Fall 2014 Pilot Round-Up Week 3

Whoops! Been busy this week and fell behind but here's my impressions with the pilots from last week Sept. 28 - Oct. 2.

Selfie - ABC

I was really looking forward to this one because I'm a fan of both Karen Gillian (due to being a Whovian) and John Cho (due to being a Sleepy Hollow fan). This rom-com sitcom is mostly an updated take on that old classic, Pygmalion, better known to non-literates as the musical, My Fair Lady. Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are now Eliza Dooley and Henry Higgs and are played by Gillian and Cho, respectively. Eliza is turned from a poor, lower class woman into a fairly well-off woman who is obsessed with social media and Henry is well, roughly, the same. The pilot is somewhat humorous although most of the jokes involve Gillian being shallow or immature, which isn't a great character to build your show around. The show sort of reminds of me of that failed Rebel Wilson show, Super Fun Night, another one-trick pony that really had no substance. This show is guilty of falling into the same trap unless the chemistry between Gillian and Cho save it. Also, all the references to social media are irritating and grating. And unfortunately that appears to be the modus operandi of the show.

Should I watch: Watch if you like rom-coms and are willing to face constant jokes about your social media obsessions. Don't Watch if you avert your eyes when Buzzfeed shows up in your Facebook feed and you're not into cute, fish-out-of-water romances.

Manhattan Love Story - ABC

Talk about grating and irritating. Yeesh. Take two painfully white characters who exhibit the worst tropes of romance stories and put them into a boring rom-com where they cavort around yuppie New York City and you almost get this wretched thing. But first, you have to add a gimmick where the audience can hear the protagonists' thoughts. Yeahhhhhhh, no. Definitely gonna have to pass on this one. Although I will say that the people in this are very pretty for, you know, a cast of exclusively white people.

Should I watch: God, no. Watch if you literally have nothing else to do and want background noise. Don't Watch. Just don't.

Happyland - MTV

MTV continues it's slate of non-music related programming (seriously, change your name) with another teen targeted show set in a local NotDisney theme park. It's a pretty standard story settling on a Romeo-and-Juliet starcrossed-lovers plot where the poor girl falls for the rich guy framed against a fairytale backdrop. Yawn. At least there aren't any werewolves in it. Although there is a twist that possibly implies incest so that's always fun.

Should I watch: Watch if you're in high school and haven't discovered good TV yet. Don't Watch if you just want Liquid Television to come back.

Stalker - CBS

This is quite possibly the worst pilot of the year and with good reason. Offensive, often boring, and terribly written, this show is pretty much one you should stay far, far away from. It's basically about this crime unit that investigates cases of extreme stalking where the victims are in possible danger, typically death or severe mental trauma. The episodes features not one but TWO cases, one where two women are set on fire with gasoline by a male stalker and another where a guy in college just has an obsessive friend who he punches or something. You know, just to show who stalking affects everyone equally. This show is pretty gross as it glorifies sexual abuse and assault for entertainment value and in turn makes one of the protagonists a misogynist prick also a former stalker. Fun!

Should I watch: Watch if you enjoy weekly images of women being killed and stalked horribly. Don't watch if you're better than that. You're better off watching NCIS anyway if you're on CBS.

Bad Judge - ABC

You got that right. It's pretty bad. Ever since The Bad News Bears, there has been a fascination with people doing occupations badly. There was Bad Santa, Bad Teacher, and the remake of Bad New Bears. And only half of those starred Billy Bob Thornton! There was also a Bad Teacher TV series which failed and this show will probably fail too. The problem with these shows is that they are essentially a one-trick pony. They establish a gimmick and deliver on it but in the end there's nothing much more beyond that. In this episode, we meet a female judge who is pretty good at her job but is pretty bad at life. She likes to party, says off-kilter things, and hangs out with a troubled youth. This is the kind of thing that fits better in a 2 hour movie, not 12 hour season of a television show. Even Ryan Hansen AKA Dick Casablancas can't save this show.

Should I watch: Watch if you like the same gimmick over and over. Don't watch and just watch Bad Santa. It's pretty good.

Gracepoint - FOX

Procedurals are done but if any genre has had an upswing in the past two years it's definitely detective shows. Trust me. They are very different. True Detective jumpstarted interest in the US but shows like Top of the Lake and Broadchurch from the UK have been getting buzz for awhile. It seems like a smart move to rebrand one of those shows for American audiences in Gracepoint, which is a mostly direct remake of Broadchurch set in America. Even David Tennant returns as his character. I've never seen the original so this all new to me and I'm very intrigued so far. The story is about a small coastal town after a boy seemingly commits suicide by jumping off a cliff. Two detectives figure it's actually a homicide and start investigating the town and uncover it's secrets. It's very Twin Peaks-ish without all the the supernatural elements and weirdness but the drama and intense emotion is very present. I can't wait to see how this mystery is solved.

Should I watch: Watch if you love a good mystery and need something to hold you of until True Detective returns. Don't Watch if you've seen Broadchurch and it's pretty much familiar, although I hear this will change later in the series.

Gotham "Pilot" "Selina Kyle"

Batman begins again.

The Batman cycle is one of pop culture's highly regarded mythologies. More so than other recent superhero fiction, Batman's world has been ingrained in our cultural lexicon since the 1940s. Even Superman has tapered off and has been less successful lately. Besides the comic books, there have been nonstop TV shows, films, and video games in service to the Dark Knight.  The CW's Arrow, the show that kickstarted the TV superhero revolution, even owes a lot the Christopher Nolan films and our favorite caped crusader. And than along comes Gotham, an ambitious Batman-related project, which seeks to do what very few mediums have done before: a Batman show without Batman. 

More or less. Bruce Wayne is still a character in this show. As are comic book staples like Jim Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Oswald Cobblepot AKA The Penguin, and Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman. However, this show is billed as an uber-prequel, the bridge between when Thomas and Martha Wayne are shot in the street to when Bruce dons the cape and cowl. Or at least until he hits puberty. The Gotham of Gotham is undeniably so. It's a film noir theme park complete with crime alleys and corrupt cops. The design of the show is visually stunning, borrowing everything from the Burton films, the Bruce Timm 90s television show, and even the Nolan films. There are even original characters added to the mix, such as Fish Mooney, a female crime boss played beautifully by Jada Pinkett Smith. With a devious Eartha Kitt charm, Smith does her most is bringing this character to life and it's a welcome addition to the Batman mythos.

The first two episodes of Gotham are concerned with world-building. In the "Pilot" we are introduced to rookie cop James Gordon as he is paired with grizzled veteran cop Harvey Bullock. They both investigate the apparent murder of The Waynes, Gotham's most influential and well-known family. They leave behind a young Bruce Wayne who becomes troubled in the wake of witnessing the brutal death of his family. Gordon feels connected to Bruce because he represents an innocent child whose life is ruined by the growing corruption on the streets and in the public trust. We also witness the origins of Oswald Cobblepot, a low level goon who is caught in Fish Mooney's web of crime. Cobblepot is an unhinged lackey who is looking to boost himself up in the crime world despite his strange appearance. In the episode, Bullock and Gordon chase a lead in the Wayne case but it ends it up being a wild goose chase. Cobblepot ends up being a sacrificial lamb offered up by Mooney to prove Gordon's loyalty but he ends up helping Oswald skip town. In the 2nd episode entitled "Selina Kyle," Gordon and Bullock investigate a homeless child abduction ring perpetrated by two creepy "needlemen" who are working for someone named The Dollmaker. A young, agile Selina Kyle, calling herself Cat, is caught in the middle of it and leads Gordon to catching the pair of crooks. Meanwhile, Oswald makes his way back to Gotham cutting a swath of murder and extortion in the road back to town. 

Gotham is a very divisive show it seems. I've heard the fair share of criticisms of the show and most of them have to do with the absence of Batman. That is a very silly once since there can certainly be Batman stories told without an appearance of the hero himself. Gotham Central, an award winning comic book series, proves you can tell stories from the perspective of the street while featuring some of Gotham's greatest villains. Gotham is the closest we'll ever get to an adaptation and this is further proved by the existence of characters like Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya, two of the central characters from Central, on the show. If the show has a fault, it's that it sometimes fitting in entirely too much of the mythos. The weakest character to me so far seems to be Edward Nygma, the GCPD's resident nerd and future Riddler, who is seemingly brought in only for gags and to ask questions. There is also a cameo in the first episode by a little girl named Ivy Pepper who we are hinted at believing to be the future Ms. Poison Ivy.  The not-so-subtle nods to these future villains are a bit hamfisted especially when lines like "This guy looks like a penguin" are repeated ad nauseum for two episodes in a row. Aside from that, the show also feels tonally off probably because it tries to compact so much Batman lore into a single show. Throughout each episode, the show jumps from high camp noir to serious crime procedural within seconds and sometimes in can be jarring. But on the positive side, that actually makes this show bizarre and unique and one of the strangest shows I've even seen on television. And that is what makes this show distinctly a Batman show, even if no actual Batman can be found. 

Afterthoughts

- Crazy Gotham fan theory: Yes, I already have one. Barbare Keane, future wife of Gordon and mother of Batgirl and James Gordon, Jr.,  is a character on this show. This is the most I've ever seen done with her character in any medium ever. The interesting things is that she is established as having a relationship with Renee Montoya and also the fact that she is a fairly wealthy and artistic socialite. My personal theory is Barbara Keane in this continuity is also the future Batwoman, real name Kate Kane (Keane?), and that she will play a pivotal role on the show, perhaps even appearing as Gotham's first bat-related vigilante

- I'm not sure how I feel like Selina Kyle also witnessing the death of the Waynes but I like how it connects her and Wayne more as kindred spirits

- Arkham Asylum is mentioned in the 2nd episode as being closed and in disrepair. Wouldn't be surprised if we get a visit to that old stalwart.