I’d like to tell you that Blue Bloods is amazing TV. I’d like to tell you about the great plots, wonderful acting, scintillating dialogue. Or the action. Or anything that explains why I continue to watch this cheesy show. With almost only one exception, all of the acting is relatively basic. Tom Selleck is fantastic as Papa Reagan, and the rest are good, but rarely do I see any scene where I think, “Wow, give them an Emmy!”.
As BB enters it’s seventh season, it’s a pretty straightforward episode. Danny shot a serial killer at the end of the previous season, the department cleared him, but now the State AG’s office is convening a grand jury. And if Danny loses his temper with them and appears like a hothead, the grand jury is likely to send him to full trial. Meanwhile, Jamie is investigating a vehicular manslaughter case where the driver was intoxicated, but claims he wasn’t the one driving.
Neither case is particularly compelling, but it’s the standard fare for Blue Bloods. And I’ll tune in next week to see more of the same. Mostly cuz Tom Selleck does such a great job as Mr. Integrity and Honour.
Last season, I started watching Rosewood and it kind of grew on me. It had a bit of a Castle feel to it, and I liked the vibe. Plus the always rosey Rosie was a bit of a change from the broody grumpy types that often inhabit procedurals. At the end of the season, the “will they or won’t they” storyline came almost to a climax, with the deed imminent. But in Castle-like fashion, Rosie dropped the bomb — he had looked at Villa’s dead husband’s case, and thought it was murder, not accidental death. No more lovemaking, no more romance, no more partnership.
The season opened with a dead college girl, and I confess I never felt anything for her all episode. Her story was cliche but more importantly, her scenes were scant of emotional resonance. The rest of the episode was about picking up pieces from the season finale. Pippi is off doing her music thing, so her romance was dead. The Captain is relegated to being a junior detective, and there’s a new Captain starting. And, just for fun, Villa and Rosie are trying to figure out how to work together now that Rosie blew the whole romance thing. Plus the whole elephant in the room — btw, your husband was murdered — drifts along undiscussed until the end. I have an idea of a potential twist coming later in the season, and I’m praying that I’m wrong or I’m going to kick a TV as a cheap gimmick. Or a Castle ripoff, not sure which.
Anyway, the investigation was almost secondary to the episode, while everything else roamed around in the interim. I hope the season focuses on the mystery part, not the 8 different love-lives. On the other hand, I like the new Captain, so it’s not all bad.
I am torn about how to judge this show. On the one hand, it has a strong empowerment vibe. If you have watched any of the American Ninja Warrior show in the last 3 seasons, part of the storyline they promote is that the “girls can do it too, keep up with the guys, etc.”. Girl power in athletics. Same course, same challenges, and competitors like Kacy Catanzaro, Michelle Warnky, Meaghan Martin and Jessie Graff have been star athletes making history as the first females to make it past certain stages. It is a strong empowerment theme, and it carries to the little girls who can see a woman competing and think, “Hey, I can do it too.” Just like any profession, it helps to see stars that look like you modeling the behaviour you want to emulate. So the first part of the episode is very heavy into that theme, with the main character being a young female ballplayer drafted by the San Diego Padres to be a starting pitcher in the majors. All the young girls are out, and one of the really solid side scenes is a little girl in the crowd with a sign that says “I’m next!”. It’s a good theme, but it’s not a show.
Another angle I could try is the show me the money spiel, as her agent / promoter / whatever she is runs along side her and talks about how she’s the most powerful woman on the planet right then. Ever since shows like Arli$$ or Jerry Maguire aired, and people saw agents in a different light, there are four tropes that tend to stand out. First and foremost is the soulless money grubbing agent who will do anything for the deal. Second, there is the cheerleader agent who believes in the client and promotes the crap out of them. Heart of gold, pure admiration. Third, there is the lovable bumbling schlub who has been the ballplayer’s agent since before they were big and is along for the ride but, aw shucks, they aren’t used to the big time deals. Often they also serve as father figure, or friend, the old saw who reminds the player of their roots when the bright lights start to dazzle their sensibilities. Or, they’re incompetent. The agent in this one? She tries to be all of the first three simultaneously. Separate from the flirting that is going on with the general manager, she’s all over the map. Played by Ali Larter, my previous exposure to her was when she was on Heroes. And I confess I didn’t like her there much either. She just seems, I don’t know, incomplete. Of course, in Heroes, she was also multiple personalities at once; here, theoretically, she’s only one. Meh.
I could also review it as a simple baseball show. But there wasn’t enough baseball drama in the first episode to really gauge that, other than two games that Ginny pitches.
However, the last view is simply as a drama starring a young woman of some skill going through a major life change. Not really the demographic they tried to pitch, perhaps, with sometimes it seeming like they were going for Wild Thing or something, maybe a lighter version of Bull Durham. But there is one saving grace for the show. Kylie Bunbury as the pitcher has gravitas. Flashbacks to younger versions of herself are almost mindless at times, only a couple really tell much of a story, but in the present? When she’s playing “confident”, she’s awesome. I confess to not having seen her in Under the Dome or Twisted, not shows I watched, but she was pretty solid at certain times. She can’t cover the crying scenes but that’s not that uncommon for actors…some do it horribly. Hopefully there won’t be that many crying scenes. 🙂
Originally I said I wouldn’t give it a try, but the baseball premise got the better of me, along with the empowerment theme from ANW shows. I still expect it to get early cancellation. I’ll watch until then.
Notorious premiered last week to mediocre numbers, and already there are fans crying for “SaveNotorious” on Twitter. The show is relatively straightforward — a high profile lawyer is friends with a high profile news producer. They have a deal — they never lie to each other, or at least, not outright. Sometimes they don’t share whole truths, but they don’t lie. They do flirt however.
In the opening episode, Jake is the lawyer for a young tech mogul accused of a hit-and-run that killed a 15-year-old kid. He says he wasn’t out driving that night, and he’s been sober for 5 years. However, Julia is the news producer and she breaks the news while Jake is on air for another story. They trade developments, it’s high energy, lots of quick little developments over the course of a few days, all about how they can work with each other — she gets exclusives, he gets to control the narrative for his clients. Most of the story is told through the breaking developments, with some ad hoc comments after the fact to show the producer or the lawyer actually weren’t surprised, they knew all along. For example, as the client leaves a police station, he is stopped by reporters, has a small heartfelt moment and expresses prayers for the family of the kid. Then, as they pull away, Jake says, “Perfect, exactly as we rehearsed it.”
The show had energy, but while I was expecting the story to wrap up this week, it left a big gap at the end, so maybe it continues over several episodes. It was good, it wasn’t great. I originally thought I would sign on for the full season, and I think I’ll give it another episode or two to decide. I also predicted no renewal, but I think I could safely trim that to early cancellation.
Another show not pulling much in the way of press is the upcoming Falling Water. Premiering in October on USA, the show was released online for advance screening. And it is downright awesome.
Burton, a security service within an investment firm, has some weird dreams. He seems to be dreaming about a girl who doesn’t exist, or maybe she does. He’s not sure.
Tess has some weird dreams too. Plus she has the uncanny ability to see mega trends that everyone will want to buy for fashion. But the dreams are weird. She keeps dreaming about a son she gave birth to. Except her medical records show no such birth and she doesn’t have a son. Or does she?
Take is a little simpler in his dreams. He sees his mother, or someone close to his mother, in a chair in the middle of a street and her head is all covered up, like a mummy with grey bandages. Since his mother is in a catatonic state, the dream isn’t surprising, but all the things he sees for work are indeed weird. Including a kid that reappears to him during his investigations. The same kid from Tess’ dream.
They don’t know each other, but they have interacted — Tess lives in Burton’s building, for example.
But forces for good and evil are amassing. The dreams are connected, part of a shared larger dream. They just don’t know it yet, but those who do, they want to control it, shape it, use it. Something big is going on, you just don’t know what yet.
I’m going all in, but I know I’m going to regret it. Jericho, Revolution. I liked the shows, and I liked the mystery elements going on in the background. Heck, one of the main actors from Revolution, Zak Orth, is even along for the ride here too. Not quite as crazy this time though.
Maybe with it being on USA, instead of the big five, it has a chance to go somewhere. It’s pretty cool.
