So the first few programs have come and gone and let’s see what the scoreboard says.
Kitchen Nightmares (Fox) – Wow. Nice way to take an amusing and interesting British series and screw it up, Fox. Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares (on BBC America) has been a great show, with Gordon Ramsey showing his personable side and helping and urging on restaurant owners in difficult situations. Fox’s version is, let’s take Ramsey in his “I’m a dick” persona from Hell’s Kitchen and instead of shouting at aspiring chefs, make him shout at failing restaurant owners. What can wrong? Yeah, this Season Pass was deleted.
Survivor: China (CBS) – They say they’re in China, but for all the chintzy theming and such they could be at any of their standard Pacific island locations. I’m not seeing a whole lot new and different, and if this week’s episode doesn’t hold our interest, this may be the first season that we’ve bailed on the show completely. Keeping the Season Pass (for now).
Heroes (NBC) – Sweet. Nice to see it back. #1 on the Season Pass list.
Chuck (NBC) – There’s good possibilities here. A lot of geek wish fulfillment and some outright silliness (My comment on the now-deceased ex-roommate-spy’s derring-do: “Man, Neo did it so much better in The Matrix.”). I’ll be curious to see how it goes from here. Keeping the Season Pass.
Reaper (The CW) – This show has had great buzz, and I see why. I loved this show. Despite the sidekick’s Jack-Black-wannabe moves, the story carried it along well, and the humor was pretty darned good. Kevin Smith produces the show and directed the first episode (which, by the way, if going to be re-run Thursday night). I urge everyone to check this show out! Season Pass stays in the top five.
Still to see this week: Journeyman (my expectations are low), Bionic Woman (ditto), House (one of takaza‘s shows, I’m going to see how I like it).
Wuf joined me in the sick ward to watch Chuck. I really thought it was nerderly awesometastic. Otherwise I was curious about Reaper so I’ll try and check that out as well.
We, being the fags we are, are also looking forward to the new season of Nip/Tuck 😉
Wired went running through a lot of the impending Geek Programming which seems to be in-vogue this season–Sarah Connor Chronicles, The I.T. Crowd (US), Journeyman, The Bionic Woman, Reaper, and then some.
They were pretty enamoured of Reaper,and not so much of the rest. Bionic Woman apparently starts off in “everything is at stake here!” mode and never lets go, so it’s a solid hour at fever pitch. Very hard to be interested in when it never really changes the mood.
I’m sorry to see Summer Glau get caught up in Sarah Connor Chronicles. So very sorry.
The big pick from Wired was an obscure, lightly advertised ABC series, Pushing Daisies. A mundane pie-maker finds out he can bring the dead back to life, but only once, and only for 60 seconds before someone else dies instead. All done in a weird primary-colour-heavy scheme, kind of psychadelic. The preview audiences dug it as well. I’m personally willing to give it a shot.
I like House, I like it a lot. I’m worried about it, though, with the irrational choice to prune the major cast at the end of last season to just Hugh Laurie, with the intent to “restart” his little team in this week’s ep. Given I really liked the chemistry they’d worked up between Foreman, Chase, Carter, and House, I’m pissed off to see them getting jettisoned for a bunch of blokes I’ve no ideas about.
Call me kooky.
I love me some house, but I’m okay with the cast change. It’s a great show, but let’s be honest– it can get a little formulaic. We know that every diagnosis up until the last few minutes will be wrong, that around 53:00 into the show somebody will complain about the kidney beans on their salad in House’s presence, at which point House will get a faraway look on his face, and run to save the patient with the fruits of his epiphany. And House will be a dick. I’m okay with adding new characters so House has different people to be a dick towards, to keep things somewhat fresh. For what it’s worth, the actors playing the Cottages are still officially part of the cast, so expect to see them, just in less subservient relationships to House.
Reaper sounds like a fun concept, anyway. I’m going to Season Pass that, and might give Pushing Daisies a shot.
That’s right, I forgot Summer Glau was in the Sarah Connor Chronicles. That alone is enough for us to record the first episode, I think. Speaking of Firefly-ites, I neglected to mention that Adam Baldwin (aka Jayne) is in Chuck, in a prominent role. He’s pretty entertaining.
Pushing Daisies is definitely on our list (does that premiere this week? I know we already have the Season Pass set up) because Bryan Fuller is da bomb. I’m a big fan of his two prior shows, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls.
Incidentally, word has it that although this week’s House is interesting, next week is when It All Hits The Fan.
OMG! That was JAYNE! I kept looking at the guy, trying to figure out where I knew him from, and then I forgot to look him up on IMDB after it ended. LOL!
I saw pre-air episodes of several of the new shows…
“Pushing Daisies”: It’s *very* quirky. It doesn’t in any way take itself seriously, which is exactly what’s needed for the premise. I thought it was hysterical, though. (Premieres Wed, 10/3)
“Chuck”: I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t blown away. I’ll probably give it another couple of episodes before I decide whether to keep up with it.
“Reaper”: This one cracked me up. I’m definitely looking forward to more.
“Journeyman”: IMO, if you can get past the first 40 minutes, this one has potential. I’m not sure why, but it just wasn’t grabbing me to begin with, but by the end of the episode, I was intrigued and wanted to know more about what was going on. One of my friends said that she thought it was too confusing… which I can completely understand, but that wasn’t the problem for me. I think my problem is that the story is too rushed, so all we get of the characters are broad generalizations. I don’t *like* any of the characters for most of the episode, because they’re not showing me enough of themselves for me to understand where they’re coming from. It’s not until a particular event happens about 40-45 minutes into the show that you really start to get a feeling for who the characters are and how they relate to one another, and that makes me want to see more.
“Big Bang Theory” – I don’t generally like sit-coms. I mean, occasionally they’ll make me laugh, and I don’t mind watching them if they’re on, but I won’t turn on the television just to watch a sit-com. This one, though, I thought was hysterical. It’s about these two geek-boys who live in an apartment building, and a hot woman moves in next door… one of the guys wants to try to get to know her better, but keeps getting thwarted and embarassed by his friends who have no idea how to interact with “normal” people. Considering I know people like this, I was highly amused at how realistic some of the comments and conversations were. 😉
“Bionic Woman” – Yeah, it’s a remake of the old show… but it has Kaytee Sackoff (the actress who plays “Starbuck” in Battlestar Galactica) in it, and there’s a kick-ass middle-of-a-rainstorm fight sequence between her and the actress playing Jaime Summers. 😀 I don’t really remember the old show, and this one wasn’t the best of the new shows, but I didn’t absolutely hate it with a passion. I’m definitely willing to watch another episode or 2.
“The Sarah Connor Chronicles” – I’m not sure when this is premiering, but I’ve seen the first episode, and I actually HIGHLY enjoyed it. I know that part of my enjoyment was Summer Glau… but she’s just *perfect* in the role.
I know one of the guys in this season’s “Survivor”. I guess this means I have to actually watch an episode. 😛
Other than those new ones, though, I’ll still be keeping up with the ones from last year: “Prison Break”, “Heroes”, “Supernatural”, “Doctor Who” (when it returns), “Battlestar Galactica”, “24”, “Lost”… thankfully, there’s Teh Internetz, where I can get all my fixes. 😉
Sarah Connor Chronicles is a mid-season replacement, so probably not for a couple of months yet.
Huh…Bionic Woman isn’t too bad…so far.
does that premiere this week?
October 3rd at 7PM, leading into the why-exactly? Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice.
Don’t lose faith in House just yet. Supposedly, although not official, the three docs are coming back, just in somewhat different rolls. It’ll be a wait and see season, and in the meantime we get to watch House be a jerk which is always fun.
“Have you ever appeared in any pornos?!”
(best line of the series)
You know, I was just posting about how I dug Reaper too 😉
I’m waiting for November and the Made for TV Battlestar Galactica movie.
Kitchen Nightmares? That reminds me: I have four layers of wallpaper on my kitchen ceiling to remove!
I’m giving Journeyman a chance, because I really like Kevin McKidd, based on his performance in Rome. It’s kinda cool seeing him play a different role (I don’t think I’ve seen any of his prior works, though he’s got 38 of ’em).
The premise for Journeyman has some interest for me. It started out feeling very Quantum Leapish, but with additional layers of complication that make it curious enough. It’s pitched as Fantasy/Romance, and I need some of that in my life these days. 😉
There are things I don’t like about it, though. Like the fact that he married his brother’s ex wife. Umm, dude, it’s considered a faux pas to date your friend’s ex girlfriend … marrying your brother’s ex-wife goes waaaay beyond social norms, and managing to be on good/decent/drinking terms with said brother after only a year of marriage is … quite a lot to swallow. If they don’t explain how the heck that happened, I’ll be pissed.
I spelled faux pas wrong, didn’t I? 😉
Hummm. I haven’t been keeping up on whats on TV at all lately. I don’t watch much, except for what I tell my mythtv to record, but I think I might check out Chuck and Reaper, so we’ll see 🙂