If it's a holiday, it must be time to update you on my TV!

I know a lot of you have been waiting weeks for this (OK, one of you has been waiting a few days), but I have been lazy. Shocker. But today is a holiday, so I have a little more time. Yea!

Herewith, my thoughts on the new season so far.

Sunday

• I loved the first episode of Madam Secretary. It's still in fine form.
• I liked the first episode of The Good Wife. It is really frustrating for me that they couldn't just let Alicia and Cary start their own firm in that funky warehouse. They could have competed with Lockhart Gardner (or whatever it's called now), and that could have been really interesting. Now Cary's back at Lockhart Gardner (or whatever it's called now) and Alicia is struggling to get cases in bond court? I'll see where it goes, but I'm frustrated
• Quantico: The first episode was kind of interesting, but the second episode not so much—every week, she's going try to figure out who framed her while trying to avoid the people who are trying to capture her. We aren't a huge fan of chase TV shows. Chase movies are bad enough, but TV shows just get really repetitive. And also, I find it hard to believe that every single person at Quantico would have a secret that's so bad that, if it gets discovered would be devastating to the person. Plus, as I suspected, it's soapy. We dropped it after two episodes.

 

Monday
 

• "Normal ups and downs" my ass. They have really messed with Castle, and not in a good way. Beckett can't let go of the past, and Castle is just being stupid. Wrap up this storyline, showrunners, or I'll wrap you up.
• Life in Pieces: Not as hilarious as I'd hoped, but the people are really good. I would like them to make the younger couple less stereotypical; the other couples and the single brother are pretty funny. Keeping this for now—but still not on my permanent viewing schedule.
• Minority Report: Similar to Quantico. First episode was kind of interesting, but it too is going to be the same thing over and over—trying to save the world while trying not to get caught. Dropped it after the second episode..
• Blindspot: While I haven't added this to my viewing schedule, I am interested in it. We really like the tattooed lady, but not so much the FBI agent. Others in the FBI are more interesting characters. It continues to be on my bubble.

Tuesday

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: This was a Vic show that was often on the Vic bubble. Bubble no more—he dropped it.
• The Muppets: We don't love it, but it is growing on me. The Liam Hemsworth episode was hilarious, except for the Nick Offerman part. I'll keep trying it week to week. Like an apartment you're not sure you want to commit to.
• Grandfathered: Not as funny as I'd hoped, and this week's episode was particularly annoying. One more try.
• The Grinder: Favorite show of the new season by far. I've watched the first episode twice and saved it on the DVR so I can watch it one more time when I'm not stitching. That's right. I have a show I want to watch, not listen to. Rob Lowe and Fred Savage are brilliant. The supporting cast is awesome. The writing is sharp and harkens back some of the things Rob and Fred have done before. I hope they can keep it up!
• Scream Queens: Ugh. The mystery is interesting (why do I keep using that word?), but the mean girl talk is not. Dumped it after 1.1 episodes.

 

Wednesday

• Modern Family: Still funny and heartwarming for me!
• Code Black: First impression, frantic but with some incredibly touching scenes. Second impression, just frantic. It's going to be like that every week, and I just don't think I need another medical show, even though Grey's Anatomy isn't much of a medical show anymore..
• Rosewood: Meh. It's OK. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. Still on the bubble, though..

Thursday

• My Beloved Grey’s Anatomy: A somewhat annoying second episode, but I can't quit her.
• Scandal: As I said before, I don’t care how implausible this show is, it’s just a guilty pleasure.
• Bones: A similar theme to Castle—in this case, Booth has gone undercover and hasn't told Brennan, but does she think they're marriage is in trouble? No. She knows he might have to keep some secrets from her. This is how you do it, people.
• Heroes Reborn: First cancellation of the new season. I'm not sure we even made it through the whole first episode. Bummer.

Friday

• Blue Bloods: The mustache is still performing well.

Update

• I still don't see a premiere date for Person of Interest—and in fact, I am seeing rumors of cancellation after this season—but I did see a hilarious teaser trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibuwlwstd0c (thanks, Seth!).

Premiering this week

• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• Fargo
• Chicago Fire
• Manhattan. I don't know why I'm putting this here, because WE NO LONGER GET THE CHANNEL IT'S ON. Thanks, DirecTV.

And that's all the news from here! I gotta go watch TV now—as you can see, I watch a lot. ;-)

You guys! It’s my favorite TV time of year! And I know a lot of you won’t even think of picking new shows until I tell you what I’m watching, so let’s get right to it! New shows are in italics. Returning favorites are bold.

A couple of notes:

• I use a lot of actors’ names, but I don’t say what shows they’ve been on before or otherwise identify them. I assume you all have access to IMDb, so if you don’t know who someone is, you can look them up.
• I’m only commenting on shows we watch or plan to watch. If you have heard about a show and want to know if it’s any good, Google it. There are plenty of good reviews out there. And just because I’m not watching something doesn’t mean it’s no good. For example, there’s a new show called The Bastard Executioner. It is just not for me (or Vic), so I’m not watching it. But it’s getting really good reviews, so you might want to check it out.

Sunday

• I am excited about the return of Madam Secretary and The Good Wife. I love the relationship between Tea Leoni and Tim Daly on Madam Secretary and though it had a good freshman year. I wasn’t in love with The Good Wife last year—I was really disappointed that Finn Polmar (the hot and delightful Matthew Goode, whom I don’t think is on the show any longer) wasn’t integrated more, and there was too much political intrigue, but I’m hopeful for a creative resurgence in season 6.
• Interesting note: Madam Secretary is the only new show from last year that we are still watching.
• Quantico: It looks a little too soap opera-y for me, but both TV Guide and EW make it one of their picks for the best of the season, and we like things about the FBI, so we’ll give it a shot.
• Agent X: This is a new show on TNT with Sharon Stone. One of my magazines said it was a cross between National Treasure and … something else. (Come on. If I can’t even remember which magazine I read it in, how am I supposed to remember what it’s about?) Whatever the case, it sounded good.

 

Monday

• Castle is getting a little long in the tooth, but (a) they do seem to be able to write the changes that keep a show fresh in a way that is logical and makes sense. They’re not going to have a season where Castle spends a year on the moon. And (b) I’ve been promised that they aren’t going to mess with Castle and Beckett’s relationship—just the normal ups and downs.
• Life in Pieces: This show looks downright hilarious … but the I’m not seeing it on anyone’s favorite list. Still, the reviews have been positive if not glowing, and I can’t wait to see it. It’s one of my most highly anticipated shows. (So it will probably be one of my biggest disappointments.)
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I had lunch with my friend Julie on September 5, and when I reviewed the fall season in anticipation of our discussion, I wrote this: I am not going to watch this—but I’m putting it in here because I kind of want to.” Since then, I see that it is on TV Guide’s and EW’s “best show” lists, so that justifies my tuning in, even if only for one episode. Vic will hate this (don’t ask him about The Last Five Years, a movie that I adored and he despised—so much so that he says it’s one of the worst movies he’s ever seen. Ever. Ever.)
• Minority Report: Mmm. We’ll see. TV Guide really dislikes it, and it’s not an EW pick. I’m guessing we’re better off sticking with the movie.
• Supergirl: I started Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I started Arrow. I started Flash. So I must start Supergirl. Melissa Benoist is from Colorado, so you gotta support her, Calista Flockhart as a bitchy boss is a must-watch. And Supergirl’s sister is played by Chyler Leigh, my beloved Lexie Grey. In watching the preview, it appears that virtually everyone knows her secret identity already, but I actually like that better. This could be a funner (yes, editors, I know that is not a word) superhero show, and it’s a TV Guide Editor’s Choice.
• Blindspot: I dig mysteries like this. Let’s see if they can sustain it. It’s an Editor’s Choice in TV Guide, so it can’t be all bad.
• Fargo: We started last season but didn’t like it, so we dropped it. This season is completely different and is again getting rave reviews, so why not try it?
• Legends: This is a show Vic watches, so I really have nothing to say about it. But it’s on my list as something we watch, so I had to include it here.

Tuesday

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: This is a Vic show. He keeps dropping it and picking it up, so I suspect an early cancellation in the Love household.
• Chicago Fire: This is the only one of the “Chicago” franchise I watch. I never think of it as one of my favorite shows, but I always like it when I’m watching it. Weird.
• Manhattan: This is another one of Vic’s shows that I feel obliged to mention here because it’s on my list, but I have nothing to say about it. lol.
• The Muppets: I mean, I don’t know if I can watch forever, but I have to start. Plus it’s a TV Guide Editor’s Choice.
• Grandfathered: Looks funny and heartwarming. Good combo. Great people. TV Guide Editor’s Choice
• The Grinder: Rob Lowe. Fred Savage. I don’t even need to know what this is about to add it to my viewing schedule. And when I watched the preview, my thoughts were confirmed—hilarious. Add to that the TV Guide Editor’s Choice pick and a pick as one of EW’s favorite shows, and it’s a no-brainer.
• Scream Queens: I saw some previews for this over the summer. Looks … interesting. TV Guide does not like it—Matt Roush gave it one star in his review—but predicted it would be a “critic-proof hit.” Evidence: EW named it one of the best new shows of the season. I will try it.
• Chicago Med: Vic watches the whole “Chicago” franchise, so he will try this as well.

Wednesday

• Modern Family: All I can say is that I love this show and I’m glad it keeps coming back.
• Criminal Minds: This is another show that’s getting long in the tooth. It’s very dark and very grim, but I will keep watching until it goes off the air.
• Chicago PD: See “Chicago Med” above.
• Code Black: Shoot. I wasn’t going to watch another medical show. In the commercials, this one looks really melodramatic and overbearing, but in the preview on EW.com, it looks … dangit … good. Fortunately, it’s not appearing on any “best” lists, so maybe I’ll be able to drop it.
• Rosewood: I like Morris Chestnut, and he drives a Goat, and the preview looks awesome, so I’m going to watch it. It is not getting good buzz, though, so I’m not hopeful for a long life for this show.

Thursday

• My Beloved Grey’s Anatomy: Look. I don’t want to watch it. She’s killed off George, Lexie, McSteamy and McDreamy (as well as countless other people I love and Jackson and April’s baby, in what was one of the best hours of Grey’s Anatomy of all time). But I have to. Don’t judge me.
• Scandal: Really shaking things up this year as the president’s mistress moves into the White House and the president’s wife starts campaigning for … president. I don’t care how implausible this show is, it’s just a guilty pleasure.
• Bones: Yet another “long in the tooth” show. I’m really only watching now because I’ve been watching for 10 years or whatever.
• The Blacklist: I gave this up after season 1, but Vic still watches. It just wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be. Still, this season looks interesting, so I look forward to Vic’s weekly recaps.
• Heroes Reborn: So, I liked the first season (or two) of the original Heroes, and then it just got … weirder. So we stopped watching it. But I’ll give this another try, if only because Zachary Levi is in it. Plus it’s a TV Guide Editor’s Choice.
• Angel from Hell: I love Jane Lynch and Maggie Lawson. It might get old, but it’s certainly worth a look.

Friday

• Blue Bloods: Yes, I’m still watching this. I find it to be one of the best-acted shows on television. And yes, I know a lot of people think Tom Selleck isn’t a good actor, but he’s Tom Selleck. You watch for the mustache.
• Grimm: Another show I watched in the first season (or two) and then left for Vic, who still loves it.

Streaming

• The Man in the High Castle: This is an Amazon original series based on a Philip K. Dick novel about what if the Axis powers won World War II? That alone intrigues me, but to know it is also a top pick of both TV Guide and EW sways me even further.

Not scheduled yet

• Containment: I love stuff like this—outbreaks of contagious diseases. Totally gonna give it a try.
• The X-Files: Come on. It’s The X-Files. With David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Of course I’m gonna watch it!
• The Catch: I am opposing this on principle. It’s a Shonda Rhimes show, and she has killed more of my favorite people than I care to think about. But it sure looks good. Maybe Vic will see a commercial for it, and then he’ll want to watch it, and I’ll be all “Oh, OK. If you want to watch it.”
• Update: Just showed the preview to Vic. He’s in! Yea!

Last note:

• WHERE IS MY PERSON OF INTEREST? CBS has confirmed that Sarah Shahi is coming back to the show and that it is “premiering soon,” but it is not on the calendar. What gives??? I assume they’re just waiting for one of their new shows to crash and burn, which is kind of sad. Like they don’t even have enough faith in their own line-up to not have a show waiting in the wings.

See you next week to report on the 12 shows that premiere between now and then. Also, Happy Emmy Night!

Beloved No More (SPOILERS)

Not quite three years ago, I started this blog because one of my favorite characters had been killed off one of my favorite shows, which, in retrospect, does not seem like an appropriately momentous reason to start a blog.

And yet, here I am, three years later, blogging ... BECAUSE ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS HAS BEEN KILLED OFF ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS, and to make matters worse, IT'S THE SAME SHOW: My Beloved Grey's Anatomy.

If you know me at all, you know I've had a love-hate relationship with Grey's since it started. Loved it at first. Then they bring on "the wife" at the end of season 1, and I actually stopped watching it at that point. I did not want to see a show about a love triangle. But it kept going, and people said they were liking it, so I tried it again and got hooked. I actually liked "the wife." But I didn't like the on-again/off-again will-they-or-won't-they relationship of Meredith and Derek. (I almost never like that. I don't really know anyone who dated someone for a while, then broke up, then started dating, then broke up, then started dating, ad nauseum until they finally got married—and then divorced—and then remarried, and what have you.) I didn't like Izzy having sex with Denny's ghost. (Yes, it was ridiculous as it sounds.) I didn't like the merger with Mercy West. But I loved so many other aspects that it was worth the roller coaster ride. And by the time Meredith and Derek got married on a Post-It (I'm one of the few who think that was perfect), I was all in.

That's why I suffered (although not in silence) through Lexie's and Mark's deaths. Calizona's marital woes. April's neuroses. Because when Grey's Anatomy is good, it is very, very good. When April and Jackson's baby died earlier this season, I cried more than I have since I read "The Fault in Our Stars." But in a good way—because it felt believable. I felt that this was happening to my friends April and Jackson, not TV-characters-who-aren't-even-real April and Jackson.

It must be pointed out at this time that I understand that these characters are not real. That when these characters die, or when the actors who play them get fired or leave a show, or when a show gets canceled, the actors generally go on and get other gigs (I'm talking about you, Matthew Perry. I will watch you in anything. Except The Odd Couple. Please find a new show.)

But the whole point of art is to make you feel something, and television—just like movies and books and music and theater—is an art form. One thing that Shonda Rhimes did very effectively was make me feel something for these characters. (Well, most of them. I don't give a hoot about the new interns or residents or whatever they are—I care so little about them that I haven't even bothered to figure out what their status is in the hospital.)

Well, now she's gone and done it. She's killed Derek Shepherd.

Stepping back into the "it's only a TV show" lens, I knew there was always a chance that I would lose Derek (just as, regardless of the fact that the name of the show is Grey's Anatomy, I could lose Meredith). After all, Patrick Dempsey is an employee. And last time I checked, employees can quit or be fired. And I don't know what the case is here—maybe Patrick Dempsey wanted off the show (although that is not the impression I get from interviews with him—he just signed a two-year contract with Grey's last fall).

Regardless of the reason, Shonda Rhimes killed Derek Shepherd.

And that just doesn't work for me. This time, my issue is more with the way she did it than the actual death. Which is not to say I wasn't upset about the death. (See previous paragraph re: "my friends April and Jackson." Derek was my friend too.) But in the "this is a story, not real life" world, I do get that death opens up different and meatier story lines for Ellen Pompeo (and the rest of the cast) than my pedestrian options for how Shonda could have written him out of the show (and those options are many and very detailed, LOL). And I do appreciate that she made Derek Shepherd a superhero in his last episode, and that was very, very right.

But here's what was very, very wrong to me. First, I knew it was coming. The first scene of the April 9 episode was Derek and Meredith talking to each other about how great things were between them. when he left to go to D.C., Meredith said "I wish you didn't have to go," and Derek said "I'll be right back." If you consume any kind of media—TV, movies, books, whatever—you know "I'll be right back" means "You'll never see me again."

Second, she strung it out across three episodes. Even Lexie died in 20 minutes. And did we really need a hashtag? (#WhereIsDerek? Puh-lease.)

Third, I knew it was coming. Yes, I know I already said that, but here are some things that happened between that first scene and Derek's death:

• Mer and Derek's sister Amelia had a conversation where Ami says to Mer, "You've never lost the love of your life." Thus ensuring that Mer would lose the love of her life.
• Mer's voice-over at the beginning of the April 16 episode questioned why bad things happen to good people and discussed how you never know how you'll react when your worst-case scenario happens.
• And in the April 23 episode (the death episode), Derek stops his car in the middle of the road. When you see a camera angle from outside the passenger door looking at the driver, you know that driver is going to be T-boned.

And that brings me to fourth reason: Derek is not so stupid that he would pull out in the middle of a road on a blind curve, stop the car, and look for his cell phone. That's just poor writing. There are a million more interesting ways he could have been critically injured at that accident scene. Getting T-boned by a truck is the most cliche of all of them. In fact, all of the "I knew it was coming" issues were poor writing. And quite frankly, I expect more from Shonda Rhimes. She has penned some of the most beautiful moments in TV history. (OK, that might be a little strong—but Grey's Anatomy didn't become My Beloved Grey's Anatomy because Shonda Rhimes and her staff can't write.)

Fifth—and this is really a nit—she didn't even give him the ability to make a difference after death by being an organ donor. I think that honoring the character Derek Shepherd would have required organ donation. (And I get that this really makes it seem as if I don't understand the difference between reality and a TV show.)

Sixth (maybe this will be the last one?), I really feel like an opportunity was missed when the little girl that Derek saved didn't pull Meredith aside and at least talk to her, let alone tell her how Derek described their first kiss. Maybe that will happen at the funeral (assuming the little girl can find a way to get there), but that would have really made me smile through my copious tears.

Yup, that was the last one.

So where do I go from here? Obviously, I must watch the "very special" two-hour episode this week for Derek's funeral. I need this closure. But do I pull the plug myself at that point? I hate leaving Meredith (although I know Meredith will not know). Yet I really don't want to open myself up to another death on My Beloved Grey's Anatomy. I never considered breaking up with the show after George died. When Lexie died, a break-up was a very real option, but there were some really sweet things afterward. Besides, I couldn't imagine that Shonda would break my heart so completely again.

But then she killed Derek Shepherd.