I watch the upfronts trailers so we can judge them together and all make informed decisions. There we go.
Gotham
SURPRISINGLY INTRIGUED BY THIS TRAILER. Like, I haven't been entirely sure how to feel about Gotham; academically speaking, it's a little weird, given that most cop shows tend to be ideologically reassuring. There's typically this unspoken idea of "Hey, they caught the bad guy. The world's a little better." It... indirectly reproduces faith in the system by showing the success of the system, I guess? Even if the system is just represented by rogue cops. I mean, there are exceptions — Miami Vice actually tended to be very aware of the fact that sometimes your efforts don't matter, because another crime lord, another drug runner, will just step up to fill the void — but there's, I don't know, sort of an idea of working towards a better world, and with Gotham we know from the beginning that things are only going to get worse. Sort of like when you're watching Oedipus Rex and you know that this shit isn't going to go well for him.
So purely for those reasons, I've been curious about its eventual form, but this trailer was actually pretty great. (JADA PINKETT SMITH AS FISH MOONEY. TINY CATWOMAN. GIVE ME.) I'll definitely be on my couch in the fall, ready to pass more judgment then.
Is anybody else really distracted by David Tennant's American accent? Because I am really distracted by David Tennant's American accent.
On the other hand, maybe the ten-episode thing will mean they don't get mired in the "how do we drag out this mystery/solve but but still keep people interested" conundrum of every single-crime cop show ever.
Here for itttttttt. Do I care that the trailer tells you absolutely nothing about what the story will be? Look, whatever, the guy who made Pacific Rim is making a show about ancient Egypt with actual characters of color. (Yeah, shots fired, Gods of Egypt. Seriously, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Geoffrey Rush as Egyption gods? Seriously?) Granted, I don't understand why the main character appears to be a white guy, but still, Roommates and I have had this on our "totally going to watch at least the first episode" list for a while now, this vague-as-shit trailer isn't going to change anything.
(There's... a magic book and also possibly evil vampire demon things and horror tropes? Whatever. Still here for it.)
Sorry, the dulcet tones of the laugh track lulled me into a peaceful nap halfway through this promo.
Okay, not really. I guess it could be a cute show, but I don't really have the best track record with sitcoms, so I'm a little out of my depth on gauging that. There just wasn't much in this that actually caught me.
Oh, so this is the one that people keep comparing to Twin Peaks. (Also wow, this show really wants to announce its prestige pedigree right from the get-go.) I think that's an unfair comparison, really. I mean, I'm interested in seeing Twin Peaks. I have absolutely no interest in seeing Wayward Pines.
Oh boy. Grumpy, out-of-control, astonishingly effective but self-destructive white boy detective with a mumble-mumble-connection-to-crimesolving and team of mostly attractive oddballs? Look, I like Rainn Wilson as much as the next person who saw the first four seasons of The Office, but honestly, I'm already bored. I'm tired of fictional universes revolving around obnoxiously intelligent white dudes with shitty manners.
Given its collection of ingredients, it's entirely possible that this will come out and end up getting labeled something like "an edgy, darkly quirky cop drama reminiscent of True Detective or whatever, Rainn Wilson makes an appealingly unappealing main character, etc. etc, blah blah blah." Still don't care. It's coming out in 2015, anyway, so whatever.
The show that has been making my roommates and I debate the merits of supporting a show that stars a guy who beat his wife (goddamnit, Terrence Howard) for the sake of the rest of the cast (Taraji P. Henson! Gabourey Sidibe! other actors I don't know but who seem excellent!). It looks intense, man. Actually, it's kind of reminding me of Kings, except in the music industry instead of an actual royal family, and also not about white people. Family drama, manipulations, betrayal, epic fights over the question of succession, the dad being ashamed of his gay son...
...I admire their ambition. I mean, making a super-intricately plotted serialized show with a zillion characters takes a particular kind of chutzpah, but making a show with only one character and hoping that the novelty won't get boring after episode 2? Ambition.
God knows if it'll pay off, but hey, you do you, Will Forte.
FOX hasn't come out with trailers for Red Band Society (teens in a hospital! bonding! there is an 87% chance that the people who made this have read The Fault in our Stars); Bordertown (Family Guy does immigration? Hoo boy); and Weird Loners (looks like what it says on the can, although I'm hella wary of any show that describes its only woman of color as "mysterious and ethereal"). The only two shows I know Roommates and I will be checking out for sure are Gotham and Hieroglyph, and maybe Empire.
No comments:
Post a Comment