"Let me know where my loved ones go, it's not fair to keep 'em hid. Tell me what I did, take me back to when the world was black before the sun was made, a picnic in the shade." ~the felice brothers

I'm seeing The Felice Brothers tonight! I'm really excited. I'll report back. I probably won't record video, but I might do audio. Oh, and I wanted to write about Ray LaMontagne. Maybe that'll go in my Felice Bros. post.

It's time for a new season of TV! I love the fall because I get to see my favorite shows return and have the chance to fall in love with a whole new crop of shows. I spent the summer looking forward to seeing where Chuck, Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives would pick up, and now I'm deciding what new shows will be added to my regular viewing list. Here are some of my thoughts regarding the new shows I've seen so far. They're kind of listed in preference order, starting with my favorite (Revenge).

Revenge
I love Emily VanCamp. I was disappointed when she left Brothers & Sisters, and having her back on my TV makes me so happy. Seeing her as the star of a show makes me even happier, because on B&S obviously it was easy for her to get lost in such a large ensemble cast. In Revenge, the story centers around her. The pilot grabbed me right away; I immediately knew this would be one of my favorite shows of the season. It's deliciously and unapologetically soapy. It's intriguing and mysterious and I love how the story is unfolding. Emily VanCamp really carries the show wonderfully; she makes Emily (yes, her character is named Emily as well, at least in the present time period) sympathetic, which isn't necessarily an easy task considering some of her actions. The show keeps getting better after the pilot, too; the second episode is fabulous. Trust me, go watch this show.

Pan Am
Of course this show is drawing the inevitable comparisons to Mad Men, but I don't watch Mad Men, so I can't comment on those comparisons. I can cautiously say that I like Pan Am. It definitely presents a romanticized view of the 1960's, which isn't necessarily a problem. It's visually beautiful; in fact, it seems to favor style over substance, at least based on the pilot. But I want more character development! I want to know more about Maggie; when you have a talented actress like Christina Ricci in your cast, you need to give her some meaty material to work with. They're bringing the Cold War and espionage into the story, which could be interesting depending on where they go with it. So basically I think this show has potential, and I'm going to keep watching it.

Two Broke Girls
Kat Dennings is awesomely sarcastic, and she and Beth Behrs have good chemistry. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's a funny sitcom that makes me laugh and that's definitely not a bad thing. So it's on my watching list!

Suburgatory

Jeremy Sisto is another actor I'm thrilled to have back on my TV (but his character is nothing like Billy, his Six Feet Under character). I like Jane Levy (who cannot escape the Emma Stone comparisons) as Tessa, and the show has a great supporting cast (including Alan Tudyk and Cheryl Hines). The show is edgy and funny, and I'm excited to see more.






Terra Nova
I saw the pilot at Comic-Con, so it's been awhile, but I'll try to remember my thoughts and post them here. I think this is a really interesting concept, but I'm a bit disappointed with the execution. The dialogue doesn't work; it's way too cliche. The characters aren't developed enough. Stephen Lang is awesome, Jason Mara is awesome...please let their awesomeness shine. The CGI dinosaur stuff is cool (with Spielberg attached, that's not a surprise). I don't think I'll be watching this show unless the writers get their act together and I hear it's gotten fabulous.


The New Girl
I know people are falling in love with this show, and I love Zooey Deschanel so I thought I'd be a huge fan, but I'm just not feeling it right now. Jess (Zooey's character) is just too quirky for comfort. I just don't think she's likeable. And her male roommates aren't fleshed out enough; right now they just seem like cookie cutter characters. So I'm not watching The New Girl anymore. I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Sorry, Zooey. I'd rather watch my Almost Famous DVD to see you in action.



I'm excited for some other new shows to start, like Homeland (Claire Danes!), and I'll keep you updated on what I'm watching. If I'm missing something fabulous, let me know!

Oh, by the way, in my last post I wrote about going to an advance screening of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. They finally released a trailer (I can't believe I saw the film before a trailer was even out), so here it is (it's a good trailer; bonus points for the use of U2):


I'm in a surprisingly good mood today considering how frustrated I am that my baseball team suffered the largest collapse in NL Wild Card race history last night. I think it's the prospect of seeing the Felice Brothers tonight that's holding me together.