Two New Shows

Two new shows debuted tonight. Hank and The Middle. Both on ABC. Apparently ABC is getting pretty desperate. The Middle has a great cast that is wasted in this boring vehicle. Patricia Heaton does a great job as a middle aged woman confronting how her life doesn't match her dreams, her husband (Neil Flynn, the janitor from Scrubs) does a great job being the comedic relief, albeit in a very laconic way, and the younger two kids do a fine job as well. But it just doesn't work. It's boring despite the cast. Sad. Hank, on the other hand, is just plain sad. It's so bad I almost deleted it during the first scene. Yes, that bad. I stuck it out to the end and believe that qualifies me for hazard pay. Ehh, I didn't feel very good today so maybe I'm being overly critical. Let me know what you think...

Comments

Teresa said…
I agree about The Middle -- I had expected the kids to be annoying, but thought the quality cast would pull it together. It was just bad. Maybe it needs another look and it'll be okay. I'll give it another week. I actually liked Hank. It's got some problems -- like nobody buys a house these days sight unseen... and what was with the firetruck bed??? And I'm not sure why Hank has never met his kids, but compared to The Middle, Hank was watchable and had decent dialogue. I think it'd be better if Hank's wife had abandoned him and he had to get to know his kids without the wife looking like an idiot about it.

The rest of Comedy Wednesday still sucks IMO. I find Cougartown annoying and pointless and Modern Family would be good if they'd at least cut out the outside the show commentary. If you can't portray what's happening without explaining it first, you've got problems! I suspect that by the time the World Series starts, I'll have my Wednesday's free of TV shows to watch (it's been that way since the writer's strike -- except for a brief airing of Dirty Sexy Money, Wednesday was a catch-up-on-other-things day).
3:43 AM
kenju said…
I won't see those shows until SYTYCD and/or Glee go off or into reruns.
7:43 AM
Smug said…
I did not waste my time on The Middle after losing 30 minutes on Hank that I will never get back!

I really like Kelsey and thought that this show might be worthwile, but it appears to be the same old formula - bratty kids and stupid dad trying to connect. I smiled at a few things and I really like the brother in law (from Drew Carey way back and other stuff), but it was not good enough to bother with again.

I had high hopes for several of the new shows this year, but I have dropped all but Eastwick which I recorded last night and will watch, but I may give up on that one too. I am too busy to waste my time on crap!
8:40 AM
utenzi said…
I haven't watched this week's episode of Eastwick yet but I really liked the debut. I have some hope that the show will remain watchable, Ryan.

I gave Modern Family a second chance but decided it was too full of obvious sit-com plot devices and overused stereotypes so I'm not going to watch anymore. I've not seen the second episode of Cougar Town yet but I suspect it's going to fail also. ABC has a lot of bad shows this season.
9:47 AM
Jan said…
I thought both shows were totally lame, but I love good sitcoms and there have been so few lately.

Through the years I have not liked many of the first shows that then became favorites. So I'll watch again until something just makes me groan.

Middle is reminiscent of Malcolm in the Middle and early Malcolm was very funny.
12:37 PM
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