Business in the UpFront, Party in the Back....Front

It's that time of year Zayniacs.  UPFRONTS!!!  That magical time of year when networks roll out their schedules and preview all the new shows that will be tantalizing our melons in the coming year.  We'll be getting to my UpFront Rundown by day of the week all in due time.  But first, it's time for my yearly review.

As you know from reading this blog.  I watch a lot of TV and I'm going to do my best to give you relatively short reviews on the overall seasons.  Some finales have aired, some have not but we're going to do the best with what we have to work with.

Archer (FX):  After a mildly rocky 3rd season thanks to their idiotic plan to air a 3-part episode in the fall and then the rest of the season in the spring, I can thankfully say that Sterling Mallory Archer sprang back to life in his 4th year.  The writing was sharp as ever and every episode had a least a couple moments I had to rewind because I was laughing too hard to hear the next joke.  If you're not watching this, you're missing out.

Arrow (CW): One of the few new shows to make both my and the network's cut this season.  It's certainly not the best written show ever but it does its job well.  Be a fun and competent weekly super hero show.  Granted, no villain, despite extremely solid guest star casting, has really stood out from week to week outside of the season's Big Bad.  The show continues to improve in almost every regard so I look forward to season 2 and what they'll do with their largely expanded cast.

Being Human (Syfy): I have 8 episodes still sitting on my DVR.  After watching 70% of season 2 over a couple days, going back to week to week viewing in season 3 was not working for me so I started stockpiling again and have not gotten a big enough breather to watch it together.  However, the first 3-4 episodes are wildly promising.  This show took some huge leaps and so far, they've been really paying off.  The first two seasons are on Netflix Instant and I would highly recommend them to anyone who wants a well-written supernatural show fix over the summer.

Bones (Fox): This is the first of my series recording victims.  The finale this year was abysmal.  After being strung along on the will they/won't they for 6 seasons, their coupling was handled awfully but I stuck with it.  Now, (finale spoilers incoming) they get engaged only to break it off in the final moments because Pelant who is still a bad guy after two seasons threatens Booth's moral code.  It's lazy writing and emotional manipulation and I'm not going to take it anymore.  The cases of the week are not that interesting and if they character stuff is going to enrage me so much, it's not worth my time or my DVR space.  Congratulations Bones, you've lost a viewer from season 1.

Castle (ABC): How appropriate for this to follow Bones on my rundown, because Bones' writers need to watch Castle to learn how to successfully couple their main characters and have it make the show better.  This season of Castle started out with the absolute best episodes of the series so far.  It unfortunately took a dip in the middle of the season with a few WTF episodes but it's always been at least mildly entertaining.  However, these last 2-3 have been stellar and the final moments of the finale genuinely surprised me.  Looking forward to next season.

Community (NBC):  Somehow, Community got renewed for season 5 despite a very polarizing season 4.  The creator/showrunner was fired at the end of season 3 and the tone of the show felt it immediately.  After a relatively solid start, the show quickly became laughless for me.  I might smile or chuckle but the full laughter had faded.  The finale felt the most like old Community with the return of the Darkest Timeline from the series' best episode, Remedial Chaos Theory. 

On the bright side, there are rumors that Dan Harmon might return for this presumably final season of Community and I can absolutely get excited about that.

Continuum (SyFy): You probably have no idea what this show is but if you're looking for a shockingly solid little sci-fi show, look no further.  The story of a police office from 60 years in the future getting sent back to present day along with a group of terrorists could not have surprised me more with how good it was.  The characters are instantly likable and Rachel Nichols (Alias, Star Trek) sells the crap out of it.  This show handles time travel more deftly than almost anything I've seen before.  Paradoxes are discussed and it actually made sense to me.  The first season can be found on Netflix Instant and season 2 starts in about a month.

Cougar Town (TBS):  Something about the show felt slightly off after its move to TBS.  It was still amusing and the characters were still largely likable but some of the charm wore off a little.  I'll still be watching the next season and hopefully I can find the love again.

Da Vinci's Demons (Starz):  This show, created and written by the co-writer of The Dark Knight trilogy took me by surprise.  Despite a few very ill conceived shock value concepts in the first episode, this show has become a very entertaining jaunt into Florence during the Renaissance.  It's tone is what I imagine an Assassin's Creed 2 movie will feel like.  Get past a couple of poor choices in the premiere that last for only a couple minutes and immediately vanish from the show and you're in for a period piece treat.

Elementary (CBS): I watched this show out of morbid curiosity to see just how bad it would be compared to Sherlock on BBC (watch it by the way) and found myself getting sucked into it.  Is it as good as the BBC's version, absolutely not.  Not even close, but it's good at what it does.  It's a relatively entertaining case of the week with a few character plotlines carried over week to week.  It's not appointment television by any means, but it's great filler.

Glee (Fox):  If not for texting back and forth with a friend mercilessly mocking each episode, this show would have probably made me break my TV by now.  Despite the injection of a new set of cast members that are better in every way than the originals and instantly more likable, the show continued to hover on old characters who should have moved on.  Idiotic choices and unearned drama abounded this year.

Go On:  The biggest tragedy of the merciless network act.  This show was so great with a talented cast that had chemistry in spades.  This show deserved 100% to make it season 2 and join Parks and Rec on Thursday nights but thanks to NBC's new moronic focus on family-skewing comedies and moving away from "hipster" shows, this gem has fallen back into the rough, never to be seen or laughed at again.

That's it for right now.  We'll continue on later.  Possibly tomorrow, possibly Thursday.  Keep your internet tuned to my page or subscribe below for updates.  If you have a specific show you'd like to know the fate of, please feel free to shoot me a line in the comments.  If it's not already on my list, I'll do my research and add it into my next post.

Until then, Happy TV Watching!