So the new fall TV season is a couple of weeks old, and we’ve seen at least a couple of episodes of the networks’ new stuff, not to mention returning favorites. So what do you think so far? Specifically …
–Smallville: This season started off with a bang, with both Bizarro and Supergirl in the first two episodes. What do you think of the Smallville versions of both characters?
–Heroes: We’ve seen the aftermath of last season’s big finale. Hiro’s jumped back in time, Claire’s found a new life in California and we found out the fates of Sylar, Nathan and Peter. Is it living up to the first season yet?
–On the animated front, both The Batman and Legion have taken different directions than last season; who would have guessed Bats would be lecturing Superman on the benefits of teamwork? And what about that new Superclone in Legion?
–In addition, all sorts of new shows have kicked off … Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Journeyman, Bionic Woman and probably my new favorite show, Reaper, among others. What’s been good, and what’s disapppointed? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
I tried watching The Batman when it first came on and hated it. Hearing about the new Superman episodes, I decided to give it another crack…and I liked it a lot. I plan on continuing to keep up.
Heroes has been pretty dull so far, and so has Bionic Woman. Heroes I’l stick with longer term because the first season took a while to get up to speed, but BW needs to get good in a hurry or I’m dropping it.
Other than that, though, loving the new shows. Chuck, Journeyman, Reaper, and especially the first episode of Pushing Daisies have all been interesting and delightful in their own ways, and I hope they stick around for some time to come.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
I think that if there was a way to intermingle Chuck and Gossip Girl, it would be almost like The OC never went away…
And I’m liking Pushing Daisies, Life and Aliens in America. Still haven’t managed to catch Reaper, mostly because it’s not online in any legal capacity yet.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Journeyman is my favorite new show this season. I look forward to it more thna any other show with the exception of Dr. Who.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Of the new shows, we’ve been enjoying Chuck, and we liked the first episodes of Reaper and Pushing Daisies. Chuck and Pushing Daisies have been added to the DVR list. There’s something about Bionic Woman that I don’t like. I think it’s the lead actress, which is a shame. The storyline is fairly generic so far. I’ve only seen one episode of Life so far and it was okay. Not as good as I expected. I can’t bring myself to watch Journeyman, because I’m afraid I’d nitpick the time-travel stuff to death. Seems like the older I get, the more that annoys me. Oh, and the Big Bang Theory is okay, but the laugh track is annoying. Back to You is okay. I think the writers just need to get more comfortable with the characters. The supporting cast could really take the spotlight away from Grammer and Heaton if the writers wanted. Got about 10 minutes into Moonlight and realized it was really not good. To be honest, we’re not really looking to add any new shows, but a lot of the new crop from this season have been at least interesting enough to try.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
I thought Chuck was..enh…it annoyed me with a ridiculous plot in the second episode, so I haven’t watched the third. I thought Reaper and Pushing Daisies were GREAT. Dirty Sexy Money was surprisingly enjoyable to me. Bionic Woman is fairly formulaic, and I WANT to like the show, but it’s not giving me anything yet. Moonlight was…bleh.
Returning shows: no one’s mentioning Prison Break, but damn that show is FUN. It’s pulpy and ridiculous, but it’s fun. Heroes has been entertaining…I’m mixed on a few elements, but overall it’s enjoyable.
If you’re a Showtime watcher, you’ really should be watching Dexter. That new season started off with a bang.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I love the idea of Kara on Smallville, but the execution hasn’t been that good so far. Granted, it’s only been one episode, but I’m not in love with the casting (she looks older than Clark does, and she’s too tall), and the writing on last week’s episode was BRUTAL! So much boring exposition, people standing around talking - what about revealing her past on Krypton as they both try to stop some villain. And her dialogue about Krypton in particular - basically it was just like Earth, except 23 galaxies away. C’mon writing staff - show through her behavior and interaction how different it was. Was it scientific to the point that no one could touch each other, like Byrne’s revamp, or was it an ice planet, like some recently have suggested - show us in the way she relates to her new world. The fact that she actually remembers Krypton is different to the mythos - use it.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Chuck- Garbage.
Pushing Daisies- Charming and funny.
Reaper- HI-larious.
Gossip Girl- Best new show.
Bionic Woman- Terrible terrible terrible.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Personally, the season 2 premiere of Dexter was the single worst episode of that show I’ve ever seen and made me decide to abandon the show after sticking through the first season. I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to completely miss what made Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter novels good any more than the writing staff of the show has; not to mention they failed to make a single supporting character even remotely interesting for the entire first season.
Anyway, in network television, on NBC Chuck was far too self-satisfied for its own good. Journeyman has ridiculously convoluted plots yet still manages to be rather boring to watch, mainly because nothing ever seems like its at stake in any of the episodes. Bionic Woman is pretty aggressively mediocre, but I still watch it hoping it’ll get better. Heroes meanwhile continues to parade out uninspired plot devices (Seriously, amnesia? Cheapest plot device ever) and bad dialogue in every episode, resulting in a show where every word out of every character’s mouth is an utter cliche.
CBS has Moonlight, which is, like Heroes, a completely uninspired pile of cliches, but even more boring somehow. However, that pales in comparison to the upcoming Viva Laughlin, which had possibly the worst pilot I have ever seen in my life. Oh, and then there’s Big Bang Theory, which is just another piece of evidence in the case for the multi-camera studio sitcom format being put out of its misery as soon as humanly possible.
The only new shows I’ve been impressed by so far this season are Reaper, Pushing Daisies, and Dirty Sexy Money. In terms of returning shows, I’m loving It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and hoping Nip/Tuck will live up to the bar its been setting for itself.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I disagreee on Big Bang Theory. All I want out of a sitcom is a few laughs and both episodes delivered.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
That girl playing Supergirl looks dumb. D-U-M-B dumb. “What’s a battle?” dumb. “Can’t chew gum” dumb.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
reaper and chuck definitly. going to try pushing daises. giving up on heroes. i just realized i wasn’t that into the first season and season 2 seems like i’ll be feeling the same.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
>> Journeyman has ridiculously convoluted plots yet still manages to be rather boring to watch, mainly because nothing ever seems like its at stake in any of the episodes.>>
Ummm …. his marriage? That’s the whole point.
October 9th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Chuck has possibly become my favorite show of the week, beating out Heroes and maybe even The Office. I only started watching Chuck and Bionic Woman of the new series though. Chuck, I think, is fantastic, but Bionic Woman just feels like it’s missing something. Possibly magic. There’s something whimsical about Chuck that’s missing from Bionic Woman, especially since they’re sort of the same premise.
October 9th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
So far, Heroes is the only sci-fi/fantasy series that is Must See TV. I’m perplexed by complaints that the opening act is “slow” since this is MUCH faster than last season. (I guess the griping is a holdover from the controversial Season 1 finale.) My favorite story lines are Hiro in Japan (the sidekick teaching the hero), HRG/Suresh vs. the Company, the New Hero Killer, and Claire’s romance with her flying boyfriend/enemy(?).
Smallville is okay when I catch it. The Clark/Bizarro fight rocked and Supergirl is decent.
The Chuck episode I watched left me cold. Maybe its was the great reviews, but I thought the show should have been MUCH funnier than it was.
I haven’t seen Reaper, Journeyman, or Pushing Daisies. I caught the tail end of Bionic Woman, which was “Eh.”
October 9th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
I think Kara’s appearance on Smallville was executed well, and I like the actress they picked for the Girl of Steel.
I also found the the flying effects crisp, and I like the relationship between she and Clark, and she and Chloe.
Chloe appears now to have her own Lois Lane–who doesn’t like Clark that much on Smallville, for those who haven’t watched the show.
It’s also nice to see a heroic Kryptonian. The Kryptonians on the series have usually been murderous. Clark was raised human.
The other show that caught and held my attention was the Bionic Woman. I must be in the minority of opinion which seems to favor Katie Sackoff over Michelle Ryan. I’m just the opposite, preferring Ryan over Sackoff. I never got into the new Battlestar Galactica. So I never developed a bias.
Chuck just struck me as watered down ALIAS with a male lead instead of a female lead, one also not as convincing a performer as Jennifer Garner. I guess Jeff Robinov would be ecstatic
Ray
October 9th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
So far I’ve enjoyed Chuck, Reaper, Pushing Daisies, and The Big Bang Theory, but none of them have really knocked my socks off. I tried watching the Bionic Butterface, but I couldn’t even make it through the first episode.
Smallville has been okay, but unfortunately I think the show is pretty much past its prime and should just wrap things up.
Heroes has been disappointing for me this season. It seems like they show virtually the same scenes every week. How many times do we need to see the Hispanic girl cry black tears and then freak out or see Claire hurt herself in school and cover it up? The only subplot that’s been holding my interest is the Hiro one, but even that is getting repetitive.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Dirty, Sexy Money is funny as heckfire. Same with Big Shots. I’m enjoying Carpoolers, but I suspect it won’t last long. Bionic Woman and Chuck are just okay. I’m looking forward to the cancellation of Journeyman, which is pretty useless.