I will now attempt to recreate yesterday's ill-fated journal entry about (shockingly) television.
In recent years, my schedule hasn't permitted me to watch television with much regularity, so I haven't gotten "into" a show while it's actually happening in a long time. Usually, I catch up with shows I like years later (I just recently found out that Hawkeye dies during the big musical number in the last episode of M*A*S*H. Spoiler alert!).
This week, I had the unusual luxury of watching two new shows on their very first airings: the action comedies Chuck and Reaper. Unfortunately, they were the exact same show. It was almost eerie.
In both shows, the main character is a schlubby guy that works in a Best Buy-type superstore. He has a wacky bearded comic relief sidekick (neither of which is terribly funny, by the by) and has a new life of heroism thrust upon him.
Oh, and neither of the shows is very good.
Don't get me wrong - neither of the shows is all that bad per se. They just both reek of the death of creativity: notes from the network. "How do we cram a love story in here? You know, for that teenage girl demo that enjoys tacked-on love stories and myspace and binging/purging."
If left alone, either of these shows may develop into something mildly interesting. Of the two, I'd say Reaper has the most potential, as it seems to have some sort of creative voice trying to creep out from under the mediocrity. It's got an obvious Buffy the Vampire Slayer thing going, which definitely isn't a bad thing. The main character is a big ol' pile of boring, but it has Ray Wise as the Devil which is sort of fun.
But let's be honest - I'm not going to know how this show turns for a few years. So someone let me know if Reaper makes it. I'll rent the DVD some time around August '09.
In recent years, my schedule hasn't permitted me to watch television with much regularity, so I haven't gotten "into" a show while it's actually happening in a long time. Usually, I catch up with shows I like years later (I just recently found out that Hawkeye dies during the big musical number in the last episode of M*A*S*H. Spoiler alert!).
This week, I had the unusual luxury of watching two new shows on their very first airings: the action comedies Chuck and Reaper. Unfortunately, they were the exact same show. It was almost eerie.
In both shows, the main character is a schlubby guy that works in a Best Buy-type superstore. He has a wacky bearded comic relief sidekick (neither of which is terribly funny, by the by) and has a new life of heroism thrust upon him.
Oh, and neither of the shows is very good.
Don't get me wrong - neither of the shows is all that bad per se. They just both reek of the death of creativity: notes from the network. "How do we cram a love story in here? You know, for that teenage girl demo that enjoys tacked-on love stories and myspace and binging/purging."
If left alone, either of these shows may develop into something mildly interesting. Of the two, I'd say Reaper has the most potential, as it seems to have some sort of creative voice trying to creep out from under the mediocrity. It's got an obvious Buffy the Vampire Slayer thing going, which definitely isn't a bad thing. The main character is a big ol' pile of boring, but it has Ray Wise as the Devil which is sort of fun.
But let's be honest - I'm not going to know how this show turns for a few years. So someone let me know if Reaper makes it. I'll rent the DVD some time around August '09.
4 Comments:
I thought Reaper was pretty amusing, although it's been done almost to the letter before.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0165564/
Ray Wise as the devil is the best thing in the history of the CW (with the exception of Tyra Banks trying to be ghetto on ANTM, despite the fact that she's been a world-travelling millionaire since the age of 16).
Madness. I caught Chuck by accident and thought it was really funny. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and the bearded guy who looks like a cross between Seth Green and Taylor Negron was great.
You be trippin', fool.
I thought both of them were okay, but nothing I want to particularly take the time to watch next week.
Maybe they'll hit their stride in a few episodes.
I thought both of them were okay, but nothing I want to particularly take the time to watch next week.
Maybe they'll hit their stride in a few episodes.
This is exactly I feel about the Bionic Woman remake.
Except I don't want to bang Chuck or the Reaper guy.
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