Miscellaneous

Fall TV Season: What I Might Be Watching / New Show Preview

By jeremyblachman

With the fall TV premieres coming up, thought I'd quickly blog about the stuff I've seen and what I'll be watching.

Mondays: Really like How I Met Your Mother and keep getting sucked back into Boston Legal.  Found myself watching more episodes of Big Bang Theory than I wanted to last season and I expect that might continue, or at least I'll Tivo it and speed through them.  I watched most of the episodes of Chuck last season but got bored with the mission-of-the-week.  I'll probably give it another chance but am guessing I won't stick with it.  The new Monday shows are the Christian Slater drama My Own Worst Enemy on NBC and the comedy Worst Week on CBS.  I've seen the Worst Week pilot -- it's a reminiscent-of-Meet-The-Parents story about a guy who screws up all sorts of stuff as he and his girlfriend try to tell her parents that they're getting married and she's pregnant.  I lost interest once he mistook an oven for a toilet while fumbling around in the dark.  I didn't love it, but I may check out episode 2 just to see if it gets any better.  I read the script for My Own Worst Enemy but haven't seen it -- Christian Slater plays a guy who doesn't realize he's a secret agent -- his mind is wiped blank after each mission, or something like that.  It seemed OK but isn't the kind of show I tend to enjoy -- too much action, not enough character, or something like that.

Tuesdays: Didn't think most of the season of Eli Stone quite lived up to the promise of the pilot but I'll definitely be watching season 2.  The new shows are Fringe on Fox, which is way too science fiction-y for me (I've seen the pilot -- I didn't hate it, I think the show will do well, if you like Lost you'll probably like it, but it's totally not my thing) and The Mentalist on CBS which was my favorite pilot that I've seen, by far -- it's a procedural about a guy (Simon Baker) who used to be TV psychic (think John Edward) and now uses his observational skills to solve crimes.  It's basically Psych with the comedy ratcheted down a bunch and the drama ratcheted up a bunch.  I love Psych, and I really loved this pilot, it totally hooked me, I thought the lead character was great and would follow him anywhere.  So I'll definitely give the show a good chance to stick for me.  I read the script for Privileged (CW show about a pair of rich kids and their new nanny) and thought it wasn't bad at all, but it's just not the kind of show that's going to hook me in.

Wednesdays: Liked Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money last season, will give both of them a chance and see what season 2 looks like.  The new shows are Knight Rider on NBC, which I'm just not particularly interested in, and Do Not Disturb on FOX, a comedy about a hotel staff.  I saw the pilot and didn't think it was very funny.  I read that they scrapped it and are airing a different episode first.  Also Gary Unmarried on CBS, a Jay Mohr comedy that feels a bit like According to Jim and Still Standing and the pilot didn't thrill me.

Thursdays: The Office and 30 Rock.  Most enjoyable two shows on TV.  I find Grey's Anatomy awfully watchable.  The new shows are Kath and Kim, an Australian-import comedy on NBC -- I read the script and didn't think it was great -- and two dramas -- Life on Mars on ABC (detective who time-travels to the 1970s) and Eleventh Hour on CBS (crime procedural -- the pilot script was very, very dark).  I'm not sure any of the new stuff interests me enough to give it a chance.

Fridays: The new shows are The Ex List on CBS, about a woman who learns that the man she's supposed to be with is one of her ex-boyfriends and she has to figure out which one (I saw the pilot -- it's not for me) and Crusoe, which I didn't read and haven't seen and have nothing to say about.

Saturday and Sunday: I like Brothers and Sisters.  That's about it.  The CW has some new shows on Sunday but it's part of some situation where they've sold airtime to some fledgling network of some sort and I don't know anything about the shows except one of them stars Laurie Metcalf from Roseanne.

Full post as published by Jeremy Blachman's Brand New Weblog on September 03, 2008 (boomark / email).