2013/14 TV Preview – Returning Shows

Over the last few years the TV season has gone one where shows premier in fall to a fall/winter one to now series premiering fall/winter/spring with a handful in the summer. So it’s not really a “TV season” anymore, it’s new TV all the time.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FXX) September 4

Always-Sunny-Philadelphia-29
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Sunny enters its ninth season, yes NINTH season, on a new “edgier” network called FXX but is feeling a bit tired these days. While I don’t think anyone would argue that Sunny was as good the last few seasons as it was the first few, I’ll still check this one out – for a few episodes at least.

The League (FXX) September 4
See above, except substitute “fourth” for “ninth.”

American Horror Story (FX) October 9

The first season of American Horror Story was amazing, it was easily one of the best shows in recent memory. The second season, let’s just say that the second season started out disastrous but ended up…interesting? Here’s hoping that the third season of American Horror will be more like the first than the second.

Raising Hope
Raising Hope

The Walking Dead (AMC) October 13
Watching The Walking Dead can be a grind. Sometimes it’s a satisfying grind, but a lot of times watching the show is a slog to get through the episodes where little happens to ones where stuff does happen. I get the feeling that if each season of TWD were six or eight episodes long it would be a much tighter series rather than what we got with the last 16 episode season that felt like a lot of filler.

Raising Hope (FOX) Fridays “Late Fall”

Raising Hope enters its fourth season after having seemingly been on the  verge of cancellation for all four of those seasons. The comedy, once a staple of Fox’s Tuesday nights, has now been relegated to Friday nights. Regardless of what night it airs on, I’m a sucker for Raising Hope and the whole Chance family.

Doctor Who
Doctor Who

Doctor Who (BBC America) Christmas

The final season of Doctor Who with lead Matt Smith starts right where the last one ended, with John Hurt (Alien) being introduced as a connection to the Doctor’s past.

Sometime after the new year

The Americans (FX)

The Americans
The Americans

The more I think about The Americans, the more I miss this show about Soviet sleeper agents operating in the early 1980s in Washington DC. I think where this series works is that it’s also about the home lives of the Soviets as well as all the other secret agent action stuff.

Community (NBC)

Dan Harmon is back as the creative head of Community for one more season, the last of the series. Will Harmon usher Community back to greatness, or will it be a misstep that critics will be talking about for years to come? Regardless, I’ll be watching!

Game of Thrones (HBO)
The fourth season is usually when genera series begin faltering; see Lost, The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, et al. It’ll be interesting to see if Game of Thrones is able to buck this trend.

Hannibal (NBC)

Hannibal
Hannibal

I feel like there are about 10 of us out there watching Hannibal on NBC. I’m guessing it’s one of those shows where people will discover it long after it’s gone and wonder why more people didn’t watch it when it was first on? It’s brilliant!

Mad Men (AMC)
Is the upcoming season of Mad Men the last season of the series, or does Mad Men creator Matt Weiner have more seasons of the show in mind? Only time will tell.

‘Game of Thrones’ finale ratings up; surpass ‘True Blood’

HBO’s Game of Thrones closed out its best season yet with nearly its biggest rating ever.

Sunday night’s third season closer “Mhysa” delivered 5.4 million viewers, just shy of its 5.5 million all-time high that was set several weeks back, and totaled 6.3 million for the night. That’s up 28 percent compared to last season’s finale. Thrones was against some strong summer broadcast competition that included the NBA Finals and, to a lesser degree, the Tonys.

More.

The Best TV Shows of 2013, Midseason Edition

If I had to rate what I thought the best TV series was this season to date, that list would in in order:

The Americans
The Americans
  • Game of Thrones (HBO): I can’t imagine a situation where Game of Thrones isn’t the top show of my end of year “best of” list. It’s so well written, well acted, well directed…it puts most other TV to shame.
  • Veep (HBO): HBO’s funniest comedy in years is also the funniest comedy on TV.
  • Arrested Development (Netflix): A few episodes of this series didn’t work as well as some of the other ones, but I still really enjoyed the return of the Bluth family.
  • Hannibal (NBC): I feel like I’m the only one watching this best network TV drama in years. Hannibal is so good it’s a shame it doesn’t draw more of an audience.
  • The Americans (FX): I can’t wait for this sexy drama to come back next year so I learn the fates of the Soviet sleeper agents hidden in early 1980s Washington DC and, more importantly, the fates of the FBI agents hunting them.
  • Mad Men (AMC): Even in its sixth season Mad Men continues to surprise.
  • House of Cards (Netflix): I liked House of Cards right up until the very end. It’s still a good show, I just felt like there needed to be at least some closure on things rather than just having an ending.

And there are a lot of promising shows on the horizon this summer and next season too. There’s a lot to be excited about.

What I’m Watching, April 2013

Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones

Sunday:

  • Game of Thrones (HBO): Game of Thrones is the best of the best series in a spring season of a lot of great dramas.
  • Veep (HBO): I don’t think there’s been a lot of good comedies on TV recently but Veep is a big exception.
  • Mad Men (AMC): I think Mad Men‘s finest days might be behind it, but it’s still a great show.

Wednesday

  • The Americans (FX): I honestly didn’t think that The Americans was going to be a good show, let alone a great one when I first heard about it. How happy I am to be wrong.

Thursday

Saturday

  • Doctor Who (BBC America): Episodes of Doctor Who this year have been spotty at best but I still dig the Doctor and his new companion.

On the DVR

  • Orphan Black (BBC America): I watched one episode of Orphan Black and liked it but never got into it enough to check out other ones. All episodes are still on my DVR and I think I’ll end up watching them someday soon.

Looking forward to…

  • Arrested Development (Netflix, May 26): I think the return of my all-time favorite TV series of the last decade is a very big deal, not only for the return of the Bluth family but also for Netflix’s continuing commitment to quality original series.
  • The Bridge (FX, July)
  • Low Winter Sun (AMC, Summer)