Tag / Suburgatory

by jim

Post Mortem – Suburgatory

suburgatory3 years ago, viewers were introduced to the quirky town of Chatswin, where George Altman had moved with his daughter Tessa to escape the harsh streets of New York city.  Over the course of 57 episodes during those 3 years, Suburgatory showed how the Altman’s adjusted to suburban life while trying to keep their city edge.  The show initially was a critical darling, but had difficulty finding a strong audience.  As the series went on, there appeared to be attempts to broaden the appeal, which just watered down what those of us who were already watching liked about the show.

Two standouts of this show were Jane Levy, who starred as Tessa, and Carly Chaikin, who portrayed her nemesis Dalia.  I certainly look forward to what these two do in the future.

by jim

Post Mortem – Trophy Wife

Trophy_Wife_Serie_de_TV-857495131-largeAfter getting a taste of network television last season as a guest star on Suburgatory, Malin Akerman signed on for Trophy Wife, the latest in ABC’s long line of ironically named sitcoms that then has to work extra hard to overcome the ironic name.  Trophy Wife was easily one of the best sitcoms to debut this past season, but it had a hard time finding an audience on Tuesday nights.  The show was an obvious match with Modern Family, but ABC never tried it in that slot.  Instead, it will go down as one of those one and done show, which deserved to get a second season but was done in by short-sighted network executives.

by admin

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.

by admin

Midseason Review – Wednesdays

old-tv-set1It’s Hump Day. Time to take a look back at my thoughts on the midweek offerings for the fall season.

7:00

Revolution – NBC’s lone hit from last fall moves to Wednesdays.  This show struggled mightily once it returned from the winter hiatus, and it will need to start strong if I’m going to stick around for long.

Well, this one didn’t even make it to the second season premiere.  Once again, bad reviews and a need to clear room off the DVR helped me realize once again that life is too short to watch shows I am not really enjoying.

Arrow – Surprisingly, the CW kind of hit it out of the park with this tale of Green Arrow.  Season 2 will be offering an arc featuring Summer Glau, so I, for one, am excited to see where things go.

Arrow has basically turned itself in to the anti-Smallville, learning from the mistakes of its DC-based predecessor.

8:00

Criminal Minds – Another show heading into its ninth season.  This one is getting a little tired, but it is still good more often than not.

No surprises here, but the show continues to be mostly entertaining.

Modern Family – This continues to be a funny show, even if most of the characters have become caricatures of themselves at this point.  But that is to be expected in comedies entering their fifth season.

The show continues to chug along, although puberty has not really been kind to the youngest member of the Dunphy clan. Continue reading →

by jim

ABC Upfronts

agents_of_shield_banner

The big news from ABC was their no-brainer decision to pick up Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers spin-off that will follow the further adventures of Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson and will tie in to the uber-successful Marvel film franchise.  Beyond that, the only real change is an official scheduling change for most of their dramas, moving away from their traditional approach of having 22 or 24 episodes sprinkled out over 40 weeks and instead following the cable model of airing in 11 or 12 week blocks, with a “bridge” show or miniseries in between to avoid airing repeats.

Beyond that, nothing too exciting for the Alphabet network.  After a dicey second season, Suburgatory finds itself on the bench waiting for midseason or a new comedy to die an early death.  Outside of SHIELD, none of the new shows looks too exciting, although I reserve the right to change my mind between now and September.

 

by admin

Midseason Review – Wednesdays

It’s Hump Day. Time to take a look back at my thoughts on the midweek offerings for the fall season.

7:00

Animal Practice – When the best thing about your pilot episode is the monkey that played Annie’s Boobs on Community, that’s a good sign that your show is in trouble. When you keep cutting to the monkey because you know it’s the best thing about your pilot, that’s just sad. There is some promise here with Justin Kirk and JoAnna Garcia, but I don’t plan to stick around in the off chance they find it.

It’s hard to imagine that a show centered around a monkey did not become a huge hit and was instead the first show to be yanked off the air.

Arrow – The CW tries to give the Smallville treatment to Green Arrow. I’m willing to give it a shot and hope for the best.

A decent enough show, but nothing spectacular.  I could see this following the Smallville path and lasting for years, with my interest waning somewhere along the way.

7:30

Guys With Kids – Having watched the first episode, which premiered last week, I can only say that this feels like a comedy that could have been on 20 years ago. And that is not a compliment.

I couldn’t even tell you if this show is still on the air.

The Neighbors – I only saw a brief clip of this show, but it was enough to tell me that I am not the target audience for this show. I’m not even sure who that target audience may be.

So I took one for the team and watched the pilot episode and, as I thought, this was not for me.  Some people actually seem to enjoy this show, so more power to them.

8:00

Criminal Minds – Jeanne Tripplehorn joins the team for season 8, replacing the departing Paget Brewster.

The wrinkles are starting to show more and more.  They’ve tried to introduce something of an arc for this season, but it really hasn’t been done all that well.

Modern Family – The family is expanding, as last season ended with Gloria revealing she is pregnant. This continues to be a consistently funny show.

Still bringing the funny, although most of the news about Modern Family this season has been about off the set drama involving Ariel Winter and her mother.

Continue reading →

by jim

2012 New Fall Season – Wednesdays

It’s Hump Day.  Time to take a look at the midweek offerings for the new fall season.

7:00

Animal Practice – When the best thing about your pilot episode is the monkey that played Annie’s Boobs on Community, that’s a good sign that your show is in trouble.  When you keep cutting to the monkey because you know it’s the best thing about your pilot, that’s just sad.  There is some promise here with Justin Kirk and JoAnna Garcia, but I don’t plan to stick around in the off chance they find it.

Arrow – The CW tries to give the Smallville treatment to Green Arrow.  I’m willing to give it a shot and hope for the best.

7:30

Guys With Kids – Having watched the first episode, which premiered last week, I can only say that this feels like a comedy that could have been on 20 years ago.  And that is not a compliment.

The Neighbors – I only saw a brief clip of this show, but it was enough to tell me that I am not the target audience for this show.  I’m not even sure who that target audience may be.

8:00

Criminal Minds – Jeanne Tripplehorn joins the team for season 8, replacing the departing Paget Brewster.

Modern Family – The family is expanding, as last season ended with Gloria revealing she is pregnant.  This continues to be a consistently funny show.

Continue reading →

by admin

Midseason Review – Wednesdays

Time to look back on our thoughts regarding Wednesday’s television slate from the fall.

CBS

Criminal Minds – Last season saw A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster written out of the show and replaced by Rachel Nichols.  Someone must have realized it was a mistake, as this season Rachel Nichols has been replaced by A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster.  As it enters its seventh season, it may not be the best move to return back to the old status quo.

Well, we certainly are back to the status quo.  It is still entertaining, but I don’t know how long you can keep beating this horse before he dies.

NBC

Up All Night – Two espisodes in and it has been decent so far, with the appeal of Christina Applegate cancelling out the annoyances of Will Arnett.  The scenes at home with the baby have far surpassed those at work to this point.

This has turned into a pretty decent show, and has been rewarded with a move to Thursdays.  Christina Applegate has been her usually charming self and I have even come to enjoy Will Arentt’s performance in this. Continue reading →

by jim

2011 New Fall Season – Wednesdays

CBS

Criminal Minds – Last season saw A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster written out of the show and replaced by Rachel Nichols.  Someone must have realized it was a mistake, as this season Rachel Nichols has been replaced by A.J. Cook and Paget Brewster.  As it enters its seventh season, it may not be the best move to return back to the old status quo.

NBC

Up All Night – Two espisodes in and it has been decent so far, with the appeal of Christina Applegate cancelling out the annoyances of Will Arnett.  The scenes at home with the baby have far surpassed those at work to this point.

Free Agents – This has not been very good so far, despite featuring the return of Anthony Stewart Head to American television sets.  I give it until January, if that long.

Continue reading →