Editor’s Pick
SEPTEMBER 25, 2009 3:55PM
Fall TV: Finding The Diamonds in the Coal Pile
Fall TV: Finding The Diamonds in the Coal Pile
In case you're wondering what's entertaining me these days, here are the shows I'll be following along with this fall (and perhaps blogging about, if I have time):
Must-Watch Shows
1) I must say - the pilot episode for the new sitcom Modern Family was absolutely stellar. I haven't seen a pilot this strong in a long time (perhaps back to Arrested Development). If you missed it, you can watch it online here. Highly recommended. It's sort of like The Office crossed with Married... With Children (and I mean that in a good way).
2) Dollhouse is back! And all reports are that it's much improved. The fact that they poached some more great Battlestar Galactica actors (Jamie Bamber appears in tonight's season opener, and Michael Hogan pops in at some point as well) probably helps. Joss Whedon also took advantage of the cancellation of The Sarah Connor Chronicles to pull the excellent Summer Glau back into his fold. And really... could anyone LOOK more plastic and doll-like than her?
3) Parks and Recreation started sort of wonky, but picked up good steam towards the end of the season. Last night's premiere was really great - highlights include Chris Pratt really committing to flinging himself into an open pit head-first - and gives me hope that the show has found its comedic footing.
4) On the sci-fi front, I'm also still excited about the reboot of V, which is coming in November. Advance word is that the pilot is awesome. Also, Stargate gets another spin-off show, when Stargate: Universe launches later this fall. The cast (Ming Na, David Blue, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Robert Carylyle to name a few) is stellar, and it looks like this show's going to be a lot darker than previous ones.
5) I don't need to tell you why I'm watching 30 Rock, The Office, Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother and Fringe. They rock and you all know it.
6) Don't forget, Dexter returns this Sunday on Showtime. And John Lithgow is the season long guest star! Wooooo! Anyone who saw Lithgow in "Raising Cain" knows he can be one scary mo-fo when he wants to be.
Shows With Potential
1) I liked the first two episodes of NBC's sitcom Community, so I'm tentatively in for now. Joel McHale is perfectly cast, as is Chevy Chase. I'm not sure how the rest of the cast is going to work for me, but it's early so we'll see.
2) I like the singing on Glee, plus Jane Lynch is delivering comic gold week after week, which allows me for now to endure the more annoying aspects of the show. It's got tons of potential, but needs to figure out what kind of show it wants to be. Tonally, it's all over the place. Does this show want to be a dark comedy that exposes life in high school (a la Election), or does it want to be an optimistic, everybody sings and dances sort of show (a la High School Musical).
3) You might want to check out ABC's new show Flash Forward (I DVR'd it and will comment more once I watch this weekend). I love serial drama/sci-fi shows when they're done right, so we'll see how this one turns out. It's got a good cast, and it's a promising sign that the showrunners plan to answer the main mystery by the end of the season.
Must-Watch Shows
1) I must say - the pilot episode for the new sitcom Modern Family was absolutely stellar. I haven't seen a pilot this strong in a long time (perhaps back to Arrested Development). If you missed it, you can watch it online here. Highly recommended. It's sort of like The Office crossed with Married... With Children (and I mean that in a good way).
2) Dollhouse is back! And all reports are that it's much improved. The fact that they poached some more great Battlestar Galactica actors (Jamie Bamber appears in tonight's season opener, and Michael Hogan pops in at some point as well) probably helps. Joss Whedon also took advantage of the cancellation of The Sarah Connor Chronicles to pull the excellent Summer Glau back into his fold. And really... could anyone LOOK more plastic and doll-like than her?
3) Parks and Recreation started sort of wonky, but picked up good steam towards the end of the season. Last night's premiere was really great - highlights include Chris Pratt really committing to flinging himself into an open pit head-first - and gives me hope that the show has found its comedic footing.
4) On the sci-fi front, I'm also still excited about the reboot of V, which is coming in November. Advance word is that the pilot is awesome. Also, Stargate gets another spin-off show, when Stargate: Universe launches later this fall. The cast (Ming Na, David Blue, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Robert Carylyle to name a few) is stellar, and it looks like this show's going to be a lot darker than previous ones.
5) I don't need to tell you why I'm watching 30 Rock, The Office, Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother and Fringe. They rock and you all know it.
6) Don't forget, Dexter returns this Sunday on Showtime. And John Lithgow is the season long guest star! Wooooo! Anyone who saw Lithgow in "Raising Cain" knows he can be one scary mo-fo when he wants to be.
Shows With Potential
1) I liked the first two episodes of NBC's sitcom Community, so I'm tentatively in for now. Joel McHale is perfectly cast, as is Chevy Chase. I'm not sure how the rest of the cast is going to work for me, but it's early so we'll see.
2) I like the singing on Glee, plus Jane Lynch is delivering comic gold week after week, which allows me for now to endure the more annoying aspects of the show. It's got tons of potential, but needs to figure out what kind of show it wants to be. Tonally, it's all over the place. Does this show want to be a dark comedy that exposes life in high school (a la Election), or does it want to be an optimistic, everybody sings and dances sort of show (a la High School Musical).
3) You might want to check out ABC's new show Flash Forward (I DVR'd it and will comment more once I watch this weekend). I love serial drama/sci-fi shows when they're done right, so we'll see how this one turns out. It's got a good cast, and it's a promising sign that the showrunners plan to answer the main mystery by the end of the season.
Edited to add: ABC is re-airing the pilot episodes of Flash Forward and Modern Family tonight starting at 8pm, for those of you who missed them earlier in the week.
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Comments
Yet again, I'm going to have to Watch Dollhouse from the website most of the time.
Joseph Fiennes? Post-apocalyptic serial mystery sci-fi drama? Hell to the yes, I'll be riveted to the screen every week.
So when you do get around to watching...see if you spot the Oceanic Air billboard. :-D A nice little easter egg for LOST nuts.
If you enjoy Fringe, keep an eye out for Abrams-esque easter eggs, such as Walter drinking a "Slusho" beverage.
R
@iamsurly - I'm pretty sure you can catch the pilot of Flash Forward online
I agree that Modern Family may have the quirkiness, pacing and characters that could make it successful.
Parks and Recreation is a show that I want to enjoy but after the previous short season of it and the first couple of new episodes, I'm skeptical because I'm just not into it.
And so far Community has struck me as one of the worst shows I've seen in a while. The characters are stereotype and without any depth. The writing so far has been weak and the direction of people sitting around a big table with the camera jumping from person to person as they do little more than recite their predictable lines leaves me gagging.
And, I should be enjoying the hell out of Glee but somehow I'm not.
Do you think it might be an age thing? I've got more in common with Ed O'Neil than anyone else in these shows.
LOVED Flash Forward last night. Would have only changed a few minor things. John Cho needs to give us a little more, for example. And a lot of distanced 'emotive' shots - don't really get that choice. But generally, it's Right up my alley, and I can't wait for more.
Warming to Modern Family. I want to like it so much, that I'm afraid I won't. For several years I declared the sitcom deaddeaddead, but then along came HIMYM and BigBangTheory, and I'm happily chortling.
Gonna watch the two Fringes this weekend as well. I just don't have enough TIME during the week. My Elder is beside herself wanting to tell me what's going on, so I hafta catch up.
Thanks for your take(s)!
Regarding your question, I don't think it's an age thing. Looking at the sitcoms I mentioned above you can see they all have a certain smirky charm to them. But some people just hate smirky charm, and that's okay. I have young friends who don't like the same shows as I do. :)
@ConnieMack - I'm sadly behind on my Fringe watching as well. I love the show, but something I can wait to see longer than a week. Besides, I do enjoy watching a 3-4 hour block of episodes in a row - I feel like I pick up on more clues to season-long plots when I do that.
@madcelt and saturn - I hope you both enjoy the suggestions, particularly Modern Family. I re-watched the pilot and it's just as funny the second time around. I'm very high on this show, so I hope subsequent episodes live up to the first one. The comic pacing is particularly sharp, which I appreciate.
@717judie - that's cool if you don't like all the suggestions. For those where our love does overlap, I look forward to chatting more about them (i.e. Dexter, Flash Forward)
FRINGE is and was awesome - and the twist in the season opener is one of those OMFG! moments that promises huge dividends for the season.
Not sure about the V reboot - but I'll be watching the pilot, at least, just to see how it shakes out. Also sorry I missed FLASH FORWARD, which has an intriguing premise - hope they re-reair it, and soon!
Looking forward to seeing if Whedon can clarify what exactly the point behind DOLLHOUSE is this season. Right now, it feels too much like some D/s fantasy with a vaguely dystopic SF overlay - and the much-hyped "13th episode" looked like a low-budget ripoff of I AM LEGEND or TERMINATOR: SALVATION, and really answered none of the questions regarding WTF Caroline would volunteer to be a Doll in the first place, or why essentially good people like Boyd or (to a lesser extent) Ms. DeWitt would believe in what's essentially a high-tech slavery ring.
The Witches of Eastwick book: http://www.amazon.com/Witches-Eastwick-John-Updike/dp/0449912108/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254013666&sr=1-1
The Witches of Eastwick movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094332/
AND http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Witches_of_Eastwick/1129214?lnkce=seRtLn&trkid=222336&strkid=695282033_0_0&strackid=197095447c484e25_0_srl
Eastwick series page, including full access to pilot episode: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Witches_of_Eastwick/1129214?lnkce=seRtLn&trkid=222336&strkid=695282033_0_0&strackid=197095447c484e25_0_srl.
Glee is one quirky, entertaining gem.
I ordered both my teenage boys out of their dungeons and made us have a Modern Family moment of our own. They howled. Finally something we can all love that doesn't involve Charlie Sheen.
Oh, and Glee makes me very, very happy. I'm kinda on my own with that one - though Jane Lynch is a hit with everyone. I love that I laugh and cry in the same hour. Yeah, I'm a wuss.
@zumalicious - Apparently there are still no black women in the Air Force in the Stargate Universe. However, there is an Asian woman, and she's a lesbian to boot, so I guess that's SOME kind of progress.
@libertarius - If I find another reviewer/critic who I agree with 80-90% of the time, that makes me happy. Perhaps my next suggestion will tickle your fancy more :)
Glee is surprisingly addictive.
Loking forward to V.
Have there been any black women in the Air Force since Lt. Uhura?
@Nick - Have you been following some of the weird chatter around V lately? It looks like they haven't shot more than 4 episodes, and now ABC has made the bizarre choice to split the season into two parts. None of that bodes well for the series, despite how strong the pilot might be. I'm getting a little nervous.