Nobody really comes to the site to read TV reviews on a Friday, but there’s been so many shows premiering that I feel I shouldn’t wait until Monday (where there will be a fresh crop of reviews).
The Last Resort…Hopefully I wasn’t the only who watched ABC’s new drama last night because I’m pretty excited to see where it goes next. For those that don’t know, LR deals with a nuclear submarine that questions a dubious order to annihilate Pakistan (they can’t get proper confirmation) and are nearly blown up for their troubles. They quickly surface on a beatific island that contains a non-military NATO base (and a not-too-happy to see them population, complete with local gangster) and institute it as their home until all this can get worked out, making it the smallest nuclear capable country. It’s an exciting, wholly original premise that makes me interested to see where the series goes next…and yet I acknowledge that last night was only a strong episode, not a great one. There’s corny dialogue and it suffers from all the trappings most network shows do (people are ridiculously good looking across the board, morality is a little too black and white, self-sacrificing and unrealistic heroism is the only real motive for the protagonist), but last night more than made me want to give it a shot. Grade: B+
Elementary…Can’t say the same for the night’s other big drama premiere, an “updated” (i.e. totally tired) take on Sherlock Holmes, only the most overexposed character in all of pop culture right now. What’s being served here that isn’t being served in the Sherlock Holmes movies and the BBC show currently still on the air? Oh, uhhhhh, well….Watson’s a girl. She’s played by the always welcome Lucy Liu but there’s no denying that she’s a second fiddle to Johnny Lee Miller’s Holmes, a guy that’s a little too buried underneath “brilliant” deductions and quirks. To be honest, it’s hard to know what’s so special about this Sherlock, especially considering everyone from Monk to The Mentalist has been doing the exact same thing for years. And the murder mystery at the episode’s center was uninspired. Grade: D+
The Neighbors…Unlike Elementary, this show gets points for originality, and that goes a long way in my book. In fact, it’s really the only thing this show (about a human family that moves into a suburb entirely populated by aliens) has going for it. The basic joke of “Arrrrrgggghhh! Aliens!” gets tired after thirty seconds, and the secondary joke (that they deal with the same marital and familial problems that human families do) will get tired by the next episode. I just don’t see this as a show with legs, but I have to give it an A for effort…and a C for everything else. Grade: C+
Vegas: After Elementary, this is CBS’s other big hope for the Fall, and it at least had enough promise to make me want to watch a second episode. The show is set in Las Vegas in the 1960’s, as a rancher turned sheriff (Dennis Quaid playing a character often referred to as “The Cowboy”) and a mobster (the always-great Michael Chiklis, who will forever be Vic Mackey from The Shield) newly arrived to whip the town into shape square off. The worst thing about this show is the murder mystery within this episode, and I’m really hoping that it doesn’t devolve into yet another procedural drag on CBS. The way to go is to serialize this bad boy, and have one story really propel this season. Of course, I don’t think that’s the way they will go but I’m willing to watch three more episodes before I’m out of Vegas for good. Grade: B-
Modern Family…I thought this show was pretty great back in the first season. Problem is, they haven’t changed ANYthing since the first season. The second season saw the same jokes (Gloria is hot and mangles English, haha, Cam is gay and fussy, harhar, Claire’s a bitch hohohoho) repeated over and over again, and last season really wore out my patience. This episode continued that trajectory, although I did laugh at the filthy stuffed-animal visual towards the episode’s end. BUT, even that is stale, as nearly every episode involves a character (usually one of the more righteous ones like Claire or Cam or Mitchell) saying something and then immediately being made a hypocrite by something going on behind their back. Sigh. Although I will always think this cast (particularly the guys) is one of the most gifted in sitcoms, I’m about ready to give up on this family if they can’t give them more interesting and original things to do. Grade: C
Parks and Recreation…I know I reviewed this show’s premiere episode last week, but last night’s was just too exceptional not to draw attention to. It dealt with Leslie trying to get a tax passed on jumbo-sized sodas, and if that sounds boring, trustt me, it’s not. What makes this show so excellent (and, probably, also what makes it so under appreciated by both the Emmys and viewers) is the way it can take real issues——just try not to laugh when Leslie is explaining that a “Child’s size” soda is the size of an actual child, and the extra small, which is the size of a thimble, is only a nickel less expensive—–and make them hilarious. I hope against hope that this show can keep avoiding cancellation, because in a perfect world, this would get the ratings that Modern Family enjoys. Grade for this episode: A-