Fall TV 2012: Winners & Losers

Most people look forward to watching the new fall shows like, the minute they air. My Mom actually writes the air dates down in her datebook, so she can remember to watch. Yes, she still has a datebook, but, mostly because she’s an esthetician. Anyway, in year’s past I Tivo-ed like, every new show and watched them all right away. But, that’s been a little harder to do with Greta in the picture.

I mean, sure, I still Tivo everything. I just don’t get around to watching it until weeks, sometimes months later. That said, here is my very belated list of the best and worst of the new fall shows. Enjoy!

The Best New Shows

Ben & Kate (FOX):

Oddly enough, my favorite new show has my least favorite title of all time. I mean, seriously, does it not sound like that horrific Jon & Kate Plus 8 show? Yikes! You couldn’t have thought of a better title for a sweetly funny show about an adult brother and sister living together with her young daughter? Anyway, ignore the title and watch the show. It’s beautifully written and hilariously funny. We love it!

The Mindy Project (FOX):

Although I’m still on the fence a little with this one, I do love the cast and the writing is terrific. And how cool to see a female lead that isn’t a perfect freaking stick figure! Go, Mindy!

Made In Jersey (CBS):

I know what you’re thinking. First: You watched that? And the answer is: “Yes, I did and I loved it.” And secondly: Didn’t that show just get cancelled? Again, sadly, the answer is “Yes.” But, let me tell ya, the lead actress, the stunning UK import Janet Montgomery is destined to be a star. Seriously, I got goosebumps the first time she was onscreen. I haven’t seen someone with that much star-wattage to burn since Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping. Jersey might be gone, but, mark my words, Montgomery will be around for a while.

Go On (NBC):

Mrs. Yeti fell in love with this show immediately, but, it took me a little longer to warm up to it. But, now that I have, I cannot wait to watch it every week. The cast is great, the writing is crisp, heartfelt and original and I gotta tell ya, I’m a sucker for therapy groups in movies and TV shows. Be it the darker skewing therapy scenes in Fight Club or the hilarious, angry women’s group scenes in About a Boy, people sitting in a circle contemplating life is comedy gold in my book!

And now, for the worst new shows. As you can see, they totally outnumber the good shows this season. Which is fine by me, I mean, I’m just glad I didn’t get hooked on more dramas since one hour shows are so much harder to watch with Greta running around the living room. Whew!

The Worst New Shows

Revolution (NBC):

Total crap from start to finish, this show feels like it was put together by a freaking computer. “Insert Plot Device A, add a little bit of Movie B and TV Show C, then stir vigorously.” Yikes! And I know it shouldn’t matter, but, even the cast is dumpy. Sorry, but, they are. And that main girl, oy, don’t get me started. Why she is still on TV and my sweet-faced Janet Montgomery is not is a riddle for the ages.

The Neighbors (ABC):

All I can say about this crapfest is: WTF?! Seriously, I want the twenty minutes I spent watching this hopelessly-dated, terribly-unfunny aliens-next-door show back. When it was all over, I actually felt kinda bad for Jami Gertz and I usually hate her in anything. Run, Jami, run!

Partners (CBS):

I was really looking forward to this one and it was disappointing on every level. I mean, the pilot was almost unwatchable. Wait, we stopped watching halfway through, so, I guess that makes it all the way unwatchable. Either way, Partners is a total bomb filled with really annoying characters that will drive you up a wall. Literally!

The New Normal (NBC):

Speaking of annoying characters, this might just be the worst thing Glee creator Ryan Murphy — the king of smug, topical humor that will age as gracefully as Glee has. Which means very badly! — has ever unleashed on the public. There is nothing new or normal about this show and frankly I’m surprised the gay community isn’t picketing the crap out of this mess. Yikes!

Guys With Kids (NBC):

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of picketing shows. I’d like to start a movement to picket this piece o-crap pronto and I’m not just saying that because I’m a stay-at-home-dad. I really expected this show to be better, I mean, come on, Jimmy Fallon is one of the producers! I don’t know what happened, but, the episodes I’ve watched are not about guys or kids. Again, it’s like some marketing flunkie at NBC came up with the poster and the title and then hired people to write the show and fill in the blanks. Urgh…a total trainwreck!

Nashville (ABC):

We waited for this show for a month and lemme tell ya, it was not worth the wait. The music was great and I loved seeing all the real-life Nashville locales featured in the pilot (long live The Bluebird Cafe, whoo-hoo!) but by the thirty-minute mark this show was dragging big time. It could improve over time, but, sadly, time is not something a parent of a toddler has, so, for now, Nashville has left the building. Or, um, you know…our Tivo Season Pass.

And finally, I want to give a heads up to some of the shows that don’t really fall into either category. They were good enough to watch once or twice (and maybe revisit, now that Made in Jersey bit the dust) but, I don’t know if I’d Tivo them on a regular basis. That said, all of the shows listed below are worth checking out if you have the time.

Good Enough to Watch Once

Last Resort (ABC):

I initially Tivo-ed this show because a buddy of mine from The American Mall is in it. She was fantastic in both of the episodes I watched — Autumn plays the ruthless nuclear submarine designer desperately trying to save her “baby” from destruction — and so was the rest of the top-notch cast. The biggest problem I had was that the show’s mythology is already, at just a few episodes in, a little thick for my taste. I mean, I’m all for a good geeky mythology, but, I don’t know if I wanna invest in something that dense right now. Sorry, guys, but, the show is still very good. So, rock on!

666 Park Avenue (ABC):

I know a lot of people didn’t like this show from the get-go, but, I gotta tell ya, again, it all boils down to the hot chick in the lead role. Just kidding. Kinda. But, the lead character here is the plucky, ever-resourceful Rachael Taylor and, well, she’s really pretty and really smart and I’m kinda worried about what kind of trouble she’ll find as she digs deeper into the mystery of this spooky old Manhattan apartment building. So, if you’re along for the ride (like me!) you might dig it. But be forewarned, this show is definitely not for kids. Way too scary!

Elementary (CBS):

Of all the shows I sampled this is the one I think I might reconsider adding to our Season Pass. Lucy Liu, as always, is fantastic and the guy who plays Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is much better than I expected him to be considering his lackluster movie performances of later. I mean, really, could he have looked worse in Dark Shadows? Egads! The show is light, entertaining and, well, did I mention that I have a thing for Lucy Lui? Definitely worth watching!

And that’s it. Sadly, we don’t have the greatest cable set-up, so, we don’t get to watch all the fancy cable shows like Homeland and Boardwalk Empire. But, quicker than you can say library, the DVD’s will be on the shelves of ours. And lord knows we love our library…so, we’ll catch up then!

Dying to hear what new shows you guys are watching, so, fire away.

Putting the “die” in diet…

Yikes, this week flew by. Where were we? Oh yeah, when last we talked, Mrs. Yeti and I were suffering through some major DT’s and drinking lots of hot liquids. Fun! Well, as much I’d like to say that Project X got better last week, it actually got ten times harder…for me, at least. Sorry, I guess I just got sick of eating the same shit all the time…

Oh yeah, and we did cheat a little too. Last Friday night Mrs. Yeti and I had a very rare date night out and went to see a pre-release screening of Dark Shadows followed by a Q&A with the screenwriter. The movie was cool and the discussion afterwards was even better, but, the fact that that was our first night out sans-Greta since January, well, that’s just plain crazy. Wow.

Anyway, being out alone made us totally hungry and we decided that since it was a date night we could eat whatever the hell we wanted. So, we cheated and went to In-N-Out burgers for what I have to say was one of the most spectacular fast food experiences of my life. Seriously, I wanted to stay in that moment forever…it was amazing.

And surprisingly, neither of us felt like hell the next day, so, we just jumped right back onto the Project X bandwagon and kept on trucking. And except for devouring a piece of fried chicken that my brother (our designated babysitter that night) had left behind in our fridge, I was pretty good. Actually, devour is a nice word for what I did to that deep-fried chicken tit. Yikes…I was not myself, amigos.

Anyway, after the fast food blowout and the poor, defiled chicken breast, I was really good for the rest of the weekend. So good, in fact, that when I hauled my fat ass to the cow scale at the laundry mat to weigh myself, I had actually lost a whopping 8.5 pounds! In seven days! Insanity! Seriously, I haven’t lost that much weight in years.

So, you’d think that would make the following week even easier to navigate, but, you’d be wrong. Last week sucked. It was long, I didn’t get nearly enough sleep, and pretty much every lame thing you can think of came to pass. Urgh…I felt like there was a little cartoon raincloud over my head all week, pouring down on me while the rest of the world was all happy and shiny and shit. It was no fun. And, honestly, it made Project X almost unbearable.

But, despite it all, we both stuck with it. Mrs Yeti lost a few mores pounds and I think is holding steady at six pounds lost so far, which is great! and I will find out how much more weight I lost (or, more likely, didn’t lose) tomorrow when I hit the cow scale again. Wish me luck!