Tuesday, October 05, 2010
What's new on TV this season?
Here's my latest article for But You Don't Look Sick:
TV Review: Prime Time Network New Fall Shows, 2010
There are a plethora of new shows which debuted during prime time on network television in September, over 20 of them in fact. Unfortunately, I stopped watching the networks this summer because I don't care for repeats or reality shows, so I missed the promos that advertised the beginning of the CW new season, which started on September 9. But I did manage to catch the premieres of several series airing on September 20 or later. I skipped any that were on at the same time as my favorite returning shows, which left me with a grand total of eight new programs on various networks in various genres that interested me. What follows is a mini-review of each.
"The Event", NBC, 9PM Eastern on Mondays. This show had a great deal of pre-season promotional hype that was so vague that I didn't even know what genre to expect: a political thriller, family drama, science fiction? Turns out there was a good reason for the vagueness, because it's actually all three, and to give away plot details would spoil the excitement. Here are the basics: Jason Ritter (son of John Ritter) plays a young man who goes on a Caribbean cruise with his girlfriend with the intention of proposing to her. But his girlfriend vanishes from the ship while he is on a day trip, and the cruise staff has no record of her even being a passenger. Scott Patterson (who was Luke on "Gilmore Girls") plays the father of the girl who vanished. He is an airline pilot whose life takes a very surprising turn. Blair Underwood plays the President of the United States who made an unpopular decision regarding illegal detainees. He is on his way to a press conference when "the event" for which the show is named takes place, putting him and his family in danger. Turns out these circumstances are all related.
I was intrigued enough by the pilot episode to see if the following week brought any revelations or just more questions. I was pleased to see some of the puzzle pieces starting to come into place. Turns out the detainees have something to do with the attempt on the President's life, or at least the successful thwarting of the attempt. Here is where the science fiction aspect comes in. The true nature of the detainees and the shocking conclusion of the second episode hooked me; I have set up my DVR to record the series.
My only gripe with "The Event" is that it jumps around too much in time and story line, making it a challenge for someone with cognitive dysfunction to keep up. If you have this sort of problem, I recommend you record it so that you can re-watch portions if necessary to keep track of what happened when. This may become easier as more episodes air and the viewer becomes more invested in the characters.
"Raising Hope", FOX, 9PM Eastern on Tuesdays. This comes from the creator of "My Name Is Earl". Like "Earl", this is a half-hour comedy featuring outrageous characters and situations. In it, a young man who still lives at home has a one-night stand with a young woman who is later revealed to be a criminal who is caught and jailed. A baby results from their encounter, and the young man is left to raise the child in the midst of his extremely dysfunctional family. Martha Plimpton portrays his mom, and her own child rearing skills are so deplorable it's amazing any of her kids survived. Cloris Leachman portrays the senile grandmother who forgets to wear a shirt and chain smokes like a freight train. This show should come with the warning label "don't try this at home". I found the pilot episode extremely funny, but the second week was considerably less amusing. It is definitely not a model of parental or political correctness. I am going to watch one more week before I decide whether to commit to the season.
"Running Wilde", FOX, 9:30PM Eastern on Tuesdays. This is another half-hour comedy. It stars Will Arnett and Keri Russell in the story of a rich man and a poor woman whose family used to work for that of the rich man when both were kids. They're all grown up now, and Arnett's character is so self-absorbed that he devises a lavish gathering so that he may present himself with a humanitarian award. Russell's character has dedicated herself to a life of activism in the Amazonian rain forest with her eco-terrorist boyfriend and her daughter, who has the unfortunate name of Puddle. Rich man reunites with poor woman, sparks fly, and Puddle engineers a way to stay stateside. Maybe some viewers will find this scenario amusing, but I thought the lack of chemistry between the two leads to be annoying. It was my least favorite of all the new shows I watched.
"Undercovers", NBC, 9PM Eastern on Wednesdays. An hour-long spy drama from the man who brought us "Lost", "Fringe" and "Alias". But this bears no resemblance to the previous shows. This is the semi-lighthearted story of a husband and wife who retired from the CIA when they married and have opened a catering business. Five years into their marriage, they are coaxed back into their old roles, this time working as a team. There is romance, intrigue and action, and I enjoyed it more than I had expected. I had never heard of the lead actors, but they make an attractive and very convincing couple. Throw in an overeager, over-prepared assistant and an aggravating old flame who is assigned to work with them, and you have the makings of a promising series.
"Hawaii Five-O", CBS, 10PM Eastern on Mondays. I was on the fence about whether to watch this "reboot" of the old series, as I don't generally go for cop shows. But it features one of my favorite places, Hawaii. It has the added bonus of Daniel Dae Kim from "Lost". And when I found out that they replaced a male character from the original with Grace Park of "Battlestar Galactica", I decided to take a peek. Everything about the new series is modern day except for the familiar theme music (and the phrase "Book 'em Danno"), and that's not a bad thing. I like the island vibe and the fact that they don't just feature the more glamorous spots in Oahu. There's humor and an interesting crime-solving dynamic between the two main characters. Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park play cousins, the former an experienced but disgraced cop and the latter fresh from the police academy. There are gadgets, unusual tactics, hand to hand combat and fast vehicles. I don't know if I will watch the entire season, but I like it enough after seeing the first two episodes to continue at least for awhile.
"No Ordinary Family", ABC, 8PM Eastern on Tuesdays. This started a week later than the others, so I have only seen the pilot episode. In it, a family of four on vacation crash into the Amazon, but aside from the trauma of near-death, they return home thinking they are unchanged. When they go back to their old routines, each is shocked to discover they have developed a superpower that fills whatever they were lacking in their lives. The dad, who is a police sketch artist wishing he was something more, finds out during a shooting at the station that he can catch bullets and other incredible feats of strength. The mom, who can never seem to get enough done in a single day, now has the ability to move at such high speed that she can almost be two places at once. The daughter, a teen who has trouble judging the true motivations of her friends and boyfriend, discovers that she can read minds. And the son, a teen struggling through school, is suddenly a genius. Will these new talents help or harm the family dynamic? It's too soon to tell from the pilot. But to be honest, I am burned out on the super-hero genre, and the characters didn't intrigue me enough to want to keep watching them each week in an hour-long drama.
"The Whole Truth", ABC, 10PM Eastern on Wednesdays. Rob Morrow from "Northern Exposure" and "Numbers" portrays an aggressive defense lawyer. Maura Tierney plays an equally aggressive prosecuting attorney who is Morrow's former classmate. They butt heads in court on complex cases where the facts are revealed slowly through their opposing viewpoints. If you have ever toyed with the idea of a law career, you could learn a lot from watching how these cases are built, what works in court and what can tear a case apart. The guilt or innocence of the accused is not easily discerned, and only after the verdict is it revealed what really happened. I'm not sure this show will survive given the glut of legal dramas, but you could do a whole lot worse than "The Whole Truth".
"$#*! My Dad Says", CBS, 8:30PM Eastern on Thursdays. As if you couldn't tell from the title, this half-hour comedy is not for the easily offended. It is actually based on a wildly popular Twitter feed. William Shatner plays the title role, an Archie Bunker for the new millennium. His life is turned upside down when his recently unemployed son comes to live with him. Shatner is blunt, outrageous and hilarious, but his character does care about his son in his extremely awkward way, and this is what made the show work for me. Also, I think everyone has a cantankerous relative that reminds them of this dad. I will continue to watch the program and laugh loudly at it.
It remains to be seen how many of these shows will get to run a full season. Two that I missed, "My Generation" and "Lone Star", have already been canceled after just two airings. "The Event" seems to have the best shot in my opinion. If you want to pick up any of the above from the beginning, most if not all should be available for viewing or downloading online. Happy viewing!
TV Review: Prime Time Network New Fall Shows, 2010
There are a plethora of new shows which debuted during prime time on network television in September, over 20 of them in fact. Unfortunately, I stopped watching the networks this summer because I don't care for repeats or reality shows, so I missed the promos that advertised the beginning of the CW new season, which started on September 9. But I did manage to catch the premieres of several series airing on September 20 or later. I skipped any that were on at the same time as my favorite returning shows, which left me with a grand total of eight new programs on various networks in various genres that interested me. What follows is a mini-review of each.
"The Event", NBC, 9PM Eastern on Mondays. This show had a great deal of pre-season promotional hype that was so vague that I didn't even know what genre to expect: a political thriller, family drama, science fiction? Turns out there was a good reason for the vagueness, because it's actually all three, and to give away plot details would spoil the excitement. Here are the basics: Jason Ritter (son of John Ritter) plays a young man who goes on a Caribbean cruise with his girlfriend with the intention of proposing to her. But his girlfriend vanishes from the ship while he is on a day trip, and the cruise staff has no record of her even being a passenger. Scott Patterson (who was Luke on "Gilmore Girls") plays the father of the girl who vanished. He is an airline pilot whose life takes a very surprising turn. Blair Underwood plays the President of the United States who made an unpopular decision regarding illegal detainees. He is on his way to a press conference when "the event" for which the show is named takes place, putting him and his family in danger. Turns out these circumstances are all related.
I was intrigued enough by the pilot episode to see if the following week brought any revelations or just more questions. I was pleased to see some of the puzzle pieces starting to come into place. Turns out the detainees have something to do with the attempt on the President's life, or at least the successful thwarting of the attempt. Here is where the science fiction aspect comes in. The true nature of the detainees and the shocking conclusion of the second episode hooked me; I have set up my DVR to record the series.
My only gripe with "The Event" is that it jumps around too much in time and story line, making it a challenge for someone with cognitive dysfunction to keep up. If you have this sort of problem, I recommend you record it so that you can re-watch portions if necessary to keep track of what happened when. This may become easier as more episodes air and the viewer becomes more invested in the characters.
"Raising Hope", FOX, 9PM Eastern on Tuesdays. This comes from the creator of "My Name Is Earl". Like "Earl", this is a half-hour comedy featuring outrageous characters and situations. In it, a young man who still lives at home has a one-night stand with a young woman who is later revealed to be a criminal who is caught and jailed. A baby results from their encounter, and the young man is left to raise the child in the midst of his extremely dysfunctional family. Martha Plimpton portrays his mom, and her own child rearing skills are so deplorable it's amazing any of her kids survived. Cloris Leachman portrays the senile grandmother who forgets to wear a shirt and chain smokes like a freight train. This show should come with the warning label "don't try this at home". I found the pilot episode extremely funny, but the second week was considerably less amusing. It is definitely not a model of parental or political correctness. I am going to watch one more week before I decide whether to commit to the season.
"Running Wilde", FOX, 9:30PM Eastern on Tuesdays. This is another half-hour comedy. It stars Will Arnett and Keri Russell in the story of a rich man and a poor woman whose family used to work for that of the rich man when both were kids. They're all grown up now, and Arnett's character is so self-absorbed that he devises a lavish gathering so that he may present himself with a humanitarian award. Russell's character has dedicated herself to a life of activism in the Amazonian rain forest with her eco-terrorist boyfriend and her daughter, who has the unfortunate name of Puddle. Rich man reunites with poor woman, sparks fly, and Puddle engineers a way to stay stateside. Maybe some viewers will find this scenario amusing, but I thought the lack of chemistry between the two leads to be annoying. It was my least favorite of all the new shows I watched.
"Undercovers", NBC, 9PM Eastern on Wednesdays. An hour-long spy drama from the man who brought us "Lost", "Fringe" and "Alias". But this bears no resemblance to the previous shows. This is the semi-lighthearted story of a husband and wife who retired from the CIA when they married and have opened a catering business. Five years into their marriage, they are coaxed back into their old roles, this time working as a team. There is romance, intrigue and action, and I enjoyed it more than I had expected. I had never heard of the lead actors, but they make an attractive and very convincing couple. Throw in an overeager, over-prepared assistant and an aggravating old flame who is assigned to work with them, and you have the makings of a promising series.
"Hawaii Five-O", CBS, 10PM Eastern on Mondays. I was on the fence about whether to watch this "reboot" of the old series, as I don't generally go for cop shows. But it features one of my favorite places, Hawaii. It has the added bonus of Daniel Dae Kim from "Lost". And when I found out that they replaced a male character from the original with Grace Park of "Battlestar Galactica", I decided to take a peek. Everything about the new series is modern day except for the familiar theme music (and the phrase "Book 'em Danno"), and that's not a bad thing. I like the island vibe and the fact that they don't just feature the more glamorous spots in Oahu. There's humor and an interesting crime-solving dynamic between the two main characters. Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park play cousins, the former an experienced but disgraced cop and the latter fresh from the police academy. There are gadgets, unusual tactics, hand to hand combat and fast vehicles. I don't know if I will watch the entire season, but I like it enough after seeing the first two episodes to continue at least for awhile.
"No Ordinary Family", ABC, 8PM Eastern on Tuesdays. This started a week later than the others, so I have only seen the pilot episode. In it, a family of four on vacation crash into the Amazon, but aside from the trauma of near-death, they return home thinking they are unchanged. When they go back to their old routines, each is shocked to discover they have developed a superpower that fills whatever they were lacking in their lives. The dad, who is a police sketch artist wishing he was something more, finds out during a shooting at the station that he can catch bullets and other incredible feats of strength. The mom, who can never seem to get enough done in a single day, now has the ability to move at such high speed that she can almost be two places at once. The daughter, a teen who has trouble judging the true motivations of her friends and boyfriend, discovers that she can read minds. And the son, a teen struggling through school, is suddenly a genius. Will these new talents help or harm the family dynamic? It's too soon to tell from the pilot. But to be honest, I am burned out on the super-hero genre, and the characters didn't intrigue me enough to want to keep watching them each week in an hour-long drama.
"The Whole Truth", ABC, 10PM Eastern on Wednesdays. Rob Morrow from "Northern Exposure" and "Numbers" portrays an aggressive defense lawyer. Maura Tierney plays an equally aggressive prosecuting attorney who is Morrow's former classmate. They butt heads in court on complex cases where the facts are revealed slowly through their opposing viewpoints. If you have ever toyed with the idea of a law career, you could learn a lot from watching how these cases are built, what works in court and what can tear a case apart. The guilt or innocence of the accused is not easily discerned, and only after the verdict is it revealed what really happened. I'm not sure this show will survive given the glut of legal dramas, but you could do a whole lot worse than "The Whole Truth".
"$#*! My Dad Says", CBS, 8:30PM Eastern on Thursdays. As if you couldn't tell from the title, this half-hour comedy is not for the easily offended. It is actually based on a wildly popular Twitter feed. William Shatner plays the title role, an Archie Bunker for the new millennium. His life is turned upside down when his recently unemployed son comes to live with him. Shatner is blunt, outrageous and hilarious, but his character does care about his son in his extremely awkward way, and this is what made the show work for me. Also, I think everyone has a cantankerous relative that reminds them of this dad. I will continue to watch the program and laugh loudly at it.
It remains to be seen how many of these shows will get to run a full season. Two that I missed, "My Generation" and "Lone Star", have already been canceled after just two airings. "The Event" seems to have the best shot in my opinion. If you want to pick up any of the above from the beginning, most if not all should be available for viewing or downloading online. Happy viewing!
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