![]() American Gods hasn’t shied away from political commentary in this first season, but “A Murder of Gods” goes harder in this regard than any of the preceding. Only The Gods Are Real; American Gods: Unlocking the 7 Most Baffling Mysteries of “The Secret.
Parks and Recreation (season 3)The third season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network between January 2. May 1. 9, 2. 01. 1. Like the previous seasons, it focused on Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her staff at the parks and recreation department of the fictional Indiana town of Pawnee. The season featured 1. Rob Lowe and Adam Scott, who appeared as guest stars in the second season, began season three as regular cast members playing Chris Traeger and Ben Wyatt, respectively. The season also featured guest appearances by Megan Mullally, Will Forte and Parker Posey, among others. To accommodate Amy Poehler's pregnancy, the first six episodes of the third season were filmed immediately after season two wrapped so they could be saved for a projected September 2. However, after the episodes were finished, NBC postponed the season premiere until January to accommodate their new series, Outsourced. The third season consisted of several major story arcs, including a complete shutdown of the Pawnee government for budgetary reasons, inspired by the real- life global financial crisis. Other storylines included the parks department's organization of a harvest festival, a romance between Leslie and Ben, and the dating and eventual marriage of Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) and April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza). As in the previous season, Parks and Recreation was critically acclaimed during its third season, and was declared by several reviewers to be one of the best comedies on television. Entertainment Weekly featured it on its cover in February 2. The episodes . Parks and Recreation received its first nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for its third season, and Poehler received her second nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Nevertheless, Parks and Recreation continued to struggle in the Nielsen ratings and averaged about 4. Episodes. The only permanent cast member not to return was Paul Schneider, who previously played city planner Mark Brendanawicz. Schneider departed from the series at the end of season two. Posey had been in discussions with the Parks and Recreation staff to make a guest appearance since the show debuted, and grew frustrated when it took several months before she received an invitation. Besser had previously been on the sketch comedy show and troupe Upright Citizens Brigade with Poehler. Although the third episode to be shown, . But I think, weirdly, there's a momentum that comes from people waiting for us, which is nice. For example, during one scene in . Much of the filming was improvised, including shots used in a montage sequence that showed how drunk each character had become by the end of the night. Amy Poehler described the filming as . In the past, Poehler would improvise several different jokes during a take, and they would be intermingled into a montage of jump cuts featuring many of the jokes. That technique was used prominently in . Due to budget restraints, the Parks and Recreation set department did not build the set, but instead used a real- life setting at Los Angeles Pierce College, a community college in California which holds an annual festival event. The setting was a completely white 1. Michael Schur described the setting as, . It's truly nuts. It's like a hallucinogenic nightmare. At this point in the season, April and Andy were separated and had not yet reconciled.? How does someone believe that change could happen without losing faith? The storyline stemmed from serious budget problems facing Pawnee and the major cuts threatened to the parks department, which prompts Leslie to bring the harvest festival back and stake the future of the entire department on its success and failure. Schur said the harvest festival story arc was written in part because the first six episodes were written and filmed early, so the writing staff felt having one concise storyline to tie them together kept the show focused. Schur also said the writers were fatigued from working on six third season episodes immediately after the second season, so the harvest festival story arc helped . Leslie denies there are any, but it is suggested her secret relationship with Ben could become such a scandal. Schur said the decision to have them marry after only briefly dating stemmed from the writing staff's desire to . They decided a fast marriage was funny, but also made sense because the characters are . So that was our only goal; we just sort of tried to follow through on the characters, and what the characters' lives had presented them, over the course of the year. I just wanted it to feel like everybody made a move. So we had everybody make a move.“”– Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation co- creator. Schur said: . And the way to knock that person off balance is to get Rob Lowe in a relationship with you. This marked her process of getting over Chris and becoming a . The storyline is advanced particularly strongly in . Schur said the writing staff had a general idea of where the newly introduced storylines should go, but the exact stories had not been completely worked out yet when the episodes broadcast. Schur said they sought to . EST on Thursdays, the third season marked its debut in a 9: 3. Thursday timeslot effective January 2. The Office and 3. Rock. These cuts were about five minutes longer than the televised version and included several scenes that were originally cut due to length limitations. The episodes to receive . The show was featured on the February 1. Entertainment Weekly, where it was called . Club said although he considered Parks and Recreation the funniest sitcom on television during its second season, . The average viewership for the 1. Other than that, I'm not sure what else we can do. It’s very disconcerting. The season debut, . It marked the series' highest rating in that demographic. However, the Parks and Recreation episode was seen by an estimated 4. Amy Poehler received her second Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. The show itself was nominated for . Offerman also hosted the TCA Awards in 2. My Dad Says' Adjusted Up, 'Bones' Adjusted Down. TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 1. Retrieved January 2. TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on June 1. Retrieved January 2. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 5, 2. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 1. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 1. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 2. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 1. TV by the Numbers. 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Archived from the original on June 2. Retrieved June 7, 2. Archived from the original on March 2. Retrieved May 1. 0, 2. Show Boss Talks Delayed Return & When to Expect Season Three. Archived from the original on June 2. Retrieved December 5, 2. Archived from the original on June 2. Retrieved January 2. Archived from the original on June 2. Retrieved June 7, 2. Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 1. Retrieved January 2. Archived from the original on January 2. Retrieved November 2. Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 2. Retrieved November 2. Archived from the original on January 2. Retrieved January 2. Archived from the original on June 2. Retrieved January 2. The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 2. Retrieved January 2. Sioux City Journal. Archived from the original on June 2. Retrieved March 2. Television Without Pity. Archived from the original on June 1. Retrieved June 7, 2. Archived from the original on June 2. 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Non- book- readers, however, tend to react to the series with confusion. I thought it might be helpful to infuse this article with a little bit of book knowledge, so that everyone can be equally excited about what’s to come. There are no spoilers below, but there are, hopefully, enough bits of added info there to clear up lingering American Gods questions. Don’t say Bilquis didn’t warn you. Are they gone? Nancy: Much like the bloody Viking cold open last week, this sequence, which takes place on a slaver ship headed to the U. S., is what’s called a “Coming to America” vignette. This is how the African (and sometimes arachnid) trickster god Anansi (or “Mr. Nancy”) came to America—carried across the ocean by the fervid belief and terrible blood sacrifice of these slaves. Just like the vikings, Mr. Nancy demands pints and pints from his worshippers. In other words, I wouldn’t trust a god if I were you. Actor Orlando Jonesexplained to Vanity Fair how Nancy’s violent entrance (which deviates significantly from the book) was inspired by the 2. Trump rallies. His Wounds: As the god of Media (Gillian Anderson) points out later in the episode, Shadow’s face got severely bashed in last week thanks to the Technical Boy’s henchmen. Shadow calls his hanging a lynching, and calls the ordeal “strange fucking fruit” in reference to the famous Billie Holiday song. Wednesday responds by calling him “plucked, plucky fruit.” Not the god’s best retort. But the most significant wound on the battered and bruised Shadow is on his left side, exactly where Jesus was speared on the cross. We see Shadow wincing and nursing his side throughout the episode. Of course, Shadow isn’t just suffering from physical wounds. Our hero goes through the emotional wringer as he packs up the house he shared with Laura and sees that fun photo Robbie sent her. American Gods is all about equal opportunity nudity! But as Shadow curls up in his hotel room and weeps, readers of the book will note that this version of our hero is demonstrating much more emotion than the version in the novel. I think that’s a good thing. Extreme stoicism often reads as two- dimensional in a TV setting. Wednesday’s Plan: O. K., what’s Shadow’s boss up to? Let me quote the man himself: “Meeting with people preeminent in their respective fields. Rendezvous at one of the most important places in the country.” One of the most important places in the country? Opinions vary. That, of course, is a reference to a physical place of great spiritual significance. The importance varies based on what you believe. But given what follows in the episode, it looks like Wednesday (whom we have established is Odin) is rounding up the usual suspects (a. We later see Wednesday briefly meeting in a diner with what’s called an “Ifrit”—you can tell by the flames in his eyes. In this car scene, Wednesday tosses both his and Shadow’s cell phone out the window. This might just be an Old God nervous to be surrounded by the prying eyes of New Technology. But it also might be a convenient way for the show to explain away future scenarios in which Shadow and Wednesday are separated without phones. Being without a cell phone might fly in 2. The recently rebooted X- Files series had to go to similar lengths to make sure Mulder and Scully didn’t have access to their phones. The X- Files doesn’t work at all if Mulder and Scully can capture the aliens they see on camera. What’s odd about this scene is that show seems to be trying to play a little bait and switch with Wednesday’s identity. He tells Shadow they need to go to Chicago so he can get his “hammer,” and then the camera follows Wednesday’s dandelion stem up into the clouds where thunder and lightning take over the screen. That seems like a Thor hint, no? But later in the episode, Czernobog (who we’ll get to next) refers to Odin as “Wotan,” which is Germanic for Woden/Odin. And in that same car scene, we see a raven (traditionally, Odin’s spies) fly overhead. His Hammer: It turns out that Odin’s hammer is actually a man. Or, more accurately, a god. Here we meet Czernobog (Peter Stormare), a Slavic god of the dead, night, and chaos. He is extraordinarily strong and, as the show makes clear, wields a lethal hammer. Czernobog’s awkward dinner table conversation about Shadow and race actually has some foundation in linquistics. Czernobog’s residence in Chicago also makes sense due to the vast number of Russians who immigrated there and the city’s notorious slaughterhouse killing floors at the turn of the century. Czernobog wins a bet with Shadow over a game of checkers and, according to the terms, gets to bash Shadow in the head with his hammer come dawn. Should we worry? Probably not. The Sisters Three: Living with Czernobog (but of no relation to him) are three sisters, all named Zorya. There’s the eldest Zorya Vechernyaya (Cloris Leachman), the middle Zorya Utrennyaya (Martha Kelly), and the youngest Zorya Polunochnaya (Erika Kaar). If it’s too hard to remember all three of those, perhaps it would be more helpful to remember that over and over in mythology, we see women in groups of threes: mother, maiden, crone. These particular Slavic goddesses represent the stars, with Utrennyaya as the morning star and Vechernyaya as the evening star. Gaiman invented the third: Polunochnaya, the midnight star. Their role in Slavic mythology is to guard a chained dog who continually tries to break loose and eat the constellation Ursa Minor—the bear. Their purpose in the show? To give Cloris Leachman plenty of room to chew scenery, swig vodka, and hilariously lie to Shadow about his fortune.“Look On My Work, Ye Mighty, And Despair”: We re- visit Bilquis, who shows she’s an equal opportunity devourer. It doesn’t matter. But while this kind of forced worship may bring Bilquis plenty of afterglow, it brings her no pleasure. The sexual montage ends with her weeping. She comforts herself, however, with a little Throwback Thursday visit to a museum to see a statue of herself, the Queen of Sheba, in an “Artifacts of the Aksumite Empire” exhibit. The Askum was a Jewish Kingdom within Ethiopia. Crooked Media: Last week, we met our first New God in the shape of the Technical Boy. This week, it’s Media’s turn. As Wednesday says at the top of the episode, “an assault on you is an insult to me.” The New Gods are trying to bully or lure Shadow to their side because he is (for some reason) important to Wednesday. Media’s tactics are just a little kinder and gentler than the Technical Boy’s—though no less insidious. As she mentions, Americans (and the rest of the world) pay her homage by staring at her alter, a. But while Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores might technically be the show’s lead character, it’s Thandie Newton’s Maeve who—thanks to very minimal timeline trickery—has its cleanest and most compelling arc. Her awakening, her charming manipulations, and, of course, her very violent ends made for some of the most compulsively watchable moments of this highly addictive show. Photo: Courtesy of HBO. Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey), Game of Thrones. It can be difficult for a newcomer to make a big impression within the already overcrowded cast of Game of Thrones—just ask the poor Sand Snakes. But this pint- size player won the hearts and minds of Thrones fans within her first scene, and continued to steal every other one in which she appeared—whether she was silently scowling in the background or bellowing out one of the most anticipated lines of the season: “The King in the North!”Photo: Courtesy of HBO. King George VI (Jared Harris), The Crown. There are plenty of characters to admire in Netflix’s dazzlingly expensive new series The Crown. The female leads, Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby, deserve plenty of credit for turning royal sisters Elizabeth and Margaret from stiff icons into fully- fleshed human characters. But the standard for royal pathos in the series is set at the outset by Jared Harris’s George, a ruler tearfully, manfully grappling with the brutal truth of his own mortality. Though he (spoiler alert for history!) dies early on, his legacy looms over the entire series. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Stranger Things. It’s challenging enough for kid actors to turn in a believable performance, let alone one rooted in a science- fiction world that has no basis in our own reality. But the latter is exactly what 1. Millie Bobby Brown was able to pull off in Stranger Things. While her eerie creation, Eleven, might have been based on a number of sci- fi/horror creations like E. T. Maybe we’ll find out when the series returns for Season 2. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix. Cassidy (Joe Gilgun), Preacher. Vampire TV tends to feature two types of bloodsuckers: the mopey and heartsick (see True Blood, The Vampire Diaries), or the creepy and repulsive (The Strain). But when’s the last time a TV vampire had this much fun? Oozing charm from underneath his sunglasses. It takes a special talent to out- maniacally grin a comic- book confection like the one Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon dreamt up, but Gilgun, somehow, pulls it off. Photo: Courtesy of AMC. Samantha Bee (Samantha Bee), Full Frontal. Just like Jon Stewart and, to a more extreme degree, Stephen Colbert before her, Samantha Bee isn’t being precisely herself when she stands up on TBS each Monday night to eloquently rage about the news of the week. There’s a whole team of writers who work hard to make the character of Sam Bee, self- proclaimed Nasty Woman and righteous liberal avenger. It’s not as if Bee disagrees with any of the pointed barbs she launches on Full Frontal—but we’ll call this character the ultimate version of Bee.
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