Fall 2011, New shows catch-all

I watched Unforgettable last night.  Still have a lot of new shows on the DVR I gotta get to.  Unforgettable was an interesting premise, about a woman who has a perfect memory and remembers EVERYTHING.  And she solves crimes by going through her memories of the crime scenes.  I thought the pilot held a lot of promise, but it was kinda a run-of-the-mill cop show.  It actually reminded me a lot of Castle, but with a hot chick as the lead.

 

Still gotta watch episode 2 of Ringer.  Not sure if that show is gonna turn out to be worthwhile, since the pilot was kinda lame.  I'll give it about 5 episodes or so to see if it hits a good vibe.

 

Secret Circle wasn't too bad, if you like the typical CW fare.  I think it has a lot of potential.  The lead chick is super hot, the supporting chicks are super hot, its got Natasha Hendrich in it and she looks damn good.  There's also some cool mythology behind it, so it might end up being a pretty engaging drama if you can stomach all the teen angst.

 

Still gotta check out the Playboy Club.  Its sitting on my DVR daring me to watch it.  It just looks SO BAD.

 

Two Broke Girls - not off to a good start, but its got some potential.  There were a few laughs in the pilot but nothing special.

 

Free Agents - Kinda meh.  Hank Azaria can't really carry a show.  Anthony Stewart Head steals every scene he's in.

 

Up All Night - Pretty funny pilot.  Missed the second episode, but the writing seems pretty sharp.  Has an Arrested Development vibe to it, but I'm not sure how long they can realistically keep up that premise.

 

New Girl - Has some potential as well.  The pilot was decent.

 

Will chime in once I see some more of the new shows.

The one show I'm curious about is "Prime Suspect".   I have fond memories of the Helen Mirren version that played on PBS in the 80's and 90's and am hoping the new version captures some of that vibe.   For those who haven't seen the original version.   Get on that shit.   It's awesome.

 

I'll give that Terra Nova show a shot as well.   I like the premise and am hoping for the best. 

Jesus Christ, that Whitney show is awful!  Just awful.

 

And this is from a guy who used to watch Entourage.

Person of Interest was really good. I'm not a fan of procedurals, so I don't know if I'll like case #20, but I liked case #1 enough to watch a few more.

 

Emerson's character feels like a pure-hearted version of Ben Linus from LOST, and Caveizal (Caviezel, Cavuvuzuela, whatever) plays the wounded badass well. There's enough of interest in their backstories to hopefully provide some arcs beyond the cases.

 

The technology is a bit beyond reality, but at least it felt more realistic than most procedurals attempt (the youtube of two NCIS agents stopping a hacker by simultaneously speed-typing keys on the same keyboard is a personal favorite). I even caught a bit of The Mentalist after, and tuned out around the point where the main character wins the million dollars for his bail by winning it in a high-stakes poker game inside the prison. Oy. By comparison, I can live with unrealistic cell phone hacking as a shortcut plot device.

 

Anyways, PoI seems worth a shot for anyone curious.

Strangely I've only watched the girl sitcoms out of the new shows. I have to agree with the consensus. Whitney is bad. Very awkward and not in a deliberate way. 2 Broke Girls has potential as long as the dinner nonsense gets toned way way down. New Girl is wall to wall  Zooey Deschanel. The male leads are actually good but if you don't like her you won't be able to stand this show, at all. 

I got about a minute into Whitney and turned it. Man that laugh track is on overdrive. It chimed in after every damn line of dialog.

 

Missed all the new shows due to working nights and my stupid need of sleep. I figure most of them will be available on DVD as Season 1/complete series sets early next year anyway. Terra Nova is a must watch though.

Prime Suspect was pretty good.

Was Charlie's Angels as shitty as people say it is?

I thought Person of Interest was horrendous.  Jonthan Nolan expands the stupid surveillance machine thing from Dark Knight into a TV series.  A really dull boring television series.  Emerson somehow manages to be good even though hes mostly spouting off endless exposition, and Caviezel is actually a decent badass, but there's not a whole lot else going on here.  Part of the problem may be that they had to cram the origins of the Emerson/Caviezel partnership AND their first case together into a single episode.  Both aspects felt rushed and undercooked, and the whole thing felt flat and lifeless.  I hate to judge a show based on the pilot, so I'll stick with this one for a few more weeks and hope it improves.  Not a good start though.    

 

 

Whitney was pretty bad, though the bit where she took the role-playing to another level and had her bf filling out forms and stuff was chuckle-worthy.  It's a shame because those two leads are super-funny in their stand-up.  But the writing was just horrible and everything came off flat.

felix, No.  Charlie's Angels is...Awesome!  It is one of the only good new series!  I am also interested in seeing if Pan Am is...Uplifting, and entertaining!

So Terra Nova. Any word if this will be any good?

Jim Caviezel is turning into Nick Mancuso. And Person of Interest is his Stingray.

Only made it 5 minutes in, but...

 

Horrible, wooden acting.

 

Ridiculous back story.  OK, the orginal was weak--female cops held down by what would eventually be called the glass ceiling--but all three of these women are supposedly criminals.  Why would a "Park Avenue princess" feel the need to steal?  And why would you trust a crooked cop?

 

Way too much exposition (episode starts with Charlie telling the girls 16 year-old kidnapping victim is in Hotel X...they just need to find the room...wouldn't you call in SWAT at that point???)

 

Way too much reliance on "magical" technology.  Using an IPad to instantly trace a a phone call to a hotel room, then using a satellite camera to get a high-def video of the goons and said 16 year-old tied up on the bed--oooh, but it's tinted green.

 

Hot Latin guy as Bosley feels wrong.

 

Just spent more time writing about this show than I spent watching it.  Seriously, if it makes it to 4 episodes I'll be shocked.  And this is from a guy who actually enjoys the new Hawaii 5-0.  No idea how this ever made the schedule.

 

To me, The last of the interesting...Pilots...Take's Flight, tonight, ABC's Pan Am!

 

SeventyOne, I am hoping for an...ANGELic full season pickup for, Charlie's Gal Detectives!

Anyone else looking forward to Terra Nova? Yes, I realize its a combination of Avatar, Jurassic Park, and kinda Stargate...but who the fuck cares. It looks like it'll be good!

I dunno, I think Terra Nova looks pretty awful, but I'll give it a shot because it's sci-fi and I'm a sucker.

I really wont be surprised if Terra Nova is a giant turd pile...but I'd like to think that it wont be.

There are a lot (A LOT) of new shows geared towards the female crowd this season.  Since the male 18-34 demo was always key and has been bleeding like hell for years, are networks trying a new approach? 

 

I haven't watched a ton yet.  I think cable is starting to spoil me.  Have seen: New Girl, Ringer, Up All Night, Person of Interest.  Have yet to watch Prime Suspect, Pan Am and Terra Nova.  Thus far, Up All Night is fun and Person of Interest could be decent, but it could get very same-y very fast.

 

Anymore, I just hate picking new shows.  The critically lauded ones get canceled after three episodes and the ones I like get canned.  Although Up All Night has gotten some mention around here, the general population is not a fan.  I was just over at tvbythenumbers checking out ratings and I think one of many, many comments actually liked Up All Night.  The rest of the group just blasted it.  I assume that site doesn't attract the nerdiest of users.  And why does this matter? Ah, because thus far it is the one I think could be the best.

 

I am more interested in returning shows and three have impressed me, and I expected two of them to be weak sauce and they weren't: Fringe, Office and Supernatural.  How I Met Your Mother sucks,  but I watch it because I am invested and fucking Comcast ruined my opportunity to see Modern Family, so I can't comment on it.  Oh and Sunny (although cable) had a weak premiere but the second episode was awesome.  Sorry didn't mean to go off topic too much.

I don't know how well it will turn out but it certainly doesn't feel like a well thought out and put together show. There was an early pilot that people liked a lot. Then that turned into a 90 minute pilot that everyone hated. Then came a 120 minute pilot that supposedly fixed what was wrong with the previous one. Who knows at this point? 

 

 

Terra Nova looks terrible, but 'fun' terrible.

I wanted to like PAN AM, I feel like that's a concept with great potential - globe trotting, air travel back when it was cool, ETC

 

Unfortunately I read there would be no smoking, and so it seems like an X-MEN FIRST CLASS situation where they're using the period setting more for the costumes than a desire to depict the reality characters would face in those times

 

As for TERA NOVA... well heck, it would be great if it was worthwhile, but my expectations are exactly zero, as they are with any new network TV show. Unless there is a Sorkin involved somewhere, I just don't have faith in the whole American style "22 episodes a season" model. It leads to alot of wasted potential and dead end plot points

 

Tera Nova might be cool if it were telling a focused story, but I get a feeling it's going to be a 'dinosaur of the week' affair. That might have interested me 10 years ago, but at this point in my life I just can't be bothered with non serialized story telling

Yeah, Pan Am was pretty groan inducing.  A completely Disneyfied version of the 1960's.  The only intriguing character/plot was the Kelli Garner spy arc, but that won't be enough to sustain the show.

Princess Kate, ScottieFerguson, I found Pan Am to be...Uplifting!  It is a lighthearted show about Pan Am stewardesses, pilots, and espionage. To me the only new series worth watching are...

1) Marvel Madhouse Anime

    X-Men, and Blade on the...G4 Channel.  Wolverine and Iron Man are very good, but I think X-Men and Blade will be even...more...X-Citing and Cutting Edged!

2) Charlie's Angels

3) The Playboy Club

4) Pan Am

Terra Nova needs to keep the dinosaur action to a minimum, cause the dinos look horrible. SyFy original horrible.

I kind of dug Pan Am.  Very Desperate Housewives vibe, down the gratuitous shots of the leads in their underwear and a season arc seemingly centered on the "missing" main character.  It's definitely not Mad Men, but at least it doesn't even try.  

 

Worst returning show of the season:  The Mentalist. Editing because I can't hide spoiler text.  But man, it went downhill at rocket speed.

Quote:

 

Agreed.  I love that the first dino shot was more or less a direct lift from Jurassic Park.  Still, enjoying it for the most part, particularly the rebel faction sent from the future, and the existence of those rock carvings.  Color me intrigued, even if this does remind me of a big budget Sliders episode.

It's a little Terra Nova 90210 at times. Teens be horny no matter what the century am I right? Still, this little offspring of Jurassic Park and AVATAR might have an ernest little future. I'm in for now.

So.... Jurassic Park was what, 17 years ago?  You would expect that they could make dinosaurs, today, somewhat decent looking for a modest budget.  The FX were god awful.

Hated the cliche, douchey son. Otherwise I liked it, shoddy FX included.

Spoiler Alert:

 

If they're in the age of dinosaurs, won't there be a huge damn asteroid hitting the Earth, and an ice age for these people to live through?

Well, last I heard an asteroid was mostly just conjecture to explain the fossil break that exists. There could be other causes. As for the ice age, that was the near past--geologically speaking--so they'd have tens of millions of years before they'd have to deal with that.

Show wasn't that great, the son is groan inducing cliche, and the plot was pretty bad but somehow I didn't hate it. Was there a huge gap between the pilot being filmed and it being picked up and the filming of later episodes?

Gave Terra Nova around half an hour, till the little girl started feeding brachiasours (or whatever). Decided to catch up on QI instead.

I'm down to Breaking Bad, Mad Men, the Daily Show, Modern Family, and Psych. Dropping shows like a bad habit. Would rather catch up on old series I missed on DVD or spend time on movies/intertron surfing/video games ... when I'm not taking care of two toddlers. Gave the new Sarah Michelle Gellar series and Playboy Club a shot due to past loyalties and the desire to see that hot lesbian chick in a bunny outfit. Both were fucking awful. I'll give Pan Am a try, but the only show I'm really looking forward is that one alternate reality show where in one reality his son is dead, but he has his wife to bone, and in the other his wife is dead but he has son to toss the football around with. 

So what do you think will be the casualties this season?

 

According to this, Terra Nova and Heart of Dixie opened soft yesterday. Charlie's Angels only did so-so. Nikita Season 2 had a big drop as well.

Terra Nova

I'll be rooting for him to die but I know he never will.  Another nit pick-why is the son so white?  Atleast say the first wife died or something.

THey better get to the point by episode 13.  Don't dick tease me like The Event.  Be Fringe.

 

And the alt timeline I'm not buying it.  Either it's another planet or they jumped to the future.  THere is no way to know that they created an alt timeline.  Unless they know they have failed in the future already.

 

So how long till the annoying sons gf comes?  I'm guessing rigt after he has swx w/ the new girl.

 

There's at least one major extinction event in their future. Off the top of my head, I'd say there are two. Either way, good luck with that!

Asteroid and....... the formation of the GOP?  

 

And considering that I'm watching the first two on DVD (so I'm holding off on the current season) the pickings are reaeeeallly slim. The SMG series was a bore, Pan Am (which I really only tried because my boss used to work for them and figured he'd ask me about it) was-- well, not for me.  Person of Interest might work on cable, but watching Jesus shoot people in the knee is going to get really old after a couple of episodes. Prime Suspect was better than I'd feared, and if they should decide to actually try writing another character besides Jane, instead of borrowing them stock from every show that's come before, I might stick around through the inevitable cancellation (I read that it had the lowest-rated Thursday night debut in NBC history, though I have no idea how high or low that bar is set). If Spielberg weren't involved, Terra Nova would be gone in a flash (at those prices, you're either a home run or you're gone... unless, as I say, your network desperately wants to be in the Spielberg business).

 

January brings Luck and the return of Justified. Can I hold out?

lol Terra Nova.  Anyone else get an Earth 2 vibe?  Probably gonna keep tuning in for this one because its big and goofy and expensive and it has Stephen Lang in it.  Curious to see how long it lasts.

I'm going with 5 weeks before it gets put on Friday nights.

Maybe my science is wrong, but why would the people of Terra Nova have to worry about an ELE when the dinosaur age lasted a fuckton longer than the human age?

Also, why worry about alternate timelines when the asteroid acts like a giant "delete" button?

 

Been meaning to picking it up on DVD for a while now.  I want to laugh at McHale and Chevy Chase while ogling that big titted brunette's tits (the one with the cheese name).  I have simple pleasures. 

 

Can't believe I forgot about Terra Nova.  Oh well, I'm sure it will be cancelled, like every other non J.J. Abrams sci-fi show. 

 

 

Heh. There have been two lesser mass extinction events since the dinosaurs were wiped out.

You might have missed something...

 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

 

Realistically, he would need to keep a low body count if he intended to stay under the radar. A guy dropping a dozen bodies in NYC (half of them cops) would have a hard time operating like a spy.

 

Of course, EVERY show would be better on cable. But at least in the first episode, PoI didn't shy away from realistic violence / deaths.

Optimism?

 

It just seems weird to voluntarily jump to a time when whatever civilization you build is going to eventually face an earth-shattering event. It's not a deal-breaker for the show; it's just an oddity in the premise.

You're looking at it all wrong.  Every civilization is going to face an earth/world shattering event.  In fact, many of them (until one comes along that annihilates the world entirely).   The difference with jumping back to the well-studied dinosaur age is that you actually know when this event will occur.  It's clear sailing for hundreds of millions of years!  If you haven't figured out a way to get off this rock or deflect it by then, it wasn't meant to be. 

 

I mean ... a comet could come out of nowhere and wipe us out tomorrow.  If you jump back to dinosaur age, you know that won't happen for a loooooooooooong time.

 

No, I saw that-- and it was handled pretty effectively. But it wasn't shown-- which means (I suspect) that for however long the show runs, they're going to keep finding coy ways to avoid that sort of thing, or eliminate it altogether. I don't insist on full-frontal mayhem, but the machinations involved in avoiding it can be distracting, at best.

 

And I thought the original "extinction event" comment about Terra Nova was referring to a presumed cancellation coming sooner rather than later; if so, well played.

Yeah, things don't look good for Prime Suspect - too good because it's a solid show with a terrific cast.  Another fumble by NBC.