The PopFilter 2014 TV Challenge
Round 2
TIM AND ERIC’S BEDTIME STORIES
vs
MADAM SECRETARY
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The second episode of Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories finds Bob Odenkirk playing a doctor that specializes in toe removal. The second episode of Madam Secretary finds Tea Leoni and crew essentially reading the same script as the pilot, but with a different bad guy (the first episode starred AIDS, the second episode features an ISIS-like terrorist group). Now that we’ve entered the second round of the tournament, with the first round hopefully serving as a way to skim off the garbage, we’re no longer comparing pilots, those wacky bastions of crazy bullshit. Now we get a better feel for what the show is going to be. And as slick and well done as Madam Secretary appears to be so far, it’s easy to see what’s scary about the show.
Madam Secretary has already set itself up to be a proseerderal (better name coming soon), a procedural with serialized aspects. Just for the record, if two characters in an NCIS show have a growing flirtation throughout the course of a season, that’s not a proseerderal. That’s still a dumb procedural that can’t even get being a procedural right. The serialized aspects of Madam Secretary actually take a step forward in the second episode introducing an illegitimate, college-aged daughter who is clearly just there to stir shit. It’s a much needed stir, though, and will probably be appreciated by most Madam Secretary viewers. It’s the procedural part of the show that basically settles the series softly into a coma. You see, Madam Secretary (of Madam Secretary fame) doesn’t play by the rules. If she has an idea that the Chief of Staff doesn’t like, she goes over his head, the president gives the thumbs up, the plan works perfectly, she gets high fives, the Chief of Staff awkwardly smiles and tells her not to do that again. Sure, it’s only happened in two episodes, but at the same time it has happened in ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE EPISODES. And based on the history of shows like Madam Secretary, there’s no reason to think that that trend won’t continue for the rest of its run. That doesn’t matter for this competition, though. I can only comment on the first two episodes, which were slick, tight, and boring.
Tim and Eric took a huge step up from the first episode, however. Neither of the titular actors were in this episode, which wasn’t necessarily the reason for the improvement, but it gave us a break from their oddly accurate impressions of white suburbanites. Instead, we get a horror story (maybe?) crossed with a cautionary tale (I think?) that weaves its absurdity into its plot, instead of into its editing. I could send Tim and Eric to the third round for no other reason than the odds are much better I won’t be bored while continuing to watch this show. But – believe it or not – the show works on so many more levels than Madam Secretary does, or has even attempted. Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories, welcome to the Elite 8.
– Ryan Haley