I took a break from working yesterday to check out a few new shows for this fall… some are good, some bad, and some I’m not sure about yet.
Flash Forward (ABC / 60 min length / Thu @ 8PM EST) – This one comes from a book written over a decade ago and is about a worldwide simultaneous unconsciousness that lasts for 2 minutes and 17 seconds where everyone sees what they are doing roughly 6 months in the future. Overall I liked the first episode and think there is potential, though it does seem like ABC is trying to make this the “new” Lost (which ends next year). Definitely one of those things where the audience knows very little about what is going on with subtle clues and no shortage of cliffhangers. Also it has at least a few Lost actors playing parts, as well as (believe it or not) Seth Mcfarlane who plays an FBI agent. This is one that has gone into my Hulu queue and I would suggest others to check out.
Community (NBC / 30 min length / Thu @ 9:30PM EST) – This is Joel McHale’s delve into non-The Soup-related TV where he plays a disbarred lawyer attending community college in an attempt to get his old life back and ends up accidentally bringing together a group of misfits while he was trying to get into another student’s pants. The writing is actually really funny, though it mostly centers around McHale’s character’s narcissism and ability to talk his way out of (or into) anything he wants. McHale doesn’t have to pull the show completely by himself, though, as it does also have Chevy Chase playing a perverted old man who wants to be cool more than anything else. Overall it’s difficult to relate to the characters, but that may just be me. I don’t know if I see this series lasting long, but it is funny enough to enjoy while it does.
Modern Family (ABC / 30 min length / Wed @ 9PM EST) – This one caught me by surprise since I had heard little about it before clicking on the first episode in Hulu. It’s about three families connected by one of them being the biological father of members of the other two: a gay couple who just adopted a Vietnamese daughter; a husband and wife with three teenage-or-younger kids and a dad trying SO hard to be “cool”; and an old man (played by Ed O’Neill of Al from Married with Children fame) married to a Hispanic woman and mother as old as his children. I kept wanting to say “this show is dumb” but it really brought the funny. Rotating through focus on the three unique families at once keeps the show moving and not boring. As for the future of the show, I completely don’t know… it could really go either way depending if it catches on or not. I think it has the quality, but they need to make sure people know to watch it.
Cougar Town (ABC / 30 min length / Wed @ 9:30PM EST) – This one I had low expectations for and it didn’t really disappoint. This is Courtney Cox’s new show where she plays a recent divorcee in a town littered with 40+-something single women and young 20-something men with which to have sex. I gave the show a shot because it’s done by Bill Lawrence who also did Scrubs. I really liked how quirky Scrubs was (until it dragged on to long) so thought maybe despite a silly premise he could recapture that. It is certainly quirky, and actually has a good bit of funny, but none of that overcame the awkward and ridiculous premise to me. On the other hand, how long has Desperate Housewives been going on? This show could very well tap into that market and be very successful, it’s just not for a male edging out 30 I guess.
Glee (Fox / 60 min length / Wed @ 9PM EST) – Ok, I know, but hear me out. This one isn’t near as bad as I was expecting, though it does have me face-palming at times. It’s about a newly-formed Glee club at a High School that has nothing going for it except an internationally-competing cheerleading squad, and how the Glee club continues to better the school against all odds. One of the best parts about the show is the head of the cheerleading squad played by Jane Lynch, who you will know as Paula (the boss) from The 40 Year Old Virgin. The show is a heaping mess of dysfunction, unrequited love, high school drama (without being too terribly angsty), and, of course, musical numbers. It’s an oddly fun show, though I don’t see myself continuing to watch it. There are 4 episodes so far and at the end of each one I would say to myself “Ok, we can stop now” but then I’d watch the next one. Personally I think it’d be a lot better in a 30 minute time slot rather than a 60 minute one. Also they need to get rid of the main character’s wife because she simply brings TOO much dysfunction to the show (even faking a pregnancy). It’s another one where it can be difficult to relate to some of the characters, and I just don’t see it being strong enough to survive Fox’s axe.
So that’s what I’ve seen lately. Another one to look out for is V on ABC which is a reimagining of an 80’s show of the same name about a race of aliens who show up to Earth touting peace and harmony, and a group of people who don’t buy into that and form a resistance. It premieres on November 3 and may be an additional Lost replacement for ABC given what I’ve seen about it so far and that it has a number of Lost people playing parts in it. It also has the hot prostitute chick from Firefly/Serenity in it playing the main alien.
