View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week: What new TV shows are you looking forward to this fall?
Cutting back
I am not really looking forward to any new TV shows this year. Frankly, I am trying to cut back on TV viewing.
There are a couple of things I am looking forward to the return of, however. Murdoch Mysteries is coming back for a ninth season. I love murder mysteries and this made-in and based-in Canada series is one of the best not just for Canada, but in the world.
I have mixed feelings about the return of The Big Bang Theory. They almost lost me last year with the ongoing decline of the characters, particularly Sheldon, having sympathetic qualities.
Fall also means return of the 鈥淎t Issue鈥� panel on CBC鈥檚 The National, one of the smartest groups of pundits on the airwaves. CBC is also back to two hours a day of Power and Politics with the commensurate expansion of the daily 鈥淧ower Panels鈥� to a full slate of participants and three full time blocks. Since I can鈥檛 seem to get enough politics, that is good news, pardon the pun.
In any event, I don鈥檛 think I will commit to anything new and I don鈥檛 know if I will even go back to any of my other regulars from last year, such as The Flash.
I will likely watch new editions of MasterChef and Hell鈥檚 Kitchen and probably some hockey when the Ottawa Senators games are available, but that鈥檚 about it.
-Thom Barker
The shortlist
New television for fall 2015 that has me excited?
Well the list is short to say the least.
The best new TV was launched this spring with the great scifi duo of Dark Matters, a Canadian production filled with Canadian actors, and Killjoys. The two shows played back-to-back over the summer on Space and both were great.
If only that were the case for fall TV.
I鈥檒l tune into Supergirl as a comic book fan from by youngest days, but it is on the CBS network and the big networks do lousy superhero TV.
Melissa Benoist stars as Kara Zor-El, with the powers she shares with her famous cousin Superman. She becomes Supergirl but don鈥檛 expect the series to be super.
Also from CBS comes Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.
The latest Criminal Minds spin-off focuses on a division of the FBI that helps American citizens who find themselves in danger abroad. It was previewed during last season鈥檚 Criminal Minds and will star Gary Sinise, Daniel Henney and Tyler James Williams.
I have loved Criminal Minds but there is no need to expand the franchise, and this one鈥檚 premise adds little.
Into the Badlands from AMC is promising.
I long ago gave up on the putridly bad, no plot, bad acted, watch me for the grossest zombie kill-of-the-week Walking Dead from this channel, so Badlands might well be over-hyped tripe too.
Still set in a world where the Old West meets feudal Japan where a warrior helps out a kid and beats up bad guys has my attention, maybe because it harkens back to David Carradine鈥檚 Kung Fu from my youth.
Blindspot from NBC has caught my eye.
鈥淎fter a woman (Jaimie Alexander) with no memories of her past is found naked in Times Square with her body covered in tattoos, she gains the attention of the FBI, who follow the road map on her body to reveal a large crime conspiracy and discover the truth about her identity,鈥� is a web synod of the series. I鈥檒l DVR the first couple of episodes at least.
The Frankenstein Code comes from Fox
鈥淔rom super-producer Howard Gordon (24, Homeland) this drama tells the story of Ray Pritchard (Philip Baker Hall), a morally corrupt retired cop, who is given a second chance at life when he is brought back from the dead. His now younger and stronger self (portrayed by True Blood鈥檚 Rob Kazinsky) will have to choose between his old temptations and his new sense of purpose,鈥� notes a web synop.
It is a theme I would normally be intrigued by, but Fox is such a bad network I can鈥檛 get excited.
The Bastard Executioner from FX has my attention if it shows up here in Canada.
鈥淔rom Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, this period drama tells the story of a warrior knight (Aussie Lee Jone) in King Edward I鈥檚 charge who is broken by the ravages of war and vows to lay down his sword. But when that violence finds him again he is forced to pick up the bloodiest sword of all,鈥� is the synopsis.
And finally the series that I am dying to see; DC鈥檚 Legends of Tomorrow from CW.
The network has aced Arrow and Flash so there is no reason to doubt this will be great.
The series features 鈥渢ime-traveling rogue Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), who after seeing a future he desperately wants to prevent from happening, is tasked with assembling a disparate group of heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?鈥�
Brandon Routh, Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Victor Garber Ciara Renee, Franz Drameh and Caity Lotz also star.
-Calvin Daniels
Unworthy
I鈥檇 really like to say that there is a plethora of television shows beginning in the fall that I am excited to begin watching.
However that would be a complete and utter lie and my mother told me that lying makes baby Jesus cry (and while I鈥檓 not religious the only time I like seeing a child cry is when I take their candy).
As of right now, there really is no actual television series worthy of my time.
There used to be worthy shows of course. Ones that I thoroughly enjoyed until they were taken off the air because, well, that鈥檚 seemingly what idiot television bosses do.
Numb3rs was an outstanding series that ran its course and was silenced by the television powers that be.
Breakout Kings was another show that I absolutely enjoyed; only to have it cancelled after two whole seasons for apparently no reason whatsoever.
Backstrom, starring Rainn Wilson (better known as Dwight Schrute from The Office), was the most recent television series that caught my attention.
Alas, it lasted just one season before being removed from the air only to be replaced by the absolute rubbish that they鈥檙e feeding us now.
So to end, there are no shows that I am looking forward to watching this fall.
And if there were, then chances are I鈥檇 enjoy them for one season only to have them cancelled the next.
-Randy Brenzen
