TV Tidbits
Oct. 1st, 2003 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteWell, the new TV season is upon us again, and with it comes very little hope of actually seeing anything worth seeing. But every fall, I pick a handful of shows to try and gear up for returning favorites.
Or I would if more favorites returned. There are only two shows on my "must-see" list, Angel and Smallville, and two other carryovers, The Simpsons and Enterprise. The former two premiere tonight, but I have less enthusiasm than in past years. Smallville promises some really odd plot twists I'm dubious about; and Angel could either be reborn as Joss Whedon hopes it will be, or could slip and fall on the marble floors of Wolfram and Hart.
The Simpsons had a better run last year than in some time, but it's still not the show it was, and not worth taping on those many Sunday I'm out late. Enterprise? Well, it was the first show of note to receive its season premiere, and it's still the same mess. Despite a revamp that sent Captain Archer and his crew to the mysterious "Delphic Expanse" to find aliens who attacked Earth last season, the plotlines of many upcoming episodes sound depressingly familiar. (It's almost worth it to play Spot the Old Plotline.) The potential of seeing this early Starfleet crew going on a one-way mission, with the stories growing darker as the battle nears, is likely to be lost. A shame really, as the acting on Enterprise has improved steadily, and the look of the show is still quite impressive. I'll still watch this when Smallville is a rerun. If nothing, else, I'm rarely bored by Enterprise. Even when it's bad, I can still entertain myself by MiSTing it.
On to the new. Two new shows I wish to try have yet to premiere. Karen Sisco debuts tonight, and I am trying it mainly because it's getting some nice buzz and because I like Elmore Leonard novels. Tru Calling, due after the World Series, is getting rotten advnace word but stars Eliza Dushku, and I have to see just what she chose to do instead of a Faith spinoff.
Two other new shows of note already premiered. Jake 2.0 came on three weeks, and I am sad to report that the intriguing premise of a techno-geek gaining super-powers has gotten lost in cliched storytelling. The show has an intriguing lead character, but what I've seen so far makes me think that no one involved with the show (including Buffy/Angel veteran David Greenwalt) has a clue as to what the hero should do. The best thought about this came from Batya after we watched the pilot for The Handler. She wondered how good Jake 2.0 would be if it was a dark and edgy as The Handler. Right now, Jake is just there, and last week I was even bored with it. Not that I ever planned to watch this over Angel, but now I don't think I'll even watch it when Angel is in reruns.
As noted above, the other new show I've tried is The Handler. It's a crime show about undercover FBI agents and the agent who trains, assigns and "handles" them. The premise is rather familiar, but two things stand out enough that I will tape the next few episodes. The first is that the show is a bit edgy and dark. I think that the focus of the show will not be on the crimes but on the people. We will see cops who are also actors, and who run the risks of getting caught in the part as well as just getting caught. This worked very well in the Johnny Depp film "Donnie Brasco" and gives this show a lot to work with.
The other thing that stands out is the show's star, Joey Pantaliano. Many know him from The Sopranos, or The Matrix. I remember him fondly from the short-lived crime drama EZ Streets (the best show no one watched in 1996-7). To see him get a chance to be a star is good. Whether he will become is unclear, as he seemed to preside over the stories in the pilot rather than particpate in them. But I'm willing to give this rather intelligent, well-produced show a chance, even if at heart it is just another CBS crime drama.
Or I would if more favorites returned. There are only two shows on my "must-see" list, Angel and Smallville, and two other carryovers, The Simpsons and Enterprise. The former two premiere tonight, but I have less enthusiasm than in past years. Smallville promises some really odd plot twists I'm dubious about; and Angel could either be reborn as Joss Whedon hopes it will be, or could slip and fall on the marble floors of Wolfram and Hart.
The Simpsons had a better run last year than in some time, but it's still not the show it was, and not worth taping on those many Sunday I'm out late. Enterprise? Well, it was the first show of note to receive its season premiere, and it's still the same mess. Despite a revamp that sent Captain Archer and his crew to the mysterious "Delphic Expanse" to find aliens who attacked Earth last season, the plotlines of many upcoming episodes sound depressingly familiar. (It's almost worth it to play Spot the Old Plotline.) The potential of seeing this early Starfleet crew going on a one-way mission, with the stories growing darker as the battle nears, is likely to be lost. A shame really, as the acting on Enterprise has improved steadily, and the look of the show is still quite impressive. I'll still watch this when Smallville is a rerun. If nothing, else, I'm rarely bored by Enterprise. Even when it's bad, I can still entertain myself by MiSTing it.
On to the new. Two new shows I wish to try have yet to premiere. Karen Sisco debuts tonight, and I am trying it mainly because it's getting some nice buzz and because I like Elmore Leonard novels. Tru Calling, due after the World Series, is getting rotten advnace word but stars Eliza Dushku, and I have to see just what she chose to do instead of a Faith spinoff.
Two other new shows of note already premiered. Jake 2.0 came on three weeks, and I am sad to report that the intriguing premise of a techno-geek gaining super-powers has gotten lost in cliched storytelling. The show has an intriguing lead character, but what I've seen so far makes me think that no one involved with the show (including Buffy/Angel veteran David Greenwalt) has a clue as to what the hero should do. The best thought about this came from Batya after we watched the pilot for The Handler. She wondered how good Jake 2.0 would be if it was a dark and edgy as The Handler. Right now, Jake is just there, and last week I was even bored with it. Not that I ever planned to watch this over Angel, but now I don't think I'll even watch it when Angel is in reruns.
As noted above, the other new show I've tried is The Handler. It's a crime show about undercover FBI agents and the agent who trains, assigns and "handles" them. The premise is rather familiar, but two things stand out enough that I will tape the next few episodes. The first is that the show is a bit edgy and dark. I think that the focus of the show will not be on the crimes but on the people. We will see cops who are also actors, and who run the risks of getting caught in the part as well as just getting caught. This worked very well in the Johnny Depp film "Donnie Brasco" and gives this show a lot to work with.
The other thing that stands out is the show's star, Joey Pantaliano. Many know him from The Sopranos, or The Matrix. I remember him fondly from the short-lived crime drama EZ Streets (the best show no one watched in 1996-7). To see him get a chance to be a star is good. Whether he will become is unclear, as he seemed to preside over the stories in the pilot rather than particpate in them. But I'm willing to give this rather intelligent, well-produced show a chance, even if at heart it is just another CBS crime drama.
