Friday, October 12, 2007

More New TV and why mystery is so important

I’ve kind of being looking for this years Friday Night Lights, so I tuned into a lot more new shows than I normally would.

Some, because they looked cool. That’s my excuse for Bionic Woman and I’m sticking to it.
Some because they were recommended by TV critics, Chuck, Reaper and Life and the rest of the new shows, I’m waiting to see what stands out as the TV season progresses and perhaps I’ll just buy the DVD.

Nothing so far has come close to matching my old favs, including FNL, or Battlestar, (as an aside, entertainment weekly had a season 4 preview from on it’s pop watch section a few days ago. Looks AMAZING)

Chuck and Reaper I’m giving up on. Both shows are remarkably similar - nerdy guy, in a career slump is thrust into an unbelievable situation and he has to rise to the occasion every week. Each one has a funny sidekick/best friend and a love interest he’s too shy to declare his feelings for.
The best thing about both are the supporting characters. In Chuck it’s Adam Baldwin, amazing in FireFly, and in Reaper it’s the Devil. Both almost make the show, but not quite.

To be honest, I find the shows boring. We know each week, how the show is going to go. Each main character is sweet, and in their own way, heroic, and their character arc is slim to none, and there’s no discernible mystery, other than who is going to be the bad guy each week.

Then there’s Life. The weekly case has proven weak, but the main character, there’s a lot of mystery there. The over all mystery of who framed him, and they are doing a delicious job of feeding small clues in to each episode about what happened.
There’s the mystery of his relationship with his lawyer, what happened between him and his accountant in jail, and why he trusts his accountant(a man charged with fraud). We get glimpses into the rage underneath the zen mind set he’s trying to adopt and small glimpses into how jail changed him.
It could be due to the actor, but there seems to be so much to the character simmering under the surface, so much complexity and I love that the writers didn’t feel the need to spell everything out in the first episode, unlike Chuck and Reaper.

So that’s it. The one new show I’ve added to my list, unless anyone has any other recommendations…

7 comments:

Molly O'Keefe said...

I haven't added a single new show - except maybe 30 Rock which was a "if I can get to it" show last year. That's such a funny show - and it's funny weird and funny smart and funny goofy. The best kinds of funny.

I am so concerned about The Office -- I really think they blew it - though this week had me laughing out loud several times - it's still missing something from the Pam and Jim tension.

Sinead - how much are you indentifying with the coach's wife in Friday Night Lights -- last night I swear I was crying for her. What a show. What a great show that is. I even like the dead body story -- I'll go wherever they want to take me right now. I'll go with Jason to Mexico for that operation if it comes to that.

Anonymous said...

Love 30 Rock and for some reason, can't add it my schedule.
I feel like more than one hour on a thursday is too much, based on not watching any TV on a thursday for so many years.

I do love the Office, guaranteed one belly laugh an episode, although do they have to be an hour?

And FNL... Connie Britton is so amazing, love that storyline. I'm even hanging in with the dead body storyline, but why pair Tim Riggins with Lyla?
She really annoys me... or is just me?

MJFredrick said...

Lyla is more annoying this year, I agree. I loved her last year!


I haven't added ANY new shows this year. Oh, wait, yes - Moonlight. Not GREAT but fun on Friday night.

Maureen McGowan said...

As you guys know... I watched last season's FNL in about 2 weeks very recently. In the first episodes, when she was with Tim, I really liked Lyla. But by half-way through last season, I'd decided she was the weak link for that show. I just didn't believe any of the emotion, even when she was falling apart and smashing up cars. I even developed a feminist conspiracy theory that they cast guys in their mid-twenties for the boys but teenagers for the girls and the girls were pretty but simply not strong enough actors... but I just looked Minka up on IMDB. She's 27, too. So much for that theory.

BTW. I've replayed the scene where Tim kisses the next door neighbour about 40 times. I feel like a teenager. I heart Tim Riggins.

Molly O'Keefe said...

She came around for me at the end of last season -- I didn't like her either at the beginning - and the fact that she's found god is slightly predictable but it's doing some nice things with the riggins tension. there are so many things to love about that show.

Husband and i were talking that Neilsen ratings are probably so unuseful in determining who watches what -- with Tivo and PVR no one is watching anything in the time slots. It just feels like so many more people are watching this show than what is revealed?

K J Gillenwater said...

Um, I'm actually growing to like "Moonlight." But I was never a Buffy watcher/fan or Angel watcher/fan or Forever Knight. So I don't have any vampire TV show to compare it to. Only vampire movies and books (of which I am the Anne Rice type of vampire fan over all this new fangled vampire stuff).

Anyway, this 3rd episode got better...the acting, the story, etc. There are still a few weak areas, but I like it enough (and think the leading man is hot enough) to stick it out for some more weeks.

MJFredrick said...

Entertainment Weekly had an article about Tivos and DVRs and how they affect ratings. Apparently, if you watch within 7 days, it still counts, but not as highly. So I watched FNL tonight ;)

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