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Jul 14, 2010 - 08:40 PM |
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A mixed bag of Summer TV, part II |
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 Response to:
A mixed bag of Summer TV by Rockgamer
While I knew there would be a follow-up entry regarding Summer TV, I honestly didn't think it would be this massive. A few of them are shows I just completely forgot about in the last entry, a few of them are shows I had to wait a bit longer for their premiere, and some were new shows I just hadn't heard about and mostly watched on a whim. Either way, it all amounts to another rather long read (compared to the normal size of these types of entries).
100 Questions - The obvious problem here is that this sounds like a game show, but it's actually a sitcom. If my curiousity hadn't got the best of me (I wanted to see how crappy of a game show it actually was), I would have never checked it out, which would have been a shame because it's actually not that bad. Yes, the basic premise is pretty stupid (some woman goes to a dating agency where they ask her 100 questions...one episode at a time), but it really only takes up about a minute of the show. The rest of the show is your average sitcom about a group of friends, but it's pretty good for the most part. No one on the cast is real notable (the only I knew was the Asian girl who played an awesome bit character on the last season of Ugly Betty), but they're all still pretty good. None of this really matters though, because the show has been getting terrible ratings, which itself is because NBC had no faith in the show and dumped it in the Summer in the first place.
Louie - Despite knowing who Louis C.K. is, I've never actually seen any of his work until this show. The show itself is nothing much but Louis C.K. getting into hilarious situations (think Curb Your Enthusiasm, but with less improv and on a smaller scale) broken up by bits of his stand-up routine, which have so far been the better part of the show. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it seems kinda counterintuitive for a comedian to even have a sitcom if the best part is the stand-up, which you can just go watch on its own anytime. Also, Louis C.K. seems to have a penchant for nudity, if that does anything for you. I heard he went full frontal on his HBO show Lucky Louie, and he's already showed his ass twice on this show. Overall I think the show is worth checking out, but don't expect to be amazed by it.
Huge - I honestly hadn't even heard of this show until I saw an online ad for it on the day it premiered featuring a fat chick standing in a one piece swimsuit looking all downtrodden. If that's not effective advertising, I don't know what it is! In all seriousness though, I wasn't even sure I was gonna watch it (it comes one of the busiest nights (well, as busy as Summer gets), and it's on ABC Family, which is not a channel I'm particularly fond of), but in the end I decided to give it a download. I'm glad I did, because so far the show is pretty awesome. Someone described it as Glee meets Ugly Betty, and while I wouldn't say it's exactly like that, it does borrow a few elements from both shows.
The show is basically about a bunch of kids at fat camp, though the main focus is on one girl in particular. Most of the important characters get a good amount of screen time (and screen size, looooool (sorry, I had to throw that in there)) though, and there are some pretty good plots going on. There are few notable people (Nikki Blonsky, David Hasslehoff's daughter), but the biggest name is probably Gina Torres (of 24, The Shield, Alias, Firefly, and probably a million other shows), who I was kinda surprised to see here. Sure, the show can be a bit schmaltzy at times (I did mention it was on ABC Family), but overall it's definitely great and worth checking out.
Haven - I hadn't even heard of this show until I saw it on Hulu while I went to watch something else. Apparently it's based on a Stephen King novel, which is why I'm not surprised it airs on the Syfy Channel (which explains why I've never heard of it, as I hardly ever watch that channel). The show is about an FBI agent who goes to a small town in Maine (the titular Haven) to investigate some killer, but ends up getting involved in some supernatural dealings. It reminds me a bit of Fringe, with a little bit of The 4400 thrown in. The cast isn't that notable, though it does have Eric Balfour (Milo from 24, mong many other things) in it, and the main character is played by Emily Rose. She's been on a few shows like Brothers & Sisters and ER, but the only real thing that matters is that she plays Elena in the Uncharted series. I fucking love Elena (she's my favorite character by far in that series), and her character on this show is a bit similar to Elena, which just makes the show that much better.
Rubicon - Interesting is about the only word I can think of to tell you how I feel about this show. I mean, it wasn't bad or anything, but I wasn't totally in love with it by the end of the pilot. It's certainly a show that will have to grow on me, because it didn't immediately make me love it or hate it. For some background, this is a show on AMC about an analyst who works for a company who may be more than what they seem to be. Revealing any more than that may be going into spoiler territory (hell, even that one sentence may already be in spoiler territory), but just know that this is one of those grand conspiracy-type shows where you know you won't get all the answers until the end. James Badge Dale (Chase from Season 3 of 24) is the star of the show, playing the quirky genius conspiracy guy pretty well, but aside from him I didn't really recognize anyone (except for Peter Gerety, one of those people who you always see in stuff but don't actually know them by name). The series hasn't officially premiered yet, but AMC has shown pilot on TV already, and you can watch it on Hulu up until the actual premiere in August.
Childrens' Hospital - I'm not a fan of most of Adult Swim's live action offerings, but this one is definitely an exception. Apparently this started off as a web series (I don't really watch many of those, so it figures I've never heard of it), but in addition to producing new episodes for TV they're also adapting the webisodes into TV episodes as well. So the premiere episode was just two of the webisodes (each episode was only 4-5 minutes long) combined with a fake commercial in-between and an interview with creator and star Rob Corddry at the end. As for the show itself, it's pretty much just a parody of medical shows like ER and Grey's Anatomy, but it's damn hilarious (probably more so if you're a fan of the aforementioned shows). Plenty of notable people in the cast, including Corddry (The Daily Show), Erinn Hayes (Worst Week), Ken Marino (Reaper), and Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), who does an awesome parody of Dr. Weaver from ER. The show is definitely awesome and worth checking out, and I think it will be even better when they get to the original TV-produced episodes.
Rizzoli & Isles - Man, TNT had a good Summer last year with Hawthorne and Dark Blue, but now they've failed miserably with Memphis Beat and now this. First of all, maybe they should stop with the cop shows. Even though Saving Grace is off the air now, they still have The Closer, Dark Blue, and Southland, so with these two new shows they're up to five. Give the cop shows a rest. Anyway, keeping my criticism specifically to this show, it just feels so been there, done that. It particularly feels a lot like Saving Grace actually, but without the Southern charm. It does share quite a few similarities though (the main character's best friend is a medical examiner, she has a past with a criminal who disfigured her, blah blah blah, etc.), so I guess that's to be expected. I made it through the pilot, but like with Memphis Beat I lost interest somewhere around the middle and stopped paying close attention to it. Eh, it's not like I needed another show to watch on Mondays anyway.
Covert Affairs - This was another show I never really heard of until it premiered, most likely because most of USA's shows don't interest me (the last show I seriously watched on the channel was The 4400, which ended almost three years ago). I decided to give this one a try though since I read an interview where the star (Piper Perabo) said it feels like a 24 or Alias type of show. Of course that's right up my alley, as both of those shows are some of my favorites of all time.
The problem is, it's not like Alias at all. For the most part, it is Alias. Yes I'm overexaggerating a bit, but it really is amazing how much this show reminded me of it. I'm not saying this in a negative way though, because even though it does feel a lot like Alias, it still has its own style. It's like they took the essence of what made Alias good but still managed to create their own engaging original story to go with it. My main point is that the show is amazing, and it's already (after only one episode) my favorite new show of the Summer. The story is engrossing, and has already left me wanting more. The cast is amazing, as Piper Perabo is the perfect leading lady, and the rest of the cast (which includes some well known actors such as Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett, Peter Gallagher, and Emmanuelle Vaugier) also plays their roles well. I really can't recommend this show enough.
I think that's it as far as new Summer shows go. If it has already premiered and it's not covered in one of these two entries, then it probably looks terrible even by my standards and I'm not watching it. If it's something that hasn't premiered yet, then I just haven't heard of it. Here's where I type another empty promise about the TV show cancellations entry coming up soon (though I swear I have actually been working on it), and here's the end of the entry.
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