Quick Hit – Post Mortem on Terra Nova

Fox decided to put Terra Nova out of its misery and that is probably for the best.  I did a full recap of the season soon after it wrapped up that you can read here.  There were things that I liked about it, and things that I really didn’t.  Ultimately the bad outweighed the good and now that some time has passed it is clear that any desire I have to see new episodes has died.  The ratings weren’t awful, but the show was expensive to make, and the creative direction was unclear.  I’ve seen it happen to many shows.  The big idea is thrown out there by a network executive and they find a writer, director, and show runner to make it a reality.  The problem is that the people who are creating the show aren’t working on a project they believe in because it was their idea.  The end result is a hodgepodge of mediocre ideas trying to buttress the one big idea.  In this case the big idea of making a dinosaur show become a show about a family trying to make its way in a community.  That show didn’t appeal to Sci Fi/Dinosaur fans and wasn’t a big enough hit with families to justify the cost.

The only show I can think of that worked using this formula was Lost, but that only worked because they hired the right people (Damon Lindelof, JJ Abrams) and the stars aligned to make it a hit.  Of course the exec who had the idea, Lloyd Braun was fired specifically for Lost being put on air before it became a hit, so that may be another cautionary tale.  Sadly Brannon Braga isn’t nearly as talented as the Lost team and his misdirection is the primary reason that Terra Nova failed.  He is a lightning rod for blame thanks to a lengthy track record of helming sci fi shows at their creative depths.  Considering every critic predicted this is exactly what would happen, I’m not sure why Fox thought he was their man.  Ultimately they are more to blame for the situation as Braga can’t be helped for continuing to be Braga.

Things did begin to come together at the end of the series, but not to the point that Kevin Reilly (head of Fox) had any reason to suspect that a second season would be better.  There still were problems that would have continued.  Mainly that the worst characters got the most screen time.  The lead actor, Jason O’Mara, wasn’t awful.  He wasn’t dynamic either.  Had he showed any charisma it might have made some of the choppier moments of the show more palatable.  He’s got a square jaw, but that’s about it.  I do wish good things for the Stephen Lang, who will be cast in something cool soon I’m sure and Allison Miller.  She had a minor role, but was one of the few characters that had a screen presence.  I could see her breaking out in the next few years.

There is word that Netflix is considering saving the show, similar to how they resurrected Arrested Development.  I can’t see this happening.  Arrested Development is a sitcom that is only a half an hour long and requires no special effects.  It can be shot on a shoestring budget.  Terra Nova costs a lot per episode, and that is a big gamble for a company that doesn’t have a TV network to get advertising revenue from.  My guess is they are just floating their name out there to get some press as a big player.  If I’m wrong and they pick up Terra Nova then I suggest selling your Netflix stock immediately.  There is a chance someone else might pick up the show, Fox is shopping it around, but I am skeptical.  Maybe SyFy would do it if they could slash the budget, but I can’t see anybody else fitting the show into their current branding.  CBS does not do dinosaurs.  They also don’t tend to green light expensive shows that appeal to a limited audience, and then give the keys to the car to an underachiever like Braga.  I guess I’m saying to all involved with the show, vaya con dios.

Season In Review – Terra Nova

Terra Nova wins the award for being the first show I watched the entire season in the 2011/2012 TV year.  This isn’t a mark of excellence by any stretch of the imagination.  It just means that it happened to end its season way earlier than most shows, as well as avoiding cancellation (or me giving up on it).  Instead of bringing an episode by episode rehashing/review as shows air I’m choosing to take the longer view, by discussing TV seasons as a whole, after they finish their run.

A rare cameo from a dinosaur on "the dinosaur show"

The Premise

Terra Nova was initially sold as the dinosaur show, almost as if that was the original pitch, with the plot details being worked out later.  This happened on Lost, where the head of ABC wanted to make a show like Cast Away and hired to Damon Lindelof to figure out the details.  While the show did feature an occassional dinosaur it was actually a show about everything else, with a sprinkling of dinosaurs thrown in as an afterthought.  The pilot episode took us to a harsh future where humankind had eroded the resources of Earth to the point that there was almost nothing left, with pollution making the world into a hellscape.  Fortunately for the future there was some sort of ripple in time that allowed for things to travel backwards to an Earth before man (enter dinosaurs), in which a selected few could attempt to colonize and restart civilization.  What’s that?  You’re worried about the butterfly effect changing the future of the present?  Not to worry.  This is an alternate planet Earth that had zero effect on the future, but man are the people from the alternate future going to be pissed that someone is changing their past.  That last part actually isn’t addressed in the show, delving into the consequences of screwing with alternate realities is more the type of thing that Fringe tries to tackle.  So the show begins, focusing on the Shannon family which features a cop, a doctor, two teenagers, and a child.  Everything is told from their perspective as they arrive on Terra Nova to help the colonization effort.  By the time they arrive an impressive, walled community has been built in the jungle (filmed in Australia) and the colony is lead by Commander Taylor and defended by his troops.

Dramatis Personae

Jim Shannon – Jason O’Mara

Dr. Elisabeth Shannon – Shelly Conn

Josh Shannon – Landon Liboiron

Maddy Shannon – Naomi Scott

Zoe Shannon – Alana Mansour

Commander Taylor – Stephen Lang

Skye – Allison Miller

Mira – Christine Adams

What Worked

The pilot episode worked because it had an interesting premise and the promise of dinosaurs aplenty.  People love dinosaurs.  The filming location in Australia was great, and kind of reminded me of how Lost effectively worked their shooting location (Hawaii) into their show using a variety of beautiful locales.  Terra Nova also featured a well constructed set.  The colony was actually built as a life sized set, and having a realistic place to shoot lended instant credibility to the look of the show.  I’ll get to the bad stuff in a moment, but lets just say that post pilot, there was a hiatus of quality as the show tried to find its voice.  This was finally solved when the season ending plot arc came into play, and was actually worth spending some time on.  The story of Mira and her rogue band, with the help of Taylor’s estranged son, showed that the writers finally had a story to tell that they were interested in, and Terra Nova was more than just a showcase for the occasional dinosaur.  The drama of Taylor’s son attempting to make the portal from the future go both ways was sort of thought provoking and actually added a combination of action, drama, and conflict among various character’s relationships.  That story arc was far more rich than anything else the show attempted, even if though it had nothing to do with dinosaurs.

He's smirking because he knows there isn't a person on the set that can out act him

The casting had some hits and misses, and overall was more of a wash then it was a strength.  Stephen Lang is a big get for any show, as he can play both tough and emotionally conflicted, but most importantly carries with him a presence that the show really needed.  He has a leading man type energy, even if he is a little older to be cast as a lead.  This leads to him stealing just about any scene he’s in, as a secondary character.  The women cast into roles were all pretty good, even if they rarely had a ton of great material to work with.  I’ll single out Allison Miller in particular who managed to play the friend/potential love interest of the teenage Josh Shannon.  She really popped in the pilot, then rarely showed up on screen until finally getting some work in the last few episodes.  That work was done particularly well, and the character of Skye was one of the few three dimensional ones in the show.  Had there been more of her and Lang then this would automatically have been a stronger show.

What Didn’t Work

This may be a longer section, as there were numerous problems in Terra Nova’s first season.  First and foremost was a total lack of dinosaurs in the show.  While the final story arc had little to do with dinosaurs and was strong, it was a serious miscalculation to sell this as a dinosaur show and go light on the dinosaur factor.  I’m guessing that things will be better (if there is a season 2) if the writer’s stop trying to wedge dinosaur plots into the show, to continue to pretend that this is “the dinosaur show” and instead focus on telling stories that interest them.  They seem far more interested in exploring how the future interacts with the past and the ripple in time than they seem to care about making this about dinosaurs.

The next problem was that Brannon Braga (the show runner) was prominently involved, who as I’ve discussed previously has a poor track record.  He was probably the wrong man to captain the ship, as he has had little success connecting with sci fi fans over his career.  Early episodes  of Terra Nova featured rehashed Star Trek plots that Braga had already used, too small effect, in a previous job heading Star Trek The Next Generation.  The third episode to air (fourth if you split the pilot into two episodes) featured a plotline of a virus that induced memory loss.  Really?  That’s the best you can come up with that early into the show.  Usually it is magic or bumps on the head that TV shows use to get to amnesia, but pretending their is a scientific plot device to get to that hackneyed story is insulting.  The tone of those episodes didn’t seem to fit with either the premise of the show, or where it ended up going once it found a direction.

Post pilot there was no attempt to use the beauty of Australia or even the grandeur of the compound set.  So while I give them credit for choosing a great location and investing in quality set design, they earn minus points for not filming those thing.  Instead everything looked like it was filmed on a sound stage in LA, or even the starship Enterprise.  For a while there it seemed that Braga could only view the colony as he did the ship on Star Trek, with the jungle being equivalent of space.  The Australian jungle is a little more picturesque than a backdrop of stars and it made no sense that they wouldn’t be compelled to take the camera out side of the ship/colony.  It made the show feel small, when it should have felt huge by detaching completely from the things that gave it atmosphere.  This particularly was problematic because the pilot had already shown the show as big, so the comparison from the first episode to the following few was not a flattering one.

Another huge problem, which even carried over to the two part finale, were the descriptions of cool things happening off screen.  Apparently it would have been awesome if the audience could have only seen it, but instead the audience just got to hear how great it was.  In the second episode Taylor and Jim Shannon return from doing the thing that solves the dinosaur problem, which the entire episode was building towards, but all they can do is talk about how crazy what they did was.  The audience had the pleasure of watching them drive away, and then drive back.  Exciting action there.   Not good enough.  If they can’t afford the film the big action scene, they need to find a creative way to write and ending to things without intimating that there was something great that happened, but the audience wasn’t privy to it.  It has been pointed out by others that instead of picking up the story after the colony had been established, that the tale of how the colony was built amidst numerous hardships would be more fun to watch.  After all it is frequently discussed how difficult that was.  I think it would make a good comparison to the early pilgrims/settlers that colonized North America.  This would be a fantastic opportunity to use flashbacks to tell some of those stories.  They sort of did that in one episode, but there is a little of material that could be mined.

I sure hope you like these people, because they are always on screen

Of course the show’s biggest flaw may have been the decision to tell this story through the viewpoint of a family.  The rugged story of survival in a brutal environment can involve a family, or multiple families, and still be great.  I just don’t like the Shannons being on screen in just about every scene.  My two favorite characters are Taylor and Skye who are not part of the Shannon clan, and the show suffers when outside relationships aren’t featured.  After all, nobody came to watch Terra Nova because they wanted to see minor family conflicts get resolved in a heartwarming fashion.  It doesn’t help that Jason O’Mara’s performance is merely adequate, and not an inch beyond that.  He’s not particularly charming or funny, mostly just above average in the square jaw department.  While playing the character with competence, he rarely has a moment that is captivating, unlike when Taylor is on screen.  Sadly he’s gets more time on screen than anyone.  His son Josh is the worst though.  Few can play the angsty teenage boy and not be annoying, and this is no exception to that rule.  So why even have that character if pulling it off is that hard?  This isn’t a show about a boy’s complicated relationship with his father, so why devote so many half assed plots to his “acting out”?  The Great Santini Jim Shannon is not, so Josh constantly screwing up, because he has a lame beef with dad gets old quick.

There are numerous other examples of lazy writing that appear especially during those time wasting early episodes.  One included a logical fallacy that people were too far to get back to the colony by nightfall because they were a couple of miles away and the sun was directly overhead.  Stuff like takes the audience out of the episode.  I’m not sure Braga really wants people focusing on stupid mistakes that were never caught before the cameras started rolling.  The show just seemed to lack any sort of discipline.  This probably has to do with the writer’s trying to figure out what the show actually was about, but those weak episodes after the pilot may have driven off too many viewers to merit renewal.  It isn’t the type of show that has a hardcore fan base either.  There will be no massive letter writing campaigns to keep this one around.  That’s what happens when a show is created that tries to appeal to hardcore sci fi fans and people looking for lighter family fair.

Final Thoughts

I have no idea if Fox will renew Terra Nova for another season.  I would lean probably towards yes though, but Kevin Reilly (the head of Fox programming) recently pushed back his decision on bringing the show back.  Something has to happen soon because they need to be working on season two within a month if they have any hope of having episodes ready for next fall.  They may cut a few costs here and there, since the show is crazy expensive, but I think they’ll find a way to bring it back.  Reilly seems to have a less itchy trigger finger than many Fox execs who previously held his job.

The question is should it be back?  This was hardly a critics darling and while hitting decent numbers, didn’t have ever achieve great ratings or broad support.  I will say that I hope it does come back.  I’ve seen enough shows that had rough first seasons, but really developed into something special that I would never wish this away.  Especially since whatever would replace it would be destined to struggle its first season as well.  They did just enough with the last run of episodes that I’m hoping the creative team behind the show is starting to understand what they do well and what they should avoid.  If next season they revert to telling hackneyed sci fi stories that are self contained, then I’m probably done with the show.  If they embrace more long form story telling, introduce some interesting new characters, and take the focus off the Shannon family at least a little bit, then they may have something working for them.  If I had to guess it would be the former, but I’m optimistic that they’ll at least make some adjustments and work from there.

Final Grade – C Minus

They totally punted a great premise and it took a while to stumble onto something else workable.  Just because there were some good moments at the end doesn’t mean the show was good overall.  They just went from bad to watchable.

The Dundies – Awards for 2011 TV Season Part II

Now for the second half of awards/review of the year in TV.

 

Excellent work/life balance puts her over the top in this category

Best Mom Award – Reagan Brinkley – Up All Night

This category suffers from lack of competition.  Not a whole lot of mom’s that I find particularly compelling are on TV right now.  Julie Bowen just won an Emmy for her portrayal of a mom on Modern Family, but that was just a bizarre choice.  She is shrill and obnoxious and her kids seem to loathe her most of the time on a show where everybody is lovey dubby at the end.  Christina Applegate’s character Reagan is interesting because she’s a working mom, while her husband Chris stays at home.  She balances her work life, her parenting life, and her relationship with her husband with a decent amount of grace.  When she messes up she doesn’t come off nearly as shrill as Bowen.  Thus she wins my award.

Quick Show Review

I would call this show inconsistent but mostly good.  I don’t laugh a whole lot, but occasionally they have a really good one.  I’m not connecting with the parenting stuff as much, but mostly because it isn’t being shown as much.  Most of the comedy is delivered via Maya Rudolph’s character, who is a natural enemy of the parenting stuff as she tries to pull Reagan more towards work than home.  They haven’t quite resolved this dilemma yet, but there is no reason to think that they can’t.

Remember when that cop (David Morse) tried to put House in jail? Good times

Diabetes Award – House M.D.

Ok, this is me being incredibly lazy and giving the award with the medical condition theme to the best medical show on TV right now.  I stopped paying attention to Gray’s a long time ago as I felt they were doubling down on the usual amount of bending reality.  I certainly didn’t watch its spinoff.  CBS has A Gifted Man, which seemed like a boring CBS show, so I’ve veered away from it.  Royal Pains is on cable and I have yet to see an ad that would indicate I should be watching it, nor have I heard any positive buzz surrounding the show.  That pretty much leaves House as the winner by default.  It is entirely possible I’ve left a show out, but if I can’t think of it, then it probably isn’t amazing.

Quick Show Review

This hasn’t been House’s strongest season, which makes sense since it has been on so long.  For some the premise and characters grew old a long time ago.  Thanks to a particularly strong performance from Hugh Laurie that hasn’t waned in the slightest and a successful attempt to bring in some new characters half way through the show I’ve been happy to stick around.  The new characters are mostly gone as well as some of the original characters.  The new ones haven’t particularly distinguished themselves and things are starting to feel pretty stale to even me.  There have been a couple of strong episodes, but the luster has definitely worn off.  That being said, it is still a better show than many and good enough to win the coveted Diabetes Award.

I hope someone is paying attention and she gets cast in a good role post Pan Am

Assistant Manager Award – Karine Vanasse – Pan Am

This award goes to the best supporting actor I’ve seen so far.  In the few chances she has been given to shine, Karine Vanasse has stolen the Pan Am show.  Sadly the writers have chosen to give way more time to Christina Ricci who is bringing an over eager (hammy) energy to her performance and a spy plotline that really is going nowhere.  Vanasse, playing a French stewardess has been a steadying force for the show, not really getting too much into comedic territory, but playing the drama with a great amount of subtlety and depth.  Pretty much the opposite of the Ricci performance.  Her showcase episode was by far the best the show has offered up and in subsequent episodes where she has had the smallest role of the ensemble, things haven’t gone so hot.  I get the feeling that she got hired on to be the least important of the four stewardesses, but until some of the characters and performances start clicking a little better she’s going to have to be featured a lot more often for the show to work.

Quick Show Review

I’ve kind of already given my review of the show above.  I chose to drop out for a few episodes because I did not like the stories that they promised to tell.  Just as I was about to cancel the DVR recording I noticed that Vanasse was going to be featured in an upcoming episode in a romantic plotline that featured her and my least favorite of the two pilots.  I watched about five minutes recently of it and remembered all the things that had begun to annoy me about the show.  Deleted my series recording on the dvr and I’m off.  This show was a tough needle to thread, so I don’t totally blame them for not succeeding.  Where I think they went wrong is when the plots stopped being driven by exotic locales and historical events.  One of the pilots sleeping with the mistress of an airline exec was not exactly riveting.  The spy stuff fell pretty flat as well.  The few times the show worked it did so by creating a transportative sense of place.  When they went away from that it was just a boring soap opera.

Stoner or not? You make the call

Doobie Doobie Pothead Stoner of the Year Award – Brannon Braga – Terra Nova

This award goes to the show runner of Terra Nova, Mr. Braga, whose puzzling decisions could be a result of narcotic use.  I’m just not getting how the episodes that have aired are doing any service to the concept of the show or the location the are filming in.  As I’ve written before, Braga comes from a background working on Star Trek.  Just as beavers tend to build damns whether they are by a creek or on top of a gas station Braga appears to want to tell half baked sci-fi stories on this show.  It is a sci-fi show, but it shouldn’t be just that.  Yes they went through time to come back to Earth when dinosaurs roamed, but the show needs to be more about that and not the virus that makes people lose their memories.  Firefly was a sci-fi show that understood that in the future things could be like the old west, it used technology in a way that meshed with a backdrop that felt anything but.  Braga focuses on the technology and ignores the past that these people are fighting to survive in an uncivilized environment.  They film in Australia, but rarely does the camera leave the compound.  Lost used Hawaii as a location, and the island that the environment created became one of the key characters in the show.  Most of the time it feels like this was shot in a studio lot in Burbank and not on location.  If they are going to pay the money to be in Australia I’d like more to show for it than having a few minor characters and guest stars have Australian accents.

Quick Show Review

My thoughts were summed up pretty well above.  I’m sticking with this because it still has the capacity to entertain at times and has the potential to improve greatly if Braga either gets a clue or is replaced with someone else who has one.

"Troy and Abed in the Morning" is one of life's great joys

Spicy Curry Award – Abed Nadir - Community

This award of course goes to resident Indian in the office and in my awards will go to the best character who looks like his traditional diet may be Indian.  Although this has never been made abundantly clear if Abed is an Arab or of Indian descent, it certainly seems that Nadir would hint Arab while Danny Pudi (the actor who plays Abed) would hint towards Indian.  Who cares, Pudi is from Chicago, and this character deserves a bit of recognition for how awesome he is.  Abed is autistic or something similar and his outsider viewpoint allows the show to comment on itself as a TV show in a meta way.  At the same time Abed is truly a part of the community, more so than many of the other characters, and his friendship with Troy is both sweet and hilarious.

Quick Show Review

Yet another good season.  Sadly it will be benched for a while as NBC tries a couple of other shows out that should fail, before bringing it back for the rest of the season.  Again if you aren’t watching this show, start as soon as it comes back, because it is going to be cancelled eventually and there won’t be another show like it right around the corner.

Just one of many female writers having a big year on 2011

Grace Under Fire Award – Female Show Runners

Typically the writing rooms of just about every show out there have been male dominated.  Since there has been so few females in the rooms, with even fewer controlling them, we don’t really know of a world where women have a voice in what gets aired.  That changed to a large degree this year.  Some really good shows like Parks and Recreation over the past few years started to hire women into their writing staffs and give them a real spot at the table.  They have gone on to get their own shows, and to many male executives surprise, those shows have been a huge success.  It is clear that women are perfectly capable of writing well and that their voice was sorely missed from TV culture as members of both sexes tune in to watch their shows.  This may seem like an obvious statement, but until this year the conventional wisdom was that only men could write or be in charge of shows.  This new trend should provide lots of opportunities in the coming years as TV is a copycat industry.  If there is success in one area then they rush to recapture that success.  Fortunately in this instance I doubt that women writers will be a resource easily exhausted.  Whitney Cummings (2 shows), Emily Kapnek, Emily Spivey, and Elizabeth Meriwether have all had hits.  Don’t be surprised if there are more breakouts next year.  I just love the idea that the networks are just realizing that they can make money off women.  That’s only 70 years or so behind the curve.

The moping around is no longer cute

Longest Engagement Award – Ted and the mother – How I Met Your Mother

I wrote quite a bit about this when I talked about shows that have gone on too long, talking partly about the absence of the titular mother.  I don’t really care that the mother hasn’t been introduced yet because I’m eagerly anticipating their story book romance. Nor do I care much that this “story” that Bob Saget is narrating has become the worse shaggy dog tale of all time.  Certainly if the show was being funnier on a regular basis it would easily mask this problem.  The issue is that it is completely hamstringing the supposed main character Ted.  While Ted is hardly the best character on the show, it is told from his point of view, so it helps if his romantic streak is fun and romantic, not horribly depressing.  The funny thing is that this award went to Pam’s character on the Office who was engaged for a while, but that engagement been much shorter than it has taken for Ted to meet the mother, let alone to get engaged to her.  In the same way that if two people are engaged for way too long their friends start to suggest that maybe they pull the trigger or move on with their life, I’m going to suggest that HIMYM does the same.  They either need to get this mother thing going soon or they need to change the name of the show to Thirtysomething or Friends and pretend it was a reboot all along.

Quick Show Review

Do I have to do this?  Lets just say this hasn’t been a great year for the show and my optimism continues to wane as I begin to doubt that things are going to even level off let alone improve.

Ron, in his element

Show Me the Money Award – Parks and Recreation

This award goes to the show that has had the best 2011 and has been deserving of far better ratings and award recognition.  Few shows strike the perfect balance between plot, characters, and laughs and I can think of few other shows that have done better than this ever.  Appropriately Amy Poehler got some recognition by being nominated for an Emmy this past year, but that’s not even close to enough.  Nick Offerman, who plays the iconic Ron Swanson should be cleaning up as male supporting actor every year.  His libertarian, straight shooting, government manager with a heart of gold is a unique and important character.  The best compliment I’ve may have ever been paid was a comparison to this guy.  There’s that and about 50 other great things about the show.  I would love this to be shown the money, so I have many, many more great seasons to look forward to.

Quick Show Review

The previous season ended on a very strong note and the new season only falls behind last season because last season was an all time great TV season for any show.

A Rundown of the TV Season So Far – New Shows

I’ll rank these shows in order of how much I’ve enjoyed from best to worst.  At this point in the season I’m still seeing some promise from some shows, the potential in others is proving to be a mirage, and there are a number of shows that will be mid seasons replacement and have yet to premiere.  This is the first year I’ve sampled so many new shows and despite what was sold as a weak developmental season there have been a few new things out there that I could see watching for a few years.

Fake teeth at a wedding is always a good gag

New Girl

How I Like it

I was excited enough about this show that I already gave it a little bit of a review.  So far the positive vibes have been continuing, with last week’s episode (episode 3) being the funniest of the bunch.  I’m still very interested in watching Zooey Deschanel dance, sing, and generally enjoy life.  This show has a carefree spirit to it that is infectious as it is funny.  My one criticism would be that so far in all three episodes that have aired, there has been a similar ending.  Zooey’s roommates have joined her in singing, hat wearing, and dancing.  So far it has been more noticeable than annoying, but I would like to see some different story structures as the season continues.

 

How it is Doing

Fox really hasn’t many sitcom hits in the last few years, and this has been a runaway success.  It already has a full order for the season and I wouldn’t be surprise if it gets renewed for next year in the next couple of weeks.  It is outperforming its lead in, Glee, when all was expected was that it would maintain some of that audience.  This may be the biggest comedy hit since Modern Family.

If this guy can have a teenage daugther, then it means I'm old

Suburgatory

How I Like it

Somehow I missed previewing this show, in my big pilot preview.  Fortunately I haven’t missed watching it.  The concept is that Jeremy Sisto (of Clueless fame) moves to the suburbs with his teenage daughter, because he is concerned about raising her by himself in the city.  The suburbs are presented in a hyper reality, where things seem a little more comical than my boring suburban life, and the father/daughter pair are fish out of water.  So far the acting has been superb, with Sisto delivering the finest comic performance I’ve seen out of him.  Jane Levy has been at the very least his equal, playing the daughter, and although only two episodes have aired, I’m expecting her to continue to get opportunities to play more than just comedy.  Supporting players like Alan Tudyk and Cheryl Hines are about as good as they come, and help keep the laughs coming from all angles.

How it is Doing

It hasn’t done notably amazing, nor has it been in trouble.  With the quality of the show, I can see it growing enough of an audience to maybe get a second season, but this could be on the bubble unless word of mouth really spreads.

Karine Vanasse stealing a scene

Pan Am

How I Like it

I felt the pilot was really strong, no pun intended (seriously, that could be confusing), but that’s no surprise since it was directed by Tommy Schlamme.  Since then I’ve felt a little bit of drop off in my interest, but not too much.  This is an interesting lens to view the ’60s culture through.  There have been some spy elements, but those haven’t fully been fleshed out yet, to prove as an asset or a distraction from the show.  The strength to me has been that it is capturing the feel of optimism that was felt in the ’60s, which can be infectious.  These are young, attractive people, flying to exotic locales once a week, and living in a fascinating time.  It is an enjoyable show, that I still see lots of potential in to turn into something more.  I think of all the girls, Karine Vanasse has been the scene stealer, despite others getting higher billing.  As a counterbalance to the optimistic vibe, her character’s history and feelings towards the German people was the best dramatic performance I’ve seen so far in the early season.  I’ll continue to feel this show out and see where they are going with it, but the last episode was very strong.

How it is Doing

The numbers were really good to start, but then there was a considerable drop off.  If they can stop the bleeding, and keep the audience they have last, they are doing well enough to be invited back for a second season.

Here's a hint Brannon, shift the story to focus on this guy

Terra Nova

How I Like it

I was pretty well sold on the pilot, but the second episode gave me some worry.  I like the world they created, I’m mostly pleased with the characters and actors that inhabit it, there appear to be some interesting questions that have yet to be answered.  On the other hand, this show feels like Star Trek.  I’m probably not the first person to make this comparison because show runner Brannon Braga has worked on several iterations of Star Trek in the past.  I’m not arguing that the dinosaurs are exactly like Klingons or anything like that, but the compound they live in is a lot like the Enterprise.  They pretty much stay inside, and periodically leave in transports to get to undiscovered country.  The plotline of the second episode felt very Trekkian, and I just don’t really like the fit.  They are in an awesome filming location, in the jungle, they should be more cool jungle stuff like the cliff diving that was in the pilot.  I don’t want to see them encounter strange species, and figure out how to co-exist with them.  Bleh.  The worst part was that the entire second episode was building to an action scene, that they didn’t bother to show.  Two of the characters just drove back in a jeep and told everyone else how crazy it was.  Unfortunately they chose Braga, who has a poor reputation as a show runner, and forced out David Fury who has a much better track record.  This could get worse before it gets better.

How it is Doing

It had a decent premiere, but not a great one.  Considering how much this show costs, and how difficult it is to put on, I think even with decent numbers this show will be lucky to get a second season.  If Braga drives off people like me, trying to recreate Star Trek, then this is going to be a huge loss for Fox.

If you like icy stares, boy is this show for you

Revenge

How I like it

This is a bit soapier than I like my TV, but so far there is enough going on to keep me interested.  The concept of recreating The Count of Monte Cristo, in the modern-day Hampdens is novel, (all right I did intend that pun).  I think they’ve found some success with the episode by episode mini-revenges that happen, while they work on advancing the bigger revenge arc.  I would say the performances match the writing, which is solid, but not spectacular.  I can see this going south pretty quickly, but so far there has been enough realism to keep the emotions from being too maudlin.  The one advantage this show has, unlike other soapy dramas, is that the pilot already showed where the season will end.  The audience essentially knows what is going to happen, who will get with who, and they are just there to find out how it unfolds.  That means that at least in the first season, the cast won’t be hooking up with every other member of the cast, creating something too complicated and silly to care about.

How it is Doing

This has been another big success.  I think that shows that appeal to the guilty pleasure center of the brain in an open and honest way, tend to do well.  This was marketed well, as being a sexy (still hasn’t totally delivered on that), glitzy tale of reciprocity.  That’s something that appeals to many, including me.

The show is still trying to find itself

Up All Night

How I Like it

I feel like this show is on the verge of climbing up this list, but hasn’t quite put together all the pieces.  The episodes have been funny, but disjointed.  The actors are talented, but still finding their chemistry.  They haven’t really committed to the humor of rasing a baby, more found humor in how the couple’s lives have changed since having a baby.  It could get obnoxious to focus more on the baby, but at the same time there isn’t enough else going on that story can reliably commit to at this point.  This leaves them somewhat in between.  I feel like they’ll be able to work this out, given enough time.

How it is Doing

Not great, but not poor enough to get cancelled.  I think it is really up to the writer’s to find a show in the one they’ve already presented, and make it good enough to get some buzz.

I need to get a giant picture of my head made for my next party

Ringer

How I Like it

While there were aspects of the pilot I liked, it seems like they haven’t really developed into something that is going to sustain my interest much longer.  Sarah Michele Gellar is working well with what she has, and the rest of the cast is competent at worst, but there is definitely something missing.  The show’s main selling point is that it does have a complex series of mysteries that is being sorted out, but there is little else at the moment.  Gellar is a gifted comic actress, but the show has chosen to totally suppress all levity.  I’m watching for now, but if I don’t crack a smile in the coming weeks, then I’m probably out.  The most dramatic show always have laughs, the shows that are dramatic without laughs, tend to lack them because the writer’s are not talented enough to produce them.  I have a feeling that this is the case here.

How it is Doing

It is doing pretty badly, but it is on a network with a low bar to clear for success.  Unless they start improving their numbers a few tics, I would guess this is a one and done.

Person if Interest's biggest crime will be sticking this guy on that show for the next few years. Free Emerson!

Person of Interest

How I Like it

I wanted to give it a chance because I love Michael Emerson, I have liked Jim Caviezel at times, and there are some producers with strong track records.  This is pretty much a big zero though, and I’ve already decided to stop watching.  Emerson tries to rise above limited material, while Caviezel dives beneath it with the gusto of a depth charge.  I’m not sure exactly what he’s doing on this show, but he kind of acts like he is a badass superspy assassin who is recovering from a severe stroke.  The machine, is just a machine that spits out social security numbers, so thanks to poor design there isn’t any good sci-fi potential to mine there.  This is another show that doesn’t even attempt to crack a smile, or vary the tone, ever.  The plots are about as silly as the plots of Castle, except Castle brings with it some charm and humor from the characters.  This is just the silliness, in a show that tries to be anything but.

How it is Doing

It appears to be a pretty big hit.  This is CBS, which has a long track record of creating shows that bore me to tears that other people love, so it is no huge surprise.  I’m guessing they’ve just found that audience again, refreshing the enthusiasm which is waning from the veteran CSI and NCIS franchises.

These look like forced smiles, don't worry there was even less chemistry on screen

Free Agents

How I Like it

I gave this a chance based on pedigree of the head writer and some of the actors in it.  It was a disaster from the beginning to the end, which was after the third episode.  The two characters that made me chuckle a couple of times, played by Al Madrigal and Tony Head, rarely had any screen time.  Mostly it was Hank Azaria and Katherine Hahn showing absolutely zero chemistry together.  With that problem at the core of the show, I’m not sure any amount of time could have gotten this straightened out.  I’m guessing the problem here was that nobody ever felt passion for the project.  It was a British adaptation, not an original idea, making it possible that even the writer’s were not sold on the concept.  Happily this died an early death.

How it is Doing

It got canceled, so not so well.  It did abysmally in the ratings.  It opened poorly because NBC didn’t put a whole lot of push behind something they clearly didn’t believe in.  That was a good move, because any audience that would have been rooked into watching the first episode would have left quickly anyway.

Tomorrow I will cover the returning shows I’ve been keeping tabs on.

New Pilots by Network – Fox’s New Shows

 

 

State of the Network

Fox is in a strong place, that could serve to be much stronger.  They have some big hits, and solid performers to bolster the lineup.  They usually take a few more risks than other networks and this year is no exception.  Depending on their willingness to back those risks, and if the programs are quality,  I could see them having a few hits on their hands.

 

I imagine this is pretty much what the show will be

Allen Gregory

The Premise

A cartoon about an elementary school student, going to the public schools after being homeschooled.

Will I be Watching?

Is this a Saturday morning cartoon, or a prime time show?  Somehow I doubt I’m in the demographic this show is shooting for.

 

 

Headed to an 80's themed dance?

I Hate My Teenage Daughter

The Premise

Two moms (Jaime Pressley and Katie Finneran) don’t like their daughters.

Will I be Watching?

Not a particularly compelling idea that I would normally have any interest in, but word is that the show comes off as more mean-spirited than funny.  I’ll gladly pass.

 

 

Thank God Beavis and Butthead is coming back

Napoleon Dynamite

The Premise

It’s the movie, as a cartoon series.

Will I be Watching?

The movie looked pretty crass and juvenile, and I have a famous bias against cartoons, so I’m definitely out.

 

 

 

She make look confused, but trust me she is charming

New Girl

The Premise

Zooey Deschanel is charming, is a teacher, and lives with three guys.

Will I be Watching?

Zooey is in fact very charming, and I have a feeling my wife might like the show.  I may not stick with it, but I’ll give it a chance.

 

 

Just as long as they shoehorn a car chase in

Alcatraz

The Premise

Inmates from the famed prison are mysteriously reappearing.  From JJ Abrams.

Will I be Watching?

This is the most definite of the yeses.  I’ve heard the pilot is a little uneven, but so was Fringe’s pilot.  I trust the creative team here, and find the premise compelling.  I hope it does well enough to stick around, and starts getting good.  The buzz is definitely there.

 

 

From the same team that ruined this show

The Finder

The Premise

A Bones spinoff about a guy who is good at finding stuff.

Will I be Watching?

Although I like Bones at times, I gave up on it because the writer’s seemed incapable of successfully straying from the procedural aspect of the show.  One of the forensic team being a cannibal in training, would be a great example of their propensity towards failure.  Take a less interesting premise, and the JV writing staff, and I’ll avoid the whole debacle.

 

I feel sorry for the Dinosaurs this guy will be wrestling

Terra Nova

The Premise

A family has to go back to prehistoric times to save the human race.  Land of the Lost, but serious.

Will I be Watching?

This was supposed to air last season, but technical difficulties kept pushing it back.  Despite that, I’ll definitely give it a try.  Stephen Lang is one of the most underrated working actors, and I look forward to him getting angry at dinosaurs.

 

 

This guy has more talent in those three fingers than most of the showrunners who have jobs combined

The One that Got Away (didn’t get picked up for series) – Little in Common

The Premise

Parents (Rob Corddry, Paula Marshall, and Kevin Hart) become linked via their kids.

Would I have Watched?

The writer, Rob Thomas is really good, and I love the cast (although Hart is not my favorite) so I would have.  My rudimentary searching has turned up evidence this could be shown as a TV movie.  If that’s the case I may watch.

 

 

 

In case you missed it, check out my preview of the new NBC shows, and ABC’s.