What to watch, what not to watch [what to irrationally hate and what to watch in secret]…
I am barely
catching up with summer television and the fall season is already here! It’s
virtually impossible to keep track of all the cable, network and online shows
nowadays! Lucky for you, I am here to watch them all and tell you what to
avoid.
Without
further ado, let’s get the TV season started!
MARRY ME
Premise:
A couple suffers a series of unfortunate failed marriage proposals
Verdict:
It wasn’t as awful as I expected but not good either.
This is
one of those weird shows where I love the actors but I can see from a mile away
that it is not going to work. Case Wilson
is great, I thought she stood out on
Happy Endings and she is very quirky-cute in a neurotic kind of way. She
reminds me a little bit of Mindy Kaling. Now about Ken Marino… This is complicated. Do I love him? I am a huge Party
Down fan so you bet I love him! I think he is really funny… however
for all intents and purposes, he is playing a “romantic” lead and I just can’t
get the image of him sleazily singing “Private Eyes, Veronica Mars” out of my head! He is even kind of cute, now that
I think about it… but Vinnie Van Lowe is hard to let go. I guess I should go
further back and remember him as the hot teacher on Dawson’s Creek… That should
work. OK, now that we got that out of the way… The show still doesn’t work for me.
It wasn’t necessarily awful [as I expected due to the reviews I read]; but it
isn’t very good either. Even though I adore both actors [and actually think
they make a good couple], they are both too much. They both have a very
over-the-top comedic energy. It works great for side-kicks, but not for the
main couple. Plus… there are just SO MANY relationship comedies this year! And
so far…Manhattan Love Story is my favorite!
Should you watch it? I'd normally say no... but I do like the actors... so maybe this eventually finds a good pace and tone and becomes really funny. So I'd say test it.
THE FLASH
Premise: You know this already… a guy runs
really fast
Verdict: It was good
The Flash was exactly what I expected: an action packed,
fun show with some sweet character moments and sporadic funny dialogue. The
pilot was pretty solid, it accomplished everything it should: set up the
backstory, introduce characters, depict the world, etc. There was some funny
dialogue [“Lightning gave me abs?”] and plenty of action sequences. I really
love Tom Cavanagh so I was excited to see him there. As for the rest of the
cast, everyone did a good job. However, I am a little indifferent to the
leading man [He is cute and I don’t dislike him, but I am not particularly
excited about him either]. The show was incredibly well received [much better
than Arrow]. I am guessing it is due to the fact that The
Flash is a superhero with whom many are familiar. I enjoyed the pilot
and I will probably enjoy the rest of the season (*), however I don’t see
myself becoming a die-hard fan either.
(*) I have to admit, my main motivation to
watch the rest of the episodes is that Wentworth Miller was cast.
A to Z
Premise: A comprehensive account of a love story from A
to Z.
Verdict: It was pretty much as boring as it sounds.
Seriously, how many relationship comedies do we
have this year? [Selfie, Manhattan Love
Story, Marry Me]. Out of all of these, I thought A to Z was going to be the one I watched; mainly
because I am familiar with the actors and I like “meant to be” love stories
[more than opposites attract] for some bizarre reason. However, the
pilot didn’t impress me. As the title suggests we are told from the beginning
that Andrew and Zelda [A to Z, get it?] are meant to be together and WILL be
together [no will they/won’t they mystery there]. So, basically, the show will
follow their relationship from the time they first meet to the time they marry
[?], exactly “8 months, 3 weeks, 5 days and one hour”… in case you were
wondering. The show uses a narrator to tell the story and I recognized her voice immediately: It’s
Katey Sagal! Which would normally be awesome if they had given her some good
lines! I mean… “a comprehensive account” that sounds like the teacher who puts
everyone to sleep. I could see what they were doing… they were trying to use
the omniscient whimsical narrator in the vein of Pushing Daisies, Amelie,
The Royal Tenenbaums, etc. However,
I don’t think they managed to achieve that. The narrator lines had to have a
very peculiar style which they didn’t. This SHORT FILM was much more successful executing that same
concept in 5 min. SOA SPOILER ALERT Also… let’s
take a minute to acknowledge how ironic it is that Katey is narrating a love
story when her character on SOA just killed her son’s wife
[Yeah… I am SO not over that, sorry, had to bring it up].
In summary, A to Z had a fair amount of
sweetness…and I like the general idea but wasn’t impressed with the execution.
In addition, I didn’t feel the two leads had enough chemistry.
Should you watch it? I don’t want to conclude this sucks
yet, because it could get better. However, so far, I don’t think this is worth
it. I actually liked Manhattan Love Story much more.
BAD JUDGE
Premise: A trashy woman is a judge … yeah, that’s
actually what the show is about…
Verdict: Well… at least it is not a “relationship
comedy”
Basically Kate Walsh plays a hedonistic,
borderline trashy woman who happens to be a judge. So, they rely on the gimmick
that you wouldn’t expect a respectable authority figure to be such a mess. I
guess there were some funny moments and lines, but overall I didn’t like the
pilot. First of all… I am still not sure how I feel about Kate Walsh. I used to
like her on Grey’s Anatomy, that went away a little during Private
Practice, guess she did a decent job on Fargo, but… I
don’t know. I don’t love her. And she wasn’t playing trashy-cute like Carrie
Preston on True Blood, it was just train wreck. I guess this
was supposed to be the female version of Rake or something…
but it just didn’t work for me. I kept waiting for a scene or a heart-warming moment
to give meaning to the show, but it never happened.
Should you watch it? I really don’t see the point of
this show. I didn’t find the character compelling and it wasn’t hilarious
enough to make up for that. It might be a matter of taste… I don’t know.
STALKER
Premise: It’s a CBS show so… you have two cops and a
case of the week. The twist? They are members of the “stalking unit” [is that a
real thing?]
Verdict: Too procedural for my taste
So… people get stalked a lot… apparently. And
cops who may or may not be stalkers themselves catch the stalkers. That’s
basically what Stalker is about. Sounds interesting enough,
right? Well… It’s no secret that I have little love for CBS cop shows [there
are just so many!], but I was willing to give this a chance because I really
like Maggie Q and I am missing Nikita more than I expected.
However, I found it utterly boring. Maggie and Dylan were good [so was the rest
of the cast], but it just failed to grab me. There was nothing terribly wrong
with the writing, but there wasn’t anything particularly interesting either. I
think I was expecting it to be much more shocking; something like The
Following when it first premiered, but it wasn’t nearly as gritty. I
might be biased against this type of show, but I can enjoy a good procedural if
it has “something special” (Person of Interest e.g.).
Should you watch it? I won’t, but I guess you could try
if you are really into procedurals and/or a huge Maggie Q/Dylan McDermott fan.
MANHATTAN LOVE STORY
Premise: An idealistic girl moves to New York to make
her dreams come true and find love [or something like that].
Verdict: You know..? It was sort of cute.
I actually didn’t hate this at all… which was a
surprise. Manhattan Love Story had elements of shows like The
Mindy Project and Don’t Trust the b… in Apartment 23, but
with a lot more naiveté. The jokes weren’t edgy or particularly clever, but I
did laugh throughout the episode and that’s the point of a comedy, isn’t it? In
the pilot episode, idealistic, small town Dana is set up on a date with the
cynical native New Yorker Peter. The date is obviously a disaster, but Peter
turns out to be not so bad after all [I know… least original idea ever]. The
show is told through narration from the two protagonists. I usually hate unnecessary V.O.s,
but this one kind of worked [although I can see it getting annoying after a
while]. It was fun to see how the characters’ inner thoughts contradicted their
action and the difference between how men and women think [and how men can
NEVER figure out what women think]. All in all, this was a cynicism-free half
hour of cute comedy and, surprisingly, I didn’t mind it. Plus, I liked the two
leads… and fine, I guess this is as good a time as any to confess that I REALLY
liked Greek… and not in the “this is my Abcfamily
guilty pleasure” way…
Should you watch it? It most certainly won’t change your
life, but why not give it a go? I think I may watch it… at least until it gets
too sugary sweet. It’s probably going to get cancelled though.
SELFIE
Premise: A social media addicted shallow woman
realizes she has no real friends and decides to turn her life around with the
help of his PR-expert antisocial co-worker. They are pitching it as “My fair
lady in the social media age” [the lead character’s name is “Eliza Dooley”;
subtle…]
Verdict: We needed a show like this… but I
am not sure this is it.
Most comedies on TV have mocked social media at
some point, but we haven’t had one that specifically deals with it yet. So… as
a concept, I think it is great. We needed something to make us feel guilty and
force us to go outside and interact with tridimensional humans. However… I am
not sure Selfie is as strong as it needed to be. The pilot felt like a run of the mill
opposites-attract-romantic-
However, I wouldn’t say Selfie was bad either. I relatively enjoyed the pilot…
at least I didn’t feel like throwing stuff at my screen. There were some cute
moments, some laughable moments and John Cho is really great. I feel he has
been around forever and everyone likes him; he deserves a hit leading role
already [not sure Selfie will be it though]. We also have to consider
that pilots are hard for comedies because they rely so much on chemistry and
tone. I rarely like the first episode of comedies and the tone is usually not
well defined until episode 5-6. So… this could still turn out good… I think it
has enough elements to work with, but the writing needs to be stronger.
Should you watch it? You could, if you are really into
light entertainment… but you won’t be missing out if you don’t.
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER?
Premise: “A group of ambitious law students and their
brilliant criminal defense professor become involved in a twisted murder plot
that promises to change the course of their lives” (IMDB, 2014)
Verdict: It was good, but not that new.
I have endless respect for Shonda. She is one
of the most successful showrunners on TV and she knows what she is doing. Even
after 10 years, Grey’s Anatomy still
manages to keep my attention and Scandal
is full of shocking twists. I enjoyed the pilot of HTGAWM but I wasn’t wowed by
it. I read a bunch of reviews where they were calling it derivative, comparing
it to Legally Blonde and Damages and I can see
why. The scene where the young protagonist arrives to college unprepared and is
grilled by the tough teacher is something we’ve seen so many times on TV shows
and movies like: Legally Blond, Greek, Felicity, 21,
etc etc. Damages is in a different league, but it had the non-linear
structure and a VERY similar murder weapon [Lady Liberty vs. Lady Justice]. That
would be my main complain about the show; it didn’t feel as cutting edge as
other Shonda shows. I vividly remember the day I watched the pilot of Grey’s
Anatomy. I thought it was so different, exciting and new. Similar thing
happened with Scandal. I was hoping to have that feeling with
HTGAWM, but I didn’t.
Having said that, there was a lot I liked. It
had a quick pace, I liked the cast, it had fun dialogue, interesting characters
and I like the “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” structure they have going on
[even though it is nothing new either; Motive is all about
that]. We know they killed someone, we know whom; we just need to know why and
how.
Should you watch it? I was honestly underwhelmed by the
pilot but I intend to watch the rest of the season. I am confident there is
more still to come. However, I wouldn’t say this is Shonda’s best [not the
worst either, remember Off the map? Not crazy about Private
Practice either…]
THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA
Premise: A female cop, who is a mom… yeah that’s pretty
much all…
Verdict: I believe this could be fixed…
As you may recall, this show was my NBC pick of the year. So, did I
love it? No, and I was really hoping I would. Basically the show is about a
police officer (Debra Messing), who has a chaotic life juggling her job, her
two demonic twins and her ex-husband (Josh Lucas). It is not high concept, but
I could definitely work with a strong cast and script. Yes to first one, unfortunately
NO to the second one. The script just wasn’t good enough. There were some funny
moments [that I attribute more to the actors than the writers], but there was a
lot of corny, cliché stuff going on. Is this a comedy? Is this a drama? Is this
a show about a rogue cop? Is this a whodunit? [at one point it looked like a
“Clue” Homage]. I haven’t been this confused about genre since Reign!
And that wasn’t the only issue. When I say the
cast was great, I am talking about the leading actors: Debra Messing, Josh
Lucas, Enrico Colantoni… They were great and their characters were likable.
However, that does not apply to the supporting actors. All minor characters
were SO cheesy and cartoonish. From the assistant to the school-master, they
were just annoying. Apparently this show was adapted from a Spanish series.
Frankly I don’t get it. If you are going to remake a show, it should be because
it has an incredible premise. This wasn’t that incredible. With so many amazing
shows on TV [and the internet] nowadays, shows like this just won’t cut it.
Having said that, there is nothing so catastrophically
wrong with this show that couldn’t be fixed. If they define the tone, get rid
of the cheesy characters, avoid cliché settings and come up with some strong
storylines for the leading character… this could work. The strong leading lady
is there… ready to be used. Debra can turn this around. Your move writers...
Should you watch it? To be on the safe side, I am gonna
say no. I personally plan to give it 2 or 3 more episodes to be sure. If I
radically change my mind [it has happened before], I will let you know.
GOTHAM
 |
| Is that a Zeppelin in the b.g.? I love that |
Premise: A young Jim Gordon investigates the murder of
Bruce Wayne’s parents in the corrupt city of Gotham. So, basically, Batman
before Batman.
Verdict: It fulfilled most of my expectations.
This was my FOX pick of the year and
out of all the new shows it was the one I was most excited about [and so was
everybody else]. The expectations were high and I wasn’t disappointed [not yet
at least]. The pilot episode was very well made. It looked great, the script
was very good and everybody was incredibly well cast [Unlike other shows on
this list *cough* Scorpion *cough*].
I dig the silent intensity of Ben Mckenzie, I think he is perfect to play the
honourable Detective Gordon. I also love that they got Donal Logue to play his
partner/morally ambiguous mentor. He provides the perfect balance. Donal has
been a guest on every cable show ever for the past few years, so it’s nice to
see him as a regular again. The rest of the cast is equally great with complex
quirky characters; some new like Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith), some old
like the Penguin (wonderfully played by the relatively unknown Robin Lord
Taylor). The tone is well defined and it truly embodies the “film noir” spirit.
It has all the elements of the classic Batman movies, but it also reminded me
of other films like Blade Runner and Sin City. After
watching a couple of interviews with Bruno Heller, I feel very confident about
where this is going. I hope they keep it up [and amp it up]. So far, this is in
the running to become my favourite new show.
Should you watch it? Yes, do! Unless you are majorly
against comic books or something.
SCORPION
Premise: A group
of geniuses are recruited by the government to help them in matters of national
security. There is also a waitress with an autistic kid… So… Numb3ers meets
Touch?
Verdict: As far as
CBS shows go… it was good.
Scorpion was my CBS pick of this year.
The only reason I decided to check out this show is because I like the
producers. The show was created by Nick Santora (Prision Break) and
produced by Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci (Alias, Sleepy Hollow, Fringe).
The show was dynamic, it had a good premise for an action show, it had funny
dialogue and a good structure. You could say I enjoyed it, even though I didn’t
think it was awesome. However, I had one big problem with it. The most common
thing I say about new shows is: “The cast is SO great, but the writing isn’t
strong enough”. I had the opposite issue with Scorpion. The
writing was good [not Mad Men good but good enough], but the
cast was awful. Wrong wrong actor to play the leading man [And this coming from
the guy that found Wentworth Miller! How disappointing!] Makes you realize that
the “hot/cute geek” is a very rare commodity. In other words, there aren’t
enough Zachary Levis is the world. Without that, the sociopathic/Sherlock-type
character just ended up being annoying instead of compelling. Didn’t hate the
poor guy, but not everybody can pull off the constant tactless rants like
Benedict Cumberbatch does. As for the rest, I liked one or two of the
supporting actors (Eddie Kaye Thomas, Ari Stidham, Robert Patrick), and hated others (Jadyn
Wong). I guess Kat McPhee was well cast and she did an OK job, but for some reason
I can never connect with her.
I appreciate that this isn’t just another cop
show and I think it could be a different procedural like Person of
Interest (but not as good); however… the cast did not convince me at
all. Not sure if they can pull this off with that cast, but ratings were good…
so this might be here to stay.
Should you watch it? Yeah, give it a go if you like
shows like Numb3rs, Touch and The Blacklist. Maybe
it is just me who didn’t like the cast.
FOREVER
Premise: A very charming British M.E. never dies.
Verdict: A lot better than I expected
Yes, I love Ioan Gruffud [even though I have to
google his name every time I need to write it], I find him incredibly charming.
So I was definitely going to watch this; but, honestly, I was getting ready to
say something like “The show is OK but I’ll mostly watch it because I love
him”. However, it was a lot better than I anticipated! I quite enjoyed the
pilot. The procedural element moved quickly and incorporated the mythology, the
characters were interesting [having the guy from Bones as an
M.E. was funny], the backstory was intriguing and there were quite a few lines
of dialogue I really loved. The episode was full of tiny meaningful details.
For instance, I loved the fact that the best friend of the immortal guy was a
baby [now an old man] he rescued from a concentration camp when he was a
soldier. Way to give the side-kick an interesting background and create a
complex/layered relationship! Plus, I love a good bromance. This show was also my ABC pick of the year
Odd comparison time:
I think I’d describe the show as: Highlander meets Moonlight. The Highlander comparison
is obvious, not sure why I kept thinking of Moonlight. Perhaps
because the love of his life is someone he met decades ago… It reminded me of
the Coraline/Mick flashbacks. It also made me think of Early Edition. In
other words, it’s a sweet drama with a sci-fi element. And yes, it got a little
sappy at times, but for some reason it didn’t bother me.
Quotes:
“Hang me once, shame on you. Hang me twice…”
“Don’t say anything too emotional; it’d be
uncomfortable”
Should you watch it? I will. It is definitely not gritty, edgy
drama but sometimes I like some lighter shows in my TV mix. I really hope it
survives. I thought it fitted nicely with the rest of ABC’s programming.
MADAM SECRETARY
CBS SUNDAYS 8 PM
Premise: A woman not involved in politics is appointed Secretary of State due to
her personal friendship with the President.
Verdict: A little too much wishful writing for my taste
I was recently re-watching Political Animals and noticed how the main focus of that show was
the family drama, rather than the politics. I guess this falls under the same
category; except, Political Animals wasn’t boring and it had a fun edge to it. Madam
Secretary is a very “safe” drama. The pilot episode
shows the leading character becoming Secretary of State and there is a “story
of the week” [because it is CBS] about two young men captured in Syria. They
are forced to falsely confess they are spies on tape, which puts a stop to the
government’s rescue plans. However, Madam Secretary believes in doing the right
thing and she convinces the President to rescue the poor American kids. In the
end, it is all about politicians doing the right thing! I am sure that happens
all the time… [I say full of sarcasm]. The episode had some funny lines
[“there’s no double-dipping in the spy-pool”], the structure was good and the
characters were moderately interesting; so I won’t say the writing was bad. It
also had a decent enough cliff-hanger, plus the cast was great but… there
wasn’t anything exciting about it. My predominant thought throughout the pilot
episode was “Zelko Ivanek is wasted on network television” Give the man a cable
show!” I love Tea Leoni and Tim Daily but… not nearly enough to grab me.
Should you watch it? This pretty
much falls under the category of “it is a good enough show to watch but there
are so many that are better”. I doubt I’ll
ever watch it again.
PLAY IT AGAIN DICK
CWSEED New episodes posted Tuedays
Premise: A mockumentary about Ryan Hansen trying to
get a Veronica Mars spin-off (about
Dick) on the air.
Verdict: This was the cherry on top for the
fans
It’s no secret I am a Veronica Mars fan. I loved the show, I was very pleased with
the movie, I am planning to buy the book and I am getting ready to demand a
sequel. However, I wasn’t expecting much from this web series, which is unfair.
Web series may not be full-length shows like House of Cards or Orange is the New Black; but they can be great when the right people are
involved. Examples include: Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s sing along blog and Felicia Day’s The Guild, which I confess I have never watched but I hear
it is great.
Many fans wondered why, out of all the
characters, they would pick Dick Casablancas [a notoriously douchy guy] for the
spin-off. I actually get it. Ryan Hansen is very funny and I think web series
work better when they are funny. Plus I am still obsessed with that dancing video!
But let’s talk about the show. It is NOT Veronica Mars, so keep that in mind. It is different in genre,
length, tone and structure. However, it has a lot of what made Veronica Mars awesome: clever references, smart dialogue and
the cast! I think fans will certainly enjoy it. But I also think it has enough
of general pop-culture goodies to make other people laugh. I’ve counted
references to: Buffy, Angel, Friends,
House of Lies, Karate Kid, Magnum P.I., Limitless, Community and more. For a 7 min webisode that’s pretty
good. It also has a fun tone and they simultaneously mock reality shows and the
inner workings of network television [and we need that, now that 30 Rock is gone and Episodes is on hiatus].
So…. Should you watch
it? I personally loved it. I
wasn’t expecting this to be Veronica Mars’s second coming, I just wanted to
laugh with some clever dialogue and that I did. If you have the right
expectations this can be very enjoyable, especially for fans of the show. I
also think non-fans should watch it, if only to see if web series are something
they like.
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