I loved Michael Emerson in Lost, but lost interest in him after watching a couple of episodes of Person of Interest.
Ironic, huh?
How deep did you get? Person of Interest really went places…
About 3 or 4 episodes I think. It was very formulaic, and unlike other shows where a protagonist helps new people every week (The Fugitive, Early Edition), it just felt really flat. A show like that has to have some genuine warmth and make us care about the people in a short amount of time. There’s another show in that genre last year, God Friended Me, that had the same problem. I just didn’t care enough about the characters from week to week, so it became boring to watch.
God Friended Me last year wasn’t very good imho, and I was amazed it got a 2nd season. But it apparently had around 7-8 million viewers per episode.
PoI picked up as the first season rolled on, by season 2-3 it was solid/above average, seasons 4 and 5 were super awesome.
Yeah, the early setup is a bit deceptive for what the show actually does. I was a late convert to the show because I thought it was a basic CBS procedural. But as it goes on it gets super cyber-punk and eventually becomes a show about two AIs at war.
Anyone give any of the new premiers a shot this past week?
Bob Hearts Abishola was horrible. :)
Emergence was good enough to bring me back for a 2nd episode this week ahead.
The Unicorn was so-so for a first episode, its got a really good cast that just needs to find its footing.
Still have to watch Stumptown and Evil.
Sumptown was a lot of fun, great pilot we thought.
Need to check out Emergence maybe today.
Skip Evil. Watch Stumptown and Prodigal Son.
I watched Sunnyside, the new Karl Penn comedy. He’s charming as ever, and I thought it was going to be a new version of Mind Your Language, and that is kind of what it is, but not really. It was entertaining and mildly funny. I’ll keep watching it.
Next I want to watch that new show with Bradley Whitford. Or Stumptown.
I watched that Bradley Whitford show, Perfect Harmony, and it was perfectly alright. A nice little short story. I’m not sure how it’s a TV series though. I guess sometimes a pilot seems more like a little movie, and you’re not sure how it’s a TV series, but episode 2 makes it more clear. I’m guessing that’s the case here.
Perfect Harmony was not my thing but I wanted to give it a shot for Whitford. GONE.
Stumptown didn’t do much for me, but I will give the 2nd episode a chance.
Still gotta watch Sunnyside , Evil and Emergence.
Only so much room on the DVR so one of them 4 will get cut.
Oh yeah, I watched The Unicorn pilot a couple of weeks ago on CBS All Access. Like you said, a so-so first episode. It has potential. It reminds me a little of “About a Boy”, not the Hugh Grant movie but the TV show.
Sunnyside and Evil were both good enough to keep on the DVR schedule.
Emergence and Stumptown left to watch, and its already a new week and new shows are starting! Gah!
I like the Stumptown cast a lot, but I’m a bit sad they aren’t shooting in Portland. The mixtape gimmick also felt like a missed opportunity. There so much great local music in Portland they could be highlighting on the show.
I watched Stumptown (with commercials, booooooooo). That was great! Besides the main actress, I didn’t recognize the other names, but it’s got the guy from the Mummy Reboot (not Tom Cruise, the other guy, the one who looks kind of like Oscar Isaac’s younger brother). It’s also got the android from Almost Human. Remember that show? It didn’t last long, but it was Karl Urban as a cop with an android partner?
Anyway, so yeah, great cast, and a great first episode. And unlike Perfect Harmony, they have a hint right at the end of the pilot that could be a breadcrumb to a second episode.
I guess I still need to check out Prodigal Son, Evil, Emergence, and The Politician.
Btw, in the pilot they never explained why the show is called Stumptown. I guess that reveal will be later in the series. Either that, or it’s a name for Portland that I’ve never heard before.
Stumptown is a nickname Portland acquired in the 19th Century at some point, referring to all the tree stumps that were still around in what is today downtown. Has to have been in the really early days (the 1850’s most likely) but the nickname survives to this day.
Here you go:
I saw Emergence last night. I’m not sure where it will land. It reminds me of 2 TV shows so far.
One was that NBC show last season where people on a flight got transported into the future while on their flight. You thought the science fiction premise was promising in the pilot. It’s the same with Emergence, the science fiction premise looks interesting. In that particular show though, it never went anywhere interesting, and it got annoying to watch very quickly.
Second was a show called Touch, starring Kiefer Sutherland as a dad of an autistic child who can tell the future… or something. Anyway, that one had a really likeable main character and a wild premise. And I kept watching for a while until it felt like nothing was actually happening and I was wasting my time. Similarly, Emergence has a really likeable cop lady main character. She’s fun to watch, and the premise is kind of wild and held my interest in the pilot. But who knows if it will go somewhere interesting or not.
Obviously since both the shows it reminded me of turned out to be duds, I’m actually not that hopeful. I think Stumptown has much more promise.
Second episode of Stumptown as even better than the pilot, I thought. Some great moments and some excellent character establishment work going on there.
I have a strong feeling the robber in the flash back was in fact Grey (the guy from The New Girl) who ran away, discarded his mask, and came back to establish he was innocent. I really thought she had figured it out at one point but I guess that’s a reveal for later, but I’m still certain it’s going to be a thing).
Colbie Smulders has been so much fun to watch in the first couple episodes.