A week or two back the tubes were all the rage about some shows (around 6 or 7) being leaked before the actual premier date. A short time after that it came to light that at least one of the leaks was an inside job. Since I do like to keep ahead of the times I figured what the hell. I mean, isn't it even more fitting to watch the first episode of the Sarah Conner Chronicles before it's supposed to be available? This is what I saw:
Bionic Woman (NBC) - It's a Bionic Woman reboot.
Not great but not awful either. The tone in this is dark, with a bit of conspiracy showing through but not taking stage. The main character is in a car crash. She wakes up and freaks out that her body is half machine. They sedate her. She wakes up again and sighs, all just a dream. It wasn't. There's a strange mix of writing in here. We're set up with (by the end) two unaffiliated villains to fight. One represents her own inner demons (the previous bionic experiment gone wrong) and the other a shadowy conspiracy that rivals the shadows of the people who built her. There's also a deaf younger sister who is in her care. The sister seems a bit too real in a show that's a bit too glossy. Considering the man who built her is/was her boyfriend the sister seems like a really disconnected piece of her life.
This show might pick up. I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching it but I wasn't sold on giving it a weekly part of my schedule. I think I was left a little wanting by the fact that it had the dark set tone of Birds of Prey without any of the tacit acceptance of camp. In the end It as fine but left me pining for the far superior Now and Again.
+1.5
Reaper (CW) - A kid becomes a bounty hunter for the devil after his parents sell his soul in a deal.
Very funny. The tone on this one plays up the "off" from the get go and does it surprisingly well. The parents are a little too distressed and it works. I didn't think it would hold up for the whole episode, but it did and lord help me, it works very well. The mandated best friend put me off for just a moment by trying to be Jack Black but then I found myself buying him as Jack Black. He's a bastard and even seems a little bit more malicious than Satan himself but he's really funny.
Between the Monster Of The Week, the tongue in cheek universe and the villain/not a villain Satan I felt myself drift back to the days of Deadly Games. This felt the same but plays much smoother. I grudgingly gave myself over to the show by the end and will now add it to my list.
+3.5
Pushing Daisies (ABC) - A man has the power to bring things back to life with a touch, and then undo it with a second touch.
Wow. The setting does (admittedly) look like it was slapped with Amélie and between the bittersweet take on death and the kindly narrator it could have been produced by Tim Burton it has too much romance and too much affection for its characters to have been directed by him. This is by far my pick. The characters are great, the pacing and dialogue superb, the concept fun and the production amazing. I actually have a hard time believing this was picked up, but that could be why it looks like only 6 episodes have been ordered.
This was created and written by Bryan Fuller, the creator and writer of Dead Like Me. This was originally going to be a spin-off but then developed into it's own world. Fuller has done some great television before but also has a habit of writing for shows that get the axe. He has a pattern of dreamlike worlds that are almost expressionist in their reflections of the main characters. His other credits are Wonderfalls, Heroes, and some Star Trek Voyager and Deep Space Nine here and there.
The actors are perfect here as well. Lee Pace as Ned is a little reminiscent of Edward Norton, but with better looks and none of the creepiness. Chi McBride, as a private investigator, is great as per usual as and the female lead played by Anna Friel doesn't seem like a damsel in distress. The only thing she's rescued from is death and after that she takes charge. Toss in Swoozie Kurtz, Kristin Chenoweth and (one of my personal favourites) Ellen Greene and the cast is probably on the edge of perfection.
I'm claiming this one now. I am adopting it as my personal show this coming season. I love it.
+5
Chuck (NBC) - A database of information is downloaded into a tech guy's head. He is then drafted into spy service.
I don't love it. The elements could be there for a good show, but these same elements have been in about 20 shows already. Jake 2.0? A bit, but that's not the fair comparison that a lot of boards have pegged it with. While Jake was trying to be a bit cool and only bumbling in that "finding your self" sort of way Chuck strives to keep that bumbling feel as the show's base. Chuck is a super nerd who no one really likes who is suddenly needed to be a spy. It's a bit of an IT wet dream. And that's a bit of the problem.
The show is pretty much basic wish fulfillment with no down side. the consequences of with fulfillment are what make good concepts into well executed concepts. Even in this batch of shows:
Bionic Woman - super strength but it puts your family in danger and destroys your life.
Reaper - With a new job comes the character development to get off your ass!
Sarah Conner Chronicles - Your son is the most important person in the world, but now robots want your brains.
Here we have a worthless guy who is suddenly valuable. the downside? His life is now full of excitement. Damn.
That downgrades the show from good to cute. What drops it a bit lower is that the main guy seems like just the sort who would write this pilot. that means I don't give him any sympathy. Also, it's not that funny. It'd be a step up for a Sci-Fi channel movie of the week but that's not nearly good enough to make me want to seek out this show on TV. It's OK but not close to good.
-1
Sarah Conner Chronicles (FOX) - After T2 we follow Sarah Conner and John Conner in the hopes they can avoid making T3.
While the production wasn't bad the show itself was.
It starts out as a normal sci-fi action show with robots. What's not to love? The problems soon start to show up that pretty much every loose end in the first two movies, as well as all the inconsistencies, are all brought into the show. that's not to say things were cleared up. It means that every problem the movies had is in here without solutions or explanation or the benefit of shiny special effects to distract us from them.
If only organic matter can pass through time then how do the terminators move? If inorganic matter can pass through if it's encased in skin then why not shove the weapons in a leather bag or even inside a living cow? It might be inconvenient but it could save... all of mankind.
The first movie mas made to show that time is cyclical. The second one shows that time is able to be changed. This one is stuck with adapting both into one view of time. And it doesn't even bother bringing it up.
Why are the humans and machines sending back robotic and therefore outdated machines in order to assure their place as rulers of the earth?
The fact that the movies all come out decades apart is sure to work some holes into the Terminator universe. The long and short of it is this tries to just jump into a world that needs a bit of continuity fix. The plot is a bit too weak to support the weight of T1 and T2. The actors are OK, but nothing special. It doesn't feel like they are their characters, but simply fair casting. A surprisingly unimpressive attempt for the next season.
-1.5
Cavemen (ABC) - A show about a few cavemen trying to live in the modern world. Both humans and the cavemen seem to be on the losing side of this social experiment.
I'm going to be honest here. I didn't watch the whole thing. I couldn't.
Before putting this in I read a lot about how it actually comes across as racist rather than a satire of racism. I didn't see a whole lot of that in the scenes I sat through, but I could see enough to figure out why people said that. The main reason I didn't truck through the whole thing is that it's flat out not funny. Though not as awkward as sitting in your friend's living room while his parents have a huge argument in the kitchen it's not far off. I felt like I was watching some sort of failure in every scene. Whether it was a failure between the on screen characters or a failure between them and the audience varied from scene to scene but not a single one worked for me. I kept expecting to have one of the cavemen look at the camera and wait for me to laugh. I didn't.
Months ago I came up with what I figured would be a better concept than a full show. After seeing it I am doubly sure of it. Geico should produce a set of 5 1-minute "episodes" every week for a station. They would air during the commercial breaks all through the week in prime time hours. Let's go with ABC. This would act as both an ad for ABC as well as Geico. They wouldn't be the regular commercials, but rather short shorts with a running plot simply about the Cavemen. Then, if those sucked as badly as the show does people would only have to put up with them for a minute at a time.
-2
I'm interested in Californication but that's set up on Netflix so there's not the same push to watch it now and stay ahead of the curve. I'll probably catch it sometime after work this week.
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