Last part of my look at the new shows. Hopefully you found something you liked and might not have watched other wise...
Ringer (CW)
It's been a while since we last saw Sarah Michelle Gellar in her own television show. The iconic Buffy the Vampire Slayer star is back for a show in CW called Ringer.
She plays Bridget, a woman trying to get her life back together. That
is, until she is the witness of a professional hit. She escapes and
seeks shelter in New York City were twin sister Siobhan resides in a
great apartment, with a great marriage and what is seemingly the perfect
life. Until her sister disappears in open sea and Bridget takes on the
personality of her sister in order to escape from the people that are
after her. Thing is, her sister is also in trouble. Yeah, the premise
is pretty bad and the show is also pretty bad. I have to admit, I was
only able to stomach the Pilot and it was pretty terrible. It looked
bad and the acting was dreadful... especially from Gellar. Now, I don't
know why I expect different from CW shows, but most of them end up
disappointing me. The exception to this rule is, of course, Supernatural.
I have read that it has gotten better after the Pilot, but I'm not
giving this a second chance just yet. There are many other things I'd
prefer to waste my time on than this.
Recommendation: Unwatchable
Suburgatory (ABC)
I
have to admit that when I saw the poster and then read the blurb for
this show, I was immediately uninteresting. Another show about people
from the city moving to the suburbs/country/farm/whatever where they
obviously don't belong. In this case, the father/daughter duo of George
and Tessa played by Jeremy Sisto and Jane Levy move to a place where
fake boobs, fake smiles and makeup abound. I didn't really want to see
this show, but actually found myself enjoying it. You can draw
parallels with other high school movies where the lead is out of her
element like Mean Girls or Easy A. This
show has something of the latter in it. Jane Levy is cute and likeable
while also being witty and a cynic at times. Sisto also does a good job
at being the single dad completely out of place in the suburbs. They
probably could have gotten someone better to play the bitch at school.
Charly Chaikin is pretty bad. Cheryl Hines is pretty great at playing
the annoying Dallas. Alan Tudyk as Sisto's incredibly rich friend is
also pretty good. This is not a great show, by any means, but its a fun
show.
Recommendation: Casual Watch
The Secret Circle (CW)
So, the CW seems to be churning out teen fantasy left and right. It's too bad that the only worthwhile series from the CW is Supernatural.
The CW already has demons and vampires, so it was obvious that witches
is what was left. Apparently, the parents of a group of kids were
witches and now their sons and daughters have gained the powers of the
parents. Sadly, the kids are too interested in each others love lives
and whatnot. The characters here are just completely uninteresting. Of
course, the Twilight/Vampire Diaries crowd
will probably eat this up for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but not me.
It was pretty hard to listen to the stilted dialogue and the idea that
all witches seem to be emo for some reason or another. Even the father
of one of the witches has a haircut that 16 year old with a penchant for
self mutilation and screamo would die for.
Recommendation: Unwatchable
American Horror Story (FX)
And then came this little number to
freak us the fuck out when we least expected it. Horror is not really a
genre that is well represented in today's tv landscape. Now, I have
only been able to see the Pilot, so that is what I am going to base this
recommendation on, but I didn't need to see much more to know that I
wanted to see more of this. The show stars Dylan McDermott and Connie
Britton as Ben and Vivien Harmon. Together with their daughter, Violet
(Taissa Farmiga), they move to Los Angeles to start a new life after the
wife finds her husband cheating on her. More of the secrets of the
family are revealed in the pilot, but instead of answering any questions
you might have had, you only have more questions. There are a host of
creepy characters that pop up during the episode that really make the
show creepy. If it was only the dark side of the family that we saw, it
would get old fast, but for example, the maid is incredibly interesting
especially because it is not explained (once you see the episode you
will understand what I mean). The Harmon's are not just the run of the
mill wrong place and wrong time victims. These characters are deeply
flawed and damaged. I look forward to seeing what the show will bring
to the table. And to those complaining because of its content, stop
trying to regulate what other people watch...
Recommendation: Definite Watch
Person of Interest (CBS)
Probably one of the shows with the
most hype around them for this group of new shows and its easy to know
why. With a cast like this one, people will take notice. James
Caveziel goes from playing Christ to playing an ex-CIA hit man who teams
up with a scientist, played by the always creepy Michael Emerson (of Lost
fame). Harold Finch (Emerson) creates a machine that predicts when a
terrorist act is about to happen. He found out that this technology
also predicted whenever other random acts of violence would occur. The
premise is a lot like the movie Minority Report, but the
characters get more time to be fleshed out and become interesting as we
see sequences of how Reese (Caveziel) became a hit man. The side story
with Taraji P. Henson as a police detective in her search of the
vigilante which is obviously Reese, need more fleshing out but its still
an interesting show.
Recommendation: Definite Watch
A Gifted Man (CBS)
This show has also gotten some good
reviews. I mostly disagree with them. It deals with Dr. Michael Holt
(Patrick Wilson), a surgeon who recently lost his wife and now she sort
of gives him advice from 'beyond'. It's not a new premise or anything,
but the show has a fatal flaw that the shows with self-centered main
characters have to deal with... Dr. Holt is unlikable. Even just
watching the first few minutes, I knew I didn't like him. I guess that
might be the point of the show, but is it? Shows have been trying to
emulate the House formula and been failing because no other character is
as likable and cheerable as Dr. House. While some have tried and
succeeded, this one has failed. I guess I will give it a little chance
to convince me, but the whole mystical hocus pocus crap around it makes
me not want to do it.
Recommendation: Casual Watch
No comments:
Post a Comment