Deadshirt

Deadshirt Is Watching…is a weekly feature in which Deadshirt staff, contributors, and guests sound off on the television shows we’re tuned into, from intense dramas to clever sitcoms to the most insane reality shows.

Joe Stando is watching…

You’re the Worst, FX
Episode 7, “Equally Dead Inside”

Real talk: one of my favorite experiences in the world is when something I don’t like initially wins me over. I love being wrong when it means that I get something new to enjoy. And You’re the Worst is a textbook example of me almost writing something off, only to have it totally turn around on me. It’s been consistently on the rise all season, and now that we’re well into the second half, we can dig deeper into the characters a little bit. There’s only so far a show about two shallow, selfish people is gonna go, but there’s actually a lot of heart in You’re the Worst, which is clear in how frequently (albeit clumsily) Gretchen tries to rouse Jimmy out of his depression. It’s not quite on the level of the masterpiece fifth episode, “Sunday Funday,” but everything continues to click, and like Gretchen and Jimmy (although they refuse to admit it), I’m pretty invested in where this is going by now.

Episode Highlight: The much-teased threesome scene was predictably subversive and hilarious, as was the book signing bit with Sandra Bernhard (Jimmy’s mustache!), but my favorite had to be the show throwing shade at How I Met Your Mother with “I’m an adult man in my 30s; of course I’ve had a threesome.”

You’re the Worst airs on FX Thursdays at 10:30pm. Read our full review of the first few episodes here.

Dominic Griffin is watching…

Doctor Who, BBC America
Episode 2, “Into The Dalek”

Remember last year when Peter Capaldi was announced as the new Doctor, and a bunch of people jumped to the internet to make In The Thick of It mash-up videos with Capaldi’s foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker as the titular hero? It was a fun joke, but what I absolutely love about Capaldi’s take on the half-century-old character of The Doctor is how close we were with that original supposition. It isn’t just that he’s darker and more mysterious and shiftier. It’s that every moment he is on screen, he perfectly embodies a man who feels centuries old, whose morality, though tending towards the alignment of Lawful Good, exists miles above the ability for normal humans to discern. This episode’s dark twist on the Fantastic Voyage shrink-ray trope put a really smart spin on the Dalek threat, continuing this season’s motif of defining The Doctor’s identity through juxtaposition against his foes. Even though she’s gotten short shrift thus far, Jenna Coleman avails herself quite nicely on screen, delivering a performance better than the writing serves her. Also, very excited to see what happens next with newcomer Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson).

Episode Highlight: The cold open does an amazing job of reminding us how The Doctor feels about soldiers, but the tenor of Twelve, his uniquely irascible gruffness, shines in the moment Journey Blue, a soldier he’s just saved from certain death, pulls a gun on him demanding to be taken back to her shift. Unfazed and unthreatened by her weapon, he, in turn, demands she ask a different way. He demands she say “please.” Capaldi kills it.

Doctor Who is on BBC America Saturdays at 9/8c. Check out our round-table review of the season premiere here.

Haley Winters is watching…

Dating Naked, VH1
Episode 7, “AJ and Liddy”

Reality show reality check: there is basically zero innovation involved in Dating Naked, VH1’s new island-paradise dating show. Okay, so the daters are all nude, but the idea that squashing their bare genitalia onto a banana boat five minutes after meeting is going to somehow allow a couple to get to know their “real selves” is laughable at best. Luckily it’s really, really laughable. And hey, we’ve already had a Dating Naked wedding , so who am I to judge? In this week’s episode, we meet AJ and Liddy, who will each be going on three naked dates, including one with each other. As seems to be the pattern in all the episodes I’ve watched so far, he is genial and handsome, while she is basically unbearable. The other daters include Megan, a sweet girl whose most notable features (as is stated over and over again) are her fake boobs; Joe, a “maybe albino”  with the personality of a log; Xandra, who is awesome; and Fratstar Steve. With three nights in the Jungle Villa (clothing optional), the best part of the show, as in all great reality television, is when they get really drunk and start macking in the pool. It is all very entertaining stuff.

Episode Highlight: In the end, Fratstar Steve took it for the win: “You know, we had a connection and all that, but to be honest, as soon as you told me there was someone here with fake boobs, I would have rather gone on a date with her. That’s a game changer.”

 Watch Dating Naked on VH1 Thursdays at 9/8c. 

That’s what we’ve been watching this week. What are you tuned into? Let us know in the comments, post on our Facebook page, or tweet us @DeadshirtDotNet!