Daniel's TV Blog

The networks are incapable of launching a summer series. NBC tried again this year with Persons Unknown, but they moved nights and just stopped running some of them. I decided not to catch up on Hulu and gave up on the show like most people. But the cable networks do a much better job of launching and successfully running summer shows. The best thing about these shows is you can start watching one of these shows knowing full well there will be at least one season and the show will be on the same night each week throughout the summer.

First up is True Blood on HBO. This is the best summer show and this season was great. There were lots of vampire deaths this season, much more that I ever expected. This season started all about the werewolves and ended with the true nature of Sookie's heritage. Sookie and Vampure Bill broke up just like in the novels, but not for the same reasons. I wonder if she will end up with Vampire Eric. They seemed to imply that next season is going to be about witches and witchcraft as they have added two minor characters that are witches.

One of my favorite cable shows ran a half season on USA: Burn Notice. This season had a great addition of Jesse, another burned spy. However the "big bad" this time was less defined other than previous seasons. Also the secret that Michael burned Jesse was a little contrived. Logically anyone would understand that Michael didn't know the fall out of his mission into the CIA office in Miami. Plus the CIA burned Jesse rather abruptly with very little evidence. I didn't really buy it. But their stand alone stories were as good as ever. This show always delivers.

Also on USA is Psych, the funniest detective show on TV. Richard from LOST joined the cast as a recurring character: a super-smart super rich fake FBI profiler who immediately figure out Shawn was a fake psychic. I hope we see more of him when season 5 resumes. in November.

After Pysch was the new show Covert Affairs. I can't image the new JJ Abrams spy show this fall could be better than this one. Agent Walker is a great character and it has been great watching her as a new spy. Plus the season arc of her ex-lover/rouge spy has been fascinating. The finale was last Tuesday but it is still on my DVR.

Over on TNT (the know drama) is Leverage. My friend Bill calls it Average. I still enjoy it. This time they tried to have a season arc with a big target fell a little flat this season. They didn't even talk about it until the last episode. Regardless the show is enjoyable. Also it is filmed in Portland so it has a look like no other on TV right now.

On A&E is The Glades, a police drama set in Florida. This show has a unique feel as rather than a homicide team, it is a detective and a medical examiner working together on cases. Plus the main character is hot.

And finally the only comedy: Louis, created by and starring Louis CK. This show is really funny. My favorite moment was when Louis and the mom of one of his daughter's classmates are sitting at the playground talking dirty. Saying this like, "I bet you'd want that guy over there to bunch up his sack and put it in your puss." While they were discussing the dynamics of how one does they, his daughter comes up and asks for carrots and they effortlessly slip back into mom and dad mode. It is very funny and wonderfully unique.

Labels: Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, Leverage, Louis, Psych, The Glades, True Blood

SyFy channel had three original series this summer: Eureka, Haven, and Warehouse 13. Haven is still running, although I don't know if anyone is watching it. That is a rather standard strangeness/monster/mutant of the week. It kind of lost me last when it was revealed that lots of people knew about the main FBI agent's mother and just decided not to tell her about it all season. It was the worst way of dragging out the season arc mystery ever. It just makes most of the town looks like jerks. And that's all I'm going to say about Haven, except don't watch it.

Eureka was really good this season. It started with a big game-changer premise where five of the characters were sent back in time to 1947 and return with Baltar and lots of changes in the town. It is suggested that the kid with autism sent everyone back in time on purpose so they would change things enough so he wouldn't be autistic anymore. The best story is the love story gone wrong between Zane and Jo. Just before Jo went into the past, Zane proposed. When they returned, they had never dated in the changed time-line. Over the season, Zane figures out that Jo is into him and kisses her in the season finale. Zane, played by Niall Matter, is currently the hottest guy on SyFy, in my opinion. The addition of Baltar to the cast as the 1947 scientist now in 2010 was the best thing about the season. When the show started Sheriff Carter was the everyguy/outsider that the other characters would explain things to as a way to explain things to the audience. He's become so much of an insider to Eureka, having a new outsider was important. And James Callis does such a good job with his 40's accent I didn't even recognize him of BSG until his second episode.

But my favorite SyFy show is Warehouse 13. The second part of the finale is on Tuesday. The second season has gone deeper into the Warehouse mythology with the unexpected return of Warehouse 2 which had been buried outside Alexandria prior to the invasion of Egypt by the Romans. They also added two new recurring characters this season: Lindsay Wagner as the Warehouse doctor, and the unfrozen H.G. Wells who had been an agent of Warehouse 12. But there's a twist: HG is Helana, a woman! I like her character a lot. We don't know if we can trust her or not. After the end of part one on Tuesday, it looks like we can't trust her. But that might mean she will turn out to be good all along. But is Artie bad? Did he uncover Warehouse 2 so some nefarious purpose? I'm excited about the ending. This is my favorite summer show.

Labels: Eureka, Haven, Warehouse 13

There's always a bunch of shows I decide not to watch even before they air.

My Generation
It looks like a reality show but it's not. This won't make it to Thanksgiving. ABC Thursday 9/23

Detroit 1-8-7
Homicide detectives in Detroit. I can't think of city I care about less. ABC Tuesday 9/21

Law & Order: LA
I don't watch any of the existing Law & Orders so why would I start now. NBC Wednesday 9/29

Undercovers
Sorry JJ Abrams. I think when his name is attached I'm less likely to watch the show. Also there are enough spy shows on TV right now. NBC Wednesday 9/22

Outlaw
As much as I like Jimmy Smits, I can't sign on to the absurd premise that a supreme court justice would resign to become a defense attorney. No. NBC Wednesday 9/15

Hellcats
Oops I missed the pilot this week. Although I do like the idea of Bring It On the series. No wait, I never saw Bring It On. CW Wednesday

Blue Bloods
Yet another New York cop show. And this one is about a family of cops. Let me guess there's a bad brother out there they have to consider covering up. Snore.... CBS Friday 9/24

Mike And Molly
Fat love. I don't care. CBS Monday 9/20

Labels: Fall 2010

The New Fall Season is starting in just over a week. Here are the new shows that I'm going to be watching.

Hawaii Five-O
I'm most excited about this series reboot. The original lasted for 279 episodes. This is said to be a very contemporary version and not a remake. I don't remember much from the original except for the opening sequence. I like Hawaii and all of the actors especially Jean Smart. It is going to be great! CBS Monday 9/20

The Event
The creator has spent over four years developing the pilot and the overall arc of the series. He is also a huge fan of the great recent serials: LOST, 24, and Battlestar Galactica. Hopefully NBC won't fuck this up. They have never done a successful serial. They came close with Heroes but after the first season is totally deteriorated. I think by the end there were three differing reasons why people got powers. Having one producer with a vision that NBC seems to have bought into could lead to one great show. NBC Monday 9/20

Lone Star
Monday is going to be a busy night. Lone Star is about a con man working a long con on a family business and things get complicated. Really good buzz makes me want to watch this one. Fox Monday 9/20

Running Wild
GOB as a spoiled trust fund baby now living with his idealistic childhood sweetheart. From some of the people who worked on Arrested Development means it will be awesomely funny. Fox Tuesday 9/21

Raising Hope
The creator of My Name is Earl is back with a dysfunctional family raising a baby that showed up unexpectedly. If it's anything like Earl, it will be very funny. Fox Tuesday 9/21

Outsourced
NBC hasn't failed with a Thursday comedy in a long time so I don't think they will blow it this time. Here an American moves to India to run a call center with a much of misfit employees. NBC Thursday 9/23

Shit My Dad Says
They created a whole Twitter presence in preparation for this show. They had me at William Shatner. It's about time he did a sitcom. He was so funny on Boston Legal. CBS Thursday 9/23

These are shows I might be watching, I haven't decided yet.
Nikita
This started this week. I caught the pilot and it was OK. I just don't see any long term potential. How long can you spend taking down a corrupt agency? CW Tuesday

Chase
Looks good and I love a good chase show. It might just be a bit of Monday overload. NBC Monday 9/20

The Defenders
With Jerry O'Connell, this looks like the best of the new lawyer shows this fall. Plus it takes place in Las Vegas. CBS Wednesday 9/22

Body Of Proof
I love Dana Delany and I like the idea of a Quincy like medical examiner solving crimes. They don't have much faith in it by putting it on Friday. ABC Friday unknown

No Ordinary Family
I read recently that in addition to a weekly stand alone story, there is an complicated back story. I'm still deciding. ABC Tuesday 9/28

Labels: Fall 2010

I cannot get enough of the Jersey Shore. I think every episode has been about "The Note". Talking about the note, writing the note, delivering the note, finding the note, confronting people about the note, and finally getting into a big girl fight about the note. The best thing is Sami is still with the NPD Ronny. I love it!

I'm also enjoying Bachelor Pad. This is a rip off of VH1's I Love Money before it was canceled because a murderer won season 3. I Love Money took people who used to be on dating shows and put them together in a house to compete in stupid challenges, vote people off, and hook up with each other. That is exactly what is happening on Bachelor Pad, except they manage to stretch it out for two hours. After last night with the third week of completely predictable results I'm getting very sick of these idiots.

Over on Bravo, Flipping Out is running its current season. While I sometimes get uncomfortable when Jeff goes all crazy on his staff, the recent episode without any flip outs was kind of a let down. I guess he did flip out at the guy who tracked mud in the house. The real star is Zoila and Jeff even made a joke about that in his meeting with the Rockafeller Center Kitchen people. It looks like he will be promoting Zoila to nanny in a future season.

Hoarders season 2 started on Labor Day with 2 new episodes and they were great. They had this crazy old women in Oklahoma who went out and got a whole bunch of stuff out of dumpsters after the first day of yard cleanup. Then there was a family in Bothell who hadn't taken anything out of their house in the 40 years they've lived there, including their two children now in their late 30's. Their house was is such disrepair they still had to move after the clean-up because it was condemned. The the best was this old guy in Florida whose house was filled with dolls, and tiki birds, crappy Asian style art, and assorted what-nots. He acted like Liberace but all he really wants is a lady to share his life with. Right, lady. Anyway I love this show as I am a borderline hoarder. I had a five minute mental debate this weekend after throwing out a receipt. I ended up throwing it out, but pulled it out two days later and put it in an envelope. I'm like one tragic event away from stacking newspapers in my hallway so watching this show helps me stay grounded.

And here are the upcoming fall reality shows:
The Real Housewives of Atlanta comes back on October 4th. I love this show! I think the one white chick became a lesbian or something.
The Amazing Race starts on September 26th. The teams don't look very interesting but I still like watching it.
The Apprentice returns on September 16th. This isn't The Celebrity Apprentice, this is old school, get a job after, The Apprentice. I haven't decided if I'm watching it yet.

And some other shows I'm not watching:

• America's Next Top Model: 09/08
• Survivor: Nicaragua: 09/15
• Dancing With The Stars: 09/20
• Hell's Kitchen: 09/22
• Extreme Makeover: 09/26
• Undercover Boss: 09/26

Labels: Bachelor Pad, Flipping Out, Jersey Shore, The Amazing Race, The Real Housewives of Atlanta

This year the big networks are all using the third week of September as an old fashioned premiere week. All but two of my favorite returning shows are returning that week, with one before and one after. If you are like me, you need to re-add all these shows to your TiVo/DVR as I delete them all in the summer. Here's the list on premiere dates:

Tuesday 09/14
Parenthood on NBC

Monday 09/20
Castle on ABC
Chuck on NBC
How I Met Your Mother on CBS







Tuesday 09/21
Glee on FOX

Wednesday 09/22
Cougar Town & Modern Family on ABC

Thursday 9/23
Community & 30 Rock on NBC
Fringe on FOX (I still haven't decided if I'm watching this season)
Big Bang Theory on CBS (new night)

Friday 09/24
The Good Guys on FOX
Medium on CBS
Smallville & Supernatural on CW

Sunday 9/26
Desperate Housewives on ABC
The Simpsons, Family Guy, & Cleveland Show on FOX

Sunday 10/3
American Dad on FOX


Coming up this week: new shows I'm watching, shows I'm not watching, reality show update

Labels: Fall 2010