I do my weekly DVR Purges, but let's be frank: they are crap. I don't proofread them at all most weeks. They're collections of scattered thoughts that barely even make sense a week later. What I've decided to do is, with most of these shows I watch taking a break, reflect on where I stand with them, assessing what is in the show's favor (assets) and what could get it in trouble (liabilities).
Now, not every show I watch will be included. In general, I'm sticking to shows that I've kept notes (be them from Purges or otherwise) as I've watched. That means, shows like The Bridge, Looking, Sherlock, and Dexter will not be included. To get my thoughts on those, ask me. This project, supposing I stay on schedule should take all month and I hope it does a good job summing up where these shows stand. In some cases, I'm hoping to convince you to start watching. Other times, it'll be nothing more than a postmortem for a show that's gone.
I hope you enjoy.
Favorite Episode(s): "Night Games"
Maggie Lawson: Look, she's from Louisville. I remember her on the local Fox Kids. I've watched Model Behavior more often than I should admit to. Part of what got me watching Psych was that I saw she was in the cast. I'm a Maggie Lawson fan. Even still, I did not know how she would be as the lead in a series. She spent most of her time on Psych reacting to others rather than producing much on her own, and anything before that I've seen or her benefited from the diminished expectations of childhood. Immediately, I realized she could carry this show. By the end of the pilot, I had no doubt that she could lead a series. She should lead a series. She was tough and combative with Cannon, caring and motherly with Danny, funny and frazzled with Gigi, assertive with Dick, competent with the team. She wore many hats for the show and made it work. I fully expect her to be back on a show by next pilot season.
Gigi: I was not at all enthused by Gigi when the series began. She struck me as a lazy, rich, wino stereotype. That assessment wasn't far off, but guess what: Leonora Crichlow made it work. I'm still not sure how. The writers knew not to do too much with her, but let her have a few good lines in any episode (My personal favorite: "Oh good lord. You look like a 7 year old doing the walk of shame. It's Halloween, darling. Where' are your breasts?"). Gigi is a great reminder that a character doesn't have to be complex to be enjoyable.
Griffin Gluck: I'm not the biggest fan of children actors as a rule. Most of them have to be written around or else they drag down the scenes they are in. I'm not bashing them. They simply aren't as trained. It's why 20-somethings tend to play high schoolers all the time. So, it always makes me happy when a child actor is good. In terms of the main cast, Griffin Gluck as Danny is the third lead in the show and got a lot of stories in which he was the lead. I won't pretend that he was perfect, but he matched James Caan as often as he was just one of the kids on the team. He pulled off the standard "kid who acts older than his years" role with aplomb, so that he still seems like a kid, but he can deliver lines that I couldn't at his age. Instead of being jealous, I applaud his talent.
Baseball: It's a summer sport. It's only part of the year and it's the part of the year when people aren't watching TV*. While they can conveniently get around it because parts of California have the weather of paradise, the show was never going to sit right. The show was certainly going to morph into something less about the premise and more about the characters over time (when was the last time anyone at Dunder Mifflin did any work?). Initially though, it had to survive the fact that it's centered around a single mom, her absent father, and the baseball team they coach. It's a hyper-specific premise, one that I'm starting to think would've been better if done as a summer series on ABC Family. The writers did a lot with it. Much more than I expected. I could easily see them filling a season with baseball, but it would have to depart from it eventually.
*Other people. Not me.
The Children: The cast of this show is four adult regulars and a bunch of kids. A single kid is manageable. A couple kids is optimal. An entire team is intimidating. Danny is great. Michael (Gigi's son) was fine. David (Dick's son) was ok. Vanessa was lacking. Pretty much the rest of the team was one-note. It doesn't help that the mix of a team this bad and Caan's character made this the Bad News Bears in everything but name, and this was never recognized by anyone on the show.
Dick: He was only a liability early on, so I almost didn't put him here. In those first couple episodes, Dick was used as a cover-all so that they didn't have to cast new parts. He'd be the guy who likes Terry, Terry's chief adversary in the baseball league, her boss, and the owner of just about anything else they needed him to. It was a pretty thankless role. Then somewhere toward the end of the run, I think with "Color Barrier" in which he has a sincere father-son moment with David, he became a character rather than a plot device. I could see him developing into a valuable cast member by the end of a full season. With the few episodes we did get of the show though, most of what we got was Dick being a, well, you know, so I'm keeping him as a liability.
Outlook:
Of the cancelled freshman series this year, Back in the Game is the one I will miss the most. In terms of companion shows for The Middle, this was the best one in years. Similar comedic tone. Family comedy. Didn't hemorrhage ratings (cough - Suburgatory - cough). I still don't fully understand why ABC didn't pick it up. They'd be smart to get in the Maggie Lawson business and of course they'd want to have James Caan on their network (then again, Las Vegas was never a hit for NBC). This was a completely likable show and I will miss it.
Previously this Offseason...
Community
Brooklyn Nine Nine
New Girl
Suburgatory
Modern Family
Parenthood
The Mindy Project
The Michael J Fox Show
The Big Bang Theory
Agents of SHIELD
The Crazy Ones
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