TV Predictions: Who will get picked up?

It's barely October and the axe has already claimed a few victims. With ratings slipping for various shows across the board, I anticipate the bloodbath to only get bloodier. In better news, some shows that I truly adore have already received the back nine and others are holding strong. Below are the official pick-ups and drops so far and my predictions for the fates of other shows.

ALREADY AXED (OFFICIALLY)

• The Cleaner
  (I've only ever seen about half an episode of this show so clearly it never really grabbed me. I don't know why it's been cancelled exactly (I assume ratings, but who knows), but I don't think it'll be missed.
  
  
• The Beautiful Life
  Alas, poor Mischa... we hardly knew (or cared about) you. This ill-conceived mess of a show was pretty god awful from minute one, so I'm a little surprised it didn't fit right in at the CW. (Oooh, snap!) Seriously, given the other dreck on the network (One Tree Hill, I'm looking in your direction), I figured this train wreck would have garnered similar numbers. It did not. You know you're in trouble when your ratings are so bad the CW won't have you. Ouch.
  
  
• Southland
  This comes as quite a surprise, I must say. And a rather unwelcomed surprise at that. Even before the second season had a chance to premiere (it was slated to premiere on 10/23), the brilliant minds at NBC gave it the axe. I wasn't that dazzled with the show, but it ended strong and I was hoping to give it a second chance. I'm hearing that NBC simply didn't think it could work at an earlier time slot (what with the craptacularity that is The Jay Leno Show taking up the latest spot on the schedule every night), so they decided not to even give it a chance. It was apparently "too edgy" or something. Word is, there are six episodes that have already been produced, so who knows what will happen to those. The show is being shopped around to other networks, but I'm pretty doubtful it will find a home. The other big networks have pretty full plates at the moment, so I'm thinking basic cable will be the show's best bet. One critic mentioned that it might find a good fit on TNT and I'm inclined to agree. With Saving Grace coming to an end, I'm hopeful the slot gets filled by Southland. At the end of the day, the show probably would have failed eventually, but to pick-up the show only to cancel it two weeks before the premiere is pretty damn low, even for NBC.
  
  
• Saving Grace
  Speaking of Saving Grace, it has been cancelled as well. I know very little about the show and have never seen a single episode, so my commentary on this one is pretty useless (as you can clearly tell).
  

ALREADY PICKED-UP (OFFICIALLY)

• Glee
  Fox finally did something right! This is a quirky, dark, musical dramedy that should have had a hard time finding a solid audience, but rolling out the pilot several months before the show would actually begin airing was a smart move. Those months gave time for word-of-mouth to promote the show and also allowed for plenty of time for people to catch the pilot. Not every episode has been perfect, but I think the show has really hit its stride and I'm thrilled it already has a back nine order.
  
  
• My Boys
  This show rests somewhere at the bottom of my third tier. It's not one I'm at all excited about, but it generally airs during times of the year when there's little else on, so I keep up with it to an extent. It's a mediocre show that has brief and sparse moments of funny. Anyway, it's been granted another season, so if you're just dying to, um, find out, uh, whatever... I can't remember what the hell was going on with the show at the end of last season, but I don't really care (channeling voice of a certain board member for that last bit).
  
  
• Californication
  I finally have Showtime, but I kinda, sorta missed the first several seasons... At any rate, it's been granted another season.
  
  
• Nurse Jackie
  Yay! This show is one of the primary reasons I finally ordered Showtime. It's excellent and was granted another season after only a couple of episodes had aired. It's well deserving of many more seasons to come and I simply can't wait. That season one finale was insane and I'm eager to see how it all plays out.
  
  
• Top Chef
  ...will be around for many more seasons to come. This season has been pretty good so far, I must say. MUCH better than last season. My picks for the final four? The Volts, Jennifer, and Kevin. And in a weird twist of fate, I think I'd be fine with any one of those four taking home the prize.
  
  
• Flashpoint
  Well, if this isn't the little known show that keeps on ticking. I can't remember the details, but I want to say another 13 episode order came through for this one. Yeehaw...
  
  
• Bored to Death
  Never seen it, but I hear it's pretty decent. Apparently the network brass agrees because it's been given the green light.
  
  
• The Good Wife
  Never did I dream that this show would jump into my top tier, but here we are. When I first saw the promotional materials, I thought the show had promise, and now that I've seen the first few episodes, I'm very pleased that it well exceeded my already high expectations. I may be a bit biased, what with my love of legal dramas, but this show is consistent, well-written, and each episode just seems to fly by. Hats off to CBS for the pick-up. It's ratings have been excellent since day one and have been nearly identical week to week. Awesome.
  
  
• NCIS: Los Angeles
  Yeah... don't care... But, it's been granted the back nine, so, uh... good for them...
  
  
• Modern Family
  This show is well-written and entertaining, but I'm just not sure how it's going to fare as a series. I'm enjoying it, don't get me wrong, but the set-up doesn't really lend itself to longer story arcs, so it's hard to be giddy with anticipation. I'm hoping it finds a way to get me eager week to week, but for now, I'm just enjoying it on an encapsulated basis. The back nine were ordered, so apparently I'm not the only one.
  
  
• Cougar Town and The Middle
  Well, Cougar Town wasn't as bad as expected, but it still didn't warrant a spot on my schedule. The ratings are solid though and ABC gave the go-ahead for a full season. I never saw The Middle and never hope to. I hate Patricia Heaton. A lot. But somehow people still watched the show and it also got a green light.
  

MY PREDICTIONS
Below are my thoughts, predictions, and assumptions regarding the other shows that are out there. I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again, but I follow the ratings and trends to an embarrassing extent and have a pretty good track record over all. Also, I'm not including obvious pick-ups of returning shows (like The Mentalist, CSI, NCIS, or The Office) because they're, well, obvious. And with that, here we go.

SHOWS THAT WILL BE PICKED UP (METHINKS)

• Castle
  This actually isn't solely wishful thinking. That's right, I have actual evidence and rationale to back this up! ABC has had a hell of a time filling the slot just behind Dancing with the Stars and has seen show after show crumble. While Castle's numbers aren't through the roof, it has held its own in this time slot better than past contenders and has consistently good numbers week to week. No official word has come down yet, but I expect a back nine order soon.
  
  
• The Vampire Diaries
  ...is a lock for a full season pick-up. For CW standards, its ratings are superb and with aging shows like Smallville and One Tree Hill hanging in there well past their expiration dates, The Vampire Diaries will surely get the back nine and will certainly be around for next season as well. I'm actually pretty surprised that official word hasn't come yet. I finally got caught up on the show and must say that it's gotten a lot better. It's not a first tier show by any means, but it's holding my interest pretty well.
  

SHOWS THAT HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF BEING PICKED UP

• FlashForward
  The numbers are good, but have been slipping a bit week-to-week and if the show is going to stick around, they'll need to settle soon. The show is only 3 episodes, but I'm enjoying it. It has its failings, but I can't help but be sucked in. Even my brother accidentally got sucked in when he sat down to watch a bit of the show and ended up watching all three episodes. It's a huge investment for ABC and given the nature of the show's concept, I really think they'll give it a full season. If the numbers don't settle, we may have another story on our hands, but I think they will.
  
  
• Melrose Place
  I kinda think the reason the CW is delaying the official pick-up of The Vampire Diaries is that they're waiting to see if Melrose Place is really a viable show. Its ratings have been decent, for CW standards, but they could be a lot better. The network is hoping that a Heather Locklear appearance will boost ratings, but I really doubt any of the teens who are watching the show care one bit about Locklear. I think the show will ultimately make the cut, but only because the CW has very low standards.

SHOWS THAT COULD REALLY GO EITHER WAY

• Accidentally on Purpose
  It's a crappy show, but the ratings are okay-ish, and half-hour comedies are cheap to produce. I think it'll get the go-ahead for a full season, but unless things pick up, I doubt it'll get another season.
  
  
• Community
  ...has been moved to one of the most competitive timeslots available and is suffering for it. This show is now opposite Bones, The Vampire Diaries, FlashForward, and Survivor. I, like many others, I suspect, ultimately opted to watch it online. The ratings are still pretty okay, but if it continues to slide, it could really be in trouble. NBC is generally pretty patient with its half-hour comedies and is generally pretty forgiving (what with them having a whole lot of nothing else), so I think they'll give Community the benefit of the doubt. I certainly hope so. I'm really enjoying the show and I think I like it even better than Modern Family (which I adore)... The pacing is better and the overall concept seems to have a lot more going for it. Fingers crossed!
  
  
• Mercy
  It pains me to put this show in a category that doesn't mean it will certainly get the axe, but what can I say? NBC is a pathetic shell of its former self and is in serious need of programming. The ratings are decent for Mercy, but it doesn't perform well in the demos at all. That makes for a bit of a conundrum. I caught the most recent episode and it does seem to have gotten a bit better, but that's kind of like saying the arsenic is now 10% less fatal. With the fate of Parenthood still up in the air (although I just heard that Lauren Graham has joined the cast (taking Maura Tierney's vacated role)--wahoo!), I think NBC might just give Mercy a full season order.
  
  
• Lie to Me
  I was tempted to put this show in the "good chance of a pick-up" section, but I'm just not that certain. Its numbers are consistent, but not through the roof. The new showrunner this season has certainly improved things and has made the show much more watchable and much less annoying. I'm hopeful Fox takes a chance and gives the show a back nine pick-up because if it keeps improving, it might just be a real contender.

SHOWS THAT WON'T BE PICKED UP (METHINKS)

• Trauma
  This show started off with a whimper when it premiered and fell pretty steeply in its second week. NBC doesn't have a lot going for it, but between its two new medical dramas, I think they'll keep Mercy and drop Trauma. Neither is deserving of a pick-up, but NBC is just that pathetic. It makes the Southland cancellation all the more irksome...
  
  
• Eastwick
  Quite frankly, ABC has much much better (and more successful) shows on its docket and Eastwick's sinking ratings just won't make the cut. Fortunately, the show isn't very good, so it likely won't be missed (even by the 14 people who tune in every week). It would take some real magic to earn this show a pick-up.
  
  
• Hank
  Of ABC's four new comedies to premiere, it's the only one to NOT get an official pick-up already. It's a terrible show with terrible ratings and the only way it stands a chance is if ABC needs another half-hour show to fill in a blank 30 minutes on the schedule (which could happen). If it does get picked up, it will be by default, not by choice.
  
  
• The Forgotten
  I actually hear that the next episode is supposed to be pretty good, but I lost interest in this mess about 20 minutes into the pilot and I don't see that changing. The ratings aren't very good and this show never really seemed to fit in with ABC's other shows, so I'm doubtful it will survive. If the ratings settle, it might have a chance, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
  
  
• Three Rivers
  Only the pilot has aired, but the numbers were not good. CBS has very high ratings standards (it's the anti-CW, really) and while on another network the premiere numbers would have been pretty good, for CBS, they were no where near high enough. Odds are the show will lose a fair amount in the coming weeks and I just don't think it will survive. It's a not a good show in the first place, so I'm guessing CBS will cut its losses.
  
  
• Heroes
  How did Heroes make it onto my list, you ask? Well, the show didn't deserve a pick-up at the end of last season, and its numbers this year are even worse. A LOT worse. This year's premiere was down something crazy (like 46%) from last year's premiere. Ouch. To boot, its ratings week to week are slipping by sizable numbers. This show needs to be let go and while I'm confident NBC will let it finish out the season, they'd be crazy to pick it up again next year.
  
  
• Dollhouse
  ...is a surefire goner, folks. The ratings are absolutely terrible and I just don't see any way to save the show. I don't know how many episodes have been produced, but I doubt they will all air. I even doubt they'll produce the full 13 at this point. Things are not looking good... Yikes.

Do you know where your organs are?

Having seen the promotional materials for the original pilot for CBS's latest drama Three Rivers, I must admit that the reworked pilot does appear to be improved, but it was a pretty low bar... The pilot still felt like I was watching an hour-long PSA for organ donation, but the revised storyline was slightly less pious than expected. Still self-righteous as all hell, but what can you do... I never thought I'd say this, but maybe CBS should have gone with another crime procedural instead... (You know, when 87 simply isn't enough.)

Three Rivers focuses on a team of organ transplant coordinators and surgeons who, well, transplant organs. That's pretty much the whole concept... Alex O'Loughlin plays Dr. Andy Yablonski (yes, I'm serious) as the best damn transplant surgeon in the country who works at a 22nd century hospital (apparently--seriously, when he started scrubbing the images like in Minority Report, I had to seriously wonder where the hospital's funding was coming from). He anchors the show and is supported by the likes of the wonderful Alfre Woodard and The L Word's Katherine Moenning. By all accounts, the cast is solid, but somehow the acting falls flat. I think the unconvincing action can be largely chalked up to the format of the show. In supremely cheesy fashion, the show follows patients who will ultimately be the organ donors and recipients, focusing entirely too much on their stories rather than focusing on the doctors' stories. While I appreciate that the audience needs to care about the patients (even though in this poorly executed mess, they don't), it's the doctors who will be around week to week and who should be more of the focus of the show. The actors try desperately to convince us that they're doctors (or saints, as is driven home every ten minutes), but fail pretty spectacularly. There are some excellent actors among the cast, but even the best of them make supremely unconvincing doctors. I've watched a lot of medical shows in my day and the medicine has to be accurate and the doctors have to feel at home with the material. While I can't vouch for the veracity of the medicine involved to great extent, I can certainly judge that none of the actors felt comfortable with their materials.

When the actors don't appear at home in their environment and don't seem fully capable in the profession they've adopted, all suspension of disbelief is taken off the table. When you don't believe these people are who they're supposed to be, you can't really care about them, their patients, or any ongoing storyline. That's the rather unfortunate case with Three Rivers and is the show's primary problem. As far as I'm concerned, ER sets the bar for believable doctors and medicine, and I don't know if I've just been watching too many old re-runs or what, but Three Rivers kind of drove me nuts with its inferiority in this regard. I couldn't, even for a moment, bring myself to believe that any of these people knew any about medicine at all. I saw them as actors first, last, and always. It was really very perplexing, I must say. On an objective level, I know that most of the show's leads are excellent actors and have show their talents in spades in other projects, but here? Well, quite frankly, it was easier to believe O'Loughlin as a supernatural, former blood-sucking detective than as a doctor... Not a good sign.

In the actors' defense, they weren't exactly given gold to work with. The writing was self-righteous and schmaltzy from beginning to end and often earnest to the point of being unctuous. Like I said, it really felt like the world's longest public service announcement. After one particularly ugh-worthy scene where the daughter of a would-be organ donor explains that she foolishly thought that signing an organ donation card meant that the doctors wouldn't try as hard to save someone, I fully expected the words "The More You Know" to fly across the screen on shooting star... The writing was eye-rollingly cheesy at times and the show's own self-importance as it informs an ignorant public about the gift of organ donation was pretty painful to watch. It was kind of like how those god awful Truth ads kinda make you want to start smoking just to spite them (or is that just me?). I had the sudden urge to repeal my donor status after watching this show... Or, as it said on the application I filled out at the DMV, my "live-saving anatomical gift" status. Seriously, ER did more for promoting organ donation and that was with the occasional B-plot. It's a noble cause, don't get me wrong, but I already know that. I don't need to be hit over the head with it. (Just like I know cigarettes are unhealthy, Truth squad. Everyone knows that. Stop trying to convince us of what we already know! Man alive, I hate those ads.)

The show's other failing is that while it tries very hard to be a pulse-pounding, edge of your seat drama, it's exceedingly dull instead. The show employs the requisite anxious/excited musical queues when they're trying to decide if someone gets an organ and when the organ is in transport, but it just feels out of place and unwarranted. I should be biting my nails, but I just don't care. There was no genuine urgency or fear and the writers' attempt at a ticking clock fell completely flat. It may boil down to the fact that I didn't believe any of these people were doctors or that I seriously couldn't have cared less about the patients of the week, but I felt no real investment in what happened to anyone. After all was said and done, I didn't mourn for the guy who died, my heart wasn't warmed by the woman who lived, and the little boy who didn't factor into any of this? Dull as he was, somehow he was the most interesting one... And yet I still don't know why he was there in the first place.

All in all, Three Rivers could have been a good show with a great cast and sustainable premise, but ultimately, nothing really came together and I was left bored and annoyed. In spite of negative publicity and the inauspicious re-tooling of the pilot, I really went into this wanting to like it. It has enough decent bare bones that it should have been able to make something work, but it failed. It's a real shame so many good actors found themselves in such an unbelievably boring, unengaging, self-righteous and even condescending pilot. The rest of the world seems to have agreed with me because the ratings weren't so good... I don't anticipate this sucker will be around for long.

The good news? Maybe Alex O'Loughlin will finally move on to a show that's worthy of his talents and has enough appeal to survive.

Pilot Grade: D+

How We Doin'?

Well, after having barely survived the fall premiere schedule, my posting might be a bit on the sparser side for the next few weeks (or at least until V premieres...) Overall, I'd say it was a fairly disappointing fall, with only a few glimmers of goodness among the muck. Here's how things stacked up after all was said and done.

THE KEEPERS

• The Good Wife
  I'm as shocked as you are. Never did I dream that this would be among the top shows to premiere. Not only is it one of the strongest pilots of the season, but in a delightful and all too uncommon turn of events, its ratings are awesome. The pilot drew pretty big numbers (just over 13 million, as I recall), which is good news, but in even better news, its numbers for the second week were near identical. It's very rare that there's no drop off from the pilot to episode 2, so if The Good Wife can maintain close to this momentum, it's almost assured a pick-up.
  
  
• Community
  I'm totally enjoying this new comedy, and while I'm not sure how much longevity a concept and cast like this might have, so far so good (entertainment-wise, that is). The show started off strong in the ratings, but dipped quite a bit week-to-week. If it can maintain its current numbers, it should be okay, but if the slide continues, I don't think it'll survive...
  
  
• Modern Family
  Much like Community, I'm really enjoying this show so far, but I'm not sure how it's going to fare in the long run. It's holding strong in the ratings and I think it'll get picked up. Its companion comedy Cougar Town is also doing well in the ratings, but that's neither here nor there...
  
  
• FlashForward
  To be honest, I actually haven't seen week two yet (I was on a beach at the time, give me a break), but the pilot was solid and the ratings are very good. I should finally get time to watch the second episode tonight and if it's anywhere near as good as the pilot, I think we might have a winner on our hands. Not perfect, by any means, but I'm intrigued...

THE NON-KEEPERS

• Mercy
  The ratings aren't terrible, but the show certainly is. I actually tried to give the second week a chance, but it was just too god awful. The ratings are okay, but are slipping more week-to-week than the show would hope. Personally, I hope they keep on slipping...
  
  
• Eastwick
  Never have I been so bored during a show that features magic (and that includes what's-her-face's brother who wore a cape all the time and was only ever able to make the audience disappear). And according to the ratings, a lot of people agree with me. The show's week-to-week ratings slipped over 20%, so at this rate, this turkey will hopefully be cancelled here pretty soon.
  
  
• Accidentally On Purpose
  I enjoy Jenna Elfman to some extent, but this ill-conceived (ooh, no pun intended), unfunny farce is just plain bad. The ratings haven't been very good, and there's little to no buzz about the show, so here's hoping it gets the axe. Half-hour comedies tend to get a little more leeway in the ratings department due to their lower budget, so it'll likely stick around longer than it should, but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck.
  
  
• The Beautiful Life
  ...has already been cancelled. That's right, folks, the CW cancelled a show after only two airings. The new gold standard in bad ratings has officially been set (although it's looking Dollhouse is currently gunning for the title...) The Beautiful Life won't be missed. Poor Mischa...
  
  
• Trauma
  Well, it was big on explosions, but sadly lacking in actual story or character development... If you like to see things crash and burn, you might like watching this show, but the ratings portend that the next thing to crash and burn will be the show itself, so don't get too attached...
  
  
• Three Rivers
  Once again, I was sitting on a beach when this premiered and simply haven't gotten around to it yet... Then how can it already be in my "axed" pile, you ask? Well, if the previews for the show weren't enough to kill it, the ratings certainly are. The pilot kinda flopped and odds are episode two will be even worse. I'm also hearing that there are already plans for a replacement, so long story short? All you Alex O'Loughlin fans out there had better ready your hankies once again... I don't think this show is long for this world.
  
  
• The Forgotten
  It's not good peeps. And neither are the ratings. I don't expect this turkey to make the cut, so I'd start saying your goodbyes sooner than later...

STILL ON THE FENCE

• The Vampire Diaries
  I haven't seen the third episode yet, but the only real redeeming quality of the first two was Ian Somerhalder. I'll keep up with this one until I see exactly how much screen time he'll be getting and if the story ever ventures out of angsty teen crap, but it's touch and go at this point. The ratings are excellent (for CW standards), so fear not, fans of the show, it'll definitely be sticking around.

IN OTHER RATINGS NEWS

• Castle
  Finally I have some good news for Nathan Fillion. After a long line of shows that just didn't quite make it, Castle's ratings are solid and consistent. It's not a runaway hit with insanely high viewership, but the numbers are good and Castle has proven to be a contender week-to-week. It's not a lock yet, but I think Castle will definitely be getting the back nine. Yay!
  
  
• Dollhouse
  Ratings in the rest of the Whedonverse are no where near as comforting... Just when you thought Dollhouse's numbers could possibly get worse, somehow the show hit bottom, punched through the bottom, and found some new and depressing realm of network TV ratings that mean the show will certainly get the axe pretty soon... I enjoy the show, don't get me wrong, but it's pretty wildly inconsistent and the A-plots week-to-week are eroding my interest in the show overall... I just don't really care about what wacky hijinx Echo is dealing with or what imprint she has unless it affects the overall narrative. I love Joss Whedon, and it pains me to be critical, but Dollhouse just didn't come together quite as one would have hoped... Having the Friday night death slot certainly isn't helping matters either...
  
  
• Glee
  The first couple of episodes back (after the pilot, which premiered in the spring) were a little rocky for me, but the show seems to have really hit its stride now. To match my enthusiasm for the show, its ratings are solid and it has already been granted the back nine. Yay! I loves me some musical numbers and Glee has all that and more. I think Fox's marketing of the show was excellent and premiering the pilot several months before the show actually started was a great move. So yes, in a very strange turn of events, I'm actually praising the Fox network. I think I'll go throw up now...
  
  
• Heroes
  I stopped watching this sucker ages ago, but I like to watch its precipitous decline nonetheless. The premiere was down something like 46% from last season's premiere, so that was awful to begin with, but add to that a week-to-week slide that just won't stop and I think this old dog might just be ready to be put out of its misery. It won't be missed. AND, if it continues to tank (and it will), it just might get taken out back in time for Chuck to return and hopefully NBC will be so desperate for programming that it won't get cancelled. Fingers crossed! Heroes' loss is our gain. :)

House Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I hate to admit it, but I wasn't all that psyched (heh, no pun intended) to watch the season premiere of House. After last season doled out disappointment after disappointment and overall just kind of bored me, I didn't have high hopes at all for the aging series. I've already spoken at length about how underwhelming and dull the new ducklings are, so I won't belabor the point, but sadly, they were only one component of last season's nose dive. I just stopped caring and was on the brink of breaking up with the show. The end of last season raised some interesting questions, however, and I'm a loyalist at the end of the day, so I was willing to hang in there.

The previews for this season's premiere only moderately piqued my interest, which is sadly, a marked increase, but I still didn't have high hopes. I DVR'd the premiere and then finally got around the watching it a couple of days later. Much to my pleasant surprise, not only did the premiere hold my attention for the entire two hours (an aspect I wasn't exactly looking forward to) but even managed to buoy my confidence in the show a bit.

In spite of the overall depressing tone of the premiere (a fact inherent in life on a psych ward), it was nice to see something different for once. I've seen House solve the same kind of mysteries in the same format year in and year out for entirely too long for it to be fresh or enthralling anymore. Seeing House in a new atmosphere (one he doesn't control) reinvigorated my interest in him as a character. The fact that he left the facility at the end of the episode genuinely bummed me out... I was really hoping House would stay in the mental hospital for longer than two episode's worth of time, but hey, we have to get back to Princeton Plainsboro so 13 can make us want to throw out our TVs, don't ya know...

Not every aspect of the premiere worked perfectly, but it was a much better outing than the show has had in a long time. Watching House face his own demons (as opposed to calling out everyone else's) made for a nice change of pace and brought out a different side to the character (but still managed to be House). In essence, House was forced to be his own patient and diagnose and treat his own issues. The staff at the hospital may have facilitated the process, but it was House himself who had to finally let go of his hang-ups and embrace humanity. House has always related to patients with mental problems or deficits, so it makes sense that he would finally open up to people in this kind of atmosphere.

I also quite enjoyed watching House get schooled by the doctors. House is generally accustomed to being the quickest and cleverest around, but in an atmosphere where the doctors have seen it all, House was out of his depth. As much as I enjoy watching House screw with people's heads, seeing him get bested was pretty satisfying. That and his disastrous trip to the carnival with the guy who thought he could fly were the tipping points, methinks. House actually doesn't always know what the best course of action is and had to own up to the consequences. He's been allowed to do as he pleases for so long that I really don't think he knew how to handle it. In the end, he acquiesced.

I'm not sure how (or if) the new and improved (?) House will reintegrate to his old surroundings, but I'm interested enough to want to find out. House may have made progress at the loony bin, but it'll be a sight to see if he manages to show his new side to his old friends and colleagues. It's one thing to let your guard down with a bunch of people you don't know or care about and who are (for the most part) insane, it's quite another to behave differently around people you've known for years. I'm less than confident that he'll be able to keep up his progress, but at least in intrigued enough to find out. I'm still not over the moon about the show starting up again (it has felt like a chore to watch for nearly two seasons), but I'm hopeful House's new mental state will enliven the show and curb the boredom. In the end, I think the only thing that could really and truly fix the show would be to cut the dead weight and bring in some genuinely interesting new blood. Word is, Dr. Cameron is being written out of the show, but she's not the dead weight I was talking about. I never knew just how much I loved her character until she was replaced. I'm hearing it was a creative decision on the part of the writers/producers, so in essence, Jennifer Morrison is being fired mid-season, which is always a bit of a shame. Story-wise it may be for the best, but it's always sad to see.

Adding to my apprehension/more than usual excitement for the new season, the House and Cuddy situation took a turn for the worse? better? weirder? last season and it seems House may have worked out some of his issues. I've always been a Huddy fan, but last season totally deflated my investment in them as a potential couple. Once a couple actually gets together, the dynamic changes and I'm not sure that's a good thing. I'm always a little wary of the pay off, but sometimes that's just the road that has to be taken (especially after 5 years of toying with the idea). I'd be more reluctant for things to take that turn, but with a flagging series, I'm pretty much open to anything. It can't possibly make things worse than last season, right? In the end, at least I'm not so overly invested in the show that I couldn't cut ties in the event that it actually is worse. With some shows, I'm so thoroughly engrossed that the thought of breaking up is unfathomable. It's at times like these that bad storyline decisions hurt the most. With House, I'm at the point of take it or leave it, which in a way, is incredibly freeing.

I was intrigued by the premiere, but I'm really not all that excited for House's return to Princeton Plainsboro tonight. I'm invested enough to keep up, but something pretty striking will need to happen for the show to ever regain a top tier position again. At present, it's at the bottom of the second tier and if the next few episodes don't reel me in, I'll have to banish the show to the third tier... a position I couldn't have imagined for this show just a few short seasons ago...

Sigh.

I miss Amber...

What Did You See?

In what ABC hopes will be a solid high concept replacement for Lost, it's latest drama FlashForward premiered yesterday and might just fit the bill. It's one of the most highly anticipated shows of the fall and I was very pleased to find that it deserves the hype to large degree. In a fall pilot season that has been pretty lackluster, FlashForward delivers a gripping mystery on a global scale.

The concept for the show is laid out in the pilot after the entire planet blacks out for exactly 2 minutes and 17 seconds. No one knows how or why, but seemingly everyone on earth not only fell unconscious at the same time (with often catastrophic results--planes crashed, surgeries failed, cars piled up, etc), but everyone seems to have "flashed forward" to April 29, 2010 during the blackout, and were allowed a glimpse of their presumed future.

The pilot starts off in medias res with the scene of a gnarled, horrific car crash. After dwelling on the scene for a couple of minutes and illuminating Joseph Fiennes as the obvious lead, the show then flashes back to "four hours earlier." It a directorial technique that's use frequently to get the audience interested in the exciting events to come so that they're willing to sit through the set up. For a show like FlashForward, it's a lot more meaningful in concept, but could have been stronger in execution. In essence, the audience itself was given a "flash forward" of their own. They were allowed a glimpse of things to come four hours later in the narrative, in much the same fashion as the entire cast is about to experience. The only problem was that the flash forward we were given was fairly unexceptional. Car crashes are always unsettling, but there was little about the scene that confused or dismayed me. The times when this technique is the most effective is when the audience is presented with a scene that they can't fathom how it will come to be. Take for example the opener for the CSI premiere. If a very stylized freeze frame of events, the viewer sees Nick and Sara shooting at mysterious men in suits who are ostensibly stealing a body, the lab is in a shambles, Laurence Fishburne is kicking a guy through a window, and the entire rest of the cast is ducking for cover. Aside from the overall craziness of such a scene, the audience member who might not be as well informed as I am, would have to wonder where the hell Sara came from (having left the show previously). It was a scene the I genuinely wasn't sure how we'd get to once we flashed back 48 hours, but that all made sense when we caught up to the future. Extremely effective and managed to pique my interest in a show that I had kind of lost excitement for ages ago.

With FlashForward, by contrast, I saw a car accident involving a bunch of people I didn't know and didn't really think too much about. Had the scene been more bizarre, unsettling, and confusing, I think it would have made the build up more more effective and exciting and would have lent itself better as an analogy for the flash forward to come. Although it didn't quite hit the mark in as impacting a way as I would have hoped, it still set up the concept of a flash forward in a way that the audience could internalize. From the flash forward where we see Joseph Fiennes' character crawling out from an upturned car, we flash back to earlier in the day where he is going about business as usual, as --wait for it-- an FBI agent, conveniently enough.

Fiennes' Mark Benford, who say in his flash forward that he would be investigating the global event that has just crippled the entire planet. It seemed convenient at first, but given the scope of what happened, it really just makes sense that he's the kind of character who would be at the center of things. He, his friends and family, his colleagues, and everyone else on the planet are trying to figure out what happened and how, but much more importantly, why.

The writers did a very good job of thinking out the scenario at hand and dealing with it in a logical way. I didn't spend the pilot thinking, "Well, why don't they look at security cameras to find out what happened? Why don't they set up a global network to share experiences and try to figure out what happened?" etc, because the writers had already put themselves in the shoes of the characters and settled on obvious courses of action. They clearly evaluated this situation from every angle and then put the logical reactions on the screen. There's nothing I hate more than when half the cast are carrying the idiot ball and no one comes up with the obvious for the sake of more drama, or whatever. I also appreciated that there was very little blow black or skepticism from people. There was no agent Scully trying to rationalize everything and boil it down into understandable bits. The entire planet just experienced the mother of all WTF moments, they all know it, and they're all immediately ready to try to figure out what happened, how, by whom, and why.

I really enjoyed the fact that this wasn't an isolated incident. Setting things up on a global scale is kind of daunting, but the show really makes it work. It could have felt like a bad Independence Day knock-off, but aside from scenes of the Eiffel Tower, definitely didn't. With everyone having experienced a glimpse of the future, everyone could be a clue to unraveling the mystery. If Benford saw clues to what happened because he's investigating this phenomenon in the future, who knows what other people may have seen. At the same time, no one knows for sure if what they saw is what will actually happen. Will she cheat on her husband? Will she be pregnant? Will he be killed? If it is what should happen, given no interference, is there anyway to change it? To ensure it? Some characters are afraid their futures will come true, others are afraid they won't. It has personal ramifications as well as societal. The concept for the show raises a lot of questions regarding certainty and uncertainty and manages to highlight the fact that both are terrifying in their own ways. It's a situation you don't see often and I'm really digging it so far.

Everyone is so rocked by what has happened and how it happened that for now, the why it happened is secondary. Until one of the FBI agents investigates camera footage and finds that at least one person did not black out, they're at a loss for who may have done this and still haven't the faintest idea what the agenda could be. The "why" of it all is the key to the longevity of the series, as far as I'm concerned. The pilot had a "next time on" segment at the end that highlighted various points in the episodes to come and quite frankly, I can't wait. I'm only somewhat invested in the actual characters at this point, what with it being the pilot and all, but the concept has me riveted. The reasons behind doing something like this are kind of unfathomable and I'm excited to see where the writers take it. Even after we catch up to the future in April, the people behind this and their reasons could take ages to uncover.

I can see where this kind of show might not appeal to all audiences, but I'm definitely sucked in. There's a niggling hesitancy at the back of my mind that this might be one of those instances of a great pilot, bad series, but I'm confident that's not the case. The writers have a hell of a lot going for them and it shouldn't be too hard making a gripping series out of it. Indeed, I think the only way in which this could really falter is that the show might have too much going for it. They can't really spend every minute of every episode trying to figure out what happened, but at the same time, it's hard to imagine everyday minutia going on in light of what happened.

The show has a slick, high budget production style and the directing was solid and convincing, even in spite of such a difficult concept. The cast is excellent (including John Cho and Dominic Monaghan), and while Fiennes' American accent could use some work, he's a consistent player who can certainly anchor a series. Overall I was more impressed with this pilot than any other so far this fall (I'm hoping V ultimately steals the show, but so far, FlashForward is taking the cake at this point). So long as the writers keep themselves grounded and don't loose focus (Heroes, I'm looking in your direction), I don't see why this show shouldn't have a long, successful life.

The pilot is available on Hulu and had me sucked in from beginning to end. It wasn't perfect, but has a lot going for it and I'm digging it so far. It's definitely worth your time and assuming it finds the right audience, should be around for a long time to come (assuming it doesn't fall apart like other shows that started off strong and fizzled soon after (The Nine has become the benchmark--it was one of the strongest pilots of its season, but tanked soon after). The actors all seemed to still be employed in their flash forwards, so I guess that's a good sign?

Pilot Grade: B+

About last night...

After suffering through Mercy last night, I barely had the strength to power through the rest of Wednesday's new fodder. I simply haven't the strength to give them all their due, but at least one new show has made it onto my regular schedule.

MODERN FAMILY: Easily one of the best pilots of the fall. It has a mockumentary format (sans laugh track, thankfully), but felt more like Best In Show or A Mighty Wind than The Office, like I had expected. The lack of a laugh track always make shows easier to watch, but Modern Family had enough laughs that I probably wouldn't have noticed it. The show is quirky and light but definitely has an inappropriateness to it that I definitely enjoyed. It could have been your standard, tacky, cheesy, family sit-com, but the writers took it in a very different, and superior direction. I'm not sure what kind of long term potential it has at this point, but I'm confident the writers will make it work. It's not often that new comedies make it onto my rotation (what with them generally sucking and all), but I'm happily adding Modern Family and Community to my list. Both are definitely worth your time. I'm not married and I don't have kids (nor do I generally enjoy watching sit coms about either), but Modern Family totally makes it work. Pilot Grade: B+

COUGAR TOWN: I have to admit, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected. I know, I know, I'm as shocked as you are. I'm not saying it was good, but I went in expecting it to be eye-gougingly painful and it was actually kind of watchable. I probably won't be tuning in again next week, but the pilot wasn't as train wrecky as it could have been, especially given the premise. Although I found Courtney Cox's portrayal of a recently divorced 40 something woman to be forced, over-eager, and desperate, she actually kinda sorta made it work. By all accounts, I should have hated every minute, but leave it to Courtney to make an annoying, whiny, neurotic nut-bag kind of likable. Overall, it was definitely heavy-handed and isn't the kind of show I'd be eager to see week-to-week, but no where near as off-putting as expected. I'm not sure exactly what demographic they're aiming for, but somehow the show pulled huge ratings with its premiere. It didn't suck me in, and I have little desire to watch Cox make an idiot of herself every week, but at the same time, I don't think it would appeal to an older demographic either. I expect the week two ratings will be considerably lower, and for as "not as awful as expected, though still not very good" as it was, I won't be sad to see it slip. If you happen to be a huge Courtney Cox fan or if you have figured out what demographic this show appeals to and happen to be a part of it, I guess you could give this one a shot... At least the clothes were cute? Pilot Grade: C

EASTWICK: I'm not even sure where to start with this one. It's kind of like Desperate Housewives meets Charmed. Bear in mind, I was never a big fan of either of those shows. The writers were clearly aiming for a quirky, light-hearted, magical romp, but it didn't strike a chord with me at all. I spent the better part of the pilot wishing it would just hurry and end. The writing was cheesy and uninspired, the acting was iffy, and the whole concept just kind of fell flat for me. I can see where there might be an audience out there that would totally love this show, but I was bored, bored, bored from minute one. The pilot just didn't really seem to have a whole lot of focus or drive and while a whole lot of things happened, it just didn't feel like they were really getting anywhere. Add to that the lingering instances of painful, painful, painful and you can see where this one won't be making it into my rotation. I'm generally quite a fan of the supernatural and the sudsy, but Eastwick sucked the life out of both. I can't even really quantify how and why exactly, but this pilot that should have been fanciful and fun managed to bore from beginning to end. It certainly didn't do it for me, but I can see where there might be some lonely, unicorn-loving people out there that might enjoy this... Pilot Grade: D+

Show No Mercy

There were a lot of titles I could have chosen from for a show called Mercy and eventually just had to pick one. It's overall crappiness led to such contenders as "Lord Have Mercy" and "Like, Gag Me With a Scalpel," but "Show No Mercy" most aptly described the approach I'll be taking to this review.

While NBC's latest drama Mercy may not be the worst pilot I've ever scene, it's easily one of the ones I've hated the most. I was annoyed and even kind of appalled by this self-righteous mess from minute one. So in spite of a decent production value and cast, I found Mercy to be about the most off-putting pilot of the season so far. It's real shame it filled Parenthood's fall slot because I'm certain it's of inferior quality... (Parenthood was supposed to premiere instead, but Maura Tierney had to drop out of the show to pursue treatment for breast cancer. It's a shame on many, many levels.)


Mercy tries desperately to be Grey's Anatomy, but with nurses, but generally falls apart. The primary issue with the show is that is can't decide what it wants to be. One minute it wants to be a sudsy soap opera, the next it wants to be a hard hitting drama. It succeeds at neither and leaves the viewer with an uneven mess. The show centers around Veronica, a nurse who has recently returned from Iraq and who is having difficulty adjusting to her civilian life again. Now, first and foremost, storylines about veterans aren't generally my cup of tea. I'm not saying they can't work (much like religion isn't real high on my list, if handled in the right way, it can be awesome--see Nurse Jackie for an example), but more often than not, the writers just don't really know what to do with that kind of a situation, so they slap together every cliche you can think of and hope it makes the character deep and conflicted. Rather than being a subtle, searing portrayal of a woman dealing with post-traumatic stress, for Veronica, it seems to be nothing more than a gimmick or affectation--an unwaveringly self-serving, holier-than-thou, annoying affectation at that.

I have to give the writers a little credit for trying something a bit different, but where they earn points for stepping ever so slightly out of the box, they lose them all upon execution. Veronica is instantly unlikable in the most arrogant, dismissive, and snide of possible ways. After a shift at the hospital where doe-eyed new girl Chloe (played by Michelle Trachtenberg (aka Dawn, Georgina)--who would do herself a favor by sticking with Gossip Girl) laments the fact the fact that she watched and old man finally succumb to cancer on her first day. Upon saying how sad it was to watch him die alone, Veronica hijacks the conversation and actually says, "That's not sad. That's a trip to Club Med compared to Iraq." Or something like that, in which case the people at Club Med really might want to revise their brochure... She then rattles off a few horror stories from the front lines and I'm not saying those stories are any less sad, because they're aren't, but Veronica seems to think that a slow, agonizing death from cancer is a walk in the park compared to war. That might be the case in her opinion, but who the hell is she to belittle and devalue the importance of someone else's experience?! Just because it's a different experience than your own does not make it irrelevant and certainly doesn't make it a trip to "club med." I know the writers were trying to make her seem all badass or whatever, but it just made her seem like a complete and total bitch. Not only does it dismiss the agony of that man's experience, but it slaps Chloe in the face and disregards her own emotional response. I would understand if the writers were trying to make her out to be a cold-hearted bitch because of her tough experiences, but I don't think that's the angle they were aiming for at all.

It's fine for a character to have a chip on her shoulder and to have flaws, but Veronica just seems all over the place and has no where near enough redemptive qualities to make up for any of it. In the hands of a better actress, Veronica's unbalanced state could be compelling, but in the hands of its current owner, it just seems unintentionally flighty and uneven. One minute she's screaming bloody murder at a doc who didn't heparinize a patient, the next she's a simpering idiot drooling over the hot guy at the bar. She has issues with authority, but can't stop talking about her time in the military. She's guarded about her life, but talks about her experiences in the war constantly. The show is trying to make her too many things all at once and it's making even her best of qualities fall flat.

With Veronica at the helm, I'm not sure there's much of anything that can save this show. Her colleagues are unexceptional, though nearly as uneven in their portrayals. Riding the wave of Nurses good! Doctors, baaad! that has cropped up in the latest slate of nurse-based medical dramas, Mercy holds fast to this notion and paints the doctors to be incompetent and mean, whether that's an accurate portrayal or not. Save for the requisite ruggedly handsome love interest doctor, the rest of the docs are basically useless.

Speaking of Dr. McDreamy (seriously, for all intents and purposes, we may as well use the same moniker), he and Veronica apparently hooked up during the war (even though she's married) and is now working at the same hospital with her. Wacky, right? Sadly, for as formulaic as he is and for serving such a painfully obvious role on the show, he was easily the best part. The writers didn't try very hard when putting this character into action, plain and simple. Veronica has recently reconciled with her husband, so there's supposed to be some sort of love triangle going on, but they made the husband so unerringly unappealing that the triangle just seems like a lazy contrivance to drag out the will-they-or-won't-they between Veronica and McDreamy (played by James Tupper, of Men in Trees... um... fame?). He easily made for the most likable character on the show, but he just seems like a crackerjack toy at the bottom of a bad box of cereal.

The second half of the pilot was admittedly better than the first, but by that point, I already disliked everyone so much that I had a hell of a time sitting through it. This show could have been a gripping look at a woman with PTSD trying to put her life back together, but instead it just seems like a mishmash of other medical shows, borrowing whatever gimmicks it can. The show has no subtlety whatsoever and even the aspects that could have worked wonderfully are wasted. Veronica could have been a wonderfully flawed, multi-faceted character, but the portrayal is so erratic and unlikely that I didn't buy any of it. I look at characters like Dr. House and Nurse Jackie, the most flawed and implausibly likable of characters and it makes it clear that the writers of Mercy dropped the ball. In their rush to make her a badass, a minx, a wife, a friend, an enemy, a vulnerable wreck, an emotional mess, a strong-willed ball-buster, a know-it-all, the experienced cool kid, a compassionate care-giver, etc, etc, etc, they lost all sight of who this character really is. Veronica very well could have been all those things, doled out slowly and deftly over time, but they were all crammed into 42 minutes of an unsteady, unlikeable pilot instead. Even when Veronica's friends and family point out how insane and bitchy she's being, it hardly undoes the damage and in no way redeems her. It would be one thing if the audience were supposed to dislike her, but that's clearly not the writers intent, even if that's what it became.

All told, the show could have been Grey's Anatomy for nurses, like it was clearly aiming for, but ultimately, it just couldn't decide where it wanted to go or who any of the characters were. Had the writers really figured out what they wanted out of the show and who they wanted Veronica and her colleagues to be, it could have worked, but as is? It's an unfocused, condescending, self-righteous mess. I do think I'm going to give it one more week, however, just to see if the writers somehow find their footing. It's doubtful, but it's an impending train wreck I might just need to see.

Pilot Grade: D-

Good Wife, Good Pilot

In a nice change of pace from the other pilots I've seen thus far (which ranged from just watchable to unbearable), CBS's newest drama The Good Wife actually presented a solid pilot for a show with quite a lot of potential (as opposed to its time slot competition, ABC's The Forgotten). Who'd have ever thought CBS would be the first to buck the trend of bad pilots?? If anyone had an office pool in this regard, I think you just lost.

The Good Wife stars Julianna Margulies as the wife of a disgraced politician (I want to say state's attorney) who recently uprooted their lives amid allegations of criminal misconduct and more than a few indiscretions with hookers and whatnot. With her husband in jail, Margulies' character Alicia has to re-enter the work force after 13 years off the job. It's a daunting prospect that I think a lot of people can relate to on some level, especially in this economic climate. Fortunately for her, and for viewers, she still has the chops to be an excellent lawyer, even if she feels a little out of her depth at first.

Admittedly, the "lawyer drama" ranks among the most overdone genres in television, but The Good Wife manages to bring together an excellent cast, solid writing, and a unique spin to make for a fresh, engaging outing in what could have been a banal set up. I've seen a million lawyer dramas in my day (although I don't think one has graced my regular rotation since The Practice) and it was nice to see a character that was new even if the game remained largely the same.

Margulies brings a quiet determination to a character whose life has just been completely turned upside down. She, like many others, always wondered why the wife of the philandering, potentially corrupt politician stands by his side instead of goring him with a steak knife, and she honestly doesn't have the answers. She doesn't come across as weak or complicit, but rather, quite simply, unprepared. It's easy for onlookers to rake someone over the coals for their actions, but at the end of the day, its impossible to know what it would be like until you're there. Alicia is a character in a situation that I've never quite seen before and the circumstances surrounding her return to law practice make for a more interesting approach to a classic conceit.

Along with Margulies is an excellent cast that boasts the talents of Chris Noth, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, and Josh Charles. I just so happened to watch Dead Poets Society the other day, so when Josh Charles (who played Knox Overstreet) appeared onscreen as Alicia's fellow lawyer and old friend, I was delighted to see him back in action. The entire supporting cast is strong and each brings something different and interesting to what could have been your standard law drama role. Baranski plays a partner in the firm, but rather than being the raging bitch/vindictive task master, instead she tough, but fair. She's realistic and is willing to give Alicia a shot, even if she has reservations. Not a complete upturn on the usual cliche, but it was a nice change of pace from what I expected. Czuchry and Charles are both charming and thoroughly likable in their roles and while the show grants that the atmosphere at a law firm is competitive, not everyone is a cutthroat nightmare, which was nice to see. I don't think Noth is going to be a series regular, but he certainly holds his own as the cheating spouse and alleged criminal. His interactions with Margulies where quietly intense, which I think is probably a much more accurate portrayal of a couple in this situation than the standard TV shouting match would have you believe.

Rounding out the regular cast is an English actress that I don't think I've ever seen before named Archie Panjabi. She could have played the office minx or catty competition for Alicia like anyone would expect, but she was actually quite charming and had just enough of an edge to be interesting and effective. She didn't throw Alicia in the deep end or start fighting her on the ladder climb like I would have guessed, but was rather professional and engaging. Again, no one is reinventing the wheel here, but each actor brought a lot more depth to his/her role than I would have expected out of a pilot or out of your standard legal drama.

As with most shows that focus on law, I suspect that each episode or short series of episodes will focus on a client-of-the-week of sorts. I think if the writers manage to blend the characters' personal lives with their professional lives in a balanced, well-paced way, this show could have a hell of a lot of potential. I'm a little concerned that one might get bogged down by the other (depending on which turns out to be the more engaging of the two), but hopefully the writers will make it work. In a perfect world, I'll be as interested in the behind the scenes struggles as I will with the case, but we'll just have to wait and see. From the pilot alone, so far so good.

Alicia's first case is a long shot that she ultimately knocks out of the park. While it was pretty predictable that she'd overcome adversity and prove her potential to her colleagues in her first case, it was done in a way that didn't feel contrived or convenient. Rather than throwing her to the lions in a bid to see her fail, her colleagues genuinely seem to want her to succeed (at least on the surface), which she does through hard work and ingenuity, rather than some magical deus ex machina that floats in from nowhere. It may have seemed convenient that there was evidence that had been "pitted" (buried by cops because they felt it was irrelevant), but I've seen far too many true crime shows to believe for even a second that that kind of thing doesn't happen all the time. The cops found gun-shot residue on the client's hands and they basically ignored all other evidence. My mother is just enough of a true crime aficionado that I've seen this kind of thing happen a million times and bought it completely.

In like form, the proceedings in the court room seemed much more authentic than the blustering, overblown shouting matches that usually fill the legal drama's basket to the brim. Alicia presented the evidence in a compelling way and the police decided to reopen the case. There was no big angry confession on the stand and the jury didn't even turn in a verdict, but it was still exciting and I think, much more realistic than I usually see. I wouldn't say that a focus on the more staid and monotonous aspects of legal work is the angle the writers should pursue, but it really felt like the show had a better grasp of how things actually work than on other shows. It may just been that I haven't had a legal show in my regular schedule for a long time, but I was really sucked in to the ins and outs of the process and didn't find it protracted or tedious at all.

In summation, The Good Wife is easily the best pilot I've seen thus far this season. Perhaps the mediocrity of the others has colored my judgment a bit, but I think this show has a lot of potential and the pilot alone managed to pique my interest considerably. It has all the bare bones you could ever want in a show, so now the writers just need to bring it all together week to week. Also, it's on opposite ABC's embarrassment The Forgotten, so if for no other reason, I hope The Good Wife trounces that piece of crap just on principle.

Even if the legal drama isn't really genre of choice, The Good Wife brings enough warmth and depth that I think you'd enjoy it. I'm not willing to give it a top tier slot just yet, but it's a solid show with a great cast and premise. The show has its flaws, but I'm hopeful the writers will take all the good things they have working for them and knock it out of the park week to week. Lord knows I certainly don't need anymore medical dramas on my plate, so a bunch of lawyers sounds just delightful at this point.

Pilot Grade: B+