TV Roundup
Monday, August 27, 11:55 PM By
Bryan
Awhile ago, Shelly and I did a
TV Blog. It was mostly a bust. Sure, I'll take the
fall. Anyway, I work for a giant media conglomerate in the way a
worker drone serves their queen and I've seen the pilot episodes
for some new fall shows on a network that rhymes with
'Shmay-She-See.' I thought today's Thing would be a short review on
these new shows. To make it hard, I saw the pilots, like, two
months ago and the reviews are hazy. TV is best remembered half-way
anyway. I usually see the Shmay-She-See pilots early. I have a
track record of liking shows that die a quick death. So, the shows
I don't like should be your cue to grab that TIVO pass. Also,
bosses, please look kindly, I consider myself part of that New Geek
Consumer that determines national tastes and is mentioned in every
article about Comicon. In college, they just called us music nazis
and Point dexter.
Comedies today, dramas later. So in no particular order.
Miss/Guided
A mid-season replacement. I'm a fan of Judy Greer and I've liked her in almost everything I've seen her in, even crap. And she's the lynchpin of this show. Like David Duchovny and Californication, this show wouldn't work without her or with another actress. My network has caught onto geekmania but is contractually obligated to skew female, so this is the result. The premise is a female Welcome Back Kotter where Kotter was the unpopular nerd kid. Unstated theme, you can always re-invent yourself, Ugly Betty without the camp and gay. Judy's a guidance counselor who, get this, could use social counseling herself. Wack-ee. She has an unrequited crush, a popular girl arch-enemy and (the new stereotype for the new century, IE 1970's) an exasperated, overworked black principle. Actually, I liked the show. The pacing was Earl-esque, Judy's great, most of the adults are okay, they could use less kids, but, hey, it's a high school. Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas has already been on the show and left, so that's not good news. I keep hearing 'retooling' when people talk about the show. I have a feeling the pilot I saw will not look like the show they'll air three times before canceling it. Yea, I liked it. It's canceled. And it's a mid-season show, so look for According to Jim to eventually replace Miss/Guided which will replace...
Carpoolers
Quick, name a four person all male buddy sitcom that was a success. Y'know, the one that is inevitably called "The male Sex In The City." Can't do it. Hasn't been one. Seinfeld had Elaine, she doesn't count. And the gawd-awful Wild Hogs is a movie. But hey, all the cliches are here--- the newly married naive guy, the lothario with no furnishings in his bachelor pad save his plasma TV and exercise chair/barcalounger, the hen-pecked weak husband who uses the carpool as his escape, and the normal guy who feels emasculated. And the hook, they share a car pool. Yep, that's the whole flimsy premise. Male bounding through sitting in traffic. There's lame 'a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do' speeches, the weirdo grown-up son, ironic jobs, and other sitcom-land conventions. At least it's not all done on a sound studio. It's really generic on all fronts. I understand Jerry O' Connell and Faith Ford will work cheap and the rest of the cast just needs a job, but c'mon, step up people. It's hacky on almost all fronts. It's isn't According to Jim eye-searingly bad, but Jim will be doing double-duty soon. There's another show with incredibly lame premise, you've heard of it, hell, you may even have their insurance. But at least...
Cavemen
doesn't suck. Yea, I know, I'm surprised too. Mind you, it isn't a great show. But, Cavemen benefits from living up to low expectations. I'm not TIVO'ing it, but I'll ditch working to watch it. The premise, Cavemen are the new black people. They don't come out and say it and they even conspicuously have one black bit part in the pilot to drive that point away, but who's kidding who? Cavemen living in modern times are subject to all kinds of racists (specieists?) stereotypes. They're the dumb weather guys on TV, their athletic, and so on and so on. And this notion is what makes a dumb premise watch-able, there's some satire in the show. It isn't razor-sharp, but there's room for improvement and growth as the subculture and regular folks reactions are explored. Although, the show could get dumb fast if they stick to the three main characters personalities instead of widening out. There's the dumb one, the sarcastic one and the one who wants to fit in. (See a pattern here with sitcoms?) A few nifty visual gags, clever sarcastic remarks and a drunk Julie White (Work that cliche, baby!) made the tired set-up of rednecks at the country club trying to woo daddy (John Heard, slummin' away) to get the way-too-hot girl actually not seem painful. Caveman will probably only last a season just by name-recogition alone. Could go longer if the right tone is set. Speaking of toney, or Shmay-She-See's attempts at it...
Samantha Who
falls a little short of that new brand comedy that's funny and failing over there at NBC. Okay, it's a female My Name is Earl, no getting around it. There's no list or wacky meth addicts, but the redemption template is pretty well set in stone. Bad girl Christina Applegate gets amnesia (hi-larious!) and uses her forgetfulness to atone for her bad past. What bad thing did she do in the past, I bet a funny flashback will let us know. It's a high-brow show 'cause, c'mon she was a bad girl and she's our hero. But now she wants to be good. Having cake and eating it, mmmmm, mmmm. It's also high-brow 'cause it's set in the big city, people wear fashion and between scenes are handwritten title cards. Frasier what have you done? Now that I think about it, that's one of the things that bugs me about Flight of the Concords. That conceit hasn't really worked since Rushmore. And indie movies probably have more cliches than sitcoms. Anyway, don't remember much about the show (hee!), nor do I remember either liking or hating it. I think the show may be the highest rated of the new sitcoms because it's glossy, men and women like Christina Applegate (and she's fine in the role), there's the appearance of outrageousness without any pesky bite and a large female segment needs more than the Sex and the City reruns on TBS. Two seasons.
I can't think of any more half-hour comedy pilots I saw a few months ago, but I do have a few recommends of the current half-hour comedies I'm watching.
The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman on IFC. I've always said women will never be equal in comedy until they can be the total assholes men have no problem being. (Wow, I think that makes me an asshole for saying it.) This show gives me hope. (Plus any show that has a Merril Markoe cameo is ok by me)
Weeds. Catching up. Love Mary Louise Parker's loopy determination. A weird mix of Xanax and white wine. Thought I was going to say something else, eh?
Californication. Man crush on DD, but not there yet.
Flight of the Concords. My son said it best, just Youtube the songs. Shelly uses it as her night-night show.
The It Crowd. The British version. Watch it on Youtube now. And complain about how the American remake sucks. The second season just started.
Dramas later.
Comedies today, dramas later. So in no particular order.
Miss/Guided
A mid-season replacement. I'm a fan of Judy Greer and I've liked her in almost everything I've seen her in, even crap. And she's the lynchpin of this show. Like David Duchovny and Californication, this show wouldn't work without her or with another actress. My network has caught onto geekmania but is contractually obligated to skew female, so this is the result. The premise is a female Welcome Back Kotter where Kotter was the unpopular nerd kid. Unstated theme, you can always re-invent yourself, Ugly Betty without the camp and gay. Judy's a guidance counselor who, get this, could use social counseling herself. Wack-ee. She has an unrequited crush, a popular girl arch-enemy and (the new stereotype for the new century, IE 1970's) an exasperated, overworked black principle. Actually, I liked the show. The pacing was Earl-esque, Judy's great, most of the adults are okay, they could use less kids, but, hey, it's a high school. Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas has already been on the show and left, so that's not good news. I keep hearing 'retooling' when people talk about the show. I have a feeling the pilot I saw will not look like the show they'll air three times before canceling it. Yea, I liked it. It's canceled. And it's a mid-season show, so look for According to Jim to eventually replace Miss/Guided which will replace...
Carpoolers
Quick, name a four person all male buddy sitcom that was a success. Y'know, the one that is inevitably called "The male Sex In The City." Can't do it. Hasn't been one. Seinfeld had Elaine, she doesn't count. And the gawd-awful Wild Hogs is a movie. But hey, all the cliches are here--- the newly married naive guy, the lothario with no furnishings in his bachelor pad save his plasma TV and exercise chair/barcalounger, the hen-pecked weak husband who uses the carpool as his escape, and the normal guy who feels emasculated. And the hook, they share a car pool. Yep, that's the whole flimsy premise. Male bounding through sitting in traffic. There's lame 'a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do' speeches, the weirdo grown-up son, ironic jobs, and other sitcom-land conventions. At least it's not all done on a sound studio. It's really generic on all fronts. I understand Jerry O' Connell and Faith Ford will work cheap and the rest of the cast just needs a job, but c'mon, step up people. It's hacky on almost all fronts. It's isn't According to Jim eye-searingly bad, but Jim will be doing double-duty soon. There's another show with incredibly lame premise, you've heard of it, hell, you may even have their insurance. But at least...
Cavemen
doesn't suck. Yea, I know, I'm surprised too. Mind you, it isn't a great show. But, Cavemen benefits from living up to low expectations. I'm not TIVO'ing it, but I'll ditch working to watch it. The premise, Cavemen are the new black people. They don't come out and say it and they even conspicuously have one black bit part in the pilot to drive that point away, but who's kidding who? Cavemen living in modern times are subject to all kinds of racists (specieists?) stereotypes. They're the dumb weather guys on TV, their athletic, and so on and so on. And this notion is what makes a dumb premise watch-able, there's some satire in the show. It isn't razor-sharp, but there's room for improvement and growth as the subculture and regular folks reactions are explored. Although, the show could get dumb fast if they stick to the three main characters personalities instead of widening out. There's the dumb one, the sarcastic one and the one who wants to fit in. (See a pattern here with sitcoms?) A few nifty visual gags, clever sarcastic remarks and a drunk Julie White (Work that cliche, baby!) made the tired set-up of rednecks at the country club trying to woo daddy (John Heard, slummin' away) to get the way-too-hot girl actually not seem painful. Caveman will probably only last a season just by name-recogition alone. Could go longer if the right tone is set. Speaking of toney, or Shmay-She-See's attempts at it...
Samantha Who
falls a little short of that new brand comedy that's funny and failing over there at NBC. Okay, it's a female My Name is Earl, no getting around it. There's no list or wacky meth addicts, but the redemption template is pretty well set in stone. Bad girl Christina Applegate gets amnesia (hi-larious!) and uses her forgetfulness to atone for her bad past. What bad thing did she do in the past, I bet a funny flashback will let us know. It's a high-brow show 'cause, c'mon she was a bad girl and she's our hero. But now she wants to be good. Having cake and eating it, mmmmm, mmmm. It's also high-brow 'cause it's set in the big city, people wear fashion and between scenes are handwritten title cards. Frasier what have you done? Now that I think about it, that's one of the things that bugs me about Flight of the Concords. That conceit hasn't really worked since Rushmore. And indie movies probably have more cliches than sitcoms. Anyway, don't remember much about the show (hee!), nor do I remember either liking or hating it. I think the show may be the highest rated of the new sitcoms because it's glossy, men and women like Christina Applegate (and she's fine in the role), there's the appearance of outrageousness without any pesky bite and a large female segment needs more than the Sex and the City reruns on TBS. Two seasons.
I can't think of any more half-hour comedy pilots I saw a few months ago, but I do have a few recommends of the current half-hour comedies I'm watching.
The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman on IFC. I've always said women will never be equal in comedy until they can be the total assholes men have no problem being. (Wow, I think that makes me an asshole for saying it.) This show gives me hope. (Plus any show that has a Merril Markoe cameo is ok by me)
Weeds. Catching up. Love Mary Louise Parker's loopy determination. A weird mix of Xanax and white wine. Thought I was going to say something else, eh?
Californication. Man crush on DD, but not there yet.
Flight of the Concords. My son said it best, just Youtube the songs. Shelly uses it as her night-night show.
The It Crowd. The British version. Watch it on Youtube now. And complain about how the American remake sucks. The second season just started.
Dramas later.
