.
Probably shouldn’t admit this, because I have a long history of falling for TV shows that get cancelled for being “too niche”, but I’m really enjoying Forever. Okay, it’s a live-action adaptation of a graphic novel, but the two (or four) main actors are really good at their jobs.
The only other show I’m currently watching in real time is Castle, because the Spousal Unit also enjoys it, and it’s on at a convenient time for us. Except yesterday, when it was pre-empted here by the Patriots game, which I am given to understand was a disaster anyways.
That having been established, do I want to watch either How to Get Away with Murder (just for Viola Davis) or Black-ish?
Are there other shows I should be looking at? I was mildly intrigued by the Scorpion teasers, but reviews have been… not good.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jeffery Tambor on Colbert tonight, that has the potential to be one for the ages
NotMax
Looking for something to read while in the little geezer’s room Saturday night at our weekly gathering spot, idly picked up the catalog for the local college’s adult ed courses.
Noticed that the course for becoming a certified veterinary assistant was listed at 170 hours, the one for how to be a wedding planner 300 hours.
Does not compute.
Omnes Omnibus
I was at this concert. Came across it on YouTube and made the realization that I was there. Back and left of the stage. That’s were I go.
Too Much Joy also did what I think may be the ultimate “I have cancer but I Intend to live song.”
Hobbes
Maybe give The Code a look; there haven’t been many episodes yet, so its hard to tell how good it will be; and keep an eye out for the movie Inherent Vice.
I have enjoyed Forever so far.
Wally Ballou
Still watching baseball. A’s are leading 13-12 in the bottom of the 12th.
This is actually only the second-ever postseason elimination game to go 12 innings. The other was Game 7 of the 1924 WS.
TheMightyTrowel
Totally worth your time, but not exactly new or on US tv: In the Flesh. It’s a bbc zombie show. sort of. it’s set several years after a zombie rising when a cure, more or less, has been developed and the ‘partially deceased’ are being reintegrated into society. It’s classic bbc black humour mixed with tear jerking drama. Not many episodes (S1 is 3, S2 is 6), but 100% worth your time.
Mike J
Scorpion was awful. I watched the first one and could not stand it. I really, really hate the stupid shortcut writers always use to show somebody is smart. “That seven year old played chess against a grandmaster and beat him in 8 moves!” There are very, very, very few ways to lose in 8 moves, and GMs don’t fall for any of them.
Wally Ballou
Royals tie it 8-8 in the 12th.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: I think I saw them at the old 9:30. Very good show.
Hobbes
If we’re also recommending less recent shows I will suggest a couple of classic British sci-fi shows: Blake’s 7 and Sapphire and Steel.
Bonnie
I like Forever a lot; and, I don’t even read graphic novels. However, it runs opposite Person of Interest out west; thus, I plan to watch it “on demand.” I am a fan of Castle since the beginning; but, last night’s episode was a bit strange. I don’t like continued storylines, which is one of the reasons I think it has been so good all these years. I watched How to Get Away With Murder and was shocked at the sex in it (but, I am old and grew up on Cary Grant movies). I love Viola Davis but was disappointed in the pilot episode. Also, there were some scenes that took place at night that were very confusing and, of course, hard to see clearly. Still, I plan to watch the next episode, hoping it will be better. The only new show that I have watched that I enjoy is The Mysteries of Laura with Debra Messing. It also has Josh Lucas a much better looking version of Matthew McConaughey as Debra Messing’s ex-husband, but boss. It’s light-hearted fun. [Wow, Kansas City just beat Oakland in the 12th inning.]
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: The DC ckub?
Wally Ballou
Royals win 9-8 in the 12th.
TooManyJens
@Bonnie: Last night’s Castle was basically 42 minutes of setup. Which I can deal with if the story goes somewhere interesting, but I’m a little wary. I hope this isn’t Andrew Marlowe wanting to flex his action-movie muscles again — I don’t usually like those storylines (like when Alexis was kidnapped).
Anybody else watching Sleepy Hollow? I’m still enjoying the sheer batshit craziness of it.
Xantar
Scorpion is awful, and I don’t know why a show that touts itself as “inspired by a true life” is so fast and loose with science. Having it come after The Big Bang Theory which employs an actual physicist to make sure the scribbles on the blackboards are accurate also seems like a bad idea.
I’ve always enjoyed Person of Interest. It’s a show about the government’s use of a supercomputer that predicts acts of terror by putting everybody under surveillance (and a small band of people who use that computer to prevent acts of murder). A primetime network TV show that wrestles with these issues is worth supporting, in my opinion.
Also, Gotham is just plain fun.
Betty Cracker
I can’t sleep, so I’m watching The American Experience biography of Bill Clinton (streaming PBS on Roku). Jesus, I thought I had a clear recollection of the 90s, but I guess I was too busy being a carefree, single yoot back then.
Dick Morris was Rasputin. Newt Gingrich was as evil and obstructionist as the Republicans are today. There was as much hysteria about the deficit with even less reason. There wasn’t the overt racism we see today since the Clintons are white, but the classism, misogyny and anti-Democrat animus were even more flagrant than I recalled.
KG
my only new show this year is Gotham. Which is troubling, because a lot of my shows are ending or have lost my interest. True Blood and Sons of Anarchy in the first group, Ray Donovan in the second. I like Sleepy Hollow, just started the second season, fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously (plus its portrait of the founding fathers is probably going to piss off conservatards if they ever pay attention). Oh, and new American Horror Story starts next week
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, many of us know.
Hunter Gathers
The team sabermetricians loathe just beat the team sabermetricians drool over.
Billy Beane’s A’s have as many World Series appearances during his tenure as the Cubs: Zero.
TooManyJens
@KG: I had an argument with someone the other day who was saying that Sleepy Hollow is deeply conservative because it buys into the myth that the founding fathers were these almost god-like heroes who were fighting the forces of evil yadda yadda yadda. I don’t really agree with that, but if the show gets popular enough I’m sure there’ll be someone willing to write a column for NRO claiming it for the Right.
KG
@Hunter Gathers: in fairness, only seven teams from the AL have made the World Series during his tenure, so half the AL has as many World Series appearances as the As. And of those seven, five have been multiple times
KG
@TooManyJens: this week had naked Ben Franklin. And a rant about Jefferson’s line that banks are worse than standing armies. It also has all the founders involved in the occult. So, that’ll be a fun appropriation
Hungry Joe
The playoffs are so (relatively) short that pretty much anything can happen; the test is making it there. As for tonight, I was kind of pulling for the A’s, but still — that’s one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Anybody who doesn’t like baseball is screwy.
[Covers head and whines, Jerry Lewis-like, “Don’t hit! Don’t hit!”]
TooManyJens
@KG: You know they’ll try it though.
Wait, was Franklin naked again this week, or did you mean last week? I thought Franklin’s appearance in this ep was even more hilariously insane.
KG
@TooManyJens: oh, that was last week with the key, that’s right. This week he just flirted with witches and tried to build a warrior out of dead soldiers
Not Adding Much to the Community
Mild Spoilers Ahead. I burned through most of season one of Extant yesterday. I started out with it running in a small window as I did other stuff, but ended up watching eight episodes, the last five or so in fullscreen. Pretty good science fiction, with enough plot twists to keep me wondering what kind of story this really is, and not too much cheese. Plus Hallie Berry. Competing space virus vs runaway AI plot lines.
Violet
I watched the first episode of blackish. The first half of it was good then it got extra sitcom-y. Has some potential. It was interesting to see some of the racial topics being discussed. Stereotypes being addressed. That kind of thing.
TooManyJens
@KG:
The serene smile on his face while he was doing that killed me.
lahke
@Hobbes: I so loved Blake’s 7!! The irony of this British show that totally disses revolution is hilarious also: the Federation is evil, the revolutionaries become corrupt–boy, that’ll show us Americans what should have happened when we tried it.
srv
Masterpiece Endeavour season 2. Season 8 of Foyle’s War is on Netflix, Foyle becomes Smiley.
Halt & Catch Fire started out OK, but leaning towards too soapy, will wait until finishing season 1 to vote.
Longmire really grew on me, like a show where it’s not obvious who dunnit until at least 45 minutes in. Decent story arc.
gogiggs
@Omnes Omnibus: Which I listened to constantly during my treatment. That and Energy by The Apples In Stereo. If they played Cleveland on that tour then I was certainly at that show. I saw TMJ every time they played here from ’91 on.
Scorpion is pretty bad. It has huge doses of all the problems you get when people who aren’t that smart try to write characters that are really smart for an audience they assume are idiots. Also, in my experience, one thing that really smart people don’t do is constantly talk about how smart they are and one thing that really smart people do realize is that all IQ measures is your ability to take IQ tests.
cckids
@KG:
I have GOT to get enrolled in this new AP History class. The things my teachers skipped!!
Comrade Mary
Catch up with the first 5 seasons of The Good Wife (seasons 1-4 are on Netflix), the watch season 6 as it unrolls this year.
Hobbes
@gogiggs:
Sounds like you’ve watched Fringe.
@lahke: More a warning that government without checks and balances tends towards totalitarianism. In the first episode Blake says “I won’t rest until the government is in the hands of honest men.” Kerr Avon replies “Have you ever met an honest man?”*
*quoted from memory, may not be word perfect.
Anne Laurie
@Comrade Mary: I’m prejudiced against The Good Wife because I have trouble watching Julianna Margulies. Yeah, she’s a good actress, but her last several seasons in ER left me with a permanent allergy — I tried a few episodes of first season TGW and just couldn’t bear her.
Tommy
About the only new show I have gotten into is Red Band. I am not willing to say it is a “good” show because it has to prove itself. But I guess a show will terminal ill kids can pull at the heart strings.
Chet
@Anne Laurie: I was once on an online forum where somebody who claimed to have worked on one of her movies (“Ghost Ship”, maybe?) said she was an insufferable, obnoxious bitch on set.
I know, nobody ever lies on the internet and you need to separate the art from the artist and all, but I have to admit that it’s soured me on her a little ever since.
Chet
@Hungry Joe: That’s why I don’t hold with those who bitch about teams celebrating on the field after they’ve “only” clinched their division. Winning out over a six-month, 162-game marathon isn’t an impressive accomplishment?
Anne Laurie
@Chet: Innaresting. I watched the first dozen seasons of ER on DVD, several episodes at a time, and got the distinct impression that her fellow actors didn’t much care for her, whatever the script required them to say. But I wasn’t sure how much was my own growing distaste, combined with some really tired long-term-series-itis where her character gradually morphed into “St. Carol the Righteous, Who Is Just Better Than All You Peons”.
Tommy
@Chet: I binge watched the Good Wife. Not a show I think I would like. I found myself liking it a lot. I get you either like or not like Julianna Margulies. Clearly. I had not liked her in ER. On this show, I can’t tell you way exactly, but I enjoy the show.
Wally Ballou
@Anne Laurie:
I believe the technical term for this is Alan Alda Disease.
Debbie(aussie)
@Hobbes:
The Code is great, and made in Aust too. For Zena fans, Lucy Lawless has a role,(looks good).
Southern Beale
Well, speaking of pop culture, I just saw this. They’re going to make a movie based on the video game “Tetris.”
Just fucking stop already. Jesus.
Chris
Not being in America right now, I am missing out on a ton of this. Is that new Star Wars animated show out yet? If so, any good?
@Bonnie:
I actually like continued storylines. It’s storylines that overstay their welcome that annoy me. I’m a season or two behind on Castle, but as I recall I thought they got the timing exactly right. They gave you the “will they won’t they” and “who killed Beckett’s mother” hooks in the beginning, milked them for all they were worth, and then, just when I was starting to have enough of it, resolved them both. And continued the show.
(By contrast, the Status Quo Is God handling of the main storylines in Burn Notice is pretty much what caused me to drop out).
John Revolta
If the film does well, Kasanoff isn’t looking to limit the “Tetris” world to just a big-screen experience. “We certainly have the canvas for location-based entertainment based on the epicness.”
Please fucking stop. Already.
Chris
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t remember the politics of the nineties much (aside from BlowjobGate, which even then I found idiotic). What always blows my mind when reading about the era was how blatant the *class* prejudice was. I mean, these are the people who drone on and on about the Salt Of The Earth, the honest hardworking blue collar heartlanders, with their Work Ethic and their Family Values. But when one of them got to the White House, all of a sudden, he was white trash, trailer trash, hillbilly trash, an uncouth hick who’d come in and trashed the place, and it wasn’t his place.
ThresherK
Seven stolen bases?
I thought I was watching the Expos out there.
Chris
@TooManyJens:
I hate that way of idolizing the founders, but I can’t call it conservative, it’s far too widespread for that. Conservatives may be the epitome of it, conservatives may think they own it… but you might as well say that eating apple pie and setting off Fourth of July fireworks is conservative. (And I’m sure they do, but that don’t make it so).
Wally Ballou
@Chris: No kidding.
Of course, there’s always been the more unvarnished type of blueblood-WASP Tory Republican who’s not afraid to wear his/her classism on his/her sleeve. Florence King, the neoreactionary Southern belle (and lesbian-but-please-have-the-good-taste-not-to-talk-about-it) who penned the “Misanthrope’s Corner” column for National Review black then, was such a one, and I distinctly remember her taking her fellow conservatives to task for their (pseudo) populist pandering and sniffing that this is what comes of politicians bringing themselves down to the proles’ level, or suchlike.
Wally Ballou
@ThresherK: And more bunting than you’d find on a parade float.
Wally Ballou
@Chris: Ah, here’s that Florence King piece I mentioned. (Couldn’t find the original link, but somebody approvingly quoted it in full on, of all places, a message board for fans of the Clash.)
http://www.clashcity.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1480#p39687
That bolded bit is especially rich, no?
I’ll say this much for Ms. King: She’s nothing if not candid. And I think it would be a great thing for the country and its politics if every Republican took her advice. Mainly because none of them, outside a handful of the very toniest precincts, would ever get elected dogcatcher ever again.
Chris
@Wally Ballou:
The thing is, the entire point of the Republican Party for the last half century is that they managed to move past that “Yankee, WASP, blueblood” background and tap into the more blue collar demographics – Southerners, Westerners and ethnic whites especially.
(One of the more fascinating parts of the book Charlie Wilson’s War was the entire story of Gust Avrakotos – a man from an immigrant, working class family in a Rust Belt industrial town, who ended up a right winger with even a Fox News contract. His whole life he had a burning hatred for “the blue bloods,” from the shitheads who owned his town to the Ivy Leaguers who ran the CIA. What was up with that? Was he a New Deal populist mad at the economic elites, or a Nixon/Reagan populist mad at the cultural elites? In his head, I’m sure he was both. And getting people like him to see it that way – speaking to their hatred of the elites sneering at them and their background, reframing the New Deal era’s resentments that way, is a huge part of how the Repubs were able to peel off so many whites who now identify tribally with it).
… THAT… is why the overt shitting on Clinton for his white trash background surprises me so much: it repudiates everything that made their party so successful. Maybe I’m wrong and it was just a few Washington elites, but it seems like the entire Republican Party temporarily reverted to their pre-1960s blueblood persona. Did they really think that shit would play well with their new base? I know, plenty of them were already in the tank for the GOP for good – but it also probably isn’t an accident that Clinton was the last Democratic presidential candidate who was competitive in the heartland.
Kathleen
I, too am a big Castle fan and am intrigued to see how the new story line unfolds, but I must admit I have a “where do they go from here” reservation about this season.
I also enjoy Rizzoli and Isles on TNT, and, though these are older shows, I’m addicted to Nashville and Scandal.
Ramalama
Happy Valley on Netflix is awesome. I also watched How to Get Away with Murder. Wow I don’t think I’d ever seen Viola Davis before but she blew the tv show on its side, so I didn’t so much mind the students / bad acting at all.
Sondra
I’m enjoying “Forever” too. but like you, I’m a sucker for shows that don’t make it either. We don’t know why he has lived so long and I’m hoping they keep us in the dark because I’d rather not know than have a lame reason.
I am liking “Scorpion” because they have autistic kids and adults as heros and I like that. I work with autistic kids and I like the idea that they are being mainstreamed into the public. This is not the first time a show like this has been tried…starting back with “Numbers”, but so far it is the best one.
SFAW
Haven’t seen much of Castle, but I just finished Season One of Fillion’s other show. It’s called “Firefly,” and Joss Whedon is the exec producer. It’s a sci-fi/cowboy-type thing.
I’m moderately psyched for Season 2, but I haven’t seen an announcement for when it’s going to start. Maybe it’ll be November?
Comrade Mary
@Anne Laurie: I didn’t care much for St. Carol, either. But while I’m not pushing TGW on you, JM’s character in TGW is really not much of a saint. What is seductive about this show is the way people you know and root for are revealed to be more and more morally grey, at best.
But you do have to go through a lot of episodes, some weaker than others, to get the arc. As I told Le Guy, 22+ episodes a season is just too much.
Tenar Darell
I semi-recommend Selfie. The two lead actors are funny and sharp. Karen Gillan was good. John Cho deserves a hit after having his head twisted back last season in Sleepy Hollow. I can’t fully recommend because it looks like they changed the pilot between streaming it early on Hulu and broadcast, and that makes me nervous about their scripts.
Mnemosyne
@John Revolta:
But the epicness! The epicness!
Mnemosyne
@Comrade Mary:
If you like grey characters, you would love “The Americans.” I was skeptical at first because I’m not a huge fan of Keri Russell, but it’s really good. And you genuinely have no idea who you’re supposed to root for from moment to moment — the Soviet spies? The American FBI agents? The people getting pulled into the various operations? Every one of them is simultaneously sympathetic and morally compromised.
baquist
Which graphic novel is Forever based on?
steve
http://io9.com/scorpion-brings-the-stupidest-most-batshit-insane-hack-1638333877/all
Do not watch Scorpion.
NonyNony
@baquist:
Yeah – I’d like to know this too. I’m unaware of a graphic novel link and I would have thought my nerd alarm would have alerted me to such a thing.
moderateindy
@SFAW: I’m moderately psyched for Season 2, but I haven’t seen an announcement for when it’s going to start. Maybe it’ll be November?
I hope you’re joking about season 2 of “Firefly”, as the show was cancelled moe than a decade ago, and is fairly famous among the nerd set as being one of the most tragic cancellations of a show ever. If you weren’t aware there was a movie called Serenity that was made that tied up all the mysteries of the show.
The FX sitcom “You’re the Worst” is fairly funny and quirky. Garfunkel and Oates, on IFC is quite good if you like any of their stuff from Youtube, it pretty much has the same sensibilities as their songs.
steve
@moderateindy:
Serenity wasn’t great. It played fast and loose with the lore of the series and treated the characters with little respect (I am thinking of one radical transformation and one gratuitous casualty). I try to pretend it never happened (like Indiana Jones IV and that weird Star Wars fan fiction trilogy Lucas produced about the Jamaican space-rabbit and the force mitochondria).
hartly
@Hobbes: I’m not trying to show off, but I think that’s actually from the second episode – but props for remembering the dialogue and to you and all the others who’ve commented about it for even having seen this obscure show. Having said that, if anyone wants to catch up on this series it may be a little difficult; it’s never been released in Region 1 DVD format and probably never will be.
hartly
@moderateindy: I was going to comment on the second season thing but I see you’ve beat me to it. I was pretty miffed when it went off the air, but having since seen the untelevized stories on DVD I actually think in retrospect the early cancellation was probably for the best. With Zoe and Wash debating whether or not to have kids in that whore planet episode it looks like Joss Whedon was about to go all squishy and Buffy on us.
munsell10yr
Manhattan. Supernatural (natch). Z Nation is good, (not Walking Dead good, but entertaining). Scorpion has been pretty good, as well
munsell10yr
I liked Serenity mainly for the fact that Joss Whedon cared enough about his fans to make it. Mal is way too dark, Wash and Priest are killed, MORE MORENA BACCARIN! Jayne kicks ass, however. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda.
munsell10yr
The Last Ship isn’t bad, but I don’t know how they can draw the storyline out for more than a season or two. Still, Rhona Mitra.
Dennis
If you like Scandal, you’ll like How to Get Away with Murder. Personally, I can’t stand the tone of either one–I watched a season of Scandal before giving up, and the pilot of HTGAWM is almost identical, with Viola Davis in place of Kerry Washington.
Can’t stand the breathless, fast-paced at all times delivery, the hero worship of the central figure, the “oh god that is stupid” plot twists, etc.
dlw32
@Hobbes: Wow! Kickin’ old school! Saphire and Steel is one of the best kept secrets…
Lauren
@Bonnie: Totally disagree on Mysteries of Laura. The show makes no effort whatsoever at capturing police procedure realistically, and is logistically stupid. It’s the worst thing I’ve seen in a while – couldn’t finish the episode. It was gratingly insulting to a crime genre viewer.
SFAW
@moderateindy:
Yes.
@steve:
Easy to do if you’re just trying to tie up loose ends.
John N
Most of the stuff coming out on Comedy Central these days is great, although their schedule is staggered in a weird way. Nathan For You is particularly brilliant. Broad City was definitely fun. Key and Peele are great. Kroll Show is super weird, but has some pretty amazing moments.
Oh, and Comedy Bang! Bang! on IFC!
Bonnie
@Lauren: I’ve been watching tv for too long to care about any program “capturing police procedure realistically”. TV seldom captures any thing realistically. My point of view is probably very different from yours because I am an old woman. I dated a policeman in my youth; and, in discussions about police procedurals, he liked Kojak (that’s how old I am) because it “seemed” like it was an accurate portrayal of police procedures. However, he said it wasn’t even close to reality. But, I don’t watch tv for reality; I usually watch it for escape. I like it when an actor makes me care about his/her character; and Debra Messing does that. I miss The Closer a lot.
Chris
@hartly:
Serenity was in the unenviable position of having to make a movie that split the difference between appealing to the old fans and being easily accessible for a new audience, and was self-contained enough to be a satisfying ending in case it was the only one. Didn’t work out as well as it could have, I agree, but I was just glad they made the effort and came (for me) close enough.
I did prefer the TV show. Aside from the characters, which have already been mentioned, I felt like the series did a much better job of world-building a universe with a lot of shades of gray than the straight up Individual Freedom Vs. Authority battle between Mal and the Operative in the movie.