Fall TV Check-In

So it's a couple of weeks into the new TV season, and I have sampled a few new shows. Even with the aid of a DVR, there's only so much time a person can spend watching TV, and I already have a roster of shows I watch regularly, so I tend to be picky about adding new shows.

There are a bunch of new comedies this fall, and comedy seems to be having something of a resurgence in general. It's easier to add a comedy or two to my regular viewing because of they're shorter. The Mrs. and I both like The New Girl on Fox, and we were already watching Raising Hope, which comes on right after New Girl on the same channel, so this one was an easy choice.

We're also watching Up All Night on NBC, about a couple coping with being new parents. It's a bit ironic that we like this one, since we are not parents, but the cast appealed to us (Christina Applegate, Will Arnett, and Maya Rudolph) and so far it's been pretty funny.

A show that looked promising but has not lived up to the anticipation is 2 Broke Girls on CBS. The premise: spoiled rich girl finds herself penniless when her disgraced Madoffesque father's assets are frozen, must resort to taking waitress job in Brooklyn diner with acerbic coworker and moving in with same. The show comes from Sex and the City creator Michael Patrick King and stand-up comedian Whitney Cummings, and it's... just not very good. It's disappointing, and somewhat bewildering, to see a talented group of writers and performers produce something so mediocre, but the worst part of it is the hints and glimmers of a better show that are peeking in around the edges. It might end up there, but I don't think I'm going to keep watching and waiting for something that may not happen.

On the drama side, I've added a couple of shows to the rotation. Person of Interest is not quite sci-fi, though it comes from J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe, Alias) and Jonathan Nolan (writer of the screenplays for The Dark Knight and The Prestige). A very rich man was asked by the government to build a machine that can predict crimes. He built himself a way to access the machine, but the information he receives does not reveal whether the person is to be a victim or a perpetrator. He enlists an ex-CIA operative to help him investigate and prevent these crimes from occurring. So far it's a nice bit of diversion with some action thrown in. This is the kind of thing I watch when I don't want to think.

NBC is airing an American version of the British classic Prime Suspect. While not nearly as meaty or thought-provoking as the original, it is character-driven, and while Maria Bello isn't going to make anyone forget Helen Mirren's Jane Tennison, she is a good choice to play the American Jane (Timoney). I haven't made up my mind on this one yet, but I'm leaning toward sticking with it.

Tomorrow night brings the premiere of the soapy gothic drama American Horror Story on FX, from Nip/Tuck and Glee creator Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. If you watched Nip/Tuck, you know how insanely baroque it got, and that makes me hesitant. If it were solely my decision I would be inclined to skip this one, but the Mrs. says she's interested in it, so we're going to sample it and see how it goes.

Several critics have called Showtime's Homeland the best new show of the fall. An American soldier is released after years in captivity in Iraq, and a CIA analyst thinks he may have been turned by his captors, but she may not be of particularly sound mind herself. Unfortunately I don't get Showtime, so I'll have to follow my Dexter pattern of waiting until the season comes out on DVD next summer.