GeekTonic`s Ultimate Fall TV Guide

[captain_video]

Different strokes, I guess.  My wife didn’t think it was funny either, but then she doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.  I didn’t like it because it was like 1,000 other sitcoms I’ve seen in the past.  The actors were stiff and everything was too rehearsed.  Comedy is much funnier if it appears spontaneous, which it usually is when the actors ad lib.  Watch any episode of Rescue Me and you can appreciate where I’m coming from.

To be fair, sitcoms have to be the hardest thing to write for TV.  It’s a monumental task to come up with something new and fresh, not to mention funny.  Far too often the writers stick with stereotyped characters in the same old situations and this one is no different.  I hate jokes when you can see the punchline coming way in advance.  I also hate it when they try to make the situation too serious, like the guy losing his job and being too afraid to tell his Dad.  Sitcoms are supposed to be uplifting escapist entertainment, not dismal social commentary about the economy.  I can only imagine how many people in the unemployment line wanted to jump off a bridge after watching this show.

Frankly, I can sit through just about anything.  Halfway through the show I looked at my wife and said I really wasn’t all that interested in sitting through the rest of it, to which she gratefully agreed.  A program has to be pretty uninteresting for me not to want to see it through to the end.  With the number of new shows this fall, it’s also going to have to be something pretty special for me to want to fit it into my already overcrowded viewing schedule.  Needless to say it didn’t make the cut.

On the subject of Haven, I’ve watched the show because it’s different and shown during the summer when there’s a lot less competition.  Am I the only one that finds the storyline to look like swiss cheese that’s been shot with a scattergun?  I mean, this female FBI agent shows up in this town that is apparently plagued by the return of “The Troubles” and all sorts of weirdness begins to happen.  She buys into everything without batting an eye.  The whole town seems indifferent to things that would have the vast majority of any sane population heading for the nearest exit.  It’s weird enough that it’s enjoyable.  Just don’t try and put any rational thought into it and you’ll probably like it.  I can only imagine what kind of mind trip Stephen King was on when he wrote “The Colorado Kid,” which is what the show is based upon.  Then again King has probably been on LSD since the days of Timothy Leary.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

[quote=”captain_video”]
Watch any episode of Rescue Me and you can appreciate where I’m coming from.
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Ironic that you mentioned that show, since we started watching it, but lost interest after the 2nd season.  We just didn’t find anything appealing about it, especially with how “real” it was becoming.  I liked his hallucinations, but that didn’t last very long.  Let’s see what we’re left with… there’s cheating, whoring, lying, abuse, drugs, alcohol, mental issues, child endangerment, death.  If I wanted all that with minimal comedy, I’d either watch soap operas or the evening news.  Thankfully, almost all of that is included with loads of comedy via Two and a Half Men.

[quote]Sitcoms are supposed to be uplifting escapist entertainment, not dismal social commentary about the economy.  I can only imagine how many people in the unemployment line wanted to jump off a bridge after watching this show.[/quote]

Yeah, but it’s not the entire country which is out of work.  There are plenty of us who do have jobs and aren’t worried about losing them.  We can enjoy these shows quite easily.  Let’s face it, if someone’s unemployed, they may not be able to keep paying the cable bill.  They also are not the target demographic, since the advertising is useless for the people who can’t afford to purchase those things.

[quote]On the subject of Haven, I’ve watched the show because it’s different and shown during the summer when there’s a lot less competition.  Am I the only one that finds the storyline to look like swiss cheese that’s been shot with a scattergun?  I mean, this female FBI agent shows up in this town that is apparently plagued by the return of “The Troubles” and all sorts of weirdness begins to happen.  She buys into everything without batting an eye.  The whole town seems indifferent to things that would have the vast majority of any sane population heading for the nearest exit.
[/quote]

You answered your own question there.  The town is indifferent to “the troubles” because they have RETURNED.  In other words, they’ve experienced it before, so it’s not all that surprising that they sort of turn the other cheek.

I also wouldn’t say that she buys into, so much as she wants to know about her own past (her mother) and that’s a stronger draw than the troubles are a repellent.  I think she feels like she was meant to wind up there.

[jennyfur]

I have to agree with captain_video. I watched $#*! My Dad Says and maybe thought about 3 of the jokes were funny the entire show. I had hoped it would be better since Shatner’s character on Boston Legal was great (and he plays a similarly opinionated jerk in this). But the writing on this show is rather weak and everything seems forced. It’s just not funny. My opinion also has nothing to do with the fact that I’m unemployed, even if I was working I’d find the plot dismal. And I’d cut the cable cord long before losing my job, as well as skipping commercials, so I’m not any advertiser’s target demographic. I’ll give the show one more episode and then remove it from my recording list if it doesn’t get any better.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

Oh yeah, we also watched Outsourced.  It was very painful to force myself to watch the entire episode.  There were some mildly funny parts, but I think this show is going to sink very quickly.  I’ve talked myself into giving it one more episode, but my expectations couldn’t possibly be lower.  I don’t whether I laughed less at this or Modern Family.

[Mike Garcen]

saw the premiere of Fringe, just awesome as always. super stoked about that season.

I’ve still got Dexter waiting for me…not exactly sure how i’ve lasted this long not watching it yet!!

I saw %#% My Dad Says….and while i definitely wasn’t ROFL, i didn’t think it was so awful. Worth a commercial skipping watch IMO.

I also saw Outsourced….don’t think I laughed once, but again…going to give it a chance.

I think I pulled a muscle laughing watching Big Bang Theory

[mikinho]

After the few premiers I’ve watched I don’t think I’ll watch much TV this season: Dexter, Castle and Big Bang Theory.  The occasional Modern Family when my wife is watching it.

I’ll record a bunch of the others (Event, Haven, How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Law & Order: LA, …) and maybe watch them between seasons but if not, meh.

The only “new” show I really enjoyed was “The Glades” which has its season finale next weekend after Dexter.

[captain_video]

[quote=”Skirge01″]
Ironic that you mentioned that show, since we started watching it, but lost interest after the 2nd season.  We just didn’t find anything appealing about it, especially with how “real” it was becoming.  I liked his hallucinations, but that didn’t last very long.  Let’s see what we’re left with… there’s cheating, whoring, lying, abuse, drugs, alcohol, mental issues, child endangerment, death.  If I wanted all that with minimal comedy, I’d either watch soap operas or the evening news.  Thankfully, almost all of that is included with loads of comedy via Two and a Half Men.[/quote]
Rescue Me was probably not the best example when it comes to discussing sitcoms because it was anything but a sitcom, at least not in the normal sense.  There was definitely a lot of dark content portrayed on the show, which you would expect from anything based on 9/11.  The show would be better classified as a Dramedy (Drama-Comedy).  The banter between the firemen at the station house was absolutely priceless and more than slightly blue.  You could tell that a lot of it was generated spontaneously on the set and not something that was forcefed the cast by mediocre writers as with Shatner’s show.  It probably helped that much of the cast were all standup comics and not regular actors.

[quote=”Mikinho”]
After the few premiers I’ve watched I don’t think I’ll watch much TV this season: Dexter, Castle and Big Bang Theory.  The occasional Modern Family when my wife is watching it.

I’ll record a bunch of the others (Event, Haven, How I Met Your Mother, Bones, Law & Order: LA, …) and maybe watch them between seasons but if not, meh.

The only “new” show I really enjoyed was “The Glades” which has its season finale next weekend after Dexter.
[/quote]
LOL.  That’s probably the most sensible decision I’ve heard yet about the new season.  I haven’t seen all that much that really gets me excited about any of the new shows, other than a curious interest as to how some of the stories may develop.  I’ve already weeded out quite a few new shows from my recording schedule as well as a few older ones and I’m not done yet.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

We just finished watching premiere of The Defenders and we were both pretty impressed.  It wasn’t quite what I was expecting.  If I had to give a quick analogy, it would be that it’s Law & Order from the defense’s perspective, but with much more humour and more “dirty” tricks from the lawyers.  I hope the stories will hold up and it sticks around for a little while.

[captain_video]

I just watched The Defenders tonight as well.  I enjoyed it and will probably continue to watch it.  Jim Belushi invokes just the right amount of smirky attitude to impart a bit of wry humor while keeping the general tone of the show serious, but not too serious.

On the flip side, I also watched The Whole Truth.  It’s another intense courtroom drama that looks at both sides of the case and then spills the beans at the end so the viewer knows what actually happened.  I don’t recall the name of the show but I believe there was one that tried this exact same venue a few years back that got canceled in short order.  I guess the studios were hoping that viewers have a short memory.

While it was well acted, I’m getting a bit tired of these overly dramatized courtroom scenarios.  It makes me wonder if anyone in Hollywood has ever actually been inside a courtroom watching an actual court case other than O.J. Simpson.  Virtually every TV show about lawyers ever produced gets it completely wrong.  The same holds true for medical dramas.  I spent three years working in hospitals around the country after I graduated college and it’s nothing like they show on TV.  Fact is, most of the situations in real life are completely boring so they have to spice it up with a lot of extra drama so the audience doesn’t doze off.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

I’ve got The Whole Truth recorded, but haven’t watched it yet.  I don’t know that I’m going to enjoy it, though, since I’ve been through every episode of L&O and I’m not sure I want another courtroom drama.  The humour is what drew me to The Defenders.

Is the show you’re thinking about [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order:_Trial_by_Jury]Law & Order: Trial by Jury[/url]?

[captain_video]

[quote=”Skirge01″]
Is the show you’re thinking about [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order:_Trial_by_Jury]Law & Order: Trial by Jury[/url]?
[/quote]
Could be.  I seem to recall it might have been a L&O spinoff but it was here and gone so fast most people probably missed it.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

We watched the 2nd episode of Outsourced and I’m damn near embarrassed to say that I’m going to watch the 3rd episode.  There’s enough going on to make me wonder what’s going to happen next.  Quite honestly, I WANTED to hate this show, but I have to admit that it’s holding my interest.

[Mike Garcen]

Anyone else watching “Better With You”? Saw the first two and found it quite funny

[captain_video]

[quote=”shadymg”]
Anyone else watching “Better With You”? Saw the first two and found it quite funny
[/quote]
I haven’t seen it mainly because I tend to avoid sitcoms in general.  I usually check out preliminary reviews from various sites like The Futon Critic to see how the pilot screenings went.  If the reports aren’t overly enthusiastic I don’t bother with them.  I honestly don’t recall what was said about Better With You.

One of the latest new shows I watched was “No Ordinary Family.”  I guess Michael Chiklis like playing The Thing so much in the Fantastic Four movies that he opted for the same role sans the bad skin condition.  I was a comic book geek in my younger days so I’ll probably watch this one and see how it goes.  Heck, I’ll watch anything that has Julie Benz as a main character.  Based on the track records of past programs that tried to emulate the superhero genre, I don’t expect it to last all that long.  However, with the early time slot I can see it gathering a younger audience

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

I immediately thought of FF in his performance, but I think that character works quite well in this show.  If they can continue with the family problems, rather than turning it into a “baddie of the week” storyline, I think it’ll hold up.

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