Vanished: 3 episodes in, and I’m starting to get hooked, despite myself. I understand that **Kidnapped ** is supposed to be similar, but better. It’s implausible and sometimes annoying, and I sincerely doubt the FBI allows its agents to wear black shirts…but thumbs up, anyway.
Studio 60: I expected to love it, as I’ve loved everything else Aaron Sorkin has done, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Men in Trees: Meh. My wife liked it much more than I did. Implausible in the extreme, and blatantly rips off Northern Exposure. Which would be fine, if the writing was better.
Other than “Eureka” on the Sc-Fi channel, I haven’t found anything new that falls into a “must see” category for me. “Vanished” is watchable enough, but if I missed an episode, I wouldn’t be particularly distraught. I was very disappointed by “Justice” and “Standoff,” both of which feature actors that I like a lot, and both of which failed to use those actors very well.
I’m hoping that “Shark” won’t be another such show. I love James Woods, but I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be his finest hour.
I was channel surfing last night and happened upon Smith and I absolutely loved it. It’s a very entertaining heist show, with good writing and great acting. (And the fact that the very hot Simon Baker and Jonny Lee Miller are both in it certainly didn’t hurt my interest it the show.)
If anyone missed it and would be interested in catching up (and I hope many people do, because it seems like it will be a great show and I really don’t want it to be cancelled) I believe that CBS is rerunning the pilot this Saturday at 8:00 PM Central time, while the regular episodes are shown Tuesdays at 9:00 PM Central on CBS.
I forgot to include **Standoff ** in my recap. I’d concur; I give it a “meh”.
Interesting about Smith…I like a good heist story, but I think I read a scathing review of the pilot somewhere. Maybe I’ll give it a look on the rerun.
Studio 60- Loved it. And I hated the West Wing and thought Sports Night was horrribly overrated. I was pleased with this.
Smith- Surprisingly good. I forgot how much I like Ray Liotta. And Simon Baker is a great sociopath. Except for the terrible song choice over one of the ending scenes it was pretty damn flawless.
Men in Trees- Its like Ed or Northern Exposure without the interesting parts. Why hasn’t Anne Heche gotten the blacklisting Sean Young got for being half as crazy?
Aaaargh. My least favorite trend in TV programming. I’ve pretty much abandoned *Grey’s Anatomy * because I can’t stand the music…which is a really bizarre statement to make about a TV drama.
Thanks for the heads up on Smith. I was going to watch it but became entranced with a couple of PBS specials on Einstein.
The only new show I’ve watched is Studio 60. I’m depending on you guys to tell me what’s good, and so far, it’s the only one that most Dopers seem to like.
Gotta disagree with you about that song – which is “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap. I found it incredibly beautiful. Enough so that I just ordered the CD this morning. Of course YMMV. And, as always, what do I know? I’m just an old progressive rock fan who used to (decades ago… Yikes!) think Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, and Peter Gabriel were the holy trinity.
The Class - I thought it was kind of funny but nowhere near Scrubs or Earl. This is somewhere between winner and loser. I guess it’s in the repechage right now.
Till Death - fairly generic sitcom with fairly generic sitcom jokes. Loser.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - My favorite new show in a while. A definate winner. It is the type of thing I love. Any character that dumps someone just for being a guest on the 700 club is okay by me.
Jericho - I thought the characters and situations in the first episodes were terribly unoriginal. I’ll probably watch it again as I like Skeet Ulrich but I’d still call this one a loser until further notice.
it’s new over here E-Ring do they ever do anything other than make heroic speeches, get five signtures, stare at monitors looking worried, then cheer cos it all worked out??
Studio 60 - definitely a keeper, intelligent writing, above average acting. Pleasently surprised by Perry.
Six Degrees- saw this last night and really enjoyed it. The acting was fantastic. The level of character development expecially for a pilot was unexpected and surprisingly good. A good blend of comedy and drama. Enough questions and mysteries to keep you coming back.
Shark - James Woods was really great - the cross examinations were just great. The rest however was “yawn”. Will definitely have to bring up the caliber of the writing and supporting characters if it hopes to make it past 6 episodes.
I will have to agree with you on all of the these shows. I thought Studio 60 was going to be good, but it blew away my expectations.
Six Degrees, I was nervous about, b/c I wanted it to be so good and I had heard some mixed responses from it. But, I must say I really enjoyed it last night. I thinkit is a great partner for Grey’s. Who was the most intersting character for you?
I was fairly pleased with “Shark,” and I’ll watch it again, but they need to ditch the father/daughter stuff, IMHO. I guess they are trying to “humanize” the James Woods character. Hell, the show is called “Shark.” Not “Bachelor Father.”
Smith - Thought the bad guys were going to be more on the line of Ocean’s 11 or To Catch a Thief where the heist is challenging and you root for them to get away with the crime. That is obviously not the case what with murdering people, drugs and callously getting rid of their friend’s body. The acting was OK but the characters just weren’t likable.
Jerico - Not bad. Not sure where they’re going with it, but interesting enough to watch a few more weeks before I make a decision. Really liked the black guy’s character, smart but not pushy. And McRaney was rather cardboard in his portrayal of Mayor. Hope he steps up his performance soon.
Shark - James Woods is way better than the material, and I’m not looking forward to a completely forced weekly “a-ha!” moment like the thing with the tape. If I stick with the show it will be because of Woods.
Jericho - boring. I generally cut pilots a lot of slack but when it’s this big of an overall meh, I’ll pass.
Smith - if I can’t tell which of the interchangeable characters ends up dead, why would I care about the show at all? Besides, wasn’t this show already on FX, starring Andre Braugher and called Thief?
Kidnapped - interesting, but it apprarently is going to conflict with Lost on Wednesdays so it loses. I won’t let myself get pulled into the storyline when I know I’m going to be unable to watch. If ti ends up on Bravo or wherever NBC shows go to die then I’ll watch it but otherwise I will somewhat reluctantly pass.
Vanished - Mostly in because it’s on after Prison Break and it’s interesting enough to keep me from rooting around for the remote. So of course Heroes will be on right across from it. One or the other will get taped.
Studio 60 - if I remember it’s on I’ll watch it but its timeslot isn’t really leaping out at me.