A couple of times a year I like to write about the TV shows that I’m watching. I’m not much of a movie person anymore so almost all my video-based entertainment comes from TV shows. Generally my tastes run towards the odder shows but I also like a good situation comedy and a quirky detective show. This year there didn’t seem to be a lot of new shows that interested me. I think I checked out fewer new TV shows this fall than normal but I not positive. One thing I am sure of is that there are not any new quirky detective shows on my list this year. Let’s run down the new shows.
Ash vs. Evil Dead – Not really a new show since it’s in its second season but last year I only watched a couple of episodes before I bailed on the series. This year I heard Lee Majors was going to be on the show so I decided to check it out again. AvED is an over the top gore filled horror comedy. That’s not my genre and despite liking the three or four episodes I saw I get bored with the gore. Lee Majors was off the show pretty quickly too. I might watch the rest of the season but I thought that last year too and never did.
Frequency – A cop show based on a movie I never heard of. A police detective in 2016 discovers she can talk to her dead father who is still alive in 1996 by the likes of a time transmitting ham radio. The first thing she does is save her father’s life as he was supposed to die in 1996 but that inadvertently makes her mother, who was originally alive in 2016, a victim of a serial killer in 1997. They’ve spent the rest of the season so far trying to catch the serial killer before he kills the mother. I’ve been enjoying this one. Its pretty well done but has the usual confusing time travel stuff. Timelines change and we have to keep track of that. It’s not too hard to keep track of though.
The Good Place – A sit-com staring Ted Danson and Kristen Bell. It takes place in the afterlife where heaven is only for the best of the best. Kristen Bell arrives with a bunch of new people to take up their new lives in heaven except we find out that there was a mix up and Bell is really not supposed to be in heaven. She tries to keep it quiet and blend in but that’s not easy. It’s okay stuff. I generally find it clever and amusing but it’s not the edgy comedy I generally prefer. I’ll keep up with it but I won’t shed a tear if it goes away.
The Great Indoors – I want to like this one. I really do. It stars Joel McHale from one of my favorite sit-coms “Community”. The premise is that a forty something McHale is a famous outdoorsman who has been traveling the world, going on adventures, and writing about it for a living but now that has ended as he has to work with a bunch of Millennials at the down-sized magazine he writes for. I really wish it was funnier. It’s been just okay until the last episode I watched (episode 6) where I don’t think there was a laugh to be found. Maybe it’ll bounce back but I doubt it.
Man With A Plan – Another show that I’ve wanted to like since I’m a fan of “Friends” and this show stars Matt LeBlanc. It has a dumb sit-com premise as LeBlanc’s wife is going back to work and LeBlanc has to spend more time at home with the kids. Sounds like a premise from thirty years ago. The show itself is better than I thought it would be since it’s not really a family based sit-com. In other words it’s not all about the kids. I don’t like sit-coms that are all about the kids. This one is mostly about the adults. Kevin Nealon plays LeBlanc’s brother and he’s a welcome sight. I’m on the fence with this one so I’ll watch a few more.
People of Earth – A surprise show for me as I had never heard of it until someone recommended it on Facebook. It takes place in a town outside of NYC called Beacon NY where a group of people go to a support group since they were all abducted by aliens. A big city journalist joins them as our main character and he comes to the realization that he may have been abducted too. Did I mention that this is a comedy? It’s a fun comedy too since there really are aliens on this show. We don’t know what they want but so far they’re mostly low level bureaucrats. This is easily my favorite new comedy.
Shooter – Another new TV show based on a movie but at least I’ve seen the movie this time. Shooter is about a former military sniper who has been framed for the attempted assassination of the President of the USA. It’s a well done show. It’s got conspiracy, action, jail breaks, a man on the run trying to clear his name, and all sorts of dramatic tension. I’ve really liked this one so far. I’m not sure how they are going to keep it up but I’ll be along for the ride.
Timeless – Another show with time travel in it but this time they’ve got a good old fashioned time machine. Two of them even. The first time machine was stolen by someone who seems to be our bad guy but is he really? The second time machine is an older prototype model that out three main characters (working for the government I think) take out to try and chase down and stop the guy in the first time machine. There is a big conspiracy going on too. Much like “Frequency” they’ve also changed their timeline in this show and between the two shows things can get confusing. Never the less I enjoy this one too. It’s a fun adventure show that showcases a different time period each week and we get to learn a little about history along the way.
Gilmore Girls – Not a new show but the Gilmore Girls were back after ten years in a four part six hour long Netflix show. I never watched Gilmore Girls first run but caught up with it after the show had ended. I like it. Its sharp writing and snappy dialogue were always entertaining. I thought the “Year in the Life” approach this new version used worked well as it allowed for a long story arc. All told I thought it was as good as if not better than the original.
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