Television Premieres and Notables: October 26-November 1, 2015

Monday, 10/26

Supergirl; CBS. 7:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Greg Berlanti brings whatever magic he has for super-heroes (he also brought Arrow and The Flash to the small-screen) to a major network.
There are lots of ways this one can go wrong, but everything I've been reading (especially by how the pilot sets things up) seems like this one may go right.
If CBS gives it the money it needs to make the powers look right on screen, this one may be a winner.


Tuesday, 10/27

Wicked City; ABC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Another serial killer show; this time set in the '80s.


Wednesday, 10/28

You're the Worst (FX; 9:30 pm CST). Season Finale.


Friday, 10/30

Grimm; NBC. 8 pm CST. 5th Season Premiere.


Saturday, 10/31

So I'm typing this during commercial breaks of The Walking Dead, and I just saw a few C-list, a B-list, and now an A-list character die. It's a little tough to be excited by new TV coming after seeing that, but these two shows are worth getting excited for.

Ash vs Evil Dead; Starz. 8 pm CST. Series Premiere.
I liked the Evil Dead films, but it's been about 20 years since I saw them.  I only saw the first two films once, but I watched Army of Darkness just about every day for a few months.
I don't have Starz, and this is most likely going to be the first series that I buy on iTunes, just so I can watch as the rest of the world does.

So the brains behind the films are bringing the story to TV (Rob Tapert producing, Sam Raimi directing, and Bruce Campbell starring), and they've promised to include the humor and gore in it. And if the trailer is any indication, there will be a shortage of fake blood in Hollywood after this show.

Short version: a man and his friends take a vacation to a cabin in the Michigan woods, and they accidentally unleash an ancient evil they have to take out. Only Ash, the loudmouthed buffoon with an uncanny ability to kill demons-- and has the perfect one-liner waiting as he does it-- survives.  Thirty years later, the evil returns, and Ash steps up (or gets stuck having to fight them).

And because they don't have the rights to AoD, this series will be a continuation of the first two films, so it'll be interesting how they avoid/address the third film's shenanigans.

Check out the trailer:



The Returned; Sundance. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
This show took me by surprise last year when I watched the first season. Slow, low-key, creepy as all Hell-- and every episode had some revelation that changed my perception of some person of event by the end of it.
I have waited a long 18 months for this season (and early fans have waited three years), and I am excited to check it out again.


Sunday, 11/1

Breakthrough; Nat Geo. 8 pm CST. Mini-series Premiere.
Some big-name stars and directors take a close look at specific segments of cutting edge science.
In the premiere, Peter Berg brings us a look at pandemics, and in following weeks, Angela Bassett does one on clean water, Paul Giamatti on robotics, and Ron Howard on aging.

Mike Tyson Mysteries; adult swim. 11:15 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
This is a crazy--and funny-- show.
It's got a great old-school [adult swim] vibe.

Television Premieres and Notables: October 19-25, 2015

Thursday, 10/22

Great Wild North; History. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.


Friday,10/23

Hemlock Grove; Netflix. Streaming. Final Season Premiere.


Saturday, 10/24

DaVinci's Demons; Starz. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Blunt Talk (Starz; 8 pm CST). Season Finale.

Survivor's Remorse (Starz; 8:30 pm CST). Season Finale.

Television Premieres and Notables: October 12-18, 2015

Monday, 10/12

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; The CW. 7 pm CST. Series Premiere.
This was the pilot that most of the critics I read fell in love with. (And they were right about Jane the Virgin being the top pilot last year).
Anyway, this series follows a woman who uproots her life in order to reconnect with her ex.

Jane the Virgin; The CW. 8 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
Yeah, this show is crazy-- but so much fun.
And Gina Rodriguez is so damn charming-- and Jamie Camil's Rogelio is delightfully clueless/narcissistic.
If you have an opening on Monday nights, you could do much worse than trying out this show.

Fargo; FX. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
New timeframe, new cast, (mostly) new characters, new crime.
But all of it is meaningless compared to the fact that Bruce Campbell has been cast as Ronald "The Gipper" Reagan.


Tuesday, 10/13

Manhattan; WGN America. 8 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.


Thursday, 10/15

Nathan For You; Comedy Central. 9 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.
This show can be very hilarious at times. It's hard to tell how real it all is, but even if it's more scripted than looks, it's still funny.


Friday, 10/16

Truth Be Told; NBC. 7:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Don't know much about it. Have read that it sucks...

The Knick; Starz. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

Please Like Me; Pivot. 9 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.
I have heard great things about this show.


Saturday, 10/17

Tracy Morgan returns to the public eye (aside from his short Emmy appearance) by guest-hosting Saturday Night Live (10:30 pm CST).


Sunday, 10/18

Comic Book Men; AMC. 11 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Television Premieres and Notables: October 5-11, 2015

Tuesday, 10/6

The Flash; CW. 7 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
This is a really fun show. If you like your superheroes heroic instead of brooding, you may like it.
And it's also the most "super-heroic" of the comic book shows right now. It's amazing what they attempt-- and nearly always succeed with. Time travel, intelligent apes, Firestorm...

iZombie; CW. 8 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.
This is a fun show. If you missed it last season, check it out now.


Wednesday, 10/7

Arrow; CW. 7 pm CST. 4th Season Premiere.

Supernatural; CW. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

American Horror Story: Hotel; FX. 9 pm CST. 5th Season Premiere.
And this season: a lot more Lady Gaga...

Jay Leno's Garage; CNBC. 9 pm CST. Series Prmeiere.
Jay and some of his friends explore the origins of popular makes and models.

Casual; Hulu. Streaming. Series Premiere.
Michaela Watkins stars in this comedy about a recently divorced woman getting back into the dating scene.


Thursday, 10/8

The Vampire Diaries; CW. 7 pm CST. 7th Season Premiere.

The Originals; CW. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Billy on the Street; TruTV. 9:30 pm CST. Season Premiere.
I discovered this show last season, and it's crazy-funny. Check it out.

SuperMansion; Crackle. Streaming. Series Premiere.
Bryan Cranston voices superhero Titanium Rex in this stop-motion animated comedy.


Friday, 10/9

Reign; CW. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Undateable; NBC. 7 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.
And every episode is live on the East Coast.

Red Oaks; Amazon. Streaming. Series Premiere.
This series goes back to the style of the famous coming-of-age movies of the '80s.


Saturday, 10/10

The Last Kingdom; BBC America. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
This series, set in the 800's, when England was still a divided people.


Sunday, 10/11

America's Funniest Home Videos; ABC. 6 pm CST. Season Premiere.
Yep-- this show is still on...

The Walking Dead; AMC. 8 pm CST. 6th Season Premiere.
It's back-- and the first three episodes are supposed to be intense...

Don't know if true, but...

Television Premieres and Notables: September 28-October 4, 2015

I didn't get a chance to watch too much TV last week. Tried a few shows, avoided others.
But you can't judge a new series by its pilot (most especially for comedies), so I'll stick-it-out for a while.

Quick thoughts:

The Muppets: Taking an overdone genre but adding characters we already know who don't fit into the genre could work. But they forgot they had The Muppets. What a dull and pessimistic show for a bunch of characters who always found the good and the fun in things. I don't have high hopes it'll find its feet. Someone thinks edgy is what's needed here. They're wrong.

Life in Pieces: kinda boring. But it has a great cast that I think can keep it together until the writing catches up.

Weird-- those are the only new ones I tried last week...

But we have a casualty already. One that has been in the making for 2-3 years.
After having seen every episode-- all the way back from the first airing of the pilot-- I'm giving The Big Bang Theory the boot.
Ever since it moved to Thursdays, it's been dumbed-down and sexed-up.  I'd go in streaks where there'd be 3-4 bad eps, and I'd give it one more episode, and it always made it.  But last week's season premiere-- a season premiere after a cliff-hanging finale, for cryin' out loud-- was boring as shit. Or, an even worse sin: it's the same as we've seen over and over. Penny and Leonard are having an "off-again"? The only thing different this time is that they're married, making it a little tougher to be broken up.  Snore...
And what did they do to Stewart? He started out as a joke; he became a sympathetic character over time; and now, since last week anyway, he became a creepy one. This dude has been around the main crew for a few years now, and he thinks he actually has a shot with any of the women-- who still have strong ties to their respective male "mates"-- as soon as things go south with their relationships? Not funny.

Aaaaanyway:


Monday, 9/28

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah; Comedy Central. 10 pm CST. Series Premiere.
He's got a tough job, but there's no reason why he can't make the show his own.
But it'll take some time. Hopefully the fans-- and the network-- will let him have it.


Tuesday, 9/29

Grandfathered; Fox. 7 pm CST. Series Premiere.
John Stamos plays a bachelor who discovers he not only has a son-- but he also has a granddaughter.

Grinder; Fox. 7:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Rob Lowe is an actor who played a lawyer. That job goes away, so he decides to be a lawyer for real. And he decides he'll work with his brother, who became a lawyer the regular way.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ABC. 8 pm CST. 3rd Season Premiere.


Wednesday, 9/30

Criminal Minds; CBS. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Code Black CBS. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Marcia Gay Harden and Luis Guzman star in this series that takes place in the busiest ER in the country.

Chicago P.D. NBC. 9 pm CST. Season Premiere.


Thursday, 10/1

Bones; Fox. 7 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Sleepy Hollow; Fox. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

The Blacklist; NBC. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

Married (FX; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.

Benders; IFC. 9 pm CST. Series Premiere.
A new series following the exploits of the teammates on an amateur hockey team.


Friday, 10/2

Dr. Ken; ABC. 7:30 pm CST. Series Premiere.
Ken Jeong taps his former life as a doctor in this new comedy.
We'll see how it goes; I've found Jeong better in smaller doses.


Saturday, 10/3

Saturday Night Live; NBC. 10:30 pm CST. Season Premiere.
Starring Miley Cyrus.


Sunday, 10/4 (as always: pay attention to the football games this afternoon; times could change)

Madam Secretary; CBS. 7 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

The Good Wife; CBS. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

The Leftovers; HBO. 8 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

Homeland; Showtime. 8 pm CST. Season Premiere.

CSI: Cyber; CBS. 9 pm  CST. 2nd Season Premiere.

The Strain (FX; 9 pm CST). Season Finale.

The Affair; Showtime. 9 pm CST. 2nd Season Premiere.