Wednesday, May 21, 2014

I will not watch most of these TV shows

But I am an interested observer during every fall TV season. My household has not had a cable or satellite TV subscription for seven years now, but we have the Internet. And that's all you need to watch TV these days, especially with my viewing habits: I don't surf, I research.

The five broadcast networks just announced their fall schedules, and out of the twenty-five new shows, there are three I'm definitely interested in, seven others I might try out if I hear good reviews, and three descriptions that make me cringe. (Note that those last shows might still become very successful, since a one-sentence logline can't possibly capture the nuance which buoys or sinks a weekly series. Hell, I thought Veronica Mars sounded stupid before it premiered, and I ended up loving that show.)

Anyway. My top three want-to-sees:

1. If Gotham the TV show is even a quarter as good as the Gotham Central comics were, it'll be worth your time:


http://youtu.be/0d1zpt6k5OI

2. If the new Flash TV is half as good as Arrow, I'm in. And I love that they're starting the show with a Scooby Gang right away:


http://youtu.be/Yj0l7iGKh8g

3. I'm not quite as bullish on Constantine, but you know, I even liked the Keanu Reeves movie, so I'm cautiously optimistic:


http://youtu.be/uPE2oBnzROY

It's not a coincidence that these are all based on comic books. TV and comics have more in common with each other (and classic pulp fiction) than many other forms of storytelling. Let's talk about that sometime.

And here are the seven new shows I might check out if I hear good things:
  • Scorpion could be interesting if it maintains its "(Hackers + Leverage) * Fast and Furious" vibe.
  • State of Affairs because I still miss The West Wing.
  • Selfie has John Cho so it's automatically awesome.
  • How to Get Away with Murder because it's Shonda Rhimes!
  • Gracepoint, starring David Tennant, which is a remake of the British series Broadchurch starring... David Tennant?
  • Madam Secretary because West Wing. And this.

Identifying the three cringe-inducing blurbs in Entertainment Weekly's Fall TV complete schedule 2014 is left as an exercise for the reader.

One last thing: can we all agree that CSI: Cyber is the most 1990's title ever? Including actual shows from the 1990's?

Curtis

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