Television Thoughts—Cougar Town (2009-2015)

TV-14, 6 seasons, 102 22-min. episodes

Creators: Kevin Biegel, Bill Lawrence

Directors: John Putch, Michael McDonald, Courtney Cox, Bill Lawrence, Gail Mancuso, Bruce Leddy, Chris Koch, Michael Spiller, Josh Hopkins, Jamie Babbit, Lee Shallat Chemel, Phil Traill, Ken Wittingham, Millicent Shelton, Randall Winston, Sam Jones, Brian Van Holt, Busy Philipps, Courtney Rowe

Writers: Kevin Biegel, Bill Lawrence, Melody Derloshon, Blake McCormick, Peter Saji, Mary Fitzgerald, Jessica Goldstein, Chrissy Pietrosh, Sean Lavery, Ryan Koh, Sam Laybourne, Sanjay Shah, Kate Purdy, Brad Morris, Emily R. Wilson, Michael McDonald, Gregg Mettler, Linda Videtti Figueiredo, Mara Brock Akil, Rachel Specter, Audrey Wauchope, Michael Lisbe, Nate Reger, Aaron Ho, Austen Faggen, Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, Jen D’Angelo, Eric Ernst

Starring: Courtney Cox, Christa Miller, Busy Philipps, Dan Byrd, Josh Hopkins, Ian Gomez, Brian Van Holt, Bob Clendenin

Guest starring: Carolyn Hennesy, Ken Jenkins, Lamarcus Tinker, Sawyer Ever, Ryan Devlin, Spencer Locke, Brad Morris, Barry Bostwick, Collette Wolfe, Briga Heelan, Edwin Hodge, Nicole Sullivan, Shawn Parihk, Nick Zano, Scott Foley, Sarah Chalke, Sheryl Crow, Maria Thayer, Ryan Biegel, Lou Diamond Phillips, Yasmin Deliz, Michael McDonald, Shirley Jones, David Arquette, Jennifer Aniston, Cindy Crawford, Rachel Harris, Beverly D’Angelo, Susan Blakely, Matthew Perry, Paula Newsome, Alan Ruck, Lisa Kudrow, Nia Vardalos, Ahmed Best, Michelle Williams

Last Tuesday I had to hold back tears. One of my most beloved television shows came to an end. I wasn’t brought to the edge of tears because of the emotionally jarring conclusions for the characters’ to their story, however. No, their story’s end was just as ridiculous as just about any episode’s worth. No, I was nearly brought to tears because there just isn’t any other television series like it out there. The closest to it might be “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, but that one probably has higher aspirations.

Television Thoughts ‘15—Agent Carter (2015) ***

TV-PG, 8 43-min. episodes

Creators: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Directors: Stephen Cragg, Louis D’Esposito, Peter Leto, Christopher Misiano, Vincent Misiano, Joe Russo, Stephen Williams, Scott Winant

Writers: Stan Lee (characters), Jack Kirby (characters), Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Eric Pearson, Lindsey Allen, Andi Bushell, Tara Butters, Chris Dingess, Brant Englestein, Michele Fazekas, Jose Molina

Starring: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj, Shea Whigham, Lyndsy Fonseca, Bridget Regan, Ralph Brown, Meagan Fay

Guest starring: Dominic Cooper, Kyle Bornheimer, Lesley Boone, Alexander Carroll, James Frain, James Landry Hébert, Devin Ratray, James Urbaniak, Kevin Cotteleer, Patrick Robert Smith, Neal McDonough, Leonard Roberts, GlennTaranto, Jack Conley, Rick Peters, John Prosky, Pawel Szajda, Ray Wise, Ashley Hinshaw, Toby Jones, John Glover, Andre Royo, Richard Short

So I read an interview with Richard Dreyfuss the other day in which he questioned the interviewer’s use of the term “the new golden age of television”, referring to the current renaissance happening on television today. (Read the Indiewire article here.) Dreyfuss claimed that the only Golden Age of television was in the early 50s when it was the new form of entertainment in everyone’s household. While I agree that perhaps a new term other than “Golden Age” might be in order to describe an era 70 years down the line, I’m not so sure Dreyfuss quite understands what the interviewer was talking about, because he went on to describe the current television market of consisting only of police procedurals, courtroom dramas and family sitcoms. I suddenly realized that Dreyfuss’ television provider only carries CBS, ion and Nick at Nite.

Penny Thoughts ‘15—Louie, season 3 (2012) ****

TV-MA, 13 21-min. episodes

Creator: Louis C.K.

Directors: Louis C.K., Liz Plonka

Writers: Louis C.K., Pamela Adlon

Starring: Louis C.K.

Guest starring: Gaby Hoffman, Susan Kalechi Watson, Gary Wilmes, Melissa Leo, Allan Havey, Hadley Delaney, Ursula Parker, Larisa Polonsky, Miguel Gomez, Parker Posey, Maria Bamford, Casey Seimaszko, Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron, Maria Dizzia, Michael C. Creighton, F. Murray Abraham, Rick Crom, Nick Di Paolo, Jim Norton, William Stephenson, Chloë Sevigny, Roderick Hill, Yul Vazquez, Jay Leno, Garry Marshall, Edward Gelbinovich, David Lynch, Chris Rock, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jerry Seinfeld, Todd Barry, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler

I know, I know, I know. I’m way behind here. The amazing thing is that I love this series and I started it just about two weeks after the first episode of the first season premiered, so I’ve been going through it very slowly.  This is, however, one of the best shows on television. Here’s why:

Penny Thoughts ‘15—And the Oscar Goes To… (2014) ***

TV-MA, 95 min.

Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

Writers: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Sharron Wood

Featuring: Ben Burtt, Annette Benning, Ellen Burstyn, Cher, George Clooney, Billy Crystal, Benicio del Toro, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Hudson, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Janusz Kaminski, Kathleen Kennedy, Ben Kingsley, Liza Minnelli, Helen Mirren, Ve Neill, Robert Osborne, Jason Reitman, Phil Alden Robinson, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Vilanch, Jon Voight

Narrator: Anjelica Huston

Oscar fever is starting to catch for me. I feel like I’m a dying breed, however, as more and more of my peers seem to have grown bitter and critical of the Oscars. And yet, somehow each of them will find themselves tweeting their snide comments live during the Oscar ceremony this Sunday night.

Penny Thoughts ‘15—Constantine, season 1 (2014-2015) ***

TV-14, 13 45-min. episodes

Developer: Daniel Cerone, David S. Goyer

Directors: Romeo Tirone, Neil Marshall, John Badham, Nick Gomez, T.J. Scott, Steve Shill, John F. Showalter, David Boyd, Mary Harron, Sam Hill, Thomas J. Wright

Writers: Daniel Cerone, David S. Goyer, Sneha Koorse, Brian Anthony, Christine Boylan, Jerry Siegel, Mark Verheiden, Cameron Walsh, Rockne S. O’Bannon, Carly Wray, Davita Scarlett, Jamie Delano (characters/graphic novel “Hellblazer”), Garth Ennis (characters/graphic novel “Hellblazer”), Alan Moore (characters/graphic novel “Swamp Thing”)

Starring: Matt Ryan, Harold Perrineau, Angélica Celaya, Charles Halford

Guest starring: Michael James Shaw, Mann Alfonso, Jonjo O’Neill, Jeremy Davies, Claire van der Boom, Emmett J. Scanlon, David A. Gregory, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Lucy Griffiths, Mark Margolis, James Le Gross, William Mapother

NBC very quietly entered the growing market of television series based on comic books this year with one of DC’s more obscure characters, the dark arts magician John Constantine. Although Constantine may not be as well known as many of DC’s tight-wearing superheroes, he’s long been popular with the more mature readers of the company’s Vertigo line of adult-targeted comic books. When DC revamped their entire lineup a few years ago Constantine jumped to the company’s regular line of superheroes, captaining the supernatural-based supergroup “Justice League Dark” and headlining his own title “Constantine”.

Penny Thoughts ‘15—Galavant, season 1 (2015) ***½

TV-14, 8 23-min. episodes

Creator: Dan Fogelman

Directors: Chris Koch, John Fortenberry, James Griffiths

Writers: Dan Fogelman, Alan Menken (music), Glenn Slater (lyrics), Kirker Butler, John Hoberg, Casey Johnson, Kat Likkel, Kristin Newman, Scott Weinger, David Windsor

Starring: Joshua Sasse, Karen David, Timothy Omundson, Mallory Jansen, Vinnie Jones, Luke Youngblood, Darren Evans, Ben Presley, Stanley Townsend, Genevieve Allenbury

Guest starring: Tim Plester, Sophie McShera, Rutger Hauer, Faith Prince, Weird ‘Al’ Yankovic, Hugh Bonneville, Michael Brandon, Michael Jibson, Rory Wilton, Ricky Gervais, John Stamos, Kenneth Collard, Anthony Head

I can’t tell you how happy I am that ABC was willing to take a risk like this on network television. A few years ago, who could’ve imagined a half-hour comedy musical set in medieval times in which the characters make fun of themselves, musicals, network television and all sorts of stereotypes? I think streaming services have a lot to do with the networks putting risks like this one out there.

Fargo, season 1 / **** (TV-MA)

Lorne Malvo: Billy Bob Thornton

Molly Solverson: Allison Tolman

Lester Nygaard: Martin Freeman

Gus Grimly: Colin Hanks

Bill Oswalt: Bob Odenkirk

Lou Solverson: Keith Carradine

Greta Grimly: Joey King

Mr. Wrench: Russell Harvard

Mr. Numbers: Adam Goldberg

Chaz Nygaard: Joshua Close

Stavros Milos: Oliver Platt

MGM Television and 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment present a television series developed and written by Noah Hawley. Directed by Randall Einhorn, Adam Bernstein, Colin Bucksey, Matt Shakman, and Scott Winant. 10 episodes, 2 90-min., 8 60-min. Rated TV-MA (for occasional mild to moderate sexual references throughout, violence & gore, mild language, drinking and some frightening/intense sequences).

We are now deep in the Television Renaissance. Who could’ve predicted the Golden Age of TV would bring zombies to the forefront? Perhaps if anyone could’ve, they’d have also predicted that one of the greatest independent films of the 90’s would find its revival here and be so successful in retaining the original’s spirit, while expanding it’s ideas into a longer running format. “Fargo” is easily the best new television series of 2014.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Hannibal, season 2 (2014) ****

TV-14, 13 45-min. episodes

Creator: Bryan Fuller

Directors: Tim Hunter, Peter Medak, David Semel, Michael Rymer, Vincenzo Natali, David Slade

Writers: Bryan Fuller, Thomas Harris (characters from novel “Red Dragon”), Steve Lightfoot, Jeff Vlaming, Jason Grote, Scott Nimerfro, Ayanna A. Floyd, Andy Black, Kai Yu Wu, Chris Brancato

Starring: Hugh Dancy, Mad Mikkelsen, Lawrence Fishburne, Caroline Dhavernas, Hettienne Park, Scott Thompson, Aaron Abrams, Raúl Esparza

Guest starring: Gillian Anderson, Cynthia Nixon, Jonathan Tucker, Martin Donovan, Patrick Garrow, Lara Jean Chorostecki, Maria Del Mar, Shawn Doyle, Eddie Izzard, Gina Torres, Kacey Rohl, Amanda Plummer, Anna Chlumsky, Ted Ludzik, Katharine Isabelle, Jeremy Davies, Chris Diamantopoulis, Mark O’Brien, Michael Pitt, Daniel Kash

There was a point about halfway through the second season when I though this series had finally run itself off the rails. It has always skirted on the precipice of going too far off the deep dark end. I’m sure there are some who feel that it started that way. However, the writing has always been incredible on this series. It is about the best written American television show out there. So how was it possible that things could go so wrong with the writing starting with S2E9 “Siizakana”?

Holiday Thoughts ‘14—Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever (2014) *

G, 85 min.

Director: Tim Hill

Writers: Tim Hill, Jeff Morris

Starring: Grumpy Cat, Aubrey Plaza (voice), Megan Charpentier, Daniel Roebuck, Russell Peters, David Lewis, Evan Todd, Isaac Haig, Shauna Johannesen, Casey Manderson, Tyler Johnston

The circumstances that led to my watching “Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever” are surprisingly mundane. It was a Friday night. The kids decided to spend the evening at their cousins’ house. Ang was going through e-mail that had piled up through the week. I was doing some similar cleaning on my computer. I figured the wife and I would take in a couple of catch up television episodes while we waited for the kids to get back. I turned the TV on just to have some noise in the background. Before I knew it, Ang had gone to bed and I was stuck watching a bad Lifetime Christmas special starring an Internet meme sensation from a year ago.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Chelsea Peretti: One of the Greats (2014) ***

NR, 74 min.

Director: Lance Bangs

Writer/Performer: Chelsea Peretti

I had never heard of Chelsea Peretti before seeing “Brooklyn Nine Nine”, the Andy Samberg police comedy show in which she plays the precinct secretary. Of a cast of oddballs, her character is by far the strangest of the bunch. She’s a too cool for school playa who probably sat by herself talking mostly to herself during lunch period.

Horror Thoughts ‘14—The Walking Dead, season 4 (2013-2014) ****

TV-MA, 16 45-min. episodes

Developer: Frank Darabont

Directors: Greg Nicotero, Guy Furland, Dan Sackheim, Tricia Brock, David Boyd, Michael Uppendahl, Jeremy Podeswa, Ernest Dickerson, Seith Mann, Julius Ramsay, Michael E. Satrazemis, Michelle Maclaren

Writers: Frank Darabont, Robert Kirkman (also graphic novels), Tony Moore (graphic novels), Charlie Adlard (graphic novels), Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang, Matthew Negrete, Channing Powell, Nichole Beattie, Curtis Gwinn, Seth Hoffman,

Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohen, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Scott Wilson, Emily Kinney, Chad L. Coleman, Sonequa Martin-Green, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Alanna Masterson

Guest starring: Melissa Ponzio, Kerry Condon, Kyle Gallner, Vincent Martella, Sunkirsh Bala, Brighton Sharbino, Robin Lord Taylor, David Morrissey, Audrey Marie Anderson, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Meyrick Murphy, Kirk Acevedo, Enver Gjokaj, Kyla Kenedy, Juliana Harkavy, Sherry Richards, Aldis Hodge, Brendan Fobbs, Michael Cudlitz, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeff Kober, Marcus Hester, Denise Crosby, Andrew J. West

What could’ve been the season where “The Walking Dead” jumped the shark, the show runners pulled back on where they were headed and brought the series back to the basics of the zombie genre. Things got heated in season three with the introduction of The Governor, which was an interesting line of exploration but took focus away from what the zombie analogy is really about. Characters skittered on the edge of betraying everything they were about, but season four focused them in a deliberate manner.

Horror Thoughts ‘14—The Strain, season 1 (2014) ***

TV-MA, 13 45-min. episodes

Creators: Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro

Directors: Peter Weller, David Semel, Charlotte Sieling, Phil Abraham, John Dahl, Guillermo del Toro, Guy Ferland, Keith Gordon, Deran Sarafian

Writers: Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro, Justin Britt-Gibson, Regina Corrado, Carlton Cuse, Gennifer Hutchison, Bradley Thompson, David Weddle

Starring: Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Mía Maestro, Kevin Durand, Jonathan Hyde, Richard Sammel, Jack Kesy, Natalie Brown, Miguel Gómez, Ben Hyland, Robin Atkins Downes, Sean Astin, Roger C. Cross, Robert Maillot, Anne Betancourt, Ruta Gedmintas

Guest starring: Daniel Kash, Drew Nelson, Nikolai Witschl, Inga Cadranel, Adrianna Barraza, Francis Capra, Leslie Hope, Jim Watson, Pedro Miguel Arce, Stephen McHattie, Regina King, Alex Paxton-Beesley

I wanted “The Strain” to be like a “Breaking Bad” for the vampire mythos. I think many people had similar expectations for the television adaptation of Chuck Hogan and Guillermo de Toro’s novel series. When it didn’t quite blow the doors off the vampire mythology, there seemed to be a good deal of disappointment. I never read the book, so I don’t know if it achieved that sort of effect for the vampire myth, but I can certainly see where any disappointment might come from.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Orange Is the New Black, season 2 (2014) ****

TV-MA, 13 60+min. episodes

Creator: Jenji Kohan

Directors: Jodie Foster, Michael Trim, Phil Abraham, Andrew McCarthy, Allison Anders, Daisy von Schuler Mayer, S. J. Clarkson, Jennifer Getzinger, Constantine Makris

Writers: Jenji Kohan, Piper Kerman (book), Sian Heder, Tara Herrmann, Lauren Morelli, Nick Jones, Stephen Falk, Sara Hess, Hartley Voss, Alex Regnery

Starring: Taylor Schilling, Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Michael J. Harney, Natasha Lyonne, Taryn Manning, Kate Mulgrew, Jason Biggs, Kimko Glenn, Laverne Cox, Wanda Bell, Lea DeLaria, Joel Marsh Garland, Annie Golden, Diane Guerrero, Selenis Leyva, Matt McGorry, Adrienne C. Moore, Matt Peters, Jessica Pimental, Dascha Polanco, Alysia Reiner, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Nick Sandow, Yael Stone, Lorraine Toussaint, Samira Wiley, Vicky Jeudy, Emma Myles, Jackie Cruz, Maria Dizzia, Beth Fowler, Lin Tucci, Julie Lake, Barbara Rosenblat

Guest starring: Laura Prepon, Deborah Rush, Todd Susman, Lori Petty, Lauren Lapkus, Laura Gomez, Ian Paola, Pat Squire, Abigail Savage, Richard Gallagher, Constance Schulman, Yvette Freeman, Judith Roberts, Dale Soules, Michael Chernus, Tracee Chimo, Ramon Franco, Lori Tan Chin, Sanja Danilovic, Lolita Foster, Mary Looram, Alex Wraith, Nick Stevenson, Peter Rini, Alan R. Rodriguez, Stephanie Andujar, Pablo Schreiber, Germar Terrell Gardner, Ben Konigsberg, Jamie Denbo, Deirdre Lovejoy, Brendon Burke, Bill Hoag, Tanya Wright, Hamilton Clancy, Stephen O’Reilly, Aubrey Sinn, Tiki Barber, Ricky Garcia, Trey Gerrald, Donté Grey

There is really one word that describes the strength of season two of the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” which sets it apart from its previous season. That word is “Vee.” Of anything that was different about this show from the first season, it was the addition of the character of Vee, played spectacularly by Lorraine Toussaint, that brought it to a new level. Vee added an element to the Litchfield prison that really had been lacking in the first season—a villain.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Welcome to Sweden, season 1 (2014) ***

TV-14, 10 21-min. episodes

Creator: Greg Poehler

Director: Carl Åstrand

Writers: Greg Poehler, Josephine Bornebusch, Niclas Carlsson, Peter Arrhenius, Jesper Harrie, Martin Soneby

Starring: Greg Poehler, Josephine Bornebusch, Lena Olin, Claes Månsson, Christopher Wagelin

Guest starring: Per Svensson, Amy Poehler, Basim Sabah Albasim, Will Ferrell, Aubrey Plaza, Madeleine Martin, Hanna Ahlström, Claudia Galli, Illeana Douglas, Patrick Duffy, Björn Ulvaeus, Björn Ranelid, Marques Ray, Malin Åkerman, Gustav Roth, Pam Murphy, Matt Oberg

When I was about 10, my family hosted an exchange student from Sweden. It was like having an alien coming to live with you. Well, it was for a ten-year-old. He was tall, devastatingly handsome. He played futball. He had no idea how to play football. He listened to strange music (Pink Floyd). He smelled funny (cologne). And, by the time he left some nine months later, he was a member of the family. He attended my wedding. He’s held an open invitation for any of us to visit him in Sweden. Like the fools we are, we’ve never made good on this. Perhaps now I will.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—American Horror Story: Coven (2013-2014) **

TV-MA, 13 50-min. episodes

Creators: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk

Directors: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Michael Rymer, Michael Uppendahl, Jeremy Podeswa, Bradley Buecker, Howard Duetch

Writers: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Tim Minear, James Wong, Jennifer Salt, Jessica Sharzer, Douglas Petrie

Starring: Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Emma Roberts, Denis O’Hare, Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, Gabourey Sidibe, Jaimie Brewer, Angela Bassett

Guest starring: Josh Hamilton, Patti LuPone, Alexandra Breckenridge, Mare Winningham, Christine Ebersol, Alexander Dreymon, Leslie Jordan, Danny Huston, Stevie Nicks, Lance Reddick, Michael Cristofer, Mike Colter

I enjoyed the first two seasons of “American Horror Story”. They were bold experiments in long form horror. The first season took an original look at the haunted house story and season two examined a serial killer plot, with some religious and alien abduction elements thrown in. In its third season, AHS takes on the supernatural world of witches, and it just doesn’t work.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Crossbones, season 1 (2014) ***½

TV-14, 9 45-min. episodes

Creators: Neil Cross, James V. Hart, Amanda Welles, Colin Woodard (book “The Republic of Pirates”)

Directors: David Slade, Ciaran Donnelly, Stephen Shill, Dan Attias, Terry McDonough, Deran Sarafian

Writers: Neil Cross, James V. Hart, Amanda Welles, Colin Woodard, Blake Masters, Michael Oates Palmer, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Josh Friedman

Starring: John Malkovich, Richard Coyle, Claire Foy, Yasmine Al Massri, David Hoflin, Chris Perfetti, Tracy Ifeachor, Peter Stebbings, Julian Sands, Ezra Buzzington, Aimee Mullins, Lauren Shaw, Natalie Hoflin, Kevin Ryan, Michael Desante, Henry Hereford, Reema Sampat

“Crossbones” was a surprisingly good summer television experiment by NBC. It’s too bad no one watched it.

OK. So check this. You cast John Malkovich as the infamous Edward Teach, a,k,a, Blackbeard. You set the story in 1715 near Jamaica. Teach has “settled” down in an island colony he built that is designed to be a true democracy. Most of the island’s inhabitants are thieves and pirates, but not all. Many are survivors from the pirate raids on their ships who have chosen to stay on the island as part of this supposedly free society.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend’s Boyfreind (2013) ****

NR, 75 min.

Director: Seth Barrish

Starring: Mike Birbiglia

Mike Birbiglia’s stand up concert film “My Girldfriend’s Boyfriend” should go down as one of the great stand up films. Along with Richard Pryor’s “Live on the Sunset Strip” and George Carlin’s “Carlin at Carnegie” and even a little bit like Spalding Gray’s “Swimming to Cambodia”, Birbiglia’s comedy concert transcends mere stand up comedy and ventures into performance art and autobiographical enlightenment.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle (2013) ***½

TV-PG, 180 min.

Director: Michael Kantor

Writers: Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon

Featuring: Grant Morrison, Joe Quesada, Mark Waid, Len Wein, Geoff Johns, Jack Kirby, Trina Robbins, Carmine Infantino, Todd McFarlane, Adam West, Zack Snyder, Denny O’Neill, Neal Adams, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Jerry Robinson, Joe Simon, Lynda Carter, Michael Chabon, Jeanette Kahn, Paul Dini, Alan Moore, Jim Lee

Voices: Edward Hermann, Marc Damon Johnson, Adriane Lennox, Adam West, Tim Daly

Host: Liev Schreiber

I began reading comic books at the heart of their modern popularity. By “modern” I mean the age when following comic books meant an investment in them. They were probably more popular in the wartime era, when they cost 10 cents. In the late 80s and early 90s it required an income to follow comics. That’s when I got in, just when I was gaining an income.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—24, season 2 (2002-2003) ****

TV-14, 24 45-min. episodes

Creators: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran

Directors: Jon Cassar, James Whitmore Jr., Rodney Charters, Frederick K. Keller, Ian Toynton

Writers: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran, Michael Loceff, Howard Gordon, Remi Aubuchon, Gil Grant, Elizabeth M. Cosin, Virgil Williams, David Ehrman, Evan Katz, Maurice Hurley, Neil Cohen, Duppy Demetrius

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Sarah Wynter, Elisha Cuthbert, Xander Berkley, Carlos Bernard, Dennis Haysbert, Reiko Aylesworth, Michelle Forbes, Penny Johnson Jerald, Jude Ciccollela, Laura Harris, John Terry

Guest starring: Billy Burke, Timothy Carhart, Sara Gilbert, Skye Nicole Bartusiak, Tracy Middendorf, Phillip Rhys, Douglas O’Keefe, Jimmi Simpson, Gregory Sporleder, Michael Holden, Tamlyn Tomita, Jim Abele, Jon Gries, Innis Casey, Sarah Clarke, Nicholas Guilak, Bryan Rasmussen, John Eddins, Eric Christian Olsen, Michael Cudlitz, Michael McGrady, Anthony Azizi, Tony Wayne, Al Sapienza, Harris Yulin, Fred Toma, Marc Casabani, Francesco Quinn, Terry Bozeman, Daniel Dae Kim, Bernard White, Steven Culp, Kevin Dillon, Val Lauren, Randle Mell, Maximilian Martini, Lourdes Benedicto, Donnie Keshawarz, Dean Norris, Brent Sexton, Lombardo Boyar, Greg Henry, Alan Dale, Justin Louis, Sterling Macer Jr., Nick Offerman, Paul Schulze, Tobin Bell, Peter Outerbridge, Raymond Cruz, Maurice Compte, Glenn Morshower, Brian Goodman, Jeffery Wincott, Mark Ivanir, Peter Gregory, Alex Daniels, Thomas Kretschmann, Rick D. Wasserman, Scott Paulin, Chuti Tiu, Eugene Robert Glazer

“24” season 2 finds the stakes raised once more, in that seemingly impossible standard of the series where the stakes begin higher than any other thriller situation imagined and then continued to rise from that point throughout the season. With David Palmer now POTUS, what can the writers of this series throw at these characters to totally uproot every expectation they or the audience can imagine? They do it. It’s hard to believe, but they blow our minds again the second time around.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 1 (2013-2014) ***

TV-14, 22 45-min. episodes

Creators: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Stan Lee (Marvel Comics), Jack Kirby (Marvel Comics)

Directors: Joss Whedon, David Straiton, Milan Cheylov, Roxann Dawson, Jesse Bochco, Vincent Misiano, Bobby Roth, Jonathan Frakes, Billy Gierhart, Holly Dale, Kevin Hooks, Kenneth Fink, Paul Edwards, John Terlesky

Writers: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jeffery Bell, Brent Fletcher, Paul Zbyszcewski, Rafe Judkins, Lauren LeFranc, Monica Owusu Breen, Shalisha Francis, DJ Doyle

Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain DeCaestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge

Guest starring: J. August Richards, Shannon Lucio, Ron Glass, Cobie Smulders, Leonor Varela, Carlos Leal, Samuel L. Jackson, David Conrad, Ian Hart, Pascale Armand, Michael Klesic, Ruth Negga, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Cullen Douglas, Vincent Laresca, Titus Welliver, Saffron Burrows, Maximiliano Hernandez, Ilia Volok, Peter MacNicol, Michael Graziadei, Erin Way, Molly McCook, Ajani Wrighster, Paul Lacovara, Rob Huebel, Daniel Zovatto, Christine Adams, Carlo Rota, Bill Paxton, Elena Satine, Robert Belushi, B.J. Britt, Jaimie Alexander, Brad Dourif, Charles Halford, Adrian Pasdar, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Brennan, Amy Acker, Tsai Chin, Austin Lyon, Glenn Morshower, Josh Daugherty

So, my family finally got through season one of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Our delay wasn’t because we didn’t enjoy it. A little addition to the family made it difficult to find quite family TV time together. But, I’m glad I’m finally getting my chance at this one.

During the run of the season, it seemed that MAOS was the punching bag for anybody who wanted to see the Marvel/Disney deal falter. Throughout good (but not mind-blowing) ratings, it seemed that every business website that could tried to jump in the ring with Marvel on this one, posting new stories every week about “Why MAOS will fail.” The biggest culprit was a site called the Motley Fool, who based most of their facts on conjecture and seemed to conjure their conjecture from bitter resentment. Their consensus was that MAOS is only still around so they can cross promote all of the Marvel big screen ventures, not with traditional advertising but an expensive 22 episode television show that requires countless more employees and money than producing commercials from footage that has already been produced as part of each movie. Sure, that seems plausible. That’s also probably why ABC also ordered a new Marvel tie-in show, “Agent Carter”, which takes place 50 years ago, since a period piece will offer countless opportunities for tie-ins to movie that are taking place in the present. Or maybe, people liked it.