TV That Surprised Me

Every once in a while I get surprised by a TV show. Usually you can tell by who the creator/writer or who stars in it what it will be like. But sometimes you just can't know until...you just know.

BAD surprises:
When I was in college I took a bowling class. I am a pretty good bowler. So imagine my surprise at midterm when I had a low B in the class. I asked the teacher why, and he said that I hadn't shown any improvement. I was nailing strikes left and right but when you start strong, it's hard to have anywhere to go. That's what happened with these next two shows. Revenge and Once Upon A Time both came out of the gate with amazing first seasons. When I took a screen writing class, the teacher told us that the first thing you have to know about any character in order to care about them is to know what they want. We knew that Emily wanted to avenge her Father and Henry wanted Emma to believe him.

They really jumped the shark balcony early on this one...

In season 2 of these shows, I'm not really sure what anyone wants. So many added characters make them both feel like Jane Austen books. All those characters so fast mean I really don't care about them that much anymore. No one is special, and I have no idea what anyone wants anymore. Both shows started out with laser focus and got too broad. A show with staying power will start broad and get laser focused on various story lines from time to time. Take Parenthood or Grey's Anatomy for example. There are broad things happening within the larger cast, but different shows focus in on different characters and then go broad again. I think Revenge will make it 3 seasons, but I'm not sure Once Upon A Time will come back. Especially with both of these shows being on Sunday which is kind of the golden night of TV this year: Walking Dead, 666 Park Avenue, Dexter, Homeland, NFL, Nova, The Good Wife, The Mentalist, House, and Storage Wars.

Who are you and what have you done with...anyone we care about?

I shouldn't say I'm surprised by Glee. You can tell Glee is slowing down by how many guest appearances are being made. Sure Kate Hudson showed up early on, but remember the 2nd and 3rd season when every celebrity around wanted to be on the show? Trying to keep one eye on NYC and other on Ohio has us confused as to what we are really supposed to care about. And keeping the stories intertwined is going to be difficult. It could so easily become Smash, except Smash does Smash better than Glee can do Smash. So the thing about Glee is that it can revive itself so easily. It still has the fan base, it still has the characters, and it still has the music. If the show lets go of the "issues" that drive it and starts to embrace the people, gets laser focused on them and their families, gets us rooting for them again, and reminds us what it is that they really want, it can thrive. If it keeps on as is, it will barely survive.

GOOD surprises:
Scary TV is IN. American Horror Story and The Walking Dead have upped the ante from the suspenseful crime dramas and launched kind of a new genre of TV. 666 Park Avenue falls into this new category. Think Gossip Girl meets American Horror Story. The characters are solid and have enough mystery to keep it going. The spook factor is good. And the protagonist is smart and has gumption. Each episode plays around with a story from the past, which is good for the haunted part of the show, but I want to see more plot movement for the overall arc. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by the substance of this show.

Seriously, this show makes me laugh OUT LOUD.

By now you know I prefer drama to comedy. It's not that I don't like comedy, it's that it's REALLY hard to find good comedy. Well, I've found two this season that I love. My friend Joni introduced me to Two Broke Girls, and EVEN THOUGH IT HAS A LAUGH TRACK, I love it. The girls compliment each other well. The banter is typical sit-com banter, quick and punny, but something about it on this show seems a little more real. The sexual innuendo is less innuendo and more in your face, but the friendship between the girls and the set up of the show is brilliant. Now don't judge me for this next one. I love Jamie Gertz, and might have been the only person who felt sorry for her in the movie Twister. Her new show is The Neighbors. Yes, it's about aliens. I know, I KNOW! But you guys...it's really funny. I love all the actors and actresses. I've been showing it to my students here in China and they get a kick out of it. It's clean and funny and the writers have done a great job of creating a great culture of aliens...starting with naming them all after professional athletes!

The only thing that'd make this better is if it were Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood.

Nashville might be my most surprising show of the season. I never watched Friday Night Lights, but Connie Britton stole my heart in American Horror Story last year. So when I heard she was going to be on this show, even though I spent a really awful 10 months in Nashville, I decided to check it out. Britton is great and so is Hayden Panettiere, and they are doing their own singing. Elvis Costello and John Paul White from the Civil Wars are writing some of the songs, so the music is fabulous. I'm a sucker for a show about music, you know. But this one has rivalry, scandal, and historical music references. It's seriously good TV.

What TV shows have surprised you this season? 

Which ones bombed? Which ones are you loving?