Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

2017 is the worst fall TV season in recent memory
Vox ^ | September 11, 2017 | Todd VanDerWerff

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 ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: fall; networktelevision; networktv; primetime; television; tv
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 241-258 next last
To: EdnaMode

21 posted on 09/11/2017 11:12:32 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Artemis Webb

“My Mother, the Car” was bad as well.


22 posted on 09/11/2017 11:13:36 AM PDT by kosciusko51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: AceMineral
The Orville initial episode heavily ripped off Galaxy Quest.

Recorded the pilot and tried to watch it, it's awful...

23 posted on 09/11/2017 11:14:31 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

When it was broadcast back in the day, I just thought it was mindless sitcom tripe. But I never actually sat down and watched it.

It was quite complex and dealt a lot with the challenges of the human condition. And did so in a very entertaining way.


24 posted on 09/11/2017 11:14:50 AM PDT by robroys woman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

The last season of a great great series starring two conservatives: Ray Donovan. (I need a blanket over my eyes for some scenes tho like last week with the whoopsie with the sensei...)


25 posted on 09/11/2017 11:15:01 AM PDT by Yaelle (Leftist trees bear strange fruit...blood on the leaves, blood on the root...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OttawaFreeper

On YouTube I have been watching the old Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. There are a lot of beautiful B movie female stars in these.

Latched on to some of the old Dick Tracy movies and serials of the 1930’s and 40’s and these are pretty good. I found one the other night with a young Jane Greer in it before she did the film noir classic “Out of the Past” with Robert Mitchum.

Lot of great stuff to find with a little patience.


26 posted on 09/11/2017 11:15:57 AM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode
It's the "We assumed Hillary Clinton was going to be President" effect.

I said back in November 2016 that the entertainment industry faces a MASSIVE problem because movies and TV shows "greenlighted" or in production the 18 months prior assumed Hillary Clinton was going to win the Presidency. When that failed, the result was a lot of movies and TV shows "out of sync" with American voter sentiment, and as we saw this past summer with movie box office receipts down 16% compared to 2016, it really showed.

27 posted on 09/11/2017 11:16:10 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode
Yeah that show was pretty terrible.

But we watched it every week.

28 posted on 09/11/2017 11:16:28 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Artemis Webb

Ever listened to Lenny and the Squigtones? It’s bizarre and my favorite comfy album ever


29 posted on 09/11/2017 11:16:52 AM PDT by cyclotic (Trump tweets are the only news source you can trust.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: 1_Inch_Group
Get ready for the new Star Trek. Interview I saw made it clear they were going to push the “first black command officer” every chance they get.

Oh yeah, and she's also Spock's stepsister.

Funny how they never mentioned Spock had a stepsister for the past 50 years...

30 posted on 09/11/2017 11:17:05 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: robroys woman

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Mr. Robot. I’m going to watch the second season once I find a little time...


31 posted on 09/11/2017 11:17:13 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: robroys woman

Well, all old shows dealt with the Human Condition. Gilligans Island dealt with maritime disasters, the inequality of wealth, science as savior, sexuality worn on your sleeve Loses appeal, and repressed homosexuality between poor Skipper and his enticing first mate.


32 posted on 09/11/2017 11:17:56 AM PDT by Yaelle (Leftist trees bear strange fruit...blood on the leaves, blood on the root...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

There were a couple reasons to watch "Three's Company" but then she quit.

33 posted on 09/11/2017 11:20:23 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

I haven’t watched a network TV show in a few years, haven’t followed one every week for much longer than that. They are all awful, poorly written, and they have to work a gay theme into everything. The TV shows on Netflix and Amazon are so much better in terms of production and writing, and some of them are good. I loved, for example, Hand of God and Goliath on Amazon, Bloodline on Netflix, and many others. Others may not like those shows, but there are many available, and just about anyone can find something they like. Or they can watch Beverly Hillbillies reruns, which I also love.

HBO has some good shows, too (Silicon Valley is hysterical and fills the niche of a sitcom) and Showtime has some great shows (Ray Donovan, Billions).

Each episode of an independent production is like a half a movie, not a cookie cutter TV drama or sitcom. It’s like how I feel about Budweiser or Coors now that I can drink good microbrews. I can never go back to that crap.


34 posted on 09/11/2017 11:21:15 AM PDT by Defiant (It's not antifa, it's actually antifafa. Antifa Fascists.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cyclotic
Ever listened to Lenny and the Squigtones? It’s bizarre and my favorite comfy album ever

And then Lenny went on to form Spinal Tap.

35 posted on 09/11/2017 11:21:30 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Captain Peter Blood

For a while, with my Dad, we watched “Bonanza” episodes with a Star Trek theme, lol. That involved watching episodes with Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, and Majel Barrett as guest stars. The one with Doohan and Barrett (from about 1962) was a really good one too, with Doohan using his normal voice and not his “Scotty” accent.

I’ve also been watching BBC period dramas like “Elizabeth R” with Glenda Jackson, “Edward the Seventh”, “Fall of Eagles” with Jean Luc Picard playing Lenin, and now I am into “The First Churchills”.


36 posted on 09/11/2017 11:21:56 AM PDT by OttawaFreeper ("If I had to go to war again, I'd bring lacrosse players" Conn Smythe)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

Hope the return of WILL & GRACE bombs. NBC...Debra Messing & Eric MacCormack. They despise Trump & are very vocal about it. The whole show will probably be about how much they hate Trump.


37 posted on 09/11/2017 11:22:28 AM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

Why would anyone bother to check?

Its been a wasteland for decades.

There is no motivation for things to improve.


38 posted on 09/11/2017 11:22:30 AM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

I used to watch the reruns once in a while.


39 posted on 09/11/2017 11:22:31 AM PDT by EdnaMode
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: AceMineral

I was always bummed there wasn’t a sequel to Galaxy Quest. That franchise could have had a lot of fun. But they needed to do it when Sigourney Weaver was still young.


40 posted on 09/11/2017 11:22:43 AM PDT by Defiant (It's not antifa, it's actually antifafa. Antifa Fascists.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 241-258 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson