Thursday belongs to one person...

Welcome to Thursday--and really the last night of any new television shows to worry about.

For those of you keeping record at home, we've only watched one other new show, Forever. Zach and I both liked it because it isn't overly action packed, it isn't hard to follow, it has nice, sweet twists,  so we can only assume it is not long for this world.


This night is really all about Shonda-land. With the addition of one of the most buzzed about new shows, How to Get Away With Murder, the one woman train of Shonda Rhimes takes over a network. In case you have no idea what is going on with this one, it is about a law professor that teaches a class--on wait for it--how to get away with murder. Her best and brightest students wind up working for her at her law firm as well. Predicted to have the kind of water cooler buzz Scandal generates, this seems like a sure bet.

Fox has Gracepoint, which is about a murder that rocks a town. Based on the BBC show Broadchurch, it even stars the same actor--Doctor Who's David Tennant--and closely follows the original the first two episodes, then diverges on its own path, setting up for a possible season two if it does well.

NBC has two new comedies. I've seen A to Z and really liked it. It covers the romance of a cute couple (she is the Mother from How I Met Your Mother, he's most notable for being on Mad Men, but I know him as Fred from Drop Dead Diva)--one of whom works for a dating website--and they give the relationship a time limit--eight months, three weeks and some odd days--before it ends or changes. You don't know which. Sweet and light, a hearty thumbs up from me.

Bad Judge brings Kate Walsh back to TV where she is a hard partying judge. She shows up hung over, eats like crap--you know, the usual. Anyway, there are some big reasons to give this one a chance. Executive Producers include Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, and the string of her boy toys includes Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars) and Captain Awesome from Chuck. It could be an interesting version of Night Court, for those of you missing Markie Post and Bull.

Winners of the coveted viewing spots will be the Shonda trifecta, Bones, and the NBC comedies. I will check out Gracepoint when it airs starting in November. Once football is over for CBS at the end of October, we will watch BBT and Elementary as well. And as much as I love Ian Somerhalder, I'm officially a season behind now. Again, thanks Netflix for the chance to get caught back up!

Welcome to Wednesday

So Wednesday is here, and after suffering the crushing blow of a malfunctioning cable guide, we've since moved on in this house. The early results are in, and we did enjoy both Gotham and Scorpions. Well enough that we'll check it out again in week two. 

There are four new shows tonight, and using baseball analogies for a moment, they are batting .500.




Starting with Black-ish, the reviews fall in the rave category. A comedy about a successful black family where the father starts to panic that his children are not culturally up to speed with their roots after his son chooses to play field hockey instead of basketball, the focus is on the "ish" part of the story. Affably agreeable stars in Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, this seems like a smart bet paired with Modern Family. And Laurence Fishburne, and I think it might be a winner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNqqjDv6_dU

Stalker is a show batting under the Mendoza line, and despite the pedigree show runner Kevin Williamson brings to the game (Scream and The Vampire Diaries), I'm thinking it is too scary, even for 10 p.m. It is trying to tie in with the Criminal Minds crowd, so it might be okay, but it doesn't seem like your standard CBS programming. With Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q as the head of the LAPD Threat Assessment Unit, they tackle all of the stalking cases--and the stalker are terrifying, burning people inside of their cars and stuff. Because of the scary, pass for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kJjjKaZ1x8

FOX has Red Band Society, the other possible hit for the fall season. Set in a children's hospital with kids battling an array of hideous diseases--cancer, heart conditions, you know, the usual, our narrator is a kid in a coma. Believe it or not, it works. I saw the first episode and Emily loved it; I found it okay. (Dare I say it--might I be beyond their target demo?!?!) Anyway, Octavia Spencer is the tough as anything nurse and Dave Annable is the Dreamy-Steamy doctor (and yes, I liked it best when they were on screen). We'll watch it in the house, that's for sure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPEI4CnAC4c

Finally, we have The Mysteries of Laura, which on paper sounds like a sure bet. What with Debra Messing and Josh Lucas (hello, if this man is willing to do TV work now, can we find him his own show so I can drool more regularly?), the cast is filled with a fine pedigree. Critically panned by most critics, I find that I want to like it, but something is holding me back. The something, I think, is that Messing can't really play harried and frazzled single mom. When she is confidant in the role of detective and gets to dress up for whatever reason, the show works. The times she's kvetching about her life? Not so much. Will I catch it for a bit? Sure. I think it makes it through the initial order, but doesn't pick up the back 9, as they say in the biz. (But I hope I'm wrong, just for the Josh Lucas of it all). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB6quESMN5o

So, the watching experience in the CH household winners are:
Arrow--because it's the third season and why would we stop now? Nashville--ditto the same reason as previously. Modern Family continues to earn our coveted DVR space, and we will tape Red Band Society for quality Mom-Emily watching time. And yes Dawnelle and Rondi, I know I made a GRIEVOUS ERROR OF HUMONGOUS PROPORTIONS by not watching The Goldbergs last season. Seems like a Netflix option for me instead. But the bits and pieces I've caught do make me laugh.