The New Season (2014)

[ClarkKent_DC]

We've done this before (here, here, and here), but now it's time for this year! This is a place for comments about any and all shows, but especially for shows that don't generate their own threads.

[ClarkKent_DC]

I've welcomed the return of Chicago Fire and Chicago PD, even if the critics don't like them -- but then, who am I watching for, them or me? I'm glad to have Brooklyn Nine-Nine back, and over the summer, I've become a belated adherent of Grey's Anatomy and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

The critics do like The Good Wife, and with good reason; it's stellar, and as exciting and engaging as ever.

I feel iffy about Glee; it was fun to watch in the early going, but the longer it's gone one, the more it's become a chore. I kind of feel like I need to see it through to the end more than I'm actually looking forward to it.

On probation is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; I'm content to watch it on demand rather than live.

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

So far the only new show this fall I've watched is Gotham. I like it pretty well, so I'll keep up with it. This Summer I started watching the Strain which will have it's season finale this Sunday. It's alright, it's fun enough not sure I'll catch the second season if there happens to be one.

 

As far as returning shows. I'm still watching Big Bang Theory which has been ok. It's starting to feel a little stale. I'm also watching Black List, Revenge, Nashville, The League, SHIELD, and Sleepy Hollow. However, the two episodes of Sleepy Hollow are still on the DVR so I'll have to catch up on those.

 

I'm looking forward to the return of the Newsroom later this fall on HBO.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Oh, yeah, The Big Bang Theory! I'm glad to have it back, although I agree it's a little stale. I find it bothersome that Amy still puts up with Sheldon instead of finding her self-respect and dumping him. The producers want us viewers to see their relationship through the lens that he's making progress and is better than he was, but that's all about what's good for Sheldon. If you see it through the lens of what's good for Amy, how is having a dismissive, condescending, selfish prig for a boyfriend any good?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

The only new show I've seen so far is Gotham, although I've got an NCIS: New Orleans on the Tivo. (I'm not crazy about NCIS, but setting a show in New Orleans is a guarantee that I'll at least take a look!)

Of returning shows, I've seen Amazing Race (to early to tell about the new racers -- although I really want to hate the dentists, but they acted so decently twice in the first ep that I can't), Modern Family (same old thing, but it seems like the actor playing Luke is having a hard time speaking for some reason. Maybe he just had dental surgery before the shoot?), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (hasn't missed a step), and Agents of SHIELD (two really solid episodes to start out).

I'm still finishing up The Strain and Penn & Teller: Fool Us from the summer.

Looking forward, I'll be watching Arrow when it returns, and of course The Flash! And Constantine, too. And maybe a new show that's not comics-related, but I wouldn't count on it.

I'd been working out to Battlestar Galactica streaming on Netflix, but since that was yanked, I'm about to start watching Luther on the treadmill.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

The only new show I've caught so far is Gotham. Nothing else that I recall coming along really piques my interest. Well except The Flash and Constantine.

I've watched a couple of summer shows, and I've really enjoyed The Strain and Legends. Now I don't watch every episode, but I usually enjoy Franklin & Bash when it is on.

[Richard Willis]

On The Strain, we've* watched all but the penultimate and final episodes. It is very well done and somewhat innovative with the worms and the whatever-it-is that shoots out of the vamps. I haven't read the prose or comics versions but I assume it's consistent with them being controlled by the creator. The cutting off of vamps' heads recalls the original Dracula novel.

* I guess I've largely corrupted my wife. I wasn't sure she would take to it but she has.

[ClarkKent_DC]

The other night, we were flipping channels and caught the last three minutes or so of the debut of Selfie, and the first three minutes or so of Manhattan Love Story. ... just enough to know we don't want to see either of these again.

Selfie might not be so bad, but who wanted a 21st-century version of the Pygmalion story? As for Manhattan Love Story, I pity the poor critic at USA TODAY who watched the entire thing; he cut it to shreds. We bailed at the start, which showed the male lead wandering down a New York street, leering at every woman he passed and making mental ratings of how desirable each would be in the sack. When he got to the pregnant woman, we changed the channel ... and missed the bit where the female lead was wandering down that same street, judging each woman she passed on the quality of her purse.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I watched the opening scene of NCIS New Orleans the other night -- a naval officer starts feeling sick at a nightclub where he and his friends are watching a band (Rebirth Brass Band) play... and he rushes out of the club onto Bourbon Street. And I burst out laughing. Because there's no way a club that nice, with a band that good, is right there on Bourbon Street. Not a chance.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

I watched the opening scene of NCIS New Orleans the other night -- a naval officer starts feeling sick at a nightclub where he and his friends are watching a band (Rebirth Brass Band) play... and he rushes out of the club onto Bourbon Street. And I burst out laughing. Because there's no way a club that nice, with a band that good, is right there on Bourbon Street. Not a chance.

But if it wasn't on Bourbon Street, how would you know it was New Orleans?

That's Bizarro TV geography for you. I still can't get over the episode of The West Wing that began with a funeral at Washington National Cathedral. The end of the episode contrived to have the president leave the White House to make a speech at the State Department building ... and on the way there, drive past Washington National Cathedral.

The State Department building is six blocks away from the White House; driving past Washington National Cathedral to get there is like passing through Atlanta on the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Think of all the traffic the Bartlett motorcade snarled just to get that shot!

[Richard Willis]

We haven't watched the second one yet but we liked the first episode of NCIS New Orleans. I was glad to see an NCIS spin-off that didn't have terrorist-of-the-week.

I like the actors on NCIS Los Angeles but it has always had a few problems. There are no naval bases in the Los Angeles area anymore so having them stationed there doesn't make sense. San Diego would make more sense. There is ALWAYS a terrorist who is ALWAYS Muslim. The bad guys ALWAYS miss, having been trained at the Empire Stormtrooper Academy. They ALWAYS shoot everybody twice in the chest and then, each having a body-count larger than any soldier or cop, laugh and joke almost immediately. And there are virtually NO crimes involving the Navy or Marine Corps!

[ClarkKent_DC]

There was an article in The Washington Post a week or so ago about how NCIS gets practically no critical attention and has no buzz but despite that is the highest-rated show on television. Likewise with The Big Bang Theory and pretty much anything on CBS.

I can count the times I've ever watched NCIS on one hand. I did watch NCIS Los Angeles once last season, but only because a relative (my wife's cousin's husband) played a murder victim. He got bumped off before the opening credits, and after that, the rest just wasn't that interesting.