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TV Casualty: NBC edition
Sep. 19th, 2012 06:09 pmI am making a pledge (a pre-New Year resolution, if you will) to read more.
I also am going to try to watch more tv.
I don't watch a lot of tv, outside of wrestling (of course), just NCIS and a handful of sitcoms.
TV is one of those things everyone seems to have strong opinions on, so I am going to be brave, and here goes.
Go On - I grew up in the years of the NBC powerhouse (Cosby Show, Cheers, Friends) and I always figured their dominance would last.
It hasn't, of course, and even though not all NBC shows are awful, I don't even particularly like the good ones (I do like Community) that everyone goes on about.
I really wanted to like Go On, but it's a prime example of how NBC gets it wrong. It is as if someone at NBC said "Let's take bits of shows everyone loves, and there's no way it can miss."
So Go On is Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry, in the lead role, of course) with Frasier's job (radio guy) and a Community-style support group with a Garrett Morris (2 Broke Girls) curmudgeon. How could it miss?
It does, though, and like Up All Night, there's a nagging suspicion that it might be a good show if someone besides NBC had got their hands on it. Bits of the episode I watched were actually very funny, but I wouldn't (and this is how Americans show their support in 2012) DVR it. It would be a better show if it found itself (I am certain it won't), but it will fall off the radar pretty fast.
I also watched bits and pieces of The New Normal, which again sounds like an NBC exec's pitch ("If we make a show that is Glee meets Modern Family, we can't lose). Of course, it ends up being a show that wants to be Modern Family than anything else. I didn't really find it funny, and although it was advertised as being from the team behind Glee (a show i don't watch, but have liked what I have seen), I was really disappointed. I found it unwatchable.
Revolution - Ok, I was caught up by the hype of the JJ Abrams produced project. I am going to probably lose some of you here, but I actually liked it. Of course, I am afraid that it will probably be cancelled before it goes anywhere, but we will see.
I am going to cut right away to the fact that it is very much Young Adult fiction (and yes, it is very Hunger Games-ish, with a bow-wielding teenage heroine). The first episode would hardly stand up in the minds of any skeptic (Apparently, if you want to find someone in Chicago, you go there, and you will find him). It is a post-apocalyptic world that has been around 15 years with no electricity. There's a lot of questions you could ask that would sink the whole premise.
It maybe works in favor of the show, that it sort of just glosses over the details. Indeed this show could be written with grim Walking Dead seriousness, but I think that would only manage to get the show cancelled quicker (I never did see The Event, but I am told it was not easy tv for the masses to follow).
I find the cast decent and workable (No one stands out, but everyone is competent). Tracy Spiridakos will likely be loved by the geek community.
It's got a strong concept that will keep people hooked, the effects look decent, and just something about it worked (I can't quite put my finger on it, so I am going to say it is Jon Favreau's (Iron Man, Elf) direction. I have seen a lot of terrible SyFy movies, and this show works in the ways that a lot of those original films don't.
Like the Hunger Games, I sense that some people might want more out of it, but I think it's positives outweighs its negatives, and I am certainly going to commit to it (at least short term) and am interested to see where it goes. I give it a passing grade, and I half-expected to hate it.
I also am going to try to watch more tv.
I don't watch a lot of tv, outside of wrestling (of course), just NCIS and a handful of sitcoms.
TV is one of those things everyone seems to have strong opinions on, so I am going to be brave, and here goes.
Go On - I grew up in the years of the NBC powerhouse (Cosby Show, Cheers, Friends) and I always figured their dominance would last.
It hasn't, of course, and even though not all NBC shows are awful, I don't even particularly like the good ones (I do like Community) that everyone goes on about.
I really wanted to like Go On, but it's a prime example of how NBC gets it wrong. It is as if someone at NBC said "Let's take bits of shows everyone loves, and there's no way it can miss."
So Go On is Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry, in the lead role, of course) with Frasier's job (radio guy) and a Community-style support group with a Garrett Morris (2 Broke Girls) curmudgeon. How could it miss?
It does, though, and like Up All Night, there's a nagging suspicion that it might be a good show if someone besides NBC had got their hands on it. Bits of the episode I watched were actually very funny, but I wouldn't (and this is how Americans show their support in 2012) DVR it. It would be a better show if it found itself (I am certain it won't), but it will fall off the radar pretty fast.
I also watched bits and pieces of The New Normal, which again sounds like an NBC exec's pitch ("If we make a show that is Glee meets Modern Family, we can't lose). Of course, it ends up being a show that wants to be Modern Family than anything else. I didn't really find it funny, and although it was advertised as being from the team behind Glee (a show i don't watch, but have liked what I have seen), I was really disappointed. I found it unwatchable.
Revolution - Ok, I was caught up by the hype of the JJ Abrams produced project. I am going to probably lose some of you here, but I actually liked it. Of course, I am afraid that it will probably be cancelled before it goes anywhere, but we will see.
I am going to cut right away to the fact that it is very much Young Adult fiction (and yes, it is very Hunger Games-ish, with a bow-wielding teenage heroine). The first episode would hardly stand up in the minds of any skeptic (Apparently, if you want to find someone in Chicago, you go there, and you will find him). It is a post-apocalyptic world that has been around 15 years with no electricity. There's a lot of questions you could ask that would sink the whole premise.
It maybe works in favor of the show, that it sort of just glosses over the details. Indeed this show could be written with grim Walking Dead seriousness, but I think that would only manage to get the show cancelled quicker (I never did see The Event, but I am told it was not easy tv for the masses to follow).
I find the cast decent and workable (No one stands out, but everyone is competent). Tracy Spiridakos will likely be loved by the geek community.
It's got a strong concept that will keep people hooked, the effects look decent, and just something about it worked (I can't quite put my finger on it, so I am going to say it is Jon Favreau's (Iron Man, Elf) direction. I have seen a lot of terrible SyFy movies, and this show works in the ways that a lot of those original films don't.
Like the Hunger Games, I sense that some people might want more out of it, but I think it's positives outweighs its negatives, and I am certainly going to commit to it (at least short term) and am interested to see where it goes. I give it a passing grade, and I half-expected to hate it.
