I didn’t think The Neighbors was high art or anything, mind you. But I got a serious kick out of it and had some laugh-out-loud moments. My Favorite Martian in reverse.
I watched the pilot, and the second episode last night, and I’m really liking it. Maybe it’s just Mindy Kaling’s charisma, or the back and forth between her character and the rival male doctor–don’t know. Also, loving that that dude from Mad TV is apparently going to be a regular.
I enjoyed 666 Park Avenue’s premier more than I thought I would. It was a little too busy (dropping at least one subplot and a couple characters would have improved it), but the cast was generally good, production values were high, and there were a couple decently creepy moments.
I was surprised with how quickly they jumped into the explicitly supernatural instead of trying to tease the audience with it over time. It makes me nervous that they’re going to skew even more towards goofy FX instead of atmosphere as the show goes on.
I started to watch last week’s “Go On” episode to give Matthew Perry a shot and… really? They think a sitcom about a guy dealing with a dead wife is going to resuscitate his career? Turned it off 10 minutes in.
I was surprised by this, too, but I guess they decided the title gives it all away, so why bother being coy?
I was actually pleased with that aspect of it. I expected they would drag out the whole “are they evil, are they not” question if not the basic question of whether or not anything really supernatural was going on at all! I was pleasantly surprised that they aren’t dicking around with it.
On the flipside, I got a distinctly Devil’s Advocate vibe off the whole pilot, and I’m not sure how well they’ll be able to maintain the balance of actually creepy stuff with mustache-twirling EEEEEEVIL.
I just watched the most recent episode, having seen them all to this point, and I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I like Perry though, so that helps. The rest of the cast seems fun, some more than others, but I really enjoyed this last episode more than the ones before it, which could be partly due to the cast starting to come together a little as well. It’s a pretty big ensemble, so it’s happening this quickly is a nice surprise.
Go On is pretty good. Stronger than the first episode in my opinion.
So far it’s a very sweet natured show so far.
I thought this week’s Go On was easily the best so far. Most episodes had been uneven IMO, but this one seemed to strike a more consistent, likeable tone throughout.
On the other hand, The New Normal drives me crazy. Every five seconds it goes from wonderful to cringeworthy and back. There are great bits dealing with non-traditional families in the 21st century, peppered with awful stuff that seems like it was pulled out of Counter-Strike chat. I understand why they want Ellen Barkin’s character there, but they’re doing a terrible job of writing that character.
That’s Ellen Barkin? No wonder she looked familiar. Age is such a cruel mistress, though–she was super-hot back in the day. :(
Three shows debut tonight: Arrow (CW), Nashville (ABC) and Chicago Fire (NBC).
Poor NBC.
I liked Nashville, I was surprised by that. I was expecting it to be the just the two leads constantly fighting with each other, but they had few scenes together. I liked that both characters have understandable positions, neither of them is really the bad guy it’s just the situation they are in. The record label guy was hilariously straightforward too, when he tells her how her old business model is irrelevant now. It is just a soap opera but it looks like it is going to be an entertaining one.
The Beauty and the Beast remake couldn’t be more awful. Kristin Kreuk is great to look at, as always, but she apparently hasn’t learned one thing about acting since her Smallville days, which means she still doesn’t know one thing about acting. I was incredulous as I watched it, someone picked her to star in a remake of a show where Linda Hamiton played the lead? If someone is dying to feature her in a tv show why not remake something that was poorly done the first time, that way she can at least say she’s doing just as good as the original?
Kristin Kreuk hasn’t gained massive acting talent from that Street Fighter movie she was in? I am shocked. SHOCKED I say.
Its here on my DVR and I might just fast forward through it… :/
ALSO… IS ANYONE ELSE WATCHING THE NEIGHBORS?
Its really hitting its stride imho, loved the episode this week and the girl in the gold dress, yowza! :D This show just has a really well picked cast.
I watched Arrow last week, and I have to say that I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. The main character is the standard superhero who plays a dissipated rich dude as his cover (Batman/Bruce Wayne) but there are a few twists to the story. Also, he’s just come back from being marooned on an island/thought dead for five years, and they’re using a bit of flashbacks to show what happened - and I’ll say that the info shown so far has been a little surprising.
As long as I don’t think too hard about how all these special fancy arrows work, it’s all good. Plus, he actually killed a number of bad dudes in the first episode alone, which was shocking.
Yeah, I was surprised by how good the Arrow pilot was.
The Beauty and the Beast was so horrifically bad, not even going to give the 2nd episode a chance.
ARROW on the other hand was really good, I think it will be a very good Smallville replacement. (fyi to all, I also do pull ups just like that!)
Arrow wasn’t a COMPLETE disaster as I assumed it would be, given its home. It was a bit more brutal than I expected, they made an attempt to create a mystery or two, there were some shout outs to the comic books (Deathstroke anyone?), and the replacement actor actually looks like he could lift a phone book over his head (unlike pretty boy floyd from Smallville).
That being said, this is still showing on the CW so the odds of sappy music being played over long scenes of characters looking lovingly at each other every week is an ever present danger.
Tonight (10/23): Happy Endings and Don’t Trust the B In Apt 23 return on ABC.
This makes for a big comedy throwdown at 9PM, with NBC’s Go On and New Normal at the same time, as well as New Girl and the Mindy show. Although Mindy isn’t on tonight for some reason, as Fox is apparently airing some X Factor nonsense instead.
I’ve fallen way off in my viewings and my DVR is buckling under the weight of the new season. I really want to check out Arrow at some point, but just haven’t been able to find time for it.