Monday, November 12, 2012

Thoughts on New Shows: Fall 2012

Sorry that this blog has been updated in a while. But I thought that you might enjoy the reviews of the new shows I've seen so far this season.

Thoughts on New Shows


 

Revolution: This NBC drama airs at 9:00 Central on Mondays. In it, a world has existed for fifteen years where electricity (supposedly) no longer exists anymore. A band of survivors try to make their way in this new world with what remains of the old one. It has already received a full season order, so the network has some faith in it. I think that it is an interesting concept that I'm surprised no one has come up with yet. So I think that it is worth your time. Grade: A-.


 

Partners: This show that airs on CBS at 7:30 Central is a comedy. If I understand this correctly, it has two roommates, once gay and one straight, as well as the people they are romantically involved with. It is by the creators of Will and Grace, which I've barely seen. This show is kind of interesting, but based on the episode I saw, it was very lame. It might not exist in a day where homosexuality wasn't as accepted as it sort of is today. It has its moments and isn't that bad. But I wouldn't give it that good a score either. In fact, I never would have watched it if it didn't have a good lead-in program. But since it did, I decided to watch it. Grade: C+


 

Ben and Kate: This show that airs on FOX at 7:30 Central is about a brother and sister in a strange blended family. It seemed both poorly written and poorly acted. I don't even quite know what it is about, but I would probably never watch it again. Grade: F.


 

Go On: This NBC comedy that airs on Tuesdays at 8:00 Central is about a man played by Matthew Perry who joins a support group dealing with loss in life. It is actually quite humorous given its rather grim concept. I think that this show is good. Grade: B+.


 

Vegas: This CBS drama on Tuesdays at 9 Central is about a famous sheriff from Las Vegas. It is a historical drama with period crimes, outfits, and anything else. When I saw it, I didn't understand how it was the most watched new drama. To me, it seemed dull. They could have easily made this a present day drama without having to have all the constant changes that they have to make in order to make it seem like the past. I was unimpressed. If I knew who these people were, then maybe I would like it. But I have no reason to tune into this in the future. Grade: D.


 

Emily Owens MD: A quirky new CW show about a neurotic doctor that is a mixture of both comedy and drama. The main part of this show is that even though high school is over, it can continue in your new job. I think it is great for everyone who hates school. I also think that it has a great place on a network that normally goes under the radar and may be the first medical drama that I could stay into all the time. So it will probably get cancelled since it is too good. But since CW shows can get away with low ratings, it has a better chance than others. Grade: A+.


 

The Neighbors: This is a comedy about aliens living in human form on earth and going through culture shock. It airs on ABC at 7:30. The concept isn't original (Similar shows are Mork and Mindy or 3rd Rock from the Sun, neither of which I have seen), but the show does have its moments. I don't think that it is bad and it would only air on a network known for its strange comedies. I don't know if it will last or not, but I think that it is good enough to stay. Grade: C.


 

Arrow: The CW drama is about the comic book character Green Arrow. I have never read any of those stories, so I don't know if it is accurate or not to the source material. What I saw made it seem interesting enough and this network does need another hit. Grade: B.


 

Last Resort: This ABC drama at 7:00 Central is about treason and how it affects the country they were from and the country they turn to for help. After watching the first episode, it was hard to tell what the overall plot was or where they were going with this. It seemed overall dull and a waste of time. I will probably never watch it again as it moves too slowly to made sense or gather a following. In fact, it seems like ABC only would have created this show so that the set from Lost wouldn't be wasted and they could do more shows with it. Grade: F.


 

Elementary: This CBS drama that airs at 9:00 Central is another look at the Sherlock Holmes franchise. Watson is female for some odd reason. But the show, although Americanizing a British hit (which almost never works out for anyone), is probably a bigger hit than most people would think. Hopefully, it will work in the end and last a long time as I wouldn't mind watching it every week. How it will attract non Sherlock Holmes fans will take a while to see and there are already many classic Holmes fans who probably already hate what's been done to the show, such as turning Watson female. But I see it lasting a long time. Grade: A.


 

Made in Jersey: Never saw an episode and it got cancelled, the first of the season. Any fans of the show are probably upset, but any hashtags were used to promote it no longer are used. It might be burned out in the summer on Saturdays in primetime where the show will never be promoted or watched, but at least there is a hope for some of it to air. At least other new CBS shows get a chance to be a success, as most midseason replacements are normally dead on arrival on this network. That's why Undercover Boss is such a hit. See CBS curse, an earlier blog post on more information about why it failed. Grade: none


 

How twitter is changing television


 

How often have you been watching a show and seen a strange mark that's advertising the show? Like, when you are watching The Mentalist and you see this: #thementalist. Well, TV is changing and everyone knows it. If you have a twitter like I do (@IamAdamDecker) than you may have seen these strange marks known as hashtags. Everyone on television is starting to use them. The official accounts of each network create the tags in order to see what people are talking about. These tags can be subjected to bashing and thus clog up all the official feeds. And shows can get cancelled as well as tags only existing for one specific episode. But these feeds are used in order to help promote the shows and get people talking about anything online. It appears that twitter has become the next useless thing that everyone goes to like wikipedia already is. But I hope that you enjoy the useless conversation, provided you have an account. It might be worth your time. Sorry this isn't a more in-depth blog post. But I'm sure that news and people like it have already written better stories about it. I'm still hoping that local TV critics in my area are writing articles about it. They can do a much better job about it than I'm doing right now. If you want to hire me as a critic, I'm available. I don't have anything better to do with my life. Send me a tweet sometime. I might be open, depending on if you're a real person or not. There are a lot of frauds out there on the web. You might even think that this account is fake. But I blog about whatever and figure that somebody would read it and like it.


 

Also, I have a blog about the reality show Survivor. You can find it through a google search.