[Lucien21]

So it has been a couple of weeks of the new TV season in the US. Heres my thoughts on some of the new and returning series.

New Shows -

Chuck - Computer Geek works at local Nerd Hut accidently downloads all of the NSA and CIA secrets into his head. Now he has a secret life helping the NSA/CIA catch bad guys all while keeping it secret from his HOT sister and his weirdo friends. Adam Baldwin plays hard nosed NSA agent and Yvonne Strahovski (Hubba Hubba) plays his pretend girlfriend/CIA agent.

- Not as good as Jake 2.0 which tried the whole geek spy routine. The lead actor gets whiney and annoying, his weirdo friend is just annoying, but can occassionaly be funny.

6/10


Reaper - Geek works at local Walmart type shop. Finds out his parents sold his soul to the devil. Now he has a secret life helping the devil catch bad guys from hell. COmedy series pilot directed by Kevin Smith

- Dead Like me meets Brimstone. Not as funny as it thinks it is. The weirdo friend is better than Chucks (He's the best thing in this show). Probably canned pretty soon. 5/10

Bionic Woman - Remake of the old TV series about Jamie Sommers ordinary person who ends up working for a top secret gov agency after an accident replaces her legs, one arm, her ears and eyes with bionic implants.

- Certainly fun and worth watching. Michelle Ryan (Used to be in Eastenders) is good as the Bionic Woman. Katie Stackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) is great as the evil first Bionic Woman. The SFX are great. 7/10


Moonlight - Vampire Detective. Nuff said.

- Tries hard to be Angel. Vampire who solves crimes and doesn't kill humans. First couple of episodes are kinda naff. 4/10

Pushing Daisies - This romantic drama shows us the strange world of a man, Ned, who can bring dead people back to life through the power of his touch. The people he touches, however, can only stay alive for one minute, and if they don't die again, someone else nearby will die. Ned decides to use his ability to solve crime. He and a local investigator, Emerson, bring murder victims back to life and find out who killed them, to cash in on case-solving rewards. But, when Ned brings an old crush back to life, and decides to let her live, things start to get complicated...

- LOVE this quirky new show from the maker of Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me. Full of superb quirky dialogue, pastel colours and strange storylines (2nd episode was about a Dandelion weed powered car) By far my favourite new show of the year, but is it too quirky and strange for the US market. TYhis would make a cool adventure game. 9/10


Returning shows


Smallville Superman series series 7.

- OK really starting to get bored of Smallville now. Same characters, same situations. New young Pnumatic annorexic waif added to the cast which adds nothing so far to the show. Hopefully they will finish this off this year. 5/10


Heroes - Ordinary People with superhuman abilities.

- Good start to the new Season. Hiro's story is fun. Some of the others are ok. The 2 new people (South American) are starting to get boring after 3 episodes and the Oirish accents are really starting to grate but still good fun. 8/10

NCIS - Like CIS with Navy Cops.

- My Favourite of the procedural dramas. Mainly due to the cast. Abbey the Goth forensic scientist is Still going strong. 8/10

Criminal Minds - Procedural Drama based on the behavioural Analysis unit.

- Would the show survive the shock departure of one of the main stars? It has got off to a decent start and the new guy hasn't started yet. OK. 7/10


Dexter - Serial Killer by night, Forensic Scientist by day. Only kills bad guys due to the cide given to him by his adopted Dad who was a cop. Season 2.

- Was my favourite new show of last year. Dark, Humourous and wicked. Season 2 is off to a flyer. 9/10

Supernatural - 2 Brothers hunt demons across America.

- Still as solid as ever. Really needs to add some female eye candy to this show as it's mostly the 2 brothers fighting demons. Decent enough start to the new year. 7/10

Yes I watch too much TV.

[Glenn Epic]

I guess I've been away from reality for far too long because not only have I never seen any of these shows, but I've never heard of them.

[Aj_]

I tried to get into Supernatural but it's really boring, it's very shallow. Watched the pilot of Chuck, and it was lame. Reaper is quite funny, it does have moments like Dead Like Me, it's very much like Dogma (not surprising given the Kevin Smith involvement).

House MD has started really strongly, there's been some hilarious moments, I thought I would miss the team, but haven't. I can't wait for the next episode. The writing, introducing of so many characters, has been masterful.

Heroes is hit and miss for me, the two siblings that want to cross the border, and Claire's love interest, haven't grabbed me. I'm also missing Ando and Hiro together, although Hiro's story is great so far. I like the Mohinder scenes this season. I have every confidence it'll pick up.

CSI and CSI:NY continue strong from last season, they're definitely interesting, although sometimes a bit off the wall. CSI:Miami wasn't that good last season but has been great so far.

Bones and Prison Break aren't too great right now, they're boring me. ER is ER, still going OK. Spooks is coming back soon.

[lumi]

The Next Iron Chef - it's like Top Chef, but geared towards Iron Chef: America. Reputable chefs compete against each other in each episode to see who moves onto the next round. They're given a challenge to make a certain kind of dish, and judges find who's the best and who's the worst. The winner in the end gets to become the next Iron Chef.

It's too early to say much about the production quality because there's only been one episode so far. I like that it's all about the food and not outside drama.

[tabacco]

I can't believe you like comedies but didn't list 30 Rock. Criminal

[After a brisk nap]

I checked out a bunch of the new shows, and think only a small number* are worth watching:

Bionic Woman is excruciating. It's so badly written that it makes other scifi shows seem... watchable. What's with wasting all the Battlestar Galactica talent?

Reaper is getting a lot of comparisons to Buffy, but I don't see it. Dogma seems more on the mark. The pilot was all right, but didn't really make a case that this is a show that requires continued watching.

Pushing Daisies seems to finally be a hit for Bryan Fuller. He deserves it, but I'd rather have had him make another season of Wonderfalls (or kept him in charge of Dead Like Me). The pilot is very charming, but by the second episode some of the cutesy is starting to wear thin. The main character needs to actively investigate this concept called "gloves". Still, probably the best new thing on TV this season.

The Big Bang Theory sucks. Don't watch it. Just... don't.

Aliens in America, about a Wisconsin family that becomes host for a teenage exchange student from Pakistan, is sweet and funny. Falls somewhere in the spectrum between Freaks & Geeks and Malcolm in the Middle. It's been getting dismal ratings, so help it out by tuning in.

Californication, starring David Duchovny, is supposed to be a dramedy, and is promoted like a male version (post-divorce, mid-life crisis) of Sex & the City set in LA. Even more than that show, the soul-crushing emptiness of the main character's life turns the supposed comedy into a thoroughly depressing sequence of scenes.

Back to You is just about the most traditional sitcom you could ever imagine. Frasier and the wife from Everybody Loves Raymond work together at--get this: a small TV station full of crazy characters! Why didn't anyone think of that before?

I read somewhere that some of the creators of Carpoolers had done something good in the past (don't remember any details), so I checked it out. Mistake. The characters and their problems are insultingly broad, not to mention outdated. ("Oh no! My wife is making more money than I am! How will I ever feel like a man again?") I didn't last through the pilot, so I'm curious whether the writers are completely oblivious to the fact that the housing bubble and dotcom bubble both burst ages ago.

I've yet to check out some of the dramas, but the buzz about Life and Journeyman has been cautiously positive. Other than that, I'm sticking with returning shows that have already proved themselves:

The Office, 30 Rock, House--no need to talk about these. They're great, they're back, all is good.

Weeds is already more than halfway through its (third) season. It is still pretty funny, but it seems like the writers are wringing the last mileage out of the suburban drug dealer concept. Like many shows that have been running for a while, all the characters seem to be involved in their own separate and unconnected subplots.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a little-seen sitcom on FX, now in its third season, but it seems to be slowly building a cult audience. In its obliviously despicable characters, it resembles a less affluent version of Arrested Development. Or it could be described as a cross between absurdist sitcoms like Stella and misanthropic ones like Curb Your Enthusiasm. Anyway, it's very funny. The next episode, Mac is a Serial Killer, sounds ace. The gang suspect that Mac is a serial killer, and decide that in order to catch a murderer, they have to learn to think like a murderer.

Speaking of serial killers, Dexter is back for a second season. This is definitely a guilty pleasure, given the pulp premise, the lousy B plots, and the shaky acting by anyone who isn't Michael C. Hall. Still, like so many things that are bad for you, it's dangerously addictive, and MCH is brilliant. I've been jonesing for tonight's episode ever since the first two of the season were leaked online.

I didn't watch Friday Night Lights in its first season (the jock setting turned me off), but reviewers keep insisting it's brilliant, and NBC has all the episodes online for viewing, so I'll probably give it a go. On the sitcom side, I've been hearing good things about How I Met Your Mother. So if this TV season doesn't pan out, I have some fallbacks.

___
* 2

[Hammerite]

By The Office, I presume you mean the American version.
Not the REAL Office.

[tabacco]

I've been enjoying Journeyman. It's not the most exciting thing ever, but it seems to be well done. Plus it's set in San Francisco, which almost never happens

[colpet]

Despite not being a TV watcher, other than the odd HGTV show, I have gotten hooked onto Moonlight. In a similar vein (no pun intended ), I'm also following a Canadian vampire series called Blood Ties. Not the best quality, but the setting (Toronto) is familiar and I've read all the books the series is based on.

[Erwin_Br]

Originally Posted by tabacco

I've been enjoying Journeyman. It's not the most exciting thing ever, but it seems to be well done. Plus it's set in San Francisco, which almost never happens

Maybe that's because of "Full House"

--Erwin

[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by tabacco

I've been enjoying Journeyman. It's not the most exciting thing ever, but it seems to be well done. Plus it's set in San Francisco, which almost never happens

Didn't really fancy Journeyman.

[Trader]

I have found a very funny show called I.C.E [In Case of Emergency], it usually on after Boston Legal [repeats]. Good cast and funny situations, plus a very sexy Jane Symore.

[Kolzig]

I wonder how many series will now get the Axe and die because of the writer strike.

[Lucien21]

Actually I think it had the opposite effect.

The Heroes spinoff Origins has been canned but apart from that the TV companies have been ordering more scripts in the run up to the strike just so they have shows on air during the strike. It gives some of the struggling shows a bit longer to try and build a viewer base.

I fully expect the axe to fall on some as soon as the strike is over.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news I saw this recently which could be cool. A modern day Joe 90.

Joss Whedon is making his return to network television, with an original drama series entitled Dollhouse. Series, which will reunite Whedon with former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Eliza Dushku (who will star and produce Dollhouse), has received a seven episode commitment from FOX.

Dushku will star as Echo, a member of an elite team of secret agents each of whom, according to James Hibberd at TV Week, has "the ability to be imprinted with custom personalities and abilities for special assignments. When they return, their newly acquired memories are wiped. The show follows Echo as she takes on a variety of assignments—some romantic, some adventurous, some uplifting, some illegal—and gains awareness of her role and confinement."

[Davies]

My husband Colin started watching Heroes but quit after the first episode or two. I must say even the concept didn't attract me, and I'm glad I don't have to sit through it every week.

The various CSI series remain Col's staple viewing diet. Thanks to digital TV, there's usually at least one episode of one of them available every night. I've never been much into CSI because of the high level of "soap opera" in it. The earlier series were impressively accurate in their forensic science, which I did appreciate, but the more recent ones are just getting silly.

He also likes Bones, which is just returning here in the UK with a new season. Don't ask me why. I think it's the stupidest excuse for a cop show ever. The writing is extremely poor, the science and logic nonexistent, and the characters basically comic-book cardboard cutouts.

Journeyman has been advertised fairly heavily on Sky, where it is just about to start. I don't think it will do very well in the UK, since it's awfully similar to the BBC comedy-drama Goodnight, Sweetheart, which was also about someone travelling back and forth between the past and present.

Californication is about in the middle of its run on Sky, where it too has been advertised heavily. I've got no inclination to watch it, but the reviews haven't been too good. Too much clumsy sex "humour" and too much tendency toward a typical American moral message and happy ending, is the consensus of the reviewers.

I have wanted to watch Dexter but haven't been able to, because it's on opposite something else. It's also being shown on FX, which means it's being broadcast without subtitles, which is a no-no in this household. It's unfair to make Colin sit through an hour without being able to understand what people are saying. If Dexter gets picked up by a bigger channel like Sky or a terrestrial channel, and gets subtitled, I'll definitely look forward to it.

It sounds like all I'm doing is griping, but then again there doesn't seem much of anything worth watching on TV these days. The one really bright spot of the week is QI, which I can never get enough of. This is a panel quiz in which it's more important to be Quite Interesting than simply correct. Basically it's a witty conversation with points awarded, and it lubricates the brain marvellously. The host is Stephen Fry, whom I never used to like, but who has become much more mellow and less pretentious with age. On the down side, the new series is probably almost over, which will be cause for great sadness.

At the risk of sounding pretentious myself, I'm also enjoying The Genius of Photography on BBC4. This is a short series about the history of photography, its ever-changing relationship to art, and how it's changed our culture through the decades. Absolutely fascinating, and I'm not even all that interested in photography.

[MoriartyL]

Journeyman's been going slowly, but the last episode was great. The things which have sort of been threatened from the beginning are starting to happen. That's always cool.

I'm still annoyed that Heroes didn't start this season with a clean slate (rather than bring back everything from Volume 1.) But it's been entertaining, and this last episode's cliffhanger caught me completely by surprise. I love Hiro's adventures.

[Kolzig]

I read about the Dollhouse as well, I hope it gets a good reception.

Whedon deserves a successful show and this one seems really interesting, like all his works.

[tabacco]

Journeyman's been getting increasingly good for the last few weeks as the story arc has started to develop. This week definitely was great.

I kind of fear Dollhouse will become a victim of the WGA strike, though

Also, the US port of The IT Crowd apparently got sunk by an NBC executive shuffle.

[Erwin_Br]

What's up with that strike anyway? I heard some major Broadway theater shows have been closed as well?

--Erwin

[Melanie68]

The Broadway strike is separate - it's the stagehands who are striking.

The WGA strike is still going strong (and entering its second week - I don't think any negotiations have started again).