THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE: TBL (script review: The Beautiful Life)
Status: Premiering Wednesday, September 16th @ 9pm on CW
I'm told that the adding of the odd ": TBL" after the title is due to legal issues. Why CW couldn't just come up with a DIFFERENT TITLE or, perhaps, like CSI, put the acronym before the title gets spelled out... will forever remain a mystery to me.
Please note, this review is over a 25 minute presentation screener, not the full pilot that will air this coming Wednesday. As such, many scenes are missing. Usually presentations film the key scenes along the A-plot and leave much of the rest to be filmed in case of pickup, but in this case, no exterior scenes were shot because the presentation was not shot in New York City and they knew that, if picked up, the series would be shot in NYC. So there is, actually, some connective tissue missing.
However, very little had changed since the script I read. So the "problems" I had remain. It's vapid, shallow, boozy and drugy, and I feel will be hard for anyone outside of CW's 2.5 million-ish viewers who watch Gossip Girl, 90210, and sampled the Melrose Place premiere. Spelling worse news for TBL is the fact that its lead-in, America's Next Top Model, premiered extremely softly on Wednesday. ANTM is no longer the crown jewel it once was, and it has never been that effective of a lead-in, anyway (the only "success story" to lead out of ANTM has been Gossip Girl, which really only "took off" if you think it ever did, once it moved to Mondays at 8pm). ANTM's second hour of its two-hour premieres is usually significantly stronger than the first (which is the "semi-final" round before the competition actually starts), but that was not the case this cycle, as ANTM faced Glee's premiere. So... we'll see what happens next week. ANTM might rebound. Maybe. ANTM being out of Glee's way doesn't help TBL, though, as it is moving right into the musical show's timeslot (and here's hoping Glee remains the demo magnet it was in the premiere and doesn't suffer a huge 2nd week drop-off).
Anyway. Content. This is a review, after all. I won't say much about the plot, such as it is. Several key scenes were missing. This presentation was all about the clothes, the bodies, the flash and glamour. It certainly hits all those marks. Corbin Bleu, though featured in the print campaign, is barely in the pilot... but his presence MIGHT attract a few High School Musical fanatics to the show. Another big name in the cast who I felt was underused (but, again, may be bigger in the full pilot) was Elle MacPherson as the head of the modeling agency, Claudia Foster. I really wanted to feel her Wilhelmina Slater / Miranda Priestly and just didn't get enough of a read on her.
TBL, regardless of its success, will launch the career of Sara Paxton, who plays Raina, the young hot new model in the model house. She is everything you want in a young female lead on the CW (and more)... charming, pretty, innocent, and immensely likable.
I'm not sure I can say the same of Ben Hollingsworth, who plays Chris Andrews, the other "innocent" in the show and is Raina's love interest (a point in the script about Raina's age - 15 years old - though I don't believe it was stated in the presentation but should be in the pilot as it was a key twist in a plot thread... so we'll see if this actually develops into anything that won't veer too close to statutory rape... Chris's age is ambiguous but he's older than 15).
Chris is "discovered" in a restaurant while his family and he and visiting NYC by a man named Simon. Simon takes Chris to Claudia's agency and Claudia demands he take his shirt off. So Chris does. This is terrible, but we ARE talking about models in this show. While he has a great face, my reaction was that Ben Hollingsworth needed to lose 20 pounds so that he have more visibly defined abs (the holy grail of male modeling is, after all, underwear modeling). Perhaps he has lost weight between presentation and series filming, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the abs in the print campaign are painted on. Ben is also too short to be a model (the girls are taller), as in Corbin Bleu.
But whatever.
Also whatever: Mischa Barton.
I will be watching the pilot when it airs on Wednesday to see if everything comes together with the full 43 minutes instead of just 25. But I don't see this as being a show I would stick with. Especially when Glee and Modern Family are on against it.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - Life UneXpected
Life UneXpected (script review: Light Years)
Status: Midseason on CW
A couple weeks back, someone asked me to list CW's new fall series in order of my preference. Here we go:
1) The Vampire Diaries
2) The Beautiful Life (though this was only a presentation)
3) Melrose Place
Which is not to say that I loved The Vampire Diaries (see my review here). It is merely the least problematic of the three (though, if you choose to watch tonight, I'd love to get a count of the number of times you laugh when the show isn't asking you to laugh but you do so anyway...)
My love of The Body Politic not withstanding because it, inexplicably, was not picked up and CW is feeling the low-rated wrath of premiering too many carbon copy shows instead of a true original, Life UneXpected is actually my favorite of CW's new series for the 2009-10 season (which, given my complete hatred of the script should shock you)!
I'm happy to say that the cheesiest of lines from the script were thoroughly reworked or just cut altogether, that Brittany Robertson as the (kind of?) titular Lux comes off as sympathetic and strong (and not the near-bitch from the script), that Shiri Appleby is quite magnetic (even if her character, Cate, isn't as fully-formed as I hope she becomes) and has chemistry with both Kerr Smith's Ryan and Kristoffer Polaha (who plays Nate, Lux's father, and is no longer the complete slacker character from the script though still a bit of a man-child).
In short... the core cast works. You care for Lux. You want her to be supported. You don't necessarily want Cate and Nate to get back together because Cate is kind of cute with Ryan (though she is stronger with Nate... mostly because they're allowed to be at odds in the pilot which ramps up the electricity). Gone are several of the unnecessary and cliche plot threads (though expect things to be telegraphed a mile away and for a heavy dose of schmaltz). There's a focus... Lux, and the adults who are going to be a part of her life's relationship to her.
That I didn't hate it made me like it even more... though it's still not something I, personally, would seek out (again, heavy schmaltz and it does still smack of things we've seen before). But the fact that the show isn't about overly sexed 20-somethings in a posh urban setting reminds me of "old school" WB shows (closer to a 7th Heaven / Gilmore Girls amalgamation than resembling, say Dawson's Creek) and gives me a bit of hope for, well, a potential future where the CW isn't just serving up remakes of '90s Fox soaps.
Status: Midseason on CW
A couple weeks back, someone asked me to list CW's new fall series in order of my preference. Here we go:
1) The Vampire Diaries
2) The Beautiful Life (though this was only a presentation)
3) Melrose Place
Which is not to say that I loved The Vampire Diaries (see my review here). It is merely the least problematic of the three (though, if you choose to watch tonight, I'd love to get a count of the number of times you laugh when the show isn't asking you to laugh but you do so anyway...)
My love of The Body Politic not withstanding because it, inexplicably, was not picked up and CW is feeling the low-rated wrath of premiering too many carbon copy shows instead of a true original, Life UneXpected is actually my favorite of CW's new series for the 2009-10 season (which, given my complete hatred of the script should shock you)!
I'm happy to say that the cheesiest of lines from the script were thoroughly reworked or just cut altogether, that Brittany Robertson as the (kind of?) titular Lux comes off as sympathetic and strong (and not the near-bitch from the script), that Shiri Appleby is quite magnetic (even if her character, Cate, isn't as fully-formed as I hope she becomes) and has chemistry with both Kerr Smith's Ryan and Kristoffer Polaha (who plays Nate, Lux's father, and is no longer the complete slacker character from the script though still a bit of a man-child).
In short... the core cast works. You care for Lux. You want her to be supported. You don't necessarily want Cate and Nate to get back together because Cate is kind of cute with Ryan (though she is stronger with Nate... mostly because they're allowed to be at odds in the pilot which ramps up the electricity). Gone are several of the unnecessary and cliche plot threads (though expect things to be telegraphed a mile away and for a heavy dose of schmaltz). There's a focus... Lux, and the adults who are going to be a part of her life's relationship to her.
That I didn't hate it made me like it even more... though it's still not something I, personally, would seek out (again, heavy schmaltz and it does still smack of things we've seen before). But the fact that the show isn't about overly sexed 20-somethings in a posh urban setting reminds me of "old school" WB shows (closer to a 7th Heaven / Gilmore Girls amalgamation than resembling, say Dawson's Creek) and gives me a bit of hope for, well, a potential future where the CW isn't just serving up remakes of '90s Fox soaps.
Glee, or Why the CW is Wrong Wrong Wrong
So the premiere of Glee's preliminary ratings are in. 7.315 million viewers, a 4.6/7 in HH, and 3.3/9 in A18-49, with approximately a 70% female audience. (EDIT: in finals, Glee improved to 7.502 million viewers and a 3.5/9 in A18-49, while HH remained the same)
Here's an interesting number, though... 5.3/14 (EDIT: 5.4/15 in finals, a 28.57% gain) in W18-34 (and in a very positive sign for Glee... this was 26.19% above its final 4.2/12 W18-34 rating from the post-Idol preview in May, which wa. This is supposed to be CW's target demo... the reason it exists. Here's the W18-34 from Tuesday's Melrose Place's premiere (also preliminary): 2.5/7. The MP premiere was just as hyped as Glee's. And Glee more than doubled MP's rating in CW's sweet spot.
A little more perspective: Gossip Girl's series high in W18-34 is a 4.3/12 (finals from September 15, 2008), though by the end of last season it wasn't breaking a 3.0.
Yes, it's too soon (following a much-hyped premiere, and without regular competition... though Wipeout and America's Got Talent are two of summer's biggest threats) to say Glee is a smashing success. We'll see how the ratings and demos trend.
But here's what I do know (and, well, we've all known it for a long time): The CW is WRONG.
I'm privy to development objectives of the various networks because, as a writer, you have to know where to take projects based on what people are interested in. The is vehement about not doing shows about high school. They do shows, like Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries, that feature high school characters, but they try and focus those shows away from school and more on the town and extra-curricular lives of the characters (I don't watch 90210, but has the school setting been largely phased out?) They are also phasing teenage characters out... they prefer 20-something female leads. It is far more interested in revamps and remakes and adaptations than original creations (that's not to say they aren't developing purely original material... just that the general industry wisdom is that they are encouraging more of the "90210 and Melrose Place revamp" ilk... though perhaps that will change after Tuesday's bombing).
Glee proves the CW wrong (as does to ratings success of Secret Life of the American Teenager, as does the success of the WB a decade ago with teenage shows about high school and high schoolers... that spoke universally to an American experience that everyone always goes through... there are always more people entering and exiting high school, while Gossip Girl clings to its 2.5 million viewer niche). Glee may have a split focus between the stories of the teens and those of adults, but its biggest strength is, very plainly, the teens and the high school experience. We don't see much of the classroom, and that's fine... the high school exists as a social entity, showing a dichotomy of cool and uncool and the trials and tribulations of teenage romance. I may enjoy Jane Lynch's zingers as Sue Sylvester... but I'm coming back again and again for the kids (and the show better not forget that and focus too heavily on the adults!) Clearly, females 18-34 are interested in this (because you cannot tell me that the musical element is the real reason people are tuning in... there's way too many examples of why that's not true, though Glee is certainly doing the musical TV show thing better than it's been done before).
I sincerely hope Dawn Ostroff is paying attention (or gets fired and someone competent is put in charge... at long last) and The CW attempts to develop shows in the spirit of The WB's heyday though at this point, it may be too little too late.
I challenge the CW to create as show as purely enjoyable (if not as unique) as Glee. If it does... I predict strong ratings would be its reward.
Here's an interesting number, though... 5.3/14 (EDIT: 5.4/15 in finals, a 28.57% gain) in W18-34 (and in a very positive sign for Glee... this was 26.19% above its final 4.2/12 W18-34 rating from the post-Idol preview in May, which wa. This is supposed to be CW's target demo... the reason it exists. Here's the W18-34 from Tuesday's Melrose Place's premiere (also preliminary): 2.5/7. The MP premiere was just as hyped as Glee's. And Glee more than doubled MP's rating in CW's sweet spot.
A little more perspective: Gossip Girl's series high in W18-34 is a 4.3/12 (finals from September 15, 2008), though by the end of last season it wasn't breaking a 3.0.
Yes, it's too soon (following a much-hyped premiere, and without regular competition... though Wipeout and America's Got Talent are two of summer's biggest threats) to say Glee is a smashing success. We'll see how the ratings and demos trend.
But here's what I do know (and, well, we've all known it for a long time): The CW is WRONG.
I'm privy to development objectives of the various networks because, as a writer, you have to know where to take projects based on what people are interested in. The is vehement about not doing shows about high school. They do shows, like Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries, that feature high school characters, but they try and focus those shows away from school and more on the town and extra-curricular lives of the characters (I don't watch 90210, but has the school setting been largely phased out?) They are also phasing teenage characters out... they prefer 20-something female leads. It is far more interested in revamps and remakes and adaptations than original creations (that's not to say they aren't developing purely original material... just that the general industry wisdom is that they are encouraging more of the "90210 and Melrose Place revamp" ilk... though perhaps that will change after Tuesday's bombing).
Glee proves the CW wrong (as does to ratings success of Secret Life of the American Teenager, as does the success of the WB a decade ago with teenage shows about high school and high schoolers... that spoke universally to an American experience that everyone always goes through... there are always more people entering and exiting high school, while Gossip Girl clings to its 2.5 million viewer niche). Glee may have a split focus between the stories of the teens and those of adults, but its biggest strength is, very plainly, the teens and the high school experience. We don't see much of the classroom, and that's fine... the high school exists as a social entity, showing a dichotomy of cool and uncool and the trials and tribulations of teenage romance. I may enjoy Jane Lynch's zingers as Sue Sylvester... but I'm coming back again and again for the kids (and the show better not forget that and focus too heavily on the adults!) Clearly, females 18-34 are interested in this (because you cannot tell me that the musical element is the real reason people are tuning in... there's way too many examples of why that's not true, though Glee is certainly doing the musical TV show thing better than it's been done before).
I sincerely hope Dawn Ostroff is paying attention (or gets fired and someone competent is put in charge... at long last) and The CW attempts to develop shows in the spirit of The WB's heyday though at this point, it may be too little too late.
I challenge the CW to create as show as purely enjoyable (if not as unique) as Glee. If it does... I predict strong ratings would be its reward.
Top Chef Las Vegas: High Stakes, But Is The Game Rigged?
I am absolutely loving this season of Top Chef. The Las Vegas setting has been fun and, though at first I was wary of the "golden chip" high stakes quickfires, they haven't been used every week and this week even brought a "punish the loser" quickfire elimination (plus the "one bite to save your life" challenge for the bottom three).
There's only one thing that has been dampening my enjoyment of this season, though... the seemingly pre-ordained Top Four: Jennifer, Kevin, and brothers Bryan and Mike V. No one else comes close to their achievements (off the show... Eric Ripert's chef de cuisine, two James Beard Award nominees, and chef de cuisine at Michelin star-awarded restaurant!) and their consistency of high quality food and/or innovation on the show.
I'd almost feel bad for the other contestants if the women besides Jennifer weren't so comparably poor (seriously, the first four cheftestants eliminated were women... and no defenses could be made in any of their cases of the judges choosing the wrong person to pack up their knives and go...) or if the men besides those three and loud-mouth / semi-villain Mike I. had made an impression.
For now, it's just nice to sit back and watch to see (a) if any of the "ringers" will screw up, and (b) if anyone will come out of nowhere and surprise like last season's Carla.
Are you loving this season?
There's only one thing that has been dampening my enjoyment of this season, though... the seemingly pre-ordained Top Four: Jennifer, Kevin, and brothers Bryan and Mike V. No one else comes close to their achievements (off the show... Eric Ripert's chef de cuisine, two James Beard Award nominees, and chef de cuisine at Michelin star-awarded restaurant!) and their consistency of high quality food and/or innovation on the show.
I'd almost feel bad for the other contestants if the women besides Jennifer weren't so comparably poor (seriously, the first four cheftestants eliminated were women... and no defenses could be made in any of their cases of the judges choosing the wrong person to pack up their knives and go...) or if the men besides those three and loud-mouth / semi-villain Mike I. had made an impression.
For now, it's just nice to sit back and watch to see (a) if any of the "ringers" will screw up, and (b) if anyone will come out of nowhere and surprise like last season's Carla.
Are you loving this season?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
YouCast
While reading Nikki Finke today Isaw her post CBS Even More Desperate Marketer Than NBC?.
I received a similar e-mail from YouCast about pimping Three Rivers (which, as I've stated before, I will not be reviewing because the screener I saw will be massively recast and potentially rewritten... and for you Alex O'Loughlin fans out there... be thankful!)
Where's my $20 Amazon Gift Certificate offer for pimping The Good Wife, though, what with me writing a glowing review of my own volition?
Sigh. That's really pathetic and certainly despierate if this YouCast crap is coming from CBS (which I hope it isn't).
Anyone else out there with a TV blog gotten the YouCast spam?
I received a similar e-mail from YouCast about pimping Three Rivers (which, as I've stated before, I will not be reviewing because the screener I saw will be massively recast and potentially rewritten... and for you Alex O'Loughlin fans out there... be thankful!)
Where's my $20 Amazon Gift Certificate offer for pimping The Good Wife, though, what with me writing a glowing review of my own volition?
Sigh. That's really pathetic and certainly despierate if this YouCast crap is coming from CBS (which I hope it isn't).
Anyone else out there with a TV blog gotten the YouCast spam?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - Cougar Town
COUGAR TOWN
Status: Premiering Wednesday, September 23rd @ 9:30pm on ABC
When I heard the premise and title of this project months and months ago, I definitely threw it aside as one for the junk heap. A one-note joke played several times too often over the span of a rubbish-filled 23 minutes. So I was surprised when I enjoyed (but did not fall head over heels for) the pilot, again, aside from those opening moments, which have the beautiful Cox staring in a mirror, dressed in nothing but a towel, and squeezing parts of her body that are showing signs of wear and tear. That the camera does a close up on the "waddle" of underarm fat and unsightly stomach ripples makes me believe that the body parts in question don't actually belong to the gorgeous Courtney Cox. Movie magic, you know? Anyway, it's a jarring start.
Aside from some startling opening visuals, Cougar Town (which is the name of the town...) goes down easy and Courtney gets to revisit the light-yet-endearing realm of sitcom star after venturing unsuccessfully into Dirt. Real estate agent Jules Cobb is prone to physical comedy, which plays well to Courtney's strengths.
The plot is what you expect. A single mom / divorcee in her mid-30s decides to seek male companionship with hot, young guys. But, blissfully, it's played as something Jules rejects, struggles with (what with having a teenage son... and getting caught...), and finally accepts. If an across the cul-de-sac neighbor played by Josh Hopkins (who I really wish would get recast as there isn't much chemistry between him and Cox... due to him... and, ultimately, you'd think that they are meant to be together) can do it, so can she!
The plot isn't what you come for, though. In fact... on paper, everything about this show is really, really wrong. There isn't really a female empowerment message, as the answer to Jules's problems, at first, really does seem to be going out and getting laid for the first time in a long while. The word "cougar" has been so overplayed in the last few years that it's practically lost all meaning. But it somehow works.
You come for Courtney Cox on top of her game. You come for her character's friendship with a married neighbor (Christa Miller) and with her work partner (Busy Phillips), both of whom get plenty of opportunity to shine (Christa Miller seems to hits similar notes to Jordan in Scrubs, but far less Alpha Bitch). You come for the incredibly sitcom antics of her ex-husband (could he be any more of a caricature?) that surprisingly work in the heightened reality of this single-camera world... and help make you sympathize with put-upon son, Travis (played by Aliens in America's Dan Byrd). And you come for the little moments (such as finding an even older woman making cat claw gestures at Jules as encouragement in a club when Jules starts talking to a young man, and Busy Phillips's delivery of the line "Sweetie, you know you're not coordinated enough to walk backwards in heels.")
Again, it shouldn't work. But I found myself invited back. I don't know how many visits I'll be making to Cougar Town... that all depends on whether the show can hit a few newer notes.
Status: Premiering Wednesday, September 23rd @ 9:30pm on ABC
When I heard the premise and title of this project months and months ago, I definitely threw it aside as one for the junk heap. A one-note joke played several times too often over the span of a rubbish-filled 23 minutes. So I was surprised when I enjoyed (but did not fall head over heels for) the pilot, again, aside from those opening moments, which have the beautiful Cox staring in a mirror, dressed in nothing but a towel, and squeezing parts of her body that are showing signs of wear and tear. That the camera does a close up on the "waddle" of underarm fat and unsightly stomach ripples makes me believe that the body parts in question don't actually belong to the gorgeous Courtney Cox. Movie magic, you know? Anyway, it's a jarring start.
Aside from some startling opening visuals, Cougar Town (which is the name of the town...) goes down easy and Courtney gets to revisit the light-yet-endearing realm of sitcom star after venturing unsuccessfully into Dirt. Real estate agent Jules Cobb is prone to physical comedy, which plays well to Courtney's strengths.
The plot is what you expect. A single mom / divorcee in her mid-30s decides to seek male companionship with hot, young guys. But, blissfully, it's played as something Jules rejects, struggles with (what with having a teenage son... and getting caught...), and finally accepts. If an across the cul-de-sac neighbor played by Josh Hopkins (who I really wish would get recast as there isn't much chemistry between him and Cox... due to him... and, ultimately, you'd think that they are meant to be together) can do it, so can she!
The plot isn't what you come for, though. In fact... on paper, everything about this show is really, really wrong. There isn't really a female empowerment message, as the answer to Jules's problems, at first, really does seem to be going out and getting laid for the first time in a long while. The word "cougar" has been so overplayed in the last few years that it's practically lost all meaning. But it somehow works.
You come for Courtney Cox on top of her game. You come for her character's friendship with a married neighbor (Christa Miller) and with her work partner (Busy Phillips), both of whom get plenty of opportunity to shine (Christa Miller seems to hits similar notes to Jordan in Scrubs, but far less Alpha Bitch). You come for the incredibly sitcom antics of her ex-husband (could he be any more of a caricature?) that surprisingly work in the heightened reality of this single-camera world... and help make you sympathize with put-upon son, Travis (played by Aliens in America's Dan Byrd). And you come for the little moments (such as finding an even older woman making cat claw gestures at Jules as encouragement in a club when Jules starts talking to a young man, and Busy Phillips's delivery of the line "Sweetie, you know you're not coordinated enough to walk backwards in heels.")
Again, it shouldn't work. But I found myself invited back. I don't know how many visits I'll be making to Cougar Town... that all depends on whether the show can hit a few newer notes.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - The Good Wife
THE GOOD WIFE (script review: The Good Wife)
Status: Premiering Tuesday, September 22nd @ 10pm on CBS
I had to rewatch The Good Wife to really get a handle on how, well, good it is. This is an intense drama, people. And the screener I have is 47 minutes long, so some things will be gone for the "for air" version.
Julianna Margulies. Remember her? Nurse Carol? She tried the whole "lawyer show" thing a couple seasons ago with Canterbury's Law. It didn't work out. Want to know what makes Alicia Follick different from Elizabeth Canterbury, and why The Good Wife will (or, really ought to) work, besides being on CBS instead of FOX?
You actually like Alicia. From the very first moment she is on screen, which is, of course, the very first moment of the pilot. You feel for her and you root for her. She is a strong, lovable broadcast TV heroine where Elizabeth Canterbury was deeply flawed, abrasive, and better suited for cable (if anything). The challenges Alicia faces in her personal life (her husband, the States Attorney of Illinois, was caught sleeping with a prostitute and, perhaps, abusing the powers of his office...) and professional life (a competition between her and a young upstart for a sole junior associate position, for starters, but there's more as her case in the pilot plays out) are significant and, of course, Alicia has her doubts and you love her all the more for them. There is a beautiful moment about 15 minutes in where Alicia is talking to Jennifer, the woman at the center of the murder trial in the pilot, about what she's going to do with herself now that she's been released from jail for the remainder of the retrial. It's a seminal moment where you learn everything you need to know about Alicia.
But Julianna isn't the only standout among this cast. There are two other cast members I'd like to point out for their performances here, and two others I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know more.
Chris Noth plays Peter Follick, Alicia's now-incarcerated husband and, somehow, you don't hate him for doing what he's done. You can't love him, either, though... and that's because Alicia hasn't decided how she feels yet (she doesn't care about the abuse of power charges he's appealing, she cares about him cheating on her and there being video on YouTube and their kids being exposed, etc). Her POV is all-encompassing in this pilot.
Archie Panjabi plays Kalinda, an in-house investigator working with Alicia on Jennifer's case. She is... hilarious. Some much needed levity (though not comic relief) in this heavy drama.
Also adding some levity: ringtones programmed into Alicia's cell by her daughter (including the Twilight Zone theme for her mother in law).
Two characters I'm interested in getting to know are played by Josh Charles and Christine Baranski (who hopefully will be allowed to return to Big Bang Theory as Leonard's mother!) They play partners at the law firm Alicia joins, Josh's character Will is a longtime friend of Alicia's, while Christine's character Diane plays mentor who develops an ax to grind when Alicia, without informing her, takes a different strategy with Jennifer's case (it is a pro bono case going to retrail and Diane has to go back to billable hours).
It's not often that a screener of a script I loved wows me. It happens far more often when I wasn't as high on the script, but changes were made and the story translated well to the screen. I'm beyond pleased that The Good Wife works even better on screen than the script I read (and loved) did.
I'm less pleased with CBS's outdoor marketing of the show, which don't even hint at the fact that it's a legal show (the tagline: "His scandal. Her story.") Here's hoping viewers find this gem against midweek Leno (he won't be getting the biggest names on Tuesdays, I'm sure!) and the, um, whatever show ABC is airing that I won't be reviewing (much like CBS's Three Rivers) due to significant cast changes. Oh, right. The Forgotten. Quite. So the competition might not be that strong and the NCIS: Los Angeles lead-in should be good. Still, it can't hurt to be pulling for good ratings!
Status: Premiering Tuesday, September 22nd @ 10pm on CBS
I had to rewatch The Good Wife to really get a handle on how, well, good it is. This is an intense drama, people. And the screener I have is 47 minutes long, so some things will be gone for the "for air" version.
Julianna Margulies. Remember her? Nurse Carol? She tried the whole "lawyer show" thing a couple seasons ago with Canterbury's Law. It didn't work out. Want to know what makes Alicia Follick different from Elizabeth Canterbury, and why The Good Wife will (or, really ought to) work, besides being on CBS instead of FOX?
You actually like Alicia. From the very first moment she is on screen, which is, of course, the very first moment of the pilot. You feel for her and you root for her. She is a strong, lovable broadcast TV heroine where Elizabeth Canterbury was deeply flawed, abrasive, and better suited for cable (if anything). The challenges Alicia faces in her personal life (her husband, the States Attorney of Illinois, was caught sleeping with a prostitute and, perhaps, abusing the powers of his office...) and professional life (a competition between her and a young upstart for a sole junior associate position, for starters, but there's more as her case in the pilot plays out) are significant and, of course, Alicia has her doubts and you love her all the more for them. There is a beautiful moment about 15 minutes in where Alicia is talking to Jennifer, the woman at the center of the murder trial in the pilot, about what she's going to do with herself now that she's been released from jail for the remainder of the retrial. It's a seminal moment where you learn everything you need to know about Alicia.
But Julianna isn't the only standout among this cast. There are two other cast members I'd like to point out for their performances here, and two others I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know more.
Chris Noth plays Peter Follick, Alicia's now-incarcerated husband and, somehow, you don't hate him for doing what he's done. You can't love him, either, though... and that's because Alicia hasn't decided how she feels yet (she doesn't care about the abuse of power charges he's appealing, she cares about him cheating on her and there being video on YouTube and their kids being exposed, etc). Her POV is all-encompassing in this pilot.
Archie Panjabi plays Kalinda, an in-house investigator working with Alicia on Jennifer's case. She is... hilarious. Some much needed levity (though not comic relief) in this heavy drama.
Also adding some levity: ringtones programmed into Alicia's cell by her daughter (including the Twilight Zone theme for her mother in law).
Two characters I'm interested in getting to know are played by Josh Charles and Christine Baranski (who hopefully will be allowed to return to Big Bang Theory as Leonard's mother!) They play partners at the law firm Alicia joins, Josh's character Will is a longtime friend of Alicia's, while Christine's character Diane plays mentor who develops an ax to grind when Alicia, without informing her, takes a different strategy with Jennifer's case (it is a pro bono case going to retrail and Diane has to go back to billable hours).
It's not often that a screener of a script I loved wows me. It happens far more often when I wasn't as high on the script, but changes were made and the story translated well to the screen. I'm beyond pleased that The Good Wife works even better on screen than the script I read (and loved) did.
I'm less pleased with CBS's outdoor marketing of the show, which don't even hint at the fact that it's a legal show (the tagline: "His scandal. Her story.") Here's hoping viewers find this gem against midweek Leno (he won't be getting the biggest names on Tuesdays, I'm sure!) and the, um, whatever show ABC is airing that I won't be reviewing (much like CBS's Three Rivers) due to significant cast changes. Oh, right. The Forgotten. Quite. So the competition might not be that strong and the NCIS: Los Angeles lead-in should be good. Still, it can't hurt to be pulling for good ratings!
Pilot Screener Review - Community
COMMUNITY
Status: Premiering Thursday, September 17th @ 9:30pm on NBC (and moving to 8pm after SNL: Weekend Update Thursday is done)
I should like the pilot for Community more than I did, which is not to say I didn't like it. I laughed. Quite a bit, actually. Of course, stick John Oliver in a few scenes as a saucy foil and I'm sure to be entertained.
I believe the issue I have with Community is with its lead, Joel McHale, who I love on The Soup. He plays a shark named Jeff here. A fast-and-smooth talking shark of a lawyer who, because of a slightly amusing (but generally implausible setup) mixup regarding his undergraduate education, must now attend and graduate from Greendale Community College or else be disbarred.
Jeff fits into NBC's Thursday night lineup of somewhere between Michael Scott and Jack Donaghy... only I think his character has the least likable qualities of each and, as such, I'm worried (for a funny show that I hope succeeds) that the audience will be turned off. He can be abrasive. He outright lies to try and sleep with a young woman (though the lie is certainly found out by the end). He wheels, deals, and manipulates people to semi-nefarious ends.
And yet... we're asked to like him.
It may be asking too much.
Jeff certainly has his redeeming moments and lovable qualities, but they are not hit on enough (or separately from his manipulations) to balance out. Favorite moment, for me, is when he encounters an older black woman in a cafeteria and, because of watching too much TV, expects her to impart sage wisdom.
Which, as above, will be a shame because there is a lot of funny to be had in this pilot, and a standout supporting performance by Danny Pudi as Abed.
I'll be watching... but the show has to fully win me over by the time it moves to 8pm, as there is a lot of competition on Thursday night.
Status: Premiering Thursday, September 17th @ 9:30pm on NBC (and moving to 8pm after SNL: Weekend Update Thursday is done)
I should like the pilot for Community more than I did, which is not to say I didn't like it. I laughed. Quite a bit, actually. Of course, stick John Oliver in a few scenes as a saucy foil and I'm sure to be entertained.
I believe the issue I have with Community is with its lead, Joel McHale, who I love on The Soup. He plays a shark named Jeff here. A fast-and-smooth talking shark of a lawyer who, because of a slightly amusing (but generally implausible setup) mixup regarding his undergraduate education, must now attend and graduate from Greendale Community College or else be disbarred.
Jeff fits into NBC's Thursday night lineup of somewhere between Michael Scott and Jack Donaghy... only I think his character has the least likable qualities of each and, as such, I'm worried (for a funny show that I hope succeeds) that the audience will be turned off. He can be abrasive. He outright lies to try and sleep with a young woman (though the lie is certainly found out by the end). He wheels, deals, and manipulates people to semi-nefarious ends.
And yet... we're asked to like him.
It may be asking too much.
Jeff certainly has his redeeming moments and lovable qualities, but they are not hit on enough (or separately from his manipulations) to balance out. Favorite moment, for me, is when he encounters an older black woman in a cafeteria and, because of watching too much TV, expects her to impart sage wisdom.
Which, as above, will be a shame because there is a lot of funny to be had in this pilot, and a standout supporting performance by Danny Pudi as Abed.
I'll be watching... but the show has to fully win me over by the time it moves to 8pm, as there is a lot of competition on Thursday night.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - Accidentally on Purpose
ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE
Status: Premiering Monday, September 21st @ 8:30pm on CBS
You know when you're watching a traditional sitcom and you're having a totally harmless good time with the jokes flying left and right and then something comes along and stops you in your tracks? That was my experience with Accidentally on Purpose.
The first nine minutes were a lot of fun. I actually enjoyed Jenna Elfman (which is so not an easy thing on my part to admit) and the cast of characters was entertaining, even if I was confused that all three of the lead women on the show were white blondes (I guess Ashley Jensen's Scottish background helps separate them slightly). Jon Foster was amusing.
And then the first act out came. I was dreading it because you could tell (a country mile away) what was coming even though I didn't really know what the series premise was. And I cringed when Jenna's character, Billie, announced her pregnancy.
And my enjoyment of Accidentally on Purpose stopped right there.
Part of it is my fault. I read all of the drama scripts and don't, for the most part, even look at the comedy loglines to know what any given pilot is about. But, again, you could tell this "twist" was coming.
Here's my problem (well, here are several of my problems) and why I won't be watching when this premieres in a couple weeks.
Billie has a job: she is a movie critic, and rising star in that world (so, she's an opportunity for writers to throw in pop culture references while never actually showing her work). Then the pregnancy comes and there's really never a thought given to abortion (just like Lynette towards the end of this season of Desperate Housewives). I'm not advocating that all women should get abortions always, but when you're in a situation like this... why is the question not asked? I know... too risque for broadcast TV now (hell, even Family Guy couldn't get its abortion episode aired).
Billie is presented as a career woman (despite that fact that she was carrying on a longterm relationship with her boss, Grant Show, that ended and sent her into a mindset where she would seek out a one night stand with a young man like Jon's character Zack... way to be a strong, independent woman, Billie). Zack and his friends (in their 20s) are presented in a (slacking, freeloading, goofball) way that feels, honestly, as it the show is only trying to speak to 50+ year-olds. I dislike that my generation is presented as such (even if, yes, there are certainly 20somethings like this). It's cynical and it talks down to me in a way that I feel How I Met Your Mother viewers won't respond to at all. The pilot does a decent job filling out Zack's character, but the other guys are just caricatures.
And so the last 14 minutes of the pilot are, of course, about Billie and Zack's relationship (such as they have one). He even moves in with her (for a platonic relationship... sure, that'll keep). Which is just weird, if you ask me. Too soon! It's not like the baby is even remotely close to being born yet.
Speaking of... the baby. Babies ruin sitcoms. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
I think I would have loved this pilot if the show had been about this late-30s woman who, after breaking up with a longterm boyfriend, started a relationship with a much younger man, expecting it to be a one night stand and having it develop into something more. But with that something more being a baby right off the bat... nope.
Status: Premiering Monday, September 21st @ 8:30pm on CBS
You know when you're watching a traditional sitcom and you're having a totally harmless good time with the jokes flying left and right and then something comes along and stops you in your tracks? That was my experience with Accidentally on Purpose.
The first nine minutes were a lot of fun. I actually enjoyed Jenna Elfman (which is so not an easy thing on my part to admit) and the cast of characters was entertaining, even if I was confused that all three of the lead women on the show were white blondes (I guess Ashley Jensen's Scottish background helps separate them slightly). Jon Foster was amusing.
And then the first act out came. I was dreading it because you could tell (a country mile away) what was coming even though I didn't really know what the series premise was. And I cringed when Jenna's character, Billie, announced her pregnancy.
And my enjoyment of Accidentally on Purpose stopped right there.
Part of it is my fault. I read all of the drama scripts and don't, for the most part, even look at the comedy loglines to know what any given pilot is about. But, again, you could tell this "twist" was coming.
Here's my problem (well, here are several of my problems) and why I won't be watching when this premieres in a couple weeks.
Billie has a job: she is a movie critic, and rising star in that world (so, she's an opportunity for writers to throw in pop culture references while never actually showing her work). Then the pregnancy comes and there's really never a thought given to abortion (just like Lynette towards the end of this season of Desperate Housewives). I'm not advocating that all women should get abortions always, but when you're in a situation like this... why is the question not asked? I know... too risque for broadcast TV now (hell, even Family Guy couldn't get its abortion episode aired).
Billie is presented as a career woman (despite that fact that she was carrying on a longterm relationship with her boss, Grant Show, that ended and sent her into a mindset where she would seek out a one night stand with a young man like Jon's character Zack... way to be a strong, independent woman, Billie). Zack and his friends (in their 20s) are presented in a (slacking, freeloading, goofball) way that feels, honestly, as it the show is only trying to speak to 50+ year-olds. I dislike that my generation is presented as such (even if, yes, there are certainly 20somethings like this). It's cynical and it talks down to me in a way that I feel How I Met Your Mother viewers won't respond to at all. The pilot does a decent job filling out Zack's character, but the other guys are just caricatures.
And so the last 14 minutes of the pilot are, of course, about Billie and Zack's relationship (such as they have one). He even moves in with her (for a platonic relationship... sure, that'll keep). Which is just weird, if you ask me. Too soon! It's not like the baby is even remotely close to being born yet.
Speaking of... the baby. Babies ruin sitcoms. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
I think I would have loved this pilot if the show had been about this late-30s woman who, after breaking up with a longterm boyfriend, started a relationship with a much younger man, expecting it to be a one night stand and having it develop into something more. But with that something more being a baby right off the bat... nope.
I've finally accepted the fact that I need to give Travis Yanan his own Twitter account, in addition to my "real life" persona having an account. This is going to confuse me endlessly.
But, anyway. Expect reviews (certainly going to post everything that is premiering before it premieres... and will definitely be busting out the busted pilots) and linkage!
Follow me!
But, anyway. Expect reviews (certainly going to post everything that is premiering before it premieres... and will definitely be busting out the busted pilots) and linkage!
Follow me!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Fall 2009 Viewing Schedule
Thank the providers that AT&T lets me record up to four shows at once (max of 2 of those at a time in HD)
Please note that new shows get a couple episodes to prove themselves (and some are very much on the fence, denoted below by an asterisk. These shows have something to prove to me (i.e. fill out their presentation, or just have an episode two that shows promise beyond premise)
MONDAY
- 8pm: How I Met Your Mother, Heroes (I feel like I will always give this show one or two episodes each season... just to see...), House
- 9pm: Gossip Girl (the second episode of this season IS AMAZING)
- 9:30pm: Big Bang Theory
TUESDAY
- 8pm: The Biggest Loser, So You Think You Can Dance, V (supposedly Tuesdays at 8pm in November)
- 10pm: The Good Wife
WEDNESDAY
- 8pm: So You Think You Can Dance, America's Next Top Model
- 9pm: Modern Family, Glee, The Beautiful Life: TBL*
- 9:30pm: Cougar Town*
THURSDAY
- 8pm: FlashForward, SNL: Weekend Update Thursday, Community*, Bones, the Vampire Diaries*
- 9pm: Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Fringe
- 9:30pm: Community*, 30 Rock
- 10pm: Private Practice* (yes, yes, not a new show... I'm very curious to see how the cliffhanger plays out, and Bailey is going to be crossing over... shut up), The Mentalist (though I did utterly fail to catch up on the first season over the summer... whoops)
FRIDAY
- 9pm: Ugly Betty, Dollhouse
SUNDAY
- 8pm: The Amazing Race, The Simpsons
- 8:30pm: The Cleveland Show* (haven't seen it yet)
- 9pm: Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, Three Rivers* (what with the pilot being completely reshot and almost entirely recast, I have to watch the new pilot to be able to make a true judgment...)
- 9:30pm: American Dad (the Christmas episode this season was presented in three forms at Comic Con and reminded me that this show can be outrageously funny...)
- 10pm: Brothers & Sisters
Sigh. So much TV. So little sleep.
And this is just broadcast... I will still be watching Mad Men, ABDC, Top Chef, Project Runway, Psych and White Collar (when it premieres in October)... thank god for DVRs and lazy weekends.
Please note that new shows get a couple episodes to prove themselves (and some are very much on the fence, denoted below by an asterisk. These shows have something to prove to me (i.e. fill out their presentation, or just have an episode two that shows promise beyond premise)
MONDAY
- 8pm: How I Met Your Mother, Heroes (I feel like I will always give this show one or two episodes each season... just to see...), House
- 9pm: Gossip Girl (the second episode of this season IS AMAZING)
- 9:30pm: Big Bang Theory
TUESDAY
- 8pm: The Biggest Loser, So You Think You Can Dance, V (supposedly Tuesdays at 8pm in November)
- 10pm: The Good Wife
WEDNESDAY
- 8pm: So You Think You Can Dance, America's Next Top Model
- 9pm: Modern Family, Glee, The Beautiful Life: TBL*
- 9:30pm: Cougar Town*
THURSDAY
- 8pm: FlashForward, SNL: Weekend Update Thursday, Community*, Bones, the Vampire Diaries*
- 9pm: Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Fringe
- 9:30pm: Community*, 30 Rock
- 10pm: Private Practice* (yes, yes, not a new show... I'm very curious to see how the cliffhanger plays out, and Bailey is going to be crossing over... shut up), The Mentalist (though I did utterly fail to catch up on the first season over the summer... whoops)
FRIDAY
- 9pm: Ugly Betty, Dollhouse
SUNDAY
- 8pm: The Amazing Race, The Simpsons
- 8:30pm: The Cleveland Show* (haven't seen it yet)
- 9pm: Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, Three Rivers* (what with the pilot being completely reshot and almost entirely recast, I have to watch the new pilot to be able to make a true judgment...)
- 9:30pm: American Dad (the Christmas episode this season was presented in three forms at Comic Con and reminded me that this show can be outrageously funny...)
- 10pm: Brothers & Sisters
Sigh. So much TV. So little sleep.
And this is just broadcast... I will still be watching Mad Men, ABDC, Top Chef, Project Runway, Psych and White Collar (when it premieres in October)... thank god for DVRs and lazy weekends.
Summer Cable Roundup
It certainly has been The Summer of Cable, has it not? Or at least A Summer of Cable, as the broadcast networks really have nothing to speak of on the air... I mean, really, the only network TV I feel that I watched this summer was So You Think You Can Dance and I'm really worried that it starts again in a week! Too soon!
An opinion summary, by night (besides my Mon-Fri addiction to Rachel Maddow, of course)!
MONDAY
The Closer - A decent enough summer season that got off to a rough start (no mention of Brenda's wedding or honeymoon? So weird!) and had the whole "sick/dying cat" plotline replaced with a far more tolerable "my naughty niece is in town and getting involved in my murder investigations" plotline. Mary McDonnell guest starred twice, the second time she really got to do some new character stuff instead of just doing a Laura Roslin impersonation (and the final showdown in that episode, about the continuing fallout post-Rampart in the LAPD and community relations was a very good Closer moment).
WEEDS - The season started lazily to the point that I asked (and continue to ask) "why am I still watching this show?" It is a shadow of its former self. Nancy is thoroughly unlikable, to the point that I, honestly, am constantly hoping she gets killed so I can stop seeing Mary Louise Parker phone it in every week. This show used to be so damn subversive. Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes was the highlight this season, after spending last year being a put-upon depressive hag she finally got a backbone and is starting to (in a very different way) be that entertaining protagonist/antagonist she used to be. Last week, when she first donned the Nancy wig and garb and latte was, actually, a hoot. For me. Because Perkins so blithely played up all the MLPisms as well as got to ask Nancy how she could drink all those lattes and not have to constantly pee. Bottom line: this show has not been remotely the same since leaving Agrestic. Irrevocable. I'd say "I'm not going to watch next season" but, like Entourage, so long as I'm subscribing the the pay cabler it's airing on, it's gonna be recorded, and I'm gonna watch it.
Nurse Jackie - The critics loved this. I was at first very thrown by the lack of funny. Then about halfway through the season I actually laughed at a joke in the show. It was one of few times. I just wish Showtime would stop labeling NJ as a comedy... it's not. And just having the comedy label alters my weekly expectations. This is a great exercise of a show... can you like the lead character despite the fact that she's a strident bitch who is addicted to prescription drugs and is sleeping around on her husband? The answer? If played by Edie Falco... yes. However, the end of the season left me scratching my head. Instead of building to a fantastic cliffhanger leaving us on the edge of our seats for 10 months or howver long it is until the show returns... there was a rat crawling around in the lighting.
TUESDAY
I, um, did not watch anything scripted on Tuesday this summer... and just as well because I have a weekly get-together that often runs until 11pm. Yes, yes, this means I didn't watch Warehouse 13. Somehow... I'm not feeling too out of the loop. Prove me wrong, people. I did, however, watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey. I'd never watched a Real Housewives season before and have no interest in the other casts, but friends told me about NJ and, as a previous resident of the Garden State, I felt it my duty to watch what happened. And I loved what happened. Even if I still have no idea what Teresa said while flipping that table.
WEDNESDAY
Top Chef Masters - I didn't love TCM in the first six episodes. Unlike the mothership series, we didn't really get to invest in the master chefs until the championship rounds, at which point the show had me completely hooked and I'm glad I stuck with it. If there's a second edition, though, my suggestions would be to lose robotic Kelly Choi (she proved just how much Padma does for Top Chef) and feature 12 master chefs, losing one each week like the regular series does and like the series did once it got to the championship rounds and we were able to bond with the various masters. Oh, and of the three regular critics, only keep Gael Greene. I couldn't stomach Rayner and I could barely look at Oseland...
Top Chef - Only two weeks into the competition, I'm relishing it. A colorful assortment of personalities and many with astounding, Top Chef-ready abilities (two James Beard nominees, the girl who works for Eric Ripert, and the guy who has a Michelin star... way to stack the deck, Top Chef!) I, at first, feared the "high stakes quickfire challenge" thing (that I hope isn't used EVERY week) was a bit shark jumping... but, y'know, they're having fun with the Vegas backdrop. Let them.
THURSDAY
Burn Notice - Basic cable's crown jewel. The ratings were almost as entertaining to watch as the show itself and, like the show itself, the ratings improved (certainly compared to its lead-out) as the summer season came to an end. Who'd have thunk two years ago that this show would be outrating The Closer by wide margins in the demo and hitting pretty close to it on a weekly basis (and sometimes surpassing it) in viewership?
Royal Pains - I stuck with the show and, season just having reached its end last week, still am ambivalent about it. Mark Feuerstein has to be one of the most boring actors to watch, so it's amazing that when his Hank is onscreen with love interest Jill... I'm more interested in him. Jill Flint. Blandsville! They tried to spice up the relationship (which, IMHO, progressed far too much and too quickly) by throwing Bruno Campos into the mix... but he'll always be the eunuch Carver from Nip/Tuck (together with showkiller Kat Toder) to me. Paulo Costanzo's Evan, in small doses, is fun. But the show often gives him too much quirk and too much screentime. I'd rather they focus on Reshma Shetty's Divya. Hell, just do the whole show about Divya. I'm curious about the cliffhanger the writers presented us... as the show doesn't return until Summer 2010, will we be picking back up 9 months later?
The Fashion Show - A creative disaster for Bravo that, in the end, did nothing much for "fashion" in the way Project Runway did. Isaac Mizrahi? Buh bye, darling. And where is Kelly Rowland's fashion expertise coming from? Her attendance record at fashion shows? The show had far too many group challenges to start off with, and far too few talented designers. Anna, as a non-bitch, was obviously going to win the viewer vote at the end (I was surprised that, suddenly, the show turned into a viewers vote for the winner show). Daniella was talented and I think the show introduced her to the right people she'll need to give her career a kick start.
Project Runway - Like Top Chef, we are two weeks into this new cycle. Unlike Top Chef, I'm unhappy with where its gone so far. Not that they made stellar clothing, but kicking Ari and then Malvin (who oddly reminded me of Fashion Show's Jean-Paul) off in favor of Mitchell... who apparently can't sew? What!? Project Runway has usually embraced its oddballs at the beginning of the season, waiting to see if they will wow the judges when really lectured and put to the test. At least that's how Bravo handled it. Lifetime, on the other hand, has added the mildly diverting half-hour follow-up series Models of the Runway, which actually gives the models a voice... which is, of course, shocking, shallow, catty, and a wonderful way to kill 22 minutes (and brain cells?) each week.
FRIDAY
Psych - Love me some Sean and Gun antics, but have the antics gotten to be too much? The cases thus far this season seem to be very far in the rearview mirror to leave room for more of the quirky comedy. Not that it's a huge problem. I always get many laughs out of the antics and it's a great way to start the weekend (or, um, spend a lazy, warm Saturday afternoon... seriously, LA, turn the heat down...)
SUNDAY
True Blood - No discussion of Summer 2009 TV would be complete without a discussion of True Blood, no? Let's talk ratings, first. I was shocked last year when the marketing for the show came out and friends at HBO commented "We wish the show was as good as the marketing." Well, guess what. The show is now cementing its place as the best piece of escapist, summer frivolity in recent memory. It's silly! It's horror! It's emotional! It's creepy! It's romantic! And the ratings are showing, as they grow every week, that a thoroughly serialized show doesn'y have to start big to become a massive success. What did this show premiere to its first season? 1.44 million? How many viewers did it have on August 23rd? 5.3 million? Yeah. Great news for HBO, certainly, which desperately needed a ratings and buzz magnet. And the DVD sales of the first season have been through the roof. I was disappointed in this Sunday's penultimate episode of the season. It felt like it was setting the stage for a great finale... but little else. And I want more out of this show, which thus far this season has given us SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT. Ugh, I can't believe we have to wait two weeks until the finale. Torture!
Hung - Oh, my. Even more than Nurse Jackie, this series is a reason for HBO and Showtime to invent a new word for some of their half-hour offerings (seriously, what's so wrong with calling it a drama? Why does it have to be labeled a "comedy"?) There is nothing fun or funny about this show. And it's a show that should be fun and funny. I mean, it's a show on a pay cabler that can get away with curse words and nudity about a male prostitute. COME ON! The writers should have looked at the first season of Weeds for inspiration. The shows seem very similar in premise... down on their luck single parents starting an illicit means of making money to support their lives and children. The Lenore character is crazy and fun, and Natalie Zea's run was good (mostly because I adore her... but the character has this weird, perverse fantasy to her and that was GOOD because it was DIFFERENT) but all of the regulars are sad to watch. And listen to. Especially the overused voiceovers.
Entourage - My opinion on this season of Entourage is, as I mentioned with WEEDS, that I would stop watching if I stopped subscribing to HBO and I wouldn't care. But as long as it's there, I'm watching. Which is stupid. The season has been atrocious. Skipping past Vince's darkest hour at the end last season (that Ari Gold, of course, managed to solve), we find him back on top of the world. And he's going to be in a new movie! Only... it gets delayed by 12 weeks SO VINCE HAS NOTHING TO DO. HE HAS NO PLOT. WTFWTFWTFWTF!? Meanwhile E is sleeping with a 13 year old girl (who is apparently just a very anorexic 24...) and pinning for Sloane (really?) while being handed a dream job at a big management company that he, for whatever reason, has to think about taking. Drama has a lot of time on his hands for someone who stars in a TV drama, and time enough to have the stupidest tiff ever with a studio executive (not even a president-level executive). Gary Cole is being amusing thank god, and Autumn Reeser showed up once or twice. Basically, if the show took place at the Miller Gold Agency, I would still be enamored of the show. But as it does not... I am not. The "Fab Four" are b-o-r-i-n-g. And every week they manage to top the previous week's level of tedium.
Mad Men - Speaking of tedium... LOL. I really do get sucked into the world of Mad Men. But the three episodes thus far this season have been meditative, slow-moving character pieces to the point that I am dying for something to actually HAPPEN. I love the characters, I love the world, I love the tension added in the office from the British Invasion, I love the depiction of the class struggle, I love pretty much everything to do with Peggy at the office (but that college boy dalliance, her Don Draper in training moment from the second episode... not so much). Seriously, Peggy has gotten some great lines this season. And, of course, Joan. Joan Joan Joan. Everything is just starting to feel far too quiet and go too slowly.
America's Best Dance Crew - Three weeks in and I haven't been consistently wowed by any crew the last in ABDC3 Beat Freakz and Quest Crew always amazed. I've thoroughly enjoyed numbers by Vogue Evolution (but leave the apparent behind the scenes drama behind the scenes!), We Are Heroes, Massive Monkees (but B-Boys always throw impressive tricks in) and Rhythm City. Was surprised Beat Ya Feet Kings didn't go home the first week because of the sloppy performance, but they had a good story to tell. Really, though, still waiting to be wowed.
So... that's my cable summer. Agree? Disagree? Think I should've been watching something that I'm not (I know, I know, I should be watching Leverage... I just don't for some reason)?
Coming soon... more screener reviews and my (depressingly daunting) Fall 2009 viewing schedule (that will certainly come first... perhaps even tonight as I get my affairs in order, and will give away some of my as-yet-unwritten reviews).
An opinion summary, by night (besides my Mon-Fri addiction to Rachel Maddow, of course)!
MONDAY
The Closer - A decent enough summer season that got off to a rough start (no mention of Brenda's wedding or honeymoon? So weird!) and had the whole "sick/dying cat" plotline replaced with a far more tolerable "my naughty niece is in town and getting involved in my murder investigations" plotline. Mary McDonnell guest starred twice, the second time she really got to do some new character stuff instead of just doing a Laura Roslin impersonation (and the final showdown in that episode, about the continuing fallout post-Rampart in the LAPD and community relations was a very good Closer moment).
WEEDS - The season started lazily to the point that I asked (and continue to ask) "why am I still watching this show?" It is a shadow of its former self. Nancy is thoroughly unlikable, to the point that I, honestly, am constantly hoping she gets killed so I can stop seeing Mary Louise Parker phone it in every week. This show used to be so damn subversive. Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes was the highlight this season, after spending last year being a put-upon depressive hag she finally got a backbone and is starting to (in a very different way) be that entertaining protagonist/antagonist she used to be. Last week, when she first donned the Nancy wig and garb and latte was, actually, a hoot. For me. Because Perkins so blithely played up all the MLPisms as well as got to ask Nancy how she could drink all those lattes and not have to constantly pee. Bottom line: this show has not been remotely the same since leaving Agrestic. Irrevocable. I'd say "I'm not going to watch next season" but, like Entourage, so long as I'm subscribing the the pay cabler it's airing on, it's gonna be recorded, and I'm gonna watch it.
Nurse Jackie - The critics loved this. I was at first very thrown by the lack of funny. Then about halfway through the season I actually laughed at a joke in the show. It was one of few times. I just wish Showtime would stop labeling NJ as a comedy... it's not. And just having the comedy label alters my weekly expectations. This is a great exercise of a show... can you like the lead character despite the fact that she's a strident bitch who is addicted to prescription drugs and is sleeping around on her husband? The answer? If played by Edie Falco... yes. However, the end of the season left me scratching my head. Instead of building to a fantastic cliffhanger leaving us on the edge of our seats for 10 months or howver long it is until the show returns... there was a rat crawling around in the lighting.
TUESDAY
I, um, did not watch anything scripted on Tuesday this summer... and just as well because I have a weekly get-together that often runs until 11pm. Yes, yes, this means I didn't watch Warehouse 13. Somehow... I'm not feeling too out of the loop. Prove me wrong, people. I did, however, watch The Real Housewives of New Jersey. I'd never watched a Real Housewives season before and have no interest in the other casts, but friends told me about NJ and, as a previous resident of the Garden State, I felt it my duty to watch what happened. And I loved what happened. Even if I still have no idea what Teresa said while flipping that table.
WEDNESDAY
Top Chef Masters - I didn't love TCM in the first six episodes. Unlike the mothership series, we didn't really get to invest in the master chefs until the championship rounds, at which point the show had me completely hooked and I'm glad I stuck with it. If there's a second edition, though, my suggestions would be to lose robotic Kelly Choi (she proved just how much Padma does for Top Chef) and feature 12 master chefs, losing one each week like the regular series does and like the series did once it got to the championship rounds and we were able to bond with the various masters. Oh, and of the three regular critics, only keep Gael Greene. I couldn't stomach Rayner and I could barely look at Oseland...
Top Chef - Only two weeks into the competition, I'm relishing it. A colorful assortment of personalities and many with astounding, Top Chef-ready abilities (two James Beard nominees, the girl who works for Eric Ripert, and the guy who has a Michelin star... way to stack the deck, Top Chef!) I, at first, feared the "high stakes quickfire challenge" thing (that I hope isn't used EVERY week) was a bit shark jumping... but, y'know, they're having fun with the Vegas backdrop. Let them.
THURSDAY
Burn Notice - Basic cable's crown jewel. The ratings were almost as entertaining to watch as the show itself and, like the show itself, the ratings improved (certainly compared to its lead-out) as the summer season came to an end. Who'd have thunk two years ago that this show would be outrating The Closer by wide margins in the demo and hitting pretty close to it on a weekly basis (and sometimes surpassing it) in viewership?
Royal Pains - I stuck with the show and, season just having reached its end last week, still am ambivalent about it. Mark Feuerstein has to be one of the most boring actors to watch, so it's amazing that when his Hank is onscreen with love interest Jill... I'm more interested in him. Jill Flint. Blandsville! They tried to spice up the relationship (which, IMHO, progressed far too much and too quickly) by throwing Bruno Campos into the mix... but he'll always be the eunuch Carver from Nip/Tuck (together with showkiller Kat Toder) to me. Paulo Costanzo's Evan, in small doses, is fun. But the show often gives him too much quirk and too much screentime. I'd rather they focus on Reshma Shetty's Divya. Hell, just do the whole show about Divya. I'm curious about the cliffhanger the writers presented us... as the show doesn't return until Summer 2010, will we be picking back up 9 months later?
The Fashion Show - A creative disaster for Bravo that, in the end, did nothing much for "fashion" in the way Project Runway did. Isaac Mizrahi? Buh bye, darling. And where is Kelly Rowland's fashion expertise coming from? Her attendance record at fashion shows? The show had far too many group challenges to start off with, and far too few talented designers. Anna, as a non-bitch, was obviously going to win the viewer vote at the end (I was surprised that, suddenly, the show turned into a viewers vote for the winner show). Daniella was talented and I think the show introduced her to the right people she'll need to give her career a kick start.
Project Runway - Like Top Chef, we are two weeks into this new cycle. Unlike Top Chef, I'm unhappy with where its gone so far. Not that they made stellar clothing, but kicking Ari and then Malvin (who oddly reminded me of Fashion Show's Jean-Paul) off in favor of Mitchell... who apparently can't sew? What!? Project Runway has usually embraced its oddballs at the beginning of the season, waiting to see if they will wow the judges when really lectured and put to the test. At least that's how Bravo handled it. Lifetime, on the other hand, has added the mildly diverting half-hour follow-up series Models of the Runway, which actually gives the models a voice... which is, of course, shocking, shallow, catty, and a wonderful way to kill 22 minutes (and brain cells?) each week.
FRIDAY
Psych - Love me some Sean and Gun antics, but have the antics gotten to be too much? The cases thus far this season seem to be very far in the rearview mirror to leave room for more of the quirky comedy. Not that it's a huge problem. I always get many laughs out of the antics and it's a great way to start the weekend (or, um, spend a lazy, warm Saturday afternoon... seriously, LA, turn the heat down...)
SUNDAY
True Blood - No discussion of Summer 2009 TV would be complete without a discussion of True Blood, no? Let's talk ratings, first. I was shocked last year when the marketing for the show came out and friends at HBO commented "We wish the show was as good as the marketing." Well, guess what. The show is now cementing its place as the best piece of escapist, summer frivolity in recent memory. It's silly! It's horror! It's emotional! It's creepy! It's romantic! And the ratings are showing, as they grow every week, that a thoroughly serialized show doesn'y have to start big to become a massive success. What did this show premiere to its first season? 1.44 million? How many viewers did it have on August 23rd? 5.3 million? Yeah. Great news for HBO, certainly, which desperately needed a ratings and buzz magnet. And the DVD sales of the first season have been through the roof. I was disappointed in this Sunday's penultimate episode of the season. It felt like it was setting the stage for a great finale... but little else. And I want more out of this show, which thus far this season has given us SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT. Ugh, I can't believe we have to wait two weeks until the finale. Torture!
Hung - Oh, my. Even more than Nurse Jackie, this series is a reason for HBO and Showtime to invent a new word for some of their half-hour offerings (seriously, what's so wrong with calling it a drama? Why does it have to be labeled a "comedy"?) There is nothing fun or funny about this show. And it's a show that should be fun and funny. I mean, it's a show on a pay cabler that can get away with curse words and nudity about a male prostitute. COME ON! The writers should have looked at the first season of Weeds for inspiration. The shows seem very similar in premise... down on their luck single parents starting an illicit means of making money to support their lives and children. The Lenore character is crazy and fun, and Natalie Zea's run was good (mostly because I adore her... but the character has this weird, perverse fantasy to her and that was GOOD because it was DIFFERENT) but all of the regulars are sad to watch. And listen to. Especially the overused voiceovers.
Entourage - My opinion on this season of Entourage is, as I mentioned with WEEDS, that I would stop watching if I stopped subscribing to HBO and I wouldn't care. But as long as it's there, I'm watching. Which is stupid. The season has been atrocious. Skipping past Vince's darkest hour at the end last season (that Ari Gold, of course, managed to solve), we find him back on top of the world. And he's going to be in a new movie! Only... it gets delayed by 12 weeks SO VINCE HAS NOTHING TO DO. HE HAS NO PLOT. WTFWTFWTFWTF!? Meanwhile E is sleeping with a 13 year old girl (who is apparently just a very anorexic 24...) and pinning for Sloane (really?) while being handed a dream job at a big management company that he, for whatever reason, has to think about taking. Drama has a lot of time on his hands for someone who stars in a TV drama, and time enough to have the stupidest tiff ever with a studio executive (not even a president-level executive). Gary Cole is being amusing thank god, and Autumn Reeser showed up once or twice. Basically, if the show took place at the Miller Gold Agency, I would still be enamored of the show. But as it does not... I am not. The "Fab Four" are b-o-r-i-n-g. And every week they manage to top the previous week's level of tedium.
Mad Men - Speaking of tedium... LOL. I really do get sucked into the world of Mad Men. But the three episodes thus far this season have been meditative, slow-moving character pieces to the point that I am dying for something to actually HAPPEN. I love the characters, I love the world, I love the tension added in the office from the British Invasion, I love the depiction of the class struggle, I love pretty much everything to do with Peggy at the office (but that college boy dalliance, her Don Draper in training moment from the second episode... not so much). Seriously, Peggy has gotten some great lines this season. And, of course, Joan. Joan Joan Joan. Everything is just starting to feel far too quiet and go too slowly.
America's Best Dance Crew - Three weeks in and I haven't been consistently wowed by any crew the last in ABDC3 Beat Freakz and Quest Crew always amazed. I've thoroughly enjoyed numbers by Vogue Evolution (but leave the apparent behind the scenes drama behind the scenes!), We Are Heroes, Massive Monkees (but B-Boys always throw impressive tricks in) and Rhythm City. Was surprised Beat Ya Feet Kings didn't go home the first week because of the sloppy performance, but they had a good story to tell. Really, though, still waiting to be wowed.
So... that's my cable summer. Agree? Disagree? Think I should've been watching something that I'm not (I know, I know, I should be watching Leverage... I just don't for some reason)?
Coming soon... more screener reviews and my (depressingly daunting) Fall 2009 viewing schedule (that will certainly come first... perhaps even tonight as I get my affairs in order, and will give away some of my as-yet-unwritten reviews).
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - Melrose Place
MELROSE PLACE
Status: Premiering Tuesday, September 8th @ 9pm on CW
I must admit... I did enjoy the original Melrose Place. So know that going into this review. There will always be a place in my heart for primetime soap that lets itself play on the ridiculousness and not give a damn.
I also live very close to the actual Melrose Place (the street in West Hollywood, not the location) and so, every day, am bombarded with about 10 billboards per block reminding me that Tuesday is the New Hump Day (blech), Menage a Tues (um...?) and that Tuesdays are a Bitch (YES! THAT'S A GOOD SLOGAN TOTALLY IN SPIRIT WITH MELROSE PLACE!)
The oversaturation may annoy me.
But not as much as this pilot did.
The new Melrose Place, outside of Katie Cassidy's star turn as resident bitchtress and "tri-sexual" Ella Simms, is a collection of utterly stupefying schlock. There are no characters. Oh, for sure, there is attempt at character given through ethnicity, hair color and job description (the Naive New Red Head in Town, the Dark-Haired Chef with a Secret, the Sandy Blond Guy with Daddy Issues, the Vaguely Hipster-ish Filmmaker, the Asian Medical Student). But these are not characters. These are merely cardboard cutouts moved through locations to the backing music of every Top 40 song you are already sick of from Spring/Summer 2009. Oh, sure there's the shock of "Huh, Sydney isn't dead?" and the mystery of "Oh, Sydney is dead because she shows up dead in the MP pool at the end of the first act in a Sunset Boulevard homage that The L Word also failed at doing adequately" but, given everything else... do we really expect this mystery to play out satisfyingly? Isn't it a little too soon after Lily Kane's death to be attempting a poolside homicide mystery arc?
Then there's Sandy Blond Guy with Daddy Issues who is apparently Michael's son even though he's in his mid-20s.
And let's not forget the "okay, I'll be a hooker to pay my med school tuition" girl.
And Hipster Filmmaker is given an opportunity to blackmail some producer into buying his ("award winning") student film because, as the videographer at the guy's daughter's birthday party, he caught the producer having an extramarital affair (seriously, dude... keep it in your pants). So there's an attempt at a "do I do the moral thing and not advance my career" moment of questioning... which he tells the girl who hasn't yet decided, after 5 years of dating, whether she will say yes to him asking her to marry him that he went through with the blackmail.
The plots, such as they are, don't mingle. Every character seems to be in their separate world and overwarm misguided plotlines. The characters who are supposed to have chemistry together (say, the two lovebirds finally tying the know).
Nothing makes sense. No one acts like people. No one even acts in a remotely rational way (not to say that people ever, let alone always, do). And they aren't entertaining (or that sexy) while doing it. Especially Ashlee Simpson, who desperately needs acting lessons.
Aside from Katie Cassidy. She's a keeper.
Status: Premiering Tuesday, September 8th @ 9pm on CW
I must admit... I did enjoy the original Melrose Place. So know that going into this review. There will always be a place in my heart for primetime soap that lets itself play on the ridiculousness and not give a damn.
I also live very close to the actual Melrose Place (the street in West Hollywood, not the location) and so, every day, am bombarded with about 10 billboards per block reminding me that Tuesday is the New Hump Day (blech), Menage a Tues (um...?) and that Tuesdays are a Bitch (YES! THAT'S A GOOD SLOGAN TOTALLY IN SPIRIT WITH MELROSE PLACE!)
The oversaturation may annoy me.
But not as much as this pilot did.
The new Melrose Place, outside of Katie Cassidy's star turn as resident bitchtress and "tri-sexual" Ella Simms, is a collection of utterly stupefying schlock. There are no characters. Oh, for sure, there is attempt at character given through ethnicity, hair color and job description (the Naive New Red Head in Town, the Dark-Haired Chef with a Secret, the Sandy Blond Guy with Daddy Issues, the Vaguely Hipster-ish Filmmaker, the Asian Medical Student). But these are not characters. These are merely cardboard cutouts moved through locations to the backing music of every Top 40 song you are already sick of from Spring/Summer 2009. Oh, sure there's the shock of "Huh, Sydney isn't dead?" and the mystery of "Oh, Sydney is dead because she shows up dead in the MP pool at the end of the first act in a Sunset Boulevard homage that The L Word also failed at doing adequately" but, given everything else... do we really expect this mystery to play out satisfyingly? Isn't it a little too soon after Lily Kane's death to be attempting a poolside homicide mystery arc?
Then there's Sandy Blond Guy with Daddy Issues who is apparently Michael's son even though he's in his mid-20s.
And let's not forget the "okay, I'll be a hooker to pay my med school tuition" girl.
And Hipster Filmmaker is given an opportunity to blackmail some producer into buying his ("award winning") student film because, as the videographer at the guy's daughter's birthday party, he caught the producer having an extramarital affair (seriously, dude... keep it in your pants). So there's an attempt at a "do I do the moral thing and not advance my career" moment of questioning... which he tells the girl who hasn't yet decided, after 5 years of dating, whether she will say yes to him asking her to marry him that he went through with the blackmail.
The plots, such as they are, don't mingle. Every character seems to be in their separate world and overwarm misguided plotlines. The characters who are supposed to have chemistry together (say, the two lovebirds finally tying the know).
Nothing makes sense. No one acts like people. No one even acts in a remotely rational way (not to say that people ever, let alone always, do). And they aren't entertaining (or that sexy) while doing it. Especially Ashlee Simpson, who desperately needs acting lessons.
Aside from Katie Cassidy. She's a keeper.
Pilot Screener Review - Washington Field
WASHINGTON FIELD (script review Washington Field)
Status: Busted
Shows what I know about procedurals.
If you recall, I dug this script (as did many other industry-ites). I kind of hyped it up, in fact, so when May upfronts rolled around and it wasn't picked up... people were scratching their heads.
Why?
You really only need about 2 minutes with this people to know why.
It's like The A-Team. Only it takes itself seriously when what's going on on-screen is, well... really, really, really campy.
Every single thing, from the character introductions that told us about the team members' specialties, to the mysteriously added opening voice over talking about the Washington Field unit, to the villains, to the investigation... it's all silly. But played in such a melodramatic way and with such a heavy score that LAUGHING IS NOT AN OPTION. And it's unintentional (believe you, me). Especially goofy is, what in the script was described as the ultimate in cool, The Big Board. Which plays like a supersized CNN magic screen. Except that the guy who operates it uses even more hilarious hand movements to move information from place to place on the screen (and that guy needs an intern to organize it... clutter!) At one point one of the team members puts their PDA near the screen in order to upload some information from the screen to the PDA and a little PDA icon pops up. Cheesy! Also utterly unnecessary in the age of, um, the internet...
The cast fails (partially because the characters fail). Eddie Cibrian and Teri Polo have zero chemistry (even less than Flashforward's Joseph Fiennes and Sonya Walger!) Gina Torres's character's main skill set seems to be that she can... drive things... to places... and more abhorrent moments aboard.
It's easy to see why this wasn't picked up. But I'm certainly keeping my copy around... if I ever need an inappropriate laugh.
Status: Busted
Shows what I know about procedurals.
If you recall, I dug this script (as did many other industry-ites). I kind of hyped it up, in fact, so when May upfronts rolled around and it wasn't picked up... people were scratching their heads.
Why?
You really only need about 2 minutes with this people to know why.
It's like The A-Team. Only it takes itself seriously when what's going on on-screen is, well... really, really, really campy.
Every single thing, from the character introductions that told us about the team members' specialties, to the mysteriously added opening voice over talking about the Washington Field unit, to the villains, to the investigation... it's all silly. But played in such a melodramatic way and with such a heavy score that LAUGHING IS NOT AN OPTION. And it's unintentional (believe you, me). Especially goofy is, what in the script was described as the ultimate in cool, The Big Board. Which plays like a supersized CNN magic screen. Except that the guy who operates it uses even more hilarious hand movements to move information from place to place on the screen (and that guy needs an intern to organize it... clutter!) At one point one of the team members puts their PDA near the screen in order to upload some information from the screen to the PDA and a little PDA icon pops up. Cheesy! Also utterly unnecessary in the age of, um, the internet...
The cast fails (partially because the characters fail). Eddie Cibrian and Teri Polo have zero chemistry (even less than Flashforward's Joseph Fiennes and Sonya Walger!) Gina Torres's character's main skill set seems to be that she can... drive things... to places... and more abhorrent moments aboard.
It's easy to see why this wasn't picked up. But I'm certainly keeping my copy around... if I ever need an inappropriate laugh.
Pilot Screener Review - Modern Family
MODERN FAMILY
Status: Premiering Wednesday, September 23rd @ 9pm on ABC
Oh, dear. A week has passed. And I got into a new script. And then I didn't post screener reviews as promised! Bad, TY.
I figured to get me back in "the mood" I would start off with a review of The Best Pilot Airing This Fall.
Well, that's the review, folks!
Seriously, though, I've watched this pilot (with various people) about 5 times and it still makes me laugh. I had thought after my first viewing that it was just the surprise of "an ABC comedy is funny" that was enhancing the comedy experience. No. This is just a genuinely funny half-hour (and it's single-cam, the combination of which, while airing on ABC, is just a shocker).
The colorful cast of characters in this pilot are in three separate stories (family of five deals with a teenage girl bringing a guy home for the first time and with disciplining a prepubescent son; May/December interracial couple deals with son's first crush; gay couple has adopted a Vietnames baby) until the final act, which, on my first viewing, left me scratching my head asking "why are we following these three separate stories in this pilot?" Then, unexpectedly, the answer came. It was so subtly done that without being told, you might not notice it. And I won't spoil the surprise (though I think it has been spoiled by the ABC marketing department... whatever, not my call) or what follows in the EXTREMELY uproarious final act.
There is also a mockumentary / confessional gimmick that is used to fun, character-informing effect.
I cannot say enough great things about this pilot. There is something for pretty much everyone. I only worry that future episodes won't capture the brilliance of the pilot (as it's taken, what, 5 years of failures upon failures for ABC to even crack the "funny single-cam pilot" code). I also worry that being a part of an all-new lineup will hurt the show. And I thank god for multi-tuner DVRs, so I can record this and Glee at the same time (seriously, programming gods... uncool).
Status: Premiering Wednesday, September 23rd @ 9pm on ABC
Oh, dear. A week has passed. And I got into a new script. And then I didn't post screener reviews as promised! Bad, TY.
I figured to get me back in "the mood" I would start off with a review of The Best Pilot Airing This Fall.
Well, that's the review, folks!
Seriously, though, I've watched this pilot (with various people) about 5 times and it still makes me laugh. I had thought after my first viewing that it was just the surprise of "an ABC comedy is funny" that was enhancing the comedy experience. No. This is just a genuinely funny half-hour (and it's single-cam, the combination of which, while airing on ABC, is just a shocker).
The colorful cast of characters in this pilot are in three separate stories (family of five deals with a teenage girl bringing a guy home for the first time and with disciplining a prepubescent son; May/December interracial couple deals with son's first crush; gay couple has adopted a Vietnames baby) until the final act, which, on my first viewing, left me scratching my head asking "why are we following these three separate stories in this pilot?" Then, unexpectedly, the answer came. It was so subtly done that without being told, you might not notice it. And I won't spoil the surprise (though I think it has been spoiled by the ABC marketing department... whatever, not my call) or what follows in the EXTREMELY uproarious final act.
There is also a mockumentary / confessional gimmick that is used to fun, character-informing effect.
I cannot say enough great things about this pilot. There is something for pretty much everyone. I only worry that future episodes won't capture the brilliance of the pilot (as it's taken, what, 5 years of failures upon failures for ABC to even crack the "funny single-cam pilot" code). I also worry that being a part of an all-new lineup will hurt the show. And I thank god for multi-tuner DVRs, so I can record this and Glee at the same time (seriously, programming gods... uncool).
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Yay!
I (finally) finished the draft of my script I'd been working on. And while it was after my self-imposed target date, it was before my deadline. So... yay.
I will post some screener reviews tomorrow, as well as some reactions to the goings on of cable shows (Top Chef! Top Chef Masters! THREE AND A HALF HOURS OF PROJECT RUNWAY!?!?) and will post this week's original finals at PIF (possibly getting to that late tonight).
Tomorrow.
Have some stuff to take care of now and then a birthday party tonight, so it'll have to wait.
Looking forward to being on a semi-break (am currently breaking story on a pilot... so many things going on... which is better than having nothing going on!) and picking up on this blog again.
Also I'll be posting fast nationals next week at PIF for Marc Berman. Watch for it!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Once More, With Feeling...
... I am not dead.
I am trying to meet a deadline on a script, trying to get funding on a feature film, and in the beginnings of a new actual job (and just came back from a week-long, perhaps ill-timed vacation)... so life, as you may expect, is busy.
If I can meet my writing goals this weekend, screener reviews will recommence on Monday.
Wish me monsters.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
FYI...
I'm out of town / touch most of this week, so won't be posting any reviews... hopefully will be able to (late at night) post final ratings at PIFeedback.
Mmm, vacay...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - Human Target
HUMAN TARGET (script review: Human Target)
Status: Premiering Sunday, January 17 after the NFC playoff game on FOX (then Wednesdays at 9pm)
Rewatched this pilot at the Comic Con panel and was surprised at how well it seemed to go over. Not that I expected it to go over poorly. But the crowd really seemed to lap it up... possibly because of an overwhelming affection for Jackie Earle Haley due to his stint as Rorschach in Watchmen, as well as Emerson Cod fans from Pushing Daisies, one of whom questioned Chi McBride's apparent type-casting as Winston in Human Target has a function somewhat similar to Emerson's.
Human Target is a fun, mindless, popcorn action hour-long, something that, really, hasn't been seen on network TV in a while (but is quite successful on cable in the superior Burn Notice). Mark Valley disappears into the role of Christopher Chance... which ordinarily is a bad thing, but as his character has so be able to disappear into a crowd in order to protect his clients ever week, it kind of works. I've always found Valley to be good-looking-but-bland, but there are glimpses of the fun underlying the character. Chance can be reckless and Valley plays those moments, when he's a fine line away from crazy with his devil-may-care grin, with aplomb. Haley shines as Guerrero, a information gatherer who operates just outside the realm of legality and gets some great one-liners. However, it is guest actress Tricia Helfer, who plays "Protectee" Stephanie, who steals the pilot. A shame she isn't a regular... because more Tricia Helfer is always a good thing. Also, the show desperately needs some estrogen on it, as the three regulars are male... hopefully women won't be relegated to "damsel in distress" on the show.
While some aspects of the pilot's case of the week (stuck on a runaway train with an assassin) were eliminated from the script that I read (like using the air conditioning to notice who is sweating an thereby making an assassin), the fact of the matter remains that the case is just not very interesting. There isn't a ton going on, and there are very few characters we're following, so despite the fact that it's supposed to be an action-thriller, sections seem to plod along. There is a great fist fight scene, and Chance seems far more human (as in less superhuman, rather than a moral humanity thing) in the pilot than he did in the script.
The pilot should do well after football, but I wonder about it crossing over with the (more female) American Idol audience.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Weeds
Show of hands... who else thinks this would be a far better show if the entire Botwin family died, as did Doug, and we refocused on Celia, Dean, and Isabelle?
I mean, the scenes with Celia deciding the store Silas and Doug's pot through Dean, and package it with the crappy door-to-door makeup she's trying to peddle were actually funny.
Unlike the rest of the show.
Friday, July 24, 2009
A Few Comic Con Updates
1) The 20-ish minutes of Flash Forward were awesome (a) the second time around, (b) on a bigger screen. The panel was well done, too, and I was pleased with the Q&A, especially with David Goyer, who seemed to indicate there are a ton of paradigm shifts along the way to the April 29, 2010 "flash forward" date (specifically pointing at episode 7). Glad I opted for this panel instead of BSG / Caprica.
2) I hear that, though billed as midseason, ABC's V will be premiering in November.
3) I hear that Jamie Bamber (BSG's Apollo) is appearing in the Dollhouse season two premiere.
4) The unaired Dollhouse episode, "Epitaph One," blew my mind. As well as everyone in the completely packed room. It was AMAZING. So outside the show's norm, and, really, just a frightening pleasure to watch unfold.
5) I hear that House Rules might not be dead... which excites me, despite my less than completely glowing review (of the cast).
Won't be getting to my Human Target review before tomorrow's screening... oh, well!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - The Vampire Diaries
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (script review: The Vampire Diaries)
Status: Premiering Thursday, September 10 at 8pm on CW
If things go according to plan, I'll be at the screening Saturday night so may alter this as my memory is refreshed. I don't have the screener with me right now, so I couldn't flip through a re-review things as I could with the other pilots.
Twi-light.
You're certain to be hearing / seeing a lot of that pun as reviews for VD (yep, get used to that, as well) come out.
I know, I know, the Vampire Diaries books far predate the Twilight saga. But the odd thing about this pilot is that, well, they really do seem to be drawing water from the same pool. Nina Dobrev's Elena has a similar (if more TV friendly/hot?) appeal as Kristen Stewart's Bella. Dark, internal, slightly mysterious. She's the best part of this show, for me... which is a good thing, as it's centered around her, and her burgeoning relationship with the new vamp in town, Stefan (Paul Wesley). Paul plays his role well. He has a prominent brow, deep eyes, angular face, and makes with the brooding. Not a ton of fun exudes from his character. Honestly, there are times his face even looks like Robert Pattinson's (similar angles).
With True Blood showing us that it IS possible to do the vampire series differently, and with different casting choices, it's odd to me that the VD pilot and Twilight films, characters, and casting choices hew so closely to one another. It appears little more than a carbon copy (again, I know, VD came first, and those people who read the VD books would throw a fit if casting was done off type for the leads...) So perhaps this just shines a light on how bland and unimaginative and far-from-fresh the Twilight phenomenon is/was?
Outside the key love story, as well as Elena's and Stefan's brothers, VD is populated by a series of largely forgettable supporting friend/frenemy/ex-lover high school characters. Yes, indeed, it remains the standard boilerplate the script promised. Elena's brother is kind of a dud for me though I liked him (and his drug-dealing darkness) in script, while Ian Somerhalder gets very little pilot time as Damon and doesn't yet own the (seemingly?) evil role.
If Twilight-esque is your thing, you will be tuning in. If it's not, there's nothing new being offered here. Still, there's plenty of Twilight love out there. Maybe the phenomenon can transfer over to a similar TV show. Maybe not. We'll find out this September.
BTW, good call (how often do we ever get to say that) from the CW with scheduling this. They needed to move Smallville elsewhere to die (or not) and try something new on Thursdays at 8pm, maybe give Supernatural a little fresh blood (hah, I made myself chuckle... sort of). Heavy promotion (CW is splitting focus between this and the sucktacular Melrose Place) and premiering a week before Fox's shows and two weeks before Survivor / Flash Forward / NBC comedies should bold well for initial sampling, but also means we won't really know how the series stacks up in the ratings against competition until it's 5th episode in October when all of the other shows' ratings have gotten out of their premiere-boost halo.
Thanks to AT&T's U-verse, I can now record four shows at once (up to two of them in HD), so I will be recording Vampire Diaries to see where it goes... but I'm definitely recording Flash Forward in HD, so it's a question of whether to record Bones or VD in HD once they're all airing... hmmm...
Pilot Screener Review - V
V (script review: V)
Status: Midseason on ABC
I'm very much looking forward to comparing this to Day One, once I actually get a copy of Day One. I liked V's script much more than I liked Day One's, but as visual effects-heavy, alien invasion series... it's all in the visuals. You all know exactly what this series is about. Aliens, subterfuge, a select few humans fighting against the aliens while the rest of humanity buys into their lies.
I was very impressed with the effects work and the production design in this pilot. The aliens' spaceship, from the outside and in, is cool, as is the massive projection of Anna, the aliens' leader (Morena Baccarin... sporting a tragically too short pixie haircut... someone transfuse some extensions, stat!) We get one glimpse at the real aliens underneath the human guise, and it's good and creepy (if not as jump out of your seat as I recall from the original series... but there's plenty of time for that).
There were two annoying production issues from me right in the first minute, that made me gird my loins to watch the rest... and I was pleasantly surprised with the rest. First, when we meet Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell), she is asleep. With her badge open that shows her FBI credentials. That annoyed me. I mean, who does that? But I forgive it... as it's an extremely fast, visual way to meet her.
Less forgivable, but hopefully reshootable, is the exterior of Father Jack's church (Jack is played by The 4400's Joel Gretsch). There is a small flight of stairs leading down from the doors, a platform, then more stairs leading to the sidewalk. What's wrong with that, you ask? Well, we meet Jack as he leaves the church. Waiting on the platform is a lonesome man in a wheelchair. How did he get up there (there are no ramps)? No one seems to be there to help him up or down. Yes, this is nitpicky, but it's such a stupid location management mistake and it bothered me.
Anyway, after that, you're just sucked straight into the "alien spaceships! OMG!" storyline. I'm never going to be Scott Wolf's biggest fan, so I can't really comment on whether he does a good job as the self-serving Chad Decker, the reporter chosen by Anna to be the aliens' liaison with humanity (through interviews where he isn't allowed to ask negative questions or portray the aliens in a negative light). I felt that Erica's son (played by Logan Huffman) needed to be recast. He's supposed to be a loser who finds purpose and meaning by following / obsessing over / being devoted to the Visitors (Vs for short)... and he just didn't feel right in the role.
Solid entertainment, that has the benefit (versus Flash Forward) of a constant, in your face, antagonistic presence. Week to week, there's a source of story drive... the aliens are up to no good, how can we win this war against them, piece by piece, moment by moment, plot by plot (whereas Flash Forward is an investigation into a larger mystery that we know won't come to fruition for a good long while).
Pilot Screener Review - Past-Life
PAST-LIFE (script review: Past-Life)
Status: Midseason on Fox (currently Tuesdays post-American Idol)
If you recall from my script review, I had some hopes for this pilot, but my doubts clouded them. The concept is too far out there and seems too specific to hit it mainstream (or leap beyond formulaic crap draped in a weird science-fiction-y premise).
Those doubts remain.
As do my hopes.
This will be a show I'll be watching just to see if it can meet or exceed any sort of expectations and elevate itself from being a formula show. I found the two leads (Kelli Giddish and Nicholas Bishop) charming and likable, and felt they had strong chemistry that will, undoubtedly, lead to some heavy UST. There's just the right balance between them of believe and doubt, which helped this viewer buy more into the conceit... even if the show definitely lands on the "this is all real, deal with it doubters" side. As, y'know, there wouldn't be a show if the client wasn't actually having past-life regression memories that lead to a solved murder (as well as a simultaneous kidnapping)
But is that what the show will be every week? Someone with a tragic past-life comes in having nightmares or memories or whatever, the team solves a Cold Case by investigating and causing triggers that set off further memories when they hit a road block, yadda yadda yadda?
If so... I'll lose interest quickly in what could've made a very entertaining episode of Fringe, but has to survive as a series unto itself.
I was sad to see the scripted memory from Kate (Kelli Giddish's character) about her own past-life with Price (Nicholas Bishop's character) gone from the pilot... but I assume that just means it's something that will be eventually explored and revealed in series, instead of put up front in the pilot.
Pilot Screener Review - The Middle
THE MIDDLE
Status: Premiering Wednesday, September 30th at 8:30pm on ABC
This will be a very brief review, as it is a heavily negative review (and the time has gotten away from me this week and I have four other reviews to do before leaving tonight for Comic Con... whoops).
This is the second version of The Middle ABC has developed. Two seasons ago, Ricki Lake played the beleaguered matriarch of a midwestern family. Now, it's Patricia Heaton. The rest of the cast has changed, too (supportive husband, slightly annoying teenage boy, socially awkward teenage girl, slightly "special" 5-6 year old boy). But the script hasn't changed that much (nor has the costuming department, as Patricia Heaton seems to be wearing the exact same "superwoman" outfit Ricki Lake wore in the first attempt pilot). It mystifies me because the reason I didn't like the first version wasn't the cast... it was the lack of funny. And so, that problem remains (there are a few awkward moments that elicit a chuckle or two... but hardly worth the 22 minute investment).
I certainly won't be watching.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Delay
Was out at a taping most of the day. Will be posting the prelims at PIFeedback.com tomorrow for Marc, and will post finals for Sunday and Monday (I have Sunday HH and A18-49 now, but thanks to The Sponge taking up all 5 of the top viewer slots, no viewer numbers for anything else, like the HBO shows... should get the viewer numbers tomorrow for all cable for Sunday from a friend).
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Fall Screening Review - Glee "Showmance"
GLEE "Showmance"
Status: Returns to Fox on Wednesday, September 16th @ 9pm
Oh, readers.
I'm in love all over again. You all remember how in love with the original version of the pilot I was when I saw it way back in February, right (Glee)? And then how I was still in love three months later when the final broadcast version aired, but saddened that my joyous experience had been shortened, cut down, and put back together slightly more choppily?
And, not that you would know this, but how I seriously can't get the Glee Cast's versions of "Rehab" and "Don't Stop Believin'" out of my head (or off my iPod... not that I'd want to)?
Anyway.
The second episode screened tonight in LA as part of OutFest. I'm a spoilerphobe (thank you, spoiler addiction and knowing everything that happened in the last 1.5 seasons of Buffy months in advance and ruining the final run of show for me... not that I minded at the time, and not that the show was anywhere near its peak by then). So, you won't be getting a ton of plot details from me.
The episode begins almost like a reset, in case you hadn't seen the pilot (which, I hear-tell, will be airing an EXTENDED VERSION the week before "Showmance" airs... not sure if that means Extended Pilot on September 16th or September 9th). We open on Will pulling into the school parking lot, temporarily stopping Puck and the other jocks from tarnishing poor Kurt's expensive designer threads, etc.
But, readers, there's oh so much more waiting in this episode.
More Jane Lynch, for starters. I'm assured (via press reviews of episode 4 "Preggers," if "Showmance" is considered episode 2) Jane will be an increasingly involved presence (and snarling villainess) as the series progresses... which she damn well better be what with Fox not letting her do even a single episode of Party Down season two (miss you, Constance!)
Then there's the songs. "Showmance" is loaded with them, though we've seen and heard bits from most in promos (Will's take on "Gold Digger," the Glee club's "Le Freak" rehearsal). Put there's also a hilariously raucous performance of "Push It" from the club as well as the sad song playing over the final minutes of the show. The final performance, Rihanna's "Take A Bow" sung by Lea "MinIdina" Michele's Rachel, is heartbreaking. It's the antithesis of the pilot's "Don't Stop Believin'," which left us soaring and hopeful. And it's good to know the show is able to carry some real (teenage) emotional heft with its performances and story and not just goad us into rooting for the underdogs and believing that they can put it together against overwhelming odds (that would be the Disney Channel's MO). Allowing us to feel heartbreak, and to really believe it, in the second episode of this series... well, I'm just in love and along for the ride (so long as the show sticks to this winning formula, with split focus on adults and kids but, really, knowing it's all about the kids) and can't wait for you to know what the hell I'm talking about. And that song better be on iTunes for purchase!
The slurpee toss is back (blue!) and there's a hilarious running gag involving Cory Monteith's Finn, a postal worker, driving lessons, and premature ejaculation.
What? It's Ryan Murphy... and Fox...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - Eastwick
EASTWICK (script review: Eastwick)
Status: Wednesdays @ 10pm on ABC, premiere date unannounced
Well, David Nutter is 15 for 15 in getting pilots he directs picked up. However, just because a pilot gets picked up to series doesn't mean it doesn't get cancelled quickly (Dr. Vegas). Or burned off during the summer (Traveler). Or surprisingly picked up for a second season (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles). Not everything David Nutter directs turns into a long-running series like Smallville or The Mentalist (yes, I'm making an assumption here).
Eastwick is a curious case. We all know what it's about. Three women, three witches. A small, New England community. And some devilish guy who storms into town and changes everything.
You won't be surprised by the story.
You won't be surprised by much of anything besides Jamie Ray Newman's star turn as Kat, a nurse and mother of five. And I think that the surprise comes from unfamiliarity. The TV audience is rather familiar with what Rebecca Romijn and Lindsay Price bring to the table. They're both great to look at (which makes Price's Plain Jane reporter Joanna highly unbelievable... the transformation from mouse to vixen literally involves taking her hair out of its bun) but don't exactly overwhelm in the acting department.
So, Jamie Ray is a breath of fresh air.
She's just about all that's fresh here (particularly compared to Paul Gross's Darryl Van Horne, which channels Jack Nicholson far too much).
Which saddens me. Because I enjoyed the script (knowing Nutter was directing it) and I love the movie on which the series is based. But instead of easy-viewing fun, it all adds up to a big pile of cliché (which can be amusing, but the tone isn't campy enough to pull it off) and, pretty much, a far less awesome Gilmore Girls with magic powers.
Eastwick has a further challenge on its path to a full-season pickup or a second season: being a part of ABC's all new Wednesday lineup. Though I haven't done my full reviews of any of the four comedies that are running from 8-10pm, Eastwick lucks out that ABC saw fit to put the (far, far) better of the four comedies on from 9-10pm, with the season's strongest new show (yes, including any / all dramas such as the hyped up Flash Forward) on at 9pm. Um, guess you know my opinion of Modern Family now. Anyway, launching a totally new night is always a gamble and this is pretty much the third attempt by ABC in as many years at a total makeover. Maybe parts of this lineup will stick. We'll see.
To Do Before Comic Con
As they are screening on Friday, post reviews of...
- The Middle (um, why is this screening at Comic Con...?)
- Past-Life
- Eastwick
- Human Target
- V
- Vampire Diaries
- Glee's second episode (screening at DGA this Saturday night)
So look for those posts over the coming week!
Figure out how to be in two places at once for...
- Flash Forward / BSG+Caprica sessions on Friday
- Chuck 10am on Saturday and waiting in line for Lost 11am on Saturday
FYI, I will pretty much be camped out in Ballroom 20 all Friday and Saturday... I'm I'm smartphone-less, so don't expect midstream updates (I have a Twitter IRL, but not for TravisYanan... and I imagine it would be very complicated to try and maintain two Twitter accounts from the same cell phone...)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Emmy time
So... Emmy nominations out tomorrow (at the ass-crack of dawn out here in LA... no, I won't be up that early to comment on how ATAS got it mostly wrong as usual). I'm not even bothering to hazard a guess or list out my dream noms. Exercise, meet futility.
Well, back to the toil!
Late Night at the Movies
Went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at midnight at The Grove with a bunch of friends. Going to be a late morning... I can tell...
Opinion of the movie... well, it was about damn time it came out, what with the extra delay. Almost two years since Order of the Phoenix! HBP is getting AMAZING reviews (95% last I looked at rottentomatoes.com) and I'm hard-pressed to understand why, versus the other HP films (which, in release order, are at 78%, 82%, 89%, 88%, and 77%). It's a very slow, methodical, well-made film. Lots of character and relationship stuff and comedy. But to be honest, it doesn't have the magic and thrills of the last two adventures (which were adventures) or the first three films, which were far more magical and kids-y entertainment... and then, y'know, people started DYING. My favorite remains Prison of Azkaban of the movies.
In fact, a lot of the action from the book was removed entirely! And I damn well want to know why. I wouldn't be so sodding ambivalent about HBP if Deathly Hallows were being released all at once. But as it's being split into two parts, HBP is no longer the prelude to the end. In the films, it's not, with DH being two parts (rather than making a five-hour long movie... I totally get it...), and we all remember the stop-and-go search that was the first half of DH... I'm not going to be getting a full serving of my Potter magic and amazement fix until 2011 (and, oh boy, does that final movie installment have to deliver in spades). Perhaps some of the action from HBP was saved to spice DH: Part I up?
Technically, and story-wise, HBP is the most filmic since PoA. The pervading sense of doubt and confusion and fear and loss couples brilliantly with muted color tones, tons of fog and mist and clouds, and some very stark black-and-white lighting contrasting. So, um, go Bruno Delbonnel (the director of photography)?
Acting continues to improve with age on the part of the young leads (including Tom Felton's Draco), while having more Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix is always, always, always a welcome thing.
But the fact of the matter is, this movie is all about "the snogging". Harry and Ginny. Ron and Lavender. Hermione and Cormac. Ron and Hermione. Which, okay, they're 16... of course it's about the snogging. Surprisingly little is actually made of the Half-Blood Prince itself in the film (though, to be sure, the prop gets tons of screen time). Voldemort's presence is felt less in this film than in any besides PoA (which was, of course, more about the Dementors and Sirius than about Mr. V). Odd, considering his resurrection at the end of Goblet of Fire and his overwhelming presence that pervaded OotP. Ralph Fiennes is nowhere to be seen (besides a quick flash / glimpse of footage from OotP), though we are, of course, treated to a few scenes of Tom Riddle (which may have been enthralling in the book, but on the screen they, of course, play purely as exposition so thankfully there are only three Pensieve memories). Considering what's to come, I'd have preferred a far more ominous tone.
To sum it up... a friend found it incredibly boring while another felt herself nodding off halfway through.
Yeah.
But, hey, at least it's not incredibly stupid like Transformers 2 (which, despite it's seeming mission statement to be nothing more than a barely connected series of massive explosions, chases, and giant CGI robot battles, ALSO managed to be boring for a sizable chunk).
I've rewatched, in theaters, PoA, GoF, and OotP. I won't be making the return trip for HBP.
Can it be Summer 2011 yet?
Monday, July 13, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - Flash Forward
FLASH FORWARD
Status: Premiering Thursday, September 24th at 8pm on ABC
So... I don't have the pilot screener. But I have seen the pilot. Stuff is changing (as things do when you have what seems to be the promise of a heavily-serialized, internal-mythology-based show and then you add a bunch of other writers and a top of network pressure). Not big stuff, but some of the details. So any review of minutae would be premature (though not as premature as a forthcoming review of CBS's Three Rivers).
Is it okay to say that... I'm worried?
Not because of the quality of the pilot. It's impeccably shot and CGIed and much of the cast is fun or engaging or whatever they're supposed to be. Just about the only thing I found lacking was significant chemistry between Joe Fiennes and Sonya Walger, whose characters are together. Of course, they only get one or two scenes together in the entire pilot, so there's certainly opportunity to build on what's I perceived to be (or not be) there.
There's the question of excitement. And of over-hype. Will Flash Forward live up to expectations? And, more importantly, will episode 2 will up to the pilot?
Hard to say.
ABC's midseason entry, V, which I will be reviewing here soon, at least has the presence of the aliens to pose a significant, constant level of threat. Flash Forward is going to be relying entirely on the build up to a future date (though, I'm sure, episodes will build in stakes and intensity and mystery to carry us to the fated April 29th, 2010). The event, and the fallout, happens in the pilot. It's massive. It's a spectacle. It looks fantastic. But you don't get to do that again, in series (um, until it happens again... which, if I'm hearing about the book correctly, it does... hey, that'll be a fun way to enter May sweeps!)
I hate to do the Lost comparison thing. I really do. The thing about Lost is, before it was about the mythology, it was about something that happened to these people, and it was about the people. It was about people stranded on an island fighting to survive even if there hadn't been a Smoke Monster or Others or Dharma Initiative or what have you. That is something you are not going to get after Flash Forward's eventful pilot, which promises an investigation and a chain of events that will severely alter each character's life over the seven-ish months between pilot and April 29, 2010.
There are only two change I noticed from the script. First is that the pilot starts with a minute or so of the disaster zone that is the Los Angeles freeway following the worldwide blackout, then flashes back to pre-blackout. Which could mean the network was worried that viewers wouldn't stick around unless there was some kind of big, flashy moment right from the getgo (you know... like Jack walking out of the bamboo forest and seeing the wreckage of Oceanic 815). But I could be talking out of my ass and that device could've been producer-developed. The second change was the introduction of Bryce, who works with Sonya Walger's Olivia but is going to kill himself in the opening moments of the pilot before the blackout happens and he takes it as a sign to keep on living. In the pilot, Olivia calls him (leaving a voicemail) as he's walking up Santa Monica Pier (with a lot of "view from just behind his head" POV slow motion shots), which immediately establishes his connection to Our Main Family.
Cameos abound, most notably the ballyhooed Seth MacFarlane appearance, which is less an appearance as it is a character. He's in a number of scenes, as one of the FBI agents in the LA office and I got the feeling we'd be seeing him again. Alex "Dr. Corday" Kingston is part of someone's flashforward vision, and there are others.
Anyway... well worth the watch. I'll be looking to episode two for clarity on what the series actually is.
Disclaimer!
Will be posting ratings on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings this week at PIFeedback.com for Marc. Haven't been there posting since the regular season ended. Summer ratings are boring, ya'll! Also, I've had a ton of stuff going on / continuing to occupy my time. Will try to get back on the horse, so to speak, and post finals starting tomorrow. Cable information is still spotty at best (only getting A18-49 numbers and two-decimal place viewership for the Top 5 on any given night).
Well... that's my disclaimer in advance of returning to PIF tomorrow!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - See Kate Run
SEE KATE RUN (script review: See Kate Run)
Status: Busted
Oh, Amy Smart. You belong on a sitcom. I don't understand why you continue to take roles in dramas. Your emphatic, arm-waving acting is so very Jennifer Aniston it's truly a shock that you aren't on CBS in a multi-cam. But, please... stop being in dramas. Note: I'm not saying you are a bad actress. Hell, I'll go so far as to say that you are insanely likable. But... you were acting like you were in a sitcom. So go be in one? Because I think you'd be awesome.
I had problems with this script (it's main plot is overly frivolous and predictable... while the political angle / hook is gag-inducing... and even moreso in execution). The pilot opens in 2028 as Kate Sullivan is about to greet an adoring Obama's-supporters-at-Grant-Park-esque crowd in Boston. And the TV news anchors on multiple screens are talking about how shocking it is that she's about to win the Presidential election, what with her being the least likely person to become President and having a love life the reads like a soap opera. Oh, awkward exposition. They could've at least made it sound like TV news anchor prattle. Meanwhile, Amy Smart is wearing Old Person Makeup (and hair) and gone are her long blonde locks, replaced with a dark asymmetrical bob WITH TWO PURE-WHITE HIGHLIGHT STREAKS AT THE PARTING. SERIOUSLY. Also, she has a 15 year old daughter (guess who gets pregnant in season four...?) with an equally hideous (and fairly similar) hairdo. Jack & Bobby this is not... though it wishes it were. Despite the trappings of a political show, the series promises to mainly be a standard legal show with a major law case of the week. The pilot is about putting a Bad Man Behind Bars, but because he's a Bad Man, people are scared of coming forward to testify. So after some fits and starts, Kate finally gets her witnesses to talk to a judge and the case, she is solved.
Let's talk the rest of the cast. Ben Feldman (who, um, would've been pulling some kind of double duty if this had been picked up, what with Drop Dead Diva where he plays the lead character's guardian angel?) doesn't have much to do as Kate's sad sack, sure-to-be-dumped-eventually boyfriend (as Kate has seen the light and now wants more than to get married and pop out a few by pilot's end). Marc Blucas (who has gained some weight from his Buffy days) somehow doesn't make the most of a drunk, against-the-ropes political consultant / campaign manager character who . Seriously, that's the one role that had potential to be something different. Meanwhile, Liza Lapira is strongest among the featured players as Kate's best friend / fellow attorney Ellie at the DA's office (she is supposed to get the promotion to ADA, but because Kate wins the thought-to-be-a-loser case dumped on her and with a ton of local / internet attention, Kate gets it). I bought everything she did, and I hope to see her on something... better (by which I don't necessarily mean returning to her previous gig as Ivy on Dollhouse).
The real wasted opportunity here is Ever Carridine. She is in two scenes, as Kate's older sister. And she is, far and away, the standout of the pilot. SOMEONE GIVE THAT WOMAN HER OWN SERIES!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - House Rules
Waiting for feedback on something, so figured I'd try and bang a review out... yay!
HOUSE RULES (script review: House Rules)
Status: Busted
Since I started with The Body Politic I figured I'd keep going on the political pilots (though I'm still lacking Inside the Box... which should be corrected shortly).
Storywise, I still like this from the script. I'm very interested in seeing what's going to happen next to Julia and her freshman Congressmen cohorts. But that's a residual feeling from the script. The story still works. The politics work and are interesting (and, since it's a full pilot, we actually get to see the politics play out, unlike in The Body Politic's presentation).
Unfortunately, the pilot is woefully (and at points distractingly) miscast.
Whereas in The Body Politic every one of those actors totally embodied their roles, painfully few of the many characters felt fully fleshed out in an organic way. Anna Chlumsky is the notable exception as the Speaker of the House's Chief of Staff's assistant (who by episode's end becomes Zoe McLellan's character's Chief of Staff). There was something massively charming about her in the role (unlike her brief appearances as Claire's assistant in the Cupid revamp). Tawny Cypress, who just three years ago played a sexy 20-something on Heroes, appeared ragged and far older than she is... though her character is supposed to be something of a young upstart. As much as I enjoy Debra Monk, her Speaker of the House was little more than a mustache twirler with great wardrobe and hair. While Ray Wise was immensely enjoyable in his few scenes, I couldn't help but think (um, and shout) "Ray Wise!" when he was on screen. His character, a Republican Representative who Zoe McLellan's Julia teams up with to get an immigration bill shoved through the House to save a family from being torn apart, was spot on... but too soon after his, um, devilish role on Reaper for another TV stint? The two guys seemingly fighting for Julia's attention (one is the Speaker's Chief of Staff, the other an ex-Wall Street trust fund Republican freshman Congressman who gets on Julia's bad side in the opening of the pilot) did nothing for me, though I can see a certain Paul Rudd-ish appeal to Eion Bailey's Alan Levi.
Let's talk about the major casting failure in the pilot, though... Zoe McLellan. Just as she did as Peter Krause's wife on Dirty Sexy Money, she left me lukewarm (not cold... just not hot). Which is a shame, because she is an attractive woman and she can act (I've seen it!) You need buy the character as a rising star in Washington... and you do. But I wasn't convinced I was watching a new TV star. And I really wanted to love her in this role because, again, really loved the character in the script. Because it was so different for CBS (as a character and as a show).
And, ultimately, that difference is why the show wasn't picked up. You can always recast pilots (CBS is doing that with just about everyone in Three Rivers). But the fact of the matter is the show is about this woman, about romantic possibilities, and doesn't have a murder to solve every week as it's about politics (and really edges too close to the "Republicans are evil!" that The Body Politic was wise to avoid... even if the solution Julia comes up with involves getting Ray Wise's Republican Congressman to co-sponsor a bill with her because she is able to convince him it's not about immigration but about family, and Republicans are supposed to be the "Family Values" party... though I guess no one told John Ensign or Mark Sanford that?)
If ABC had this show... I think it would be on the air. But not on CBS.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Pilot Screener Review - The Body Politic
THE BODY POLITIC
Status: Busted...? (been a while since I heard anything, and can't remember if it was still in consideration for midseason or just completely dead)
For script review, see The Body Politic.
The impetus for my finally starting these screener reviews. I'll be honest, nothing has truly jumped out at me that I felt DEMANDED to be blogged about. Until I (finally) got my grubby hands on The Body Politic, a 30-minute presentation of the only CW drama pilot not picked up to series (besides the shocking Lily / Gossip Girl Spin-Off fiasco).
What a shame. What a horrible, crying shame that this presentation will not be completed and aired and loved by, um, millions? What passes for successful first-run programming on CW these days? 2.5 million? Yeah...
Presentations are challenging because a lot of connective tissue is lost. There's a full pilot script, but only about 2/3 of it is shot (TBP was shot in 8 days, I believe, while most drama pilots average 14) in order to save precious, precious money. You try and hit the big scenes, and some of the other stuff falls by the wayside to, in success, be shot or recast later (in TBP, much of the dealings with the older characters... the two Senators featured as well as Brian Austin Green's character who, literally, was only in the presentation for a half-second). You sell the show.
And, boy, did they sell me on this show (recall from my script reviews of the "Jury's Out" CW shows that I said it's all about chemistry and casting).
Minka Kelly, as I've said, is a TV star waiting to breakout and this was a great vehicle for her (though I do wish that the pervasive voice over had been toned down). That lady could have chemistry with the bannister if she wanted, so it's not hard to buy a love triangle involving Jason Dohring and Jay Hernandez. She is lovable and innocent and you really do feel for her in the moments before, during, and after her character (once named Lily, then Hope, now Frankie / Francesca) meets her biological father (though she does not tell him this). You want this girl to thrive on Capitol Hill.
The rest of the more heavily featured cast works well. Dohring's reporter character (Charlie) and Gabrielle Union's experienced staffer (Jessica) get the most air time of the other characters. The show tries to buy back some audience love for Jessica with some character history about being a young leader for women's rights, but I don't think it's enough. Plus, it's always a good thing to have a character who might backstab your lead and smile while doing it. That's politics, baby. Had the pilot gone forward, I'd have recast the woman (I couldn't even find casting information on her to give you the actress's name) who played Senator Buckley (the Democrat Majority leader who is pissed that the President is nominating a Republican for Attorney General... this plotline was very much incomplete in the presentation) as she just did nothing for me (though she got very little screen time). Also missing from the presentation was much of the plotline about a foreclosures freezing bill that Buckley was trying to stop because of a Democrat Senator was told to sponsor the AG nomination by the White House. I recall, in the script, that added some weight to the emotional proceedings.
The Body Politic has been called the best pilot not picked up by some. At this point, I've got to agree. I have no idea why this wasn't picked up to series. If I had any sway at CW (and I don't), the mistake would be corrected.
Pilot Screener Reviews... Starting Now!
First off... Happy July 4th, everyone!
I've been away from the blog (not to mention PIFeedback) for a while. It's been an intense summer thus far... but I'm back now and, at the very least, should be posting screener reviews regularly in the coming days (because, honestly, not a ton to say about any summer ratings...)
I've seen just shy of everything that's out there to be seen on the drama side (there are still no Flash Forward screeners, anyone who has been able to seen / review it has been a part of ABC's press / critics screenings... I also haven't yet gotten my hands on Parenthood, Day One, Inside the Box, Maggie Hill, US Attorney, A Marriage, Masterwork, or Solving Charlie) plus, I believe, all of the comedies that were picked up (in addition to several busted comedy pilots).
There have been a few surprises, both in good and bad ways (scripts I liked that didn't work out on screen, scripts I didn't like that worked far better than I expected). There are the disappointments of high quality pilots not being picked up (for any number of reasons, from budget / license fee negotiations to the network deciding to not explore a genre), and there are the disappointments of poor quality pilots (or ones that just don't hold my interested) being picked up. That's the joy of pilot season. You really never know what's going to leap up from that page and make magic (and some things still don't work but were picked up and are being retooled so even now I don't know what the end product will be like).
Which leads me to the review I'm going to start writing now-ish (and will hopefully get out before headed out for dinner and fireworks with friends). Stay tuned...
Friday, June 12, 2009
Screener Reviews... Forthcoming!
They are. I swear. Just not today or this weekend (it's LGBT Pride in LA, after all).
Anyway, screeners are still pouring in / making their way to me. I don't have everything (yet).
A brief note... NO ONE has Flash Forward. No one. I have friends on the show, and they don't even have it (in fact, there is some super crazy protocol for the scripts to ensure that there aren't even any electronic copies being distributed).
Of course, my theory is, and always will be, that the real reason to watch these screeners is to watch the BUSTED pilots (the ones that don't get picked up) to see why... not to watch something months in advance of its premiere. Though in special cases (i.e. Glee) it's nice to know what I'm going to be obsessed with well in advance.
Please, please, please don't e-mail me to get copies of these. I simply can't do that. It would be a total breach of trust.
Nose Dive
Royal Pains, consider yourself one "one episode left" notice. I was VASTLY underwhelmed by tonight's follow-up to the pilot. Mostly because you retained about 300% of the quirk of the pilot but 25% of the drama.
Now, I know. You aren't a murder mystery show. But both Monk and Psych manage to fit quirk within a murder mystery every week and keep things moving along in an amusing way (diminishing returns on Monk, IMHO, but that's why I stopped watching it). Medical shows can be funny and quirky and still solve medical mysteries. In fact, that show is House. You, Royal Pains, are not House. You aren't trying to be House. I get it.
But, please, could you try a little harder to HOLD MY ATTENTION!?
Show of hands... who knew what was wrong with the ballerina 3 minutes after the second act started (since we didn't see the ballerina until the end of the first act, and even then it was COMPLETELY SEPARATE FROM THE PLOT LINE WE WERE IN).
Also, could they be moving any faster on the Hank/Jill romance? It's episode two and they already have reached smoochus interruptus.
Sigh.
Anyway. I'm hoping this is a fluke of bad storytelling and not a hint at the formula to come from Royal Pains. Because if it is representative of what's ahead... well, I won't be watching after next week. And I really want to be watching after next week because I need more scripted TV in my summer life.
SYTYCD note - results show more engaging than Idol's (woo! no Ford commercials!), the "dance for your life" bit is interesting, Sean Kingston is not even a mediocre live performer, and the right guy and girl went home tonight.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
PS - I'm Not Dead
Just very, very bored by the summer ratings. I'm not getting regular / complete cable numbers, so reporting on anything is spotty (and big stuff like the Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, The Closer, and Raising the Bar premiere data is actually being written up in the trades).
Will get to screener reviews as I can, but have been embroiled in some writing projects that have definitely occupied my time and / or brain.
What can I say? Summer sucks.
On recommendation, I have been watching So You Think You Can Dance for the first time this summer... what a treat last night's performance show was! The audition and Vegas rounds... not so much. Judging the performances from home is very, very different for SYTYCD than it is for Idol. On Idol, you know when there's a missed note or pitchiness or whatever. On SYTYCD all of the dancers are amazing, but the line separating them on any given week or performances seems to be the choreography they're given within the genre they receive, and the amount of personality brought to the performance. It's not like any of the Top 20 wiped out last night (do they ever? Again, this was my first performance show viewing).
Some brief notes on the cable premieres of the last week...
Burn Notice - still a ton of fun, glad to see that even though they sort of seemed to explode the premise for the show at last season's end, the episodes are still very much in the same vein... but with even more sense of danger because Michael is now on the grid. Glad to see USA pushing Donovan and Anwar for Lead Male and Supporting Female Emmys in the trade FYCs.
Royal Pains - the opening 15-ish minutes were a pain and a bit of a buy (what with the hospital board black listing the lead character everywhere in NYC...), and I found the lead character to be very annoying with his repeated protest that he wasn't going to be the concierge doctor in the Hamptons... it's the premise for the show, so it didn't hold any water after his first complaint. Looking forward to the first post-pilot episode tonight, which won't have to deal with setting the premiere up, and hopefully won't have Dr. Hank quite so recalcitrant.
Weeds - I'm not sure why I'm still watching this show. It wasn't funny last season and it isn't funny now. I don't even like any of the characters anymore (even Shane).
Nurse Jackie - the press has gone gaga over this show, and it's good to see Falco in such an interesting (and different) role. looking forward to what episode two has in store.
The Closer - same old summer popcorn background noise. Was kind of surprised at the lack of a post-Brenda's-wedding plotline or even a mention. Much like Burn Notice... business as usual.
Top Chef Masters - fun if different from the Mothership. I didn't warm to Kelly Choi, and definitely miss Padma and Tom. However, if the Mothership wants to bring Gael Greene on as a guest judge at any point in the coming season, I'm all for it.
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