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Let me get this out of the way straight off: “Bloodline” isn’t a bad show. It’s actually a pretty good show, marred by expectations set impossibly high by the stellar cast and intriguing premise. After all, this was Kyle Chandler’s return to television in his first role since playing the iconic Coach Taylor in one of the best television series ever made, “Friday Night Lights.” Throw in Sissy “Two-Time Oscar Winner” Spacek, Sam “Pulitzer Prize” Shepard and Ben Mendelsohn — knocking a challenging part out of the park — and “Bloodline” is, on paper, the most prestigious entry in Netflix’s impressive lineup. Perhaps that’s why the 13 episodes making up Season 1 were so unfulfilling. The mystery established in the first episode was strung out too long, resulting in a meandering and occasionally redundant season held together by powerful acting, if not equally compelling writing. Still, there will always be opportunity in “Bloodline,” especially heading into Season 2. We may be setting ourselves up for disappointment all over again, but we’ll be eagerly anticipating the new episodes.
“The Brink” ended up being the exact definition of why we call these shows the Most Disappointing of the year: There was great potential here, but somehow got squandered on a too-scattered narrative featuring some quite unpleasant characters. There were a lot of compelling bits to be found in this attempt to tell a “Dr. Strangelove”-style tale set in the modern political landscape. (Most of them involved Aasif Mandvi’s character, who was possibly the most likeable of the bunch.) But it just didn’t find its voice, in the end, and will remain what it is: disappointing.
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If you grew up loving Kermit, Piggy and the rest of the gang, “The Muppets” was an easy sell: all your favorite characters, in a modern mockumentary-style comedy set in the franchise’s showbiz-parody roots. But we’ve watched every episode of the ABC comedy, and we’re still waiting for it to truly capture the joy and love associated with this bunch after decades on screen. Maybe we’re burdened by nostalgia on this one. There are glimmers of the show this could be, every once in a while. But between a weird fixation on the Muppets’ sex lives, a weird implementation of guest stars and a weird take on Kermit (who just doesn’t feel like Kermit), well, maybe the retool in progress will help things? Maybe.
You don’t know what you’ve lost ’til it’s gone. Or, in this case, ’til he’s gone. Nic Pizzolatto’s solo second season just couldn’t live up to the towering heights of his collaboration with Cary Fukunaga in Season 1. Whether the problem was the stable of episode directors not having enough power to push back, or simply that Pizzolatto got too far into his own head when penning the disastrous second season, one thing was certain: This wasn’t just a disappointment when compared to Season 1. Season 2 lacked the first year’s distinct sense of location and gripping, well-rounded central characters, but judged on its own it also just looked and sounded messy. The LA world was lost in a sea of beautiful but overused overhead shots (we got the metaphor, guys), and the dialogue is mocked to this day. Because Season 1 was so good, Season 3 will undoubtedly still be a hot commodity. But our expectations have been lowered.
READ MORE: How Nic Pizzolatto’s Temper Tantrum Toward Critics Ruined ‘True Detective’ Season 2
Indiewire’s Year-End TV Coverage:
The Top 10 TV Shows of 2015
The 10 Best New TV Shows of 2015
The 25 Best TV Episodes of 2015
The 15 Best TV Scenes of 2015, From ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ to ‘You’re the Worst’
The 15 Biggest Dick Moves of the Year, or What Enraged TV Fans in 2015
The Most Shocking TV Moments of 2015, Ranked
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