Ranking the New TV Shows: #14 – Glee

The 14th best show is something of an anomaly in that the pilot was released this spring, but the rest of the series will not air until next fall. With just one episode to judge, it probably got docked a few points. Looking purely at potential, we could have put it a few spots higher. Either way, from 14 on is a huge step up from the bottom of the rankings. All of the shows from here on out show a lot of promise.

The show: “Glee“
Synopsis: A quirky version of “High School Musical” for Prime Time television from the creator of “Nip/Tuck“. Teacher and all-around great guy, Will Scheuster (Matthew Morrison) fights to keep the Glee Club alive and recruit new talent in a high school focused on popularity, cheerleading, sports, etc.
Debuted: May 19th, 2009 (Official Series Premiere: September, 16, 2009)
Our take: The show is pretty funny, with humor ranging from Jane Lynch’s macho cheer coach to the eccentricities of the nerd crowd.  The primary core of characters each have a distinct voice.   There’s the Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), the super achiever who’s got the perfectly contradictory balance of insecurity and overconfidence.  Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) is the yin to her yang as the nice guy jock who dares to join the uncool Glee Club to the chagrin of his fellow football players. It goes on like that with other characters. Each one has their own idiosyncrasies and comedic style. On the other hand it’s a little black-and-white with the good guys and bad. The puppet strings are obvious. Will is too nice, and his wife is clearly an excuse for an obstacle, not a real person.
What it would need to do to keep me watching: The pilot of “Glee” climaxes, of course, with a big song and dance routine. I felt they missed a huge opportunity to show the talent of the cast by way overproducing it. Earlier musical numbers stood out because they seemed (and were) real. I know they wanted to really blow everyone away with the grand finale, but the outcome was phony. This was a chance to stand out from other tv shows and even movies by having an organic vocal performance that the audience could connect with. They could have had a comedy series with a touch of Broadway. Instead they have a comedy series with a touch of Britney Spears. Will I watch next year? It’s iffy.

Ranking the New TV Shows: #16 – Lie To Me

The countdown continues with another piece o’ poo from Fox. “Lie to Me” is Fox’s “The Mentalist” imitation, hoping to ride the quirky procedural formula to similar ratings success. (To be fair, ABC did also come out with something of a “Mentalist” rip-off this spring in “Castle,” which is a little higher up in our rankings.)

The show: “Lie to Me”
Synopsis: Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) is an expert in facial micro-expressions and utilizing them to determine whether or not someone is lying. He and his team of fellow lie-ologists use their powers to fight crime.
Debuted: January 21, 2009 on Fox
Our take: The human lie detector idea is not a bad one. Toward the beginning of the episode, Lightman illustrates a point about facial expressions by showing real clips (such as Kato Kaelin at the O.J. trial) where people’s briefest facial expressions betray what they are saying and give a glimpse into what they really feel. I have to say – it was pretty impressive. From there, unfortunately, the show makes the mistake of getting a bit expository with its explanations of ticks and tells, though. In fact, it over explains pretty much everything, with characters needlessly recapping what someone has just explained to them. It also failed on a character and story level. The humor fell way flat, and the characters aside from Lightman were much more annoying than the quirky charm they must’ve been shooting for (something that “The Mentalist” does pretty well, I might add). In the end it comes across not so much as style over substance but lie detector jargon over both style and substance. I finished the pilot with no intention of going back for more.
What it would need to do to keep me watching: The fact that “The Shield” creator Shawn Ryan is taking over the reigns in season 2 is an excellent one. As I said, the basic premise is not bad. The flaws may be too severe to fix, though.

Ranking the New TV Shows: #17 – Mental

The Final Countdown. Over the next 17 days we will unveil our rankings for the new TV shows we tried out over the 2008-2009 TV season, starting with the shit sandwiches and working our way up to the filet mignon. (To simplify, we decided to not consider shows that have already been canceled.)

The show: “Mental”
Synopsis: A cocky British doctor (I didn’t bother to learn his name.) arrives at a mental hospital to take the head psychiatrist gig. I bet you can’t guess whether he “plays by the rules” or follows his gut. Let’s just say that when he sits around the house, he rips off the show “House.”
Debuted: May 26, 2009 on Fox
Our take: I only made it about 15 minutes into “Mental.” The scene that pushed me away for good? The arrogant new doctor is at his first meeting with the higher ups at the hospital. He stands in front of the board room table, surrounded by important people in suits. He dives right in with some “Dead Poet’s Society” style pseudo-profound speech about how “the patients are out there” as he points to the hallway. He is also dressed really casual (presumably because he is ridiculously cool) and shuffling a deck of cards throughout the speech. (Holy shit, that’s pretty nonchalant for a big meeting like this!) At this point, I vomited all over the TV screen.
What it would need to do to keep me watching: If the crazy people in the hospital would rise up and murder not only the British doctor but the writers whom conceived the character and the executives that gave it the green light, I would consider giving it another chance.

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