Last television show you watched

Last Night of the Proms. Fantastic rendition of God Save the Queen.

HOUSE
Season 8, Episode 1

I got the chance to watch this before it airs in a couple weeks. If you've been watching the promos and are asking yourself, "How is this any different from the season premiere of Season 6?" you're asking the right question, because it really isn't.

Yet another example of how "House" jumped the shark. Focusing on the soap opera side of the show, as it has the last couple seasons, instead of the medicine, has been the show's downfall. Granted, there's been a couple instances where the show did it really well (the last two episodes of Season 4, for example), but now it's just getting tiresome.

Laurie is great, as usual, of course.

GRADE: D

Last night was the premiere for several shows-

NCIS season season 9
Hawai Five O season 2
How I met your mother season 7
Castle season 4 (excellent show!)
two and a half man the Kutcher year


So the season has begun

first episode "Billy Connolly's Route 66"

managed to use John Barry's "The More Things Change". Not too bad.

Castle ("Rise"): I love the show, but am seemingly in the minority on not liking the fourth season premiere. They rushed through the conclusion to the events that immediately followed the cliffhanger that Season 3 left us with, which should have had at least the entire episode devoted to following up on all of that. They are also moving this show more and more into being along the lines of Bones, which is the wrong move for this show. Bones hasn't been good since Season 1, and it's really become tedious with the extended will they / won't they nonsense that they dragged the fans through for years, which is seemingly where Castle is headed. Having been through that with Chuck and a few other shows, I'm not interested in seeing it here.

CSI: I'm not a particularly huge fan of the show (truth be told, I don't care for it much), but I like Ted Danson, so I tuned in. Danson made it much more entertaining than it's ever been, but I doubt I stick around as a regular viewer. This is probably a DVR viewing at a later time show for me, at best.

Fox has been rather nice to me and has let me watch several other of their season premieres this week.

FAMILY GUY

Dunno why people keep watching this. It doesn't even try to change anything up. It's the same ol' schtick "South Park" called it out for years ago.

It did have one funny bit involving Jewish guys cat-calling at money. Other than that, more stagnation from "Family Guy."

TERRA NOVA

Fox's new series looks promising. Transitioning from a mesh of "WALL-E" and "Children of Men" into a sort of "Land of the Lost" and "Avatar" hybrid, "Terra Nova" is interesting, to say the least.

The actors aren't quite award-worthy and the concept of fighting dinosaurs takes a bit to take seriously, but it's something different enough to set aside the time to watch.

FRINGE

I really regret not watching this show before watching the first two episodes of its fourth season. I dig the "CSI" meets "X Files" feel of it.

I can't say how it compares to the first three seasons, but I can say, gleaming from these first two episodes of the season, that it's a show I'll be watching.

THE X FACTOR

It's not too different from "American Idol" at all, but it cut down on enough of the silliness from the "AI" audition episodes to make it more accessible for any viewer looking for more musicianship than contestants to laugh at.

Heck, I admit a few of the contestants got me emotional. Good enough for me.

I watched the new season premiere of Fringe. It seems that Peter has been written out, at least for the time being, and that Olivia has a new FBI sidekick, who basically forces his way into the Fringe division.
I thought it was a lacklustre opener but there is the potential for the suspense to build again during the season.
This episode seemed more like a table-setter for the new season.
==I've sampled many of the new shows this week. None of them grabbed me.
I prefer the spy-fi, science-fantasy genre anyway and none of this new stuff fell into that category, so I'm not surprised the new shows pretty much fell flat for me.
The premiere of Person of Interest wasn't bad, but it still felt more like a cop-show than anything else, even if it does feature some neat surveillance-tech that allows Michael Emerson and Jim Caviezel to identify potential future events, but again it played out like more of a cop-show than anything else.
I do like keep tracking of the fomer Lostactors, so good to see Emerson again.
Nestor Carbonnel from Lost turns up in the new Sarah Michelle Gellar show Ringers, but the second episode that I saw fell kinda flat.
I see Jorge Garcia ( Lost's Hurley) is in the new Alcatraz. This one has potential with Alcatraz prisoners turning up in modern time. That's more my taste, with the sci-fantasy angle.
Along with Fringe, its looking like it might be the only show I track this season, along with Nikita (if it returns) and 90210 (so trashy its good).

Jack Wade wrote:

THE X FACTOR

It's not too different from "American Idol" at all, but it cut down on enough of the silliness from the "AI" audition episodes to make it more accessible for any viewer looking for more musicianship than contestants to laugh at.

Heck, I admit a few of the contestants got me emotional. Good enough for me.

It's not entirely different from "American Idol", you're right on that, but I will say that I enjoy it much better so far because at least this show can boast that roughly 75% of its judging panel is actually qualified to judge the talent, which "American Idol" is unable to say anymore given how awful its judges were last season.

My only real problem with the US X-Factor so far is the decision to fire Cheryl Cole. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about her other than she was in a singing group in the UK and is/was a part of the UK X-Factor, but she was much better in the hour she appeared in than Nicole Sherzinger has been in her three hours thus far.

Quote :

TERRA NOVA
Fox's new series looks promising. Transitioning from a mesh of "WALL-E" and "Children of Men" into a sort of "Land of the Lost" and "Avatar" hybrid, "Terra Nova" is interesting, to say the least.
The actors aren't quite award-worthy and the concept of fighting dinosaurs takes a bit to take seriously, but it's something different enough to set aside the time to watch.

This looks interesting. I guess I missed the opener but will keep an eye out for the next episode.
I just re-read Wade's post. Maybe I saw the Fringe second episode. Maybe that's why it seemed to lack punch. I just assumed it was the season premiere.
Edit: Having read this review,

http://www.daemonstv.com/2011/09/23/fringe-season-4-premiere-advance-review/

it seems I did see the Season premiere. Reviewer thought the same as me - the opener lacked punch and also wonders, where the heck is Peter? And the new guy, is yes, actually a semi-regular from the last season whose been thrust into a bigger role. Lincoln is his name - a Fringe agent from the other universe - whose opposite in our world has now found his way into the Fringe Division. At least I think that is what's going on.
It's much easier to follow TV shows when you watch them on DVD.
Wade you must get the shows earlier where you live, if you've already seen Ep 2 of Fringe.


Actually here's the answer to the Peter mystery, found in the show's press materials.

I finally caught up with the start of COMMUNITY and PARKS AND REC. The two best non-cable TV comedies around.

tiffanywint wrote:

Actually here's the answer to the Peter mystery, found in the show's press materials.

I have that letter on my desk at work, actually. Came with a nice T-shirt from the folks at Fox.

I'm starting "Fringe" from the pilot all the way through right now. I loved the pilot. If the rest of the series is as awesome as it was, I'm really going to like this show.

As for "Terra Nova," Fox doesn't air the premiere until tomorrow, so you can catch it then if you're interested. (Clicky for my review.)

dalton wrote:

Jack Wade wrote:

THE X FACTOR

It's not too different from "American Idol" at all, but it cut down on enough of the silliness from the "AI" audition episodes to make it more accessible for any viewer looking for more musicianship than contestants to laugh at.

Heck, I admit a few of the contestants got me emotional. Good enough for me.

It's not entirely different from "American Idol", you're right on that, but I will say that I enjoy it much better so far because at least this show can boast that roughly 75% of its judging panel is actually qualified to judge the talent, which "American Idol" is unable to say anymore given how awful its judges were last season.

My only real problem with the US X-Factor so far is the decision to fire Cheryl Cole. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about her other than she was in a singing group in the UK and is/was a part of the UK X-Factor, but she was much better in the hour she appeared in than Nicole Sherzinger has been in her three hours thus far.

From what I've seen so far, I, too, prefer Cole to Scherzinger, but that might be just because Cheryl Cole is smokin' hot.

Jack Wade wrote:

From what I've seen so far, I, too, prefer Cole to Scherzinger, but that might be just because Cheryl Cole is smokin' hot.

It kind of seemed like, at least to me, that what they showed of her might have been done in a way to make sure she got a limited exposure during the first hour so that nobody would miss her when she didn't return for the second hour of the premiere. With that said, though, I thought that even in her one or two word critiques of the contestants that she showed that she was a better judge than Sherzinger.

Jack Wade wrote:

I'm starting "Fringe" from the pilot all the way through right now. I loved the pilot. If the rest of the series is as awesome as it was, I'm really going to like this show.
As for "Terra Nova," Fox doesn't air the premiere until tomorrow, so you can catch it then if you're interested. (Clicky for my review.)

Nice review Wade. Nice job perks. Getting free promo T-shirts. I will definitely check out Terra Nova. I like the sci- fantasy genre and Terra Nova definitely fitst that bill. Problem is, most of these shows die after one season (V, The Event and others I've already forgotten) At least Fringe is still going, but nothing will beat Lost IMO.

For me, Terra Nova and Alcatraz, whenever that debuts, look to be the best new bets for the genre.

There is potential for Person of Interest and Gellar's Ringer, but neither are really sci-fantasy -more mystery/suspense with a little twist.

Jack Wade wrote:

Dalton wrote:

My only real problem with the US X-Factor so far is the decision to fire Cheryl Cole. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about her other than she was in a singing group in the UK and is/was a part of the UK X-Factor, but she was much better in the hour she appeared in than Nicole Sherzinger has been in her three hours thus far.

From what I've seen so far, I, too, prefer Cole to Scherzinger, but that might be just because Cheryl Cole is smokin' hot.

Cheryl Cole's outfit is Girls Aloud, who have made some of the greatest pop records of the last five years. Big in Europe, but they don't even have a record deal in the USA.

Cole's CU is at 1:14-1:25 in the Motown pastiche, above. Very pretty, but she has a poor voice. Xenomania, the production team, do a good job at disguising that.

Watched Person of Interest which might be one of the shows to see this year.

UNFORGETTABLE

A solid start for a series that has some potential. Poppy Montgomery and Dylan Walsh are very good in the lead roles, and the concept of a detective who can't forget anything could help put a new twist on the network cop drama.

PRIME SUSPECT

The pilot was great, and hopefully this will finally help NBC begin to turn things around, which it has the potential to do if it continues on at the same quality as the pilot.

Avarice wrote:

Cheryl Cole's outfit is Girls Aloud, who have made some of the greatest pop records of the last five years. Big in Europe, but they don't even have a record deal in the USA.
Cole's CU is at 1:14-1:25 in the Motown pastiche, above. Very pretty, but she has a poor voice. Xenomania, the production team, do a good job at disguising that.

That video was a fun 4 minutes! Bravo!

====Watched the two hour series premiere of Terra Nova. I was underwhelmed. I could watch this as a good little time waster but I don't think I will be searching out the episodes I miss.
The show is way too cute and with way too much teen drama crap going on.
It does have Lost pretenstions but Lost was an adult show, practically devoid of teen drama.
It might fly but right now, I think its on pretty shaky ground.
So far, not one of the new shows has grabbed me. Looks like I'll be watching Survivor and Fringe and not much else. Playboy Club is nice to look at, especially red bunny Amber Heard, but otherwise its pretty dull Mad-Men inspired fare.

THE X-FACTOR

The show is starting to pick up a bit, with a better mixture of talented performers as well as the tougher critiques from the judges that was promised in the promos leading up to the premiere. What is still evident is that Cheryl Cole needs to be re-hired to the judging panel and Sherzinger needs to return to hosting the show, as was originally planned.

KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

A fairly standard episode (as most of them are), but it's a good way to waste an hour on a Friday night. Ramsay's entertaining as always.


CSI

Ted Danson is settling in nicely to the series, and this week's episode featured a rather interesting case. Hopefully Danson can continue to breathe some new life into an otherwise stale series.

Still can't get my head around Danson in CSI :) Half expect an episode to centre around a serial killer murdering blonde waitresses in bars played by Rhea Perlman.

Hilly wrote:

Still can't get my head around Danson in CSI :) Half expect an episode to centre around a serial killer murdering blonde waitresses in bars played by Rhea Perlman.

I'm still surprised that he took over the show, as it came completely out of left field, but he's done a pretty good job so far. Granted, I wasn't a regular viewer of the show before, but what I've seen so far in the two Danson episodes has been better than most of what I've seen from the few episodes I've watched in the series prior to his arrival.

dalton wrote:

Hilly wrote:

Still can't get my head around Danson in CSI :) Half expect an episode to centre around a serial killer murdering blonde waitresses in bars played by Rhea Perlman.

I'm still surprised that he took over the show, as it came completely out of left field, but he's done a pretty good job so far. Granted, I wasn't a regular viewer of the show before, but what I've seen so far in the two Danson episodes has been better than most of what I've seen from the few episodes I've watched in the series prior to his arrival.

I'm not much of a CSI viewer, well not the main series. CSINY is the one I've watched the most but I'll check out Danson's when they reach this side of the pond. His 'serious' acting was alright in Damages so it'll be interesting in this particular setting.

A delve into the childhood memories with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Rented the DVD set and haven't really seen it since it was shown on Channel 4 years ago.

Back at the start it was relatively 'straight-laced' with the enemy being mainly a Dr No-esque foreign government (the Chairman seems to be a cross between Dr No and Yul Brynner with the voice of Jon Pertwee's The Master from Navy Lark) long before the Monsters-of-the-week were the norm. This being said the first episode, Eleven Days to Zero was straight and The Village of Guilt was monster of the week. Both fairly typical in heavy re-use of clips from the film. I forget that alongside the likes of Starbuck and Kirk was that other hero, Admiral Harriman Nelson and when Richard Basehart was one of those first actors I liked to see in films and TV.

Even if it was Knight Rider.

Got my Man From Uncle Complete Series dvd set. All 4 seasons plus reems of extras. Seeing as the new crop of fall tv shows seems pretty lame, this series should keep me amused. Love the official Uncle briefcase that comes with it.

I might yet put on a suit, 60's tie, grab the official briefcase, and head out the door on a mission. Too bad, the little triangular Uncle ID badges didn't come with the set, then I could be an official Uncle agent. Back in the day fans could mail away for official Uncle membership cards. I like how at the end of each episode, the credits thank the United Network Command for Law Enforcement for their invaluable help, with which the episode could not have been etc. UNCLE is apparently real. The real UNCLE organization consults on the show. Awesome.

Uncle agent or "Man From Uncle" would make a simple Halloween costume. Conservative, classicly tailored suit, appropriate tie, plastic gun, triangular Uncle ID badge (Solo's badge ID is "11",) and an Uncle appropriate briefcase.

UNCLE and The Avengers IMO are the two hippest, 60's Bond inspired spy-fi shows. There is no-one smoother than Napoleon Solo. He's in the same league as Connery-Bond and John Steed. These guys are giants of urban-sophisticate style and cool. And Bond has nothing on the Uncle girls. My God, each episode has a featured Uncle Girl not to mention Uncle Agent "Heather" who practically busts right out of her top. She's the Uncle Moneypenny equivalent, who helps Solo prep his missions. The inuendo between the two is relentless.

I've only ever seen scattered Uncle episodes over the years, so I'm really discovering the complete series for the first time. I'm only 3 episodes into Season 1 (1964-65). Looks like the whole season will be in black-and-white but that's OK. The colour comes later,(4 seasons, 105 episodes total). Each episode is like a mini sixties-Bond adventure, with proper villain-lairs, evil organizations, villains, girls, guns, style and wit. Does TV get any better? Rhetorical question.

Uncle, Avengers and Bond are the Holy Trinity of the 1960's spy-mania.

Bond is God. UNCLE, the son and Avengers, the Spirit, if I might draw such a crass comparison.

Bond trivia. Richard Kiel appears briefly in the original colour UNCLE pilot, "Solo",( later edited and re-named, The Vulcan Affair, for the official series debut), as a young thug who swings a mallet at Solo. It's definitely Kiel, even though he doesn't get a credit. Guess the casting people thought he might make a good mallet swinging thug.

Further conflicting types in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Turn Back the Clock sees a dinosaur, neanderthal jungle in the middle of Anarctica. An excuse at any rate for some Harryhausen style creatures and Yvonne Craig screaming her head off.

Hail to the Chief is much more the serious espionage stuff. Full of familiar faces, John Hoyt (When Worlds Collide, Star Trek-The Cage), Edward Platt (Get Smart) and best of all a pre-Star Trek James Doohan in one of two appearances as the Presidential assistant.



such is the episode that the men who count, Messrs Basehart and Hedison are largely absent in this episode.

Well, the only new show of the current crop, that has even mildly interested me, has been cancelled after three episode. Figures.

The Playboy Club is no more. It wasn't great but it was at least watchable. The girls looked great in their bunny suits, especially Amber Heard. It's hard to top her in a bunny suit. Oh well, fun while it lasted. I was just getting to know these girls, and take an interest in their lives, not to mention their costume changes. Damn! :x