Starting this week (it IS premiere week after all) myself, Silas and Pavel will be reviewing a large number of the new US TV shows, network and cable. Please give a few days after airing for reviews to be posted, if you are so inclined as to CARE.

 

I've started the ball rolling with my review of the new ABC show The Muppets, but I shall also post it here (below) so as to keep a record of ALL new shows if anyone wishes to take our advice.

 

Shows reviewed:

 

The Muppets - reviewed by Johnkm - 7/10

The Muppets

 

So this premieres tomorrow night on ABC, although CERTAIN PLACES have already provided me with it so I am hereby going to review it for anyone interested.

 

The whole ''adult'' thing is pretty much invalid. They have relationships and act like actual entities beyond being a joke, but if that's adult then I need to update my dictionary. It's not going to win over any new fans, The Muppets are such an established quantity now that trying would probably put off more people than it would gain. The show goes for some obvious laughs, like Fozzy bear and his girlfriend whose parents hate him. It's been done a million times before on basically every sitcom ever and it's not without its moments (especially his generally being oblivious to his ineptitude and how little people care for/respect him) but it definitely doesn't feel new or fresh.

 

Kermit's new girlfriend who is also a pig, but the exact opposite of Miss Piggy, IS a bit more refreshing though. I did find her a shade disturbing, but then there's always a faint hint of MENACE in any Southern (US) accent. Elizabeth Banks was also game too, not that I'm surprised and it really was fun to see her joke with Miss Piggy, except Miss Piggy wasn't joking.

 

So, essentially, if you like The Muppets as they are, then you'll probably like this. Is it essential viewing? No. Do I think it ever will be? Probably not, but it sure is a nice novelty to have on our screens anyway.

 

7/10

Someone needs to do Scream Queens and Limitless. Thx.

Silas is doing the Fox shows I believe, but I'll be watching Scream Queens at the weekend probably so will REEVOO it anyway. I'm doing CBS so Limitless should be up soon too.

I'm hoping to get a download of the new stuff tonight to watch on my flight to London tomorrow.

I'll get blindspot reviewed this weekend along with a few others. Having a weekend of new tv!

I too would like to read opinions of Limitless from anyone who's watching it :D

I'm quite enjoying Limitless, although it's a little disappointing that it's another police (or FBI, whatever) procedural - both this and Blindspot have an interesting concept but are forcing it into such a generic template (one already well covered by Elementary, thank you). Limitless seems more promising, though - Jake McDorman is surprisingly bright and charming in the lead, whereas Blindspot's male lead is a lead weight on Jaimie Alexander's kick-ass (if rather sullen) character.

 

Generally, Limitless seems promising - I like the visual style of the map in the second ep, it adds a nice element of a puzzle/game to how he approaches things. Jennifer Carpenter is good too. There'll always be the sense that our puny TV can't ever capture the real experience of a mind working at this incredible level, but that was there in the film too and this seems fun enough to let me forget that for the most part.

 

I'm trying to watch most things this year, at least to give them a chance. I'm interested to see how Quantico develops, because it packed so much into the pilot that there's no clue yet as to what sort of formula the episodes might break down into. Just having a network take a chance on putting a Bollywood star in the lead is exciting to see, although Priyanka Chopra just is such a star, even on the small screen.

 

I watched The Grinder and Grandfathered this morning, and both seem quite frivolous but fairly engaging. Both with age-defying middle-aged men! I think The Grinder has more promise, if it can maintain the slight surrealism of the concept (it reminded me, oddly, of Arrested Development's Judge Reinhold moments), but I'll keep both on for a few weeks at least.

 

Has anyone tried The bast*rd Executioner yet? It's on my list, but finding an hour and a half for the first episode is my first challenge.

Edited September 30, 20159 yr by randomfurlong

I gave first episode of The bast*rd Executioner a go. It was pretty awful. I'm not usually against mindless violence, but there was basically no plot or attempt at character work at all. I know it's just the pilot, but it essentially presented nothing to draw me back in at all.

In terms of new shows, I've been focusing my efforts on:

- Minority Report

- Quantico

- Scream Queens

 

I know Minority Report was a movie at first (I think) but it seems promising: it's like That's So Raven only more towards the serious spectrum than the comedic. The actors are pretty good and the plot is engaging (despite my dad's hatred towards Meagan Good, though he'll just have to deal with it).

 

Quantico is so good. I have a thing for mystery shows and something as grave as this was definitely on my radar when the trailers came out. Same thing with Scream Queens though I can admit that it's extremely quotable (which is what Ryan Murphy goes for considering what Glee brought).

I wouldn't bother with Minority Report, I enjoyed it but with the numbers its pulling, Fox will have it off the air pretty soon.

I have a review to write up of Blindspot and a few others to get to grips with. Gonna see what I can get through by the end of this weekend.

I can sum up Blindspot in a few sentences.

 

Yet another cliché-ridden procedural that will not totally bore you to death with ridiculous scenes of bad people shooting at the car but never once thinking of taking out tires, which leads to them being car-chased and ultimately caught. It won't make your eyes roll out of their sockets when seeing that the girl from the main character's past, which still haunts him to this day and he blames himself for, despite being 10 years old at that time, seems to be the main female character. You won't start yawning when you see how they split up and the bad guy always seems to be in the place where the main characters are going to. You will definitely not think that this move was used in every procedural show possible when they center the second episode of the entire series around some PTSD vet going rogue and trying to blow up the government with military drones. You won't think it's bullshit when a car chase ends up in a double crash and the bad guy will not move until the exact moment good guys safely leave their cars and start approaching him. And it will so totally make you go all 'awwwwww i like his penis and courageness' when the main guy evades bullets like a pro, so heroically saves the little girl and the main female character, goes all dramatic when talking about killing people for the government.

 

I'd give this show a 7 for its idea but way too many clichés and 'heroes never charge their phones/eat/sleep/shit' things make me want to divide the score in half and throw away one of them.

 

3.5/10