Last year, on this blog, I wrote a response to How I Met Your Mother every week. I did this because I felt, at the time, that it was a show worthy of writing about, but after another sub-par year it no longer seems to be as deep and comment worthy as it once was. I do, however still wish to write about television, so to start things off this season, I won't focus on one show, but all of them. To preview the fall season I am going to systematically go through all the shows currently on my tivo season pass along with all the shows I am auditioning to be added. This is going to take a few weeks, but here is part one...
Sons Of Anarchy
I enjoyed season one of this show, I feel in love with it in season two, but season three left we wanting. The show runner seemed to part with everything that made the show so intriguing. The club left Charming for Ireland, the hostility between Clay and Jacks was pushed aside, Gemma was given a less then interesting storyline. All that made me leery going into season 4. Was this a show that had one great season and is done? Or was there more the Sons had to offer? So far, so good. The writers seem to have found everything that made the first two seasons so wonderful. I care about the characters again and want to know where it's all leading too.
VERDICT: Moves back up to #2 on Season Pass Manager
The Ringer
There was a lot of buzz surrounding the return of Sarah Michelle Gellar to the CW. In all honesty, even though I was a huge Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan, I didn't buy that much into it. The premise of the show, Gellar playing twins, one who lives a normal life, the other who is on the run from the mob, however, piqued my interest, so I gave it a look... a ten minute look. Ten minutes was all I could take of the constant quick cuts of Gellar talking to herself. I couldn't imagine watching a full hour of this crap, let alone a whole season. Even if this show was the best written, best acted program on television, it would get another minute of my time, the execution is just too damn annoying.
VERDICT: Deleted Season Pass at 10 minute mark of episode 1
Parenthood
This was a solid show last season and one I was looking forward to returning. I pretty much love the whole cast and the writers seem to find a way to pull at your heart strings every week. I will admit I was a little underwhelmed by the season premier. Michael B. Jordan's fight and arrest seemed a little over the top and Erika Christensen and Lauren Graham's characters are both getting dangerously close to so neurotic they're annoying. Christensen's creepy behavior about wanting another kid is a little off putting and if Graham cries one more time about her daughter growing up I'm going to lose it. The chemistry between the siblings does remain strong though, so I have little fear of the show slipping from what I enjoy about it.
VERDICT: Holding at #6 on Season Pass Manager
Survivor: South Pacific
I'm getting a little tired of the returning player gimmick. Of course it doesn't help that I don't really like either of this year's returning players. Coach is a fool and Ozzy just doesn't have a single likable quality. Bringing players like Boston Rob and Russel back is one thing, but bringing back these two reeks of desperation from the Survivor production crew. That all being said, it's still Survivor and has all the elements of the game that I have always loved.
VERDICT: Holding at #13 on Season Pass Manager
Up All Night
It was the huge amount of talent that had me tuning into this one. I would have checked into any show that had Will Arnet, Christina Applegate, or Maya Rudolph on it, forget about all three. But, like many TV shows loaded with big name talent, the pilot fell a little flat and the second episode wasn't much better. There were really only a couple small laughs and I'm not sure where the premise goes from here. Arnet seems to restrained from his silly style of humor. If this show is going to get better, it needs to stop playing it so straight and get sillier. The ABC sitcom Notes From The Underbelly did a much better job making a similar premise funny.
VERDICT: Will give if another few episodes, but not looking to bright
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Always Sunny is probably one of the most inappropriate comedies of television, as inappropriate as a show on basic cable can get. I say that in a glowing way. Always Sunny's inappropriateness is what makes it so funny, funny in a way that makes you feel horrible as you fall off the couch in hysterics. As with most inappropriate comedies, it's kind of hit or miss. Lucky for us, so far this season has been all hit.
VERDICT: Holding at #18 on Season Pass Manager
How I Met Your Mother
I said at the end of last season that my expectations for this show were officially gone and this season's premier sealed the deal. The currant writers have lost what made this show so special and funny, which in some regards has to be expected as the show's universe gets to big, but doesn't become any less disappointing. The other episodes this season have been a bit funnier then the first, but I still have no interest in Barney in a relationship and fear the show will remain creatively handicapped until we meet the mother.
VERDICT: Slipped from #1 to #4 on Season Pass Manager
2 Broke Girls
I'm not sure what exactly drew me to this show, but my willingness to give it a shot may pay off. Normally your typical multi-camera canned laugh traditional sitcom doesn't do anything for me, but this show made me laugh. Most of those laughs came from Kat Dennings, who was wonderfully sarcastic and snarky. The show still has many flaws and at times seems to rely on the easy joke, but it's still easily the second best new sitcom I've seen this year. Kat Dennings alone seems to be enough for me to keep watching.
VERDICT: Will continue to watch for the foreseeable future
Playboy Club
This show looks and feels like a Mad Men rip off, a really bad Mad Men rip off. It's everything a network ex would think makes Mad Men popular, beautiful people, sketchy characters and murder. Someone should tell them that there isn't any murder in Mad Men. The writing is so good that the Mad Men people never need to rely on cheap soap opera tactics. And the acting is so good you don't think you're just looking at a pretty face. After all the talk about Playboy Club being about empowering women, all it really is is a shallow network soap opera that has tried to steal the style of an acclaimed cable show.
VERDICT: Deleted from Season Pass Manager after 2nd episode
Glee
It's hard for me to remember that there was a time when I loved Glee. There was a time when it was funny, intriguing and one of the best shows on television. Now, I'm not even sure why I watch. Everything that I loved about that first half season has been washed away. Characters that I once loved now annoy the piss out of me. A show that once seemed edgy is now just the same crappy dilemmas repeated week after week. What was once weekly appointment TV is now just background noise when I need to do other stuff. Yet, I still hold out hope that it can regain some of it's old swagger. The return of Rachel's mom has promise and my fingers are crossed that we can cut down the number of "Kurt is gay" episodes from 20 to 3.
VERDICT: Slipped from #3 to #19 on Season Pass Manager
New Girl
Two words: Zooey Deschanel! That's all I needed to tune into this show every week, but what do you know, it's pretty damn funny too. It has the look and feel of a typical sitcom, but the humor is extremely off beat and far from normal sitcom fare. Deschanel is amazingly awkward and hilarious, especially in the first two minutes of the pilot, but oddly enough, the guys she moves in with are just as funny and engaging. The show looks like it's going to be a real winner and is by far the best sitcom of a new season loaded with sitcoms.
VERDICT: Will knock most shows down on Season Pass Manager
Part two of my fall TV preview will come either later this week or early next.
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