First Impressions: The Goode Family

Mike Judge has a pretty impressive batting average when it comes to comedy: Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill, Office Space and Idiocracy (and looking at the trailer, the upcoming Extract starring Jason Bateman will extend that streak). So there were high expectations for his latest animated show The Goode Family that follows a family that try to live the most politically correct way they can, living by the motto WWAGD (What Would Al Gore Do).

Maybe it is that pedigree that makes The Good Family a disappointment, where the rest of Judge’s work can be measured in gut wrenching laughter, The Goode Family can only be quantified by the number of chuckles. This could be because this is the first work Judge has done out of his comfort zone; Beavis was based on people he knew and Hill was in his wheelhouse being from Texas and his work in an office culminated in Office Space, but his attempt in liberal, blue state humor just doesn’t translate as well.

Plus some of the characters seem one note. The family raises their dog as a vegan but ends up eating neighbor’s pets which causes some of the biggest chuckles, but how can they keep that funny in future episodes? Same as their adopted white African-American son (he was white born in South Africa so technically African American). Funny, but where do they go in future episodes? And why, if he has been in America over a decade, does he speak broken English.

The one bright is the first episode is the Hummer driving, meat eating father-in-law (and seemingly right out of King of the Hill) who makes a too brief appearance. Hopefully there is more of him later in the season and Judge finds his comical footing sooner rather than later. If not, at least Extract will be arriving in September.

The Goode Family airs Wednesdays at 9:00 on ABC.

First Impressions: Charm School with Ricki Lake

Even though I try to avoid VH1’s … of Love shows (sometime unsuccessfully) the Charm School spin off remains one of the guiltiest guilty pleasures currently on television. This is most likely because I don’t have to see trashy girls having sex with the likes of Flavor Flav and Brett Michaels. For the third season they are actually combining two shows with the rejects of Rock of Love Bus and Real Chance of Love. We also get a new Headmistress in Ricky Lake who may be the most credible of giving charm advice of all the headmistresses. But considering she is following Sharon Osbourne, that isn’t saying much.

There are a couple more changes this season. There is a Dean’s List which keeps some of the girls safe from expulsion every week. And instead of the Headmistress having full control of who to bring down to the carpet then expel, those not on the Dean’s List go to Detention where they vote who goes down to the carpet. An odd change considering it may lead alliances determining who gets on the carpet instead of who deserves it. Even last night the Bus rejects all voted for one girl while the Real Chance also-rans did another. But there was the hilarious part where Gia voted for Ashley, apparently not know what exactly she was voting for through her alcoholic haze.

There also seems to be a theme of charity this season, the first challenge (?) saw the schoolgirls give clothing of their choice to charity. Although I am not sure who would possibly want to wear hand-me-downs from strippers and porn stars no matter how in need they are. Then later in the season some of the girls will be going down the 9th Ward to help rebuild houses. As nice as that seems, should they really have these girls that close to Bourbon Street while in Charm School?

In the end Gia’s drunken stupor got her expelled, even if she improved from her time on Bret Michael’s bus. C’mon, she didn’t have anyone drink from her lady area. That is progress. But her exit from the house looked like a trailer for a horror movie, it was that creepy. And she wasn’t the only one to leave as the equally drunken Beverly got the boot for breaking the number one rule of reality television of never put your hands on another cast member. On her way out she hoped she wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her children. Too late honey.

Charm School with Ricki Lake airs Monday at 9:00 on VH1. You can stream current episodes at VH1.com. You can also download Charm School on iTunes or Amazon Video on Demand.

First Impressions: Cupid

Cupid was a show I remember seeing but not caring that it got canceled. Sure Jeremy Piven was thoroughly entertaining as a guy who may or may not have been the Roman God of Love and Paula Marshall was likeable, but certainly not must see television. Which is unlike the next show Rob Thomas created Veronica Mars. But since very few people compared Veronica Mars to Cupid (1998), it would be unfair to compare Cupid (2009) to Veronica Mars.


Naturally it is fair game to compare the two Cupids. Both shows follow a dude named Trevor who lands himself in a mental institution because he thinks he is a Roman God whose case is taken on by a psychiatrist named Claire. Upon release Trevor takes a job at a bar. This time around the story gets transplanted from Chicago to New York City.

From the promos I feared that Bobby Canivale (Snakes on a Plane) was going to just do a Piven but turns out to more subtle than his predecessor. Unfortunately I was right in thinking that Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) is a huge downgrade from Paula Marshall. Paulson is as uptight as her character requires but lacks the likeability that Marshall brought to the role.


Inside the bar we meet owner Rick Gomez (The Adventures of Pete & Pete) taking over the role of Jeffery Sams who gets a sister this time around the comes in the form of Camille Guaty (The Nine) whom I hope starts to take screen time from Paulson. The bar adds some extra depth to the show as it is more of a club with performances and a mariachi karaoke night (which is as cool as it sounds; assuming you think it sounds cool) which is the catalyst of some great music like Donnie Hathaway, Hall & Oates, and Pat Benatar.

Granted it looks like the second go around for Cupid may actually end up airing fewer episodes than its prematurely canceled predecessor. But maybe if we are luckily, third time will be the charm in 2020 when Ryan Pinkston and Hayden Panettiere take over the lead roles.

Cupid airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on ABC. You can stream episodes over at ABC.com. You can also download Cupid on iTunes.

First Impressions: Greek 2.5

It’s time to go back to college… in March. Only on ABC Family. Not to mention it is technically half way through the second season of Greek. Of course, milking extra DVD money, it will most likely be labeled as “Chapter Four”. Small details aside, Greek, in its first three “chapters” was more satisfying than not and left with one big cliffhanger as Frannie defected taking many of the pledges last year with Rebecca Logan stuck in the middle.

And in true drama fashion we get a bunch of plot twist as they resolve the cliffhanger with Rebecca being inducted into ZBZ only to show up with Frannie’s Iki sorority only to find out that Ashleigh had Rebecca become a mole for ZBZ to spy on their rush. How Alias of them. Stay tuned to see if Rebecca pulls off the elusive double cross as Casey finds out this was all a sinister plan where Frannie wanted ZBZ to think Rebecca was a mole. And if we are lucky there will be a steal chair involved in the swerve.

As for the other Cartwright, it took a little too long for Rusty and Dale to shack up when it became pretty clear early in the episode it would end up like that. But it did led to some funny Canadian jokes by the bigoted Dale and the slumber party in Casey’s boyfriend’s room was the highlight of the episode. And hopefully with her name on the lease where the boys are living at, we get more Casey/Dale interaction this season.

The one disappoint of the episode was the misuse of Ken Marino (Party Down) as Rusty’s summer boss. His reactions to all of Rusty’s miss wording were priceless and left me hoping the whole episode would have been devoted to everyone’s summer. The short segment with Marino made me think what a great spin-off with him at Tiny Pines would make for its own watchable series.

Greek airs Mondays at 8:00 on ABC Family. You can stream recent episodes over at ABCFamily.com. You can also download Greek on iTunes.

First Impressions: Better Off Ted

Whoever said that you can’t judge a book by its cover is a moron. If you see Fabio on the cover you are getting some chick-lit porn, if it is draped in the American flag it is going to be political. In fact, if you are unable to judge the book by its cover, whoever came up with the cover art should be blacklisted.

With that said, everything I needed to know about Better of Ted, I learned from the title because if that is the best title they could come up with, it is doubtfully they could come up with twenty minutes of funny. So I watched Gary Unmarried instead last Wednesday (I do understand the irony considering my initial premise) but ended up giving it a try after all of the Arrested Development comparisons.

Which I could see if Arrested Development was void of anything funny. Of course it wasn’t. Just because they pluck Lindsay Bluth-Fünke and have a narrator that routinely breaks the fourth wall does not make a strong comparison. The big difference between the two shows is that, despite all the bad things they do, most of the Bluths were still likeable whereas the Better Off Ted cast are annoying at their despicable doings save for the two scientist. But still I rarely chuckled at any of their antice where the Bluths were good for at least two you have to rewind because you missed something because you were laughing too hard moments.

Now maybe the biggest problem was they burned off many of their jokes in the advertisements that the channel ad nausea (I had the same problem with The Big Bang Theory) but I would still Sheldon Cooper over the lab rats Veridian Dynamics. And on Wednesday at 9:00, I would even take Louis Brooks over them.

You can stream episodes of Better Off Ted over at ABC.com. You can also download the show on iTunes or though Amazon Video on Demand (see below):

First Impressions: Kings

Can something be grandiose and boring at the same time? If so, than that can sum up Kings. The show has a look and feel like nothing currently on television and a scope not seen since Rome. But it is hard to not think the two hour premiere could have fit everything important into one hour to kill off some of the lulls.

The show is a modern day retelling of the story of David (Spoiler Alert for the heathens out there: He goes on to become king) set in a parallel universe and the fake country Gilboa (isn’t that where Anne Hathaway is a princess?) who is currently at war with their neighbors, the equally bad named Gath. In Gilboa, there is monarchy les by King Silas played by the overbearing Ian McShane (Agent Cody Banks) who lives a tangled life; he marries into money to set up his kingdom (of whom his brother-in-law is the main profiteer of the war); his daughter cares too much about his subjects and continually lobbies for better health care for them; his son is a royal version of Paris Hilton, right down to the parting and having sex with dudes. And of course there is the mistress with a kid of her own.

On the front line of the war is David Sheppard (who I cannot confirm is Mr. Boston from I Love New York, but I’m pretty sure it is him), an awe shucks country boy that can fix anything, including, apparently, wars. He gets tangled up with the king when he rescues the prince in one of the more laughable scenes as the soldiers of Gath acted like enemies is a crappy nineties video game. And as the preview promised, David takes the king up on his offer of half his kingdom by getting a dance with the princess.

Being based off of the Bible, there are plenty of religious references, many coming from then king’s personal guru, who naturally is not fond of the wars he wages and seems to be drawn to David (whom he creepily touches a few times in the first hour). And like most prophets he takes in vague terms and makes little sense.

Kings is ambitious but sometimes too ambitious for its own good. It has yet give a good enough back-story to the king and Gilboa, it is easy to compare it to America but under the surface seems to have little to do with this country besides New York City being the obvious standing for the faux the capital right down to Central Park overlooking the kings office. And the storyline of being in and out of war multiple times in a two hour frame was a little hard to follow. But once the show finds its footing, it could end up being the most compelling show on television.

Kings airs Sundays at 8:00 on NBC. You can stream current episodes at NBC.com. You can currently download the two hour pilot of Kings for free on iTunes and it is also free on Amazon Video on Demand (see below):

First Impressions: Castle

It is hard not to get a distinctive case of déjà vu while watching Castle. We have seen it all before: a woman who takes her job a little too serious gets stuck with a guy who doesn’t take anything serious. This has become so overdone it is hard to remember the last time television put together a stuck guy and a free spirit chick.

What the show does have going for it is the characters are someone likable. The all too serious detective Stana Katic (The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice) gets stuck with bad boy writer Nathan Fillion (Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place) after someone has gone on a killing spree that mirror those in his books. And naturally the sparks fly.

And if that isn’t enough clichés for you, then we meet Castle’s family, his mother the drunken Martha Rodgers (Dharma & Greg; hey, there’s an answer to my question earlier). Then there is his fifteen year old daughter who is more mature than her father, naturally. Also in the cast are some of Kanic’s coworkers, but none of which were interesting enough to really mention.

What hurts Castle the most is a symptom that has been plaguing a bunch of new shows lately where the premise is a decent idea if it were a movie, but it doesn’t seem built for the long run. For Castle, had they extended out a couple more murders, it would have made a decent movie. But I am not sure how they can keep Castle following around the cops entertaining week in and week out.

Castle airs Mondays at 10:00 on ABC. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com.

First Impressions: Survivor: Tocantins

Why Survivor. Why must you vote out the hottest chick first? It happened last season and again this season. Sure Carolina Eastwood had an annoying voice, possibly the most annoying of any reality contestant ever, but that is why God gave us the Mute button. Unfortunately her tribemates didn’t have the luxury of a Mute button which may have led to her demise.

The big draw of Survivor: Tocantins was that they were voting for people right off the truck. But much to the surprise of everybody, the top vote getters were not taken right out of Brazil but got a helicopter ride to their camps, bypassing the four hour hike in 100 degree weather. I am not sure what Sierra Reed looked more upset about, that she got the most votes our her and her strep throat had to stay in the game.

But that is just where the fun began, I liked that they were given the option of either searching for a hidden Immunity Idol. But I wonder why not both? Did they dig up Sierra’s Idol so she could never get it later since she choose to set up the camp and forced Sandy Burgin not to do any work after she gave up looking for the Idol? And how could she possibly not know how long ten paces are? Has she never seen a pirate movie ever in her life?

This year may also have the most famous contestant ever Tamara Johnson-George who you may know better as Taj from 90’s R&B group SWV (don’t tell me you don’t remember Weak). And to add to her net wealth is the George part of her last name that she got from ex-Tennessee Titan Eddie. Eddie also went to Ohio State, the state’s whose former Miss Ohio Candice Smith is also a contestant this season although I don’t think we got to hear a word from her yet. There is also a multi-millionaire on the show but I don’t care enough to look that up but I will just assume that it is entrepreneur Brendan Synnott. The only other contestant of note is Mormon, nudist, professional cyclist Tyson Apostol. Here are some of my predictions:

Will Be Most Loved: Spencer Duhm

Will Be Most Hated: Brendan

Most Likely to Quit: Taj

Will Be Voted Off Next: Erinn Lobdell

Most Likely to be Blindsided Before the Merge: Benjamin “Coach” Wade

Contestant I’d Most Like to Have Dirty, Dirty Sex with Even if She Hasn’t Take a Shower in a Month: Sydney Wheeler

Survivor: Tocantins Winner: James “JT” Thomas Jr.

Back Up Choice: Jerry Simms

Survivor: Tocantins airs Thursdays at 8:00 on CBS. You can also download Survivor: Tocantins on iTunes or through Amazon Video on Demand (see below):

First Impressions: Lost 5.x

It is apropos that Lost would launch a new season the day after Barack Obama was sworn in because fans of both are very similar in they rely a lot on hope. Hope that the most inexperience president ever to take the oath of office doesn’t get overwhelmed. While fans of Lost hope not to be underwhelmed when the show wraps it up after six seasons next year. Being a man of science, as opposed to faith, I am cautious of both actually happening while hoping they don’t.

The new season started like every season before it, with an ambiguous person starting their day listening to old music. This turns out to be the informational dude before he loses a limb which we don’t find out why that happened. But luckily Faraday makes it back in time so maybe we will learn more about the Dharma Intuitive. I really have disliked the whole time travel aspect, but if it is a devise to tie up some lose ends surrounding some back-story like Rousseau, the Black Rock, the four-toed statue, I will get over that (although I’m sure they will sooner reveal who Adam and Eve from the caves are then everything else).

Unless of course the time travel somehow brings Locke back to life despite Faraday insisting that nothing can be changed by going back in time, breaking from the main time travel rules that I learned from Back to the Future. I fear this might happen because Faraday implied that Desmond is the one person, for whatever reason, that can change history. And if the old chick turns out to be the anti-Desmond I will be equally upset.

As interesting as the first half of the premiere was, the second half was equally as boring as it turned out just to be a devise to put up major obstacles in Ben’s way to get everyone back to the island, most time consuming being Hurley’s path to jail (holy Ana Lucia sighting! Breaking my prediction of the writers forgetting that Shannon, Boone, Nicki, Paulo and the Tailies ever existed). The only redeemable parts of the second half were Hurley’s coming clean to his mom and the red shirt getting shot with a flaming arrow.

I really hope that it doesn’t take the whole fifth season to finally get everyone back to the island and they drag out the seventy minutes the old chick mention over the course of the twenty episodes (or whatever this season number is). That is what drug down season four from me, sitting and waiting for the Oceanic 6 to get off the island, not know when it was going to happen, just know that it was at some point. And if there is something Lost excels at is waiting to the point no one cares about the reveal, then waiting another season to finally reveal it. So at this point I have lost hope. But I do hope I’m wrong.

You can stream current episodes of Lost over at ABC.com. You can also download Lost on iTunes or head over to Amazon's Lost Store to pick up the previous season DVD's.

First Impressions: Friday Night Lights 3.x

Someone once said absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I’m guessing whoever said that didn’t have to wait for almost a year for new a new episode of Friday Night Lights. After a couple months without a trip to Dillon, fonder became frustrated quickly. And to add insult to injury, there was the fact that some people got to see the premiere four months ago thanks to DirecTV.

But it was well worth the wait even if there were a few “huh, did I miss something?” moments like Mrs. Taylor is the new principle? Seriously? Lyla and Saresen have been in the same grade the whole time making Lyla a Varsity cheerleader as a sophomore? And then there were the glossed over reveals like Lyla dumping Jesus for Riggins? And the completely ignored like Street’s miracle baby.

But really none of that bothered me because I was distracted by all the goodness that started with opening unmistakable earthly guitar licks (FNL is the best scored show ever in the history of television) and scenes like the Riggins brothers powwow in a strip club and subsequent proposal, Momma Smash, Landry at the Collette house, Tyra telling off the new guidance teacher (since when was it so hard to get into a State college: at one point Ohio State University had a 100% acceptance rate), the status of Tyra and Landry’s relationship, and surely I am forgetting something else.

The show’s strength is how emotions can change on a dime which was best on display during the racquetball scene that starts off as whimsically enough with Smash mentioning it is the whitest sport ever created (which I can attest to as I have an intramural racquetball championship under my belt), but at a drop of a dime Coach lays into Smash for giving up (Mrs. Taylor had her own scene with Tyra earlier which parallels each struggle to get out of Dillon).

Verdict: Last year Friday Night Lights ended the season number one of my Best Television Shows of 2007-08 list and after one episode it is hard to think of any show that will come close to knocking the show off its pedestal. You can and should catch Friday Night Lights at 9:00 on Fridays. You can also stream episodes at NBC.com or download Friday Night Nights on iTunes or Amazon Video on Demand (see below). And you can still get the first two seasons for dirt cheap.

First Impressions: Confessions of a Teen Idol

Darn you VH1. After the Charm School Reunion (yeah, that fight was totally staged), I stuck around a couple seconds to see if Confessions of a Teen Idol was as cheesy as the premise sounded. Then sixty minutes later I wondered where the hour went. Darn you VH1. Why did Time Warner have to give you a last minute reprieve instead of axing all the Viacom owned cable channels? Hopefully Time Warner yanks the channel by the time Tool Academy premieres.

But I was sucked in from the get go. VH1 has to have the best editors ever because they seem to make the most inane things seem intriguing. Confessions of a Teen Idol takes seven former stars and give them another chance of stardom as men. Included in the mix are two Baywatch castoffs (Jeremy Jackson, David Chockachi), 80’s stars that I only know of because of their commentary from I Love the 80’s (Christopher Atkins, Adrian Zmed, and, um, I actually don’t remember the third guy but apparently he was in Fame: the series), and Eric Neis of all people. How exactly can you get someone whose lone claim to fame another chance at stardom? Beg the producers of the MTV Challenges to let him back on?

The only one of the bunch that you can really feel sorry for is Jamie Walters because the main reason why his career tanked was because a character he was playing pushed Donna Martin down the stairs. Guiding these formal idols through their journey: Chachi and Wayne Arnold. Also listed as producers on the show: Eric Bishoff and J.D. Roth. VH1, please give me back my soul.

The show seems to play off like an episode of Celebrity Rehab but the addiction is fame (as one of the therapist mentions in every promo for the show). But as it usually goes the least famous of the bunch, Neis, may turn out to be the most entertaining as it turns out he may be so insane that the producers had to put a disclaimer on the screen when he started talking about his ways to living a healthier life.

Verdict: Certainly not appointment television, but unless Time Warner actually pulls the station of its lineup, I sadly will eventually see most of the show through reruns. Darn you VH1. Confessions of a Teen Idol airs Sundays at 8:00 on VH1 and will repeat constantly throughout the week because it is VH1.

First Impressions: The Ex-List

Number one on my most anticipated list for fall television was The Ex-List. Of course that was mostly by default, thanks to the writer’s strike it looks like most of the quality shows won’t show up until mid-season while the fall is mostly populated by easy to put out shows. And really the main reason why The Ex-List stood out from the rest was that is was being ran by Diane Ruggiero who wrote some of the best episodes of Veronica Mars who bolted after some created differences.

But six episodes were in the can before Ruggiero so I figured that it would at least start strong. And apparently I figured wrong. Where to start with what is wrong? I guess you start with the casting most notably the lead Elizabeth Reaser (The Family Stone) who is really miscast. The show is built to be this quirky drama but Reaser just doesn’t have a handle on comedy. Bella needed to be portrayed by an actress that can walk the line chronically clumsy but never actually crossing the line and Reaser just cannot find the rhythm.

The supporting cast is just not likable. First there are Bella’s roommates and companions Alex Breckenridge (Dirt) and her obscenely oversized bangs and Adam Rothenberg (Mad Money). Then there is Amir Talai (Mad TV) who just seems like a throw away character that seems to have no reason to be there. The most unlikeable is most recent ex-boyfriend Mark Deklin (Herbie - Fully Loaded) who is only around because he shares custody of a dog with Bella.

The only good thing about the show so far is Bella’s sister Rachel Boston (American Dreams) who is a lighting bolt on screen and may have been a better choice for Bella. What’s odd is even though he bachelorette party is the catalyst for Bella getting her fortune of she has one year to find her soul mate of spend the rest of her life alone, we actually do not meet her fiancee in the first hour.

The worst casting award goes to Bella’s first chance encounter with one of her exes in Eric Balfour (Can't Hardly Wait) who is right up there with the dudes from Heroes in the How Does This Dude Still Find Work category. Without him in future The Ex-List has room for improvement but I don’y see how it can get much more better especially with the exit of Ruggiero.

The Ex-List airs Fridays at 9:00 on CBS. You can stream recent episodes over at Innertube. You can also download The Ex-List on iTunes.