年美劇回顧大盤點
This year brought so many promising new shows: 2014 was the year of “True Detective,” “The Honorable Woman,” “Fargo,” “The Affair,” “Olive Kitteridge” and “Silicon Valley," among others. But there were also older shows that either stayed the course or somehow climbed their way back from a dip or even total eclipse, notably “The Comeback,” starring Lisa Kudrow, a HBO comedy that was canceled in 2005 after one season and then resurrected in November.
2014年出現了這麼多大有前途的新劇：《真探》(True Detective)、《榮耀之女》(The Honorable Woman)、《冰血暴》(Fargo)、《婚外情》(The Affair)、《奧麗芙·基特里奇》(Olive Kitteridge)和《硅谷》(Silicon Valley)等。有些老劇仍在堅持，或者莫名其妙地重振雄風，或者在被砍後再次迴歸，最顯眼的是麗莎·庫卓(Lisa Kudrow)主演的HBO喜劇《歸來記》(The Comeback)，它在2005年播出一季後被砍，今年11月迴歸。
These are a few old shows that found new vigor in 2014 and deserve another look — and also a few that don’t.
下面是2014年的幾部重現活力、需要刮目相看的老劇——以及幾部死氣沉沉的老劇。‘Homeland’ This Showtime espionage thriller seemed destined for irrelevance after Brody (Damian Lewis) was finally killed at the end of Season 3. Season 4 has so far turned out to be remarkably vital and exhilarating without him, this time by pitting Carrie (Claire Danes) against a beautiful, deceitful Pakistani intelligence officer, Tasneem, (Nimrat Kaur).
《國土安全》(Homeland)：第三季末布洛迪（Brody，戴米恩·路易斯[Damian Lewis]飾）最終被殺後，映時頻道(Showtime)的這部間諜驚悚劇似乎走到了盡頭。目前看來，第四季沒了他卻變得充滿活力，令人喜愛。卡莉（Carrie，克萊爾·丹尼斯[Claire Danes]飾）這次的對手是美貌、狡猾的巴基斯坦情報官塔斯尼姆（Tasneem，尼姆拉特·考爾[Nimrat Kaur]飾）。
‘The Good Wife’ Once Will (Josh Charles), Alicia’s illicit love interest, died at the end of Season 5, this sexy CBS courtroom drama seemed as if it might droop and wither, but instead, the sixth season steamed with almost madcap energy, mixing Alicia’s newly fledged political campaign, a war of the roses between Alicia’s new firm and her old one, and the legal travails of Cary, her legal partner. Alicia isn’t quite so good anymore, and that makes “The Good Wife” all the better.
《傲骨賢妻》(The Good Wife)：艾麗西婭(Alicia)的祕密曖昧對象威爾（Will，喬希·查爾斯[Josh Charles]飾）在第五季末死去，CBS頻道的這部性感法庭劇似乎要完蛋了，但是第六季卻似乎充滿了瘋狂的能量——艾麗西婭初露頭角的政治競選、新舊公司的權力之爭、合夥人卡里(Cary)的棘手法律事務。艾麗西婭不再那麼完美，《傲骨賢妻》因此更好看了。‘Law & Order: SVU’ This NBC ripped-from-the-soap-opera perils of Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) — psychopath rapist-stalker, tortured love affair, new baby — that took up so much air last season finally died down, and this season, the show’s 16th, the detectives got back to sex crimes à clef, including a Ray Rice-inspired episode about a star sportscaster who was seen on a surveillance camera punching the lights out of his wife.
《法律與秩序：特殊受害者》(Law & Order: SVU)：NBC頻道的這部電視劇上一季中的危機彷彿是從肥皂劇中搬來，發生了各種大事，奧利維亞（Olivia，瑪莉絲卡·哈吉塔[(Mariska Hargitay]飾）經歷了許多危險——喜歡跟蹤的變態強姦犯，折磨人的婚外戀，新生嬰兒，現在這一切終於平息下來。在今年的第16季中，偵探們回到了重要的性犯罪上，其中一集的靈感來自雷·賴斯(Ray Rice)，講述的是從監控錄像中看到一個著名體育廣播員毆打自己的妻子。‘The Mindy Project’ It doesn’t matter that Mindy Kaling’s comedy on Fox is in its third season and still not a hit, because it keeps improving with age. It has grown from a one-comedian showcase into a very funny ensemble effort, thanks in part to the addition of Adam Pally in Season 2 and jokes about Ms. Kaling’s alma mater, Dartmouth.
《明迪煩事多》(The Mindy Project)：福克斯頻道的這部明迪·卡靈(Mindy Kaling)創作的喜劇已經在播第三季，但仍不熱門，不過這無關緊要，因爲它在不斷進步——從單個喜劇演員的獨角戲發展成非常有趣的集體表演，部分原因在於第二季增加了亞當·帕利(Adam Pally)，並且對明迪的母校達特茅斯學院開起了玩笑。‘Episodes’ This comedy on Showtime, too often overlooked, follows the bewilderment of two British TV writers stuck in Hollywood creating a series for Matt LeBlanc, who plays a diva version of himself very convincingly. Not many shows set in the entertainment industry can sustain the conceit, but this is one that got even better in its third year.
《劇集人生》(Episodes)：映時頻道的這部喜劇經常被忽視，它講述的是兩位被困在好萊塢的英國電視編劇在爲馬特·勒布朗(Matt LeBlanc)創作電視劇時遇到的困惑。勒布朗在劇中飾演他自己，演得很精彩。以娛樂業爲背景的電視劇很少能保持最初的巧妙構思，但這部劇的第三季比前兩季還要精彩。‘Veep’ “House of Cards,” the Netflix phenomenon, showed its weaknesses this year, but HBO’s “Veep,” the other most cynical show about Washington, got stronger in its third season. The scene in a restroom in which Selina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her assistant, Gary (Tony Hale) discover that she is going to become president and dissolve into uncontrollable laughter was one of the great comic moments of 2014.
《副總統》(Veep)：Netflix公司的熱門劇《紙牌屋》(House of Cards)今年露出疲態，但另一部諷刺華盛頓的HBO電視劇《副總統》卻在第三季中更上一層樓。塞琳娜（朱莉婭·路易斯-德萊弗斯[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]飾）和助手加里（Gary，託尼·黑爾[Tony Hale]飾）在洗手間裏發現自己即將成爲總統後，激動得失聲大笑，成爲2014年喜劇片中最滑稽的一幕。‘The Americans’ Set in the Reagan era, this FX series is nearly as deceptive as KGB agents posing as suburban American couple: In its second season, “The Americans” proved to be a drama about love, family, friendship and mistrust disguised as a Cold War thriller.
《美國諜夢》(The Americans)：FX頻道的這部電視劇以里根時代爲背景，它和劇中兩位僞裝成美國郊區夫妻的克格勃間諜一樣具有欺騙性：第二季表面上看是冷戰驚悚劇，實際上是關於愛情、家庭、友誼和猜忌的情節劇。‘Jeopardy!’ This game show celebrated the 50th anniversary of its debut (broadcast on March 30, 1964), and proved it can still not only stump viewers but also surprise them. That’s not just because the host, Alex Trebek, briefly regrew a mustache after 13 clean-shaven years, but also because some contestants showed they could still rile an audience. This year, it was Arthur Chu, who introduced a blitzkrieg style of gamesmanship that provoked a cyber hate-fest. His strategy was thrilling and certainly effective: he came in second in the Tournament of Champions. (Ben Ingram, the nice guy, finished first.)
《危險！》(Jeopardy!)：這個遊戲節目今年已播出50年（1964年3月30日首播），它證明自己不僅能難住觀衆，而且能令他們感到意外。不僅是因爲主持人亞歷克斯·特里貝克(Alex Trebek)留起了鬍子（之前13年他都是把鬍子剃得乾乾淨淨），而且是因爲仍有些選手表明自己能刺激觀衆。今年刺激觀衆的是亞瑟·朱(Arthur Chu)，他採用閃電戰式的答題方式，在網上引起一片譁然。他的策略令人興奮，當然也很奏效：他在錦標賽中奪得第二名（友善的本·因格拉姆[Ben Ingram]最後得了第一）。Some hits have gone so far over the top they should be winded, yet instead keep on puffing gusts of hot air, including “Downton Abbey,” “Scandal” and “Revenge.” A new addition on ABC, “How to Get Away With Murder” was a fun substitute, a lurid nighttime soap opera about lawbreaking defense lawyers — “Law & Disorder.”
有些熱門劇已經走得太遠，應該降降溫了，卻仍在大張旗鼓，比如《唐頓莊園》(Downton Abbey)、《醜聞》(Scandal)和《復仇》(Revenge)。ABC頻道的新劇《逍遙法外》(How to Get Away With Murder)是一部有趣的替代品，它是一部聳人聽聞的夜間肥皂劇，講述不法辯護律師的故事，簡直可以稱爲“法律與無序”。There were also shows that didn’t live up to early expectations but still had traction, most notably “The Affair,” on Showtime, which began as a Hamptons film noir and instead turned into a French art film. The crime may not be commensurate with the series’s punishingly slow pace and “Rashomon"-like storytelling, but the series picked up momentum — and suspense — in the final episodes.
還有些電視劇不如人們最初預料的好，不過仍有吸引力，最顯眼的是映時頻道的《婚外戀》，它一開始看起來像漢普頓斯式黑色電影，後來變成了法國藝術電影。劇中的罪行與過於緩慢的節奏以及《羅生門》(Rashomon)式的講述方式不太相稱，不過該劇在最後幾集勢頭大漲，懸念叢生。That was true, too, of “Mad Men” on AMC. which in its seventh season has all but exhausted its characters and its 1960s setting, but is still keeping viewers guessing about the end, which won’t air until next year. “The Sopranos” ended ambiguously. “Breaking Bad,” put an end to Walter White. Now, the next television mystery looming ahead centers on Don Draper’s last moments, dead or alive.
AMC頻道的《廣告狂人》(Mad Men)也是如此。該劇演到了第七季，劇中人物和20世紀60年代的背景似乎已被挖掘乾淨，不過它仍在讓觀衆猜測結局，結局要到明年才播出。《黑道家族》(The Sopranos)結局模糊。《絕命毒師》(Breaking Bad)以沃爾特·懷特(Walter White)死去告終。現在，隱約顯現的下一個電視謎題是唐·德雷珀(Don Draper)的最後時刻——究竟是死去還是活着。
