Need Your GOT Fix?

If you are eager for the return of season five of HBO's Game of Thrones, maybe this animated film showing some highlights of the first three seasons will keep you satisfied for a short while. With the animation of other blockbusters, such as Star Wars, maybe we will see a GOT animation spin-off in the future. 

You can find many more fun animations on YouTube, such as the animation below highlighting the first two seasons.  And even if we only get fan films for now, it keeps the interest flowing and demonstrates the creativity of the show's followers.

Marriage Proposals and Babies (Not Necessarily in That Order)

If you have not yet suffered a sweetness overdose from all the new romantic comedies this season, then save room for NBC's Marry Me premiering tonight.  You already know you have a unique pairing with Casey Wilson and Ken Marino, both of whom we have seen many times on TV with let us say relationship issues.  Here is the basic story from NBC:

Six years ago, Annie (Casey Wilson, "Happy Endings") and Jake (Ken Marino, "Eastbound & Down") bonded over their mutual love of nachos and they have been inseparable ever since.

Now, after returning from a romantic two-week island vacation, Jake's all set to pop the question. Before he can ask, though, Annie lets loose on Jake for his inability to commit. She was expecting him to "put a ring on it" in paradise and now Jake's perfect proposal is ruined. Not wanting to spend the next 60 years talking about that mess of a proposal, Jake and Annie decide to hold off on the engagement until they can do it right. Yet if history tells us anything, it's when we really want things to go right that they all tend to go wrong.

The only thing we know for sure is these two are destined to be together - whether they can get it together or not.

And if that plot sounds a little too staid, how about a "miraculous" birth in the CW's Jane the Virgin? The story involves an accidental insemination and the fall-out that follows with Jane and her family.  It premieres tonight, though you can also watch the pilot on The CW's website.  The Los Angeles Times notes:

Like "Ugly Betty," it is based on a Latin American telenovela (the Venezuelan "Juana la Virgen"), and like that show it has kept its transplanted Latin roots with a quietly remarkable title-role performance from Gina Rodriguez. Jane is almost engaged to police detective Michael (Brett Dier) but remains ever mindful of what her grandmother (Ivonne Coll) told her at 10, in Spanish — that once gone, virginity is gone for good. The flower her grandmother crushed for metaphorical illustration is kept framed above 23-year-old Jane's bed.

This is a different kind of show for The CW.   And as with Ugly Betty , I think this show will grow on you.  Let's hope we see more shows like this from the network.

An Affair to Remember

If you have yet to see Showtime's The Affair, first broadcast last Sunday night (October 12), then you are missing a great drama.  Fortunately, you can still see the first episode for free at the Showtime website or on YouTube. 

The story is about a father of four who meets a waitress on Long Island and seems to be ready to risk it all on a whim.  And yet we are learning about this affair first from his view, and then from her view, as both appear to be responding to a police detective's questions.  Hence, in episode one we don't know who to trust and what happened to necessitate this investigation.  When you add to this superb acting, a layered plot, and top-notch filming, you feel you have stumbled onto a quality film that just happens to last a season. 

As with Starz' Outlander, we are witnessing a period of excellence in television that takes away the need to go to the theaters.  I recommend you add this one to your fall season list of shows to watch.  

Update:  I have thoroughly enjoyed the early episodes of The Affair and I am happy to report it will get a second season.  It's great to see that others recognize the quality of this new show.  

Wyle Returns with The Librarian in December

TNT will be broadcasting The Librarian on December 7th.  The show, starring Noah Wyle, will be a continuation of the movies series with the same name.  Wyle is still busy with his sci-fi series Falling Skies, which has its final season next year.  The latest trailer shows that Noah's character Flynn Carsen will have a larger team helping him this time around.  I look forward to this nerd version of the Indiana Jones franchise.  And three cheers to librarians everywhere!

Regular and Super Heroes

This week we will see more comic book super heroes on the television screen.  If Gotham was not enough this fall, you now have The CW's The Flash starting tonight.  I have not followed all the comic capers since my youth, but I expect this will be much more of the same. As with zombies and vampires, how many friendly capes do we need on television? Yes, this is supposed to be one of the better ones, yet I do not expect the bad ones to go away. The demand may soon be sated (as is happening on the silver screen as well if you need more evidence that new ideas have dried up).  

Luckily, The CW's Supernatural is also returning the same night for its 10th season with mortal heroes who are periodically angels and demons while battling angels and demons. It is still a unique show except for the copycat Grimm.  I know demon killing was also a comic book genre years ago, as was the adventures of two brothers fighting evil, yet this new set of "hearty" boys takes on the task with new gusto.  Fewer capes and more heavenly battles showing the complexities of now and the hereafter is what we need. 

Update:  I thought The Flash had a better premiere than Gotham, which had a clunky start with some stale and predictable dialogue. And luckily we did not need to know the backstory from The Arrow.  The Flash reminded me of the Spider-Man story with a clear explanation of what happened to the main character for him to gain new powers.  And even better, we have some idea what he will be facing since many more people are dealing with similar new powers. By the way, the Flash doesn't have a cape since his speed would tear it to shreds. 

Speaking of Duds, Last Week Was Pretty Bad

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While Mulaney is being beaten up before it is even out of the gate, other shows that already premiered last week are legitimate targets.  First, let me say that comedies are alive and well if Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, starting its second season last week, is any guide.  However, ABC had two stinkers last week -  Selfie and Manhattan Love Story.  The first was a bad recreation of Pygmalion, which might be interesting if you cared even a little bit for the main characters (and I would rather see more of John Cho on Sleepy Hollow than this hollowed-out story).  The latter was a pretty poor excuse for a love story where you continue to hear what is in everyone's head whereas all I could hear in my head was "turn it off!"

And if that was not enough, NBC's Bad Judge last week was simply a bad show.  Does anyone really want to see a character playing a female judge that exhibits all of the bad traits of sex-addled, dopey male judges over the years?  Why can't equal-opportunity lead to a better product than the past? 

Luckily, last week also brought us NBC's A to Z, which I covered earlier. This again only shows the major networks are capable of making worthwhile shows if they only try. 

Update: ABC canceled Manhattan Love Story after only a few episodes. A good start to cleaning up the airwaves.

Second Update: NBC has decided to cancel Bad Judge after a single 13-episode season. A fair sentence for an awful show.

Third Update:  ABC has canceled Selfie after its 13-episode run.  No surprises there.    Unfortunately, NBC's A to Z will also end after one season. 

Mulaney Already Starts With Bad Press

Fox's new comedy Mulaney starts tonight (October 5th), yet the press has already attacked this little show to such an extent that you would wonder why Fox even bothers at this point.  The show stars John Mulaney, a comic and SNL writer, and he has pulled in some strong talent, including Martin Short and Elliot Gould.  Here is the basic storyline from Fox: 

JOHN MULANEY is a 29-year-old comedian working the stand-up circuit and looking for his big break. But life drastically changes when self-centered comedy legend and game show host LOU CANNON (Emmy Award winner Martin Short) hires Mulaney as a writer. Lou may be John's entrée into the world of big-money show business, but he's also a total nightmare. Still, the job represents everything Mulaney thinks he wants. But does he really? And, at what cost? And what does it say about him if he quits? And what does it say about him if he stays? And has Lou had work done?...If Mulaney has one refuge from the chaos that surrounds him, then it's his neighbor, OSCAR (Elliott Gould), a 71-year-old gay veteran of New York who has seen it all. Oscar is opinionated, refined, gentle, wise and sometimes extremely cantankerous, but most of all, he's an oracle of sound advice when Mulaney feels like life has gone off the rails.

USA Today calls it a "misfire," noting:

...former Saturday Night Live writer and comedian John Mulaney comes across as a very nice young man. He may even be a funny one, though there's no evidence of that in this almost shockingly inept sitcom. What he's obviously not, however, is someone who has any idea of what he's doing as the star, creator and producer of a network television series. And what that apparent cluelessness produces is the worst new sitcom of the season.

Not a great start. And other are calling it a dismal rip-off of Seinfeld, with Cinema Blend stating:

 

The main problem for any throwback is to avoid feeling dated and Mulaney suffers by not adding a new spin on the old formula. It is Seinfeld all the way down to the stand-up sequences and jaunty noise between transitions. I originally challenged myself to not mention the NBC cultural juggernaut during this review, but that's nearly impossible.

With all the comedies coming out this fall, we should expect quite a few duds.  This may be one of them, but it is best to give it a chance to see if it gets better.