The Resident

There are a lot of hospital dramas on TV.  I think I watch them all…well almost. This show follows a resident at a hospital that needs a lot of changes to make a more ethical place and he is bent on making that happen.  It is a new way to approach a medical drama and it serves well for the genre.  I like the show and the many characters that weave in and out of the plot.

 

The Good Doctor

Freddy Highmore plays a new surgical resident with Autism in this ABC medical drama. Another British actor playing an american. I like this show and the light it puts on people with disabilities and unique circumstances.  However at times it does border on exploiting those same people.  The action centers on the choices the main character makes and those around him as they all deal with his autism.  In a sense this is Doogie Howser but instead of age the conflict is autism.

Grade: B+

Star Trek: Discovery

I’ve been watching this show since it came out and have been watching Star Trek since I could remember. This show is the most adult version of this brand ever: they even swear!  A space ship has new technology to jump from place to place as opposed to traveling there.  They are just there and this is before the time of Kirk but it does have Spock at least the first season. Some of the episodes are full of too much dialogue and not enough action.  Not action like fighting and explosions, but they talk about doing as opposed to doing. I like this show, but it is not the best Star Trek show.

Grade: B-

The Rook

Olivia Munn from G4’s Attack of the Show brings The Rook to Starz.  This show should be called Attack of the Mutants. An agent from a highly secretive supernatural british government department has been wiped of her memory and is on a mission to find out why and get justice.  This show is pretty good but at times gets to convoluted and hard to follow, however overall I like this show.

Grade: B

A Discovery of Witches

I am a fan of fantasy. Not so much elves and dwarves but more like vampires and witches. So of course when Deborah Harkness’ series of books came out I devoured them. The story is centered on a witch who has no powers and no interest in obtaining them and a vampire who falls in love with her. There is much action and suspense in the novels, but really and truly it is a love story.

The television series stays true to the books and for once I can say it may be better than the novel. Which is novel! I really love this series and hope it continues past what has been written in the novels. Now I know what a Game of Thrones fan feels like.

Grade: A+

Scorpion

I am new to programming code, but I am pretty sure </ goes at the end of a line of code and not the beginning as the title of </Scorpion> suggests.  That set aside this show was surprisingly good.  It starts with lead character Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel) hacking NASA as a kid and getting escorted away by homeland security. It is now present day and he a herd of genius’ have started a company with good intentions just not with the business acumen needed.

The government heeds their help in stopping a terrorist attempt in bringing down 52 planes heading for LAX.  They end up at a diner with Paige Dineen (Katherine McPhee) who has a young son that appears to be on the autism spectrum and is clearly a genius.  The team and McPhee save the day and are hired by the government to continue to save the day.

I enjoy nerdy humor and nerds in action and this show has a lot of that.  Putting characters in harms way that you expect not to succeed is always fun to watch.

Grade: B+

Gotham

What defines us?  What turns us into what we become?  Fox’s Gotham is a show to answer these question for the Detective Comic’s most famous dark knight’s town.  Gotham is the origin story of Batman seen through the eyes of new detective James Gordon(Ben McKenzie).  If you are in the know of Batman lore, Gordon becomes the commissioner of Gotham and Batman’s biggest allie.  I am a big Batman fan since the mid 80’s having read many of the comics growing up and keeping up from time to time as an adult.  I know the origins of most of the character’s from all of the Batman comics and variations from each as well.  I think it will be fun to see it from this vantage point so young in Batman’s life.

The show’s pilot starts with the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents after attending a movie.  The director of the pilot episode, Danny Cannon, captured many iconic images straight from the comics.  For example the pearls that fall to the ground during the death and robbery of the Waynes along with the image of Bruce kneeling in the middle of his fallen parents are classic to the comics and were almost identical in the pilot episode of Gotham.

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I am excited to see where all this leads and the routes that each character takes to become who they become.  I will not miss an episode of this fantastic show.

Grade: A+

Madam Secretary

Tea Leoni stars as the new Secretary of State for the USA after the old Secretary was killed in a plane crash.  She comes from a life as a history professor and before that a CIA agent where she was trained by the now president.  She is married and has 3 kids.  Can she balance her new life and family?

This episode deals with her first few months in office and the capture of two American students in Syria and how she plans on getting them back.  Will the President see it her way?  Will she be able to get passed the Chief of Staff?

I think Leoni can do well in this role especially with a strong supporting cast with actors such as Tim Daly and Bebe Neuwirth. The first episode was reminiscent of The West Wing which is among my all time favorites.  I look foward to seeing where this government drama goes.

Grade: A-

Forever

240.16x9What if you were immortal?  Would it matter to you if those around were not?  Dr. Henry Morgan
played by Ioan Gruffudd is indeed immortal and has been around for 300 or so years and has seen and has gone through death a lot.  Every time he dies he wakes up in a body of water…naked.

Judd Hirsh back from the days of Taxi plays his sidekick Abe and when I learned what their relationship in the show is(you’re going to have to watch it…I will not give it away here) that is when I said this is a show I am going to watch.  I love smart writing and interesting character relationships.  Gruffudd’s character is a coroner or some sort of post mortem body examiner.  He meets detective Jo Martinez
played by Alana De La Garza when he is involved in a case where a subway train conductor dies. He is treated as a suspect and proves much like Sherlock Holmes that he is not the murderer.

Throughout the pilot we learned a little about the character’s life and lost love.  It plays with the idea of immortality being so great but you still feel pain both physical and emotional.  I cannot wait for this show to officially premiere and other episodes to come out.  You can watch it on Hulu or you can wait and with it on ABC on TUE SEPT 23 10|9c.  I will be watching it again, and if you know me you know I never watch anything twice.

Grade: A+

Red Band Society

Another Hospital Drama……  That’s what I thought going into this.  Do we need yet another McDoctor going into the on call room and getting it on with an intern show?  Then I watched the pilot episode and to my ecstatic surprise the show was about the patients in the pediatrics ward.  I wonder though how long I can root for a protagonist who is in the hospital?  Won’t they inevitably get better or unbetter and die?  Does FOX really want to put their audience through that?  They’re kids.  I’m glad I am not making those choices. I was, though, happy I made the choice to watch The Red Band Society.  The writing was fresh and it is always good to see young people as the leads in shows instead of those you see in every new drama that gets canned every season(I’m talking to you Christian Slater).  The story is told by a kid who is in a coma, this is a neat device in my opinion.  But how does he know what is going on outside of his room??….suspension of disbelief…ok.  The kids are all kinds…one that needs a heart, needs lungs, has cancer, an eating disorder, and one who needs courage.. Wait no.. that last one was The Wizard of Oz….different kid story.  The first episode was mostly exposition.  Now that we know the characters, I am excited to see what the next few episode have in store.  It officially premiers on September 17, 2014, but you can see it on Hulu until then.

Grade: B+