Hello and welcome back to the regular Fall TV season feature here at Movies Music & Television of the weeks TV previews, like always I will preview the next episode of all the shows currently under review here at MM&T as well as the shows which I’m watching but maybe not writing about every week. This is the first one back since last Fall so some shows (Dexter/Homeland) are yet to premiere on their respective networks, there for not to much to give away right now, but we’ll get through what we can, here goes;
Revolution – No Quarter 1.3
Following two episodes of Revolution I’m yet to be enthralled by what’s been on offer, best way to put it, is that in my opinion it’s been mediocre when compared to other works from J.J. Abrams, that’s not say that it can’t get better and in all honesty I hope it does, I touched on the subject in my review of “….” That there are plenty of avenues for the show to go down and hopefully it will do that. In respect of this review, well it does not really give much away other than Miles (Billy Burke) telling Charlie (Tracey Spiridakos) that the futuristic USB stick has the ability to turn the power back on and give the US it’s power back, take a look and let me know what you think.
Person of Interest – Bad Code 2.2
It goes without saying that Person of Interest is the best show that J.J. Abrams has on TV right now and the season 2 premiere did not disappoint in any way whatsoever. Reese was back to doing what he does best in kicking ass whilst Finch was off being all mysterious and wisdom like fencing off against computer hacker Root (Amy Acker). It seems that season 2 will deliver action, drama and mystery at the same level and above from what we got during season one and I can’t wait. “Bad Code” sees the hunt for Mr Finch head to Texas and possibly the first opportunity for the Machine to act outside of its usual jurisdiction of New York, amidst the kick ass who thinks Reese will be successful in finding Finch this week?
Vegas – Money Plays 1.2
From all of the pilot episodes I have seen so far in this Fall season this one has by far impressed me the most, it delivered a classy first episode which saw a weekly crime procedural mix together what should be a longer running feud between law enforcement and a local Mob boss, I’m hoping the weekly procedural side of things drops like I said in the review and hopefully we concentrate more on the bad guys v good guys side of things. The latest offering from Vegas “Money Pays” looks to continue in the light of the “Pilot”, plenty of kick ass from Dennis Quaid and a weekly procedural, I don’t mind that to much if like Person of Interest they can keep the focus on the main story behind the characters, take a look at the preview.
Dexter – Are You…? 7.1
Without doubt the biggest returning show of the Fall season is Dexter, hype has been building since last December when Dexter Morgan plunged his knife into the chest of Travis Marshall’s chest, only to be caught by his sister and Miami Metro Lieutenant Debra Morgan, finally part of Dexter’s secret is out but now Dexter must fight even harder to stay one step ahead of Miami Metro and more importantly his sister, who can never find out the full truth behind Miami’s best blood spatter expert. Being the first episode I can’t find a direct trailer for the episode but this is the latest preview available from three days ago, enjoy.
Homeland – The Smile 2.1
Homeland was without doubt the biggest new drama to hit screens last Fall, from start to finish it was brilliant, it had you constantly guessing, is Nick Brody (Damien Lewis) a terrorist? Or is CIA Agent Carrie (Clare Danes) as crazy as everyone thinks she is? The question was answered during the season 1 finale when Sgt Brody was preparing to blow up the US President and a roomful of his representatives, of course he didn’t go through with it but now he has an even bigger position of power, spurred on terrorist Abu Nazir, Sgt Brody is now a US Congressman with an influential voice in US politics. Again like Dexter I don’t have a trailer for the first episode but this latest teaser really promises that Homeland will once again be hard hitting and possibly even better than season one.
I have to say that out of all the new “Pilot” TV shows coming out of America this Fall, Vegas starring Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis is probably the one which I was least looking forward too, don’t ask me why, I don’t really know. Guess I just thought it was going to be some sort of old town “western” Nevada type thing. I stand here corrected now, as I couldn’t have been more wrong, I was toying with they idea of leaving on Person of Interest (a repeat) but found the effort to reach for my Blu-ray player to check this out and I’m pleased I did because this is actually one of the better Pilots I have seen in a while and it really set Vegas up to look as if it’s going to be a really good show.
Vegas is set back in the 1960’s way before Las Vegas was set up as it is now, it was a simpler time when there were a few casino’s in the area, and most of the land was taken up by ranchers. However, the 60’s was also the time when everyone including the police and town governors were on the take, with the Mob moving in on Vegas to take advantage of the various gambling laws officials decided to look the other way with even the local Sheriff being corrupt. Things quickly go wrong for the small town during this Pilot though and the governors daughter turns up dead and the Sheriff is missing in action, step in Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid) a local ranch owner and former military cop who is hard as nails, Lamb really does not care to much for the new Vegas residents and within the first five minutes of the Pilot he is already beating several air traffic controllers to a pulp for letting planes give fright to his heard. With the Sheriff MIA Lamb is asked to take lead on the investigation by the mayor who for his own gains needs the crime solved.
We are introduced now to plenty of characters, joining Lamb on the hunt for the murderer is his brother Jack (Terra Nova’s Jason O’Mara) and son Cale (Billy Lush), their investigation is backed of course by the mayor Anthony “Red” Carvelli (James Russo) and Vegas’ Assistant District Attorney Katherine O’Connell (Carrie-Ann Moss). Their investigation of course does not go without its snags as new Mob boss Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis) has recently rolled into town, the pair meet on mutual grounds to start with, but it quickly becomes apparent that Savino is not in favour of the local Sheriff snooping around unescorted in his plush Savoy Casino.
It's quite amusing that Ralph Lamb who is made Sheriff by the end of this Pilot has been brought on board to help run a more strict law enforcement operation, whilst at the same time Mob boss Savino has been sent to Vegas to straighten out and “clean up” a few unorthodox mob activities, it would seem that Savino to this point will never be directly involved in anything, and on the face of it although Lamb will and does know Savino is corrupt he will have nothing to go on, think Robert De Niro Goodfellas.
I was worried about my enjoyment of the show like I mentioned above, mainly because of the 60’s setting, I have to say that I thought Vegas actually felt at times very current, maybe even more so than Revolution does in it’s Pilot, there was nothing unbelievable about what was being portrayed, yes, a couple of the fight scenes had you laughing and came as a bit over the top, especially as Lamb chased a Hells Angel motorcycle club member on his horse only to catch him and close line him off the bike, funny, and adds to the enjoyment, kind of reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies “Hurry up, my horse is getting tired”. The added thump of those punches also adds to the persona of Ralph Lamb being a hard ass.
The Pilot centred on the murder investigation, but succeeded in setting up what should be an interesting battle between Sheriff Lamb and Mob boss Vincent Savino, I would hope that each episode does not involve some sort of police procedural and they concentrate more on the battle between the police and the Mob. Following the Pilot Alcatraz’s Sarah Jones was added to the cast to play a mobsters daughter, so an interesting twist could come in there with Lamb’s free living son Cale and her. I really think Vegas looks ok, I’m wouldn’t say I’m totally sold but I enjoyed this Pilot and hopefully it will be built upon in the second episode “All That Glitters”. How about you? What did you think of Vegas? Your comments and discussion are welcome below as always.
Did you catch the post yesterday relating to all the returning shows that I will be watching and reviewing this year? No, well be sure to go check that out, if you didn’t and can’t be bothered then you should know that Dexter and Person of Interest will be the main two shows that I will be reviewing weekly, whilst also dipping in and out of Homeland and The Walking Dead. In this post I want to talk about all the new shows which will be coming our way this fall, which ones I will be watching and what will be added to my review list, your comments and suggestions are welcome as always and please let me know if there is anything I’ve missed which should be included here. I will review all the “Pilot” episodes of the shows which are mentioned below.
Revolution (NBC, Monday’s @10pm) – Premiere September 17th
I put out the trailer for NBC’s Revolution some time ago now and I have to say that out of everything that is new this season this is the show that I’m most looking forward to. The reasons? Well, firstly it’s brought to us by J.J. Abrams and his production company Bad Robot, responsible for shows like Lost and Person of Interest, however there names can also be seen alongside some of TV’s lesser shows, like Alcatrazfor example. Revolution looks to be in a different league all together from Alcatraz though and seems like it could truly be the next Lost, although if like me you watch Person of Interest that is brilliant also. Revolution picks up its story fifteen years after the loss of all electrical power and energy, having mysteriously disappeared we follow a group of survivors (including Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito) on their mission to survive the world they find themselves in. It looks really good and I can’t wait to see how it works out, let’s just hope it fares better than Alcatraz and does miles better than NBC’s last drama effort Awake.
666 Park Avenue (ABC, Sunday’s @10pm) – Premiere September 30th
I’m not really sure what to make of this show right now, it does look really good but I fear for me that there may be a few hide behind the pillow moments, no only kidding I will watch this show but I’m unsure as to weather or not I will be reviewing it every week. The show has a supernatural edge but is billed as a drama, it follows the new managers of a hotel named 666 Park Avenue (of course), the new managers come to learn that there esteemed guests may not be all that they seem. I will probably watch the first few episodes and see how it goes from there.
Last Resort (ABC, Thursday’s @8pm) – Premiere September 27th
Last Resort is another show which I’m not really that sure on, the reason I say that is because of its scheduling. The premise here looks pretty good and we are set to follow a US Submarine crew who are out on exercise when they refuse to obey a direct order of firing missiles at Pakistan, their refusal makes them become the enemy and the US fire on them causing them to take refuge on a fictional island named Sainte Marina, knowing that they are now enemies of their own country they declare themselves a sovereign state with nuclear capabilities whilst also trying to find out who set them up. What puts me off? Well… Terra Nova came with an interesting premise which had a lot of people excited, but the scheduling was similar to this show in that it aired at 8pm, meaning family TV. I hope Last Resort turns out a little better but I guess we will have to wait and see.
Vegas (CBS, Tuesday’s @10pm) – Premiere September 25th
Set in the 1960’s I’m not so sure that Vegas will get my full attention, I let MagicCity go by without watching the Pilot after all. Vegas does come with a strong cast and a mobster storyline through so you never know, maybe I’ll surprise myself. The show is the true life story of Sheriff Ralf Lamb (played by Dennis Quaid) who formerly worked as a rancher, he was the Sheriff in Clark County from 1961 to 1979 and this charts his battle against mobster Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis). The show also stars Terra Nova’s Jason O’Mara, so I will watch the Pilot and then see how it goes from there I think.
Arrow (The CW, Wednesday’s @8pm) – Premiere October 10th
I know very little about this show other than its based on a DC comic book hero named Green Arrow who is clearly not famous enough to get a movie deal. Comic book adaptations are not really my thing if I’m honest, I don’t mind the movies but I attempted to watch The Cape a while back and that was terrible so I will treat the arrow as a back up in case all of the above fails to impress me.
So, that’s it for the new shows coming this year, Revolution is by far and away the favourite for me and we will just see how the rest get on, there will of course be British TV to review including The X Factor which features Nicole Scherzinger, BBC's Good Cop and Luther is also set to return which this year, then there is always movies and box sets, I'm currently a couple of episodes into season one of Sons Of Anarchy courtesey of LOVEFiLM Instant which I will be reviewing soon. Any thoughts?
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