年美剧回顾大盘点
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年出现了这么多大有前途的新剧：《真探》(True Detective)、《荣耀之女》(The Honorable Woman)、《冰血暴》(Fargo)、《婚外情》(The Affair)、《奥丽芙·基特里奇》(Olive Kitteridge)和《硅谷》(Silicon Valley)等。有些老剧仍在坚持，或者莫名其妙地重振雄风，或者在被砍后再次回归，最显眼的是丽莎·库卓(Lisa Kudrow)主演的HBO喜剧《归来记》(The Comeback)，它在2005年播出一季后被砍，今年11月回归。
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年的几部重现活力、需要刮目相看的老剧——以及几部死气沉沉的老剧。‘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).
《国土安全》(Homeland)：第三季末布洛迪（Brody，戴米恩·路易斯[Damian Lewis]饰）最终被杀后，映时频道(Showtime)的这部间谍惊悚剧似乎走到了尽头。目前看来，第四季没了他却变得充满活力，令人喜爱。卡莉（Carrie，克莱尔·丹尼斯[Claire Danes]饰）这次的对手是美貌、狡猾的巴基斯坦情报官塔斯尼姆（Tasneem，尼姆拉特·考尔[Nimrat Kaur]饰）。
‘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.
《傲骨贤妻》(The Good Wife)：艾丽西娅(Alicia)的秘密暧昧对象威尔（Will，乔希·查尔斯[Josh Charles]饰）在第五季末死去，CBS频道的这部性感法庭剧似乎要完蛋了，但是第六季却似乎充满了疯狂的能量——艾丽西娅初露头角的政治竞选、新旧公司的权力之争、合伙人卡里(Cary)的棘手法律事务。艾丽西娅不再那么完美，《傲骨贤妻》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.
《法律与秩序：特殊受害者》(Law & Order: SVU)：NBC频道的这部电视剧上一季中的危机仿佛是从肥皂剧中搬来，发生了各种大事，奥利维亚（Olivia，玛莉丝卡·哈吉塔[(Mariska Hargitay]饰）经历了许多危险——喜欢跟踪的变态强奸犯，折磨人的婚外恋，新生婴儿，现在这一切终于平息下来。在今年的第16季中，侦探们回到了重要的性犯罪上，其中一集的灵感来自雷·赖斯(Ray Rice)，讲述的是从监控录像中看到一个著名体育广播员殴打自己的妻子。‘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.
《明迪烦事多》(The Mindy Project)：福克斯频道的这部明迪·卡灵(Mindy Kaling)创作的喜剧已经在播第三季，但仍不热门，不过这无关紧要，因为它在不断进步——从单个喜剧演员的独角戏发展成非常有趣的集体表演，部分原因在于第二季增加了亚当·帕利(Adam Pally)，并且对明迪的母校达特茅斯学院开起了玩笑。‘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.
《剧集人生》(Episodes)：映时频道的这部喜剧经常被忽视，它讲述的是两位被困在好莱坞的英国电视编剧在为马特·勒布朗(Matt LeBlanc)创作电视剧时遇到的困惑。勒布朗在剧中饰演他自己，演得很精彩。以娱乐业为背景的电视剧很少能保持最初的巧妙构思，但这部剧的第三季比前两季还要精彩。‘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.
《副总统》(Veep)：Netflix公司的热门剧《纸牌屋》(House of Cards)今年露出疲态，但另一部讽刺华盛顿的HBO电视剧《副总统》却在第三季中更上一层楼。塞琳娜（朱莉娅·路易斯-德莱弗斯[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]饰）和助手加里（Gary，托尼·黑尔[Tony Hale]饰）在洗手间里发现自己即将成为总统后，激动得失声大笑，成为2014年喜剧片中最滑稽的一幕。‘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.
《美国谍梦》(The Americans)：FX频道的这部电视剧以里根时代为背景，它和剧中两位伪装成美国郊区夫妻的克格勃间谍一样具有欺骗性：第二季表面上看是冷战惊悚剧，实际上是关于爱情、家庭、友谊和猜忌的情节剧。‘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.)
《危险！》(Jeopardy!)：这个游戏节目今年已播出50年（1964年3月30日首播），它证明自己不仅能难住观众，而且能令他们感到意外。不仅是因为主持人亚历克斯·特里贝克(Alex Trebek)留起了胡子（之前13年他都是把胡子剃得干干净净），而且是因为仍有些选手表明自己能刺激观众。今年刺激观众的是亚瑟·朱(Arthur Chu)，他采用闪电战式的答题方式，在网上引起一片哗然。他的策略令人兴奋，当然也很奏效：他在锦标赛中夺得第二名（友善的本·因格拉姆[Ben Ingram]最后得了第一）。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.”
有些热门剧已经走得太远，应该降降温了，却仍在大张旗鼓，比如《唐顿庄园》(Downton Abbey)、《丑闻》(Scandal)和《复仇》(Revenge)。ABC频道的新剧《逍遥法外》(How to Get Away With Murder)是一部有趣的替代品，它是一部耸人听闻的夜间肥皂剧，讲述不法辩护律师的故事，简直可以称为“法律与无序”。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.
还有些电视剧不如人们最初预料的好，不过仍有吸引力，最显眼的是映时频道的《婚外恋》，它一开始看起来像汉普顿斯式黑色电影，后来变成了法国艺术电影。剧中的罪行与过于缓慢的节奏以及《罗生门》(Rashomon)式的讲述方式不太相称，不过该剧在最后几集势头大涨，悬念丛生。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频道的《广告狂人》(Mad Men)也是如此。该剧演到了第七季，剧中人物和20世纪60年代的背景似乎已被挖掘干净，不过它仍在让观众猜测结局，结局要到明年才播出。《黑道家族》(The Sopranos)结局模糊。《绝命毒师》(Breaking Bad)以沃尔特·怀特(Walter White)死去告终。现在，隐约显现的下一个电视谜题是唐·德雷珀(Don Draper)的最后时刻——究竟是死去还是活着。
