Thursday, March 15, 2007

Thursday newbies thread

Since I've already weighed in with my last two columns, use this post to comment on any or all of tonight's new shows: "Andy Barker, P.I.," "Raines" and "October Road."

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

On an entirely unrelated topic, I'm hearing that Veronica Mars has been cancelled. I'm not surprised based on the ratings, but am still disappointed. Crappier shows have lasted much longer.

Can you confirm if this is true? I trust you will break it to us gently.

Matt said...

Given that it's also sounding like Gilmore Girls is done after this year, I'm not sure if that makes Mars' survival more or less likely. I actually think that helps, because it means CW doesn't have to rebuild a night from scratch if they keep Veronica.

Allegedly, the CW has had another horrid pilot season and has enough problems elsewhere that Veronica could get a reprieve, especially given that 7th Heaven is gone for sure now, Smallville/Supernatural has not gone terribly well, and the Monday comedy block has bordered on complete disaster. CW isn't going to try and fill more than 4-5 hours with "new" programs, I would think.

Anonymous said...

Kristin from E! is saying VM was cancelled: http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=6bcc5753-bc66-41f4-8283-131667132231

Dammit.

On topic: I did like Andy Barker, P.I. enough to keep watching it while 30 Rock is gone. Maybe even after it moves to whatever permanent time slot it's going to get.

Anonymous said...

I thought the pilot of Andy Barker was an odd mix of tones (and I'm having trouble setting aside Buster Bluth long enough to see Tony Hale as a different character), but I have always liked Richter -- I'll give the show an extended try.

Old Man Snap said...

I tried to have an open mind about October Road, but my goodness what a piece of melodramatic drivel that thing was.

It. Was. So. Slow. And. Painful. To. Watch.

The only interesting part of the eight minutes I stomached was hearing "Don't Look Back" on network TV a week after Brad Delp died.

Alan Sepinwall said...

Re: Veronica Mars, I'm working on it, and will hopefully be able to post something more concrete later today. All I know right now is that no decision has been made yet.

Alan Sepinwall said...

Also, this story may be more relevant to the discussion, though I understand that it wouldn't be Veronica at the FBI Academy, but Veronica as a rookie agent.

Matt said...

One question to look into--if they did the Veronica reboot, would any of the rest of the cast be maintained, or would all be gone? We know a number of the players already have other deals, but, in particular, will Logan and Keith still be around?

Anonymous said...

I sat through "October Road" for the most part, as there was some boring first half hoops on otherwise.

Other than being thoroughly unimpressed, I got a real Beautifil Girls-with-Ed-lovechild feel. Only without all the goodness both of those brought.

Anonymous said...

I have never been so bored as I was while watching October Road. I don't know if I have ever seen that many cliches in one place. And I hate the main character....I can't stand when shows make people luck into success and then not be able to explain it. He just happens to write a best-seller? It just happened to get published? But he can't really talk intelligently about writing?

AS for Veronica Mars, I'd almost rather it be cancelled than see her be a rookie FBI agent. I hate teh phrase jumping the shark, but that might call for it.

I TiVoed Raines. Hopefully I'll like it better than October Road.

Anonymous said...

I'll give anything with Jeff Goldblum in it a second chance, but as far as I'm concerned the second chance was watching the second half of Raines. The 'hallucinating dead people' thing was actually kind of fun (although my husband and I can't be the only two people who figured out the final twist waaay before the show was over) but for a brilliant detective he sure was stupid. When you're dropping clues for the audience to pick up on (the victim's interesting wardrobe, for instance) and your detective doesn't pick up on them or figure them out until after a commercial break or so, it's hard to present him as a real star, you know?

Anonymous said...

Alan:
"...use this post to comment on any or all of tonight's new shows: "Andy Barker, P.I.," "Raines" and "October Road."'

zodin2008 (best if read in General Zod's voice):
"I have zero interest in "October Road" or "Raines" and I have never found Andy Richter remotely funny."

Well that's that then, isn't it?

(Also, _Eyes_? Really? And this is coming from someone who watched every broadcast episode of that show.)

Anon