If you believe in Christian theology, Angels in America has the potential to be a powerful religious allegory ... or, possibly depending on your denomination, a dangerously blasphemous parody. If you reject Christian theology, this HBO miniseries depicts the elaborate fever dream of a dying man. Whichever way you take it, it is absolutely captivating.

Angels in America is the story of Prior Walter (played by Justin Kirk). Recently diagnosed with AIDS, Prior is visited by an angel. This angel informs him that he is a prophet and charges him with the task to halt the world's progression towards the End of Days. As he grapples with this revelation, he must also deal with being abandoned by his lover and with the devastating reality of his disease. Throughout he is heart-wrenchingly human, and one of the most lovable characters imagined.

Angels in America started it's life as a play, and it shows. The complex and meaningful dialogue, the heart-stopping imagery, the sweeping storyline all recall the the grandiosity of the theater and help the message transcend the usual banality of the small screen. As in the theater, most of the actors play multiple roles. Such talents as Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Mary-Louise Parker, James Cromwell and Emma Thompson lend the show major star power.


So, regardless of the beliefs you hold or the beliefs you think you hold, add Angels in America to your Netflix queue. It is a rare and beautiful spectacle that must be witnessed. If only for the witty repartee.

Prior: [wrestling the Angel] I will not let thee go, except thou bless me! I will not let thee go, except thou bless me!
The Angel: You have prevailed, Prophet... Now release me; I have torn a muscle in my thigh.
Prior: Big deal. My leg's been hurting for months.

Once you watch the first few episodes of Freaks and Geeks, you will understand why it has become a cult classic. The characters are compelling, the plots are delightfully twisted, and the morals are not heavy-handed (or even unambiguous - which, of course, I love). What you won't understand is how NBC could have made the colossal mistake of dropping the series with several episodes still unaired. Was Freaks and Geeks, a coming-of-age comedy set in the early 80's, ironcially ahead of it's time? I don't think so. That distinction is reserved for another series cut down in its prime, My So-Called Life. Maybe this is an emerging pattern. America couldn't handle Angela Chase's or Lindsay Weir's truth.


Do we make you uncomfortable? Good!

I will always remember "The Little Things," in which Ken (played by Seth Rogen, now of Knocked Up and Superbad fame) is told by his girlfriend that she was born with ambiguous genitalia. His resulting crisis of sexual identity is both hilarious and heart-warming. It resolves when he bursts in on her band performance to let her know he accepts her as she is ... at the top of his lungs from the back of a crowded auditorium. Classic.

Except, not really. Name one other television show that has dealt with that particular issue in a similarly direct and compassionate manner. I'll wait.

And that's the real power of Freaks and Geeks. It wasn't afraid of taking on this big, weird, frightening thing we call growing up. Though the title characters are (by definition) outsiders, this show makes us realize that we are all freaks, we are all geeks. And the sooner we embrace that, the happier we'll be.


Well, maybe not happier, per se.

If you're like me, you're a big fan of the comedy folk rock genre. If you're not like me, order Flight of the Conchords on Netflix and you'll be an instant convert.


Scruffy and Adorkable

This whimsical comedy chronicles the adventures of Bret (facial hair) and Jermaine (glasses), the eponymous musical duo, as they try to make it in New York City. Interspersed with wild adventures involving low-budget music videos and shrinking leather suits are musical interludes that showcase FotC's true talent - a finely tuned appreciation for the absurd. Songs such as "Humans Are Dead" and "The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room" would make the show worthwhile, even if the rest of the writing sucked. Which it doesn't! So everybody wins.

Rounding out the cast are the group's number one-and-only fan Mel (Kristen Schaal), their long-suffering manager Murray (Rhys Darby), and token half-Indian chauvinist friend Dave (Arj Barker), along with a number of comedians in guest roles. Check out the songs and videos on this fansite (much more interesting than even the HBO website, IMHO). My personal favorite is "Hip-hopopotamus vs. the Rhymenocerous."

They call me the Rhymenocerous,
Not because I'm fat.
Not because I've got birds on my back.
Because I'm horny, I'm horny!
...
They call me the Hip-hopopotamus
Cause I got flows that glow like phosphorous
Poppin' off the top of this esophagus.
Not because I'm a water dwelling mammal from Africa called a hippopotamus,
I'm not a hippopotamus, I'm a hip-hopopotamus!
Where did you get the preposterous hypothesis that I was a hippopotamus?
Did Steve tell you?
What's he got to do with it?
Bloody Steve!

For Thanksgiving, Netflix sent me the first disc of Dexter. So I brought it home with me and watched it with my mother and father. If you don't know my parents, they are an adorable Indian couple who can't quite understand their daughter's obsession with television. Here's their take on Showtime's morbid fascination with a psychopath-cum-forensics pathologist.

Dad: Unnerving. Somebody who could be so messed up ...
Mom: Real world, there are people like him, messed up. Serial killer.
Dad: Like, what's his name? He used to eat them.
Me: Jeffery Dahmer?
Mom: Domert?
Dad: Dom-mer! Dom-mer! He used to cook people and eat them.
Me: I'm not sure he cooked them.
Mom: How did he eat them? Raw?

The conversation degenerated from there. Basically, this is not your grandmother's crime drama. It's easy to get behind a vigilante who tracks down the bad guy and then turns him over to the proper authorities (see Batman and The Pretender). We can even accept someone who seeks justice when the proper authorities fail (see Punisher and Firefly/Serenity). But a hero who kills people because he can't help himself, because he actually enjoys it? Never plays in Poughkeepsie. It doesn't help that Michael C. Hall is creepy as hell.

Dexter, pictured here relaxing at home.

Although, it really works for him. I'm sure his creepiness factor helped land him his first major television role as a repressed funeral home director on Six Feet Under. The rest of the casting on Dexter is similarly spot-on. From Dexter's ambitious sister Debra (Jennifer Cooper) and his insecure almost-lover Rita (Julie Benz) to his colleague/bully Sgt. Doakes (Erik King).

Debra, looking inappropriately adorable for a police officer.

Rita, with her abusive ex-boyfriend - kidding!

Doakes, in a PSA about the dangers of alcohol.

My only complaints were that the writing was, at times, simplistic (a lot of telling instead of showing, especially in the Dexter/Harry flashbacks) and the characterization was a bit spotty (especially Lt. Laguerta - if she wants to get with Dexter so badly, why is she such a bitch to his sister?). Still, an overall strong start for a series, and it intrigued me enough to drop disc one right back in the mail. Whether the rest of the season lives up to the show's promise (at least for me) remains to be seen.

Without prime time around to rot our brains, the strike will be the perfect opportunity to watch some educational television. Enter the meerkat - well, enter about eighty of them. Meerkat Manor is possibly the best show on television. My mother and I caught the Flower Power marathon, a tribute to a particular dominant female, and became instantly obsessed. This documentary has all the drama of any reality TV show, except you actually care what happens to the participants. The life and death struggle! The birth of new pups! The complex mating rituals and steamy long-range shots of meerkats making sweet love in the tall grass! All of it makes for great television.

This is another show with a killer website. You can even catch full episodes online! So go ahead - take the meerkats for a spin.

No, I'm not going to provide updates on the progress of the Writer's Guild of America strike. If you want to get more information, may I suggest this link ? While we wait for greedy execs to give writers their fair share of DVD proceeds, or for whiny keyboard monkeys to get the hell back to work (depending on your point of view), I thought I'd suggest some shows to add to your Netflix queue, for when our prime time favorites go into reruns. In other words, what to watch during the strike - Strike Watch, get it? Oh, never mind.

Today I've chosen to squee about Burn Notice. An attractive yet emotionally stunted protagonist? Check. Feisty love interest? Check. Goofy sidekick? Check. Fast-paced adventure with just the right combination of espionage and explosions? Double check. Basically, this show hits all my buttons. If only there were a zany, chain-smoking mother in the mix, it would be perfect.


Burn Notice, have you been reading my diary?

Revisiting my summer fling with this quirky spy drama from the USA network will be just the thing to get me through the winter of TV writer's discontent. The cast includes some of my favorite faces - Jeffrey Donovan (aka Kyle from The Pretender), Seth Peterson (aka Robbie from Providence), and Bruce Campbell (aka the most famous chin in Hollywood). The setting of sunny Miami is perfect for the vivid cinematography (read: bright colors!) that make me love this network. But don't let it's shiny packaging fool you - at the heart of this show is Michael's innate sense of the human character. He isn't a spy because he can smile toothily, shoot a gun or build a bomb out of detergent, soda cans and duct tape. He's a spy because he can get in your head and mess you up.

The duct tape stuff is pretty cool, too. Michael's running commentary to explain his tricks makes the spy trade seem both easy and fun. Yes, I realize that I could not become an international woman of mystery using only products found in my local hardware store. But Burn Notice makes me think I can, and that's the real measure of any television show - how much the audience buys into the fantasy. Also, the extras available on the show's website are great fun.