Series Updates for ABC, NBC, CW, Syfy

No surprise to most of us, NBC's (And J.J. Abrams) Undercovers has been cancelled.  The show never reached much of an audience and consistently recieved mediocre numbers.  The show will continue to run until December 1st, but production on the show has been halted.

NBC has given full season pick ups to Chase, Chuck, The Event, Outsourced, and Law and Order: Los Angeles bringing their totals up to 24 episodes.

In addition, NBC has upped the order of episodes for Community by two to make it 24 for the season.   This does not  guarantee renewal however.

Also, there will be no more episodes ordered for the CW's Life Unexpected, which is currently slated for 13 episodes, and it's not expected that there will be a second season.

ABS has cancelled the Whole Truth, which got pretty bad ratings.  They have not yet indicated if all 13 episodes would air.

ABC has given Better with You, Brother & Sisters and No Ordinary Family full season orders, bringing their episode totals up to 22.  Detroit 1-8-7 has been given an increased order, brining its total up to 18.

CBS' Medium, which is in its 5th season has had its order cut down to 13 episodes this seasin and is highly likely to be cancelled by the end of the season.

Syfy Has cancelled Caprica, their Battlestar Galactica follow-up that never really caught on with the fans.

Marvel and DC TV Series Updates

ABC is currently developing a new Incredible Hulk series.  Marvel thinks the Incredible Hulk will have legs as a television series like the 80s series on CBS.  The Incredible Hulk did not do well in feature film format, as there have been two movies in the last ten years, and neither did particularly well.

Marvel also may be looking at developing a Cloak and Dagger series based upon the Marvel characters of Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen, with the powers of a cloak of darkness and light daggers, respectively.This show may be developed for ABC Family.

Also, from DC Entertainment, David E. Kelley (creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public and Boston Legal) is developing a new Wonder Woman TV series.  The character barely left the ground under Joss Whedon's pen last year, and hasn't made much progress as a feature film since.  Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman was a hit television show on ABC and then CBS in the 70's.

No Ordinary Family Updates

ABC's No Ordinary Family, has gotten an order for four more scripts from ABC.  This is good news for one of falls highest rated new shows, and one of the few success stories of the fall television season.

ABC also has announced that No Ordinary Family will be moving to Tuesdays at 9 pm starting from November 30th to December 14th, while ABC airs various holiday specials in the 8 pm slot.  When No Ordinary Family returns on January 4th to the 8 pm slot, it will be followed by the second season premiere of V.

Also, Life Unexpected has gotten an order for two more scripts from the CW. 

Fall TV Ratings - Sluggish TV Season

Fall TV Ratings

I think it's hard not to say after this TV Viewing season that TV Viewership is down, but it's also fairly obvious that most of the new TV shows have not found an audience.  The first two fall casualties have already been canceled after two episodes - FOX's Lone Star was the first, and ABC's My Generation was the second.

In addition, this week NBC's Chase dipped below a 1.7, which is extremely low for a (new) first season show.  NBC's The Event (whose advertising budget was larger than most returning series entire production budgets) lost 17% of its viewership this week as well, bringing it down to a 2.4. NBC's other big new premier, JJ Abrams Undercovers, dropped to a 1.6 for a 24% drop in its second week.

ABC's The Whole Truth is down 20% to a 1.2 putting it firmly in the cancellation zone as well.  Detroit 1-8-7 hasn't found an audience either, at a 2.1, and is likely to be canceled by the end of the season.

FOX's The Good Guys is likely to be the next to be canceled with a 0.7 rating, and is Running Wilde going to be far behind at a 2.3?

The CW is down across the board as well, so it's hard to see what shows will be canceled.  Life Unexpected is certainly going to be canceled with a .77 rating.  The rest are too close to call, but the CW will certainly need some work, as their rating are all quite low.

CBS is doing the best of all the network overall, with none of their shows in cancellation range yet.

That concludes the ratings report for the first two weeks of fall TV.

So far, it's not looking too promising for most of the new fall shows, although Mike and Molly, CBS' Monday comedy, is looking to be the most ppopular new fall show with a 3.9. 

Top fall comedy premiere- Raising Hope on FOX!

Fall Comedy Premiere Reviews


ABC
Modern Family
Wednesdays at 9 PM


  

Modern Family starts out with a funny episode about the passage of time, and trying to recapture it. Phil, Gloria, and Mitchell had some funny moments in this episode. The show seems to have grown up a little bit since it began a year ago, and I have grown to like it more and more, the more I watch it. The humor never seems telegraphed or forced, even though some of the things that happen are a little extreme.



This is one of the best comedies of 2009, and it is still just as funny. The only shows that I think are funnier are The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, which are focused on a different demographic. None of this years new comedies are as funn as Modern Family so far, though they certainly have potential.


Rating: B+



Cougar Town
Wednesdays at 9:30 PM

This first episode of season 2 guest starts the second of Courtney Cox's Friends alum. In the first season it was Lisa Kudrow, and this episode it is Jennifer Anniston, playing Jules' new therapist, Glenn. Glenn helps Jules understand why Grayson needs some time without her. Elle helps her realize that Glenn is just as crazy as the rest of them.

Laurie and Travis make a bet to see who can stay up longer, further cementing their sibling-like relationship, in one of the most entertaining moments in the episode.

Bobby has trouble with Grayson and Jules' relationship, while Grayson and Bobby further develop their uneasy friendship.

This show is entertaining from one episode to the next, without exception. It has evolved so far beyond its premise that it no longer resembles the show it first set out to be. That is one of it's strengths, as the show it set out to be be was a tired one note joke, and this show is anything but.

Rating: A-

NBC
Outsourced
Thursdays 9:30 PM

One of my friends suggested that I watch NBC's new comedy Outsourced, and I tried to like it, I really did. The thing is, I live in America, as do most of the people watching the show, and I find it relatively offensive to spend an entire 30 minutes go back and forth between making fun of Indian culture, food etc. and making fun of American culture, food, etc.



Its hard to decide what the target audience for a show like this is – I chuckled once or twice, but most of the time, making fun of the relative frivolity and freedom of American culture was annoying more than upsetting.



Only one of the characters stood out in my mind – but I honestly couldn't even tell you his name. The premise has legs, but the writing needs some tweaking, and many fewer jokes making fun of American and Indian culture. The culture clash should create the humor instead of blatantly making fun of one or the other.



Rating: C-



FOX
Raising Hope
Tuesdays at 9:00 PM

I wasn't looking forward to watching this show, because the premise didn't “grab” me. Once I started watching the show though, I was interested. Like Greg Garcia's other show, My Name is Earl, the show is grungy, realistic, and fun. It is funny, perhaps the funniest show I've seen this year. Some of the funniest characters in the first episode got minimal screen time, but I'm sure that'll change throughout the rest of the season.

Jimmy Chance had a one night stand, and the next morning we find out she's a murderer. The Chance family sends her back to prison, and 9 months later we find out the one night stand had a baby. Soon the mother is out of the picture, and Jimmy is left with a baby girl, named “Princess Beyonce” by her mother. The baby is soon renamed “Hope” and Jimmy decides to keep her, after the disagreement of his entire family, who can barely afford to take care of themselves.
Martha Plimpton plays Jimmy's mother Virginia, and she is one of the strong points of the show. Also, his grandmother is played by Cloris Leachman, and she steals every scene as the often senile old woman. I wish we could see more of her, and hope we do. The other character I hoped to see more of was the Grocery store worker, and potential love interest for Jimmy, Sabrina (Shannon Woodward), whose scenes were quirky and funny.



The show is sweet and funny, and some of the scenes with the baby make me laugh because Jimmy seems to be just as clueless about how to raise a baby as any first time parent (more so than some). Some of the comedy is a little bit exaggerated, and the sight gags are funny, especially the one with the kiss (I won't go into detail, but I squirmed).



I liked this show and thought it was cute, endearing, and funny. The cast is great, and the chemistry is there. I hope Hope is around for a long time.

Rating: A-






CBS
Mike & Molly
Mondays at 9:30 PM

Mike & Molly follows two fat people, Mike Biggs, a police officer looking to lose weight, and Molly Flynn, a fourth-grade teacher. They meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting, they make a connection, though they fail to make a date. They then meet again later, and Mike finally has the confidence to ask her out.


The show has its funny moments, and the supporting cast so far seems pretty entertaining, but there were just too many fat jokes. The show is about fat people, we get it (I mean his name is Mike Biggs, seriously?) - the show is about fat people going to Overeaters anonymous. The fat jokes should be well placed and littered infrequently thought the episode, but I thought the pilot was thin on plot with way too many fat jokes.
I'm still not sure where this show is going, I'm not sure what tension here is, since we know they'll end up together (The show IS called Mike & Molly after all) . I'll stick around because I like what I've seen of the characters and the cast, but the writing has to improve, and they have to work on their jokes.



I'll be around for another episode or two, but there better be something in those episodes to keep me around.

Rating: B-

This is No Ordinary Show!

No Ordinary Family

 

 Tuesdays at 8 pm

ABC

 
I have been waiting for the premiere of No Ordinary Family on ABC since I heard about it this past summer.  It has gotten quite a bit of advertising, and has grown quite a bit of buzz over the past few months.  Many people consider it the spiritual successor to NBC's Heroes, which was canceled last spring after 4 seasons.

There aren't a whole lot of similarities between the two shows though other than the fact that both shows star people with superpowers.  I imagine NBC's mid-season replacement show The Cape is more likely to be heroes spiritual successor in genre as well as tone, but time will tell.

In the meantime, No Ordinary Family seems like it is going to be a very character-based, family-oriented show.  It is sort-of like a live-action version of The Incredibles, but instead of comedy and light-hearted fun, this will be a dramady (drama+comedy) complete with both humorous moments and character-based drama.


The show is about Jim and Stephanie Powell and their kids Daphne and JJ.Their lives have caused them to feel disconnected from one another until they go on a vacation to Brazil, and get in a plane crash in the Amazon.  Their plane crashes into the Amazon, and they land in glowing green water.  When they return home they find out that they all have gained superpowers - Jim is super-strong, near invulnerable, and can leap, Stephanie has gained super-speed, Daphne has gained the ability to hear other people's thoughts, and JJ, who previously had learning disabilities, now has super-intelligence.

I was under the impression that they would be the only super-powered people on the show, but was pleasantly surprised to see at least one more in the pilot, and I imagine there'll be more to come.

The pilot begins with the plane crash and then shows us how they developed their powers.  The show is not above turning the usual comic conventions on their ears, such as invulnerability, "leaping tall buildings in a single bound", etc. as well as containing many Easter eggs for comic book and superhero fans.  It seems like the writers are having a lot of fun with the show, it's characters, and the genre as a whole.

The pilot is a lot like the first issues of a comic book in that it explains the heroes origins, so the tone and pacing of the first episode is likely to be different then the rest of the episodes, but if the first episode is any indication, it looks like this show is going to be a lot of fun. 

Overall I enjoyed the episode quite a bit, and can't wait for the rest of the season.  This is one of the few new hour-long TV shows I will be watching this season (The other are The Cape and The Event).  The Cape doesn't start until mid-season, and I haven't yet watched The Event but as long as the writing stays as strong, intelligent, and funny as the first episode, I think it is safe to say this is one of the best new TV Shows of the season.

Rating: A

Modern Family is Quirky Family Fun

Modern Family: Season 1

Wednesdays at 9 PM

ABC

Last year, I heard a lot of buzz about the two new ABC fall comedies, Modern Family and The Middle.  I recently saw an episode of The Middle, and I wasn't impressed.  Because of this, I decided to skip The Middle and instead decided to watch Modern Family.

Modern Family is about family - three different families, to be exact, all of them different variations of the modern family unit.  There's Jay, his new wife Gloria, and her son Manny.  Gloria and Manny are Columbian, and Gloria is much younger than Jay. The second family is Jay's daughter Claire, her husband Phil,and their three kids, Haley, Alex and Luke.  The third family is Jay's son Mitchell, his partner Cameron, and their adopted Chinese daughter Lily. 

The show is set up as a mockumentary, with sitdowns with family members in between scenes relating to specific topics, such as motherhood, fatherhood, passing time, birthdays, holidays, etc.  The show won three Emmy's including Best Comedy Series, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

The show takes a little geting used to, as I have not in the past watched a comedy series with this particular style.  Other shows with this mockumentary style include The Office and Parks and Recreation. 

The families seem real, much more real than most other families on television.  The comedy comes from realistic situations, and realistic (and sometimes quirky) characters.  The characters are pitch perfect, and very funny, especially Eric Stonestreet (Cameron) and Ed O'Neil (Jay). They have a certain quirkiness to them, which reminds you that they are supposed to represent the modern family, in all its forms, flaws and all.

The one problem I have with the show is the character of Phil (Ty Burell).  He seems almost too quirky and childish to be a father of three kids. Other than that, I think the characters are spot on and realistic.

4 out of 5 stars

A Flash in the Pan: FlashForward Review

FlashForward: Complete Series

Released on DVD August 31st, 2010

ABC

  A mysterious event causes nearly everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 137 seconds, during which people see what appear to be visions of their lives approximately six months in the future—a global "flashforward". A team of Los Angeles FBI agents, led by Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance) and spearheaded by Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and his partner Demetri Noh (John Cho), begin the process of determining what happened, why, and whether it will happen again. Benford contributes a unique perspective on the investigation; in his flashforward, he saw the results of six months of investigation that he had done on the flashforward event, and he and his team use those clues to recreate the investigation.


FlashForward is a show, much like Lost and the upcoming The Event which revolves around a mystery that needed to be solved.  In this case, the mystery was the event that caused the worldwide blackout, and the flashforwards. 

The show was entertaining and engrossing, and the writing was superb.  It was cancelled after it's first season due to plummeting ratings, the same thing that happened to ABC's other freshman show V .  Unfortunately, a number of factors were working against the show.  Its time slot on Thursdays was packed with popular shows, and ABC put the show on a 3 month hiatus mid-season.  The networks do not seem to understand (or care) that these hiatuses severely damage fan interest. 

This is one of those shows that is much easier to watch on DVD because if you miss one episode, you're likely to be completely lost.  The concept was intriguing and original, but due to the nature of show, there were many flashbacks and even more flashforwards, which made the show confusing at times.  If you followed the show from beginning to end, there was a definitive payoff at the end of the season (unlike many abruptly canceled shows).

The show had a fairly large cast with at least 9 main character threads interweaving throughout the season.  They were fairly easy to follow and all the various plot threads connected near the end to reach one cohesive narrative.  The one exception to this was Mark Benford's friend and AA sponsor Aaron Stark (Bryan F. O'Byrne).   His plot thread remained independent of the others and slowed the narrative to a halt.  It didn't connect (tangentially) to the others until the last few episodes, and when it did, it was hardly worth it. Other than that, the writing was superb and intelligent.

The characters were likable and realistic, all with their own faults and weaknesses.  My favorites were Demetri (Cho) and fellow FBI agent Janis Hawke (Christine Woods), and Dr. Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton). 

It is a pity this show only lasted one season, as the ratings may have gotten better had it been moved to a more favorable timeslot, or not given a 3 month hiatus, or given a second season. I enjoyed the 22 episodes available here, though, and am satisfied by the conclusion they offered.  


3 1/2 stars out of 5

Cougar Town is Surprisingly Funny

Cougar Town: Season One

DVD Released August 17th, 2010

Wednesdays at 9:30 PM on ABC

Both the premise and the title of the show, Cougar Town originally turned me off.  The show's target audience is older women. Nothing about the show's title or description was interesting to me in the least.  However it was on before Eastwick last fall, so i often caught the episodes, and i found that they were surprisingly funny, and not nearly as focused on the cougar aspect as I would have expected. 

Cougar is a slang term for a woman over fourty who persues younger men. 

In fact, the show really isn't as much about cougars as it is about a divorced woman who is trying to re-enter the dating world and keep up with her younger assistant Laurie.  In fact, the show strayed so far from its cougar roots that in May 2010, the shows producers were considering a name change, but were unable to come up with a better name. 

So the name stuck, and while it isn't necesarily what the show is about, it certainly is a name that stands out. I gave the show a chance, and watched the entire thing, and I found it to be amusing.  The humor was often vulgar and in your face, but I enjoyed it.  I found the characters to be interesting and likeable, even the screw-up ex husband Bobby.

Jules Cobb (Courtney Cox) is pitch perfect as the divorced mother of a teenage son, Travis (Dan Byrd), trying to get into the dating scene again while still being a mother to her son. Bobby (Brian Van Holt) is her ex-husband and Travis' father who still cares about Jules so much that she can't get rid of him. Ellie (Christa Miller) and Andy (Ian Gomez) Torres are Jules next door neighbors, and Jules and Bobby's best friends (respectively). Ellie is the married, 40-something voice of reason in Jules quest to recapture her youth, in part to keep up with her 20-something assistant Laurie (Busy Phillips). Jules identifies early on with the neighbor that lives across from the street from her who is also recently divorced, Grayson Ellis (Josh Hopkins). At first Grayson is resistant, but eventually becomes a permanent part of Jules social circle.

The show starts off with Jules dating younger men, but eventually she gets into some more mature relationships, and it seems as though that is likely a more permanent direction that the show is going to go in.

The one weak point in my view is the character of Laurie, who often times is entertaining, but just as often is shallow and annoying. She sems to have made steps later in the season towards being less a self-involved bimbo, but is still the most annoying character in the show.

Still, the humor is there, and most of the characters are likable and real.  When the season was ove,r i found myself wishing there were more.  I have yet to see Modern Family but Cougar Town looks to be the best freshmen sitcom of the 2009-2010 season.  I'll re-evaulate after having seen Modern Family but this show is miles ahead of the other freshman sitcom The Middle, perhaps not in originality but certainly in entertainment value and humor.

Ignore the show's description and it's title, and give Cougar Town a chance - you're likely to be pleasantly surprised. I know I was.

4 out of 5 stars

Ugly Better Season 4 Review

Ugly Betty: 4th and Final Season Review

DVD released August 17th, 2010

ABC

The 4th and final Season of Ugly Betty was one filled with many changes. The most obvious change is in her looks.  Betty Suarez' style grew up this season as we see her in much more fashionable attire.  This was far from the only change this season though, as there was a change around every corner, and it seemed like at least one in every eipsode.

As a matter of fact, there were so many changes that is is actually hard to talk about this season without mentioning them.  This season felt like Betty was growing up, and the show was trying to grow up with her, but it wasn't exactly sure where it wanted to go. 

All of the main characters played a large role, although for the second season in a row Daniel Mead, one of my favorite characters, played a smaller role.  Wilhelmina Slater (played wonderfully by Vanessa Williams) had some surprising turns this season, but in the end learned the lesson that all she ever had to do to get what she wanted was to be nice. Justin Suarez finally did something interesting this season, and he learned a lesson or two himself (for the first time in the series, the lesson was not about fashion).  The friendship fostered between him and Mark St. James was entertaining, and led to some very humanizing and sympathetic moments for the often cold and mean Mark.  Amanda tried very hard to grow up this season, even though she didn't really seem to know how. The turning point was when she finally found her father, after two seasons!

We had some returns as Matt Hartley returned as Betty's boss (and boyfriend), as did Gio and Henry, Betty's former boyfriends.  Christina, Betty's former friend and Mods magazine's former seamstress returns for a few episodes as well.  We also see Nico, Wilhelmina's daughter, return for a few episodes.

We also had some guest stars this season as "Third Rock From the Sun" alum Kristen Johnston plays Helen, in a hilarious turn as Amanda's friend and perpetual leech.  RuPaul, and Kathy Najimy, Christie Brinkley guest star as well.  Shkira guest stars as herself, and in one of the funniest turns of all, Chris Williams, Vanessa Williams real life brother, plays WilhelDiva Hater, a drag queen modeled after Vanessa's character. 

Betty goes through some changes as well..but most of those would give away the season. Suffice it to say, where Betty and Daniel end up in the last episode is pretty much where i expected them to from the start of the series, but it's too bad it took so long because it would have been interesting to explore.  I will say this - Betty finally gets rid of her braces!

The series finale was one not filled with endings but with beginnings and it was overwhelmingly positive.  It is among my favorite episodes of the series.  The entire cast, by the end of season four, had grown up.  There were many life changing events this season for every character, and they all ended up in a better place then they were in the beginning of the season, having moved on.  Just as the cast of Ugly Betty had to move on now that the show was cancelled, so did all of Ugly Betty's characters, each of them to a new, more mature place.


3 1/2 Stars out of 5