Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Fall 2010 "TV Premiere Week" Quick Thoughts - Sunday 9/19 to Tuesday 9/21

Hello TV Addicts! I have to apologize as I have been super busy this week and have been unable to comment on more of my favorite television shows. It has been the perfect storm of "too busy at work" vs. "Fall TV Premiere Week". It couldn't have happened at a worse time to launch the "TV" Addicts Blog! Of course, I had already stated that my focus will be on THE EVENT and FRINGE. But, since this is an overall encompassing TV Blog, I wanted to be free to discuss ALL shows I'm watching. And I wanted to give all of you great readers the ability to discuss them as well. So, at least for this week, I wanted to just give a little blurb on every show I'm watching. In the future, if some EVENTFUL thing happens on a show, I may give it its own blog posting so we can discuss it separately. Here are my quick thoughts on what I have been watching in the NEW TV Season!  This goes without saying but SPOILER ALERT!  If you haven't caught up yet on a particular show, read on to the shows that you have watched.   My thoughts after the jump!

Sunday 9/19

Boardwalk Empire


What can be said about the premiere of HBO's new flagship show besides AWESOME!?!?! Based on the roaring 20s, the start of prohibition and real life characters this show combines the best elements of The Sopranos and Deadwood. It premiered to great ratings, by HBO's standards and looks to be their next best thing. They have Martin Scorsese and Terrence Winter (Sopranos - David Chase's right hand man) attached and it's just a beautiful show. Just taking in the amazing set of 1920's Atlantic City was mezmerizing. But there was some great drama and even some good comedy in there. I already love Buscemi's "Nucky Thompson" and I will admit that I had my reservations of him having the lead role. Always have been a Buscemi fan but never saw him carrying a show himself. He has settled my concerns and I look forward to this show only improving each week. Not much to comment on plotwise right now, but I will be checking it out every week and if something discussion worthy happens, you can bet we'll be discussing it here! Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on what you thought of the premiere!



Mad Men - The Beautiful Girls

This has been yet another stellar season of Mad Men. And while I rooted against handing it a 3rd Emmy for Best Drama this year, in favor of acknowledging LOST's brilliant run as well as Breaking Bad and Dexter's amazing seasons, there can be no argument that the show has been amazing for 4 years straight now. Some people think it's slow and boring. I disagree, but this week's episode was highly entertaining. I have to say that I am a little upset at the shocking death of Miss Blankenship. She was such a wonderful addition to the cast as Don's interim secretary. But, the way they handled it with trying to get her out of sight while making a sales pitch was AWESOME. And come on, Sally Draper just hitching a ride to New York to see Daddy? Heart-wrenching. Who wouldn't want to get away from Psycho-Mom Betty? Can't really blame her.

Anyway, I'm liking the new upbeat Don and I like the path of destruction and rebuilding they have put him on this season. Can't wait to see how 1965 ends! (the encyclopedia has nothing on watching it through the eyes of these faulted characters!)



Monday - 9/20



How I Met Your Mother - Big Days

HIMYM, according to many fans and critics, has gotten a little too "Sitcommy" the past couple of seasons. I guess it's true when looking back to season 2 where viewers were rewarded with watching all of the episodes. "SLAP BET" anyone? Last season they excited us with the possiblity of the disfunctional Barney and Robin relationship and then took it away from us. Looks like there are hints of bringing that back a little bit this season. Anyway, the producers claim they are back on track and feel this season will be their best. We'll see! I do like the concept of this mysterious wedding. I called right from the beginning of the episode that Ted would be the best man. I'm calling now that it's probably Barney's wedding. (Remember when Barney was stressing that Ted would have to have Barney as his best man early in the episode?) Maybe they're trying to throw us off but that would make sense. I mean, Marshall is already married afterall. I guess Ted could become close friends with some other character in this season. But we'll see. But apparently, it's related to the show's title and getting us back on the path. The problem with this show is that THE END is built right into the title (we think). So, eventually they're going to have to set an end date. But as long as they keep making me laugh every week, I'm good! And by the way....DIBBS.



Chuck - vs. the Anniversary

For me, this show can do no wrong. Perfect mix of comedy, drama and references to old school pop culture. I mean, come on. Dolph Lungdren!? That is awesome. And, knowing their audience, they definitely had to get some Rocky IV references in there. "I must break you" and loosely quoted "if he dies....he dies". FANTASTIC! I was so excited I had to tweet it. I do not feel that the show has lost any emotional resonance with pairing up Chuck and Sarah. The will they/won't they seasons of the show were fantastic, but there is enough going on here to keep the show exciting! Adding Linda Hamilton as Mama Bartowski is a great one as well. Looks like she has no problem killing the bad guys for family either. It will be interesting to see what her game is! Ellie's pregnant too!? Yeah, it happens on every show, but that was a great twist to keep Chuck lying to someone about his spy life.
And I have to say, Morgan being involved in the SPY business has totally added another fun element to the show. The only think I am missing now is Jeff, Lester and Big Mike at the Buy More. With the CIA having created the new Buy More as homebase (awesome by the way) I am not sure if there will be room for Big Mike there. I heard they will be bringing in a GUEST OF THE WEEK as the Buy More Boss. Hey, if stunt casting is what we need to keep Chuck on the air, I'm all for it. But we need JEFFSTER!!!!

Anyway, I'm excited for the other 12 episodes that are guaranteed and I hope NBC does the right thing and renews more CHUCK!



The Event - I Haven't Told you Everything

By now you probably know that I was a fan of the episode and for my full recap click here!

Weeds - Boomerang


Just caught up on this with the Tuesday night shows. Mondays and Thursdays are going to be tough for me to watch everything real-time since A.) There is so much TV and B.) I'm recapping The Event and Fringe! But Weeds I was able to watch all 5 previous seasons of this show over the past year. And, yes, purists will say that the 1st 2 seasons were the best and the show went off its rocker afterwards. But being able to watch it all back to back? I have enjoyed the ride. It's definitely a different show since the beginning and I really miss "Little Boxes" opening up the show, but the cast is still cracking me up. Andy, Silas, Crazy Shane, Nancy and Doug. I can't get enough, even if we're losing original cast members every season. This week's episode was no different from an enjoyment perspective. Looks like things are going to get heated now that the crazy Mexicans have Shane! Can't wait to see what happens next!

Tuesday 9/21

Glee - Auditions

Yes, yes. I watch Glee! Get over it! Come on, you all knew I watched Idol too. What can I say? I'm into music! Season 2's premiere brought more of the Glee everyone loved but to me it seemed, if possible, a little cheesier than normal. Is that even possible? I'm liking the potential new recruits but of course one got picked off by New Editions and the other is QB #1 of the Transvestite Football Team! (I mean how scary is Coach Beiste!?) Sue Sylvester (Emmy Award winner Jane Lynch) was still firing on all cylinders in the premiere. And it would probably do me good to write down some of her quotes from now on to use if I'm going to make comments on Glee! But instead of trying to decipher any means of a logical plot, let's review the tunes!  
  • Empire State of Mind (Jay Z and Co) - I heard this tune was going to be included in the premiere and once I knew that Nationals would be in NYC, I kind of pictured how this was going to go down. It was fine I guess. But I'm with the folks that think that there is TOO MUCH "DORK RAP" going on on Glee! These kids can really sing. Let them! Of course, nothing makes me laugh more when WHEELS (Artie) starts rapping. Good times.
  • Telephone (GAGA) - I like the tension between Rachel and the new girl. Sending her to a Crack House for an audition? Priceless even if unbelievable! And while their redendition of Lady Gaga's "Telephone" was right on the money. Watching them circle each other in the bathroom and new girl singing the autotune "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" "I'm busy eh eh eh eh eh eh" was the ultimate cheese! But hey, I laughed and the show is a comedy, right?
  • Billionaire (Bruno Mars and his Rapping Buddy) - There artie goes rapping again! I saw him revving up giving that "awwww yeah...just wait till newbie is done singing...I'm gonna break it down for y'all right here" look. Classic. Anyway, QB Newbie guy can sang!! I'm sure they'll find a way to get him into the group. But Finn is not the QB? What has the world come to?! I see some rivalries on and off the field for Finn and Rachel's new nemesises (nemesi??)
  • Listen (from Dreamgirls) - Yeah - new girl is really good. Too bad she has gone over to the darkside, thanks to Will Schuster nudging Sue the wrong way. When I heard she was singing something from Dreamgirls, I cringed. When it was over, I was quite impressed and glad they went in that direction.
  • What I did For Love (too lazy to look up artist and I'm sure I should know it) - You know Rachel's gonna bring it when she's singing. (How long do we give it before Lea Michelle has a solo album?) And a nice wrap up of the events that occurred during the episode!
Running Wilde
Not sure if I'm committing to this one just yet. I loved Arrested Development so I'm giving the producers the benefit of the doubt. Pilot was quite bizarre but there were some moments. Just mentioning it because I watched it! Stay tuned!

No Ordinary Family - Premieres NEXT Tuesday and I'll be watching.  Stay Tuned!


The Rest of the Week

Looking forward to Modern Family and Cougar Town tonight!   I'm sure Modern Family is going to be as classic as every other episode was last season.  Cannot Wait!  Cougar Town really became a better show halfway into it and is something totally different than the title suggests.  Hey, Bill Lawrence from Scrubs is attached.  What else can be said?  Plus, Aniston is on tonight.  Can't miss!

Thursday is going to be crazy for me.  FRINGE gets highest priority because I'll be recapping.  As of that night, I'll probably watch Vampire Diaries (the wife loves it, and I'm not ashamed to say I like it a lot too.  Plus, Boone is on it!), Big Bang Theory, The Office and Fringe.  And then over the weekend I'll catch up on Community, 30 Rock and maybe Grey's (I just can't keep up with that show anymore but last year's finale was pretty nuts).    I'm looking forward to The Office hopefully bouncing back from last year's sub-par season.  Michael's "leaving arc" is probably going to be hysterical.  But the prospect of the show continuing on without him is not a very promising idea!   Oh yeah, I'll fit Always Sunny in Philadelphia in there somewhere as well!

Friday - SMALLVILLE!  I normally wouldn't be excited about this as I've been just coasting along the past 4 seasons.  But this has now been touted as the FINAL season so, hopefully we'll finally be rewarded with the gift of FLIGHT and him donning the Superman outfit by the end.   Good times!


That's all I have for now folks! (more than I thought I'd have!)   I'm going to have to fine tune how I do these updates in the future but I hope you enjoyed this rough attempt! Let me know your thoughts on approach and feel free to discuss any of the shows I attempted to discuss! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you for the next update!

13 comments:

AUStarwars said...

Smallville...really?...

Mike V. said...

So you react to Smallville but not Vampire Diaries and Glee? REALLY!? lol

I already admitted the show is awful now. But I've been watching for 10 years and I want closure! lol Don't worry...I don't watch it on Friday nights. lol

Mike V. said...

Speaking of Friday Nights...cannot wait for Friday Night Lights to come back. I don't have DirecTV but I'll still find a way to watch it!

AUStarwars said...

I watched the first season, was fine with it, came back when they had Christopher Reeve on (complete with John Williams music) but then i realized that Chloe and Lana were still on the show..then they brought in Green Arrow and the rest of the terrible DC Heroes (you know except a cameo at SOME POINT by a Bruce Wayne character..)

then i just realized i was still trying a show on the WB..then i was out...the loss of Michael Rosenberg was the Death Knell to me

Mike V. said...

Yeah, the show definitely has had its ups and downs. Losing Lex was rough and I kept thinking he'd come back. The show has been totally painful the past few seasons but for some reason I have kept watching. I am just excited that it's finally ending...even though it should have ended 4 seasons ago!

MJ said...

I love HIMYM but I think they can reveal who mom is already and still move forward with their dating and courtship. Def think it's Barney's wedding - but is it to Robin ? Lilly did NOT seem to have a bridesmaid dress on, so thinking no.

Chuck was awesome as always. And we got to meet our first Greta !

Haven't seen Boardwalk Empire yet - am behind too.

Modern Family was great last night ! They have not missed a beat. The funniest show on tv.

Yeah - I too watch Vampire Diaries. LOL The teen angst wears think - but the mythology is great really.

Am dying to see Lonestar - it's on my DVR but have not yet had the time. Had to watch Durvivor afteall.

MJ said...

Ugh ! That was 'S'urvivor !

Mike V. said...

Good point on Lilly, MJ! Didn't even think about that. But Barney settling down? I wonder how far in the future this wedding is? And was Lilly pregnant? I mean that might give away how long they're going to be trying to have a kid lol I just don't know about Mother continuing after he meets the mother. I guess there would be a way to do it but I guess once he meets her...you know it's going to end up as a marriage! So is there anything interesting about their dating and courtship? I can go either way on this one.

We sure did meet our first Greta! Thanks for reminding me of the name lol

Enjoy Boardwalk...you're gonna love it!

LOOOOOOOVED Modern Family. I surprised my wife last night with season 1 on Blu-ray...sure we watched them but those episodes will never good old. I would agree it's the funniest show on TV. POOR OFFICE....i hope it bounces back :-(

Yeah, some of the teen angst is rough...but totally agree on the mythology...it's a really entertaining show. Blondie as a Vampire is great too. (can't think of her name lol )

Enjoy Lonestar...really a shame about the ratings on that one. It's promising. Not sure how i'm gonna fit it in in the weeks to come lol

We caught up on Raising Hope last night too...pretty funny concept of a show. Traces of My Name is Earl (since Greg Garcia is attached) but different enough lol

Busy night tonight! I'd love to do more of these posts in the future but I'm sure Event and Fringe will keep me busy!

Mike V. said...

Oh right...and I have only watched a couple of seasons of Survivor because a friend of mine knew someone that was on it (Stephanie Lagrossa). Definitely an entertaining show...i just have never had time for it!

MJ said...

Awww! Stephanie was one of my faves. Always felt she should have won.

I watched Lonestar last night - was surprised where they went with it. Didn't think they'd immediately go to the 'I want to stop now and try to help those in Midland'. We'll see on that one.

I actually have a few shows tonight - Supernatural and Medium. It's rare that I have anything on fridays (other than SyFy part of the year). Still Haven't tried Raising Hope or the legal one with the chick from ER.

Oh - and blondie as a vamp is gonna be too too funny. I want to say Christine - but that's wrong. LOL I can't get her name right now either. Friday-itus. Dying to see how she pulls off not going to school any more and fooling her sherriff/counsel member mom.

Mike V. said...

Yeah I loved Lonestar but I just get that sense that they would run out of story ideas real quickly. Then again, I didn't know how they could make LOST interesting past 1 season either lol Gotta give the writers the benefit of the doubt I guess! But considering Lonestar's Monday night competition, I don't think it's going to do to well. They need to move the show or it will drown.

I never watched Supernatural but lots of people, including you have recommended it. Maybe I'll get there one day! So, I heard Caprica - the 2nd half is supposed to be really good. Someone tweeted that got an early peek at it. I just watched the pilot episode. So, now I have to trudge through 10 hours of crap to get to the good stuff!?!? WONDERFUL! lol

Is it Bonnie or is that the witch!?! lol I can't keep it all straight but last night was another solid episode!

I wish I had time to post another Quick Thoughts post on Wednesday and Thursday TV. I thought the Office was getting back to normal last night too. But Big Bang Theory??? HYSTERICAL!

MJ said...

It's Caroline who's the blonde - Bonnie is the witch. And obviously I had not yet watched the thurs ep when I posted friday that I was curious how they would handle Caroline geting out and about and fooling her mom. LOL

Haven't bothered with Caprica, felt like a cheap BSG so I stayed away. I rarely like a spin-off any way.

And so another crowded monday night begins !

Mike V. said...

Yes! Caroline!! lol I figured eventually she'd get a ring to wear but I didn't know witches needed to be involved in the creation of those rings. Good stuff though.

Yeah, maybe I'll wait to see how this 2nd half of Caprica REALLY goes before I invest time into it. I don't have time to watch it anyway right now! lol

Indeed on Monday Night! I just posted my thoughts on some of the excellent Sunday television (Dexter, Mad Men and Boardwalk).