fall 2014 tv | AVthatsme

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL TELEVISION?!?!?!

Fall television is right around the corner and as the relentless television addict that I am, I. am. READY.

Here’s a list of the shows I plan on checking out, new shows are marked with (credit for the image goes to my favorite movie/TV/music review site, Metacritic), and it means they will get a 2-episode trial period and if they suck a d, I’ll dump it afterwards (though I tend to keep trying them beyond the trial period, thereby keeping up with a mediocre show rather than catching up with actually good shows like Breaking Bad, The Good Wife, Deadwood, The Wire etc etc….. all of which I WILL watch…eventually). On to the shows!

Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Boardwalk Empire has been a consistently good, critically-appreciated show, but it hardly ever makes it to the upper echelons of my yearly ‘Top Shows’ list; likewise, it gets fairly decent ratings but is no Game of Thrones or True Blood (which is probably why this upcoming 5th season is both its last season and is shortened to a mere 8 episode as opposed to its usual 12 episodes, additionally, it’s a lavish period piece i.e. probably quite pricey to produce for only decent ratings). In addition to that, it has been oft-overlooked in the awards race, nominated but seldom winning, overshadowed by upstarts such as True Detective, Homeland, Mad Men and their ilk. So while the announcement of this season of BE being its last was initially a surprise, it makes sense.
I’m a bit glad/relieved that it’s ending as it sometimes felt like an obligation to watch, and supported my preference for 45-minute dramas as opposed to premium cable’s full 60-minute runtime. From the little I’ve read, this season hits the ground running and will be filled with more action. It’s a little sad that Steve Buscemi is unlikely to score an Emmy for his turn as gangster Nucky Thompson, what felt like a 180 transformation from his prior work as ‘that awkward-looking guy’ (I know I know, he’s murdered people in Fargo and Reservoir Dogs, but I’m more use to seeing him as bumbling detective Lenny Wosniak on 30 Rock) as Jon Hamm will probably snag it for the last half of the last season of Mad Men after being snubbed 10 previous times (7 for Mad Men, 3 for guesting on 30 Rock); likewise for Kevin Spacey unless House of Cards gets renewed for a 4th season (unlikely, unless Frank Underwood becomes president of U.N. or NATO or something at the end of season 3, which I would totally be down with).

Sons of Anarchy (FX)

After 2 spectacular seasons, last season was a bit of a comedown, probably due in part to most episodes running a full hour instead of 45-minutes (see above comment about preferring 45-minute runtimes over 60 minutes). Still, it was filled with enough jaw-dropping moments, deaths of major characters, a great speech praising “the power of pussy” by Ron Perlman, and one helluva season ender. With this being its last season, I’m looking forward to series creator Kurt Sutter not holding back (though, when has he really?) and going out with a bang (or 5). Guest stars from Marilyn Manson (yeah, THAT Marilyn Manson) and Courtney Love (yeah, THAT Courtney Love) ought to (hopefully) make things interesting and not be a total trainwreck as well as a much-appreciated return from everybody’s favorite transexual prostitute Venus Van Damme (Walton Goggins has never looked better than having a strap of Double D’s (or bigger) strapped on).

Red Bang Society (Fox)
An intriguing new ‘dark dramedy’ on Fox about “a group of teenagers living together as patients in a hospital’s pediatric ward.” That premise coupled with Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) is what sold me on it. I’ve watched the first episode, which Fox made available online early, and it was a bit of letdown. Will I watch it much longer after its initial 2-episode trial period? Who knows. It feels a little like Glee – music – high school + hospital. And NOT nearly enough Octavia Spencer, who plays much more of a supporting role than expected. It’s adapted from a well-regarded Catalan/Spanish show, feels like something got lost in translation.

The Mindy Project (Fox)
This show has been more likeable than it’s actually funny. The sum of the cast and writers feels like it falls short of its potential. But since it (somehow) got renewed for another season, I guess I’ll keep watching it, I guess.

60 Minutes (CBS)
FUCK YEAH. LONG-FORM TELEVISION JOURNALISM! Being a reporter is one of my paths not taken, though seeing as how I have a roof over my head and food on my plate, that’s probably for the better, but I can still be a news junkie at heart.

The Good Wife (CBS)
Full disclosure: I just typed that as ‘The Woof Gife’ at first.
Since I started watching this show last season, I’ve been enthusiastically evangelizing it to TV junkies (with successful converts! Their reactions has been unanimous: it’s surprisingly much better than they thought it would be). Don’t be turned off by the title, this isn’t some soapy domestic woman kicks out her philandering husband and strikes out on her own rah rah feminist show, nor be put off by the fact that it’s on CBS. Its 5th season is currently tied with Game of Thrones as my favorite drama of 2014 so far, granted some of that is due to it having that ‘new show smell’ and my binging through its 5th season, but fucking hell, ‘Hitting the Fan’ is one of the best episodes of any television show this year.

Gotham (Fox)
I’m not a huge comic book fan, I’m well behind on all the Marvel movies despite their making $70 gazillion worldwide (approximately) and after 1/2 a season of both Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and Arrow, I was left underwhelmed by both. Still, the combination of it being an origins story of Detective James Gordan (aka Gary Oldman in the Dark Knight trilogy), this being FOX’s biggest show that it’s pushing and marketing, and especially Ben McKenzie (known to most people as troubled teen Ryan from The O.C. but to me as Officer Ben Sherman in best-cop-drama-that’s-not-The-Wire Southland) makes me intrigued. Early screenings of the show have reported a warm reception. I’m cautiously optimistic.

Sleepy Hollow (Fox)
I was ready for this to be an over-the-top, convoluted, overly-complicated mess last season, and it wasn’t, far from. Rather, it was one of the most enjoyable shows of last year, just straight-forward fun. That it had 13 episodes helped it in being a more tightly-constructed, well-oiled machine that helped drive forward its main plotline with nary a filler episode in sight. I hope that its second season being boosted to 18 episodes doesn’t dilute its quality.
Godamn, I just saw its 2nd season poster, my body is so ready.

Scorpion (CBS)
I already regret putting this on my list of shows getting a 2-episode trial period tbh.

The Goldbergs (ABC)
Best comedy on TV? No. Progressed and improved throughout its first season? Yes. Wendi McLendon-Covey is a firecracker of a helicopter parent/original SMother? Yes, yes, a million times yes. With a far better lead-in from The Middle rather than Agents of SHIELD last season, I’m rooting for this one to find an audience and become a solid part of ABC’s Wednesday night comedy line-up.

Modern Family (ABC)
There are entire characters and plotlines I find myself more than willing to do without, but damn if they can’t still crank out a majestic-as-fuck episode every now and then (see: last season’s ‘Las Vegas,’ which won MF its 4th consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy). With its continued dominance at the Emmys, it’s understandable that there’s growing discontent amongst people who would rather see Silicon Valley, Veep, Parks & Recreation, etc get their due, not that I disagree (especially in the case of Parks & Rec), butfuckit I still love me some ModFam.

Black-ish (ABC)
Will ABC finally launch a show that sticks in the Modern Family time-slot time period? With Black-ish being a family comedy, it stands a better chance than previous incongruous choices such as Mixology, Super Fun Night (fucking. awful.), Happy Endings, and Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23.

South Park (Comedy Central)
With South Park reverting to a 10-episode straight-through season as opposed to 14-episode split-seasons, I’m actually kind of excited for South Park. Last season’s fairly strong 17th season (A Song of Ass and Fire 3-parter, God yes), a plethora of news items to mock (upcoming midterm elections, ALS Ice Bucket challenge, ISIS beheadings (if anyone can make fun of it, it’s South Park), and plenty of news items yet to come), along with no distractions for South Park creators/writers like they had for the past few seasons such as The Book of Mormon/The Stick of Truth make prospects for season 18 looking good.

How to Get Away with Murder (ABC)
This really could go either way, but, if I’m not mistaken, this is Viola Davis’s first regular, starring television role. What could make serious dramatic, multi-Oscar-nominated, Tony-winning actress Viola Davis grace television (and not cable television filled with prestige dramas!) (besides a steady paycheck)? That, I need to see. It’s premise is intriguing (“a law professor at a prestigious Philadelphia university who with her students becomes entwined in a murder plot”) and comes from Shonda Rhimes (in fact, all of ABC’s Thursday night shows were created by her: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal), which could go either way. I’ll give it a shot, hopefully it’s not shit, hopefully.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox), season 2
I did not really like Andy Samberg before this show. I’m down with the S-berg after watching B99. If you are a fan of Parks & Rec, you need to watch B99, which comes from two longtime Parks & Rec writers. Uproariously hilarious. That Fox moved B99 to Sundays and squished it between its animation domination shows does not bode well for its future ratings-wise.

Selfie (ABC)
The premise of this show seems pretty schlocky (“…series follows the life of Eliza Dooley (a modern day version of Eliza Doolittle), a woman obsessed with becoming famous through the use of social media platforms until she realizes that she needs to actually find people that she can be friends with physically instead of “friending” them online. This prompts Eliza to hire Henry Higenbottam (a modern day version of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady), a marketing self-image guru who takes on the task of rebranding Eliza’s image in the hope of showing her that there is more to life out there than just playing Candy Crush Saga with an iPhone and connecting with a Facebook page”). I’m only watching this for Karen Gillan (who proved herself comedically-able on NTSF:SD:SUV::), but after watching its first episode (available here), this doesn’t look like I’ll keep up with it for long.

Stalker (CBS)
Another show I’m not so sure about putting on my trial period list…I keep trying out CBS shows only to be left sorely disappointed, I don’t know if disappointed is the right word seeing as how my expectations beforehand are fairly muted because, y’know, it’s CBS. Still, Maggie Q + Dylan McDermott (from my all-time favorite show The Practice), at worst, it’ll be just another CBS splatterfest dead bodies, homicide-porn show.

Bad Judge (NBC)
Another show you might be scratching your head over and going ‘WHAT are you THINKING?!’ Much like Selfie, the appeal of this show for me rests on the shoulders of its red-headed female lead, this time in the form of Kate Walsh. She was awesome for the 2-3 seasons I watched Grey’s Anatomy, with every appearance of Addison Montgomery coming with a side of slight bitchitude but still remaining pretty likeable; Walsh has proven herself as having a solid sense of humor and funnybone with great appearances on the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen and @midnight; and her rack was one of many great things about FX’s Fargo /endchauvinistpig>. Could this totally crash and burn and fail? Definitely. But even if it does, I suspect Walsh will be the one redeeming thing about it.

Gracepoint (Fox)
To say my feelings are mixed about Gracepoint is an understatement. On the one hand, it’s an adaptation of the SUBLIME British murder mystery Broadchurch, coming from Broadchurch’s same writer/creator (Chris Chibnall) as well as director (James Strong, he directed 5 of Broadchurch’s 8 episodes, though how many episodes he’ll direct in the remake are unknown. He certainly contributed to the eerie, gloomy, downbeat atmosphere of the original). Another plus, David Tennant returns playing essentially the same character (don’t know how long it’ll take me to get over his fake American accent though, so used to his wonderful Scottish/British accent). Also, Anna Gunn, fresh off her 2nd consecutive Emmy win, will co-lead, playing Tennant’s police partner. Nick Nolte and Jacki Weaver (with 5 Oscar nominations between them) play supporting characters. Finally, the atmosphere and location of Broadchurch contributed heavily to it (imo), with the picturesque Dorset coastline being a prominent part. The only place I thought could mimic that feel of a small town was New England, thankfully Gracepoint shot in Canada which is increasingly becoming a popular place to shoot for its woods, forests and coastlines.
On the other hand, it’s an American remake…on a broadcast channel. I don’t know man, I’m hoping for the best, and bracing myself for the worst. I’d say there’s a 40% chance it ends up leaving much to be desired, 40% chance it ends up merely passable, 15% chance it ends up alright/decent but still inferior to the original, and a 5% (or less) chance it ends up pulling a Shameless and reinventing itself to something equal or superior to the original. What was my basis for coming up with those numbers? Absolutely nothing.
Though I’ll say this, the trailer doesn’t really look promising. Oh God please don’t fuck this up Fox. As a consolation though, there WILL be a season 2 of the original Broadchurch with many original castmembers returning (including Tennant and Olivia Coleman). But if it ends up losing the magic of s1 and Gracepoint sucks…I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle it.

At this point you may be asking, ‘Jeez, does your life revolve around television?!’ Yes, of course it does. Stop asking stupid questions.

Homeland (Showtime)
I’ve resolutely loved and enjoyed this show despite fans and critics’ diminishing enjoyment of it. I admit there were problems in the early batch of episodes from season 3, butfuckit the ending left me devastated. I’m so fuckin’ ready for Carrie Mathison and co. (and wishfully awaiting a spin-off for Peter Quinn: International Badass (to be clear: there is no such spin-off in development, I just wish there was)). Good news for Dana Brody haters (aka every person who ever watched a minute of Homeland) the Brody family is out of the picture in season 4. Additionally, Corey muthafuckin’ Stoll (the tragic Rep. Peter Russo from House of Cards) is in season 4 along with the return of the young Persian CIA analyst Fara Sherazi from season 3. The premise reboot intrigues me, and the trailer for season 4 instills confidence that they’ve got their shit together over there at Homeland Central:

Mulaney (Fox)

From a show I have high expectations for to…one less so. Mulaney comes from veteran SNL writer John Mulaney, who co-created Bill Hader’s Stefon character, and would oftentimes rewrite his script without Hader’s knowing, leading to Hader visibly breaking character in laughter. The history of Mulaney (the show) is a bit complicated: it originally started at NBC but was passed up, now it’s at Fox. I’m not sure if it started as a multi-camera sitcom (aka laugh-track) at NBC, but it now is. Based on the previews and trailers I’ve seen, that absolutely fucking kills it. I hope this goes against my expectations and miraculously becomes a funny, successful multi-cam sitcom, but I doubt it. Hey, how about Mulaney and Bill Hader created Stefon: The TV Show, no…that would probably suck.

The Flash (CW)
I’ve already watched the first episode of The Flash and summarized my quick reactions and thoughts to it here.
Long story short: Looks more promising than Arrow to me, but still liable to stupidity and CW-isms. Will proceed with caution.

The Affair (Showtime)
Masters of Sex lost its plum post-Homeland time slot (and subsequently its ratings dropped but thank God Showtime renewed this solid human drama for a 3rd season) due to new series The Affair. I haven’t heard much about it, but Showtime has churned out enough quality shows at this point that any new scripted show from them is worth checking out. And the more I hear about it the more I’m intrigued. What looks to be another solid human drama, The Affair focuses on, surprise, an affair and how it affects two couples. The casting looks solid: Dominic West (The Wire, Appropriate Adult), Joshua Jackson (Fringe, Dawson’s Creek), Maura Tierney (ER), and MUTHAFUCKIN’ RUTH WILSON (The Lone Ranger, Saving Mr. Banks, and most importantly, playing enchanting psychopath Alice Morgan on Luther). That Ruth Wilson is in it in a prominent role is 80% (at least) of the reason I’m anticipating this show, God I hope she murders someone on this show.

Marry Me (NBC)
Another show where it’s not the premise that intrigues me (generic rom-com), but the talent in-front of (Casy Wilson and Ken Marino are the main couple) and behind the camera (series creator David Caspe also created cult favorite Happy Endings, which, for the record, I found merely ‘alright’). Early reception of this show has been fairly warm; we’ll see.

The Walking Dead (AMC)
I’ve found that watching this show in half-season binges helps make it more palatable to me, though I may watch the season premiere day-of. Either way, I doubt I’ll be turned into a rapturous Walking Dead fan anytime soon.

Constantine (NBC)
We’ll see how this one goes.

Downton Abbey (ITV/PBS)
YEAH YUH YUH YUH YUH DOWNTON ABBEY YUS.

AVthatsme

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