Ugly Betty looks like more an ABC Family movie of the week than a weekly show. A feel good movie for 15-year-old girls who are at the age where they feel like everyone in the world is prettier than them. (It would be funny if now I just blurted out how much I loved it.)
The show revolves around Betty Suarez, a Latin girl from Queens who dreams of working for a high-profile magazine. Unfortunately, according to the show, no one will hire her because she’s ugly. This confuses me since I didn’t know that unattractive people had that much trouble finding work. Betty isn’t even that ugly. In typical Hollywood style, all they would have to do is take off her ridiculous glasses, dress her in something halfway appealing and lose the braces. Which I’m sure they will do in some episode down the road when she’s about to go out on a big date with some guy she’s had a crush on for a while but just now noticed her.
But I digress.
Betty applies for a job at a magazine and was turned away without even an interview because of her appearance. But on her way out she is noticed by the head of the publishing company. He has just appointed his son Daniel to run his fashion magazine and wants him to stop screwing his assistants and get to work. So he hires Betty to be his son’s assistant.
Of course, Betty is a fish-out-of-water in the world of fashion and Daniel has no interest in an assistant who isn’t hot, so it’s Betty against the world. And, just as predictably, she works hard and wins Daniel over while succeeding in her new position.
The central message of the show was “if you work hard, things will work out for you – even if you’re ugly and poor.” And this message was brought to you by Executive Producer Selma Hayek, who has never been ugly nor poor.
If you’re a 15-year-old girl or need some uplifting because you’re too ugly to find work, you might enjoy Ugly Betty. Otherwise, skip it. I can’t see it making it long in it’s 8 p.m. Thursday time-slot anyway.
I give Ugly Betty a 2.
Ugly Betty: Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Adam Pilots, Reviews, TV
Formerly called “Let’s Rob …”, The Knights of Prosperity premieres on ABC Tuesday, October 17 at 9 p.m. Take my advice, plan to watch something else.
This is the kind of show that you watch and wonder how it ever got greenlighted. There are some shows that are probably worse (The Happy Hour), but at least I get what they were going for.
Knights is just a horrible mistake all the way around. I would love to meet the people they screened this for who gave them the positive feedback that allowed them the confidence to air this show. I’d love to ask what it was that they liked. I’d sooner give up TV forever than watch shows like American Idol or Two and Half Men, but I accept that there’s an audience for those shows out there and I can imagine who they might be. (Probably my mother.) I can’t fathom who the audience for Knights would be.
The show centers around a janitor named Eugene Gurkin played by Donal Logue (Grounded for Life), who I actually really like. He has always dreamed of opening up a bar and when a fellow janitor dies on the job he decides it’s time to act. Except he doesn’t have any money so he comes up with a plan, while watching a Cribs-style show on E!, to rob Mick Jagger’s apartment. Knowing he can’t do it alone, he recruits a band of losers to help and they call themselves the Knights of Prosperity.
That’s pretty much it. Imagine what it would look like if the biggest loser you knew of decided to try and pull off an Ocean’s Eleven style caper. That’s Knights. It’s not funny, just sad.
I give Knights a 2, only because I gotta believe someone could come up with something worse so I wanna save 1s for those special occasions.
The Knights of Prosperity: Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC
Adam Pilots, Reviews, TV
CBS is on a roll with me. First, I had to admit that I really liked The Class. Then I sit down to watch Jericho and again come away impressed.
In case you are reading this from outside the U.S. or one of the 4 people in America who haven’t seem the multitude of trailers, Jericho is a new show beginning Wednesday September 20 that tells the story of a small town in Kansas who survive what appears to be a nuclear attack. Skeet Ulrich (Scream, The Craft) plays Jake Green, who comes back to his hometown for the first time in 5 years to try and collect some inheritance money left to him by his grandfather. His father – played by Major Dad star Gerald McRaney – is the mayor the small town of Jericho. He apparently was “put in charge of” the money and doesn’t seem pleased with his son nor willing to hand the money over to him.
Like most elements of the plot so far, Jake’s back story is a mystery. Several people ask him where he’s been and everyone got a different answer. His mother seems to at least know why he needs the money, but it isn’t revealed.
During the pilot episode the towns people see an explosion in the distance and all lines of communication are out. Other than that, they don’t really know what’s going on. Was it an accident? A terrorist attack? Was it only one explosion or are they the only ones left on Earth?
I like the mystery and the characters seem very interesting. The fear and uncertainty comes through the screen and since you’re in the dark as much as the characters on the show, it is very compelling.
I believe I’ll be adding Jericho to my TiVo Season Pass list. I give it an 9.
Jericho, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS
Adam Pilots, Reviews, TV
I just watched The Class, a new show debuting September 18 on CBS, and was surprised how much I liked it. I’m not a big fan of network shows and CBS is probably my least favorite of the networks. But I really did like this show.
Kudos for CBS having the foresight to put it on TiVo before it premiered.
The pilot introduces the characters as Ethan – played by Jason Ritter, son of the late John Ritter – decides to throw a surprise party for his girlfriend. Since he met her in the third grade, he thought it would be a great gift for her if he gathered all of their third grade classmates.
Of course, nothing goes as planned. There isn’t much from the pilot to go into except that you learn a little more about the characters and their personalities. One still lives with his mother, another is engaged to a much older former football legend, and my favorite character so far: Kat, the deeply cynical one who didn’t want to come to the party but enjoys when it starts to break down. She is played by Lizzy Caplan, a former Smallville guest star (shape-shifter named Tina).
I thought the jokes were really funny and not too predictable, the characters are very likable, and it probably helped that they are about the same age as me. It was created by David Crane, who was the executive producer for FRIENDS. Not surprisingly, the show feels a little like FRIENDS. Very sarcastic and funny, but not quite what I would call biting or extremely edgy.
Overall, I really like this show so far and will definitely give it a shot. I give The Class an 8.
The Class, Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBS
Adam Pilots, Reviews, TV
Happy Hour is about … you know what. It’s not worth it. This show sucks out loud. Please don’t watch it.
The main character, a guy named Henry who just got dumped by his girlfriend is boring. He moves in with Larry, who is as cookie-cutter as it gets. They called central casting and ordered one single guy, player-type. He’s not funny, about as original as Louie Louie and not even close to believable as a ladies man.
Sadly, there is a ton of crappy shows like this on TV right now so it wouldn’t surprise me if this one succeeded too. But, please, please don’t be a part of it. I’m washing my hands of this show. I give it a 1, and that’s only because I reserve zeros for shows like The View.
Happy Hour: Thursdays at 8:30 on FOX
Adam Pilots, Reviews, TV
‘Til Death stars Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond fame and Eddie Kaye Thomas, American Pie’s Finch, as guys on the opposite ends of the marriage spectrum. Thomas plays Jeff Woodcock who just got married and moved in next door to Garrett’s character, Eddie. Eddie and his wife have been married for many years and have long passed the cute couple phase.
The show is all about the comparison between the marriages, mostly from the male point of view. Because there is so much material there, the show was actually really funny. However, it’s not very original and I’m not sure how long it can keep it up. Especially in their tough Thursday 8 p.m. timeslot. I noticed the laugh track too much and some things were very contrived, such as Eddie’s wife suggesting the men carpool to work (they both work at the local high school), which is nothing but a vehicle for the men to have conversations. See: the fence between Tim and Wilson on Home Improvement.
Still, I love marriage humor so I plan to watch this one. That is, as long as they keep it real. It’s no Married With Children, but it’s fairly believable. If it starts to turn into something like Everybody Loves Raymond I’ll dump it in a heartbeat.
For now, I give it a 6.
‘Til Death: Thursdays at 8 p.m. on FOX
Adam Pilots, Reviews, TV
I just watched a new pilot today for an NBC show called The Singles Table. It’s a comedy revolving around a group of strangers who meet at a wedding because they were all relegated to the table in the back at the reception.
John Cho (from American Pie, Harold and Kumar) is a recent divorcee named Ivan who runs into his ex at the wedding and finds out she has a new boyfriend. Of course, that doesn’t go well. As usual, Cho is hilarious and alone makes the show worth watching.
Also at the table is Eli, the groom’s boss and owner of a small business. He bonds with Ivan and flirts with Georgia, a doctor (also at the table) who feels too busy to date. Stephanie is the other female at the Singles Table. She seems like the second most entertaining character. A serial dater who falls for the wrong guys. Since Ivan starts drinking, hassling his ex-wife and generally making an ass of himself at the wedding, that’s who she’s immediately attracted to.
Rounding out the table is Adam. He’s a rabbi who feels like no one wants to hang around him because he’s a rabbi. He didn’t have much to work with in this episode but I’m pulling for this character because he shares my name and is played by Jarrad Paul, who is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum. (He played Marvin who was a part of the group of teens that wanted to be turned into vampires by Spike. It was the first episode where we met Anne, who we saw again in the episode where Buffy runs away to L.A. and later pops up several times in Angel as a friend of Gunn.)
While it’s not a great show, I thought The Singles Table was pretty funny. I think the show could be pretty funny, but we’ll see how it comes out. It’s not due to premiere until January, but I have a friend who works at 20th Century Fox (the studio that produced it) that just told me tonight that a massive reworking of the show was underway. That’s not usually a good sign.
The show has potential so I hope it’s able to be a decent mid-season replacement. I didn’t have a lot of laugh out loud moments where I have to pause of the TiVo or DVD, but it was worth watching. I’d put it on my second-string list of shows. I’ll give it a 4.
The Singles Table: due in January on NBC
Adam Pilots, Reviews, TV