Summer Television: Woes and Whoa!s
or how Entertainment Weekly lured me to the dark side. It’s summer and my normal TV shows are in reruns (House, Bones, The Office, My Name is Earl, Battlestar Galactica) or worse, cancelled (RIP Veronica Mars). Because I have so much free time for myself (ha!) I let myself be swayed by good reviews in Entertainment Weekly to check out some new shows, which I did in one big TV free-for-all last weekend. Without exception, I was disappointed.
Mad Men: Nice to look at, but there’s a reason we moved beyond the era of smoking and sexism. There are better ways to depict this age that feel modern. This just felt like an out and out mimic, though I was surprised by the ending of the pilot.
Burn Notice: Average, at best. Cheesy repeated camera shots. The lead actor didn’t engage me, Gabrielle Anwar’s collagen duck lip irritated me, and Bruce Campbell looked so overweight, tired and indifferent that I just felt bad for him.
Psych: Enjoyable enough, but leaving nothing afterward. Like cotton candy.
Simon Schama’s Power of Art: I’d prefer it if this show were a half hour long and reporter style, rather than having staged enactments of Schama interacting with the art, and recreations of the artist. I like the works of Rothko, and was interested to find out more, but couldn’t bring myself to stay with this show for more than half an hour.
There is good news, though. Reruns of both 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother are funny, clever, and easy on the schedule at 30 minutes minus commercials. If you haven’t already, check them out.