Thursday, May 15, 2014

WHAT WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT FOR THE NEXT YEAR:  Now that all the networks have announced their schedules for the next season, time to talk.  This season, we have not one, but two, shows that seem to be aimed directly at the ALOTT5MA audience:

  • How To Get Away With Murder--From Executive Producer (and friend of ALOTT5MA) Shonda Rhimes comes a series about law students at an elite school in Philadelphia and their relationship with a criminal law professor (Viola Davis), who get tied up in a murder plot.  Also featuring Liza Weil from Gilmore Girls as a smart-ass TA, and sounds like The Paper Chase crossed with The Secret History.  (ABC, Thursdays at 10/9 Central)
  • Galavant--A musical fairytale parody with original songs from Alan Menken and Glenn Slater (Tangled), from writer Dan Fogelman (Tangled, Crazy Stupid Love, and, less promisingly, The Neighbors), about a bold knight who lost the love of his life to the evil king, but who's now trying to reclaim his reputation.  Bonus points for Timothy Omundson (late of Psych) as the Evil King.  (ABC, Midseason, Sundays at 8/7 Central, filling between arcs of Once Upon A Time).
Anything else you're really excited about?  Anything you're ready to break up with now?  (I'm on the verge with Once Upon A Time, though interesting casting for the new character introduced in the final shot of the finale could save it from the axe.)

28 comments:

  1. Adam B.10:57 AM

    I thought How To Get Away With Murder, from the trailer, looked like a Callahan-centric Legally Blonde without the singing, if Callahan were played by Viola Davis.

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  2. The short trailer suggested that, but the longer trailer (and other summaries) suggest that there's something less than savory going on amongst the students (them dragging a body to swamp/river and agreeing to never speak of it again).

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  3. Joseph Finn11:09 AM

    The Arrow-spinoff Flash looks promising.

    Also promising, speaking of arc fill-ins, is Agent Carter with Haley Atwell reprising her role from Captain America in a 6-parter of the early days of SHIELD (there was already a one-shot of the idea on one of the Marvel DVDs (Thor 2, maybe?)). So, vintage late 40's Marvel fun with Agent Carter doing bad-ass spy stuff? Like I'm not going to give that a shot.

    Selfies, sorry to say (since it has John Cho and I'm all for him finally getting good work) looks kind of terrible.

    Constantine, I'm on the fence about. I'll give it a shot though.

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  4. Joseph Finn11:10 AM

    How else are you going to get rid of your rival for the top ranking in law school?

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  5. Jordan11:35 AM

    I'm disappointed that Gracepoint exists. You know what was great? Broadchurch. So rather than doing the promised second season of Broadchurch, they're just remaking it with American accents. Seriously? There's no translation that needs to happen. It's not like it's an old show that there's no way of digging up. You even have the same lead!

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  6. They are doing a second series of Broadchurch in the UK.

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  7. Jordan11:53 AM

    Well then I take it back. Last I heard it was in development hiatus, but it looks like three days ago the announced the cast returning, so...nevermind?

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  8. The pilot for FOX's "Last Man On Earth" plays out like a short film. My question is where does it go from here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_xNvdptsXY

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  9. Adam C.12:17 PM

    I'd say I'm most intrigued by, and will definitely try (in no particular order):
    HTGAWM, Galavant, Mulaney, Selfie (more for the cast than the premise), Agent Carter, The Flash, Battle Creek, Odd Couple (Matthew Perry as Oscar, Tom Lennon as Felix, and Wendell Pierce in the supporting cast), Backstrom, and the new Tina Fey created show, whatever they wind up calling it. And that clip for Last Man on Earth sold me.

    Might also try Gotham, but seeing as I never got into Smallville, and that actually used the young superhero as, you know, a superhero and not a 12-year old, I'm not sure I see much entertainment value here. Likely to try Black-ish, though I wonder if losing Larrry Wilmore as showrunner might have an adverse impact.
    Breakups: Already bailed on Modern Family early this season, and I'm thinking Castle may be on the chopping block. I've enjoyed it, but I feel like it's become missable.

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  10. Jenn C1:21 PM

    How to Get Away with Murder will be a DEFINITE for me.

    I will be watching Fresh Off the Boat (at least an episode or two) b/c I am charmed by the kid they cast even though the mom bothers me. Also the incident in the trailer where the kid opens his lunch box to reveal Chinese noodles for lunch and gets made fun of? That happened to me!

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  11. Alex_Gordon3:16 PM

    The Neighbors was actually quite hilarious. At some point the show realized there was no good reason it was still on TV and at times matched Community in my opinion for it's meta-subversiveness. Galavant looks really, really good.


    Just watched the Flash promo and it too looks promising. I have high hopes for Gotham, as well, though I love the oft-repeated line that it's for those who love everything about Batman except Batman.

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  12. Genevieve3:34 PM

    I've heard good things about the cast in Fresh Off the Boat and definitely want to see it.
    I normally don't watch law-related shows, but HTGAWM looks like an exception.
    Hoping Suburgatory gets picked up by another network, but if not, hope Jane Levy gets something good. And Jeremy Sisto (who I was told last night played Elton in Clueless - had no idea!). And Trophy Wife's Bert and Warren.

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  13. Jenn.3:41 PM

    I was so confused by this. It was confusing enough that they were remaking it, but with the same lead? Granted, Broadchurch was enough to make us huge David Tennant fans, but still....

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  14. Jenn.3:43 PM

    We dropped Once Upon a Time before the end of the first season. Grimm started out weaker for us, but turned out to be a keeper with a little more time to get settled in. My guess is that we'll give Agent Carter and maybe A to Z a try, and perhaps Constantine. Not feeling most of the rest of it.

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  15. christy in nyc3:49 PM

    Oh, mannnnn. Is it possible Selfie will end up being one of those shows that becomes better than its beginnings? There are little glimmers of SOMETHING in the trailer, which is otherwise riddled with problems. How I would love to see a mainstream hit romantic comedy with an Asian dude as the grumpy hottie. The MAIN grumpy hottie.

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  16. Joseph Finn3:56 PM

    I have to admit, putting Nick Nolte in the David Bradley part has me intrigued.

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  17. Joseph Finn3:57 PM

    Gotham appears to be focused much more on Gordon and Harvey Bullock, so I'll give that a shot.

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  18. Joseph Finn3:58 PM

    HTGAWM is my new favorite TV acronym, by the way.

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  19. Now, if we could get a HTGAWM/HIMYM crossover? Maybe Ted MURDERED Tracy so he could be with Aunt Robin?

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  20. Joseph Finn4:35 PM

    And pick up HIMYF so all three can crossover!

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  21. J. Bowman5:23 PM

    I only managed to watch a few episodes of The Neighbors, but they were, as you said, hilarious.
    I
    got an "I got crunk at Adam Shapiro's Bar Mitzvah" t-shirt after
    whatever episode those appeared in. I have to explain it a lot less than
    you'd think.

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  22. Roger2:24 AM

    The HTGAWM trailer also reminds me of the season of House when he hired 30 new fellows. Which seems like a good endorsement.

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  23. Adam C.9:24 AM

    I look forward to hearing our friends at HitFix pronounce that acronym during their podcast.

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  24. Adam C.9:29 AM

    And yeah, Donal Logue as Bullock -- lots of residual goodwill there from Terriers on back to The Tao of Steve, so that will probably cause me to give it at least a few episodes.

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  25. Adam C.9:32 AM

    Although I think that was going to be "Dad" rather than "Father," so they maybe would have steered away from pronouncing the acronym.

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  26. I'm intrigued by Gotham, possibly because I'm enjoying the whole "the story before the story you know" ethos of Hannibal. And Law and Order: SVU has reminded me lately that I really like Donal Logue. I'll give it a try.

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  27. Joseph Finn12:17 PM

    It was, but I refuse to believe they would go with How I Met Your Dad, since that completely destroys the rhythm of How I Met Your Father.

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  28. Adam C.12:28 PM

    "The world may never know."

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