rangerjohn
Explorer
There is also the fact they wanted to change the future. From what I saw, they felt any change was better than none.
Loads of new shows starting this week
- Thread starter Kzach
- Start date
Fast Learner
First Post
Thoughts so far on shows I've seen:
2 Broke Girls: Actually not bad. Laugh tracks make me cringe but it was actually pretty clever now and then and sometimes funny. Not something I'd watch, but significantly funnier than, say, Big Bang Theory, which is inexplicably popular.
Free Agents: Also better than I expected. While Azaria grates somewhat, it was still pretty clever, and I've really been warming to Kathryn Hahn of late. I'll watch another episode just in case.
Up All Night: Good sympathetic notes for first-time parents with some humor. Arnett and Applegate are both good (though the material isn't great), but Maya Rudolph's character is too irritating. Not worth a second episode.
Unfortunately neither of those last two sitcoms is even close to as good as the recently cancelled Traffic Light.
The Secret Circle: First episode wasn't terrible, but definitely seems to be about the same quality as The Vampire Diaries, aka ok if it's on in the background and you have something else interesting to distract you.
Ringer: The first episode was iffy, and Gellar still isn't much of an actor, but there's decent tension the second episode made it clear that the plot appears to be reasonably rich.
Bunch of others queued up.
2 Broke Girls: Actually not bad. Laugh tracks make me cringe but it was actually pretty clever now and then and sometimes funny. Not something I'd watch, but significantly funnier than, say, Big Bang Theory, which is inexplicably popular.
Free Agents: Also better than I expected. While Azaria grates somewhat, it was still pretty clever, and I've really been warming to Kathryn Hahn of late. I'll watch another episode just in case.
Up All Night: Good sympathetic notes for first-time parents with some humor. Arnett and Applegate are both good (though the material isn't great), but Maya Rudolph's character is too irritating. Not worth a second episode.
Unfortunately neither of those last two sitcoms is even close to as good as the recently cancelled Traffic Light.
The Secret Circle: First episode wasn't terrible, but definitely seems to be about the same quality as The Vampire Diaries, aka ok if it's on in the background and you have something else interesting to distract you.
Ringer: The first episode was iffy, and Gellar still isn't much of an actor, but there's decent tension the second episode made it clear that the plot appears to be reasonably rich.
Bunch of others queued up.
Villano
First Post
I made it halfway through Charlie's Angels before I had to turn it off.
The new Charlie's voice sounded too bland, Bosley's now young and good looking, and the women were all bad actors.
Plus, the waif-fu was unconvincing. I mean, there's a way to make a 90 lb girl fighting a 250 lb man look good, but having her throw up a tiny, little stick arm to block his punches isn't it. That blonde girl had no muscle on her at all. I don't think she could block a punch thrown by a 2 year old.
Oh, and there was the writing. I cringed when the Angels watched their friend die in an explosion and one of them said, "I never thought my heart could hurt this much."
The new Charlie's voice sounded too bland, Bosley's now young and good looking, and the women were all bad actors.
Plus, the waif-fu was unconvincing. I mean, there's a way to make a 90 lb girl fighting a 250 lb man look good, but having her throw up a tiny, little stick arm to block his punches isn't it. That blonde girl had no muscle on her at all. I don't think she could block a punch thrown by a 2 year old.
Oh, and there was the writing. I cringed when the Angels watched their friend die in an explosion and one of them said, "I never thought my heart could hurt this much."
It may be that we're still such new parents ourselves, but my wife and I love this one.
She wanted to give Whitney a try too, but that got dropped halfway through the pilot.
Haven't gotten to watch any of the other new shows queued up.
Person of Interest was very good and will be watching next week.
Charlie's Angels...switched off after 15 minutes.
Charlie's Angels...switched off after 15 minutes.
Thunderfoot
Hero
While I disagree with your assessment of BBT, I agree with 2BG. It was surprisingly solid for a pilot, very similar to Mike & Molly about coming out of the gate strong, my concern is that the premise, making money to open their own business isn't going to allow it to last. While the acting is well above par for a pilot and they already have the neat little gimmick of totaling the cash saved so far at the end of the episodes...I fear this is a one and done much like the show it replaced - the one with Sarah Chalkie, the guy from American Pie and those other two...
Also, New Girl while quite enjoyable is also going to have a hard time keeping things going without becoming routine. There is already a sexual tension building with the bearded guy, his ex and the new girl... To bad that guy can't act his way out of a paper bag. The Coach, however, was underutilized, as he was fairly engaging every time he spoke... however, he is, so far, very one dimensional.
And that's the real problem with both of these shows, they are one trick ponies, so far. Unless the writers can figure out how to harness something else, these shows are doomed. That BTW is why BBT is still around, even from the beginning the characters have depth, even if the stories don't.
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Wait... you mean to say you were paying attention to the plot? I certainly didn't notice it but then I wasn't looking at it...
rangerjohn
Explorer
Well I for one liked they made Bosley an active part of the team.
Fast Learner
First Post
Person of Interest: The pilot felt like a somewhat muddled version of The Early Edition with more action. Not a bad thing, but I'll need more to make it watching it a habit. With Abrams behind it I expect that there is more depth to come; I just with it had been in the pilot.
The Playboy Club: An attempt to take advantage of the popularity of Mad Men by utilizing an early 1960's atmosphere, it includes some interesting dramatic twists from the start and plenty of lovely women, but the writing worked way too hard to paste Don Draper's charm on actor Eddie Cibrian. The character (and the actor) might well be charming, but you don't convince me by having other characters point out how charming he is. Good enough to give it another shot.
Pan Am: Another show attempting to grab that early '60s vibe, but this one doesn't mimic Mad Men the same way, focusing primarily on the stewardesses and their lives. While it too will take more time to flesh out its characters in interesting ways, this feels like it has a lot more promise than The Playboy Club and I'll definitely check out the next episode. Besides what I'll touch on below, the most jarring anachronism is that everyone in the cockpit crew is way, way too young. Pan Am (like most airlines of the time) used very experienced pilots; in the early 60s plenty of them were WWII vets.
Both The Playboy Club and Pan Am have several highly noticeable anachronistic changes that Mad Men avoids (and in some cases actively embraces). The one that stands out the most is the lack of smoking; I remember well airplane cabins with smokers everywhere, the sound of a hundred lighters being flicked and matchbooks being struck the moment the "No Smoking" light went off. Other noticeable changes include comparatively little drinking and a lack of attention to the racial realities of the time (TPC touches on the latter but mostly avoids it).
The Playboy Club: An attempt to take advantage of the popularity of Mad Men by utilizing an early 1960's atmosphere, it includes some interesting dramatic twists from the start and plenty of lovely women, but the writing worked way too hard to paste Don Draper's charm on actor Eddie Cibrian. The character (and the actor) might well be charming, but you don't convince me by having other characters point out how charming he is. Good enough to give it another shot.
Pan Am: Another show attempting to grab that early '60s vibe, but this one doesn't mimic Mad Men the same way, focusing primarily on the stewardesses and their lives. While it too will take more time to flesh out its characters in interesting ways, this feels like it has a lot more promise than The Playboy Club and I'll definitely check out the next episode. Besides what I'll touch on below, the most jarring anachronism is that everyone in the cockpit crew is way, way too young. Pan Am (like most airlines of the time) used very experienced pilots; in the early 60s plenty of them were WWII vets.
Both The Playboy Club and Pan Am have several highly noticeable anachronistic changes that Mad Men avoids (and in some cases actively embraces). The one that stands out the most is the lack of smoking; I remember well airplane cabins with smokers everywhere, the sound of a hundred lighters being flicked and matchbooks being struck the moment the "No Smoking" light went off. Other noticeable changes include comparatively little drinking and a lack of attention to the racial realities of the time (TPC touches on the latter but mostly avoids it).
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