New TV Season Thoughts

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(Update: Now with Metacritic scores!)

New shows and new seasons are starting up, now, and I'd just like to hear what you all think of some of what's coming out now.

-- The Wire's (Metacritic score: 98) (already discussed in other topics) fourth season seems to have less of a focus on an actual case at the moment. I hope McNulty will somehow be brought back into the fold, but I also like not having him around to develop all the other character further, especially focusing on Freamon as on the city's new sh*t list.

-- The Unit's (Metacritic score: 62) second season took care of the one thing I thought it was lacking in - production value. It was made very clear from the get-go that a bigger budget got approved, at least for the pilot. I'm thoroughly excited. I did think how they kept some of the characters in the show was a bit of a cop-out, but they aren't significant enough anyway to make me irritated.

-- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Metacritic score: 76) just had its pilot. I laughed a couple of times, but I like Sorkin's return to keeping a strong balance between humor and drama. I would liken it more to Sports Night than West Wing. Matthew Perry was a great choice. I think he's very underrated. The only "Friend" that actually had talent and yet hasn't gotten the breaks the others did.

-- Not a new show, or even a new season, but I caught some re-runs of Dead Like Me (no score) that SciFi must have caught (Showtime, I believe). I thought it was a rather cute show.

-- Prison Break's (Metacritic score: 65) second season is through its fifth episode. It finally picked up a little. I was close to getting rid of it from my DVR, but I'm committed now and it's not horrible.

-- Smith (Metacritic score: 61) is great. I am impressed. Simon Baker, I thought, was an underrated actor. The Guardian forced him to be too cold to really work. Ray Liotta is always excellent, and Virginia Madsen seems to be underplaying what's happening with her. I'm worried they may have tried to put too much of her into the show too early. We didn't need to know a lot of what went on with her, and thus lost a lot of the heist. Great potential.

Shows not seen yet

-- Kidnapped (69)

-- Jericho (50)

-- Criminal Minds, 2nd Season (42)

-- My Name is Earl, 2nd Season (77)

-- Shark (56)

-- Heroes (no score yet)

-- The Nine (no score yet)

-- Numb3rs (no score yet)

-- Battlestar Galactica (no score, but on a lot of Best of 2005 lists)

I love DVR.

Fox's Justice = guilty pleasure of the fall

Jericho:

I will probably watch it a few more times to see how the fallout goes, but man was that some bad acting in the premier not to mention the cliches. I thought the crows at the end were overdone, why so many, and why do people always feel their car going overthings, you would have thought she would have seen a road full of birds with her headlights.

Wife and I rewatched part 1 of the Criminal Minds finale/premier two-parter. Glad we did, it was a good episode. Looking forward to catching it later tonight.

My DVR lineup:

The three CSIs
Bones
Criminal Minds
Numb3rs
Stargate: SG1
Stargate: Atlantis
Mythbusters
Battlestar Galactica
The 4400
The Dead Zone

Now let's all focus on the metacritic score of the wire for a moment.. focus...
Now watch the damn show!

Dead Like Me was definitely a good show. The second season was weaker in my opinion.

Logan wrote:

Not a new show, or even a new season, but I caught some re-runs of Dead Like Me (no score) that SciFi must have caught (Showtime, I believe). I thought it was a rather cute show.

There were two seasons to this show. The first season is really good, and like Desram said, the second season was pretty weak.

I've been watching Eureka on Sci-Fi and enjoying it.

karmajay wrote:

I've been watching Eureka on Sci-Fi and enjoying it.

Likewise. I am usually not too keen on episodic TV, but this show is quirky and humorous enough that I really like it.

I watched Jericho tonight. It was OK. I think it might have been better served with a 2 hour pilot, though. It just didn't seem long enough to really set up the show. I don't blame that on the show, but on the network. I'm willing to give it a couple more episodes.

I've also been watching a show on Fox called Standoff. It stars, among others, Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Gina Torres (Firefly). They are members of the FBI crisis negotiation team. It's been pretty good, but I am not sure that it will have the legs to last.

Smith surprised me. I thought it would be okay, and it turned out to be fantastic. I just hope they can maintain the quality they displayed in the pilot.

The Wire is the only thing I really watch right now.

Between the mention here and Elysia's glowing endorsement I guess I'll have to give Studio 60 a look.

Caught Smith tonight, and was very pleased. Good story, great production, and quality acting. If this was on HBO, it would be perfect.

My Tivo schedule:
Smith
House (still great)
Lost (October 4th?)
Professional Poker Tour (will be WPT when the season ends)
Survivor
The Office
Numb3rs (mostly for the wife, but not bad)

I'm mourning the end of the season for Life on Mars on BBCA. Great show! Great SciFi twist on the cliched 70's cop show, British style. Can't wait for it to start up again. That ended, and now High Stakes Poker just finished as well. Double bummer for my Monday nights.

If you like poker at all, High Stakes Poker on GSN is must see. Best poker show on TV, bar none. they are running repeats now, if you have not seen it. Then the WSOP ends after next week. I guess I will just have to start playing more, and watching less. Maybe I might win a 360 in the near furture, and catch up with the poker guys on here.

I might have to start watching The Wire, but I've been pretty underwhelmed by it, myself. Not bad, but it never really drew me in. Might be worth another shot. I'm really just waiting for The Sopranos to come back.

If anyone wants to see some quality cooking shows (yeah right), Good Eats and now The Ace of Cakes are standards at our house. Who would have thought that the Food Network would mature so well. There are actually lots of intersting shows here. My wife watches them, but I have been drawn into a few. Good Eats is like the cooking show version of the old Connections science history show, from way back in the day. Very well done show.

The Wire really is one of the best shows ever. Just finished season one about two minutes ago.

Jayhawker wrote:

Caught Smith tonight, and was very pleased. Good story, great production, and quality acting. If this was on HBO, it would be perfect.

Yeah, I noticed their production value was quite high for a brand new show. I agree totally; I wish HBO had a lot more shows. I wish they had a damn channel for nothing but original broadcasting, and then Showtime to do the same.

Back in the real world...

Though I recognized some of the names of executive producers; turns out they're a number of people who were behind Third Watch which, despite what people thought about it, had a very high quality of production. Seems like those people have quite a bit of pull in television, at least to get the cash to make a good pilot.

I remember execs were iffy on Mamet for The Unit, but like I said before, it seems like they gave the green light for more money when they picked it up for another season.

Heroes is the only thing that has caught my eye.

Has anyone been watching Extras? The newish HBO show with Ricky Gervais? My girlfriend says it's pretty good but I haven't given it a look yet.

http://www.hbo.com/extras/

Dead Like Me season 1 is a great show. Unfortunately, Showtime started screwing with it and the creator left. He wanted the show to be about how George screws up and the consequences, and have an overall storyline, but they didn't want that, and they weren't happy with his leaning the storyline towards making George's dad gay, and in his words, wanted his show to be more like "Touched by an Angel". After that, I wasn't surprised it got cancelled.

If you like Dead Like Me you might want to check out Wonderfalls. It's by Bryan Fuller, who created Dead Like me, as well as Tim Minear, who was involved with Dead Like Me as well as Firefly, but it got cancelled after one season.

I've been liking Eureka but I've started drifting away from "episodic" shows. I wants me some storyline. With shows that are ridiculously formulaic and episodic, there's no real reason to keep watching them other than to kill an hour of your life. If you've seen one episode of House, you've seen them all. Unfortunately, because these types of shows are more "viewer friendly" and involve less risks than a story driven show, they keep cropping up and dazzling me with their mediocrity (apparently my new favorite word when talking about TV and movies).

Is anyone here an Alan Moore fan? There's a show premiering tonight called "Six Degrees" that seems to have a lot in common with a cancelled project of his called "Big Numbers". Am I the only one who sees it?

I've become addicted to "Grey's Anatomy" because I like any funny show without a laugh track that revolves around a central, unattainable romance, which is why I'll be tuning in to Gilmore Girls, Grey's Anatomy, and Scrubs.

Prison Break is interesting as long as they don't focus on the "conspiracy theory" plot. It's idiotic. If you rent the dvds for season 1, and fast forward through every part that isn't "MacGyver in prison", you'll really enjoy it.

unntrlaffinity wrote:

If you've seen one episode of House, you've seen them all.

Cue Legion in five... four... three...

Anyone know anything about Friday Night Lights? They've been filming next door to us off and on. We were just told that we can't use half of the parking lot tomorrow because they'll be set up there. Good thing I park inside anyway (bike).

Logan wrote:
unntrlaffinity wrote:

If you've seen one episode of House, you've seen them all.

Cue Legion in five... four... three...

I hate Lost too. Abrams is dead to me. Especially if this new show Six Degrees sucks. Which considering the girl from Swimfan is in it, is a good possibility.

Seriously though, can anyone argue that House isn't written in the most rigid "Mad Lib" fill in the blank style to ever grace (or besmirch) television? The acting isn't bad, the show can be funny, but when I can literally time when a character is going to vomit blood to the half-minute, then something has gone horribly wrong. Sure, storytelling devices, structures, and guidelines exist for a reason, but there's a difference between following a five act structure and story arc and comitting crimes against storytelling by following in the footsteps of the most trashy and unoriginal romance novels.

I just saw Omar from the Wire in Six Degrees, for anyone who's a fan.

The new season of My Name is Earl and The Office kicked off tonight. With a bang. I haven't laughed that hard at a show (Earl) in years.

If you don't watch these shows, you are really missing out.

JohnnyMoJo wrote:

The new season of My Name is Earl and The Office kicked off tonight. With a bang. I haven't laughed that hard at a show (Earl) in years.

If you don't watch these shows, you are really missing out.

I watched Grey's instead. Disappointing for a season premiere. They simply avoided a lot of the things you actually tuned in to see. Guess that shows me.

And seriously, how many times can you play "How to Save a Life" by the Fray? It was in the Grey's recap, the Grey's "music video", and Six Degrees.

I don't know, how many times can you play "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival? It's in... hell, everything.

Can't be any worse than the advertisement for Cirque de Soleile and John Mayer that was CSI.

oldmanscene24 wrote:

I've also been watching a show on Fox called Standoff. It stars, among others, Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Gina Torres (Firefly). They are members of the FBI crisis negotiation team. It's been pretty good, but I am not sure that it will have the legs to last.

I saw that the other night. It was okay, and I was glad to see Ron Livingston again, but I agree that it probably won't make it. I'm not even feeling compelled to watch it again.

I also caught the premiere of Criminal Minds. I hadn't seen it before and it did nothing for me. Reminded me a lot of that show with Parker Stevenson (?) from way back called Probe. I thnk in general it feels like the new shows are going back, tone-wise, to 80s TV: Less grit, more goof. I hate that.

unntrlaffinity wrote:

Is anyone here an Alan Moore fan? There's a show premiering tonight called "Six Degrees" that seems to have a lot in common with a cancelled project of his called "Big Numbers". Am I the only one who sees it?

Is this Alan "Haggard Genuis who wrote Watchmen and worships a Roman snake diety" Moore? If so, spill it! How have I missed this?

booty wrote:

Is this Alan "Haggard Genuis who wrote Watchmen and worships a Roman snake diety" Moore? If so, spill it! How have I missed this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Numbers

I wasn't implying he had anything to do with it. It just sounded a lot like "Big Numbers" from what the preview had to show. Having watched it, I've changed my mind. It was semi-interesting, but I don't think it'll last. It's not nearly as intricate or carefully woven as you'd hope, and I think they're going to exploit the premise of how many coincidences the show is based on and quickly enter ultra-complicated-unlikely Lost territory. I'd be surprised if it got renewed for a second season.

Desram wrote:

Has anyone been watching Extras? The newish HBO show with Ricky Gervais? My girlfriend says it's pretty good but I haven't given it a look yet.

I saw the first season a while ago and I liked it: it's not The Office, but it's still Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. What I mean is that they're not an one-hit-wonder. In case you don't know already every episode features a star actor starting with Ben Stiller and ending with Patrick Stewart, I think.

I've been watching a not so good second season of Weeds and catching up on Gilmore Girls (should I be embarassed?).

Since we're on the subject: what's up with sitcoms? Besides the seminal Seinfeld I have trouble finding funny sitcoms/sitcoms funny.

IMO what carries House M.D. is not the unpredictable plot pattern (which is quite predictable) but the character itself. I find him absolutely fascinating. The way he deals with stupid patients always gets a laugh out of me. I also love how he always sends the black guy (Foreman) to break into patients' homes, because he "knows how to do it" and he hired the other doctor, by his own admittance, because she's pretty.

Plus, I like the "Monk" element where they actually solve mysteries behind what is happening to the patients, and often the findings are quite interesting. Oh, the drama.

gromit wrote:

Since we're on the subject: what's up with sitcoms? Besides the seminal Seinfeld I have trouble finding funny sitcoms/sitcoms funny.

What about arrested development? The final season DVD came out a while ago...

Now I'm sad.

Heroes is the only thing that has caught my eye.

I second that, I downloaded the trailer for it through the Xbox live marketplace and I was mucho impressed. It reminded me a bit of that graphic novel "Rising Stars" and looks like they're taking the whole superpower issue pretty seriously.

Shows the wife and I have TiVo'ed up:
Battlestar Galactica (Best show on TV!)
Lost
Nip Tuck (guilty pleasure)
Desperate Housewives (more for her, but I don't mind it too much; although I do hope it's better than last season.)
Stargate Atlantis (my sci-fi junk food/guilty pleasure)

Shows Queued up on DVD:
Dead like Me season 2
Arrested Development Season 3
Veronica Mars Season 2 (awesome show!)
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