MEDIA NOTES

A few observations about stuff on television and elsewhere.

SCANDAL (ABC). Ridiculous. Unbelievable. Consistently over-the-top. Totally fun.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX). Leads the league in OMG and ICFBWIJS moments. The story is okay and makes us want to come back for more each week, but the scenes with Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, and Angela Bassett are staggeringly rich and ripe and juicy and make up for whatever failings are found elsewhere.

BROADCHURCH (BBC). For what they lack in tasty food and good dental care, the Brits make up with tense, well-written, highly watchable and beautifully produced short television series.

MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC). Can’t figure out why this one isn’t better than it is.

THE BRIDGE (FX). Requires some effort and commitment at first, but soon enmeshes the viewer with a deft combo of plot twists, solid writing, and great acting. Dark and engrossing. And Ted Levine.

BLACKLIST (NBC). If you enjoy watching James Spader chew up the scenery half as much as I do, this is your show.

THE WALKING DEAD (AMC). This amazing show is about zombies in the same way that Moby Dick is about whaling and Breaking Bad is about crystal meth. It is really about who we are and may become when the verities and certainties of our world and our mythology crumble and burn. If you like your existential angst served up in a casserole of over-the-top zombie violence, don’t miss a minute of this masterpiece.

GOLDEN OLDIES. I never go anywhere without a generous helping of The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, and Alias. This stuff satisfies and intrigues over and over and over again.

BREAKING BAD (AMC). Stop reading this and start watching. Now. Especially if you have in whatever ways large or small broken bad yourself.