Spring 2018
TV Review
NBC:
Timeless:
There
were a few time traveling shows to debut around the time that NBC debuted
Timeless like ABC’s Time after Time, Fox’s Making History and the CW’s Frequency
and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Only one other show besides Timeless is still on
the air and that is the superhero show Legends of Tomorrow. You really fall for
the characters and want them to succeed every time they go back in time. The premise is a government funded project by
Connor Mason the man who made the time machine that gets stolen by a man name
Garcia Flynn. He has lost his wife and kids and thinks the people that are
responsible are the hidden people in the government who really pull all the
strings. He steals the time machine to go back in time to rewrite history to
take down the people he thinks are responsible for his family’s death since he
thinks these mysterious people have been pulling the strings throughout all of
history. The government recruit an acclaimed historian name Lucy Preston to
help them solve where and why Flynn is going back in time. She is joined by
Wyatt Logan a US Army Delta Force operative and one of the lead engineers Rufus
Carlin of the time machine project using a prototype of the time machine to
race back in time to stop Flynn from changing history. The only issue with
season 1 was the premise change towards the end of the season like who is the
bad guy/who are they trying to stop/who they are working with that leads you to
question the premise for season 2. The hope is they clear up the confusion of
how season 1 ended and the new mission of who is the bad guy they need to stop
and why. Plus they keep going back into the past where black people never had
it easy and one of the three main characters is black so it is hard to blend in
and get around history with that being an issue. I don’t like the will they
won’t they between Lucy and Wyatt the two main characters don’t always have to
get together. People can be friends and fight to save the day. It is truly one
of the best Sci-Fi shows on TV/ one of the best TV shows on and I am glad NBC
realized their mistake and renewed it for season 2 even if its 10 episodes in
the spring. If they can clearly reveal the premise for season 2 there is no
doubt that NBC will be smart to renew it for a season 3.
AP-Bio: Glenn Howerton finally starts the lead in which will be his first sitcom to last more than one year that isn’t an ensemble of funny people like his days in Its Always in Sunny In Philadelphia. He stars as Jack Griffin as a disgraced Harvard philosophy scholar who lost his chance at tenure to his rival Miles Leonard and has to move back home to his parents home to teach AP Bio even though he doesn’t know anything about bio nor does he want to teach any. He realizes that a room of honor roll students could be useful so he uses them to finds way to take down his rival and get out of Toledo Ohio/get his tenure at Harvard. Patton Oswalt (King of Queens and Ratatouille) also stars the principal Ralph Durbin who tries his best to reign in Jack but at the same time wants his approval since he’s the cool principal which is one of the interesting things about the show, the relationship they have as employer and employee. Former SNL cast member/write Mike O’Brien who always had funny sketches even when he wasn’t even on SNL has created a very unique/original intriguing funny show that is even backed by the head of SNL Lorne Michaels and Seth Myers of SNL/Late Night. Plus it has a great theme song by the Ramones which is a lost art nowadays.
Champions:
A
unique but odd sitcom idea about a father who now is trying to be a father to his
long lost son but with a twist.
He
isn’t lost and the mother told him she didn’t want him to be the father back
then.
Mindy
Kaling of the Office and the Mindy Project wrote and executive
produces while appearing as the mother in the show where the show is Indian
based. She is Indian, her son is of course half Indian and the main character
has a thing for dating Indian women hence his baby mama and his latest
girlfriend. The lead is played by Anders Holm of Workaholics who takes over his father’s gym which is the 5th
largest gym in New York but gave up his dream of playing baseball
professionally to help raise/support his younger brother when the father dies
tragically. The mother left them years ago and his young brother was struggling
in in public school so he needed his brother to pay for the fancy private
school to help him. He lives and works with/his younger brother who is the
idiot of the show/a child at heart. When his high school ex shows up with their
son it ruins his idea of selling the gym and moving to Florida to start over. So
he has to get the gym back, stay in NY, and oh yah raise a son he has nothing
in common with/only met now. His son is only living with him in a two bed room
apartment with three people since he needs a place to live since he got into a
top acting school for high school kids but lives in Cleveland Ohio and Kaling
is tired of single parenting it. It sometimes seems like a cheesy romantic
comedy of the lead guy trying to win back his old high school girl friend but
also try to be a great father by making up for lost time by trying to bond with
a theater kid who doesn’t care for sports. The supporting cast that works in
his gym each has other comedic credits such Yassir Lester of Making History, Fortune
Feimster from The Mindy Project, and
long time actor/voice actor Robert Costanzo famous for the animated Batman Series and many other shows. The
hope is Kaling fixes the plot holes, the
right combination of humor and with enough sincerity, to allow viewers to care
about the characters, the odd quirks that don’t make sense and puts it in the
right direction for a feel good story sitcom about a son and father brought
together even if they have nothing in common. I am only giving the show a
chance to correct itself out during its first year because of Holms’ acting
seeing if he can be a lead after being a part of a trio of leads.
Marlon: Loosely based on his own life as a single dad of
two that has his ex wife still in the picture and how they co-parent their own
kids comes another successful project for one of the Wayans’ brothers, Marlon
Wayans. Marlon’s character is social media mogul/owns his business has his own
way to raise his own kids which is
always is going to be different from his ex wife Ashley. The other characters
are his daughter and son plus his ex sister in law who still doesn’t like him.
But the feeling is mutual between him and his ex sister in law. The last main
character Stevie is living with Marlon who looks like a college professor but
doesn’t have a job and annoys Marlon all the time. If you’re looking to watch
something cleverly written and with a good amount of jokes this is the show to
laugh your butt off.
Midnight Texas: Young
physic Manfred Bernado runs away from a crime boss trying to kill him since his
dead grandmother owed him money. So he seeks refuge in Midnight Texas which is
a small town where the concept of normal is relative and is haven for vampires,
witches, psychics, hit men and others with extraordinary backgrounds. Midnight gives outsiders a place to belong.
The town members form a strong and unlikely family as they work together to
fend off the pressures of unruly biker gangs, questioning police officers and
shades of their own dangerous pasts. The show is based off Charlaine Harris'
book series. One of his problems is he can see the dead so of course he
can see his grandmother who goes for advice as well. The
good thing about the show is each episode was building up towards the show’s
final episode IE dealing with the bad guy once and for all. Manfred
has a love interest Creek who is just a regular girl but most of the town isn’t
since there is a black vampire Lem who doesn’t suck on your blood he just feeds
off your energy. Lem’s love interest is an assassin, Fiji a young witch who
owns a major shop, Bobo the human protector of the mythological people and
owner the Pawn shop, the pastor Emilio who watches over all of them and the pet
cemetery is also a weir-tiger. Last but not least is the fallen angel Joe who has prophesied darkness heading towards Midnight
since it had happened before in time. Since
it is based on a graphic novel that I never read I can say it is one the most
interesting Sci-Fi shows on TV out there is also very original. You like the
characters as you watch season 1 as they grow together and you hope more of
their back stories are explained in season 2 since there really is no character
you wouldn’t like. I have no idea where season 2 will start off based on where
they left from the end of season 1 but if it’s as good as season 1 that is a
good sign for them to pick up season 3.
Rise: Inspired by a true story, a
working-class community is awakened when its high school theater program takes
on an unconventional new leader. As dedicated teacher and family man Lou
Mazzuchelli takes over the lagging department, he encourages his students to
unleash their creativity and explore new means of self-expression. But even
though the students discover talents and ambitions they never knew they had,
not everyone in town is thrilled. Upset by challenges brought by change,
enraged faculty and skeptical parents contest Mr. Mazzu's galvanizing efforts.
But with passionate fervor running through the town's veins, no one can deny a
revolution is underway. Something about this show grabs you in and you can only
just hang on for the ride. It makes you want to care about the kids in the show
and how Mr. Mazzu wants to change the way the school looks at school plays but
how you look at yourself or how you look at your town. Josh Radnor is the lead
and if you remember him from “How I Met Your Mother” you can only root for him
to succeed in his love life in that show so in this show he plays a very
similar character going against all odds to put this show on his own terms not
someone else’s. Maybe we all want to watch a show about the underdogs/the ones
who shouldn’t try come out on top at the end but we all want to see a good
story unfold over a season. The writing is great because it feels like every
episode picks up right after the major thing happened in the last. It is not just
a mundane thing where every episode he is just teaching these kids in his
English class, no it is a long journey that goes from the beginning to the end.
They put on this show against all odds and we all want to see them succeed no
matter what. Mr. Mazzu is looking in you
at what your best can be not just what you can be he can see the best in you
even if you don’t. He is trying to get
the best out of these kids that others wouldn’t do and we all wish we had a
teacher or a mentor who saw that potential in you and encouraged you. It is sad
NBC cancelled it after one season based on how you get to this type of show. That’s
how cruel the TV world is cancelling good and keeping bad on the airwaves.
ABC:
Deception:
The
world’s great illusionist Cameron Black’s career was ruined by a murder
conviction of his secret twin brother who he has been doing magic with for
years got set up for murder. In order to find the person responsible for
framing his brother he teams up with FBI to catch the world's most elusive
criminals and solve crimes that seem to defy all explanation. He uses skills of deception, influence and illusion and he uses
every trick at his disposal, inventing
new ones as necessary to ensure he can get the
FBI’s backing to look into his brothers framing with the help of his
illusionist team. Jack Cutmore-Scott who is famous from playing
Cooper Barrett in the short lived Fox series is playing both Cameron Black and
his twin brother which is one of the problems I have. Playing both characters is not that smart or clever it’s hard to believe he has a twin even if they have different
personalities. It reminds me of Lindsay Lohan in Parent trap not like the Olsen
twins in Full House or the Sprouse brothers in Suite life. Outside of that the
other flaws are like most freshmen shows trying to figure out if they really
going further if they get a few seasons since the goal of season 1 is to find
the woman who framed his brother/get his brother out of prison. The show
reminds me of Limitless another FBI show with a female agent working with a
male consultant with special skills but not a romantic relationship but one of
those great partnerships. Another reason to like this show is the supporting
cast is great and each has a purpose like Vinnie Jones playing the world's
greatest illusion builder, Dina his producer the person who essentially is in
charge of everything and Jordan his tech guy. Kay Daniels and Cameron look like
they have great chemistry in the show and that acting shouldn’t go unnoticed by
Scott and Ilfenesh Hadera. The show also stars Amaury Nolasco
of Prison Break fame who plays Kay’s real partner. The
originality, casting and premise with all the cool special effects make it one
of the better crime solving shows since there are too many that get stale, this
is definitely a different one.
The Crossing: So the idea for this
show seems like a good Sci-fi show people coming from the future from a
holocaust/war to escape it but it has way too many genres blended into that even
after watching four episodes, you can’t not decipher what kind of show it is
and how far it will go. It has that
Sci-fi element but it also has a crime solving element with local law
enforcement where the main character Sherriff Judge comes into play and the
homeland security agents including the main one Emma who is portrayed by Sandrine
Holt (who was on MacGyver for one season among other credits). You also have
the government conspiracy thing with we were not the first ones to cross over
and those people are embedded in to the society that have altered history in
hopes avoiding the war that happened 180 years into the future. You also have
the premise of some of the people who crossed over that have superpowers like
Reece who is played by Natalie Martinez of APB. It is also a show of about the
reaming who crossed over on how they are going to survive and see if they can
live a normal life. Plus it has the mother trying save her daughter and Jude’s
strained relationship with his son based on his past as law enforcement officer.
Maybe if you take one or two elements then maybe it could be a show or a movie
but ABC took a chance since the creators of Lost made the show but I highly
doubt it will get renewed or gets more episodes.
For The People: The United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York -- also known as the Mother Court -- is
the oldest district court in the nation, and the setting for the newest drama
from the minds of Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers. Focusing on the lives and
careers of the brand-new lawyers working for both the defense and the
prosecution and handling some of the most high-profile and high-stakes federal
cases in the country, "For the People" follows the talented
professionals as their lives intersect both in and out of the courtroom. Britt
Robinson of Tomorrowland, Longest Ride and other main roles in TV shows leads
the group of young public defendants who think they can save anybody or win the
cases because how can anyone put someone away? Both the prosecutors and public
defendants report to their bosses who give them cases but also mentor them.
Emmy and Tony nominated Hope Davis plays the mentor/boss of the defendants and
she does more mentoring than the Ben Shenkman (of Law & Order and Royal Pains)
who is all about the bottom line. When watching a courtroom show you only
really care about the cases being tried and I like how it’s about these young
people who starting at the beginning its not about a veteran lawyer where it’s
the same old style every week. You want to see how they grow as lawyers by learning
from their mistakes and how they grow or change as a person as the show
progresses.
Alex INC:
Zach Braff stars in a
new sitcom that doesn’t have to do with medicine. Based
on the podcast "StartUp" from Gimlet Media, "Alex, Inc." this
follows Alex Schuman as he embarks on the adventure of starting his own podcasting
company. Having already found success professionally, as a radio journalist who
wants to do more important stories then puff pieces. So since Alex isn't
satisfied just coasting along and decides to do
something crazy like quit his job and start over on his own terms despite being
married with two children and is pushing 40. He quickly learns that building
his own business isn't going to be as easy as he thought, but the payoff will
be rewarding. Michael Imperioli famously
of The Sopranos stars as his cousin who has worked for Fortune 500 companies
helps him by investing/running his company and a producer from his old job Deirdre Riordan comes over to help as well. The show has its laughs but it could be the writing or acting
but it doesn’t have the same comedic feel that Braff had in Scrubs. The show is
trying to be a slapstick comedy as Braff keeps injuring himself or a show about
raising kids where you need to know what is up with his kids when the show
should be about him and starting the company. Also
he is playing a Jewish man but he is married to Indian women so his kids are
half Indian but that never is brought up how they got together or why.
Maybe I don’t like her acting either since it wasn’t spectacular in the Good Place
that it made me go I need to see her more and have her a sitcom wife/mom. The
subject matter of doing a podcast intrigues me since I got a degree in
Radio-Journalism which is the character’s background but it never seemed to be
the main interest even if that’s what the company was about. I root for Zach
Braff always but this might have been a mistake to make this his return to
acting for TV. Hope we see him again on TV again.
Spiting up Together: So most sitcoms about
a family/raising one is always is about a loving relationship between the
parents but not this one. This one is about a divorced couple raising the kids
without the hateful relationship between spouse and resentment from the
children. Ellen DeGeneres serves as executive
producer of this comedy that is based on a Danish series of the same name. Lena
(Jenna Fischer from the Office) and Martin(Oliver Hudson of Nashville and Rules
of Engagement-Son of Goldie Hawn) realized their marriage was over but didn’t
want to go through the complicated untangling involved in filing for divorce so
they devise a plan to raise the 3 kids they have without the bad parts of split
custody. The plan is one lives in the house that deals with parenting and alternating
weeks, while the other parent lives as a single person who stays in the garage
apartment in back of the house. The garage-dwelling, "single" partner
is free to date while having no responsibilities in the house or for the
children. The "parent" partner is free to preside
over the house and family as he or she deems best. Often
the insight they gain allows them to see why their spouse felt unhappy in the
marriage thus helping them to improve as a person. This increasingly improved
person they become also becomes slightly more alluring to their ex-spouse
making their complete separation seem less likely. Each kid has the typical
problems of kids their age like the daughter being stuck in home full of guys
being outnumbered, the older son dealing with girls and school and youngest
just being the youngest. They also have a single aunt who spends lots of time
with them who is played by Dianne Farr and a married couple who doesn’t know
who to be friends with in the divorce. I would say this show is a very unique
or original idea but it was already done overseas. But ABC tends to have the
same type of family sitcoms or stupidly brought back Rosanne because they had
no original ideas this is more original then anything on American TV. Also, you
like rooting for the couple to eventually to get back together so if it gets a
long run like 5 years, is the only way to end the show what we already know?
Also Hudson and Fischer are good actors who grow to like in roles based on good
chemistry not the typical divorced parents who hate each other’s guts.
CW:
Black Lighting:
The DC live action universe on the CW has now expanded to five superhero shows.
Black Lightning is DC Comics' second African American superhero and the first
black hero in DC to get his own show who is played by Cress Williams (Prison
Break and Friday Night Lights). The show isn’t an origin story like the Flash
or Arrow nor is it in his heyday of being a superhero like Supergirl or Legends
of Tomorrow, it has taken a different route. He is now the principal of a high
school and hasn’t been Black Lighting in 9 years divorced with two kids. He
retired from being a hero since it wasn’t helping out his marriage or raising
his kids. He worked his way up the teaching ranks to be principal since he
viewed that was the best way to save the community. The show starts off with
him coming out of retirement only because the local gang “The 100” kidnaps his
daughters but sees how bad the community is in from the 100 that he goes back
to being Black Lighting. The season deals with his struggles going back to
being a hero with his estranged wife, children and how to balance his day job
with his night job. He also goes back to working with Peter Gambi his mentor
who helped him hone his powers and trained him when he was just starting off
being a hero back in the day. Another twist is he has to deal with his
daughters developing powers(which is all based on the comics) but the main goal
is to stop the 100 for good and take down his old nemesis Tobias an albino black
guy who he thought had died in the past. Like all superhero shows in their
freshmen season they have some issues that usually got solved once we all get
into a rhythm of how the show works. Arrow is about stopping crime bosses-non
major DC villains, Flash is about stopping bad super powered beings and Legends
is about stopping people from changing the time line. This show is trying to
fit the demographic of the show/character but is also trying to fit other
avenues. We will see how season 1 ends before making a final judgment. We hope
the attempt at making this show was a good idea or not but it has been a good
experiment so far. The only thing I don’t like is the typical CW worrying about
whose dating who and having to worry about it every episode. The oldest
daughter is a medical student, a teacher at her father’s school, an activist
and a superhero by night we don’t need to see who she’s dating or her love life,
the show is about Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lighting. Verdict: Renewed since CW did renew all of the superhero shows.
Fox:
Star:
Another Lee Daniel’s music drama about musicians and the business of music but
this one centers around three young women trying to make it in the music
industry. The star of the show is Star who has been in and out of foster homes
after his signing mother died from drugs who sets out to find her half sister
Simone who is also has been in foster homes. They pair up with another talented
girl who Star meets online named Alex Crain whose father happens to be a famous
musician in his own right played by Lenny Kravitz. They are based out of
Atlanta which is where Starr and Alex’s mom former music partner Carlotta Brown
lives and runs a hair salon. They live there, work at the salon and work out on
their music together and most songs are written by Alex. They are trying to
make it big by getting a contract with a studio and have to deal with the
typical drama of the music business, a shady manager named Jahil played by
Benjamin Bratt, romances, custody battles and murders. Their ultimate goal is
to have a record deal, make albums and tour the world. Update: They get a
record deal in Season 2 but have to deal with all the problems and
responsibilities on being a recording label plus the infighting between the
band mates in the band. I should expect all of the unneeded drama, dating and
characters who don’t deserve air time but this show is sometimes trying too
hard to be dramatical when all we care is about the music they make, hearing their
music and the growing as musicians and being successful throughout a show’s
growth. They sometimes take too many steps backwards and have to work hard to
get back to where they were previously. Plus I don’t care about Queen Latifah’s
son/daughter’s drama or about Jahil when he isn’t even their manager anymore.
Verdict: Cancelled. I personally enjoy
the music, the actors in the show and the show as a whole but I don’t want to
say every show deserves to be renewed just because I like it since some shows
aren’t the best. This show has lots of problems but since it is only half way
through season 2 we will have to wait and see. Plus Fox is not going to cancel
its follow up show after Empire unless the ratings are so bad and if they don’t
cancel it this year it will probably be on as long as Empire stays on. Update: Renewed.
9-1-1:
Now this one of the best shows I have ever seen and maybe because of the
suspense in every scene or episode and the all-star cast. Now you can say there are too many
Cop/firefighter shows on TV but none are nowhere near this first responder type
of show even if they are other first responder shows. For each character they
took the time to create a genuine great back story and personal story of their
current life. That takes into effect when telling every week’s episode without
dragging the episode down. The show draws from real-life, high-pressure
experiences of emergency response providers who regularly face heart-stopping
situations that are often unpredictable, intense and uplifting at the same
time. Any show lead by Angela Bassett as a detective, Peter Krause fire captain
and Connie Britton as the 9-1-1 operator already is going to be good before you
even watch it. It broke records for series premiers in Fox history and has
already been renewed for season 2 with possible spinoffs.
So my Verdict is an obviously Renew. Update: Renewed.
LA-Vegas: In a long line of half hour
sitcoms on Fox that have been put on Tuesday or Sunday it has so far kept the
attention of mine because it supposed to be stupid but funny and makes you
laugh which is the point of a sitcom. There is no need to take this show seriously
because the show is and some of the characters are over the top stupid or crazy
in their own little way. The series follows the lives of crew and passengers of
a Jackpot Airlines that makes regular Friday-to-Sunday getaway flights from Los
Angeles to Las Vegas. The stories revolve around recurring themes of hope and
disappointment. The show stars Dylan McDermott who is a former Air-Force pilot
who is the captain of the flights, and your typical guy who thinks he is the
best/cool but is really still getting over the pain of his divorces, so he puts
up a façade. His co-pilot is really dumb
and seems like a little kid sometimes. The show also centers around flight
attendant Ronnie and her life choices that made her be an over-working flight
attendant on a low run airline and has to deal with all the different
personalities of the co-workers and passengers. She has to put up with Captain
Dave’s antics, her co flight attendant Bernard an older black guy (who (we know
is gay but doesn’t talk about it like some do in shows), who barely works, and
the passengers like Artem a child dentist who is also a shady/creepy bookie,
the stripper Nicole, and British single dad professor at UCLA who takes the
airline to see his kid over the week and their will they/ won’t they romance.
Verdict: Renewed but for a limited
amount of episodes. It is a good sign they kept it in its time slot and pushed Brooklyn 99 back to Sundays so it can
stay on for the rest of the spring. So it can be on for a few years, if a show
like the Mick has had two seasons you never know with FOX/if they ever make it
three hour programming at night. Update:
Cancelled.
The Resident:
This freshman medical drama is nowhere near emotionally uplifting of a
back-story and fight to be recognized like ABC’s medical drama The Good Doctor
(about the Autistic Dr) but is it a close 2nd for the correct amount
of drama (romance), suspense, action, conflict, not showing all medical
procedures close up, and intrigue into the life of resident in a hospital. It
centers all around Dr Conrad Hawkins who has the personality of someone who
wants to save the world and actually listens/cares to what is best for the
patients and is played really well by Matt Czuchry that you can’t help but root
for him every episode to save every one. But the show decided to not have the
show start when he just begins, it shows him as a senior resident who has a
long track record of being the guy who you root for since he knows all the
regular patients, has been in the trenches long enough to know what the right
thing is, and he can pass those things along to the new resident Dr Devon
Pravesh. He is the wide eyed Harvard medical student who thinks everything is
in a textbook and everything is all rainbows since they are things people don’t
know about, how things are really run in hospitals. Conrad has to teach him to
navigate not just from what he learned in school but to blend it with real life
situations and not always trust your first intuition about it and that this
hospital is mostly about making money, so how to navigate through the bureaucracy
of the medical world. The nurse practitioner is
on and off again girl friend Nic who like is trying to save the world but also
knows the same cold hard truth about the medical business and she does things
some times that could cost her job to save the patients. The other new resident
Dr. Mina Okafor out of Africa is a gifted surgical genius but she doesn’t have
the other aspect of being a good doctor the bed side manner and dealing with
people/feelings. She butts head with the Chief of surgery Randolph Bell played
by Bruce Greenwood on how to do surgeries or which one she wants to do since
she thinks she can do everyone without fail. Conrad also has been butting heads
with Dr Bell since Conrad wants to save everyone but Bell has to think what is
best for the hospital’s bottom line dictated by the head of hospital’s bottom
line. They are other doctors that each has their own story that fits well into
the story lines as well.
Verdict:
Renewed for Season 2. If Fox lets this show grow it can be the network’s ER or
Grey's Anatomy but without it being too big of an ensemble cast since the
show’s strength is Conrad, Nic and Devon the three main characters. Question is
what night it will be on since it is in the Lucifer-Gifted/former Gotham time
slot. Update: Renewed.
