A couple more midseason shows
that are probably safe to ignore, and one you might want to check out
Midseason is pretty much going
according to my reviews (MIDSEASONSHOWS – PART I). My favorite midseason shows The Following and The
Americans have already been renewed for a second season. While my least
favorite Zero Hour and Do No Harm have been pronounced dead.
I have a couple more of reviews
of the remaining Midseason shows, read and find out if they are worth your
precious TV-watching time:
Red Widow
Premise: A woman with ties
to the Russian(?) mafia is forced to continue her husband’s work after he is
killed only days before he blows the whistle and goes to witsec.
Verdict: Yeah… I don’t know… I don’t think this going anywhere
(plot-wise)
I wanted to like this. I actually
like Melissa Rosenberg’s work, especially Dexter
and I have to confess I did not hate the first two Twilight movies… but I don’t know… Red Widow was nothing remarkable. I did not hate it, it wasn’t the
most horrible show either, but nothing grabbed me. I am not into this whole
wave of ‘reluctant criminals’, we already had a bad ‘unwilling mobster’ show (The Mob Doctor) this year and Red
Widow felt a lot like it. If you are going to make a show about anti-heroes,
who would like to be good but can’t due to the circumstances, they have to be
compelling and believable like Jax on SOA
or just make a show about a criminal. I would be more interested in a story
about the daughter of a mafia lord who embraced her criminal life than in these
housewives ‘forced’ to be mobsters. What frustrated me most about the pilot is
that Goran Visnjic doesn’t even appear until the last minute, so I may watch ep
2 just to see a little of him but I don’t think I could watch any further. The
plot doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and I have a feeling this is another
goner.
Monday Mornings
Premise: Surgeons at a hospital who go to M&M meetings
Verdict: Are you sure this is a David E. Kelley show? Seriously,
are you sure?
I’ve only watched the pilot for
this show, and I almost didn’t because I read SO many bad reviews. It wasn’t
horrible… it wasn’t interesting at all either. Good things about it? Well the
cast is great; it has Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina and Jamie Bamber. And… yeah,
that’s it… I can’t think of anything else good to say about it. Perhaps if it
had premiered 15 years ago it might have been considered reasonably good. The
main issue is that there was nothing new about it, at least nothing they haven’t
done on Grey’s Anatomy already [and
in a much more interesting fashion]. Also, they were emphasizing the ‘medical’
aspect more than the ‘relationships’ between characters, and that could get
boring really fast. Finally, you might hate or love David E. Kelley’s whacky
style with hallucinations and neurotic characters, but this show had none. It
didn’t feel like a David E. Kelley show at all! Perhaps he should stick to
lawyers next time. How could the show have been better? It could have been less
boring if James Spader was in it as a morally ambiguous doctor… named “Alan
Shore”, hey why not? He was the best part of every E. Kelley show after all. In
summary, it isn’t like it was painful to watch, but it did make me yawn more
than one time. Don’t think I’ll stick with it. Also, can’t remember the last time
I actually liked a TNT show, what’s up with that? Get it together TNT!
Cult
 |
| Robert Knepper |
Premise: A show about a show of a cult within a cult… or something
like that… Basically it is about some charismatic evil character who gathers
‘followers’ to commit murders. Soundslike other midseason show you know?
Verdict: It does have some things to offer … but I wouldn’t get too
attached
I don’t dislike Cult. It is getting terrible ratings,
not so good reviews and they already moved it to Friday which is usually the
step before cancellation. So, I really don’t want to get too attached to it. However,
I don’t think it is among the worst shows of midseason, not the best either. It
has some interesting things. They are making more emphasis on the whole social
media than The Following, I like the
cast and the mystery is interesting enough. It could potentially get good or
become a complete train wreck, who knows? I am obviously not going to say Cult is better than The Following, but I think I like Robert Knepper just a little bit
better than James Purefoy. Robbert Knepper is probably the ultimate villain; he
is just so amazing at playing evil… He has a way of being disturbing and
intriguing, creepy but still appealing. I am going to keep watching Cult until it gets cancelled which I
assume will be really soon. They are giving its slot to re-runs of Beauty and the Beast so, at least I am not complaining about
that.
Ripper Street
Premise: A police drama set in the post-Jack the Ripper London
Verdict: An oddly refreshing take on the police drama genre
In a world where it feels there
is a CSI for every major city in the US and many other similar shows, I thought
re-imagining the genre was virtually impossible. Turns out that for a ‘new’
twist on the police procedural drama all they had to do was to go back in time!
Ripper Street is not only a well
written, well-acted show; it also feels so refreshing! It has the typical
structure of ‘case of the week’ with an overlaying season arc, but the fact that
it is set in the 1800s London makes it different. Current police dramas rely so
much on technology and gadgets, which is obviously not the case for Ripper Street. No computers, no DNA, no high-speed
car chases, just pure old-fashion police investigations. The cast is also
great, the three main characters include: the investigator, side-kick and
doctor played by Mathew Macfadyen (MI-5),
Jerome Flynn (Bronn from Game of
Thrones) and Adam Rothenberg (The Ex
List). Love them all! I had a lengthy twitter conversation with my
wonderful followers the other day about whether Mathew Macfadyen has lost his
good looks. The conclusion was that he might not be as dreamy as when he played
Mr. Darcy on Pride and Prejudice, but
nonetheless he still has it… and he is a great actor, let’s not forget that. I’ve only seen the first couple of episodes of
Ripper Street but it is definitely
worth catching up with this show. A second season has already been ordered so,
if you missed the first season watch it sometime this year.
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