Crime Scene Kitchen was Too Flavorful

It’s the summertime, and that means it’s time for the broadcast networks to fill up their primetime slots with unscripted reality and game show content. It’s cheaper, and in these COVID times, easier to produce in a bubble. And because I’ve binged everything else, I found myself tuning in. 

This dessert does not appear in the show.
Source: imdb.com

Joel McHale brought his signature sarcasm to a new FOX show, hosting (and executive producing) Crime Scene Kitchen. If that title sounds like the height of gimmick to you, you’d be right. Here's how it works: Two mystery desserts are baked in the titular Kitchen each week, and teams of two are charged with using the clues they find there to identify and recreate them.

Like crumbs showing through the cracks of a hastily draped fondant, the ingredients that went into the recipe for Crime Scene Kitchen are clearly visible. Its format, style, and humor are sampled from other baking shows. 

The rounds are essentially a reinvention of the technical challenge from The Great British Bake Off (aka, The Great British Baking Show), wherein contestants are given ingredients and vague instructions and tasked to make the same dessert. The more glaring theft is CSK's “Showpiece” round, a clear rip off of Bake Off’s “Showstopper.” 

But not every dessert presented is a triumph. Because the teams occasionally get the clues very wrong, and also occasionally get it right, but do poorly, the show simultaneously tries to revel in the #fail like Nailed It!. 

Perhaps the subtlest of all CSK’s inspirations is the way it is stylized like a YouTube show. The production aspects of the show are lampshaded, as if to tell the audience, “we know you know how TV is made by now, so we’re all in on the joke, right?” This is largely thanks to host Joel McHale, who takes far too many opportunities to call for lighting cues and talk about how cool the set is. His joke calling the stand where the mystery dessert is revealed the “Confectionator 3000” should have died after its first telling, but no - it gets repeated every week.  The fact that one of the two judges, Yolanda Gampp, is (we’re repeatedly told) a Famous Youtube Pastry Chef is the frosting on this internet popularity cake.

The trouble is, none of these concepts complement each other. Every Bake-Off fan knows that the audience wants to see successes, not failures. And if we wanted to watch a YouTube show... well, we'd just watch YouTube. 

Gampp and her fellow judge, Michelin-starred chef Curtis Stone, make subjective judgments about which bakers win each challenge. On this show, being “Star Bake…” er, I mean, “Top Dessert Detective” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the best baker, or even that you made the best dessert. It just means you got closest to the “mystery dessert.” And while many skills that reality competition contestants hone are not applicable in the real world, using clues in a meticulously staged kitchen to identify and reproduce a dessert seems particularly useless.

The final challenge of the finale episode threw the premise of the show in the trash, and let contestants build on a handful of ingredients to essentially make whatever sort of cake they wanted. Frustratingly, this new format quite obviously bent the competition in favor of the eventual winners. (The prize was $100,000, but also an engraved cake stand - now, where have I seen one of those?)

Curtis Stone, Yolanda Gampp, and Joel McHale
pose with guest judge Ken Jeong.
Source: facebook.com 

This wasn’t the only surprise format change. About half the episodes included a celebrity guest judge, for some reason. There was near constant reinvention what constitutes a “clue” in the kitchen. Mystery too hard in the first couple of episodes? Add something more obvious - a list of potluck items and a coordinating name on a coffee cup will make it simpler. The show failed to copy Bake Off's trick of having the contestants and judges wear the same outfits on multiple days of filming, so exposition edited in after the fact was obvious. All of this made the whole show feel like somewhat of a work in progress.  I wonder if any play testing occurred before the game began filming? I'd bet not.

Because the show is aimed at the casual summer viewer who happens to tune in, it spends precious time constantly reiterating the premise of the show. All this wasted time is probably why only two challenges fit in each episode, and why the slate of contestants had to be split into two groups for the first six episodes. Perhaps the makers of Crime Scene Kitchen will have perfected the recipe of the show before filming a second season? The trophy cake stand optimistically read: "Season 1 Crime Scene Kitchen Champions."

Yes, Call her Kat, because she's NOT Miranda

The farcical British comedy series Miranda aired between 2009 and 2015 on the BBC. It was semi-autobiographical, based upon the life and standup persona of comedian Miranda Hart. It is very funny, very British, and very specifically suited to its creator/star. 

In January of 2021, the new sitcom Call Me Kat, a adaptation of Miranda, premiered on FOX starring Mayim Bialik. Both shows are about a single, business-owning woman in her thirties whose social awkwardness leads to the comedic situations of the genre. But while Miranda worked, Call Me Kat simply doesn't. I've analyzed two episodes of the American adaptation, comparing them to their source material, to try to figure out why.

In "Vacation" (Call Me Kat, S1E3) and "Holiday"(Miranda, S1E4), the titular character tells her friends and mother she's going overseas for a solo vacation, when in fact she's simply staying at a local hotel. Both "Therapy" (Call Me Kat, S1E4), and "Just Act Normal" (Miranda, S2E5), find Kat/Miranda and her mother at a psychiatrist's office. 

Changes to the storyline in both of these adaptations highlight some of the structural and tonal problems with Call Me Kat. Consider the inciting incidents and ultimate resolutions of the stories:

Miranda goes "on holiday" in her hometown because she has no desire or inclination to go anywhere else. "A night out for me is going into the garden, coming back, ahh, home at last!" Miranda tells the audience. She tells her friends she's going to Thailand to get them off her back. Kat checks into a hotel in her hometown because she chickens out of going on a free trip to Puerto Rico alone. “I got freaked out. It’s my mom’s fault," she tells her friend Max. The result is a Kat less self-possessed than Miranda, less confident in her own choices and the life she leads. Miranda brings awkwardness to situations because she's confidently strange, and that's presented to the audience through her little habits (e.g., singing or dancing in public for longer than anyone should, making socially inappropriate observations). Kat seems like a mostly normal person who occasionally does something odd like eat a massive plate of crab legs at a hotel buffet. She might declare that she is comfortable being herself, or that she is eccentric, but the story doesn't support it. 

Kat and Sheila. 
Source: telltaletv.com

The first 8 minutes of "Therapy" are spent in setup, with Kat fighting with and needling her mother (Swoosie Kurtz), who she then "jokes" she'd like to murder (!!!). It is this argument, and the suggestion of her friends, that lead Kat and her mother Sheila into therapy. The entirety of "Just Act Normal" takes place within the psychiatrist's office. We don't find out why Miranda and her mother Penny (Patricia Hodge), are in therapy until midway through the episode, when the two of them comically reveal the circumstances that led to this court-ordered appointment. The humorous back and forth between the two of them is the joke, in stark contrast to the bleak setup of Call Me Kat. In an even bleaker turn, the resolution to Kat and Sheila’s time on the couch is the discovery of their mutual depression over the death of Kat's father. (Where did this even come from? Miranda's father is very much alive, and his relationship with Penny is the source of many laughs!) Call Me Kat attempts to layer depth and sincerity atop a premise of absurdity. The show is so wrapped up in offering a Very Special Episode about therapy and antidepressants that the humor is lost altogether. And by the way, it is possible to make a defense of those things successfully in a comedy. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend did it repeatedly. But Call Me Kat fails in both humor and message. 

Miranda and Penny.
Source: bbc.co.uk

Miranda and Penny eventually bond not over a diagnosis, but their mutual annoyance with the psychiatrist. The dialogue doesn't need to tell us the two of them are alike because the episode has shown us that all the way through, via synchronous dancing and line delivery, and even in the recounting of the absurd ice cream van debacle that led them to the office in the first place. 

I mention the length of time spent on the setup because it affects a joke that is in both versions of the story.  The psychiatrist in each episode remains silent at the start of the scene. In "Just Act Normal," he speaks for the first time nearly 10 minutes into the episode, startling Miranda, causing her to spill coffee on her trousers, and subsequently turn a tablecloth into a sarong.  Kat and her mother don’t arrive at the psychiatrist’s office until the 8 minute mark, and the doctor speaks just 1 minute later. There is no comedic payoff to the joke, not only because the timing is truncated, but also because Kat’s mother simply says, “Oh, you can speak!” Not much of a punchline.

In both "Therapy" and "Vacation," the momentum of Kat's story is continually interrupted by the B stories  about the supporting cast. Secondary stories can be useful when they say, release or raise tension. But here they just interrupt the flow. It’s as if the show doesn’t trust the audience to live in the tension of a scene, wonder about anything, or wait longer than 60 seconds for an explanation. Or else the show distrusts its actors to hold the audience’s attention between planting and payoff. 

Further frustrating the use of the side characters is their poor connection to Kat herself. Two employees in her cafe can deliver a few one-liners, sure. But they are no replacement for Miranda's Stevie (Sarah Hadland), who is best friend and foil to Miranda. They play off one another in both dialogue and physical comedy and clearly inhabit the same world. It pains me to say a bad word about Swoosie Kurtz, but she does not work here. Sheila is stiff, overbearing, not funny, and not fun. Penny, by contrast, is "SUCH FUN." 

A few other things do get lost in translation in the adaptation. One is the breaking of the fourth wall that Miranda featured heavily. The asides to the audience work well in Miranda because of Hart's comedic timing and stand-up skills. She's speaking to the audience to entertain them. Kat is just kind of, providing exposition, maybe? The camera work and direction fail Bialik here, too. Miranda's asides are framed tight against her face; her acting alone doesn't need to distinguish these moments (though it could.) All Bialik does during these digressions is turn her head to face a camera (and her intonation and delivery doesn’t change.) 

Maddeningly, the creators of Call Me Kat seem to have attempted to recreate Miranda's family's poshness by making Kat's mother... friends with the Governor of Kentucky? By putting her in a ball gown? This is a massive translation error. The UK social strata cannot be replicated in a US sitcom and TV writers need to stop trying.

Miranda feels like a spiritual successor to I Love Lucy, with Hart excelling as a physical comedian.  I'll say for Bialik that she actually holds her own with the physical comedy, but because Call Me Kat lacks the absurdist tone and company of characters that Miranda has, those pratfalls are out of place. Instead, Call Me Kat rests on the boring premises and basic delivery of every dull sitcom you’ve ever forgotten about. The only positive thing I’ve left to say for Call Me Kat is that it inspired me to rewatch Miranda.

TV Songs for your Workout Playlist

I don't like working out. In fact, I'm lucky if I get to the gym once a week (ok, fine! - once a month.) But the unbearable pain of attaining your beach body is made a little bit easier if there's something good on TV, or a good song in your earbuds. Why not enjoy both? Here are five television songs from my workout playlist that just might keep you on that treadmill.

---

"Let Me Be Your Star" - Smash

 

"The past is on the cutting room floor; the future is here with me."

Perfect if... your workout is a performance for the mirror on the wall at the gym.
Play it... during your warmup.

Purchase it:

---

"I Could If I Wanted To" - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

"Throwing a ball like it’s sooo important to know how to throw a ball. Whoopty-fricking-do."

Perfect if... you hate working out.
Play it... during that third set of angry, angsty crunches.

Purchase it:

---

"Don't Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet" - Nashville

"I got a whole lot more than a little bit left"

Perfect if... you wanna quit, but know you'll feel better if you don't.
Play it... during those last few miles before the cool down.

Purchase it:

---

"Aces High" - Empire

"No cameras please, I'm in my zone."

Perfect if... the gym is your zone.

Play it... during whatever part of your workout makes you feel amazing. 

Purchase it: 

---

"Who Are You" - CSI

"I remember throwing punches around and preaching from my chair"

Ok, so this isn't really a TV song. It's just been co-opted as a TV theme song. But every workout playlist needs some Who, so put this song on yours.

Purchase it:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: "Coral Palms, Part 3"

Since the beginning, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been a solid comedy. Last season, the show had a lot of work to do to keep its central will-they-or-won't-they couple Jake and Amy interesting after they, well, did. All while maintaining the show's slapstick wit and giving the rest of the ensemble cast enough to do.

The gang is back together!
Source: imdb.com

Throughout Season 3, creative obstacles were devised to sidetrack Jake (Andy Samberg) and Amy's (Melissa Fumero) budding romance, but none so extreme as the finale - which landed both Jake and Andre Braugher's Captain Holt in witness protection in Florida. This is where Season 4 picked up, with a three-part episode titled "Coral Palms." Part 3 aired this week, and it was a doozy.

A clever cold open spoofed a local news report (the sort of classic Michael Schur touch Parks and Rec fans will spot.) The ensemble shines brightest when on a mission, and by Part 3, the squad was together again at last, and they were more than ready to take down the head of a crime syndicate. Jim O'Heir's guest appearance as a local sheriff was a welcome surprise in Part 2, and I was glad to see him again. Against the backdrop of an Arcade/Go-Kart Course, the members of the precinct successfully battle the bad guys, even if both Holt and Jake are rather seriously injured in the process.

Clever writing is another of the show's strengths. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is seldom blatantly political. (It wouldn't want to alienate its audience in an election year.) But it does wink (or at least blink while staring blankly) at political issues. In "Coral Palms," nods to the ubiquity of guns, like Gina's line about where she got hers - "Vending machine at a rest stop" - are either subtle critiques of gun laws, or at least easy punchlines about Florida. Then there was Jake's great one-liner: "Something about lead being in the air and water and ground." Acerbically timely, no?

Not exactly love at first reunion.
Source: imdb.com

Part 3 also saw Jake and Amy struggling to get back into the swing of being together, and by the end of the episode, they claimed to be in sync again. Still, I can't help feeling that this episode would have worked better as a set up to a break up. Jake and Amy just aren't working. Lately, when Boyle interrupts them, it doesn't seem like he's interrupting anything at all. I can't pinpoint if it's the fault of the writing, the acting, or the directing, but I don't buy that the two of them are in love. The cliche of breaking them up to renew the romantic tension might be the show's best bet. This strategy seems to be working for New Girl's Nick and Jess, another couple who didn't shine as brightly together as they do when you so desperately want them to be together. Alternatively, the writers could give Jake and Amy a realistic couple problem (other than a lumpy mattress or six months in witness protection.) That worked for Jim and Pam, who were great when they were doing well, but even more heartwarming when they overcame authentic relationship adversity. When Jake and Amy were pining for one another, the tension led to some of the show's greatest moments of sincerity.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine needs that sincerity to sustain the workaday episodes of this workplace comedy. If not with Jake and Amy, perhaps another office romance? Speaking of which, whatever happened to the unrequited love Charles had for Rosa? That thread was still strong at the end of Season 2, when Charles designed a perfect birthday dinner for Rosa's then-boyfriend to present to her. If that's not selfless love, I don't know what is. But somewhere in Season 3, Charles went from being a bumbling buffoon with a heart of gold to being a bumbling buffoon utterly clueless to the ways of the heart. I'd like the old Charles back, especially if that meant Rosa would get him back, too. All in all, "Coral Palms" was good, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine can do better.

New Girl: "Wedding Eve"

This summer as always, in addition to the second-rate series that aren't worth our time (and a few great ones that totally are), the networks have been airing reruns of last season to prep us for the fall premieres. That means over the last few Tuesdays I've been reminded of how quietly phenomenal Season 5 of New Girl was.

Jess in the Jury Box.
Source: imdb.com

For a half dozen episodes, the show was without its lead; Zooey Deschanel was on maternity leave, which meant Jessica Day was a sequestered juror. Couple Deschanel's temporary exit with Megan Fox's entrance as a recurring guest star and it's easy to imagine this season going very, very badly. Clickbait headlines even suggested that Fox was replacing Deschanel (as if anyone could). But that didn't happen, and the season didn't tank. Instead, Season 5 was kind of fantastic. Fox's Reagan was a skillfully crafted character, distinct enough from Jess that a comparison isn't fair. Sure, she lived in Jess's room and Nick fell head over feet for her, but she endeared herself to us in her own cold, distant way.

When Jess returned, the hijinks amped up again. While following her ex-boyfriend Sam, Jess found herself in the bed of his truck - as it went through a car wash. After a series of escalating dares, er, pranks, Winston got married. (!!) With "A Chill Day In" and "Road Trip," we got two of the most fun episodes of the season, which cover the same period of time as the group celebrates Cece's bachelorette and Schmidt's bachelor parties.

The gang commences a game of True American.
Source: newgirl.wikia.com

This brings us to "Wedding Eve," Season 5's penultimate episode, and a brilliant encapsulation of everything New Girl does best: physical comedy, classic sitcom misunderstandings, and love. Also, of course, True American - the show's invented drinking game. True American allows the small ensemble to stretch their physical comedy muscles.  It's also generally used as a device to get two characters in the same space - under a table, on top of a single chair, or "behind the iron curtain." In this episode, the game got Jess together with Sam, whom she'd been avoiding since she found a diamond ring in his jacket and feared he would propose. He wasn't going to, of course. Tell me you didn't realize as soon as I did that Sam was meant to be with Diane?

But between the pratfalls and wordplay, New Girl is a love story. This season, it was mostly Schmidt and Cece's love story, and as the credits rolled on "Wedding Eve," Schmidt left in the dark of night, not as a runaway groom, but in a grand gesture of love. Season 5 also gave us a delightful love storyline for Winston. Lamorne Morris is the unsung hero of the show when it comes to comic timing, and despite the wacky marriage sidetrack, he and his cop partner/new girlfriend Aly shared a sweet "I love you" in this episode. (Which was immediately followed by some food poisoning induced retching because this is still a comedy after all.)

Mostly, though, I think New Girl is the long, slow, beautiful love story of the title character. And just in case we forgot who else's love story it is, Sam was there to give Jess this reminder:

New Girl returns tomorrow night, September 20, at 8:30 on FOX.

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The Rabbit Ear Reviews Guide to Can't-Miss Episodes of The X-Files

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Fall TV Premieres: FOX

Tonight, the Emmy Awards will air on FOX, hosted this year by Andy Samberg. Samberg also happens to star in the FOX show I've selected as my pick for favorite returning show on the network. Here's my take on the comedy coming to FOX this fall:

Returning: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the show that arrived in time to fill the void left in my heart after The Office and Parks and Rec went off the air. It's another hilarious single-camera workplace comedy from writer-producer Michael Schur. (Office fans, you also know Schur as "Mose.")

It's a brighter, more cartoonish workplace comedy than The Office, which, for its first few seasons thrived on jokes about boredom and was set in a room so beige you could practically hear the hum of the overhead lights. By comparison, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is flashy, filled with a cast of stand-up comics and improv masters who light up the screen and lighten the mood individually and collectively. Of course, this isn't to say the show doesn't also have heart. The romantic tension between Andy Samberg's Jake Peralta and Melissa Fumero's Amy Santiago culminated with two "cover" kisses and one actual one in the final moments of last season's finale. Just how that relationship will shake out (or fallout) is yet to be seen. (You may recall that The Office Season 2 also ended with a long-awaited kiss - and a third season which left the tension unresolved.)

The cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Source: moviepilot.com

Season 3 also promises to bring some personnel changes to the precinct. The departure of Andre Braugher's dry but lovable Captain Holt was the final cliffhanger of the Season 2 finale. Promos have revealed the new boss will be played by none other than Bill Hader - SNL alum and all around hilarious guy. Hader is on a roll lately, having hit the big screen this summer with Amy Schumer in Trainwreck. Braugher isn't going anywhere, though; he has his own storylines in premiere promos. So what's currently listed as a "guest star" role for Hader may last only an episode or two. Of course, this hearkens me back to the revolving door of Dunder Mifflin managers following the departure of Steve Carrell on The Office. Some of those who walked in were hits (Hello, Idris Elba!) and some were misses (cough...Will Farrell). I can't imagine Hader's stint at the Nine-Nine - however long it may last - will be anything but a hit. 

By the way, don't mistake these plot connections for unoriginality. Brooklyn is a great show in its own right, and that distinctive feel just proves that Schur, co-creator Daniel Goor, and the writing team know how to set up and tell good stories. What you can be sure of, though, is that if you liked The Office, you'll enjoy Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine returns Sunday, September 27 at 8:30 PM.

New: The Grinder

I'll admit it. This show interested me for one reason: Rob Lowe. I loved him as Sam Seaborne, literally adored him as Chris Treager, and the former Brat Pack heartthrob is back to TV again, this time playing an actor who played a lawyer, who's decided an actual career in law is for him. In addition to Lowe, the show stars Fred Savage. (I'm hoping these big names don't lead to an early flop.) If the trailer is any indication, they won't. Unlike the ABC trailers I blogged about last week, this one doesn't try so hard. Take a look:

The comedy here is clearly not in one-liner jokes, but in the characters, in the acting, and in the overarching setup of the plot. And that setup is an interesting one. It's a spin on a family comedy and a legal comedy and a comedy about the tv business.  (So meta.) The show's success may hinge on the chemistry between the brothers played by Lowe and Savage. If they can manage that, and the writing and directing continues on the path laid out in the trailer, it'll be a hit.

The Grinder premieres Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at 8:30.

And with that, I'll say it. NBC has passed the comedy baton to FOX. FOX grabbed Schur, and (until recently) another Office alum in The Mindy Project. With The Grinder, FOX got Parks and Rec's Lowe, for a comedy created by the brains behind that network's successful New Girl. Bottom line: everything NBC was doing right when it came to single camera sitcoms has been nabbed by FOX, including all the right people.

Check out what I'm watching this fall on ABC here and on CBS here.

Summer TV Binge Part I: The X-Files

There's a slow trend gaining momentum in the TV world. I guess you could call it un-cancellation. Some shows that get the boot from one network are subsequently picked up by another. Others are picked up by an internet streamer, or, as is the case with The X-Files, are rebooted after years and years off the air. A Twin Peaks revival was not far behind (although its ultimate revival has not always been certain.) Fox struck again this month with the announcement of the revival of the cult favorite Prison Break. And that's just to name a few.

A promotional poster for
Season 1 of The X-Files,
one of a handful of shows
that have been rebooted.
Image credit: ebay.com

So here's the question: has the industry finally run out of ideas? I suppose it may be better to bring back a known favorite than just rehash the same old concepts in uninventive ways. (Provided the revivals are well-done... I'm looking at you, season 4 of Arrested Development.)

A second possibility is that the networks - and the streaming services that scavenge on the cancelled - have finally realized that they've been giving up on shows too soon. That can give viewers a little bit of hope, right? I mean, some shows aren't even given a chance to get off the ground before they are oh-so-unceremoniously cancelled. (Of course, it's not the hidden gems - like last season's Weird Loners or the darlingly odd Pushing Daisies - that receive a second chance. Wouldn't it be nice if they did? Come on, Yahoo Screen! Can you grab those?) Sometimes it's shows that deserve a new home - like Community. And sometimes it's shows that probably would have been better off being filed into the TV archives. (Sorry, Mindy Project, but you had your chance to give us a good third season, and frankly, you let me down. I doubt I'll follow you to Hulu.)

And speaking of streaming platforms, I'd argue that the networks (Fox, in particular) have these to thank for the revival opportunities.

Both Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video stream all nine seasons of The X-Files. That's where old fans rediscovered the show and folks like yours truly - too young to watch the show when it aired - basked in the good writing and 90s nostalgia of this sic-fi masterpiece. This reignited and expanded fan base made revival of the classic possible.

Which brings me to my summer binging. I started watching The X-Files last summer, so news of this revival (13 years after its cancellation) had me excited. But it also made me realize that it was high time I catch up. I didn't quite make it to the series finale last summer, and to be honest, I still haven't. I'm in Season 8. But the show's coming back in January!

New millennium, new font.
Image credit: fox.com

And folks like me are motivated to catch up before the new episodes air. I'm not crazy enough meet the challenge of watching an episode a day until the premiere. Heck, I don't even have enough time to watch every single episode. (Die-hard fans, go ahead and balk. I admit I can't stand among you at Comic-Con.) But I do have some advice for those of you in a situation similar to mine: you want to watch the new season of The X-Files, but you don't have enough time to prepare thoroughly. Here's my guide to effectively binging on The X-Files while still having time to, you know, go to work and have a social life.

• The first thing you need to know is that there are two types of episodes: Monster of the Week, and Alien Mythology Arc. Someone - or several wonderful someones - took the time to create what might be the most comprehensive episode guide on Wikipedia. There's a handy table that lets you know which episodes are in the mythology arc, and which are the stand-alone "Monster of the Week" episodes. Then there's an additional page describing each episode's plot, reception, and writing. It's worth watching most of the mythology arc episodes; that's the plot that matters to the show as a whole. But... in general... I think the Monster of the Week episodes are more fun. 

• Second, go with your personal taste. After watching some of the show, decide! Do you like the comedic episodes? The dark ones? The episodes Chris Carter writes? The ones directed by Kim Manners? You'll figure it out. I happen to like the funny ones.

• Third, use GraphTV to locate the episodes you can't miss and those you'd be better off skipping forever. This handy little site visualizes the IMDb user ratings of a show to show you the highs and lows and overall trends in viewer appreciation. Sure, user ratings might not be as on-the-nose as critic's reviews, but the graph will tune you in to the episodes that are most significant to viewers, and thus give you a good basis for conversations with fellow fans. 

And there you go! Everything you need to know to get reasonably caught up before The X-Files reboot premiere.

Still, I find it strange that the networks and streaming platforms would find use of one another in this way. Aside from the monetary gains on both sides when a streaming platform licenses a show,  as long as they are creating new content, the internet streamers are competitors of networks and tv show owners. And yet, here we find the former using the latter to reignite interest in old favorites, and the internet platforms picking up the best cast-offs that the networks didn't realize were great. But if this inadvertent partnership leads to more quip-filled conversations between Mulder and Scully, who am I to balk?

What I Watched Over Summer Vacation

As you may have noticed, Rabbit Ear Reviews has been on a bit of a hiatus for the summer. The Network TV options were a total bust the past few months. Even Under The Dome, which I reviewed multiple times last year, failed to draw me in with its second season. That, combined with its rather inconvenient airtime, made it an easy show to give up.  But, never fear! Though my Rabbit Ears have taken a break, I've been busy doing a lot of TV watching via the internet, and I thought I would update you on some of my summer favorites.

Coincidentally, these shows all air(ed) on one of the networks I tune into least often - FOX. Looks like that won't be the case for long… 

The Mindy Project

Source: facebook.com/TheMindyProject

Why I didn't watch this show from the moment it premiered is anyone's guess. This gem of a sitcom comes from The Office's Mindy Kaling, and brings the audience real laughs as it warms our hearts. Mindy plays a gynecologist also named Mindy who rather awkwardly navigates a love life that makes me feel a whole lot better about my own.

A friend of mine rightly noted that The Mindy Project "does the will-they-or-won't-they better than most." I'd argue that's because they don't try to hide it. From the pilot, Mindy has been blatantly expository in her desires for a classic story of true love, and the show openly plays homage to the greatest romantic comedy films - chiefly When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. That said, though, Mindy's life never turns out like the rom-coms she adores. Her relationships - even the good ones - are thoroughly flawed and follow uncertain, sometimes unhappy paths. But that doesn't mean they aren't funny.

Chris Messina's Danny is charming in all the most atypical ways. He's an unlikely leading man, a curmudgeon without any particular charisma, which makes him all the more believable among this larger-than-life cast of characters. Whether they are friendly, flirty, or fighting, Danny and Mindy are magnificent together. Add to that a world full of supporting actors who can hold their own beside Kaling, and you've got TV casting at its finest. If you are a fan of The Office, you'll also see some familiar faces guest starring (and co-starring) throughout the first and second seasons.

It's got heart and a sense of humor. A comedy that's more than just romantic. Simply put, The Mindy Project is a show you can't miss.

Where to watch: Catch up on Hulu Plus or fox.com, and check it out when it returns for a third season on Tuesday, Sept. 16.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Source: facebook.com/BrooklynNineNine

I caught this show mid-season and already have reviewed it once here on Rabbit Ear Reviews. This summer, I found time to catch  up on the first half of Season 1, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. This workplace comedy hints back to executive producer Michael Schur's past endeavors (The Office, Parks and Rec), but doesn't follow those shows' documentary format; it has its own unique feel. This is probably because of star Andy Samberg. The SNL alum plays a lovable winner who loses just often enough to keep him humble.

With a supporting cast of comedically talented performers, Brooklyn Nine-Nine delivers. Unlike The Mindy Project, BNN's setting - NYC's 99th precinct - is often key in the story. Most episodes follow traditional police procedural plot lines, but with a humor more reminiscent of Chuck than Law and Order. For fans of both Mindy and Brooklyn, here's some exciting news: according to Mindy Kaling's Facebook page, we may be in for a crossover episode this season.

Before it returns, consider catching up on Brooklyn Nine-Nine's debut season online. This Golden-Globe winning show is worth your time, and I have nothing but high hopes and higher expectations for its sophomore year.

Where to watch: Hulu Plus hosts Season 1, and rotating episodes are also on fox.com.

The X-Files

Source: tv.com/shows/the-xfiles

When this classic FOX sic-fi drama first aired, I was outside its target demographic by like, a generation. The glimpses of it I caught as a kid both intrigued and frightened me. And I'll be the first to admit that, even as an adult, there are episodes that have given me nightmares. But this show is great enough that none of that matters. It's timeless in a way that nineties TV rarely seems to be, despite the frequent use of landlines and the frequent wearing of trench coats with shoulder pads.

I'm about halfway through its nine season run, and can say that The X-Files gives its viewers both horror and humor. One episode I recall being particularly suspenseful is Season 1, episode 11, "Eve." In it, danger takes the guise of innocence, and while the characters remain oblivious to the threat, the audience has an awareness advantage. But some of my favorite episodes have been the funny ones: "Jose Chung's from Outer Space" is a commentary on the unreliability of witness testimony, and lets the viewer know that The X-Files is as much in on the sci-fi joke as it is the target of it. "Bad Blood," an episode that centers on vampirism, hilariously contrasts the personalities and perspectives of Mulder and Scully. In addition to giving us this fantastic moment, the episode guest stars a very young Luke Wilson.

And Wilson's not the only one. Just about any actor who's anyone or became anyone guest starred on the show. Not that this detracts from the leads. I can pretty much guarantee that any viewer will fall in love with one of the two main characters before too long. It's clear that this show lasted so long because it deserved to. In the era before ensemble casts, The X-Files really relied only on Duchovny and Anderson to keep it moving, and these two unbelievably talented actors made that look effortless. 

Where to watch: Find the complete series on Amazon Prime Instant and Netflix.