Monday TV Roundup

New show premieres. They always seem to bring out the anticipation that you may be about to embark on a wonderful journey that will last for years. It’s sad that those journeys which last more than a couple seasons are few & far between these days. In the last couple years, there’s only been a handful of those journeys that I’ve been along for the ride with for more than a season - Rizzoli & Isles, Body of Proof, and Sanctuary to name a few. My list of favorite shows that are done in a season or less is much longer than the list of multi-season shows.

Thus, we come to another night of series premieres.

1. Terra Nova kicked off with a 2-hour series premiere. This show came with the heavy baggage of the Spielberg name. That’s the first sign of an over-hyped show. It’s kind of a fun, if tired, scifi concept - time-traveling back to pre-historic Earth. Oh wait. I guess we’re time-traveling AHEAD to 2149, where we see… dinosaurs? Think Jurassic Park meets Stargate. Yes, they even went through a round portal to get to the ‘other’ side. You could probably have heard my groan from 100 light years away when I saw that. The dinosaurs… let’s just say that the limited-budget show, Sanctuary, has MUCH better CGI monsters than this show ever will. It makes me appreciate the work Anthem graphics does for Sanctuary even more after seeing this pilot.

Overall, it’s a show that has time travel, dinosaurs, bad guys, good guys, bad guys pretending to be good guys, and a location that could be considered ‘paradise’. For now, after seeing the 2-hour pilot, I consider it a show that I would continue watching, but will have to lower my high Spielberg-induced expectations considerably. I guess Sanctuary has set the bar very high in my book, and it’ll take something spectacular to reach that level again.

2. Hart of Dixie was another series premiere tonight. Since we’re comparing things to previous shows tonight, let’s call this one Doc Hollywood meets Sweet Home Alabama. Hotshot NYC doctor Zoe Hart leaves the city to, unexpectedly, take over a private practice in small-town Alabama. One bright spot of this show would be the pop-wannabe music throughout(DON’T call it country, please, or you will garner my ire). Darius Rucker, Sugarland, etc. There was a little bit of bluegrass banjo that perked my old-school country ears.

Basically, the show was everything I was expecting it to be. At least for the pilot. Overplaying the NYC vs Southern Hospitality differences, over-confident NYC high-society girl vs Southern Belles, etc. Even though I really didn’t know any of the cast, I did enjoy them. That’s usually a tough sell for me. So, this show is a keeper…for now.

3. Another episode of 2 Broke Girls tonight as well. Yes, another episode and I’m actually still watching. It’s the sarcasm, baby! “I am too poor to have a fear of success”. I think Max is my sarcasm hero!

4. I also was able to watch tomorrow’s episode of NCIS tonight. So much better than last week’s season premiere. I loved the ‘homecoming’ theme. It was funny to hear Jimmy’s recollections and see Abby’s homecoming dates ( yes, plural )

5. Speaking of Tuesday shows – tomorrow brings another over-stuffed hour of Body of Proof, Parenthood, Unforgettable, and Sons of Anarchy. Such a timeslot war for my viewing attentions.

6. on a final note: I watched my first (and definitely LAST) episode of Gossip Girl, just to get a glimpse of Brian J Smith. The things I do for certain actors. Oy. Okay, technically I didn't "watch" the episode. I just fast-forwarded to the part with BJS (which annoyingly was at the very end), so I avoided much of the soap-operaish eyerolling stuff.