The fall TV season '10

It's that time of year again! The light summer TV season is over, and in about a week and a half we'll be getting a slew of fall premieres. What are you most looking forward to?

Here's a list of pretty much all of the premiere dates, if you're interested. Below are the ones I'm interested in (and yes, there are at least a few guilty pleasures in there - and a few I watch with the wife):

Big Bang Theory (CBS) Sept. 23
Bones (Fox) Sept. 23
Castle (ABC) Sept. 20
Chuck (NBC) Sept. 20
Community (NBC) Sept. 23
Cougar Town (ABC) Sept. 22
Criminal Minds (CBS) Sept. 22
Dexter (Showtime) Sept. 26
Fringe (Fox) Sept. 23
House (Fox) Sept. 20
Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (IFC) Oct. 1
Medium (CBS) Sept. 24
Modern Family (ABC) Sept. 22
Office (NBC) Sept. 23
Simpsons (Fox) Sept. 26
Smallville (The CW) Sept. 24
Supernatural (The CW) Sept. 24
Terriers (FX) Sept. 8 (forgot this was airing...)
30 Rock (NBC) Sept. 23
Two and a Half Men (CBS) Sept. 20
Walking Dead (AMC) Oct. 31

Smallville is still on? I fell out of watching it I think during the 5th season, is it worth watching at all still? (IE, should I put some money towards buying the DVDs?)

I'm definitely looking forward to Chuck coming back. I keep toying with getting a subscription to HBO, but I just can't justify the additional $20/month.

Easy answer: NO!

Smallville was fun for the first 2-4 seasons. Since then the soap opera quotient has gone up to a ridiculous level. Most of the time the characters are annoying in their decisions, and Clark basically has been spinning his wheels in his transition to become Superman for about 6 seasons (after all, I think he graduated from high school in season 3 or 4). As a matter of fact, I think Clark has spent more time living outside of Smallville than in it during the series, so the name of the show doesn't even apply any more. And here's a fun fact: Clark still doesn't fly. Apparently the mission statement put forth by the creators at the beginning of the series was "no flights, no tights." For the first season, nearly every episode was spent dealing with a new power Clark discovered he had. But still no flying. Clearly, I think this was mostly a budget issue.

So why do I still watch it? Believe me, I fully understand which of the shows I watch are bad, but sometimes I'm still compelled to watch them. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to some of these series. The brief glimpses of actual superheroism get me through the stupid soap opera moments. And at this point, in what they've said will definitely be the last season, I've already put in 9 seasons, so I might as well finish it up. There's been talk that we'll see the Superman outfit this season, and Lois will refer to him as Superman.

Oh, I almost forgot one of the low points of the show: when Lana Lang, for some reason, moved to Paris and became possessed by an 18th century witch or something. Very stupid.

So, to sum up, I think getting out at the 5th season was perfect.

There are an insane number of shows coming back during the week of the 23rd. I can't remember such a premiere filled week in the past few years.

I can honestly say that I don't have any pilots on my mind right now. I know I've seen a few commercials for stuff I'd like to check out, but nothing that's caught my attention so much that I'm truly looking forward to it. Well, I suppose with the exception of Walking Dead. But that's a bit different and only premieres at the end of next month.

The network summer season was mostly a bust with only ABC doing anything at all interesting in terms of original programming. It's too bad that The Gates has ended up sucking pretty hard though. It's pretty much Desperate Housewives with vampires and werewolves. Obviously this doesn't include non-network such as True Blood or Breaking Bad. I haven't been watching much of Leverage or Burn Notice but will catch over the next few months.

I haven't watched Smallville in a couple of years, but Clark was flying then.

Clark has flown at several points during the series, but he has never been in control of it. When it's happened, he's been under the influence or control of something.

Basically, he wasn't himself

I watched a 5 minute or so trailer for the new NBC series "Outsourced" last night on PSN, and it looks like it has potential. Other than that, I'll probably just be watching the same shows I watched last year -- Community, Parks and Rec, The Office, 30 Rock, and How I Met Your Mother.

Well, the season has started. I actually have only watched Criminal Minds so far because my wife and I are catching up on other shows (more on one of them in a post later).

One show that isn't from the fall but I'm in the middle of is Leverage. It took some getting used to the quirkiness of it, but I'm really digging the show now.

Okay, I got suckered into watching the smoochy "UnderCovers" pilot (on CityTV-HD), and liked it.

Arggg!!!

Actually, the lead male character reminds me a lot of a fellow I worked with near L.A. a few years ago.

Cheers

Matt, see, I told you Leverage was good. I mean if you like Burn Notice I figured you'd like that too.

Outsourced was pretty good, hopefully it doesn't end up being too ethnic for an American audience. I'm a little disappointed that Parks and Rec has been pushed to mid-season, but then again, NBC's comedy block is already pretty full and they've really kicked it up a few notches in programming for other days as well. After wisely getting rid of Leno's show, they had to do something.

It's not that I didn't believe you. Have you seen how much TV I watch! It just took a while to get around to it, even during the summer. For some reason I decided to pick up Criminal Minds, and I watched all 5 seasons in about three weeks. That's FAR from my record**, but not bad considering I was pretty busy.


(** my record is all 12 seasons of Angel and Buffy in 2.5 weeks)

That's about 60% of your waking time watching Buffy and Angel. I'm guessing you were unemployed?

Only new shows we are watching is what we can download off of iTunes (I've been too lazy to set up an antenna thus far- when I have a real need I'll set one up). So here's our small list:

-CSI (Yes, I know Just Bieber has a reoccuring role this season and we're still watching- I guess it's just . . . comfortable?)

-House

-Fringe (Actually, I'm still catching up, but my wife is in love with the show and will be watching the new episodes as they come out).

As soon as Chuck is available we'll be watching that one- it's the one I'm anticipating the most, but actually I'm glad it will be available later as I can hardly handle the number of shows we are watching now given my work schedule.

We also may start watching Community- but if we do we'll be starting with older episodes and catching up.

And you would be correct, sir! That meant for many days where I'd watch an entire season in one day, only stopping for meals (or eating them while watching). It was basically the perfect storm of unemployed, headed back to DC (from Williamsburg, VA), and all my friends and my girlfriend were studying for their midterm exams (I'd graduated the year before and was hanging around the area). Oh, and I had no money, so going out was not an option Good times!


As for this season, I've come to a conclusion: I'm a TV masochist. There's no other explanation for why I still watch Medium, considering the things that drive me absolutely insane about the show. Many of these Bitt and I have discussed before on the board, but not only did last night's episode have all the things that annoy me about the show (other than Lee's wife), but it had one thing that annoys me more than any other but they've only done a handful of times: the entire episode only had one piece of music in it.

No, I don't mean that there was only one moment in the show that had music, I mean that they used one snippet of a song repeatedly, about 12 times, throughout the entire show. They've done this about four times before, and it drives me insane. It's only made worse by the fact that the musical snippets they seem to choose for these are the most annoying parts of the most annoying songs. ARGH! Never before have I so wanted to grab a showrunner by the collar and shake them and ask them what the hell they were thinking!

But I still watch it...


At least we watched an actually-good show afterwards in Fringe. I hate deceptive storylines like the current "Olivia-switch" (they just bother me emotionally), but at least the show is good.

Somehow I screwed up transferring my Medium season pass when it changed networks, and I never bothered to fix it. I haven't been too worried about it.

My wife is so annoyed by the show she's vowed to stop watching it...I haven't decided yet

I still prefer Medium to all the CSI spin-offs, even if it does have its annoyances.

The Event on NBC looks extremely derivative so far, but I'm liking it after two episodes - it's still at 50/50 odds for me though.

Lone Star on Fox has also been pretty good. I suppose those are the two stand-out new shows I've seen a this point.

EDIT: New comedy on Fox, Running Wilde is also a hit for me after 2 episodes. I'm not remotely interested in their other comedy about the baby though. They should have kept Sons of Tucson as it was great.

That's *hilarious*, because this weekend, while I was swapping hard drives in my empeg, my wife was watching that episode, or at least, I assume it's the same one -- the one where the mom and daughter switch bodies -- real original plot, there, guys!

Anyway, I"m sitting there working on my empeg, and the show is in the background, and I'm about ready to throw my screwdriver through the television because of that annoying goddamn song -- or, as you said, that same annoying ten seconds of that song.

I can't think of a show on TV I hate more than Medium. I think I'd rather watch Dancing with the Stars.

It's sad, because Medium had/has lots of potential. But for some reason they have never really advanced any sort of ongoing plot, everyone acts like the main character is crazy in every single episode, and they do stuff like the annoying music. And that's just the start of the problems with the show.


Looks like you know how to pick 'em. That was really fast, no?

Yeah, what do I know. I think every comedy on CBS other than How I Met Your Mother is absolutely unwatchable, I didn't want to even bother with Hawaii Five-O and apparently it's off to a great start.

That same article mentioned House is in Trouble, thanks again to Dancing with the Stars. Great.

NBC's the Defenders has been good in its two first episodes and I didn't mind that new ABC No Ordinary Family last night - though I cant say I liked the ending. I fear it could be going Heroes 2.

Not surprised about House- last season seemed a bit like they've taken the characters as far as they can go and the latest plot line could easily be seen as shark jumping. That being said, we're still enjoying it and I thought this weeks episode handled a tricky plot line pretty well. It was touching seeing House affected the way he was, though they can't take that too far, as we don't watch House to be touched

Sort of "The Incredibles" meets serial TV.

Except the powers are selected to be TV production friendly.

I assume you're talking about No Ordinary Family?

Yeah, it sure seems that way. They certainly picked the absolute simplest powers to reproduce on TV. I don't mind, though. One of my complaints about Heroes is that the show would avoid showing the characters using their powers. It was a show about superheroes and it didn't have superpowers.

Yep, NOF as mentioned in the revised subject line.

The one thing that I didn't expect (should have) was finding that the bad guy was a jumper. "What you didn't really think you were the only ones." or something like that anyway.

Simple or not, they're already doing a better job at effects than Heroes did. Of course it was the pilot, so things may very well go downhill from here. And the characters' use and reaction to their powers are more believable. No one in Heroes wanted anything to do with their powers (for a long time) except Sylar. And really only Peter did anything remotely hero-like for any extended period of time.

I really do hope something else better will be on opposite No Ordinary Family.

Fox seems to have already pulled Lonestar from its schedule - at least it's not scheduled for the next two weeks. But here's where thing get strange...

Lie to Me is back on after House, taking Lonestar's place. The only timeslots they could conceivably make open are one hour on Wednesday nights - they'd need to stop showing double episodes of Hell's Kitchen, and the 8pm timeslot on Friday nights, which so far is empty, showing a repeat of House - but was supposed to be home to the new season of Human Target (which seems to have been pushed to November). The Human Target move is good, because it means a Wednesday night timeslot starting in November (when Hell's Kitchen winds down).

So, did Fox not previously have plans to bring Lie to Me back so early?

They were running many ads for the Human Target premiere which was suppose to air this Friday, but I haven't seen any ads announcing the bump to November. Seems like that network is all about the snap decisions lately.

Speaking of Hells Kitchen, can anyone explain its appeal?

Seems to me it's about an overbearing taskmaster boss who presents his employees with an impossible goal, gives them staggeringly inadequate levels of training, then berates them in front of their coworkers when they don't live up to his overexact standards. Then he fires them publicly in the most embarrassing and humiliating way possible. All the while making them stroke his ego by speaking to him as if he were some sort of God.

Dude, I can get that just by going to work. Why would I want to relive it in the evenings?

Even if it were supposed to be a BDSM thing, I can't see how it fits that mold in a pleasurable way.

I'm surprised Human Target was renewed, maybe because it is a show that I actually watch.

I'm pretty sure Lie to Me was always scheduled to run last night. The 4th was the date that they advertised after the season finale (I remember it because I was suppose to be out of town on that date).

Turns out Lie to Me was only supposed to come back in some months from now (maybe January). They quickly substituted it in after canceling Lone Star. I can't remember the last time a show was canceled after only the second episode. They were in the middle of filming the sixth episode wen production was halted.

Human Target was pushed probably to give it a better chance, since the Friday timeslot sucks - though that timeslot does also have lower expectations. I really hope Good Guys survives on it because I quite like that show. Human Target has also grown on me, so I'd like to continue watching it as well.

Tony, Hell's Kitchen isn't really as you've described, but I did find your description humorous. I could do with a little less personal drama on that show and more coverage of the cooking, since that's why I watch it.

Matt, how was Walking Dead?

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm about to grab the first two episodes...

We got the season pass for The Walking Dead on iTunes- my wife says it is amazing. Maybe I'll get a chance to watch it in a year or so when this project is finally over.

Also, pretty sure The Good Guys is doomed. I actually enjoy it quite a bit, though I've fallen behind- for some reason it feels like a show I should hate, but it just makes me smile. We are also watching Raising Hope, which is fun, but nowhere near as funny as Earl was (the humor is quite similar, but Jason Lee and the other actors made Earl shine).

I am almost caught up on Fringe. This is the best show I've seen in a while. As in, the best show since Firefly. I hope they'll get a chance to finish out the serial part of the show because it seems the ratings are not very good.

One thing I've noticed is that Fringe gains a lot from DVR viewers, but those ratings don't count with the sponsors. I wonder if a problem with a lot of the shows I like is that the target audience is more likely to be tech savy and therefore suffers from a lot of DVR viewing?

The Walking Dead was fantastic. I watched the premiere as it aired (well, with a slight Tivo delay), and ate up every minute of it.

Here's some thoughts:

• It's beautifully shot, and I love how sparse the musical accompaniment is
• The premiere stuck pretty darn close to the source material
• The acting was really good in the first episode, but the supporting cast wasn't great in the second, probably because all but two of them weren't in the comic, and they're pretty clichéd
• Dramatically, the first episode really got to me, even though I already knew everything that was going to happen, but they flushed out the characters from that first issue (pretty easy, there are only three)

They seem to really want to stretch this series out, because the 90 minute premiere only spans the very first issue of the comic, which is now up to over 78 issues. The second episode doesn't even get as far as the second issue does, because after the first five minutes it completely diverges from the book. I found that fascinating. The first episode was so loyal to the comic, but other than about 60 seconds, the second episode was absolutely nothing like the second issue of the book, and even introduced at least three people that weren't in the comic.

I suspect this was a way to tell the fans: look, we're going to stay true to this series, but we're going to do our own stuff too. They had said just that in interviews leading up to it, but I find it interesting that they seemed to go to a great deal of trouble to demonstrate this idea in the very first two episodes, going to the extremes in both cases.

But what's even better is that I really dug the second episode too. It didn't have the emotional impact the first episode did, but it felt like a big budget zombie movie instead of a TV show.

One thing I wonder is how that production is going to keep up. So far the first two episodes have depended heavily on huge sets and MASSIVE numbers of extras in extensive full-body makeup. Plus, the special effects when it comes to the gore in the series (of which there's a surprising amount for AMC), are very good and must cost them a great deal. I suspect the show is going to get MUCH cheaper from episode three on out, as the group starts trying to hide. The third episode will probably take place mostly in the woods, actually, and probably cost about 1/30th what each of the first two cost.

So there's my take on the show. I think it's really good, and what I've seen of Andrew Lincoln so far seems to indicate he'll make a good Rick, who is a complicated character to portray. The jury is still out on the rest of the cast, though I like the guy playing Glen.


(MAJOR spoiler ahead that gives away something from later in the comic - don't say I didn't warn you)

Exactly what I'm fearing. It's likely that the whole "two-worlds" thing is too confusing for some viewers (sheesh, they give you a visual cue in the intro every week! gosh! ).

It really hasn't been doing well, though. I think the last episode took in just over 1.2 million viewers. That's not good for network primetime. My own opinion? MAYBE THEY SHOULD MOVE IT TO ANOTHER DAMN NIGHT! Seriously, I have EIGHT shows that air on Thursday nights. Why are they all on that one night? To contrast, I think I might have one or two on Tuesdays, so why aren't more of my shows there? I can't even keep up with the two tuners on my Tivo! I almost NEVER condone moving a show to another night, especially when it's struggling, but the networks are just jamming Thursday with way too much.

To contrast, fortunately The Walking Dead has done exceedingly well. The first two episodes got something like 5.3 and 5.7 million viewers, so it even improved in its second week. I'm amazed it got that many considering how much of a horror show it is. I understand why that would work on Halloween night, but the week after is another story. Thankfully AMC has already ordered another season, which is good because I think the first one is something like six episodes long...

The Walking Dead seemed to be very anticipated and had glowing reviews from people who had gotten a preview. Based on my wife's reaction to the pilot, I had a feeling it was going to be good. I'm actually not really into the genre myself, but I'll probably get to it at some point, because basically anything that's quality I'm going to be into.

I agree about the whole "replacing Charlie" thing on Fringe- that was a rough story line. I'll let you know how I feel about the Olivia stuff after I get more into season 3- I'm still on the finale of season 2, but I have a rough idea of what happens.

Fox did say when they moved Fringe to Thursdays (which is a slaughterhouse) they expected the ratings to dip and they were OK with that. Doesn't mean I feel good about the move, though.

Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I would have used spoiler tags for that, but I stupidly missed the "almost" in "I'm almost caught up with Fringe!" Crap, I apologize. I was really tired last night when I was writing all that.

Ugh, I feel bad about that.

Don't worry- you haven't said anything I haven't already accidentally learned elsewhere. I'd have been a lot more cautious discussing the show if I hadn't

Honestly, so far Fringe hasn't really been about the "Big Reveals" to me anyway, despite the fact that their have been quite a few. It's the interaction of the characters that I think are so awesome, and not just Walter. I love the whole ensemble.

Phew, that's a load off. I hate having spoilers ruined for me, so I feel even worse when I do it to someone else!

And I agree with you about the show. It really just is a fantastic series. I'm not sure why it isn't catching on, but I suspect it's probably a difficult show to just jump in on.

This season of Fringe while having some new ground to explore, isn't as good as previous however, precisely because a lot of that ensemble interaction isn't present every other week. I'm still liking it and it's one of my most anticipated series of the week however.

I watched episodes 1 and 2 or the Walking Dead last night. Pretty good stuff. But then again, I like zombie flicks. I have no prior experience/knowledge of the source material for this series.

Good question in your spoiler, but I don't think that's the case.

You're right about Fringe, though. We don't have that week-to-week interaction between the full group. The funniest moments of the entire show are easily the scenes that take place in Walter's lab at Harvard, and we rarely see Walter, Olivia, Peter, and Asterix in there at once anymore.

How much time is suppose to have passed between the events of the beginning of the Walking Dead and when the lead walks out of the hospital? I know it's at least a month based on something someone else said, but I don't recall any other indication of time.

Honestly, I'm not certain. On the one hand, it seems like it should be more than a month for all that to happen, but on the other, we don't know how long Rick was unconscious without any medical help or food and water (which might be why he woke up in the first place).

My two favorite network shows so far are definitely The Defenders and Outsourced (which is now one of my favorite comedies currently airing).

Fringe is getting moved to Fridays. Probably the beginning of the end.

Fringe Plot Stuff:

Oh crap, Fridays? Damnit, that does usually signal the end of show. That sucks. And this past week it really rebounded in the ratings!



As for other TV this fall, I continue to be amazed by the fantastic writing on Community. It's not better written than 30 Rock (I'm not sure if anything is), but it's really freaking good.

As usual, I'm still in love with Supernatural. That show NEVER, and I mean NEVER fails to entertain me more than any other show on TV. I never claim that it's the best show on TV, but I find it immensely entertaining and can't wait for it every week.

My favorite show, though, is Dexter. This season has been really really good, and the stuff they're doing with Julia Stiles (who I've always liked) is some of the best stuff they've done on the show in years.

I don't know if Friday will mark the end of Fringe. Fox is a bit different than other networks. The X-Files moved around a bit and survived for many years on Sunday of all nights. Fox usually doesn't have a problem just ending a show outright, so Fringe must still be doing well enough for them. It will at the very least give my PVR a small break on Thursday nights which is otherwise pretty busy. It used to be even busier when Barbeque Pit Masters and American Chopper were still on.

They'd already ordered all 22 episodes, so I don't think they would have canceled mid season. Its an obvious move, tbh, given x facotor coming online soon and Thursdays being a tough night. There really isnt anywhere else to go except Fridays, but I'll be surprised if it pulls the necessary numbers to get a season 4. Sad part is, Fring gets something like a 40% bump in DVR numbers which won't change with the move to Fridays, but thise numbers don't matter for profitability.

If it does pull it off, it'll be pretty awesome. 'x-files' lived on Fridays for quite a while. Science fiction geeks may be the most likely ones to stay in on a Friday night

It's still one of my favorite shows, so I hope the move is a positive one for the share numbers. The Good Guys, also from Fox and also currently on Friday nights, is another show I quite enjoy, though I don't know how it will pair with Fringe. I suppose it won't pair any worse than with the House reruns they've been showing. Fox is a two hour per night network - IMO, they've had a significant enough amount of good programming that they could easily add an hour each night to match the other networks. I wonder why they never have.

Pretty sure The Good Guys is toast- it has not performed well at all. At least I'm not the only one who enjoys it

What I would be interested to know is how much DVD sales affect a show like Fringe. I know Fox won't directly benefit, but the company creating Fringe might be able to sell it to Fox cheaper if they anticipate high DVD sales (though I think that may have been the rationale for keeping Dollhouse around for a second season, which was so bizarre it caught Whedon by surprise).

The whole model is just crazy, though. With only live tv really being worth anything, it seems the more intelligent shows like Fringe are going to be hard to make work. We end up with pretty much reality tv and crime drama, because that's the stuff people can easily jump into and want to watch live. I hope the model changes at some point, because the Neilson system just doesn't feel like to fits anymore, with DVRs and Internet viewing in the mix.

Do you remember a show called "Firefly"? Arguably (IMHO) the best show ever aired on network television, canceled mid-season with at least one of the episodes already produced but never aired.

I don't believe I ever watched Fox network again after that. And now I don't watch television at all. Haven't turned my TV on in the past four months other than to watch an occasional DVD, even though my cable hookup gets more than 70 channels. (I need it for my internet connection.) You can't imagine how liberating it is not to be tied to that damned idiot box!

tanstaafl.

I think that means that Fox only ordered that many episodes. That's why they made one that didn't air, the network ordered that number of episodes, but networks very frequently cancel shows before airing the full order. Sometimes they air the remainder in the normal timeslot, other times they just don't air them, frequently replacing the show with a rerun of a well-performing show. I can't remember the show, but I seem to remember one that got cancelled and the network ran a marathon of the remaining episodes, just to get them out of the way.

As far as I know, I haven't heard of a network cancelling a show before the order was out, and I doubt that a show like Fringe wouldn't at least get the remaining episodes aired, if not only released on disc.

Yes- FireFly is pretty much my favorite TV show ever, so I'm well acquainted. It's true they didn't air two of the episodes, but Fox also never ordered the back 9, so it's a little different situation. With Fringe they ordered the full 22 episodes at the beginning of this season, where for most shows they were on the fence about they'd have only ordered the first 13. Fox has said they are committed to Fringe (and there's different leadership from the FireFly fiasco)- which I DON'T think means we get a season 4 if it isn't pulling the necessary ratings, but I DO think they'll at least give the writer's notice and let them close out the story, which is pretty important at this point. Note that Joss Whedon got the chance to wrap up Dollhouse when they decided to cancel it mid season.

I actually wasn't even aware that Fringe was Fox until I started hearing about poor performance and talk of cancellation. We purchased a season pass on iTunes. At the end of the day, if a show is good I'm going to watch it no matter what network airs it.

As for the idiot box, I'd love it if we could stop watching TV, but that just isn't in the cards for us given my wife spending 90% of her time during the day either sleeping or in bed, and a large part of that time in too much pain to be able to focus on reading. TV is a way of life for us these days, unfortunately.

And thank goodness! I finally finished watching that show and now I love it. I just loved it. The two Epitaph episodes were simply brilliant, and I loved the character arc they gave Topher. I also think that the guy who played Victor was one of the best impressionists I've ever seen. When he first woke up as another character on the show (I think it was Dominic), he just nailed the performance. His turns as Topher had me rolling on the floor.

The Epitaph episodes justified the series, IMO, though the rest of it was pretty good too. The first Epitaph was a low budget way to complete a contract obligation, and I'm so glad it worked out because it was just amazing. They did have problems making season two line up with it (since they wrote it believing they were canceled), but they made 90% of it work.

The end of season two really played out at warp speed as they wrapped up all the loose ends, making it satisfying and exciting, but at times it was easy to remember you were watching a TV show just because it was all happening so quickly. That is my one fear for Fring if they have to wrap things up now.

I think my favorite non-Epitaph moment was the end of the attic episode, in which the final scene re-framed the entire context of the episode. It's not very often that I am completly blindsided by a character's motivations, but that was certainly one example.

Topher's last scene was very powerful, and his story really gave the series an abov average ending.

I agree about Victor. That actor was amazing and stole a lot of scenes. Has he been in anything else of note? I guess I should check imdb.

Between Topher, Victor, and Sierra, I think I ended up caring a lot more about secondary characters than Echo and Paul. In retrospect, this is probably a good thing.

I think it's fair to say I cared more about Victor and Sierra than Echo, but I also liked what they ended up doing with Echo, making her the sum of all the imprints she's had.

The most powerful episode to me was the one focused on Sierra, when she gets revenge on the scumbag who put her there. That episode is when we truly start seeing Topher have a soul. It made the eventual scenes in the Epitaphs (where he's crazy from guilt) more understandable, since Topher very slowly realizes that his genius has F'd the world up.

Dollhouse has been very challenging when recommending it to friends. I've had several say they tried to get into it but couldn't. As a result, I usually tell people something like "the first six episodes are absolutely terrible, then immediately changes gears straight into one of the best shows I've seen." It's hard to convince someone that they should sit through six bad episodes of television, even if the following episodes are great.

Heh- makes me think of Babylon 5. That first season was just awful.

I actually enjoyed the 'mission' episodes at the beginning of Dollhouse, but I don't know many who do.

Dollhouse Season 1 didn't work for me. It would have been good if they'd gotten into the creepier future world a whole lot earlier, and they might have stuck around more than two seasons.

Meanwhile, I just watched the first episode of Top Gear USA (airing on the History Channel, of all places, but at least I get it in HD). Not impressed. Okay, a Cobra helicopter versus a Dodge Viper was pretty cool and was exactly the sort of over-the-top military -vs.- car episode that they would have done with Jeremy Clarkson, but... well these hosts aren't anywhere close to the measure of the British hosts.

The Star in a Reasonably Price Car (oh, sorry, Big Star/Small Car) was Buzz Aldrin, who would have made for excellent material had he been interviewed by Clarkson (or even better, by James May who did that whole James May in Space show for the BBC). They basically asked him about his old cars and showed his lap. Sigh.

When they introduced the Stig, they didn't have any of the humorous elements. Or, even more broadly, this show just didn't have the humor. It also was far to much fawning on the cars. I watched back-to-back the latest Top Gear UK with the review of the Ferrari 458 (wherein Jezza explains that it's impossible to operate the steering-wheel mounted controls) versus the USA version, wherein the best complaint they can muster about a Lamborghini is that a cup-holder will set you back $650.

Sigh.

I liked Dollhouse from the get-go. Like I said before, I don't know if my expectations were lower than everybody else's, but I thought it was entertaining right from the start.

I saw that episode of Top Gear last night. I caught about the last 15 mins of it (the Lambo standing mile faceoff) and it reaired right after, so I watched just long enough to see the AH-1 vs Viper. That segment was great, and it had some pretty humorous bits in it ("Well don't just sit here, GO!"). Even though it was obvious the pilots were playing with the hosts, it was still pretty awesome to watch. For the most part, I couldn't stand the hosts though. The BBC version (what few episodes I've seen), the audience seems pretty engaged and the laughter is genuine. I didn't get that feeling at all from the American version.

I'm glad Human Target is back. Now my DVR record list includes two regular shows on top of hockey.

The Cape... Watched the pilot and second episode (broadcast together) and only got less than half way through the third episode the following week. I deleted the favorite ad the episode. It was just getting painful to watch. This one isn't going to last through sweeps. Poor NBC. At least they have a solid Thursday night of comedies.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. Currently living up to expectations, even if it seems a little underproduced compared to the Blood and Sand series. This one is going to be short, but so far looks like it's going to be a nice ride. The big sad/frown face is that Andy Whitfield will apparently not return for the new season. I hope he pulls through.

Medium. It's ended, and what a terrible way to send it off. Seriously, who wrote this? The biggest negative in recent seasons has been the writing staff, and the proved with this last episode how much they suck.

My wife is liking Off the Map, that new jungle doctor show. I haven't watched it yet myself, but the scenery does look nice in the commercials.

Fringe actually kept it's ratings for its Friday night debut. No competition and heavily promoted, but still good news. Would LOVE to see it survive.

Good episode, too. Lloyd was pretty awesome and totally sold the broken old rock and roller perfectly.

Yeah, I have very mixed feelings on The Cape. The primary problem for me is the writing. It's just so cliched and simplistic. There's no imagination. These actors have to try to deliver hackneyed lines like "One man CAN make a difference!" Seriously? You actually put that line in something in 2011? You should be ashamed of yourself.

The rest of the show is pretty much like that. Just nothing new.

Oh, and there's one thing that kept bugging the crap out of me for the entire first hour of the show: he wasn't wearing a mask. We're supposed to believe that he put all this preparation and training into this endeavor, yet he trusted that he'd be concealed enough by a hood that could have easily been pushed back while he's fighting with someone? Hell, his opponent would just have to be within a few feet to tell who he was. It just bothered me so damn much.

Worst of all is the dialog and the entire part given to Summer Glau. That saddens me as a geek.

The entire show feels like it was created by committee. NBC should just stop trying this stuff, and it worries me that nobody will try this in the future. I'd like to think that one day we'll get a good superhero show, but when turds like this and Heroes get on the air and fail miserably despite tons of marketing, it makes me think that nobody will try it...

I forgot my biggest logic complaint from the premiere of The Cape. This isn't really a spoiler, because it happens halfway through the premiere episode.

Anyway, the Cape's mentor decides he's being too careless with the whole Cape persona, and takes the cape and his help from him.

So, the exiled police officer leaves the carnival where he's been training and wanders the streets. He eventually stumbles across a conveniently abandoned underground lair that seems perfect for his purposes.

Okay, up until here, I'm willing to accept this all and suspend disbelief.

But then we see the officer wandering the streets, apparently collecting stuff for his new abode. This appears to consist of random computer equipment, generators, and other things that no homeless person with zero cash could possibly cobble together. We're not given a timeframe for how long it has taken him to put his lair together, but the montage seems to span anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks. In that time he's somehow created a computer system with multiple monitors, connected to an unseen ISP (do I assume he's stealing from a Starbucks or something?), and basically put together a lair that should have cost him thousands of dollars. He also seems to have magically developed hacking skills of his own, because that's what the plot calls for.

Oh, and I'd be surprised if you could put knives in a baseball pitching machine and have it throw those knives how you'd think. And when it goes out of control, why not just step to the side instead of ducking?

Anyway, clearly I have a lot of problems with this show. The more I think about it the more it bothers me. However, I'm going to stick with it for a few more episodes because in general, I find there are very few truly great pilots.

Last night, Chuck had to break a villain out of prison. He went in undercover as another prisoner. Complete with orange jumpsuit. I noticed the prisoner number was a bit odd. 092980. Turns out that is the birthday of the actor that portrays Chuck.

I haven't seen the episode, but this still sounds within the realm of suspension of disbelief. As a student, I managed to find myself (on more than one occasion) in the dumpster outside the university warehouse, amid very interesting stuff, including a working centrifuge, for example. Apparently, dumpster diving around MIT is even better. For a long time, I upgraded my computers by taking the cast-offs people were leaving at the side of the road on garbage night -- I was happily running linux in text mode at the time, so I didn't need the latest fancy hardware. I've also known of people who got drunk, stole stuff from a construction sites (such as a generator), got tired of (or thought better of) carrying the stuff home, and left it at the side of the road. Things also do legitimately fall off the back of trucks -- my first two digital cameras were found (one in a gutter, one on a highway). Having zero cash isn't necessarily the show stopper you make it out to be.

Internet connection. In an apparently (huge) abandoned room in a subway station. Generator makes NO SOUND.

The money/free thing I can overlook since the circus guys rob banks and would have likely shared some cash with the main character.

None of this changes the fact the show simply sucks though.

I'm sure it isn't, and I'm sure you can find all kinds of good stuff, but not to the extent that this guy does and not in the span of time we're left to assume (I could be wrong about it being a short amount of time, but the show doesn't help me out here).

And how did he stumble across an automatic baseball pitching machine?

So if you see the episode, let me know if it still seems plausible to you

Craigslist, once he got his implausible internet?

Does anyone know why the network schedules are so screwy this month? Most shows were off for December, then many returned for only a single episode before going off for a week or two more. Example: House, V, How I Met Your Mother, the Defenders, Modern Family, etc...

I'm already taking into account a couple of special circumstances like the memorial from Arizona and the State of the Union...

I will never understand the ridiculous scheduling that these studios decide on. I don't understand the purpose of airing a single new episode in what is essentially the middle of a 2-3 month break. Hell, I don't understand why they take a break that long in the first place.

It makes me appreciate Dexter so much more. Sure, I hate that I have to wait 9 months to get a new season, but I love knowing that in August or September, Showtime is going to start airing a new episode every single week, no matter what. I think it was the only show to have a new episode on the week of this past Thanksgiving.

By the way, my wife and I have both stopped watching The Cape. Sometimes she'll stop watching something and I'll keep going, but there was something about the preview at the end of last week's episode that made me think "man, that just looks like it's going to be awful," and I immediately canceled the season pass.

I have a continuity issue to raise with anyone who saw last week's episode that you might be able to help clarify with me:

Toward the end of the episode, The Cape and Scales are fighting on top of the last car on the train. Their fight ends with Scales knocking The Cape over the side of the train. Scales then climbs down the ladder of that car and stands in-between the last two cars. After a little talk between him and Chess, the last car gets separated from the train.

A moment later, we get The Cape returning to the top of the second to last car (which is now the last car).

My problem with this is that it's either lazy or they just screwed up. They either forgot where The Cape fell off the train, or they just didn't want to show him climbing along the side to the next car.

Please let me know if I'm remembering this wrong...

I was watching V, having gotten into it by viewing it via the ABC iPad app. For some reason though, Warner Brothers (the producer of the show) didn't want it to be viewable online for this second half. It went from being available on iTunes, ABC.com, Hulu, and the app to not available legally anywhere online, pretty stupid for a scifi show.

Assuming the show survives, guess I'll watch it on DVD via Netflix one day.

Tom, you're not missing much. I don't know how anyone at ABC could have decided to keep V over Flashforward.

Yup, even my wife, who grossly dislikes most sci-fi stuff, was into Flashforward. Clearly, any show like that must be canceled!

Sci-Fi and concept aside, it was just better produced, written and acted. I suppose directed as well, but that one's harder to judge for me.

Just started watching the US version of Being Human. So far so good, much better than expected. The first two episodes were essentially a reworking of the original UK pilot script, with the characters changed from that pilot to more closely match those of the regular UK series episodes.

Characters' names have changed, some backgrounds altered, jobs altered, but overall the show still has a lot of the same feeling as the non-pilot episodes of the UK series.