New Reviews on Tap; Another Chance to Catch Carnivale

I've been busy updating my main website with reviews of many of the new fall shows. Check out the main 2003 Fall Schedule page and the grid for the notation "Reviewed" for the latest.

Tonight, I'd suggest catching the second episode of CBS' intriguing Joan of Arcadia at 8pm. I'm curious to see if it's as appealing to me as the first one was; I really liked it, and my money had been on Miss Match to take the timeslot. Incidentally, Miss Match is okay, too, so maybe it's time to rev up the recorders again and get 'em all. If you're following the ratings, you already know that CBS has Friday sewed up, but ABC's TGIF comedy block has some bright spots, probably not among them tonight's premiering Married to the Kellys which is supposed to stink. Check it out for yourself tonight at 8:30pm on ABC. If you're thinking, hey, this doesn't leave much room for Fox and UPN's shows to work, well, you're right.

However, even more exciting is a second chance for those of us -- including me -- who missed the Carnivale pilot over on HBO. Tonight at 8pm -- abundance of riches time there -- they're replaying Episodes 1, 2 & 3, and of course if you've got a couple of HBO feeds it will play on HBO West at 11p - 2am. Once I've thoroughly digested these first three (and I've watched 2 & 3 already more than once), I'll feel qualified to expound on what I've wanted to be my favorite show this season. Is it? I don't know yet....

It's been rather an interesting season so far, with much-touted entries like NBC's Coupling coming to relatively naught and ABC's Tuesday night comedies benefitting from the late John Ritter's kindly ratings halo effect. Once all the Fox shows hit the air post-baseball, we can really see what's gonna make the grade. In the meantime, catch them all, and catch them soon. You may not have many chances left for several. More on the all this later.

Happy viewing!

 
Karen Sisco on Tap Tonight

One of the highly anticipated hours this season is ABC’s Karen Sisco starring the lovely Carla Gugino in the TV version of the movie Out of Sight. This one could be good, and it’s definitely worth checking out. Also premiering tonight but probably nowhere nearly as good is the sitcom It’s All Relative, part of the “everybody’s gay” TV tidal wave this year. This is one that takes a hoary clichéd plot – potential in-laws hate each other – and spins it queer with one of the couples being a tony pair of gay men. I think the description alone sounded trite and just too cute, and from what I’ve read about the show itself, this one’s unlikely to prove me wrong. Naturally you've got to check it out, though!

I’d also like to put in a plug for UPN’s terrific Jake 2.0 which airs tonight at 9pm, and no doubt it’s going to perform even worse than the previous weeks due to the entry of WB’s Angel into the time period tonight. It’s a shame that this clever, exciting show and likable star Christopher Gorham probably won’t last, thus making it even more imperative to catch it while you can. Tape or TIVO it if you’ve gotten re-interested in The West Wing, which seems to have pulled itself up by its own bootstraps and gotten this season off to a good start, despite its slow decline last year.

I should have known – and of course I did – that I’m doomed to fall for shows that won’t survive, and so far Jake 2.0 is on the top of the list. Give it a try. It really deserves it.

 
Premiere Season Continues

No premieres tonight, but last night brought ABC’s new cop drama 10-8, CBS’ crime procedural Cold Case and NBC’s new Rob Lowe legal vehicle The Lyon’s Den. I’ll have reviews of the season so far on my main 2003 schedule page very soon, but I will say that I like Joan of Arcadia on CBS more than I thought I would and NBC’s Coupling less than I had hoped (against hope) I might. Also very interesting, and undoubtedly a shock to the guys at NBC, is the fact that the maxi-hyped Coupling had less-than-stellar viewer retention from Will & Grace which helped contribute to a significantly softer season opener for ER. This is not what they need, not with CSI over on CBS kicking major ass.

If you missed its first episode last week you might want to catch the 2nd episode of NBC’s snazzy Vegas tonight at 9pm. And in another NBC note, I caught one of those mini-movies that are being touted as the cure for viewer tune-out between series. This was the one with Carmen Electra as a showgirl, some handsome guy and a jewel robbery or something. New and different? Innovative? It was essentially an extra-short music video; is this what was the fuss supposed to be about? What happened to all the hoopla about clutter? Doesn’t anybody complain about the burgeoning number of separate elements in a break anymore? Believe me, I understand playing around with breaks and trying to fight viewer erosion, but I doubt that Carmen made much of an impression on anybody. The best thing you could say was that it looked like a really snazzy commercial, and maybe that’s good enough.