TV Right Now: The good, the bad and the totally sucky

[doodler]

Fashion Star ended last night with the first episode's "one trick pony" winning the $6million dollar contracts with Macy/s, H & M and Saks. All is right in heaven.

It actually turned out to be a fun series, once I got used to the format. Totally different from Project Runway. Hope it's back for a second season.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

"cliffhanger" season endings. 

I am going to expand on your cliffhanger beef!

I agree with you about the cliffhanger endings. When did this become a routine because
when I was growing up I can't recall a single series having cliffhanger endings.  The reason
I don't like them are many.  If I like a show I am going to come back in the fall and watch
it anyway.  This isn't going to persuade me one way or another.

Another reason is that the resolution episodes of nearly all the cliffhanger shows are uninteresting
or downright bad.  I remember that every season of The X-Files had a cliffhanger episode in May
and those episodes were usually really good. Then in the fall the resolution episode was bad.
Either becasue it wasn't really resolved or it had been discussed so much over the preceding
5 or 6 months that others possibilties were more interesting than what you actually got.

I also don't like the way they film them.  By that I mean this:  Sometimes I don't even think
the writers have written the whole two-part episode.  They write a cliffhanger with little idea
of the resolution so that when it comes back it doesn't seem satisfying for many reasons.

Even if they have written both parts they film the conlcluding episode several months after
the preceding episode and they seem disjointed.  The cast might now have a tan or looks
a bit different.  The momentum they had leading into the finale is gone or its overblown.
(I think they should film those concluding episodes right after the previous ones and then
show them in the fall if they have to have one.)

Or better yet, stop with the cliffhanger episodes.  Off the top of my head, I can't think of
a concluding episode of a cliffhanger that was truly satisfying.  CSI had one of the best
continuing storylines ever with the "miniature killer" which ended up in a cliffhanger whose
resolution was a huge letdown.  When you wait 5-6 months for a conclusion, how can it
not finally be a letdown?

Imagine if Survivor had the final triabl council and then waited 5-6 months to have
the winner pronounced?  THey don't even wait a week, they wait 3-4 days.

Imagine watching the first hour of BBM and waiting 5-6 months to watch the rest of it?

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Only two shows that I watched all year got cancelled.
Alcatraz and Unforgettable.  Unforgettable was getting
decidedly better month by month so they deserved to
keep going, IMO.  I guess we'll never know about Carrie's
sister, the continuing plot point that slowed the show down
and probably got it cancelled anyway.

Here's a new CBS show that sounds promising to me:

Partners: Partners is a comedy based on the lives of creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, about two life-long best friends and business partners whose bromance is tested when one of them is engaged to be married. Joe (David Krumholtz) is an accomplished architect who leads with his head and not his heart, especially in his love life. That’s in stark contrast to his gay co-worker, Louis (Michael Urie), who is spontaneous, emotional, and prone to exaggeration. Both have found joy in their love lives: Joe is newly engaged to Ali (Sophia Bush), a beautiful and sophisticated jewelry designer, while Louis is dating Wyatt (Brandon Routh), a vegan nurse who Louis insists is just a promotion away from becoming a doctor. As news of Joe’s engagement settles, time will tell if their business and personal bond can adapt to the addition of two other important relationships. Emmy Award winners David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are executive producers for Warner Bros. Television. Emmy Award winner James Burrows directed the pilot.

[Sandy]

Okay, but will Brandon Routh wear his tights from Superman? 

[doodler]

Who shot JR?

[bubba]

I am enjoying America's Got Talent - it beats Idol or any of the rest of them.  Although haven't seen any "great" talent yet.  I am enjoying the judges though.


Watched Harry's Law and thought it was great - too bad it is cancelled.   Learnt on the last show that gay people can't give blood, is that right?


And that sex ed in schools can't speak about anything other than hetrosexual relationships, is that also right


Thing that make you go.......really?


Modern Family tonight, I think all the shows are wrapping up!  Can't wait for Grey's on Thursday, see who is dead!

[doodler]

The last decent night of tv before the Spring/Summer ho-hum schedule starts. After tonight, it's all hit or miss every night. Thank god for sports.

[oilgun]

OMFG!  I wondered how they could get a second season of MISSING.  Unfortunately there won't be one.  Loved the show!  Loved the final episode.  Fuck Grey's Anatomy, lol!

[bubba]

  Fuck Grey's Anatomy, lol!

Are you talking to me?   

[doodler]

So, OG, you got to see tonight's Missing episode! Good on ya. Great ending, eh?

My only problem with it is the new relationship with hubby... and what about the old reived relationship with the Italian?

[oilgun]

So, OG, you got to see tonight's Missing episode! Good on ya. Great ending, eh?

My only problem with it is the new relationship with hubby... and what about the old reived relationship with the Italian?

I loved it.  It's really too bad that there wont be another season but that's okay, the one season was pretty satisfying.

Edit:  Yeah, the hubby showing up after all this time does complicate things with the Italian.  I like both guys but prefer the Italian. I mean he co-starred with Madonna in dog of a film, he's paid his dues.  Plus he's the son of Giancarlo Giannini for god's sake!  That has to count for something, lol!  I'm sure the second season would have explored the triangle further.

[doodler]

Season finale tonight of Grimm (and of Friday nights as it's been the ONLY thing worth watching on Fridays all season.) Two hours, I think.

I watch Shark Tank at 8 most Fridays and it's ok. Doesn't bother me if I miss it.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I am going to expand on your cliffhanger beef!

I agree with you about the cliffhanger endings. When did this become a routine because
when I was growing up I can't recall a single series having cliffhanger endings.  The reason
I don't like them are many.  If I like a show I am going to come back in the fall and watch
it anyway.  This isn't going to persuade me one way or another.

I can't recall any "cliffhanger" endings before "Who Shot J.R.?" but perhaps that wasn't the first. But I agree with you, if I like a show (and it isn't canceled, and it isn't rescheduled against another show that is more important to me), I will be back in the fall. They don't need a cliffhanger to bring me back.

And I find it especially annoying when the cliffhanger ends with the main character/lead actor in some sticky situation (for example, Callen/Chris O'Donnell of N.C.I.S. L.A. arrested for a murder we saw him commit), because we know everything will work out all right in the end--and I'm not compelled to know how it works out all right in the end.

[killersmom]

I can't recall any "cliffhanger" endings before "Who Shot J.R.?" but perhaps that wasn't the first. But I agree with you, if I like a show (and it isn't canceled, and it isn't rescheduled against another show that is more important to me), I will be back in the fall. They don't need a cliffhanger to bring me back.

And I find it especially annoying when the cliffhanger ends with the main character/lead actor in some sticky situation (for example, Callen/Chris O'Donnell of N.C.I.S. L.A. arrested for a murder we saw him commit), because we know everything will work out all right in the end--and I'm not compelled to know how it works out all right in the end.

I totally agree with both of you! Also Ducky/Dr. Mallard on NCIS collapsing with an apparent heart attack.
Finch on Person of Interest disappearing
 

And what pisses me off is no conclusion to who killed Carrie's sister on Unforgettable. It has been cancelled.
I guess what upsets me is investing time in supporting a show and not even giving the viewer the satisfaction of concluding the storyline.

[Tony_]

 These season finales are getting as annoying as telephone sales calls at supper time.  It's like coitus interruptus is their motto.  And for what?  If you frustrate the audience, you are building up ill will.
 Grimm did it, too, although I'd have to say, it was a classic: "Mom?"    . They can now go in so many directions, this show has a great plot future.  Including, I suspect, that the Grimms are themselves, a sub-species, like the Vessen.  I kind of wondered about that, seeing him flash fight.
 Anyway, it was the opposite of the routine we had become used to.  And soooo reassuring to find out that blutbaden, (including Monroe), consider cats sort of like fritos.  Snacks.  Perhaps some canine ancestry, as they never yet have bothered a dog.  And I am, myself, a subscriber to the theory that cats are at the root of all evils  .
 The show returns in late summer.  Very wrong if it conflicts with Big Brother.  They wouldn't do that, would they  ?