Midseason Review – Wednesdays

old-tv-set1We have reached the half way point of our look back at the offerings for the new fall season.  Here’s what Wednesdays had on tap for the fall.

7:00

Arrow – After a dark third season, Arrow returns for more angtsy fun.  The plan seems to be to bring Oliver Queen more in line with his comic book persona, so the tone may lighten up a little.

A bit of a lighter tone in the first half of the season ended with Felicity paralyzed and the gang on the hunt for Damien Darhk.

8:00

Modern Family – The comedy, entering its seventh season, is really starting to show its age.  It’s still fun, but the plots are starting to get a little out there.  Maybe sending Ariel Winter off to college will breathe some new life into the show.

I’m still entertained by the show, but it isn’t the must see it once was.  It’s probably closer to the end than it is to the beginning.

Criminal Minds – The show returns for its eleventh season minus Jennifer Love Hewitt and, for a bit, AJ Cook.  Aisha Tyler steps in for a recurring role, which should be fun, or at least what passes for fun on this show.

With both AJ Cook and Matthew Gray Gubler missing time for maternity leave and outside projects, Aisha Tyler played an important role in the first half of the season.  Now that both are back, it will be interesting to see how often she appears the rest of the way.

Supernatural – I fell completely off the Supernatural bandwagon last year, only seeing a few episodes, and I don’t think I’ll be jumping back in here for its 11th season.

Nope, I think I’m officially done with the Winchester brothers.

8:30

Black-ish – A somewhat surprising hit last season, I’m looking forward to more of the same this year.

Probably the funniest show of the night, surpassing its lead in.

9:00

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2015 New Fall Season – Wednesdays

old-tv-set1We have reached the half way point of our look at the offerings for the new fall season.  Here’s what Wednesdays have on tap for the fall.

7:00

Arrow – After a dark third season, Arrow returns for more angtsy fun.  The plan seems to be to bring Oliver Queen more in line with his comic book persona, so the tone may lighten up a little.

8:00

Modern Family – The comedy, entering its seventh season, is really starting to show its age.  It’s still fun, but the plots are starting to get a little out there.  Maybe sending Ariel Winter off to college will breathe some new life into the show.

Criminal Minds – The show returns for its eleventh season minus Jennifer Love Hewitt and, for a bit, AJ Cook.  Aisha Tyler steps in for a recurring role, which should be fun, or at least what passes for fun on this show.

Supernatural – I fell completely off the Supernatural bandwagon last year, only seeing a few episodes, and I don’t think I’ll be jumping back in here for its 11th season.

8:30

Black-ish – A somewhat surprising hit last season, I’m looking forward to more of the same this year.

9:00

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2015 Emmy Awards – Comedy

Emmy_statueWith the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here are my predictions for the awards for Comedy shows.  I most likely have seen most of these shows, so, unlike my annual Oscar predictions, I will not mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth, but will have a somewhat informed decision.

Outstanding Comedy

Louie

Modern Family

Parks and Recreation

Silicon Valley

Transparent

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Veep

Modern Family won last year and would seem to be the obvious choice here, since the voters love it.  But Veep is certainly my dark horse candidate, so I’ll go with that.

Outstanding Actress In A Comedy

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this award the past two years, and I see no reason why she won’t repeat again this year.

Outstanding Actor In A Comedy

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish

Don Cheadle, House of Lies

Louis CK, Louie

Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

William H. Macy, Shameless

Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Jim Parsons brought home the award last year for his role as Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, but managed to not be nominated this year.  My guess is that Jeffrey Tambor takes home the trophy for Amazon’s hit series.

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ABC Upfronts

agents_of_shield_bannerABC, which finds itself in fourth place as this season winds down, has provided a fall schedule that is relatively stable.  Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays will return in the fall exactly as they wrapped up this spring.  Tuesday sees Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. move back an hour, with the new Pygmalion update Selfie, starring former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan, leading off the night.

Wednesday stays mostly the same, with The Goldbergs and new comedy Black-ish filling in the holes left by Suburgatory and Mixology.  After years of trying, and failing, to find something on Thursdays that could lead in to Grey’s Anatomy, the folks at ABC have given up, instead moving both Greys and Scandal up an hour, leaving the 9:00 hour to the latest from Shonda Grimes.

In the winter, Agent Carter, a spin-off from the first Captain America film following Hayley Atwell’s character in the post-war years, will take over for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while Galavant, a musical fairy tale comedy, does the same for Once Upon A Time.