Fall TV previews - Free at Blockbuster

[rabid1st]

Soooo...NBC put three of their Fall pilots on DVD for a free rental from Blockbuster. Since Life and Chuck and Bionic Woman were all on the DVD, I took it home and watched. Now, I no longer want to see Life or Bionic Woman. Good job saving me some time, NBC. All three shows have big problems. Bionic Woman and Life have the same one...the lead is unlikable. In Life, that could be because he can't act. Farscape managed to overcome the handicap of lead actors who can't act. So did Bones. Both shows, however, had other things to offer. Life has a promising premise but needs someone like Prison Break's Wentworth Miller to carry us through. I kept falling asleep. I don't think anything will save Bionic Woman...too dark...to derivitive...and boring.

Chuck...is charming. The actor is great. Zooming in, going way too close to his face, the show still holds my interest. But the concept is really wobbly and the supporting cast is cardboard with the notable exceptions of his friend and his sister. I've had friends like Morgan, so I can relate to him. But I'm not sure if most of America will. The real problem with Chuck is that people won't know what to make of it. It isn't quite action or comedy or drama. A ninja fight scene is particularly excruciating to watch...though the joke the next day was good. The problem with Chuck is it never really commits to a genre. Jake 2.0 did this much...MUCH better...admittedly on a crappy network with no follow through. Eureka does this, too. But it is hard to know what to make of this kind of show and too easy to dismiss it as just poorly executed.

Pushing Daisies...finally saw the preview and changed my mind about this one. I was upset because the concept is a direct steal from the first episode of Torchwood (the Doctor Who spin-off). Amazingly...seeing the pilot and knowing that the producers really are Doctor Who fans...has made me want to watch. These people saw what I saw...that Modern television is starved for innocent wonder and love. And it looks like they are trying to give us the Rose/Doctor essence of S2 in this show. I believe in these people and their intense affection for each other. And that is a very rare thing indeed. So...now...I have to hope the show makes it through the corporate mulcher. Because Doctor Who would never have gotten off the ground in America.

Rae
who also saw an extended preview for Reaper...and thought...Clerks meets Ghostrider...that could work...or blow! Not sure I want to pull for a show that makes me appreciate the lighter side of the devil.

Comments

[auntiesuze.livejournal.com]

No Blockbuster here in the sticks, unfortunately. Which one was Life again? I can't keep all the new shows straight. I'm sure I'll watch at least the first episode of Bionic Woman, but if it's that dark, I probably won't stick with it. Chuck just looks cute. I'll definitely be giving it a try. Pushing Daisies...that's the one where the guy touches a dead person and can bring them back to life, but touch 'em again and they die for good, right? I wasn't sure about this one, but I'll give it a try based on your rec. Reaper...I completely agree with you. It could be a great dark comedy or it could stink like a piece of fish left out in the sun for a week.

I have to give network TV some credit, though. There are a high number of shows with a sci-fi/fantasy bent this year. Once upon a time, every one of them would have been shot down long before they could ever get to air.

[pepperlandgirl4.livejournal.com]

Whoa, you're saying Damian Lewis, aka Major Richard Winters, can't act? What? Wait...what? Have you seen him in his other work and you've come to this assessment, or was it just based on his performance in Life?

I believe I have only seen him in Life

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Perhaps if I saw him in something else, I would feel better about his acting in this. But this was really...really...bad. Like...John in the Farscape Pilot bad. Not D'Argo bad...but still. Maybe he doesn't have a good grasp of the character. Or maybe he was drunk? Tell me where I can see him act.

Btw, you aren't one of the fanbase that thinks David Boreanez can act are you? :blinks inquiringly: David is no longer excruciating to watch like he was in Buffy...but that's not saying he can act...anymore than Ben Bowder can act. Still...I can't say too much about Damian Lewis until I see more of him...but I doubt I will see more of him in this show.

Oh...and I can't recall if I wished you a happy birthday...or not. So, Happy Birthday. My you ARE looking good. ;-D

Rae

Re: I believe I have only seen him in Life

[pepperlandgirl4.livejournal.com]

Well, Damian Lewis was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 90s, until he began his movies/television career. His work in Band of Brothers was amazing. I haven't seen him in Kean yet, but I hear that was a very, very good movie, and all the critics adore his performance. He's in a lot of BBC productions, including Much Ado About Nothing (Billie Piper played Hero. It's on BBC America fairly often). As for David--I think he has his strengths and his weaknesses. I think he's improved over the years. It's probably a good thing he's so pretty. And thanks :)

Well...he has an excellent pedigree there

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Are we sure that's him? Okay. I suppose you are sure. I've not seen Billie's Much Ado...nor any of his other work. But he really wasn't good in Life. In fact, he was that other word...bad. And so very much of the show depends on his character. Of course there are other explanations for a bad performance. Maybe the character was so under realized that he simply could make nothing of it. Maybe the writer or director got in his way to the point that he blew the whole thing off. Is he British? Has he ever played an American before? Maybe that was what was throwing him off? It isn't easy doing an accent if you aren't used to it.

Rae

Re: Well...he has an excellent pedigree there

[pepperlandgirl4.livejournal.com]

He is British, but his part in Band of Brothers was an American, and his accent was flawless, and his acting solid. Now I'm really curious about seeing the pilot to see what happened, but whatever is going on, it's not because Lewis is a bad actor. I'm not saying he couldn't be doing a poor job in the pilot, but there could be a variety of reasons for that.

I look forward to getting your opinion

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

...on the pilot. Meanwhile, I will try to see Much Ado About Nothing. Been meaning to do that for a bit anyway. I'm afraid I can't commit to Band of Brothers...but I might find a clip of him somewhere. As you say...there could be any number of reasons why he turned in a poor performance in this pilot. Taking your word for it that he can act...and do the accent...I would say the character is just a poor fit for him or poorly realized in concept so he had no grasp on it.

Matt Roush (who knows the pedigree, I'm sure...and who I really no longer trust as a critic) left the show out of his predictions for the season but had this to say, "Lewis' character is either endearing or off-putting, depending on your tolerance for his brand of peculiar." And he compared it to last seasons Raines, saying it could go the same way.

Personally, I can usually tolerate quite a bit of peculiar. Hence, my feeling that it was the acting that put me off of this. But you will let me know what you think.

Rae

[liliaeth]

I just watched the pilot for Pushing Daisies and simply adored it. I really hope that enough Americans watch it, so the rest of us can enjoy it as well.

[starlightmoonla.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the comments on NBC's new shows. I wasn't thrilled over NBC's schedule this year, which appears to be more SciFi than general.

I agree with you on the Chuck show. After watching the previews for that show I wasn't really clear on what the show was about. The TV Guide Fall Preview thing helped a bit but probably won't end up watching it either way.

I'm actually looking forward to watching Pushing Daisies. Was it available on that NBC preview or did ABC have their own Fall Preview DVD? I'd love to see the extended preview for that show. At first one of the reasons why I was going to watch it was because someone on the show had worked on Dead Like Me and I loved that show. Hearing that they're Doctor Who fans definitely peaks my interest in the show. :D

[webeh.livejournal.com]

Yay! You finally got onto the Pushing Daisies train!! Aren't Chuck and Ned just so sweet together? And, I completely love the fact that the pair are canon on the show, but they have to resort to creative ways to show their affection.

Right now, I have a mad crush on Lee Pace (Ned). He's just so adorable on Pushing Daisies and was smoking hot in Wonderfalls. He played the main character's brother, who was an atheist studying for a PhD in theology.

As for Life, I'm not surprised you don't like it. From the trailer it didn't look very good. Instead, it's trying to be a cop version of House. This is cruel, but I hope the show gets cancelled so Damian Lewis can go back to the BBC. He rocked there.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

You know my feeling...as soon as I found he learned he was British was exactly that...this is some kind of formula show they are trying to do.

Take a British actor, force him to speak in a so-called American accent (and while Pepper assures me he can do one...that explains why his voice grated so much on me...usually when Brits do American accents they have that exact same squeaky-lisp that this fellow had). Then, the network tries to make him dangerous but sympathetic...in House it is pain medication and brilliance...here it is prison attitude and zen. But the guy just doesn't come across as having any redeeming qualities neither edgy nor spiritually and even for someone who has studied zen, like myself, there is no real connection to his struggle. There is one scene where he confronts some prison guards...after his release...and I know we are supposed to feel this molten tension, which is then wrestled into check by profound spirituality. But it fell completely flat. The tension wasn't even as high as a sorority tussel over a missing hairbrush and the zen quoting lacked committment. This and a few other scenes are what convinced me Lewis was just a bad actor. But it could be he was being forced to play it that way...or that he just hates the job but feels he has to do it for his career or something.

Rae

[webeh.livejournal.com]

I don't get why he even decided to do an American series in the first place. He was doing really well in the UK with all those BBC minis he's been getting.

That's how I feel about fake accents too. Why cast someone with the wrong accent (most times, the actor can't pull it off convincingly) when you could get an equally good actor from the correct region? It was like casting Chinese people in Memoirs of a Geisha. They did not sound Japanese, but rather Chinese.

In a few cases I think the actor does do an excellent job of changing their voices. Personally, I think Hugh Laurie is one example because he can both emote and maintain the accent. (I know many will disagree with me here.) Christian Bale is another. (He tends to disappear completely into his role.)

Bionic Woman. The lead actress, I'd consider her as a failed attempt to hide an English woman in an American part. She becomes so bland with her struggling with the voice. Someone from North America could have easily played her and not lose any energy in the performance.

Chuck from Pushing Daisies on the other hand is another successful case of an accent switch. She's from the UK, but I totally didn't know that until after seeing the pilot. I think she's going to be great on the show. :)

Hey... Is there by any chance that you'll begin writing fanfic for Chuck and Ned? Because, I'm fairly certain that this will be a permanent pairing on the show.