After 5 seasons, Episodes drew to a close last October. The fictionalized tale of Matt LeBlanc’s post-Friends career was a joint production of Showtime and the BBC.
While the show had a ridiculous premise, it was mostly entertaining. It probably could have hung on for a few more seasons, but if those Brits are good at anything, it is getting off the air before they overstay their welcome.
It is time once again to dive in to the new fall lineups for the television season that kicks into gear tonight. We start this year, thanks to last night’s Emmy Awards, with Monday night’s offerings, which features some returning favorites and a few new potentials.
7:00
The Big Bang Theory – Once again, The Big Bang Theory moves back to Mondays until late October to accommodate the NFL. The show continues to be a ratings powerhouse, so I assume the move won’t shake things up too much.
Supergirl – Despite a successful first season, CBS jettisoned the show and now the second season will air on The CW.
Gotham – I still have the last 9 episodes of season 2 sitting on the DVR, so things don’t look that great for my continued interest in Gotham this year. But, you never know.
7:30
Man With A Plan – Matt LeBlanc returns to network television in this comedy about a contractor who takes more responsibility at home after his wife returns to work. It should be worth at least a shot.
8:00
Jane The Virgin – At this time last year, I was worried that this show would be a one-season wonder and that I would tire of the telenovela aspect of the show. Those worries turned out to be unfounded, as the show continued to be a solid, entertaining watch. I’m expecting more of the same this year.
2 Broke Girls – A 6th season for this crass show that has never been as good as it should be, given the talents of the leads.
9:00 Continue reading →
For the first time this century, CBS announced a new fall schedule this week without a version of CSI in the mix. Instead, the Tiffany network looked to other familiar properties, and stars, to fill the holes in their lineup. With the network again airing football on Thursday nights for the first 2 months of the season, there will be much juggling going on, starting on Monday, where The Big Bang Theory returns until football ends. It will be followed by Kevin Can Wait, a new show featuring former CBS star Kevin James. Once football ends, James moves up a half hour and will be followed by Man With A Plan, starring former Friend Matt LeBlanc. 2 Broke Girls, The Odd Couple, and Scorpion round out the night.
Tuesday wraps two versions of NCIS around Bull, a new drama starring former NCIS star Michael Weatherly as, and you can’t make this up, a young version of Dr. Phil. No changes on Wednesday night, where Criminal Minds returns for its 12th season. Thursday, starting in November, starts with The Big Bang Theory, followed by the new Joel McHale-helmed The Great Indoors. The night finishes with Pure Genius, a new drama from the creator of Parenthood.
Friday sees a new version of MacGuyver, followed by the returning Hawaii Five-O and Blue Bloods. Sunday adds another version of NCIS to fill the hole left by The Good Wife.
Gone and never to be seen again are The Good Wife and summer staple Under The Dome. Gone and destined to be seen again is Supergirl, which is moving to the CW. Gone and maybe seen again is Limitless, which didn’t make the schedule but is not officially cancelled and is looking for a new home.
With 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Once Upon A Time – The fairy tale show is back for season 4, after an uptick in quality during the past season. With little else in competition, I see no reason not to continue turning in.
The first half of the season was a shameless attempt at cashing in on the Frozen phenomenon. We shall see what the producers have up their sleeve for the spring.
7:30
Brooklyn Nine-Nine – FOX has moved its breakout comedy hit from Tuesday nights, where it was ill-matched with New Girl and The Mindy Project. Now it will compete along side more like minded, if animated, comedies.
The show still has a tendency to treat Andy Samberg’s character as too much of a simpleton to be taken seriously as a successful detective, but, beyond that, it is still bringing the funny.
8:00
Resurrection – ABC’s tale of what happens when the dead start to return, as though nothing had happened, became the surprise hit of the spring. The mystery of why seems to be a big part of the show, so I imagine they will need to tackle that sooner rather than later, and I can’t imagine how they can come up with something reasonable.
The show is burning through its cast of characters, and hasn’t really addressed much of the mythology behind the how and why the dead have returned. I still think they will need to do so soon.
The Good Wife – More like the Great Wife, if you catch my drift. Rarely do you see a show hit a creative high point in season 5, but that is exactly what The Good Wife did last season. The status quo was upset once again in the season finale, so it will be interesting to see things play out once again.
Interesting point about the show: Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi have not shared a scene together since episode 14 of season 4, which aired on February 17, 2013.
The Newsroom – HBO’s and Aaron Sorkin’s take on 24 hour cable news returns for a third and final season, dealing with the fallout of last season’s faked story storyline.
The show, and possibly Aaron Sorkin’s television career, wrapped up in December after a final season dealing with a fake Edward Snowden and the real Edward Snowden.
Homeland – The fourth season gives the show a fresh start, with Brody finally dead. Time will tell if they are able to pull out of the talespin that overextending the Brody story put them in to.
When dealing with CIA spy stuff in Islamabad, the show was as good as its ever been. When dealing with Carrie’s personal life, opinions diverged.
With the Emmy Awards scheduled for Monday night, here’s 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.
The Big Bang Theory
Louie
Modern Family
Orange Is The New Black
Silicon Valley
Veep
Modern Family would be the obvious choice here, since the voters seem to love it. But Veep is certainly my dark horse candidate, so I’ll go with that.
Lena Dunham, Girls
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Taylor Schilling, Orange Is The New Black
Julia Louis-Dreyfus won this award last year, and I see no reason why she won’t repeat again this year.
Ricky Gervais, Derek
William H. Macy, Shameless
Louis CK, Louie
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Once again, I am predicting a repeat of last year’s winner, with Jim Parsons bringing home the award again for his role as Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.
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
Once Upon A Time – Season 2 of the show about fairy tale characters in the real world started to go off the rails a little as new characters showed up and the plot expanded. This season promises a more focused plot, which will hopefully result in the show becoming more enjoyable again.
Well, the first half of the season mostly jettisoned most of the characters and focused on a small group fighting Peter Pan in Neverland. While things were more focused, they may have been too focused. The show returns in the spring with (another) new status quo, so we’ll see where it goes from here.
8:00
The Good Wife – Last season, the show moved from solid to really good. With Alicia and Cary planning on leaving the firm, the season ended on a cliffhanger that will hopefully continue to carry it to new heights this year. The big problem once again will be catching the entire episode when football runs long, as it always does.
This show has become crazy good. The slow burn of when will Alicia pull the trigger and leave and then the explosion of what happens once she (and the others) do was tremendously done. The one complaint, and it is a small one, is that every case since has been the new firm versus Lockhart Gardner. It would be nice to see them do battle against some other law firms as well.
Revenge – Another ABC show that became much more convoluted in its second season. This went from one of the better shows of the previous season to one that, more often than not, was a chore to get through. Hopefully a new show runner will get things back on track this year. Otherwise, it might be time to say goodbye to the Hamptons.
Things did get back on track somewhat, but the soapier elements are starting to seep through. I’ll be sticking with the show for now, but I can’t say for how much longer.
The Walking Dead – Now here’s a show that keeps building and building. Following last season’s story with the Governor, things get shaken up at the prison this year. I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
The first part of the season ended with the Governor dead, but Rick and the rest of the survivors forced to separate and go their own ways. Things should pick up again next month when the show returns. Continue reading →
With the Emmy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here’s 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.
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
Girls
Louie
Modern Family
Veep
The sentimental favorite would be the final season of 30 Rock, but my feeling is it will end up being one of the two critical darlings, Louie or Girls. I’m going to go with Louie, as there may be a backlash against Girls and Lena Dunham.
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Lena Dunham, Girls
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
I think this category is where 30 Rock gets celebrated and creator, writer, and star Tina Fey will take home the statue.
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
Louis CK, Louie
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
While I can see Jason Bateman pulling an upset, I think the Netflix-based release of Arrested Development will work against him here. My guess is Jim Parsons takes home the hardware for his role on the top rated comedy on television.