CliqueClack

“Sorry Please Thank You” by Charles Yu – Affecting and weird

Charles Yu, the author of the bizarre self-insertion meta-fictional story How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, has returned with a collection of short stories in Sorry Please Thank You (2012). As if often the case with collections, the quality and enjoyment vary — and how difficult it is to get interested. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was a fascinating and emotional look at a man’s connection to his life, including intriguing explorations of time and self. And also about the virtual and literal distance between a son and a father.

But Sorry Please Thank You covers different ground, although there are some ongoing themes. In general it is a worthy read if you like explorations of fiction and science fiction beyond the normal sort, and some require multiple readings to really “get” them. It is best discussed on a per story basis (no spoilers):

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A preview of Scandal’s second season

Way back in the early summer of 2011, when team CliqueClack first got our collective hands on the screeners for the upcoming new season, ABC’s Scandal quickly moved to the top of a very short list of shows I was looking forward to; the other two, for the record, were Smash and Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23. Despite the fact that the show was held for mid-season with its small, seven-episode run, we were given the first three episodes. I would be fibbing if I said that I watched those episodes less than five times. The balance of the episodes aired in the late spring, solidifying Scandal as one of my favorite shows.

There was quite a bit to like, especially for me. My appreciation for Aaron Sorkin’s work is well-known – though most find it annoying – around the halls of CliqueClack HQ. I think there are quite a few similarities between his work and Scandal. Most obviously is the rapid-fire, whip-smart dialogue that permeates the show – Columbus Short is particularly good at delivering it. The political connection to The West Wing is probably a little too obvious, but the comparison between the strong “second-family” dynamic of the casts is much more solid.

The cast is particularly great. There are several standouts, including the lead Kerry Washington, but I am most a fan of Jeff Perry’s Cyrus Beene and Darby Stanchfield’s Abby Whelan. As the President’s Chief of Staff, Cyrus gets the bigger opportunity to interact with both “sets” of the cast. He had an incredibly good monologue in the first season that if you missed – or have forgotten – you should revisit it straightaway. Stanchfield brings such a unique energy to the Abby character; when you can make the “Paige is a whore!” bit as funny as it came across in the pilot, you’ve got skill – in the season two premiere, it’s the reaction to the line “On this desk” that wins the day.

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Why FOX’s new 2012-2013 comedy lineup will work

FOX’s live-action comedies haven’t done historically well. Other than Married with Children and That ’70s Show, only their animated comedies have lasted more than a season or two (OK, maybe three). So is it smart to take the risk this season and build an entire night’s schedule around potentially short-lived half-hour comedies? For FOX, the time is ripe, and they are smart enough to run with it.

Last season saw great success with Raising Hope and New Girl. FOX decided to expand Tuesday nights to an all-comedy block and add two new half-hour comedies, Ben & Kate and The Mindy Project. No drama is going to fill House‘s eight-season-sized shoes and FOX isn’t even trying — a smart move. Sure, there’s The Mob Doctor, but the similarities to House end with the time slot and the hospital setting; FOX is not putting their eggs in that basket, which is proven by the amount of marketing being done for the comedies in comparison with The Mob Doctor‘s promos.

It’s immensely brilliant for FOX to build on current successes and not try to carbon-copy past hits. Hop on over to NBC and you’ll see failure after failure, because they’re trying to recreate the success they’ve had with The Office and it’s just not happening. FOX, on the other hand, is making radical decisions and taking risks, letting the past eight seasons of success go and moving on to what’s working for them now.

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Major Crimes: Why I hate you when I loved The Closer

Late this summer, TNT’s The Closer took its final bow, making way for spinoff Major Crimes. The Kyra Sedgwick lead drama ran for seven seasons, premiering in a time where basic cable was not known as a destination for quality dramatic television. Battlestar Galactica debuted earlier that year on Sci-Fi, but the landscape certainly isn’t what it is today, with shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy ruling the roost.

The wave of basic cable quality coincided with the rash of established film stars moving to television. Sedgwick definitely increased the show’s visibility early on; she was on the main reasons I watched in the first place. The Closer quickly established that it was more than simply a Sedgwick vehicle. The ensemble cast, full of kinda-recognizable faces, proved to be a sum that was greater than its parts. Several members of the cast – specifically Corey Reynolds and the Police Academy movie’s G.W. Bailey – stood out, but the show’s success was borne out of a group effort.

All good things, as they say, come to an end, and when TNT announced that the show’s seventh season would be its last, I was far from surprised. Rumors of a spinoff built up, and the pick-up announcement for Major Crimes happened several months later. I’d always enjoyed Mary McDonnell’s Sharon Raydor, and was intrigued by the idea of her character leading Major Crimes – the division and the show. Sadly, though, in execution, Major Crimes doesn’t live up to the legacy of its predecessor.

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