Growing Up Fisher
I really can’t tell you how much I loved this pilot. It has the heart, it has the comedy, and it has enough star power that I think/hope it can stick it out in the line-up.
The story is sweet, a young boy, whose inner monologue is narrated by Jason Bateman (already, I’m in), has to cope with his parents’ divorce (JK Simmons and Jenna Elfman), and adjust to the idea that his blind dad can get around without him some of the time.
While I had predicted it would be a little formulaic, it was far from it. The kid who plays the boy’s best friend was a little cliche, but entertaining. Jenna Elfman is classic. Trying to understand her teenage daughter, stuck with bad habits of her own like smoking and trying to get it to work with her family. Simmons is spot on, one hundred percent. He’s blind, he’s funny, but instead of the usual hardass, he’s incredibly sweet. He is a bit of a know-it-all, and pulls the “I went to law school, BLIND” on his family all the time, but he’s the sort of awesome that makes you wish he was YOUR dad. And the kid, Henry, is adorable. He’s smart, sweet, and funny.
The first episode sets up the story, Joyce (Elfman) and Mel (Simmons) tell their kids they’re getting divorced, or rather, Katie (Ava Deluca-Verley, playing Henry’s older sister) tells Henry the news because the parents can’t find a straightforward way to get it out.
Mel gets a guide dog, “replacing” Henry, who has gotten used to helping his dad navigate the world around him, so convincingly that he’s been able to hide the fact that he’s blind from many friends and colleagues for years. Henry isn’t crazy about the dog, but Mel has that wonderful way some dads have of teaching their kids a lesson without making it seem like they’re teaching their kids a lesson.
Bateman flawlessly falls into the narrator role, no doubt taking notes from four seasons of Ron Howard narrating his show, Arrested Development.
Like I said, I really loved it. I hope this week’s episode can hold up the standard, and I hope it gets picked up at least for one full season.
About A Boy
This one was actually sort of fun, if a little familiar and lazy. Minnie Driver was not the draw, in fact, she was hardly there, it seemed. The kid, Marcus, is hilarious, and the man-boy Will, his neighbor, is also pretty funny, but I can’t say I want to watch it every week.
If you like the dynamic, single mother, single male neighbor who befriends her kid, take a look. It was fun, if not awesome. I will recommend it if you’re looking for a fun comedy to fill that slot (up against Fox’s New Girl), but I’m not going to add it to my watchlist on a weekly basis.
Chicago Fire
Kelly’s sister is found, battered, raped, but alive. She’s headed for greener pastures once she’s on the mend, and I don’t blame her. That’s a highly traumatic thing to happen to such a young girl, and while she appeared to hold up ok in the aftermath, walking those streets, seeing some of those places, I can imagine it would take its toll. Plus, it looks like the perps are going to get off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
Casey heads to the neurologist and gets news that basically, he should look at getting out of the department because one more head trauma, one more concussion, and something really bad might happen.
Dawson fails her test. She helps the other cheater girl when she got stuck, and then when Dawson twists her ankle, the girl keeps going without looking back. Dawson is thinking now about just coming back to 51 and rejoining the paramedic team, but things might get a little twisty as cheater girl has been assigned to 51 as the new rookie.
I can’t say I dislike the crossover between Fire and PD, but it seems a little strange to throw it in EVERY week. I mean, yeah, they’re in the same city and there are friends and family connecting characters in each show, but still, it seems gratuitous to me. Crossover for the sake of crossover.
Chicago PD did great in the ratings last week, and I did find out how they pulled the crossover from SVU to PD, but I didn’t buy it. They could have shared all that shit about the cases over the phone or by email.
Rake
I am just hearing terrible news on the ratings here. If I know Fox, I suspect they’ll allow it to run at least a thirteen episode season before pulling the plug entirely, but it doesn’t look good.
Kee gets in with a mother of a convicted criminal who commits a crime just to set up the Los Angeles justice system, and he doesn’t blink. It doesn’t hurt that she’s had some work done and looks like a MILF now, but it seemed a little too risky even for him to do. He’s already on the mayor’s bad side, and now he wants to rub it in the guy’s face?
I’m really going to be sorry to see this show go, if mainly just because I love seeing Miranda Otto every week. If this show does get canceled, which it’s looking more and more like that will be the case, I hope somebody else snatches up Otto for a new series for fall!
Reign
Ratings are slipping here, and I can’t say I blame the viewers. Things are sort of stuck. Bash still hasn’t been legitimized, this was the first time we’ve seen Francis in weeks, Catherine is set to be beheaded, still, and Mary’s biggest problem is ensuring the safety of Catherine’s youngest sons.
Clarissa, the castle ghost, turns up again, and after Bash has “kidnapped” Catherine’s sons to keep them safe, she goes after them to get back at her mother, Catherine, for hiding her away and not telling her of her true parentage because of her deformity.
Mary and Bash retrieve the children, even permitting Catherine to come along and help, but it’s not very exciting and it’s extremely predictable as to how things turn out.
They tried to spice things up having Francis and one of Mary’s ladies in waiting (Lola, I believe) get together by chance as she goes to bail her gambling-addict brother out of a bind, but it isn’t enough and it isn’t really believable. Lola has been the goodie-two-shoes this whole time, and casual sex didn’t really seem like something she’d do, even with the former heir to the French throne.
Up next:
This week, we have almost as many new episodes as last week, since we have a couple new premieres coming in, but some shows will be wrapping up within the next month or so, so things should lighten back up end of March/early April.
Monday night, (LIKE NOW), new How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, and The Following, as well as the season two premiere of Bates Motel. Almost Human is also new, but don’t forget, it’s off the roster for right now because of scheduling conflicts and overload.
Tuesday, Agents of SHIELD returns and it looks to be a doozy! I will miss it because of book club, but I’m going to do my damnedest to catch up ASAP. Justified, New Girl, Growing Up Fisher, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are all back with new episodes, as well as Trophy Wife, Chicago Fire, Mind Games, and About a Boy. I will be skipping About a Boy, and probably Mind Games as well, but I’d like to at least look in on the latter to give it a shot at the rotation, even though the prospects don’t look good right now. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great.
Wednesday, Psych returns with a new episode, followed by The Americans, Nashville, and Men at Work. Chicago PD and The Tomorrow People are also new, I believe, but again, remember, these have been cut from the rotation for the time being.
Thursday, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is back after an excessively long hiatus, and Rake, Grey’s, The Crazy Ones, Scandal, Reign, and Parenthood are all back with new episodes. Plus, the new season of Suits debuts on USA!
Friday, Hawaii Five-0 and Hannibal return with new episodes, as does Enlisted, but I’ve decided to cut that one from the rotation as well. There’s just not enough meat to it at the moment to take the time to recap it.
Sunday, Revenge is back, and the debut of the new (limited?) series Cosmos airs on Fox, National Geographic, and I believe a few other channels as well. Check your local listings! I won’t be recapping that one, but you should watch it anyway!
Also, if you’re interested:
TOMORROW! Watch the #cosmos LIVE Q&A at 9pm ET/6pm PT! It will be online here: http://t.co/IvgXinjXFn #cosmoslive
— COSMOS (@COSMOSonTV) March 3, 2014
Have an awesome week!
PS: WRITERS/BLOGGERS, if any of you want to take over some of the shows I’ve crossed off my list or anything that’s double-booked and do guest posts covering those, I’m all ears. Visit the contribute page to learn more about the guest post policy and how to contact the blog with your info.
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