Just watched the pilot episode..long story short, USA Network promoted the fuck out of this show last Winter like it was to air within a few weeks. The ads looked decent, but not amazing.
Last year the network totally won me over with the new insider-FBI plot show Burn Notice. The show was clever, it had a good cast, and more or less it lacked much if any dull moments. In other words, it was a winner and probably at times a show I enjoyed even more than Psych last Summer.
This show sort of seemed to take a similar slant, aim towards a similar audience. Mary McCormack plays a US Marshall working for the Witness Protection Program. Her partner seemed worth watching, including the back-and-forth.
The result of the pilot I hate to say is maybe a bit too many misses in the writing, ACTING, and plot. I can't help but wonder a bit if the Writer's Strike had something to do with the results, even just in the casting. However, the fact it's been like 3 months since those ads were being aired every 2mins on USA may make that point moot.
I'm not gonna give up on this of course as it was just the 1st episode and the fact is, it is Summer tv; thus not too much (new and original tv) else is on anyway over the Summer. And the fact Kyle XY is n/a due to being pushed back to the Winter. And there were a few scenes that worked I felt; the interrogation and the banter with her partner namely. But I question if Mary McCormack can be half as clever as Jeffrey Donovan..maybe she can try and get to a Kristen Bell/Sarah Michelle-Gellar level, but sadly that is gonna require some better writing among other factors. Also beyond McCormack and Fred Weller and the boss Paul Ben-Victor, I mean some of the acting just seemed half-assed. You know the point where you watch an actor and start to wonder if it's them rather than the character they are playing. I can't take too much of that before saying goodbye. On the positive side, like some other shows, they did have some fun pop-culture references to TV and movies.= more of that and I'm gonna want to tune-in.
And on that note, not now, but soon..a whole slew of blogs or BLOG about my love of current television hopefully will happen..especially given the reduced schedule. The fall lineups of course. But just for now, I have to make note of a few cool tv-related things.
2 more weeks of Battlestar Galactica and Men In Trees. Dr.Who I imagine will go on til mid
edit: no..June 14..geez..soh..and I did just learn I believe Scifi Channel never aired the Season (Series) 4 premiere episode "Time Crash"..that sucks..I will have to seek that one out.
edit 2: so the "Time Crash" is on youtube and was an 8min special with Peter Davison reprising his role as the 5th Doctor. I don't follow why they didn't tack that on the Christmas Invasion episode other than maybe for rights from the BBC.
Ok so basically, if Scifi does the Stargate Atlantis/Eureka/Flash Gordon thing this Summer. Than at the end of next week, basically all the regular TV Season shows will be done. I.e...a good time for a review, ranking, etc, etc. And a fall preview.
But, wow, now learning that, the Summer tv schedule looks to be pretty thin unless one of the new shows like "Masters of Horror" comes through.
Switching tv topics, I am just about to finish watching a show I have wanted to watch for many years but never got around to in FREAKS AND GEEKS. Great show, I very much have grown attached to it, the characters and the pop-culture circa-1980 from it. And Samm Levine is GOLD in this show. My gawd, the guy is a laugh-a-minute. Priceless at times are his lines. Martin Starr actually as well is more than worth watching each scene. They had lightning in a bottle in 1999..less-is-more or shorter-run is greater suppose. Now And Again, Dark Skies, Brimstone, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me..there are a lot of them. Chalk up F&G's up there.
Another one perhaps as well in Firefly I have also finally gotten around to watching. I question if I'll fathom how big a cult-following it has/had/still has, but I'll admit, I enjoyed the series a fair amount now having seen it. I need to watch "Serenity" now of course too.
The DVDs I'm seeking out:
MissMatch
Ed
Undeclared (naturally after getting so into F&G's)
My So-Called Life (also supposedly worth seeing for fans of F&G's)
revisiting:
Babylon 5
Dead Like Me
some others.
So expect some tv writings soon..a bunch of new shows next fall to look forward to. Some to say goodbye to of course too.
And some other movies should be reviewed around the corner.
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