Mind Games didn't suck

Christian Slater was strangely not-insane and I liked it, I like the ex but hate the young girlfriend, but the big question for me was: Is Steve Zahn’s character supposed to be odd or something? He seemed perfectly normal to me, though he gave up on picking up the marbles* too easily. And I know that he did because, though my thumb was on the remote as soon as I figured out it would fall and break and make a mess, I sat through it and even watched it! Didn’t close my eyes or nothin’. :wink: Can’t say the same when they were about to break something on a Modern Family rerun that was on earlier. I mean, unlike Clark I take my meds, but a guy can only put up with so much shit from his TV. But despite taking it up a notch or two I was comfortable with how Zahn played it. Daughter was impressed that everybody was dressed for a Chicago Season-That-Isn’t-Summer, with lots of layers, but Slater’s scarf was too short to wear it like he did.

Usual spoiler rules apply: Give people a day to catch up with their VDRs. Don’t bother spoilering things that were given away in the previews or stupid incidental shit like the marbles thing or characters who are not long for this series like the girlfriend, if there’s a God in Heaven, though I think we’re stuck with her. Hell, with a 1.1 in the overnights I don’t think anybody’s long for this series. It’s more USA than ABC, but it gives Zahn’s career a boost.

    • He had lost his marbles. Get it? Huh? His marbles? Yuk, yuk, yuk! :rolleyes:

This isn’t supposed to be a blog, you know. A hundred of you at least glanced at this thread, and numbers-wise that means that three or four of you probably saw the show. What did you think of it? How many weeks do you give it? Its predecessor, Killer Women, lasted six of its planned eight, and it has five or six in the can.

A little too much back story for me. I know we need to get to know the characters, but I think the concept of mind manipulation is far more interesting than some dumb love stories (50% of the first episode, at least…).

Hopefully, now that they have set the characters, they can get on with more “fun” stuff.

Well, dang, man, gimme a second to gather my thoughts and craft a thoughtful, witty reply before you go busting out the thread bump, willya?

I also thought it did not suck. It certainly earned at least a few weeks of being on the ol’ DVR. If nothing else, I want to see it succeed because I’m really starting to feel bad for Christian Slater; he’s been getting TV show after TV show the past few years, and absolutely nothing has stuck. I’m afraid he’s going to develop a complex or something. By the way, as far as Zahn’s behavior, I read a review which indicated they dial that down pretty quick from clinically bipolar to merely colorful and wacky.

My reaction was largely the same as the OP’s: it didn’t suck. I love Steve Zahn and Christian Slater, so I tuned in to see them (although, as Snooooopy mentioned, Slater hasn’t has much luck with TV lately). Manic Steve Zahn is a bit much for me – it kept reminding me of Claire Danes’s manic moments on Homeland, which also bug me – but I’ll keep watching. I actually really liked the twist at the end of the episode, and didn’t see it coming.

I think his career is OK: he just did four seasons of Treme, and the series finale aired less than two months ago. :slight_smile:

I’m barely aware of Treme, and now that I am I don’t think I’m interested. It seems to be about people and their lives and feelings, or something. Not my cup of tea.

Sorry about the one-hour bump. I’ve been testy lately. I asked Number One Daughter if I was like Zahn’s character, and she said, “No, you’re angrier and he’s MUCH smarter.”

We decanted the DVR’ed pilot last night. My wife was grousing after the first segment. I held out until 14 minutes before deleting it. We say yes, it did suck.

I was going to say, “of course it didn’t suck” but then I realized you weren’t talking about the 1973 John Lennon album.

Sorry, but I thought it sucked. I had high hopes, as I like Slater, and have a tendency to love any show set in Chicago. But Steve Zahn was driving me crazy! I deleted it after the second commercial break. If it got better after that, well, too bad. They had already lost me.

I have barely-watched two episodes of it so far. I’ve been in and out of the room or doing something. There are things I like about it. I wonder how much of the psych theory is still considered current, actually. :slight_smile:

Well, I seem to half-watch this while doing something else. It’s OK. I like that the second ex-con con artist is staying.

Watched the first three and not really warming up to it. Just too busy with the crazy brother schtick and love nonsense. I guess I was hoping more for a “Mission Impossible” or “Leverage” vibe of going in and messing with the minds of “bad guys” or something.

Will try a few more, tops - but if it continues to be wacko brother always having to be reigned in, I think we might drop it from DVR.

Well, looks like Christian Slater is going to have to move on to his next doomed series. Mind Games is no more. Boy, he just doesn’t seem to have the knack for picking shows, huh?

We got about half way through the last episode - when the brother was having his fit in the clothing store - and shut it off and deleted it from our DVR.

When I saw the show was immediately cancelled after that episode, I was not exactly surprised or shocked to hear it.

Too bad - the concept had promise, but the bipolar or whatever that was just got the series off the track and the fun of playing mind games went down the toilet.