Glee actually looks like it might be fun. But then, I loved High School Musical (the first one). But the one I have the most hope for (so the one that Fox will be gunning for) is The Human Target. I always loved The Human Target as a backup in Action Comics, and this preview looks fantastic! Not to mention Tricia Helfer.
Day One looks... interesting, I guess, but it would have been nice to have seen a real trailer. And I kind of hope the Leno show tanks, so they can put more content during that hour. I mean hell, even Carol Burnett only managed something like this one night a week.
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I'll second your expectations for "The Human Target" - while the preview looks more like a movie trailer, I'm a big fan of Mark Valley from Boston Legal. Though I was a bigger fan of Julie Bowen...
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"100 Questions" actually looks pretty funny. How I Met Your Mother is the height of sitcoms right now as far as I'm concerned, and this looks like it might be somewhat close to being that funny.
"Community" looks iffy. Wouldn't be surprised if it was canceled.
"Day One" I'm imagining is a marriage of Jericho and maybe Lost. It'll depend on the acting and the writing, but it's impossible to tell from that "trailer."
I didn't look at "Mercy," as medical dramas no longer interest me. I've been overexposed. Same with "Trauma."
"Parenthood" actually looks kind of good. I'd consider watching an epsiode.
"The Jay Leno Show" is something I'll probably check out. I've almost never liked anything that's been on at 10.
For Fox, "Sons of Tuscon" looks funny, I like the guy from Reaper.
I didn't realize a TV studio was finally doing a musical show (for all intents and purposes), and Glee looks like it could be interesting. I'll probably tape the show tonight and watch it after the hockey game. Is it usual to show the pilot of a show six months before the next episode? I guess the whole point is to secure the musically minded people since American Idol is ending, and with that in mind, it's probably pretty smart placement.
ETA: I just watched the actual trailer for it, and it looks funny and has some great music! What don't I like about it:
Seriously, has anyone here actually gone to a school with that regimented a caste system? I know it's supposed to be funny, but I see it so often that I'm sick of it (to say nothing of the fact that it was a main HSM plot point), but my high school was NOTHING like that. The kids in drama club and marching band were the most popular, cheerleaders ran track and were the smartest girls in the class, and there might have been cliques of friends, but they weren't defined by what clubs you were in. Has anyone really been to a school that's like what most movies and TV portray high school as?
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My high school was basically West Canaan High in Varsity Blues. I don't think we were divvied up by clubs. It was mostly about sports.
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Is it all about where you live maybe? Varsity Blues took place in more of a rural place didn't it? I grew up in the suburbs, and sports were important, though not so much football, but probably 75% of the athletes were in some sort of academic club or music program. Actually, two thirds of the school population was in some sort of music program at the school, so that was a LOT of overlap with the jocks. Sports were equal to drama and music programs at my high school. We took pride in everything.
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I'm pretty excited about "Human Target" now, and "Day One" is the kind of show that I always at least check out (though I'm disappointed most of the time, either by the quality of the show, or by the fact that no one else watches it).
"Community" looks pretty bad to me, but the cut of the trailer may have been working against it. I love Joel McHale, so I'll be sad when it turns out to suck.
"Mercy" looked like it was just retreading old ground, and in kind of a crappy way. I don't need ANOTHER hospital show about cheating spouses, thanks.
I'll totally watch "Parenthood". It looks awesome.
The "Jay Leno Show" demo looked like it was made for old executives. It kept asserting that "Jay Leno = Comedy", and "Comedy = What People Want" without actually demonstrating much comedy. They shouldn't have let that one out in public.
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I thought Leno used to be a lot more funny 10 years ago when I started watching him in the 90s. He had some hilarious gags. I used to live Beyondo and Ask Jay Anything, and crazy inventions people had.
He's a funny guy, but the show got off track in the last several years. I'm looking forward to more of a variety show with him at the helm.
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I am so looking forward to Flash Forward. I loved the book, but then, the worst of Robert Sawyer's books is better than almost anything else. V... I actually watched it first time around. I'm sure they're going to change the rationale for the aliens landing. They can't honestly be stealing our water because they need water. That's dumb. But Elizabeth Mitchell is in it (does that mean no more Juliette? Wahhh!), so it might be worth a quick peek.
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I am so looking forward to Flash Forward. I loved the book, but then, the worst of Robert Sawyer's books is better than almost anything else. V... I actually watched it first time around. I'm sure they're going to change the rationale for the aliens landing. They can't honestly be stealing our water because they need water. That's dumb. But Elizabeth Mitchell is in it (does that mean no more Juliette? Wahhh!), so it might be worth a quick peek.
And Eastwick... looks like a cross between Desperate Housewives and Charmed. The Desperate Housewives part means I probably won't bother with it.
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quote:Originally posted by Armoth: I'll second your expectations for "The Human Target" - while the preview looks more like a movie trailer, I'm a big fan of Mark Valley from Boston Legal. Though I was a bigger fan of Julie Bowen...
Check out the ABC previews. Julie Bowen is in Modern Family.
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I thought Glee was horrible. The wife and the football jocks were so cardboardy you could see the packaging tape.
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: Glee actually looks like it might be fun.
Eh. It was okay. Nothing to write home about.
It was awful. From me, elsewhere:
I admit that I watched this show because I was a chorus geek. I tried to do everything I could involving singing in high school-- choir, advanced choir, show choir, community theater, etc. I was curious how Hollywood might see the experience.
Well. They imagine it rather poorly.
Never mind they got some of the details right-- for example, the show choir in Glee has no adult director (let's be honest-- the "director" of the glee club in Glee is a waste of humanity). Neither did the show choir I was in for the majority of my high school career. We had some very driven students that took the initiative, and a chaperone that sat in the auditorium while we practiced. As individual singers, most of us were, I think, fairly incredible (yours truly excepted). As a group, though, we didn't know how to play to our strengths.
The faculty disinterest in all things choir comes through in Glee, and also in my experience. You know who our director was for choir? The band teacher. He had no vocal (nor piano) training. Again-- we had some choir students who were really driven to make a good choir and succeeded. Through their efforts, we formed two choirs-- one for the people who just wanted a period to gain some elective credits; and the other for people who had a little more passion and talent. The advanced choir class had a limited number of slots, and you had to audition every year for it. This was all student driven.
That's about it as far as the similarities between my show choir experience and what was shown in Glee.
You may have gotten the impression from some of the previews that this show stars people-- human beings. It does not. The stars of this show are monsters and caricatures. There is exactly one human being. Everyone else is a bad chunk of cardboard, carelessly pasted onto the frame of plot, or a villain masquerading as a comedic relief.
It's a formula that found itself in shows like The Office; but I think that show's a terrible show too.
This could have been an utterly charming satire, or a keen look at social dynamics, or for heaven's sake, "High School Musical Goes to High School." It's none of those. It is a freakshow, something akin to the first three or four weeks of American Idol, with a plot attached.
There is a definite moment when the show loses its soul.
Spoiler
The would-be show choir director, Will Schuster, is desperate to get people to sign up for Glee Club. So he comes up with the idea that if he can just get some of the popular people-- you know, the football stars and the cheerleaders-- then everything will be a-okay. He doesn't have any luck with the cheerleaders; he can't even get an audience with them. But after he approaches the football team, and is rejected, he hears one of them singing in the showers afterward. (In a truly disturbing montage, where the teacher stares at this kid dancing around beneath the water) What does Will decide to do?
He pretends to find marijuana in the kid's locker, and tells the kid he's going to destroy his life unless he joins Glee Club.
I am not making this up. It was impossible to sympathize with Will after this. Which is a problem, because Will is the main character.
/Spoiler
I have a problem with lots of shows that deal with teenagers and with high school. Almost always, there is this idea that when you're that young, when you're going through so many emotional and physical changes, THAT is the moment of the greatest time of your life. So seize that moment, because it's going to fade as soon as you get that diploma.
That's a very dangerous message to send to kids. And Glee broadcasts that image with a bullhorn and 600 watt amps. The adults in Glee are obviously unhappy; Will especially is disappointed in his life. In fact, the whole reason he's doing show choir at all is because he wants to recapture the happiness he felt when he himself was in glee club. I'm all for being happy, but honestly? If your high school days were the best days of your life, then you are in dire need of an attitude adjustment.
I'm hesitant about continuing to watch this show. It looks like there have been 4 episodes shot (according to IMDB); I'm not sure what they're going to do in four episodes. The spoiler I noted above is an enormous hurdle. In addition, there's also the fact that I don't really LIKE any of the characters (with the exception of the duped football player); I don't feel like any of them deserve my attention.
It's a disappointment. Fox canceled Terminator, and shows crap like this? What. The. Frell.
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I hadn't seen the whole episode. Wow, it's worse than I thought. I hadn't realized the director was also a horrible person.
It does have the standard annoying feature of TV shows about teenagers: all the actors are late twenties or, in a couple of cases, easily in their thirties.
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quote: I hadn't realized the director was also a horrible person.
That's the thing. There were a number of visual cues meant to either be ironic or excusatory-- things like a checklist next to his desk that says "Help the kid," and the football player's decision that he absolutely wanted to be a part of Glee Club. I was unclear about which experience I was supposed to be viewing, and being me, I chose 'IRONY.'
Which made the show's continued attempts to make Will look good very, very suspect.
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Also, the boy singer isn't even in the same class with the girl. She's like Vanessa Hudgins, but he's definitely no Zac Efron. He sings well, but his voice has no depth to it.
Sort of like the show.
I thought I heard that whatshername from Pushing Daisies was going to be in this. I hope she stays away.
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I thought the girl's singing was a little too brassy. Coming in a bit sharp on notes, and all at top volume. Which is fine, I guess. I'd also be annoyed if the singing all seemed to be at a professional level, since these are supposed to be high school kids.
Man, I've never talked so much about a show I didn't like and don't intend to watch again.
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