Fall TV, Week 4

Finally all my TV shows have premiered, and the fall schedule is firmly under way. That must mean it's time to ... start taking breaks.

 

[begin rant]

My rant this week is about breaks. I get it. There's some sort of election coming up, and the two practically unknown candidates (and their running mates) have to go head to head to yell at each other about how they are lying, and then they have to give their canned campaign speeches in return. Like we couldn't get that anywhere else. (Three million commercials a day, anyone?) BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE TO PREEMPT MY SHOWS? Can't they debate on a Saturday night? Just sayin'.

 

I also get that there's some sort of sporting event going on, and there's a run-up of smaller games to get to the big game, and some people appear to be intensely interested in this little contest. But there's a WHOLE CHANNEL devoted to sports—several, in fact, especially if you count ESPN 8, the Ocho—so why do they have to show this event on network television? THE NETWORK THAT SHOWS FRINGE, I might add.

 

It's hard enough to wait a whole week to watch my favorite shows. (And don't anyone say "Well, why don't you just record them all and then watch them when the season is over?" That is not an option. There are spoilers to contend with, and potential malfunctions of the recording device could cause me to miss a crucial episode that migth not be avalable online.) And it's hard enough to follow some shows (yes, Fringe, I'm talking about you) when you watch them every week. But to wait two, three, four weeks between shows, and then have one show, and then it's Thanksgiving, and then there's one more show, and then it's Christmas—you might as well ask me to remember what I had for breakfast on August 17, 1978.)

 

Can we just do what Lost did? Don't start airing a show until you can air it uninterrupted for its entire season. Or maybe you can take ONE break around midseason, and then do a recap show just before picking it up again.

[end rant]

 

Now, on to my pointless ramblings about what I'm watching on TV.

 

Emily Owens, M.D. premiered this week. It's a lot like Grey's Anatomy when it first started—and like Grey's, I love it, and I hate it. I'm not a huge fan of voiceover—I feel like it's the tool of weak writing—but it had some great emotional moments. If I cry during a show, I'm likely to want to watch it again. Don't judge me. (Margeaux, what were your favorite surprises about casting and set location? Too bad it wasn't actually filmed in Denver!)

 

So now that the last show has premiered, where does that leave me? Still watching too much TV. A day-by-day rundown:

 

Sunday

• 666 Park Avenue—I'm still on the bubble with this one, but it did receive an order for an additional two scripts, so I guess I'll stick with it for as long as it sticks around. 
• The Good Wife
• The Mentalist

Monday

• Castle
• Hawaii 5-0
• Revolution—I am really enjoying this and am dying to know how and why the power went out, and what's going to happen when (if) it comes back on? We talked a lot about how well we'd survive if it happened to us. Let's just say the conversation got really depressing really fast.
• Bones
• Notice anything missing? I dropped Partners this week.

Tuesday

• Emily Owens, M.D.—Reviewed above.
• Go On
• The New Normal—I will probably drop this one this week.

Wednesday

• Modern Family
• Criminal Minds
• Arrow—I was kind of ready to drop this, but there's just enough intrigue to keep me hooked. It doesn't have a permanent home, but it'll stick around for a bit.
• Chicago Fire—Ditto my "Arrow" comment.

Thursday

• Last Resort—I feel like this show just keeps getting better and better. It and Revolution are my favorite new shows this year. Plus it just received an order for more scripts, so apparently ABC agrees!
• Grey's Anatomy—This week's episode had me sobbing (see above comment re: crying). When she's not killing Lexie, I like Shonda Rimes very much.
• Scandal—Ditto my "Arrow" comment.
• Person of Interest—My favorite new show from last year is not disappointing me this year.
• Glee—As I mentioned last week, I'll stick with it through the Grease musical, and then we'll see how I feel about it after that.

Friday

• Blue Bloods
• Fringe

Other TV tidbits:

• Animal Practice (Scrubs in a veterinary hospital) was canceled this week. The only wonder is that it lasted as long as it did.
• We're starting to see previews for the midseason shows already. The one I'm most excited about is The Following, with Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy.
• Have you heard of Mockingbird Lane? Bryan Fuller's reboot of The Munsters startrng Jerry O'Connell, Portia de Rossi and Eddie Izzard that was supposed to air midseason? Bryan Fuller did Pushing Daisies, which was such a cute show but didn't last long, and the casting of Mockingbird was ... interesting. I was really looking forward to it, but now I see that NBC is burning off the pilot on Friday. I guess that's better than nothing—and it does give Fuller time to work on his midseason show Hannibal (yes, that Hannibal)—but I was hoping for a little more Munsters.

Well, that's it for now. Hope everyone has a good week!