Monsters of Television

As part of the new fall season coverage, we’re doing what we call audition reviews for new shows. An audition review doesn’t necessarily mean the show will enter the normal rotation, but it will provide an initial reaction to a new series. Especially in light of time shifting practices, we think this is a valuable way to read brief reviews on new series to help you decide if you want to watch the show. For those who watch it live, it’s a good way to begin a conversation about a new series. These reviews will typically be shorter than our regular reviews, and may include thoughts from more than one of our writers.

FX’s Terriers is private eye show, as an ex-cop (Donal Logue) teams up with his best friend (Michael Raymond-James) to solve cases in a community near San Diego. Read more »

She's brunette! So you can tell she's not the lead. Seriously. Blonde=lead.

As part of the new fall season coverage, we’re doing what we call audition reviews for new shows. An audition review doesn’t necessarily mean the show will enter the normal rotation, but it will provide an initial reaction to a new series. Especially in light of time shifting practices, we think this is a valuable way to read brief reviews on new series to help you decide if you want to watch the show. For those who watch it live, it’s a good way to begin a conversation about a new series. These reviews will typically be shorter than our regular reviews, and may include thoughts from more than one of our writers.

Hellcats tells the story of Marti (Alyson Michalka), a young law student who must join her school’s competitive cheerleading squad to stay in school when her scholarship falls through.

Come on in as Matt and Karen engage in an epic battle over Hellcat’s honor.

Or, not so much, since they pretty much agree about everything but Ashley Tisdale…

Read more »

“FROM ONE PAWN TO ANOTHER.”

“THEY HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT.”

Rubicon thus far, is an interesting study in just how much genre and style matter. Its slow burning, methodological pace and meandering characters reminded me of Mad Men in a number of ways (no idea if this is an AMC thing since I haven’t seen an episode of Breaking Bad, but now have plenty of time to catch up on it). Mad Men‘s high modernist-influenced slice of life approach infuriated me to no end because it wasn’t that nothing happened, but that so little happened that I cared about to characters I couldn’t care about, and it happened very slowly.

Rubicon, on the other hand….well…there’s nothing to spoil because nothing has happened, also kind of like Mad Men (consider that my comment on Matthew Weiner’s idiotic mentality toward spoilers). But I find myself engaged with these two episodes even though very little happens, and the characters are not exactly complicated or willing to say things out loud. From it’s set design to its sound mixing (which has been accused of looking cheap, but I say is very purposeful) to the drab costuming and opaque plot developments, Rubicon embraces the 1970s spy thriller film, and doesn’t look back (or at least I hope it doesn’t). Read more »

“I’m not a psychopath. I’m a high functioning sociopath. Do your research.”

I had to leave Sherlock, the new BBC series created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, during the last 20 minutes due to dinner plans, so I left the episode’s climax hanging. But it gave me time to start thinking about the episode before I sat down to write, something I appreciate having depending on the show. The conclusion I came to was that I was surprised that it has taken this long for Sherlock Holmes himself to fully return to popular culture.

For a while, the Sherlock Holmes format has been used in a variety of other shows recently, like House, Monk, The Mentalist, and to an extent, CSI and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (specifically Goren). House is probably the clearest example, as Gregory House is essentially Sherlock Holmes (at least in the first couple of seasons)  but with a prescription pad. But where was Sherlock? Why hadn’t anyone decided to bring him back to TV or film? Read more »

“There’s complexity, and then there’s lying.”

Here’s a fun bit of trivia for you: Covert Affairs was the topic of the first post on this blog.  (Note how article totally gives away the ending of the pilot? Yeah, kind of killed the suspense for me.) Happily, I was correct in my general assessment of the show when the pilot was picked up by USA. The show is Burn Notice and White Collar, with obvious dashes of Alias sprinkled into the mix.

As a result, like most of USA’s programming, Covert Affairs is a solid, promising, and entertaining  show. It’s stylish, briskly paced, well-staged action sequences, and deft humor. What makes me worried is that those words also describe how I felt about White Collar at its start, and then it began a decline that led to a shoddy betrayal.

I’d really prefer that Covert Affairs not do that, but I see the potential for it to happen. Read more »

“Geeze. Take a Midol.”

I’ve been looking forward to the premiere of Rizzoli & Isles (hereafter R&I) for a little while now. I’m a big fan of Angie Harmon (I thought she and Shaw should’ve teamed up on Chuck at the end for the season for their own villainous plans!), and while Sasha Alexander is basically known as the woman who proceeded Cote de Pablo on NCIS, she showed some skill on the show (though I never thought Kate really gelled the way Ziva has (this is not an invitation for Kate lovers to start yelling)) so I was interested to see what she would bring to this crime-solving, female power hour.

Sadly, folks, it doesn’t look good.
Read more »

“It’s the best damn Chinese food I’ve ever had. I could eat it everyday.”

A group of strangers awaken in a deserted hotel in a small, creepy ghost town and have to figure out who has brought them there and why. That is the premise of Persons Unknown. I’m normally a sucker for stories like that (see: Lost or (based on the trailer) Exam) so I was pretty excited going into the pilot. But much like the characters in the show I found myself wondering who the hell brought me here and why were they making me watch this? Read more »

“Show us all why you’re the second best.”

The comparison I’m about to make probably wouldn’t have happened with the presence of Colin Hanks, but The Good Guys is essentially the premise of the parody/homage that was the 1987 Dragnet film with Hanks’ father, but with an ’80s cop stuck in the current decade (I think) with a straight-laced rookie who has to come to grips with said partner. Indeed, it’s pretty much every buddy cop story ever told just with an incredible mustache.

And normally I’d be all over it, but the pilot episode isn’t exactly great. It’s passable, yes, and there’s potential for improvement here, but I’m not too sure exactly where it intends to grow. Read more »