Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Like a 7th Grade Girl's Tennis Serve: Slow, Out of Bounds, and Pulling Balls Out of the Skirt

Greetings Zayniacs!  If that post title means nothing to you, it means you don't watch Happy Endings, and for that, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Alright, enough shaming, let's get on to the February premieres!  No fuss, no muss!

February 3
Superbowl XLVII
Elementary: This isn't really a premiere but if you watch this show, make sure to set your recording on Sunday to go way past the end time.   

February 4
Monday Mornings: This is a new show on TNT that from what I can tell, deals with M&Ms (morbidity and mortality conferences) at a hospital.  It goes without saying with the subject matter, but this will be a very heavy and dark show.  However, you have actors like Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Bamber in it, so I'll be giving it a try.

February 5
Emily Owens M.D.: Series Finale.  I wanted this show to be better because I liked the people in it but I thought the writing was a little sloppy to me.
Smash:  There has a been a lot of talk about the goings on behind the scenes of this show in between seasons.  We have all new showrunners, along with a lot of cast changes, mostly good.  There was enough good about season 1 that I'll be watching season 2 and hope that the changes they made, bring out the good and remove the bad.
Tosh.0: In all honesty, parts of this show have started to get really tiresome.  However, stupid people are still funny and it's a good way to wind my brain down before bed on Tuesday nights.

 February 7
Community!!!!!  After delays and terrible promotion, the little show that could returns to Thursday nights to make the world a better place.  I've heard generally positive things about the episodes that have been shown to critics and I'm confident that I'll still enjoy it, despite the departure of Dan Harmon.

February 8
Touch: I didn't watch more than the first episode of season 1 but they apparently tweaked the show so if you were a fan, hopefully you still will be after the premiere.

February 10
The Walking Dead:  This season has absolutely rocked my face off this year and I can't wait to see how the back half plays out.  I couldn't be more pleased by the pace and twists.
Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome:  If you were a fan of BSG but was disappointed with Caprica and The Plan, then you'll want to watch this to restore your faith in the universe.  However, it will destroy what little faith you may have had in SyFy because they did not pick this up to series.  They also cancelled Alphas...and we're going to move on quickly from that before I turn this post explicit.  Anyways, watch this if you were a BSG fan, it's good.

February 13
Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites:  Skeptical cat's skept-o-meter is reading off the charts for this one.  The "favorites" they brought back are generally people that I loathe.  I've never seen the word favorite used quite so broadly.  I assume that means that they took a poll of the 5 lowest IQ Survivor fans and asked them who they liked.  I'm very disappointed in the cast, especially after my favorite season in a while.
Southland:  I honestly did not know this show was still around.  I've always meant to go back in watch it because it's supposed to be very good but that's very far down my list of to-watches unfortunately.

February 14
Zero Hour:  ABC must have a ton of confidence in this show to premiere it on Valentine's Day.  That or they assume that anyone who watches this show that's part National Treasure, part Davinci Code, part LOST will not have dates and be free to stay at home, watching this premiere. It has Dr. Green from ER but every preview I've seen for this show just makes me want to go watch National Treasure instead.

February 17
The Amazing Race:   After the incredibly disappointing finish of last season (the ONE TEAM I didn't want to win out of the final 3 of course, did win.  Sure they were nice enough, but the other teams were better), I'm hoping this season has a good cast to get invested in like this year and that a better, more deserving team wins.  From what I've seen of the cast though, I'm not super optimistic.

February 19
Cult:  This show looks weird and I don't completely know what to make of it.  It's a show, about a CW show that has developed a cult following....literally.  It seems almost too meta for its own good.  I'll probably watch the pilot just out of curiosity, but The Following is happily filling my very small interest in crazy cults.
Body of Proof: I don't watch this but I think some of my readers do, so hear you go.  They've retooled (again) this year with some cast changes and a shift in focus to more high profile event cases.

February 21
Suits: Season 2 finale.  I thought we had more episode on the back end so I'm sad it's ending this quick.  However, any bit of content I get from this show, I will take gladly.

February 24
Academy Awards: I'm not terribly interested in watching it this year but if you are, there ya go.

February 26
Golden Boy:  This flashback driven show about a police chief reminiscing about how he rose quickly to prominence doesn't sound terribly interesting to me but it does have Chi McBride ( Boston Public, Pushing Daisies) who I really enjoy so I may watch the pilot.

February 27
Psych: Bolded only because this show has been off the air for far too long.  After a slightly lackluster season, I'm hoping this season can bring back the greatness.  This season will include a Clue homage complete with the actors who played Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlett, and Professor Plum.  Also, a 2-hour musical episode.

And that does it for February ladies and gentleman. 

Before we go, Friendly Reminder that The Americans premieres to night.  The reviews have been solid and I'm really looking forward to it.  Hope you enjoy!

Happy TV Watching!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Another Year, Another Metric Crap Ton of TV!

Greetings Zayniacs!  As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't posted a blog in quite some time.  This is partially due to work and partially due to the fact that I burnt myself out like crazy last fall.  A large amount of disappointing television mixed with a bunch of other junk made for an exhausting back half of 2012.  However, I am back from 2 4 day weekends in a row, rested, revitalized, and ready to tell you about what you've got coming your way TV-wise in 2013.

I'm going to break January down by day with what is premiering, new and ending shows will be bolded.  As far as when Fall shows start back up again, I'll leave that to your DVRs.  However, if you're just super awesome exciting about a show and want to make sure your moronic DVR doesn't miss it, say so in the comments and I will get you the info.   Alright, off we go!

Last night
 Parenthood (whoops! guess I should have done this yesterday)

Tonight
Nashville - Recap Episode If you're at all interested in jumping on the Nashville train, this recap episode is the place to start.  After a rough beginning, this show is turning into a solid guilty pleasure show with good music. 

January 6
The Biggest Loser:  I only started watching a couple seasons ago and last season kind of wore me out so we'll see how long I last this time around.  2 hours is long time to keep my focus on weight loss.
Downton Abbey:  I've only ever seen the first episode of this show but I like it and I will eventually watch the rest.

January 7
The Bachelor 
Switched at Birth
Bunheads - Season 1.5
The Mob Doctor - Series Finale (Never made it past the first episode, especially after I saw it wasn't long for this world)
Deception - Honestly, I don't know a ton about this show other than a cop infiltrates a rich family she used to know when her friend in that family turns up dead.

January 8
Pretty Little Liars - Season 3.5
The Lying Game
Cougar Town - Yes I know Cougar Town isn't new but it has moved to TBS so I wanted to highlight the change.  Also, you should all be watching this show.
Justified

January 10
1600 Penn - Despite the fact that the previews for this comedy about a dysfunctional First Family look relatively dumb, the reviews haven't been horrible so I'm going to check out an episode or two.  Now that I How I Met Your Mother has been renewed for a 9th season and will mostly likely be cancelled off my DVR by the end of the season, I may be in the market for a new sitcom.

January 11
Banshee - New show on Cinemax from the guy that brought you True Blood.  I think it's about a con man that somehow ends up the sheriff of a small town.  It sounds like a mildly interesting concept but the trailers did not grab me, plus, I cancelled my HBO/Cinemax and probably won't renew it until Game of Throne is back.

January 13
The Golden Globes - The only reason this makes the list is because Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are hosting and the 10 second promo I saw got rewound twice to laugh at it again.
Girls
Shameless
Enlightened
House of Lies
Californication

January 14
Being Human
Lost Girl
Continuum - This new show on Syfy follows a cop from the last 21st century, Rachel Nichols (Alias, Star Trek), who gets sent back to 2012 to chase down some criminal who somehow made it back in time.  The concept is interesting and the reviews have been decent so I'll give this a shot and see if I have a new sci-fi companion to Being Human on Monday nights.
The Carrie Diaries - This 1980s-set prequel to Sex and the City follows a young Carrie through high school.  Despite pretty solid reviews, I'll be passing on this one.

January 16
American Idol - The additions of new judges make me want to watch this show less, especially when those judges are Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey.  Also, Randy is inexplicably still a judge.  How is that possible?
Archer
Suits - Season 2.5 - WATCH THIS SHOW!!

January 18
Fringe - Series Finale - Fringe, we say farewell to one of the best sci-fi shows of recent television.  I hope you go out in a way befitting your awesomeness.

January 19
Ripper Street - New BBC series that takes place around the time of Jack the Ripper and I believe follows the team attempting to catch him.

January 21
The Following - One of only 2 new shows to get my pre-premiere endorsement.  Yes, I know that turned out less than great for Revolution but I'm trying to get back my credibility.  This show follows an FBI Agent (Kevin Bacon) who is called back to confront a serial killer (James Purefoy) he caught about a series of copycat killings.   This series will be tense and dark and hopefully, good TV.

January 22
Parenthood - Season Finale
Private Practice - Series Finale
White Collar - Season 2.5
Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan - This appears to be Crocodile Hunter, if the Crocodile Hunter were played by Charlie from LOST.

January 23
American Horror Story - Season Finale
Necessary Roughness - Season 2.5

January 24
Last Resort - Series Finale

January 25
Spartacus: War of the Damned (Final Season)

January 28
Dallas

January 30
The Americans - This is the second show getting my endorsement. Keri Russell (Felicity, Waitress) and Matthew Rhys (Brothers and Sisters) play two Soviet sleeper spies in American during the Cold War.  This show looks to be a great spy thriller with some fun action.  Keri Russell kicks some guy's head through a wall in one of the previews.  Plus, it's airing on FX so being a cable show, instantly gives it a better shot at not sucking.

January 31
30 Rock - Series Finale (It's time)
Do No Harm - This appears to be a Jekyll and Hyde thing that looks mildly interesting.  I'll probably give it a shot but I don't have high hopes.  This will be the Mob Doctor of NBC I think.

That's all for January folks.  I'll be in a couple weeks to give you a rundown of February premieres.  I may pop in sporadically to give my input on new seasons and new shows but it won't be with the kind of regularity I had in the fall.

As always, please leave any questions, comments, or cheap shots below and I will respond.

Happy New Year!