April TV Shows

This has been quite a month for television.  It already feels like fall.  All I can say is set up your DVR and let it run, for in addition to a number of great epic stories (I did not add The Kennedys to that earlier list or this one - the jury is still out), here are a few more things to tune into to:

-- The Killing (April 3): This series already started a few weeks back, but luckily AMC likes to rerun a lot of its new series to generate interest (plus iTunes gave out the pilot episode for free).  Based on a Danish series that has already been copied by the Brits, this murder mystery is Twin Peaks all over again, but much better.  The first season covers the death of a young girl and how her murder transforms many other lives.  More than great acting, you will also find the show has some great camera work and amazing views of Seattle.  And the story should be compact, taking 13 days to solve over 13 episodes.  I was not expecting too much, but I am hooked.  The key scene for me was the reaction of the parents and their two sons when hearing of the young girl's death.  It was very chilling, raw, and real.

-- Happy Endings (April 13):  This ABC series has a comfortable, easy-going, updated feel to it - thinks Friends with a gay Joey (not a hard leap).  The quick dialog and likeable characters cause the 30 minutes float by quickly, leaving you with nothing greater than a feeling of "Thank God I don't have that life."  Maybe that's all you need at the end of the day.

-- The Paul Reiser Show (April 14):  The NBC show had an odd start where you are thinking "Is he really talking about himself as an actor, or acting like someone like himself?"  Then I began to think of Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, until Larry David came into a scene playing himself (I think).  Yes, NBC has found its own Larry David show and the first episode actually worked.  I guess it is only fair that the network that brought us Seinfeld would use the creator of this last series to promote a new series, though it is more like the HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Too much?  Okay, just watch it and I think you will get it.

And this does not include the return of other shows, such as the terrific Friday Night Lights (April 15) on NBC, now in its last season.  I will certainly miss FNL.  However, with all of the new shows appearing this month and on the horizon, I am running out of hours in a day and DRV space.

Update:  The Killing will be coming back for a second season, notes TV Over Mind.  Happy Endings has been renewed for a second season, according to a May 13th posting in Deadline.  Paul Reiser spoke about the cancellation of his show on The Tonight Show.

Second Update:  An October 14th New York Times's story finally explains why I was confused with the start of Happy Endings.  For some dopey reason, ABC showed the episodes out of order.

At the outset, the deck seemed stacked against the cheery, slightly campy series. It wasn’t just that it was late to a party full of rivals. ABC also decided to broadcast episodes out of order: it didn’t consider the first and second installments funny enough. In the pilot Ms. Cuthbert’s character dumps her fiancé (Zachary Knighton) at the altar. The network felt that over the next two episodes that they and their pals — a married couple (Damon Wayans Jr. and Eliza Coupe) and two singles (Mr. Pally and Casey Wilson) — spent too much time coping with the breakup. 

“The network wanted viewers to be able to find the show at any point and still enjoy it,” said the series creator, David Caspe. “They had 13 episodes sitting in front of them and the luxury of saying, ‘Let’s lead with our funniest.’ But it was still a moment of huge trepidation for me.”