Friday Premieres

There's only two premieres tonight of note, so this is a short one.

Moonlight: The most re-jiggered pilot of the fall season premieres tonight. It sounds a little bit like Angel, but CBS-ified. I'll give it a look because I like Sophia Myles and out of allegiance, I'll watch most anything with an alum of Veronica Mars (That'd be Jason Dohring in this one).

Las Vegas: This is my guilty pleasure show (Well, really, one of many). I know it's not particularly good, but I still watch it and enjoy it. I think it may because it embraces its inner cheesiness, just like the city it's about. Plus, its got a lot of purdy people in it. Although, I'm a little concerned that James Caan's not gonna be around this season. Nothing against but Tom Selleck, but Tom Selleck, you are no James Caan.

Yeah, and thus ends premiere week. I hope you all found which new shows and returning favorites you'll be watching. Just leave a spot open for Pushing Daisies which starts next Wednesday. You best be watching…


Also, I'd just like to thank the recent mass influx of visitors who have pushed this blog over the 10000 hit mark. I know like 80% of you stayed for less than 5 seconds (according to my stat counter, its actually 69.9%, (Hee Hee, 69) with another 13.9% staying for less than 30 seconds), but I still am overjoyed to see that that many people have stopped by even for a second to see me ramble about TV. So thanks, it means alot to me. Some more comments would be nice though, but we'll work on that in what will hopefully be many more hits to come...

Thursday Premieres

See, I’m trying to do this early again. Tonight’s a pretty big night for premieres. Lots of old goodies returning:

The Office: My second favorite comedy (My favorite is 30 Rock with How I Met Your Mother running a close third) returns tonight with Pam being free-spirited, Karen being Jilted, and Dwight being, well, Dwight. It’s gonna be awesome

My Name Is Earl: Another serviceable comedy from NBC, the first few episodes of this season see Earl in prison, where I’m sure he’ll still be able to knock things off his list.

Grey’s Anatomy: Everyone’s favorite hospital based surgical intern drama is back tonight sans my favorite character, who has moved on to a worse spin-off. Tonight brings the introduction of Meredith’s half-sister who apparently also has a thing for Derek. I’m sure drama and some hilarity will ensue. Oh, and a lot of whining and aggravating voiceovers. Those too..

CSI: The most reliable procedural out there returns tonight brining the conclusion of the to be continued season finale which saw Sara being a victim of the Miniature Killer possibly. I really like the creative direction CSI took last year with a recurring case. Here’s hoping they keep that momentum up…

Ugly Betty: Betty returns tonight and deals with her dad being stuck in Mexico, and some other stuff that I can’t really remember. The season finale obviously wasn’t that good or I’d remember more of what happened. I think someone was shot. Really, the only reason I stay interested in this show is for Marc and Amanda, who are hilarious together. By the way, this is the show I’m most picking to hit a sophomore slump, ala Desperate Housewives…

Big Shots: This is the only premiere tonight. I haven’t seen it. It hasn’t gotten great word of mouth. Just thought I’d mention it to anyone who might have wanted to watch this and forgotten.

Yeah, so it’s a busy night. Thank god for TiVo, DVRs, and other such accessories. Happy watching…

Wednesday Premieres

See, I told you guys I’d get this done earlier today. Too bad this one’s so light on the half decent or better premieres…

Bionic Woman: So far, NBC’s series premieres having been doing the bang-up numbers they wanted, so here’s hoping that this pretty good remake can pull in the type of numbers they’re looking for. Read my original review Here.

Dirty Sexy Money: This is the one pilot that I really wanted to see but didn’t get a chance to. So far though, I’ve been hearing mostly good things about it. I’ll be tuning in.

Private Practice: If you love all things Grey’s Anatomy, you’ll probably be tuning in to check out Private Practice. If you loved all things Addison, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you’re not a fan of Grey’s, I’d tell you that you’re probably not gonna be a fan of this either. Read my original review Here.

If none of these premieres float your boat, you can still check out Kid Nation, Gossip Girl, and America’s Next Top Model tonight. Happy watching…

Pilot Review: Private Practice

Private Practice
ABC. Wednesdays at 9
Cast: Kate Walsh, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs, Audra McDonald, Paul Adelstein, Amy Brenneman, KaDee Strickland

Ok, I’ll admit it. I watch Grey’s Anatomy on a frequent basis. I wholeheartedly hate Derek and Meredith, am actively rooting against this whole George and Izzie thing, and Christina breaking down after standing up Burke at the aisle was one of the best acted moments of last year in my opinion. I’m still flummoxed as to how Katherine Heigl beat Sandra Oh this year. However, while I watch Greys, there are very few characters on the show whom I actually like and root for. Christina and George are the good interns, and I don’t get how people cannot like Bailey. But my favorite character was probably Addison. Which is why I was happy to see her get her own spin-off.

I just kind of wish it wasn’t Private Practice, which just reeks of trying to be Greys, California Style. I mean, watching shows like Greys and this it’s a wonder that the medical community actually has time to save peoples lives and stuff like that with all their relationship drama. I liked Addison because while she succumbed to it, she seemingly realized she was succumbing to it and hated herself for it. Unfortunately, that Addison seems to have been lost somewhere on the journey between Seattle Grace and sunny LA. Maybe she’ll pop up in Eureka.

Yes, the Addison I loved is gone, replaced by an Addison who does things like dance naked in front of her open windows (Co-worker related hilarity ensues), stammer about not moving to LA over a kiss (which is such a Meredith thing to do, just without the whiny voice or anorexia), and can generally be seen eating some kind of baked good/ice cream confection and dishing gossip with her sole girlfriend. That’s intern stuff Addison, you’re supposed to make witty comments to Callie and sneer at Sloan when he makes sexual advances at you. Stop turning into Meredith.

But, alas, I digress. This review is about Private Practice as its own show. And I have to say, it kind of has its moments. They may be few and somewhat far in between, but at least one of the three plots in the pilot was actually pretty darn good. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the one that Addison was involved with, which struck me as being something that could completely happen in Seattle Grace. No, the one with Amy Brenneman and Paul Adelstein was actually pretty gripping television. I’m not gonna go into the one with Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs, because, well, I don’t want to talk about extracting sperm from a dead guy.

That one strong plotline, however, is not quite enough to make up for the rest of the show. I mean, Kate Walsh is still great. While this Addison may be a severe step down from Seattle Addison, Walsh still does a good job bringing energy and charm to the character. And no one else is glaringly bad. But it just kind of feels too much like a Grey’s episode transplanted to California, starring an older group of interns and attendings. So I’m kind of hoping that Addison decides that she preferred Seattle and heads back. Callie needs her, especially with George about to go all infidelitous on her (again). So yeah, the rating:

Rating: If There’s Nothing Else On…

Tuesday Premieres

Whoops, I know I promised this would be earlier, but it kind of slipped my mind. I’ve got a ten-page story due tomorrow, and, well, that kind of took precedence. But here’s a rundown of tonight’s premieres that are worth watching:

NCIS: One of my favorite procedurals comes back tonight. This show may not be particularly high-concept or anything, but its got entertaining characters and a nice sense of familiarity.

Reaper: My third favorite new show this year, right behind Chuck. It’s about a twenty something slacker who has to track down lost souls for the devil. And it’s funny. Definitely worth a watch. See my review of the pilot Here.

House: Everyone’s favorite grouchy doctor is back tonight, sans team, until he recruits fifty newbies and pits them head to head. Could be very entertaining. I’ll be watching.

Boston Legal: Sure, the show robbed Gandolfini of his Emmy, but it’s still a good show to watch, if only for the closing arguments which I happen to politically agree with. Plus, it’s got William Shatner.

SVU: My favorite show using the sound “Doink Doink” returns, with the same old same old. An old but good show.

Cane: If none of these other shows float your boat, you can give Cane a shot. But I’m warning you now that it’s not great. See my review of the pilot Here

Also continuing tonight and worth your time are Eureka, Damages, and Beauty and the Geek. Happy watchings…

Pilot Review: Bionic Woman

Bionic Woman.
NBC. Wednesdays at 9.
Cast: Michelle Ryan, Miguel Ferrer, Katee Sackhoff, Will Yun Lee, Chris Bowers, Molly Price, and Lucy Hale.

For the first 30ish minutes of the pilot for the new Bionic Woman, I was sitting there wondering if maybe I had mistaken it with another show. I remembered reading only gushingly good things about the pilot. But boy, I thought, these first 30 minutes blow. Because they do. But, now having seen the whole thing, I get why everyone was gushing about this. Because those last 10-15 minutes, well, they make you forget all about that clunky first half hour.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Bionic Woman is about, well, a bionic woman. Jamie Sommers was in a car crash, and her scientist boyfriend/soon-to-be baby daddy decides that, since the choice is to either let her die or make her half-woman half-machine, to make her all bionic and what not. Oh, and there’s an evil first bionic woman out there running amok. This, my friends, is the clunky part. The show, well, it kind of blows up until Jamie actually starts BEING the bionic woman. Once she starts using her new technology, the show picks up dramatically and actually becomes really entertaining, including one hell of a catfight (In heels, no less).

But yeah, those last 15 minutes really rock. I mean, Jamie starts kicking ass and taking names and it makes you forget all about her badly acted freak out upon finding her machine legs (When I say badly acted, what I mean is just that she kind of screams emotionlessly. So not really bad acting, so much as bad screaming) and the really bad writing up to that point and the somewhat incoherent and incomprehensible plot developments involving a supermax prison and a mysterious short, squat, creepy looking man. I mean, you get reminded of most of those things again at the end, when the action calms down, but for a good few minutes there, I really got where all the love for this show was coming from.

This is not to say that I’m completely endorsing this show. While it’s good for those 10ish minutes, it still is pretty bad for the rest of the episode. And the writing is just not good enough to sustain the show currently during the non-action sequences. Maybe this is why some of the performances don’t seem natural, but that also could be the actors’ fault. I’m not gonna single anyone out here because no one really stepped their game above or below the rest, they were all just kind of mediocre. Oh, and I hope they improve the effects for the show in the long run, because some of it looked really campy and cartoonish, which doesn’t work with the rest of the darker tone of the series. One blatant example is when Jamie is running in the woods and she kind of looks like Wile. E. Coyote. Unintentionally comical, but still doesn’t work with rest of the show. But, overall, I hope those were just kinks with the pilot having to build the backstory up and such, so I’m gonna give this one:

Rating: Definitely Worth Another Viewing

Pilot Review: Cane

Cane
CBS. Tuesdays at 10.
Cast: Jimmy Smits, Hector Elizondo, Nestor Carbonell, Rita Moreno, Paola Turbay, Eddie Matos, Michael Trevino, Lina Esco, Sam Carman, Alona Tal, and Polly Walker.

Hmm. I’m a little confused by Cane. Not in that sort of “What the hell is going on?” Journeyman sort of way. More in a “Haven’t I kind of seen this already?” kind of way. Because, to me at least, the majority of the episode seems like a Latin riff on Brothers and Sisters with a little bit more of soapy drama thrown in. I mean, you’ve got the son going off to war, the family business being handed down to the next generation, and the possibly nefarious business practices. The only thing that Cane has that Brothers and Sisters doesn’t is kinda big plot holes and less believable performances.

That’s not to say that I didn’t like the show. The first hour was a nice little pilot that showed some decent potential and had enough likeable people in it. But there’s a decent amount of cleanup that the show has to do before it becomes really good TV. And I’m going to address those in list form.

1) If you’re gonna have a character with a college age kid, don’t cast an actress who likes a few hairs over thirty. I mean, no offense to Paola Turbay. She looks gorgeous and she’s not a bad actress. But it really strains credulity if the mother of an 18 year old looks like she discovered the fountain of youth between changing diapers.

2) With any ensemble show, you really have to watch out for having too many characters. Not to keep making references to it, but Brothers and Sisters had the same problem when it first started. There are simply too many bodies on the screen. I feel like there are three or four leads whom I simply know nothing about because they were only on screen for about 40 seconds.

3) If you are going to try to do something very similar to a show that started last year, try to liven it up by using plots that aren’t wildly similar to that show or other recent shows. I’m not going to suggest that you create your own plots, because that’s something that Hollywood seems incapable of doing nowadays, but it really just felt like a complete retread of a bunch of other shows.

4) Watch out for those plot holes over there. Someone could fall in them and hurt themselves. I mean, I understand that a show has to have a few plot holes; nothing can be fully explained without getting boring. But do you really expect me to believe that the head of a rival company could waltz on to someone’s property completely unannounced, especially when the somebody who’s property is being waltzed on to is supposed to be in a coma and close to death, but is secretly not? Really, people. Come on.

Despite all of these though, I’m not going to tell you to avoid the show. It’s not that terrible. It’s definitely got some very watchable aspects, especially if they do a better job with the writing and plot directions. But, likewise, I’m not gonna tell you to watch it either. The show’s got some strong performances working for it from Smits and Elizando, but besides that there’s not a whole lot to give credit to. If you wanted to watch it, watch it. It’s not worth not watching if you wanted to. But if you’re on the fence, well, I’m not so sure. So that’s why this gets a rating:

Rating: Meh. If There’s Nothing Else On…

Monday Premieres

Hey, so I know this is kind of late for today, but I thought I'd run down to you readers, however few you may be, the shows premiering tonight that are maybe worth watching.

How I Met Your Mother: Tonight's premiere of the show that I thought produced the single best episode of last year (Slap Bet, there's a whole post about it), features the resolution of the comedic cliffhanger from Barney, Ted getting back out into the dating world, and Mandy Moore. Three pluses in my book. Also, for anyone who cares, Enrique Iglesias will be there too.

Chuck: My second favorite pilot so far (Pushing Daisies is number one) premieres tonight. It's pretty good, and features draws for all, both nerd and not nerd. Read the original review here

Heroes: Last season's biggest hit returns tonight with the cheerleader, the emo nurse, the chick with multiple personalities (Since when is Schizophrenia a superpower?), the guy who eats peoples brains, and the time-traveling Hiro all doing heroic things. While you may not be able to tell, I actually do dig the show alot. Yeah, Hiro's trapped in medieval Japan and Peter may or may not have killed his brother. We'll find out tonight, and look for my beloved Kristen Bell popping up later in the season.

Journeyman: Finally, if you're not already tired out by TV for the night, I'd recommend checking out, or at least DVRing Journeyman. It's not spectacular, but it's worth a watch. Read the original review Here

So yeah, that's what starts tonight. Also on are good standbys Prison Break and Weeds, if this TV doesn't float your boat. I promise to try to get this done earlier for tomorrows premieres. Happy viewing on this most awesome week.

Reality TV Roundup

While this upcoming week is arguably the big premiere week of the fall season, this past week also featured a number of season and series premieres. This post is about 3 of those. Now, if you’ve looked at this blog, you should know that I’m kind of a reality TV junkie. You’d have to find all of the negative elements of the genre and bunch them in together to a reality show in order to really turn me away (Cough cough Big Brother 8 Cough cough). So I’m basically here tonight to discuss the premieres of Kid Nation and Survivor on CBS and Beauty and the Geek over on the CW, which I will not forgive for canceling Veronica Mars.

Lets start out over on the eye network with Wednesday’s premiere of Kid Nation. Now, I’ve read all the controversy about how the show is exploiting child labor and how kids scalded themselves with hot cooking oil. And I’ve also read how CBS is trying to have its cake and eat it too, saying that there was constant adult supervision but also that these kids were separated from adults for the entire time. But, having now watched the show, I don’t really care that CBS was trying to play both sides of the fence. Because, even if there were adults swarming around behind the scenes (which there obviously had to be, unless you had kids running the video cameras and such), the show really is about the kids ingenuity and them all finding their place in society and just trying to improve it the best they can. And everyone seems to be taking it seriously. I wasn’t a kid that long ago, and I absolutely get where these kids are coming from. I mean, granted, the show is trying to cast the kids we like and the kids we don’t like. And they did force them to participate in an inane Survivor-like challenge to determine social hierarchy and in-town pay, but it was at its core about these kids and their attempts to make something that would work, and so I say kudos to CBS. You have me watching.

Continuing on CBS, Thursday saw the premiere of Survivor: China, the umpteenth incarnation of CBS’s reality stalwart. Last season had its good and bad moments, but was, for the most part, not entirely memorable. In fact, earlier today I couldn’t remember for the life of me who won. I just looked it up and went “Oh yeah, that was last season.” That being said, so far, my hopes aren’t particularly high for this one. Yes, they’ve put them in a possibly exciting new location that’s actually man-made. And yes, this is one of those seasons where they don’t get any of their belongings, only the clothes on their backs. But still, a majority of this cast is just seemingly sinking into the background. Casting is the key to these shows; it makes or breaks them. When Survivor has the right cast, it can become must see TV, but so far this one isn’t doing it for me. But, if they continue getting rid of my most hated castaway every week like they did this week, I may just be tempted to stick around. But I’ll watch anyways, for a while.

Over on the CW this past Tuesday, my favorite televised “social experiment”, as they love to call it, started up again, Beauty and the Geek. This season, there appear to be some really good geeks and beauties. There are also some more aggravating ones (Too perky Jasmin and annoying LARPer Dave come to mind, who, coincidentally, are paired together. Here’s hoping for an early exit). But I’m most concerned about this season’s twist, the inclusion of one male beauty and one female geek. Now, I’m all for this concept, to prove that there are just as many girl geeks out there as well. But I don’t think that this co-ed twist will work for two reasons. One, a lot of the challenges were fashion or beauty related, which a male beauty is not going to necessarily work well at. So I think they may be at a kind of unfair advantage. But secondly, this show was all about how these beauties could learn that these dorky guys are actually really good people with inner beauty and all that jazz. So the inclusion of a hunk, to me, stands to block these geeks from the beauties, because, lets face it, they don’t cast these women because they aren’t superficial. But yeah, it could be interesting.

But I’m a reality TV junkie. So I’ll keep watching all of these shows. If anything of note happens, I’ll talk about it. So keep an eye out for reality shenanigans, because I know I will be.