TV isn’t about being nice anymore.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Night Gallery: Season Two

Director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, the Hellboy films) is a massive Night Gallery fan – so much so that he not only contributes three commentary tracks to this set, but was directly instrumental in finally getting Season Two released on DVD. Indeed, he’s such a Night Gallery enthusiast that when he begins his first of three commentaries for the set, he even bemoans the fact that he only gets to do three. Accordingly, when watching these episodes, it doesn’t take long to see the series’ influence in his work, especially in something like Pan’s Labyrinth, which may as well be a movie-length episode of Night Gallery. But more on that later....

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.