Now for a look at the larger cable slate:
Faking It (MTV)-
MTV presents its newest high school comedy. Thankfully, this is no I Just Want My Pants Back or Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous (two unfortunate missteps in what has otherwise been a surprisingly good run of scripted shows). What can go wrong in a series where two best friends who are mistakenly identified as a gay couple decide to go with it because it increased their popularity? Much of this show’s long-term success will depend on how the series can move beyond the obvious gimmick and create a deep, quirky world. There are already signs of this as we see one character questioning her sexuality. I might be cautious if this show was on some other network, but given the way Awkward managed to move beyond its premise of loser girl gains unwanted attention when people mistakenly thought she attempted suicide, I have faith. Also, Bunhead‘s Bailey Buntain is back on TV in a drastically different role. (I wish that show was still on, but I’ll take this at least.)
Verdict: Looks promising.
Sirens (USA)-
Adapted from the British series of the same name, the series follows three paramedics and the unusual patients they are called to treat while on the job. I watched a few episodes but found myself less than impressed with just about all of it. The jokes were on the dirtier than funny side (which has never been my favorite area of comedy—I was not all that entertained by Bridesmaids, for example) and over the top and I found myself indifferent to the central will-they-or-won’t-they couple of the show, Johnny and Theresa (Theresa is a cop—important? not sure). Never a good sign. We meet them in the broken up stage when he is clearly not over her and…I just don’t care. I don’t really buy their chemistry because he does not seem like the type of person she would be interested in. Most comedies take a few episodes to get good but I gave it four episodes and did not find myself drawn in.
Verdict: Already dropped from the watch list.
Playing House (USA)-
I was sorry (but not surprised) to see Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair’s Best Friends Forever canceled two years ago, so I was thrilled to hear that the real-life best friends were creating and starring in a new show together. Emma is a successful businesswoman in China who moves back home after her very pregnant best friend Maggie discovers that her husband has been having an affair with a woman online. The chemistry between the duo is so real (because it is) that they’re endlessly enjoyable to watch. It is difficult to say how the show will progress beyond the pilot, since the first episode lays the groundwork for the series and we will have to wait until the second episode to really see the shape that Maggie and Emma’s lives will take. I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Verdict: I’m in.
Deadbeat (HULU)-
I didn’t care much for Reaper so Tyler Labine wasn’t a real draw for me for this series about a lazy medium who gets paid to help ghosts move on to the afterlife. The reason I wanted to check it out was actually Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance). I was curious to see how she would fare on scripted TV, she’s such an engaging personality on Fox’s reality competition. I found myself a little grossed out by the pilot and more than a little put off (as I said before, dirty humor tends to walk a slippery line and usually it falls on the failed side for me). Maybe it was just a trying too hard pilot but the episode’s plot (SPOILER: Labine’s Kevin Pacalioglu needed to sleep with an old woman while high to fulfill a dead soldier’s wish of having sex because he died a virgin decades earlier) did not draw me in. Deeley was funny but enough to drawn me in.
Verdict: Not sure I’ll be catching any more episodes.
Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge (SYFY)-
Like Face Off, this competition show is all about movie-making magic. In this case, the artists are asked to make functional creatures that are evaluated on how realistic and well-made their puppets and animatronics are, including how well that stand up to a screen test. I love any sort of competition show that involves this high amount of creativity (Project Runway is up there too for the same reason) and Syfy’s newest reality competition does not disappoint. The challenges only seem to get more intricate and complicated from week to week, forcing the creature creators to push their skills and imaginations further than they have ever had to go before. I have yet to be unimpressed, even by the weakest members of the competition and the winning designs are pretty realistic and incredible.
Verdict: Love it!
What do you think TV watchers? What new shows have you been enjoying? Which ones did you find to be a total disappointment?
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