Coming to ABC the Fall - The Gospel of Kevin

  Kevin, a down-on-his-luck man who is tasked by God with a mission to save the world. 



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Coming to ABC this Fall - The Crossing

  Refugees from a war-torn country start showing up to seek asylum in an American town. Only the country these people are from is America and the war they are fleeing is 250 years in the future. The local sheriff with a past, a federal agent and a mother in search of her missing refugee daughter drive this allegory with a surprising conspiracy at the center. 

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Coming to ABC this Fall - Deception

Superstar magician Cameron Black is bringing his skill for illusion to the FBI. Using every trick in the book and inventing new ones, he will help the government catch the world’s most elusive criminals while staging the biggest illusions of his career. Starring Jack Cutmore-Scott, Deception is coming soon to ABC.






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Coming to FOX this Fall - The Resident

  An idealistic young doctor who begins his first day under the supervision of a tough, brilliant, senior resident who pulls the curtain back on all of the good and evil in modern day medicine. Lives may be saved or lost, but expectations will always be shattered. 

 



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Coming to ABC the Fall - Splitting Up Together

The story of a couple whose marriage is reignited by their divorce, coming to ABC. Emily Kapnek writes and serves as executive producer of this new comedy, along with Ellen DeGeneres.




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Coming this Fall to CBS - young Sheldon

  From Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro and Jim Parsons, this new comedy follows the life of a young Sheldon Cooper as he navigates childhood in a football-loving, churchgoing, small town Texas family. This Fall on CBS.



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Coming this Fall to FOX - Marvel's The Gifted

In a world where mutated humans are treated with distrust and fear, an institute for mutants battles to achieve peaceful co-existence with humanity. 

Stars: Luis Albert Acevedo Jr., Amy Acker, Coby Bell

 
 Premieres - Fall 2017




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New Show - The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale
Hulu New Show - Premieres April 26th


An adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, which explores a world in which all fertile American women have been enslaved as broodmares under a newly instated totalitarian theocracy. Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss stars as Offred, a handmaid who must strike a tricky balance between surviving the oppressive regime and not losing hope of getting her life and agency back. Samira Wiley, Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Ann Dowd and Alexis Bledel co-star. 




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New TV - Discover the Life and Times of Albert Einstein in Genius!

Premieres April 25th on NatGeo!

A series which explores how patent clerk Einstein could not get a teaching job or doctorate in his early life, yet managed to go on to develop the theory of relativity.

Stars:

Geoffrey Rush, Johnny Flynn, Nicholas Rowe 

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Coming Soon to Netflix - Marvel Defenders

Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist team up to fight crime in New York City.

I am so there! 





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New ABC Drama Conviction Looks Like a Hit!

Stay Tuned for the Scoop on Conviction and all of the upcoming Fall Shows for 2016!

Game of Silence – Dark and Hopeless

A rising attorney finds his perfectly crafted life threatened when his long-lost childhood friends threaten to expose a dark secret from their past.

Game of Silence is a NBC mid-season release in the  Law and Order SVU time slot. This new dramatic suspense series comes from Writer / Producer David Hudgins. This is his second series, he is also known for Friday Night Lights and Parenthood. This is his first try at dramatic suspense.

Game of Silence stars, David Lyons as Jackson, a successful Houston Criminal Lawyer. Lyons, well known as Vincent Faraday aka The Cape from The Cape. Most recent from NBC’s Revolution, as the angst ridden Sebastian 'Bass' Monroe.

Also starring, Michael Raymond-James, as Gil, a temper driven construction worker, is recently known for his portrayal on Once Upon a Time as Neil Cassidy aka Rumplestiskin’s son Belfire. Also as the original Big Bad on True Blood, Rene Lenier

Larenz Tate, plays Shawn, best friend of Gil and a seemingly well-adjusted man with some commitment issues. Tate is known for his role as Malcolm Kaan on HBO’s House of Lies.

Last night I took the time to put Game of Silence to the three-episode test. 

**Spoiler Alert**

Jackson is a big time criminal lawyer in Houston, TX. Engaged to a beautiful lawyer, who happens to be his boss, and is up for partner at the law firm where they both work.  He’s worked hard to build his life. Jackson is focused on the future, not the past.

The past, however, always come back to haunt you. Specifically, Jackson’s past and one particular summer where he and his friends got themselves into some trouble. This trouble sent the four boys to a juvenile correctional facility call Quitman.

Now we meet Jackson’s childhood friends, present day. Then there is Boots, who is a blue collar worker, married with a baby on the way. Gil and Shawn, best friends and owners of a construction business that maybe a little shady. Shawn is well-adjusted with serious commitment issues while Gil is a hot-head with a very short fuse.

In the pilot, the story begins with Boots kissing his pregnant wife’s belly before leaving for work and bidding her good-bye until that evening. He is a mover and has a job in Houston for the day. When Boots arrives at the site, a man is standing outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone. Boots apparently recognizes him from flashbacks Quitman and snaps. Grabbing a golf club he beats the man to a pulp and is arrested.

Gil and Shawn arrive on Jackson’s law firm, pleading Boots case and asking for assistance. It is obvious none of them have seen each other in a while Jackson is hesitant, Gil convinces him by telling him the man Boots beat was Daryl, torturer from Quitman.

There the story rolls along pretty seamlessly. The men start to dig up old memories and experiences from Quitman. Jackson tries to play it off as the past, while Gil and Shawn are still both very raw. They want revenge for Quitman and Jackson wants no part of their plans.

Everything changes when Boots dies from being stabbed in prison, and Jackson discovers the warden who ran Quitman when they were young is running for Congress.

Jackson decides that yes, they should get justice the right way. They collect evidence, build a case and bring them offenders to justice. This plan quickly goes awry when Gil goes off the rails. It goes from bad to worse when Gil kills an ex-guard just after the group gets him to confess on video.

We also have the Warden/Congressman’s men thinking there is a group forging an attack against them.

As a reviewer, Games of Silence has all the elements of a hit. The formula is there. the show is well written, well cast and has several very lean subplots to keep things interesting.

As a viewer, I found Game of Silence to be very dark and heavy due to the content, and numerous violent flashbacks. As this can be a good thing in a television show, if there is nothing to offset the darkness it does become too much to handle. There is no lightness to the show, no hope. The characters, while well written and very complex, are not very likable. I want to root for them to succeed, however I don’t like any of them enough to care either way.

If Game of Silence were a two-hour movie I would say bravo, great, a riveting and thoughtful piece. But, it’s not a movie it is a serial drama, and I don’t believe anyone will be able to stomach the raw emotional turmoil the show projects for very long.

Nice try, NBC, but I can’t do it, sorry.

Disagree? Please let me know your thoughts on Game of Silence or any of my other posts. Love to hear from you!!

ABC’s The Catch a Diabolical Romance

Shonda Rhimes, the ABC Prime Time Queen, has once again given us a rare gem in dramatic entertainment.  The Catch -- ABC’s Mid-Season replacement for ‘How To Get Away with Murder’ – can be seen on Thursday’s right after Scandal. 

Starring Mireille Enos, best known for playing detective Sarah Linden in The Killing and opposite Brad Pitt in World War Z.  

In The Catch, Mireille plays a successful private investigator and co private security firm owner, Alice Vaughn.  In the pilot episode Alice is glowing with happiness about her upcoming nuptials to successful business man, Christopher Hall, played by Peter Krause. Peter is known for such shows as Dirty Sex Money, Six Feet Under and most recently, Parenthood. 

So the twist in The Catch comes when Christopher wakes Alice the day before their wedding and asks her to run away with him. She laughs him off, thinking he is being ridiculous.  When she returns home she discovers he is missing, she goes to his office and finds an empty space. Finally, the 1.5 million dollars she’s given him to purchase their new house is gone. 

Alice has a good cry, a little tantrum and then picks herself up. Resolute on finding this man who has destroyed her heart, hopes and dreams Alice Vaughn goes to work. 

As The Catch plot develops, Christopher’s love for Alice is genuine, and had she said yes to him that fateful morning when he asked her to run away he would have abandoned his con-artist life forever.  But of course, that would make for a boring drama, right?

So why doesn’t he just drop everything and tell her he loves her? Well, the life of a con-artist is complicated. Christopher and his associates owe some very powerful bad guys a lot of money, 15 million to be exact.  When the ‘score’ with Alice tanked, forcing the return all of the money stolen from her and her firm, Christopher’s little con man team was left penniless. 

Christopher wants to put as much distance between Alice and  ruthless associates as possible before they find out the truth about his feelings. The most eminent threat is his dominating lover played by the glorious Sonya Walger, (known for Parenthood, Lost, and even a small 2 episode stint on Scandal).  

Christopher, despite many attempts is unable to let go of Alice, his pull to her is magnetic.  As she gets closer to finding him, he allows it, if only to give into his needs for a short time. Awwww…so sweet. 

Add in The Catch sub-plots of a French Secret Service Agent also looking for Christopher Hall, Alice’s wanting to keep her endeavor secret from her trusted friends, and her regular day-to-day job and you have the mixing of a dramatic masterpiece. To be honest, Alice is just as diabolical as Christopher in many ways and thus making the series so addictive.

Plot twists and high fashion abound in The Catch making is visually and psychologically stimulating. The brilliance of Shonda Rhimes in my opinion is nothing is ever black and white, she loves to dabble in the gray’s of the world.  

I put this new series to the three episode test, and it passed with flying colors, full of intrigue, romance, deception and uniquely flawed characters, The Catch is most definitely worth your time and DVR space!

Episode Recaps

Tried and True - The Three Episode Test

If you have read any of my television reviews you will see me acknowledge 'the three episode test'. 

This is a test I've developed after years of television watching. It is simple, and works wonders in the judgment of whether a show is engaging and potentially lasting.

When a show premieres I give it three chances, three episodes to hook me. 
Why three? Well, I've found many times it will take three episodes to completely flesh out the potential of a show. 

The pilot is just that - the pilot. Sometimes they are action packed, amazing and lift the show off the ground. Have you ever watched the second episode and gotten a completely different feel from it? Where are you are asking if it is the same show?

Sometime the pilot sucks, just not enough umph, but then watching episodes two and three you really get into the meat of the plot. 
 
And sometimes, the pilot is amazing, the first episode is okay, and the second episode complete pulls you back into the fun!

Thus, three. If you can't hook me in three, I doubt you will be around next season to hook me at all.

It is not always accurate, but 98% of the time it works.

So that is the three episode test. How do you decide if a show is worth the space on your DVR? 
Love to hear from you!!

Fall Picks 2015 - Quantico on ABC

Quantico - ABC - Premieres 09/26/15 -“It's Grey's Academy meets How To Get Away With Treason."

A diverse group of recruits has arrived at the FBI Quantico Base for training. They are the best, the brightest and the most vetted, so it seems impossible that one of them is suspected of masterminding the biggest attack on New York City since 9/11.

I am huge ABC fan, they have made of really good choices the past couple of years with How to Get Away with Murder, Scandal, Revenge and Once Upon A Time so I tend to give them a little more credibility when it comes to new ideas. This is a stretch and the writing really needs to be excellent to pull this one off. A plethora of familiar but unknown actors the show centers around FBI recruit Alex Parrish, played by Priyanka Chopra, who is somehow framed for the biggest terrorist attack in American history. Who framed her? Someone from her class at Quantico.

 Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Jake McLaughlin, Aunjanue Ellis, Yasmine Al Massri, Johanna Braddy, Tate Ellington, Graham Rogers

Check out the trailer below and come back on Monday, 09/27 for my review of the pilot.

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Fall Picks 2015 - Limitless on CBS

It is my favorite time of year, new TV! I do get excited, and sometimes scared about the new Fall television series. Television is such a versatile medium and every year there are marvels of greatness and oh-god-what-were-they-thinking? My DVR is already full of shows I LOVE to watch, how can I possible make room for more? Well I am hoping to at least off some guidance in the ‘what should I try’ category. 

Here is how it works, I have chosen shows I think are good bets, I put them to the three episode test and then decide whether to click ‘Series Record’ or Delete. There are A LOT of new shows his year so I am going to list them as they premiere. 

Limitless - Premieres Sept 22nd on CBS - A man named Brian Finch develops superhuman abilities after taking a mysterious drug called NZT in this adaptation of the 2011 film starring Bradley Cooper, who serves as executive producer of the series reprises his role as Eddie Mora in the pilot.

Believe it or not I have not seen the movie and yet I am still eager to see this series. Executive Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, has a healthy stream of film and television credits, and Jennifer Carpenter, the annoying sister in the Series Dexter (at least that is how I remember her).

produced by Bradley Cooper is an interesting twist, albeit risky, he can pull it off I think. Casting is solid with

The hero of the series, Brian Finch is played by a little known actor named Jake McDorman. He has been bouncing around television and movies for years. He played Biggles in American Sniper opposite Cooper (explains a possible connection).

This could definitely work with some good writing and a fast pace. The way the trailer is laying the plot out, I am thinking Chuck super-spy, meets Scorpion?

We shall have to wait and see. Check in on Friday to read my take on the pilot of Limitless.



Every person who comments gets a name in a hat, share this post with your friend and you get two! I will choose one person every Sunday to receive a $10 gift card to Amazon! Stay Tuned, keep reading and keep commenting!!

Fall Picks 2015 - Blindspot on NBC

It is my favorite time of year, new TV! I do get excited, and sometimes scared about the new Fall television series. Television is such a versatile medium and every year there are marvels of greatness and oh-god-what-were-they-thinking? My DVR is already full of shows I LOVE to watch, how can I possible make room for more? Well I am hoping to at least off some guidance in the ‘what should I try’ category. 

Here is how it works, I have chosen shows I think are good bets, I put them to the three episode test and then decide whether to click ‘Series Record’ or Delete. There are A LOT of new shows his year so I am going to list them as they premiere. 

Blindspot - Premiere’s Sept 21st on NBC, An unidentified woman with amnesia is found covered with tattoos, and the FBI soon realize that each mark on her body reveals a crime to be solved. Talk about thinking outside the box or body in this case. This one looks to be intriguing in not only the decoding of the tattoos but the unraveling of who this woman is and how she became the ‘messenger’. Liking the intrigue and premise of this show.

Starring Jaimie Alexander, as Jane Doe. Jaimie is best known as Lady Sith (I know I knew her face from somewhere)from both Thor movies and Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D., she is an up and coming actress with HUGE potential in my humble opinion. Playing opposite her as Kurt Weller is Sullivan Stapleton, a virtual unknown from Australia, he has frustrated cop written all over him.

While Martin Gero doesn't’t have a huge resume of hits under his belt I am willing to overlook that for creativity alone. It will all depend on characterization and dialog, it always does in my book :)

As always here is a first look for you...see you on Wednesday when I will be reviewing the Blindspt pilot.

Every person who comments gets a name in a hat, share this post with your friend and you get two! I will choose one person every Sunday to receive a $10 gift card to Amazon! Stay Tuned, keep reading and keep commenting!!

Fall Picks for 2015 - Minority Report on FOX

It's my favorite time of year, new TV! I do get excited, and sometimes scared about the new Fall television series. Television is such a versatile medium and every year there are marvels of greatness and oh-god-what-were-they-thinking? My DVR is already full of shows I LOVE to watch, how can I possible make room for more? Well I am hoping to at least off some guidance in the ‘what should I try’ category.

Here is how it works, I have chosen shows I think are good bets, I put them to the three episode test and then decide whether to click ‘Series Record’ or Delete. There are A LOT of new shows his year so I am going to list them as they premiere.

Minority Report the Series - Premiering on Monday, Sept 21st on FOX, yes this show is based on the 2002 Tom Cruise/Stephen Spielberg film. Did anyone else remember Colin Farrell was in that film? I digress…

Per FOX television, The series is set in Washington, D.C., it is 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals… before their crimes were committed. To carry out this brand of justice, the agency used three precogs – “precognitives” Dash, Arthur and Agatha – who were able to see the future. Now, in 2065, crime-solving is different, and justice leans more on sophisticated and trusted technology than on the instincts of the precogs. During the Minority Report panel for the Television Critics Association, producers Borenstein and Falls explained Fox’s Minority Report TV series shows that there were complications the film didn’t explore.

This is intriguing to me, a platform to address current social issues in a future state, sounds like a political fantasy dream. Now that the precogs are free, Dash (Stark Sands) is trying to save people from his psychic visions of their death, but he never gets there in time. So Precrime was only 100% effective under Anderton (Tom Cruise’s character in the original film). Other people aren’t as reliable. It also suggests that telling someone you’re going to catch them won’t necessarily stop them from perpetrating a crime.

In an interview with the pair after the panel, as posted by Slash Film.com Producer Max Borenstein states “our characters deal with ethical dilemmas in every episode because unlike in the movie, they don’t have an institutional ability, an infrastructure to intervene. Instead, they have to do kind of living room precrime and they have to be judge, jury and arbiter of these people’s lives. Now, sometimes that may mean giving a person another chance. Sometimes it may mean someone is so bad and they absolutely believe this person needs to be put away because they’re evil, maybe they make a decision and they don’t have actual evidence. Maybe they would consider planting it. These kind of moral dilemmas are right at the heart of what our show is about and putting our characters to the test.”

This will be the chief writers of 2014’s Godzilla’s first stab at television, while Kevin Falls has a plethora of production work ranging from NBC’s The West Wing to TNT’s Franklin & Bash.

Putting Minority Report to the three episode test and I will report back on Wednesday my thoughts on the pilot. Here is the pilot trailer if you are enticed.

Every person who comments gets a name in a hat, share this post with your friend and you get two! I will choose one person every Sunday to receive a $10 gift card to Amazon! Stay Tuned, keep reading and keep commenting!!