Monday is a big night for television, so let’s start with the comedies.
Melissa and Joey — The first half of the first season of this show ended at the end of October. This is a stereotypical situation comedy complete with laugh track on ABC Family. It stars Melissa Joan Hart (Clarissa Explains It All, Sabrina Teenage Witch) and Joey Lawrence (Blossom). So both of them already have a lot of situation comedy experience and it shows. This show for what it is, was actually quite good. It’s the kind of show which will never take chances and will always follow a formula, however the way in which they use the formula is really quite polished. Of all the laugh track comedies on tv this one gets third place at the moment.
Mike and Molly — Another laugh track situation comedy about a pair of fat people that fall in love. The idea is an interesting one, try and make fat people be the leads. Now the two main characters who play Mike and Molly are actually pretty decent, and Mike’s cop partner is pretty good as well, but that’s the end of my praise for the show. The ratings however speak differently as apparently 12 million viewers tune in every week. Don’t worry though, you’ll hear about this show as much as you hear about Two and a Half Men, before we know it they’ll be in their 9th season and we won’t have remembered a moment of it.
How I Met Your Mother — This show is actually my pick for the best laugh track show on television right now. Each of the actors have found their place in the show and the writers are allowed to do what they want and put out a fine product. I am actually excited for this show every week. Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris were all masters from day one and have continued to get better. Josh Radnor and Cobie Smulders were not very good at first however being around the other actors has helped them incredibly.
Mad — Cartoon Network’s newest 10 minute show which takes jokes seen in Mad Magazine and animates them. This show is just plain awful. It’s not worth watching.
How Not To Live Your Life — Not too many people know about this show, probably because it only airs on BBC Three in the UK. But I thought I’d give it a quick mention as the third season is currently airing in the UK. I’ve seen the first two seasons and was able to catch one episode so far of the third. This is a very charming show though it didn’t start off too well. It stars and is written by Dan Clark and is about a man who makes bad decisions but the show tends to show all of the possible outcomes of each situation he has in his head. For instance it’ll say 5 things I shouldn’t do if my parents come over. Then it’ll show the 5 situations and then he’ll choose and equally awful choice. I like the show quite a bit now that it’s into it’s run and hope it’ll come to more american audiences soon.
The Big C — Laura Linney stars in this dark comedy about a wife and mother who finds out she has cancer and doesn’t tell anyone about it. The first season ended mid november and the show has been announced for a second season. I’ve only been through 8 of the 13 episodes so far but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve seen. It’s one of the more realistic shows on television and shows what someone might do when they get the word they have Cancer. Laura Linney’s character Cathy does what I think I would if diagnosed, just do lots of random things I’ve always wanted to do but thought I had the time to do them in the future. I do recommend this one and hope more people watch it since the ratings have not been good.
Before I get to the dramas I will talk quickly about the other show I do watch on Monday Nights.
WWE Raw — That’s right I am a wrestling fan, and I know we have a couple of wrestling fans who come to this site so if wrestling isn’t your thing just skip down to the next review. I just need to say that I love The Nexus, I have always been a fan of underdogs and mid card talent, I want to see them rise and succeed, and currently Raw is loaded with that kind of talent, people who have bright futures in the business, and the Nexus is loaded with them. Also I’ve been following The Miz since his days on The Real World so it’s really good seeing him as the Champion.
Now onto the Dramas.
Gossip Girl — I admit I watched all the way into the third season of Gossip Girl, there were two actors in particular that were really good on the show, at the end of the third season however they put them into awful situations like giving the one who has the brightest future a kid he didn’t know he had and stabbing the other in France. I know, I know. I haven’t started the fourth season and I don’t know if I can at this point. I was able to keep with it for three seasons but even I have lost the patience for it.
The Event — Speaking of shows for which I have no patience, I can not get into this show. It drives me absolutely bonkers. Not good bonkers like Lost, but bad bonkers where I’m not pissed about the story, I’m pissed at the presentation. One thing this show tries to do is set up “The Event” however in the first six episodes they’ve had 6 things which all could be considered “The Event”. One of my other problems is the characters just don’t make sense. Okay I guess it makes sense to have the president and the leader of the aliens but having some kid running around looking for his girlfriend isn’t riveting television. The other thing they try and do is show things from different angles, however they break the tension in the first angle by giving away the ending. For instance in the first episode a guy is trying to get on a plane as it’s taking off, he gets on, you see men running for the plane, a car trying to stop the plane and then… the plane takes off. Then they show the same scene from the viewpoint of the guys in the car, will they get there in time to stop the plane? Or did they already show that no in fact they don’t. Every episode they do something like this, and after 6 episodes I am done.
Chase — This show is very simple. Chases. That’s all it really is, US Marshall’s chasing down really evil people as they kill good people and run away. Every episode is very heavy handed as they want you to know the villains are pure evil. But after doing some sort of big chase scene they catch them in the end. The characters are pretty bland, but this show doesn’t really do anything to frustrate you. It’s simple and to the point and usually has a couple of cool chase scenes. So it’s fun to watch but I wouldn’t care if I kept watching or stopped suddenly. I have no investment, it’s just simple fun.
House — Currently in season 7, season 6 of the show was officially my favorite season. They added some good characters, weeded out some bad ones, even got rid of good ones for good reasons (Kal Penn going to work for The President). Though oddly enough season 5 was the worst season of the show. So as you might expect the show is able to go up and down pretty quickly. However this season does have a very good relationship going on and Hugh Laurie is still fantastic as House. I’m liking this season so far and would probably put this season in as it’s second or third best.
Chuck — I’m really quite surprised this show is still on the air as it seemed like it would be cancelled. This show is still fun at times and sometimes lame at times. Allowing Morgan to know about Chuck’s powers was a good move and the guest stars (Linda Hamilton, Timothy Dalton) they have had this season have been quite good. This show has its up and downs but overall it’s decent and one I’m fine with staying on the air.
Lie To Me — I’m not really sure why they decided to make the lead character into a crazy person but lately that’s what he’s been. There was actually no break between second and third season so I didn’t really notice it was into it’s third season since I only watch this show when I’ve run out of shows to watch or need to do homework. The first season was probably it’s best as it had some good ideas and I like Psychology quite a bit. But now it’s just gotten weird.
Castle — This show is really quite charming. It’s a good buddy cop show of the good cop and Nathan Fillion as a novelist. It’s beginning to feel like House as they seem to find answers from conversations with friends and family but it’s okay overall since it’s a fun show and I have no real qualms with it. Sure I’d like them to take more risks, but I’m okay where it is right now.
That was a big day. Tuesday won’t be as long though Wednesday might be the longest.