regarding recording television

recap before looking ahead

A few of my thoughts on the new shows that started airing during the past month:

Last night I dutifully watched the third episode of WONDERFALLS. As much as I want to get hooked on a new show this spring, I’m incapable of doing so. Wonderfalls is watchable, but if you’re hearing or seeing any grassroots hype, that hype is worth questioning. The main character graduated from Brown with a philosophy degree. I don’t understand why the creators didn’t go the whole nine yards and just say she was a semiotics major (okay, okay, so maybe that doesn’t exist anymore, but wouldn’t that have been more fun and in line with cool NY indie film roots?). That would’ve had a lot more weight and let me know that wording wasn’t being compromised for network television. This show seems quirky for the sake of being quirky. Most of the jokes / odd references fall flat. One of the producers / directors is Todd Holland who has a track record with shows that can be described as “offbeat”. What I wanted from Wonderfalls was Twin Peaks meets Joan of Arcadia with a pinch of Everwood. What I got was Joan of Arcadia meets Malcolm in the Middle with a liberal coating of Father Dowling Mysteries.

CRACKING UP held my attention longer than CENTURY CITY. I managed three episodes (and the first four minutes of a fourth) of CRACKING UP before hitting the stop button and taking the show off my “record this every week” list. My hope that the show would become funny has been abandoned, like my interest in the show. I get the sense that this show is just a quick premise Mike White created on a cigarette break during the filming of Chuck & Buck. Looks like Chris may have been right when he called Jason Schwartzman a one trick pony.

TRUST is a show that would have me using the VCR, if I still used the VCR. It airs Saturday nights on BBC America and as I mentioned when I touched on my early disappointment with CENTURY CITY, this show has good actors bringing complex characters to life. It’s set in a corporate law firm where everyone struggles to manage their interest in getting ahead with the pleasure (or discomfort) of their personal lives.

The first episode of DEADWOOD was enough to keep me watching, but I don’t think I’ll be ready to embrace it until episode three or four.