Confession: I am someone who lives in fear of there being an amazing TV show out there and me not knowing about it. I realize that may sound silly to some of you, but I genuinely like TV. I know it is the fashion is to pretend like you don't have the time to watch it or that you prefer the erudite and cerebral pursuits to the fatuous hunt for somewhat brainless entertainment. If you are that guy...read no further. I am banning all things scholarly and academic from my blog.
For this, my first post - I will be sharing my thoughts on the Summer Series' of 2011, specifically new series'. My follow-up blog will cover my favorite summer shows from years past (only the still-running shows...canceled shows will just depress me).
WILFRED
Sounds ok, right? I will admit that I am a tad bit more lenient with shows that are original. If you are coming up with something fresh, you are allowed to be a bit dumber than your less original counter-parts. That said, I don't care how original you are if your show is complete crap.
Here is my rule with new TV shows: I will watch 3 episodes of a show before deciding to delete the DVR timer. I recognize that a pilot episode is rarely that great because they are spending most of the show setting up the characters and storyline. If you haven't won me over by the 3rd episode though, you have lost the opportunity.
This is one of the very few shows (I can think of maybe 2 or 3 in my extensive history of TV watching) that I just couldn't bring myself to watch even a second episode. The first was painful enough and I would hope that I have enough self-love to spare myself the agony of any more.
Bottom Line: Don't do it...learn from me and save yourself!
SUITS
Premise: One of Manhattan's top corporate lawyers sets out to recruit a new hotshot associate and hires the only guy that impresses him: Mike Ross, a brilliant but unmotivated college dropout. Though he isn't actually a lawyer, this legal prodigy has the book smarts of a Harvard law grad and the street smarts of a hustler. However, in order to serve justice and save their jobs, both these unconventional thinkers must continue the charade.
This is my favorite new series. I like all of the characters and the storylines are actually interesting. This is one of a small handful of shows that I usually watch on the night it comes on rather than whenever I have time to catch up.
If you haven't seen this show yet...might I suggest catching up on this year so you can be ready for next summer?
I hope you enjoyed my delicious insight into this year's crop of Summer shows. Let me know what you think of the new shows this year.
If you haven't seen this show yet...might I suggest catching up on this year so you can be ready for next summer?
FRANKLIN AND BASH
Premise: Lawyers and lifelong friends Jared Franklin and Peter Bash are recruited by a large firm's major partner after winning a high-profile case.
I got the premises for these shows from IMDB. I don't feel like this one really does the show justice. They are actually super unconventional trial attorneys that pull ridiculous stunts in court. If you are looking for a realistic court drama, keep looking. If you are looking for a light-hearted, usually funny, always entertaining show about 2 besties - here it is.
I will admit, I might be a little biased in its favor since I really like Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer (who I may have met at a Barenaked Ladies concert once). I was pretty bummed when Raising the Bar got canceled (random fact: UK, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Canada all spell it cancelled) and am rooting for this one to last.
I think those are the only new shows I tested out this year...let me know if I am missing out on anything. I do have all of the episodes of Falling Skies on my DVR, but haven't had a chance to watch them yet. Is it worth the 10 hours of my life it would take to catch up on it?I hope you enjoyed my delicious insight into this year's crop of Summer shows. Let me know what you think of the new shows this year.
5 comments:
I LOVE Suits with all my heart. I watched 5 minutes of Wilfred and it ruined my whole night. I'm relieved that you feel the same. I'm excited about this blog. Yay!
Suits is among my favorite shows, even counting non-summer fare. I enjoy Franklin & Bash, but don't love it. I understand Wilfred is pretty vulgar, so I never even bothered.
What is true for canceled is also true for traveled, dialed, paralleled, modeled, and signaled.
By the way, I love your margins.
Oh, and there is a new BBC series about Sherlock Holmes that is really really good. Actually, I've only seen the pilot. But it didn't really need to introduce the characters, so it didn't suffer from the pilot syndrome.
It takes place in modern times.
It had its own creepy version of the Battle of Wits. Check it out.
Two more things, only because I care:
First, the word-verification thing is dumb. Only use it if you start getting random ads as comments. Plus, it isn't working properly. I have to go through two screens to get my comments up.
Second, "expatiate" is an intransitive verb. Which means entertainment is not expatiated, it is expatiated upon (or on). I don't say that to imply I am smart, because I had to look the word up. Because you're smart. I only know it is intransitive (and intransitive only) because I had to look it up. Expatriate, on the other hand, is transitive. But it wouldn't make sense to expatriate entertainment.
It would make sense to expatriate entertainers, as was the case with Yusuf Islam, aka Kitty Stefán, aka Cat Stevens. There are other entertainers (and I use that term loosely here) like Sean Penn or Barbra Streisand who could use some expatriating.
By saying "entertainment expatiated," you were probably going for something poignant and alliterate. You could say "entertainment expounded," which works because expound is both transitive and intransitive. Or "explicated," "elucidated," or my favorite, "enucleated" (all transitive).
Of course you don't have to go with entertainment. You could work a word like zugzwang into your title.
Zachariah,
I take full responsibility for the misuse of the word "expatiated" as that was my sole contribution to this long awaited endeavor from Eliza. Oddly enough I also recommended using the word "zugzwang" in place of "entertainment."
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