As always, fall grids are courtesy of The Futon Critic and can be found here: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/guide/
8p
Undercovers - NBC
Lie to Me - FOX (Nov premiere)
Not much striking any interest for me in this hour. I gave up on Lie to Me midway through its first season, but tuned in for the second when I learned that Shawn Ryan from The Shield was taking over as showrunner, and found it improved to an enjoyably mid-level procedural. Roth is really captivating, and the plots are significantly better than in the first year, but it doesn't go much beyond that. Roth is just a fun guy to watch wander around and be an ass for an hour. Nothing great or memorable, but fine for what it is, and a good way to burn a few hours on a bus.
Undercovers is JJ Abrams' new show this fall, though like Lost he probably won't be involved past the pilot. I like spy shows, and this looks like breezy fun, so I'll give it a few episodes, though if it doesn't have a long-term hook besides pretty people spying (and early reviews are saying that it doesn't seem to), then I may let it fall by the wayside.
9p
Friday Night Lights - Direct 101
Modern Family/Cougar Town - ABC
Two of the best shows on tv are in this timeslot. First up, Friday Night Lights, which is just plain great. There are too many reasons for why its good to list here (it deserves a much longer debate/explanation from both Lauren and I), but it's one of the best and most realistic dramas around, and since they knew going in that this would likely be the last year, I have high hopes that the producers will figure out a way to respectfully wrap up all the characters's stories. Should be good stuff.
Modern Family just won the Emmy for Best comedy, and deservedly so, but to my mind Cougar Town was the funniest show around last year. After finding its groove 1/3 of the way through the season, I can't think of a dud episode the rest of the way. Both shows are great, and have deep casts all with crack timing, a tough thing to pull off. Modern Family is likely to be around for the long haul, but Cougar Town still pulls only moderate ratings, so here's hoping an extra emmy boost to MF spills over into CT and assures it a long future.
10p
Terriers - FX
For this hour, I'll likely look at Defenders on CBS out of old-school Sliders loyalty to Jerry O'Connell, and give the new Law & Order: LA a glance out of curiosity, but I don't expect to stay with either show. Terriers, however, is right up my alley - Donal Logue has always been fun even when he's in crap, and Shawn Ryan earned a lot of loyalty from me with The Shield. Putting those two together in shaggy dog, low rent private eye stories (my kind of stories) is one of the easiest sells of the fall. Early reviews and buzz has been positive, so I'm excited for the premiere next week. FX just doesn't have a dud in its lineup these days apparently.
In other news, Lauren will be watching and likely scolding Psych for not heeding her instructions in this timeslot come November.
That's what I'm watching - what is everyone else looking forward to?
That's what terriers is?!? That sounds really good. I like Donald Logue.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm crazy behind on FNL, but it just strangles my heart every episode. I can only take so much. And now with ABC Family airing it from the beginning, well, I can only take so much!
I'm sticking with Modern Family and Cougar Town. My only issue with CT is Bill lawerence's tendency to bring in people from his former shows. Fun, but I could do without it sometimes. My fear is that too many guest stars like that will get the show away from the core and their antics, make it too gimiky.