My Take on Pilot Season: Returning (and Not Returning) Shows

Yeaaaaaa to NBC for renewing Chuck!!! If only the network would please now order more than 13 episodes and bring it back before mid-season. (Ugh, I just noticed that Chuck's official NBC Web site now says that Chuck will return in March 2010. That's horrendous.) Seriously, we have to sit though another painful cycle of Heroes before our weary eyes will again behold the sheer awesomeness that is Chuck? That's just mean.

Yeaaaaaa to FOX for renewing Dollhouse!!! I didn't see that one coming at all. After years of watching quirky and/or complicated show after quirky and/or complicated show get summarily dismissed by virtually every network, it just seemed so bizarre that this one didn't get the heave-ho too. Good for FOX for taking a chance on it. At the very least, Dollhouse will have a small but devoted fanbase next season, which is more than some new shows will garner. Perhaps Dollhouse will even meet with some increased commercial success. The fact that the show was steadily increasing in quality after a lackluster beginning should help. I just hope that Mellie and Victor will get to come back.

After those two announcements, I began to develop the sinking feeling that Upfronts and pilot season were going far too well, and sure enough:

Major boooooooooooooooooooooo to ABC for cancelling Samantha Who? There is NO REASON why this show needed to be canceled. Sure, its audience wasn't great when ABC began jerking it all around the schedule and forcing it into abrupt hiatuses. What show's ratings would survive that kind of cruel Men In Trees-esque treatment? What makes the cancellations more upsetting is that Sam Who? is not really a niche-based show. It had fairly broad appeal, which it demonstrated when it pulled some big numbers leading out of Dancing With the Stars. Christina Applegate is one of the most likable women on TV and the supporting cast was hilarious. The only reason this show had issues was that ABC didn't seem to know what to do with it, which is astounding, because all they had to do was leave it on after DWTS. There's no need to try to make Surviving Suburbia happen at the expense of Sam Who? Any network that airs According to Jim for eight seasons but cancels quality comedies like Sam Who? after two (abridged) seasons, needs to do some serious atoning.

(photos: NBC.com; ABC.com)

Premiere Watch '08: Samantha Who?

Samantha Who?: "So I Think I Can Dance"

The season 2 premiere of Samantha Who? reminded me how much I enjoy this show. Christina Applegate is so funny and likable as the mentally born-again title character. (I totally think she should have won the best lead actress in a comedy Emmy... Tina Fey didn't need 3 awards.) And, to a person, the supporting cast is excellent.

I didn't think that this episode was the funniest Samantha Who? ever, but it packed in some interesting moments: Christina got to show off her Broadway dancing skills, Todd had a bit of a breakdown, Sam and her mom actually acted like they like each other for a while, Andrea showed that she does have actual, human feelings, and there was a big dance number.

Highlights and random thoughts:

• Sam's mom taped Oprah over the home video of Sam's first birthday party.
• Regina: "Oh crap! Paula Drake! I knew should never leave the house without a bra!"
• Sam: "I'm not brain damaged. I have my own spatula."
• Dina: "It's the one night I get to be on tech crew!"
• Sam (to her mother): "I can't wait to put you in a home."
• Dina saying that Sam flashing the judges during the live nativity scene was edgy.
• Sam: "You just said that a Newly never gives up!"
  Mom: "On themselves! On each other all the time!"
• Uh oh, Todd's got some Sam issues, and they're boiling over. So, he says he held her hand while she was in the coma even though she cheated on him? I didn't know about that; that's so sweet! However, he sure didn't seem to like her right after she woke up from the coma--his attitude was not that of someone who had just been holding her hand.
• I think Mrs. Drake's dance routine looked pretty beatable.
• Wow, Sam's pretty good! Or not... Awww. Poor Sam.
• Dina's boyfriend: "Are you sure you want more light? Because I was thinking more darkness."

The rest of Samantha Who?'s second season looks pretty promising with guest appearances by Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development), James Tupper (Jack from Men In Trees) and Mary-Kate Olsen. Bring it on--I'm excited.

Premiere Rating: 6.5/10

(photo: ABC/Samantha Who?)

Samantha Who?: Turning 1

Samantha Who? "The Birthday"
With the plethora of TV shows I watch on Monday nights (and the several that I am committed to blogging about), I haven't gotten around to commenting on Samantha Who? in quite a while. I want to rectify that fact, however, in honor of the show's season 1 finale.

To say that Samantha Who? is my favorite new half-hour comedy series of the year doesn't give it the credit it deserves, since I don't watch any other new half-hour comedies (except Miss Guided, which didn't last very long). What's more to the point is that this show is solid, it's funny, and it's very entertaining. Personally, I haven't tired of the amnesia plot device, and I genuinely enjoy watching Samantha try to reinvent herself. Christina Applegate makes for a charismatic heroine. (Oh, and her wardrobe is fantastic.)

The main strength of the show, in my opinion, is that every character on the show can consistently deliver funny lines. Samantha, Andrea, Dena, Sam's parents, Todd, and Frank are all capable of complete hilarity. I especially want to send kudos to Jennifer Esposito, because I remember that I expressed worry at her over-the-top antics after the pilot episode. She's completely won me over as Andrea, however. I love how funny she is even when she doesn't have a line and is just sending someone (usually Dena) a look of total disgust.

And Barry Watson was never this dreamy on What About Brian? and especially not in (ugh) 7th Heaven.

Finale Highlights:

• Sam: "...and, thank you for helping me find this book on tanks, sir!"
  Todd: "No, tank you!"
  
• Sam: "A hospital is kind of like a club; they've got cute people, skimpy outfits, and drugs!"
  
• Evil Sam wore seriously dark lipstick.
  
• Frank is great. His omnipresent condescension is definitely a highlight of the show.
  
• Howard (Sam's dad): "Well, I'm sorry I don't dress like the internet."
  
• Andrea (about her kitchen): "It's just, I've never been in here before."
  
• It's pretty cute that Sam is saying that she's "turning 1."
  
• Howard: "You know some of these people--the glitterati--don't roll in until at least 8:30!"
  

Premiere Watch '07: Round Up!!!

Well, I'm exhausted. Who knew that blogging about television could be so tiring ;-) It sure didn't help matters that there are now about a billion shows that I wanted to a least sample this season. Here are my rankings for the first episodes of almost everything a whole lot of new and returning shows (scale of 1 to 10):

Pilots:

• Pushing Daisies...............9.5
• Reaper..............................8.5
• Chuck...............................8.0
• Gossip Girl.......................7.5
• Dirty Sexy Money..........7.0
• Samantha Who?..............7.0
• Aliens in America............7.0
• Moonlight.........................6.5
• Kid Nation........................6.5
• Private Practice...............5.0
• Big Shots...........................2.5
• Viva Laughlin...................1.0

Returning Series:

• The Office.........................8.0
• 30 Rock.............................8.0
• Ugly Betty.........................7.5
• Grey's Anatomy...............7.0
• Brothers and Sisters........6.0
• Men In Trees....................6.0
• Heroes................................5.5
• Desperate Housewives....5.0

Whew. It seems like no sooner did we wade through all the premieres, than it's time for November Sweeps! Oh well, bring on the weddings, births, deaths, surprise pregancies, etc....

Premiere Watch '07: Samantha Who?

Samantha Who?

Well, this is my last premiere review of the fall season, unless I blog Viva Laughlin for some evil fun tomorrow...which, face it, I'm totally going to do.

Anyway, Samantha Who? was a pretty darn delightful show, which is much more than anyone can say for ABC's other new comedies (Cavemen, Carpoolers), which I couldn't even sit through. I enjoy seeing Christina Applegate back on television, as I was a bit of a Jessie fan back in the day. At times, Christina seemed just a little over-the-top in her portrayal of Sam, but I guess she was going for the always-on-the-verge-of-a-freak-out thing that is popular among female TV characters (and Chuck from Chuck).

After the first episode, I feel pretty sorry for "new" Sam since she's stuck with "old" Sam's scary parents and friends. I love Gilmore Girls' Sookie, but her character was pretty freaky on this show. And, let's just say, if that's how Jennifer Esposito acts in real life (I assume it's not), then I can see why Bradley Cooper divorced her.

I did love Barry Watson in this show. I think he's becoming one of those people who just get cuter and cuter all the time (or maybe he just seems cuter since I don't have to be watching 7th Heaven to see him). It was a nice twist that Todd had already tried to break up with pre-coma Sam. That revelation made a lot of sense because he didn't really seem all that into having her around. I also liked how all the messages on his answering machine were his friends bad-mouthing Sam.

I hope we get to see more flashbacks to pre-coma Sam, because she seems pretty entertaining in her horribleness.

Funniest Part:

Sam: "You raised me. You made me who I am!"

Sam's mom: "What a horrible thing to say!"

Sam's dad: "Apologize to your mother."

What I liked most about this pilot is that it made it seem like there's plenty more material to cover in this story. So hopefully the show won't peter out in the next few episodes, like I think Reaper sadly has.

But I would be remiss not to mention that this show is almost exactly 13 Going On 30 without the fairy dust and the "Thriller" dance sequence.

Premiere Rating: 7 / 10

(photo: abc.com)

2007 Fall Outlook

I'm going to have a lot of television on my plate this fall. Even though three of my favorite shows ever (The OC, Gilmore Girls, and Veronica Mars) were canceled last season, there are still about a million shows that I want to watch. Actually, I'm planning to check out 23 shows this fall. Even I think that's excessive.

Something's gotta give at some point though. Right? Thankfully, Damages is going to wrap up its first season in October, but if everything on this list is still going strong by the time Lost, Kyle XY, Monk, Greek, and Psych come back, I'm going to be screwed.

I'm most excited to see the pilots of all the new shows because we've been hearing about them for almost six months now! It's go time!

The following is a list of shows that I plan on watching (or at least monitoring). I also included a ranking (high, medium, or low) of how excited I am to have each (so far unpremiered) show back.

Sunday:
Desperate Housewives (low), Brothers and Sisters (low)

Monday:

Chuck (high), Heroes (medium -- escaping "low" only because of the addition of David Anders and Kristen Bell to the cast), Aliens in America (medium), Samantha Who? (medium)

Tuesday:

Beauty and the Geek, Reaper (high), Bones (medium), Damages

Wednesday:
Pushing Daisies (high), Private Practice (low), Dirty Sexy Money (high), Gossip Girl, Kid Nation

Thursday:

30 Rock (high), The Office (high), Ugly Betty (medium), Grey's Anatomy (low), Smallville (medium), Without a Trace (low)

Friday:

Moonlight (medium), Men In Trees (medium)

Yikes. And this list doesn't include Viva Laughlin, which I want to watch because it is supposed to be ridiculous and terrible, and Big Shots, which I will try (due to allegiance to Michael Vartan) to watch at least once even though it looks awful.

Hmm. I guess it's good that I really don't have anything else to do...