Although the official start of the TV season isn't until next week, Fox has decided that it likes us enough to treat us to all of their shows a week before the other networks. Also, they had a pretty shitty year last season, and are hoping that maybe they'll at least get a week to win by default. So far, it might be working, considering Sleepy Hollow surprised us all last night and became the highest-rated drama premiere on Fox in 6 years. So hey! Let's see what they had in store for us tonight.
Fox is trying once again to launch a two-hour comedy block this year, after last year's unsuccessful attempt that left poor Ben and Kate out to dry. New Girl and The Mindy Project remain in the 9:00 hour, but Fox is hoping the Seth MacFarlane live-action sitcom Dads (a sentence that sounds like it's trying to turn you away from television forever) and ensemble cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine can help tighten up the ship. Can they? It's not up to me! I'm not a superfluous ratings measurement system that becomes less and less relevant with time. But I can tell you if these shows are worth you while.
Dads
I don't have much to say about this one. Okay, mostly because I didn't watch it. Look, I have some standards, alright? But really, if you've spent any time on the internet this summer, you should know exactly what to expect from this show. It's bad. Of course it's bad. Did you think it wasn't going to be bad? Well, it's bad. Okay? Now let's never speak of it again.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
I wrote a bunch about this show for SitcomsOnline today! So you should go read that. If, for some reason, you don't, here's a summary - this is the an incredibly promising new show from an excellent bunch of cast and creators. For that alone, this seems like the best bet for a great new sitcom in quite a while. The pilot isn't amazing, but so few pilots are. The biggest problem with it is that it isn't especially funny. But again - what pilots are? People often forget that their most beloved comedies didn't get off the ground running. The 30 Rock pilot had basically no laughs, the Parks & Rec pilot was a mess, the New Girl pilot was more or less "Zooey Deschanel being crazy for 22 minutes"...sure, once in a while you'll get an Arrested Development that kicks ass right from the start, but it's pretty rare. So while Brooklyn Nine-Nine's pilot isn't perfect, it's well-structured with plenty of great characterization. With a cast this good, that's enough to keep me very excited to see where it'll go next.
New Girl
I do not envy New Girl this season. Coming off of a highly acclaimed, universally beloved season is perhaps the hardest thing for a television show to do - the weight of expectations is almost impossible to match. Shows faced with this dilemma typically either choose to coast at the same speed and hope its supporters continue along for the ride (hello, Parks & Rec post-Season 3) or dial things up to 100 in an attempt to keep surprising its audience (that's you, Community Season 3!). Either of these methods is perfectly acceptable and can prevent the show from crashing and burning, but I personally prefer to watch the latter method, simply because I think it makes things a little more interesting. And while it's too soon to tell which road New Girl would take, all signs point to the second option after tonight's premiere. In a way, it has to take this route - the show changed its status quo so drastically by throwing Nick and Jess together at the end of Season 2 that there's no time for coasting. This is kind of an exciting prospect to me. New Girl could totally crash and burn this year, or it could balance everything perfectly and turn in another classic season of television. The fact that I have no idea which one it's going to be is a little scary, but it makes me incredibly excited to see what's in store for us in Apartment 4D this season. I will say that I thought this premiere was a step in the right direction - it made me laugh a lot, the Nick and Jess stuff was handled incredibly well, and I love that the show has made it clear that it's not going to sideline everyone else just to make room for their star couple. The only part of the premiere that I had problems with was Schmidt's storyline - love triangles are really just never interesting, and this one is no exception, particularly when that love triangle brings out the most irredeemable qualities in Schmidt. I hope that storyline wraps up sooner than later, whether it means Schmidt choosing CeCe or Elizabeth or the three of them forming the first polygamist relationship on network TV. Other than that, I'm all in.
The Mindy Project
The Mindy Project has gone through about four retools at this point, which is why it's weird that its biggest problems are the exact same problems that have been holding it back since it began. The show still has no likable or relatable characters, it's a strange mix of half-assed workplace sitcom and generic romantic comedy, and it has absolutely no point of view to speak of. In short, it's a total mess of a television program, one that has no consistent tone and seemingly no purpose, other than to be the internet's new favorite show and to book a bunch of cute boys for Mindy Kaling to kiss. What's worse is that the show is now seemingly content with this. There was a point in Season 1 where the show noticeably improved, and there was a wave of "look, it's gotten better!" support from critics and fans alike. While I never felt it improved into anything worthwhile, it was around this time that the show garnered a modest following and a bit more critical support (though not much). I guess it's decided to take that lukewarm reception and run with it, because at the start of its second season, the show seems perfectly content with its vapid mediocrity. There's a handful of decent jokes in tonight's premiere, and the writing itself remains somewhat clever. But there's absolutely no attempt to say anything remotely interesting or to progress its characters whatsoever. It's just a bunch of faceless characters exchanging snarky insults and occasionally kissing each other. That's enough for some people, I guess - but it's something I have absolutely no interest in, so I think this is where Mindy and I officially part ways. I maintain that there was a great show somewhere in that pilot last fall, but at this point, I have zero faith that great show is ever going to be discovered.
So Fox's comedy block can best be described as a sandwich where the bread is really crumbly and gross, but the meat is delicious and some of the best around. That does not sound like a particularly good sandwich, but you can always take the meat out and just enjoy it by itself. Because you are a hard worker, and you deserve it.
No comments:
Post a Comment