Tag Archives: CBS

TV Fall Schedules: One Big Fat Update

ABC, NBC and CBS’s fall schedules overall seem disappointing to me, some more than others (I’m looking at you, ABC!) There are a few that look promising. Nevertheless, here they are… the good, the bad, and the honky-tonk. (SupaScoot here. I’ll give you my thoughts along the way with the pictures cause I like to step all over other people’s articles. Sorry Michelle... I’m not sorry) 

ABC

Last Resort:

This is a thriller that takes place in a submarine 500 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, and then an exotic island. This, I will not be watching. The ocean terrifies me.

[Doc – It’s a Shawn Ryan show starring Andre Braugher and T-1000. I will be watching.]

Nashville:

This show looks absolutely terrible. Nashville is about a washed-up country singer who pairs up with a young country star. Not only does the plot sound terrible like a Lifetime movie… but it stars Hayden Panettiere. Pass.

Nothing about this looks good. Except Connie Britton. You look good, Connie.

How to Live with Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life:

I know that I sound cynical, but this show doesn’t look like a winner. I love Sarah Chalke, but I am already bored with the plot. A single mom moves in with her parents. It’s all been done. [Doc: Drink 7-Up] 

Holy shit. Jon Dore? Orlando Jones? Becky 2? This should be like electric dynamite… but won’t be.

666 Park Avenue:

This one looks like it might be interesting. 666 Park Avenue is one of those “Be careful what you wish for” shows. I know that’s been done, but this seems slightly more exciting than that. An apartment building, which is run by evil and supernatural forces, exchanges all of your hopes and wildest dreams in exchange for your soul. I will probably watch this.

Mistresses:

It seems this show has been pushed to next summer. There’s not much to say about it, just that it has a scantily clad Alyssa Milano and lesbians. Oh hey, look! It won you over.

No. Bad ABC. Bad ABC. Although… I do like girls. Okay, I’ll watch.

Zero Hour:

This is a conspiracy show, which means I will most likely check it out. Zero Hour is about a man who is the editor for a magazine for skeptics for 20 years, and then is pulled into a bizarre conspiracy.

Hey, it’s that guy. With conspiracies.

Family Tools:

A guy takes over a small business. Is there more to this? I hope so.

Oh come on. Reba was good in ‘Tremors’. That was it. Let it go.[/caption]

The Neighbors:

This show is about a family who, after moving into the suburbs, realizing all of their neighbors are aliens. This might be funny.

I want to watch ‘Twister’

Here is the full schedule:

Monday
8/7c: Dancing with the Stars
10/9c: Castle

(In January)
8/7c: The Bachelor

Tuesday
8/7c: Dancing with the Stars Results Show
9/8c: Happy Endings
9:30/8:30c: Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23
10/9c: Private Practice

(In January)
8/7c: How to Live With Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life) (New)
8:30/7:30c: The Family Tools (New)

Wednesday
8/7c: The Middle
8:30/7:30c: Suburgatory
9/8c: Modern Family
9:30/8:30c: The Neighbors (New)
10/9c: Nashville (New)

Thursday
8/7c: Last Resort (New)
9/8c: Grey’s Anatomy
10/9c: Scandal

Friday
8/7c: Shark Tank
9/8c: Primetime: What Would You Do?
10/9c: 20/20

(In November)
8/7c: Last Man Standing
8:30/7:30c: Malibu Country (New)
9/8c: Shark Tank
10/9c: Primetime: What Would You Do?

Saturday
8/7c: Saturday Night College Football

Sunday
7/6c: America’s Funniest Home Videos
8:00/7:00c: Once Upon a Time
9/8c: Revenge
10/9c: 666 Park Avenue (New)

(Warmingglow.com)

CBS

Vegas:

This is based on a true story of a Las Vegas sheriff bringing order to the sin city. Vegas takes place in the 1960s, and stars Dennis Quaid. You can count on me watching this.

This is me not watching.[/caption]

Elementary: (As Explained Here)

This is a TV movie about Sherlock Holmes cases in New York City. It looks completely uninteresting to me, but then again, it has neither singing nor Mariska Hargitay.

Watch ‘Sherlock’ instead. Trust me. Benedict Cumberbatch

[Doc – I’m with Scoot here, eff this show. Go watch SHERLOCK.]

Made in Jersey:

While yawning, let me tell you about the plot of Made in Jersey. This show is about a young, hard-working female lawyer who competes with her colleagues by using her sass and resourcefulness. It sounds oddly similar to the plot of “Single Female Lawyer” from Futurama.

Here is the full schedule:

MONDAY

8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9:00 PM PARTNERS
9:00-9:30 PM 2 BROKE GIRLS
9:30-10:00 PM MIKE & MOLLY
10:00-11:00 PM HAWAII FIVE-0

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM NCIS
9:00-10:00 PM NCIS: LOS ANGELES
10:00-11:00 PM VEGAS

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS
10:00-11:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

THURSDAY

8:00-8:30 PM THE BIG BANG THEORY
8:30-9:00 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:00-10:00 PM PERSON OF INTEREST
10:00-11:00 PM ELEMENTARY

FRIDAY

8:00-9:00 PM CSI: NY
9:00-10:00 PM MADE IN JERSEY
10:00-11:00 PM BLUE BLOODS

SATURDAY

8:00-9:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY
10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS MYSTERY

SUNDAY

7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES
8:00-9:00 PM THE AMAZING RACE
9:00-10:00 PM THE GOOD WIFE
10:00-11:00 PM THE MENTALIST

(Warmingglow.com)

NBC

Revolution:

An unlikely group sets out to save the world after a fifteen year blackout. It sounds like it could be good, but it is unlikely.

Go On:

This show stars Matthew Perry as a cocky sportscaster. I actually am intrigued by this. I may give it a shot.

Good luck, Chandler. Eighth time’s a charm or something like that. Anyone else tired of feeling sorry for him?

Chicago Fire:

A thrilling drama about firefighters and their lives and troubles in Chicago. Since Dick Wolf will be producing this one, I will be watching it.

Nope.

Animal Practice:

A veterinary Scrubs? This show seems like it could be funny. There is a monkey, which is enough to make me see at least two episodes.

Me too.[/caption]

Guys With Kids:

Ah, the age-old funny story… giving a man a baby. How will they remain cool? How will they continue their love life? How will they juggle video games and feeding their children? I am bored.

Nope. I dislike children and their playthings.

Here is the full schedule:

MONDAY

8 p.m. — “The Voice”
10 p.m. — “Revolution”

TUESDAY

8 p.m. — “The Voice”
9 p.m. — “Go On”
9:30 p.m. — “The New Normal”
10 p.m. — “Parenthood”

WEDNESDAY

8 p.m. — “Animal Practice”
8:30 p.m.— “Guys With Kids”
9 p.m. — “Law & Order: SVU”
10 p.m. — “Chicago Fire”

THURSDAY

8 p.m. — “30 Rock”
8:30 p.m. — “Up All Night”
9 p.m. — “The Office”
9:30 p.m. — “Parks and Recreation”
10 p.m. — “Rock Center with Brian Williams”

FRIDAY

8 p.m. — “Whitney”
8:30 p.m. — “Community”
9 p.m. — “Grimm”
10 p.m. — “Dateline NBC”

SATURDAY

— Reruns

SUNDAY

7 p.m. — “Football Night in America”
8:15 p.m. — “NBC Sunday Night Football”

SUNDAY (after football season)

8 p.m. — “Dateline NBC”
8:30 p.m. — “Fashion Star”
9 p.m. — “Celebrity Apprentice”
10 p.m. — “Do No Harm”

(Warmingglow.com)

CBS Greenlights Pilot From Louis CK and One of the ‘Seinfeld’ Writers…

I’m going to level with you, I haven’t turned my television on in over a year. This means I’m a little out of touch with the state of television these days, but from what I can gather on their website, CBS is now entirely made up of identical cop dramas and formulaic sitcoms. Also whatever the hell this is.

A Pitbull song in the trailer is TV Short-hand for “This is our Jersey Shore”

It’s not the most refined place for quality programming is what I’m saying. So it may come as a surprise to you to know that CBS just approved a pilot from Louis C.K. and Spike Feresten, two writers from critically acclaimed shows (‘Louie’ and ‘Seinfeld’, respectively). Deadline‘s report included a general idea of what the show will be:

CBS’s [sic] has greenlighted to pilot an untitled multi-camera comedy written by Louis CK and Spike Feresten, about an ensemble of young people trying to achieve their creative dreams in these tough financial times.

The show was actually pitched 13 years ago by the two comedy writers under the name Boomtown. At the time, it would have starred Louis C.K. and centred around him and his friends. However C.K. and Feresten have rewritten the script, likely with Louis C.K. out of the lead role, and the new show will finally get a chance.

How directly Louis C.K. will be involved in this new show remains to be seen, which is the main point of interest for me. He is currently enjoying the success of his latest stand-up special, Live at the Beacon Theatre, though he won’t be taking time to rest; Louis has been breaking the comedy mold in the past few years by throwing away all his material each year and starting again from scratch. On top of that he also serves as star, producer, director, editor and sole writer of the hit FX show Louie. I imagine this leaves little time to nurture a brand new show, but there’s nothing I’d rather see on TV than more Louis C.K.

CBS Orders New ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Pilot…Terrible.

So the bane of my existence America’s #1 Network – CBS is planning a new modern-day ‘Sherlock Holmes’ show called Elementary. This announcement comes after they approached the BBC and Sherlock show runners about remaking the British masterpiece, and being denied. This has led to their announcement ruffling the feathers of the Brits a bit, as I’m sure they don’t want to see their show bastardized, which CBS would surely do.

These statements came from Sherlock executive producer Sue Vertue‘s Twitter:

Exec. Producers Sue Vertue and her husband (Dr. Who scribe) Steven Moffat.

We understand that CBS are doing their own version of an updated Sherlock Holmes. It’s interesting, as they approached us a while back about remaking our show.

At the time, they made great assurances about their integrity, so we have to assume that their modernised Sherlock Holmes doesn’t resemble ours in any way, as that would be extremely worrying.

We are very proud of our show and like any proud parent, will protect the interest and wellbeing of our offspring.

Continue reading CBS Orders New ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Pilot…Terrible.

NBC’s “Community” Season 3 – John Goodman and Michael K. Williams

For me, there are only 3 shows that can vie for the title of “Funniest Show on Network TV” – ABC’s Modern Family, and then NBC shows Parks and Rec and Community. Lucky for me these 3 shows are not in direct competition. Modern Family owns its Wednesday night spot, and Parks and Rec finally got some attention in its 3rd season. Community, which is actually my favorite of the 3, is constantly overshadowed in the weekly ratings race by CBS’s cookie-cutter sitcom Big Bang Theory. Disgusting.

This is the banner the cast was welcomed back to at the start of the 3rd Season Shoot.

 And for something that isn’t disgusting though, here is Alison Brie and Gillian Jacobs

ANYWAY…

The news of the day is casting additions for the 3rd season. Namely – John Goodman and http://www.imdb.com

Guilty Pleasure Television – or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Crappy TV

Everyone has a few ‘guilty pleasure’ shows. Programs that while you may find them entertaining, you can’t really argue that they’re good. A lot of reality TV shows fall into this category and the fan bases will forever tell you they watch for the train wreck.

While I try to avoid most reality TV, I’m not immune to the allure of Guilty Pleasure Programming. Something where you can just turn off your brain and watch the pretty moving pictures. What follows are the 2 shows that I deem to fall into this category. Not great, but they’ve drawn me in.

If you scroll down the page, I’d be interested to see what your own list looks like in the comment section…

Hawaii Five-O

This one is hard for me because of where it’s aired – CBS. Since the invent of this site, I’ve made my distaste for CBS’ programming loud and clear. I don’t like it. But that doesn’t mean they can’t occasionally put out something decent. This TV season they premiered an extraordinary original a remake of an old cop show that took place in Hawaii. And while I’ve only sparsely seen bits and pieces of the original, the only real parallels I have been able to draw are the title, the setting, and the catchphrase. Of course, to a TV Exec, what else do you need? Hell, MTV launched a remake based only on a title.

The only reason I checked this show out to begin with was the cast;

  • Scott Caan (Enemy of the State, Novocaine, Ocean’s Eleven), son of legendary Godfather actor James Caan.
  • Daniel Dae Kim, who earned my respect because he had Jack Bauer‘s respect for three season’s worth of ass-kicking on 24.
  • Grace Park, who most people know as ‘Boomer’ from Battlestar Galactica.

Then you have Alex O’Loughlin as ‘Steve McGarrett’, who had a short arc on The Shield a few years back, but with whom I wasn’t too familiar.

So I entered with little to no expectations – actually, less than that – CBS expectations. And I was pleasantly surprised to see Dae Kim joined by fellow Angel alum James Marsters, who played ‘Spike’ on both the aforementioned Angel, as well as on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He murders McGarrett’s father and then appears to die at the end of the episode, only to reappear later in the season. Thus giving us a nemesis for our principal character. It was like the old school McGyver vs. Murdoc dynamic.

This aspect alone makes me want to continue watching.

After the death of his father, Steve – a Naval Intelligence Commander/All-Around Badass is sanctioned by the governor (24’s Jean Smart) to create his own investigative task force on the island. This is how our team comes to be. McGarrett first recruits a reluctant Danny Williams (Caan) who is a Jersey cop still pretty new to the island, having moved there to be closer to his daughter. His constant complaining about the island cultures, and his longing for New Jersey reminds me of myself when I visit friends in California and can’t seem to stop thinking about Detroit. ‘Danno’ is the tie to the police, as McGarrett is actually military. As can be expected, they start out at each other’s throats but eventually become friends. Touching, I know. The next member to join the team is Dae Kim who plays Chin Ho Kelly, a disgraced HPD Detective, accused of stealing money from evidence, but who was a friend to McGarrett’s father. And finally, Chin’s cousin Kono Kalakaua (Park – who despite actually being older than Caan or O’Loughlin), plays a rookie – fresh out of the academy.

The main advantage to being on CBS (aside from a barrage of advertising) is the budget. I will openly admit that this show has action sequences that put some movies to shame. Maybe that has something to do with the show being produced by the same guys who did the last Star Trek movie, but suddenly what I expected to be ‘just another cop show’, turned into ‘just another cop show…with a cast I really like, beautiful scenery, and legit action sequences’. And while a lot of the ‘case of the week’ stuff is a little played out, this show is actually pretty enjoyable.  And since How I Met Your Mother took its recent ‘Quality Nose-Dive’, this remains as the only show I regularly watch on ‘America’s #1 Network’.

Castle

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I am a fan of Nathan Fillion. I loved him in Firefly and for that alone, I’ll check out anything he is in. Castle is that newest thing. Fillion plays ‘Rick Castle’, a wise-cracking, super-rich, but kind-hearted mystery writer, whose friendship with the Mayor has granted him access to shadow ‘NYPD Homicide Detective Kate Beckett’ for inspiration.

Beckett is played by Stana Katic, who – while not a bad actress, looks more like a runway model than “A Murder Po-lece”. ( Homicide reference…anybody?) Beckett is played by Stana Katic, who previously appeared on both The Shield and 24, but was probably best known as Bond Girl – ‘Corrine’ in Quantum of Solace.

The two of them work together on murder after murder, as Castle writes an entire series of books about ‘Nikki Heat’, a character based on Beckett.

Typically the case seems clear-cut, we find out the initial suspect is a red herring, and something Castle said earlier, that seemed ridiculous, now is made plausible. Eventually though they hit a wall and it’s up to Castle to interpret something said to him by either his mother or his daughter that breaks the case wide open. Man, Beckett’s close rate must’ve been terrible before they brought a writer in to teach them how to solve crimes.

It’s pretty cookie-cutter.

Fillion and Katic are joined by a capable, but not extraordinary supporting cast, who can all be seen above.  Actually, that statement sounds harsh. I really can’t imply that any of them are sub-par actors since they aren’t given much to work within the script department. I will say that the on-screen chemistry is there for the most part.

Now for all the bitching I do about CBS, in honesty, the Disney-owned ABC isn’t much better. This show is more generic for sure than Hawaii Five-O. It’s a cop show, set in New York, with 2 white lead actors, and a supporting cast filled out by a Black female doctor, a Latino Detective, and a Black Police Captain. All of whom are very capable and respected, and then the white Irish cop who is obviously the moron of the bunch. Very PC Disney spread it around. ABC is so terrified of offending someone, that it’s actually become a detractor from the show before. Like the episode dealing with terrorism, where they had a very short clock to find a bomb in NYC and Beckett was more interested in the rights of the suspect than in finding the bomb. I don’t know about you, but if I’m a New Yorker, and there is a Nuke ready to detonate, I think I’m ok with the cops using harsh language and verbal threats. Profiling be damned!

Overall the show is entertaining, but its draws its ratings from the oldest trick in the book: Will  They – Won’t They? While the show each week is driven by the most recent murder scene, the underlying narrative of the show focuses on the sexual tension between Castle and Beckett. Much like Pam and Jim on The Office before it sucked. Or David and Maddy on Moonlighting, this theme will drag on until they eventually have to sleep together, which will destroy the show and it will be forced to limp off into a TV graveyard. For this reason, fans who want them together should stop hoping so fiercely, because the minute they do, the fuse on the time bomb of mediocrity and cancellation will be lit. Save the hook-up for the series finale…

This video however is enough to make me keep watching and soaking in my weekly Fillion Fix.

So those are the 2 biggest guilty pleasure shows of mine. That’s not to say I don’t have others. I could put Nikita, or Storage Wars, or Breakout Kings on this same list. Those though are shows I’ll watch if on, but don’t go out of my way for. Hell for that matter I could even include SNL if I wanted to because that show has become something awful.

Anyhow, what are yours? Big Bang Theory? Real House Wives? Anything on MTV?

When TV shows become Lost: ‘How I Met Your Mother’

Like most Americans I spent hours of my life watching Lost. I didn’t start watching until during the third season at the request of friends so I just jumped into the first and second season DVD’s. I was hooked. Those first two seasons were so good at captivating me and teasing me with all these clever questions that they would only answer with more questions.  The characters were engaging and the story was somewhat fresh. After catching up and somewhere in the fifth season I got my room-mate just as hooked in it as I was. We burned through the earlier seasons (again for me, first time for him) and caught up to speed quickly.

Unfortunately what we both soon realized was that the spark had quickly left the show. Unlike most shows where they “jump the shark” and continue to stick around long after their expiration date, Lost had promises of something different by giving its self a time limit on its story. However it only seemed that the reason the writers gave themselves this time line is because they realized they had written something too clever and now knew no way out. The story fell apart and the questions I had once had three seasons ago were now replaced with different things altogether. If it wasn’t for Lapidis keeping things so chill there would have been nothing saving that show at all. (I mean honestly, all that Walt build up, the hints of telekinetic possibilities, the others possessing some unknown power to silently walk through the woods only to find out it’s a fat old guy in a fake beard. Come on!) Finally though, it ended and my time was better spent wasted on other programs. However I always had a little bit of disdain whenever Lost would be brought up again. I felt betrayed by the writers for letting such a good idea get away and at myself for holding on to it for so long.

Recently I’ve noticed a similar trend with other shows I watch. Shows that I wouldn’t say “jumped the shark” just yet, but rather got Lost as I’m going to refer to it in up coming posts. I’m going to pick out shows I once loved, but now can barely recognize. This trend became clear to me when watching last weeks episode of another show I used to love, How I Met Your Mother.

I’m sure most of you didn’t even watch the last episode, because most people I know have just given up on it. Here’s a quick run down of the episode for you kids at home:

Marshall and Lily have given up on life and are married and boring and now useless to the show and life. No one cares about their storyline, only Alyson Hannigan’s boobs.

The writers are again trying to show Barney as more than just a funny suit. They introduced another love interest for him, which Robin attempts to help with, and again, no one cares about this. Everyone just wants to see a gay man try to hook up with slutty women all while saying clever things, and of course, Cobie Smulders’ boobs.

Ted is dating another new female who the show has built up for almost the whole season, like it does literally every season. They get all the way to the end of the episode and leave Ted and his new girlfriend (whose name I honestly don’t even remember because it means so little and I hate the show so much) [Ed. – Zoe] apparently super happy in love, and headed towards possibly finding out this is finally the mother. Only we don’t find that out. Instead out of no where it’s randomly revealed that this new love interest is not the “mother” that we all want to “meet”, but just another useless story line with great tits. The show laughs at our waste of time and poops noisily, on our chests.

It seems to me that the writers of this show had so little faith in this project they never expected to make it past season one or two. Now they are stuck in season six of a show with no end game. Someone needs to tell these writers that no one actually cares who the mother is. I know I don’t, and as long as she is well cast I don’t see how anyone else would. It would have been great if Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) had just stayed around, she would have made an excellent new cast member, instead she choose obscurity and is more than likely unemployed or dead. [Ed – which is the same as starring in the new, and sure to be canceled, or at least suck, CBS show MAD LOVE]

The fact of the matter is the show works because the characters are likable and the jokes were clever, Slapsgiving = classic. However the gag of teasing us with the identity of the mother is old. Its time for the show to move on and come to terms with it’s self. I might return for an episode or two here or there, but after this weeks steaming pile I’m out.

This show has officially become ‘Lost’. With Charlie Sheen (see legen—-dary, super awesome, hard partying, hooker beating, crack head) shutting down production of Two and a Half Men, (Dr Kronners’ favorite show) it looks like CBS is pretty much doomed. [Ed. If they weren’t rated #1 in everything] Let’s hope next season things shape up and TV magically finds a way to fix itself. Until then I’ll stick with NBC and hopefully others will too.

R.I.P. HIMYM

– B. VanGorder