Most television shows are about to return from their midseason break. It’s a good time to reflect on some shows I reviewed the past few months and see if they’ve improved over time or not.

Revolution – This show won’t be back until March and it has proven to be this year’s Terra Nova. Promoted like crazy, the DNA of top flight producers and somehow the premise and execution didn’t quite rise to all the hype. People tune in, but a good number of the viewing public is looking for plot holes and the bad acting of the actress playing Charlie. To me, as time went on the premise was weak and the motivation for the characters was cardboard, and yes I was one tuning in waiting for a colossal fail. The midseason cliffhanger wasn’t too exciting for me. My main problem with the show is I’m supposed to believe when the power goes out America reverts to a time resembling the Civil War era. I’m supposed to believe people who were 2-5 years old when the power went out wouldn’t remember things like Google or trains. Considering this show came out during a contentious election season, I’m supposed to believe most of the American citizens gave up their guns and ammunition without a serious fight, and that now a good number are experts with swords. I honestly don’t see where the show can get better because there are so many planks in the foundation of the story that don’t work.

Arrow – The first thing I had to do with this show is cut out the hope this was Green Arrow from the DC Universe. While this isn’t Smallville (I’ll leave it to you to figure if that is high praise or criticism), I had to keep reminding myself the creators just wanted the template of the character and they weren’t going to try and do a hero show. This show boils down to a slightly elevated CW show. It’s pretty people pretending to have problems. Its stern faces meant to convey concern about a situation. Its impossible love triangles. Its male ripped abs, women hired for looks more than acting, and it putting in enough comic book elements to make us geeks think the producers are trying to do a hero show but they aren’t. This is a show with people saying very clichéd comic book lines and not doing it convincingly. Think of it this way, when I watch Star Trek, any of the versions, when they start spouting techno babble, I know it’s fake but the actors say the lines with a conviction where it’s believable. These actors seem to know they signed on for a comic book show and they ham up the show with comic book acting. The writers aren’t helping with bad dialog and, like I said, a CW attitude. I don’t have much hope this show will improve, but deep down I hope it does improve.

Scandal – The reason why I have a little hope for Arrow is this show. I gave it faint praise when it came out, wasn’t too confident when it returned, but it gave a good turn on one of my TV show rules. When a show is on the bubble on its first season and is renewed, the creator can panic and try to play it safe or, in the case of Scandal, they can go balls to the wall to show it deserved to be renewed. While I’m still not a fan of the relationship between Olivia and the President, the stories they have put together up to the midseason have been excellent. You would expect the plot twists thrown in to be season enders, not midseason stuff. The best thing I like about Scandal is no one seems to be clean. We aren’t talking people just a little bit dirty but full on Pigpen dirty swirling stuff. At the very least, they stood by while an election was rigged, but it seems even Olivia had her fingers in the dirty hole. This is a show where I can’t wait for the season to continue. This is my must see show of the season.

Elementary – I haven’t done a formal review of Elementary because I didn’t have a good read on the show. When I saw some articles declaring it the best new show of the season, I was a bit bewildered. Yes, I watch it every week and find it amusing in some parts, but I wouldn’t say it was the best of the new shows. At best it is the best show against a number of mediocre shows. Elementary falls into the category of cranky, almost anti-social smart people who have some mundane fall from grace who now tolerate others presence because they feel some need to have an audience when they solve a case and prove their superiority. Shows like House or The Mentalist fall into this category. The only fun twist with Elementary is with the other shows mentioned, they get foreign actors to play Americans and they have to use American accents. Elementary, with the Sherlock Holmes angle, allows for the English born star to use his own British accent.

Last Resort – This is what I mean by a mediocre show. I know it has been cancelled and is running out its last shows, so I won’t be too hard on it, but here’s is the biggest illustration of what I found wrong with the show. You have a drug dealer on the island that has killed a member of the sub crew. He wasn’t killed for this. Every few weeks we learn this drug dealer, a self described mayor of the island, keeps doing things to the crew, things that are clearly traced back to him. A crew of Navy personnel and a couple of Navy SEALS have let this drug dealer continue to harass them and no one has put this drug dealer down? That is plain wrong.

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A Look at Previously Reviewed TV Shows - January 02, 2013
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