New Fall Shows: Week Two

last monday i gave you all a quick recap of week one of the new fall shows. well here we are again and week two has come and gone. here's a look at what i caught this past week...

Terra Nova: this is one of the biggest premiers of the season and it has it all. dinosaurs, spielberg, time travel, etc. so here's the deal with this one. there is potential here and i'm gonna give it that shot to develop a little and see where it takes me. but, the two hour pilot wasn't great. to quote my tweet from last week, " hit & miss effects, average writing, action over story. pilot is like straight-2-video thinking it's a-theatre-near-you"

Pan Am: this one i really liked. sure, everyone is really attractive and its a little glossy. but it works. the period stuff is great and the characters have me interested in their stories.

Persons Of Interest: watched a couple episodes already and this is one is good. really interesting premise and it actually looks to be living up to it. I just hope they continue to delve into the back stories of the main characters and the system and don't just start doing one-off, stand alone episodes. i'm confident they will based on what i've seen so far.

How To Be A Gentleman: of everything i've seen so far, this is the worst show of the new season. dave foley and to a greater extend rhys darby try there best, but they aren't working with much here. the pilot was predictable and unoriginal and barely humorous (although, like i mentioned, rhys darby did make me laugh a couple times). i think the worst part was david hornsby. not only did he create the show and write the mostly unfunny pilot, but he also stars in the show as "the gentleman." but he plays the guy dull and completely bland and did nothing to help the already weak script.

Suburgatory: it was a little strange seeing the brother from Six Feet under as a dad, but other than that the show wasn't bad. it wasn't stand above the crowd funny or anything. but definitely worth sticking around on the dvr to see at least a few more episodes.

A Gifted Man: this is the synopsis for the show from imdb: "Centers on an ultra-competitive surgeon whose life is changed forever when his ex-wife dies and begins teaching him what life is all about from the here-after."... yup, it is exactly what you are thinking.

New Fall Shows: Week One

so, the first week of the new fall season has come and gone and, while there are still more to come, many of the new shows have had their premier. my dvr is a little less full than it was at the end of the week, but i still have more to go - which makes this list a work in progress. so let us begin with these...

New Girl: i thought the pilot was great. very funny and zooey is so endearing. the humour reminds me very much of Happy Endings - a show that ironically stars damon wayons jr. and is the reason why he had to leave New Girl after filming the pilot (not sure if that is technically irony or not. i'm guessing it isn't).

2 Broke Girls: another show with "girl" in the title, but this one ain't so good. it's a pretty typical multi-camera sitcom with maybe a couple laughs. it's off the dvr.

Whitney: another typical multi-camera sitcom. but this one had more than a few laughs. i found the direction and staging very forced - it almost made it too obvious that they were on three wall sets and everything was just set ups to the jokes. there was no real flow. but, like i said, it had some good laughs so i'll give it a little more time.

The Playboy Club: i honestly didn't think i was going to like this one, but i really did. the period-piece aspect is great and the whole intrigue storyline (the main reason i didn't think i was going to like it) has me looking forward to the next episode. i know it's not a great show, but it looks like it is going to be one of my "guilty" pleasures this season... and showing the hugh heffner character only from behind like steinbrenner on Seinfeld is so bad it's good.

Revenge: and here is the other guilty pleasure. the pilot did its job here folks. i want to see how this progresses.

Unforgettable: after watching the pilot i tweeted that "the worst part about remembering everything is that you wouldn't be able to forget you saw Unforgettable." the idea of a women that remembers everything from the time she was a child is really interesting (they did a good piece on this phenomenon on 60 Minutes last season), but the show does nothing to use it in any kind of interesting way besides having her re-watch events in her head that she was at looking for things she saw but didn't notice at the time. it feels gimicky and the old-lover-back-in-town and childhood-trauma-trying-to-solve story lines feel old and uninteresting as well.

Free Agents: i'm on the fence with this one. while i didn't find it overly funny i did kind of enjoy watching it. while the co-workers-sleep-together-but-stay-casual-but-get-jealous thing doesn't feel at all new. in the end it didn't really grab me and while it is remaining on my dvr and ill keep watching for now, if it got cancelled or my dvr didn't record it i wouldn't miss it.

Up All Night: Along with New Girl, Up All Night is one of the two best new comedies of the season. this one is a definite stay-on-the-dvr!

Prime Suspect: i've talked about guilty pleasures, but what we have here is just a pleasure. maria bello is great, the writing is strong and while the pilot wasn't a great episode, it was good, and i can see it getting better.

X Factor: i really don't have much to say here. simon cowell and the gang can hype it however they want, but in the end it's another singing competition. actually it's really just a big cowell ego trip. the second night of the show i didn't even bother flipping over. i might catch some of it here and there if there isn't anything else on. but i won't be making time for it specifically.

Take The Money And Run (where would you hide $100,000 in your city?)

i have a love/hate relationship with reality tv of all kinds. i watch some of it. and i don't feel the need to take a big pretentious stance and claim that it is evidence of the total decline of human kind (although, some shows make it really hard not to).

i think some of it is awful, some of it is a guilty pleasure and some of it is actually good. based on the premier episode, Take The Money And Run falls into the good camp. and you don't know how surprised i am to be writing that.

i will admit i really liked the concept and was looking forward to this one. but i have been burned many times before when a show, that seemed like it was going to be interesting, ends up sucking. so, today when i got home from work i went into the list of shows on my dvr and clicked play on Take The Money And Run with hesitant excitement. but that soon turned to plain enjoyment.

you can't watch the show without thinking about how you would do it if you had a chance. if you had a briefcase with $100,000 and an hour to hide it, where would you put it? how would you try to divert the detectives and how would you stand up to spending the next 48 hours locked up in solitary and being interrogated by professional (and really good) interrogators. the show is exciting in the game/challenge aspect of it, but it is also an interesting look at human nature and how people react in situations.

we are so used to seeing tv show cops interrogate suspect and such, but to see the real ones do it is fascinating. how they read body language, call them on their lies and back them into a hole and force them to change their story, etc... then watching them piece things together based on what they know and what they don't know is so interesting and quite impressive.

also, on a purely production level it is really good. you get a little "about-the-players" stuff at the beginning of the show - which is standard. but once the game starts it is all about that. no wasted time with extraneous and boring crap that would slow down the flow and excitement and tension of the chase/game.

i don't blame you if you didn't bother to check it out, assuming it would disappoint. but give it a shot next week.

Best Television Shows That Ended (were cancelled) Too Soon

every year some great tv show gets cancelled because the numbers aren't good enough and the networks aren't willing to give it a chance to find/build it's audience (when Cheers and Seinfeld premiered they both had awful ratings. and we know how those turned out). often the network has some blame in the low ratings as well (poor scheduling, moving it around, no promotion, etc...).

sure, sometimes a network will stick with a great show despite the numbers. but for every Friday Night Lights, Hill Street Blues, Arrested Development (at least for a little while) and 30 Rock there are multiple shows that don't get the opportunity. like this week with tnt cancelling Men Of A Certain Age. that move inspired this sad list of the best tv shows that were cancelled too soon...

1: EZ Streets

whenever the topic of great television shows that got cancelled too soon, this is always the show i mention first. the show was dark and complex and original and i was hooked from the first moment i saw it. EZ Streets is one of my favorite shows of all time and they only aired eight episodes.

2: Men Of A Certain Age

the show that inspired this list. was one of the best shows on tv but tnt cancelled it. yet they continue to air episodes of Franklin & Bash!

3: The Black Donnelleys

again paul haggis got screwed! the creator of EZ Streets came back years later with The Black Donnelleys and again it was a great show. and again the network (nbc this time) killed it

4: Life

this was a really good show for many reasons, one of which was lead actor damian lewis and the really interesting character created for him/by him.

5: Sports Night

along with Arrested Development Sports Night is one of the two shows from this list that i hear other people mention when talking about great/lesser-known/cancelled too soon tv.

6: Arrested Development

this is probably the one on the list that is the most obvious. it lasted as long as it did because of how great it was.

7: Detroit 1-8-7

michael imperioli and the rest of the cast were great and the show did a good job of writing good single episodes while also developing characters and story lines and relationships over the course of the season. i looked forward to seeing this one sitting on my dvr every week (if i wasn't home to watch it live) and things were really getting good as the season ended. and then abc cancelled it!

8: Journeyman

this is a show that actually took me a couple episodes to get into. at first it seemed like it was going to be just one-off episodes with the main character going back in time and fixing things. but as the show developed there was much more to it than that. but then it was cancelled

9: Dead Like Me

i discovered this show a few years after it had already been cancelled. however, for some reason i didn't know that when i started watching it (on the recommendation of one of our podcast listeners). well, needless to say i really enjoyed it and after finishing season two i went to go try to find season three only to find out that there was no season three and there never would be!

10: John From Cincinnati

david milch is one of the creators of the great NYPD Blue and he also created Deadwood which ran for three seasons (although many would say that show ended too soon also). and he is currently working on bringing us his new show Luck (set in the world of horse racing). but often completely forgotten in his list of credits is John From Cincinnati.

11: The West Wing

ya, i know The West Wing lasted 7 seasons. and that's why it is last on the list. but, just because it had a good run, doesn't mean it wasn't cancelled too soon. that final season with alan alda and jimmy smits running against each other was a great season and it felt like the show had gotten a second wind (it had slipped a little after arron sorkin left at the end of the fourth season). and then it was over

The Killing Season One Finale

the season one finale of amc's The Killing aired a few nights ago and although i did my best to avoide any talk of it (i still had a few episodes to get through) i did catch a few headlines and tweets with negative tones to them. thankfully i was able to avoid any spoilers and over the last two days have watched the last six episodes of the season. and all i have to say is... it is a really good show and the season finale was great!

since watching the last episode i have gone and scanned through what people have been saying and it is ridiculous. all this crap about "we didn't get any closure." "we didn't find out who did it." etc... give it a rest!

just because a season is ending doesn't mean we have to have answers. i wonder if it is the "finale" part that is messing with people. the show is coming back you know. is it just that you are going to have to wait a while for the next episodes that makes you need to have the answers at the end of a particular season?

what if we find out who killed rosie larsen in episode 5 of season 2. now, what if season one had been 18 episodes instead of 13? would all the complainers be happy because they got the killer at the end of the season? you will get your closure, just not yet.

rosie larsen's killer will be found in season 2, so keep your pants on and enjoy the ride and appreciate that the writers and creators of the show think highly enough of you as an audience to do something like this. to believe that you can stick with something that moves slowly, is dark and gloomy and not giving you the answers till it is the right time to do so. it's a ballsy move on the part of the writers to not give in to the simple and expected. and good on amc to let them do their thing... this all sounds very Lost.

if you remember after season 2 of Lost the ratings dropped and people started complaining about how the show kept giving us questions and not enough answers. well, those "we want answers" people are probably the same ones bitching about the season one end of The Killing. and those people missed out on one of the best shows of the decade with Lost.

now, i'm not putting The Killing up there at this point after one season, but if you had been enjoying the show until episode 13, then you definitely shouldn't let the arbitrary idea of a "season finale" keep you from coming back for season 2.

Something To Watch: The Good Guys

The Good Guys premiered on fox a few weeks ago and i checked it out. i really liked the pilot, but wanted to get a look at episode 2 before i mentioned it here. Well, having just watched the second episode (had it tivo'd) i gotta say... still liking it.

bradley whitford is great as the old-school, drunken, lecherous cop who only still has a job because he saved the governors son 25 years ago. colin hanks is the by-the-book young detective who gets stuck as his partner in the "petty crimes" division. sounds like the set-up to a bad buddy cop movie don't it? well it would be the set-up to a bad buddy cop one hour tv comedy if it weren't done so well.

the show is just fun. it doesn't take itself to seriously and it plays into some of the classic cliches often with a wink and a tongue in cheek. and, again, bradley whitford and his Magnum P.I. mustache are great. and hanks handles the straight guy role very well also.

now, unfortunately the ratings for the pilot were pretty weak. Now, it is summer, so maybe fox will give it a little more time to grow then they would if this was the fall tv season, but regardless lets hope it sticks around for a while.

you can head over to The Good Guys section of the fox website to get info about airings and even watch full episodes.

Last Comic Standing

Last Comic Standing is back. by the time you read this you will have missed the premier episode, but don't worry about it. just start with episode two next week (don't worry, you wont  be lost)...

it is only 30 minutes into the show and already i have laughed out loud many multiple times. if you enjoy comedy at all this is a must watch show.

right now we have the audition episodes which are fun. once we get to the top-ones-living-in-the-house-eliminations-each-week part of the show we will have to see how it is since some seasons they pick really good ones and it is great and other seasons the finalists aren't the best of the bunch and it is a little less funny (still funny though).

now 45 minutes into the show and its taken me 15 minutes to write this cause i was too busy watching the show and laughing it up...

Infomercial Watch: Shake Weight

okay, i just saw that Ellen featured the Shake Weight on her show last year, so i guess i am a little late on this one - which surprises me given my love of infomercials and infomercial products. But, maybe i am not the only one late to the Shake Weight party. so if you haven't seen this thing...

basically it is a dumbell with springs on each end so that when you hold it up and shake it the weights on both ends go back and forth, which according to their website, "Utilizes New Workout Technology Called
Dynamic Inertia , which Increases Muscle Activity by More Than 300% Compared to Traditional Weights" and it will of course give you, "Scientifically Proven Results."

i was gonna make a few jokes and throw in a bunch of sexual innuendos, but you know what... the best thing to do is just let you watch the video on their website as that pretty much says it all.

Minute To Win It

i tend to get interested/excited about new night time game shows when they are announced. maybe the premise sounds cool or it looks totally ridiculous - but in a good way. but, inevitably they usually end up disappointing for one reason or another (think: 1 vs 100, Million Dollar Password, The Moment Of Truth, etc...).

well, Minute To Win It has proven itself to be one of the exceptions to the rule (think: Grand Slam - that awesome show that aired on GSN where trivia show winners went head to head).

the show has been on for about 4 weeks or so now and i have to say that i am really enjoying it. it is total fun, and lets just hope NBC doesn't do anything stupid like expand it to more than two days a week (which might already be pushing it - when will networks learn). so, what did they get right with this one?

well there are a few key things i think that make the show work. and the main one for me is pacing. this isn't something that most people think about, but it is a big deal. first off: we want to see people play the game. and second: we want to see them going for the big money.Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was boring till they got  to at least the $32,000 question. the first three rounds of Deal Or No Deal are totally tedious (you know they aren't gonna take the deal). The Moment Of Truth (say what you will about the show/premise itself) often took one full hour on just one contestant without even getting to the highest money offered questions.

Also, sure its nice that they have family and friends there to support them, but i don't care to see the host talk to them for 10 minutes and tell us the contestants life story for another 10. i know they do it so that we as the audience can know them better and therefore have more of an investment into whether they win or lose, but Minute To Win It goes from one challenge to the next with minimal time wasted in between and i still totally feel like the contestants personality and story are told to us without it feeling piled on and dragged out.

that pacing, along with the challenges which are great, the good show design (the circle game play area, the colors, the great challenge blueprints with the british ladies voice describing the challenge and the rules of said challenge) and a good host in mr. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives himself, guy fieri makes for a fun hour of viewing on sunday nights - and now wednesdays also - on NBC.

SIDE NOTE: the show has only been on the air for about a month or so and last nights episode was a repeat. what is up with that? to break out a repeat less than two months into a shows premier is just wrong. i guess the expanding to wednesdays maybe caught them off guard and they didn't have enough episodes in the can, but really?

Commercial Watch: Motorola Backflip

this is in no way an endorsement of the motorola backflip phone - which actually doesn't look that interesting to me. but, how great are their commercials. the news report format and the tedium of the tweets and wall posts, etc that he reports on with a straight face just crack me up every time. "we have a late breaking text. dune buggying was awesome! facebook confirms." come on, that's great stuff

check a few of them out here

Tennille, Stop Yelling!

okay, so i'm watching the two hour Hell's Kitchen - this is actually the first season i have followed the show - and i just gotta say... "hey tennille, stop yelling!!" this girl is always yelling in her cut aways. if she is angry about something she yells, if she is talking about something that makes her happy she yells. if she is whispering she yells.

and unfortunately they cut away to her comments/interviews all the frickin' time so there is no escaping it... its funny given that chef ramsay is yelling for about 60% of every show, but that doesn't bother me in the least...

on another note: that lamb/venison confusion and sabrina not telling them cause they were being bitches to her was pretty funny stuff.

Commercial Watch

now, normally Commercial Watch posts will be about commercials i like. but not this time...

have you seen this new campaign that tgi friday's has got going. the "fan woody" campaign? the commercial has this guy woody (tgi friday's #1 fan) and his two friends sitting around a table at a tgi friday's telling us about a new burger and then telling us that they all get a free one if he gets 500 000 fans on his "fan woody" facebook page by september 30th.

ya i get it. they are trying to build internet buzz and facebook recognition, etc... but come on. does woody have to be such a dud? and does the commercial have to be so not funny? now, i will say that that is the only ad i have seen. there may be more in the campaign and those may be funnier - or should i say funny. and maybe woody isn't so uninteresting in those. but, based on that one commercial...

if i wasn't so lazy i would create a "not fan woody" facebook page and try and get people to sign up for that. actually, i would creat a "not fan woodie" page, because we all know the expression: "any publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right."

Best Shark Tank Entrepreneur

on last nights episode of Shark Tank the first entrepreneur up was jonathan miller and he rocked the sharks... he has this customizable energy bar business called element bars and he negotiated and sold himself and his product (but more himself) like no one has on the show before him.

the sharks loved him - even though three of them said no right away and daymond dash made an offer that miller didn't accept. shark kevin seemed quite interested and they eventually negotiate a deal. but miller even got kevin to come down from what kevin had said was his FINAL offer (obviously it wasn't). but you could tell that kevin really wanted this deal and thought he could turn it into something big with some other costomizable fitness product company he is already in business with.

did anyone else catch this? what did you think?

Something To Watch: Shark Tank

Shark Tank is the new show on abc where entrepreneurs come in front of 5 rich business men/women and ask them to invest money in their product/company/idea. the show is a remake of the british show Dragons Den - which i think was a japanese show first (there is also a canadian version which is the one i am familiar with - although i have never watched it - and actually a couple of the "sharks" are "dragons" on the cbc version).

this is a a really good show. these investors are investing (or not investing) their own money. this isn't some reality competition game - this is "reality" (as much as anything on tv can be of course).

the show doesn't have a lot of needless extras like a host or gimmicks. the entrepreneurs come in, they make their pitch, they answer questions from the sharks and they listen to offers (or not, depending on the idea - the guy who wanted to surgically implant blue tooth receivers into people's ears didn't get any offers).

also, while there are some ideas (like the blue tooth guy) that are a little "out there" this isn't like American Idol or American Inventor where you get good and then a nice amount of "bad" for us to laugh at.

it is such a simple premise. there are no rounds or tickets to hollywood or audience voting - just people with ideas/companies/products and sharks with money to invest. the show moves at a good pace, yet there is enough time spent with each entrepreneur as well.

the stakes are high and real and i was completely engaged.

GRADE: B+

News Watch: July 23rd, 2009

"news watch" is a weekly (or thereabouts) quick look at some various tv-related news stories that may, or may not, get covered on the Watch It podcast

fox sits out obama news conference and gets a ratings win (i am a little unclear about this story because i watched the news conference on fox last night - maybe only some fox stations aired it?)

posters for cw's Melrose Place reboot

taco bell chihuahua passes away at the age of 15

you like the show Drawn Together? well they are making a movie

america's most trusted newscaster: jon stewart

what The Wanda Sykes Show wants from it's writers