Toob Talk

Continuing on with the look at the fall season, we slip quietly into October. (If you’re playing along with the home game, all this is coming from this TV Guide.com calendar which is exceptionally useful.)

Pushing Daisies (ABC, 8 p.m., Wednesdays)

This show really hit the spot last season. It was whimsical, quirky, uplifting and, at times, downright touching. It also carried through a perverse sense of humor and amazing visual style that left me really wanting more when it’s too-short season came to close. Who would have thought the tale of a pie maker and his once dead girlfriend could be so good for family entertainment? (Premieres Oct. 1)

Private Practice (ABC, 9 p.m., Wednesdays)

As much as I like Grey’s Anatomy, it’s spinoff just didn’t do it for me. At all. I’m actually almost surprised that it’s back for a second season. I say “almost” because it’s a show about pretty people having petty problems while screwing around with one another. It’s got “popular hit” written all over it. Well, you can have it. I’m sure I can find something better to do with this hour. (Premieres Oct. 1)

Dirty Sexy Money (ABC, 10 p.m. , Wednesdays)

Big egos, big spenders, dark secrets and a murder mystery, Dirty Sexy Money has it all. Plus Donald Sutherland. This show actually surprised me last season by being as enjoyable and engaging as it was. I’ve been eagerly awaiting its return–as much to see what the mega-rich Darling family will do next as to find out where the next set of clues in the underlying murder plot lead. (Premieres Oct. 1)

The Ghost Whisperer (CBS, 8 p.m., Fridays)

During its first season, The Ghost Whisperer left me in kind of a diabetic coma. Jennifer Love Hewitt was too cute and sunny for someone who had spent her life dealing with dead people. It wasn’t until a couple of seasons in when the show took a little bit of a darker turn that I came back to it. I haven’t been able to let it go since. Last season, with the discovery of the town beneath the town and impending doom around every corner, I think the show hit a high point. Now I’m curious as to whether they can keep the suspense and momentum going. It’s no Supernatural, but, thankfully, it’s also not Touched By An Angel. (Premieres Oct. 3)

Kath & Kim (NBC, 8:30 p.m., Thursdays)

Chalk up another notch in the “American version of a hit foreign show” column. This one looks to be a “revisioning” of an Aussie show (one of, what, three or four shows that whole continent produces?) The only thing bringing me to this with any hope is Selma Blair. She was one of the key ingredients in making Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane fun and watchable, I’m hoping she does the same for this show. And she’s got a lot to overcome, because none of the characters look that interesting (let alone sympathetic). (Premieres Oct. 9)

Life On Mars (ABC, 10 p.m., Thursdays)

Speaking of American versions of shows that there don’t need to be American versions of… Life on Mars (U.S. version) reportedly changes just about all the details of the BBC show it’s borrowing it’s title from. I’ve been told again and again that I should check out the original (and I will, I promise… it’s on my list!). That tells me the American version is going to have to work pretty hard to either a) dull itself down enough to get a prime-time following here in the states or b) die a quick death like every other time travel flavored show from last season (Journeyman, New Amsterdam). Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. (Premieres Oct. 9)

Eleventh Hour (CBS, 10 p.m., Thursdays)

Competing for the “strange hour of TV on Thursday” slot against Life on Mars is yet another re-tooling of a foreign show. Again it “borrows” plot and characters from the British. This time around Rufus Sewell replaces Patrick Stuart as a guy investigating strange goings on. A plot that sounds oddly like Fringe, which beat this show to air by a few weeks. It’s bound to be another CSI meets Twilight Zone, X-Files wannabe. But I’ll give Sewell a chance. It could be better than Fringe (which I still haven’t decided if I like or not). (Premieres Oct. 9)

Samantha Who? (ABC, 9:30 p.m., Mondays)

I stand firmly behind the idea that you just can’t go wrong with Christina Applegate. Ever since she broke out of the dumb blond role that made her famous, she’s done one good thing after another. The inaugural season of Samantha Who? took a tired concept (character gets amnesia) and brought a new life to it. A strong supporting cast certainly helped, but Applegate is the heart of the show. I’m curious as to whether her real-life battle with breast cancer will get worked into the plot. It wouldn’t surprise me and I don’t doubt it would fit well with the blend of humor and introspection the show has cultivated. (Premieres Oct. 13)

My Own Worst Enemy (NBC, 10 p.m., Mondays)

Speaking of characters who don’t know who they are, here we have Christian Slater playing a hit man and a family man. Two very different lives crammed into the same body due to some deep-cover, sleeper agent brain tweaking. I don’t know if it’s going to be good, but it will be entertaining. At least for a few episodes. I have my doubts if it can be sustained for a while, but I had doubts about Chuck, too, and that just kicked off its second season in a good way. (Premieres Oct. 13)

Eli Stone (ABC, 10 p.m., Tuesdays)

Just in case you don’t have enough quirky lawyers in your diet, Eli Stone apparently returns to life from his first season cliffhanger ending. Either that or this will be the shortest second season ever. The show never really grabbed me, but it was always entertaining. Most of the time, though, it felt like a low-rent David E. Kelley riff. There’s just something missing, which is a shame because Victor Garber is fantastic in his supporting role. Maybe this season will have more song and dance numbers… not sure how much that would help, but, again: entertaining! (Premieres Oct. 14)

Crusoe (NBC, 10 p.m., Fridays)

Hey! It’s the original Lost! come back in the form of an hour long drama. I really haven’t seen a whole lot on this show, but I’ll tune in just to see how far they’ll go to mash as many shows together as possible in the attempt to make a new hit. But it’s on Friday nights at 10 p.m., not much lasts there for long. I give it four episodes tops before it’s gone. (Premieres Oct. 17)

And there you go–your new fall season… or at least the things I’ll be watching or actively avoiding. Everything else, you’re on your own for.

Genetically engineered terrorists, superscience and heavy doses of corporate sponsorship from Microsoft, Cisco and Intel.

That’s what you get from Gemini Division, an online/On Demand series from NBC and Electric Farm Entertainment. Well that and a pretty good story starring Rosario Dawson as a NYC cop who gets drawn into an international conspiracy of secret organizations after discovering that her fiance may be keeping secrets from her.

I won’t go into deep details of the plot, but it’s at least slightly above average. It’s done using mostly virtual sets and the compositing varies from nearly imperceptible to “Do you seriously expect me to buy that?” Same with the rest of the effects in the show.

The format is good–told mostly from the perspective of Dawson’s character’s souped up smart phone in diary-like clips–and works perfectly for a show that is designed to be shown online. I’ve been watching it through On Demand on Comcast. They have week-batches tied together… which leads to three or four rounds of going through the credits.

Product placement and name dropping runs kind of rampant, but that’s to be expected. At least in the high-tech context of the plot it doesn’t seem too out of place.

It’s worth checking out, either online or On Demand. I’m interested in seeing where it’s going.

Tonight’s one of those nights my digital recorders will be doing overtime.

NBC is doing a three hour Heroes extravaganza starting with a catchup lead-in at 8 p.m. and then two hours of new episode. After faltering a bit last season, I still have high hopes for Heroes to wow me in those two new hours.

Of course, while I’m watching all of that, I’ll be recording (or otherwise time-shifting) four other hours of TV shows.

Season premiers of two of my favorite sitcoms drop at 8 and 8:30 p.m. on CBS–The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. And over on Fox there’s a new episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which has consistently kicked ass this season.

The 9 o’clock hour isn’t bad as I can take or leave Two and a Half Men (which was infinitely funnier in its first few seasons than it has been the last few times I watched it) and have very little interest in Worst Week.

At 10 p.m. the DVR will kick back in to see what Shatner and Spader are up to on the new season of Boston Legal. There’s some question as to if the show will continue to slide deeper into self-parody and lose what charm it has left, but I know it’ll still be worth it for those David E. Kelley character tirades on current issues. Having Denny and Alan argue during an election year should be interesting.

As we move into October (the “official” start of the new season), there are going to be more nights like this–with multiple hours accruing on the DVR and in my online viewing queues. It’s all part of the challenge of keeping up with what very well be my most time-consuming (and alternately inspiring and frustrating) hobby.

The season premier of the new HBO series True Blood quite pleasantly surprised me.

After last season’s less than spectacular experience with Moonlight, I was really wary of another vampire series. Even if it was from the same guy who gave us Six Feet Under and starred Anna Paquin. Was it going to be a sappy love story? Yet another angsty bunch of worthless vamps? So campy it would make the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie look good?

Before the premiere, HBO ran two half-hour documentary/promo bits on vampires. Those were interesting. Not a whole lot of new info for me, but at least it proved that someone had done their research and knew what had piqued public interest in bloodsuckers before. That gave me a small bit of hope. Especially the interview snippets with Charline Harris, the author of the book series the show is based on.

And so, after an hour of indulging in vampire nostalgia (which, oddly, only had one reference to Buffy in it… during a montage of pretty much every vampire thing ever made), I was ready to sink my teeth into the new show.

It did not leave a bad taste in my mouth at all. In fact, it seems like it will be quite the breath of fresh air.

What makes it different? First and foremost, vampires aren’t hiding any more. They’re right out there in the open–”out of the coffin”, in the show’s vernacular–thanks to the invention of a synthetic blood that removes their need to feed on humans. Now they’re struggling for equal rights and being subjected to that awful novelty that any recently unveiled minority/fringe group experiences. Being set in the south, the tension between the species may run a little too close to mirroring the tension between races for some… but I think it’s just the right distance and difference to allow some interesting exploration of the subject.

Sociological analysis aside, the show is populated with characters that should prove to be quite interesting. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a waitress in the Louisiana town of Bon Temps. She’s more than open minded about the whole vampire thing–she’s downright exuberant about it in the cutest/most annoyingly naive way possible. The combination actually works out to be kind of endearing with Paquin in the part. But if the tone of the show plays through like Alan Ball’s other big deal HBO show, there will be some big and tragic changes ahead for pure little Sookie.

Her apparent lack of understanding of just how dangerous people can be (let alone vampires) allows her over-active sense of justice (fueled by her ability to listen in to people’s thoughts–yes, she’s a psychic) to bring her to the rescue of new vampire in town Bill (Stephen Moyer) when he’s picked out at the diner and targeted to be drained of his blood (which has some powerful effects on humans, making it quite the lucrative drug to trade in).

Since half the fun is watching it all play out, I won’t spoil anything more than that. Just know that the supporting cast is is full of quirky characters that are bound to stir up trouble and interesting situations as the series goes on. Oh, and I’m betting we already have at least one werewolf in town.

Needless to say, I highly recommend checking out the show. For a pilot episode, this one was pretty solid. Some of the characters may have been a little  too cartoonish, but I’m expecting that they’ll flesh out and develop now that we know their broad strokes.

The show’s got teeth, that’s for sure. And it bites just the way a vampire show should–with style and intensity.

Along with what I would suspect was millions of people much younger than I am, I tuned in to catch the series premier of 90210 on The CW.

I have to say, it was a lot better than I expected.

Granted, I’ve got this huge nostalgia bank saved up from the first few years of the parent series. I was there on the Walshes first day at West Beverly High back in October of 1990 and stuck with them until a couple years after they graduated (unlike some other people, I didn’t stick with that show for all ten years… and I didn’t make the jump to Melrose Place). Even without that background, I think the new show was considerably better than I expected.

While it was good to see Kelly (Jennie Garth) show up and reference things that happened when she and new high school principal Harry (Rob Estes… who wasn’t actually on the original 90210… but was on Melrose as a different character than he’s playing now… trippy, man…) were in high school together, the real joy came from watching the new fish out of water get the feel for the good ol’ currents of the school.

Granted, this being the 21st century and all, they catch on a lot quicker than Brenda and Brandon ever did. Heck, they’re lying, cheating and zipping away on private jets. Yeah, this most certainly isn’t my 90210.

But that’s what I liked about it. It didn’t rely on the nostalgia. Instead, it did what any show should do: it made its own way. The characters, while easy to spot the correlation and commonalities with other “hip” new shows are individual enough to not get totally lost in the teen-drama shuffle that The CW caters to so well. And even with the Kansas-born Wilson kids successfully stooping to the shallow level of their West Beverly peers, they still manage to maintain the special mid-west wholesomeness that adds the necessary contrast and perspective that made the original show worth-while.

There’s even a bit of snark in the teen characters. Some of the action and dialog had the vague echoes of Veronica Mars to it. (And those of you who know me, know that echoing VM or Gilmore Girls is a sure-fire way to at least get me interested.)

For a pilot, it was a bit packed. A lot of blatant introductions. A lot of odd timing and seemingly contrived situations. (Like why was the new principal starting a week into the school year?) Maybe these things will be explored more in the episodes that come. I know we’ll be seeing more alumni of the original show. I predict a visit from Ian Ziering before the mid-way point this season. And I would almost pay for Luke Perry to show up, preferably while Doherty’s all grown up Brenda is still in town.

If you missed the premier, find a way to catch it. Dollars to donuts it’ll be up online somewhere… and probably rebroadcast anther time or two over the next week.

Don’t get me wrong, just because you grew up watching the original doesn’t mean you’ll love this one. But you may find it interesting how much has changed… and how much has stayed the same.

You know, just like any high school.