If it's September it must be...
Sep. 26th, 2011 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysNew fall season on TV. As usual, I try to audition a chunk of the new shows to add to my viewing schedule. A schedule that is about to become very empty at the moment as most of the series I watch are coming to their season ends around now. Again, as usual it isn't a complete review, just things I thought might be worth a look - so no reality shows, no medical dramas, no cop/crime shows. The result - 13 new shows watched so far and no new addictions. There are a handful in the "might watch a second one" but that's it. There are some more shows to come (Grimm, Terra Nova, Once Upon a Time) this season, but it isn't looking good. All, of course, is entirely in my personal opinion - usual disclaimers yadda yadda yadda.
2 Broke Girls and Whitney can be grouped together because Whitney Cummings is involved in both (created one, stars in the other) and both are pretty standard format laugh-track American sitcoms. It might be Cummings' involvement, but the pilots for both of these were funnier than I expected. Probably because they focused more on wit and outright jokes rather than dumb cringe comedy situation. I'm not holding out much hope but I will try both these shows again to see if they can keep up the pace when "in season" rather than for a pilot.
Death Valley is a Cops send up (like Reno 911) but with added zombies. I am so over zombies and never had any interest in Cops sendups anyway.
Fresh Meat is English and seems to be another attempt to catch the market that Skins created, this time with first year university students in shared housing. The setup seems pretty good but it just seems a bit off in the delivery. I don't think they got their casting quite right. I might watch it again to see if the actors settle into their characters - if they can it might be worth persisting with.
I Just Want My Pants Back - another sitcom but with added lameness. I just want my 22 minutes back.
Mount Pleasant is an attempt (I think) at some sort of Brit sendup of a desperate housewives/footballers wives type soap. The thing about this type of show is that when you are attempting to poke fun at a target you need to include some elements of that target. In this case they have added much too much target material without any of the gloss and glitter that makes such show watchable to its audience. You also have to poke some fun - this show has no funny.
New Girl is another sitcom and it relies on the star power of Zooey Deschanel. That is not enough - not even close.
Revenge looked like it was going to be gritty and interesting. It turned out to be a glossy soap set in the Hamptons. "Glossy soap" may be a useful cleaning product, but as a description of television, it just means "avoid like the plague".
Ringer stars Sarah Michelle Gellar. The Buffy fan in me made me watch it for that reason alone. Another glossy soap, just not set in the Hamptons this time. No more interesting for that.
The Playboy Club is an attempt to cash in on Mad Men's popularity. I think I only watched it to see how bad it would be. It wasn't quite as bad as expected but not by much. It has awful opening ratings so will be cancelled - probably for the best.
The Secret Circle looks like a cross between Charmed and 90210. Crossing two negatives makes a positive right - wrong. Of course if you think that either of those shows is a positive then you may think differently. But for me, I'm not going to risk it.
The Fades is Brit ghost horror. Ghosts are a notch or two better than zombies. Another show where the scenario and setup seem good but the delivery is off. Again, worth giving a second chance to see if the production team can settle into their job.
This is Jinsy is strictly for fans of shows like Little Britain and Mighty Boosh. It isn't that I don't like such shows, it is just that for me a little goes a very long way with this type of comedy. Watching the first episode should be enough to last me for months.
Any other recommendations for stuff I have missed?
2 Broke Girls and Whitney can be grouped together because Whitney Cummings is involved in both (created one, stars in the other) and both are pretty standard format laugh-track American sitcoms. It might be Cummings' involvement, but the pilots for both of these were funnier than I expected. Probably because they focused more on wit and outright jokes rather than dumb cringe comedy situation. I'm not holding out much hope but I will try both these shows again to see if they can keep up the pace when "in season" rather than for a pilot.
Death Valley is a Cops send up (like Reno 911) but with added zombies. I am so over zombies and never had any interest in Cops sendups anyway.
Fresh Meat is English and seems to be another attempt to catch the market that Skins created, this time with first year university students in shared housing. The setup seems pretty good but it just seems a bit off in the delivery. I don't think they got their casting quite right. I might watch it again to see if the actors settle into their characters - if they can it might be worth persisting with.
I Just Want My Pants Back - another sitcom but with added lameness. I just want my 22 minutes back.
Mount Pleasant is an attempt (I think) at some sort of Brit sendup of a desperate housewives/footballers wives type soap. The thing about this type of show is that when you are attempting to poke fun at a target you need to include some elements of that target. In this case they have added much too much target material without any of the gloss and glitter that makes such show watchable to its audience. You also have to poke some fun - this show has no funny.
New Girl is another sitcom and it relies on the star power of Zooey Deschanel. That is not enough - not even close.
Revenge looked like it was going to be gritty and interesting. It turned out to be a glossy soap set in the Hamptons. "Glossy soap" may be a useful cleaning product, but as a description of television, it just means "avoid like the plague".
Ringer stars Sarah Michelle Gellar. The Buffy fan in me made me watch it for that reason alone. Another glossy soap, just not set in the Hamptons this time. No more interesting for that.
The Playboy Club is an attempt to cash in on Mad Men's popularity. I think I only watched it to see how bad it would be. It wasn't quite as bad as expected but not by much. It has awful opening ratings so will be cancelled - probably for the best.
The Secret Circle looks like a cross between Charmed and 90210. Crossing two negatives makes a positive right - wrong. Of course if you think that either of those shows is a positive then you may think differently. But for me, I'm not going to risk it.
The Fades is Brit ghost horror. Ghosts are a notch or two better than zombies. Another show where the scenario and setup seem good but the delivery is off. Again, worth giving a second chance to see if the production team can settle into their job.
This is Jinsy is strictly for fans of shows like Little Britain and Mighty Boosh. It isn't that I don't like such shows, it is just that for me a little goes a very long way with this type of comedy. Watching the first episode should be enough to last me for months.
Any other recommendations for stuff I have missed?