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[Donnie]

Vermutlich haben es schon alle gesehen, aber nochmal der Vollständigkeit halber:

Die vollen Trailer von den CBS-Serien, ohne Interview-Ausschnitte:

Two Broke Girls

How To Be A Gentleman

A Gifted Man

Person Of Interest

Unforgettable

[Donnie]

Review zu "Suburgatory" klingt vielversprechend:

What works: A compelling mix of razor-sharp narration, horror film sensibility and an unexpected dose of heart, "Suburgatory" emerges from its pilot cocoon so sure of itself and its brand of humor that one can't help but be impressed. What really strikes me though is how deftly it manages to balance the aforementioned elements. Its horror movie metaphor could easily have been over the top, its biting commentary could have made things too shrill and its undercurrent of sweet could have left a saccharine aftertaste.

Thankfully the recipe is just right as there's nary a moment that doesn't ring true to the world it establishes in 22 minutes: whether it's the fake friendliness of Tessa's guidance counselor Mr. Wolf (Rex Lee, "I'm here to help you absolutely any time you need between the hour of 12 and 12:45 p.m."), Tessa's polished quips (Dalia: "Are you a lesbian?" Tessa: "You mean because I'm not dressed like there's a pole in my locker?"; Dalia: "This will show off my belly ring." Tessa: "You know what else that will show off: your vagina.") or George's well-meaning efforts ("She needs some of this motherly love... maybe a unicorn and some sparkly stuff, maybe some dead hair."). It's just a good show, plain and simple.

What doesn't: As mentioned above, the moment you think it's becoming too much of one thing the gears shift and you're enjoying the show in a whole new way.

The bottom line: It's by far the best of the new comedies.

[Donnie]

Mehr Mini-Reviews (Quelle):

Pilot Screener Reviewlets - ABC Dramas
- Charlie's Angels: totally sold on it, until Minka Kelly shows up? Still, probably has the best chance at succeeding of ABC's fall dramas. Very slick.

- Good Christian Belles: wasn't in love with the script, a bunch of changes made, and some good casting choices in the supporting roles. Very much in the cotton-candy dramedy vein. Not sure I love Leslie Bibb. Still feels like a bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites gossiping about the same thing for 42 minutes at times (honestly, there are soooo many intercut scenes of bitches on phones) and very little... doing anything. But I could see this being fun.

- Hallelujah: didn't read the script. Of the religion-imbued dramas, ABC clearly picked the right one going with GCB. The whole of Hallelujah feels... silly.

- Once Upon A Time: my issues with the script stand on both a story logic and "why do we care?" level, plays really slowly, stuff in fairytale world is pretty damn awesomely rendered, but, again, not sure why anyone's gonna care.

- Pan Am: as with the script... I'd watch a show about a 1960s stewardess-slash-spy. Unfortunately, that's maybe 1/10th of what this show is. The flashbacks are needless, except to get us off the damn claustrophobic plane and attempt to tells us who the girls are... which feels like a narrative cheat to me. The whole opening 12 minutes are incredibly sluggish and I suspect a ton of instant tune-out. Tonally, feels like it's playing on the romance of it all and wants to recapture the magic of Titanic... but doesn't. It's not like the plane is going to crash into an iceberg and we know that going in and then this crazy epic love story unfolds. It's all atmosphere. B-o-r-i-n-g.

- Partners: held off reading the script because of the nutso logline, and it wasn't picked up, so I still didn't. Special Agent Renee from 24 was pretty decent, but I think that's because I liked her from 24. Meh, no big loss it won't see the light of day.

- Poe: was distracted by Chris Egan with brown hair and Natalie Dormer as a blonde. It didn't sound much like dialogue in a period piece, played very "quippy TV crime solvers." I probably would've watched, but would have turned off after three episodes when every one came down to the X-Files question of "is it the supernatural or something crazy but real world" and never coming down on one side or the other.

- The Revenge: loved the script, lots left on the cutting room floor to get it down to time and, unfortunately, I don't think it works... I wouldn't have known what was happening if I hadn't read the script

- Scandal: (SPOILER ALERT) The explanation of what the crisis management firm does is a little clunky and I didn't care much for the new addition to the team. Not sure audiences will like not having an answer on the murder, but I'm happy, as I was in script, that the team (who are not homicide detectives) don't solve it. Might develop into something of an interesting character/team-cedural down the line. The thing the first case hinges on is a little obvious, and I felt that way in the script, too. The whole affair with the President thing really puts a sour light on the lead character, IMO.

Not yet watched: Georgetown, Identity, Missing, The River

Pilot Screener Reviewlets - CBS Dramas
- The 2-2: so not my cup of tea, and doesn't succeed on a "CBS procedural" level, either. A headscratcher of a pick up in my book. Slight serialization to it, not sexy, not unique, and not a "everyone focus on solving one murder." Shrug. Reminds me of ABC's The Unusuals, only that had an infectious sense of silliness going for it (oh, and Adam Goldberg in common...)

- A Gifted Man: the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is playing down from what they could be doing elsewhere in this. I mean... what is Margo Martindale doing following up her amazing stint on Justified as Patrick Wilson's semi-sassy secretary!?

- Hail Mary: the hilariousness of Sandra Bullock's character from The Blind Side partnering with a wise-cracking ex-gangbanger to become a PI team needed to be turned up to 11. Feels really odd that their so successful on such an easy case, yet the police are hapless. Only on TV...

- Person of Interest: So, Michael Emerson is kind of playing Ben... with a limp. Everything he says is needlessly mysterious and creepy. Hey, he's got a niche. The concept is that his character is provided with numbers - social security numbers - that a Big Brother-type machine (that can see you through every camera anywhere and can hear your phone conversations and knows who you are) he designed post 9/11 for the government considers irrelevant (as far as massive terrorist type activities), but are actually tips that something criminal is going to go down. The number could be that of a perpetrator, an accomplice, a victim... he doesn't know. He just gets the numbers (through a backdoor he designed... claiming that getting any more information that this would tip someone off). It's an interesting way into a procedural, that will provide plenty of "we thought it was this, but it's actually this... oh wait, we were wrong again!" twists. But part of me wishes that the information, which for much of the pilot is mysterious and seemingly beamed down to Michael Emerson from on high, or aliens, or magic, or something, had remained mysterious. But the other part of me is glad that the series is NOT about the mystery of how he gets the information. That's out of the way, so now it's just investigation, investigation, investigation. I could give or take Caviezel as the shadowy/traumatic-past field operative who gets recruited to be Emerson's primary investigator. Could be something I'm hooked into... could be something that's exactly the same every week and I decide isn't worth my time.

- Unforgettable: oh, my, do I have to swallow my pride on this one. This is almost a perfect CBS procedural and I'm guessing it's going to be the biggest hit of the fall season (though I still won't be watching). Some of the things I hated about the script (the five minutes in the beginning in a NYC cab that, for some reason, only had nostalgic radio stations on it that sent the lead character into uncontrollable flashback memories) are gone. Probably for production reasons, some of the described coolness of Carrie's memory flashes are gone (she could only pop back to what was in her field of vision, everything else was black, the edges were fuzzy), too, which is unfortunate because she is now, like, an infallible superwoman with almost 360 degrees of picture-and-sound-perfect memory. It might have been hard to explain to viewers, too. There's still a bunch of eye-rolling moments in breaking the case, but, whatever.

One of the show's two biggest challenges going forward is going to be bringing the other characters up from a peanut gallery position. Even Dylan Walsh's character, Al, who will be Carrie's partner, seems like little more than someone to talk to. He needs something about him that helps solve murders, so every beat doesn't hinge on something Carrie remembers. Otherwise, yeah, she's superwoman. I think we're supposed to feel a big UST thing between Carrie and Al. Not there, yet. The show's other biggest challenge is going to be explaining how Carrie's abilities help when she ISN'T at/around the scene of the crime when it happens / doesn't have even a little history with the victim. I like Poppy Montgomery as a redhead, but she slips out of her accent on several occasions.

Not yet watched: The Doctor

Pilot Screener Reviewlets - FOX Dramas
- Alcatraz: it's Fringe, with Jorge Garcia instead of Joshua Jackson (also: the old guy on the team that forms by the end isn't nearly as entertaining as Walter Bishop, and the cases available in series seem, at least on first blush, to be way too "the same old thing")! I kinda wish it had opened in the present day and just started with the weird mystery popping in the middle of nowhere, instead of the blandly atmospheric mystery-tinged horror film stuff that leads to the "all the prisoners and guards at Alcatraz have disappeared, where did they go?" question. It puts us way ahead of the characters... but, hey, it's the hook, so I understand frontloading it. Loved the first act, focusing on the first Alcatraz prisoner who reappears in the present day. Then act two starts on Sarah Jones and the show, depressingly, becomes a straight procedural until she's sucked into the mystery, and all I wanted to was go back to the criminal.

- Exit Strategy: action movie adrenaline junkie procedural? Something goes wrong on a CIA mission and the team is sent in to fix it and help assets escape a bad situation. Stock characters. It's being retooled, so we'll see what they do with it. If it stays mostly the same... why not have just picked up Human Target for another 13 episodes for an action hour (regardless of the ratings not justifying it)?

- Locke & Key: love, want more, I fear it's more of a miniseries than a 22-episode season, multiple season show and probably really expensive, so that's why it didn't go? Definitely has a "something weird is happening and I, as a human being, would be asking questions and demanding everyone pay attention to it, but it's a television show so meh!" to it. Fingers crossed someone swoops in to pick it up as, perhaps, a 6-hour SyFy mini?

Not yet watched: Touch (it hasn't been filmed... quite liked the feeling I got from the script, though I haven't done a review... but also very concerned with the Tim Kring of it all, having been burned on a worldwide-scope, massive ensemble with intersecting lives, heavily serialized show from him in Heroes)

Pilot Screener Reviewlets - NBC Dramas
- 17th Precinct: this makes me sad, because I have an incredible affinity for many of the actors involved in various other projects (it's not just BSG alums). There's this INCREDIBLY awkward and unnecessary and dry opening saga-sell of "imagine if the world were based on magic instead of science" that REALLY makes the whole proceeding feel like Law & Order: Spectral Victims Unit. All of the silly/obvious "Lee Adama is having an affair with Gaius Baltar's wife" stuff was dropped (presumably for time). The biggest problem here is that in a world of magic without clearly set rules... anything is possible. Crime and murder investigations hinge on things that can be pulled out of a hat. Granted, a lot of the forensic science on other real-world-set procedural shows feels like magic. This world of magic needed to be the MacGuffin into a human story about the people who live in this world and the long-arc story of the Stoics (a group of terrorists who use science, not magic). Instead... magic feels like the only thing being offered up. This needed some reworking. It could've been something. It's not.

- Grimm: I had a terrible reaction to the script. It's not that bad, though I still think the main character is kind of a terrible detective. It just leaves me kind of cold. There's no reason why Nick had to stay in the dark about his lineage, and it's unexplained why his aunt allowed him to stay that way. It's also entirely arbitrary-feeling why he starts to see things. I'll probably even watch the second episode to see if the mythology deepens. The effects are good.

- The Playboy Club: no woman is going to watch this show. And, given that it's a broadcast show, it's not like there's even the promise of HBO-style nudity to attract men to it. The opening has a ton of flash, but the physicality of the accidental murder that takes place is terrible. I think the actress who plays Carol Lynn is terribly miscast. There are going to be a ton of Mad Men comparisons, of course, so here's what I'll say: YOU ARE NO JOAN HOLLOWAY. Basically, I think someone said "let's do a show set in the 1960s about playboy bunnies" and NBC bought it, then they said "oh, crap, there's no show here" so they added organized crime into it. The only part of the show I have any interest in following is the world of the secretly-lesbian bunny and her gay husband... but that's, y'know, not what the show is about, really. It's just a side story for one of the characters. It's not boring like Pan Am was, of the two 1963-set series, but it's not compelling.

- Prime Suspect: a character-cedural about the problems of being a female homicide detective in a precinct with a boys club feels very ten years ago. I don't mind Maria Bello as Jane. I just don't find this story to be particularly modern. It needed something more, a little zhuzh. Doesn't have it.

- Smash: hated the script. Thankfully, a lot of the seedier elements were taken out. The ending was changed SIGNIFICANTLY, which is welcome because it left a horrid taste in my mouth when I read it. There's even a cliffhanger, of sorts... you don't know who has been cast as Marilyn (in the script, it was a foregone conclusion), and there are insanely compelling reasons to route for both of the women who are up for the part. This show belongs to Kat McPhee and Megan Hilty. The songs were changed from the script and feel relevant to the story. "Let Me Be Your Star" is far and away a better original number than any original song thus far on Glee. I don't think this is going to be a show all about "when are they gonna sing a song that I can download?" It just... it came together. It feels special. Hands down, my favorite screener so far. Cannot wait for this show. Hope it's a huge hit. Also hope they can somehow work it out that they only make a clean, crisp, 13-episode season every year that keeps the quality up to a cable standard (only having the 3 writers, and them writing 22 episodes a year, really screwed Glee up after those first 13 in Fall 2009).

- Wonder Woman: someone pass me the crow. I need to eat it. I feel like I was the only person on teh Interwebz who thought this might be, y'know, a viable show. I saw the potential camp in the script. The script needed help, lots of help. But it went from probably-awful with brief flashes of fun to a deadly dull, serious, pathos-laden drama. The only person who seemed to be having any fun was Liz Hurley, who was marvelous at chewing the scenery (while, inexplicably wearing the same dress in every scene despite being a huge CEO and the story taking place over multiple days). If everyone had the tone she brought to it, this show could've been something. I don't fault Palicki here, and hope she comes out of this unscathed because she did what she was asked. The whole Diana Prince side of her character made even less sense as filmed... we really needed a plot about Wonder Woman joining Facebook through her secret identity? You have to laugh at some of the production choices, too. The ridiculous grandstanding scene where Diana Themyscira verbally bitch-slaps THE UNITED STATES SENATE became a terse diatribe to a single Senator over wine at a Los Angeles fine dining establishment.

Not yet watched: Awake, A Mann's World, Metro (fka SILA), Reconstruction

Pilot Screener Reviewlets - CW Dramas
- Hart of Dixie: some of the small town / southern quirkiness was, blissfully, leeched out between script and screen. It's still there, but BlueBell is now way more tolerable. The biggest problem here is Rachel Bilson. I love her to death, but, honey, I just don't buy you as a world class surgeon who doesn't have bedside manner. You exude bedside manner... at least of the candy striper variety. Just not, y'know... brilliant doctor. Putting that aside, especially because the show is about the soap and the town and not Summer Roberts, MD, there's a charm to this show that I, unexpectedly, might sample more of.

- Ringer: SMG is back. You're either going to watch it or not, you don't need to know my opinion. Stuff cut for time from the script, mostly in the immediate post-Siobhan disappearance stuff where Bridget first decides to try and become her twin sister. Long scenes became little visual shorthand, and it works. Love the use of mirrors throughout. It was a CBS show, as you all know... and as that it feels very different from everything else on CW. Older, a little more mature, a little less obsessed with romantic soap. I'm still intrigued. It's still a big buy that the identical twins were so estranged that Siobhan didn't tell her husband that Bridget even existed. But, y'know, that's the deal with premise pilots.

- Secret Circle: still a work in progress, if you ask me. I stand by my "I will see what the show is come episode 4" stance from the script review. There are a lot of characters, few of which really jump out, so hopefully, like in Vampire Diaries, they will claw their way to the forefront as we get to know them better. I like Britt Robertson (residual Life UneXpected feelings), who is really the only character we get a feel for... I'm not loving Thomas Dekker. I didn't feel the smoldering sexual tension you need between them (or between him and his character's actual girlfriend). There's a truly pretty, magical moment between their characters in the middle of the woods, when they make water droplets rise. Just gorgeous. The was also a lot cut from the script I read, particularly in the back half, and it results in a far better, open-ended semi-cliffhanger than the script had (where the circle of witches, like, came together and chanted around a bonfire or something, all their problems solved and personal issues put to bed, IIRC). I also have a bit of a fear that the show is just going to be a carbon copy of TVD, minus the danger inherent in vampires. It needs different tricks up its sleeve.

Not yet watched: Awakening, Cooper & Stone, Danni Lowinski, Heavenly (which I hear would have been picked up, except for the whole Ringer thing)

[Stefan]

danke donnie

[str1keteam]

http://www.deadline.com/2011/07/midseas ... ered-dead/

June 30 marked the deadline for TV studios to pick up the options on the casts of broadcast pilots and series whose fate was still in limbo.

Good news for fans of Fox's midseason comedy Breaking In: The options on the series' actors have been picked up until Nov. 15. And, in a rare move, I hear the network, Fox, has pitched in, splitting the cost of the option extension with producing studio Sony Pictures TV. Fox's decision to cancel the Christian Slater-starring comedy after a brief midseason run was one of the biggest surprises this past upfront season.

Among the pilots left in contention for midseason, Fox's comedies Little In Common and Family Album remain in the running for Fox's two-hour, four-show midseason Tuesday comedy block. But both projects will undergo some tweaking as reflected in their producing studios' decision to pick up only parts of their casts.

In the case of Rob Thomas' single-camera comedy Little In Common, produced by WBTV, departing are two adult leads, Paula Marshall and Lombardo Boyar, as well as one of the kids. The original pilot was about three families united through their kids’ Little League sports. It centered on the Wellers (Rob Corddry, Marshall), who move from San Jose, Calif., to Austin, Texas, but find that their adjustment won't be quite that easy considering their Latino neighbors, the Pachecos (Alana Ubach, Lombardo Boyar), have a radically different approach to child-rearing than they do, while their other new neighborhood acquaintances, the African American Burlesons (Kevin Hart, Gabrielle Union), take sports very seriously. I hear in the reworked version, Ubach's character will be single, while Marshall and the kid will be recast.

On the single-camera Family Album, from 20th TV and 21 Laps/Adelstein Prods., picked up are three actors: the two leads (Mike O'Malley and Rachel Harris) as well as standout supporting player Rob Huebel. The project, from Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, centers on a passionate, overly enthusiastic former jock (O’Malley) who, determined to get some quality family time, embarks on a vacation with his extended family. Harris plays his wife, Huebel his brother. The project, which received an order for another pilot, is undergoing redevelopment as it is focusing on the family's daily life as chronicled in random family photos.

Another family comedy pilot which was hot in the weeks leading to the upfronts, ABC's Smothered, is not going forward. ABC had been high on the multicamera project starring Marcia Gay Harden, Julie White, Adam Arkin and John C. McGinley and, while it didn't make the cut in May, the network said back then it was keeping it in midseason consieration.

Meanwhile, another multicamera half-hour pilot, CBS' workplace Peter Knight comedy, from Sony TV, CBS Studios and Happy Madison, is very much alive for midseason after the studio picked up the options on the cast. It was one of two comedies CBS kept in contention in May. The other, the Rob Schneider sitcom, has since received an order for a new pilot and backup scripts.

On the hourlong side, the one project that had been eyed for midseason redevelopment, Fox's Exit Strategy, is now dead after the producers determined that, even with tweaks, the project won't be very different than the original pilot they delivered and opted to focus on new development instead.

Ich drücke alle gichtgeplagten Daumen for Breaking In. Das es für Exit Strategy nicht gereicht hat, ist angesichts des brandheißen Themas (spätestens seit Osama) und der Beteiligten (mit Hawke ein echter Star und mit Fuqua ein etablierter Actionregisseur für die Pilotfolge) schon eine große Überraschung und warnt einmal mehr, dass keine Serienbestellung sicher ist.
Der Rest interessiert mich nicht. Smothered hatte natürlich einen tollen Cast, aber Dr. Cox, Gay Harden und Adam Arkin wären in einer Multi-Cam genau so verschwendet gewesen wie Michael Chiklis in diesem CBS-Ding.

[Theologe]

Über "Exit Strategy" bin ich inzwischen gar nicht mehr so traurig. Das ganze schien doch eher in Richtung "The Unit" oder "E-Ring" nach dem Remodelling zu gehen. Komisch finde ich es aber trotzdem, dass die Serie nicht bestellt wird oder gar am Veto der Produzenten scheitert, weil auf dem Papier alles stimmt. Thematisch könnte die Serie nicht aktuelle sein, der Cast mit Ethan Hawke und Tom Sizemore konnte sich sehen lassen.