Get Your Remotes Ready: CBS Day

It's part two of SSF’s Fall TV Line-Up special. Today we tackle the shows on CBS.

Okay, so CBS’s older audience basically has ultimate control over ratings so, unsurprisingly, CBS doesn’t have a whole crop of new shows to offer. After all, why fix what's as far from broken as possible? What can we expect though?

PARTNERS: So far this seems like a Will & Grace spin-off mixed with Rules of Engagement’s flair. But if you find out more about this show, you might like what you see. It’s about a masculine enough, heterosexual guy whose best friend growing up is more on the effeminate side. However, the two work together now and manage to help each other out in their rocky love lives anyways. Will the relationship dynamic be enough to keep us watching? We’ll just have to find out.

ELEMENTARY: Sherlock Holmes…like you’ve never seen him before! Yep, just in case the British drama or even Robert Downey Jr.’s version of the detective wasn’t good enough for you (Robert Downey Jr? Really?) then CBS has you covered. They give the character a dramatic, crime show feel. Even better: their “Dr. Watson” is *drum roll* female, Asian American Lucy Liau. Here’s to getting farther away from the 50’s every single day!

MADE IN JERSEY: While true New Jersey-ians might be peeved that the star of this show isn’t really “made” in NJ and that she’d hated having to make her hair so big, they can appreciate her character. Janet Montgomery plays a lawyer from you-know-where whose, ah, uniqueness helps her when it comes to cases and life in general. Is it a crime show? Is it at comedy? You’ll have to see.

VEGAS: We got us some Dennis Quaid, some Michael Chiklis, some mobsters, and now add in the retro Vegas setting and...BAM. The masculine show of fall, I do believe.

Old favorites to watch?

THE BIG BANG THEORY: This show is in its ratings prime right now, which means mega-guest stars and juicy story writing. Enjoy it while you can. It’ll also be interesting to watch Jim Parsons as the lovably pretentious Sheldon considering his quick, painless coming out this summer. Further proof that gay actors will probably take up every screen.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER: If you saw my philosophical predictions post about HIMYM’s eighth season, then you already know that I truly, truly believe this is the season we FINALLY meet Mrs. Ted Mosby. The clues add up. The scenery is right. It’s all ready to go down. Until then, we can also look forward to the HIMYM songs compilation album CBS is making. Robin Sparkles better be present.

Later. Tomorrow, by the way, is ABC DAY! (yay...)

Get Your Remotes Ready: NBC Day

Part one of SSF’s Fall TV Line-Up special. Click-eth here for more info. Today we tackle the NBC shows.

What shows are premiering/re-appearing on everyone’s favorite peacock (no, Katy Perry, no puns) network this fall? Let’s see.

 

THE VOICE. Oh yes, you have seen the dramatic commercials of Christina, Adam, Cee Lo, and Blake all jumping in slow emotion to hit the red button. But is the hype worth it? While it seems like every other singing show is undergoing major plastic surgery, The Voice has only added a couple new “mentors” to its current approach. It’s no Britney Spears…but hey, The Voice has always been about the talent first, as little gimmicks as possible and *yawnnn*. Sorry, that was America’s attention span shortening. (Already premiered, Monday/Tuesday nights)

NEW NORMAL. Okay, I will continue tuning into this. From the “creator of Glee” (who I assume is extremely pro-gay rights) we get a cutesy show about a sweet girl with a young daughter and “bigot” mother (I quote the young daughter) who decides to help out a young Cam/Mitchell-esque male couple have a child. Her reasoning? She wants a whole-hearted, complete family. It seems sugary sweet. Can we just make sure Republicans don’t know about this show? I can hear the rants already. (Already premiered, Tuesday nights)

REVOLUTION: It’s an end-of-the-world adventure where the world’s power is out and everyone has crossbow and kills each other. Okay, okay, back up: it’s also about a girl who, fifteen years ago when the “black-out” began, learned her father was involved and grew up in a new world, a new life. When said father dies, she goes to find the only family she has left - that is, if no one kills each other first. (Will premiere September 17th...or, you know, today).

CHICAGO FIRE: Um. Okay. So I haven’t seen much about this show, but it has a refreshing number of female firefighters and since my current “top” choice college is in Chicago, I am required to say that it is the number one city in the world and everybody and everyone should watch this show. (Will premiere October 10th)

GO ON: Matthew Perry! Group therapy! Community-like randomness! A girl who’s crazy about her dead cat! Everybody Hates Chris! Sure a lot of critics have ranted about its expiration date of a premise (group therapy typically only lasts a few weeks, guys) but the characters are quirky, dialogue snarky, camera angles fuzzy, and emotions heavy. If you can deal with seeing Chandler Bing as a confident sports journalist instead of a self-deprecating underdog of the group, then watch. (Already premiered, Tuesday nights)

ANIMAL HOSPITAL: Based on the pilot, I don’t see this “doctor” show becoming the next ER, especially with legitimate hospital shows appearing on other networks. But why not watch, if only to see the world’s most talented monkey and all his…well, monkey business. But I’m serious. This monkey is in everything. IMDB him. (Premieres September 26th).

GUYS WITH KIDS: Well, in case you need a sitcom about grown men who handle the challenge of "parenthood" like bros...here you go. (Already premiered, Wednesdays)

SNL…WITHOUT KRISTIN WIIG AND ANDY SAMBERG. Okay, sure, we have Saturday Night Live’s primetime election coverage to look forward, and they have a lot of Mitt Romney jokes to get out of their system…but no Kristin Wiig? No Andy Samberg? I just…I-I just can’t, man. I just can’t. (Already premiered, and Saturday nights of course!)

Whattaya think of the NBC line-up? What will you for sure be watching or avoiding?

Get Your Remotes Ready for Next Week! (SSF special)

Well, the new fall TV season has started to kick into high gear this week. That’s right, whether you’re comparing Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears on their respective talent reality shows or taking in the New Normal and new seasons of Once Upon a Time, you will for sure have the remote handy this week. We know what to expect, thanks to half-hour specials and NBC already slipping in a few pilots here and there.

So get those remotes ready. Do some runs around the living room. Do the channel-switching relay annnnd go!

QUESTION: WHAT NEW TV SHOW ARE YOU LOOKING MOST FORWARD TO?

 OR...WHAT NEW SHOW WILL YOU AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE?  

And stay tuned next week for the Fall 2012 - News Shows SSF special. Monday: NBC Day. Tuesday: CBS Day. Wednesday: ABC Day. Thursday: FOX Day. Friday: CW Day.

Later.

My YA Characters (and EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH THEM!)

Quick Update: School, school, school.

Song Stuck in My Head: “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by the Darkness. The highest of high notes are hit in this tune.

So, I’ve been thinking about characterization a lot more lately. After all, my WIP and I have made up (for now, grrr) and the more I write the more I realize how gaping my teenage characters’ flaws are. Which seems pretty ridiculous, since I am a teenager and all blah blah blah, but it happens. After all, a lot of us make the same mistakes.

For instance, unless it’s about the smoking hot supernatural being they’re dating, our YA characters just have no passion anymore. Which makes no sense - I mean, I can think of kids at my own school who get fiery about politics or world issues. Let alone issues right around them.

Or what about their passion for fun and hobbies, not counting sulking, reading/writing, shooting arrows, and pining after outcasts. Do you ever see any YA characters who collect stamps or model airplanes whilst during their YA shenanigans? Didn’t think so. Surely our YA characters could use more pastimes. Like OD’ing on Tumblr or Call of Duty marathons. You know. Normal teen stuff.

What about college? School and education is barely mentioned in my WIP, for good reasons. But it seems like a lot more YA leaves out academics for no good reason other than there weren’t enough pages. We all know the debate on how unrealistic the college process is depicted in teen novels - but why is that? Even having characters talk about which state college they’re applying to or break down in front of their school counselor might add a layer of reality to their stories.

Even the characters who do go to college, like in teen TV shows, rarely ever have a real career choice or major. Think of all the shows you’ve seen about freshman year…Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls, Gossip Girl, 90210, One Tree Hill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, That 70’s Show, etc. Can you name THREE of their character’s majors in college? I’ll give you a minute…back yet? Exactly. The I-don’t-know-what-I-want-to-do-with-my-life storyline is great, but at least give them some interests.

And lastly…family! I’m mad at how little of a role my main character’s family plays in my story. But that happens more and more too. Yet in real life, all my teen-aged friends seem to have family issues and drama every day. Clearly parents and loved ones should play an important role in a YA character’s life, even if they are out with their angel-werewolf boyfriends or fulfilling ancient prophecies. Maybe they give advice. Maybe they are overprotective. Maybe they just care. You never know.

Okay. That’s all. I’m writing this at night so…I’m going to go to sleep now. Another important part of being a teenager, of course.

(Though I really wish it wasn’t, there’s so much on TV right now…)

Later.

British Invasion 2.0

Quick Update: Well, I’ll be back at school next week. Yay. (And that, my friends, would be sarcasm.)

Song Stuck in My Head: “Settle Down” by No Doubt. The people at my local Top 40 station are apparently huge ND fans, because it’s been sort of No Doubt’s greatest hits for a few weeks now.

While most of the world is in London watching athletic superhumans (er, Olympians) compete against each other, it seems like some of our English friends have been invading the states this past year. From boy bands to comedians to TV shows, America has yet another British invasion happening as we speak. So what’s some of the best we’ve seen come from it so far?

1. One Direction: The boy band you pretend isn’t catchy.

2. The Wanted: The boy band you pretend isn’t hot.

3.  Pudsey the Dog, winner of Britain's Got Talent: That dog is adorable. Sure, he won a lot of money for dancing while we all have jobs, but isn’t he adorable?

 4. Richard Ayoade: The new member of the comedy-rat-pack over here in the states, thanks to his alien-hunting adventures with Jonah Hill, Vince Vaughn, and Ben Stiller in the movie "The Watch".

5. Simon Amstell: The awkward comedian who is JESSE EISENBURG’S AND MICHAEL CERA'S LOVE CHILD. Really! Look at him! Screenwriters everywhere, put these three together in a movie and you will have socially awkward movie GOLD.

6. Andrew Garfield: The star of The Amazing Spiderman, now the thick-eyebrowed, nerdy-yet-oh-so-hot star of our hearts. And the accent isn’t even that obvious!

7. Russell Brand: After his divorce from Katy Perry, it seemed like this raunchy man might vanish into infamy - until he got a show on FX.

8. Sophia Grace and Rosie: They rapped and screamed and danced into Youtube stardom, but thanks to Ellen Degeneres are now the two most adored Brits of daytime television. Pink tutus for everyone.

9. Actually, now that we think of it… Adele, Ellie Goulding, Marina and the Diamonds, Florence + the Machine, etc. Britain hasn’t been too stingy with its female singers the past year or two. Thanks guys!

And…

10. Daniel Radcliffe. First he was here in the states to perform in plays. But then, very slowly, Mr. Radcliffe started showing up more and more in American pop culture - Saturday Night Live, guest-hosting on Live With Kelly, doing a voiceover on the Simpsons. Now that he’s signed to do a movie in the states, "Kill Your Darlings", it’s official. AMERICA OWNS HARRY POTTER! USA! USA! USA!!!

Ahem. Are they any British people and pop culture blowing up in the states right now that you particularly enjoy?

Later.