Fall 2012 TV Season Review & Round-up

So far, this has been one of the most promising and satisfying autumns in years. Coming off a fairly good late summer crop of shows, almost all of the fall tv premieres that I've seen have been great; further feeding my television-obsessed brain.

But before we talk about the Good Things, let's get the bad stuff out of the way first.

New shows that I'm not impressed with:

• Revolution - In theory and on paper, everything about this show should appeal to me. At the top of that list is JJ Abrams; have I ever not loved anything he's had a hand in? It's about a dystopian future with a kick-ass young girl, which is the kind of shit I eat up; it has Billy Burke in it; it sort of has a clever premise about the world no longer having electricity. But boy did I not dig this show. I gave it a 3 episode chance (well, really 2.5 because I couldn't with last week's ep) but it's not getting any better. There SO MANY implausible and unexplained plot holes; it drives me crazy! I'm surprised that it's so popular; maybe one of these days (years) I'll catch up with it on Netflix but not now when I have so much other finer tv to watch.
• Partners - Ugh. I hate this show so much. I really like Max Mutchnick and David Kohan as people (their CBS Sunday Morning profile was hilarious and touching), and I've enjoyed most of the tv shows they've done before, but this one, based on their real-life friendship and relationships, is uncomfortably awful. I just feel really bad for the talented Michael Urie, Dave Krumholz, and poor Brandon Routh. This is another show that has been trashed by the critics but is doing fairly well in the ratings, so we'll see what becomes of it.
• The Mindy Project - 

I LOVE Mindy Kaling. I love Chris Messina. I should love this show. But oy, is it not good. But sort of, maybe, has potential? I don't know. I hated the first 2 episodes, but then last week's entry where the clinic staff all go to "Da' Club" was pretty hilarious. So maybe things are looking up? I hope so. I haven't totally given up on this yet, but only because of my solidarity with Kaling.

DVR Breakups:

• How I Met Your Mother - Sorry NPH and Jason Segal; my love for you guys can no longer sustain a relationship with this dumb, and exceedingly frustrating show. I may tune in whenever the hell they finally reveal who the stupid gawdamn "mother" is, and if there are any more Slap Bet songs, or Robyn Sparkle videos, I'll catch those online, but otherwise SAYONARA.
• Law & Order:SVU - this break-up has been very hard on me y'all. But if I'm being honest, Chris Meloni leaving the show had a bigger effect on me than I thought. I still love all of the characters (and actors) on this last remaining L&O franchise, but in the past several months each time I finally get around to watching one of the numerous eps clogging my Tivo, I end up being so bored. It really breaks my heart because Law & Order has been such a big part of my TV life. Watching occasional reruns of Law & Order:UK and Original Recipe L&O (Waterson/Harmon especially) will have to suffice.

Fall 2012 Television LOVES:

• Last Resort - Love it. Love it. LOVE IT. Scott motherf*ckin' Speedman (#1 all-time TV boyfriend) is back in my tv life, and he's kick-in it with perennial all-star Andre Braugher! And the show is well-written, well acted, suspenseful, and action-packed. God Bless America!

• Homeland - It's back and Season 2 is even more high stakes and kick ass than the first one was. And my love of Mandy Patinkin couldn't possibly grow any stronger. I just...you guys, I just love his portrayal of Saul so damn much.

• American Horror Story: Asylum - Coming off a much-deserved Emmy win, Jessica Lange is back in the second season of this creepy show, that is starting with an entirely new story set in a psychiatric hospital. I really like the approach that Ryan Murphy et al are taking with this show by keeping each season a separate stand-alone story capsule. 

AHS:Asylum also features the return of Zachary Quinto and has added Mark Consuelos (yes!) and Chloe Sevigny to the mix, among others. Good times ahead.

• Nashville - I love Every. Amazing. Thing about this show. Period.
• Revenge - Having Gabriel Mann as Nolan Ross (with a funky new haircut!) on my television again is heaven on earth!
• Call The Midwife - Who knew a PBS drama about British mid-wives in 1950s East-End London could be so poignant, funny, and awesome?! Oh yeah, me of course.

All the rest:

• BBCAmerica's Copper has had a fantastic season and I can't wait to see how this season ends. I'm already anticipating season 2.
• Vegas has been a pleasant surprise of awesomeness. Dennis Quaid and Jason O'Mara are the sexiest brothers on tv right now.
• I don't care what anyone says - I'm enjoying the hell out of the latest Sherlock Holmes offering Elementary. And yes, Jonny Lee Miller can still get it!

New Fall TV report card..."Sorry Charlie"

It's time to check in on how the new Fall 2011 television shows have fared in my opinion since their premieres these past several weeks. I was initially excited about quite a few new prospects, some of which have turned out to be huge disappointments.

The Good:
Up All Night - I love this show so much more than I expected I would. All of my fears about the retooling/reshooting they did were for naught. Will Arnett and Christina Applegate are amazing. Maya Rudolph is a national treasure, and this show has even made me see Nick Cannon's appeal. He's hilarious!

Revenge - Omigod, omigod, OMIGOD, I LOVE this crazy Dynasty-style drama. Since having a dvr I rarely watch TV shows on their actual aired nights. This is the one show that I make an exception for. I can't wait to watch this piece of brilliance every Wednesday. And then when it's done I feel bereft at having to wait another week before I get more. Madeleine Stowe for President y'all! And I forgot how hunky I've always thought Gabriel Mann to be. I want a Nolan of my very own!

Suburgatory - This sitcom is so charming. Who knew Jeremy Sisto could handle comedy with such a deft hand? I love the relationship between his character and his daughter. Gilmore-girlsy but better. Ana Gasteyer and Cheryl Hines are also both hilarious.

Homeland - I've never liked Claire Danes. Never. Either personally or for her acting "ability". I've never understood her appeal. Until now? She's kind of great in this thrilling new drama on Showtime.

The (Oh SO) Bad:
The Playboy Club - I've already talked about this show's cancellation. And while I didn't hate it as much as most people, it did have a lot of things that were wrong with it.

Charlie's Angels - Oh gawd. Why was this show so bad?! I love the original Charlie's Angels so much. I can even appreciate the awful and cheesy season 5. But this remake has truly been awful. Even the beautiful and talented Minka Kelly couldn't save this stinker for me. ABC just announced its blessed cancellation. Season Pass DELETED.

Terra Nova - ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZzzzzz So awful. Nothing more to say.

The Meh **shrug***:

There are some shows that fall into this category like Ringer, Mad Fashion, and Hart of Dixie that I'm still actively watching on a weekly basis and will continue to do so, but I'm just not jazzed about them. If I miss one or two I'm not going to cry about it.

But most of the shows that I'm lumping in here (Secret Circle, 2 Broke Girls, Prime Suspect, Pan Am, New Girl) are ones that, even though they may be getting good reviews and/or ratings, I'm just not invested in them at all. I've given up. I'm most regretting my ambivalence about New Girl. The 2 episodes I've seen I found really funny, but I just can't be bothered to remember to record it or set up a season pass for it. I watch SO much television already and only have so much dvr space and hours in the day to dedicate to something that isn't grabbing me.

And then there's American Horror Story. WTF is up with this show?! It is so damn wacky and disturbing. And confusing. And weird; but not in a good way. I so wanted to like it (I love most of the cast), and I still like the idea of the show, but its execution has been a failure for me. I'm going to watch the 4th episode this week but I don't know if I can stomach it much longer after that.


On a side note - NBC's Grimm is the only remaining new Fall show that I was interested in that hasn't premiered as of this writing so I can't comment. But it's a good sign that the ads for it still intrigue me. I am a little worried and annoyed that folks are going to confuse it for the OTHER fairytale character drama that premiered this week on ABC called Once Upon A Time. I don't understand the Hollywood phenomenon where similar themed projects are always popping up at the same time and competing against each other. It's really annoying.

Eddie Cibrian - Still the king of the show killers

NBC announced yesterday that they have cancelled The Playboy Club, making it this season's first cancellation, and marking another notch on Eddie Cibrian's belt as show-killer extraordinaire. I love the man to death, but boy does he have a bad track record. I'm worried that producers are going to stop putting in him things besides Lifetime movies where he can meet young country singers to leave his wife for, because he doesn't have any luck. Sigh...
But despite my Eddie Cibrian love and weird fascination with Playboy history and Hugh Hefner, I had started to hate The Playboy Club after the first 2 episodes, and I was only going to give it another chance with this week's ep before deciding whether or not to delete the season pass from my Tivo. So thanks for making the decision for me NBC!!
I think that the powers that be really just decided to cut their losses after they had to stop filming this week because Cibrian injured his foot while shooting a scene in a Chicago alley. My poor Eddie really has had a bad week.

TV Things and things

Glee -

I really enjoyed the Sectionals episode this season. Even the cop-out of having New Directions and The Warblers tie in the end. I especially loved getting to see the spotlight on a few of the other kids - Santana rules! I've loved this second season of Glee, all the haters can suck it. And my love affair with Darren Criss continues. Sigh...Blaine is dreamy.



Top Chef: All Stars -
Premieres tonight! I can't wait. And except for Elia and Jamie (who I wish were replaced by Kevin and Stefan), I am really excited about all of the contestants for this season. There are so many of my faves here that I really don't care who wins (but would be over the moon if Carla or Richard Blaise took the prize)

America's Next Top Model - The finale is tonight. I've really come to HATE Ann but I fear that she will win tonight. I didn't think that it would come down to her and Chelsea; I really wanted Kayla to be in the top two. But it's been a fun season; and I haven't hated Tyra Banks nearly as much as I usually do.

Gossip Girl - I'm this close to being oVAh this show. Can Juliet please die now? This revenge storyline is getting old.

Real Housewives of Atlanta and Beverly Hills - I've had a Tivo break-up with the Atlanta ladies. Even with the slightly interesting Nene storyline developing, I feel my soul dying each minute I waste with them.
But Beverly Hills! I love love love these ladies. Camille Grammer is a total nut-job but so fun to watch her delusional confessionals.

The Fashion Show - Shut up David and Dominique! The challenge this week was do a time capsule outfit. That had to incorporate plaid in some way because Iman loves plaid. It was very strange, and resulted in my sweet Ro Ro being eliminated but I'm still living for the second season of this show. Iman and Isaac Mizrahi continue to be awesome.

TV Round Up - last week of August/early September

I've been embroiled in a bunch of family drama these past several weeks (don't you just love family sometimes?); so I haven't had any time to watch television. My poor Tivo and Tifaux have been working overtime and their little memories are filled to capacity.
But let's talk about some of the things I managed to watch this week. Keep in mind, most of this stuff aired days ago and in this day and age of Twitter and live blogging, none of my comments are really that fascinating. That's not stopping me from sharing them though.

Project Runway from 8/26

The team challenge episode for this season was superb television. Gretchen's spectacularly crazy spiral on the runway, the appalling treatment of Michael C. by the rest of his team, and best of all the AMAZING smackdown of Gretchen from one Tim Gunn were some of the best moments this show has had in some time.

Huge - 1st (and hopefully not last) season finale

You guys? I loved this quirky gem of a show so much. Yes it's a teen drama on the ABC Family channel. And yes, it was about teens at a fat camp for the summer. But boy oh boy it was so much more than that. The stories, dialog, and the characters that were created for this show was some of the best written stuff for tv that I've seen in some time. The tv show is better than the book. And the book is great! Teens talked and acted like real teens. The actors playing the kids at the camp were, guess what Hollywood?, actually overweight, and not some weird slightly bloated thin person or someone thin in make-up and prosthetics. No fat suits! Nikki Blonsky who was in the film version of the musical Hairspray was one of the leads, and she was so great; she has real dramatic talent. And I loved that they didn't really showcase her singing talent in a forced way (like some shows could've/would've done).Sure, her character and another one end up writing some songs together, but it was done in a very organic way, that made sense with the character development. And the singing was not at all canned, produced, or auto-tuned. 

You really cared about every single person and I really can't tell you the last time I experienced television characters, especially teen television characters that were so, well, deep.

The finale was just as superb as the whole season has been. My only complaint is that it really left me hanging. I'm dying to know how everyone fairs by the end of summer camp. Will I have to wait until next year?! I don't know how ABC Family does their seasons. Or if the show was even picked up for a second season; but if that dumb show they have about gymnasts can get a 2nd season, certainly Huge can right? They totally deserve it!

Memphis Beat season finale

Another quirky freshman drama; another cop drama on TNT, but hey if it's working for the network why mess with the formula? This one starred Jason Lee as MPD detective Dwight Hendricks who moonlights as a blues singer who has an affinity for Elvis songs. It also starred the always good Alfre Woodard, Celia Weston, and a surprisingly good DJ Qualls who finally found the right character and balance for his inherent weirdness. Jason Lee sure does have a beautiful singing voice. Who knew? No seriously, did people know this? I know about Lee being a former pro skateboarder, and a Scientologist etc. But I did not know that he could sing; and play guitar and bass. He should consider putting an album out. Maybe he already has and I'm just out of the loop; that would mean I'd have to give up my Jason Lee fan club membership card I guess. The show's writing was a little inconsistent throughout the season, but I can't say that there was any episode that I hated.

Which can't be said about another TNT drama HawthoRNe. This show and I had a very dramatic dvr-breakup last month because I hated Jada Pinkett-Smith's character so much. You know when the power of shirtless Michael Vartan can't save a show for me, there's something wrong.

Big Brother -

Sigh...the people I had picked to win in my office pool all got eliminated, the last being Brendon who really played an excellent game and just barely missed staying in the house (as HOH no less) for another week. Oh well, I really don't want anyone left in the house to win but if I had to choose I guess I'd go with Britney.

2010 Emmys -

I'll quickly just say that I was over the moon about Eric Stonestreet and the Modern Family wins. Can't wait for that show to come back into my life.

And that opening number from Jimmy Fallon et al was effin' brilliant.

True Blood

Season 3 has been better than I could've hoped for. I've said it before, Alan Ball and the rest of the writers are doing an excellent job of incorporating various plots and characters from the books into the television show, while creating totally new and interesting characters. Case in point the two men pictured above, Kevin Alejandro and Joe Manganiello. They play Jesus and Alcide respectively; Alcide is a beloved character from the book and Joe was the top choice from fans of the book who emailed and tweeted Alan Ball with suggestions to have him play Alcide. He's perfect in the role and I can't wait to see what next season brings. Jesus on the other hand is a brand new character created for the show and such a welcome addition. I love Alejandro's chemistry with Nelsan Ellis who plays Jesus's love interest Lafayette.

Speaking of my beloved Lafayette and Nelsan Ellis, how cute is he in this picture from a cast Emmy party with actor Marshall Allman who plays newcomer Tommy Mickens/Merlotte.

Needless to say, I'm super psyched for the True Blood season finale happening in a couple of weeks. And then it's time for all of the new and returning Fall tv shows. It's my favorite time of the year!

Confuddled but contented

So, uh, yeah. I'm not going to take up a lot of space pondering and analyzing last night's Lost series finale. There are thousands of people on hundreds of blogs more clever than mine doing that today. I will say that ultimately I was satisfied with the ending.

As some folks know, I was woefully behind on Lost. I have been behind since basically the middle of season 4. Through a couple of those damn interminable recap/explanation/catch-up shows, I was able to clear several season 4 and early season 5 episodes out of my Tivo to clear up space on both the dvr and my life. And beyond that I was watching like one or two episodes a month to gradually bring me current. As the May 23 series end loomed however, I felt a ton of pressure to catch-up for real and actually watch the finale in real time and not dvr time.

So to that end, this past Saturday and Sunday I spent several quality hours watching the last 6 hours of this season 6. I finished the "What They Died For" episode at literally 6:52 PM last night, a mere 8 minutes before the finale extravanganza began in earnest. And I'm really glad I did. Watching the last show in basic real-time, being totally unspoiled was the right choice; the finale was much more powerful and poignant than it would have been otherwise.

How did I feel about the episode itself? Again, I'll leave the lamenting, praising, and hair-pulling to others; in a lot of ways the purgatory/heaven angle was very obvious, which can come off as lazy writing. But I would be lying if I didn't say that seeing everyone end up with their loved one or constant wasn't gratifying; it felt like the best way to end the show. And I was never enough of a Lost fan to get caught up in all of the "but what about ____?" and  "but they didn't answer this!"  nonsense. Ultimately I don't care. It will be nice to have the precious DVR space back and delete the Tivo season pass.

It will be sad to have the gorgeous Matthew Fox and Henry Ian Cusick off my tv screen though. Sigh...Desmond and Jack were made of win.

TV Round Up for the week

I'll start off with just a little blurb about my favorite dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance. I follow producer/head judge Nigel Lythgoe on Twitter (@dizzyfeet) and he's revealed this week that there will be some changes coming for Season 7 this summer.
First, they're moving back to the way they did the partnering thing in Season 1, where the top 20 finalists will switch partners each week. For the past five seasons couples were chosen by the producers and stayed together until the top 10 where they then changed every week. I'm both excited and a little anxious about this change back to the original format. On the one hand it really stretches contestants while allowing the best to shine and show real spark and personality with certain people. Take this past season - Jakob and Ellenore were MAGIC together. Imagine if we had been able to see them partnered more throughout the season? On the other hand, it's been nice to see real relationships develop and to cheer for certain couples that had that special quality - i.e. Dominic/Sabra, Chelsie/Mark, Melissa/Ade, Katee/Joshua; so I'm torn.

The other change that Nigel revealed in a tweet this week is that they will only be eliminating one dancer a week. This puzzles me. How will that work regarding routines? Will the odd dancer end up dancing twice in one week? Will a dancer only dance solo?
I like the idea of switching things up on this show even when it doesn't work - like when they decided to air season 6 in the fall and not do a S6 tour, even though last season saw some of the most promising dancers ever to grace this competition. I was angry about that but I love this show enough to go along for the ride no matter what; c'mon Summer, get here soon!



Bravo reality shows - Best of the week as always goes to Kell On Earth. I don't know what I'll do without my beloved Andrew and Skinner after next week's finale. Or who I'll turn to for no-nonsense advice besides Kelly Cutrone.
Worst of the week is a tie between Shear Genius and the NY Real Housewives. My ferocious love of Jonathan Antin is failing to save the hair cutting competition show. I removed my season pass this week after Jon got robbed(!) by not only not winning the challenge but being in the bottom 2 with Brig. And my intense hatred of wonder-twins Matthew and Janine continues to grow, endearing me to Brig of all people. Stop it show!
And don't get me started about the Real Housewives. My gawd, is Bravo purposely trying to ruin this fawking franchise for me? First there was this past OC season which was insufferable and had me rooting for Vicky Gundalfson which is a sign of the apocalypse. And now this new NY season has shown my girl Bethenny to be a HEINOUS bitch, and faves Leanne and Jill to kind of be jealous old ladies. Why are you torturing me Bravo/Andy Cohen? I'm actually starting to enjoy the antics of Kelly Bensimone which is something I can't abide so I am done watching this crap show.

American Idol - for a season that looked so promising during Hollywood Week, I can't remember being this disappointed and bored and disillusioned with a batch of AI contestants since maybe season 3 (the year of Diana Degarmo, Jasmine Trias, John Stevens and George Huff, all of whom I loathed); but at least that season had the battle of the divas with awesome Jennifer Hudson and ultimate winner Fantasia Barrino. This season? Nothing.
There's amazing Crystal Bowersox and quirky-as-shit Siobhan Magnus but let's face it, neither of these ladies are going to win. And there's some eye candy in the form of Casey, Lee, and Tim, but this is the first season in maybe ever that there hasn't been at least one person who I care about. At all. I could give a crap about any of these people going home or winning this contest. I haven't even purchased any iTunes downloads for this season; I have at least 2 from every season since 19Entertainment started partnering with iTunes back in Season 6. I'm this close to being done with the show altogether, but I know something cheesy like Barry Manilow night will suck me right back in.
But if these damn kids don't start choosing better songs to sing, I'm going to punch someone.

Best TV-related thing I've heard all week (maybe all month) -
Mike Tyson is getting his own show about PIGEON RACING. Hee hee hee


Yes folks. There are actually people that race pigeons.


They're organized and everything.
Can you say TIVO season pass?