Category Archives: Television

TV series bloodbath

The PolyBlog
May 18 2016

ABC

Most show decisions are now made for renewals vs. cancellation, and ABC is done. Here’s my take:

  1. Shows cancelled that I won’t miss: The Family, Galavant, Agent Carter, The Muppets, Nashville, Wicked City, Of Kings and Prophets, Blood & Oil;
  2. Shows cancelled that I watched but won’t miss: Castle;
  3. Shows renewed that I don’t care about: American Crime, Dr. Ken, Last Man Standing, Once Upon a Time, Fresh Off the Boat, How to Get Away With Murder, Scandal, black-ish, The Middle, The Goldbergs, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family;
  4. Shows renewed that I might consider: The Catch, The Real O’Neals;
  5. Shows renewed that I am sort of happy are renewed: SHIELD, Quantico;

End result: 1 show out of 25 that I sort of care about (Quantico) and 1 more that I’ll watch as binge…not a network aimed at my viewing tastes 🙂

CBS

Here’s my take:

  1. Shows cancelled that I won’t miss: CSI: Cyber, Rush Hour, The Good Wife, Mike & Molly, Angel from Hell;
  2. Shows cancelled that I watched but won’t miss: Person of Interest;
  3. Shows renewed that I don’t care about: Code Black, The Odd Couple, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Life in Pieces; Madam Secretary, Hawaii Five-O, 2 Broke Girls, Mom, Criminal Minds;
  4. Shows renewed that I might consider: none;
  5. Shows renewed that I am happy or sort of happy are renewed: Supergirl, Elementary; Blue Bloods, NCIS: LA, NCIS: NO, NCIS, Scorpion, The Big Bang Theory;

End result: 8/23 that I watch. That could go to 9/24 or 8/24, depending on what happens with Limitless. Rumour is it was being shopped around to other networks and thus cancelled, but I never saw a final “call”. Either way, thank you CBS!

CW

The CW was a basket case this year as they renewed EVERYTHING. Sounds like CBS and Warner Bros couldn’t be bothered to argue. Here’s my take:

  1. Shows cancelled that I won’t miss: Containment;
  2. Shows cancelled that I watched but won’t miss: none;
  3. Shows renewed that I don’t care about: Reign, the Originals, Jane the Virgin, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, the 100, Crazy Ex-GF, iZombie;
  4. Shows renewed that I might consider: ;
  5. Shows renewed that I am happy are renewed: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, The Flash;

End result: 3/12 that I like, two of which are almost “must watch”…thanks CW for the superhero fix!

Fox

Here’s my take:

  1. Shows cancelled that I won’t miss: Bordertown, The Grinder, Grandfathered, Cooper Barrett, ;
  2. Shows cancelled that I watched but won’t miss: Second Chance, Minority Report;
  3. Shows renewed that I don’t care about: Family Guy, Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, Scream Queens, Empire, Bob’s Burgers, Last Man on Earth, Bones;
  4. Shows renewed that I might consider: Sleepy Hollow;
  5. Shows renewed that I am happy are renewed: Rosewood, Gotham, Lucifer ;

End result: Three out of 19 are being renewed that I like, but I like two of them a lot (Gotham, Lucifer), so thank you Fox. I think X-Files is basically “done”, but they were left out of formal announcements.

NBC

Here’s my take:

  1. Shows cancelled that I won’t miss: Game of Silence, Heartbeat, Mysteries of Laura, Telenovela, Crowded, Truth Be Told, You Me and the Apocalypse;
  2. Shows cancelled that I watched but won’t miss: Undateable, The Player, Heroes Reborn, ;
  3. Shows renewed that I don’t care about: Carmichael Show, Superstore, Chicago Med / P.D. / Fire, Law & Order: SVU;
  4. Shows renewed that I might consider: Shades of Blue;
  5. Shows renewed that I am happy are renewed: Grimm, Blacklist, Blindspot;

End result: Three out of 20 renewed that I like, one that I was watching but not surprised it was cancelled (Player).

Overall, nothing cancelled that I am particularly going to miss, and almost all the shows I really like were renewed.

My show watching the past year…

The PolyBlog
May 18 2016

Let’s see how I did back at the start of the season in terms of new shows I would/might like:

  1. Full season subscriptions that panned out for me — Blindspot, DC Legends of Tomorrow, Limitless, Quantico and Supergirl;
  2. Full season subscriptions that the networks didn’t agree with — Minority Report, The Player;
  3. Full season subscriptions I switched to binge watch and the network dumped — Heroes Reborn, The X-Files;

So 5/9 survived, 4/9 had short seasons and are not coming back.

For the try one-episode batch:

  1. Ones I grabbed on to: Rosewood;
  2. Ones I binge-watch: Into the Badlands;
  3. Ones that one EP was enough: Benders, Crazy Ex-GF, Grinder, Hand of God, The Muppets, Public Morals, and Wicked City, all of which I think the networks have cancelled for the future.

Score: 2/9 worth watching and both are renewed for season 2

For the shows that I took a pass on, namely the 18 below, two or three made it to renewal, but not for me. Still passing.

For returning shows, there was a culling! I watched 12 Monkeys and it is finally “back” for season 2; American Ninja Warrior and the new Team Ninja Warrior; Arrow; The Blacklist; Blue Bloods; Dark Matter; Elementary; Gotham; Grimm; Killjoys; and The Flash. Eleven shows, all renewed for next season.

Castle was one I watched, but almost out of habit than desire. It should have ended last season, and this season had a few good EPs that would have fit nicely in season 2 or 3, but for the current arc, they just didn’t work. Glad to see they have killed it for next year.

I also gave up on Big Bang Theory, SHIELD, NCIS x 3, Person of Interest, Scorpion and Sleepy Hollow in the sense that I moved them to binge watch status only. I just don’t care enough to stay “current” on them. PoI is in its last season but I’m fine with all of them ending.

Continuum and Lost Girl are short season and I let both of their final seasons go to binge-watch status. I like them, I’d rather watch them in a batch though. I’ve let Orphan Black go there too, as well as Suits, but I might pick those back up over the summer.

However, I gave up completely on Undateable, and to be honest, I can’t believe it wasn’t yanked early in the year. Maybe they were going for syndication numbers or something, don’t know, but it was deadly to watch.

Overall, nothing major is leaving that I mind, and looking forward to a few new shows next year.

Casting challenges

The PolyBlog
April 12 2016

I watch a lot of TV, that’s not a surprise to anyone who reads my blog. What might be a surprise is that I’m also interested in the production side of things. How people are cast, the role of show runners vs. writers and sub-writers, the role of non-show runners vs. producers, and what stars actually do if they get an executive producer credit, if anything. But stunt casting is out of the hands of the writers, that I know.

Which leaves some episodes in the mystery genre where casting a big name is clearly a bad decision on the part of the producers and casting director, because they are often the bad guy, leaving a carefully crafted script way too obvious. You might as well have them introduce themselves as Murderer #1. But what about non-big names but experienced actors? Take a simple episode of a series, perhaps Elementary for instance. Have it start off being about one murder, and along the way suggest that maybe it is murder not about love or money, but the third most popular theme, related to another crime. Flash-forward, meet with the police involved, relatively junior actors, decent work, a little more than fifth business, but not much more. Meet with the D.A. on the case, and whoa, wait a minute, SHE’S the background D.A.? Red flag. I know she’s not a big name, but she’s big enough to be more than room filler.

I watched the second of two episodes for the week of Elementary (don’t ask, the eps were barely related), and there is Christina Cox as the D.A. You probably have no idea who she is, and I don’t blame you. She’s not a big name. But, as I said, she’s way more than room filler.

She was a main character on Defying Gravity, a short-run series a few years ago, as well as the lead on Blood Ties. She’s guest-starred on The Mentalist, NCIS, NCIS:LA, NCIS: NO, Stargate:Atlantis, Arrow, Perception, Castle, Numb3rs, Andromeda, Mutant X, and Forever: Knight, and those are just the shows I *watched*. Every time she shows up, she’s got something integral to do related to the story. A driving force, with lots of lines, or like this one, she had maybe 10 lines, but had to establish presence pretty fast in the two scenes she’s in, cuz she’s important at the end. This time, in the last scene, she starts off bold and cocky, and says only one line in about 3 minutes as her world crumbles around her, you see the evidence stacked against her chipping away her bravado slowly.

I like her, but as soon as I saw her in the episode, I said “Oh, she did it”. I could have turned it off at that point. There was NO other option, she had no role, no more lines, and if that was all she was going to do, they could have hired someone with a lot less experience. The business side of things butting in to the story for me. By contrast, some guy named Jason Dirden played the big suspect, with three whole previous credits to his name (which is not a giant slight, just about HR costs, he did a great job). But Christina Cox? She has 71 credits including at least three key roles in series, not to mention her role as the young femme fatale to lure the equally young star of Better Than Chocolate, and a slew of other movies in there.

Of course, by that logic, I should suspect John Noble of every crime every week. And I would. Except he’s playing Sherlock’s father, which would seem awkward at dinner.

Now I don’t know what my point was…that I spot guest-stars too fast, or that I watch too much TV?

Approaching the TV renewal bubble…

The PolyBlog
March 4 2016

Over at TVGrimReaper.com, the e-ink is dripping with new announcements coming regularly:

CancelledWicked City
Blood & Oil
The Good Wife
Angel From Hell
Mike & Molly
Truth Be Told
The Player
Heroes Reborn
Minority Report		Wicked City, Blood & Oil, Angel from Hell, Truth be Told are no surprise. Mike and Molly and The Good Wife are ends of long runs (arguable in some cases that it was TOO long a run). And while I was watching Heroes Reborn, it wasn’t gelling; The Player wasn’t that compelling; and The Minority Report was too diffuse in its focus.
On fumesCSI: Cyber
Code: Black
Person of Interest
Mysteries of Laura
The Grinder
Second Chance
Crazy Ex-GF
iZombie		This is an oddly satisfying category — I tried 6 / 8 of them, and passed on all of them except 1 in the first episode, and the one that I’m still watching (Second Chance) has no redeeming value other than the one actor I like. A friend watches iZombie and likes it, and I thought I would try it on binge, but maybe not now.
Likely to be cancelledGalavant
The Muppets
Agent Carter
Nashville
Undateable
Telenovela
Sleepy Hollow
Bordertown
Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life
Last Man On Earth		I gave almost all of these a pass early on, with exception of 4, and only 1 am I still watching (Sleepy Hollow) but don’t disagree with plan to cancel, it has really deteriorated.
Toss-upAmerican Crime
Castle
Quantico
You, Me and the Apocalypse
Grimm
Grandfathered
The Vampire Diaries
The 100		This is where the pain starts, but not that much. Castle should have died last season, and based on what they have had left in the tank, it did die, just nobody told them. Quantico started out strong, but it’s been slipping in quality steadily for me. Grimm is a show I really like, but the plot with the Black Claw this season has been slow and monotonous. Finally they have gotten to the keys and the map and Eve, and if they did that in Episode 2 or 3, it could have been rocking.
Likely to be renewed – no idea whyDr. Ken
Fresh off the Boat
Last Man Standing
Grey’s Anatomy
Once Upon A Time
Hawaii Five-O
Madam Secretary
2 Broke Girls
Mom
Criminal Minds
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
New Girl
Reign
Jane the Virgin		Fourteen shows in this category, and basically I can say “I don’t understand the attraction of these shows”, or more pointedly, “I don’t get them.” Sure, some of them are not for my demographic, sure. I only ever had even basic attraction to Once Upon A Time, Hawaii Five-O, Madam Secretary, and Mom, and that interest left REALLY quick for the last two.
Likely to be renewedElementary
Limitless
Blue Bloods
NCIS: LA
Lucifer
X-Files
DCs Legends of Tomorrow		I separated these ones out as I am watching them. I am shocked though that Lucifer is in this category, as I see almost no redeeming quality to it at all. I love the premise, but the acting is questionable, the writing needs a lot of work, the visuals and plots aren’t compelling. Happy to keep watching for now, but surprised. Also, same for Limitless and Blue Bloods — *I* like them, but not sure why they are ranked this high. Rest have obvious fandoms.
Waiting for notification of renewalHow To Get Away With Murder
Black-ish
Scandal
The Middle
The Goldbergs
Modern Family
Life in Pieces
Family Guy
The Originals
Supernatural

Ones I watch

Agents of SHIELD
Supergirl
Scorpion
NCIS: NO
Gotham
Rosewood
Arrow
The Flash		There’s nothing particularly surprising to me in the first group. I don’t “get” these ones, but I see the attraction. For me, the WTF moment came for the shows I *do* watch…why is Scorpion consistenly ranked so high? Incredibly cheesy and makes MacGyver seem realistic. NCIS: NO is also this high? And Rosewood? Who is watching these crappy shows besides me?
RenewedShades of Blue
Superstore
Chicago Med
Chicago Fire
Chicago P.D.
Law & Order: SVU
Scream Queens
Bob’s Burgers
The Simpsons
Bones
Empire
Blacklist
NCIS
Big Bang Theory
Blindspot		Hard to believe SoB is renewed already — it just premiered, I haven’t even tried to catch up on it yet. And reviews aren’t that solid. Somebody has a good contract. Superstore has buzz, maybe that’s enough these days. Chicago x 3 is a good budget decision. SVU is still on? I guess if you rip from the headlines, there are always more headlines. Bones? I have never gotten the appeal of this show. I like both the main actors, love forensics, hate the show. They even did a cross-over to Sleepy Hollow and I thought they pulled that mediocre show down further.
Blacklist is uneven, but renewal makes sense. NCIS is the cash cow, okay. Big Bang Theory is the same.
But Blindspot has been popular yet so uneven, I hope they gave a really good pitch for where the storyline goes from here.

Overall, they’re not cutting anything I want to keep, and none of them are head-scratchers to me. I get a bit more cheese than anyone needs in their diet, and we haven’t seen the new stuff yet, but overall, I can live with a high dairy content from time to time.

A few TV shows have been axed, finally, more to come

The PolyBlog
December 2 2015

Over at TVGrimReaper.com, the e-ink is dripping on all the recent updates as we start to see mid-season finales.

  1. Euthanized: Wicked City, Blood & Oil, Truth Be Told, The Player, and Minority Report
    • Well, I lost two of those (Player, Minority Report) and I was enjoying both. As mentioned earlier, I think there is a nugget to be cracked for the “one man” action type show, but in five seasons, nobody has done it yet. Into the Badlands on AMC is awesome, but it went way deep into the action, with one of the fight scenes from week 2 being the best I’ve seen on TV ever, and probably best for TV or movie in about 10 years. Minority Report was a conundrum from the beginning, and I think it was almost diluted by having all three pre-cogs involved. It was nice that they got to do some form of wrap up of the storyline in episode 10, unlike the Player which had only a very small wrap-up for week 9.
  2. On Life Support: CSI: Cyber, Code Black, Mysteries of Laura, Crazy Ex-GF, and iZombie
    • I gave CSI: Cyber, MoL and CEG a try for all of one episode and passed quickly. CB had no interest for me. So those four are no great loss for me. However, I had heard good things about iZombie from a co-worker, and had it on my list to try sometime. Maybe not now.
  3. Critically-ill: Undateable, Sleepy Hollow, The Grinder, Bones, and Last Man on Earth
    • Undateable became almost unwatchable after the first 5 episodes, and I watched awhile longer to see if some of the spark would come back. It didn’t. Grinder was good for an episode and I passed, never watched LMoE, and Bones never held any chemistry for me (I like the stars individually, just not together). I like Sleepy Hollow, but I think someone needs to take a heavier hand to the story arcs. I think the show would fly on short series orders of 10 EPs a season, and darker / grittier than regular TV allows. I watch, but I won’t mourn its passing.
  4. Touch-and-go: Nashville, Castle, Muppets, Elementary, Good Wife, Hawaii Five-O, Heroes Reborn, Grandfathered, and Scream Queens
    • This is where the pain starts for me. I’m already in pain because Castle sucks this season, but I’ll watch it to the bitter end (it should have ended last season). I really like Elementary, and hope it survives, even though they gave way too little attention to the drug crisis of last year’s cliffhanger. I still have hopes for Heroes Reborn, but I’ve been disappointed before. Good Wife is a future potential binge-watch title, the rest are more surprising in that they are still on the air.
  5. In recovery: Last Man Standing, Dr. Ken, Quantico, Fresh Off the Boat, Once Upon A Time, Grey’s Anatomy, Blue Bloods, NCIS: LA, Madam Secretary, Limitless, Mom, 2 Broke Girls, Supergirl, Grimm, Law and Order: SVU, Chicaog Med, Vampire Diaries, Reign, and Jane the Virgin
    • There are a lot of surprises in this one for me…I don’t care about LMS, DK, FotB, OUaT, GA, MS, Mom, 2BG, SVU, CM, VD, Reign or JtV. Most of them are really not my demographic, and some of them are okay shows, just not for me (others make me shudder that ANYONE is watching them). However, I have been enjoying Quantico, as I like the flashback style of telling the back story (similar to Arrow). I’m a bit surprised to see Blue Bloods / Limitless / Grimm / NCIS: LA ranked this high as they are a bit niche-y, but not surprised Supergirl is still up there. I think it will only go higher as the year progresses.
  6. Ready for discharge: Agents of SHIELD, Black-ish, The Middle, How To Get Away With Murder, The GoldBergs, Scandal, Modern Family, Criminal Minds, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS, Scorpion, Life in Pieces, Blacklist, Rosewood, Family Guy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Gotham, Empire, The Originals, Supernatural, Arrow, and The Flash
    • I don’t watch Black-ish, Middle, HTGAWM, Goldbergs, Scandal, MF, CM, LiP, FG, B99, Empire, or the Originals, but again, I’m not the intended audience. Most of them are okay, I just don’t see the appeal. Supernatural is on my future binge-watch list, not sure I’d watch all of them though. I’m a sucker for Arrow and The Flash, so hard to be objective about those. I’m really surprised SHIELD, Scorpion and and Rosewood are ranked this high though, and NCIS: NO. While NCIS is probably a no-brainer, the cash cow that keeps on lactating, it does have to end sometime, doesn’t it? I am reassured somewhat to see Blacklist this high, as I think they are now in their third year of telling different storylines each year, or a different form of storytelling with a different feel to it, and each time, they’ve thrived. However, I’m not surprised to see Gotham this high…it’s one of the best of the genre, and watchable even if you’re not into the mythos of comics and superheroes.
  7. Home with the family: Big Bang Theory, Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, Blindspot, Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons
    • I am not interested in any of the Chicago series, too soap-ish for me, and I’m not watching the animated ones (future bingewatch potential). Happy for BBT, although I have been off watching it this season, waiting for January to roll around to catch up on it with my wife. Last in this list is Blindspot, and I’m of two minds for renewal. First, it’s a hit, great, should be renewed. Second, by contrast, it’s got a major plot problem coming up — if the people had all the info that they did to tattoo on her body, why did they not reveal it in a far less cryptic fashion? If there was some sort of “magical/mystical” element, as in Minority Report with pre-cogs, there would be something to go on. The big reveal (CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT) was that she volunteered for the assignment, it was her plan to put it all over her body as tattoos. Maybe it will end up being an intelligence agency computer dump that was all jumbled together, but then why wipe her memory? Why not reveal the source of the info? If the payoff doesn’t match the mythology, and we need some pieces of it this year, season two will drop in the ratings pretty fast as viewers see too little reward for their investment of time.