I usually go to bed around 11:00 every night – give or take 10 minutes or so. My typical routine is to scan a few channels and watch a little TV before I fall asleep, and in doing so, I’ve honed in on a few particular programs. Sometimes I’ll land on some MMA fighting on Spike, or a Real World rerun on MTV. I even watched most of the Jersey Shore on MTV reruns at 11:30pm. But those are all shows you guys probably know about. I want to highlight three shows you may not have heard of and that I have found myself following in their late night timeslots. It may help to know that I pretty much cycle through five channels while I’m in bed: ESPN, MTV, Comedy Central, Spike and FX. They’re all right near each other numerically on my cable provider so it’s easy to flip back and forth. Laziness has brought these shows into my life.

My Life as Liz – MTV

This show is not breaking through any new ground in terms of redefining high school drama. There’s our protagonist, Liz – the smart, different girl who’s into indie rock and doesn’t quite fit in. She has cool hair, wears sweet retro Nike’s and is cute but not pretty. Of course this all makes her kind of an outcast. There are her nerdy friends who sit on the social-scene sidelines, the popular blonde cheerleaders who make her life hell, and the smart, alternative guy whom she has a crush on. Textbook stuff. What kind of got me interested in the show is the way it’s shot. It’s all done on hand-held or common digital video cameras. It has a real documentary feel to it, although it’s not a documentary. There are a few times that Liz addresses the camera directly but it’s done in more of an inner monologue kind of way rather than an acknowledgement that she’s being filmed. The dialogue is also very realistic in that there are a lot of “umms” and “uhs” and the characters don’t speak in polished monologues like on Dawson’s Creek. In fact, they speak and behave like actual high school students. Kind of an interesting take but the genuine style still allows for some nice moments. There’s real tension during the talent show episode and a few poignant encounters between Liz and her classmates. It’s not the greatest show I’ve ever seen and may not appeal to everyone, but I kind of like it and recommend at least giving one episode a chance.

The Buried Life – MTV

This show comes on right before My Life as Liz so I usually end up watching at least part of the episodes. The basic premise is simple: four guys, who I think are from Canada, drive around in a bus going from town to town trying to cross off items on their list of life goals responding to the question: What do you want to do before you die? It’s kind of like making a bucket list (did the movie The Bucket List introduce that term into our social lexicon? If so, what a legacy for such a crappy movie) and then starting on it when you’re still really young. One caveat to that is that they find a random person in whatever town they happen to be in and help them accomplish something they really want to do. The premise could really take this show in an ultra-lame, overly sappy direction, a la Extreme Home Makeover, and have the guys just going around doing good deeds and saying that’s what they’ve always wanted to do. Not saying helping people is wrong, but let’s be realistic about what would actually be on such a list. Fortunately they have things on their list like: attend a party at the Playboy mansion, compete in a Krumping dance contest, compete in a Mexican boxing match, give a toast at a stranger’s wedding and tell a joke on a late night talk show. It’s cool to see what their goals are and how they try to achieve them. Sometimes they try networking, just greasing palms and making phone calls, and other times they try lying and trickery. They also have helped a guy get his song played on the radio, reunited some old friends at their childhood summer hangout and helped a girl get to her mother’s grave for the first time – several states away. These are nice moments and are just touching enough without being overly dramatic or mushy. This is a good, casual show that you can pick up easily in mid-episode and still watch to the end and enjoy it.

Archer – FX

This is FX’s stab at bringing some animated entertainment to their repertoire. I have to say, they did a good job. The show is about a secret agent named Archer who works for an agency directed by his mother. Archer is a good looking, sometimes smooth-talking agent who is extremely shallow and dimwitted in times of real crisis. The show is rounded out by the rest of the agency’s staff – office workers and other agents alike – with whom Archer generally finds himself at odds. The show’s appeal comes from hilarious oneliners, fast-talking dialogue, ridiculous character actions, strange plotlines, and just overall goofiness. It’s James Bond with a heavy dose of Harvey Birdman, a touch of Johnny Bravo and some definite Arrested Development influence. It’s a nice compliment to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and some of the other more “mature” shows in FX’s current programming. If you’re a fan of Adult Swim you’ll definitely like this show.

-John

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.