Tag Archives: fall

The new 2014-15 TV season: Friday night

The PolyBlog
November 4 2014

Friday night’s offerings are pretty eclectic, as most networks go for niche programming or leave it as the scorched earth / survival of the fittest test. Or they send shows there to die, even if they don’t admit it.

I confess that I don’t watch Shark Tank or MasterChef Junior. Shark Tank is interesting but once they present their idea, my interest is gone. If they produced an 8 minute synopsis of the show, I’d be good to watch that instead. MasterChef Junior combines three genres I care nothing about — reality programming, cooking, and kids. Some love it, I don’t get the appeal at all. I’m sure both will go full season.

Hawaii Five-O is still on the air. Did I really just type that? I know it is Friday night and the network expectations are low, but it’s stamina still surprises me. I even watched Season 1 and part of Season 2. But about the time they turned into Team Rambo to go into North Korea was when even the silly side of policing the islands jumped one too many sharks. Still, it will probably finish the season.

Last Man Standing is returning, and while I like Tim Allen in small doses, this isn’t the format for me. Not the worst show on television by a long stretch, but I’ll still pass. I expect others will enjoy a full season though.

Cristela is a new show about an intern. A woman. In a law firm. In Texas. A comedy even. Oh, and she’s Latina. I could write that as all one sentence, but it seems more like six phrases someone pulled out of a hat at a party and now has to make a TV show combining those pieces. Now let’s see if they combine can “mid”, “season”, and “cancellation”.

Finally getting to the good stuff, The Amazing Race is airing on Fridays. I like the premise of the show, always have, and still have mild interest. Not enough to tape and keep on my PVR, but enough to occasionally check in live. The downside is they frequently cast emotional nutbars and then spend a lot of time on them when editing. They learned their lesson in about Season 7 when a boyfriend was constantly negative about his girlfriend, and viewers were crying abuse, but nutbars keep showing up. I have no interest in the drama, just the challenges and locations. However, since they started The Amazing Race Canada, I already get my fix and so far that show hasn’t been filled with nutbars. The original show remains a favorite of many, and it will definitely keep returning for awhile.

Despite the fact that I have attended ComicCon Ottawa the last two years, I am a pretty weak comic nerd. So while I’ve heard of Constantine, I know very little of the mythology. I am tuning in with moderate interest, mostly for the off-beat vibe in the show, but it is very dark. Add in his accent, and I’m not convinced this show screams main-stream success. Episode 2 introduced a female partner that will go toe-to-toe with him, and the spark of conflict / danger / protection / romance (?) was interesting as long as it doesn’t lead to close-talking for the next 10 episodes. I’m enjoying it enough to continue, but I expect early cancellation.

Which leaves two returning shows where I have high interest and enjoyment. Remember earlier in this series where I said I had no credibility for watching a couple of bad shows? Well, any vestiges that I had, or even regained, go out the window on Friday night. I enjoy Blue Bloods. This may be the worst show I watch, and I keep watching. Wahlberg is decent, and I could probably watch just him as a detective. Or Selleck as the somewhat smarmy Police Commissioner. Or Will Estes as the rookie. Or Bridget Moynihan as the DA. I like all four characters and all four actors. The writing? Well, umm, it’s a bit schlocky. Not ripped-from-the-headlines stuff, but still schlocky. The weekly Sunday dinner scene drives me bananas, and unfortunately, it frequently includes info you need to understand the next step in the investigations, so you have to sort of watch it. It’s already in syndication so expect it to keep going for the full season.

My big expectation for Friday though is Grimm. I love the premise, I love the character of Nick and Munroe. Juliette is still a bit grating, but the introduction of Theresa Rubel aka T.Rubel? Absolutely awesome. Nick finished off last season losing his Grimm powers so the new season starts with T.Rubel being the only Grimm in town. There’s a HUGE plot hole in the first two episodes (hello? Nick the son lost his Grimm powers? Mom is an email away and has years of experience as a Grimm? Yet no one is saying, “Yo’ Mom, any suggestions?”. Sure she’s off with the child of destiny but still, I think she’d come for a visit…or send a basket of fruit. Not to mention word getting out that a Grimm has lost his powers and bad vessen might want revenge?????). I don’t mind getting my geek on for this show, and somewhat schlocky or not, I love the vessen-of-the-week storylines. Sue me. I predict full season pick up.

DayShow TitleCategoryInterestPredictionStatus
FridayShark TankReturningZeroFull seasonPending
MasterChef JuniorReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Hawaii Five-OReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Last Man StandingReturningZeroFull seasonPending
CristelaNewZeroCancel mid-seasonPending
The Amazing RaceReturningMildFull seasonPending
ConstantineNewModerateCancel mid-seasonPending
Blue BloodsReturningHighFull seasonPending
GrimmReturningMildFull seasonPending

The new 2014-15 TV season: Thursday night

The PolyBlog
November 4 2014

Let’s start with the returning shows that I don’t watch — Grey’s Anatomy (this is still on the air???), The Vampire Diaries (wrong demographic but the show doesn’t completely suck, pun intended), The Millers, Scandal (just cuz you say it’s shocking doesn’t make it interesting), Parenthood (Married, With Children was more interesting), The Biggest Loser (nope, I don’t watch emotional fat people be exploited for fun or profit), Bones (chemistry was never there for me, but not terrible), Two and a Half Men (keep fighting, Chuck Lorre! There’s humour in there somewhere!), and Reign. But just because I don’t watch them shouldn’t scare anyone else away — I expect full seasons for them all.

For new shows, it’s a pretty mixed bag on Thursday night. I watched snippets and trailers for Bad Judge and it was just plain stupid from the word go. I have no idea why it was greenlit, and I predicted early cancellation. The McCarthys looks okay, I had mild interest in it, but okay in the comedy world is a death sentence. Not my cup of tea in the end, and I’m betting it finds it hard to locate an audience. Also predicting early cancellation.

Two of the big dramas for the fall generated mild interest for me. Gracepoint is based on the UK show, and it has a pretty solid premise. But being the father of a young boy, watching a show about the death of a young boy is apparently not something I want to do. I gave it a try, but I was feeling disconnected pretty early on, more like I was watching a train wreck in dread, even though the show itself was decently staged. Ended up passing pretty quick (which may be a testament to the show, not sure). But I’m sure it will run full season.

I was also mildly interested in the brand new How To Get Away With Murder. Technically that’s not really what it is about, it is about a defense lawyer who teaches Criminology Defense at the local law school and emphasizes the “practicing” side of being a lawyer over the “theoretical” side of being a law student. It is high energy, everybody has bright snappy lines to say, and if there is a head toss in there, all the better. Which is precisely why I’m not watching. The show is stylized like a TMZ version of L.A. Law. I wasn’t sure if I was watching a tabloid covering a murder trial or a murder trial disguised as a tabloid news show. Scandal found a home, I’m sure this one will too, and they are bright enough to flash forward to mid-year to show where the arc is going. I just won’t be with it when it gets there. I didn’t find a single character that I cared about in the entire show, at least not enough to come back for more.

The last new show that garnered interest for me was the relationship comedy, A to Z. Quick premise is two people meet, go on a date, seem a bit familiar to each other, and in the middle of the date, the guy figures out where he’s seen her before — at a concert years before, with her in a special dress. She denies it was her, lots of miscommunications later, and voila, she admits she was the girl. Destiny, right? I really liked the initial premise, and even the description of it as a Penny Marshall-like show. When Harry Met Sally, definitely that kind of feel. Except the Andrew character is all over the map — put together, ready to date, then going into neanderthal dating rituals while judging Zelda. A very confused character. Zelda by contrast is pretty spacey to begin with, but when she’s with Andrew, she usually pulls it together to be half-way normal. I liked the premise, and of the five new romantic / relationship shows this fall, this is the one I would give the biggest thumbs up to…but not space on my PVR for the fall. I also doubt it will find its audience, which is too bad. There’s some good actors hiding in the show, including Cristin Millotti as Zelda. She deserves another shot, as too many people probably showed up to see the mother on her own (she played the mother in How I Met Your Mother). So close, but no magic.

Last but not least is the returning Elementary. I am not a Jonny Lee Miller fan. Nor am I a Lucy Liu fan. But I love them both in this show. They were awesome in the first two seasons. So I am in for the season, and I’m sure it will run full season. Except I have to admit something…the first episode of the year sucked. Holmes and Watson have split up…Holmes ran away for six months, Watson’s on her own, things are going well for her. Holmes even has a new partner to train. And she’ll be awesome as a story trigger. But the Holmes / Watson dynamic was completely absent, and it felt like you were hanging out with Mom and Dad after a divorce. Not fun to watch AT ALL, so it will be interesting (or painful) to see how many episodes it runs before it is “resolved”. They do kind of patch things up at the end of the episode, but only mildly. Still, I’m in for the duration. I think.

DayShow TitleCategoryInterestPredictionStatus
ThursdayGrey’s AnatomyReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The Vampire DiariesReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The MillersReturningZeroFull seasonPending
ScandalReturningZeroFull seasonPending
ParenthoodReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The Biggest LoserReturningZeroFull seasonPending
BonesReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Two and a Half MenReturningZeroFull seasonPending
ReignReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Bad JudgeNewZeroCancel mid-seasonPending
The McCarthysNewMildCancel mid-seasonPending
How To Get Away With MurderNewMildFull seasonPending
GracepointNewMildFull seasonPending
A To ZNewModerateCancel mid-seasonPending
ElementaryReturningHighFull seasonPending

The new 2014-15 TV season: Wednesday night

The PolyBlog
November 1 2014

The sound of crickets chirping. That’s what you would hear, generally, for most of Wednesday night around my PVR.

There are eleven shows that are returning on Wednesday night where I have absolutely zero interest in them. American Horror Story: Freak Show isn’t exactly a “returning” show in the strictest sense, but it is another installment, so close enough. Continuing on that “different” tangent, I feel like I should be interested in The 100 for its sci-fi narrative, but it didn’t hold my interest last year beyond the first episode, so another pass. For reality shows, I generally limit myself to The Amazing Race or American Ninja Warrior as the slow pace of Survivor drives me crazy. Hell’s Kitchen had no interest for me for the star. Run of the mill shows that I’m surprised ever garnered an audience include The Middle, The Goldbergs, Modern Family, Nashville and Chicago P.D. Every time I’ve seen episodes, I’ve felt like other shows did it first and better.  Which leaves me with two shows closer to my demographic tastes.

Law and Order: SVU started out awesome in my view. While L&O focused on homicide, here was a group dealing with the most vulnerable, and with a strong focus on procedure and the victims, we didn’t ask much of the leads. How Mariska Hargitay garnered awards is beyond me — I truly do not understand how people love this woman. She’s wooden, she can’t emote worth crap, and when the show started upping her focus, I quit watching. Feels more like a nighttime soap opera with cops, and with the same production quality. I popped back in with new cast last year, no great improvement, as they just don’t have the writing chops behind them to handle drama that isn’t thimble-deep. Criminal Minds by contrast is probably the best show on TV that I’m not watching, at least for writing. Why am I not watching? Because there isn’t a single character in the show I care about. Not one. Great premise, good writing, fun plots, and complete yawners to watch. Both get a pass.

But those 11 shows? If you watch, fear not — they all seem to have viewers somewhere, and I’m betting on full season pickup.

There was one new show for Wednesday nights that I also had zero interest in, the new comedy called Black-ish. The premise of this show is that the rich black dad feels like he’s out of touch with his black roots, so he wants to try to regain his “blackness” because his lifestyle is yuppie white. Hence, he’s only “Blackish”. Right out of the gate, I get that I’m not the demographic for this, but I showed up for the first episode anyway. Less than 10 minutes and I was deleting the show. No chemistry at all, no comedy in sight beyond “hey, look, I’m stupid, so this looks really awkward”…oddly enough, if they dropped the comedy and made it a drama, there actually might be something worth watching in the premise. But alas, no. I’m predicting mid-season cancellation.

Not to worry though, Wednesday had three other new shows that I thought merited a look. I had mild interest in Red Band Society before I watched Ep1 and found out it was basically The Breakfast Club in a hospital for sick kids. I would cancel mid-season.

The Mysteries of Laura is one I really wanted to like. I liked Debra Messing in Will and Grace, love Eric McCormack in Perception, hate Megan Mullaly and Sean Hayes in everything but Will and Grace. Saw Messing in the opening Ep and thought, “Really? Nope. Not seeing it.” I wanted to like it, I really did. But not passing muster. I’ll even go so far as to predict difficulty finding an audience and being cancelled by mid-season.

Like I said, crickets chirping for most of the evening. I had much higher hopes for the new Stalker show. Dylan McDermott is a take/leave actor, but worth a shot. Maggie Q did a great job in the Nikita show, even if it veered pretty far from the original premise. I survived an episode, taped 2 others and thought, “Nope, not missing it much”, so deleted them. The trailer and promos promised more “rogue” action, but I think I’m more turned off by the premise than for L&O: SVU. It’s different, has a different vibe to it, but there are a lot of other shows that would grab my attention more on the PVR, and I really couldn’t commit because I don’t expect it to survive even to the end of the season.

Which really leaves me only one show on Wednesday nights. Yep, I lose all credibility here because it’s my favorite show. Arrow. I’m a sucker for origin stories, maybe why I tune in to Gotham, and definitely part of the charm of Smallville. Arrow has moved into season 3, just passed its 50th episode this week, and part of what I like is that they are not resting on their laurels. Or Laurel. Spoiler alert — Season 1? They killed off his father and his best friend. Season 2? Rough year and then down goes Mom. Season 3? A few episodes in, and we’ve already lost Sara aka Black Canary. It’s darker, grittier than Smallville, and, of course, the best part? No superpowers. I’m also benefitting from not knowing much of the Green Arrow’s mythology for what is what and who becomes who. I just get to watch each week, and see where it goes. It will easily get full season pickup, and should go a full seven seasons to get into proper syndication range.

But other than Arrow? Just crickets.

DayShow TitleCategoryInterestPredictionStatus
TuesdayAmerican Horror Story Freak ShowReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The MiddleReturningZeroFull seasonPending
SurvivorReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The GoldbergsReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Criminal MindsReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Law and Order: Special Victims UnitReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Modern FamilyReturningZeroFull seasonPending
NashvilleReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Hell’s KitchenReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The 100ReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Chicago P.D.ReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Black-ishNewZeroCancel mid-seasonPending
Red Band SocietyNewMildCancel mid-seasonPending
Mysteries of LauraNewMildCancel mid-seasonPending
StalkerNewModerateCancel mid-seasonPending
ArrowReturningHighFull seasonPending

The new 2014-15 TV season: Tuesday night

The PolyBlog
October 26 2014

My Tuesday night preview starts off with one of the five quirky new “relationship” comedies that debuted this year, Manhattan Love Story. I wish I had published my preview last week — of the five newbies, MLS was the one that looked the least focused, the least entertaining. And with the biggest pitch being that you get to hear what’s going on in their heads (like Herman’s Head, which I enjoyed), I figured it was a high contender for early cancellation. I didn’t realize HOW high — it was cancelled already, the first casualty of the new season.

I’m also predicting mid-season cancellation for About a Boy. This one debuted last year, and went nowhere, but somehow got renewed. For the seven people who watch it, I’m sorry for your pending loss.

There are five returning shows and one new show that I have zero interest in, but suspect they’ll probably go all season — Utopia, Supernatural, The Mindy Project, Sons of Anarchy, New Girl, and Chicago Fire. Each of the returning shows have cult followings, and the new Utopia reality show probably doesn’t need it since it is one of the basest versions of reality programming (pick diametrically opposed nutjobs and make them work together).

I had mild interest in Marry Me and Selfie. Marry Me focuses on a couple through a botched proposal, and the ups and downs of their relationship (moving in, for example). Selfie, by contrast, is aimed at the younger, hipper crowd that I hope are out somewhere doing anything else on Tuesday besides watching this show. John Cho is awesome, but the rest is downright painful. Think of watching a bunch of 14 year olds having a conversation about relationships, and you captured the level of ability of writers for this show. Three minutes of the pilot and I was grinding my teeth. Pass on both, and I’m betting (nay, hoping), they both get cancelled mid-season.

There are two returning shows in which I have had moderate interest. The first, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is one I feel I should be watching just by genre alone. I love superhero shows, for the most part. Electra and Daredevil, perhaps not. But generally. And I tried this one last year. After a strong first couple of episodes, I started to tune out, and by Ep 7, I was gone. Apparently around Eps 14-15, the show picked up again, and grew throughout the season. I’ll catch up on NetFlix or something. The other show, NCIS, is incredibly formulaic at times, and while I love the addition of Bishop last year, some of the episodes drop to almost-Hawaii-Five-O quality. If NCIS: Orleans catches on, this could be NCIS’ last season, but it will still go full season at least.

For the shows where I have high interest, the first is a bit odd. I don’t mean the show itself is odd, but the experience watching it. I watched the first episode of Forever and I was enjoying it fine. Medical examiner show? Check. New York City? Check. Something quirky about lead? Check — he’s immortal (he dies, but pops back up very much alive in the river). Lives with an old man who looks like his father, but probably isn’t? Check. Has a secret area in the old man’s business? Check — wait a minute. Strong sense of deja vu here. Search, search, search. Yep, there was a show called New Amsterdam a few years ago, almost identical premise. And while I love Alana de la Garza as the lead detective (and loved her on Law and Order back in the day), Ioan Gruffudd as Henry Morgan, the ME who didn’t die is a bit odd choice. I didn’t mind him in the Fantastic Four, and he’s passable here, but he’s just not dynamic enough to pull off the Sherlock Holmes style of Johnny Lee Miller for example. Alas, I expect it will be cancelled mid-season.

NCIS: New Orleans will probably go full season, as the pedigree is too strong. If it fails a bit, they’ll have cameos from the other shows to prop it up. But the team around Scott Bakula is great, particularly Zoe McLellan. She used to be a mainstay on J.A.G., but I honestly don’t recognize her from that. She shone on Dirty Sexy Money a few years ago, even if the show didn’t.

I’m also VERY happy to predict that The Flash will also go full season. Unlike Gotham which is down and dirty, and The Arrow is dark and noirish at times, the Flash is a, umm, flash of welcome light. Mainly because the main star, Grant Gustin. Everything he does seems like it is powered by cheery-little-boy, and it is easy on the soul to watch. Not sure about Jesse L. Martins yet, but I like seeing Tom Cavanagh again. I’ve watched five episodes so far, and I’m loving it. Not as much as the gravitas-filled Arrow, but as a light palate cleanser, it’s pretty good.

Which leaves only one show for Tuesday night, the returning Person of Interest. I confess that I like the show. I wish there were more Sameen episodes than John or Fusco, but a bit more Root is welcome (even if the budget for adding Root meant they had to kill off Carter). Unfortunately, the “unseen” enemy of Samaritan is making the first few episodes of this year pretty ethereal. This past week, they added a terminator chick working for the machine (to match Root’s connection), but I’m not sure audiences will stick around for the new “menace”. At least with Elias, or HR, you could “see” the bad guys. It’s more like they’re acting against a green screen and someone forgot to add the F/X. I’ll keep watching, curious if anyone else will.

And that wraps up Tuesday nights…

DayShow TitleCategoryInterestPredictionStatus
TuesdayManhattan Love StoryNewZeroCancel mid-seasonCancelled
About A BoyReturningZeroCancel mid-seasonPending
UtopiaNewZeroFull seasonPending
SupernaturalReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The Mindy ProjectReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Sons of AnarchyReturningZeroFull seasonPending
New GirlReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Chicago FireReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Marry MeNewMildCancel mid-seasonPending
SelfieNewMildCancel mid-seasonPending
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.ReturningModerateFull seasonPending
NCISReturningModerateFull seasonPending
ForeverNewHighCancel mid-seasonPending
NCIS: New OrleansReturningHighFull seasonPending
The FlashReturningHighFull seasonPending
Person of InterestReturningHighFull seasonPending

The new 2014-15 TV season: Monday night

The PolyBlog
October 21 2014

For new shows, I have to confess, I am shocked by the allure of Gotham. By all accounts on the show running spectrum, this show should die a quick and horrible death. While the Batman franchise can live large at any time, a story where Bruce Wayne is a kid means that the basic story arc is that the entire city has to go into the toilet so that Bruce Wayne needs to become Batman to save it. So, to prove that story arc possible, just about every season has to end with things getting just a bit worse. So I was fully ready to take a pass on Gotham, with the full expectation that it would die. But a friend at work said she had watched it and really enjoyed it, so I pulled it up on my DVR and gave it a go. The show is borderline awesome. It has a Gotham City feel to it from the get-go, with a look and feel to match. Jim Gordon is the main protagonist and just a detective, but the choice of Ben McKenzie as the actor is extremely compelling (I never watched Southland, nor O.C., but I’m curious how he was in them). He’s great here. The rest of the characters are a little cartoonish at times (not Batman 1966 cartoons, just a little overplayed, like most Batman villains). The first three episodes were pretty good, and while Jim gets dirty in the city, he also gets to make small differences, maybe take some of the edge off the city’s blade. It’s already picked up for a full season, as it should be. Long term, I don’t know, but I think Season 2 is relatively assured.

I’ve only watched Scorpion‘s first episode, and while the pacing was a little off, and the writing a bit clumsy in places, overall I’m in for the recording. Unfortunately, I think the show is too quirky to be sustainable. “Super nerds save the world” usually works better when the nerds are secondary, not primary characters, even if CSI and Numbers proved otherwise for a while. Nevertheless, I’ll give it a go for watching for now.

I saw the promos for Jane the Virgin. The premise is she’s saving herself for marriage, but add one mix-up at the hospital and she’s accidentally artificially inseminated. Let the storyline begin. Yawn. That’s good for about, oh, two episodes and then it just becomes single pregnant girl. Oh wait, she’s Latina. Maybe three episodes.

For returning shows, Mom blew me away last season for all of ten seconds in the restaurant, and then she went home to her family, and the show dropped 50 IQ points. Pass.

I don’t watch the zombie shows, and making it vampires instead doesn’t help, so I passed on The Originals both last year and this year. I didn’t realize anyone was watching it enough for a renewal, but there you go. Equally passing on 2 Broke Girls, Dancing with the Stars, and The Voice. The false drama of all three (!) makes them unwatchable for me.

The Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite shows, and I love that the premise of 4 guys and a girl has broadened out to 3.5 couples with another half on the way. The extra options for interactions, and the fantastic choices for actresses to play Bernadette and Amy, female nerds of a different feather to compliment the male versions, makes the other storylines regularly even funnier than the main lines. I was disappointed the first episode of the new season so quickly resolved Sheldon’s angst from the end of last season though, could have been good to let him stew awhile longer.

Sleepy Hollow just plain rocked last year. I could do without most of the characters other than Ichabod, but Tom Mason is phenomenal as the lead. His look, his mannerisms, it is easy to suspend disbelief most of the time. And they handle the flashbacks pretty well. The show went a little Supernatural-ish at the end of last season, where it had been light horror before, and not to the betterment of the show. I have recorded the first four episodes, and haven’t caught up yet, but I expect the series will continue for the whole season easily, with return to regular plot-of-the-week being main storyline by episode 5 or so.

I also make sure not to miss an episode of The Blacklist. I really wondered if the show would have legs last year with James Spader as the lead, and if you can forget any show where he looked like he should be hanging out with Andrew McCarthy, he’s really quite good as Reddington. More importantly, Megan Boone as agent Elizabeth Keen (technically she’s trained as a profiler, but that seemed to fall by the wayside by episode 2) is awesome. Good looking, compelling, the hot brainiac next door type. I vaguely remember her from the short-lived L&O: LA, but she was decent there too. Love the show, and the first couple of episodes of the year have been great to meet (spoiler alert! spoiler alert!) Reddington’s ex-wife. I found his return to working with them far too easy, and they shook up the people on the team a bit too, but basically the same show cuz you don’t fix what ain’t broken. It’ll be around full season easy.

My second favorite show on TV is Castle. I know I just lost all credibility, but I love the premise of a mystery writer who solves crimes without it being Angela Lansbury. Add the fact that Stana Katic is awesome as Beckett, and it is Must-Watch TV in my house. I’m going to go out on a limb, but it has a bit of an innocent-without-being-cozy feel to it, the same type of shows I grew up watching — Simon and Simon, Moonlighting, Magnum P.I. The various dark cop shows can keep their angst in dealing with corruption, noir plots, personal demons; Castle is all about the mystery of the week, wrapping it up in 44 minutes, with nary a need for a F bomb in sight. Episodes 1-2 of the new season deal with Castle’s disappearance at the end of last season, but by episode 4, Castle and Beckett are back in near-normal land, and I suspect that will continue until 75% of the way through the season. I’m sure the “big secret” will come out then, perhaps just in time for new nuptials?

I am not sure how NCIS: LA will fare this year. I watch Gibbs’ team on regular NCIS every week, even though it is beyond formulaic. But NCIS: LA has an extra vibe that both helps and hinders things — maybe it is the rogue nature of their operation, or the constant will they / won’t they / did they vibe for Kenzi and Deaks, or maybe even just the ridiculous over-acting by their bosses, but I feel like the suspension of disbelief gets harder every week. I’m in, but when I’ve hit this point with other shows, I started watching part of it in fast forward, and it wasn’t long before the networks cancelled them outright. If NCIS: Orleans cannibalizes the audience, I bet LA is toast.

There’s a new show starting in November called State of Affairs, which looks like a cross-between Madam Secretary and Homeland — a hot blonde CIA analyst who advises the President. I found HL hard to get into (the meds for her mental condition seemed way too cliché to hold my interest) and Madam Secretary is smarmy. I want to believe a storyline in the genre can work without degrading down to Covert Affairs level (although I do enjoy that show too), but Katherine Heigl plays the analyst? With a Southern belle accent? I’m passing long before I get to even see an episode, and betting on cancellation by Episode 4.

DayShow TitleCategoryInterestPredictionStatus
MondayMomReturningZeroCancel mid-seasonPending
Jane the VirginNewZeroCancel mid-seasonPending
State of AffairsNewZeroCancel mid-seasonPending
The OriginalsReturningZeroFull seasonPending
2 Broke GirlsReturningZeroFull seasonPending
The VoiceReturningZeroFull seasonPending
Dancing with the StarsReturningZeroFull seasonPending
ScorpionNewModerateCancel mid-seasonPending
NCIS: LAReturningModerateFull seasonPending
GothamNewModerateFull seasonPending
Sleepy HollowReturningHighFull seasonPending
The Big Bang TheoryReturningHighFull seasonPending
The BlacklistReturningHighFull seasonPending
CastleReturningHighFull seasonPending