So, I'm switching up things a little as I'm doing a DVR rewind
slightly earlier than usual by doing it in the middle of the week.
Technically by the time you read this, it'll be Thursday and not
Wednesday which is when I'm writing it, but who cares about
semantics. It's time to talk the latest episode of Blindspot.
But first the big news. After weeks of trying to figure out if Jane
Doe was really what the American people wanted, and giving into a
full season order for the freshman crime procedural drama, NBC
executives finally pulled the trigger and renewed Blindspot
(#Blindspot) for a second season. For fans of the show this is
clearly great news. Not only do we and all of you late comers get to
see Jane/Taylor's journey play out for longer than a year, we also
get to obsess over what each tattoo means and the will they/won't
they dichotomy between her and Weller. So again, if you haven't seen
the show and are looking for a new show to watch that you know won't
be canceled anytime soon, then you might want to use some of the
upcoming Thanksgiving and other Holiday time not just shopping but
bingeing on the first half of the season and see if you like it.
There's also my Blindspot three week roundup post which you can
access by clicking the tag Blindspot at the bottom of this article.
Now, on to the actual episode. This week's episode saw the group
tackling another corruption scandal. Picking up mid-scene from the
previous episode, Agent Weller and his boss who's named Bethany (a
black Bethany? Well, I never met one but I'm sure they exist) discuss
the secret program she was a part of a long while ago. Code-named:
Daylight, it is revealed in flashbacks as she tells him about it that
it was a joint program between the FBI, CIA, and the White House
Political Director (uh, what?), led by the President's Chief of
Staff. What it did was compile a mass of illegally obtained data that
posed actionable threats in the form of terrorism or other criminal
activity. Essentially it was the Patriot Act on steroids, spying on
the American people to protect them from the few evil-doers.
Begrudgingly agreeing to use the program, Weller's boss needed a way
to launder the illegally obtained info so that it would appear legal.
She created a fake snitch story and pinned it to an already known
criminal that they caught last week. Incensed by his mentor's
law-breaking, Weller stays upset the entire episode which, frankly,
isn't that much of a difference in his facial expression as any other
time--when will this dude start smiling more? With that in the back
of his mind and flashbacks of the genesis and use of the program
sprinkled through the episode, Weller must focus on figuring out the
next case.
For a brief moment, the writers tease us with a potential case that
has nothing to do with Jane's tattoos when two cops are shot dead in
the street. A message written in blood (or possibly just red paint)
reads "Butcher the Butchers." The loving term "Butchers"
is used for the street name for the cops of the 65th NY precinct as
just last year the cops set off a racial riot when one of them gunned
down an unarmed black man. Though some of the cops got fired,
everyone was on high tension in the neighborhood ever since. Now with
the cop murder and the Butcher nickname used, they think it's a
revenge killing. And, oh yeah, Jane had a tattoo of a butcher's knife
with 65 written on it and surrounded by what first looked like sniper
crosshairs.
The normal jockeying for power between the Feds and the cops aside,
Weller and his crew take over the case and talk to the man's partner.
While interviewing her, they realize that the cops all wear body cams
in that precinct as part of the pilot program before rolling it out
nationally. Using the footage from the dead man's body cam, they find
a scuffle between him and a pro footballer (the American kind). They
track him to his house where he is throwing a party filled with
scantily clad women. Naturally, he runs, they pursue, Jane tackles
him.
Back in interrogation, he tells them that the cop tried extorting him
after catching him sleeping with a man a week earlier (he was still
snugly in that closet). The man wanted 50,000 from him every month.
As it turns out, the footage on the body cams logs to a computer any
cop can access, meaning the dead cop wasn't the one looking at and
using the footage. Figuring out that the crosshairs on Jane's tattoo
aren't from a gun scope but a camera, they discover that two other
officers were behind the extortion who they go to ply the man's widow
for anything she might know.
A big shootout at the woman's house ends one cop's life and puts the
other in the hospital. But wait, the twist which I saw coming from a
mile away, was that it was really all orchestrated by their captain,
who Bethany takes out with a strategic car crash as they ride to see
the hospitalized officer. Congrats all around, the show winds down
with Bethany flashing back one last time to see the glory of her bad
wig as the Political Deputy woman committed suicide after growing a
conscience. Surprise, they were in love with each other and the
Politico wanted to run away to Hong Kong. Somebody finally pointed
out that Jane has been wearing the same crusty clothes more than Bill
Cosby wears sweaters (now if we can change up that hair too), the
other FBI agent who made a deal with the CIA deputy knows he holds
the power and Weller took a huge step toward forgiving his father by
having a drink with him. Next week looks pretty good. Hopefully it
leads to an explosive mid-season finale.
What do you think? Were you as tired of seeing Jane wearing the same
sweaty white under-tank too? Do you think blonde computer tech girl
will get back with her nerdy boyfriend? Will Weller ever trust his
boss again? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no
comments button if you see no comments).
If
you’re looking for a scare
check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or
#ThePowerOfTen.
For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check
out #TheWriter.
The full first season is out now NOW exclusively on Amazon. If you
like fast action crime check out #ADangerousLow.
The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on
Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my
blog with that Google+ button to the right.
Until next time, "so you have a
closet full of poorly worded hipster tees?"
P.S. Sure, Jane's shirt is far from a hipster tee, but she wears it
in both an ironic and utilitarian manner. They don't give her enough
money for clothes? Wait, are they even paying her? Huh? I'll think of
something better next time.
Is my opening line indicative of how
much I hate this show? Whoa, reader, not so fast. Who said I hate the
show? Quite to the contrary. It has its flaws but my grade is--wait.
Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't want to move too fast, so
much so that I leave your head spinning about what's really happening
and then I somehow end up repeating myself by doing or saying the
same thing over and over and over again. Let's start at the beginning
like we usually do.
As with all three-week roundup posts, I
will remind you that if you want my unmolested thoughts on why I
looked forward to this show in the first place, I suggest you click
on the #Premiere Week link up top and scroll down to the NBC section
until you see the picture. As a little recap, I'll say that I find it
an intriguing concept made even more intriguing by the inclusion of
Lady Sif herself Jaimie Alexander. We once went out on a date. It was
in a dream I had but still, it counts... sorta.
If you don't know, NBC's Blindspot
(#Blindspot) is about an excessively tattooed young woman winding up
naked in a duffelbag in the middle of Times Square. Originally
thought to be a bomb, the entire square is cleared as the bag is
unzipped and she groggily fumbles out with fear and innocence seeping
from her pores in equal measure. What's even stranger is that one of
the biggest, most easily decipherable tattoos on her body is a large
print of an FBI agent's name that happens to work in the field office
just a few blocks over. And that is where the mystery begins.
As the FBI take her into custody, get
her cleaned up, examined, questioned, fed, clothed and etc., they
discover that she doesn't have many other identifiable markers about
her outside of the tattoos. Just like her counter-part Jason Bourne,
she doesn't even know her name, let alone how she got into the bag,
why she was placed in Time Square and why she has an FBI agent's name
tattooed on her back. The biggest mystery lies with who actually did
this? The tattoos look fresh (as in just a few weeks old) and also
seem to have been done all at the same time (ouch!), yet she has no
memory of anything before crawling out of the bag. Now, the FBI
agent, Agent Kurt Weller, and his team have to figure out who she is
and what their connection is before releasing her back into normal
life. That is the thrust of the show.
But wait, there's more. The team
discovers the tattoos aren't just random etchings on a skin canvass
but clues to other possible crimes or criminal organizations. In
discovering that she has a date tatted just behind her ear, they are
able to track down a man who was set to detonate a bomb at the Statue
of Liberty. Their original plan was to chase after this man simply to
ask if he knew Jane Doe's identity, was involved with the tattooing
or if he knew why someone would do this to her. What they ended up
discovering was that the man planned the terrorist attack because of
his mother and the immigration laws between this country and China (I
believe it was China. My memory isn't as sharp on that detail). His
family member was sent back to China where she was then killed and he
has a grudge against the US. What better way to enact revenge than to
take out the biggest symbol of immigration in the country.
While chasing after him, it's also
revealed that Jane Doe has phenomenal fighting and tactical weapons
skills. There are a plethora of flashbacks which reveal that some
bearded guy helped to train her in a forest somewhere where she honed
her close-quarters combat techniques as well as her shooting prowess.
Digital scanning and cataloging her tattoos in the FBI database back
at headquarters, they also discover that she has one large block of
black ink where a previous tattoo already existed. The tattoo of an
Eagle carrying a trident--Navy SEAL sign--was covered supposedly so
it wouldn't be confused with the rest of the new tattoos that
actually mean something. This, however, is called into question for
me on the third episode which I will get to further down. Just
remember she has the navy seal tattoo--an interesting fact in itself
as she is believed to be special or black ops and no woman on record
has ever been a SEAL.
Well, being an inquisitive and petulant
crime victim, she disobeys Weller's orders nearly every time he gives
them and winds up saving his life on multiple occasions, including at
the end of the first case when they catch the irate immigrant. A
dead-eye, she shoots him precisely where she needs to in order to get
him off of Weller's back and free the FBI hostage. After that
heroism, she's congratulated with a safe house and a few large guards
to stand outside at all hours of the day. Weller comes to thank her
and tell her that she'll be working with the FBI now as they figure
out her mystery. While there, he sees a scar on the back of her neck
and is reminded of a young girl he used to know when little.
Hold on to your seats because this next
fact is key but it's going to blow your mind. When Weller was
young--we're talkin' ten years old here--he and a female friend were
climbing a tree to play. An accident, he caused her to fall and cut
the back of her neck, leaving a nasty scar. Shortly after that, she
disappeared. It was believed that his father killed the girl which is
why the man is in jail at the moment and Weller hasn't forgiven him
for that. Again, that was at least 20 years ago. Suddenly a woman
with the same kind of scar, same eyes, and similar look to that young
girl appears and Weller thinks it is the girl probably because of a
guilty conscience more than anything. But guess what? It is
her as revealed by a DNA test on the third episode! What? So you mean
to tell me some powerful group not only knows people who are about to
commit crimes on the date and time they're going to commit them, but
they also knew that this young boy would grow up to become an FBI
special agent as opposed to some desk jockey, and would be in the
perfect position to stop these crimes? Stop. It. N. B. C.
You heard right--or, I mean read right
in that last paragraph. Each tattoo is linked to a future crime which
makes this into a procedural crime-solving show with a twist: every
crime is linked to the female protagonist. The FBI has to figure out
which tattoo means what and connects to a strand of events that will
take place that episode. You losin' your crap yet? Yes, I know. The
very concept that these skin inks are linked to a crime or criminal
who is ready to perpetrate such an act around the exact time the
analysts decipher what the tattoo means has a huge amount of flaws to
it. Don't wanna get all science-y on you, but there's things like
predictive analytics, behavioral sciences, probability algorithms and
etc. that the person or persons behind the tattooing would have to
take into account and master (are Dash and his siblings from Minority
Report behind this?). Not to mention, every clue she gets while
tagging along in the field must align so perfectly with what's going
on concerning the tattoos, that even if one thing is out of place and
they get a date or time or reference wrong, seemingly the entire
Jenga tower comes tumbling down. Still with me.
The second case shown in episode two
helped to stop a drone bombing on US soil from a disgruntled drone
pilot who got fed up with his duties involving surveying US citizens.
He, like the man before, was ready to carry out his attack but only
did so after Weller and Jane Doe AKA Taylor Shaw came knocking on his
door to ask him if he knew her. That then led me to believe that
Jane's appearance at these places or to these people is what actually
prompted their attacks, however, the third episode dispels this
theory and also calls into question the meaning of the covered Navy
SEAL tattoo. In it, a group of International jewelry thieves botch a
smash and grab at a high-end store, leaving one of their men behind
suffering through gunshot wounds. He would survive long enough to
breathe his last few breaths to Jane Doe in a hospital but what's
important is how they found him. He had the exact same SEAL tattoo,
something they wouldn't have known were it not for him being shot.
This hints at them belonging or receiving training from the same
group. Then again, maybe whoever tattooed them was behind the
robberies in the first place. As an aside, I'd like to note how
ridiculous it felt to me to have an internationally known, never
caught jewelry heist group do a simple smash and grab with a van. I
generally expect something closer to Ocean's Eleven, but got
something closer to Hank and Seamus knocking over the 7/11 on the
corner.
Then there was the mysterious bearded
guy from Taylor's flashbacks. In the first episode he killed the
Asian guy after inferring that the man had failed at some task
presumably given to him by the tattooing group. He just appears in
the second episode to stare from afar with the longing eyes of Romeo.
Come the opening minutes of the third episode he is shot dead after
she kicks his butt. He tries telling her something but dies before he
can say it. As another aside, how in the hell did this show think
they could get away with two men whispering dying words about the
truth to Jane Doe? That was one dramatic deathbed confession scene
too many and you know it Blindspot. Talk about repetition and
repeating yourself--you know, when you do the same thing over and
over again.
And as if all that mystery isn't
enough, they throw one more at you with a mystery concerning Weller's
boss. One of the tattoos is of a case file number that she worked on
some time ago. While the file has mostly been redacted, it contained
something very dubious as she meets with some guy at the end of the
third episode who asks if Jane Doe knows what the tattoo means, and
if she does why she isn't already dead.
What's my grade of the series so far? I
give it a solid B. While I enjoy this show quite a bit, the flaws I
mentioned in logic may become distracting as time goes on but for now
they play well. But just the fact that whoever put these tattoos on
her has power akin to God (maybe God did this to her. What if God was
one of us a tattoo artist) is mind-blowing in
itself. They remind me of the Provocateurs but I digress. The fact
that there is so much mystery going on is also cause for future
concern as I still haven't a clue as to where to start for possible
suspects. The only suspect I really had was the bearded guy and he is
dead now, plus I never thought he was the boss behind it all, but
another pawn or rook. Also, the fact that these events happen the way
they do in a sequential order of most easily deciphered to least
(some are in completely different languages, though Jane Doe seems to
know said languages) calls into question the validity of the tension
in the show. What if they figure out the wrong clue at the wrong
time? Will that ever happen?
And then there are the characters.
While I like the character played by Ms. Alexander, I can see some
viewers growing weary of her constant eyebrow-raised look of doe-ish
befuddlement on why this is happening to her. If not wearing that
look, she's got on a bad ass scowl as she's kicking butt. Weller,
played by Sullivan Stapleton is no better as he has only one setting
which is also a bad ass, mad at the world scowl. Thank goodness
they're single, old friends and have a palpable tension building
between them because they clearly each need to get, uh... you know.
They need a little stress relief in their lives.
Should you be watching? I'm going to
venture out on a limb and say yes. While the coughs and leaps in
logic might make you cringe, and there aren't any visible suspects to
the overall mystery as of yet, there is a hypnotic draw to this show.
The crimes are more complex than the ones you'll see on Minority
Report and you do feel the confusion of the characters. For a Monday
show on NBC at 10pm, it might be precisely what you need after a long
work day when your mind wants to slow down before you drift off to
sleep. It also has good enough pacing to make every episode feel like
a heart-stopping thriller similar to 24. And while all the
tattoos connect to her, you can skip an episode or two and not miss
much which makes it perfect for those times when you forget to set
your DVR or get busy with something else.
What do you think? Have you been
watching Blindspot and think it's insanely intelligent and involved?
Do you have a theory about who tattooed Jane/Taylor? How do you see
the relationship between Jane and Weller evolving? And do you think
this series has lasting potential past the first season? Let me know
in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button to
comment).
As
always, check out my books on Amazon (if you’re looking for
Halloween scares
check #AFuriousWind, #DARKER, #BrandNewHomeor #ThePowerOfTen).
For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check
out #TheWriter.
The final episode of season one of The Writer is OUT NOW. Ahh! That’s
right, all 15 episodes are out now available exclusively on Amazon.
Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and
follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, “It's nice. It's a
little hard to find but ya think I could rent a scooter?”
P.S. OK, don't freak when I say this
but I actually could never get into Jason Bourne. I know, that sounds
terrible especially with this show being so similar in tone. I did
watch the Dominic Purcell show but that quickly got canceled so
Blindspot has quite a bit working against it. We'll see if it lasts.
The Leaves Are About To Turn Any Day,
The Weather Is Getting Cooler And Hipsters Are Explaining Their
Thesis On Why They Cut The Cord. Brace Yourselves People, It’s Fall
Premiere Week! #PremiereWeek
Picture courtesy of the 2015 Emmys
Ahhh! I am so excited! As I said in an
earlier post, I am back after my summer hiatus to blog and chat with
you about TV with a few movies, books, cooking recipes and pop
culture chat sprinkled in, and did I mention the season 1 finale of my
episodic novella series The Writer (#TheWriter) will be releasing
this Friday? Check it out and catch up on the entire season over at
Amazon. So, with the season premiering, we have a lot to discuss on
TV concerning shows both old and new. Let’s begin, shall we.
Dang it! What should I do first,
people: the old school returnees or the new class of shows? Since
you’re already familiar with the old school, let’s go over the new class (at least the one’s I’m interested in watching).
Out of the over 100 new shows slated
for the 2015-2016 season, CBS seems to have the fewest among the
major channels. This probably stems from the fact that they rarely
seem to cancel anything and still have the blob/goo monster that is
the CSI franchise dominating their network. Speaking of which, it is
slated to have a full season of CSI: Cyber which premiered back in
March. I am not interested in that show unfortunately (or maybe it is
fortunate. Frees up time). The two CBS shows I am interested in are:
Limitless and Supergirl.
Since Supergirl won’t be premiering
until October 28th (what? First they make us wait a year
for Batman v. Superman, then they push Supergirl back to 3 days
before Halloween? Not cool, Warner Bros.), I’ll focus currently on
Limitless.
Picture courtesy of CBS and IGN
Based on the film starring Bradley Cooper, Limitless
follows Brian Sinclair, an average Joe who, like Cooper’s
character, winds up with a super pill that makes him a genius while
he’s on it (think Meth except... well, nothing like Meth. Never
mind). The question for the show, just like for the movie, will be:
what will he do with this power? Do I feel an Uncle Ben reference
coming on? Huh? Is he going to turn into Spider-man? Hey, don’t
criticize my humor and wild assumptions. If you’ve seen the trailer
for the show, you’d know that he has a little fire escape stunt
that seems very familiar to a certain web slinger.
Why I’m Interested:
A sequel of sorts to the movie, Bradley
Cooper’s character will appear in the show from time to time I
guess as a sort of Mr. Miyagi to Brian. In a dual role, he’ll also
serve as a producer to help this thing succeed. As a huge Alias fan
back in the day, I am excited to finally see his return to TV even if
it is only a pop-in every so often.
Aside from that, I find the premise
enticing in that its not your typical genius or typical everyman but
a hybrid mixture of both, whose “powers” fluctuate in and out
depending on how often he takes the pill. Also, in the movie there
was a big deal made about how he’d have to keep taking the pills or
possibly die, so... that’s always fun. And it’s got Jennifer
Carpenter in it whom I have secretly crushed on since she played
Emily Rose during that exorcism movie—not the really famous one,
but the other lesser famous one. No, not that one either, but the
other one. I ain’t got time, look it up.
Hopefully, this can take the procedural
buddy cop show love affair that TV has enjoyed since Moonlighting
(and even earlier), and add a new flair to the case of the week
premise.
Moving ON!
FOX
Speaking of TV series serving as
sequels to films, Fox has Minority Report premiering this week.
“What? But wait, what about the rest of the shows on CBS?” Sadly,
I’ve never been a big fan of most CBS shows, therefore, I’m not
interested in watching Angel From Hell, Code Black or Life In Pieces.
Check back in January for my decision on Rush Hour.
Back to Fox. With a plethora of new
shows, Minority Report looks to be an interesting sci-fi addition to
the network. After quick cancellations of shows like Almost Human,
and the horrific failure that was Utopia, along with a slew of other
bad comedies and some not oft-watched comedies (I’m lookin’ at
you Mindy Project), Fox wants to invest in some of the bigger names
this season.
Starting with Minority Report, they’ll
feed off the fact that it was a Spielberg-directed Tom Cruise-starrer
that drew enough of a fanbase to earn a 7.7 IMDb rating even 14 years
after its release. Spielberg is back, though only as an executive
producer.
Starring Meagan Good as Lara Vega and
Stark Sands as Dash, these two team together to fight crime as Dash,
a pre-cog who can see crimes before they happen seeks to fit into
society as a normal person. If you know anything from the movie,
apparently Dash is the weakest pre-cog of the three used and is now
an adult living in an era where what he used to do as a child is now
illegal. Pre-crime, or arresting someone on a crime they haven’t
yet, but will in the future commit is his everyday reality. Where as
Brian is Spider-man, Dash is Kitty Pryde or Jean Grey from X-Men. You
sneaky shows you, having superheroes without capes and cowls.
Why I’m Interested?
OK, there’s a lot here. To begin, the
movie focused a bright light on not just the imperfect system of the
pre-cogs and what they see, but also on the questionable morality of
this new way of stopping crime. Now that it’s illegal or at least
frowned upon, will that give this show an outlaw/vigilantism feel a
la Batman? Will we want to root for Dash and his female cop friend
for stopping the crimes even if people aren’t given the opportunity
to change their mind and not commit the crime? Or will the show gloss
over those things in favor of buddy cop shenanigans similar to Castle
(I love Castle)?
Admittedly, fans should be leery as Fox
has a habit of quickly axing sci-fi or anything they feel will push
their budget to capacity. On the bright side, they’ve put this in a
prime spot on Mondays paired with the strong Gotham returning for its
second season. We’ll see how much of the futuristic technology they
can incorporate.
Staying on Fox, Tuesdays will be packed
with new shows to fill the slot left by the annexing of the Mindy
Project. They’ll start with Grandfathered, headlined by Uncle
Jesse—uh, I mean, John Stamos, and that fat kid that turned out to
be Hollywood heartthrob hot (so I’ve been told by women), Josh
Peck. Basically, a guy’s life is flipped upside-down when an
illegitimate son shows up and tells him that he is also a
grandfather. I am only hot and cold on this show as I haven’t seen
enough advertisements about it, but I’ll tune in for the first
three episodes when they premiere next week.
After that, they have the Grinder,
starring Ben Savage and Rob Lowe, a show I know even less about
outside of the fact that they’re lawyers in a small town. Someone
mentioned a big fish in a small pond thing and it got me thinking
about Robert Downey Jr.’s The Judge—probably not a good
comparison. I feel the same about it as I do about Grandfathered.
I’ll give it the first three episodes, but I can’t say I don’t
see my interest already fizzling.
But then we go from the “eh!”
category back to, “I’ve got to see this!” Filling out the rest
of Tuesday is Scream Queens (not to be confused with the VH1 reality
series from near a decade ago). You want young starlets? They got
Emma Roberts, Keke Palmer (#Keeks), Lea Michele and Abigail Breslin.
You want older stars? They got Jamie Lee Curtis and Niecy Nash. You
want blood, guts, mayhem and all-around bitchiness? Who-hoooo-hooa!
They got that. Scream Queens is set to follow a new year at Wallace
University’s most popular Sorority house. After an unfortunate
death rocked the campus 20 years ago, a sudden and new string of
murders has come to grip the campus again.
Why I’m Interested?
From Ryan Murphy, creator of Amerian
Horror Story (a favorite) and Glee (never quite got into it) and
Nip/Tuck (loved the first two seasons then it fizzled), comes this
little comedy horror gem (fingers crossed, here’s hopin’!) that,
from what I’ve read will be another anthology series such as AHS
but highly toned down in gore for network TV. I’m also excited to
see it because I recently released my own horror revolving around
sorority house horror entitled DARKER (#DARKER) currently out on
Amazon. Much less humor, I’d like to see what commonalities we’ll
have. And I’m always up for a good scare.
Next, we have Rosewood on Wednesdays
which will have Empire as the follow-up in its sophomore season. More
on that later. What about Rosewood? Well, I’m not really that
jazzed about this show. Starring Morris Chestnut, who I highly enjoy
in many of his movies, it’s a show about a pathologist who works
with the police a lot. The crux or draw to get you to watch: he’s
extremely close to death because of a rare birth defect with his
heart. To that, I react with this:
Yeah, it seems just like another
run-of-the-mill procedural cop show and with Minority Report and
Limitless already on my new show card, not to mention the returning
favorites, I’m not that excited about another case-of-the-week
drama. While I’d love to support more minorities in good roles, I
don’t see myself tuning into this until my mid-season slump/hunt to
see if I missed something good.
Moving on!
Fox Thursdays is pretty much old hat,
bringing back two old favorites in Bones and Sleepy Hollow. While I
completely hate the move of Sleepy to Thursdays (yes, put all the
black shows/female dominated shows on Thursdays as if Grey’s,
Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder and The Blacklist weren’t
already enough), I do thank God and the creator of DVR almost
everyday.
Fox Fridays will be a sort of shuffle
day. They will start with returning shows Master Chef and World’s
Funniest and throw whatever reruns tickle their fancy into those
slots whenever desired. And, of course, Saturday is sports and Sunday
is Animation Domination (yes, I still call it that even though Last
Man on Earth is coming back along with Brooklyn-9-9). Unfortunately,
I stopped watching most of that stuff long ago and only tune into
Bob’s Burgers occasionally because I love the awkwardness of that
family.
To sum up Fox, they seem to be playing
fairly safe with their new shows banking on the cache of certain
names or certain races of people (hint, hint every night has black
people). However, it should be of note that Fox has always skewed
both younger and/or more ethnically diverse ever since the days of In
Living Color, so not much surprise there.
CW
Speaking of younger skewing, next up is
the CW—the dreaded Marcia of the Network TV Brady Bunch. Awkward
and gawkish, the CW will continue to stay true to itself and see many
returning shows including, The Flash, iZombie, Jane the Virgin,
Arrow, Supernatural and a slew of others. Note that I only actually
watch one show on CW which is The Flash—I came into Arrow too late
for me to really enjoy it and don’t have time to catch up with it.
The good news about the CW is that just about all of its shows are
returning, so congratulations to the shows that got viewers to
believe in them. The bad news is that because of all the returns of
hour-long dramas and comedies, most of their new shows won’t
premiere until mid-season or as a replacement of something that gets
unexpectedly canceled. The even worse news is that the only show they
do have coming out new is the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend which I will
have to do a completely separate post on. Why? Because from the
trailers and commercials I’ve seen of the show, it sounds a lot
like my new book, “Yep, I’m Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend”
slated to come out in early October. I don’t know if I’ll watch
this show yet but wait for a post maybe in a week or two talking
about it more in depth as well as my book and why it matters that
they look so similar.
As for the mid-season shows, again,
wait until January.
Pasar!
NBC
Next, we have NBC. Where to begin with
NBC? They have a slew of shows which are new and look good/are
possible rip-offs of other things, and I cannot wait to see all the
knock-off glory.
They start their Mondays with an old
stand-by, The Voice. You know, that’s the one where the people sing
and there’s the chairs and, uh... like... some other stuff.
Competition! They move into their new show Blindspot at 10pm.
Starring Jaimie Alexander—the
non-Wonder Woman, who should have been Wonder Woman who, instead,
played Lady Sif in Thor—as a tatted-up Jane Doe found in a bag in
the middle of Times Squares (Fabo from D4L would be proud; it’s an
obscure rap reference. I ain’t got time, look it up!). She doesn’t
know who she is or why she’s there but the tattoos are not just
clues to crimes, but tell a story of who she is and her connection to
the FBI agent who has been put in charge of her mystery. A lady
Bourne Identity which was just a more specialized version of Dominic
Purcell’s 2002 show John Doe, this will see the lovely Ms.
Alexander as a kick-butt enigma knowing stuff but not knowing why. A
mystery wrapped in a mystery, topped with a bubbling layer of
cheese... and more mystery, this is sure to keep me guessing for at
least as long as Red’s real identity on The Blacklist did.
Why I’m interested?
Oh! I guess I already explained that,
didn’t I? Did I say that Jaimie Alexander is one of the 252
Hollywood women that I have a crush on and wouldn’t mind having
babies with? I did say that? When? Just now? Gotcha! You readers are
tricky.
Passer!
Tuesdays will see more of The Voice
followed by new shows Chicago Med and Best Time Ever with the
returning Chicago Fire coming back in November to replace the latter
show. While I am highly interested in the city of Chicago right now
(“Yep, I’m totally stalking my Ex-Boyfriend” is set there), I
haven’t watched any of the Chicago shows and am just not that
interested in another medical show. Sorry, Chicago Med, I’m
probably not going to watch you.
Best Time ever will also most likely
get the cold shoulder as variety shows of this nature seem more
YouTube clip-worthy than having me devote a full hour to view it.
Wednesdays will also be filled with
returning shows, including a second season for the Mysteries of
Laura, which I will be watching, and Law and Order SVU which I dabble
in. Chicago P.D. Will end the night.
Then on Thursday is when things get
interesting with two new shows sandwiching The Blacklist into the 9pm
time slot (still don’t like it because it’s against Scandal, but
it did alright there last year and my DVR came in handy). Up first,
they’ll start the night with Heroes Reborn.
To start, I am surprised that NBC
didn’t go for the kill ABC trifecta and switch Heroes Reborn to 9pm
on Tuesday to go against Agents of SHIELD or move it all the way to
Mondays at 10 (the first incarnations original slot) to go against
CBS’s Supergirl come late October. If they had moved it to Tuesdays
against SHIELD and moved Chicago Med to Thursdays, they could have an
almost exact copycat night with ABC.
I digress. Heroes Reborn brings a
renewed spin to the original show in which people were given
superpowers because of some moon/sun eclipse thingy. As with most
things involving superpowered people, it will be dealing with those
who have the powers and those who want to destroy them, or capture
them or do other such terrible things with them. The thing working
against it is that, unlike Marvel’s shows, CW’s superhero
universe, and even DC shows on Fox and CBS, Heroes Reborn neither has
anything to connect it to something else nor does it really have a
rich and long-standing source material. This may have been one of the
reasons it originally got canceled. With the influx of superheroes
now, it is hard to say whether this can stand above the rest of the
crowd.
Why I’m Interested?
OK, by now fans of the original Heroes
show can probably tell I wasn’t much of a fan the first time around
(moon/sun eclipse thingy? Come on, Michael, do your research). You
have to remember that the first one came out back before comic book
adaptation hysteria kicked into overdrive. If felt too much like
X-Men and I was never fully into X-Men. This time, I’m giving it a
chance simply based off the fact that there was such fan support for
it that NBC saw fit to bring it back. That doesn’t happen often,
which means (it better mean!) that there was something good I just
missed the first time around. We’ll see.
As said, The Blacklist follows that,
but then another new show entitled The Player will air. Probably my
most intriguing show of the fall, The Player looks similar to a TV
idea I had way back in the 90s (maybe one day I’ll get to make it)
entitled The Game. This rendition sees Wesley Snipes in all his
Wesley Snipes-black glory returning to someplace other than prison
for IRS and tax fraud. Ha ha ha! #TheShadeIsReal! But seriously, he
doesn’t stray too far from the criminal element as he plays a
broker/game executor who oversees a high-stakes gambling arena where
the super wealthy gamble on crime. Yeah! Crazy, right? It totally
just blew your mind and then you shrugged and said, “eh! I could
actually see that happening.” Now you’re thinkin’, “holy
crap! How is he readin’ my mind?” Hey, it’s just how I roll.
Philip Winchester will play the titular
character who will be forced to complete complex tasks and stop
crimes, while people bet on his ability to accomplish such charges.
Forget figuring out How To Get Away With Murder, he’ll have to
figure out how to save a life, who shot the sheriff, and who’s that
lady week after week. It’s... just... a lot.
Why I’m interested?
Well, I finally get to see Wesley
Snipes on TV—always been a very specific dream of mine. I also like
the concept of the show as it will surely be challenging morally and
seems to have a very Liam Neeson’s Taken kind of feel to it. If it
can keep the intensity and pace each week while building up to a
climax that would see the Player confronting this group of super
wealthy people, I’m all in.
Then, in a strange and unconventional
twist, NBC has decided to put two comedies on Friday after having
abandoned their Must See Thursdays TV slogan they had back since
Seinfeld first premiered, maybe longer than that. To add to the
weirdness, their first comedy will be the returning Undateable, which
I never watched but heard great stuff about. But, in a Drew Carey
late 90s early 2000s spin on things, Undateable will be live... all
season. Teh! Yeah, take that in for a moment. Not that live
television is anything new, but the insignia of “live” is usually
saved these days for award shows and reality competitions, or at the
very least variety shows where flubs and mistakes from the script can
actually endear us to an actor more (Hi, Jimmy Fallon!). Doing this
with a scripted sitcom for longer than two episodes is a big risk,
which could either pay off in massive dividends or crash and burn the
sophomore comedy. Either way, well played Undateable. I am now
intrigued to see where this is going.
The same can’t be said about the one
new show on Fridays, Truth Be Told. Starring Saved By The Bell blonde
kid not playing Saved By The Bell blonde kid (Mark Paul Gosselaar for
you lames) and black bailiff from the highly underrated and even more
under-watched Bad Judge, this show is about... uh... Well, there’s
these two married guys and they... um... I’m sorry, is this a new
age version of Seinfeld? I can’t for the life of me figure out what
the hell this show is really about. It’s not about people falling
in love. It’s not about a modern family. It’s not really about a
group of friends struggling to be single in the big city either. So
what the heck are they doing? A tee-hee, I don’t know but Vanessa
Lachey is on it, so... that’s somethin’.
NBC rounds out the night with Grimm (my
fave) and their usual Dateline which then oozes over into both
Saturday’s and Sunday’s schedule when football isn’t on. From
the list of shows, it seems like NBC is trying to at least appeal to
the current trend of superheroes, as well as inject some more
minorities into their line-up with The Player, Truth Be Told and
Chicago Med. Baby steps.
ABC
And Finally, we have ABC. Oh, ABC, my
beloved. What shows shall you enamor me with this season only to
cancel them before I’ve had time to truly enjoy the bounty of their
stories and the richness of their characters? Why do I return to you,
my love, when ill-will and scars remaining from shows taken before
their time are fated between us? What new heights shall I soar to on
the back of twisty, turning good shows? What unforeseen and
unmitigated depths shall I sink when a show I’ve long anticipated
turns out to be terrible and bland? Only time shall tell, I suppose.
We begin with Mondays slate of shows.
Two old familiars return with Dancing With The Stars #DWTS already
started and Castle (#Castle) premiering tonight. For what it’s
worth I so enjoy both shows but can see how some fans have tired on
both of them. I mean, how long can people make the life of a writer
interesting, am I right? Oh, wait...
Tuesday is where we see our first drop
of new blood, though, technically its just old blood but with a new
and tighter face. The Muppets, after making their movie return a few
years back, return to the small screen and boy is it looking to be
controversial for the first few episodes as news broke earlier this
summer about Kermit and Ms. Piggy breaking up. OK, honestly I am
probably not going to watch the show but, come on, who didn’t see
the two of them breaking up? It’s been how many years he’s been
hoppin’ on that and he hasn’t put a ring on it yet to make her a
Mrs. (that was a little dirty wasn’t it)? With all joking aside,
it’ll be in the half hour time slot right before sophomore comedy
Fresh Off The Boat. Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD is holding steady in
its third season at 9pm as mentioned before while ABC will slot a new
show at 10pm. The new show, Wicked City won’t start until October
after a few weeks of Beyond The Tank, but I’ll talk about it here
as it is supposed to start soon enough.
Admittedly, I haven’t seen or read
much about Wicked City. It doesn’t seem to be that hyped of a show
by the network which is generally a bad sign, but I’ll tune in for
the first three anyway. What’s looking like it could be an
anthology series in the vein of American Crime, it is a modern period
piece set in 1982 LA where music and hard drugs mingle into murder
and mystery. It has a few recognizable names to it if you watch
enough TV/Film like Ed Westwick and Taissa Farmiga, but other than
that it seems to be a big mystery.
Why I’m Interested?
Again, I’m not stoked to see
it but I will tune in as it promises to be a harder, darker-toned
look at crime that will break from the normal cop procedural symptoms
and look at the crimes from all sides like American Crime did. That
is not to say I was enthralled with American Crime but found it
decent for network TV.
Bewegen auf!
Wednesday stays completely the same for
now with every single sitcom coming back and the night ending with
Nashville. Of course, viewers will look forward to ABC’s click and
news-cycle baiting Black-ish premiere that will highlight the use of
the dreaded N-word. To that I say, I enjoy watching Nashville.
Onward to Thursday, which also will see
a seismic shift in absolutely none of its programming. The same
line-up of Grey’s (I wrote something up on that, concerning Ellen
Pompeo’s comments earlier this summer), Scandal (prepare thyself
#gladiators #Scandal) and How To Get Away With Murder. With the
latter going into its second season, each show has proven to be a
ratings juggernaut on Thursdays as compared against NFL numbers.
We’ll see how viewers and Grey’s core fans respond to the
aftermath of the whole Derek fiasco.
Friday also doesn’t show much new
programming as ABC is still trying to rebuild its TGIF of the 90s
with Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing starting the night. While I
thought Reba McEntire’s Malibu Country from, like, two years ago
was a worthy coupling to Tim’s zany aging white man troupe, the
network has decided to add a middle-aged Asian man and his family to
the mix.
Coming to 8:30pm ABC Fridays is Dr.
Ken, replacing last season’s Cristela which felt like it would have
gone great with CW’s Jane the Virgin if made into a one-camera
format. Dr. Ken will follow popular “that one Asian guy in that
funny movie” actor Ken Jeong as he brings a funnier, fantasized
version of his real life before fame when he was just a lowly
super-educated doctor. A “what could have been” look at his life,
it’ll be your standard family sitcom focused on upwardly mobile
Americans.
Why I’m Interested?
Well, out of all the new shows coming
out, I am probably the most mixed about this one. From one vantage
point, I really want to see this to see if Ken Jeong’s humor not
only translates well back to TV (he’s been a little dirtier in the
films and was only a tertiary character on Community) but also to see
if he’ll be able to adequately play both the straight man and the
set-up guy as is generally required in sitcoms. On the other hand, I
feel this show doesn’t have the full network backing as it is being
placed in a black hole of a slot. See, I feel like if ABC is going to
bring back TGIF—as they already have TGIT—then go all out with
it. Move one of the successful Wednesday sitcoms to Friday after Tim,
move Fresh Off The Boat and The Muppets also so that you can then
have Shark Tank earlier in the week. By toe-dipping, they make me
think they don’t have faith in the property.
Saturdays will stay open for films,
sports and specials as usual, but Sundays will see the rise of two
new shows. Just like Last Man Standing, ABC execs have been looking
for something to compliment Once Upon A Time (#OUAT) and Revenge. Now
that Revenge has been served... its walking papers, only OUAT remains
with America’s Funniest Home Videos still in the 7pm spot for those
that watch it. While AFV will have new host Alfonso Ribeiro, he will
not be the only new, black addition.
That’s right, they’re adding black
gold, oil to be precise. At 9pm will follow probably my third most
anticipated show of the fall, Blood and Oil. Centered around a young
couple that travel to North Dakota to strike it rich in oil, and the
preying family they intersect with on their search for riches, this
is bound to be a twisty, turny, backstabbing soap drama that has been
missing since the first season of Revenge (though I enjoyed all 4
seasons). With Don Johnson attached as the baron, rich guy standing
in the way of the young couple’s hustle, I am highly intrigued.
Why I’m Interested?
For the past few years, I have been
watching Dynasty on DVD. One of the two shows to drive the 80s wild
with its opulence, high fashion and over-the-top catfights—sorry,
lady quarrels—it showed that rich people could be just as
deceptive, mean, conniving and cutthroat as the people at the bottom,
they just look better doing it. That, coupled with Dallas, ignited a
need for the nighttime soap outside of procedurals and doctor shows.
If Blood and Oil can channel even a hint of those shows or the modern
day Dynasty (Empire), I’m in for at least half a season. It’s
lily whiteness will not be a problem for me.
Speaking of the whitest show we know,
ABC made an interesting choice following Blood and Oil up with
Quantico. Let me just get my TV exec playing hat out for a second and
say that from everything I’ve seen so far of Quantico, it feels
more like a Tuesday at 10pm show to me for ABC. Listen, if you watch
enough TV and tune yourself into the mood of networks and of the
viewing people, you can tell that some shows should air on certain
days of the week. Quantico finishing off the Sunday schedule doesn’t
seem like a brilliant choice as it looks a little too involved
plot-wise for viewers winding down their weekend and looking to focus
on work the next day. Then again, AMC had Breaking Bad and HBO has
Game of Thrones and True Detectives but it should be noted that those
shows were either in the summer or had far shorter seasons than what
is expected of Quantico. The only way I see this being a good day for
it is if it brings back memories of Alias. But again, I digress.
Quantico, led by the gorgeous Priyanka
Chopra, will follow a new class of recruits to the FBI’s famed
Quantico training facility. You’ll see them grow and becoming the
agents they will be in the future. Then (and this is where a full
season of this might make some viewers weary on Sunday nights), the
show will hit us with a dual narrative as we jump forward in time to
see that one of the recruits has pulled off “the biggest terrorist
attack on US soil since 9/11.” Gasp! Yeah, I know. Similar to
HTGAWM, you’ll spend much of the season trying to figure out who it
is while also getting wrapped up in the romance drama.
Why I’m Interested?
For one, it shows that the networks are
reaching out so far into diversity now that they’ve actually put an
Indian woman as the lead on a show. For that, I applaud them,
especially knowing that at some point a great deal of viewers will
mistake her for Middle-Eastern. I am also interested in the whodunnit
aspect of the show as this will cause me to hate everybody and nobody
at the same time. Paradoxical! And if it does end up having parallels
with Alias, I’m all for that as well. The one thing I don’t want
is for it to become another FlashForward in which the action slows
down to such a crawl mid-season when things are supposed to be
getting more intense that the writers suddenly have no plans for
season two and leave everything too tidy while not solving the main
mystery. Solve the main mystery of who did it, but in doing that,
present us with a secondary mystery for next season.
Well, there it is. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. A very long post, for a very long season ahead
of us beginning later on tonight. So, what new shows are you eager to
see? What old shows are you going to tune in for? Are there some old
shows that you’ve finally given up on in favor of that new hussy?
Or are you upset that your new show isn’t listed and isn’t coming
on until later in the season? Don't be afraid to include any new cable shows you think are going to be amazing. I need to know your thoughts. I need to know them now! Questions, comments and, more comments
down below.
As always, check out my books on Amazon
(if you’re looking for Halloween scares check A Furious Wind, DARKER,
Brand New Home or The Power of TEN. For those interested in something a little more
dramatic, check out The Writer. The final episode of season one of
The Writer is coming this Friday. All other 14 episodes are out now
available exclusively on Amazon. Join us on Goodreads to talk about
books and TV, and subscribe to my blog.
Until next time, “I watched every
show! Every single episode. I’m all caught up and I feel superb! I
watched every show.”
P.S. Sure, my sign off just happened to
be lines from Andy Samberg’s Emmys opening last night. So! It still
applies to me. Come on ask me anything? Actually, don’t ask me
about The Walking Dead... or Fear The Walking Dead... or True
Detective... or what happened on Big Brother. Crap! I gotta go see if
Mr. Samberg has room in his Under The Dome/Lost dungeon hatch.
