I’m supposedly a "TV insider," and yet I am completedly confused by the new season. I can’t tell KIDNAPPED from STANDOFF from VANISHED. It’s like last season, when every series seemed to be about an alien invasion (SURFACE, INVASION, etc.) or thieves plotting a big robbery (HEIST, THIEF, etc.)
What makes it even harder to tell all these kidnapping shows apart is the plethora of new, one-word titled shows this season…like RUNAWAY, HEROES, JUSTICE, SHARK, DAYBREAK, SMITH, JERICHO, and DEXTER to go along with LOST, HOUSE, BONES, SURVIVOR,MONK, SUPERNATURAL, NUMBERS etc.
And then there’s THE NINE and SIX DEGREES. I don’t know which one of these two is which, do you?
There are only two new series I’m looking forward to — SHARK and HEROES.
I’m also curious about the recast LAW AND ORDER. Otherwise, it will be hard enough for me just to keep up with my favorites, like LAW & ORDER: SVU, GREY’S ANATOMY, BOSTON LEGAL, NIP/TUCK, THE UNIT, and BATTLESTAR GALACICA. And I have season boxed sets of THE SHIELD, RESCUE ME, HOUSE and VERONICA MARS crying for attention on my shelf…
But who has the time???
Not looking forward to Studio 60? I am.
Put that Veronica Mars at the top of the list.
I agree with Harry, Veronica Mars should be a priority right now.
I watched the first season of VM on DVD…but I hear season two and the bus crash storyline was a huge snoozer.
Don’t believe everything you hear. I liked season 2 just as much if not more then season 1.
Mark
LOST + INSIDE MAN (the Spike Lee movie from earlier this year) = THE NINE. I saw the pilot and found it to be somewhat less than compelling. STUDIO 60, however, is excellent. Interestingly, it’s one of two new shows set behind the scenes at an SNL-like show (the other is Tina Fey’s 30 ROCK — last I heard, the pilot was being reshot…).
The bus crash storyline of Season II wandered a bit, but they really brought it over the finish line roaring. At San Diego Con Rob Thomas showed a series of edited-together clips from Season II that the production company used to sell the show’s renewal to CW execs. It had the audience cheering.
I think the biggest problem with season 2 of MARS was too many storylines. The “Who killed Felix” storyline slowed things down and made some episodes too confusing. Three storylines per episode was a little too much.
Once they resolved that, I felt things got better.
Having said that, it was still one of my favorites last season. Better the the final season of ALIAS, that’s for sure.
Mark
My wife has the entire last season of ALIAS on “Tivo” and there it sits on her computer unwatched. She HATES spoilers, so I can’t tell her what the final bit of the show was about – and even I got most of that from reading… uh, spoilers. All Alison knows is that the show didn’t really finish well.
Don’t forget to save a little room for Studio 60.
Thank you! I’ve been wondering myself how I’m going to work my day job, write specs, and keep up with all the TV shows so the specs I write aren’t passe. (I’m open to suggestions, BTW.)
As for your TV geekery quiz…
KIDNAPPED is about a kid, STANDOFF is about a couple, and VANISHED is about a Senator’s wife.
RUNAWAY… hm, you got me there. Is that a CW show? Neither my WB or UPN affiliate will be switching to The CW, so I haven’t been following their offerings.
HEROES is one of J.J.’s new shows, and it’s about a bunch of superheros. It stars J.J.’s buddy, G.G., and what’s her name from Final Destination.
JUSTICE and SHARK are both legal dramas, with the former starring Victor Garber and the latter starring James Woods. Oh, and the hook for JUSTICE is that they show you what really happened after the verdict is read.
DAYBREAK is GROUNDHOG DAY: THE TV SERIES.
SMITH is this season’s THIEF and/or HEIST.
JERICHO is JEREMIAH with adults.
And DEXTER is CSI if Grissom were a serial killer.
The difference between THE NINE and SIX DEGREES is that one is about nine people who survive a North Hollywood style bank robbery, and the other is about a bunch of people who are separated by six degrees.
Oh, and I’ll second… or third, or fourth… Studio 60 – Mark
P.S. Whatever happened with the pilot that that girl from your high school talk was cast in? My first thought was Zoe Carter from Eureka, but Jordan Hinson doesn’t seem to fit. And The Dresden Files doesn’t seem to have a role that fits either.
I am a big fan of the Studio 60 pilot, though I can’t stand Sorkin.
Season 2 of VM… with a couple of exceptions, episodes four through seventeen aren’t close to season one’s quality.
But Rob did bring it back to greatness in the final four or five eps.
I’m worried about season three because I heard the CW mandated no season-long arc. If VM is simply stand alone mysteries each week, it will lose me.
100% agree with you re: KIDNAPPED/STANDOFF/VANISHED/SURFACE/ETC. I just went through this on my own pilot – the studio rejecting my title in favor a two-syllable grunt.
I LOVED Grey’s Anatomy once upon a time. But as it headed toward the end of last season it started bugging me with whining, angst-filled “adults”. And then it completely lost me with that God-awful season ender where simply suspending disbelief wasn’t enough to stay on board the fantastical storyline. I wanted every one of those narcissistic residents fired and brought up on manslaughter charges. I won’t watch again.
I’m totally with you on the season finale of GREY, Paul. In fact, I think I blogged about it here. I’ll tune in for the first episode or two to see if they found a creative way to bounce back from jumping the shark…but I don’t have much hope.
Actually, STANDOFF is about a group of hostage negotiators who deal with a different problem each week. KIDNAPPED and VANISHED are ongoing sagas about finding someone who has been kidnapped.
RUNAWAY is about a family living on the run because the dad was falsely accused of a crime.
Is HEROES a JJ Abrams show? Cause I didn’t think it was, despite Greg G. being one of the stars.
Mark
“100% agree with you re: KIDNAPPED/STANDOFF/VANISHED/SURFACE/ETC. I just went through this on my own pilot – the studio rejecting my title in favor a two-syllable grunt. ”
“Two-Syllable Grunt” isn’t bad for a title, but I think it’s too reminiscent of Russell Crowe’s vanity band.
Whoops! Mark C. is right; HEROES is from Tim Kring (Crossing Jordan), not J.J. That’s what I get for not looking stuff up. But not looking stuff up was kind of the point.
And as long as I’m posting… what I meant was that the hook for STANDOFF is that the lead negotiators are a couple; and that the victim in KIDNAPPED is a kid, while the victim in VANISHED is a Senator’s wife.
Thanks for the info on RUNAWAY – Mark M.
The Nine is JJ Abrams.
The only people who know about these shows are the poor slubs who think they want a writing career but sit around watching tv all day (poor slub raising her hand). I know a little bit about every show you mentioned, have written about most of the shows, will be writing about all of the shows, have been devouring previews like they’re cheetos and am honestly wondering if the bad shows will win because they came out first!