Not a ton of new shows to grade this week (that I didn’t already grade on Thursday) but I thought I would throw up some quick reviews on the CW’s new Arrow and AMC’s return of Walking Dead.
Arrow…This just isn’t really my kind of show. Sure, I like superheroes well enough but the CW can’t do anything cool without drowning it in an ocean of crappiness (young stars plucked from soap operas, melodramatic music, terrible dialogue no actual person would utter, sloppy plotting that grows gradually more outlandish) and this show falls victim to all of their usual traps. I did dig the opening sequence, which makes you think this will be a thrill ride, but the second the Green Arrow winds up back stateside, the show’s energy begins to drag and it starts to feel like just any other teen-soap opera on this network…Grade: C-
The Walking Dead…Last night brought the third season premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead, and, with it, a whole slew of zombie killings. This might have been the show’s most violent episode as Rick and Co. clear a prison of all zombies using any tool they can get ahold of, we were treated to closeups of zombie faces getting smashed, and a man has to have his leg force-ably amputated to survive. The fact that this is on basic cable but you can’t show a woman’s naked breasts is more than slightly ridiculous.
As for the show itself, the premiere certainly had more energy than last season’s slllllllow storyline at Hershel’s barn and the transition from a cozy little farm to a walled in, hellhole prison for a setting probably signals a big shift in the inner life of the characters as well (last night they seemed like a harder, more put-together crew) and I 100 percent welcome this change, as The Walking Dead has exhausted the possibilities for long winded speeches on morality and Rick saying “The world…it ain’t the same as it was,” while making decisions like it is.
Plus, the addition of some sex appeal (in the form of ultra-bad ass female samurai Michonne) is more than welcome after two seasons of watching frowsy, white Southern women that look like they were rolled in chicken-grease. Grade for the premiere: B+ [With the expectation that the quality could nose-dive at any moment, as the show reverts back to bad habits.]
“… frowsy, white Southern women that look like they were rolled in chicken-grease.” Now that is just plan funny. You know why? BECAUSE YOU ARE RIGHT.