Summer 2010 shows pt. I

There's a major change around for my TV-blog. Unlike movies, rating TV-shows fairly on a 1-10 scale is almost impossible. Doing it on a scale including half-scores even more so, so as a result I'm taking the TV-ratings back to the stone-age and the good old dice rating.

So. Getting the most important announcement out of the way, it's time to talk about TV-shows again. In between everything else going on, I've had the time to revisit some dear old on-screen friends. All of them top-rated shows, all of them well worth spending time with more than once and only one of them still running. I'll get back to that in a while (another post or two), as I'd like to start my rating with some early impressions of the first bunch of this summer's new scheduled shows. Here's my take on four of the new shows I've checked out thus far from the rainy summer of 2010:

The Good Guys Action-comedy
Seen all 9 episodes

From Matt Nix, the creator of Burn Notice, comes this new comedy-action cop show. Much like his first creation, also The Good Guys aims for an audience looking to enjoy some easy entertainment without too many twists and turns making it impossible to catch an episode whenever you feel like it.

We follow the washed-out, drinking, womanizing and one-case-hero cop Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford(Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing)), who's only reason not being off the force is the fact his one heroic story involved saving the Governor's son from kidnapping thirty years ago. While still on the force, he's on the other hand as low on the totem-pole as a detective can get. He and his rookie partner Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks(Roswell)), are assigned routine small crime cases like bicycle theft and the likes. Bailey follows the rules and knows the book, but doesn't really come across as a promising cop to those higher ranked.

Together this duo usually takes their pity-cases to another level through luck, hard work or coincidences. All according to whom you ask maybe. Along with Whitford and Hanks, Jenny Wade plays an important support role as Bailey's ex-girlfriend as well as being the Assistant District Attorney and the second important supporting role is Diana Maria-Riva as the duo's Lieutenant.

Anyway. The Good Guys pays homage to old cop-shows from way back, when big cars, attitude and kick-ass detectives was the norm on TV. I really enjoy the balance between old-school cops and the humor worked in mostly through the Dan Stark character of the extremely talented Bradley Whitford (no secret my appreciation is much thanks to his major roles on the two before mentioned Aaron Sorkin quality shows). Stark telling Bailey stories of how he and his old partner Frank used to do things back in the days, is usually worth the episodes alone. You got to enjoy the humor to really appreciate this show, and it might sometimes take a while to really get into the mood. I enjoyed it from the beginning, but not until the 6th or 7th episode did it really explode into a top notch show for me as my viewing experience was lifted by the knowledge from past episodes.

The Good Guys got early renewals for a second season, and then they decided to stop airing it on the summer schedule after nine episodes; rather accelerate it into their fall schedule. As a result their summer is now over, but more from The Good Guys in late September.

Rookie Blue Cop-drama
Seen 2 episodes

Rookie Blue is another cop show, molded in the same way as parts of good old Third Watch and much like last years new show Southland. Like Flashpoint and The Bridge in later years, also Rookie Blue comes out of Canada, so there should be no doubt Canadian TV is taking steps in reaching markets these days. Third Watch and Southland had a rookie cop. Rookie Blue is centered around a group of rookies, and how they stack up against their challenges arriving from the academy.

The cast includes Missy Peregrym(Reaper), Gregory Smith(Everwood), Charlotte Sullivan, Enuka Okuma and Travis Milne as the rookies, and then their partners, some detectives and family and so on.

I'm definitely going to check out a couple of more episodes, being a huge fan of Third Watch. I enjoy the focus on street cops who has to deal with a variety of challenges, rather than most cop shows who only focuses on detectives and murders. Still. I wasn't that interested in the principal characters from the start. The drama parts also seemed a bit amateurish compared to other shows who's done this or similar before. There's plenty potential, but so far I fear they are heading towards mediocrity.

Scoundrels Drama-comedy-family
Seen 2 episodes

Scoundrels is an American remake of the New Zealand show Outrageous Fortune. I really don't like remakes in general, but on the other hand I've never seen the NZ-show.

Scoundrels tells about the West's, a small-crime family used to warrants, theft and handling stolen merchandise, just to mention a few of their activities. The show kicks off with Dad going to jail for five years, and the Mom (Virginia Madsen) deciding to take the family onto the law abiding ways of living rather than getting more members of the family sent away.

I guess the premise is decent enough, and if the humor had been my kind I might have enjoyed it. Maybe I'll have to check out the NZ-original. When it comes to humor the US remakes often takes another direction. I digress. The family in question isn't really very interesting. I didn't care much for any of them after two full hour episodes, and then there's most definitely something wrong with the idea. Also the actors and actresses seems rather mediocre. The law abiding ways of the Wests might find their audience, but I'll not be one of them.

Haven Sci-Fi-drama-mystery
Seen 3 episodes

Haven is based on Stephen King's novel The Colorado Kid, and takes our heroine FBI-agent Audrey Parker to the small town Haven in Maine. A town where cursed people lives in exile, trying to live their everyday lives in peace. As forces awakens the curses, Audrey is sent to Haven after an escaped prisoner in the pilot. She finds the prisoner dead under strange circumstances, and her curiosity brings her into investigate closer what happened. She finds unrelated clues pointing towards her mother once being in Haven, a mother Audrey never knew as she grew up an orphan. As the arch-theme goes Audrey is offered a position at the local police if she likes to stay figuring out about her past and the forces at play.

Besides the arch-theme, every episodes takes on a new cursed person and the influences and danger it has on the town. Audrey, played by Emily Rose (ER, Jericho, Brothers & Sisters), is partnered up with the local sheriff's son, Nathan, on cases. Nathan is played by Lucas Bryant, his father the sheriff is played by Nicholas Campbell and also Eric Belfour holds a supporting role.

While Haven could have been interesting from the premise, their focus seem to be a little to much Eureka-ish for me to enjoy. Not to crap on Eureka, but the premise of a special town and the awful happy ending focus (maybe not morally awful like most would have a problem with, but looking at the storytelling and the flow, arch and creative freedom... such a obvious morale point of view crushes the quality) is more than I can bare in the long run. The pilot managed to hold some kind of interest, much because of the feel of potential, but in the two following episodes everything went fast downhill. Not only was the cases less interesting, but also the acting, the storyline, the chemistry and the lead characters personality went from maybe potential to abused potential. Audrey Parker live in the shadow of heroines like Fringe's Olivia, and then I really don't blame Emily Rose that much for failing to seize her audience.

Cupid (2009 remake)

"Love is passion. Love is heat, chemistry, sex." -Trevor, Roman god of love

That's just what this remake lacks. What the original Cupid had plenty of. Passion, heat, and chemistry at least. I love they tried to remake this show. It had a lot to offer, and the cult success of Veronica Mars could help creator Rob Thomas create some fresh interest in his first TV project's potential. It's just a bloody shame they crashed and burned casting.

Jeremy Piven was believable in the original role, and his passionate ways helped sell 'Cupid's point of view on love. And Paula Marshall was equally brilliant as his opposite, creating scenes that actually sparked on screen. The duo, and some great writing, was the original Cupid.

Bobby Cannavale is an awful cast as 'Cupid'. I never believe in his character. I don't believe anyone in the singles group would consider taking the advice from this guy. He's just too boring, and lacks the charisma needed. I like Sarah Paulson. She was great in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but she never manage to come across with the same grace and heartfelt convictions Marshall did a decade ago. It sure doesn't help she'll have to act of Cannavale, while Marshall had Piven, but she's not that convincing on her own either in scenes 'Cupid' isn't there.

The dynamic between the two leads was incredible in the original. In this remake it was quite honestly forgettable. The banter never sparks, their opposite views never come to life, they make me wish someone never hire that casting director again and worst of all; I notice the writing is actually good, but they can't bring life to it.

As mentioned reviewing the original, I never enjoyed the 'Champ' character there. Here they learned, and the two siblings hired to play supporting roles is much more convincingly played and spent. That was a good cast, and a great improvement on one of the originals few flaws.

The writing is also in many ways more polished, which makes it work well these days. It's more focused, while it keeps the banter and references. A shame they didn't have a duo to perform it. Also a shame they chose much of the material I disliked most from the original, to recycle here. 'The Linguist' was never my favorite, and I didn't enjoy a revisit. Overall this version somehow didn't attract as interesting guest stars either. Connie Britton, Lisa Loeb and Tiffany Thiessen among those I remember fondly from the original.

I applaud those who decided to pull the plug on this show, because Cannavale ruins the good writing. I'll rather remember the original and the intentions of the show, and who knows. Maybe a third one day sees the light with an equally good cast as the original duo.

Cupid

"You ever watch Fame? You know what I have in common with Bruno, Leroy and Coco? I'm going to live forever. What about you? You going to live forever? See, it would saturate my pleasure gland to rip your skin off and make ponchos for the kids. So keep your paws off my shrink here, because I'm a frustrated taxidermist and I'd love to go deep on you. We on the same team, butter bean?" -Cupid, Roman god of love

Back in 1998 Rob Thomas got his first TV show creation picked up, long before Veronica Mars, his writing on Dawson's Creek or anything else TV related. The show was about a man claiming to be 'Cupid', the Roman god of love, sent to earth as punishment, having to get hundred couples together without his trusted magical bow and arrows. Thrown in jail and skipped to a psychiatric hospital thanks to telling his story, he's faced with the psychiatrist, 'Dr. Claire Allen', who's assigned his case. He eventually fakes getting over being 'Cupid' and is released in her care, but immediately after released admits to her he's sticking to his cause of getting hundred couples together. Not only together casually or sexually or anything like that, as only 'true love in the eye of the gods' count towards his tally.

Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall was cast as the leading duo in question, and their chemistry and abilities are undeniable. Both very much needed to pull off this kind of show. While 'Dr. Allen' works to figure out who this delusional 'Cupid' really is, our 'Cupid' works hard on getting couples together.

Paula Marshall as 'Dr.Claire Allen' and Jeremy Piven as 'Cupid'/'Trevor Hale'

The chemistry between our leading duo is a huge part of why this show worked so well. With two opposite views on matchmaking, as 'Cupid' was aiming for fire and 'Claire' for commonality, there's always something to disagree or argue about. Their relationship is evolving throughout the show, and to me this duo ranks quite high up there amongst TV show duos of all time.

The writing shows several signs of typical Rob Thomas thing to come in later works. His pop cultural as well as highbrow references, the dynamic banter and the general feel of the dialogues are all very similar to what I've come to love later in Veronica Mars, a show I've never made any attempts to hide my love for. Unfortunately the directions shown throughout the season, 14-15 episodes, Cupid got, also proved Thomas' lacked TV experience and good advise on this show.

I hated the 'Champ' character. He got way to much airtime, and was almost less important than 'Ms.Dent' in the earlier mentioned Veronica Mars were he did the same mistake. In Cupid the actor obviously had a lot longer contract than he should have had, as it had to be easy to spot for the writers they had very little useful to write him into.

There's a couple of other wrong directions chosen, but avoiding spoilers I'm not going to mention them here. And I'm looking to avoid spoilers, because I really recommend checking out the episodes made of this show. It's lighthearted and heartwarming at the same time, it's witty, the leading duo is great in every way and there's a lot of good guest stars attempted to be coupled up during the episodes. With this leading duo cast and a few changes, this show could really have become something amazing. Last year a remake was indeed launched as there was obvious more people than me spotting its potential, but the remake had other issues which I'll get back to in its review later.

NewsRadio

"No. No, I'm at the station right now. Yeah. No, then I got to go to the factory, then I got to go to the building site. Huh? No, that's just for fun. I like to watch the big trucks."
-Jimmy James, owner of radio station WNYX and eccentric billionaire

NewsRadio main cast

NewsRadio starts out kind of slow and out of focus, much like many other half hour comedies. Anyhoo. It doesn't take many episodes to realize they are something different. The main reason they stand out is because they don't always go after the cheap laughs. They trust their audience to see the development in characters and actively seeks out to make us laugh thanks to those changes over time and those understandings of the characters.

NewsRadio is made with love. An ensemble cast obviously enjoying them self while working on it, great characters molded with the actors and the ensemble in mind and with very good scripts as a platform. My only regret is nobody knew to say "Enough is enough.With Phil gone we shouldn't make the fifth season. Let's do a double episode to honor him and wrap up these characters, and then let the show live on in memory along with Phil."

In memory

Phil Hartman

(September 24, 1948 - May 28, 1998)

Rest In Peace

Better shows than NewsRadio have run too many seasons, the final season of Coupling springs to mind, but few if any have as good an excuse as NewsRadio to why it went downhill. The tragic murder of Phil Hartman May 28, 1998, only 16 days after the airing of the fourth season finale of the show, in reality killed the show as well. They tried moving on without the character of Bill McNeil, and their first episode of the fifth season was a moving tribute. How often they had to stop shooting that episode because the cast broke down in tears is something no-one kept count on, but there's no doubt the loss of their colleague and friend affected the cast in ways easily seen on the screen especially in that episode.

If you've never seen the entire NewsRadio I'll give you my advice. Watch only the first episode of the fifth season, and call it quits. The 21 episodes after that one doesn't hold the same quality, even if it's funny enough every so often. The problem is they forgot a couple of important notes on the characters we'd grown to love, they never managed to work them self past the loss of Phil/Bill and in the end they never got an ending the audience can live happily after with the knowledge of.

Dave Foley and Maura Tierney as Dave Nelson and Lisa Miller

The fifth season character of Max Lewis probably didn't stand a chance anyway they played it, but to me Jon Lovitz isn't especially funny either. I didn't even enjoy his two guest appearances in different parts during the first four seasons. Then Max Lewis kept annoying me the entire final season, which obviously is difficult to get past reviewing it.

I got to remind myself to fairly review the show as it was, but the fact is to me, as a TV lover, I feel you should take the time and acknowledge Hartman despite of the biggest reason NewsRadio was so good; It's an ensemble cast.

To me the roles of Dave Foley as Dave Nelson, Phil Hartman as Bill McNeil, Maura Tierney as Lisa Miller and Stephen Root as Jimmy James is the four walls elevating it to the show it was, but Joe Rogan, Vicky Lewis, Andy Dick and Khandi Alexander probably had the same spot with others as some of those four had with me, and even with me they all had important roles in balancing the ensemble. They spent four seasons airing quality comedy, without ever escaping the treat of cancellation. They had Seinfeld and Friends taking all the glory in those days, but NewsRadio is a well kept secret as one of the 90s classic comedies. Maybe they even was a little ahead of its time. The fact remains they didn't ever get as much praise as they deserved, but it's never to late to catch up with golden shows just because they've stopped airing. NewsRadio is four season+one episode of high quality comedy. Enjoy.

Samantha Spade (Without a Trace)

Poppy Montgomery is Samantha Spade at Without a Trace

I got to admit Samantha Spade was quite a while the sole reason I stuck through Without a Trace. 7 seasons with 160 episodes, and not all was equally interesting to say the least. The character of Samantha Spade was however one of those cops balancing her personal emotional state interestingly with her work at the New York Missing Persons Unit at FBI.

Jack Malone and Samantha Spade

Still. Their cases was always the most important part of Without a Trace, and they didn't go as far into personal issues as NYPD Blue went. I do however think Without a Trace balanced it out quite well, and Samantha had more than enough of a personality to not be just another cop in just another cop show.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

"We're all being lobotomized by this country's most influential industry. It's just thrown in the towel on any endeavor to do anything that doesn't include the courting of 12 year-old boys. Not even the smart 12 year-olds, the stupid ones, the idiots. Which there are plenty thanks in no small measure to this network. So why don't you just, change the channel? Turn off the TVs do it right now." -Wes Mendell, Executive Producer Studio 60

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip main cast

Television is a completely new ballgame these days. Networks fill the air with reality shows where contestants eat worms, stay the longest on an islands or live the longest imprisoned in camera filled houses. Scripted shows costs more to produce, quality actors costs salary while reality shows gets fame seekers for free and people still watch the trashy reality shows making them better suited to gain advertiser money.

S60 wasn't afraid to kick off their show by saying so. And by letting Aaron Sorkin loose to follow up his huge The West Wing success with actors like Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet collecting paychecks, they took a high priced dice throw from the get go. S60 didn't have to gain some success to survive. S60 needed to be a killer hit to stand a chance.

Then it doesn't really matter the show is one of the best ever written and performed by quality actors. S60 only got a season, but it's 22 episodes you shouldn't miss out on. You'll easily recognize Sorkin's writing both in the wit and smartness, but also in the way the dialogue drives the drama. It's no doubt one of those shows canceled way to soon, and not because of a lack of quality. It was canceled just because television today is a completely different ballgame.

The West Wing - season 1

"Lady, the God you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud." -Josh Lyman, White House Deputy Chief of Staff

The West Wing main cast

The first season of The West Wing is a stunning display of television at its best. OK. So Mandy Hampton wasn't the most interesting character ever made for television, but hey; At least they got a lot right. The casting came very close to a home run. Add the ability to make politic interesting, add the walk-and-talk, add characters with layers and humanity in both their shortcomings and their emotions, and you come close to summing up the first season of The West Wing. Of course you'll still be way short, as its strength is the complexity and that's not something you sum up in a couple of short lines.

New drama doesn't get much better than this. It's filled with passion and yet manages to use wit, relations and human reactions to drive the stories forward. They never bash their view to death with repetitions, but we're never in any doubt on were they stand. The first season of The West Wing is close to perfection in script writing and character building. Managing to keep the smaller episode stories interesting as they went along was the icing on the cake making it an instant success.

Who knew politic could be so interesting prior to The West Wing?

And between all these political victories and losses, it's all those small moments I'll always remember the most from the first season of The West Wing. Moments reminding us also the people with the most powerful jobs in the US are people who gets touched by others in so many ways.

The first season of The West Wing is nothing short of excellent entertainment. I've got no problem recommending it strongly if you have yet to get acquainted with the White House senior staff, and if you are familiar with them this might maybe serve you as a reminder to say hello to an old friend.