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.