TV Fall Recap: Drama

Due to popular demand, here are some quick capsule thoughts on various TV shows that I actually did watch some episodes of this fall, but never got around to writing up full reports.

Easy Money

This show only lasted four episodes since it was buried on CW's Sunday night block. Lack of promotion plus bad network = less than 1.0 Nielsen rating and quick cancellation. It's too bad because the two episodes I watched were actually kind of interesting. Laurie Metcalf (of "Roseanne" fame) is the matriach of a family-run payday loan (loan shark) business. The family is a bunch of morally gray misfits, except for one of the sons, Morgan. He's the only competent employee and family member without whom everyone else would end up bankrupt or in jail, sort of like Michael Bluth in "Arrested Development". Oh, did I mention that he finds out that he isn't actually their son at all? This leads to internal conflict about whether he should stay and help the "family" business or strike off on his own in something that he can better put his talents toward. Unfortunately, I'm not sure anything gets resolved in just four episodes.

Where to Watch: Fancast


The Ex List

I was really looking forward to this light-hearted romantic comedy since it stars Elizabeth Reaser. Buried on CBS Friday nights in between "Ghost Whisperer" and "Numb3rs", it just never fit in and only lasted four episodes. I watched the first two, and found it mildly amusing but not necessarily something I would tune into watch every week. Based on an Israeli TV show, in the pilot Bella Bloom (Reaser) learns from a psychic that "the one" she's destined to be with is someone she's already dated, and unless she gets married within the next year she will be alone forever. So she compiles a list of all of the people that she's ever dated (quite lengthy apparently) and proceeds to track them down one by one.

Throughout each episode we get flashbacks of how the relationship went the first time to contrast with how it's working out in the present day. In general, we discover that if it didn't work the first time you'll probably have the same problem the next time. One problem with the show is that Bella isn't quite sympathetic enough. She's a little on the insensitive side when it comes to dating. For example, in the pilot we see her dump her folk singer boyfriend on his birthday for being too sensitive. In the present day, he's become a hardened punk rocker made bitter by the experience of dating her the first time around. As an aside, the weepy musician is excellently played by Eric Balfour ("24", "Six Feet Under"), one of my favorite TV actors who sadly will never be a leading man. And that's probably the biggest drawback. When you take a formula-driven show and add the fact that the best performance is turned in by a guest star, you get a show that's going to be wildly inconsistent.

Where to Watch: You can't anymore. CBS has gotten really stingy about what shows have full episodes on their website. Boo! They did shoot 13 episodes, so there's an extremely slim chance that this will turn up on DVD some day.


Fringe

Touted as the next "X-Files", Meaghan and I were really looking forward to this new Fox sci-fi show. We stuck with it for the first six episodes, but ultimately decided that it just wasn't worth our time. FBI Agent Olivia Dunham is enlisted by a secret government organization to investigate a series of seemingly random scientific phenomena known as "The Pattern". Her team consists of a mad scientist named Walter and his less than reputable estranged son, Peter. You can see why comparisons to The X-Files would be made. FBI agents investigating unexplained phenomena... that sounds familiar. Unfortunately, this show has a lot of problems.

1) J.J. Abrams - This is probably just a personal hang-up, but I haven't enjoyed a thing the man has touched. Sucks for me that he created this then, eh? I never cared for "Alias" and watched the pilot of "Lost" and it didn't hook me. I think my main problem with him is his seeming emphasis of style over substance. Fans will say that they love the way he doles out miniscule pieces of information over the course of many episodes that add up to a bigger picture, but as a fan of many long-form comics which share this technique I think I just don't like the way that he does it. Case in point...

2) The Pattern - There's no reason whatsoever that we can see that makes the events in the show a pattern of any kind. That's all well and good to some extent as I'm sure things will become more clear as time progresses, but there's a problem. If we can't see a pattern, that means that the characters can't see a pattern. If they can't see a pattern, why the heck are they running around calling it "The Pattern". Yes, some but not all of the phenomena are related to inventions and discoveries developed by a mysterious global technology company by the name of Massive Dynamic (not incidentally headed by Walter's old scientific colleague), but that's just not enough for me.

3) The Characters - Or rather the lack there of. Agent Dunham is both not a compelling character and woodenly acted. This makes for a brutal combination. Poor Peter (Pacey!) is just not given anything to do, and Walter is only amusing when he's saying something absolutely kooky. So if a few random mad scientist outbursts are enough to get you through each episode, maybe you'll have better luck than we did.

Where to Watch: Hulu
When to Watch: Once you've caught up, tune into Fox on Tue 8/7 Central.


Valentine

Yet another show that only lasted four episodes on the CW's Sunday night block, but this one wasn't very good. It was a campy concept about how the Greek gods are alive and well in present-day Earth. Aphrodite and her son Eros operate a match-making company that's struggling to compete in the new era of Internet love. This is a problem because the less successful they are in spreading their influence the weaker they become. Not incidentally, Ares the god of war is one of the stronger gods in the modern world. In order to revitalize their business, they hire a mortal romance novelist as a consultant with the idea that she knows what modern people are looking for in love. Undoubtedly, Eros's love arrows go awry at some point and hilarity ensues in each episode. Strangely enough, there was an awful lot of Greek mythology knowledge necessary if you wanted to fully understand the "battle of the gods" subplot that was brewing under the surface in the two episodes that I watched. It may have eventually gone somewhere, but we'll never know.

Where to Watch: Hulu


Still to come in drama: The Mentalist, Knight Rider, Eleventh Hour, Sanctuary

Still to come in comedy: Do Not Disturb, Little Britain USA, Somebodies, Spaceballs: The Animated Series, Testees, The Life and Times of Tim, Childrens' Hospital, Worst Week, Gary Unmarried, Kath & Kim

Still to come in kids: Martha Speaks, Sid the Science Kid, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Suite Life on Deck, Gogoriki, Making Fiends, True Jackson, VP, Turbo Dogs, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight

Phew! That's a lot... we'll see if I get to all of them. Post your requests below and I'll do my best to prioritize.