new shows fall 2016, winter 2017

[skippercollector]

By the end of the first episode of the new Fox series Pitch, I am sure I had acquired a number of new gray hairs. Some of the scenes were nerve-wracking!
I was pretty much blown away by this program. The premise is that a young woman is the first female to join Major League Baseball, as a pitcher for the San Diego Padres. The plot was intriguing and original, and there was a plot twist that I did not see coming.
Pitch was the first time in a long time that a series had me on the edge of my seat. Very, very impressed.

[skippercollector]

1. this is us

Did anyone else think that This is Us was just boring? I saw a few minutes of the first episode and watched the second episode on TV in its entirety last night. The show has gotten rave reviews by critics but both my mother and I were unimpressed. The only original plot device in the story was that all of the families had either twins or triplets.

[Goblinmonger]

3. The awesomeness of the show is in the narrative structure.

Without giving away too many spoilers, that you said "all of the families had either twins or triplets" shows you didn't get what the first show was telling us when you watched the second episode.

I get that I'm an English teacher and am a sucker for a good narrative structure, but this show is great in that regard. Also, it is very character driven so the plot is going to move slowly if not at all. That doesn't always sit well with everyone.

[Phentex]

14. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I have...

I had not watched from the beginning but so many people were talking about it, I decided to give it a shot. I think you have to watch several episodes to get in the flow. And it is VERY complicated with twists and sequencing. I can see how some might not follow. But wow! Many episodes in and I find this to be some of the best writing I've seen in years. I think it might be the kind of show you have to re-watch because they reveal bits and pieces that don't seem that important at the time but later you realize they were key to the story line.

[femmocrat]

5. I watched the first two episodes and agree with you.

I gave up on it.

[Phentex]

15. It's brilliant but not an in your face experience...

the story lines weave and twist and revert back in time. They aren't going to spoonfeed you the plot. But it's extremely thought provoking. A black child raised in a white family could give them years of episodes alone. An adult struggling with weight issues and how she is perceived by the world has been more honest than anything I've seen on tv.

Each episode only gives you a tiny slice of the picture happening at that time. But they do eventually fill you in a bit more as you go along.

[skippercollector]

2. versailles

The Ovation channel has a new scripted series called Versailles, about Louis XIV and his building of the palace in the 1600s. There is a lot of palace intrigue which I have yet to figure out, but there is one detail I have found quite amusing. I learned that the family's hunting lodge was near Versailles and Louis had fond memories of it, which was why he wanted to build his new home there. However, everyone else who works for him thinks it is in the middle of nowhere and they keep asking him when they are moving back to Paris.
The intrigue isn't nearly as interesting as is the process of the construction, which is both entertaining and educational. I plan to keep watching Versailles, if I can remember it is on! Ovation isn't listed in my newspaper TV schedule.

[femmocrat]

4. "Timeless"-- thumbs up.

I really like this show although the premise is still lost on me. (I don't understand the part about that villain.) Anyhow, I wish this show was on at 8:00 instead of 10:00 because I think families would like to see the historical content. I like the three lead characters and although the stories are pretty convoluted, it is fun to watch.

[Hestia]

10. Timeless is supposed to be based on "Time After Time" movie with Mary Steenburgen & Malcom McDowell

(who met, married, had several children, divorced) about H.G. Wells and his Time Machine. Watched the first couple of shows but quit on it when it clearly isn't based on the movie. TCM airs the movie every now and again.

[skippercollector]

6. the durrells in corfu

A six-part miniseries now showing on PBS's Masterpiece is The Durrells in Corfu, about a British widow who moves with her four almost-grown children to Greece in the 1930s. The children are looking for a husband for their mum, and keep bringing home some real characters.
This show is light, pretty and amusing. It reminded me of Mamma Mia! I will keep watching it.

[skippercollector]

7. the lodge

The newest of the Disney Channel's half-hour shows is The Lodge. It is, thankfully, NOT like its other sitcoms, filled with air-headed young teens doing slapstick scenes while magic is sometimes involved.
The Lodge is a serialized dramedy about a teen girl who, with her widowed father's help, is running a large guest house in Ireland. I don't know where it is filmed but all of the characters have Irish accents. The most surprising detail is that the building is not dark and filled with antiques, nor is it rundown and haunted. Everything is brightly painted inside--almost to the point of Technicolor. Oh, and people occasionally break out in song.

[skippercollector]

8. to femmocrat

In the 1970s or 1980s, Timeless would have been on at 8 p.m. on a Friday night. I am enjoying the show although I can't keep the new histories straight, and already the episodes seem to be contradicting themselves. Oh, and that time machine spaceship reminds me of the creepy alien spaceships from Lost in Space.

[femmocrat]

12. I agree, that time machine is creepy.

It looks like a huge eye! It would be a nice show older kids, IMO. Today's kids would probably be bored stiff though, so it's a nice show for their grandparents. LOL I really liked the one about the Alamo.

I still haven't figured out the villain and what he is supposed to be doing that they have to chase him down through the centuries.

[skippercollector]

9. Mars

Mars is a new series on National Geographic, about six astronauts traveling to the Red Planet in 2033. The scenes with them on their journey are fictional and scripted. However, the commentary about how and why to get there takes place in 2016 and is done by real people associated with the space program, such as Elon Musk.
I am enjoying the scripted scenes, although it will take a few episodes to get all the characters both in space and on Earth straight. In the first episode, I didn't pay much attention to the commentary, although the last person to speak at the end of the episode was Jim Lovell, and it was nice to see him again.
Mars is being produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Their movie Apollo 13 is my all-time favorite film, so I hope this series is just as good.

[Hestia]

11. No one on this board watched "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life"? Jeez, as soon as we got back in

from the in-laws on Friday, we watched the 4 episodes back to back. Hubby adored the new shows, I'm not as impressed because how in the world do you recapture the magic of the GG having shot 6 hours in 3 months? And the ending!? That would have been great in 2007 but not in 2016. Too contrived.

[Phentex]

16. I saw my first episode of Gilmore Girls last year...

and binge watched seasons after that. Not sure I am the target audience but I could see the appeal.

I felt like the new shows were completely unrealistic. And they weren't corny/funny like the original but just corny. And I HATED the idea that Rory had anything to do with Logan at all AND had unprotected sex on the street with a stranger. That does not sound like her at all. I read a followup and the writers said they planned to have her be pregnant at the end of the original series as a sort of continuous circle bond with her mother but when they were booted, they didn't get the chance. Now at a much older age, I just don't think the plot has as much impact. Too contrived as you say.

Critics of MY critique say it's because I never watched from the beginning and I was expecting too much.

[skippercollector]

13. star

I didn't expect to like Star on Fox, but I've become addicted to it! One detail I like is that the raunch is kept to a minimum. I expect that is due to the presence of Queen Latifah, who is the only person on the show with whom I am familiar.
Star is the tale of two teen sisters and another girl who form a trio and are looking for a singing contract. They have a manager who has stereotypical problems of his own. I'm still not sure of who is related to whom and how.
I love the music and the accompanying videos, which is very infectious and "foot-tappable."

[skippercollector]

17. Riverdale

Riverdale has grown on me. I didn't care for it too much in the first episode, because it looked so different from what I thought a real-life Archie and friends would look like. But by the third episode I was used to the darkness and am enjoying the show.
The one detail that has really impressed me is that the writers have been making an effort to include many of the characters both past and present from the comic books, and their original names from the 1940s have been kept. I LIKE the old-fashioned names, not just Archie and Betty and Reggie, but also Geraldine and Polly and Ethel and Midge and Josie.

[skippercollector]

18. powerless

I gave up on Powerless after two episodes. It was kinda stupid, and the characters' self-centeredness was annoying and unfunny. (Not to mention that I am really, really sick of comic book superheroes.)

[dylb2]

19. reply

Lots of awesome suggestions here, gonna check some of them out.