Summer Shows: The Okay

Quick Update: This post was supposed to happen a week ago, I swear. Oh well.

Song Stuck In My Head: "One Last Breath" by Creed. What? It was playing on the store radio.

So, continuing the series I began last week, we're exploring new summer shows...the "good", the "okay", the "bad", and the "ugly".

Duets.
Wednesdays 9:30/8:30pm on ABC.

Yep, you probably remember the commercials and maybe even seen a few episodes already. ABC’s take on singing reality shows has a drama show feel to it, but still has famous celebrity judges to back it up.

While the show does have a few other new features, like the use of “charts” to indicate which artists are in danger of elimination or the fact it’s one night only and has no results show, it hasn’t been as memorable as ABC’s promotional campaign made it seem. Or maybe we’re just strung out on these shows by now.

Still, lots of talent to go around and I love Kelly Clarkson, so….

Saving Hope.
Thursdays 9/8pm on NBC.

You wouldn’t think a show about a man in a coma who helps dead people have closure would be chock full of originality, let alone humor and heart. But you’d be wrong. (Or proven wrong? You know what. As if I know).

Each episode revolves a recently deceased character who hasn’t moved on yet, and their small story. A lot of the show also focuses on the man and his doctor girlfriend/fiance. Their love, which is of course complicated by his whole coma thing, is refreshingly believable and even fun, though sad at times. You root for them.

That said, not all the main characters are as lovable and with such a pigeonholed premise, it does have a slowness to it, and it will feel really, really, really, really, no, really repetitive at times. If you can stomach that, then it’s a good show. And it might still be until, you know, it gets canceled in two weeks. (Come on. We all NBC hasn't been doing too hot as of late).

The Glass House.

Mondays 10/9pm on ABC. 

The show otherwise known as Big Brother’s and Real World’s enemy, the Glass House takes the reality show premise of throwing random strangers together to a whole new level. Instead, their actions are controlled by the viewers - or, votes and polls taken by the viewers. This is a great idea…but episode one didn’t execute it that well. The viewer’s first questions were innocent things like “Should the players have this food or that food?” or “Should they have a PJ party or swimsuit party?” and the self-declared villain of the show tried way too hard. 

Still, the players are refreshing, especially the ones with defined goals for being on the show. As the show goes on, it seems like it's getting a little too political or dramatized, but once you get past that, it's not too shabby. And the show has so many new features - if they start doing more interesting things with the viewers’ involvement, we could have something here!

Well, that's it for the "okay". Tune in for the "bad" next time. And trust me...it'll get bad.

Later!