an early look-related stories
Posted Jul 15th 2009 11:06AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Early Looks
Every single season - hell, every single episode - the dramatic announcer of
Hell's Kitchen tells us that "this will be the most explosive episode of
Hell's Kitchen ever!" or "for the first time on
Hell's Kitchen..." But this season, all of those proclamations might actually be true.
Of course, that's not necessarily a good thing, because it could easily turn into
The Real World or
Big Brother and be more about the confrontations and the personality conflicts than the actual cooking and choosing of a chef. I mean, in the first two episodes alone there are more confrontations and yelling and accusations and fisticuffs - yes, fisticuffs - than in whole seasons of other cooking reality shows.
Continue reading Hell's Kitchen season six -- An early look
Posted Sep 19th 2008 11:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Early Looks, Reality-Free
Sam Briggs is a schlemiel. Everything that can go wrong in his life, every dumb thing a guy can do while trying to do the right thing, happens to Sam.
The preview of
Worst Week (premiering Monday at 9:30 PM ET on CBS) has not changed dramatically from this ready-to-go pilot. The premise is simply this: can a good guy like Sam overcome all the stupid things he does and find happiness with the girl he loves and her family that loathes him?
For the pilot,
Worst Week works really well as broad farce. The situation of this situation comedy goes from bad to worse to worse still. It's funny. It's over the top. It's very, very outrageous. Whether or not they can sustain this level of silliness and maintain some semblance of believability week in and week out is the big question for
Worst Week.
Continue reading Worst Week -- An early look
Posted Sep 20th 2007 9:35AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Video, Early Looks, Episode Reviews, Life
In today's crowded world of television, procedural crime dramas are a dime a dozen. Actually, make that a nickel a dozen, since there are so many of them. Each one is slightly different than the other, but they all have pretty much the same formula: a crime is committed (on or off screen), the police go in to investigate, clues are discovered, crack forensic and computer scientists discover even more clues, the wrong person is brought in for questioning, and the real culprit is finally brought to justice two minutes before the credits roll.
Continue reading Life -- An early look - VIDEO
Posted Sep 26th 2006 6:32PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC, Programming, OpEd, Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is a bit different. And, yes, I'm talking about both the show and its determined main character. The show funny, soapy, bitchy, and sweet all at the same time. And while part of it is about the superficial and competitive world of fashion magazines, it also delves into the decidedly unglamorous life Betty Suarez and her family lead in a middle-class Queens neighborhood. As long as they keep that balance, ABC might have a winning combination, especially now that it has moved
Betty into the pre-
Grey's Anatomy slot (It premieres Thursday at 8 PM).
Continue reading Ugly Betty -- an early look
Posted Sep 18th 2006 10:03AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, Gilmore Girls, The CW
It looks like
Gilmore Girls. It certainly
sounds like
Gilmore Girls. And it's just as funny, fast-paced, and quirky as
Gilmore Girls. This is a good start.
Every fan on the planet was worried about their favorite mother-daughter team when show creator Amy-Sheman Palladino and her husband Daniel Palladino
left the show last spring in a contract dispute with Warner Brothers. Even though the new show-runner, David Rosenthal, had experience on the show, fans were worried he wouldn't be able to capture the classic
Gilmore Girls "voice." Most of all, fans were also worried that season seven wouldn't strike the show's signature lightness, which even the Palladinos had trouble capturing last year.
Well, I saw the Season Seven premiere over the weekend, and I've got to tell you,
GG fans, you don't have anything to worry about... at least not yet.
Continue reading Gilmore Girls season seven premiere - an early look
Posted Sep 12th 2006 11:32AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, Programming, OpEd, The Class
When I previewed rough-cut pilot of
The Class (premieres Monday, Sept. 18 at 8 PM ET)
back in June, I had my doubts about whether the loose association of the characters in the show would be able to withstand the rigors of a long-term series. The finished pilot didn't change my mind. But CBS was nice enough to include the second episode on the same screener as the pilot, and I'll tell you this: the show has potential. It seems an especially good companion for
How I Met Your Mother, which it will preceed on Mondays, since both cater to the same late-20s crowd. But
The Class does so without the cutsiness that can sometimes seep into
HIMYM.
Continue reading The Class - an early look
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
