With the advent of winter premieres, the start of the premium cable network shows, and with February sweeps around the corner, it’s time to revisit my thoughts from the beginning of the season and look ahead at what’s to come for Sunday nights.
Now, let’s see what interesting tidbits are coming this spring:
The Blacklist – The long running James Spader vehicle returns, for some reason, for its tenth season.
With the advent of winter premieres, the start of the premium cable network shows, and with February sweeps around the corner, it’s time to revisit my thoughts from the beginning of the season and look ahead at what’s to come for Sunday nights.
7:00
Blindspot – The show returns for a shocking fourth season.
I have yet to watch any of this season, so I can’t really comment on it.
8:00
Hawaii Five-0 – The ninth season of the show corresponds with the 50th anniversary of the original.
After 9 years, I’m not sure there’s anything new I can say about the show at this point.
9:00
Blue Bloods – A change in family dynamics looks to shake things up for the first family of the NYPD as they return for their ninth season.
The changes between Jamie and Eddie, both in the work place and in their personal lives, has given a little new breath to the show. Not much, but a little.
Now, for new entries that will be hitting the screen this winter:
The Blacklist – James Spader and Megan Boone return for the sixth season.
Thursday night is traditionally the busiest night of the week for my television viewing habits. Here’s what’s on the slate for this season.
7:00
Grey’s Anatomy – The medical drama enters its 12th season after a dark 11th season which killed off Patrick Dempsey’s Dr. McDreamy. The show promises a brighter season, so we’ll see what happens.
The Big Bang Theory – The show returns to Thursdays in early November, following the midpoint of the NFL season.
Bones – The show returns for its 11th season. Beyond that, there’s not much to say about the show that hasn’t already been said.
Heroes Reborn – NBC’s rebooted Heroes show, originally announced 18 months ago, finally makes it to air. I will give this a shot, but I fear it will have a very short leash, given how poorly the original series ended up.
7:30
Life In Pieces – Assuming I’m still watching this come November, it moves from Monday along with BBT.
8:00
The Blacklist – James Spader returns for a third season of chewing the scenery.
Sleepy Hollow – I dropped this midway through the past season when I realized that I was never actually watching the show and instead just playing it in the background while doing other things. I doubt I’ll be going back, considering I still don’t know any characters name beyond Ichabod Crane.
9:00
Elementary – Sherlock and Watson return for a fourth season of helping the NYPD solve their cases, this time with John Noble as Sherlock’s father. Continue reading →
Day 2 of our look at the new fall television season brings us to Mondays.
7:00
The Big Bang Theory – CBS spent $275 million to broadcast 8 Thursday night NFL games, so The Big Bang Theory moves back to Mondays until late October. The show continues to be a ratings powerhouse, so hopefully the move doesn’t shake things up too much.
2 Broke Girls – Once The Big Bang Theory returns to its Thursday perch, 2 Broke Girls will return to the Monday slot it inherited last spring from How I Met Your Mother. At this point, the show is what it is, so there is no point on hoping that the writers move away from their lowest common denominator form of comedy. As long as Beth Behrs and Kat Dennings continue to charm, I will continue to watch. But their charms only go so far.
Gotham – FOX gets in the superhero game with this Batman prequel, set in the days just after a young Bruce Wayne has witnessed the death of his parents. The show has been sold as more of the Gotham police force dealing with the criminals that will one day become Batman’s fiercest foes.
8:00
Sleepy Hollow – I am going to be completely honest and say I don’t really remember much about the first season of this show, other than it was a little crazy and it didn’t exactly grab me as much as it seemigly did everyone else. I guess I’ll stick around until/unless I find something to take its place.
Jane The Virgin – The first CW pilot in years to not feature either vampires or superheroes is an adaptation of a Venezuelen telenovela. Early reports are that it is one of the better pilots of the fall, so I guess I can give it a shot.
9:00 Continue reading →
Day 2 of our look back at my thoughts on the new fall television season and what is new for the winter and spring.
7:00
How I Met Your Mother – Entering its 9th and final season, the show finally introduced the titular mother in last spring’s finale. This entire season will take place over the weekend of Barney and Robin’s wedding, but should have some flashbacks and flashforwards involving the mother.
The show has worked best this season when the mother has been involved, which, sadly, hasn’t been too often. The plan is for it to air without reruns through the series finale in March.
Bones – Also returning for its 9th season, Bonesstarts the year on Mondays but is scheduled to move to Fridays after the World Series. Replacing it on Mondays will be
Well, FOX finally pulled the trigger and actually moved Bones to Fridays. Not much to say about the show that hasn’t already been said. It seems to just keep chugging along.
Almost Human – Brought to us by some of the good folks responsible for Fringe, I’ll give this a shot, assuming it ever does show up on Mondays.
We’re 9 episodes into the season and I’m still not sure what to make of this one. More often than not, I find myself falling asleep during the show, which I guess doesn’t bode well for it.
8:00
2 Broke Girls – Entering its 3rd season, it is time to accept that this show is not going to change. It will continue to feature two talented leads and surround them with base racial stereotypes and humor aimed towards the lowest common denominator. To this point, the charm of the leads has been enough to overcome bad things about the show. At some point, though, that is bound to change.
The status quo got shaken up a bit, first with the addition of the cupcake window at the back of the diner and then with the addition of the baking school. Continue reading →
Day 2 of our look at the new fall television season brings us to Mondays.
7:00
How I Met Your Mother – Entering its 9th and final season, the show finally introduced the titular mother in last spring’s finale. This entire season will take place over the weekend of Barney and Robin’s wedding, but should have some flashbacks and flashforwards involving the mother.
Bones – Also returning for its 9th season, Bones starts the year on Mondays but is scheduled to move to Fridays after the World Series. Replacing it on Mondays will be
Almost Human – Brought to us by some of the good folks responsible for Fringe, I’ll give this a shot, assuming it ever does show up on Mondays.
8:00
2 Broke Girls – Entering its 3rd season, it is time to accept that this show is not going to change. It will continue to feature two talented leads and surround them with base racial stereotypes and humor aimed towards the lowest common denominator. To this point, the charm of the leads has been enough to overcome bad things about the show. At some point, though, that is bound to change.
Sleepy Hollow – The new show takes Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman and brings them from the Revolutionary War to the present day. I was not very impressed with the pilot, but I’ll give it a few weeks to see if it improves.
NBC jumped the gun and announced many of their renewals early, including the surprise 5th season of Community. Over the weekend, they presented their full schedule. The slate includes new shows with James Spader, Blair Underwood, Mike O’Malley, Sean Hayes, and Michael J. Fox. Revolution loses its plum post-Voice slot on Mondays and will have to fend for itself leading off Wednesdays. Parenthood inherits the once-exclusive Thursday night slot held by ER, but which has become a wasteland since that show went off the air. Community starts on the bench, waiting once again for one of the new comedies to falter. No word yet on the fate of Hannibal, which is piling up on the DVR and will likely be watched only if it gets renewed.
Overall, NBC is in a world of hurt. The only returning shows on their fall schedule that I am currently watching are Revolution, which has not grabbed much of my attention since it came back after a looooong hiatus, and Parenthood. None of their new shows looks promising on first glance. I guess there is a reason they are languishing in the ratings race.
NBC and the producers of The Office announced on Tuesday that the upcoming 9th season would be the show’s last, and hopefully, they can go out with a bang. Last season, the first without Steve Carell, saw a huge decline in quality as the show tried, and, in my opinion, failed in continuing on without Michael Scott. Either the story seemed written for Carell’s Scott, which forced Ed Helms’ Andy Bernard to act completely out of character, or they tried to use James Spader to varying degrees of success. One can only hope that, with the end in sight, they can bounce back some this year and leave on top of their game.
Nearing the end of our look back at the fall television season.
CBS
Big Bang Theory – The nerds return for more fun.
This show has wisely mixed things up, with the focus nearly equal between the guys and the girls. The additions of Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik to the cast have made a strong show even stronger. There was one occassion where the show fell victim to the main charge of its critics, where it laughed at nerds instead of with them. Hopefully that was a blip and not a tonal shift.
How To Be A Gentleman – This looks to be horrible. I doubt it lasts through November sweeps.
And it didn’t.
Person Of Interst – Michael Emerson’s first post-Lost series. That alone is enough of a reason to give this a chance.
This is not really a bad show, but it isn’t really a good one and it seems like a total waste of Michael Emerson’s talents. It looks like they may be mixing things up a bit by bringing Taraji P. Henson into the fold, so maybe that will help.
The Mentalist – Based on the premiere, it will be more of the same from The Mentalist. It’s a good enough show, but I can see it burning out quickly if they don’t shake things up sometime soon.
More of the same indeed. The addition of one of the kids from the new Melrose Place as the new boss is kind of weird, but beyond that, nothing really new.
NBC
Community – Back for a surprising third season. John Goodman has joined in a recurring role, and, so far, looks to have brought his A-game.
Well, John Goodman only appeared 2 or 3 times, but this season has been bizarrely brilliant. Of course, this means that NBC has pulled it from the schedule, claiming it will return at some undetermined point in the future. I know 3 seasons is more than most series see, but losing this show will hurt more than most. Continue reading →
CBS
Big Bang Theory – The nerds return for more fun.
How To Be A Gentleman – This looks to be horrible. I doubt it lasts through November sweeps.
Person Of Interst – Michael Emerson’s first post-Lost series. That alone is enough of a reason to give this a chance.
The Mentalist – Based on the premiere, it will be more of the same from The Mentalist. It’s a good enough show, but I can see it burning out quickly if they don’t shake things up sometime soon.
NBC
Community – Back for a surprising third season. John Goodman has joined in a recurring role, and, so far, looks to have brought his A-game.