New Fall Shows That I Love And You Should Watch

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  As a huge TV nerd, fall is my favourite time of the year because there’s so many new shows and most of the shows I love come back (though it also causes problems in terms of scheduling) so I decided to write a post about the new fall season. This post will be about the brand spankin’ new shows this year that I’m excited about and think the millions of readers of this site should watch or at least give a decent shot.

Glee
This is the one show that I cannot shut up about and that my friends will not stop making fun of me for watching and loving.  But fuck them all, I love Glee and I’m proud of it. Glee is about the hilarious trials and tribulations of a high school glee club, its members, and the faculty surrounding it. Being about a glee club, of course it has a few musical numbers per episode which are usually quite entertaining and fun whether the song is a Queen or Journey cover or a musical number from Cabaret.   I have downloaded a few of the songs from iTunes and am eagerly awaiting the first album (which I believe is out in November).  The musical numbers are performed by a superb ensemble cast that all have their moments.  The most recent episode is #5 so you have some catching up to do if you decide to jump on the bandwagon and if you’re already on the bandwagon: good for you, you like good things!

Community
My love of this new show can be summed up with: Joel McCale is awesome. I’d like to say that it’s not just him but it’s hard to think of someone else to play such a likeable asshole.  And without that likeable asshole, the whole show would probably fall apart despite all the side characters and actors being great.  Chevy Chase stands out, as the older eccentric guy going back to school who is also a little bit sexist and racist, along with Danny Pudi as Abed who has Asberger’s (as a joke in the first episode commented, “hehe, ass burgers”) and often references TV shows or movies (a funny example of which is in the pilot where he recites a speech from The Breakfast Club).  It is quite funny, it has a fantastic cast, and there’s less story and more just funny here but it’s still great.  It’s also supported by some great guest stars so far: the Spanish teacher played by Ken Jeong and the accounting (I think? not really sure what he taught in his episode, which was the point) teacher played by John Michael Higgins (you might know him from the Christopher Guest movies or Wayne Jarvis the professional attorney from Arrested Development). The third episode is the most recent but being a half hour show, that’s not much catching up to do.

Modern Family
The funniest new show of the year so far and I’ve only seen two episodes so that might change but screw it, I have my opinion and I’m sticking to it.  I laughed out loud when watching the premiere of this show more than Glee or Community combined; it just had so many funny moments in it and ones that have great staying and quotability power (I’ll be quoting “Why the face” and “I can’t turn it off, it’s who I am” for a while).  I was worried after such a good first episode that the second episode would show a huge quality drop off but it didn’t; it had just as many funny, quotable moments as the first and though there was a little bit of a sappy speech towards the end, it didn’t falter. It seems like a premise that has a lot of legs. It’s about three interconnected families: one traditional, one older man married to a younger woman of another race with a son from a previous marriage, and a gay couple that has adopted an Asian baby so they likely won’t run out of ideas for a long time since there’s just so many stories and angles they could approach it from.  It just aired it’s second episode so it will be easy to catch up.

FlashForward
This show was HILARIOUS…well, not so much (though there was a pretty funny scene in the second episode involving blacking out in a bathroom).  This post has been talking about all comedies so far so I’m just used to it.  I’m a big Lost fanatic and as such was pretty interested in this show ever since it started being touted as the next Lost.  It also doesn’t hurt that it is based on a book that I read and enjoyed years ago. That may cause some problems for me because if it follows the book i know I’ll enjoy it but I kinda know what happens and if it doesn’t it might not be as good a story.  The story in the show is that everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and seventeen seconds and sees their future (six months to be exact).  With a premise like that it has both great character story lines and an overall story arch, just like Lost.  It also has a large ensemble cast with a familiar face from Lost (PENNEH!) but my favourite cast member has to be John Cho, I’ve been a fan of his for a while now and think what may or may not happen to his character is quite interesting.  I’m not sure if it will have the the same culture around it (e.g. tons of theory sites, podcasts, etc.) as Lost or if it will even be as good but I really like it so far and you should give it a chance if you haven’t.

Watch This Show: Supernatural

For my third TV show recommendation post I am going to discuss Supernatural which is one of my favourite TV shows on right now. It just started its fifth, and possibly final, season. I say possibly final because this is the last season of a 5-season story arc and though they’ve teased us with the possibility of doing more the creators have said it would probably be five seasons and no more. Supernatural is the story of the Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean, as they battle monsters, demons, ghosts, and anything “supernatural”.

Usually a single episode falls into one of two categories: either its an “arc” episode about the overall seasons long story, or it’s a standalone episode which could also be referred to as monster-of-the-week. What makes this show so good is that whichever type of episode it is, it’s always entertaining. The arc-stories are epic and the standalone stories, which do tie into the arc sometimes, are interesting. The creators also really know how to play upon fans’ expectations and the fandom surrounding the show.

A great example of this is in the most recent season 5 premiere where a character is introduced who is writing what is known in the fan community as a “wincest” story. Or basically fanfiction about Sam and Dean having sex. Yes, people on the internet do that and yes, the makers of the show decided to show it and make fun of it on the show.

The music is also a great part of the show. Usually the previously on is set to some fucking awesome classic rock song like Thunderstruck or Carry On Wayward Son (which I started playing when I started writing this review, for inspiration) and that just gets you pumped for the episode to come. The character of Dean is obsessed with classic rock and that gives the creators the excuse to play some awesome music. I also bring this up because I wish they would release a huge, official soundtrack for the show but for now I’ll just have to deal with the songlists fans have written.

I guess the great thing is the mix this show brings. It has great comedy moments and pure comedy episodes like one last year about old-time movie monsters (e.g., the wolfman, dracula, etc) killing people. It has good action and special effects, and some gore. It can also be genuinely scary, which is very rare for a TV show.

So, go forth and watch this show. Get on the bandwagon before it ends. Seasons 1-4 are on DVD right now and Season 5 just premiered last night.

Watch This Show: Legend of the Seeker

I have a few of these TV show recommendation articles in various stages of completeness kicking around but I was inspired to finish up with this one because recently we’ve been getting bits of news on season 2 of this show. As the title suggests the show I am writing about this time ‘round is Legend of the Seeker.

LotS (as the kids are calling it these days) is a fantasy-action-drama about a young man who discovers his destiny is to be a great hero and defeat an evil villain. He’s helped on this quest by a magical sword, and wise old man that he thought was a crazy loner who turns out to be a powerful wizard, and a beautiful woman who has powers of her own. So yeah, generalized it sounds like standard Hero’s Journey stuff but it’s so much more.

Getting more specifically into the premise the young man that discovers his destiny is Richard Cypher who discovers he is destined to be The Seeker of Truth (luckily they just use “Seeker” rather than the full title for most of the season) a warrior that is chosen only in times of great need. That great need is brought upon by Darken Rahl who is a not so nice dude. Which reminds me, if you’re naming your child and you choose “Darken”, you’re kinda forcing them to go into the whole being evil business aren’t you? But I digress. The Seeker of course has help in his quest in the form of a Wizard of the First Order (I guess the most powerful type of wizard) named Zedd and a Confessor (confessors can, with a touch, make a person do anything the confessor wants) named Kahlan.

It’s based (possibly loosely from my extensive research) on a series of books that I have yet to read, though they are waiting for me, collectively called the Sword of Truth books. The Sword of Truth is the aforementioned magical sword. Apparently the books are really good but I cannot pass judgement on them until I get much more than 5 pages into the first book. They did however spawn a pretty fucking entertaining TV show.

It makes sense given that it is being made by some of the same people that made two other pretty entertaining shows: Hercules and Xena. I think it’s time for me to confess something to you dear reader. I was a big fan Hercules and Xena back in the day. And not just because Kevin Sorbo was so dreamy. Fun factoid: Michael Hurst who played Hercules’ side kick Iolaus has a role in this series for an episode as well. Oh, and Ted Raimi is also a guest star in it and you should recognize him, amongst other things, as Joxer the Mighty. Again with the digressing. The connection to Hercules/Xena might also give it bonus points as well; what the hell am I saying “might”, it definitely does.

I do have to say though it is an improvement over those shows and that could be because it is adapted from those books. It has good stories week to week and the overall arc of the season is great too. The action is decent too. So, if you’ve read this far and you’re interested in a very entertaining fantasy show then you should really watch Legend of the Seeker.

P.S.: EXTRME GEEK MOMENT

This show brings up an anecdote that will let all of you know how huge of a geek I am. My sister and I were both at different points in the season and were talking about it when my sister said, “Did you know that Darken Rahl [the evil villain in LotS] was Haldir in Lord of the Rings?” Any normal person’s reaction would’ve been along the lines of: “Who’s Haldir again?” or “OK, I care because…?” but as an extreme-geek my reaction was genuinely excited to discover this factoid and my response was, “HOLY SHIT, YOU’RE RIGHT, NO WAY!” Now, I’m not the hugest geek in the world because if I was my reaction would’ve been to respond, in proper Elvish, “Duh!”

My Top 5 Reality Shows

With Big Brother premiering tonight I wanted to write about reality shows in general so here’s my favourites. This list isn’t in any particular order.

Survivor
Going into it’s 19th season this fall I had to put it on this list just for the sheer amount of hours I must have spent watching it but it’s also on this list because without fail every season has something interesting about it. If you don’t know what this show is about then firstly, what the fuck and secondly, it really boils down to pretty people suffering and competing in a pretty place. There’s really not much else to say about it. I would go on with specific examples of why it is amazing but there has been so many seasons now that they all kind of blend together in my memory.

Amazing Race
Probably my favourite series on here, despite me saying I wasn’t going to order this list, The Amazing Race has some hit or miss moments; a certain “family edition” season was atrocious and some teams border on murderous rage inducing. But when its firing on all cylinders it is extremely entertaining. The Amazing Race is about a bunch of two-person teams who travel the world in a race that’s quite…incredible. It’s not only good as a competition show but you can also watch it as a travel show and look at all the weird exotic places the teams go.

Big Brother (U.S. Edition)
The 11th season just premiered recently and is the inspiration for this list. I specify the U.S. edition of this show because the U.K. version has not caught my interest in all but one season. I still say that if the U.K. edition didn’t have an hour long episode every day of the week, if it boiled down the best bits to two or three shows (the U.S. edition has three one hour shows per week when it is on) it would be so much better and I might actually be able to watch it. I watch a lot of TV but dedicating 7 hours per week to one show is a little much even for me. But I digress, Big Brother is about usually 12-ish people locked in a house and compete/strategise against each other all summer until one person is declared winner. There are so many memorable characters and moments from this show and it has the perfect amount of entertaining material; if you’re a casual watcher you can just watch the thrice weekly shows but if you’re insane you can watch 24/7. I’m kind of in between, I listen to a reality TV podcast which analyzes it and sometimes I check in on the forums where people report on the goings on in the house pre-TV show, just to find out who won certain competitions earlier.

Whale Wars
Whenever I describe this show to people I always boil it down to: Japanese Whalers vs. Hippies. Currently in its second season, this show may put people off due to the issues and politics surrounding it but trust me whatever you believe you can find something worthwhile in it. If you’re on the Japanese side you can laugh at the hippies as the royally fuck up running a ship every single episode (in the second season they finally found a single experienced sailor to join up with their cause, unfortunately they’re hippies so they’re anti-authority and structure so you can guess what happens). If you’re on the Hippies’ side, you can cheer along with them as they pursue the whalers. Despite all that, I was very happy to see this got a second season and look forward to every new episode.

Wipeout
Definitely the stupidest reality show on this list but it makes me laugh, and sometimes cringe. In Wipeout, 24 people are told to run a ludicrous obstacle course with big red balls, automated boxing gloves that usually nail the contestants either in the face or the nads, and lots of mud. Then the three hosts of the show, two in front of green screen and one actually at the course, make fun of the contestants. After several challenges, someone completes the ultimate obstacle course and wins $50,000. I can’t help but thinking this is one of the steps towards the prophetic future of Idiocracy and “Ow, My Balls!” being the most popular TV show but I don’t care, I’ll still watch.

Watch This Show: Harper’s Island

It is unfortunate that my first TV show recommendation is for a show that will never have a second season. However, it is still worth recommendation for its outstanding, and seemingly only, season. Harper’s Island is the story of a group of people that congregate at the titular place to attend a wedding only to find that once they get there a series of brutal murders begins. Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep this article as spoiler free as possible.

Update: Just watched the finale and added a bit at the end of the article reflecting that.

The series starts off as a standard whodunnit murder-mystery but then as the killings ratchet up the more recent, and far superior, episodes shift to what’s essentially a slasher film played out on TV. What’s strange about this show is that the “mystery” was never really a mystery, as the killer is entirely expected. There is a twist however, which I will not reveal, at the end of episode eleven (titled “Gasp” as all the titles of the episodes are sounds related to the main death of the week, for example: Sploosh, Gurgle, and Thwack).  I’ve seen it better described as a horror/drama which I think fits it better and the show would’ve done better had it realised that earlier instead of pushing “mystery” for so long.

The complaint I have about it being kind of predictable so far and slow to start off with is quite telling seeing as I am still recommending it because despite its flaws I am still entertained by the plot, I like the cast, and the deaths are satisfactorily gruesome (for a TV show). I am a fan of horror so I also just might have a soft spot in my heart for psychopath goes on a killing spree stories.  I will say if you start off and want to give up on it early on trust me keep going with it, it gets far better than where it began.

Speaking of the cast I must mentioned a couple standouts. The groom is played by Christopher Gorham

who has for years been that guy in that show that I really liked that was canceled. I guess his streak is alive and well with this show’s cancellation. Though, to be honest, I don’t know how they would do a second season unless they came up with new characters, a new setting, and a new mystery at this point but then again the killer always comes back for more in horror movies why not here. The bride is Katie Cassidy who was great as Ruby in Supernatural which I love and will most definitely be the subject of a future TV recommendation article. She was later replaced as Ruby by an actress that I liked far less. There’s another Supernatural alum here in Jim Beaver who’s also good as the Sheriff.  The probable reason for the casting of the Supernatural people is that both shows are filmed in British Columbia. That just earns the show a couple bonus points in my book (yay for Canada).

I want to write more but I’m constricted by not being able to write spoilers. I might write a full season review or something after Saturday’s series finale.

Post Finale Update: Don’t worry, no spoilers here. I wrote above about predictability and the plot not really being, or needing to be, a mystery. With one twist at the end of the first hour of the finale you can throw at least part of that out the window. I should have expected that twist because it, or something akin to it, has happened in dozens of horror movies. But it was still satisfying and I must say that I really liked the actor or actress when they had to suddenly switch to evil mode. Finally, the deaths in the last episode didn’t really live up to the standard set by the series save one; I won’t give it away but it reminded me of a magic trick from a very popular movie last year.

Anyway, my final thoughts now that the season/series is over: its slow in bits but immensely entertaining and satisfying. I will be buying the DVD when it comes out definitely.