Cinerant

Pilot Watch

I've been fortunate enough to see most of the Pilots for this fall. The good news is that there's more good television than bad. In fact, there's some bloody brilliant television in the midst of all this stuff. There's one Pilot that's better than any movie I've seen all year, though I'm not sure what it will look like as a series. There are a couple of Pilots that were really good and I expect them to be brilliant series, but we'll have to see what happens. A Pilot doesn't really ever tell you everything you need to know about the show--the second through fourth episodes will tell you what you are most likely to expect from the showrunner and writing staff. The Pilot just tells you the ambitions for the program, what it's hoping to do and be.

So without further ado, here's my thoughts via network:

CBS--
"Smith" (Tuesdays at 10)--Easily the best Pilot out there. Period. Amazing. It's with Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, and Shoreh Agdashloo. Think The Sopranos meets Ocean's Eleven. It's about a group of unrepentant criminals. In the Pilot, they rob a museum in Pittsburgh. The version I saw was about 65 minutes without commercials, so I don't know how they're going to get it under an hour, because it's tight. This is by far better than any movie I've seen this year.

"Shark"--(Thursdays at 10) uh; feels really old-fashioned--a drama with James Woods about a high profile defense attorney who becomes a prosecutor. (My vote for first show to get cancelled.) Apparently, Spike Lee directed this, but I never would've guessed it watching it. It just moves like something from CBS of 10 years ago when its entire viewership was over 55.

"Jericho"--(Wednesdays at 8) About a small town in Kansas that apparently is the only place in the US to survive a calculated series of nuclear explosions with Skeet Ulrich. The pilot's moving, and very preachy, but it's not a series I feel compelled to watch.

"The Class"--(Mondays at 8) Comedy about a bunch of people who were in third grade together who reunite as adults. Not funny. Most of the jokes come about this guy who wants to commit suicide. I wanted to join him halfway through.

ABC

"Brothers and Sisters" (Sundays at 10) I saw this version, but since then, two of the actors have been recast and replaced with Sally Field and Matthew Rhys. What I saw had potential, but who knows what will make it to the air. It's been having some behind the scenes turmoil, so it's impossible to tell yet, but the cast is so good and I like the general setup, so I have hope.

"Notes from the Underbelly" This comedy's about a bunch of pregnant couples. Almost enough to make you consider aborting yourself.

"The Nine" (Wednesdays at 10) This gets the post-"Lost" timeslot--and with good reason. It's really good, but it may be too good for network TV. It's definitely complicated, but accessible. I think. It's about nine people who are taken hostage during a bank robbery. The standoff goes 52 hours. There were several things that happened during those 52 hours, but we don't know what. All we know is that some things went wrong. The show is about the hostages sorting out the aftermath, while we as an audience get to piece together what happened in the bank.

"Men in Trees" (Fridays at 9) Anne Heche is a relationship counselor who sees her relationship go south, so she heads north--to Alaska, where there are lots of men. (Think "Northern Exposure" meets "Sex and the City".) It's mildly diverting and Heche is likeable, but I don't see the need to ever watch it again.

"Help Me Help You" (Tuesdays at 9:30) Ted Danson plays a therapist who has some really screwed up patients, but are any of them as in need of therapy as he is. Jane Kaczmarek plays his soon to be ex-wife. This is probably the funniest sitcom pilot I've seen for the fall, but is that really saying a lot? I don't know. It could have potential, but maybe not.

"Ugly Betty"- (Thursdays at 9)-Think "The Devil Wears Prada" but with an "over-sized" Latina instead of Anne Hathaway. It's based on the most popular telenovela ever. America Ferrera stars as Betty, an overweight girl who gets a job as the assistant to the new "man whore" editor of a fashion magazine. His dad runs the corporation that owns the magazine and wants an assistant that nobody will want to sleep with. Nobody counts on her being brilliant, and keeping him from falling into the traps laid by Vanessa L. Williams. This is a dramadey, like "Gilmore" or "Desperate Housewives." My TIVO is just chomping at the bit to get this one in the Season Pass queue.

"Six Degrees"- (Thursdays at 10) This one gets the post-"Grey"'s slot and doesn't deserve it. By far the most disappointing pilot because it comes from producer JJ Abrams. But by the end of it, I could only remember one character's name (Carlos) and the only thing I know about any of the characters is what jobs they have. The supposed premise of the show is following the idea of six degrees of separation, locating everything in New York City, but it's so pointless and inconsequential that even it's outstanding cast (Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, Jay Hernandez, Bridget Monyihan) can't make up for it. I had the highest hopes for this one, but if Abrams weren't attached I'd never watch again. As it stands, I'll give it one or two more tries.

NBC
"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"--(Mondays at 10) from Aaron Sorkin with Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet. It's about two fired writers who are hired to take over a SNL-esque show. Perry's great in the pilot and if it works, it will be because of him, not because of Sorkin. The show feels like therapy. (It is. The show is super insider, and feels like therapy, particularly when you realize this is Sorkin's f-you to John Wells regarding his departure surrounding The West Wing). My roommate saw about 10 minutes and walked out, complaining, "This is too Hollywood" and that's from somebody who lives out here, so who knows. NBC will promote the crap out of it, but I'm not confident about its survival. There's a lot of potential there, but the first act of the Pilot feels laborious and I didn't want to feel like I was going to want to get to the second act, which is where it picks up, but it never really stops feeling like a rip-off of "Network."

"Kidnapped"--(Wednesdays at 10 PM) It's about a rich kid that's kidnapped. The whole season follows that. I have no desire to watch beyond the pilot. It was like, "Eh--been there. Done that."

"Heroes"--(Mondays at 9) normal people get superpowers. Haven't seen it, but I've read most of the scripts for the third and fourth episodes. The word tedious comes to mind.

"Friday Night Lights"--(Tuesdays at 8) based on the movie, based on the book. This is the best Pilot the peacock network has, so why they're not promoting the crap out of it is beyond me. This, like "Smith", is a Pilot that didn't let me get a feel of the series. This one is more blatant than "Smith" in feeling just like a feature. The story for this was so narrow in focus that I'm not sure if it will work as a television series, particularly since over one whole act of the show was a football game. Who is going to want to watch a scripted series where all they do is play football? This one's going to be a hard sale, and up against "Gilmore Girls" it's not going to get the number of teenage girls it will need to be a massive success.

FOX

"Vanished"--(Mondays at 9) think "Kidnapped" meets "National Treasure." If I had to choose between this and "Kidnapped", I'd probably go with this one, but neither of them makes me think I'll ever see a second episode of them. This one starts tonight, which is definitely going to put "Kidnapped" at a distinct disadvantage, so who knows.

"Justice"--(Wednesday at 9) It's another procedural, so if you like "CSI" and you wanna see it all play out in a law firm, then this might be up your alley. Victor Garber's really good though. Otherwise, if you're tired of flashy graphics and stories about female victims, then watch "Lost" on ABC.

Sure, there are some other shows debuting in the next couple of months, but these are the big ones.
Hope this helps the DVR deciding what it wants to include and what it doesn't.

posted by cinegod @ 8:44 AM