The State of Fall Television

So the new TV season has been in full swing for a few weeks now, MLB playoffs not withstanding, and it's time to take a look at what has been delivered so far. There were not many brand new shows debuting this year, since most networks wanted to give some of the cut-short new shows from last season a second chance.

This fall my personal must-see television lineup consists of Chuck, Heroes, Pushing Daisies and Life On Mars. I also checked out the pilot of My Own Worst Enemy, and while I thought the pilot had potential, and I like Christian Slater, I'm not sure if that show is really going to go anywhere. You can't judge a show on it's pilot though, so I will likely be tuning in again next week.

The following discussions are probably at least slightly spoiler-ish for anyone who hasn't been watching the above listed shows.

Heroes is the biggest name show I was really interested in this season, and while I think it's better than last season's beginning, it still feels like it's dragging. It has had some pretty cool moments this season, and I'm still interested, but it seems like for every cool moment, there's something that just doesn't gel right. I like Sylar working for the Company, but I don't really like the new explanation of his...mental issues. Blaming it on his power seems to make him a less interesting villian than when we thought it was just because of his mother always pushing him to be special. The identity of Nathan's assassin was cool, I didn't see it coming, but then I think the character stuck around a little too long, with all of the warnings of the future. Every season so far has started off with some horrible warning from the future, and I'm kind of getting tired of the future. I think the series was much more interesting when Hiro was the only one who could time-travel. He's much more responsible about it, at least usually.

I've actually really liked Hiro's storyline so far this season, especially his reunion with Adam Monroe, which proved he can be himself, and still be pretty bad-ass. However, the cliffhanger last week's episode left us on regarding him and Ando rang very false to me. It doesn't matter how many sacrifices Hiro insists a hero has to make, there is no way he would ever kill Ando in cold blood. I'm almost positive time-tripping of some kind is involved here. My bet is that when they asked Hiro to kill him, Hiro froze time and devised a plan with Ando involving some kind of body armor. If it turns out that scene was totally straight, it would mean the writers have really lost their touch, because it seemed to go against everything Hiro stands for.

Last of all, whatever Mohinder is going through has to stop. I always thought Mohinder was smart enough not to break the first rule of mad sciencing, i.e. never inject yourself with your own untested serum. At this point it seems Mohinder is being groomed to be the first real comic-bookish villian of the show, and it's just not being done well. What makes Sylar a great villian is his subtlety. Mohinder turning into a creepy spider creature is not subtle, and it's a real waste of a hot Indian guy.

Next up is Pushing Daisies. Pushing Daisies is one of the new shows from last season that didn't get a full run because of the writer's strike. Last year it did very well in the ratings, and was hailed as one of the best new shows, scooping up awards left and right. Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that Pushing Daisies is doing very poorly in the ratings this season, which may be proof that there is no God, because it is easily my favorite show currently on television. Bones is kicking its ass, which is at least sort've understandable, because Bones is a pretty good show. But Knight Rider is beating it as well. Knight Rider! The point of this rant is that if you're not watching Pushing Daisies you really, really should be, especially if you're a Neilsen family. It's one of the most unique shows I've ever come across, at the same time a very funny dark comedy and an almost sacharrine sweet romance. The absolutely adorable leading guy doesn't hurt any either.

This season has seen a new dynamic for Chuck and Ned's relationship, as Chuck seeks to be more independent, something she didn't get a chance to do when she was alive the first time. I had kinda been waiting for something like this to happen with them, because while Ned never seemed to look much farther than 'I brought Chuck home and now I'm happy', Chuck seemed like she wanted to take her new chance at life as an invitation to do all of the things she never got to do before. Not to mention how much safer she is now, since the first change she made was moving out of Ned's apartment. I don't care how much you love someone, when their slightest touch can kill you, it might be better off having your own place. The first few episodes also had Olive being sent off to a nunnery so she doesn't spill Lily's secret to Vivian. While the nunnery was amusing for a few episodes, I'm glad Olive is coming back to The Pie Hole, although since Chuck moved into her apartment I'm not sure where she's going to live. I'm also glad Chuck learned that Lily is her mother. It didn't seem like a plot point that could be stretched too far, and finding out gave her some foundation when she had a bit of a crisis of faith in the most recent episode.

The most recent episode, 'Bad Habits' was excellent in many ways, focusing a little more on character development than the mystery of the week. Ned and Olive had some great scenes together, especially when he was trying to guess what secret she was keeping, and seeing Ned and Emerson trying to impersonate Vatican police was just priceless. Also, due to the religious nature of the episode, for the first time there was some questioning about where Ned's ability comes from. How does it fit into the scheme of religion? Chuck questioned her current state, whether if by being alive again she would ever go to heaven, and it led to a heartbreaking scene between her and Ned. It also touches on something we haven't seen mentioned yet in the show, that being Chuck's near-immortality. Digby the dog is over 20 years old, and still looks like a young dog, implying that Chuck will never get older or die of natural causes, an implication the show's creator has confirmed. If Chuck is getting freaked out by the thought that she might be stuck between life and death, I can't imagine that feeling getting any better when she realizes she'll never get any older.

My one real nitpick with the show is that Lily and Vivian really need to find out that Chuck is alive. There doesn't seem to be any real reason to keep the secret, since they don't talk to anyone, and it's going to be a lot harder to keep now that they're making it a habit to visit The Pie Hole.

Now, Chuck, not to be confused with the above Chuck, is another show that may be on the chopping block this season. Another writer's strike victim, my initial opinions of Chuck were not very good. I watched the pilot and thought the acting seemed forced, and it was trying too hard to be geek chic. It also didn't seem sure if it wanted to be a spy show with some comedic elements or a parody of a spy show. It still seems to walk that fine line, but I ended up catching up on it last spring through the magic of the internet, and ended up really enjoying it. Once it found its feet it ended up being a very funny show with some great characters. Last season, I thought the will-they/won't-they between Sarah and Chuck was getting a little old, so I'm glad that this season they have, at least for now, decided to table the possibility of a real relationship. So far this season has been great, an improvement, in my opinion, from last season, and although no real over-arching storylines have been introduced yet, there have been a few hints here and there. In last week's episode, specifically, a scene where Anna beat up an employee of a sporting good's store, Casey was impressed enough to tap her as a possible field agent. While this could have just been a throw-away joke for the one scene, bringing Anna into the fold could go a long way to better linking the Buy More storylines into the spy storylines, and I could see her being a useful asset.

Last, we have Life on Mars. This was the only new show I was excited about this season, and I can't even say I was all that excited. More like apprehensive. I loved the original BBC show, and while I was looking forward to seeing how moving it to a U.S. setting would change it and what someone new could do with the premise, I didn't have high hopes. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tuned into the pilot and found myself actually enjoying it. It's not perfect, it definitely feels like it's still trying to find its feet, but there's a lot of potential there.

It's hard to review it without comparing it to the original, especially since a lot of plot points and even dialogue have been lifted from the original series. The best thing the show could do for itself is start going in its own direction as soon as possible, and although its trying to, the writers are really only testing the waters at this point. Jason O'Mara seems to be building the character of Sam Tyler a little differently, he seems a little less angsty than John Simm's Sam, and it's nice to see that he's not just trying to copy Simm's performance, especially since its unlikely he'd be able to pull it off.

I'm not too sure about Harvey Keitel yet. Keitel plays Gene Hunt, Tyler's Lieutenent in '73, and he's supposed to be a tough, gruff old-school cop, pretty much the opposite of Sam. In the original series, the focal point was the relationship between Sam and Gene, how they played off of each other, and how this combination of police methods helped solve the crimes of the week. A lot of people are saying Keitel is too old for the role, and while I agree he doesn't seem all that physically imposing, I think he would work just fine if the writers could decide how they wanted his role to play out. In the pilot I was happy to see that the character seemed a lot different than Philip Glenister's Gene Hunt in the original, because he was one of those characters you could never imagine being played by someone else. In the second episode, though, they seemed to backpedal a bit and try to apply more of the character from the original series to the role, which just didn't work as well. There were several scenes in the second episode lifted from the second episode of the original series, and while some of them worked, like the fight scene in the hospital room, others didn't. I cringed when Keitel used the "armed bastards" line. The relationships between the characters are really what will make or break the show, and while they haven't been well established yet, one of the good things about American network TV is that they'll have more time to do so. So I'm not too worried on that front yet.

There have been a few things about the show that are new to the American version, and they definitely have me intrigued. One of them is a new character, a hippy girl living next door to Sam who has decided to make him her new best friend. While I could see her getting annoying, so far I think she's a good addition. She brings a bit of light-heartedness to the show, and her character reminds me of Penny Lane from the movie Almost Famous. I have a feeling her purpose is to give Sam someone to talk to who won't judge him or think he's crazy, kind of like Nelson the barkeep in the original version.

The other new addition is the presence of what looks like a Mars Rover in 1973 New York City. The show's creators mentioned in several interviews that they were changing the mythology behind the show. Not only did they want it to be a new experience for viewers who had seen the old version (and new viewers who read Wikipedia), but they knew that a premise that worked over the course of 16 episodes would not work over several 22-episode seasons. So the question of what happened to Sam Tyler is a much broader one this time, and I could see the writers going the Lost route with this one, introducing several mysteries that eventually lead to a conclusion to the central mystery. Whatever's going on, I'm interested.