Am I the Only One Disappointed by New Fall TV?

I've been encouraged to share an opinion if I have one, and I have a couple on two of this fall's new TV shows. Hardly controversial but I have to start somewhere.

There were 2 shows--Undercovers and Running Wilde--that I was excited to check out because of those involved with the show, thinking that either could be promising. But it turns out that star involvement doesn't always correlate to quality TV fare. 'They can't all be winners!"




Undercovers piqued my interest primarily because of JJ Abram's involvement. I loved Alias, another spy show, and I am currently loving Fringe, a supernatural mystery, wrapped in a conundrum. However, I got lost in about Season 2 of Lost... On paper, this should be a show I like -- like the actors who play the leads (Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Steven & Samantha Bloom). They are very pretty to look at, the show is moderately well paced, there is decent action, exotic locations, spies in costumes, etc. All the basic components of a spy show. But meh, something is missing from the overall total.

Steven & Samantha are already married, so perhaps it is the sexual tension that is missing. The show is referred to as being a bit like Hart to Hart (a show I liked as a kid). Or perhaps it is the completely unbelievable way that Gerald McRaney as the CIA contact who shows up to engage the Blooms in covert field missions that only they are qualified to run. After being out of the CIA for 5 years. By the way, they are currently caterers. Ummm....what now?

For JJ's sake, I tried. But this one needs to have some re-tooling to get back on track and keep my attention. I'll give it another shot before totally abandonment, but likely not more than 3 episodes. Unless there is nothing on or a sporting event X (fill in with baseball playoffs, football, and so on).



The 2nd show, Running Wilde, I primarily watched because of Will Arnett, whom I adore, and David Cross, both of Arrested Development--a fantastic show that Fox canceled way too soon. I really wanted to like this show for Will's sake. Sadly, so far Running Wilde falls terribly short of expectations. There are a couple of chuckles along the way, but overall, it's not very funny, even in a peculiar way. Sadly, I'm not sure what would make the show better at this point. I give this show about 2-3 more episodes. Sigh -- too bad.

There a few other shows I'm keeping an eye on: Hawaii 5-0 (pilot was better than I thought), The Event (despite some crazy time jumping, the first 2 eps had potential), and Nikita (which competes with something else so I'll have to wait and watch this later).

Now, let's go Spring Replacements!! You're up!

More Clips of New TV Shows

More from the Upfronts, this time from NBC. Not too interested in most of the shows on this list, save two.

First, a new super hero show, The Cape. I think the only reason NBC can even entertain this show is the perfect storm of the Jay Leno/10 PM fiasco and the cancellation of the OTHER super hero show, Heroes. When a cop is framed for murder, he takes up the mantle of The Cape -- his son's favorite fictional hero. Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles) also shows up in this one, so it will surely attract some of the geek contingent.



I don't think this show will work on NBC for very long, if at all. But, I'll do my due diligence and at least check out the pilot.

Next is the ad for the JJ Abrahm's show mentioned last week, Undercovers. As you may recall, this show is about former spies who are living their normal, boring lives when they are recruited back for one last mission. Only to find that the spy life is what seems to be missing.



I hope the show kicks it a bit more into high gear than this ad. For a 5 minute preview, this left me a little "meh."

Super 8 Trailer

Holy early bird, Batman! We're already starting to see trailers for next summer's wannabe blockbusters!

Check out the trailer for the new JJ Abram's movie, Super 8. I can't really even tell what it's about yet (I assume the Big Bad is in the train car, so there's that), but I do love JJ. I'll be keeping an eye out for more info on this one, perhaps around Christmas.

New J.J. Abrams TV Show Picked Up for Fall Season

Is it time for the May upfronts already? Wow! I can hardly believe we're already wrapping up another TV season and getting prepped for next fall. I'm so thankful I upgraded to extended basic cable before summer.

Anyway, news came out this week that NBC is picking up a new J.J. Abrams' spy drama called "Undercovers." (See EW.com post here for more details.) I don't think I know the stars Boris Kodjoe or Gugu Mbatha-Raw, but that's probably for the best. If I didn't like the actors cast, I'm not above skipping a show on principle. The overall premise of the show is that the characters are married ex-CIA agents who get pulled back into the game and realize that "this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides the excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing."

Not sure how you make an ongoing TV show out of a fairly simplistic story outline, but I've never written for TV so what do I know? I like J.J Abrams, loved "Alias" -- his last spy show starring Jennifer Garner -- and I'm currently loving "Fringe," so I will certainly give this a shot. In fact, it might make sense for NBC to put this on Monday's with Chuck, their other spy show. Now that Jay is out of the 10 PM slot, there are clearly some holes in the schedule to fill and my DVR will record any of them!

I do hope they plan to bring part of the pilot to San Diego in July! J.J. knows he has a huge geek following who will gladly trail him to his next project if he can win them over with something good and the sooner the better. There is a website, though not much on it yet: http://undercoversweb.com/.