Being unemployed until recently, I've taken a keen interest in television's offerings this fall. I therefore present my glib reviews for this season's new shows and my verdicts on their ultimate fates.
Chuck. I got so tired of this show after just one episode I could have sworn somebody slipped me benadryl. From its hokey plot to its campy 70's-style TV action scenes to its minor side characters whose dialogues sound like stand-up acts to its cliché hot chick spies, just about everything on this show has been done before.
Verdict: Save face and pull the plug after one season before I go into a coma!
Aliens in America. Ah, the fish-out-of-water comedy America needed post-9/11...or was it? While the genuineness of Raja coupled with the coming-of-age dorkiness of Justin has given us some fine episodes, the compelling introspection previously found on shows like
The Wonder Years isn't present here.
Verdict: Let's let this show last only as long as an exchange student's year in America.
America's Psychic Challenge. Do you believe in psychic abilities? After watching this show you might. By far Lifetime's best show in, well, ever, the show features psychics battling it out in challenges that are controlled and scored. Addictive? Yes. Often amazing? Yes.
Verdict: Read my mind and bring it back next season!
Cavemen. Sure, our metrosexual hominid friends made funny commercials. Were they able to make a funny sitcom? No. Why? The show failed to capitalize on two factors that made the commercials so great: the soft bigotry of the homo sapiens towards the Cavemen and the occasional lapses in judgment by the Cavemen that showed them to be subhuman. Thus, we get a unfunny show about long-haired twentysomethings frittering away their lives and whining about it (Joel, there's a reason why you were never in the commercials!).
Verdict: Send it back to the cave and cancel it!
Journeyman. Shows about time travel/unique foreknowledge of future events have been done before on television--and better I might add.
Journeyman has none of the swashbuckling spirit of
Quantum Leap and absolutely zilch of the unwitting heroism that characterized
Early Edition. Furthermore, an hour show about stopping a single kidnapping is too long. These characters are constantly bitter and confused. Hence, we don't care about them.
Verdict: Go back in time and stop it before it happened!
Last One Standing. By far the winner of this season, the show has proven that the reality genre can be captivating. Invigorating and intense, the show is drenched in the spirit of competition. With diverse cultures and vistas from all over the globe providing the backdrops for this show, it's far more entertaining than any Hollywood hack's script.
Verdict: Start filming a new season as long as the tribal competitions don't get too banal!
The Office, Season 4. It may not be new, but overall the series is still going strong despite some
problems. Yes, the tension between Jim and Pam is gone. Yes, Kelly is now from the ghetto. Yes, Dwight's depression has robbed us of his quirky mayhem. However, the same interpolation of characters we've come to know and love is still omnipresent. The recent episode "The Deposition" was key evidence of that.
Verdict: End the writer's strike so this season doesn't burn out right after it started!
Chuck. I got so tired of this show after just one episode I could have sworn somebody slipped me benadryl. From its hokey plot to its campy 70's-style TV action scenes to its minor side characters whose dialogues sound like stand-up acts to its cliché hot chick spies, just about everything on this show has been done before. Verdict: Save face and pull the plug after one season before I go into a coma!
Aliens in America. Ah, the fish-out-of-water comedy America needed post-9/11...or was it? While the genuineness of Raja coupled with the coming-of-age dorkiness of Justin has given us some fine episodes, the compelling introspection previously found on shows like The Wonder Years isn't present here. Verdict: Let's let this show last only as long as an exchange student's year in America.
America's Psychic Challenge. Do you believe in psychic abilities? After watching this show you might. By far Lifetime's best show in, well, ever, the show features psychics battling it out in challenges that are controlled and scored. Addictive? Yes. Often amazing? Yes. Verdict: Read my mind and bring it back next season!
Cavemen. Sure, our metrosexual hominid friends made funny commercials. Were they able to make a funny sitcom? No. Why? The show failed to capitalize on two factors that made the commercials so great: the soft bigotry of the homo sapiens towards the Cavemen and the occasional lapses in judgment by the Cavemen that showed them to be subhuman. Thus, we get a unfunny show about long-haired twentysomethings frittering away their lives and whining about it (Joel, there's a reason why you were never in the commercials!). Verdict: Send it back to the cave and cancel it!
Journeyman. Shows about time travel/unique foreknowledge of future events have been done before on television--and better I might add. Journeyman has none of the swashbuckling spirit of Quantum Leap and absolutely zilch of the unwitting heroism that characterized Early Edition. Furthermore, an hour show about stopping a single kidnapping is too long. These characters are constantly bitter and confused. Hence, we don't care about them. Verdict: Go back in time and stop it before it happened!
Last One Standing. By far the winner of this season, the show has proven that the reality genre can be captivating. Invigorating and intense, the show is drenched in the spirit of competition. With diverse cultures and vistas from all over the globe providing the backdrops for this show, it's far more entertaining than any Hollywood hack's script. Verdict: Start filming a new season as long as the tribal competitions don't get too banal!
The Office, Season 4. It may not be new, but overall the series is still going strong despite some problems. Yes, the tension between Jim and Pam is gone. Yes, Kelly is now from the ghetto. Yes, Dwight's depression has robbed us of his quirky mayhem. However, the same interpolation of characters we've come to know and love is still omnipresent. The recent episode "The Deposition" was key evidence of that. Verdict: End the writer's strike so this season doesn't burn out right after it started!
