Ah, Pilot Season. Let’s take a break from Serious Art to discuss my third favorite art form: TeeVee. Sure, plenty has been written about all the new shows, but I think I there’s a vacuum for a Rotten Tomatoes sort of approach. Ie, the show at a glance. And since I have zero credibility as a television critic, I am just the person to fill that niche. Note: I only watched what I was interested in*, lending me even less credibility. Let’s begin!
The format is simple: I tell you the best and worst aspects of the shows, like this: Good, but Bad.
Pan-Am: Cute, but intellectually insulting.
A Gifted Man: Beautifully acted, but probably going to get cancelled.
Ringer: Surprisingly addictive, but, dammit, now I’m addicted to a CW show.
Whitney: Whitney-Cummings-woman-successful-in-Hollywood-yay!, but, EVERYTHING ELSE.
2 Broke Girls: Funnier than “Whitney,” but the one-liners are going to get old fast.
Community: Better than any of the new sitcoms, but I am an idiot for not noticing it for the past two years.
Person of Interest: Michael Emerson! (my weirdly compelling slightly-evil-nerd crush!), but, please don’t cancel this one, CBS, I’m really addicted.
Unforgettable: Inoffensive, but, um, forgettable? (I told you I was unqualified for this task.)
Prime Suspect: I can’t follow my self-imposed rule for this show, because I found it pretty much perfect. (A lot has been written about how the pilot portrayed sexism in the NYPD in an over-the-top way, which is a valid point, but I also suspect we’ve been brainwashed by unrealistically utopian post-feminism on shows like Law & Order.)
Terra Nova: Jason O’Mara and Stephen Lang are likeable even with hacky writing, but three episodes in I am still finding the persistent anti-science bent disquieting. However, I might be slightly prejudiced because I find dinosaurs tiresome.
Charlie’s Angels: Just kidding. I re-read Judith Krantz novels regularly, but even I can’t sit through Charlie’s Angels’ level of cheese.
Did you watch something I didn’t? Chime in with your one-line (or twenty-line) opinions on the various shows I may have missed or was totally wrong about.
* What I’m interested in: science fiction, women protagonists, and all things pertaining to Michael Emerson.
Hi! The new shows that have made my roster are Pan-Am (I can’t help myself…it reminds me of flying that airline when I was a kid in the 80s) and Person of Interest. We are a couple of episodes behind on the latter but so far so good!
Yes! I totally agree with you about the airline nostalgia, I was dying for one of their little blue Pan-Am bags. Remember when they had individually wrapped bar soaps?
“Community” = awesome. Most rewarding 22 minutes on TV right now.
New shows: We tried to get into “Up All Night”. Gave up after two episodes. Following your review format: You want Christina Applegate and Will Arnett to succeed and make up for unfair previous network cancellations, but the network should probably cancel this show.
If it doesn’t get the axe, and Arrested Development really comes back, Will Arnett will have to clone himself. Not saying that would be a bad thing…