Just when you thought NBC was the only major network with major problems, along comes ABC which had nearly as horrendous a development slate last year and a very real problem with aging serieseseses like Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. Brothers & Sisters finally bit the dust, and it's looking like GA and DH will soon follow. Bearing that in mind, ABC really needs some hits this fall to replace the dinosaurs. Their new slate has some promising pilots, but ABC's schedule doesn't exactly lend itself to hit-making these days, so even the best and brightest are likely to struggle.
After canceling everything but Body of Proof and Happy Endings, ABC has a lot of new shows for the coming year. As with all the other networks, some of the promising options are being held till midseason, but ABC has a good foot forward this fall, Charlie's Angels notwithstanding. Oy.
Here's how the schedule is stacking up for fall (new shows are in caps and the times are Eastern Time):
MONDAY
8/7c Dancing with the Stars
10 pm Castle
TUESDAY
8 pm LAST MAN STANDING
8:30 pm MAN UP
9 pm Dancing with the Stars Results Show
10 pm Body of Proof
WEDNESDAY
8 pm The Middle
8:30 pm SUBURGATORY
9 pm Modern Family
9:30 pm Happy Endings [new time slot]
10 pm REVENGE
THURSDAY
8 pm CHARLIE’S ANGELS
9 pm Grey’s Anatomy
10 pm Private Practice
FRIDAY
8 pm Extreme Makeover: Home Edition [new time slot]
9 pm Shark Tank [new time slot]
10 pm 20/20
SUNDAY
7 pm America’s Funniest Home Videos
8 pm ONCE UPON A TIME
9 pm Desperate Housewives
10 pm PAN AM
They've made some peculiar scheduling choices, I must say... Placing new thriller Revenge after a block of comedies seems like a odd move to me and having new show Charlie's Angels anchor the night on Thursdays rather than feeding off a Grey's lead-in is a bit perplexing. I guess Grey's is in even more trouble than I thought. It's an interesting strategy... whatever it may be.
At any rate, here are the dramas slated for fall:
REVENGE
Description: Stars Emily Van Camp (Brothers & Sisters), Connor Paolo (Gossip Girl), Nick Wechsler (Roswell), Josh Bowman (Make It or Break It) and others. Mike Kelley (Swingtown) wrote the script and will executive-produce.
First Impressions: When the new slate was initially announced, this show had a different, less interesting promo. Based on the new one, I have to admit I'm intrigued. This show is billed as a modern spin on The Count of Monte Cristo, a book I loved, so if they can do the story even partial justice, they're probably in the right ballpark. It's not a literal enough translation to be annoyed by any heavy-handed or missing parallels, it seems, so hopefully they capture the spirit of the thing and play off the beats from the book without pulling everything. I'll cop to being an Everwood fan, and even though Amy was fairly annoying on the show, Emily Van Camp brought as much likability to an unlikable role as she could. I'm not sure she has the gravitas to carry a series like this, but I'm hopeful. The supporting cast looks solid and is populated by the kind of actors you recognize, but don't remember their names. Marc Blucas will only be sucking the life out of every scene in flashbacks, so that's a big help. All in all, I'm not sure how this will work as a multi-year series, but its base concept, at the very least, has me interested. I assume that once the The Count of Monte Cristo elements have been revealed a whole host of other mysteries and scandals will rise up (assuming the show has long enough to get there), but it's hard to tell. It'll be interesting to see how long they draw out the reality of her identity at the very least. With a reputable source material for the foundation of the show, hopefully the writers will have enough of a guide that they can really pull this off and keep the soap opera elements in check. So far, I'm in.
CHARLIE'S ANGELS
Description: Stars Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Rachael Taylor (Grey's Anatomy), Annie Ilonzeh (General Hospital), Ramon Rodriguez (The Wire). Original series producer Leonard Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Smallville's Miles Millar and Al Gough are all producing.
First Impressions: As much as I loved Friday Night Lights and want to give Minka Kelly the benefit of the doubt, this completely unnecessary reboot looks like a substance-less waste of time. I point this out in case "Executive Producer Drew Barrymore" didn't tip you off the probable quality of the show. As with Hawaii Five-O before it, this show appears to be a lot more concerned with looking cool than with telling a good story. It's a cast of beautiful people in a fabulous location with lots of guns and car chases and explosions and crap... which is a set-up that appeals to a whole lotta people. I can see where this show could do pretty well, because there are a lot of viewers out there who are looking for this kind of thing, but I seriously doubt I'll make it past the pilot. I can see where programming that is easy to watch and requires no effort whatsoever has a certain appeal. Sometimes you just don't want to have to try. I get it. But for me, not trying at all generally equals not caring at all. Even my lowest commitment shows tell a good story, even if I don't have to work very hard to watch. From the trailer alone, I'm already bored with this tired routine and the cheesy dialogue. At least Hawaii Five-O has Scott Caan to bring some actual depth and acting ability to the table. Minka, I love you dearly, but this just isn't the role for you, methinks. I honestly don't even want to screen the pilot, I'm not going to lie. I will, of course, but not without bias. I have my fingers crossed that this is secretly excellent, but I'm not holding my breath.
ONCE UPON A TIME
Description: Stars Jennifer Morrison (House), Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love), Lana Parrilla (Swingtown), Robert Carlyle (Stargate Universe) and others. From from Lost scribes Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz who will produce and write.
First Impressions: Um, wow. VERY intrigued. I can't quite tell if this is going to be an amazing and beautiful exercise in literary structure or a disaster, but count me in either way. From what I've heard from people who've seen the pilot, it's definitely the former. I loves me a good fairy tale and this looks like a theatrical blend of fantasy and reality told in a stylized way. It kind of has a Pushing Daisies bent to it, but with a darker lining. Unlike Grimm, NBC's stab at the the blurring of lines between the real world and the storybook, I think Once Upon a Time will actually pull it off. While Lost certainly had its ups and downs, no one can argue that it didn't play with convention in a successful way, so with any hope, the creative team really brings their A-game and makes this work. The cast is excellent, with erstwhile House underling Jennifer Morrison and the always delightful Ginnifer Goodwin (taking a break from her SYTYCD run) at the helm. It'll be nice to see Morrison in a role that doesn't suck. She's a wonderful actress, but often misused or underused. Goodwin is a pure delight anyway you slice it and already looks like she was plucked from a fairy tale, so, win-win. I'm more willing to suspend disbelief and go with a concept than a lot of viewers out there, so I can see where this show might struggle, but if it can find a core following, I think it's going to be a whimsical, fascinating, and exhilarating ride (those sword fighting scenes looks stylish and exciting). If nothing else, this is a concept that I haven't ever seen before, so even if it has problems, at least it's not another crime procedural or medical drama. It's anchoring the night on Sunday, so it might be in for a challenge, but here's hoping. Why ABC is having these new show up first for the evening, I simply don't understand. Not that they have any returning shows that would really do this show a ton of favors, but even Grey's is better than nothing.
PAN AM
Description: Stars Christina Ricci (Monster), Michael Mosley (Justified), Kelli Garner (My Generation), Jonah Lotan (CSI: NY) and others. Jack Orman (ER) wrote the pilot and will executive-produce with Tommy Schlamme (The West Wing), who is also directing the pilot.
First Impressions: I think I speak for everyone when I say, "Holy shit, that's Christina Ricci?!" Wow, unrecognizable. With that out of the way, this looks like a much more successful foray into a Mad Men-ish vintage setting than NBC's The Playboy Club. So, after these last two reviews, I think the moral of the story is, both ABC and NBC picked a lot of similar-ish set-ups, but ABC's invariably look more promising. The big difference here is that the creative team totally speaks to me here. I was a quite the ER devotee and Tommy Schlamme is an absolute pro. At first blush, I thought this would be a light, soapy romp set in the 60's, but the trailer portends a lot more depth and intrigue. In just the two-minute promo, it raises a lot of questions and social issues, ranging from the rights and roles of women in the 60's to international espionage to the overall experience and security of flying. As with any period piece, setting a show in a different era gives the writers a different rubric within which to work. It's sets up different rules and restrictions and makes the narrative seem fresher. The creative team seems to be having a lot of fun with the concept without sapping it of substance. At the same time, the cast seems very solid and gives a lot of strong female actresses an interesting set-up to work with. My only concern would be the apparent lack of minority actors involved. I'd be more critical, but based on the profession at hand and the era they're in, it makes sense. There won't be any male flight attendants either. Anyway, this looks a lot better in execution than it did on paper. I'm not sure it's the kind of thing that will be a firestorm in the ratings department, but it should certainly appeal to the same demo as Desperate Housewives, so that should prove an effective pairing (that is, assuming anyone still watches DH--I'm hearing this will be the last season though, so maybe that will spark more interest). I'm not saying this will be a perennial favorite for me, but it looks like a true contender for fall.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
SYTYCD Top 20. Again.
Yeah, so it's hard enough for me to learn everyone's names when that list gets two shorter every week. When it doesn't? Well, that's just mean. And ridiculous. I'm sorry, but this is a competition show. I know it's hard, but someone has to go home, Nigel.That said, I can see where they just couldn't help themselves. By all accounts, Robert (the Woo guy) should have been sent packing based on both of his pathetically bad solos, but can you really send a guy home who actually performed the night before and keep the guy who was injured? Mitchell is clearly the better dancer, and it would have sucked to have lost him over something that was beyond his control. As irksome as it is, I see their reasoning. In a perfect world though, they would have taken one look at the solos and sent Robert on his merry woo, er, way.
Anyway, moving on to last night's festivities, here's how I'm ranking the performances:
1) Caitlyn and Mitchell (Contemporary--with the chairs)
2) Sasha and Alexander (Hip Hop--military homecoming)
3) Tadd and Jordan (Viennese Waltz--with the uh, waltzing)
4) Ashley and Chris (Broadway--jailhouse)
5) Melanie and Marko (Jazz--with the hats)
6) Nick and Iveta (Bollywood)
7) Miranda and Robert (Hip Hop--woodpeckers)
8) Ryan and Ricky (Jazz--with the torn stockings)
9) Jess and Clarice (Contemporary--with the near death of Princess Clarice)
10) Wadi and Missy ("Cha Cha"--and I use the term loosely)
All in all, it was a pretty solid evening, Debbie Reynolds' total lack of critiquing notwithstanding (seriously, she's a legend and a hoofer and all, but who thought she'd be a good judge?). There has yet to be a routine this season that I wanted to watch 87 times, but a lot of good, respectable, entertaining routines. Usually, this early on in the competition, there are considerably more train wrecks. Of course, last week everyone magically drew their own styles from the make-believe hat, so there wasn't a whole lot of room for error. Seriously, I thought they had finally given up the ghost (what with them not even showing the contestants draw from a prop hat anymore), but last night they tried to sell me on the randomness once again. Yeah, we'll see.
Here are my top-to-bottom thoughts on the evening:
1) Caitlyn and Mitchell
A lot of people will probably cry foul that I placed any routine about Sasha and Alexander's, but I'll explain more on that in the next section. For me, Caitlyn and Mitchell's contemporary piece won out. And as you know, there's no love lost between me and contemporary as a genre, so it really must have been special. I have a soft-spot for well-used props and creative structures and this piece had both in spades. I know that using chairs isn't exactly reinventing the wheel here, but these were used incredibly well and with a very artistic effect. The staging and direction of the dance helped tremendously. There was just something about the tableau that captivated me in a way that no dance has yet this season. I didn't post about last week's, but I gotta tell ya, the statue routine? It was lovely and all, but I wasn't blown away. That routine elicited my usual response to contemporary. Very nice, technically brilliant, not grabbing me. But Caitlyn and Mitchell really sold this. I loved the spotlights on the chairs and the way they were framed onscreen. Both dancers really acted the part in a way that was convincing and moving. So often, I can't separate the gravity of the dance form the kookiness of the dancers, but they both pulled it off. I'm really glad Mitchell didn't go home. He's one of the very few guys this season who has the power to really partner well.
2) Sasha and Alexander
This was the big, over-the-top, reduce Mary to tears dance of the night and it genuinely was excellent. Aside from the fact that the subject matter didn't really resonate with me as much as with other people, the main reason that it doesn't get my top spot is that Alexander didn't bring it the way Sasha did. She was fabulous and Alexander paled a bit by comparison. I actually like him quite a lot and think he's a lovely dancer, but he just doesn't seem to through his entire soul into a routine the way Sasha does. Were he with a different partner, I doubt I'd even notice, but with Sasha, there's an immediacy and and urgency that he can't seem to match. That said, it was a great routine. I really loved the structure of the dance, with him walking toward her frame-by-frame while her anguish is on display in the foreground. I think the choreographers quickly realized that Sasha was the star of this show because she had a whole lot more work to do. All in all, it was a superb routine, but I think Alex is going to have to take things up a notch if he wants to outshine his partner. Good luck with that.
3) Tadd and Jordan
I'm as shocked as you are. I enjoy ballroom more than most, but in general, the Viennese Waltz is the dance equivalent of Unisom. It's always very beautiful and flowy and whatnot, but there's a somnolent quality that I can't ignore. Tadd and Jordan, however, were surprisingly captivating. Jordan was about 60% less strippery which made me like her about 60% more. Apparently there's a direct correlation between sluttiness and my inability to care about someone's dancing. Which isn't to say that I have a problem with dancers being sexy. Far from it. The problem is that Jordan isn't sexy. She's trying way to hard to be sexy to actually be sexy. Shaking your ass for Nigel's enjoyment does not a sexy dancer make. Anyway, I'm hoping she's realized that the key viewing demographics for this show are women and gay men, neither of which really cares about your cans, sweetie. I wasn't surprised in the least that they were in the bottom last week. On the other hand, Tadd is a badass. I'm very critical of ballroom dancers, especially the men (they just seem to have a harder time with it for some reason) and he gave me nothing to complain about. Absolutely lovely. His extensions were graceful, not forced or awkward, his carriage was solid, and he actually has enough power to partner well. He's also supremely likable in his clip packages and his solos are insane. He should go very far. he's easily one of the strongest guys this year, although in fairness, there are a surprising number of forgettable fellas. Now if we can just get the slutty, moronic albatross off his neck, we'll really be in business.
4) Ashley and Chris
Not only do I love Broadway, but this routine used a song from Cry Baby, so it won itself about 50,000 points right there. I loved the concept and again, well-used props, but I have to admit, there was some chemistry missing. The routine was excellent overall, but I don't find Chris appealing at all, so I had a hell of a time seeing the heat between then. I think Ashley had a hard time as well, given what she said in her clip package. That said, she gave it her all and if I found Chris sexy in any way, shape, or form, I think this routine would have been HOT. Honestly, Ashley's rehearsal time with the delectable choreographer was a lot steamier. I gave this fourth because it's really not Chris' fault I'm not attracted to him at all. His work with the bars and his aerial tricks were most impressive and interesting to watch, but I kept forgetting to watch him because Ashley is simply gorgeous. She could not have looked any better than she did in that vintage red dress, smoldering against the bars. Note to Jordan, THAT is what's sexy.
5) Melanie and Marko
I'm not sure exactly what it says about them or about this routine, but when I was ranking the routines after the show, this is the only one I couldn't remember. I put 9 routines down and simply couldn't recall the last one. What does this mean? This probably wasn't the most memorable routine, either for good or bad reasons. I remember the ones I loved and the disasters, but this one was truly middle of the road. Hence, #5. It was a quirky little routine that was well-danced, but I wasn't bowled over. I liked the concept and this type of dancing, but I don't think Melanie and Marko were as perfectly suited for it as the judges seemed to think. It just felt a little forced. They're both wonderful dancers, but they're contemporary through and through, which isn't really my bag. The routine just didn't quite have the snap, crackle, pop that I would have expected. Marko lost a couple of points for losing his hat, but gained them all back for catching Melanie in that split. He's not a huge guy and she's not the tiniest girl, so that can't have been easy. I have to give props to Melanie to being as willing to wear those costumes as she is. Those shorts weren't doing a thing for her.
6) Nick and Iveta
Who's that charming young man dancing with his grandmother, you ask? That would be adorable tapper Nick and Leatherface. I refuse to believe she's only 30. There's just no way. Good lord, I could have gone to high school with that?! I assume the reason she dipped him in the opening (which was admittedly kinda cute) is that there were fears she might break a hip. As with Chris earlier, when one of the dancers is entirely unappealing, I have a hard time seeing the chemistry, and so do the dancers. Poor Nick. It must feel like he's stopped by the nursing home to pick up chicks every time they dance. She is frightening to look at. So I don't. With that in mind, it's hard to assess her skills with Bollywood, but Nick did a very nice job. Not perfect or anything, but this isn't a style that anyone has any experience with, so he rose to the occasion admirably. I would have liked his movements to be a little quicker and for him to hit a little harder, but I'm splitting hairs. For the style he was given and the partner her got saddled with (the fact the saddles are made of leather is not lost of me), he did a great job. He's also extremely likable and goofy. He's far and away the most promising tapper I've every seen on the show, so what say we just get rid of Iveta now (assuming she hasn't keeled over and died already) and pair him up with someone else? Anyone else? He's the only guy this season with any real height, so it doesn't really matter who you choose.
7) Miranda and Robert
I just can't seem to like these two. Between Robert's overall annoyingness and Miranda non-descriptness, there's just not a whole lot to love. I think Miranda is actually quite a lovely dancer and she's got a great, athletic body for it, but she just doesn't really make much of an impression. Of course, I'd rather have her lack of impression over Robert's bad impression, but that's not exactly helping the cause much. The routine was pretty forgettable, but admittedly well-danced. Even though Robert is the hip-hop adjacent dancer of the two, Miranda's performance was better. Her movements were snappier and more precise and she hit harder. I can't say she seemed completely at home with the style the whole time, but she really pulled it off. I just can't stand Robert, so it's hard to even care how he danced. I don't recall a train wreck from him, but that's about all I can say. Forgettable routine by forgettable dancers.
8) Ryan and Ricky
As with Melanie and Marko, I had a hard time even remembering this routine existed by the end of the show. The only reason I recalled it was because of Ryan's unfortunate wardrobe malfunction. The dancing was probably pretty good, but I was so distracted by the giant tear in her nylons that I had a hard time watching. Overall, Ricky did a very nice job, but I kinda hate Ryan. She's just so damn smiley. It was annoying and ridiculous last week (no matter what lame-ass excuse she came up with), and this week, it felt like it was taking every ounce of energy she had to keep by hamming it up to the camera. The judges may have thought this was the sexiest, raunchiest routine they've ever seen, but literally, by the end of the Caitlyn and Mitchell's routine (which came right after this one), it took me a second to remember this. Maybe it's that I don't know the dancers very well yet, but I just wasn't feeling it here. Ryan doesn't have any edge at all and she wasn't convincing me with this routine at all. I have a sinking feeling she'll stick around for quite a while, but I wouldn't be sad to see her go. For as much as I like Ricky's personality, I honestly can't remember much from his dancing so far. Maybe he'll come into his own, but maybe Ryan is just too much of a weight for him to really shine.
9) Jess and Clarice
Wow, okay, this routine wasn't a total disaster, but the threat of Clarice's imminent death was just to palpable to enjoy this. This is truly the season of teeny tiny guys and Jess is the most Lilliputian of them all. Geez, just in the rehearsals I was wincing. She's a tiny girl and she's still twice his size. Evan from season 5 was a little Broadway dancer too, but I was never terrified for his partner during lifts. I was sure poor Clarice was going to faceplant into the stage at some point. Fortunately, she wouldn't have far to fall... All that said, he didn't drop her. Phew! It was really distracting though. I have to agree with Nigel here that their individual work was excellent, but their partnering was completely off. There's no chemistry between them at all and the whole prince and princess story fell flat. It's really a shame because they're both wonderful dancers. Seriously, for and tiny and irritating as Jess is, he's a phenomenal dancer. He just needs to shut the hell up and maybe grow a foot. That's all. No big. Literally. I have little doubt that these two will be in the bottom.
10) Wadi and Missy
Here we have the only real, absolute train wreck of the night. That was one of the worst Cha-Chas I've ever seen on this show. Missy did okay, I suppose, but only in comparison to Wadi's complete lack of form, style, and commitment. I realize that he's a b-boy, but seriously, so is Tadd. Not only was Wadi's technique totally lacking, but he appeared to be giving about 30% to this. If he had given it his all and failed, that wouldn't have been so bad. But with this, it was like he decided he couldn't do it so he wasn't really going to try. If Missy had been paired with someone else, I think she really could have excelled, but as is, she muddled through as best she could with only 1/3 of a partner. If Tadd had failed as well, I might be in a more forgiving mood, but Tadd kicked ass at a less exciting dance and Wadi just kind of gave up. The real shame is that I really quite like Wadi in general, but the last two weeks haven't done him many favors. The judges might have loved the Pandora's Box routine from last week, but I kept forgetting to watch. I literally started thinking about something else halfway through only to realize that I hadn't really watched the rest. I went back to re-watch and it happened again. I think both of these dancers could turn into stars, but at this point, I'm not impressed by either. The judges heralded Wadi's partnering, but I couldn't even see much of that going on.
As many of these reviews have mentioned, it's a surprisingly small, weak group of guys this year. Most are incredibly short and only a couple seem to have the requisite power to manage lifts. Although I take issue with Nigel's repeated insistence on calling the girls "beasts" this year, I can't deny that the girls are a lot stronger and more memorable than the guys. Unlike last year when the reverse was true. I'm not saying that all the guys need to be big, brawny powerhouses, but there are usually at least a couple each season that the choreographers can count on for the craziest stuff. I think about Ade and Brandon from season 5 and Ryan from season 6 and I just don't see any parallels here. Hell, even the more slender guys in seasons past held their own. Robert (!) from 7 (who paired with Caitlyn last week--lucky girl), Kupono from 5, and even Jakob from 6 didn't scare me during lifts. The guys this year? They're not exactly inspiring a lot of confidence. Some of them seem to have some power (Mitchell and Marko, in particular), but overall, they just don't strike me as real powerhouse partners for the girls. There was no chance that Ryan di Lello was ever going to win the competition or anything, but he was such a tremendous partner. The girls knew they could trust him. I remember when Kathryn drew some crazy dance, she said she was freaked out, but she knew she was with him so it would be fine. I'm hoping at least one of these guys emerges as the go-to for partnering, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Who's going to be in the bottom 3?
- Jess and Clarice
- Miranda and Robert
- Nick and Iveta
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
If you put dragon eggs on stage in the first act...
...they better hatch by the third.
And so they, rather awesomely, did. The moment we've all been waiting for (Chekhov included) finally came in the very last moments of the season. Sure, there was a whole hell of a lot of other stuff going on, but at the end of the day, er... episode, I think we all said goodbye to the first season of Game of Thrones with
a resounding, "BABY DRAGONS!"
Daenerys has pretty much been removed from the action of the rest of the realm all season, but with the reveal as the true daughter of dragons, one who cannot be burned and was born to rule, that's definitely going to change in season 2. It's depressingly premature to talk of season 2 at this point (what with a new season being nearly a year away), but much of the finale was set-up for the horrors to come. In looking at where the season started and where it ended, it's not only the cast that's looking different, but the entire trajectory of the show.
I have to admit, it took several episodes for this show to really grab me. Having not read the books, the first few episodes felt like a whirlwind of disparate characters that I was supposed to care about, but didn't, and who seemed wholly removed from one another. At about the halfway point, the transitions between the different lands became smoother and the interconnections between characters began to solidify. Early on, cuts to Daenerys or the wall seemed like annoying distractions that took me away from what was going on in other places. I could appreciate that they were necessary and that they would factor in more directly later on, but it still felt like I was watching different shows with varying levels of interest. I'm truly bummed that the season is over because, quite frankly, it feels like we were just getting started. In the last few episodes, I finally grew to know and appreciate many of the characters who had seemed flat to me early on and the effects of one character's actions of the lives and welfare of everyone else had become more concrete and terrifying. In a perfect world, Sunday's finale would have marked the winter break, not the season's end.
This show has a ton going on, so bear with me on organization with my thoughts here... meaning that there likely won't be any...
One of the wonderful aspects of this show is the inter-connectivity of the people and places. A seemingly isolated event in the middle of nowhere eventually affects everywhere else, no matter how far removed they may be. Indeed, a little boy climbing the wall of a castle shouldn't logically lead to all out war a few episodes later, but in the world of Game of Thrones, the domino effect is unstoppable. Had Bran not climbed that wall, he wouldn't have seen Jaime
and Cersei and wouldn't have been shoved out the window. He wouldn't have been paralyzed and Catelyn wouldn't have gone on a crusade to find out the truth. She wouldn't have taken Tyrion prisoner, the Lannisters wouldn't have gone of the warpath, Ned wouldn't have been in such a compromising position when Robert died, etc, etc. So what I'm saying is, this is all Bran's fault. After all, Cat did tell him not to climb the effing wall, now didn't she? Joking aside, basically every character on the show has been responsible for some act, some deed, some random comment that led to much larger consequences down the line. Something as innocuous as Sansa saying that she would give Joffrey beautiful blond children led her father down a path that would eventually seal their fates. A little boy climbed a wall. A teenage girl mooned over a boy. War broke out. The lines from one event to another certainly aren't that simple, straight, or short, but in Game of Thrones, the lines are drawn one way or another and they affect everyone.
Of course, not all the pivotal events are are seemingly innocuous as these. Some events were perpetrated by those who simply aren't as good as playing the game. First off, Ned. Oh, Ned. Honorable, noble, delusional Ned. He's a good guy, but he wouldn't be winning any leadership trophies even if
he hadn't been beheaded. I have mixed feelings about him as a character. Sean Bean is excellent in everything, so it certainly doesn't come down to the actor's portrayal, but in terms of character fundamentals, it often felt like Ned was living in a different story. There are a number of noble (or at least noble-adjacent) characters on the show, but they all seem to understand the world in which they live. Ned, who seemingly has more experience with the way the world works than most, apparently has less understanding than Arya. Well, perhaps he comprehends better than I'm giving him credit for, but in terms of how he responds to situations, he may understand what's going on, but he seems pathologically incapable of doing what needs to be done or playing the game in which he lives. I get it. It's the reason most politicians are sleazy, manipulative, dishonest cretins. The sociopathic qualities that led to advancement back then are the same ones that apply today and the truly good among us are simply incapable of or unwilling to stoop low enough to succeed. So let it be with Ned Stark. That said, however, and it seems impossible to me that his sense of honor could have 1) withstood the test of time, given the life he's led, and 2) not wavered in response to current conditions. Indeed, when Renly and Littlefinger basically told him exactly what was what and what needed to be done after Robert died, Ned honestly seemed to think that a piece of paper would hold up against the Lannisters. In and of itself, it's a charming notion. To think that people are so honorable that they would uphold the written word of a dead king is a nice thought. But again, I don't know what show Ned has been in for the past few episodes, but if he really thought that was the way things were going to work out, he obviously exists in a different realm than everyone else on the 
show. It's bad enough that the realities of Westeros completely escaped him for his own sake, but that he put these things into motion without getting his daughters out of there first is just unfathomable to me. It's one thing to believe that people are noble enough for things to end up as they should and it's quite another to take absolutely no precautions just in case it all goes to hell. This is why I honestly wasn't all that broken up over his death. People online lost their shit when he died, swearing to never again watch the show, blah, blah, blah, but for me, it just seemed sort of fitting. Sad and shocking and incredibly stupid on Joffrey's part, but Ned played the game worse than anyone. And as Cersei pointed out, in the game of thrones, you win or you die.
Ned's only real chance at survival was that his family and followers actually do play the game pretty well (at times), and the Lannisters know it. Well, everyone but Joffrey, it seems. Smooth move, Ass Face. Sometimes it's the little things like climbing a wall, sometimes it's the impulsive beheadings. I can see where a sadistic sociopathic dick like Joffrey would think that
killing Ned was a good idea, but the fact that cold, calculating Cersei completely freaked out when he made the order should have told him he was being a fool. He played it off as the weakness of women to allow a traitor to live, but I don't think anyone looks at Cersei as a delicate, meek little flower. She knows what she's doing and Joffrey, even as stupid and hot-tempered as he is, should know that. She owns this game. In a way, Joffrey is the anti-Ned, but with similar results. Ned is too noble and Joffrey is too arrogant for either to play the game well. Cersei plays the game better than most and knows that killing Ned is about the worst move that could be made. Her reaction to the death is on a par with Sansa's and Arya's in terms of horror, albeit for different reasons. For as much as I chalk up her terror at Ned's death to her guile and cunning, I think part of it is that she genuinely respects Ned on a certain level. He could have destroyed her with the knowledge the Jaime is the father of her children, but didn't. On the contrary, he gave her a chance to escape. As per usual, it completely backfired on him, but in this instance, for Cersei, the thought actually does count for something. The fact that her grudging respect for Ned coincides with the smartest plan of action they could undertake should have been icing on the cake, but instead, Joffrey's idiotic gambit means that Jaime is as good as dead and all out war is upon them. Let's hope Sansa gets another chance to shove him off a ledge. Real soon.
Speaking of Sansa, Cersei, and all the other women on the show, one of the aspects of the show that was a turn off early on was the characterization of the female characters. For the first few episodes, they largely came across as cliches, afterthoughts, or simply eye candy. For someone such as myself, who's particularly attuned to the portrayals of women on TV, it was a definite disappointment. After an entire season, however, the constraints placed on women by the day
and age of the show are still largely in place, but their positions within this world most certainly are not. In spite of Joffrey's impulsiveness, Cersei has very real influence over the crown, Sansa has developed from a whiny, simpering child into woman with steely resolve and vengeance on her mind, Arya has gone from being your stereotypical tomboy to an actual threat with a sword, Catelyn is finally making sound decisions and brokering deals to advance the war, and Daenerys has literally risen from the ashes as a true queen. It took the better part of a season to get there, but the egalitarian inside me can now commend the show for putting complex, interesting female characters front and center. They've all evolved into characters that I truly care about. Even Sansa. I never would have guessed that I'd love hear until these last two episodes, but seeing her countenance change as the gravity of her situation sets in has been gripping to watch. The look on her face as Joffrey repulsively tells her he'll put a son in her once she bleeds was a true turning point. For a moment, I thought perhaps she was going to fling herself off the ledge in order to spare her family from trying to rescue her, but it was all the more satisfying that she was really planning to shove Joffrey off the edge, or at the very least take him with her. The young actress portraying Sansa finally has something substantive to work with and she showed what a fine actress she really is. I had long assumed that she was probably in her early twenties and that it was fairly ridiculous for her to be playing a girl of 13 or 14, but in reality she's only 15 now, which means that at the time of filming, she was very close to the right age. She looks far older than her years and now, her character is acting it as well.
It's really impossible to do this show justice in a post like this because there are simply too many things to discuss. The war we've seen so far seems to be little more than set-up for the real battle to come in the coming seasons. That said, Robb Stark stepped up in a way I hadn't expected. He's still very young (the actor is in his mid-twenties, but as I understand it, in the books, he's just a teenager), but he rises to the occasion. For me, Robb (on whom I have an irrational crush) bridges the gap between honor and success in a way his father never could. Robb is
definitely an honorable man, but he still plays the game. And he plays it well. Knowing our dearly departed friend Ned, he would have taken Jaime up on his offer to have this out in a duel and be done with it, because that would be the noble thing to do, sparing their armies from a bloody battle. Ned wouldn't have considered the fact that he might lose and that it would have destroyed everything. Robb, on the other hand, flat out tells Jaime that he's not going to do things that way. He's going to play by the rules that will allow him to win, even if it means not being completely honorable all of the time. In the end, it's worth it to sacrifice the lives of 2000 men in order to gain the upper hand. Ned would never have done such a thing and would have lost everything as a result. In the end, honor is only honorable for so long. As some point, it's only honorable on paper. The ramifications are what matter.
I'll be very interested to see just how far Robb is willing to play the game and what lengths he'll go to, but I have a sneaking suspicion I won't get to find out. I haven't read the books, but I'm predicting that before the battle between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins (Joffrey Malfoy, anyone?) reaches a head, the white walkers are going to make the game of thrones irrelevant. Winter is coming and with it comes a much more insidious foe than rival houses. I'm guessing that it will dawn on
both factions that they have way bigger problems than each other and that if they have any hope of surviving, they'll need to put their differences aside and band together. As cheesy as that sounds, that's where I predict we're headed. I'm looking forward to that for a number of reasons, but first among them is Jon Snow, who's been off in no man's land up north for entirely too long. I could always appreciate that the stuff with Jon and the wall would eventually become extremely important, but it was so irksome to have Jon removed from everything that I was thrilled when he decided to go join Robb. Much to my chagrin, his escape was rather less than successful. In the coming season, I think the action will come to him though, and I'm hoping it brings the other characters on the show as well. Even though I've enjoyed his newfound brotherhood (Samise Gamgee? Is that you?), I've missed his interactions with him family.
All in all, it's been a hell of a ride. It took longer to really suck me in than I would have guessed, but the point is is that we got there. Truth be told, it was Littlefinger who truly captivated me early on and stoked my interest. I may be in love with the beautiful Robb Stark, but Littlefinger is probably the best game-player on the show which means that not only is he fascinating to watch, but he's likely to survive longer than his cohorts. Same goes for Tyrion, who, in spite of a shaky accent, is fantastic. Littlefinger wins out thought for me. The gleam in his eye as he held a knife to Ned's throat and said, "I did warn you not to trust me," was truly a highlight of the season. His conversation with the eunuch (was his name Spider or something? I can't find him online) was masterful in every sense. These two expert players, both of whom came from disreputable, underdog beginnings, rose to a level where they have very real influence over the world around them. It was very fitting to see the admiration between
these two on a show that celebrates cutthroat politics and underhanded maneuvering. They may not sit on the throne, but they come pretty damn close. They make for worthy adversaries, indeed.
It wasn't a perfect season of a perfect show, but it was head and shoulders above most of what's out there. One of my main quibbles would be the often gratuitous sex. This doesn't come from a place of prudery, I assure you. It was off-putting in that it often felt like the writers/producers didn't think the storyline or dialogue were interesting enough on their own. Even though it took me a few episodes to really get into the show, random sexual acts weren't what kept me coming back for more. Had it come across as more organic to the story or less exploitative, I wouldn't have minded. But trying to focus on Littlefinger giving a stirring monologue while Ros and some other woman are taking whore lessens wasn't sexy, it was annoying. Maybe if I were a straight man I would have found the juxtaposition more tantalizing, but alas, I was just trying to listen to my favorite character, thanks.
Anyway, minor quibbles and whatnot aside, it was a very successful start to what is hopefully a long, captivating series. This is an expensive, audacious show to produce and
they pulled it off impressively. The story never seemed to meander (even when we were up at the wall, I knew it would be important down the line) and the writers managed a ridiculous number of characters in a confident manner. While it should have felt increasingly scattered, as the story wore on, it proved to be more and more cohesive.
And, you know, baby dragons (!), so there's really no fault that can be found with any aspect of any episode all season. What little there is to forgive is definitely forgiven. Bring on next year! And winter! (Seriously, if Chekhov had one quibble, it would be that they've been talking about winter coming for an entire season and, unless you count metaphorical winter, it ain't here yet.)
And so they, rather awesomely, did. The moment we've all been waiting for (Chekhov included) finally came in the very last moments of the season. Sure, there was a whole hell of a lot of other stuff going on, but at the end of the day, er... episode, I think we all said goodbye to the first season of Game of Thrones with
a resounding, "BABY DRAGONS!"Daenerys has pretty much been removed from the action of the rest of the realm all season, but with the reveal as the true daughter of dragons, one who cannot be burned and was born to rule, that's definitely going to change in season 2. It's depressingly premature to talk of season 2 at this point (what with a new season being nearly a year away), but much of the finale was set-up for the horrors to come. In looking at where the season started and where it ended, it's not only the cast that's looking different, but the entire trajectory of the show.
I have to admit, it took several episodes for this show to really grab me. Having not read the books, the first few episodes felt like a whirlwind of disparate characters that I was supposed to care about, but didn't, and who seemed wholly removed from one another. At about the halfway point, the transitions between the different lands became smoother and the interconnections between characters began to solidify. Early on, cuts to Daenerys or the wall seemed like annoying distractions that took me away from what was going on in other places. I could appreciate that they were necessary and that they would factor in more directly later on, but it still felt like I was watching different shows with varying levels of interest. I'm truly bummed that the season is over because, quite frankly, it feels like we were just getting started. In the last few episodes, I finally grew to know and appreciate many of the characters who had seemed flat to me early on and the effects of one character's actions of the lives and welfare of everyone else had become more concrete and terrifying. In a perfect world, Sunday's finale would have marked the winter break, not the season's end.
This show has a ton going on, so bear with me on organization with my thoughts here... meaning that there likely won't be any...
One of the wonderful aspects of this show is the inter-connectivity of the people and places. A seemingly isolated event in the middle of nowhere eventually affects everywhere else, no matter how far removed they may be. Indeed, a little boy climbing the wall of a castle shouldn't logically lead to all out war a few episodes later, but in the world of Game of Thrones, the domino effect is unstoppable. Had Bran not climbed that wall, he wouldn't have seen Jaime
and Cersei and wouldn't have been shoved out the window. He wouldn't have been paralyzed and Catelyn wouldn't have gone on a crusade to find out the truth. She wouldn't have taken Tyrion prisoner, the Lannisters wouldn't have gone of the warpath, Ned wouldn't have been in such a compromising position when Robert died, etc, etc. So what I'm saying is, this is all Bran's fault. After all, Cat did tell him not to climb the effing wall, now didn't she? Joking aside, basically every character on the show has been responsible for some act, some deed, some random comment that led to much larger consequences down the line. Something as innocuous as Sansa saying that she would give Joffrey beautiful blond children led her father down a path that would eventually seal their fates. A little boy climbed a wall. A teenage girl mooned over a boy. War broke out. The lines from one event to another certainly aren't that simple, straight, or short, but in Game of Thrones, the lines are drawn one way or another and they affect everyone.Of course, not all the pivotal events are are seemingly innocuous as these. Some events were perpetrated by those who simply aren't as good as playing the game. First off, Ned. Oh, Ned. Honorable, noble, delusional Ned. He's a good guy, but he wouldn't be winning any leadership trophies even if
he hadn't been beheaded. I have mixed feelings about him as a character. Sean Bean is excellent in everything, so it certainly doesn't come down to the actor's portrayal, but in terms of character fundamentals, it often felt like Ned was living in a different story. There are a number of noble (or at least noble-adjacent) characters on the show, but they all seem to understand the world in which they live. Ned, who seemingly has more experience with the way the world works than most, apparently has less understanding than Arya. Well, perhaps he comprehends better than I'm giving him credit for, but in terms of how he responds to situations, he may understand what's going on, but he seems pathologically incapable of doing what needs to be done or playing the game in which he lives. I get it. It's the reason most politicians are sleazy, manipulative, dishonest cretins. The sociopathic qualities that led to advancement back then are the same ones that apply today and the truly good among us are simply incapable of or unwilling to stoop low enough to succeed. So let it be with Ned Stark. That said, however, and it seems impossible to me that his sense of honor could have 1) withstood the test of time, given the life he's led, and 2) not wavered in response to current conditions. Indeed, when Renly and Littlefinger basically told him exactly what was what and what needed to be done after Robert died, Ned honestly seemed to think that a piece of paper would hold up against the Lannisters. In and of itself, it's a charming notion. To think that people are so honorable that they would uphold the written word of a dead king is a nice thought. But again, I don't know what show Ned has been in for the past few episodes, but if he really thought that was the way things were going to work out, he obviously exists in a different realm than everyone else on the 
show. It's bad enough that the realities of Westeros completely escaped him for his own sake, but that he put these things into motion without getting his daughters out of there first is just unfathomable to me. It's one thing to believe that people are noble enough for things to end up as they should and it's quite another to take absolutely no precautions just in case it all goes to hell. This is why I honestly wasn't all that broken up over his death. People online lost their shit when he died, swearing to never again watch the show, blah, blah, blah, but for me, it just seemed sort of fitting. Sad and shocking and incredibly stupid on Joffrey's part, but Ned played the game worse than anyone. And as Cersei pointed out, in the game of thrones, you win or you die.Ned's only real chance at survival was that his family and followers actually do play the game pretty well (at times), and the Lannisters know it. Well, everyone but Joffrey, it seems. Smooth move, Ass Face. Sometimes it's the little things like climbing a wall, sometimes it's the impulsive beheadings. I can see where a sadistic sociopathic dick like Joffrey would think that
killing Ned was a good idea, but the fact that cold, calculating Cersei completely freaked out when he made the order should have told him he was being a fool. He played it off as the weakness of women to allow a traitor to live, but I don't think anyone looks at Cersei as a delicate, meek little flower. She knows what she's doing and Joffrey, even as stupid and hot-tempered as he is, should know that. She owns this game. In a way, Joffrey is the anti-Ned, but with similar results. Ned is too noble and Joffrey is too arrogant for either to play the game well. Cersei plays the game better than most and knows that killing Ned is about the worst move that could be made. Her reaction to the death is on a par with Sansa's and Arya's in terms of horror, albeit for different reasons. For as much as I chalk up her terror at Ned's death to her guile and cunning, I think part of it is that she genuinely respects Ned on a certain level. He could have destroyed her with the knowledge the Jaime is the father of her children, but didn't. On the contrary, he gave her a chance to escape. As per usual, it completely backfired on him, but in this instance, for Cersei, the thought actually does count for something. The fact that her grudging respect for Ned coincides with the smartest plan of action they could undertake should have been icing on the cake, but instead, Joffrey's idiotic gambit means that Jaime is as good as dead and all out war is upon them. Let's hope Sansa gets another chance to shove him off a ledge. Real soon.Speaking of Sansa, Cersei, and all the other women on the show, one of the aspects of the show that was a turn off early on was the characterization of the female characters. For the first few episodes, they largely came across as cliches, afterthoughts, or simply eye candy. For someone such as myself, who's particularly attuned to the portrayals of women on TV, it was a definite disappointment. After an entire season, however, the constraints placed on women by the day
and age of the show are still largely in place, but their positions within this world most certainly are not. In spite of Joffrey's impulsiveness, Cersei has very real influence over the crown, Sansa has developed from a whiny, simpering child into woman with steely resolve and vengeance on her mind, Arya has gone from being your stereotypical tomboy to an actual threat with a sword, Catelyn is finally making sound decisions and brokering deals to advance the war, and Daenerys has literally risen from the ashes as a true queen. It took the better part of a season to get there, but the egalitarian inside me can now commend the show for putting complex, interesting female characters front and center. They've all evolved into characters that I truly care about. Even Sansa. I never would have guessed that I'd love hear until these last two episodes, but seeing her countenance change as the gravity of her situation sets in has been gripping to watch. The look on her face as Joffrey repulsively tells her he'll put a son in her once she bleeds was a true turning point. For a moment, I thought perhaps she was going to fling herself off the ledge in order to spare her family from trying to rescue her, but it was all the more satisfying that she was really planning to shove Joffrey off the edge, or at the very least take him with her. The young actress portraying Sansa finally has something substantive to work with and she showed what a fine actress she really is. I had long assumed that she was probably in her early twenties and that it was fairly ridiculous for her to be playing a girl of 13 or 14, but in reality she's only 15 now, which means that at the time of filming, she was very close to the right age. She looks far older than her years and now, her character is acting it as well.It's really impossible to do this show justice in a post like this because there are simply too many things to discuss. The war we've seen so far seems to be little more than set-up for the real battle to come in the coming seasons. That said, Robb Stark stepped up in a way I hadn't expected. He's still very young (the actor is in his mid-twenties, but as I understand it, in the books, he's just a teenager), but he rises to the occasion. For me, Robb (on whom I have an irrational crush) bridges the gap between honor and success in a way his father never could. Robb is
definitely an honorable man, but he still plays the game. And he plays it well. Knowing our dearly departed friend Ned, he would have taken Jaime up on his offer to have this out in a duel and be done with it, because that would be the noble thing to do, sparing their armies from a bloody battle. Ned wouldn't have considered the fact that he might lose and that it would have destroyed everything. Robb, on the other hand, flat out tells Jaime that he's not going to do things that way. He's going to play by the rules that will allow him to win, even if it means not being completely honorable all of the time. In the end, it's worth it to sacrifice the lives of 2000 men in order to gain the upper hand. Ned would never have done such a thing and would have lost everything as a result. In the end, honor is only honorable for so long. As some point, it's only honorable on paper. The ramifications are what matter.I'll be very interested to see just how far Robb is willing to play the game and what lengths he'll go to, but I have a sneaking suspicion I won't get to find out. I haven't read the books, but I'm predicting that before the battle between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins (Joffrey Malfoy, anyone?) reaches a head, the white walkers are going to make the game of thrones irrelevant. Winter is coming and with it comes a much more insidious foe than rival houses. I'm guessing that it will dawn on
both factions that they have way bigger problems than each other and that if they have any hope of surviving, they'll need to put their differences aside and band together. As cheesy as that sounds, that's where I predict we're headed. I'm looking forward to that for a number of reasons, but first among them is Jon Snow, who's been off in no man's land up north for entirely too long. I could always appreciate that the stuff with Jon and the wall would eventually become extremely important, but it was so irksome to have Jon removed from everything that I was thrilled when he decided to go join Robb. Much to my chagrin, his escape was rather less than successful. In the coming season, I think the action will come to him though, and I'm hoping it brings the other characters on the show as well. Even though I've enjoyed his newfound brotherhood (Samise Gamgee? Is that you?), I've missed his interactions with him family.All in all, it's been a hell of a ride. It took longer to really suck me in than I would have guessed, but the point is is that we got there. Truth be told, it was Littlefinger who truly captivated me early on and stoked my interest. I may be in love with the beautiful Robb Stark, but Littlefinger is probably the best game-player on the show which means that not only is he fascinating to watch, but he's likely to survive longer than his cohorts. Same goes for Tyrion, who, in spite of a shaky accent, is fantastic. Littlefinger wins out thought for me. The gleam in his eye as he held a knife to Ned's throat and said, "I did warn you not to trust me," was truly a highlight of the season. His conversation with the eunuch (was his name Spider or something? I can't find him online) was masterful in every sense. These two expert players, both of whom came from disreputable, underdog beginnings, rose to a level where they have very real influence over the world around them. It was very fitting to see the admiration between
these two on a show that celebrates cutthroat politics and underhanded maneuvering. They may not sit on the throne, but they come pretty damn close. They make for worthy adversaries, indeed.It wasn't a perfect season of a perfect show, but it was head and shoulders above most of what's out there. One of my main quibbles would be the often gratuitous sex. This doesn't come from a place of prudery, I assure you. It was off-putting in that it often felt like the writers/producers didn't think the storyline or dialogue were interesting enough on their own. Even though it took me a few episodes to really get into the show, random sexual acts weren't what kept me coming back for more. Had it come across as more organic to the story or less exploitative, I wouldn't have minded. But trying to focus on Littlefinger giving a stirring monologue while Ros and some other woman are taking whore lessens wasn't sexy, it was annoying. Maybe if I were a straight man I would have found the juxtaposition more tantalizing, but alas, I was just trying to listen to my favorite character, thanks.
Anyway, minor quibbles and whatnot aside, it was a very successful start to what is hopefully a long, captivating series. This is an expensive, audacious show to produce and
they pulled it off impressively. The story never seemed to meander (even when we were up at the wall, I knew it would be important down the line) and the writers managed a ridiculous number of characters in a confident manner. While it should have felt increasingly scattered, as the story wore on, it proved to be more and more cohesive.And, you know, baby dragons (!), so there's really no fault that can be found with any aspect of any episode all season. What little there is to forgive is definitely forgiven. Bring on next year! And winter! (Seriously, if Chekhov had one quibble, it would be that they've been talking about winter coming for an entire season and, unless you count metaphorical winter, it ain't here yet.)
Friday, June 10, 2011
Fox Pilots 2011: Volume 2 (comedies)
I have to give Fox a little credit for continuing to try for new live action comedies, but let's face it. They haven't had a hit in ages. Raising Hope is a fun little show and it does well enough, but it didn't exactly reinvigorate the genre for the network. They have had a lot of success with animation, however, so at least they've got that. Indeed, as part of their new line-up, they have some new animated programming, so expect their Sunday nights to be even more jam-packed than they already are. I don't generally focus on animation in this blog, but if you're interested, their new animated comedies are Allen Gregory and Napoleon Dynamite. There's not a whole lot out there on them at the moment, but I did see trailers. Meh.
Here are the new Fox comedies premiering this fall:
THE NEW GIRL
Description: Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) fronts a cast that includes Damon Wayans Jr. (well, not anymore--Happy Endings got picked up, so this role will have to be recast), Max Greenfield (Veronica Mars), and others.
First Impressions: Sigh. I should probably start by pointing out that I generally can't stand Zooey Deschanel. She's pretty much the blandest actress on the planet. You know, when she's not being completely annoying. I know more than a few guys that just adore her and I don't get it. Same goes for Scarlett Johanssen. Pretty girls, terrible actresses. That said, it's really hard to approach this pilot with anything more than a groan. In terms of concept, it's far from the worst I've seen, but the thought of watching Zooey unconvincingly sob and go into stereotypical "girls are just so emotional!" hysterics doesn't appeal to me at all. My only hope would be that the unstable sad sack shown in the trailer would get her effing act together sooner than later. She's just trying so hard all the time. When you're desperate to be quirky, it doesn't make you interesting or unique, it makes you a dork. And in this instance, it makes her a dork who sings all the time. And dances. I appreciate a good goofball and I love a quirky energy, but with Zooey? It's just annoying. Which, to be fair, seems to be the intent. That's where I'm a little hopeful for this one. If their intention was for her to be an annoying mess at first, but who becomes someone you'd actually want to watch week-to-week, I could get behind that. Sure, I'd want this progression to happen way faster than it probably will, but I'm trying to be optimistic here. When you can't get behind the anchor to the show, it's nearly impossible to care about the show as a whole. If Zooey proves to be way more interesting and considerably funnier than she appeared to be in the trailer, this show could work. Given that all the Damon Wayans Jr. scenes will have to be reshot, the end result will likely be a bit different anyway. With this show, it pretty much boils down to whether you like Zooey or not, because she seems to be the whole show. I'm... not a fan. But, most people seem to think she's just adorkable, so odds are this will be a hit. I'll give it a shot and hope for the best.
I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER
Description: Stars Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), Katie Finneran (Wonderfalls), Chad Coleman (The Wire), and Kevin Rahm (Desperate Housewives).
First Impressions: Well... Zooey's looking better and better? Wow. Um... aside from noting the Glee soundtrack, I hardly know what to say. This looks like a tragic case of a good cast in a bad show. I actually like the actors involved quite a lot, but this looks pretty painful to watch. The base concept doesn't grab me at all. I think there are way too many shows out there teaching girls how to be bitches, thanks, and feeding the perception that young girls are nothing but brain-dead, slutty mean girls who are the bane of everyone's existence always grates on me. I just can't really relate to it at all and find it hard to believe that any parent could be so horrendously that they'd allow their daughters to turn out like this. I realize they're exaggerating for comic effect here, but that doesn't make it seem any more charming. That said, comedies are far and away the most difficult to size up from just a trailer. As ever, I'll give it a shot, but not only do I think it will be pretty unfunny, but I'm pretty sure it won't exactly start a fire in the ratings department. Honestly, if they simply got rid of the daughters, I think the show would look a lot more promising. With any luck, the daughters are simply a device and aren't central to the story at all. Given the number of lines they were granted in the trailer, this could very well be the case. Hopefully that isn't the only comedic device they'll be using though, because that will get real old real fast. Like, by the end of the trailer fast. I'm not sure I even cracked a smile during the trailer, so I'm not holding out a lot of hope for this one. If you're in to stereotypes, however, hop on board!
Here are the new Fox comedies premiering this fall:
THE NEW GIRL
Description: Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) fronts a cast that includes Damon Wayans Jr. (well, not anymore--Happy Endings got picked up, so this role will have to be recast), Max Greenfield (Veronica Mars), and others.
First Impressions: Sigh. I should probably start by pointing out that I generally can't stand Zooey Deschanel. She's pretty much the blandest actress on the planet. You know, when she's not being completely annoying. I know more than a few guys that just adore her and I don't get it. Same goes for Scarlett Johanssen. Pretty girls, terrible actresses. That said, it's really hard to approach this pilot with anything more than a groan. In terms of concept, it's far from the worst I've seen, but the thought of watching Zooey unconvincingly sob and go into stereotypical "girls are just so emotional!" hysterics doesn't appeal to me at all. My only hope would be that the unstable sad sack shown in the trailer would get her effing act together sooner than later. She's just trying so hard all the time. When you're desperate to be quirky, it doesn't make you interesting or unique, it makes you a dork. And in this instance, it makes her a dork who sings all the time. And dances. I appreciate a good goofball and I love a quirky energy, but with Zooey? It's just annoying. Which, to be fair, seems to be the intent. That's where I'm a little hopeful for this one. If their intention was for her to be an annoying mess at first, but who becomes someone you'd actually want to watch week-to-week, I could get behind that. Sure, I'd want this progression to happen way faster than it probably will, but I'm trying to be optimistic here. When you can't get behind the anchor to the show, it's nearly impossible to care about the show as a whole. If Zooey proves to be way more interesting and considerably funnier than she appeared to be in the trailer, this show could work. Given that all the Damon Wayans Jr. scenes will have to be reshot, the end result will likely be a bit different anyway. With this show, it pretty much boils down to whether you like Zooey or not, because she seems to be the whole show. I'm... not a fan. But, most people seem to think she's just adorkable, so odds are this will be a hit. I'll give it a shot and hope for the best.
I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER
Description: Stars Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), Katie Finneran (Wonderfalls), Chad Coleman (The Wire), and Kevin Rahm (Desperate Housewives).
First Impressions: Well... Zooey's looking better and better? Wow. Um... aside from noting the Glee soundtrack, I hardly know what to say. This looks like a tragic case of a good cast in a bad show. I actually like the actors involved quite a lot, but this looks pretty painful to watch. The base concept doesn't grab me at all. I think there are way too many shows out there teaching girls how to be bitches, thanks, and feeding the perception that young girls are nothing but brain-dead, slutty mean girls who are the bane of everyone's existence always grates on me. I just can't really relate to it at all and find it hard to believe that any parent could be so horrendously that they'd allow their daughters to turn out like this. I realize they're exaggerating for comic effect here, but that doesn't make it seem any more charming. That said, comedies are far and away the most difficult to size up from just a trailer. As ever, I'll give it a shot, but not only do I think it will be pretty unfunny, but I'm pretty sure it won't exactly start a fire in the ratings department. Honestly, if they simply got rid of the daughters, I think the show would look a lot more promising. With any luck, the daughters are simply a device and aren't central to the story at all. Given the number of lines they were granted in the trailer, this could very well be the case. Hopefully that isn't the only comedic device they'll be using though, because that will get real old real fast. Like, by the end of the trailer fast. I'm not sure I even cracked a smile during the trailer, so I'm not holding out a lot of hope for this one. If you're in to stereotypes, however, hop on board!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Frat Guys, Attorneys at Law
What do you do when you've pigeon-holed yourself into one of the most over-done genres in the book? Re-invent it in cheesy and annoying ways, apparently.
TNT has never been lauded for its original programming (at least not rightly so... The Closer is terrible, peeps, whatever the Emmy voters may say), so I went into it's latest stab at scripted content with fairly low expectations. Franklin & Bash wasn't a total disaster, but overall, it met said expectations.
Having seen and reviewed more legal shows than I can count, it's basically impossible for me to review this kind of show. I've seen every trick, watched every story arc play out, and rolled my eyes at every cliche this genre has to throw at me. For every surprise knockout like the incomparable The Good Wife, there are about 87 The Whole Truths, The Deep Ends, Raising the Bars (hey hey, that lawyer looks familiar! Only with much better hair!), Canterbury's Laws, Harry's Laws, Fairly Legals, and Outlaws. It was way too easy to rattle off that list... Anyway, Franklin & Bash definitely falls into the latter category. It wasn't at the bottom of that heap, but a heap is a heap, no matter where you fall.
The show stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar (yes, the Zac Morris) and Breckin Meyer as a pair of freewheeling best friends who run a podunk law practice together until they get recruited by Malcolm McDowell (an actor who has clearly fallen on very hard times) to join the big leagues. The pilot seems to be setting up character arcs where Peter Bash and Jared Franklin (Gosselaar and Meyer, respectively) will try to retain their laid back, frat guy ways in the fact of corporate overlords, but in the end, it mainly just seemed like a lackluster ploy to add some depth to the frat house. (And when I say "frat house," I pretty much
mean frat house. Literally, their house has a hot tub, all manor of video games, alcohol aplenty, hot naked girls, you name it. I didn't see any frat boys specifically, but I assume they were there.)
As heavy-handed and fairly cheesy as the frattiness was, it wasn't entirely unsuccessful. Gosselaar and Meyer had nice chemistry together and really sold the friendship on the screen. The writers (and the network probably more than a little bit) went out of their way to make these guys likable and to force a slew of redeeming qualities on them. I say "force" because it all felt very contrived. It had hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold undertones that I couldn't overlook. Sure, they're a couple of laid back party guys, but they're the guys who really care about their clients and will do whatever it takes to win. In all honesty, I think they would have been much more compelling if they didn't care one bit about their clients but felt a competitive compulsion to win. Sure the latter sounds like something you've seen a million times, but in just about every iteration, the writers end up turning the characters into lovable puppy dogs with a troubled past and six kids to feed, blah, blah, blah. With formula in hand, the writers here have crafted a couple of (they're hoping) likable guys, but ultimately, not terribly interesting guys. What little glimmers of depth they tried to impart fell in lock step with all the formulaic trappings we've seen a million times before. The slacker-ier of the pair (Breckin Meyer) is the son of a great (and I'm guessing serious, austere, cutthroat, and, no doubt, disappointed in his offspring) lawyer who runs some big law firm (you know, Meyer was never hugged as a child, so when he grew up, he was determined to practice law his way, yada, yada, yada). Gosselaar's ex-girlfriend is, wait for it, the prosecutor!
Wha?! What a crazy, random happenstance! I. Am. Shocked. To boot, he's still in love with her (as we get to hear all about in Gosselaar's closing arguments during a case as he very cleverly applies his notions of love to the case and his love life (it's as though they happen to overlap!)), and she's engaged to someone else! Dun, dun, dun! Again, utterly shocking. The only way to make an overdone genre work is to tweak the genre itself in an interesting way or to craft truly unique characters to inhabit such a familiar world. Well, if there are two legal tropes I've seen before, it's the little guy lawyer who stands up to the big boys, and the truly caring, truly human lawyer who rails against the heartless corporate guys. In Franklin & Bash, you get both, with very little deviation from the center.
As if the leads' mad cap misadventures weren't enough, the minimally necessary supporting players that round out the cast are equally stereotypical, but even less engaging.
Oh, they also represent the faces of color of the show, which, while I'm glad they're on a show at all, would it kill the powers-that-be to give them leading roles? Anyway, as helper people to the main guys, we have the always charming and perky Dana Davis and an actor of Indian descent (I couldn't find a name credit online) playing Pindar, an agoraphobe who lives with the guys and can hardly leave the house. They're both fine in their own ways, but more than anything, I just didn't buy the dynamic among the group. Again, it really felt like, as the writers were piecing together the concept, they decided they needed some faces of color, and an attractive younger woman, and a quirky character and settled here. Neither of the characters felt organic to the story or their surroundings. Over time, I'm sure they'd settle into the roles (roles which, if the writers just saw what I saw, will be reworked), but from the pilot, I wasn't interested enough to really care. They felt like an afterthought mostly, or in Pindar's case, a shameless ploy for comic relief that felt completely ham-fisted and that was neither comedic, nor a relief.
As with just about every review of a genre show, I end up concluding that if I had never seen a show from this genre, I'd probably have enjoyed the show a whole lot better. So let it be with Franklin & Bash. There were aspects of the pilot that worked, and it had some charming moments and ideas, but I found myself hoping it would just end already. Indeed, I started checking how far we were into the show at the 22 minute mark. I couldn't believe it wasn't even half over. That makes is sound far more painful and awful than it really was, but I couldn't help but be bored, what with having seen this show so many times before. What's more, with this kind of a concept, I know exactly what to expect for every episode to come. This show isn't edgy enough to push the envelope and doesn't have enough uniqueness to it to surprise me. The only truly surprising
thing is that the networks keep trying to squeeze show after show into an already over-stuffed genre.
At its core, Franklin & Bash does one thing pretty well. The friendship between the two leads is the basis for the show and it works well enough. I believed these two guys were friends and I enjoyed seeing them together, even if I didn't have the urge to chug a beer with them as I kept getting the feeling I was supposed to. That bond is the one saving grace of the show and is the reason viewers may learn to love the show. Without that chemistry, the show would be a total disaster. With that chemistry? It's a harmless fluff piece that, if you've never seen a lawyer show before, only watch law shows, or had a kegger at your apartment last night, you'll find enjoyable. For me? Their dynamic may work well, but not well enough to keep the rest of the show afloat. I was pretty bored throughout, even in spite of a couple of memorable moments, and even the promise of Winona Givens guest starring in the next episode isn't much enticement to give it another episode. Okay, maybe it is. I'll give this show one more episode, but my hopes aren't high. Much like the standards at TNT.
If man-boy antics are your thing, this may very well be your show. To skip to the end of the syllogism, this doesn't appear to be my kind of show.
Pilot Grade: C-
TNT has never been lauded for its original programming (at least not rightly so... The Closer is terrible, peeps, whatever the Emmy voters may say), so I went into it's latest stab at scripted content with fairly low expectations. Franklin & Bash wasn't a total disaster, but overall, it met said expectations.
Having seen and reviewed more legal shows than I can count, it's basically impossible for me to review this kind of show. I've seen every trick, watched every story arc play out, and rolled my eyes at every cliche this genre has to throw at me. For every surprise knockout like the incomparable The Good Wife, there are about 87 The Whole Truths, The Deep Ends, Raising the Bars (hey hey, that lawyer looks familiar! Only with much better hair!), Canterbury's Laws, Harry's Laws, Fairly Legals, and Outlaws. It was way too easy to rattle off that list... Anyway, Franklin & Bash definitely falls into the latter category. It wasn't at the bottom of that heap, but a heap is a heap, no matter where you fall.The show stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar (yes, the Zac Morris) and Breckin Meyer as a pair of freewheeling best friends who run a podunk law practice together until they get recruited by Malcolm McDowell (an actor who has clearly fallen on very hard times) to join the big leagues. The pilot seems to be setting up character arcs where Peter Bash and Jared Franklin (Gosselaar and Meyer, respectively) will try to retain their laid back, frat guy ways in the fact of corporate overlords, but in the end, it mainly just seemed like a lackluster ploy to add some depth to the frat house. (And when I say "frat house," I pretty much
mean frat house. Literally, their house has a hot tub, all manor of video games, alcohol aplenty, hot naked girls, you name it. I didn't see any frat boys specifically, but I assume they were there.)As heavy-handed and fairly cheesy as the frattiness was, it wasn't entirely unsuccessful. Gosselaar and Meyer had nice chemistry together and really sold the friendship on the screen. The writers (and the network probably more than a little bit) went out of their way to make these guys likable and to force a slew of redeeming qualities on them. I say "force" because it all felt very contrived. It had hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold undertones that I couldn't overlook. Sure, they're a couple of laid back party guys, but they're the guys who really care about their clients and will do whatever it takes to win. In all honesty, I think they would have been much more compelling if they didn't care one bit about their clients but felt a competitive compulsion to win. Sure the latter sounds like something you've seen a million times, but in just about every iteration, the writers end up turning the characters into lovable puppy dogs with a troubled past and six kids to feed, blah, blah, blah. With formula in hand, the writers here have crafted a couple of (they're hoping) likable guys, but ultimately, not terribly interesting guys. What little glimmers of depth they tried to impart fell in lock step with all the formulaic trappings we've seen a million times before. The slacker-ier of the pair (Breckin Meyer) is the son of a great (and I'm guessing serious, austere, cutthroat, and, no doubt, disappointed in his offspring) lawyer who runs some big law firm (you know, Meyer was never hugged as a child, so when he grew up, he was determined to practice law his way, yada, yada, yada). Gosselaar's ex-girlfriend is, wait for it, the prosecutor!
Wha?! What a crazy, random happenstance! I. Am. Shocked. To boot, he's still in love with her (as we get to hear all about in Gosselaar's closing arguments during a case as he very cleverly applies his notions of love to the case and his love life (it's as though they happen to overlap!)), and she's engaged to someone else! Dun, dun, dun! Again, utterly shocking. The only way to make an overdone genre work is to tweak the genre itself in an interesting way or to craft truly unique characters to inhabit such a familiar world. Well, if there are two legal tropes I've seen before, it's the little guy lawyer who stands up to the big boys, and the truly caring, truly human lawyer who rails against the heartless corporate guys. In Franklin & Bash, you get both, with very little deviation from the center.As if the leads' mad cap misadventures weren't enough, the minimally necessary supporting players that round out the cast are equally stereotypical, but even less engaging.
Oh, they also represent the faces of color of the show, which, while I'm glad they're on a show at all, would it kill the powers-that-be to give them leading roles? Anyway, as helper people to the main guys, we have the always charming and perky Dana Davis and an actor of Indian descent (I couldn't find a name credit online) playing Pindar, an agoraphobe who lives with the guys and can hardly leave the house. They're both fine in their own ways, but more than anything, I just didn't buy the dynamic among the group. Again, it really felt like, as the writers were piecing together the concept, they decided they needed some faces of color, and an attractive younger woman, and a quirky character and settled here. Neither of the characters felt organic to the story or their surroundings. Over time, I'm sure they'd settle into the roles (roles which, if the writers just saw what I saw, will be reworked), but from the pilot, I wasn't interested enough to really care. They felt like an afterthought mostly, or in Pindar's case, a shameless ploy for comic relief that felt completely ham-fisted and that was neither comedic, nor a relief.As with just about every review of a genre show, I end up concluding that if I had never seen a show from this genre, I'd probably have enjoyed the show a whole lot better. So let it be with Franklin & Bash. There were aspects of the pilot that worked, and it had some charming moments and ideas, but I found myself hoping it would just end already. Indeed, I started checking how far we were into the show at the 22 minute mark. I couldn't believe it wasn't even half over. That makes is sound far more painful and awful than it really was, but I couldn't help but be bored, what with having seen this show so many times before. What's more, with this kind of a concept, I know exactly what to expect for every episode to come. This show isn't edgy enough to push the envelope and doesn't have enough uniqueness to it to surprise me. The only truly surprising
thing is that the networks keep trying to squeeze show after show into an already over-stuffed genre.At its core, Franklin & Bash does one thing pretty well. The friendship between the two leads is the basis for the show and it works well enough. I believed these two guys were friends and I enjoyed seeing them together, even if I didn't have the urge to chug a beer with them as I kept getting the feeling I was supposed to. That bond is the one saving grace of the show and is the reason viewers may learn to love the show. Without that chemistry, the show would be a total disaster. With that chemistry? It's a harmless fluff piece that, if you've never seen a lawyer show before, only watch law shows, or had a kegger at your apartment last night, you'll find enjoyable. For me? Their dynamic may work well, but not well enough to keep the rest of the show afloat. I was pretty bored throughout, even in spite of a couple of memorable moments, and even the promise of Winona Givens guest starring in the next episode isn't much enticement to give it another episode. Okay, maybe it is. I'll give this show one more episode, but my hopes aren't high. Much like the standards at TNT.
If man-boy antics are your thing, this may very well be your show. To skip to the end of the syllogism, this doesn't appear to be my kind of show.
Pilot Grade: C-
Fox Pilots 2011: Volume 1 (dramas)
After slogging through the entirely new network that NBC will be, I'm switching gears to Fox, which only has enough real estate for two volumes. Truth be told, NBC actually has some midseason comedies in store, but none of them was promising enough or horrific enough for mention. On the off-chance that they actually make it to air, I'll be sure to mention them.
Anyway, on to Fox. I'm still bitter about The Chicago Code getting the axe, especially in light of aging shows like House and Bones jumping one shark after another and relative newbie Glee sucking it up in its second season. From a financial standpoint, I guess I get it, but House is hemorrhaging viewers and actors (Lisa Edelstein jumped ship and I can't says I blame her). Odds are this coming season will mercifully be its last. I broke up with it after the first episode of this season, so it only really matters to me in terms of other shows getting canceled. Code ended its run in fine fashion, and, while not a perfect show, had a lot of room to grow and seemingly infinite storylines to explore. House, Bones, and even Glee? They're pretty tapped out. Caterwauling aside, Fox has a pretty interesting slate of new shows for the coming year, so if nothing else, at least they have some potential winners to throw into the mix of aging dinosaurs. Actually, they have some dinosaurs to throw in as well... Along with the potential winners, of course, we have even more animation and a competition show of some sort that I already don't care about. Even worse, the most promising new show of all is being held till midseason, you know, because all the cool networks are doing that for some reason... Boo.
Here's how the schedule is stacking up for the coming year (new shows are in caps and the times are Eastern Time):
***FALL SCHEDULE***
MONDAY
8/7c TERRA NOVA
9 pm House
TUESDAY
8 pm Glee
9 pm NEW GIRL
9:30 pm Raising Hope
WEDNESDAY
8-9:30 pm THE X FACTOR
9:30 pm I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER
THURSDAY
8 pm THE X FACTOR (Results Show)
9 pm Bones
FRIDAY
8 pm Kitchen Nightmares
9 pm Fringe
SUNDAY
7:30 pm The Cleveland Show
8 pm The Simpsons
8:30 pm ALLEN GREGORY
9 pm Family Guy
9:30 pm American Dad
***MIDSEASON SCHEDULE***
MONDAY
8/7c House
9 pm ALCATRAZ
TUESDAY
8 pm Glee
9 pm NEW GIRL
9:30 pm Raising Hope
WEDNESDAY
8-9:30 pm American Idol
9:30 pm I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER
THURSDAY
8 pm American Idol (Results Show)
9 pm FINDER/Bones (Returning in Spring)
FRIDAY
8 pm Kitchen Nightmares
9 pm Fringe
SUNDAY
7:30 pm The Cleveland Show
8 pm The Simpsons
8:30 pm NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
9 pm Family Guy
9:30 pm Bob’s Burgers
So yeah, Fox's schedule is always kind of a chore to read because it's so chopped up, but in theory, that's what it'll look like at some point in time.
Here are the new dramas:
ALCATRAZ
Description: Stars Jorge Garcia (Lost), Parminder Nagra (ER), Robert Forster (Heroes), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) and Sarah Jones (Sons of Anarchy). JJ Abrams will produce.
First Impressions: Color me intrigued, but cautious. In spite of the craptacularity of JJ Abrams' last project (Undercovers, the show so boring even NBC wouldn't keep it), it's impossible not to be excited for a project of his. With Lost, Alias, and Fringe under his belt, he's allowed a misstep or two. This show looks like it has a hell of a lot of potential, depending on what direction they take things... If this is a complex supernatural, psychological, historical mystery, I'm so in. If this turns into a old-prisoner-of-the-week cop procedural? I'm considerably less in. Based on what I've seen and heard so far, I'm hopeful that this show will spend more time exploring the mystery of how these men disappeared, where they've been, and why they're back rather than a caper of the week. JJ generally avoids such CBS-style trappings, so it should be good. The concept is intriguing no matter what direction they take. This is truly a story I've never really seen before, and for someone who watches as much TV as I do, that's a very welcomed change. In terms of cast... Hurley! I love him, and as much as I'd love to see Jorge Garcia play the exact same character again, I'm hopeful they give him something different to explore with this show. From the trailer alone, it's looking very Hurley-ish, but even if that ends up being the case, I'll take it. Beyond him, I'm less thrilled. I hadn't made the connection to her previous work at the time, so it was just kind of a knee-jerk reaction, but Sarah Jones, the blonde, is instantly off-putting. Seriously, the second she showed up on the screen, I groaned. How much of that has to do with the fact that she appears to be playing your stereotypical female lead for a "cop show" and how much of it is leftover from her detestable role in Sons of Anarchy is up for grabs, but whatever the motivation, I'm predisposed to hate her. Hopefully she'll grow on once I see the full pilot/series, but off the bat, she is far from the actress I'd want anchoring my show. Beyond her, we have Sam Neill, who's pleasant enough, even if he didn't knock my socks off in the trailer, and Parminder Nagra, who I try to love, but often fail. She always just seems a bit wooden to me. Or, when she's trying not to be wooden, she's whiny, which is even worse. All that said, high-concept shows generally suffer the most from being whittled down to trailer length (there's only so much character depth that can be imparted in 3 minutes), so I'm going to force myself to have an open mind and casually forget everyone's previous roles. Won't be easy with an all-star cast, but I'm certainly going to try. All in all, I'm very excited, in spite of my reservations about some of the casting choices. My only other concern is that JJ has a tendency to make kick-ass pilots, then hang on for a few episodes, then abandon a project. I don't know who the permanent showrunners are, so that's a definite factor if JJ takes a backseat along the way. This is one of the most intriguing trailers of the new pilot season, so naturally, the show is being held till the dead of winter. I don't know why all the nets are doing this, but it's already frustrating me and it's only June. Sigh.
TERRA NOVA
Description: Stars Jason O'Mara (Life On Mars), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Mido Hamada (24) and Christine Adams (The Whole Truth). Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park), Jon Cassar (24) and Brannon Braga (Star Trek: Enterprise) are among the executive producers.
First (or Third) Impressions: That's right, folks. The pilot we in the industry (heh) have been hearing about for the past, oh, 85 million years or so, is finally going to air. After having been bumped back several times, I was starting to wonder it if would ever see the light of day. It's easily the most ambitious series premiering in the fall, and that's not just because all the good stuff is being held till midseason. This is clearly an expensive show to produce and I'm a little worried that with a week-to-week budget rather than a pilot budget, the special effects and overall look may suffer. Even its regular budget must be huge, however, so for this show to stay on the air, its ratings need to be pretty damn high and then need to stay there. I'm intrigued by the show, but after hearing things like, "It'll appeal to everyone. From age 9 to 90, there's something for everybody," I'm considerably less enthused. Shows that appeal to everybody ultimately appeal to nobody, particularly me. That said, from the trailer, I'm hopeful that the Fox exec who said that (I can't remember who and I'm too lazy to look it up) is painting with a broader brush than is actually warranted. It does look like the writers sat down and made a list of all the things a show could possibly have ("Action! Adventure! Mystery! Family drama! A love story! A war story! A survival story!") and then tried to include as many of them as possible in the show, but given the scope of the concept, I can see where it could all work. I have a feeling that the show will be casting too broad a net in terms of viewers, but on rare occasion, mass appeal can equal quality. The cast and production team are solid and the concept really opens the door for them to do just about anything they want in terms of story, so if they play their cards right, even the family-friendly dinosaur adventure that this appears to be could be a winner. This is the kind of show that just about everyone will be tuning into at some point to see what all the fuss is about, a la Lost, so if you don't want to be out of the loop, it's certainly worth looking into even if the concept leaves you uninspired. I'm intrigued and hopeful, but reserved. If they can find a true voice and focused direction for the series, it could be absolutely amazing. Fingers crossed.
FINDER
Description: Ugh. Does that count as a description? No? Okay, this one stars Geoff Stults (October Road) and Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile). Hart Hanson (Bones) will executive-produce.
First Impressions: Yeah, so this is one of the few shows that I am totally fine with it being held till midseason. In fact, how about it never airs at all? Man alive, Hart Hanson is a hack. Bones has only ever been mid-level, even at its best, so how about we pick up a new show, that's eerily like the old show, and hope no one notices! On top of that, let's cancel The Chicago Code so that drivel like this can see the light of day. Deal? No deal, Fox Network execs. Having already seen the "backdoor pilot" that aired as a Bones episode last season, I'm not impressed. Procedurals in general aren't exactly my bread and butter and this one looks lamer than most. He... finds(?) things? That's it? He's the world's foremost authority on finding things... Am I supposed to be enthralled by that? Maybe I'm just too jaded and have seen too many procedurals, but I just don't think I can bring myself to watch him track crap down week-to-week. Perhaps if the lead actor were more appealing or the concept were more unique, but as is, no thanks. Michael Clarke Duncan is always a treat, and Saffron Burrows has left the show, so that's all good, I suppose, but at the end of the day, I just don't care. The main character appeals to me in no way whatsoever, and I don't mean strictly physically. As I recall from the backdoor pilot, he's a former soldier or something and an insufferable no-it-all with his uncanny "finding" abilities. He has neither the depth nor the panache to engage me and the thought of him anchoring a show is fairly laughable. Bones lost what little luster it once had several years ago and Hart Hanson's attempt at reinvigorating his career appears to have fallen flat. If I had only seen the trailer, I'd be more on the fence, but I've seen the pilot and deduced that this show, in its current incarnation, is not worth my time. I'll probably check out the first episode of the fall to see what kind of creative changes have been made, but I can think of few ways to salvage this concept. Midseason can have you, Finder. I don't mind.
Anyway, on to Fox. I'm still bitter about The Chicago Code getting the axe, especially in light of aging shows like House and Bones jumping one shark after another and relative newbie Glee sucking it up in its second season. From a financial standpoint, I guess I get it, but House is hemorrhaging viewers and actors (Lisa Edelstein jumped ship and I can't says I blame her). Odds are this coming season will mercifully be its last. I broke up with it after the first episode of this season, so it only really matters to me in terms of other shows getting canceled. Code ended its run in fine fashion, and, while not a perfect show, had a lot of room to grow and seemingly infinite storylines to explore. House, Bones, and even Glee? They're pretty tapped out. Caterwauling aside, Fox has a pretty interesting slate of new shows for the coming year, so if nothing else, at least they have some potential winners to throw into the mix of aging dinosaurs. Actually, they have some dinosaurs to throw in as well... Along with the potential winners, of course, we have even more animation and a competition show of some sort that I already don't care about. Even worse, the most promising new show of all is being held till midseason, you know, because all the cool networks are doing that for some reason... Boo.
Here's how the schedule is stacking up for the coming year (new shows are in caps and the times are Eastern Time):
***FALL SCHEDULE***
MONDAY
8/7c TERRA NOVA
9 pm House
TUESDAY
8 pm Glee
9 pm NEW GIRL
9:30 pm Raising Hope
WEDNESDAY
8-9:30 pm THE X FACTOR
9:30 pm I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER
THURSDAY
8 pm THE X FACTOR (Results Show)
9 pm Bones
FRIDAY
8 pm Kitchen Nightmares
9 pm Fringe
SUNDAY
7:30 pm The Cleveland Show
8 pm The Simpsons
8:30 pm ALLEN GREGORY
9 pm Family Guy
9:30 pm American Dad
***MIDSEASON SCHEDULE***
MONDAY
8/7c House
9 pm ALCATRAZ
TUESDAY
8 pm Glee
9 pm NEW GIRL
9:30 pm Raising Hope
WEDNESDAY
8-9:30 pm American Idol
9:30 pm I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER
THURSDAY
8 pm American Idol (Results Show)
9 pm FINDER/Bones (Returning in Spring)
FRIDAY
8 pm Kitchen Nightmares
9 pm Fringe
SUNDAY
7:30 pm The Cleveland Show
8 pm The Simpsons
8:30 pm NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
9 pm Family Guy
9:30 pm Bob’s Burgers
So yeah, Fox's schedule is always kind of a chore to read because it's so chopped up, but in theory, that's what it'll look like at some point in time.
Here are the new dramas:
ALCATRAZ
Description: Stars Jorge Garcia (Lost), Parminder Nagra (ER), Robert Forster (Heroes), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) and Sarah Jones (Sons of Anarchy). JJ Abrams will produce.
First Impressions: Color me intrigued, but cautious. In spite of the craptacularity of JJ Abrams' last project (Undercovers, the show so boring even NBC wouldn't keep it), it's impossible not to be excited for a project of his. With Lost, Alias, and Fringe under his belt, he's allowed a misstep or two. This show looks like it has a hell of a lot of potential, depending on what direction they take things... If this is a complex supernatural, psychological, historical mystery, I'm so in. If this turns into a old-prisoner-of-the-week cop procedural? I'm considerably less in. Based on what I've seen and heard so far, I'm hopeful that this show will spend more time exploring the mystery of how these men disappeared, where they've been, and why they're back rather than a caper of the week. JJ generally avoids such CBS-style trappings, so it should be good. The concept is intriguing no matter what direction they take. This is truly a story I've never really seen before, and for someone who watches as much TV as I do, that's a very welcomed change. In terms of cast... Hurley! I love him, and as much as I'd love to see Jorge Garcia play the exact same character again, I'm hopeful they give him something different to explore with this show. From the trailer alone, it's looking very Hurley-ish, but even if that ends up being the case, I'll take it. Beyond him, I'm less thrilled. I hadn't made the connection to her previous work at the time, so it was just kind of a knee-jerk reaction, but Sarah Jones, the blonde, is instantly off-putting. Seriously, the second she showed up on the screen, I groaned. How much of that has to do with the fact that she appears to be playing your stereotypical female lead for a "cop show" and how much of it is leftover from her detestable role in Sons of Anarchy is up for grabs, but whatever the motivation, I'm predisposed to hate her. Hopefully she'll grow on once I see the full pilot/series, but off the bat, she is far from the actress I'd want anchoring my show. Beyond her, we have Sam Neill, who's pleasant enough, even if he didn't knock my socks off in the trailer, and Parminder Nagra, who I try to love, but often fail. She always just seems a bit wooden to me. Or, when she's trying not to be wooden, she's whiny, which is even worse. All that said, high-concept shows generally suffer the most from being whittled down to trailer length (there's only so much character depth that can be imparted in 3 minutes), so I'm going to force myself to have an open mind and casually forget everyone's previous roles. Won't be easy with an all-star cast, but I'm certainly going to try. All in all, I'm very excited, in spite of my reservations about some of the casting choices. My only other concern is that JJ has a tendency to make kick-ass pilots, then hang on for a few episodes, then abandon a project. I don't know who the permanent showrunners are, so that's a definite factor if JJ takes a backseat along the way. This is one of the most intriguing trailers of the new pilot season, so naturally, the show is being held till the dead of winter. I don't know why all the nets are doing this, but it's already frustrating me and it's only June. Sigh.
TERRA NOVA
Description: Stars Jason O'Mara (Life On Mars), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Mido Hamada (24) and Christine Adams (The Whole Truth). Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park), Jon Cassar (24) and Brannon Braga (Star Trek: Enterprise) are among the executive producers.
First (or Third) Impressions: That's right, folks. The pilot we in the industry (heh) have been hearing about for the past, oh, 85 million years or so, is finally going to air. After having been bumped back several times, I was starting to wonder it if would ever see the light of day. It's easily the most ambitious series premiering in the fall, and that's not just because all the good stuff is being held till midseason. This is clearly an expensive show to produce and I'm a little worried that with a week-to-week budget rather than a pilot budget, the special effects and overall look may suffer. Even its regular budget must be huge, however, so for this show to stay on the air, its ratings need to be pretty damn high and then need to stay there. I'm intrigued by the show, but after hearing things like, "It'll appeal to everyone. From age 9 to 90, there's something for everybody," I'm considerably less enthused. Shows that appeal to everybody ultimately appeal to nobody, particularly me. That said, from the trailer, I'm hopeful that the Fox exec who said that (I can't remember who and I'm too lazy to look it up) is painting with a broader brush than is actually warranted. It does look like the writers sat down and made a list of all the things a show could possibly have ("Action! Adventure! Mystery! Family drama! A love story! A war story! A survival story!") and then tried to include as many of them as possible in the show, but given the scope of the concept, I can see where it could all work. I have a feeling that the show will be casting too broad a net in terms of viewers, but on rare occasion, mass appeal can equal quality. The cast and production team are solid and the concept really opens the door for them to do just about anything they want in terms of story, so if they play their cards right, even the family-friendly dinosaur adventure that this appears to be could be a winner. This is the kind of show that just about everyone will be tuning into at some point to see what all the fuss is about, a la Lost, so if you don't want to be out of the loop, it's certainly worth looking into even if the concept leaves you uninspired. I'm intrigued and hopeful, but reserved. If they can find a true voice and focused direction for the series, it could be absolutely amazing. Fingers crossed.
FINDER
Description: Ugh. Does that count as a description? No? Okay, this one stars Geoff Stults (October Road) and Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile). Hart Hanson (Bones) will executive-produce.
First Impressions: Yeah, so this is one of the few shows that I am totally fine with it being held till midseason. In fact, how about it never airs at all? Man alive, Hart Hanson is a hack. Bones has only ever been mid-level, even at its best, so how about we pick up a new show, that's eerily like the old show, and hope no one notices! On top of that, let's cancel The Chicago Code so that drivel like this can see the light of day. Deal? No deal, Fox Network execs. Having already seen the "backdoor pilot" that aired as a Bones episode last season, I'm not impressed. Procedurals in general aren't exactly my bread and butter and this one looks lamer than most. He... finds(?) things? That's it? He's the world's foremost authority on finding things... Am I supposed to be enthralled by that? Maybe I'm just too jaded and have seen too many procedurals, but I just don't think I can bring myself to watch him track crap down week-to-week. Perhaps if the lead actor were more appealing or the concept were more unique, but as is, no thanks. Michael Clarke Duncan is always a treat, and Saffron Burrows has left the show, so that's all good, I suppose, but at the end of the day, I just don't care. The main character appeals to me in no way whatsoever, and I don't mean strictly physically. As I recall from the backdoor pilot, he's a former soldier or something and an insufferable no-it-all with his uncanny "finding" abilities. He has neither the depth nor the panache to engage me and the thought of him anchoring a show is fairly laughable. Bones lost what little luster it once had several years ago and Hart Hanson's attempt at reinvigorating his career appears to have fallen flat. If I had only seen the trailer, I'd be more on the fence, but I've seen the pilot and deduced that this show, in its current incarnation, is not worth my time. I'll probably check out the first episode of the fall to see what kind of creative changes have been made, but I can think of few ways to salvage this concept. Midseason can have you, Finder. I don't mind.
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