It feels like it would be wrong of me to let the month of May go by without my traditional post-upfronts rundown on the TV schedule for next fall. I'm sorry for the delay this year, but as those of you who know me in real life understand, I've had a lot of issues on my plate in the last few weeks.
At any rate, here goes. I'll use the same format from previous years, giving my thoughts on each timeslot in the week.
Monday
8:00-- My stepson loves How I Met Your Mother, and after watching it last season, I've become a fan, too. So we will watch this on the hour, and at the half-hour we'll try new comedy Partners, about two formerly-single friends who try to adjust their relationship now that they've both found love.
9:00-- There's really nothing in this hour that I want to watch, as new show The Mob Doctor sounds too on-the-nose to bother watching.
10:00-- Castle! Also, we will probably record Revolution, a new drama about the aftermath of a world catastrophe in which everything that runs on power of any sort stops working. The preview we saw didn't fill any of us with great expectations, but we like to watch every new sci-fi show that comes along, so we'll give it a shot for a few weeks at least.
Tuesday
8:00-- I'll be recording Hart of Dixie, which was my favorite new show of the season. What we'll watch live is Raising Hope, which I've always loved and which has grown on my family over time, followed by new sitcom Ben and Kate, about a brother and sister who live together.
9:00-- We'll watch New Girl, which was never quite perfect last season but has kept us coming back, followed by Apt. 23, which I think is just fine and my stepson adores for some reason. I also plan on recording Emily Owens M.D., which stars one of my favorite young actresses, Mamie Gummer.
10:00-- I will check out Vegas, which is a period piece about the rise of that city in the 60's and the old-fashioned sheriff who tries to keep the peace.
Wednesday
8:00-- The Middle, followed by Suburgatory, which I liked more and more as the season went on. The men in my life also want to watch Arrow, a drama about the Green Arrow of comic book fame.
9:00-- Modern Family! Afterwards is a new comedy called The Neighbors, which had me when I read the description (unsuspecting family moves into new suburb filled with aliens) and then lost me again when I actually saw the preview, which looked excruciatingly dumb. Still, I'll give this a chance for a week or two just because of our devotion to sci-fi (as stated above).
10:00-- I want to watch Nashville, if for no other reason than that it stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panetierre, two of my favorite NBC stars of recent years.
Thursday
8:00-- This is the only hour where we have a three-car pileup. I definitely need to watch The Vampire Diaries, and the men in the house definitely need to watch The Big Bang Theory, but we are all mildly interested in Last Resort, that odd new drama about the crew of a nuclear sub who mutiny and declare themselves to be a nation-state. If we don't like that show, there won't be a conflict, but if we do, I guess I'll be watching The Vampire Diaries online.
9:00-- Glee! Also, I'd like to try out Beauty and the Beast, which is based on the CBS show of the 80's and stars Kristin Kreuk, the former Lana Lang of Smallville.
10:00-- We are all somewhat interested in Elementary, the new Sherlock Holmes show where Watson is a woman.
Friday
8:00-- Nothing.
9:00-- Fringe! Also Grimm, which I didn't expect much from last fall, but which has actually turned out to be a solid, if somewhat formulaic, hour of television.
10:00-- "There is only nothing again."
Sunday
8:00-- Once Upon a Time. This is another show that has performed solidly, and I'm interested to see what will happen now that the curse has been broken.
9:00-- Revenge. I really loved this show for the first 15 episodes, and then I feel like it drove off a cliff for the rest of the season. Still, I'm willing to give it another try. Also, The Good Wife, which will cause me to have to deal with CBS football overruns for another year.
10:00-- I'm interested in 666 Park Avenue, which has a old-fashioned vibe and stars another one of my favorite TV actors, Dave Annable.
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Fall 2011 preview
Last week was the 2011 Upfronts, and the excitement of hearing about all the new TV shows for next season was enough to bring me out of my long silence! As usual, I'll tell you my picks for each time period of the week.
Monday
8:00-- We've been waiting a whole year for Fox's sci-fi show Terra Nova, and here's hoping it'll be worth the wait. In case you've been living under a rock and haven't read any of the numerous articles about it, it's about people from the near future who travel back in time to colonize the past-- Earth at the time of the dinosaurs. It'll either be fabulous or horrible; we'll have to wait and see to find out which one.
9:00-- A new show in this time period is Hart of Dixie, in which a doctor from New York sets up practice in a small town in Alabama. Of course this premise has been done a million times before, but it's exactly the kind of thing I've liked, so I'm willing to go along for the ride again.
10:00-- Castle returns in this time slot. Also, a new show I'm dying to see is The Playboy Club, which takes us back to the swinging '60's. I'm not totally convinced I'll love it from the previews, but I'm tantalized enough to know I have to give it a try.
Tuesday
8:00-- Glee, of course!
9:00-- The New Girl stars Zooey Deschanel and looks cute and quirky. After that at 9:30 I'll be watching Raising Hope, which turned out to be a much better show than I gave it credit for last year. There's also a possibility that I'll tune in to Ringer, starring Sarah Michelle Geller as twins who are both on the run from the bad guys. I'm not entirely sure it's my cup of tea, but since I like the actress I may feel compelled to give it a try.
10:00-- Body of Proof turned out to be much better than I expected, given that ABC held it until the very end of the season. I'm glad to see it'll be returning for another year. There's also a somewhat generic-looking new procedural on CBS called Unforgettable. The hook here is a detective who has perfect recall. I'm not convinced, but it's been getting a lot of buzz.
Wednesday
8:00-- I'll be watching The Middle. I'm also somewhat curious about Up All Night, starring Christina Applegate and Will Arnett as the parents of a newborn.
8:30-- Two new shows in this slot, and I can't decide which one to be more excited about. Suburgatory is about a father and daughter who move from the big city to the suburbs, while Free Agents is an office romance about people who work in a talent agency.
9:00-- Modern Family.
Thursday
8:00-- Vampire Diaries.
9:00-- Secret Circle is sort of a companion show to the above about teen witches.
Friday
8:00-- Chuck. Also getting a lot of buzz in this hour is A Gifted Man, about a man who can communicate with the ghost of his dead wife. I didn't expect to like it, but the preview drew me in.
9:00-- Fringe.
Sunday
8:00-- Once Upon a Time is the story of a woman who moves to a town where all the locals have alternate identities as fairy tale characters. It sounds intriguing.
9:00-- The Good Wife has been moved to this slot, somewhat of a problem because CBS always has long football overruns on Sunday nights. I guess I'll be watching this one live at a different time every week. Oh well, at least I won't have to get up for work on Monday morning!
10:00-- Pan Am is another show that takes us back to the swinging sixties, but this time with stewardesses. I preferred this one in the previews.
Monday
8:00-- We've been waiting a whole year for Fox's sci-fi show Terra Nova, and here's hoping it'll be worth the wait. In case you've been living under a rock and haven't read any of the numerous articles about it, it's about people from the near future who travel back in time to colonize the past-- Earth at the time of the dinosaurs. It'll either be fabulous or horrible; we'll have to wait and see to find out which one.
9:00-- A new show in this time period is Hart of Dixie, in which a doctor from New York sets up practice in a small town in Alabama. Of course this premise has been done a million times before, but it's exactly the kind of thing I've liked, so I'm willing to go along for the ride again.
10:00-- Castle returns in this time slot. Also, a new show I'm dying to see is The Playboy Club, which takes us back to the swinging '60's. I'm not totally convinced I'll love it from the previews, but I'm tantalized enough to know I have to give it a try.
Tuesday
8:00-- Glee, of course!
9:00-- The New Girl stars Zooey Deschanel and looks cute and quirky. After that at 9:30 I'll be watching Raising Hope, which turned out to be a much better show than I gave it credit for last year. There's also a possibility that I'll tune in to Ringer, starring Sarah Michelle Geller as twins who are both on the run from the bad guys. I'm not entirely sure it's my cup of tea, but since I like the actress I may feel compelled to give it a try.
10:00-- Body of Proof turned out to be much better than I expected, given that ABC held it until the very end of the season. I'm glad to see it'll be returning for another year. There's also a somewhat generic-looking new procedural on CBS called Unforgettable. The hook here is a detective who has perfect recall. I'm not convinced, but it's been getting a lot of buzz.
Wednesday
8:00-- I'll be watching The Middle. I'm also somewhat curious about Up All Night, starring Christina Applegate and Will Arnett as the parents of a newborn.
8:30-- Two new shows in this slot, and I can't decide which one to be more excited about. Suburgatory is about a father and daughter who move from the big city to the suburbs, while Free Agents is an office romance about people who work in a talent agency.
9:00-- Modern Family.
9:30-- A new show in this slot is I Hate My Teenage Daughter. I didn't think much of it from the previews, but may give it a try the first week or two.
10:00-- Revenge is a show about a girl who returns to her wealthy hometown to get vengeance on the people who ruined her family in the past. It looks fairly turgid; I'll be watching solely because of my love for Emily van Camp.
Thursday
8:00-- Vampire Diaries.
9:00-- Secret Circle is sort of a companion show to the above about teen witches.
Friday
8:00-- Chuck. Also getting a lot of buzz in this hour is A Gifted Man, about a man who can communicate with the ghost of his dead wife. I didn't expect to like it, but the preview drew me in.
9:00-- Fringe.
Sunday
8:00-- Once Upon a Time is the story of a woman who moves to a town where all the locals have alternate identities as fairy tale characters. It sounds intriguing.
9:00-- The Good Wife has been moved to this slot, somewhat of a problem because CBS always has long football overruns on Sunday nights. I guess I'll be watching this one live at a different time every week. Oh well, at least I won't have to get up for work on Monday morning!
10:00-- Pan Am is another show that takes us back to the swinging sixties, but this time with stewardesses. I preferred this one in the previews.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Summer TV report
This is the time of the summer when I traditionally do a post explaining what I've been watching on television all summer, so here goes!
I've been watching surprisingly little on actual live television, actually. Most of the new series just haven't appealed to me. I have been watching The Gates, which hasn't wowed me in any way but has kept me coming back every week. I also made sure to tune in every week for season 4 of Friday Night Lights, which has been as wonderful as I expected. I've also been thrilled beyond belief at the return of Futurama, which I'd never quite given up on but never realistically expected to see new episodes of again.
A new old show I've been watching is Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has been airing two episodes a week on TV Guide Network. (Yes, you heard correctly. TV Guide Network.) I'd never expected to like this show, since the things I'd heard about it online had made me incorrectly surmise that it was a stupid reality show in which cameras followed Larry David around being a jerk to everybody. But when someone whose opinion I respect very much said that it was his favorite show, I decided to give it a chance, and I was laughing hysterically within 5 minutes of starting the first episode. How can I describe it to people who've never seen it? Well, even though Larry David does play himself, it's not a reality show by any means. Everything else about the show is fictional, and it features the same kind of off-the-wall plots that you'd see on Seinfeld, just in a more true-to-life setting. Each episode is plotted and loosely scripted and then the actors improvise their actual dialogue, and since they're all funny people, that means the show is often a riot! We're just getting to the end of season 3, and I'm going to give up watching it to make room for the new fall shows, but I'll try to come back to it next summer.
Netflix Instant Watching made me very happy this summer by adding Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Torchwood. I'd gotten partway through season 3 before they stopped showing Buffy on FX, and now I've finished that season and plowed through seasons 4 and 5 as well. It's well known that a lot of shows lose steam when the characters go off to college, but in Buffy's case I think it made the show much better. It seems like the stakes have been raised; she can find herself in more adult situations now. As far as Torchwood goes, it's been nice to see the full unedited versions of the episodes, which are sometimes over 50 minutes long. Some of them that were very confusing to me when I watched them on TV made a lot more sense now.
On DVD, I've been having a very British summer. I led off with To the Manor Born, which I hadn't seen in years. It was wonderful to see all the episodes in the proper order, and I got a lot more out of it as an adult than I did as a kid. I find Audrey and Richard's relationship to be a very good example of how to do a "will they, won't they" pairing that works. Even when they supposedly hated each other, they always treated each other with respect and good humor, and this makes their eventual marriage seem like a good idea and not something that came out of left field.
Then I moved back into the past with Robin of Sherwood, which was called Robin Hood when it aired here in the U.S. during the summer of 1985. I found this show almost unbearably sexy and mythic when I was nine, but it didn't rekindle the same magic in me as an adult. I think there are two reasons for that. First, I must have a lot less imagination now than I did at that age. I think I was supplying a lot of things to the narrative that occurred offscreen in my mind, like Robin and Marian's romance. I remembered them as impossibly romantic, but in actuality they rarely even kissed. Second, we expect a lot more from our TV shows these days. Just as with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered around the same time, the characterization was hailed as being unusually deep and the plotting quite original, but both aspects seem kind of trite by today's standards. I guess both of these shows were creating new paradigms that we now take for granted.
Even further back into the past for I, Claudius, which of course first aired back in the year of my birth, 1975, but which I saw during the Masterpiece Theater 20th anniversary retrospective season in 1991, when they reaired many classic series from their history. I would have been 15 then, and in this case I saw even more in the show than I did as a youth. I highly recommend this to everyone!
And there you have it. My summer as seen through the lens of television.
I've been watching surprisingly little on actual live television, actually. Most of the new series just haven't appealed to me. I have been watching The Gates, which hasn't wowed me in any way but has kept me coming back every week. I also made sure to tune in every week for season 4 of Friday Night Lights, which has been as wonderful as I expected. I've also been thrilled beyond belief at the return of Futurama, which I'd never quite given up on but never realistically expected to see new episodes of again.
A new old show I've been watching is Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has been airing two episodes a week on TV Guide Network. (Yes, you heard correctly. TV Guide Network.) I'd never expected to like this show, since the things I'd heard about it online had made me incorrectly surmise that it was a stupid reality show in which cameras followed Larry David around being a jerk to everybody. But when someone whose opinion I respect very much said that it was his favorite show, I decided to give it a chance, and I was laughing hysterically within 5 minutes of starting the first episode. How can I describe it to people who've never seen it? Well, even though Larry David does play himself, it's not a reality show by any means. Everything else about the show is fictional, and it features the same kind of off-the-wall plots that you'd see on Seinfeld, just in a more true-to-life setting. Each episode is plotted and loosely scripted and then the actors improvise their actual dialogue, and since they're all funny people, that means the show is often a riot! We're just getting to the end of season 3, and I'm going to give up watching it to make room for the new fall shows, but I'll try to come back to it next summer.
Netflix Instant Watching made me very happy this summer by adding Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Torchwood. I'd gotten partway through season 3 before they stopped showing Buffy on FX, and now I've finished that season and plowed through seasons 4 and 5 as well. It's well known that a lot of shows lose steam when the characters go off to college, but in Buffy's case I think it made the show much better. It seems like the stakes have been raised; she can find herself in more adult situations now. As far as Torchwood goes, it's been nice to see the full unedited versions of the episodes, which are sometimes over 50 minutes long. Some of them that were very confusing to me when I watched them on TV made a lot more sense now.
On DVD, I've been having a very British summer. I led off with To the Manor Born, which I hadn't seen in years. It was wonderful to see all the episodes in the proper order, and I got a lot more out of it as an adult than I did as a kid. I find Audrey and Richard's relationship to be a very good example of how to do a "will they, won't they" pairing that works. Even when they supposedly hated each other, they always treated each other with respect and good humor, and this makes their eventual marriage seem like a good idea and not something that came out of left field.
Then I moved back into the past with Robin of Sherwood, which was called Robin Hood when it aired here in the U.S. during the summer of 1985. I found this show almost unbearably sexy and mythic when I was nine, but it didn't rekindle the same magic in me as an adult. I think there are two reasons for that. First, I must have a lot less imagination now than I did at that age. I think I was supplying a lot of things to the narrative that occurred offscreen in my mind, like Robin and Marian's romance. I remembered them as impossibly romantic, but in actuality they rarely even kissed. Second, we expect a lot more from our TV shows these days. Just as with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered around the same time, the characterization was hailed as being unusually deep and the plotting quite original, but both aspects seem kind of trite by today's standards. I guess both of these shows were creating new paradigms that we now take for granted.
Even further back into the past for I, Claudius, which of course first aired back in the year of my birth, 1975, but which I saw during the Masterpiece Theater 20th anniversary retrospective season in 1991, when they reaired many classic series from their history. I would have been 15 then, and in this case I saw even more in the show than I did as a youth. I highly recommend this to everyone!
And there you have it. My summer as seen through the lens of television.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
The realness in reality
I'm not sure that I'm qualified to write on reality shows. In fact, I'm sure I'm one of the least qualified people in America to do so, because I have barely watched them at all. Sure, sometimes while flipping through the channels I've caught 5 or 10 minutes of The Biggest Loser or The Amazing Race, but the last reality show I purposely watched was also the first-- the first season of Survivor, way back in 2001.
In this unassuming little summer show were the seeds of every reality show to come-- the forming of alliances, the double-crossing, the bizarre product placements, the pointless but dangerous challenges, and the endless talk. It was all fresh and new, then, and nobody knew what to expect. Whether they knew it or not, those 12 people cast away on a remote island were setting the rules for a whole new genre, and they were doing it innocently and in good faith. (And even when they acted in bad faith, it was done in good faith, in the sense that they were following their own instincts and not some idea they had of how people were supposed to act on a reality show.)
I remember being blown away by Susan's famous "Rats and Snakes" speech during the last tribal council, and what fascinated me at the time was the amount of emotion she showed, yet when I viewed it again right now, what impressed me instead was her sincerity. She really believed that people's actions on the island reflected their personas in real life, and she was entirely willing to judge her fellow competitors on the morality of their behavior. That seems like such an innocent stance to take now.
The state of reality shows right now is much more confusing. Sometimes we, the viewers, want to believe that everything we see on a reality show is really real, that the couples that find true love will live happily ever after and that the people who get hired to work at a company will have long and fulfilling careers there. Yet at other times, when there is conflict involved, we fall back on the notion that it's only a game, that the things that people say and do to hurt each other aren't real, and that they are all just actors going through the motions and trying to make it seem convincing, in the same way that professional wrestlers do. We want to have our cake and eat it too.
Susan's speech is the reason I've never watched another reality show, because I realized that watching real people hurt each other was not my idea of entertainment. I remain devoted to fictionalized worlds that let us explore conflict in a safer way, without ruining the lives of real people. I hope that in time the rest of the world will join me.
In this unassuming little summer show were the seeds of every reality show to come-- the forming of alliances, the double-crossing, the bizarre product placements, the pointless but dangerous challenges, and the endless talk. It was all fresh and new, then, and nobody knew what to expect. Whether they knew it or not, those 12 people cast away on a remote island were setting the rules for a whole new genre, and they were doing it innocently and in good faith. (And even when they acted in bad faith, it was done in good faith, in the sense that they were following their own instincts and not some idea they had of how people were supposed to act on a reality show.)
I remember being blown away by Susan's famous "Rats and Snakes" speech during the last tribal council, and what fascinated me at the time was the amount of emotion she showed, yet when I viewed it again right now, what impressed me instead was her sincerity. She really believed that people's actions on the island reflected their personas in real life, and she was entirely willing to judge her fellow competitors on the morality of their behavior. That seems like such an innocent stance to take now.
The state of reality shows right now is much more confusing. Sometimes we, the viewers, want to believe that everything we see on a reality show is really real, that the couples that find true love will live happily ever after and that the people who get hired to work at a company will have long and fulfilling careers there. Yet at other times, when there is conflict involved, we fall back on the notion that it's only a game, that the things that people say and do to hurt each other aren't real, and that they are all just actors going through the motions and trying to make it seem convincing, in the same way that professional wrestlers do. We want to have our cake and eat it too.
Susan's speech is the reason I've never watched another reality show, because I realized that watching real people hurt each other was not my idea of entertainment. I remain devoted to fictionalized worlds that let us explore conflict in a safer way, without ruining the lives of real people. I hope that in time the rest of the world will join me.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Fall 2010 TV preview
So we have had the traditional May upfronts this week, when all the new shows for next fall were unveiled. Maybe it's just that I have a big slate of returning shows again this year, but I don't see much new that intrigues me. Still, I'll go through the week and point out what interests me in each timeslot. And now that I have a DVR, I can pick two things per slot instead of just one if I like!
Monday
8 pm-- Chuck!
9 pm-- Three new shows in this timeslot. The Event is yet another show about a man looking for his missing fiancee who uncovers a big complicated conspiracy. I lost interest in that kind of show a long time ago, and Jason Ritter isn't exactly the kind of actor who's going to draw me in. Mike & Molly is about two plus-sized people who find romance at a Weight Watchers meeting. This one kind of depends on how it's executed. I'm withholding judgment until I see it. The one that I love from the trailer I saw is Lonestar, the story of a bigamist in Texas living a very complicated life. My money is on this one.
10 pm-- Castle! And I'll probably tune in for the first episode of Hawaii Five-O. I've never seen the original, which means I'll be starting out with a clean slate on this one. But with all that gorgeous Hawaiian scenery (not to mention all that gorgeous Alex O'Laughlin scenery!), how can they go wrong?
Tuesday
8 pm-- Glee! And I'm definitely interested in No Ordinary Family, about a family who travels to Brazil and then discovers they all have superpowers.
9 pm-- Life Unexpected! Also in this slot are two new comedies that might be worth a look. Running Wilde, about a man reunited with his childhood love who has just returned from Africa, seems promising. Raising Hope, about a family saddled with an unexpected baby to raise, seems less so.
10 pm-- The Good Wife!
Wednesday
8 pm-- The Middle! I'm also mildly interested in new show The Undercovers, about a husband and wife spy team.
8:30 pm-- Better Together is a new show about an older sister who has decided not to get married and her younger sister who impulsively does. I like some of the people in this one, especially Joanna Garcia, and so will give it a chance.
9 pm-- Modern Family! There is also a new show in this hour, Hellcats, about a college cheerleading squad. I am unconvinced but will probably give it a try.
10 pm-- There are three new shows in this hour, all of them law shows. I'm not interested in the new L.A. version of Law and Order. The Whole Truth, in which we see both sides of a murder case, has been done before a few years ago, and as I remember, it was cancelled after only a few weeks. Why try again? My money is on The Defenders, which at least has Jerry O'Connell, Jim Belushi, and Las Vegas to recommend it, and seems like it will be on the lighter side.
Thursday
8 pm-- The Vampire Diaries! And I'm definitely interested in My Generation, a faux documentary that cuts between the class of 2000 as high school seniors and their lives now as grown-ups.
9 pm-- Fringe!
10 pm-- The Mentalist! And I'm also definitely going to check out Love Bites, the new anthology series that tells several different interconnected love stories each hour. It sounds like it will be the Love Boat without the boat.
Friday
8 pm-- Nothing to report here.
9 pm-- There is a new show called Body of Proof, about a brain surgeon who becomes a medical examiner. It's worth a shot, right?
10 pm-- I'm vaguely interested in Blue Bloods just because it stars Tom Selleck. But to tell the truth, I zoned out halfway through the preview and am not really sure what it's about. That's not a good sign, is it?
P.S. Just in case you're interested, here is the tally of shows I'm interested in by network. I think it shows how each network is doing creatively, at least with my demographic.
ABC- 8 (4 new and 4 returning)
CBS- 6 (4 new and 2 returning)
Fox -4 (2 new and 2 returning)
CW- 3 (1 new and 2 returning)
NBC- 3 (2 new and 1 returning)
Monday
8 pm-- Chuck!
9 pm-- Three new shows in this timeslot. The Event is yet another show about a man looking for his missing fiancee who uncovers a big complicated conspiracy. I lost interest in that kind of show a long time ago, and Jason Ritter isn't exactly the kind of actor who's going to draw me in. Mike & Molly is about two plus-sized people who find romance at a Weight Watchers meeting. This one kind of depends on how it's executed. I'm withholding judgment until I see it. The one that I love from the trailer I saw is Lonestar, the story of a bigamist in Texas living a very complicated life. My money is on this one.
10 pm-- Castle! And I'll probably tune in for the first episode of Hawaii Five-O. I've never seen the original, which means I'll be starting out with a clean slate on this one. But with all that gorgeous Hawaiian scenery (not to mention all that gorgeous Alex O'Laughlin scenery!), how can they go wrong?
Tuesday
8 pm-- Glee! And I'm definitely interested in No Ordinary Family, about a family who travels to Brazil and then discovers they all have superpowers.
9 pm-- Life Unexpected! Also in this slot are two new comedies that might be worth a look. Running Wilde, about a man reunited with his childhood love who has just returned from Africa, seems promising. Raising Hope, about a family saddled with an unexpected baby to raise, seems less so.
10 pm-- The Good Wife!
Wednesday
8 pm-- The Middle! I'm also mildly interested in new show The Undercovers, about a husband and wife spy team.
8:30 pm-- Better Together is a new show about an older sister who has decided not to get married and her younger sister who impulsively does. I like some of the people in this one, especially Joanna Garcia, and so will give it a chance.
9 pm-- Modern Family! There is also a new show in this hour, Hellcats, about a college cheerleading squad. I am unconvinced but will probably give it a try.
10 pm-- There are three new shows in this hour, all of them law shows. I'm not interested in the new L.A. version of Law and Order. The Whole Truth, in which we see both sides of a murder case, has been done before a few years ago, and as I remember, it was cancelled after only a few weeks. Why try again? My money is on The Defenders, which at least has Jerry O'Connell, Jim Belushi, and Las Vegas to recommend it, and seems like it will be on the lighter side.
Thursday
8 pm-- The Vampire Diaries! And I'm definitely interested in My Generation, a faux documentary that cuts between the class of 2000 as high school seniors and their lives now as grown-ups.
9 pm-- Fringe!
10 pm-- The Mentalist! And I'm also definitely going to check out Love Bites, the new anthology series that tells several different interconnected love stories each hour. It sounds like it will be the Love Boat without the boat.
Friday
8 pm-- Nothing to report here.
9 pm-- There is a new show called Body of Proof, about a brain surgeon who becomes a medical examiner. It's worth a shot, right?
10 pm-- I'm vaguely interested in Blue Bloods just because it stars Tom Selleck. But to tell the truth, I zoned out halfway through the preview and am not really sure what it's about. That's not a good sign, is it?
P.S. Just in case you're interested, here is the tally of shows I'm interested in by network. I think it shows how each network is doing creatively, at least with my demographic.
ABC- 8 (4 new and 4 returning)
CBS- 6 (4 new and 2 returning)
Fox -4 (2 new and 2 returning)
CW- 3 (1 new and 2 returning)
NBC- 3 (2 new and 1 returning)
Saturday, April 10, 2010
April TV thoughts
It's been a long, long time since I did a post about TV, and since the season is almost over, I think it's a good time to do so. This will probably be majorly long as I try to catch up on a lot of things, but that's what I get for being silent for 6 months! I'm sort of going to do these in random order, so bear with me.
Ugly Betty-- This show really got better this year, and I'm kind of sad it was cancelled, but I'm glad everybody is getting a nice wrap-up. Hilda is finally married, Justin is finally happy, Betty is moving to London, and it looks like she may be heading towards a relationship with Daniel after all. I can't wait to see what the last episode will bring!
Dollhouse-- I really loved this show, but I honestly don't know how much more they could have done with it. In two short seasons they managed to pull out a million plot twists from their bag of tricks. It ended on a kind of strange note, but what did anybody expect?
Eastwick-- I really liked this show at the time, but I haven't lost any sleep over it since it was cancelled. I do wish they'd had a chance to wrap things up better, though. Skipping all the way to the last episode like they did was stupid when it ended on a cliffhanger anyway.
Better Off Ted-- ABC's treatment of this show is breaking my heart! I love it so much, and I can't believe that the network has jerked the fans around as much as they have. I finally just set my DVR to record it any time it's on, because I kept finding out that an episode had been on the next morning when it was too late. Oh well, Hulu got a lot of my business that way! I wonder if they'll ever show the final two episodes, and I wonder if ABC will torture it again next year or let it die a nice dignified death this time. (Although that's definitely not what I want! More Ted, please!)
Chuck-- This show has been a rollercoaster ride this season. It looked for a while like Chuck and Sarah were going to be split apart for a long time, but then unexpectedly, they came back together, for good this time, I hope. It has been a little bit more serious this season and not quite as silly, but as Chuck gets older, I guess it's only right for the show to mature as well. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us for the rest of the season!
Heroes-- I can't mention Chuck without mentioning Heroes in the same breath. I think it ended in a good place, and if it doesn't come back, I'll be ok with that.
Castle-- Now here's a show that I want to come back. (And fortunately, it has already been renewed for next year!) This show is perfection and hearkens back to the great detective shows of the 80's with its blend of humor, seriousness, and romance. I LOVE CASTLE!
Fringe-- This show just keeps getting better as well. I can't help wondering how what Olivia recently learned about Peter will change the show, but somehow I'm sure it'll bring them closer together. They are both different, and we already know they love each other. I loved the conversation they had in the car this week!
Vampire Diaries-- This show has managed to cram about 7 seasons' worth of plot into less than one. I never know what's going to happen, and that's a very good thing, and I'm learning to appreciate Damon much more than I ever thought possible. Another show that I'm very glad to say has already been renewed for next year.
The Good Wife-- I'm not sure what to say about this show. It's always the last thing on my DVR every week, but I always enjoy it while I'm watching it. Is "understated" the right word for that? It's not flashy, but it has surprising depth if you're paying attention.
The Forgotten-- As I've said many times before, I really enjoyed this show. Yet I have to admit that I won't die if it's cancelled, which looks likely at this point.
Modern Family-- I really enjoy this show. The situations are always clever, yet true-to-life.
The Middle-- I also love this show much more than I ever expected to. ABC programmers take note: I always record it and watch it after Modern Family. It flows better that way.
The Mentalist-- This is the opposite of The Good Wife on my DVR. I always watch it quickly and then forget about it. This is a very well-done show, but there isn't really a whole lot of depth to it. (I could be really cynical here and say that's why it's got 16 million viewers!)
Brothers and Sisters-- This show has had so many changes behind the scenes, and I feel like each new person spends most of their tenure trying to undo the changes the previous person made. So now Justin and Rebecca still aren't married, and they lost the baby, and we've forgotten all about his medical school problems, and Holly is everybody's friend somehow, and Kevin and Scotty have forgotten about their surrogate, and Kitty is running for Congress? This is all too confusing for me. Let's hope this show figures out what it wants to be by next season.
Flashforward-- I'm liking this show more than I did at first, but I'm still not exactly sure how it is going to sustain itself. I'm pegging this for a one-season wonder, and I hope they wrap it up well.
V-- I want to like this show, I really do. But I keep thinking about other things while I'm watching it. And that's not a good thing, is it?
Mercy-- I have come to love this show so much. It's one of the few that I always make sure to watch live, because it needs my help with the ratings but also because I need to know what happens right away. The central love story breaks my heart, but it's also very realistically done. I really want them to get together in the end, but I know it'll be a long road, and so this just has to get renewed for next year!
Glee-- It's been so long since this show was on that I've almost forgotten about it, not that I could with the constant articles in the press about it. I hope there's not going to be a big backlash at some point, but to be honest, it seems almost inevitable.
Life Unexpected-- I love this show! The relationship between Baze and Cate is another one that seems inevitable in the far future, so this one must also be renewed.
Ugly Betty-- This show really got better this year, and I'm kind of sad it was cancelled, but I'm glad everybody is getting a nice wrap-up. Hilda is finally married, Justin is finally happy, Betty is moving to London, and it looks like she may be heading towards a relationship with Daniel after all. I can't wait to see what the last episode will bring!
Dollhouse-- I really loved this show, but I honestly don't know how much more they could have done with it. In two short seasons they managed to pull out a million plot twists from their bag of tricks. It ended on a kind of strange note, but what did anybody expect?
Eastwick-- I really liked this show at the time, but I haven't lost any sleep over it since it was cancelled. I do wish they'd had a chance to wrap things up better, though. Skipping all the way to the last episode like they did was stupid when it ended on a cliffhanger anyway.
Better Off Ted-- ABC's treatment of this show is breaking my heart! I love it so much, and I can't believe that the network has jerked the fans around as much as they have. I finally just set my DVR to record it any time it's on, because I kept finding out that an episode had been on the next morning when it was too late. Oh well, Hulu got a lot of my business that way! I wonder if they'll ever show the final two episodes, and I wonder if ABC will torture it again next year or let it die a nice dignified death this time. (Although that's definitely not what I want! More Ted, please!)
Chuck-- This show has been a rollercoaster ride this season. It looked for a while like Chuck and Sarah were going to be split apart for a long time, but then unexpectedly, they came back together, for good this time, I hope. It has been a little bit more serious this season and not quite as silly, but as Chuck gets older, I guess it's only right for the show to mature as well. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us for the rest of the season!
Heroes-- I can't mention Chuck without mentioning Heroes in the same breath. I think it ended in a good place, and if it doesn't come back, I'll be ok with that.
Castle-- Now here's a show that I want to come back. (And fortunately, it has already been renewed for next year!) This show is perfection and hearkens back to the great detective shows of the 80's with its blend of humor, seriousness, and romance. I LOVE CASTLE!
Fringe-- This show just keeps getting better as well. I can't help wondering how what Olivia recently learned about Peter will change the show, but somehow I'm sure it'll bring them closer together. They are both different, and we already know they love each other. I loved the conversation they had in the car this week!
Vampire Diaries-- This show has managed to cram about 7 seasons' worth of plot into less than one. I never know what's going to happen, and that's a very good thing, and I'm learning to appreciate Damon much more than I ever thought possible. Another show that I'm very glad to say has already been renewed for next year.
The Good Wife-- I'm not sure what to say about this show. It's always the last thing on my DVR every week, but I always enjoy it while I'm watching it. Is "understated" the right word for that? It's not flashy, but it has surprising depth if you're paying attention.
The Forgotten-- As I've said many times before, I really enjoyed this show. Yet I have to admit that I won't die if it's cancelled, which looks likely at this point.
Modern Family-- I really enjoy this show. The situations are always clever, yet true-to-life.
The Middle-- I also love this show much more than I ever expected to. ABC programmers take note: I always record it and watch it after Modern Family. It flows better that way.
The Mentalist-- This is the opposite of The Good Wife on my DVR. I always watch it quickly and then forget about it. This is a very well-done show, but there isn't really a whole lot of depth to it. (I could be really cynical here and say that's why it's got 16 million viewers!)
Brothers and Sisters-- This show has had so many changes behind the scenes, and I feel like each new person spends most of their tenure trying to undo the changes the previous person made. So now Justin and Rebecca still aren't married, and they lost the baby, and we've forgotten all about his medical school problems, and Holly is everybody's friend somehow, and Kevin and Scotty have forgotten about their surrogate, and Kitty is running for Congress? This is all too confusing for me. Let's hope this show figures out what it wants to be by next season.
Flashforward-- I'm liking this show more than I did at first, but I'm still not exactly sure how it is going to sustain itself. I'm pegging this for a one-season wonder, and I hope they wrap it up well.
V-- I want to like this show, I really do. But I keep thinking about other things while I'm watching it. And that's not a good thing, is it?
Mercy-- I have come to love this show so much. It's one of the few that I always make sure to watch live, because it needs my help with the ratings but also because I need to know what happens right away. The central love story breaks my heart, but it's also very realistically done. I really want them to get together in the end, but I know it'll be a long road, and so this just has to get renewed for next year!
Glee-- It's been so long since this show was on that I've almost forgotten about it, not that I could with the constant articles in the press about it. I hope there's not going to be a big backlash at some point, but to be honest, it seems almost inevitable.
Life Unexpected-- I love this show! The relationship between Baze and Cate is another one that seems inevitable in the far future, so this one must also be renewed.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
End of October TV post
Here are some updates on what I'm feeling about my slate of TV shows. I'm not going to mention every one, but only the ones where my feelings have changed since last time.
The Forgotten-- I've finally figured out what it is about this show, and it's more than just the Chicago location. It's that they go through each mystery methodically and use logic to solve the cases. Most TV mystery shows these days are more about hunches and improbable coincidences than on good solid sleuthing. What can I say? I'm a very logical person, and I like my mysteries to be the same.
Three Rivers-- I was on the fence about this show, and football overruns have made me give up on it. I don't miss it!
Ugly Betty-- This hadn't started yet last time I posted. The tone has changed a lot since last year. It had become too frothy, and now it is almost too serious. It's clear that this show is on its last legs, and I hope it at least goes out in a satisfying way.
Brothers and Sisters-- It seems like they're trying hard to undo some of the things they did last year. I think Kitty's cancer exists primarily to get her out of that stupid plot where she and Robert weren't getting along. That never felt natural to me anyway. And I wish Kevin and Scotty could for once get a plot of their own, instead of just being stuck a year behind Kitty. She got married, so then they did the next year. She adopted a baby last year, so now they have to. Does that mean Kevin will get some dread disease next year? And I never knew Holly was supposed to be so rich, so it really means nothing to me that she has lost her money.
Dollhouse-- The last episode was awesome and a real game-changer. I can't wait for it to come back from hiatus.
Flashforward-- I continue my love/hate relationship with this show. One week I don't like it at all, and then the next it's great. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on with several of the flash forwards, and I keep watching to find out if I was right.
The Vampire Diaries-- The whole thing with Vicki totally surprised me. I didn't see her getting turned, and in such a casual fashion. And then I totally didn't see her getting staked so soon. I have one question, though. We saw Damon killing the uncle several weeks ago when he escaped. What happened to his body? And hasn't anyone noticed that he's missing?
I'm excited about V starting next week. I never saw the original (movie or TV show), and so it will all be new to me.
The Forgotten-- I've finally figured out what it is about this show, and it's more than just the Chicago location. It's that they go through each mystery methodically and use logic to solve the cases. Most TV mystery shows these days are more about hunches and improbable coincidences than on good solid sleuthing. What can I say? I'm a very logical person, and I like my mysteries to be the same.
Three Rivers-- I was on the fence about this show, and football overruns have made me give up on it. I don't miss it!
Ugly Betty-- This hadn't started yet last time I posted. The tone has changed a lot since last year. It had become too frothy, and now it is almost too serious. It's clear that this show is on its last legs, and I hope it at least goes out in a satisfying way.
Brothers and Sisters-- It seems like they're trying hard to undo some of the things they did last year. I think Kitty's cancer exists primarily to get her out of that stupid plot where she and Robert weren't getting along. That never felt natural to me anyway. And I wish Kevin and Scotty could for once get a plot of their own, instead of just being stuck a year behind Kitty. She got married, so then they did the next year. She adopted a baby last year, so now they have to. Does that mean Kevin will get some dread disease next year? And I never knew Holly was supposed to be so rich, so it really means nothing to me that she has lost her money.
Dollhouse-- The last episode was awesome and a real game-changer. I can't wait for it to come back from hiatus.
Flashforward-- I continue my love/hate relationship with this show. One week I don't like it at all, and then the next it's great. I'm pretty sure I know what's going on with several of the flash forwards, and I keep watching to find out if I was right.
The Vampire Diaries-- The whole thing with Vicki totally surprised me. I didn't see her getting turned, and in such a casual fashion. And then I totally didn't see her getting staked so soon. I have one question, though. We saw Damon killing the uncle several weeks ago when he escaped. What happened to his body? And hasn't anyone noticed that he's missing?
I'm excited about V starting next week. I never saw the original (movie or TV show), and so it will all be new to me.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Mid-October TV roundup
Ok, every show I wanted to watch, with the exception of Ugly Betty, has now premiered, so I thought I'd give you a summary of my thoughts. I'll go by night because it seems to work best that way.
Monday
Heroes-- This show is getting better and better and is actually fun to watch again. Too bad that I may be the only person still watching it!
Castle-- I love this show! Great mysteries and Moonlighting-like chemistry between the leads. What more could I ask for?
Tuesday
The Forgotten-- I know I'm not supposed to like this show, but something about it continues to appeal to me. It may be as simple as the Chicago locations and the fact that I still have a soft spot for that city. All I know is that I keep watching it every week!
The Good Wife-- This show is understated and shows more of the courtroom side of things than most mysteries these days. It kind of reminds me of Matlock. I think that my father would like it very much. I am not crazy about it, but it's well-done enough that I keep watching it for now.
Wednesday
Mercy-- I like this show. It reminds me of Grey's Anatomy in its first season, before it became entirely about sex and improbable diseases. The nurses' work and personal lives are well-balanced, and I like that their lives aren't totally intertwined. And James Tupper isn't quite as annoying as he was at first.
Glee-- This show continues to surprise me. But I really, really, really don't want the guidance counselor to marry the coach. I guess such a situation strikes too close to home to funny to me, even in satire.
Hank-- People seem to be beating up on this show for being an old-school sitcom, but there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. I'm going to give it some rope to see if it finds its footing or not.
The Middle-- I don't want to like this show, but yet I keep watching it. I don't usually like this kind of sarcastic family comedy, but it is very well done.
Modern Family-- Now here we go! This show has the right balance of elements of the first two-- a hard and sardonic exterior shell, but with a sweet gooey center.
Eastwick-- I like this show more than I expected to. It's nice, escapist fun, and sometimes that's all you want.
Thursday
Vampire Diaries-- I think a part of me is still stuck back in high school and always will be. Maybe I'm like the vampire in this show, stuck in my teen years forever! At any rate, I do like this show, for the teen element more than the vampire element.
Fringe-- This show is finally hitting its stride! I love the risks they have taken, such as making Olivia walk around with a quad cane for several episodes. Heroes in these kind of action shows always heal impossibly quickly, and heroines hardly ever even get injured, so it's been wonderful to see them make her so human. Olivia Dunham is a real person, not some sex symbol, and it makes me sad that such a large part of the criticism of this show is that she's not "womanly" enough. What do you think a real-life FBI agent is like? And Dana Scully wasn't exactly all pink flounces and giggles either, you know. Another example of how much our culture has changed in the past 20 years.
FlashForward-- To be honest, I was about ready to give up on this show, but this week pulled me in again. Still, there's something about it that's not quite right, and the main reason I keep watching is in the hopes that one day we'll find out what happened.
Community-- Now that they've moved this show to 8 pm, it's in competition with both FlashForward and The Vampire Diaries for my attention. Since I've decided to stick with FlashForward for now, that means Community has to fall out of my line-up. I'm not sure if I'll watch it online or not. Somehow, I think I can live without it.
Parks and Recreation-- See above.
The Mentalist-- This show is as good as ever. Like The Good Wife, I watch it mainly because of the high production values.
Friday
Dollhouse-- This show reset more after the events of the season finale than I would have expected. I do like having Agent Ballard in the Dollhouse now. Since he's so drawn to Echo, it makes sense for him to be her handler. I'm just sad that we've seen so little of Victor and Sierra so far.
Sunday
Three Rivers-- Only one episode in, it's hard to make too many judgments about this show. Honestly, it struck me to be about on a par with Mercy. Do I really want to watch two hospital shows each week? If not, which one will win? Only time will tell!
Brothers and Sisters-- The first episode of the season left me concerned that they've run out of plot. They've found some sort of path since then, but I'm still not exactly sure how much more story this show has. It seems like they've already taken the characters everywhere they need to go.
Monday
Heroes-- This show is getting better and better and is actually fun to watch again. Too bad that I may be the only person still watching it!
Castle-- I love this show! Great mysteries and Moonlighting-like chemistry between the leads. What more could I ask for?
Tuesday
The Forgotten-- I know I'm not supposed to like this show, but something about it continues to appeal to me. It may be as simple as the Chicago locations and the fact that I still have a soft spot for that city. All I know is that I keep watching it every week!
The Good Wife-- This show is understated and shows more of the courtroom side of things than most mysteries these days. It kind of reminds me of Matlock. I think that my father would like it very much. I am not crazy about it, but it's well-done enough that I keep watching it for now.
Wednesday
Mercy-- I like this show. It reminds me of Grey's Anatomy in its first season, before it became entirely about sex and improbable diseases. The nurses' work and personal lives are well-balanced, and I like that their lives aren't totally intertwined. And James Tupper isn't quite as annoying as he was at first.
Glee-- This show continues to surprise me. But I really, really, really don't want the guidance counselor to marry the coach. I guess such a situation strikes too close to home to funny to me, even in satire.
Hank-- People seem to be beating up on this show for being an old-school sitcom, but there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. I'm going to give it some rope to see if it finds its footing or not.
The Middle-- I don't want to like this show, but yet I keep watching it. I don't usually like this kind of sarcastic family comedy, but it is very well done.
Modern Family-- Now here we go! This show has the right balance of elements of the first two-- a hard and sardonic exterior shell, but with a sweet gooey center.
Eastwick-- I like this show more than I expected to. It's nice, escapist fun, and sometimes that's all you want.
Thursday
Vampire Diaries-- I think a part of me is still stuck back in high school and always will be. Maybe I'm like the vampire in this show, stuck in my teen years forever! At any rate, I do like this show, for the teen element more than the vampire element.
Fringe-- This show is finally hitting its stride! I love the risks they have taken, such as making Olivia walk around with a quad cane for several episodes. Heroes in these kind of action shows always heal impossibly quickly, and heroines hardly ever even get injured, so it's been wonderful to see them make her so human. Olivia Dunham is a real person, not some sex symbol, and it makes me sad that such a large part of the criticism of this show is that she's not "womanly" enough. What do you think a real-life FBI agent is like? And Dana Scully wasn't exactly all pink flounces and giggles either, you know. Another example of how much our culture has changed in the past 20 years.
FlashForward-- To be honest, I was about ready to give up on this show, but this week pulled me in again. Still, there's something about it that's not quite right, and the main reason I keep watching is in the hopes that one day we'll find out what happened.
Community-- Now that they've moved this show to 8 pm, it's in competition with both FlashForward and The Vampire Diaries for my attention. Since I've decided to stick with FlashForward for now, that means Community has to fall out of my line-up. I'm not sure if I'll watch it online or not. Somehow, I think I can live without it.
Parks and Recreation-- See above.
The Mentalist-- This show is as good as ever. Like The Good Wife, I watch it mainly because of the high production values.
Friday
Dollhouse-- This show reset more after the events of the season finale than I would have expected. I do like having Agent Ballard in the Dollhouse now. Since he's so drawn to Echo, it makes sense for him to be her handler. I'm just sad that we've seen so little of Victor and Sierra so far.
Sunday
Three Rivers-- Only one episode in, it's hard to make too many judgments about this show. Honestly, it struck me to be about on a par with Mercy. Do I really want to watch two hospital shows each week? If not, which one will win? Only time will tell!
Brothers and Sisters-- The first episode of the season left me concerned that they've run out of plot. They've found some sort of path since then, but I'm still not exactly sure how much more story this show has. It seems like they've already taken the characters everywhere they need to go.
Monday, September 28, 2009
More new shows
I've liberated myself this year and decided not to watch the first episode of shows that I don't expect to like. It's been a wonderful experience so far, but it also means that most of my reviews are going to be positive, since I actually do like most of the shows that I expected to!
The Forgotten-- This show got a lot of bad reviews, but I actually kind of liked it. Maybe it helps that I haven't been watching every episode of every procedural for years and years, but it held my interest, and I plan to keep watching it for a while at least. I must say, though, that Christian Slater does nothing special for me. They could have saved their money and gotten an unknown to play the lead, and I wouldn't have noticed.
The Good Wife-- Everyone said this was the best show of the season, so I was inclined not to like it, but then I watched the first episode and actually did. It does a very good job of blending the different facets of the main character's life. But I've said it before and I'll say it again-- Chris Noth should be playing a lovable jerk, not an actual jerk. He isn't quite the right guy for the role of her smarmy husband.
Modern Family-- For the first episode of a sitcom, this was wonderful! I hope it can keep up this pace in future episodes.
Eastwick-- Another show that didn't get good reviews but that I'm inclined to like. I certainly do like the change in tone over the movie version, that's for sure. I think this could be a fun show!
Mercy-- I'm on the fence about this one, but I'll watch it at least once more. As much as I love James Tupper, though, he doesn't really seem believeable as a doctor. I'm not saying that a guy can't be smart and drop-dead gorgeous at the same time. Eric Bane on Grey's Anatomy pulls it off quite well, and I guess they were going for the same effect when they cast this show. But James Tupper has a "lovable bumbler" quality, and I just can't see him realistically getting all the way through medical school and becoming an army surgeon. The fact that he mumbled all his lines didn't help his case, either!
FlashForward-- This reminded me a lot of the first episode of Invasion. It does make me a little bit nervous that we'll never find out exactly what happened, but it seems like the stakes are low enough in this one that it won't really matter. I'll keep watching it, not because of the mystery, but to find out more about how the characters deal with their visions of the future.
That's it for today. Eventually I'll come back with a post on returning shows and how I feel they're doing, but I suppose I should see a few episodes of each of those before I make up my mind.
The Forgotten-- This show got a lot of bad reviews, but I actually kind of liked it. Maybe it helps that I haven't been watching every episode of every procedural for years and years, but it held my interest, and I plan to keep watching it for a while at least. I must say, though, that Christian Slater does nothing special for me. They could have saved their money and gotten an unknown to play the lead, and I wouldn't have noticed.
The Good Wife-- Everyone said this was the best show of the season, so I was inclined not to like it, but then I watched the first episode and actually did. It does a very good job of blending the different facets of the main character's life. But I've said it before and I'll say it again-- Chris Noth should be playing a lovable jerk, not an actual jerk. He isn't quite the right guy for the role of her smarmy husband.
Modern Family-- For the first episode of a sitcom, this was wonderful! I hope it can keep up this pace in future episodes.
Eastwick-- Another show that didn't get good reviews but that I'm inclined to like. I certainly do like the change in tone over the movie version, that's for sure. I think this could be a fun show!
Mercy-- I'm on the fence about this one, but I'll watch it at least once more. As much as I love James Tupper, though, he doesn't really seem believeable as a doctor. I'm not saying that a guy can't be smart and drop-dead gorgeous at the same time. Eric Bane on Grey's Anatomy pulls it off quite well, and I guess they were going for the same effect when they cast this show. But James Tupper has a "lovable bumbler" quality, and I just can't see him realistically getting all the way through medical school and becoming an army surgeon. The fact that he mumbled all his lines didn't help his case, either!
FlashForward-- This reminded me a lot of the first episode of Invasion. It does make me a little bit nervous that we'll never find out exactly what happened, but it seems like the stakes are low enough in this one that it won't really matter. I'll keep watching it, not because of the mystery, but to find out more about how the characters deal with their visions of the future.
That's it for today. Eventually I'll come back with a post on returning shows and how I feel they're doing, but I suppose I should see a few episodes of each of those before I make up my mind.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
TV update
The fall season is just starting to kick in, and it seems almost a bit too premature to do a post, but if I don't, it's all going to get away from me real quick! First of all, I'm sorry to hear that ABC has apparently pulled the plug on Defying Gravity. I know it was a show that you either loved or hated, but I loved it, and I'm sorry we won't get to finish out the 6-year mission. I wonder if it will continue in Canada, and if so, if we'll ever get to see it on DVD here.
In DVD news, I finished the third season of Northern Exposure. It seems that most of the episodes I remember fondly were in that season; I think it was the peak of the show. The first two seasons were just sort of warm-up, and after this it started to go slowly downhill, what with the breakdown of the Joel/Maggie relationship, and then Joel leaving suddenly as he did. But this season was nigh unto perfect!
I also watched the first season of Jeeves and Wooster. (It was only 5 episodes, so it wasn't a major commitment.) Seeing those two shows at the same time really took me back to my high school days in a good way. It seems like my only really happy memories from those days are related to TV; it was my comfort when the rest of my life seemed confusing and full of trials. I suppose that's true for many people my age.
I have also been catching up with season 5 of Angel on TNT. Three more episodes and I'm done. It's clear that nobody realized the show was going to end; most of this season has seemed like a set-up for season 6, which obviously never happened. I'm curious to know more about the comic books, though.
A few new shows premiered last week. I work on Tuesday nights, so I didn't bother to watch Melrose Place, and I hear it's nothing special. I did watch Glee, though, which I'm still enjoying, and The Vampire Diaries. All I can say about that first episode was that it was a classic WB first episode, straight from the Smallville/Buffy playbook, but those turned out to be pretty good shows, so I'll keep watching for now.
Well, there you have it. I'm sure I'll be back soon with more info on more new shows.
In DVD news, I finished the third season of Northern Exposure. It seems that most of the episodes I remember fondly were in that season; I think it was the peak of the show. The first two seasons were just sort of warm-up, and after this it started to go slowly downhill, what with the breakdown of the Joel/Maggie relationship, and then Joel leaving suddenly as he did. But this season was nigh unto perfect!
I also watched the first season of Jeeves and Wooster. (It was only 5 episodes, so it wasn't a major commitment.) Seeing those two shows at the same time really took me back to my high school days in a good way. It seems like my only really happy memories from those days are related to TV; it was my comfort when the rest of my life seemed confusing and full of trials. I suppose that's true for many people my age.
I have also been catching up with season 5 of Angel on TNT. Three more episodes and I'm done. It's clear that nobody realized the show was going to end; most of this season has seemed like a set-up for season 6, which obviously never happened. I'm curious to know more about the comic books, though.
A few new shows premiered last week. I work on Tuesday nights, so I didn't bother to watch Melrose Place, and I hear it's nothing special. I did watch Glee, though, which I'm still enjoying, and The Vampire Diaries. All I can say about that first episode was that it was a classic WB first episode, straight from the Smallville/Buffy playbook, but those turned out to be pretty good shows, so I'll keep watching for now.
Well, there you have it. I'm sure I'll be back soon with more info on more new shows.
Monday, August 17, 2009
An easy explanation
This article from The Hollywood Reporter asks why all the new shows this summer have been getting such bad ratings. I can answer that question easily-- because I haven't been at home to watch them! I hope they don't take it personally.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
My TV catch-up post
Ok, so if I can't be persuaded to say anything rational or informative about my personal life (and it just seems like it would be a great big jinx to do so!), at least I can tell you what's been going on in my world of TV. To start with, I have a lot of new hardware. Last week my new TV arrived: a 24" Viewsonic. It's taking some getting used to the finer points of its operation, but there's no going back. The old one has gone back into the box and is never coming out again! (And if anyone out there would like to take it off my hands, please let me know. Right now it's just taking up space.) Then I got my digital cable and DVR. They are also taking some getting used to, but again, there's no going back. And yesterday my Roku box arrived, which will allow me to watch instant Netflix movies on my TV. I haven't gotten it hooked up properly yet, but it's just a matter of needing to go out and buy the right cables. I'll probably do so tomorrow!
So what have I been watching since I got back? Well, I saw the Doctor Who special "Planet of the Dead." It was only so-so, in my opinion, but I did like Lady Christina a lot. On the other hand, Torchwood: Children of Earth was riveting. I agree with everyone who says they can't understand what the new season would be like now, but I'm glad they took the kind of risks they did. In my opinion, they really paid off.
In ongoing series news, I finally got to see the last two episodes of Season 2 of Primeval, and I was underwhelmed. I'm not sure how excited I am to see Season 3 at this point. I felt exactly the opposite about Better Off Ted, though. In just the last week, I caught up with all six of the episodes I had missed, and I thought they were great. Now I'm really sad that there won't be any more until January!
I've tried a couple of new series, too. Being Human is a new show on BBC America (yes, I have that channel back again, finally!) that I'm really loving, about a ghost, a vampire, and a werewolf who all live together. From that premise, I thought it would be a comedy, but it's actually your typical British drama in the Torchwood vein. I've seen the first three episodes, and after I watch the one that aired last night, I'll be all caught up, which means I have to wait another week to see another one, and I'm sad about that!
The other new show is Defying Gravity, which I'd heard mixed things about and didn't really expect to like. But three episodes in and I'm hooked! (Again, I've caught up to this show in real time and am now going to have to wait for new episodes.) It's about a group of astronauts who have just left on a mission to visit all the planets of the solar system in 6 years. It alternates scenes of life on the ship, life back home on the ground, and flashbacks of things that happened when the group first met during training. All these are mixed together in a sophisticated way that's more subtle than the kinds of flashbacks that usually happen on TV; it's more like reading a postmodern short story. I hear it hasn't been getting good ratings, but maybe now that I'm back that'll all change!
A new show that I'd planned to watch when I got back is Warehouse 13, but now I'm not sure if I'm going to or not. I've already missed 5 episodes, and while they are all available on Hulu, I'm just not sure if it's worth my time investment to watch them or not. I've yet to meet anyone who says that it's "must-see," but if any of you readers feel that way, please do let me know.
I'd also hoped to find the pilot of Virtuality, but from what I can tell it's not available online anywhere. I'd heard that it would really break my heart to never know what else was going to happen after the pilot was over, but I still wanted to see it for myself, and now I guess I will be spared the heartache.
In DVD news, I've started on season 3 of Northern Exposure, thanks to the dear man I visited while I was at home in North Dakota. I continue to love this show so much, and a lot of what was over my head when I was a high school student now impresses me with its sophistication and wit. They may have been in the middle of nowhere, but Cicely was no backwater! And 1991 doesn't seem that long ago to me until I see the fashions that everyone was wearing, especially Maggie. Her clothes were supposed to be non-descript and blend right into the wordwork, not fashion-forward in any sense, and yet now I can't help noticing how extremely 1991 they are!
As you can tell I've been making up for lost time, and I plan to do more of that in the 3 weeks before school starts. Once that happens, all bets are off!
So what have I been watching since I got back? Well, I saw the Doctor Who special "Planet of the Dead." It was only so-so, in my opinion, but I did like Lady Christina a lot. On the other hand, Torchwood: Children of Earth was riveting. I agree with everyone who says they can't understand what the new season would be like now, but I'm glad they took the kind of risks they did. In my opinion, they really paid off.
In ongoing series news, I finally got to see the last two episodes of Season 2 of Primeval, and I was underwhelmed. I'm not sure how excited I am to see Season 3 at this point. I felt exactly the opposite about Better Off Ted, though. In just the last week, I caught up with all six of the episodes I had missed, and I thought they were great. Now I'm really sad that there won't be any more until January!
I've tried a couple of new series, too. Being Human is a new show on BBC America (yes, I have that channel back again, finally!) that I'm really loving, about a ghost, a vampire, and a werewolf who all live together. From that premise, I thought it would be a comedy, but it's actually your typical British drama in the Torchwood vein. I've seen the first three episodes, and after I watch the one that aired last night, I'll be all caught up, which means I have to wait another week to see another one, and I'm sad about that!
The other new show is Defying Gravity, which I'd heard mixed things about and didn't really expect to like. But three episodes in and I'm hooked! (Again, I've caught up to this show in real time and am now going to have to wait for new episodes.) It's about a group of astronauts who have just left on a mission to visit all the planets of the solar system in 6 years. It alternates scenes of life on the ship, life back home on the ground, and flashbacks of things that happened when the group first met during training. All these are mixed together in a sophisticated way that's more subtle than the kinds of flashbacks that usually happen on TV; it's more like reading a postmodern short story. I hear it hasn't been getting good ratings, but maybe now that I'm back that'll all change!
A new show that I'd planned to watch when I got back is Warehouse 13, but now I'm not sure if I'm going to or not. I've already missed 5 episodes, and while they are all available on Hulu, I'm just not sure if it's worth my time investment to watch them or not. I've yet to meet anyone who says that it's "must-see," but if any of you readers feel that way, please do let me know.
I'd also hoped to find the pilot of Virtuality, but from what I can tell it's not available online anywhere. I'd heard that it would really break my heart to never know what else was going to happen after the pilot was over, but I still wanted to see it for myself, and now I guess I will be spared the heartache.
In DVD news, I've started on season 3 of Northern Exposure, thanks to the dear man I visited while I was at home in North Dakota. I continue to love this show so much, and a lot of what was over my head when I was a high school student now impresses me with its sophistication and wit. They may have been in the middle of nowhere, but Cicely was no backwater! And 1991 doesn't seem that long ago to me until I see the fashions that everyone was wearing, especially Maggie. Her clothes were supposed to be non-descript and blend right into the wordwork, not fashion-forward in any sense, and yet now I can't help noticing how extremely 1991 they are!
As you can tell I've been making up for lost time, and I plan to do more of that in the 3 weeks before school starts. Once that happens, all bets are off!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A handy cheat sheet
If you've ever thought, "I wish I could keep track of all the science fiction and fantasy shows out there, but it's too much work," then this chart is for you!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
A look ahead to the new fall TV season
Just like last year, I'm going to go through the schedule night by night and tell you what I like and what I don't. If I already have an established show in a slot, I won't talk about the new shows, but if I have an opening, I'll discuss all the alternatives in that slot, since it seems fairest that way.
Monday
8:oo-- No contest here. Heroes it is!
9:00-- The only new show in this slot is Trauma, which doesn't look at all like the kind of thing I'd like. I may or may not bother to watch the first episode.
10:00-- Castle. Woo hoo!
Tuesday
8:00-- Nothing to report.
9:00-- Two options, neither of which I like: the new version of Melrose Place, and the new version of NCIS. I predict that my TV dial will remain in the off position.
10:00-- There are two new shows in this hour. The Good Wife stars Juliana Marguiles as a political wife who goes back to her career as a lawyer after her husband is impeached. It seems only slightly interesting, but Chris Noth plays her husband, and I like him. I just don't think I want to see him playing a dirtbag of a character! The other choice is The Forgotten, a show about a group of amateur investigators who reopen cold cases. I'm honestly not sure which, if any, of these shows I'll end up watching.
Wednesday
8:00-- Two choices here: Parenthood, which I already discussed, and which I like more for its cast than its premise, and the sitcom pairing of Hank with The Middle. Hank stars Kelsey Grammar as a tycoon who goes bankrupt and relocates to his old hometown. The previews look ok. The Middle stars Patricia Heaton as the typical harried housewife and mother. The previews don't enchant me. So do I go with the one-hour show that I like or the half-hour show that I like? Only time will tell.
9:00-- Lots of choices here: Glee, the high school choir show that was previewed this week after American Idol, and which I think is uneven but shows promise. Beautiful Life, a show about models starring Mischa Barton, which I don't expect to like and didn't do anything to win me over with its previews. Or the sitcom pairing of Modern Family, a mockumentary about 3 very different families, and Cougar Town, a show with Courtney Cox as a divorcee looking for love with younger men. I'm about 95% sure I'll go with Glee.
10:00-- The only new show is Eastwick, a remake of the novel and movie. I'm not sure why they decided to make this at this exact moment, but it could be fun in a campy way, so I'm game to try it.
Thursday
8:00-- Some choices here, too. The Vampire Diaries, a sort of Twilight knockoff about a vampire and the teenage girl who loves him. I wasn't expecting much from this, but the previews are oddly compelling. Flash Forward, a story about what happens when everyone on the planet experiences a simultaneous vision of the future. Or the sitcom pairing of Community, which I mentioned before and looks really funny, and Parks and Recreation, which I started watching, gave up on, but am willing to give another shot. It figures that there would be three good shows on at the same time, right? I don't know what I'll do here.
9:00-- Fringe, of course!
10:00-- I'm willing to give The Mentalist another try, now that it's not in direct competition with Fringe. From what I saw during the time Fringe was in repeats, it was a pretty good show.
Friday
8:00-- There's a new sitcom called Brothers about a former NFL star who moves home to live with his (you guessed it!) brother, but I don't expect much from it.
9:00-- This is my only hour with a conflict between two shows I watch now. Ugly Betty vs. Dollhouse. Since I'll have no problem watching one of them over the weekend, this doesn't seem like a problem.
10:00--Absolutamente nada.
Sunday
8:00-- The Simpsons is still on my list of shows I theoretically watch, and after that comes the Cleveland Show, a spinoff of Family Guy. Since I don't watch that show, will I understand?
9:00-- Three Rivers is a medical drama starring Alex O'Loughlin from Moonlight. He had me at hello.
10:00-- Brothers and Sisters, indubitably.
Well, there you have it. This season looks even less interesting than last, although I'm sure I'll have a few surprises, as I always do.
Monday
8:oo-- No contest here. Heroes it is!
9:00-- The only new show in this slot is Trauma, which doesn't look at all like the kind of thing I'd like. I may or may not bother to watch the first episode.
10:00-- Castle. Woo hoo!
Tuesday
8:00-- Nothing to report.
9:00-- Two options, neither of which I like: the new version of Melrose Place, and the new version of NCIS. I predict that my TV dial will remain in the off position.
10:00-- There are two new shows in this hour. The Good Wife stars Juliana Marguiles as a political wife who goes back to her career as a lawyer after her husband is impeached. It seems only slightly interesting, but Chris Noth plays her husband, and I like him. I just don't think I want to see him playing a dirtbag of a character! The other choice is The Forgotten, a show about a group of amateur investigators who reopen cold cases. I'm honestly not sure which, if any, of these shows I'll end up watching.
Wednesday
8:00-- Two choices here: Parenthood, which I already discussed, and which I like more for its cast than its premise, and the sitcom pairing of Hank with The Middle. Hank stars Kelsey Grammar as a tycoon who goes bankrupt and relocates to his old hometown. The previews look ok. The Middle stars Patricia Heaton as the typical harried housewife and mother. The previews don't enchant me. So do I go with the one-hour show that I like or the half-hour show that I like? Only time will tell.
9:00-- Lots of choices here: Glee, the high school choir show that was previewed this week after American Idol, and which I think is uneven but shows promise. Beautiful Life, a show about models starring Mischa Barton, which I don't expect to like and didn't do anything to win me over with its previews. Or the sitcom pairing of Modern Family, a mockumentary about 3 very different families, and Cougar Town, a show with Courtney Cox as a divorcee looking for love with younger men. I'm about 95% sure I'll go with Glee.
10:00-- The only new show is Eastwick, a remake of the novel and movie. I'm not sure why they decided to make this at this exact moment, but it could be fun in a campy way, so I'm game to try it.
Thursday
8:00-- Some choices here, too. The Vampire Diaries, a sort of Twilight knockoff about a vampire and the teenage girl who loves him. I wasn't expecting much from this, but the previews are oddly compelling. Flash Forward, a story about what happens when everyone on the planet experiences a simultaneous vision of the future. Or the sitcom pairing of Community, which I mentioned before and looks really funny, and Parks and Recreation, which I started watching, gave up on, but am willing to give another shot. It figures that there would be three good shows on at the same time, right? I don't know what I'll do here.
9:00-- Fringe, of course!
10:00-- I'm willing to give The Mentalist another try, now that it's not in direct competition with Fringe. From what I saw during the time Fringe was in repeats, it was a pretty good show.
Friday
8:00-- There's a new sitcom called Brothers about a former NFL star who moves home to live with his (you guessed it!) brother, but I don't expect much from it.
9:00-- This is my only hour with a conflict between two shows I watch now. Ugly Betty vs. Dollhouse. Since I'll have no problem watching one of them over the weekend, this doesn't seem like a problem.
10:00--Absolutamente nada.
Sunday
8:00-- The Simpsons is still on my list of shows I theoretically watch, and after that comes the Cleveland Show, a spinoff of Family Guy. Since I don't watch that show, will I understand?
9:00-- Three Rivers is a medical drama starring Alex O'Loughlin from Moonlight. He had me at hello.
10:00-- Brothers and Sisters, indubitably.
Well, there you have it. This season looks even less interesting than last, although I'm sure I'll have a few surprises, as I always do.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A little something to keep you busy
By the way, if you're interested in that sort of thing, this is the best compilation I've found of TV show previews put out by the various networks. I haven't had a chance to watch them yet, since I'm at work, but I'll let you know my feelings when I do.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is
Ok, so maybe I was a bit optimistic with my previous post, and I don't really have 11 returning shows in the fall at all. First off, it's looking like Privileged isn't coming back after all. (The jury is still out on Reaper, from what I understand.) Second, Chuck and Better Off Ted are being held as midseason replacements, while Friday Night Lights probably won't return until next summer! So my count is actually 6, not 11, which is still better than most years. And the only conflict is Ugly Betty and Dollhouse, which are both airing on Fridays at 9. This conflict is easily resolved, though. I shall watch Dollhouse live (because they need all the live viewing they can get) and tape Ugly Betty to watch over the weekend. Unless I get digital cable again, which I've been considering, and which would mean that I couldn't tape one thing and watch another. But I'm sure Ugly Betty would be available online as it always has been, so there's no conflict there either.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
I can't believe my ears
In the last couple of days, we've suddenly had news that a whole bunch of shows I like are being renewed. Not everything is official, of course, but it looks like this is a list of the shows I like that will be coming back.
Better Off Ted, Brothers and Sisters, Castle, Ugly Betty, Dollhouse, Fringe, Chuck, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, and possibly Privileged and Reaper
That's 11 shows! I don't think I've ever in my life had 11 shows I like come back. It's an embarrassment of riches! But this also means I'm going to have to change my strategy. In the past few years, I've watched almost literally every new show that came on, because I knew I needed to my options open and continually be adding new elements to replace the ones that kept getting cancelled. I've been open-minded enough to try even shows I was 85% sure I wouldn't like, just in case I was wrong about them, and readers of this blog know that I've picked up a few surprises that way (although I've also sat through my share of turkeys.) Well, if I'm starting the season next year with a slate of 11 shows, that means I'll only have room for a few new ones and have to be much more selective in what I pick. It'll mean adapting to a whole new way of thinking, but I'm willing to give it a try.
Better Off Ted, Brothers and Sisters, Castle, Ugly Betty, Dollhouse, Fringe, Chuck, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, and possibly Privileged and Reaper
That's 11 shows! I don't think I've ever in my life had 11 shows I like come back. It's an embarrassment of riches! But this also means I'm going to have to change my strategy. In the past few years, I've watched almost literally every new show that came on, because I knew I needed to my options open and continually be adding new elements to replace the ones that kept getting cancelled. I've been open-minded enough to try even shows I was 85% sure I wouldn't like, just in case I was wrong about them, and readers of this blog know that I've picked up a few surprises that way (although I've also sat through my share of turkeys.) Well, if I'm starting the season next year with a slate of 11 shows, that means I'll only have room for a few new ones and have to be much more selective in what I pick. It'll mean adapting to a whole new way of thinking, but I'm willing to give it a try.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Season Finale Fever
So many shows have been having their season finales, and I decided I should talk about them and my feelings about the season as a whole. So here goes.
- Chuck-- I don't want this show to end, but if it did, the penultimate episode would have been the place to do it. Everything tied up so neatly with a bow that it was kind of confusing that there was another episode after that. So if the show is cancelled, I'll just pretend the real finale never happened! If it does come back, I'm honestly not sure what will happen in the future, and that's pretty exciting. And I really, really, really hope that Chuck and Sarah one day get to finish what they started in that motel room!
- Heroes-- I feel like the net sum of this season was zero. A lot of things happened only to be reversed in the end. Sure, a few minor characters died, but otherwise, all that running around through corridors didn't really achieve anything of lasting importance. Except for the twist with Sylar/Nathan. That's something I didn't see coming at all, and I wonder how this is going to play out in the future.
- Castle-- I didn't expect much from this show when it first came on, but it's really snuck up on me. There was no immediate chemistry between the leads as on Moonlighting, but they actually did develop something special along the way, and maybe it feels more real because it wasn't just love at first sight. Castle has demonstrated that he really cares about Beckett and her well-being, such as that episode when her ex-boyfriend with the FBI showed up. He was willing to put aside his cheeky ways and be what she needed him to be in front of company, and that says something about him. I also like how the ex-boyfriend didn't try to break them up, but instead encouraged her to give Castle a chance. That seems more like something that might happen in real-life than the pointless horn-locking that most shows would have given us.
- Fringe-- The season finale blew me away! A lot of people have been upset with this show because they think it isn't moving fast enough and didn't like the "case-of-the-week" episodes, seeing them as filler. I'm not one of those people, and I was perfectly fine with the way the show was going, but they certainly did kick everything up a notch with the finale, and now even the nay-sayers are impressed. Clearly, they've known where this was heading the whole time, and it will be interesting to see what territory they cover next season.
- Cupid-- To be honest, I'm still not feeling any chemistry whatsoever between the leads, but I don't know that that's such a bad thing. In the finale, I actually thought the show was moving in a different direction and going to set our fair doctor up with that actuary, and I was kind of disappointed when he turned out to be a jerk. But I don't actually think the show needs any romance between Trevor and Claire, because the romance of the week is plenty! I love watching all the couples get together, and I'm sorry that this show probably isn't coming back next year.
- Life-- This was a long time ago, but I didn't talk about it then, so I'll mention it now. I'm so glad they were able to end the season with Reese and Crews back together, if only for a moment. It was a powerful moment, and Charlie's abandoning his Zen training to kill his kidnappers was also powerful. Who would ever have thought murdering someone could be life-affirming, but it signified the end of his detachment from the world and his willingness to fight for his life. It really did seem like a series finale, so I can live with it if this show doesn't come back, although of course I still want it to.
- Dollhouse-- This finale was also a game-changer, and I'm not sure where this show will be going if it comes back either.
- Friday Night Lights-- We know this show is coming back, but the future as far as what characters we end up following remains to be seen after the finale. Will we just follow Coach Taylor at his new job, or will Tami keep working at the old school and thus give them divided loyalties and us a window into both schools? It all remains to be seen.
- Brothers and Sisters-- I'm glad we got a real goodbye for Tommy; it also seems like they've left the door open for him to return in the future if he wants to. I wonder how long it will take for Justin and Rebecca to get married, and how many bumps they'll have along the way. Is Ryan going to turn out to be evil? Even Holly is scared of him now, and that's saying something! I wonder what will happen with Kitty as well. Does Rob Lowe want to leave the show? That's the only explanation I can find for her character's sudden reversals.
Friday, May 8, 2009
My thoughts on the Dollhouse
So I woke up this morning, realized that tonight would be the season finale of Dollhouse, and actually started to feel a little excited. So many people have such conflicting feelings about this show, so I thought it would be a good moment for me to analyze mine, which I really haven't done before.
A lot of people are really wierded out by the premise, and they seem to be focusing on the sexual aspects of the show to the exclusion of all else, thinking of the Dolls as nothing but very expensive sex slaves. I don't share this view. First of all, fiction is different than real life, and this is something that all science fiction fans should realize but I think a lot have forgotten. In the 1960's and 70's (and even earlier, I guess, with the likes of George Orwell), science fiction was a way for people to explore social problems in a less-threatening way than talking about them in real life. Does anybody seriously think that George Orwell was advocating that we would all like to live like they do in 1984 or Animal Farm? I certainly hope not! Instead, he was just pointing out what might happen if we did live in societies like those. In the same way, Joss Whedon is pointing out what probably would happen if we could control people as utterly as the Dollhouse controls the Dolls. That isn't the same as saying that he'd like it! And if it makes you feel a little icky inside sometimes, maybe that's the point.
Second, usually when people are focusing on sex to the exclusion of all else, it reflects something in their own mind rather than in the actual work they're studying, and I think I see that happening here with the people who criticize Dollhouse for its sexual content. We haven't really seen that much, and most of it was in the early episodes when we know Fox was meddling with the show and probably trying to make it sexier than it really is. So if you imagine that tons and tons of sex is going on in all the moments that we don't see, that says more about your dirty mind than it does about the show. And as far as Sierra's abuse by her handler goes, see the above paragraph. Sometimes you have to take your characters to bad places before you can save them, capiche?
Another criticism of the show is that nothing much happened at first. It seems like everybody expects instant gratification these days. But watching a Whedon show is more like watching a time-lapse photograph of a flower blossoming. At first it looks like nothing is happening at all, and then you notice things moving very slowly, and then all of a sudden, wham! It opens up in the blink of an eye. I think the first season of Dollhouse has been like that. Lots of things happened at first that seemed like they were meaningless, but now we're getting the payoff for a lot of those things all at once.
So I'm very excited to watch the finale tonight and see where we've been being led all this time. I hope you will join me!
A lot of people are really wierded out by the premise, and they seem to be focusing on the sexual aspects of the show to the exclusion of all else, thinking of the Dolls as nothing but very expensive sex slaves. I don't share this view. First of all, fiction is different than real life, and this is something that all science fiction fans should realize but I think a lot have forgotten. In the 1960's and 70's (and even earlier, I guess, with the likes of George Orwell), science fiction was a way for people to explore social problems in a less-threatening way than talking about them in real life. Does anybody seriously think that George Orwell was advocating that we would all like to live like they do in 1984 or Animal Farm? I certainly hope not! Instead, he was just pointing out what might happen if we did live in societies like those. In the same way, Joss Whedon is pointing out what probably would happen if we could control people as utterly as the Dollhouse controls the Dolls. That isn't the same as saying that he'd like it! And if it makes you feel a little icky inside sometimes, maybe that's the point.
Second, usually when people are focusing on sex to the exclusion of all else, it reflects something in their own mind rather than in the actual work they're studying, and I think I see that happening here with the people who criticize Dollhouse for its sexual content. We haven't really seen that much, and most of it was in the early episodes when we know Fox was meddling with the show and probably trying to make it sexier than it really is. So if you imagine that tons and tons of sex is going on in all the moments that we don't see, that says more about your dirty mind than it does about the show. And as far as Sierra's abuse by her handler goes, see the above paragraph. Sometimes you have to take your characters to bad places before you can save them, capiche?
Another criticism of the show is that nothing much happened at first. It seems like everybody expects instant gratification these days. But watching a Whedon show is more like watching a time-lapse photograph of a flower blossoming. At first it looks like nothing is happening at all, and then you notice things moving very slowly, and then all of a sudden, wham! It opens up in the blink of an eye. I think the first season of Dollhouse has been like that. Lots of things happened at first that seemed like they were meaningless, but now we're getting the payoff for a lot of those things all at once.
So I'm very excited to watch the finale tonight and see where we've been being led all this time. I hope you will join me!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
NBC's first try at an upfront
So NBC attempted to tell us about their new fall schedule on Monday. I say "attempted" because they didn't actually tell us the fate of all their shows, or exactly what they were going to do in the fall, or even give us an idea of what their schedule would be, and I feel they lost some credibility in the process. It's like the kid who volunteers to do his presentation first in class and then spends 10 minutes looking for his Powerpoint on his flash drive.
At any rate, NBC did tell us about 6 new shows they plan to showcase next year, and Hulu has previews of (almost) all of them. So here are my thoughts on them after taking a peek.
At any rate, NBC did tell us about 6 new shows they plan to showcase next year, and Hulu has previews of (almost) all of them. So here are my thoughts on them after taking a peek.
- Community-- This is the show that everybody seems to like the most, and I agree. It's about students at a community college, seen from the point of view of a lawyer who was just disbarred and has to find a new line of work. The big headliner in this one is Chevy Chase, who plays the retiree who goes back to school to expand his horizons, a stock character that every real-life college I've attended has at least one of. (Is it really possible that Chevy has become that old? Apparently!) This looks like it should be a lot of fun, and I will definitely try to tune in. If only I knew when it would be on!
- Parenthood-- It's a little baffling to most people why NBC would decide to remake a 20-year-old movie, especially one they've actually attempted as a TV series before, but this one doesn't actually look so bad. From what I could tell from the preview, it has very little in common with the actual movie. (Full disclosure: despite two attempts, I have never made it past the first half hour of the movie.) The thing that made me decide to give this a try is the number of big name TV stars they have here: Craig T. Nelson, Peter Krause, and Erika Christensen being at the top of the list. I've loved Erika ever since Six Degrees, and so I'd love to see her get another shot at a series. Same goes with Peter Krause from Dirty Sexy Money.
- Mercy-- I wasn't expecting to like this show about nurses, but the preview sucked me in. I have to admit the big draw is James Tupper. Swoon!
- 100 Questions-- This seems somewhat similar to The Ex-List, but hopefully being a sitcom instead of a dramedy will improve the premise in some way. A woman has to answer 100 questions from a computer dating service, and apparently each question will take one full episode, in which she relives her past, to answer. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my patience with this one, but it could be saved if it's really, really funny.
- Day One-- This is the only show that had no preview, because it's not set to start until after the Winter Olympics are over. From what we know, it's about a group of friends and how they react after some kind of natural disaster and/or nuclear holocaust that destroys civilization. We've all seen this concept a million times before, in iterations both sublime and sucky, so it all depends on how this show is made, and that's something we don't know yet.
- Trauma-- An ambulance crew. A lot of yelling and a lot of gore. No thank you, please.
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