TV Ramblings: Season/Series Premieres

A quick note first: Thank you for all the questions for Joshua Jackson, Hugh Laurie and Joss Whedon. I had the Fringe conference call with Joshua Jackson yesterday; I have no idea how many bloggers/journalists were listening in on that call, but about halfway I decided to “stand in line” with my question and didn’t get a turn. This evening is the Joss Whedon one and tomorrow the House one (which was postponed). So just to clear things up, this is not a one-on-one interview, so I’d be even lucky to ask one of the questions. I’ll be posting the transcripts of the calls, as soon as they are available.

So the new TV season has started with loads of my favourite shows returning, plus a ton of new stuff. Instead of reviewing each of them individually I thought I quickly jot down my thoughts about those shows I’ve seen so far. Surprisingly most of the stuff that has premiered so far are the “girly” shows (Melrose Place, 90210, Gossip Girl, etc).

Gossip Girl

I love Blair and Chuck together; glad to see the writers didn’t decide to split them up during the summer. For me, those two will always be the most interesting characters Gossip Girl has. Dan remains as boring as ever, I couldn’t care less about Serena’s cry for attention from daddy (although I wonder who they’ll cast as her dad) and Jenny doesn’t even appear that much in this episode. Nate’s storyline could become interesting, plus I love Joanna Garcia (why did Privileged have to be cancelled?!?).

Melrose Place

Hmm, yeah, not too sure about this. Like 90210, I never had seen the previous incarnation of the show, so didn’t have any familiarity at all with any of the characters. It doesn’t seem though as if you need that, but still there’s something missing in this show. Also none of the characters really stood out to me, and even now I’m struggling to remember who was introduced.

90210

You know a show is in trouble when they’re already “rebooting” stuff in the second season. While I watched season 1 completely, it did have a lot wrong in it. Some of those stuff they have solved this season, but it’s still not there yet. For starters kicking Ethan out the show was a good thing in my eyes; I never liked his storylines that much. But replacing him with ‘Teddy Montgomery’? Come on, that actor is 30 year’s old and is playing a teenager?!? I don’t have a problem if the person actually looks like a teenager, but this guy? Totally unbelievable.

What I did like though is the trio that is now Naomi, Silver and Adrianna. I wish they would just write Annie out of the show already and focus more on the other three girls.

Glee

I loved the pilot of Glee; the songs were spinning in my head for days after seeing it. The second episode though was a bit meh; I didn’t like any of the songs that much, and almost none of the characters seem sympathetic yet. I want to like Rachel, but so far she’s just getting on my nerve.

Vampire Diaries

As I expected, completely nothing like the books. It still could be a great TV show, but I’ll have to wait and see for a couple more episodes. At the moment, it’s feeling very much like a supernatural version of Roswell: shy girl meets broody hot guy with a secret. I’ll still keep watching this, but it’s got to bring more intrigue and mystery, and less pining and staring into each other’s eyes.

More shows are starting this week; I’ll be sure to update about them once I’ve seen them. In the mean time, what did you think of the season premieres so far? Discuss in the comments.