Did anyone else watch this? I saw commercials for it while I was finishing up Z Nation (I do love that goofy show), so I decided to record it and watched it tonight.
I have to say I liked it and it’s definitely going into the dvr list. It reminded a bit of the Buffyverse (a plus) and it even had Christian Kane in it. (I had a huge crush on him when he was on Angel.)
Plus John Larroquette? What?!?? And great small bits with Jane Curtin and Bob Newhart. At first, I didn’t quite like Noah Wylie, but he grew on me by the end of the pilot/first two episodes.
I even kinda liked Rebecca Romijn. (Though, if she’s going to play a the tough fighter chick, she will need to work on her moves, or the fight sequences will have to be edited differently.)
But it was fun, goofy and fluffy and I quite liked it.
But wait there’s more–watching the “On this season” bit, Bruce Campbell is going to be on? NO. WAIT. Bruce Campbell is going to be … SANTA CLAUS??? Well, sister, I’ll will be watching until at least that episode, NO. MATTER. WHAT.
Ideally, it wouldn’t have come so soon after the end of Warehouse 13 so I could have had a bit more time to work up an appetite for shows about people tasked with collecting magical items. I thought that The Librarians was nice enough. Lindy Booth is as cute as a button and I generally like Christian Kane in whatever he’s doing. They did pleasantly defy my expectations by making the Asian guy worldly and sneaky as opposed to nerdy and shy. I might end up giving this show more of a shot than I otherwise would have simply because Sunday nights are sort of vacant for me with The Walking Dead taking a break.
Plus I like that Asian guy (looked it up) John Kim has a fun Aussie/NZ accent. It felt very: not only am I NOT the nerd–I’mma break all the tropes! (Sort of like the mechanical wiz on Scorpions.) I’m have no shame on tv shows, I really don’t.
Wu on Grimm and Russell on Tomorrow People both defy this stereotype. In fact, of recent SF TV, only the guy on The 100 leaps to mind as following the stereotype.
Thanks for the reminder! I saw a preview for this show, but don’t have cable so didn’t get any reminders or see it show up in listings of what I would watch. Didn’t know it was airing already. I have little recollection of them, but apparently have watched all three (don’t know if there are more) of “The Librarian” movies, based on the fact that I rated them all on Netflix.
TNT is streaming it, so I just watched the first episode thanks to this reminder. And yeah, Christian Kane, loved him in Angel and Leverage. From what I remember of the movies, it’s darned close to continuations of those, which I think may very well translate to shorter episodes very well. I liked this first one, and have the second bookmarked for when I have time.
Never watched the movies so it ends up feeling like it is ripping off Warehouse 13 even though that reverses their order of creation.
I assume Wylie won’t often be on the show (or maybe not until his Falling Skies duties are complete) and that Jane Curtain and Bob Newhart were essentially there just to explain why they wouldn’t be there anymore.
I found it fun enough to give some time to grow on me more. Did show the power of editing for fight scenes. Rebecca Romijn provided decent kickass in the X-Men movies but looked awful in her fight scenes in this.
The Librarian looks after a Library of mythological and historical magical items. There were three TV movies made from 2004 - 2008 starring Noah Wyle as the new Librarian. Now it’s back as a TV series and Noah Wyle can’t be there so much as he’s busy on Falling Skies, so four new characters are introduced in the pilot to do the hunting and gathering of magical items. It is very similar to Warehouse 13, right down to the same kind of humour. But that’s a good thing.
Which is a shame, because Jane Curtin was brilliant. A lot of energy and perfect comic timing. She’s still got it.
We watched it last night and it’s definitely on my watch when I can list. i fell out of warehouse 13 after the third season so I’m not bored with the style and I’ve always enjoyed the movies which this seemed to follow pretty closely.
The only thing that seemed weird to me was Christian Kane seemed to be playing a young inexperience person and I know he’s been around at least two other popular shows so mentally he’s older then he seemed in the show.
IMDB has Bob Newhart listed in 3 episodes of the current 9. Jane Curtain is in 2 of the current 9. Noah Wyle is in 5 of the 9. That said, the first counts as 2. It was broken into 2 parts… “And the Crown of King Arthur” and “And the Sword in the Stone”. So I’m betting Jane won’t be in other ones.
I enjoyed this very much. I Loved the movies and think this has some excellent potential for future episodes. My DVR is set!
I enjoyed this a lot more than i expected, even without having seen any of the movies. Definitely will keep watching, even the bad effects are charming in an old Dr Who kinda way.
I love the first two Librarian movies (if you’ve not seen them, they’re a lot of fun. The third is not quite as good, but still ok.) I also really liked Leverage (the producers’ last show).
So, I watched it. It has some potential (not really liking the girl. They’ve made her too… something. She goes beyond knowing a lot about a lot (which is what the Librarian and the other two are) and is practically magic.)
Without the Asians in the movies,
Without the Asians on TV,
Who’d play the goofy mathematician, the computer technician,
A wise old healer from Japan,
A short but wealthy businessman,
Sell Korean groceries,
Do your laundry, thank you preeze,
We’re the victims of a crime,
We’ll be loving you long time,
If your movie is a bore, just
Watch the groupie in the chorus, that’s me.
– Maurissa Tancharoen, “That’s Me,” from the Dr. Horrible commentary DVD
It seriously felt like a syndicated show from the late 90s/early 00s–not Xena/Hercules but something like Mutant X or those treasure hunter shows with Tia Carrea and Michael Biehn.
I tended to like those shows but they’ve never going to really be GOOD, y’know. Enjoyable sure, but not good.
I like Christian Kane, too, but I kept seeing the black hair dye on him. It seemed really unnatural. I got the impression they used it to cover up gray hair, or something. I just looked up his age, and he’s 40 (per IMDB). He’s been kickass in the last several shows he’s been in, so to see him as not so competent as a fighter irks a little.
The set-up is so similar to Scorpion that it’s like they traded writers for each scene. Both have a team full of misfit geniuses, a handler, and a sane ordinary woman to be their guide to the real world. The misfits have almost the same character quirks. Both have plotlines that are insanely implausible and get out of jams with schemes that could never work. Both try to be fun while being somehow serious underneath.
Problem is, Scorpion is so much better at it. Not that it’s a great show. More like what Push You Down says: Scorpion is a network show with network production values, and The Librarians is a cable show that feels cheesy at every moment. And Noah Wyle was by far the best character; taking him out can’t be a good thing.