Friday, September 28, 2012

Neighbors and the Other New Sitcoms 2012

Neighbors was weird. It was kooky, unique, crazy. There's no doubt in my mind it will be cancelled.

But I really liked it. For me, it was the best new sitcom of the season. So far, I have watched Go On, Animal Practice, The Mindy Project, Partners, and Guys With Kids. Neighbors stood out and looks to be unlike any other sitcom on television.

I know that critics are going to hate this show. People are going to write it off with Coneheads comparisons. It'll probably be too weird for a lot of people. It will lose a lot of viewers from its lead-in, Modern Family.

I really hope this show makes it.

Go On is okay. It has had some moments. I laughed more than a few times. This past week, the comparisons to Rachael Maddow were hilarious. I put this as the #2 new sitcom of the year.

Animal Practice is #3, but I'm not loving it or any of the others I have seen so far. So far, the monkey is the best thing this show has going for it, but it also has a really good cast, so I have high hopes for it. I do believe, however, that this sow will also be cancelled.

The Mindy Project has potential because of Mindy. She is funny and I loved her on The Office. But I don't remember laughing at all during the first episode.

I feel like there's been too many shows recently about people with young/new children. There's only so many new jokes that can be made about this subject. While I like the cast of Guys With Kids, I'm not impressed by the writing. One laugh in two episodes is not enough for me.

Partners was the most disappointing of the bunch. I didn't laugh at all and three days after watching it, the only thing I remember about the show was that I didn't like it.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Revolution: Part 2

Revolution: As stated before, I am deeply saddened by the fact that Revolution is the only new television show I'm really excited about this year and I fear it will be cancelled at the end of the season. Revolution debuted to 11.7 million. This seems good, but most shows lose a number of people after the first few episodes. Let's say they lose 25%, which would bring it to 8.78 million viewers. I don't think that's good enough for a show like this to stay on TV. So this deepens my fear of it getting cancelled.

Second, the show itself: One of my favorite parts of any show or movie like this is the "shit hits the fan" moments. Think of the first 20 or so minutes of the Dawn of the Dead remake or the first episode of Jericho or the first episode of Lost. Shit has hit the fan and the characters are trying to deal with it, figure it out or just desperately trying to get to a safe place before they can even think about what has just happened and how they will go on.

The show began with life in normalcy. Then, quicker than expected, Dad runs in and warns the wife that shit is about to hit the fan. He call someone up to warn them, but halfway through the call, the shit hits the fan. Power goes off everywhere. The words "Revolution" come on the screen in a Lost kind of way (which I love) and I pause the show.

Holy shit! This is gonna be awesome! The fan has officially been hit by a whole bunch of shit!

(Un-pause)  15 years later. Back to basics. Growin' corn. Burlap-sac-shirt-wearing kid. Happy little community in an old timey way.

Where's my shit hits the fan moment?!?!?!?!?

I'm guessing they're going to save those first few hours/days/weeks after the power goes out for flashbacks. Which is fine, I guess, but they still could've done that and given us at least one episode before the 15-year jump. The shit hits the fan moment won't be as exciting and nerve-wracking knowing how it all turns out.

I think they really dropped the ball here. That being said, by the time the episode ended, I had an overall feeling of enjoyment. It could've been better, a whole lot better, but it was fine. Good enough to continue watching, good enough not to be totally disappointed.

But good enough for the rest of America to keep watching? No way. I'll be completely surprised if this show is still on TV next year. I'll be completely surprised if the big cliffhanger ending of season 1 will be fulfilled and all of us who are left watching at this point get our time's worth.  

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Fall TV 2012: Revolution

Normally there's a slew of new fall TV shows I'm excited to give a try. Last year brought me Revenge, New Girl, Suburgatory, 2 Broke Girls, Up All Night, Secret Circle, Terra Nova, Whitney and probably a couple more I'm forgetting.

This years crop is bringing me exactly ONE show I'm really excited about, but even that show is a scary proposition. The show in question is Revolution. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for this one. What is scary though is that I have a deep seeded feeling it will end up being many things.
   
First, it will be like Jericho and every other post-apocalyptic show. I enjoyed Jericho, but the deep down, I know there is a post-apocalyptic formula done over and over. It is as following: An awesome and captivating first couple of episodes. Then, a whole shit load of really, really long, drawn out and boring character development episodes. Finally, if you have continued to stick with the show to the end of the season, you're usually rewarded by an exciting final two and a half episodes. This will all lead up to the next thing I'm scared Revolution will be. In the season ending episode, something really big will happen. It will make my mouth water, leaving me excited for the second season, which just has to be better thanks to that really big thing just revealed and because we finally got all that boring character development behind us. Then, in the final minutes of the episode, there will be a major cliffhanger.

And finally, after all that, the show will be cancelled and I will be rewarded and compensated for sticking with this show and dedicating too many hours of my time to it by never knowing what would've happened next.

This is one of my biggest problems with the TV networks. I have no trust in them to do right by me. Even the worst shows have millions of people watching them. And yes, I understand cancelling low rated shows is a business decision. But can't it be a law that all shows get at least a 2-hour TV movie to wrap things up for the people who have watched it? Is that too much to ask for? I'm sick and tired of being left to wonder what the hell would've happened next.