Pilots Beware

I watched 3 new shows this weekend. Two were police dramas and one was a comedy, at least supposedly.

The pilots were for The Unusuals on ABC and on NBC, Southland and Parks and Recreation. All 3 shows have good talent in front of the camera but the writing is iffy. Both cop shows are very similar to one another and their pilot episodes were quite bloated with emotionally laden topics including pedophilia, kidnapping, police corruption, dying of cancer, rich versus poor, killing kids, killing cats (so the show wasn't all bad!) and even number superstition. On both shows, every cop had quirky traits that were showcased right from the get go. It became tiring to watch the writers try to establish individual character so quickly in the large ensemble casts.

Neither show was actually bad, they were just trying too hard.

In contrast, Parks and Recreation, led by Amy Poehler of SNL fame, just sucked. It was a rip off of The Office from start to finish and a very transparent one at that. Julie and I, neither of us faithful viewers of The Office could still name just which character on Parks and Recreation was which character on The Office. The stealing was that direct. If' you're really into The Office this might be your way to get a fix twice a week, otherwise it's best to just steer clear of this dreck.

Comments

Teresa said…
I had no faith that P&R would be any good, and not being a fan of The Office, I'm glad I didn't watch it. I did see the other two shows though. I liked The Unusuals, though the "unusual-ness" was a bit over the top. I'm a huge fan of Amber Tamblyn, so I'll be watching until it really annoys me. I wasn't annoyed though.... Southland was another story. I actually liked it, I think, but it made me uncomfortable. It felt like they were going a little too far in portraying the gritty world of the police far -- perhaps trying too hard. Still, I got the feeling I needed to watch some more to ease my discomfort. Odd, really.

Another cop show (if you want to call it that) is Castle. That one has really bad writing and the lead female character is hit and miss in the acting department, but being a fan of Nathan Fillion, I'm watching (He's doing a great job, IMO).

And in regard to your next post, I have no idea why you would even try Welsh rarebit. I can guess, but it doesn't bode well! (Stopping here)
1:46 AM
utenzi said…
I watched about 15 minutes of the first episode of Castle and gave up on it. I didn't like either of the main characters so there was no reason to watch for me.
8:27 AM
kenju said…
I didn't see any of those and I'm not likely to. I did watch Castle once because James Patterson was on it, but it didn't hold my interest after that. Castle is cute, though.
8:45 AM
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