11/23/11

A Number of Good Shows, But Many Do Not Stick

I have enjoyed watching the premieres of a number of new shows, but I have to say that most of them do not capture my attention for more than a few episodes.  Some of the exceptions, which I have already covered, includes Boss, Borgen, and Hell on Wheels.  However, others such as Pan Am, A Gifted Man, and Grimm, were not quite as interesting or unusual as they pretended to be.  For instance, Pan Am started as a long clip from the movie Catch Me if You Can and went down from there (though I loved the movie itself).  London's The Guardian was not impressed, noting:

 It's Mad Men set in the glamorous world of 60s air travel instead of Manhattan advertising men! Or so we are told. But alas, Pan Am is to Mad Men as an Airfix model assembled by a blindfolded man with 10 fractured fingers and a severe bout of hiccups is to Concorde. Which is to say, Not Very.

And the other two programs were less than gifted or simply grim. 

I think Once Upon a Time comes across as a little more genuine, which may keep me coming back for awhile.  The interplay of past fairy tales and the dreary reality of rural Maine (sorry Maine) makes for an interesting contrast and interesting characters.  It comes across as adults performing a dance in the head of a young boy hoping to find something more than his everyday world, and he just happens to drag us along with him.  It works for me, and I don't live in Maine (sorry again, Maine). 

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