Summer is an unusual time for this blog. The great majority of shows I track are network sitcoms and dramas, all of which will be gone for the next few months (or in the case of a "Lost," an entire pregnancy). Obviously, there are some new and returning cable shows I'm gonna cover (the first three "Rescue Me"s arrived in the mail today, and I'd like to be more diligent with my "Weeds" and "Big Love" commentary this year than last), but there's going to be a lot of playing by ear.
A year ago at this time, I asked you all what summer shows -- new or returning, scripted or reality -- you'd like to see me write about. In going back over your requests, I see that I didn't take up a single one of them on a regular basis (how's that for customer service?), but I remain open to suggestions. Fire away, and we'll see what happens.
Friday, May 25, 2007
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79 comments:
John from Cincinnati
Oh, that one's a given, Seth. I love Milch too much -- even if he's turned more into David Lynch with this one.
... and Flight of The Concords. I've heard nothing about either of these shows other than what HBO promos have told me. Definitely somewhat curious.
Chris, I think the first Flight of the Concords episode is streaming online, if you are interested. I've seen some of their act through youtube videos. Pretty funny stuff. The show looks like it is going to have a Spinal Tap meets Tenacious D's HBO shorts feel to it.
Alan,
I admit to enjoying the Train Wrecks that are Top Chef and Project Runway. In particular I wonder how Bravo is going to address (if at all) the assault on a contestant last Season in the up coming run of Top Chef.
I'm hearing good things about Meadowlands on Showtime. What about The Closer or the new Treat Williams vehicle Heartland on TNT?
I agree with Jefferson, The Closer might be a good one. However, I don't know if that is so much a show you can blog to. I really enjoy The 4400 in the summer as well. I look forward to your Big Love blogs, that show is pretty underrated.
I was disspondent last night as I realized all my shows are done for the summer. The Office repeat was a good one, but summer TV isn't all that bad. I can't wait to see Monk!
I mentioned The 4400 last year and was shot down. I supposed it'll be shot down again.
Any chance you'll do Hell's Kitchen (I'm in love with Gordon Ramsay) or Big Brother?
How about Big Brother?
Just kidding.
I'd definitely like to see Big Love get some love, though.
The Closer has one of the best collections of quirky, yet still normal enough to be believable charactgers anywhere on TV. The procedural plots aren't much more than what you get with any of the crime procedures, but the quirks of the characters make it a far more entertaining show than any of the others. Much like FNL's Landry, Lt. Prevenza makes me laugh simply by appearing on the screen since I know something slyly humorous is coming...
vote for 4400
Alan,
I know that you stay away from spoilers, but if you can offer some sort of preview for Rescue Me once you've watched the disc, that would be great! I thought Season 3 was ridiculously uneven, and will probably just give up on the show if Season 4 is more of the same.
i second the vote for Hell's Kitchen and Big Brother.
any info on if Rock Star is returning this summer?
How about Eureka?
Can we create a fictional third season of RockStar and blog about it?
Traveler
The 4400
On the Lot
that new Pirate reality show
I don't even know if I will watch all of these in the summer, but I'm willing to give some of them a shot...although "On the Lot" has been *very* interesting so far.
You still haven't recapped the Greys Anatomy finale/Season. Given that its the #1 show on tv dont you think some sort of final column is deserved? Even if its about how aful the show became and stayed?
Kris,
"'On the Lot' has been *very* interesting so far."
I whole heartedly disagree. "On the Lot" could have been a good show, but Fox turned it into run of the mill reality fodder.Show me more of the movies and less of the petty squabbles b/w contestants. During last night's episode they talked about one of the movies being amazingly beautiful and well done, but they showed 5 seconds of it. Instead they showed us a marginal short film that was done by people who fought with each other the entire time.
I understand reality TV is about people, but this show could have been centered on the work and not just another version of The Apprentice.
Maybe I'm just tired with the reality genre as a whole.
You still haven't recapped the Greys Anatomy finale/Season. Given that its the #1 show on tv dont you think some sort of final column is deserved? Even if its about how aful the show became and stayed?
I've already written about my growing disgust with "Grey's" on several occasions, and to write about the finale would require me to have watched the finale. Instead, as with the "24" finale, I got about 10 or 15 minutes in, grew bored, stopped watching, and was later told by numerous friends and colleagues that I made the right call.
Re: some of the above suggestions:
-Procedurals in general don't make good blog fodder (it's the reason I only comment on a "House" episode if I have a very strong opinion about it), and even though season two of "The Closer" eliminated several of the things that made me hate it in season one (the whole Brenda Leigh Vs. The World theme, specifically), I don't find Kyra Sedgwick's performance interesting enough to sit through most episodes, let alone to blog about them later.
-After last year's post, I got ahold of a bunch of "4400" episodes on DVD, and while the concepts were intriguing, the execution bored me most of the time (the two leads especially).
-Flight of the Conchords, I'm hopeful about. Supposed to get a screener today or early next week.
-No to all of Big Brother, Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef and Project Runway. The first two I think are too awful to watch, and while I can appreciate the craft of the latter two, the subject matter in each case is too big a barrier for entry for me. (It's why every year I farm out our Project Runway review to our fashion writer, because I admire the show and want it to get its props, but it holds no interest for me.)
-Meadowlands is another possibility when I get around to it.
-If I write anything early about Rescue Me, it won't be about any plot points, just a general sentiment along the lines of "I'm happier" or "They're still annoying me."
-If Rock Star were coming back, I would absolutely blog it again, but it's not. Sigh...
-I hated the Traveler pilot too much to want to watch another episode.
-I haven't liked the audition episodes of On the Lot -- far too many contestants, even by latter-era Burnett standards, to care about any of them -- but assuming it hasn't already been canceled by next week, I'll give it another shot after the field is winnowed down and the audience gets involved in the voting.
The only two summer shows that I can recall are "Rescue Me", and most certainly "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".
FX is dropping the ball on the Sunny DVD.
What about "Entourage"? I don't know if you haven't blogged about the show that much in the past for a particular reason, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts about it. I only started watching it this past season when "The Sopranos" came back, and while I don't love it nearly as much as my guy friends, it's interesting in a number of ways.
Also, how about you pick a few shows each week that you normally don't follow or fell out of following, watch them in repeats, and give us your thoughts on them. It'd be a good way to expand the discussion here.
Hell's Kitchen for sure, please. Ramsey calls everyone Donkeys and throws food at them. That's great TV.
The other show I'm really looking forward to is Big Love. With Veronica Mars gone (sniff) seeing Tina Majorino and Amanda Seyfried on my screen will help ease the pain. Plus it's a good show.
I wrote about Entourage a lot more when it wasn't airing immediately after Sopranos. (You can find all my previous Entourage posts here.)
As soon as each Sopranos episode ends, all my mental energy goes towards writing that week's Rewind column, after which I collapse into bed for a few hours.
True, I get to see most of the episodes in advance, but the last couple of seasons haven't made me enthusiastic enough to want to write about them ahead of time. I disliked the show for most of season one, felt it improved significantly in season two and then backslid with this current season. Maybe season four (which is going to start airing almost immediately after season three ends) will be better, and that'll in turn inspire me to write about it more.
"Studio 60" and "Grey's Anatomy" are the rare shows that inspired me to keep watching and complaining about them for a long stretch -- and even with "Grey's," I eventually gave up. (Had "Lost" not begun to significantly improve in the home stretch of this season, I may have stopped blogging on that one, too.) I know there's an old cliche that says it's easier to write a scathing pan than a positive review, but I often find the opposite is true, especially with blogging. Why waste my time on something that bored me?
Oh, and I like your other suggestion (watching reruns of shows I don't usually see), Brian, and will amost certainly do a few posts along those lines this summer.
Another vote for Big Love. I'm looking forward to the second season of that one.
I *really* hope On the Lot improves. Starting off with so many contestants was a mistake, I think. I'll stick with it because I'm an aspiring screenwriter and thus glued to anything about film, but I'd like a lot less interpersonal nonsense and a lot more of the films.
Am I the only one who really got into Kyle XY last summer? It will fill your cravings for both family friendly and sci-fi shows.
Doctor Who Series 3 will be airing on Sci-Fi this summer. It's already begun airing over in Britland and it's as good as ever. Plus the addition of John Simm (from the also very excellent Life on Mars) late in the series is going to kick everything up a notch.
I vote you take a look at shows from when you were younger. Maybe once a week you could give us your thoughts on different shows from your past - how they impacted you then and how they hold up upon being rewatched? Say Twin Peaks or Beverly Hills, 90210 or Sledge Hammer or TV101. I think you could also mix in stories from your first couple of years as a TV journalist, perhaps relating them to previous casts members from those shows you re-watch and present comments about.
"So You Think You Can Dance", of course! It's one of the most entertaining reality shows (even if you can't dance), and it firmly kicks "Dancing with the Stars" behind. Firmly. It's so great!
I'll second the vote for Eureka and toss one in for The Riches (though its season is winding down). I also think Marc B.'s got a great idea. It would be kind of fun to see one or two blog posts a week that took the approach of watching something old - preferably something you haven't seen since it was new - and commenting on it as present-Alan.
The last I heard, it's not starting up until September, but Torchwood on BBCA (the Doctor Who spinoff) could be worth your time. And I'd like to second Eureka. It's a show that doesn't seem to get much pub, but pulls down great numbers for the Sci-Fi channel. And hey, Matt Frewer. With an Aussie accent, no less.
Getting a hold of the British version of The IT Crowd before the American one starts could make for some good blogging as well. It has a tone, or rather multiple tones, that I don't see the American version emulating. Each character sort of lives in their own level of reality that only barely intersect. It kind of reminds me of The Young Ones in an odd way.
How about Damages, the FX show with Glenn Close? The producers are calling it a legal thriller, which sounds intriguing. And someone I trust saw and loved the pilot.
Oh yeah, Damages! That looks great. Glad FX could entice back Glenn Close, and I love Ted Danson as a villain.
The guy who plays Moss is coming over from the UK version of The IT crowd; I suspect he's a writer and/or producer of the original.
eric r.
I agree, I would like to see more of the films, but they were narrowing down the field, just like they do on "Idol." We don't get to see the mediocre performances for very long, or much of those that get cut in the Hollywood episodes.
I was a little saddened that the show did not last longer that first night and that the elimination night wasn't an hour long...or second episode, whatever you want to call it.
However, the show will get much better when we get to the voting weeks. Where the audience gets to see each director's film and vote on it. I am willing to wait until that moment.
I am guessing they spent time with the squabbling so that we could get to know some of the key players in the show. Obviously, the ones who are getting some screen time (and whose bits of film we got to see) are the better directors of the bunch. I can be patient...
I loved Marc's suggestion about posting about old shows, or maybe a "do you remember..." thread for shows like Holmes and Yoyo and Mr. Merlin. You and I are prob about the same age, so I think I would enjoy that. A sort of Proust meets Bellisario, if you will. Maybe you could also post an open, "What's erverybody watching?" thread.
I really liked "On the Lot", setting aside the usual reality-show annoyances (repititious recaps, endless explanations of the premise/tasks). Plus, I would think the shorts would be available online, no?
One thing I love about these types of merit-based shows (Lot, Top Chef, Runway) is that very often, the least likable ass on the show really brings it and shuts up the agreeable but mediocre haters. The guy with the funky hair on Lot, and the guy who didn't think he could fake a whiskey and Coke come to mind. They were unmitigated asses, but sometimes, giftedness trumps hard work/intelligence/all else.
Also, when is the Wire starting?
I was pretty upset with On the Lot, although I was expecting that I would be. Like Eric said above, I wanted to see more of the awe inspiring films they were raving about for all of three seconds. Instead, we watched a five minute montage of bad directors crying and walking away.
As for the summer shows, I agree you should check out some reruns. It will be hard to find any show worth writing more than a few sentences about.
Link to the contestant films:
http://www.thelot.com/episodes/
Kris, I totally understand your point. But I guess I really am tiring of reality tv. Like Alan said, the amount of contestants in the beginning was outrageuous. The whole point of a TV show is to get the viewer hooked in the first few episodes. "Lot" failed in that aspect. I do look forward to the voting portion of the show though. I just think the road to get there was too cliche. By episode 1, you know who will make the cut by who gets the interview spots.
I am excited(using term loosely) to see what else the director who is skilled in SFX has up his sleeve.
new series I'm interested in seeing and would therefore be interested in reading about, if they prove worthy of our viewing time:
FX: "Damages"
Showtime: "Meadowlands" and "Californication." Am also eagerly anticipating second season of "Brotherhood."
HBO: "John From Cincinnati" and, if they ever getting around to scheduling them, "In Treatment" and "Tell Me You Love Me."
Didn't you feel like Brotherhood ended a little flat? With Sopranos gone, maybe I can enjoy it instead of sitting there and muttering how it isn't Sopranos.
Alan -- When does that Heroes miniseries bit run? Also, do you know anything about the return of "Always Sunny In Philadelphia"? Whenever that returns, it deserves a spot in the ol' blog.
Alan: I was interested in checking out Traveler, but you say you hated the pilot. Can you tell us more of what you didn't like?
My votes are for Big Love and Weeds. I don't have Showtime, but rented Weeds, Season One and fell in love with that show! I need to rent season two asap.
Thanks for asking for opinions...I also like the one about past shows you've liked. :)
Chris - I believe the Heroes miniseries will be on during the Heroes hiatus in the winter.
Yeah, Weeds is a very consistent show. Not one to enter any season-end top-10s, but it's great for the summer. One more vote for that one.
Mr. Merlin! Can I have back the neurons that know that in that show Excalibur was a crowbar stuck in a bucket of cement?
Here's another idea - do some reviews of the online components and shorts that I'm sure many shows are likely to do over the summer to maintain interest.
It's really difficult to assess anything from a trailer, so I'll only vote for Eureka and any component of the Dr. Who franchise that appears over the summer. And, after watching the pilot, which is freely and legally available on a small myspace window here, I hope you'll have something to say about Flight of the Conchords.
Anon
vote for Eureka
I hope you cover "The Closer." It's one of my favorites. Great writing on that show.
The quality is crappy, but HBO put up the first episode of Flight of the Concordes on MySpace (myspace.com/hboflight). Personally, I love it, but being Australian, it could be more suited to my sense of humor (much like how the original The Office wasn't considered all that great by a few Americans, and maybe why Extras wasn't such a hit). It seems like a strong show, and one that goes in a nice Scrubs like vein (in terms of wackiness). I just hope like hell it gets decent viewership.
Big Love (the original, and frankly, better version of The Riches) I'm really looking forward to, John from Cincinnati I'm curious about, and even though it's hard to call it a new season (a week break), Entourage will no doubt keep being good. Weeds I'm definitely looking forward to, same with It's Always Sunny, and while I still have to finish watching the first season, Brotherhood will be good to have back (that and about half The West Wing cast is now in it). Californication I'm somewhat excited about, mainly because it makes me think of the Basic Instinct/Larry Sanders scene all over again.
Alan, I don't know if you watched it, but This American Life was probably one of the most heart-warming shows to screen this past fall.
And just because it's HBO, and I'm a psych major, when will In Treatment be coming out?
Alright, just because I'm interested in some of the actors involved, it would be cool to have your opinion on: Burn Notice on USA, Saving Grace on TNT, and State of Mind on Lifetime, just because Lili Taylor deserves a regular paycheck.
Anon
Didn't think I'd need to suggest "John from Cincinnati," and indeed, I didn't have to.
I'm more curious about Showtime series than HBO series for the first time in maybe ever, so I look forward to your opinions there.
Aside from that, I can't think of anything else to suggest. But I agree with you about "The Closer" (in particular) and procedurals in general. After "Homicide" and "NYPD Blue," there's not much point. The thing that kills me about "Closer" is that everyone acts like Brenda Leigh is Frank Pembleton, which is very much not the case.
As for the rest of the returning cable series, I'd say you're batting a thousand.
How about a look at some of the series DVDs that you're proud to keep on the shelf? And/or series that you'd love to see come out on DVD?
"'Studio 60' and 'Grey's Anatomy' are the rare shows that inspired me to keep watching and complaining about them for a long stretch -- and even with "Grey's," I eventually gave up."
Do you eventually start watching such shows again? Don't ask me why, but I want shows like this to succeed, even if I don't watch them. (I liked what I saw with "GA" when it first came out, but never watched it a lot. Hell, towards the end of this year, I didn't even watch most of my favorite shows religiously.) I guess I like the idea of being around a group of people with everyone talking about the same show.
It'll be interesting to see, on another note, if the show's ratings will start to reflect what critics feel is a drop in quality. If that happens, ABC's lineup could implode, and who knows how that could change things.
"Oh, and I like your other suggestion (watching reruns of shows I don't usually see), Brian, and will amost certainly do a few posts along those lines this summer."
Cool.
Flight of the Conchord, those guys are the funniest, will be good to see their show.
Curious Alan, I can totally understand your recent views on Grey's Anatomy but do these extend to Kate Walsh and Private Practice (hate the name and cheesey nekkid woman logo)? Not going to give it a go after Stephen McPherson promised a re-jig?
And the idea of revisiting some gems from the past is gold.
Forgot to say it before, but whenever Dexter returns, I hope it has a spot in here. I'm new to your blogger blog since I stumbled upon it during this final run of Sopranos eps, so I don't know if you already review it regularly (been a long-time reader for the S-L stuff.)
Eureka would be fun.
I wanted to say thanks for Deadwood. After seing it in your headlines and on your festivus list, I finally watched the first episode last night. Already big with the Deadwood love. But it was weird. Firefly is my comfort watching and the opening credits of Deadwood was very similar.
Avoid any shows on the USA Network. And if you must review a Sci-Fi Network show, make certain it is their only good show, BG, which won't be back until like 2013, right?
For the rest of Sci-Fi's shows, and for any of USA's shows, I can feel the IQ points being pilfered from my skull after each viewing.
I remember a while back you said you'd Tivo'd a bunch of Ugly Betty; did you ever get a chance to watch any of it? That'd be my vote for the "rerun" category, especially since I don't have a lot of the cable channels you'll be blogging about over the summer.
To the anonymous above:
Yeah, I usually feel the same way about USA, but sometimes you just need some Bruce Campbell.
In a similar way, I can't remember the last time I watched (or cared to watch) AMC, and yet they may soon have a remake of The Prisoner, a show about ad men in the 60's (Mad Men) whose got Matt Weiner hired onto The Sopranos, and maybe a show where Bryan Cranston plays a chemistry teacher who starts a meth lab to raise some quick cash (Breaking Bad).
I can't help but be curious.
Anon
Let me add my signature to Marc B.'s suggestion of occasionally blogging about a series from television's rich past. (Is "The White Shadow" still on anywhere?)
My suggestion would've been along these lines but even broader... where you look into the darker corners of the multi-channel-verse for some hidden treasures. Particularly those of a retro nature. ("Dick Cavett Show"... "Match Game"...)
"The White Shadow" is on DVD.
Summer seems like a great time to start podcasting, Alan.
Eureka
The Riches
Life on Mars
Doctor Who
Or, here's an idea. You could ask why the "news" orgs prefer to cover Anna-Nicole rather than reality.
"Cutting off funding for the troops?" Please!
No one member of the military would be stranded without a tickey home if this idiotic war were ended.
But I guess you're more interested in crap.
Or, here's an idea. You could ask why the "news" orgs prefer to cover Anna-Nicole rather than reality.
Hi, welcome to my site, in which I've written close to a thousand posts, and the amount of them devoted to either TV news or politics has been somewhere in the neighborhood of both jack and squat.
I finally got around to watching the "Traveler" pilot. Credit for being well-made and for using a number of NYC locations sensibly, but I'm not sure it can go anywhere long-term and the credibility of the whole "he never existed!" angle just is too much. One thing is that for once, we don't have utterly idiotic feds. I'll watch an episode or two at least, but not sold.
Since the Primetime Emmy eligibility period ends this Thursday, how about some thoughts on who deserves / who you think will receive nominations?
Traveller I hated not because it's bad, but just so goddamn generic.
Hmm, Emmys, this is hard because I don't know who's eligable or not. But anyway, a couple of my picks...
Edit: Screw the list. I noticed my general consensus was to put Dexter on top, with the other good cable shows close behind (The Sopranos, Entourage, The Wire, The Shield, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, This American Life...).
I was interested in checking out Traveler, but you say you hated the pilot. Can you tell us more of what you didn't like?
I found the two leads beyond boring, and I think the last few seasons of network TV have proven pretty strongly that shows based on massive government (or anti-government) conspiracies aren't worth the time.
Didn't you feel like Brotherhood ended a little flat?
I was actually impressed for five seconds that they appeared to kill Three-Part Mike, until I realized A)the show's called "Brotherhood," and B)it would be pointless to kill the guy without explaining where he had been or what his huge plan was.
It's not coming back until fall, anyway, so it's not a factor in summer planning.
Do you eventually start watching such shows again?
Sometimes. Depends on the timeslot, number of other shows I'm watching that week, etc. But every six months or so, I feel compelled to see what's happening on "ER," even though I've hated the show going back at least to Mark Greene's endless death arc. With "Grey's," Shonda has said she wants to get back to the fun next year, so maybe I'll sample it a few more times, but "Office" definitely gets first position in that timeslot.
Curious Alan, I can totally understand your recent views on Grey's Anatomy but do these extend to Kate Walsh and Private Practice (hate the name and cheesey nekkid woman logo)? Not going to give it a go after Stephen McPherson promised a re-jig?
I like Kate Walsh way too much to give up on it right away, but I'm not optimistic.
Forgot to say it before, but whenever Dexter returns, I hope it has a spot in here.
I reviewed a number of "Dexter" episodes in season one, but not all of them. As I said at the time, it was so consistent in what it was doing, what was working and what wasn't that I ran out of things to say about it. I expect I'll continue to treat it like "House" next season, and write only when I feel inspired to say something new.
Summer seems like a great time to start podcasting, Alan.
I have neither the equipment nor the technical know-how for that, unfortunately. Also, unless I was doing it with someone else, I'd just wind up regurgitating stuff that was here on the blog or in the columns, as I tend to talk like I write (or vice versa).
Doctor Who
Abso-tutely.
Emmys
The TV Academy has made it so clear that they don't know what they're doing that I don't even want to give them the endorsement of a "Here's who they should actually nominate" post, because that suggests I still care about the Emmys.
Alan,
I think you should watch a couple episodes of Brothers and Sisters as part of your summer rerun look. Berlanti turned the whole show around and it's truly evolved into a compelling family drama. My Sunday night schedule is too busy to have seen all the eps first-run, and I bet your schedule of shows fits that bill as well. I'm going to Netflix from the beginning, I think. It's a wonderful cast and now it's a wonderful show too.
I'll throw in another vote for Eureka. Cheesy summer fun last year, I thought. Looking forward to its return.
My vote is for "Hex" on BBC America.
I rewatched the Brothers and Sisters pilot yesterday (ABC repeated it on Sunday), and it's fascinating how Berlanti managed both to totally reinvent and rework the show and to stay faithful to the original characters.
(Another interesting note is that the pilot was "Patriarchy" and the season fianle was "Matriarchy," which further indicates the degree to which the show has shifted.)
Flight of the Concords!
I'd love to see full reviews of Doctor Who (I've seen the first 7 or 8 from Series 3. On the whole it is the best series by far, but no single episodes stand out for me the way Madame de Pompedour did last seasons). And of course, full reviews of Big Love.
I'd love to see a little something on Californication, Meadowlands, some of the new stuff coming on BBCAmerica, The 4400, The Closer, Torchwood, Eureka, and Burn Notice.
Please no Bravo reality shows!
When does Hex come back?
This might be a little picky, but could you post an announcement (a la your spoiler post) to ask people to attempt to read all the comments before making their own comment. Sometimes we get 3-4 people making the same point, which interrupts the flow of the comments, and makes it seems less like a dialogue and more like a party where everyone is more interested in shouting their opinion.
I like the above suggestion of Top Chef, and I know people have also mentioned Weeds. Can there ever be too much Mary Louise Parker?
Tuck, I would take the nitpick more seriously if it wasn't immediately followed by another request for a show I had dismissed elsewhere in these same comments. :)
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