More new TV shows

[dougo]

I watch TV so you don't have to...

• Kings: Great, bold concept (what if we had a king?), but so far the writing has been a little lackluster. It feels like it wants to be an alternate-universe The West Wing, but without the witty dialogue. And the setting might be a little too different: it's a kingdom called Gilboa, whose capital city is Shiloh, and they're at war with the kingdom of Gath to the north; so far there's been very little indication of when their history diverged from ours, and how. I read a blurb online somewhere that said Shiloh was Manhattan, and I guess Gath is supposed to be Canada, but neither has been made clear on the show yet. (The only historical reference that I've noticed so far is a famous piano that was played by Liszt.) Oh, hm, I just read in the Wikipedia article that it's based on the biblical story of King David. Suddenly I'm less hopeful that the story will get more interesting. But I'll keep watching.
• Castle: Female police detective gets assigned a famous playboy mystery author who helps her solve murder cases. So basically it's Murder He Wrote, with some Moonlighting-style rom-com banter. I always like Nathan Fillion (and Susan Sullivan), and the first two episodes were pretty good, but the third kinda bored me and I decided I didn't need another episodic murder mystery show when I already watch Monk. (Same reason I don't watch Psych.) If you like that kind of thing, though, check it out.
• Eastbound and Down: HBO comedy mini-series about a former major league relief pitcher trying to cope with no longer being famous. Produced by Will Ferrell, who also has a recurring role; I am not a Will Ferrell fan, and his scenes are often kind of tedious, but otherwise it's a surprisingly funny and well-done show. Lots of lowbrow humor, but not the over-the-top fart-joke stuff I would have expected. Danny McBride plays the lead character with a really sharp focus, as an egotistical dirtbag moronic asshole loser who you still somehow end up sort of rooting for. It's already over after 6 episodes, but I'm hoping it gets picked up into a full series.
• Better Off Ted: network sitcom starring a lot of familiar friendly faces, but after the first ten minutes without a single laugh I gave up.
• Head Case: Sitcom on Starz, about a ditzy female psychiatrist. Also not quite funny enough to hook me. I only found about this show a couple days ago, and it's already ten episodes in, but I don't think I would have liked it much more if I'd started from the beginning.
• Party Down: Another sitcom on Starz, about a bumbling LA catering company. This one made me laugh—a bit more edgy—so I'll keep watching (or maybe I just have a crush on Lizzie Caplan, from The Class, Cloverfield, and True Blood).
• Samantha Who: Not a new show; it just returned from hiatus in the middle of its second season. Somehow I didn't hear about it when it debuted in 2007, but apparently it was highly rated and won some Emmys, and I like Christina Applegate so I downloaded the first season. I watched the first three episodes tonight, and it is actually pretty good. It's about a woman who wakes up from an 8-day coma with amnesia and slowly learns that she used to be a horrible selfish conniving corporate VP. The writing and direction is snappy, and it plays up the subtext pretty well, about becoming more conscious of your actions and struggling to change for the better. Not sure yet how they'll get two seasons out of the premise though.
• The Unusuals: Starts next Wednesday, haven't read anything about it to avoid spoilers, but it looked like it could be interesting. Any other new shows coming up?

And hey look, a few shows I'm no longer watching:

• Battlestar Galactica: The finale, like the whole series, was not really what I wanted it to be, but it could have been a lot worse. I'm glad I stayed with the show, but I'm glad it's over.
• Heroes: I finally gave up after a few episodes piled up on the Tivo and I realized I had no desire at all to watch them.
• Life on Mars: Also not quite what I wanted it to be, but it always managed to stay just interesting enough for me to keep watching (and it seemed to get noticeably better after about the season midpoint). I don't know if this didn't get renewed for a second season, or they only intended it to have one season all along, but either way, I'm glad it ended, and I have to applaud the way they ended it. I don't want to spoil it, but I'll say it was totally different from the British version ending (which I didn't see, but read about, and it wouldn't have fit the tone of the American version anyway). And, you have to like a show that sneaks in more Bowie lyrics than The Venture Brothers.

Comments

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Being Erica? Canadian time traveler romantic comedy.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Nope, never heard of it. Thanks for the pointer.

[tactical-grace.livejournal.com]

Are you watching Dollhouse? Because, well...you ought to be.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Yep, still enjoying it a lot. I didn't think the premiere was as bad as everybody else seemed to think, but I agree it has gotten even better since then.

[dianamp04.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of sad about Kings. The idea behind the show sounds really interesting, but they've put no effort into explaining the background, whether it's completely alternate reality or if it's just suppose to be a fake country within today's world or anything, you just kinda gotta figure it out. Plus, ya, I'm not quite sure where they're really going to be able to go with the plot. There doesn't seem to be a lot of thought put into it past the episode their currently writing.

I enjoy Castle, mainly cause I like the Firefly guy. But I could see it getting repetitive, like I feel about Monk. I'm completely bored with Monk, although I still really enjoy Psych.

I enjoy Better off Ted. It seems to have that Arrested Development type humor in it. I'm hoping they eventually do away with the whole "talking to the audience" thing, like they did with Sex and the City.

I have to watch Hereos in stages. I dunno why I haven't given up on it yet, I hate it. I feel the need to keep with it, maybe it'll get better. I mean, Lost did, so Hereos could too right? Right...?

And...I watch way to much TV...