At first glance, it looks like there will be a lot of drama. Almost every romantically linked couple includes the word 'bickering', 'infedelity', 'estranged' or 'long distance' in their bio. There are no gay couples, only one sibling team and only one parent-child team. We have the token geeks, token minorities, token hippies, token bimbos (2 sets) and token frat boys.
My picks for teams to watch after a quick look: brother-sister Nick and Starr and long distance couple Aja and Ty.
I'll handicap all the teams once I've had more time to look over their info.
Just a short post, but I'll get caught up with all the upfront announcements and new fall schedules shortly!
Couldn't wait to tell you all about this tidbit in the Fox press release, buried under the midseason replacements:
SIT DOWN, SHUT UP (working title), created by Emmy Award winner Mitchell Hurwitz (“Arrested Development”), follows a group of unconventional teachers and staff members working at a high school in a small northeastern fishing town who never lose sight of the fact that the students must ALWAYS come second.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had boffo numbers for last night's premiere. It was the top scripted show premiere in eight years on Fox and blew away the completely lame Golden Globe programming on NBC at the same time. Episode 2 airs tonight!
In other happy news, next week's Amazing Race finale will be one of the happiest ever! Thanks to the elimination of the one last obnoxious team, the three left competing are all pairs that I'd love to see win. As usual, it all comes down to karma.
I mentioned it last fall, but it's worth bringing up again now that the big premiere day is here - WATCH THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES! It's a tight, action-packed, well acted show that ties in fantastically with the Terminator franchise films (the timeline is between the 2nd and 3rd movie). Even if all you know is the basic mythology, it's easy to become engrossed.
Terminator 101: Computers launch a nuclear war against humans in the not-too-distant future and robots take over the world, but John Connor leads a rebellion against the machines. The bad robots send increasingly more sophisticated robots and cyborgs back in time to kill John's mom, Sarah, before he is born (film 1), to kill John as a teenager (film 2), and again to kill John as a young adult (film 3). In films 2 and 3, John sends his own robot back to protect his mom and younger self. The show is 2.5 - now-badass mom Sarah makes it her life mission to protect John while trying to stop the nuclear attack that starts the whole mess to begin with, never knowing when a bad robot may show up to try and kill them or a good one may show up to try and help.
Tonight is the premiere, followed by episode 2 tomorrow. I've seen both and they are fantastic! Not the usual crappy special effects, cheesy acting and convoluted storyline like the usual sci-fi dreck we see on tv.
Also this week, the premiere of American Idol. This is always the most fun - the horrible auditions! Tuesday and Wednesday we'll see plenty of poor souls to make fun of. With the lack of original shows almost anywhere else, expect the numbers for both Idol and Connor to be stellar for Fox.
Oh, and if you're still watching the Amazing Race (I am, even though the Goths sabotaged themselves by U-turning the wrong team), there are only two legs left! Tonight should set up the three teams for next week's finale. As obnoxious as the dad is, I'm rooting for Ron and Christina, if only because she takes the time to learn at least basic words in every language they've encountered. Honestly, it's one of the better fields in a while for likeability (if not strength). I'll be happy if any team but Nate and Jennifer wins. (And can I just say how much I love the speed bump concept?! It's really the best and most keeping-with-the-game concept they've had for penalizing a last-place team on a non-elimination leg.)
CBS has just announced a shakeup in their winter schedule, primarily due to the ongoing writers' strike. The horrid Big Brother will run this spring rather than its usual summer timeframe, but the MUCH better news is that the all-too-short return run of Jericho will debut on February 12!
I'd love the strike to end soon, but if it hasn't, or if production hasn't caught up by then, Jericho could reap big rewards in terms of audience as one of the few non-reality programs on the air with new episodes this spring.
The amazing impressionist Frank Caliendo (you've probably seen him on talk shows doing Madden or Bush or Robin Williams... or all three at once) is finally seeing the debut of his new sketch show! FrankTV starts November 20th on TBS. This guy is amazing and hilarious... check out this trailer:
Also, Ricky Gervais just sent out a note in his email newsletter than the finale of Extras will appear on HBO on December 16th. It's an 80 minute movie/Christmas special that will wrap up the all-too-short series.
Amazing Race 13 teams are out!