GeekTonic`s Ultimate Fall TV Guide

[Meester.Rip]

Some shows get cancelled because they get to expensive, sets and actors. I heard Rome was discontinued because the set burnt down and it would be to expensive to rebuild.

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I heard someone saw a suspect running from the scene carrying a fiddle. ;D

The whole issue boils down to the bottom line.  If a show doesn’t generate enough revenue in market shares, it becomes unprofitable to keep airing it.  The quality of the programming generally has little to do with it.  The networks love “reality” shows and game shows because they bring in large audiences and are dirt cheap to produce.

Whatever the reason, I’ve got to decide on my fall lineup choices pretty soon so I can program them to record.  I just found out I’ll be out of town on business the week of 9/20 thru 9/24 and I won’t be home to watch any of them.  When I’m stuck in a hotel room I tend to watch things like the History Channel and other general interest programs that I rarely take the time to watch at home.  Since a lot of the content is old black and white footage shot on small format cameras, I don’t miss all that much by not watching it on my 60″ Sony HDTV.

[Mike Garcen]

anyone else try out Nikita? pretty darned bad IMO, won’t be watchin another one…see, i shoulda waited for y’all 😀 there’s 42 minutes i’ll never get back

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Yeah, I watched it.  Reminds me of Dark Angel with Jessica Alba, but less entertaining.  I was pleasantly surprised by Terriers, though.  My wife even said she liked it, which is rare for her.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

So far, we watched The Gates and deleted the entire series after two episodes.  Seems like 90210 with Vampires and Werewolves.  We also just watched $#*! My Dad Says and thought it was pretty damn funny.  I hope they can keep the humour going.

Also recorded The Defenders and Outlaw, but haven’t watched them yet.  The wife decided to record Hawaii-Five-O and I agreed to give it a shot, but we haven’t watched that one yet, either.

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I recorded most of the new pilots but won’t get a chance to watch any of them until I get back into town Friday night.  I think this weekend is going to be a season premiere marathon.  No doubt some of the new shows won’t make the cut and will get deleted from the scheduled recordings list in MC.  I like to try and keep the number of shows manageable so I can get through all of the recordings in one week and not get backed up.  I actually look forward to sweeps weeks and reruns so I can find time to watch my backlog of movies from NetFlix.

[bbig119]

Watched The Event last night. Caught the interest of my wife and I. I’ll probably stick it out for another couple of episodes.

[Mike Garcen]

i downloaded &#% My Dad Says but didn’t watch it.

I watched episode 1 of THE LEAGUE….and i’m just meh about it honestly, and i LOOOOVE fantasy football. Just not all that funny, yet i find myself continuing to watch it.

Saw Cougar Town and asked myself why i keep watching it…it’s just meh to me also.

Modern Family…dude….skirge is killing me here, i almost died laughing in this episode a couple times.

The Ultimate Fighter – i’ve seen every season, and while GSP’s accent is annoying, i think it’s gonna be quite entertaining to see him and Koscheck go at it knowing how much trash he talks. Of course, if you don’t like UFC u will hate this show

Loved Chuck

Still need to see Outsourced and a slew of others. I’ve heard good things about the Event, so might convince myself to go back to that.

But seriously, can Dexter just start already>?!?!?!?!

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(Revised 9/27/10) Well, here’s what I’ve seen so far:

Outlaw – Who doesn’t love Jimmy Smits?  Way better than his previous outing with “Cane”, which I dumped after just a few episodes.  If the rest of the series is as good as the first episode I’ll probably stick around.  The story line’s a bit of a stretch, but well written and entertaining with a good supporting cast.

Lonestar – Interesting story about a con man that leads a double life with two wives and wants to go straight but his Dad, played by David Keith, isn’t keen on the idea.  Looks promising.

Boardwalk Empire – The Sopranos Goes to the Beach.  Promises to be a great series from HBO.  Loved the season premiere.

Nikita – I’ve seen the 1st two episodes and I’m lukewarm about it.  Chances are I won’t be seeing the rest of the season, but I’ll stay with for a few more episodes and see if it improves.  Never mind.  I’ve already canceled it from future recording.

&#% My Dad Says – My wife and I watched about half of it before we bailed.  I immediately canceled recording the rest of the series.  Don’t waste your time.  The writing is awful and the jokes are forced.  The test audiences for this must have been in a room pumped full of nitrous oxide to get them to laugh.  It really does need a laugh track to tell you where the funny parts are supposed to be because you’ll have a hard time figuring them out for yourself.  I predict it will be canceled before the end of October, which is longer than it deserves to be on the air.  Did I mention it flat out sucked?  This is exactly the kind of show that sours me to sitcoms in general.

The Event – It definitely looks intriguing.  I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.  My wife and I both liked the first episode.  The ending will definitely have you coming back for the next episode to find out what the heck happened.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – What can you say about the knuckleheads at Paddy’s Pub?  They’re dumber than a bag of rocks but they keep you coming back.

The League – Fx seems to have developed their own brand of tasteless humor.  If you like Sunny in Philadelphia then you’ll probably like this as well.  Just don’t expect a lot of highbrow humor.

The Big Bang Theory – Still my favorite sitcom and the season opener didn’t disappoint.  This should be at the top of everyone’s must see list.  Wolowitz and the robot arm will have you ROTFLYAO.

Modern Family – Still as good as it was last season.  Phil is still a moron and the two gay guys are a complete hoot.  Manny is as good as it gets with a 40-year old in a child’s body.

Hawaii Five-O – I’ll be honest.  I had no intention of even watching the premiere but something told me I had nothing to lose so I did.  I’m about two-thirds through it and so far it looks decent.  It’s definitely not the same Five-O I remember with Jack Lord and James MacArthur that I watched as a kid.  I finished watching it and thought it was OK.  Problem is, there are too many action police shows on TV and they all tend to run together after a while.  I have a feeling I’ll be bailing on this one in the near future. 

Chase – As the name suggests, there’s a lot of running about (literally).  The blonde kicks butt and always gets the bad guy.  Lots of action but I suspect it’s going to get somewhat repetitive.  If you like shows about U.S. Marshalls, then check out In Plain Sight on USA Network.

Premieres recorded but not watched yet:  Detroit 1-8-7 (another cop show but it’s got Michael Imperioli), Undercovers (the previews actually did nothing for me but it’s a J.J. Abrams show), The Defenders (lawyers, but great reviews so far), The Whole Truth (more lawyers; Maura Tierney is enough to garner a look), and Blue Bloods (yet another cop show with Tom Selleck).

Hollywood needs to develop programming based on something other than cops, doctors, lawyers and totally fictitious forensic science.  I saw an article on the news last night that many court cases are being lost because jurors actually believe that all investigations should be handled like they do on CSI and return a not guilty verdict due to lack of forensic evidence.  People need to realize that about 99% of everything on TV is fiction, except maybe for PBS (the Cookie Monster’s real, right?).

[jennyfur]

I’m loving Boardwalk Empire.

[Mike Garcen]

hrmm….i stopped boardwalk empire 20 mins in…looks like i’ll need to give it a try and watch it all the wayt hrough.

[jennyfur]

Yeah the first episode had to introduce the characters and set up the story so I could see how you might have thought it dragged.

And as far as my vote for “first series to be canceled”, I caught one episode of The Undercovers. Pretty much only watched it for the eye candy, and guess what… eye candy isn’t even enough to make that show successful. It’s really that bad.

I forgot to record Running Wilde, so I’m gonna see if it’s online and then record future shows if I like it.

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I forgot to add Running Wilde to my preview list above.  I watched it and thought it was OK.  Not the kind of ROTFL response you’d get from The Big Bang Theory but quirky enough to be mildly entertaining.

Detroit 1-8-7 – watched it this morning while having breakfast (I’m an early riser) and will stick with it for at least a few more episodes.  The format of the show is a little different and the characters are likeable.  As cop shows go, it’s not bad.  Michael Imperioli is predictably sarcastic in the character he plays, but it suits him and the show.

Boardwalk Empire promises to be an epic series along the line of The Sopranos.  With heavyweights like Martin Scorcese backing the show (he directed the pilot episode) the show has got huge expectations.  Give the plot time to develop and you will probably be rewarded for time served.  I’m definitely in it for the long haul.

[George L. Schmauch Jr.]

[quote=”captain_video”]&#% My Dad Says – My wife and I watched about half of it before we bailed.  I immediately canceled recording the rest of the series.  Don’t waste your time.  The writing is awful and the jokes are forced.  The test audiences for this must have been in a room pumped full of nitrous oxide to get them to laugh.  It really does need a laugh track to tell you where the funny parts are supposed to be because you’ll have a hard time figuring them out for yourself.  I predict it will be canceled before the end of October, which is longer than it deserves to be on the air.  Did I mention it flat out sucked?  This is exactly the kind of show that sours me to sitcoms in general.[/quote]

Oh man, I can’t believe you didn’t think it was funny.  This might explain the Modern Family disconnect.  😉  Like I said previously, it’s not BBT funny or even Two and a Half Men funny, but I still thought it was quite humorous.  I’m honestly not sure if they’ll be able to keep it that way, but I’m hanging around for a while to find out.  The premiere scored very well in the ratings, too.

We watched the first episode of Hawaii-Five-0 and thought that was pretty decent, as well.  However, it was packed with action, which I don’t think will continue in every episode.  BTW, having been to Hawaii several times, it was great knowing some of the locations, including the opening scene which supposedly took place somewhere in Asia (was it Korea?), but was actually the same place they filmed some of Jurassic Park… the Kualoa Ranch.  Oh yeah, the mountain tunnel where the truck pulls out of is the same one from Pearl Harbor.

I haven’t mentioned it recently, but we’re really enjoying Syfy’s Haven.  It’s a tiny bit like Fringe, with all the weird stuff going on in every episode.

[mikinho]

Thanks for reminding me of Haven, I kept meaning to watch it.

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