With the popularity of High School Musical and American Idol I’m more than a little surprised it’s taken this long for one of the major networks to trot out something like Glee. The show centers around a young high school Spanish teacher (Matthew Morrison) who attempts to relive his own glory days by reinventing the Glee Club into something cool for the current generation.
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Nathan Fillion‘s new show premiered last night on ABC. In Castle Fillion stars as a mystery/crime novelist who gets called into help the police when a killer begins recreating some of the deaths from the writer’s book. Stana Katic (who you might remember as a cop from The Spirit) plays the detective saddled with fun-loving, and well-schooled, writer.
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I was a little unsure of In Plain Sight when it began at the beginning of the summer. The hard-edged main character, US Marshall Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack) straddles the line between a hard-ass and unlikeable character, and in the first couple issues she leans more to the later.
I stayed around to see if the show would come together, and it did, at least for me, in its forth episode “Trojan Horst.” Dave Foley guest-starred as the only witness who could identify a high-priced contract killer. The episode brought other sides to Mary’s personality with the wounding of her partner Marshall (Fred Weller) and show the practicality of her no nonsense take charge attitude on the job. The show not only helped fill-out the main character but also better define the business relationships of Mary’s life.
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Oh boy. Here’s a glimpse of what the world of a prolonged writer’s strike would have looked like. It’s not pretty, folks. The Return of Jezebel James, filling a hole for missing programming, was thankfully canceled after only two weeks. For those who missed this inglorious moment in TV history, and have a strong stomach, check out our review (and your chance to view the full Pilot episode) inside the Full Diagnosis.
The Return of Jezebel James
1 Star
Parker Posey stars as Sarah Tompkins, a Manhattan book editor whose defining characteristics seem to be her annoying nature and a complete inability to shut-up. For no real reason, other than the plot calls for it, she decides to have a baby. A trip to the doctor however reveals her inability to conceive. What is she to do?
Out of the blue she calls up her estranged younger sister Coco (Lauren Ambrose) to offer her the opportunity to carry her baby. The two haven’t spoken in years, don’t get along, and don’t even really know each other. Coco, of course, decides against all logic to agree to the arrangement, because, well, the plot calls for her to. And so a sitcom is born. Thankfully it lived only a short time.
Although I’ve seen worse shows on television, I’m not sure I remember one centered around such an annoying character. The show was created by Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman who forgets the cardinal rule about a sitcom – to make it FUNNY! In two episodes I watched, I laughed only once – at the complete and absolute absurdity at the entire enterprise.
Even with extensive rewrites I doubt this show could be saved. It certainly could be better, but never passable. Posey has her uses in films and television, but this is just a bad fit for her, and since the writers never decide who Coco is supposed to be Ambrose can be given a little slack for never getting a feel for the character. Bad casting choices and bad writing make for bad television. With the writers returning to work we can be thankful, at least, that this one was put down quickly.
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The final season of Battlestar Galactica begins this Friday with “He That Believeth in Me” which picks up just moments after the ending of Season Three. The Sci-fi Channel is re-airing previous episodes of the series all this week playing every episode of the series in order to get you set for Season Four. The series has also put out two behind-the-scenes featurettes (which you can check out in the Full Diagnosis) examining the show itself and fan reaction. New episodes air Friday nights on the Sci-fi Channel at 10:00/9:00.
Battlestar Galactica
N/A
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