The fall TV season is now in full swing and I can finally declare that overall it’s uneven at best. It’s true that many of the more interesting series don’t premiere until much later in the season but from what I’ve seen this fall I’ve been underwhelmed.
Here’s essentially every series I’m currently watching, or have recently watched:
The good:
Making Monsters (Travel Channel): I so love this show about Distortions Unlimited, a company that makes and sells horror items for Halloween and horror attractions. It’s a good representation of the realities of working in a creative industry where there’s always another pressing deadline and projects get changed and changed and changed right up until the very end.
The Goldbergs (ABC): This is a enjoyable comedy about the 1980s that’s highly watchable. I just wished the series creators didn’t have to add the Modern Family “awwwwwwww” moment that closes out the end of each episode here too.
American Horror Story (FX): The first season of American Horror was brilliant and the second started off pretty awful but turned into something decent. The third season, titled Coven, had me hooked from the first scene. But we’re just one episode in so it’s tough to know if in the end this series will be as good as the start.
Community (Syndicated on Comedy Central): It’s amazing how much I look forward to Community, especially since Comedy Central airs four episodes each Friday night in order from the beginning of the series.
The blah:
Hello Ladies (HBO): Stephen Merchant’s series about a hapless man looking for love in image obsessed Los Angeles is interesting and it uses many of the cringe-worthy storytelling devices Merchant helped create in the UK version of The Office. But where The Office had a lot of heart and some relatable characters, for the most part Hello Ladies has neither.
Agents of SHIELD (ABC): The first episode of SHIELD was interesting enough that it had me wondering if this show might be working on more than one level? Two more episodes in and I can say that SHIELD is strictly a one level series. It’s action adventure premise is more akin to 1980s shows like The A-Team or Riptide rather than having any nuance. If you want to see baddies get their lights punched out by the good-guys on a weekly basis, and there’s nothing wrong with that, then Agents of SHIELD is for you.
The uninteresting:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox): This series “feels” a lot like Parks and Recreation. And while a lot of people like Parks and Recreation, I’m not a fan and I gave up on Brooklyn Nine-Nine two weeks in.
Eastbound & Down (HBO): I’ve only kind’a sort’a liked Eastbound since it premiered back in ’09. And four seasons in I’m finding the Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) character a bit more grating than usual and am just about ready to give up on it.
