FTW vs. WTF: The TV Week in Review (November 30–December 6)
Live television productions are the future! And we here at TV.com fancy ourselves trendsetters in the TV website sector, so we're proud to announce that in 2015 we will be performing FTW vs. WTF: The TV Week in Review Live!, a live musical rendition of everyone's favorite weekly wrap-up. Currently we're in early talks with the great Mario Lopez to play FTWTF, and we have our eyes set on Sean Hayes to play FTW and Morgan Saylor (Homeland's Dana Brody) to play WTF because she's a natural for the role. Roses and used undergarments will be available in the TV.com store so that you'll be able to shower us with them once we take the stage. Stay tuned for more fake news about this fake production! And now, here's what we liked and didn't like about the last seven days in television.
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't finished watching this week's new episodes (of The Walking Dead, Sleepy Hollow, Sons of Anarchy, etc.), we suggest that you hold off on reading this story until you do.
FTW:
Everything about the trailer for Looking Season 2
There are several reasons to be excited about the HBO series' second season, but the most important one is obviously the scene in the video above, which features Kevin (Russell Tovey) dancing awkwardly and adorably. Or wait, maybe it's Doris and everything having to do with Doris, because she's clearly the best. Or, gosh, it could also be the fact that Daniel Franzese from Mean Girls is joining the cast. Whatever, the point is that Looking will be back in a month and we couldn't be more excited.
FTW:
Adventure Time's Princess Bubblegum is horrible, but could she reform?
One of the great things about Adventure Time's last couple of seasons is that it's shown the ruler of the Candy Kingdom to be an amoral, technocratic despot. And in "The Cooler," Princess Bubblegum orchestrated a cooling-down of the Fire Kingdom to disarm their super weapons that could destroy the Candy Kingdom. But Flame Princess called Bubblegum on her actions, and it just might've gotten through, because Bubblegum shut down her Christopher Nolan Batman-esque surveillance system. Perhaps there's hope for her yet!
FTW:
Pixar's Toy Story That Time Forgot is another made-for-TV gem
The Trixie-centric, dino-filled tale marked another successful extension of the franchise, even if it was a little lighter on Buzz and Woody than usual. Also, that adorable kitty Christmas ornament who spouted feel-good truths was pretty great.
FTW:
So many dead bodies on Sons of Anarchy
We always knew that Sons of Anarchy would go out the way it came in: a bloody mess. Juice's death has been inevitable for years now, and Gemma sealed her fate when she chose to take a BBQ fork to her daughter-in-law's head, but Unser? That was a cruel, cruel twist that we didn't see coming. Always trying to bridge the gap between the good and bad things about Charming, Unser was loyal 'til the end as he tried to save Jax from doing something he'll probably never come back from. And in the end, Jax killed Unser before murdering his own mother. Whether you think Gemma got off easy or got everything she deserved, Unser's death flew in the face of everything Jax said about wanting to fix the problems that resulted from Gemma's lie. Not to mention that it's totally rude to shoot a man with cancer. So yeah, the Sons of Anarchy version of Game of Thrones' Red Wedding hit us hard, but it also left us pretty excited to see what Kurt Sutter has planned for next week's series finale.
FTW:
Black-ish brings the family together
ABC's new comedy was all about family loyalty this week, with a good beef between 'Bow and Andre as well as some snitching among the kids. "Colored Commentary" was the show's best episode in recent weeks, showing off all the strengths that make it the best new network comedy of the season.
FTW:
The Flash and Arrow deliver on their first big crossover event
Superhero crossovers have long been a mainstay of comic books, and so there was a lot riding on The CW's first major attempt to replicate the experience. Despite a flimsy reason to justify the show-mixing in the first place, the results were pretty darn great, from Arrow's characters getting to be funny—DIGGLE'S REACTION TO BARRY'S POWERS!!—to The Flash's crew realizing that the world isn't always the sunny and fun place it seems to be.
FTW:
David Tennant turns in a great performance on Gracepoint, nonexistent viewership be damned
Yes, Gracepoint is still on the air, and lumbering toward its conclusion next week. Utter lack of buzz and complete pointlessness aside, Tennant deserves some recognition for turning in another good performance as Emmett Carver, the series' curmudgeonly cop with a weak heart and a big secret. The character is essentially the same as Broadchurch's Alec Hardy, but the former Doctor has found space to make him just different enough. Though the entire show is weird to evaluate, Tennant has almost made it worth watching.
FTW:
Transparent and Silicon Valley score WGA nominations
It's nice to remember that True Detective and Fargo aren't the only new shows from 2014 that people want to lavish with ugly trophies.
FTWTF:
Beth's death taketh and giveth
It seems that The Walking Dead just needed someone to die in its mediocre midseason finale, and the short straw was plucked by Beth Greene. That's the only reason we can think of to explain her sudden lunge at Dawn with a pair of scissors while armed men with itchy trigger fingers flanked her on both sides. Beth isn't a killer, but in that moment, The Walking Dead made her one just so it could have a shock up its sleeve. Now we're down one of the series' better characters. On the plus side, Beth's death gave us an emotional Emily Kinney on Talking Dead, which was infinitely sadder and more compelling than the episode they were discussing.
FTWTF:
Peter Pan Live! was Peter Pan live
Another live musical production from NBC drew out the snarky crowd Thursday, but Peter Pan Live! was exactly what it was supposed to be: a reasonably well constructed retelling of a classic story. Admit it, Peter Pan's entrance was cool, the flying stuff was fun even if the wires were all over the place, the dancing shadows were great, and Christopher Walken as Captain Hook was captivating (for many reasons). The worst part of Peter Pan Live!? Seeing Twitter turn into Open Mic Night.
WTF:
Sleepy Hollow shoots itself in the foot in its midseason finale
To say that Sleepy Hollow did a serious disservice to Orlando Jones in Season 2 is an understatement. Irving was essentially written out of the series the moment he chose to take the fall for his daughter. After escaping Tarrytown, he returned in "The Akeda" to defeat Henry's Horseman of War Super Suit before ultimately succumbing to his own injuries in a death scene completely devoid of emotion. Perhaps if the series had allowed us to spend more than a collective 15 minutes with Irving all season, his death would have been more dramatic and held more meaning. As it stands, it feels about as useless as creating a monster with the ability to fight two horsemen at once and then never mentioning said creature again. Oh wait, Sleepy Hollow did that too.
WTF:
The 100 pardons Finn for his MASS MURDER
Look, it's possible that the writers are purposefully choosing to write Finn's storyline in a way that highlights the fact murderers sometimes walk free and our justice system is flawed, but right now the story just doesn't support it. The fact the Council pardoned Finn—off-screen might we add—for massacring Lincoln's village just doesn't sit well with us. The only person who seems to take real issue with what Finn did is Clarke, while everyone else seems to be comfortable chalking up his actions to the fact they're kind of at war. Knowing that Kane is on a mission for peace, you'd think they'd be more concerned about this development. After all, if they don't value Grounders lives, how can they expect the Grounders to respect theirs in return?
WTF:
NBC is thanking Parks and Recreation for seven years of laughs by burning it off in seven weeks
And to make matters worse, the network insists that its plan will "maximize the show's cultural impact."
WTF:
AMC's social networking skills suck
AMC is not very good at Twitter and Facebook. On Sunday evening, the network spoiled the big death of The Walking Dead's fall finale by posting a huge picture of Daryl carrying Beth's body—with the caption #RIPBeth—to its official social media accounts, before the episode had even aired on the West Coast. The snafu spoiled several viewers and understandably elicited all kinds of curse words from those who'd DVR'd the episode or who were simply waiting to watch it life in the Pacific time zone. Your idiot friend leaking sensitive show info is understandable, but a network blowing it? That's unacceptable.
What's on YOUR list of TV loves and hates this week? American Horror Story's literal bloodbath? Sheriff Mills' return to Supernatural? Reign's disturbing rape scene? The fact that Grimm's Juliette might be pregnant? Share your own FTWs and WTFs in the comments!
