Fall 2013 Television News

So it's the big week! All the networks are releasing which shows they are renewing an which are being cancelled. I thought I'd consolidate what news I could. I gathered it from a super convenient list over at the Chicago Tribune. Click the link to see the full list as I will be picking and choosing which I will be mentioning.

First off over at NBC we have Chicago Fire, Community, Grimm, Law and Order: SVU, Parks and Rec, the Voice, and SNL being renewed. No huge surprises here as these are all fairly big shows, apart from Grimm which is slowly growing a cult following. On the other hand, they canceled 30 Rock, Animal Practice, Guys With Kids, The Office, and Smash. So far I watched none of these shows apart from an occasional SNL. Grimm is really the only one I'm interested in, although I would like to give Chicago Fire a try. Series that NBC has picked up from pilots are: About a Boy, Believe, The Blacklist, Camp, Chicago PD, Crisis, Dracula, The Family Guide, Ironside, Michael J. Fox Show, Night Shift, Sean Saves the World, Undateable, Welcome to the Family, and American Dream Builders.
Out of these, The Blacklist looks to be a very interesting twist on a procedural, but I'm not sure I'll watch. Dracula, The Chicago Fire spinoff: Chicago PD, and remake of Ironside from the 60s all seem okay. All around I'm not excited about anything over at NBC, especially since they passed on The Sixth Gun pilot...

Over at ABC we have Castle, Grey's Anatomy, The Middle, Modern Family, Nashville, Once Upon a Time, and Suburgatory. I enjoy all of these except Grey's which isn't my cup of tea, and Once which tanked after season one when they wrapped up the plot that made the show interesting. I have yet to watch past episode 2 or 3 of Nashville, but it was pretty great up til then. The weirdest renewal is The Neighbors which I watched the pilot of and it had nothing to bring me back to episode 2. Canceled shows include Body of Proof, Don't Trust the B----, Happy Endings, Last Resort, Malibu Country, and Zero Hour. Of these I have watched Malibu Country since I know the prop master and Zero Hour which totally didn't hold up to the awesome sounding premise. Malibu was funny, but it didn't seem to have an audience it aimed for so not a big surprise here. The others I've had no interest in except Happy Endings which looks quite hilarious.
ABC has decided to pick up the pilots for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mind Games, Mixology, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, and Trophy Wife. Obviously excited for SHIELD. We are in planning stages for a podcast on that, stay tuned!! Mind Games looks interesting, as does Mixology. I will probably check out the pilots for these in the fall. Once Upon a Time fell flat for me so a spinoff really doesn't appeal to me either.

CBS has renewed 2 Broke Girls, Big Bang Theory, CSI, Elementary, Hawaii Five-O, HIMYM, Mentalist, Mike and Molly, both NCIS shows, and Two and a Half Men. Can't make it through an episode of 2 Broke Girls, the jokes don't work for me and it's really obvious the actors are new to the multi camera experience as the pauses for laughter are painful. Big Bang got stale for me a few seasons ago, but I hear this season is great, HIMYM is supposedly going into its last season, which should have happened a year or 2 ago. The rest of these I don't watch but I see their appeal.
CBS has cancelled CSI: New York, Golden Boy, Partners, Rules of Engagement, and Vegas. I must say, I watched some episodes of Partners and found it to be pretty funny and had it had a stronger female lead, could have gone on much further. Shows from pilots are Crazy Ones (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams? Okay!), Hostages, Intelligence, Mom, The Millers, Reckless, and We are Men. I've heard nothing about any of these.

Fox has renewed American Dad, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, The Following, Glee, New Girl, Raising  Hope, and The Simpsons. I don't really care at all...
They cancelled Fringe which is bittersweet. I loved the show, but took it in a direction I wasn't a huge fan of. They also Cancelled Ben and Kate, The Mob Doctor, and Touch. None of which ever appealed to me and I was always ponderous over calling a show focused on a kid Touch. Just seemed weird.
They are picking up series from pilots: Almost Human (J.J. Abrams sci fi cop show a la Aasimov), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Dads, Enlisted, Gang Related, Murder Police, Rake, Sleepy Hollow, Surviving Jack, and Us and Them. None of these but the Abrams show sound very intriguing.

CW of course has renewed Arrow which means another season of the Rogue Arrow Podcast!! They also renewed Beauty and the Beast, The Carrie Diaries, Hart of Dixie, Nikita, Supernatural and Vampire Diaries. None of which really surprise me as they hit a huge TV watching Market with the teenage girl population. They cancelled 90210, Cult, Emily Owens MD, and Gossip Girl. Again. No stake in any of these. They picked up The 100 (After Earth with 100 juvenile lawbreakers instead of Will Smith and Son), The Originals (Vampire Diaries Spinoff), Star-Crossed (Vampire Diaries, but aliens!!!), Reign (Period piece about 15-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots), and the Tomorrow People (Kids with superpowers.) Meh.

So there's clearly a trend for spinoffs this year. It's annoying for shows like Chicago Fire and Once Upon a Time with only 1 or 2 seasons behind them. I'd rather see something new and different than to start a spinoff before they can really grow a big following... Just me. Anyways, what shows are you guys excited for? Really it boils down to SHIELD, Crazy Ones, Almost Human, and more Arrow for me!!

TV

Community started up last night. This show is hilarious and arguably more nerdy than The Big Bang Theory. Not in content manner, just in the subtlety and intelligence of the humor and writing. That being said, the newest episode History 101 was an amalgam of two story lines that both had enough content for one episode. Each one could have easily had it's own episode, or my thought was to have the comeback for the almost full year hiatus be an hour long special where they could more thoroughly explore each story line. Regardless, I'm glad this show is back and am looking forward to #sixseasonsandamovie. #hastagsdontworkonblogs. #Iknowthat.

Netflix has decided to make their own shows now starting with House of Cards. The series is based on the 90s UK Series and novel of the same name. The show follows Francis Underwood who devises a revenge plan against the president after being passed up for being the Secretary of State after being promised the position by the president elect. There's corruption, relationships, drugs. All the staples of corrupt politician stories. The writing is alright, not overly incredible but there are enough twists and surprises to keep it interesting. Granted I'm only four episodes into the series, so I can't speak to the latter half of the season. I am enjoying the show but it's not one that holds my focus 100% of the time. The cast is solid. Kevin Spacey stars as Frank and the only complaint I have is that I don't like his accent. It doesn't seem consistant and sounds off to me. It's such a minor detail though and one to easily overlook. Two of the female characters are stars of two of my favorite movies (Robin Wright was Buttercup in The Princess Bride and Kristen Connolly as Dana in Cabin in the Woods). Kate Mara plays a young journalist who is working with/being used by Frank in order to spread insider information. Despite the big name directors (David Finch, Joel Schumacher, Allen Coulter, etc...) this show isn't overly groundbreaking apart from the whole season being released on one day. In short, a nice character drama surrounding DC politics. Worth a watch, but not the top of the queue.

Next week starts the new TV show Zero Hour. It looks like a Da Vinci Code-esque conspiracy show. I'm looking forward to it. Scott Michael Foster is a star and he was awesome as Cappie in Greek. Almost the only reason to watch that show at times, so hopefully this one will be better.

Fringe ended. I'm glad it's over as I didn't like the route it took after the second season. It was a great ending to the show. Fox had a lot of shows that were being cancelled after last year. In order to keep the turnover down a bit, they gave Fringe a final 13 episodes for them to finish off the story. While again I am not super happy the direction they took with it, I am thoroughly pleased with how they executed the ending. I am wanting to do some podcast episodes on Fringe as a whole so I will be getting more in depth when we get to that.

Anyways, looking forward to Justified each week as that's still going strong. My guilty pleasure Face Off on Sy Fy is still fun. Think Top Chef meets film special effects. Walking Dead is coming back soon. I hope HIMYM is actually onto their final season next year. It's a good time for television I think as Joss Whedon's SHIELD spin off series has been in production for a few weeks and I cannot wait for this show to happen!!

Alright, I'm rambling about nothing important now. Thanks for stopping by.