Still not too late for “newbies” to start watching.
My votes:
LOST - the new show on ABC actually has a lot going for it, and looking at the Lost thread(s), it looks like a lot of other people on this board feel the same. Still not too late to start watching as they sort of give you the premise in the first minute or so.
DESPERATE HOUSWIVES - very good, and if you read this before Saturday night, they are repeating the first episode before the second one airs on Sunday.
BOSTON LEGAL - the offspring of The Practice…so far it is kinda Ally McBeal meets The Practice, but it could be interesting.
Lost hasn’t so far lived up to its hype. It might become a good show but it isn’t one yet. Desperate Housewives is about the same; a good premiere but I’m not sold by just the first episode. Boston Legal, Medical Investigation, and CSI:New York, on the other hand, are shows that have lost me already.
My vote for best new series goes to Veronica Mars - only two episodes so far, but they’ve been good.
I’m willing to keep watching Lost for a few more episodes to see how it goes, but I’m not invested yet. This is the same guy who did Alias, right? I watched the first half-dozen episodes of that before deciding it wasn’t my cup of tea.
Desperate Housewives, OTOH, hooked me immediately – obviously, I started the thread on that. I think that has the potential to become a really great show – or to self-destruct, the creator is walking a pretty fine line between the various elements in the mix. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
I don’t have cable, so Veronica Mars just ain’t gonna happen – I don’t get that channel well enough to invest in a show on it. Too bad, since Entertainment Weekly named it one of the five new shows to watch (along with both of the above).
Veronica Mars is on UPN, right? If so, don’t get too attached to it… the network’s been exhibiting FOX-like tendencies in the past year and has been cancelling or threatening to cancel good shows and been replacing them with reality TV and the worst sitcoms known to man.
Of the shows mentioned, I’ve only seen “Desperate Housewives”, which I plan to watch again (good combination of dark humor and humanity), and “Boston Legal”, which I don’t (a spinoff vehicle for the most annoying character from “The Practice”). I’ve been meaning to catch Veronica Mars, because I’ve heard good things about it.
I love “Veronica Mars” and “Desperate Housewives,” though both are so very new that it’s hard to say how good they are going to be. (And VM probably won’t make it, in any case.)
“Lost” is entertaining.
Other series I’ve seen but won’t continue to watch:
Desperate Housewives, OTOH, hooked me immediately – obviously, I started the thread on that. I think that has the potential to become a really great show – or to self-destruct, the creator is walking a pretty fine line between the various elements in the mix. I’ve got my fingers crossed.
I loved Desperate Housewives, thought it was cleverly written and cast and hope the rest of the season is as good as the pilot. I watched Boston Legal too and enjoyed it; but why Boston? Couldn’t they have picked a different city (and there are so many) just to set themselves apart from all the other Boston legal shows? Or does Boston endure so many more bizarre legal problems than the rest of the US? Bostonians, reply.
I’m enjoying Medical Investigation but I really like Neal McDonough and Kelli Williams, and the other actors have grown on me, and that makes up for some somewhat unbelievable storylines thus far. I think this show has a decent chance if it tightens up a little. It’s getting better each week, though, thankfully.
I have Desperate Housewives on the TiVo, but I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. I love Felicity Huffman, so I’ll get to it eventually. I’m not sure when it’s actually on, though, so it’s not too likely it’ll be added to my live-viewing schedule. If it didn’t interfere with Scrubs I’d go for Clubhouse with Mare Winningham, but I’m also TiVoing that. I’ve watched a few episodes of Father of the Pride but it doesn’t do anything for me, I can take it or leave it and most often I leave it. Same with Hawaii and Joey.
I’m apparently not the demographic that the networks are looking for this year.
Just wanted to add one more vote for sophomore series NCIS. I started watching it because of Mark Harmon, and was surprised how it snuck up on me, ending the season as my favorite show, beating out some longtime favorites. The second season premier of NCIS was one of the best episodes of any show that I’ve seen in a long time, with an ending that genuinely surprised me, which I was beginnning to think was impossible for a T.V. show.
This year the only new show that has really grabbed me is Kevin Hill. I like how relaxed it is, compared to the intensity of almost every other show on television. It seems like good old-fashioned television to me.
I was really looking forward to Medical Investigation, but I watched the first three episodes and I hated it. It’s clearly based on the works of Berton Roueche, which I’ve loved for about 30 years. He wrote the Annals of Medicine for The New Yorker and collected his articles into several Medical Detectives books. Before I’d even seen it, I guessed which story they would use for the premier, and I was right. The problem with the show (in addition to the fact that all of these true stories are based on the work of the CDC, but the show inexplicably refers to the NIH) is that they are so intent on making the cause of the disease a big mystery with a twist at the end that they lose the most interesting part of each story, which is a) the specifics of how the disease is acquired and how it manifests, b) how it is treated, and c) what kind of prevention measures can be put in place. If this stuff interests you, I really recommend The Medical Detectives, but be warned – you will probably learn spoilers for the T.V. show.
I might get slammed for this but I find Father of the Pride hilarious. I could care less about the talking animals but Siegfried and Roy are very funny.
There are other new shows that i’ve watched (such as Lost) but they are all fairly mediocre. I’m less than impressed by the new season.
It’s good to see there are a few people watching it, that makes me happy. I pay little attention to ratings so I really had no idea other than nobody seems to talk about it where I live and usually that’s a pretty accurate gauge.
I like the theme song as well, the show wouldn’t be the same without it. I’m laughing right now just thinking about it. I watched the first rerun last tuesday and that Matt Lauer (sp.) plotline was just sidesplitting.
I still have “Desperate Housewives” on DVR waiting to watch. Glad everyone gave it a thumbs up because other than “Survivor” (which is duller than dirt this season), I haven’t been watching much t.v. at all.
I also like “Lost” but hope it doesn’t turn too hokey. There are so many potential good plot lines that don’t involve monsters in the jungle.
If I have the time, I always try watching as many of the new shows that are on when I’m home and not watching something else. You occasionally find something decent that way, like Without a Trace and Everwood.
This season I tried watching:
Jack and Bobby (so-so)
Veronica Mars (yawn)
CSI:NYC (neh)
Lost ( Yawnnnnnnnn )
Desperate Housewives (great)
Kevin Hill (pretty good, but it’ll get old fast you can tell)
Father of the Pride (one episode was enough)
The Mountain (Man this show is dumb. They haven’t cancelled it yet?!)
Medical Investigation (pretty good)
Boston Legal (boring. This episode will be my last)
So I’ll keep watching Desperate Housewives and Medical Investigation, and try to catch Jack and Bobby and Kevin Hill but won’t cry if I miss episodes.