Saturday, September 09, 2006
More Pilots, Still No Planes...
Two more sitcoms (ugh) and two dramas. The season remains fairly bland...
Standoff: Ron Livingstone shows absolutely none of the understated comic genius he displayed in "Office Space" as Matt Flannery, a crisis negotiator for the LAPD. I suppose that's fine, as the show is supposed to be a tense high-stakes drama. But the pilot was not tense, the stakes were not high, and the drama wasn't really... dramatic. Flannery is having an affair with his partner, Emily Lehman played by Rosemarie DeWitt, and those scenes REALLY could have used a sense of humour.
The pair display no real chemistry, the cliche situation of partners who compete on the job and make up in bed, and the hardcase lieutenant (played by Gina Torres) who lets the two get away with way too much because "your the best damn negotiators I've got" got tired real fast.
Happy Hour: A spin on the Odd Couple formula sees conservative Henry Beckham (John Sloan) rooming with rat-pack wannabe Larry Cone (Lex Medlin) after his girlfriend throws him out. Larry attempts to turn Max into a party animal, Henry provides Max with a stable influence.
Like the other sitcom offerings this season, there's not a lot original about this, but I still found a couple of things to laugh at. This one's neither bad nor good. Beth Lacke's "Amanda" is at least a different take on the girl-that's-a-friend-but-not-a-girlfriend stock character, playing an interesting combination of ditz and professional woman. Let's hope they keep it up.
'Til Death: Brad Garrett of Everybody Love Raymond (god, I'm so happy that show is gone) takes centre stage as hapless husband Eddie, who finds himself and his wife of many years suddenly comparing their marriage to the newlyweds next door. No precocious kids means this is at least not a cookie-cutter sitcom, but the laugh track and contrived situations do not bode well. Look for Garrett to be the first post-ELR victim to that show's version of the 'Seinfeld curse.'
Smith: Don't let the boring title mislead you, this is a decent little thriller. If not for the open-ended finish, this could easily be a feature film. Ray Liotta leads as Bobby Stevens, a poor man's Danny Ocean, head of a crew of thieves, each with their own specialty. Liotta is excellent in the role (no surprise) as is Virginia Madsen, playing the wife who suspects but doesn't know, and has a host of problems all her own.
The pilot was a single-caper show, giving the impression that we may see a new heist every week. This would seperate the show from last seasons mini series "Thief", starring Andre Braugher. Look for each of the series' supporting players to develop their own personal problems, particularly Amy Smart's Annie.
This was a nice opening effort, with some genuine tension and some cool action sequences. The purpose of some of the activity during the heist seemed a little vague, and was not cleared up despite the fact that we went over it twice. The Alias-style opener in which we see a glimpse of the climax and then flash back was not really effectively used to that end.
Still no gem for the new season. Still waiting to see Rob Cordry and Lenny Clark in "The Winner" and Tina Fey's "30 Rock." But I'm not holding my breath...
Standoff: Ron Livingstone shows absolutely none of the understated comic genius he displayed in "Office Space" as Matt Flannery, a crisis negotiator for the LAPD. I suppose that's fine, as the show is supposed to be a tense high-stakes drama. But the pilot was not tense, the stakes were not high, and the drama wasn't really... dramatic. Flannery is having an affair with his partner, Emily Lehman played by Rosemarie DeWitt, and those scenes REALLY could have used a sense of humour.
The pair display no real chemistry, the cliche situation of partners who compete on the job and make up in bed, and the hardcase lieutenant (played by Gina Torres) who lets the two get away with way too much because "your the best damn negotiators I've got" got tired real fast.
Happy Hour: A spin on the Odd Couple formula sees conservative Henry Beckham (John Sloan) rooming with rat-pack wannabe Larry Cone (Lex Medlin) after his girlfriend throws him out. Larry attempts to turn Max into a party animal, Henry provides Max with a stable influence.
Like the other sitcom offerings this season, there's not a lot original about this, but I still found a couple of things to laugh at. This one's neither bad nor good. Beth Lacke's "Amanda" is at least a different take on the girl-that's-a-friend-but-not-a-girlfriend stock character, playing an interesting combination of ditz and professional woman. Let's hope they keep it up.
'Til Death: Brad Garrett of Everybody Love Raymond (god, I'm so happy that show is gone) takes centre stage as hapless husband Eddie, who finds himself and his wife of many years suddenly comparing their marriage to the newlyweds next door. No precocious kids means this is at least not a cookie-cutter sitcom, but the laugh track and contrived situations do not bode well. Look for Garrett to be the first post-ELR victim to that show's version of the 'Seinfeld curse.'
Smith: Don't let the boring title mislead you, this is a decent little thriller. If not for the open-ended finish, this could easily be a feature film. Ray Liotta leads as Bobby Stevens, a poor man's Danny Ocean, head of a crew of thieves, each with their own specialty. Liotta is excellent in the role (no surprise) as is Virginia Madsen, playing the wife who suspects but doesn't know, and has a host of problems all her own.
The pilot was a single-caper show, giving the impression that we may see a new heist every week. This would seperate the show from last seasons mini series "Thief", starring Andre Braugher. Look for each of the series' supporting players to develop their own personal problems, particularly Amy Smart's Annie.
This was a nice opening effort, with some genuine tension and some cool action sequences. The purpose of some of the activity during the heist seemed a little vague, and was not cleared up despite the fact that we went over it twice. The Alias-style opener in which we see a glimpse of the climax and then flash back was not really effectively used to that end.
Still no gem for the new season. Still waiting to see Rob Cordry and Lenny Clark in "The Winner" and Tina Fey's "30 Rock." But I'm not holding my breath...
Friday, September 01, 2006
Pilots Season (Duck Season, blam!)
Well, it's been about a month since my last post. I know you've all been very anxious, checking this space daily, and worrying about what may have become of me.
Well, not surprisingly, I've been watching TV.
I've been watching, in fact, a whole pile of the new offerings hitting the networks over the next little while. And what a dissapointing bunch they are. A large number of new shows are using what I would currently call the "Lost" format; a single season- (or series-) long story, with little sub-plots evolving around each individual character. Science fiction is a lot less prevelant than it was this time last year, possibly because of the ultimate failure of shows like Invasion, Surface and Threshold.
Some new stuff so far:
Friday Night Lights: A television re-working of the 2004 Billy Bob Thornton film, which itself was an adaptation of Buzz Bisinger's book. The focus is on high-school football in Texas, and the insane - and I do mean insane - amount of pressure the local community puts on the team, and especially on the coach. If the environment is really like this, and I believe it may be, then the cliche movie character of the loser who has never been able to let go of high-school glory days makes a lot of sense. That is ALL some of these folks live for.
This pilot is really well put together, juggling a very large cast in a way that isn't disorienting. But as a non-sports fan and a non-Texan, the gravitas attached to a high-school sporting event seems strangely overplayed. Expect this one to get very soap-opera, with affairs, back-room dealings and small-town politics making this Dynasty on the gridiron.
Heroes: Superheroes walk amongst us. They just don't know it yet.
They blow this one in the first 30 seconds, but after that it gets good. Superheroes are the vogue right now. X-Men, Batman and Spider-man are doing boffo box-office, and Superman didn't completely suck, so this take on ordinary people finding out extraordinary things about themselves should find a good audience. A very realistic take on people's reactions to their new abilities was fun to watch, and the subtle connections that are hinted at in the pilot should lead to some interesting developments. Do yourself a favour, though. Don't read the title cards that come up at the beginning. They really, really blow.
Jericho: Gerald McRaney stars as the mayor of Jericho, CO, a small town that just may be the last bit of civilization after some kind of nuclear holocaust. Skeet Ulrich is the prodigal son who returns just in time for the excitement. This could be good. McRaney's performance in the pilot is excellent, and the writing is tight and things could develop nicely here. I wonder about the longevity of a series like, this. Like "Lost", this is an isolated group in a high-pressure survival situation. After two years of "Lost", I'm a little tired of it. We'll see how "Jericho" fares.
Justice: Victor Garber (Alias, Titanic) stars as a high-profile attorney with a reputation for getting the guilty acquitted. The Fox Network show is a slicker, more stylish version of NBC's abortive Trial By Jury from last season, with the focus on the defense side instead of the prosecution. As always with Fox 'dramas', one wonders if the show isn't too stylized for it's own good. Garber is good, and has a strong supporting cast including Eamonn Walker from HBOs late and lamented Oz.
A nice twist is the very end of pilot episode, where we find out what REALLY happened, after listening to both prosecution and defense put forth their cases and never knowing who to believe. But that single innovation may not be enough to save the show from being lost admist the glut of murder-focused dramas on the small screen.
Kidnapped: This one is gonna have a tough time, being up against the very similar "Vanished" (see below). The son of a high profile businessman is kidnapped, and rather than call in the FBI he calls in a rogue expert (deftly portrayed by the excellent Jeremy Sisto). Of course the FBI figures out that something is up, and soon the rogue and the bureau must pool their efforts to save the boy.
This single kidnapping is presumably supposed to be the plot for the entire season, or perhaps series depending on how long they can keep audiences interested. Expect every single family member, friend, business associate and perhaps even cop to have a skeleton in their closet that comes into play at some point. This is a movie idea made into a series, and they're going to have to work hard to keep it up.
Knights Of Prosperity: The only actual original idea amongst the crop of new sitcoms so far this fall. Donal Logue (The Tao Of Steve, Grounded For Life) stars as a blue-collar everyman who, frustrated by his lack of success in life, hatches a plot to rob Mick Jagger's New York City apartment. He enlists a crew of fellow losers (and one very hot chick) and wackiness ensues.
I gotta admit, I laughed quite a bit at this. Mostly at the semi-surreal glimpses of Jagger's New York life, presented as a series of "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous" type clips. Again, though, this seems to be a one-shot idea. More development required.
Our Thirties, The Class, The Singles Table: Why am I lumping all of these in together? Because they are completely interchangeable. Thinly veiled attempts at replacing the gaping hole left by the demise of Friends (no, seriously, some people miss that show) we have three different groups of thrity-somethings, who met in three different ways and each of whom have their own amusing quirks, and yet we end up with three identical sit-coms.
I don't want to sound too harsh. Each has it's charm. Peter "I'm the voice of Darth Maul" Serafinowicz is funny in "Our Thirties", "The Singles Table" is filmed single camera, with a much better look and no laugh track, and "The Class" ... well okay, not all of them have charm. In short, I wasn't a fan of Friends, and I don't need something to replace it.
Raines: This, I think, is set up as a mid-season replacement, waiting in the wings for the inevitable failure of some other show. This is JACS (Just another cop show) but they have all got a twist these days, and this one is no exception. Homicide detective Raines, played by Jeff Goldblum, talks to the victims of the crimes he investigates. They talk back. The victims, of course, are dead.
It's made clear early on that this not Ghost Whisperer with a badge. For one thing, Mr. Goldblum's breasts are not nearly as nice as Jennifer Love Hewitt's. But also, Raines isn't really talking ot the dead. This is just a cop with an overactive imagination, who has come up with an elaborate mechanism to talk to himself. As with any cop show (except Law & Order), the mysteries play second fiddle to the appeal of the hero, and Goldblum's trademark quirkiness serves him well here.
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip: Aaron Sorkin, creator of the late, great West Wing, brings his walk-and-talk writing and liberal baggage to the world of televsion comedy in this hour-long dramady set backstage at a Saturday-Night-Live-esque sketch show. A stellar cast, including Amanda Peet, Matthew Perry (who I remember more from his excellent guest turn on West Wing then from his 9 year stint on Friends) and Sorkin alumns Bradley Whitford and Timothy Busfield all bring serious game to the show. Sorkin's writing has always sparkled with wit, and the setting of professional comic actors at work really lets him cut loose with that.
My only quibble is that the show's serious moments hold the same weighty self-importance as the serious moments of West Wing did. But we're not talking about world wars here, folks. We're talking about a late night comedy show. They'll have to be wary of their own significance here.
The Angriest Man In Suburbia: What can I say? Another sit-com straight out of the formula box. Wacky dad, precocious kid, hot and over-understanding mom. The shot on this one is the acts of violent rage committed by the central character Bill, portrayed by Mitch Rouse. One or two over-the-top outbursts can make for great comedy, but as the premise for a character - and a series - it's more than a little disconcerting. Especially played in scenes with his kids.
The Black Donnellys: Don't get your hopes up, Canadians. Despite the title, this show has nothing to do with the famous historical Canadian family, massacred in 1880. Instead, it's about a gang of young Irish brothers on the streets of New York, who find themselves caught up in the turf wars and gangland activity between the Irish and Italian mobs. The show plays like a wannabe Scorsese flick, cut for TV. This could shape up into a low-rent Sopranos, but this pilot shows that they've got a long way to go before reaching such heights.
The Nine: Good performances by a talented cast made this pilot more compelling than most I've seen so far this season, but the premise of the show could quickly get annoying. We are introduced to a cast of characters, most of whom don't know each other at all. They all wind up in the same bank at the same time, just as a robbery happens. Flash forward more than two full days. Our nine heroes emerge from the bank having endured a grueling hostage situation. Each has been changed by their shared experience.
There could be some really good stuff, here. Clearly a lot of things happened in the 52 interveneing hours, but we are shown none of it in the pilot. Presumably, flashbacks will play a large part in future episodes. Hopefully, the show's writers have solid ideas about what happened and how they're going to reveal it to the audience. Otherwise, this could get messy and boring real fast. Tim Daly (what happened to Eyes? I loved that show!), Chi Mcbride and John Billingsly all do great work here.
Traveler: The official ABC website for this one calls it a meeting of "The Fugitive" with "Enemy Of The State", but neither the iconic TV series nor the action-packed Will Smith vehicle are evoked by the pilot. Which is not to say it's not good. Two attractive twenty-something guys find themselves in way over their heads when they are implicated in a terrorist bombing, having apparently been set up by their college roommate. They head out on the run, fleeing the authorities and searching for the answers to the mystery surrounding them.
Like "Kidnapped" and "Vanished", the conspiracy-theory nature of this show may get a bit thick if it goes on too long. But if they keep everything as fast-paced and tight as the pilot, this may be another water-cooler conversation show.
Vanished: This one's already on, so you may know all about it. In a nutshell, read the description of "Kidnapped", above, and substitute 'congressman's wife' for 'businessman's son'. The entire second paragraph apples completely, though.
We've already seen the second episode of "Vanished", so we can get a better idea of how this is going to play out. It seems that every ep is a day in the investigation, and tempers and accusations will escalate accordingly. So far, it's good enough that I'll stick around for episode three. This doesn't seem to have the in-your-face brashness that is the hallmark of so many Fox shows. A defter hand is at work.
And that's it so far.
The sad thing is, nothing is really exciting this year. The pilot for Lost two season's ago, and the pilot for My Name Is Earl last season were mind-blowingly good. Nothing seems anywhere near that promising this time around. I guess I'll just have to wait for Battlestar Galactica to come back on the air.
Watch this space for more pilot-bashing as I view them.
Well, not surprisingly, I've been watching TV.
I've been watching, in fact, a whole pile of the new offerings hitting the networks over the next little while. And what a dissapointing bunch they are. A large number of new shows are using what I would currently call the "Lost" format; a single season- (or series-) long story, with little sub-plots evolving around each individual character. Science fiction is a lot less prevelant than it was this time last year, possibly because of the ultimate failure of shows like Invasion, Surface and Threshold.
Some new stuff so far:
Friday Night Lights: A television re-working of the 2004 Billy Bob Thornton film, which itself was an adaptation of Buzz Bisinger's book. The focus is on high-school football in Texas, and the insane - and I do mean insane - amount of pressure the local community puts on the team, and especially on the coach. If the environment is really like this, and I believe it may be, then the cliche movie character of the loser who has never been able to let go of high-school glory days makes a lot of sense. That is ALL some of these folks live for.
This pilot is really well put together, juggling a very large cast in a way that isn't disorienting. But as a non-sports fan and a non-Texan, the gravitas attached to a high-school sporting event seems strangely overplayed. Expect this one to get very soap-opera, with affairs, back-room dealings and small-town politics making this Dynasty on the gridiron.
Heroes: Superheroes walk amongst us. They just don't know it yet.
They blow this one in the first 30 seconds, but after that it gets good. Superheroes are the vogue right now. X-Men, Batman and Spider-man are doing boffo box-office, and Superman didn't completely suck, so this take on ordinary people finding out extraordinary things about themselves should find a good audience. A very realistic take on people's reactions to their new abilities was fun to watch, and the subtle connections that are hinted at in the pilot should lead to some interesting developments. Do yourself a favour, though. Don't read the title cards that come up at the beginning. They really, really blow.
Jericho: Gerald McRaney stars as the mayor of Jericho, CO, a small town that just may be the last bit of civilization after some kind of nuclear holocaust. Skeet Ulrich is the prodigal son who returns just in time for the excitement. This could be good. McRaney's performance in the pilot is excellent, and the writing is tight and things could develop nicely here. I wonder about the longevity of a series like, this. Like "Lost", this is an isolated group in a high-pressure survival situation. After two years of "Lost", I'm a little tired of it. We'll see how "Jericho" fares.
Justice: Victor Garber (Alias, Titanic) stars as a high-profile attorney with a reputation for getting the guilty acquitted. The Fox Network show is a slicker, more stylish version of NBC's abortive Trial By Jury from last season, with the focus on the defense side instead of the prosecution. As always with Fox 'dramas', one wonders if the show isn't too stylized for it's own good. Garber is good, and has a strong supporting cast including Eamonn Walker from HBOs late and lamented Oz.
A nice twist is the very end of pilot episode, where we find out what REALLY happened, after listening to both prosecution and defense put forth their cases and never knowing who to believe. But that single innovation may not be enough to save the show from being lost admist the glut of murder-focused dramas on the small screen.
Kidnapped: This one is gonna have a tough time, being up against the very similar "Vanished" (see below). The son of a high profile businessman is kidnapped, and rather than call in the FBI he calls in a rogue expert (deftly portrayed by the excellent Jeremy Sisto). Of course the FBI figures out that something is up, and soon the rogue and the bureau must pool their efforts to save the boy.
This single kidnapping is presumably supposed to be the plot for the entire season, or perhaps series depending on how long they can keep audiences interested. Expect every single family member, friend, business associate and perhaps even cop to have a skeleton in their closet that comes into play at some point. This is a movie idea made into a series, and they're going to have to work hard to keep it up.
Knights Of Prosperity: The only actual original idea amongst the crop of new sitcoms so far this fall. Donal Logue (The Tao Of Steve, Grounded For Life) stars as a blue-collar everyman who, frustrated by his lack of success in life, hatches a plot to rob Mick Jagger's New York City apartment. He enlists a crew of fellow losers (and one very hot chick) and wackiness ensues.
I gotta admit, I laughed quite a bit at this. Mostly at the semi-surreal glimpses of Jagger's New York life, presented as a series of "Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous" type clips. Again, though, this seems to be a one-shot idea. More development required.
Our Thirties, The Class, The Singles Table: Why am I lumping all of these in together? Because they are completely interchangeable. Thinly veiled attempts at replacing the gaping hole left by the demise of Friends (no, seriously, some people miss that show) we have three different groups of thrity-somethings, who met in three different ways and each of whom have their own amusing quirks, and yet we end up with three identical sit-coms.
I don't want to sound too harsh. Each has it's charm. Peter "I'm the voice of Darth Maul" Serafinowicz is funny in "Our Thirties", "The Singles Table" is filmed single camera, with a much better look and no laugh track, and "The Class" ... well okay, not all of them have charm. In short, I wasn't a fan of Friends, and I don't need something to replace it.
Raines: This, I think, is set up as a mid-season replacement, waiting in the wings for the inevitable failure of some other show. This is JACS (Just another cop show) but they have all got a twist these days, and this one is no exception. Homicide detective Raines, played by Jeff Goldblum, talks to the victims of the crimes he investigates. They talk back. The victims, of course, are dead.
It's made clear early on that this not Ghost Whisperer with a badge. For one thing, Mr. Goldblum's breasts are not nearly as nice as Jennifer Love Hewitt's. But also, Raines isn't really talking ot the dead. This is just a cop with an overactive imagination, who has come up with an elaborate mechanism to talk to himself. As with any cop show (except Law & Order), the mysteries play second fiddle to the appeal of the hero, and Goldblum's trademark quirkiness serves him well here.
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip: Aaron Sorkin, creator of the late, great West Wing, brings his walk-and-talk writing and liberal baggage to the world of televsion comedy in this hour-long dramady set backstage at a Saturday-Night-Live-esque sketch show. A stellar cast, including Amanda Peet, Matthew Perry (who I remember more from his excellent guest turn on West Wing then from his 9 year stint on Friends) and Sorkin alumns Bradley Whitford and Timothy Busfield all bring serious game to the show. Sorkin's writing has always sparkled with wit, and the setting of professional comic actors at work really lets him cut loose with that.
My only quibble is that the show's serious moments hold the same weighty self-importance as the serious moments of West Wing did. But we're not talking about world wars here, folks. We're talking about a late night comedy show. They'll have to be wary of their own significance here.
The Angriest Man In Suburbia: What can I say? Another sit-com straight out of the formula box. Wacky dad, precocious kid, hot and over-understanding mom. The shot on this one is the acts of violent rage committed by the central character Bill, portrayed by Mitch Rouse. One or two over-the-top outbursts can make for great comedy, but as the premise for a character - and a series - it's more than a little disconcerting. Especially played in scenes with his kids.
The Black Donnellys: Don't get your hopes up, Canadians. Despite the title, this show has nothing to do with the famous historical Canadian family, massacred in 1880. Instead, it's about a gang of young Irish brothers on the streets of New York, who find themselves caught up in the turf wars and gangland activity between the Irish and Italian mobs. The show plays like a wannabe Scorsese flick, cut for TV. This could shape up into a low-rent Sopranos, but this pilot shows that they've got a long way to go before reaching such heights.
The Nine: Good performances by a talented cast made this pilot more compelling than most I've seen so far this season, but the premise of the show could quickly get annoying. We are introduced to a cast of characters, most of whom don't know each other at all. They all wind up in the same bank at the same time, just as a robbery happens. Flash forward more than two full days. Our nine heroes emerge from the bank having endured a grueling hostage situation. Each has been changed by their shared experience.
There could be some really good stuff, here. Clearly a lot of things happened in the 52 interveneing hours, but we are shown none of it in the pilot. Presumably, flashbacks will play a large part in future episodes. Hopefully, the show's writers have solid ideas about what happened and how they're going to reveal it to the audience. Otherwise, this could get messy and boring real fast. Tim Daly (what happened to Eyes? I loved that show!), Chi Mcbride and John Billingsly all do great work here.
Traveler: The official ABC website for this one calls it a meeting of "The Fugitive" with "Enemy Of The State", but neither the iconic TV series nor the action-packed Will Smith vehicle are evoked by the pilot. Which is not to say it's not good. Two attractive twenty-something guys find themselves in way over their heads when they are implicated in a terrorist bombing, having apparently been set up by their college roommate. They head out on the run, fleeing the authorities and searching for the answers to the mystery surrounding them.
Like "Kidnapped" and "Vanished", the conspiracy-theory nature of this show may get a bit thick if it goes on too long. But if they keep everything as fast-paced and tight as the pilot, this may be another water-cooler conversation show.
Vanished: This one's already on, so you may know all about it. In a nutshell, read the description of "Kidnapped", above, and substitute 'congressman's wife' for 'businessman's son'. The entire second paragraph apples completely, though.
We've already seen the second episode of "Vanished", so we can get a better idea of how this is going to play out. It seems that every ep is a day in the investigation, and tempers and accusations will escalate accordingly. So far, it's good enough that I'll stick around for episode three. This doesn't seem to have the in-your-face brashness that is the hallmark of so many Fox shows. A defter hand is at work.
And that's it so far.
The sad thing is, nothing is really exciting this year. The pilot for Lost two season's ago, and the pilot for My Name Is Earl last season were mind-blowingly good. Nothing seems anywhere near that promising this time around. I guess I'll just have to wait for Battlestar Galactica to come back on the air.
Watch this space for more pilot-bashing as I view them.
