High Concept Monday Dramas

As I sat down to watch TV last night for the first round of the hour long dramas to premiere this year, I almost lost my cool. Midway through Bones, my cable went out and didn’t come right back on. In fact, it was a near half hour before things got back to normal, with only minutes to spare before the start of the two new Monday shows that I was planning to cover here. So, though I was forced to watch Brennan and Booth in the wee hours this morning before work, I was able to catch The Mob Doctor and Revolution last night so I could write about them today.

The Mob Doctor

This is a show that I have been pretty excited to see ever since uprfronts last spring. This is also a show that when I mention to other people that I’m excited, they look at me, head cocked to one side and say “Really?” They just don’t get where I’m coming from, and I don’t get them. For me, it has so many things going for it: namely, Jordana Spiro, who I loved on My Boys, Zach Gilford, who is and always will be Matt Saracen from FNL, and medicine, which I am a sucker for. Give me a medical show over lawyers, cops, housewives, and forensic pathologists any day. I just love them.

Oh, and The Mob Doctor also has the mob. Fun, high concept, right? Well, turns out the show is far more Grey’s Anatomy than Goodfellas, but I’m still hooked. The premise is basic enough: Young, gifted surgeon gets in deep with the Chicago mafia in order to save her brother’s life. To pay off his debts, she must preform medical procedures for the members of the mob, who tend to get shot with some frequency. The pilot establishes this idea pretty handily in the first few scenes, especially with a comical bit where Dr. Devlin (Spiro) yanks a screwdriver out of a lackey’s head.

What sells me on the show, however, is not the plot of the pilot, which admittedly is a kind of muddy (the whole storyline of the girl Devlin used to babysit for getting pregnant was superfluous). We sells me is Jordana Spiro. I immediately connect to her as a the woman straddling two worlds, perhaps because she did something similar in My Boys. She has the gruffness to deal with the mob bosses and medical bosses alike, and she has the poise and intelligence to come off as a very gifted doctor.

The second episode of The Mob Doctor will really tell the tale for me. It’s easy to have a solid pilot and not know where to go from there. The next episodes will establish if the writers can strike a balance between the two worlds and if they can keep the action believable instead of melodramatic. I’m excited to see what the new boss brings to the table and if the show can rise above the medical problem versus mafia problem of the week. I would love for it to go dark, like, say, The Black Donnellys, a similar show which was cancelled too soon. We shall see. Until then, I have high hopes. B+

Revolution

The only thing more present in my mind than the onslaught of Revolution previews that aired on NBC all summer was the deluge of middling to downright bad reviews that came out this week about the show. It seemed everyone was predisposed to hate it. I tried, however, to watch the pilot with an open mind. I like JJ Abrams – despite Alcatraz and, yes, Super 8 – and the concept is pretty cool – the world simultaneously losing all electricity. The show, in theory, had potential.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the crowd on this one. Revolution is not good. Its major  failing is one that many high-concept shows of the past (especially on NBC) have fallen prey to and I call it the buckshot approach to tv making. Here’s how it goes: you take a cool concept, like aliens coming to earth (ie. V) or aliens living among us (ie The Event) or people living in the past (ie Terra Nova) and you create a big, sprawling cast, then give everyone interesting storylines that will eventually intersect with each other, and throw that all into the pilot. In concept, it should look like Lost. In practice, you shoot the audience in the face.

There is so much thrown against the wall in Revolution that everything ends up being mediocre. In 45 minutes, all the power goes out, we flash-forward 15 years, the father gets shot, the brother gets kidnapped, the sister gets attacked more than once, the uncle gets attacked and kills a dozen people and a lady talks to someone on a crude computer. On top of that, the sister meets her love interest, who, all star-crossedly, is part of the opposing militia. And did I mention that said militia is run by the uncle’s former best friend? It’s enough plot to fill an entire season, but stuffed into one episode, it feels hurried and unbelievable.

If you look back at high-concept pilots that worked, you realize that they only focused on one story and slowly introduced more as the season progressed. Lost only told the story of Jack, Charlie and Kate without much more than introductions to the other castaways; The Walking Dead only followed Grimes in the first episode; Mad Men didn’t even introduce Betty Draper until the last five minutes of its pilot. I wish that Revolution had learned from these superior shows, instead of following the vein of other failed shows. Nothing worked well, and the romantic entanglement, especially, was irksome.

The show has glimmers of promise – the science behind the blackout intrigues me, I love Giancarlo Esposito, and Zak Orth is pretty funny – but in the end, Revolution comes off as a bad, watered-down ripoff of The Hunger Games, and I would be surprised if I make it more than my requisite three episodes. D

Nerdiness, Thy Name is Excel

Ok, first off, I know, I know, I’ve been missing for most of the summer. But whatever, I’ve been very busy with a relatively new job, and plus, TV is on hiatus. My logic is that their summer off gives me the summer off, given that this blog is about TV.

But what about Breaking Bad, you say? Or Newsroom? Or True Blood? Well, really it came down to scheduling for me. Sundays are bad for me.  So many shows means that I catch up on Monday, and then I don’t have any time before Friday to write. So, I decided that rather than being a day late and a dollar short, I just wouldn’t pay at all. Forgive me if you missed me this summer.

Summer, however, is coming to a close. You know how I know this? Well, because today I got my Entertainment Weekly Fall TV Preview in the mail. Personally, I think it came a little late this year, but that doesn’t negate the significance it has for me. Every year, I sit down with the magazine open and plan my fall TV watching.

This is more scientific than you would think. I already have a block of shows that I watch, plus all the new shows coming up in the new season. My philosophy is to give any new show that sparks interest in me a three week trial period. With the magazine, I first eliminate all new shows that I don’t ever, ever want to watch. This year that includes Beauty and the Beast (I think that is pretty self explanatory), Call the Midwife (Copper has given me a bad taste in my mouth for period BBC America dramas), and Malibu Country (I didn’t watch Reba, I won’t watch this). At that time, I also leave off any shows from previous seasons which didn’t make the cut the first time around, like Once Upon a Time and Person of Interest. This leaves me with a pretty hefty, but not unruly docket of shows.

Now, this is where the nerdiness comes in. I then sit down and make a spreadsheet. I know. I understand how this looks, but you wouldn’t believe how helpful it is. All the shows go in a column for their appropriate night and time; returning shows go in bold because they will stay there, unchanged; new shows get “penciled in” and everything gets color coded by network. I also create a list of start dates, so I know what to set on my Tivo and when to expect a new show to arrive in my Now Playing list.

And voilà. I’m ready for fall. And for the first time ever, I’m going to share the list with you. If you find it helpful, you may even consider doing this next year yourself. I swear, it makes TV life much easier.

View the full size worksheet here.

I look forward to starting the new season. And I promise, I won’t disappear for two months again. There’s just too much to talk about for that.

Happy viewing,

Mary

Recounts and Clip Shows: It’s the May 6-12 TV Week in Review

Well, I’m back, not exactly well-rested, but better rested than before. At the very least, it was nice to have some time to do errands/laundry/catch up on shows. (I probably smell a little better now that the laundry is done, so, added bonus there.)

Now, this week, I’m thinking of taking a different approach. Really, until Thursday, there was nothing outstanding to me on TV. Yeah, there were some really good shows, Mad Men and Game of Thrones, to name two, but nothing that sparked my undying love. Then came Community and Parks and Rec and everything turned around. However, since I have already done a couple of in depth analyses of these two shows, I’m taking a break from the straight-up review. I’m still going to grade everything, but instead of doing a big breakdown of one or two shows, I’m going to do more of a “best of” tally. If that sounds weird, I promise it won’t be. Just click “Continue Reading” and play along. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

(Also, before we get started, in taking my little sabbatical last week, I missed talking about the finale of The Good Wife. I’m not sure there is too much to talk about, but I wanted to say that I did enjoy it, despite all the Kalinda stuff. I’ve said many times to my friends and family that Kalinda is not my favorite part of the show. (Shocking, I know). Everybody loves her, but I find her a little tedious in how much the writers try to make her interesting. It’s like Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (which I also hated). We get it, you’re edgy and mysterious. Stop gilding the lily already. But otherwise, I liked the finale and I’m looking forward to next season when Michael J Fox, I can only assume, becomes a big bad.)

Now, more after the jump.

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All work and no play make Mary go something….something…

You know how The Daily Show takes a week off several times a year and misses a week of fake news. Well, that’s what I’m doing this week. Hopefully not much fake news will be missed, but I am in much need of a week off to catch up on shows that have fallen through the cracks (sorry, Revenge) and also to get some much needed sleep.

I’ll see you all next week, refreshed and raring to go for the upcoming season finales.

-Mary

A Day in the Life of Mad Men: It’s the April 22-28 TV Week in Review

AHHHH! I’m horribly behind schedule! It’s Sunday morning, and I still have two shows to watch (Revenge and Awake – I’m behind on my single title shows, apparently), and I still have to do my review. So, here’s the deal. I’m going to talk about my favorite show of the week, give grades for everything I watched, and that’s about it. Cool? Cool, cool, cool.

My opinions after the jump.

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April 1-7: Games of Thrones, Pillows and Blankets; It’s the TV Week in Review

“You love your children. It’s your one redeeming quality… that and your cheekbones.” – Tyrion on Game of Thrones

Well, I may be a day late and dollar short, but this week’s review is finally here. I’m starting to think that I may be biting off more than I can chew with trying to do this weekly, but I’m going to keep going as long as I can. (There’s possibly a dick joke in that sentence, but that’s up to you, not me and my dirty mind). Anyway, I made it before the new week’s shows started (or close enough), so I’m going to count this as a win.

Also, let’s talk about grades for a second. It’s been suggested that I should grade the episodes each week. Now, that does have some appeal to me because it’s a far more concrete way for you, the reader, to understand how I felt about an episode. But then again… Grades are so highly subjective. You can like something, or not like it, but to attach a concrete value seems a little arbitrary to me. I think grading a television show is sort of akin to when my sophomore English teacher tried to grade our poetry and gave me an 85 on a sonnet. An 85?!? It was a f-king sonnet!! I worked really hard on it; it followed the rules; you may not have liked it but how dare you say it wasn’t “poetic” enough!! But… um… I digress… If I’m going to grade things, you have understand that there’s a scale for each show. A “B” for Mad Men is greatly different from a “B” for Castle. Every grade is going to be curved to the best episode of that specific series. Therefore, for this post only, I’m going to give my example of an “A” grade for each show, just so you know where I’m coming from.

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March 25-31: TV Week in Review

“A sex receptionist answers calls all day. A sexcretary does scheduling, light filing—basically runs the office” – Schmidt on New Girl

Well, it’s been another busy week for me. And another very sparse week of TV. Really. I can practically count the number of shows that were on on one hand. But there were some notable things, especially the return of Mad Men. Because I don’t have time to go through each show this week, I’m gonna just focus on Mad Men. Everybody cool with that? If not, oh well, I’m in charge here. The rest will get cursory reviews at the end. And that’s final.

Now, to the reviews.

March 18-24: TV Week in Review

I don’t know who told you that pouting was an option with me, but all you’re making me feel is a hatred for Renee Zellweger. – Dean Pelton “Community”

Unfortunately, I’ve been super busy this week, so this weekly review is going to take a little different form than the posts before.  I can’t really go in depth for each episode that aired this week, so it’s going to be briefer, more summary likes and dislikes in cases. Hope everyone’s okay with that. If not, too bad. These are the jokes.

However, just because I’m condensing things this week doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun. Here’s a picture, just for your viewing pleasure:

Now, the reviews are after the jump.

March 11-17: TV Week in Review

Troy: There are a lot of layers to this.
Abed: It’s almost too conceptual to follow, but I love it.
                                                                 –Community

This week marks the return of Community, a veritable Scrubs reunion over on Cougar Town and a lot of shows that were good but not great.  I’m only going to go in depth into two shows – two “amahzing” shows, that is, arguably some of the best of the year – and then the rest will just be likes and dislikes, which is probably easier on you anyways.

But first, a little complaint about the shows I watch in general.  What was with all the bad green screen this week?  I’ve come to expect it on Private Practice where everything on the beach is fake looking (What? ABC can’t afford to film at a Malibu beach house?) but 30 Rock and The Office also had heinous offenses.  Either the shows are getting lazy and thinking they can fool us without us noticing or this is a disturbing new trend. (I also realize that a majority of people watch their HDTV with the wrong aspect ratio, not realizing it’s wrong, so maybe most people didn’t notice these problems.  But I’m not most people)

Oh, and one more thing before we get started. As with last week, I’m trying new formats, just to keep you on your toes. This time, it was suggested that I link to specific shows, so that you can just jump to that section you want without having to read about shows you don’t watch.  Now, I think that’s kind of effing lazy (ahem, friend, you know who you are), but I’ll test it out, see how it works – though, it is pretty cumbersome for me.  We’ll see how long it lasts.

You’ll find the links after the jump.

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March 4 – 10: TV Week in Review

“Your name isn’t that great either” – Cougar Town

Well, it’s week number three over here at Mary the TV Maven, and I finally think I’m getting the hang of things.  Or at least, I’m getting more verbose because this blog post got a little long on me – consider yourself forewarned.  The result of this thoroughness (I’m not going to call it wordiness) is that I’m trying something new.  I’ve added pagination to the post, so be on the look out for the link to the next page.  There are four pages total.  Hopefully, you like them.

And, now, to the reviews:

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