The New Season (2010)

[Doctor Hmmm?]

Not every new show will merit its own thread.  Until then, here's a catch-all thread for thoughts and comments.

[Chris Fluit]

Rob Staeger said:

ClarkKent_DC said:

But it seems that somebody at CBS is absolutely bent on making Alex O'Loughlin a bona-fide star, despite two failed TV series (Moonlight, Three Rivers) under his belt. Maybe the third time is the charm.

There are some actors that networks have a feeling can carry a series, and keep pushing until they get it right (or give up). Simon Baker had a good stint on CBS's The Guardian a show that lasted but was never buzzed about), was a big part of Smith (a CBS show that crashed and burned) ... and was finally installed as The Mentalist, where I suspect he'll be for many years to come.

I remember (or at least think I remember) that Matthew Perry was in a few failed sitcoms before finally finding success with Friends and the wife from King of Queens had a couple of shots before that one as well. Sometimes the networks are right that they have a good actor/potential star and just need to find the right vehicle. Another example: one of the stars of Prison Break had previously been in the quickly canceled John Doe. Of course, sometimes they're not right. But I'm not assuming Hawaii 5-0 will suck just because Moonlight did.

[Chris Fluit]

The new show I'm looking forward to the most is actually Hawaii 5-0. And no, I don't remember the original- it was canceled when I was six- so I guess I'm the target audience, according to CK. That sets up a big battle on Monday nights with Castle. Hooray for DVRs! Though I'm still hoping one or the other gets moved to 9 pm.

I may also check out Detroit 1-8-7 and The Walking Dead.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

Thursday is our rough night. I was sucked into Fringe after watching my first episode ever, the two-hour finale on last night...rats! So, with the NBC comedy stuff, Fringe, and Nikita on Thursday at 9 PM and a DVR that can only handle two shows in a time slot...Nikita may have to go.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I think Nikita is getting rerun on Fridays, at least initially. If not, it's going for us, too. (It might anyway, but if it has to compete against Tuesday comedies, no way will it win.)

[Alan M.]

There's always watching shows on the internet, too. I think the CW puts all its episodes online...

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

True. I usually just do that for episodes I've missed, no whole series. With or without Nikita, I'll still be watching way more TV than is good for me.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Travis Herrick said:

Pretty much what Rob said except I wore a full tuxedo with top hat during my first day at Outdoor Life.

You're my kind of guy.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Chris Fluit said:

Rob Staeger said:

ClarkKent_DC said:

But it seems that somebody at CBS is absolutely bent on making Alex O'Loughlin a bona-fide star, despite two failed TV series (Moonlight, Three Rivers) under his belt. Maybe the third time is the charm.

There are some actors that networks have a feeling can carry a series, and keep pushing until they get it right (or give up). Simon Baker had a good stint on CBS's The Guardian a show that lasted but was never buzzed about), was a big part of Smith (a CBS show that crashed and burned) ... and was finally installed as The Mentalist, where I suspect he'll be for many years to come.

I remember (or at least think I remember) that Matthew Perry was in a few failed sitcoms before finally finding success with Friends and the wife from King of Queens had a couple of shots before that one as well. Sometimes the networks are right that they have a good actor/potential star and just need to find the right vehicle. Another example: one of the stars of Prison Break had previously been in the quickly canceled John Doe. Of course, sometimes they're not right. But I'm not assuming Hawaii 5-0 will suck just because Moonlight did.

Oh, man ... Matthew Perry was in one absolutely dreadful show called Second Chance back in the '80s. Kiel Martin, fresh off Hill Street Blues, played a guy who died but wasn't admitted into Heaven or Hell because his record in life wasn't clean enough or rotten enough for either place to accept him. So, instead, he was given the chance to guide his younger self, Chazz -- played by Matthew Perry -- onto the straight-and-narrow, despite the negative influence of his best bud, Bootch. A few episodes in, they dropped that angle and made it a outright buddy comedy, boosting the raunch factor in the wake of the then-new Married ... With Children. Matthew Perry is lucky he even has a career after that mess.

But yeah ... I'm not assuming Hawaii 5-0 will suck just because Moonlight did, either, but then, I never saw Moonlight. I did kind of like Three Rivers, so I see the potential.

On the other hand, Alex O'Laughlin was in The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez in the spring, and that was an out-and-out flop. But it's mostly perceived as her fault, not his.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Travis Herrick said:

Pretty much what Rob said except I wore a full tuxedo with top hat during my first day at Outdoor Life.

Full tuxedo? Or tux top and chaps?

[ClarkKent_DC]

My curiosity got the better of me, and I just watched Outlaw on Hulu. (Isn't it wonderful, living in the future?)

All I can say is: Ai yi yi yi yi ...

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

Whoops. We have three programs on Mondays at ten. We'll TiVo Castle and Chase as planned and videotape Hawaii 5-0.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Actually, I have a bit more to say about Outlaw.

I like Jimmy Smits, too; everybody does. I recall reading that Steven Bochco really wanted him for NYPD Blue at the start, but he was unavailable so David Caruso was cast instead, and we all know how that turned out. I also recall that Smits had a development deal for his own show after The West Wing, but he's done another show since then, Cane, which didn't catch on.

Regarding Outlaw, Smits seems to be having a grand old time playing this cartoon character, Cyrus Garza. And he is a cartoon, with beautiful women throwing themselves at him every time he flashes a smile. The bit with his law clerk babbling about the conversation she overheard and totally misconstrued was painful to watch. And as for the "sexy" repartee between Clerk Harvard and P.I. Tease? Please. She should get over herself. Over on The Good Wife, Archie Panjabi plays a similar role but does so with much more finesse, charm, and authority, and won an Emmy for it. (Not to digress, but when is The Good Wife coming back? I'm looking forward to it.)

The Washington Post TV review warned that you'd get a headache from you eyes rolling in your head at the absurdities presented every few moments, and he was right; my head still hurts. In particular because: I'm not a lawyer. Because I'm not a lawyer, I figure I shouldn't be able to spot the mistakes in legal shows.

I mean, I'm not a doctor, either, but I watch ER and am well and truly dazzled by all the high-tech machinery and the SteadiCam dancing around the gurney and the doctors and nurses spouting all that medical mumbo-jumbo and it seems real, or real enough. I don't know what preeclampsia is or the difference between a myocardial infarction and ventricular fibrillation, but I'm reasonably confident that if I invested a quarter-million dollars and a decade of my time in medical school, I'd learn that those things do exist.

Likewise, if I watch Law and Order or The Good Wife or some other courtroom drama, I know that if they cite some arcane ruling or Supreme Court precedent that they're just moving the plot along, but I'm reasonably assured it is something that, if I wanted to, I could find on WestLaw or FindLaw.com. But on this show, they blatantly make stuff up out of thin air and don't even try to pretend they aren't! Our crusading ex-Supreme Court justice cites one of his own rulings in defense of his client! (Although he notes he was writing for the majority. How modest of him.)

Not only that, it doesn't help that there's a Photoshopped picture of him with President Bush #43, presumably at his swearing-in. I wish they hadn't done that because, although things like that are meant to make what transpires seem more real, for me it makes it seem less so. Things like that make me think, if he is one of Bush's appointees, then whose place is he taking? Justice Roberts? Justice Alito? It doesn't help that, at the grand moment when he resigns -- at the Supreme Court chambers -- we see a look-alike for Justice Ginsburg ... but we also see a Black woman on the bench, which is not a milestone that has been achieved (yet) here on Earth Prime.

And we are told again and again that Garza is the most conservative justice on the Court, which has made a number of 5-4 decisions. (Moreso than Justice Scalia? Is there a Justice Scalia in this Bizarro World?) So doesn't he care that, by quitting, he's tipped the balance of the court? Apparently not; he doesn't spend even a second's thought on that.

Ai yi yi yi yi ...

So ... when is The Good Wife coming back? And how did they prove the temperature of the crack house basement ten years ago?