Tivo or Forgo...

Ok so it's that time of year again when my tivo and probably yours is bursting at the seams with all of the new Fall pilots. So far, some have been great and some have been...not so great (I'm looking at you "Free Agents" and "Whitney"). Well don't worry I'm here to help and watch some of this crap so you don't have to. Here are two of my recommendations to either tivo or forgo. I'll give you the bad news first...

Charlie's Angels

I don't even know where to start. Ok, the pilot started with a predictable car bomb killing one of the original angels and leaving the door open for none other than Lyla Garrity (if you don't get that reference for the love of God please watch Friday Night Lights, what the hell are you waiting for)...ahem I mean Minka Kelly, Derek Jeter's ex and the kind of beautiful that keep the rest of us going to the gym every day. Minka is one of the three ridiculously beautiful (and tiny) angels. The least they could have done is cast some women that look like they may be able to kick a little ass (e.g. Eliza Dushku) so when they start throwing around giant men, it might be slightly believable. 

The acting is terrible, almost laughable at times, and not in that intentionally cheesy Aaron Spelling way that made the 70's version a huge hit. Lines like "we're angels" that worked when Farrah said them, just seem silly now...and Bosley isn't supposed to be hot.

When they jumped into the ocean and emerged with perfect makeup...I didn't think it could get much worse, until Carlos Bernard, my beloved Tony Almeida ("24", see note above about Friday Night Lights) showed up as a child trafficker with a terrible, I think Columbian, accent.

The plot was confusing at best, and I never found myself caring whether they made it out alive or dead...probably not a good sign. The only good thing about this show was that they kept the old theme song. I don't understand why Hollywood can't learn from it's own mistakes...did "Melrose Place" and "Knight Rider" teach them nothing?

Overall this show is a definite forgo, but if I know America...and I think I do, it will stick around for awhile because people like to watch pretty girls do ridiculous things.

Hart of Dixie

And for something completely different..."Hart of Dixie" is definitely one of my favorite new shows of the fall...and not just because of Jason Street (seriously, Friday Night Lights, it will change your life) but because this show is, well for lack of a better word...heartwarming. The pilot is based on a fresh out of medical school doctor played by Rachel Bilson who wants to follow in her fathers footsteps and become a cardio-thoracic surgeon in New York City, but when her life plan starts to become more difficult than she imagined, she finds herself working as a plain old doctor in Bluebell, Alabama.

Although I wasn't necessarily a huge fan of her before this show, by the end of the episode Bilson had completely won me over and I think she is perfect for this role. Surrounded by an interesting cast of characters in a small southern town, you can't help but want to get to know Bilson's character Zoe better and hope the best for her, and it's really nice to see a show that takes place in the south and doesn't feel like a parody. 

If someone threw Felicity, Gilmore Girls, Dawson's Creek and Everwood in a blender, "Hart of Dixie" would be what you end up with. It feels like a show that should have been on the WB and I am officially in love with it. It's definitely a tivo recommendation, because if nothing else, this show will make you feel good and in a world that is full of crime shows, vampires, mobsters and disturbing reality tv...who couldn't use something a little wholesome and heartwarming?

Breaking up is hard to do...

I'm a loyal person, I have had the same friends for fifteen years, I have lived in the same apartment for seven and at 30 years old, I have really only had one professional job. Once I like something or someone, I stick with it. So, in 2005 when I decided that I liked a little American remake of a British mockumentary based on some quirky office workers at a paper company in Scranton PA, I was committing to staying with it for the long haul. At the time it seemed like it would be easy, I was laughing out loud weekly and falling more in love with the crazy but somehow believable cast of characters, but then, the journey became more difficult.

My loyalty got me through the Will Ferrell days...the awful stunt casting that did nothing but make me dread what was to come.  Casting someone so well known is exactly the opposite of what "The Office" is supposed to be about. The reason we actually believe that this could be a real place of employment is because for the most part, we had never seen these people do anything but sell paper for Dunder Mifflin. Even though the Ferrell days were tough, I decided to stick with it into the eight season, I was curious just like everyone else about who the new regional manager would be...after all, they had some big shoes to fill. 

The episode began with some jokes about planking which people either didn't get because they aren't on twitter and didn't see the ridiculous pictures of celebrities doing it months ago, or they didn't find funny because they are on twitter and did see the ridiculous pictures of celebrities doing it MONTHS AGO.  The joke felt outdated and seriously "Office" you're better than that, or at least you used to be.

And really...Andy as the new regional manager just doesn't feel right. Especially because it feels like they never stopped writing for Michael Scott and just put another body in the chair. The speech that he gives to Robert California (and by the way, giving someone a ridiculous name doesn't mae them any more funny) where he sings the praises of the staff and even the quiet goodbye and smiles he gives to them on their way out just feels so Michael. The new regional manager needs to be completely different for people to be ok with someone else sitting in that chair and the Andy they have written so far, just doesn't seem different enough.

The BBC had it right, the British version of "The Office" lasted for fourteen extremely funny episodes. They didn't shove it down their viewers throats until we just couldn't take anymore, they went out on top.  In the last episode, the British Jim and Pam finally got together, which means nobody in England had to watch their Pam pregnant for a second time crying for a half hour over a commercial for Traveler's Insurance (oh and while I'm at it, Ray Lamontagne, what were you thinking?!).

I will always love Jim Halpert and the bit at the end with the list of Pam, Cece and the new baby in the winner column was cute and reminded me of "The Office" of yore...but I just don't think it was enough. If the powers that be respected their audience as much as they respect their money, they would have accepted that "The Office" without Steve Carrell would be just as crappy as "Saved by the Bell the College Years" without Jessie and Lisa, "90210" without Dylan, Brandon, Brenda, and Andrea (geeze did anyone stay on that show) or "Scrubs" without Zach Braff, it just doesn't work.

After eight years, I think it's time for me to break up with "The Office", we have had a lot of good times over the years, a lot of laughter and even some tears, but I need to walk away because it is just getting too hard...(insert that's what she said joke here because shove it up your butt is never going to be a catch phrase.)

It's not Gob, but I'll take it!

I, like probably a lot of you are still deeply in mourning over "Arrested Development". They say things get better in time but it has been over five years and the pain of losing one of the most famous "great shows that nobody was watching" is still raw. This pain and sorrow has caused me to seek small satisfactions through the projects that the cast moved on to post development. While Bateman and Cera have eased some of the pain by taking their talents to the big screen, I have been longing to see some Bluth's in my living room again. I only made it through a couple episodes of Portia de Rossi's "Better off Ted" and my hopes were so high for "Running Wilde" that I broke my own tivo rules and committed to a season pass without even seeing the pilot, how could Horowitz and Arnett together again not be amazing!? We all know how that turned out...but maybe worst of all was seeing the amazing Jessica Walter, the beloved Bluth matriarc on...gasp...TV Land. Since my heart has been broken over and over again, I went into Arnett's new project "Up All Night" with extreme caution. I saw it sitting on my now playing list and talked myself into giving these Bluth's one more chance...

This show is exactly what I have been hoping for since 2006. Will Arnett is finally in the type of role that suits him perfectly, the Gob we know and love is long gone but the goofy, nerdy husband and new stay at home father who thinks liking Train is "ironic" and wears a Huey Lewis and the New's t-shirt is unbelievably likeable. Equally likeable is Christina Applegate who I also gladly welcome back to television. She is a working mom trying to balance being a television producer, a wife and a new mom to a baby that although loved was completely unexpected. As a couple, they totally work and as parents who weren't sure they even wanted children, watching them adjust to parenthood is incredibly funny and entertaining. Their struggles with still wanting to be cool and have a social life while trying to take care of a new baby are real and completely relatable. As a couple, they are super fun to watch and I can't help wishing for some flashback episodes to see what their life was like pre-baby Amy.

Maya Rudolph as an over the top, ego centric, Oprah type with her own talk show is perfect casting and her ability to play this character so well off the heels of Bridesmaids and 2009's Away We Go shows that she is capable of so much more than just impersonating Whitney Houston and Donatella Versace.

I'm two episodes in and the second was even better than the first.  Please watch this show, if only so Will Arnett can start feeling like a man again at home instead of Mr. Amy Poehler, plus I'm pretty sure that everything that Lorne Michaels touches turns to gold...except for maybe MacGruber, but hey everyone makes mistakes.