Fall TV

Scott Hardie | October 15, 2014
Any thoughts on the new fall TV season? Shows you're looking forward to seeing more of?

Gotham is one of the more talked-about new shows. I keep hearing mixed comments, from some people who can't get enough and others who find it off-putting and unlikely to improve. It sounds like it wants to be the Christopher Nolan serious Batman, but keeps reverting accidentally into the campy 1960s Batman almost like it can't help itself.

Erik Bates | November 12, 2014
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Scott Hardie | November 16, 2014
How does Gotham resolve the age differences? Doesn't it take place something like twenty years before Batman's crime-fighting? Wouldn't all of the adult characters on the series be at least middle-aged by the time Batman came around?

Survivor is having a pretty weak season right now. Too bad. They still have their moments sometimes, but that show has changed for the worse in a lot of ways. My biggest pet peeve is how transparent the editing has become; you can tell within the first episode or two who's going to win the season because they're getting a protagonistic edit. Going back and watching the early seasons on DVD, it's striking how much they strive to give every player roughly equal screen time and make it seem like everyone has a chance at winning.

Scott Hardie | December 13, 2014
I have to give Survivor credit: They gave two players protagonistic edits for most of the current season, and both of those players are now eliminated. Either that the editors deliberately faked out the audience by playing on their own trope, or they have a preference for photogenic white alpha males even if those guys aren't going to win, or both.

Samir Mehta | December 13, 2014
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Erik Bates | December 16, 2014
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Scott Hardie | February 14, 2015
I'm really enjoying The Nightly Show so far. Larry Wilmore has an improv comic's quick wit and a willingness to say funny things that are politically incorrect, either trusting his black identity to cover him or not giving a damn. Wilmore was one of my favorite contributors on The Daily Show, and I was glad to see him get the talk show of his own that he's wanted for years.

Speaking of The Daily Show, any predictions for Jon Stewart's replacement? I'm betting on Chris Hardwick, with an outside chance of Michael Ian Black or Amy Schumer landing it. But add my name to the online chorus calling for Jessica Williams to become host. She's the sharpest performer in the current cast, she appeals to the show's shrinking 18-34 demo, and I'm of the mind that it matters that more women and more people of color get prominent roles on television. Whoever Viacom does hire gets both a blessing and a curse: While following Stewart would be a difficult act and no one would compare favorably to him, he did figure out the ideal way to run The Daily Show, so you could simply emulate what he did and almost guarantee years of further success.

Scott Hardie | February 16, 2015
Damn. So much for that.

Scott Hardie | March 10, 2015
Here's plugging the new Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. We're halfway through and we've lost count of how many good jokes have gotten us laughing. Very funny show.

Aaron Shurtleff | June 5, 2015
Raising this from the dead...

I had seen commercials for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and it looked like it would be hilarious. Glad to hear it is! Now I need Netflix... lol

Quasi-related to the topic: Is it just me, or is USA Network just being too darn mysterious?? First there was Dig, which I could get no real read on what the heck it was about (which, and I know this is just me, makes me not want to see it), and now there's this Mr. Robot. I mean, yes, I get that I can go look it up, but shouldn't the commercials be informative enough to inspire you to want to see the show? Do people want to not know what's going on before they watch a show, or what??

Scott Hardie | June 7, 2015
I don't want to know what's going on in a show, but that's just me. Give me the basic premise, tantalize me with big-names, and give me a strong impression of the show's mood, and I'm sold. TV is an emotional experience -- I want to be put through certain emotions while watching, and foreknowledge of the plot distracts me from being in each moment. But again, that's just me.

I would not be able to watch Mr. Robot without thinking of this.

Scott Hardie | September 25, 2015
I repeat this same question for the 2015 season: Which new shows are you looking forward to and/or dreading? The Muppets? Heroes Reborn? Fear the Walking Dead?

Erik Bates | September 28, 2015
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Samir Mehta | September 28, 2015
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Erik Bates | September 29, 2015
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Scott Hardie | October 8, 2015
I haven't seen Minority Report the show, but I bet that it completely ignores the point of Minority Report the movie, that any future-crime program designed to take out criminals before they strike (ahem) is amoral and inherently flawed. In other words, I bet that it focused on the flashy crime procedural with fancy special effects and doesn't concern itself with deeper questions. But I'd be delighted to be wrong.

How many shows based on movies work out, anyway? For every occasional success like M*A*S*H or Fame or What's Happening!!, there must be a dozen failures. This television season in particular seems riddled with film adaptations, including Minority Report, Limitless, Scream, and Ash vs. Evil Dead, and there are a lot more on the way. I don't take this as a sign of any lack of creativity in Hollywood; it's more like a sign of an overabundance of creativity, as there are now so many shows on so many channels that network executives are desperate for any decent material at all to put on the air.

I'm a few months behind, but I'm currently really enjoying Bloodline on Netflix. It's ridiculously well-acted, with gorgeous photography of Florida.

Samir Mehta | October 8, 2015
Scott, but see Hannibal. Best network drama in years.

Also Limitless was a bad movie when the (coke addled) screenwriter "wrote" it. There is no film that deserves a second act less than that one.

Scott Hardie | October 9, 2015
Well, I meant more in the business sense of success. Hannibal was an artistic triumph but a ratings failure. I can't help but wonder if it might have done better on HBO, not just for the looser content restrictions but for the brand identity. HBO markets itself as sophisticated adult entertainment that's not for the squeamish. To the extent that NBC even has a coherent brand any more, it's not that.