I’m a pretty big fan of How I Met Your Mother. The characters are fun, they utilize flashbacks, foreshadows and running jokes that play out sometimes seasons later. Plus, it helped re-launch the career of everyone’s favorite teenage doctor. It seemed to me to be such an original concept that it took me several seasons and someone else to tell me it was basically Friends in a bar instead of a coffee house. Whatever, I loved Friends too. The concept of having an end game in mind though – Meeting the Mother – is something that I really appreciate. It constantly moves the plot forward and gives us something to look forward to. So when I heard that a new show by the same creators of one of my favs was going to be a mid-season replacement on FOX, I was stoked. The Goodwin Games has another unique, end game concept. Three estranged siblings are brought together by their recently deceased dad (Beau Bridges) after they discover he’s left one of them a $23 million inheritance. The catch? They have to complete a series of games until one is somehow announced the winner. The first game is a customized version of Trivial Pursuit about the lives of the Goodwins as they grew up together. So far, that’s taken up the first two episodes. I’m sure that once there’s a winner of this game, there will be another game and another until dead daddy is satisfied his kids have learned enough life lessons and they’ve turned into the family he’s always wished they would be. Blah blah blah None of them especially want to be there, but even by the second episode they’re all starting to realize they need to change their ways and become better people. Yet still they only stick around to beat the others out for daddy’s fortune. So that’s a conundrum. The Goodwins are comprised of: Scott Foley from Felicity fame, T.J. Miller, a comedian I’ve seen once on Chelsea Lately but probably won some kind of game show to kickstart his career and Becki Newton, best known as Barney’s ex-fiancé & stripper Quinn Garvey on How I Met Your Mother. Right now I’m going to give them maybe another two episodes before I call it quits. It’s predictable, the acting isn’t great and they’re using the same Universal back lot that How I Met Your Mother uses (also used for Gilmore Girls, I might add – I know because daughter Goodwin was sitting right there on Lorelai’s porch) without any attempt to make it look like somewhere else. That’s just annoying. I’m hoping this show will work out its first few episode hiccups and end up being good enough to make up for the fact that all the Bays/Thomas creative energy was spent realizing this concept, leaving us with a nearly unwatchable second to last season of...
One More Thing Before We Go: DVR Alert
posted by Ernessa T. Carter
Is it me or is Monday TV becoming an out-and-out pile up. Here’s what’s duking it out today: Heroes, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, CSI: Miami, Gossip Girl, Dancing With the Stars, Daily Show, Colbert Report And here’s how I prioritize: 1. What CH and I like and can watch together (Heroes, Big Bang Theory, CSI: Miami) 2. What CH likes — since he has more time to watch TV. (Daily Show, Colbert Report) 3. What I like (Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother) 4. My Guilty Pleasures — which I only watch online where no one else can see me (Dancing with the Stars) So if you’re in the same boat as me, just remember that you can catch many of these shows online at their networks’ sites, before you get in a fight w/ your S.O. or roommie (DVR spots are like relationship landmines). That all said, since Bones and House have already started, there’s only one DVR alert for Tuesday — and it’s a new kid show called The Mentalist. Yes, yes, I know that this is the basically USA Network’s Psych with a helluva lot more pedigree. But I’m intrigued with getting the high-concept of a fake psychic turned detective — without having to sit through James Roday’s never-ending schtick. So I’m giving the show a chance. Plus, it’s like the law that all black women in interracial relationships have to support everything headliner Simon Baker does, because he was in Something New (you think I’m kidding, but I’m not). Catch it on CBS, at 9pm...
Set Your DVR By It: Heroes w/ BBT and HIMYM on the Side
posted by Ernessa T. Carter
So it was a long, cruel summer, and though I thank BBC America and the Olympics for tiding me over with Dr. Who, Spaced, Torchwood, Skins, and all the synchronized diving I could stand, I’m more than happy to welcome the Fall TV schedule back into my life. Here’s the Bad News: The new kids shows pretty much all look like they suck — with just a handful of exceptions. Here’s the Good News: A ton of our favorite shows are coming back, and with full seasons this time! And here’s the Even Better News: For the next few weeks, I’m going to be giving you DVR alerts either one or two days beforehand, so that you don’t miss a moment of the shows you should be watching (read: the shows I think you should be watching). That all said, here’s your first DVR Alert: Monday, September 22nd Heroes, NBC, 9-10pm: Okay I know that the second season of Heroes was a let down, and that the Latina hero was annoying, and that the black girl hero was underused, and that they split up Masi Oka and his sidekick, and that the flying guy was enh, and that they just didn’t seem to know what to do with by beloved Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars fame. But I’m hoping that Tim Kring has hired some writers that can actually do romance and that they find some kick-ass use for the black girl hero and make the Latina hero stop whining and tell the flying guy to go away and make sure that Masi Oka is never taken from his sidekick again. Do we think it will happen? The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8pm: My little sister, the chemical engineer actually introduced me to this...