Posted on 09/11/2017 10:58:40 AM PDT by EdnaMode
This is the worst fall for new TV shows in the decade I’ve been a professional TV critic. And it’s hard to find one much worse in all the years I’ve been cognizant of “new fall TV” as a concept, since the late ’80s.
The comedies didn’t make me laugh. The dramas made me roll my eyes. Even with the boom in platforms making new TV, there’s but one show I’d recommend wholeheartedly and a smattering of others that made me say, “There could be something there if they work out the kinks.” The vast, vast majority of the new shows — whether on broadcast or cable or streaming — are just plain bad.
Now, to be sure, there are some heavily anticipated shows I have yet to see. Star Trek: Discovery, for instance, hasn’t sent out screeners to critics. (That CBS All Access is playing so coy with the show isn’t a great sign, but with a major project like this, it’s entirely possible the post-production process is taking longer than usual.) But I’ve still seen the vast majority of new series — and they’re bad.
So when people ask me what new shows they should watch, it takes but a few seconds to say, “Hey, The Deuce is good!” But if they’re not fans of David Simon or James Franco, or if they don’t have HBO, well … ABC’s The Mayor is pretty charming. Fox’s Ghosted has a good enough cast that I guess it should pull itself together eventually. CBS’s S.W.A.T. is certainly ambitious for a remake of an old TV show, even if it’s not all there yet…
(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...
Where this will all end is with the upcoming generation that watches no network TV. Our teen and young 20s grandchildren do the online streaming events and Netflix. If I owned media stock, I’d sell.
I wonder why the nostalgia channels have not brought back “Real People”? Those of us who enjoyed watching Sarah Purcell and also the kitschy, funny stories that were on. Like the one featuring a woman who apparently did a radio show from a telephone booth or the office girl who got fired at John Deere in 1980 for photocopying her bare rear end (yes, I know what later happened to her unfortunately) and many others.
http://www.thirteen.org/insidethirteen/2011/07/15/masterpiece-mystery-zen-preview/
Zen was the Italian detective series on Masterpiece Mystery
Turn On.
I saw that one episode and it WAS bad!
Billions is the reason I purchased Showtime through Prime. What a fantastic series. Then I discovered Ray Donovan - another exceptional series and I am hooked on both.
As long as series like these are produced network TV doesn’t have a future.
And then there was The Mandrell Sisters. I had a hard time choosing between Barbara, Louise or Irlene.
I’ve not seen the Mirren episodes. The Tennison series is a prequel not starring Mirren. I believe Lewis is done.
I’ve read I CLAUDIUS but have not been able to find Claudius the God. Well worth the read!
Chuck McGill.
“Soap” is where the faggotry started.
I am in my 2nd years of Amazon Prime. They have done some sneaky things.
One series they advertised as Prime and I started watching was Stargate Universe. A couple of months later, about half-way through my viewing the first season, they changed it to $$.
Last week, I started watching the Cinemax Banshee series. Yesterday I looked at the seasons list and discovered seasons 1 and 2 are Prime, but 3 and 4 are $$.
I also noticed that Prime has been putting $$ series/movies in my queue.
Prime, like Netflix, seem to have stopped adding good series/movies. I read that Prime is also going to cut back on ‘originals’.
I love that actor on Foyle. IUndertsted physically. Always one the ahead. honest as the day is long. Independent if he knows he’s on the right track. That actor is a genius.
i remember when Anthony Hopkins was interviewed about Remains of then Day in which he played butler.
He was asked what is your technique there. i can’t figure out what you’re doing. he said, “I’m standing still and controlling my arm and hand and facial expressions. i am a butler and supposed to be invisible in the room and not draw attention to myself.” being quiet and still is an acting art in the right role. the actor who plays Foyle says more on one expression than most actors do in an hour.
Yes, the latest was too short. I guess by having limited episodes per season, the thought is that they can focus on quality.
for 15 years or so the big cable companies and directv have been asked to offer cafeteria style programming. Not to mandate all newtworks many of which people don’t want. Finally the streaming services got it and offer a lower, price ,and no channels.
I co-sign Billions and Ray Donovan
I liked it back when TNN reran episodes of that show back in the 1990s. I wonder why CMT does not show something like that instead of 8 Simple Rules or Will and Grace? They could do a lot better to bring back that one and other country/western classics from the 1970s and 1980s like Sheriff Lobo or Movin’ On or the Johnny Cash Show or BJ and The Bear.
Mirren was ,in the early 90s IIRC and yes this is a prequel with another woman. Mirren is a great actress and she goes through the trials and tribulations of being a woman detective in an age where that was unusual. This new one is going the same so it looks like that will be the theme of all prime suspects. maybe we’ll have others, bit they need to be dated because nowadays the only new group would be trannies.
Inspector Montalbano? The 11th season is airing now on British TV.
Inspector Lewis finally ended with the 9th season in 2015.
Shetland is a British series that's available on Netflix. Doug Henshall stars as Detective Inspector Tommy Perez. Stories based on novels by Ann Cleeves, who also writes the Vera Stanhope novels.
It will be interesting to see if PBS picks up the British TV movies based on the French Detective Maigret novels. Rowan Atkinson plays Jules Maigret.
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