The summer shows have ended and the fall shows have begun so I think it’s time for another TV recap. What have I been watching?
Legends – A summer show I stumbled onto by chance. Legends is a spy/thriller/conspiracy show. The main character is an undercover FBI agent and his undercover identities that are called legends. Hence the title of the show. This one is part police procedural and part action adventure. He has a team of FBI agents he works with: the boss, the agent in charge that he has a little conflict with, and the tech person You know the drill. But it’s also about the main guy not remembering his past quite clearly enough and mixing up his legends with reality. Or is his reality a legend? That’s the questions that get asked in season one along with the bad-ass FBI agent adventures. A solid show.
The Strain – Another summer show that, as a comic book fan, I was aware was coming but I’ve never read the comic. It’s a vampire show where the vampires are evil and ugly and not sexy and beautiful. The twist is that the lead character is a doctor for the CDC and treats the whole vampire outbreak as some kind of medical epidemic. That’s the terms he sees it in. Plus we get his young son, loyal love interest/assistant, a tough city worker with lots of practical knowledge, an old vampire hunter who has some of the answers, and a bunch of other characters who come and go. I’ve read some people complain that they don’t like the way the main vampire looks but I’m not a special effects guy so it doesn’t bother me. I’m happy to see a good monster show.
Extant – This was the sci-fi show starring Halle Berry that ran this summer. There were two main plots. First, Halle Berry was an astronaut who came back from a year long solo mission in space to find out she was pregnant. What’s going on? Was it an alien baby? What’s with the conspiracy at the company she works for? Are they covering up the real reason for her mission? Second, Halle’s husband is a scientist who is working on creating artificial intelligence which takes the form of a robot boy who is their son. I liked how fast this show moved and that they gave you answers. Too many mystery shows these days string you along never revealing too much. This one revealed what was going on in a timely manner so I wasn’t left frustrated and disinterested. I like that.
Broad City – I think this show ran last spring but I didn’t catch it until this summer. It’s a comedy show about two young women living in NYC. I liked it. Lots of funny stuff. It’s filled with drug humor and raunchy humor. If that’s not your thing than stay away but it was good for me.
Scorpion – A new show for this season. I’d call Scorpions solidly mediocre. It falls into the quirky detective show category except this time our detective is a team of misfit geniuses. We get the leader genius, the math genius, the gizmo genius, and the psychology genius. They team up with an FBI agent and have a regular mom with her genius little son thrown into the mix. They solve and stop crimes. Nothing about the show is original or great but it’s still entertaining for an hour.
Gotham – Batman is so popular that then can make a show about him that he’s not even in. Gotham is a drama that’s all about Gotham City before Batman shows up. Bruce Wayne is there as a little kid right after his parents are murdered but he’s still five or ten years away from becoming Batman. Instead the show is about Jim Gordon (Batman’s Commissioner Gordon) as a young cop dealing with crime and corruption. Lots of Batman’s future friends and foes are there before they become colorful villains. Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, and maybe even the Joker were all seen. Plus lots of non-super gangsters from the Batman comics. All in all the show works pretty well for me as a police drama but it’s a little weird that Batman isn’t in it and they really can’t show any super heroes or villains yet.
Forever – Here I go with yet another quirky detective show. They really do seem to be my favorite. The twist in this one is that the main character, a NYC coroner, is secretly immortal. He’s been alive for a few hundred years and anytime he happens to die he’s reborn (fully grown) in nearby water. He’s partnered with a NYC detective as he investigates death and his own condition. He is also contacted on the phone by a guy who knows about the immortality and also claims to not be able to die only the new guy is a couple of thousand years old. And he’s messing with the younger immortal just to entertain himself. A solid quirky detective show.
The Blacklist – I mention this show because I’m giving it another try. I watched the first six or so episodes last year and gave up on it. It wasn’t moving fast enough for me and I got frustrated with the slowness of the plot. I watched the first three episodes this year and I like it better. I still have no idea what is going on since I missed a lot of episodes but things move much faster. I like that and will watch it a little more.
And some returning shows. I don’t have a ton to say about them since they’ve been around for a while and are known quantities but I like them all.
Agents of SHIELD – A lot of my comic book friends complain about this show but I like it. It’s not like there have been a ton of good SHIELD comic books that they have to live up to. It’s a solid super spy show.
The Big Bang Theory – Not a show that the hipsters like but I don’t care. I find it pleasantly funny.
Brooklyn Nine Nine – Now in its second season this has turned into a nice ensemble comedy after a slow start. One I look forward to laughing at.
Castle – Nathan Fillion as a quirky detective. You know I’m there.
Comic Book Men – Once again a lot of my comic book friends don’t like this show but some of us do.
The Middle – The least hip comedy on my list but it’s consistently entertaining.
Modern Family – A funny and creative show.
New Girl – Another one that I look forward to laughing at every week. I like the writing and find a lot of the quick aside jokes hilarious. “Depression era garbage man” cracked me up.
Supernatural – Back for its tenth season they’ve always managed to keep this show fresh and fun. Two brothers fighting monsters. Simple yet they’ve managed to get a lot of complexity out of it.
There you go. What have you been watching?
Discussion ¬