2012 Fall TV Thread

personally i'm fine with a high concept/sci-fi show establishing some rules, and then kinda saying "don't worry about it, just go with it." obviously if the rules are inconsistent or overly hand-wavey, or everything hinges on a really unbelievable detail, it's gonna bring down the house of cards, but if the story and the drama work then i'm pretty forgiving as far as science and plausibility go. or if it's something like Revolution, which is so uncompelling that i can't even be bothered to think about whether it makes no sense.

I mostly don't care about Revolution, but I still find myself watching it. I don't expect it to get *better*, I just want to see where they're going to go with it, such as it is.

The Hunger Games main girl is v annoying.

yeah Revolution seems pretty inert right now. I'm thinking of waiting until the back-ordered episodes show up to start watching again, on the assumption that they're getting feedback now about what's shitty and will make adjustments.

if you're really missing Lost-style shenanigans, Once Upon A Time S2 has wisely realized flashbacks are boring and has jumped directly to its "Kate we have to go back" moment.

xp she was earmarked as the Kate of the show from the first episode

Right now the show is mostly all Kates, one sort-of Sawyer, no Hurleys.

pff. i'm not even bother coming back then!

But Jacob is on it now!

Like literally Jacob, i.e. Mark Pellegrino.

I'm liking the militia backstory, Billy Burke is about the only half-watchable character in the show imo (also kinda handsome in a 'well there's nothing much else to look at' way)

Zak Orth is doing a pretty serviceable Hurley imo

basically everyone is doing the Others

Star Trek parallel

they even have a cloaking device! i guess i missed that in the pilot.

Second ep of Last Resort kept up the good imo. RUSSIANS!

= klingons

Yeah some corny / iffy bits here and there but they're keeping up the action and intrigue quite nicely.

I still don't know everyone's names, but the girl who developed the cloaking device showing up to the hospital room with next to no remorse and just taking the piece of paper out of the dying guy's pocket was awesome.

Also, Robert Patrick at his scumbaggiest.

Admiral's daughter girl, Grace? looks like Julia Roberts + Sandra Bullock.. and the SEAL guy who drinks all the time is v handsome.

I am really digging this show. It's fun watching a show that's like a mini action movie every week.

Ben & Kate and The Mindy Project got full season orders.

good, both are great

both new comedies i'm most invested in - mindy project & new normal - are kind of brazenly hitting topics not normally covered in a way that makes them totally engaging to me while at the same time I'd understand if anyone was like "lovely bit of asshattery there, fuck this show forever." New Normal is definitely more glib than Mindy Project in this regard, though. On one hand they've got one of the most committed, loving couples - straight or otherwise - i've seen on a sitcom - and on the other they're hiring a mariachi band because the lil kid wants to have the "california experience" of a quinceanera before she potentially leaves wtffff

Which topics in Mindy Project?

haha i already regret bringing it up because there's no way to talk about thematic content on a sitcom without a) overstating its impressiveness and b) making the show seem less fun. I don't really want to do the "ok this line about age/gender/race/diversity/success/romance was striking to me" bit cuz for all i know ally mcbeal got there a decade ago, but both shows have had bits on those subjects that were a little "woah, have i seen that on TV before?" to me while still making me laugh.

also i don't want to trumpet the refreshing novelty of anything too much cuz mindy project is still a show where the woman who loves romcoms and the man who loves sports have to learn to get along and perhaps fall in love

i'd hope that the new normal might get less cutesy and smug as it goes on, but honestly that's not what ryan murphy shows tend to do

They only ever get worse.

ben of ben & kate was too much of a sub-carrell dolt on the pilot for me to want to investigate further but between the mindy project and the new girl (which i've started watching now that i know it's basically another "hot people gettin' bantery" show where zooey is no more quirky than the dudes) i may just give in to the whole fox comedy night line-up. which will make this the first time i've watched fox regularly since the last simon season of idol.

Ben is still slightly annoying to me, but the rest of the cast makes up for it.

yeah it's crazy how quickly Fox has gone from barely being in the live action sitcom game for a few years to having one of the best lineups of the big 4 networks (maybe THE best if NBC keeps picking up crap and rushing its good shows out the door)

abc best right now imo

ben in ben and kate more irresponsible, feckless than doltish i think, or at least his doltishness is rooted there as opposed to idiocy like w/ michael scott. veronica mars ex makes new girl watchable for me, still far from crazy about it - i like mindy project alot more for instance - but it's watchable.

xxpost hah croup I misread that as "which will make this the first time I've watched fox regularly since the last simon & simon" lol

who is the veronica mars ex?

as soon as i saw the simpsons on ullman i was like "this is gonna lead to some hacky bullshit 20 years from now"

i wrote off fox when they retooled duet as open house

guy who plays Schmidt was a cop love interest in a few episodes of Veronica Mars (xpost)

Sheriff Leo was my favorite, Logan way overrated.

holy hell i didn't clock that at all

yeah leo was my fave when i could overlook how kinda pervy that whole situation was

Veronica never really seemed high school age so it didn't really bother me. Most of the cast was pushing 30.

yeah, blew my mind when i heard this too - doesn't seem like the same actor at all

yeah watching it it didn't seem bad, it's only when i think of a cop dating a jr in high school that i'm like 'wait a minute'.

Schmidt was also part of an interracial gay couple on the ABC Family series "Greek."

http://www.afterelton.com/sites/www.afterelton.com/files/2011/09/maxpaul.jpg

Is anyone going to be watching Nashville?

Mrs Coach makes me say yes I will try this

I'm recording it

Yeah, I'll give it a go. I love Mrs. Coach.

haha i've had a thing for connie britton going on twenty years now, will probably give this a shot, and yet...somehow have never gotten around to watching friday night lights?

yeah, you should probably watch it

haha i know i know and yet somehow i haven't. i mean, i know that minka kelly is a cheerleader in this which means there are scenes of minka kelly dressed up like a cheerleader and yet somehow i still haven't watched the show.

I think critics only got one episode, but it's generally the best reviewed pilot of the season.