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- NBC Comedies were all up their game. Community, The Office, Parks and Recreation.
- Old Comedies that are not quite mine yet. I am starting Raising Hope this season, before watching the first season (I'll be starting it this week!), and if the premiere is any indication, I am going to love this show. It's a little quirky and a lot of heart, which are two of my favorite things in a comedy!
- Up All Night! (Is this cheating since it's another NBC comedy?) I didn't totally buy into the pilot, but that second episode hit the nail! (I'm still not sold on Nick Cannon's character, but I probably will be by the end of the week.) Everything about this show is golden, especially the relationships between all the characters. Ava and the baby are great, and shows a less-dramatic side of Ava, which is necessary to become invested in such a high-octane character.
- Pan Am. Full disclosure: I was going through tweets while watching this, so only three-quarters paying attention, but I really enjoyed it. Especially the little we saw of Christina Ricci's character. All the ladies are lovely, to be honest, even if they're driving the idea of an independent woman too hard considering their job is glamorized beyond. I might have issues with romanticized nostalgia, but I still enjoyed the escape.
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- Notably both of Whitney Cummings shows. Whitney's constant stream of defensive rebukes against elitist critics and people who complain about their laughing audience is making me root for the show even less. If they believe in their product, they should let the show talk for itself instead of blaming outside actors for... what? I'm not sure because the show pulled in decent ratings. Posts like this and this only make the show sound bitter. And I really wanted to like 2 Broke Girls. A lot. But I don't. It's full of off-color jokes that hinge on the stereotypes of ethnicity of the characters, and not in a smart, knowing way. It's too busy (do we need to follow Max to both of her jobs so soon?), and we still don't have a vision for who the characters are.
- The positive for this, is that shows, especially comedies, need time to develop their voice. I'm probably giving 2 Broke Girls through the season to pick up their game. I'll sit out Whitney and hope for better reviews.
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- My Sci Fi. Fringe! I loved a lot of things about this premiere, but I didn't feel like it was a very strong opener. Maybe I'm a little too confused as to what universe we're currently residing and how Peter still fits into it. I understand that Olivia still feels him, since she has a hole in her life that she mentioned several times (maybe a few times too many), and Walter's life is obviously still very much influenced by both losses of his son (death as a child, and then the weird Peter-doesn't-exist-anymore twist). I have high hopes that my questions will be answered (even if that leads to more questions, because that what this show does - and then drop questions too often, but I deal).
- Glee. This leans positive. I liked the premiere. The Hummelberry (Kurt/Rachel) would border on gimmicky if they continue to reward this relationship the same amount of airtime all season, but for this one episode it was fine. (There were a couple moments of over-acting, and are we supposed to believe they would feel threatened by a bunch of background tappers? The lead, Glee Project's, Lindsay Pearce, probably, but the background dancers?) I think this episode sets up the season nicely. The presence of the new writers definitely helps the chaos. My dislike for Blaine to move to McKinely (what is the point, from a character perspective? The way the writers treat him is ridiculously Mary Stu-like) is canceled out by the adorable Finchel. (My favorite dinosaur/Jew pairing.) Really, this was just a set-up episode. Solid performances, and did its job.
- The New Girl. I watched this early thanks to the iTunes free download. Even so, I'd seen all the promos, and watching the pilot just felt like a rehash of the jokes. It was fine, good. I can't really remember what I thought. I liked it well enough, I think.
I still haven't seen my Sunday dramas (The Good Wife, Pam Am, and Boardwalk Empire), but after I catch up I will insert it in one of these categories.
