VH Corner

Substance influence warning - I saw this movie in Ft. Collins, CO, with my sister, and she let me get cherry coke to drink, so maybe I laughed a little cuz of the cherry coke, but mostly it was the movie.

This movie is awesome, the previews looked awesome and this movie delivers!

There is a messed up family - lots of stress and issues going on and in the midst of all this, they have to get their daughter to a beauty pagent in Southern California! Many hilarious hi-jinks ensue!

Steve Carrell and Alan Arkin were my favorites, but everyone was great! Especially the little girl, Abigail Breslin, who was also in Signs, she did not irritate me at all, which is rare with kids in movies.

It seemed like it took them a long time to get from Albuquerque to California, but it’s not a drive I’ve done myself, so I don’t know.

This is a dark comedy, but I love dark comedy so I really laughed a lot at inappropriate things - many other people were laughing too so I didn’t feel very bad.

Sock Bunny was in my purse for this movie, and he laughed too. He recommends you see it if you like dark comedies - it is possibly worth a trip to the theatre, also if you go, and have a sock bunny or other friend in your purse, drop in some snacks, cuz it’s not cool to hog snacks.

Ralph Fiennes is a British diplomat on assignment in Africa when his radical pregnant wife is killed. He’s determined to find out why and uncovers conspiracies in the process.

I wasn’t sure if I would like this movie. I had heard good things about it, but I wasn’t sure if I would be in the right mood to watch it since I knew that the main plot had to do with figuring out why Ralph Fiennes’ wife was murdered.

You do not need to be in a certain mood to watch the movie. It is good, no matter what. First, it is beautiful. The colors in Africa are so vibrant, even when looking at the wasteland of one area where she was killed. It really should have been up for an Oscar for cinematography, but it wasn’t. Rachel Weisz did win Best Supporting Actress for her role in this movie. She was very good. She is in it briefly in the beginning, and then in flashbacks.

Ralph Fiennes is an English diplomat who really likes to mind his own business and is very quiet. Rachel Weisz is a very passionate and vocal activist for human rights. At first, you have no idea why they are together. This really helps since when she is killed, and Fiennes tries to figure out why she was killed, he starts questioning her love for him. Since you don’t know much about her, you question it too. As he learns more about what she was doing, and what she was keeping from him, you get to learn more about their relationship.

That’s what I really enjoyed about the movie. It is a thriller mostly, even though I thought it was going to be more about politics, which is why I thought I might be turned off by it. There are politics involved, but it mostly a love story, or really finding out the truth about the other person that you thought you knew, but now aren’t so sure about. Also, I highly recommend it, just to see the how the scenery in Africa was shot. It’s gorgeous.

Rating: A-

From Steven Soderbergh going back to his roots of sex, lies and videotape with this “movie about movies for people who love movies”. Stars Julia Roberts and David Duchovny.

Shot on digital film for most of the movie, it ends up being more distracting than being put to good use. I’ve seen other movies shot on digital film and it works fine because I am not paying attention to how different it looks compared to conventional film. I really couldn’t get past it in this movie.

It starts by listing all the people, their occupation, and if they were invited to a party by a guy who ends up being David Duchovny’s character. I am confused right away since I thought that I read that Julia Robert’s character was an actress, but she seems to be a reporter. I don’t get it until about 20 minutes into the movie that she is acting as a reporter for a film with Blair Underwood. It goes back and forth between their “film” and them going on in between takes. The main thing is it is all boring. Why do we have to watch the film within a film when it isn’t even exciting? Once you figure out what is going on, you wonder why your time is wasted watching it.

Catherine Keener is a successful HR director who really hates her job and her life. She is having an affair. She berates her husband (David Hyde Pierce) and left him a note that she is leaving him, but hides the note under his newspaper so he doesn’t see it until after she leaves. Nice! She meets up with her massage therapist sister and berates her for her gift-giving skills. She actually complains about the gifts her sister gives her for her birthday since they aren’t “special” enough. She does convince her sister to actually dress up for the big party at the end of the night.

There is a bit of a shocker ending, but it only made me laugh while all the characters were super sad. I didn’t really care since I was still annoyed about watching the film within a film thing and having to wait until the very end of the movie to see David Duchovny. I actually tried to fall asleep while watching it since I was too lazy to just turn it off, but unfortunately stayed awake the entire time. When David Duchovny does show up, that’s when I laughed.

Rating: D

Returning Drama

Boston Legal

Premieres: Tuesday, September 19
Time: 10/9c

Last season: Major reshuffling of characters with Julie Bowen, Mark Valley and Candice Bergen becoming more prominent in the William Shatner/James Spader show.

This season: Parker Posey, guest star last season, might be joining the cast, and another new lawyer would be Tyler Labine (Invasion).

Desperate Housewives

Premieres: Sunday, September 24
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Edie set Susan’s house on fire, forcing her to move into a trailer until it is rebuilt. Orson, the dentist Susan befriended, ran over Mike before starting to date Bree. Bree had a mental breakdown after dating and letting George kill himself and kicking her gay son out of her house. Lynette went back to work. Tom become bored at home and wanted to work too, at the same advertising firm. Lynette finds out about a teenage daughter Tom has from a one-night stand before they were married. Gabrielle has a miscarriage, but her and Carlos decide to have their live-in maid be their surrogate after Gabi can’t become pregnant. Gabi finds Carlos cheating on her with the maid.

This season: After being preoccupied with other things and leaving others in charge, Marc Cherry says he is in charge for the third season after the horrendous second season and the even stupider Applegate storyline. The show is supposed to go back to the high comedy that was around in the first season, but lost in the second one. Also, the housewives are supposed to interact more since they hardly saw each other during season two.

Grey’s Anatomy

Premieres: Thursday, September 21
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Meredith and Derek tried to get over each other by Derek actually hanging out with his wife and Meredith dating the vet (Chris O’Donnell). They ended up together in the last episode though. Burke was shot and Izzie’s patient love died.

This season: Meredith will have to choose Derek or the vet, Burke’s arm recovers and Izzie comes back.

Lost

Premieres: Wednesday, October 4
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Michael found the Others and then traded Jack,Kate and Sawyer for Walter. Locked decided to not push the button, which almost blew up the island, so Desmond turned on the fail-safe, which brought the hatch down on Locke and Eko.

This season: Three more characters are being added. One of them are part of the Others. Desmond and Henry Gale become series regulars. The show is supposed to focus more on action and romance this season instead of mythology. The show will air six new episodes, then go on hiatus (while Daybreak runs for 13 episodes), and Lost will come back in February 2007 for the rest of the season without reruns.

What About Brian

Premieres: Monday, October 9
Time: 10/9c

Last season: Brian fell in love with his best friend’s fiance, and they shared a kiss at one point. He finally tried to move on, but she became clingy and scared off his girlfriend while her fiance became suspicious.

This season: Major overhauls in store for this show that surprised everyone by being renewed. There is an entirely new writing staff from Everwood, so the writing should improve. Rosanna Arquette’s husband was dumped. Three new characters have been added–Brian gets a younger sister and another married couple (this one happy).

Returning Reality

Bachelor Rome

Premieres: Monday, October 2
Time: 9/8c

Last season: The doctor found love in Paris.

This season: An Italian prince is looking for love in Rome.

Dancing With the Stars

Premieres: Tuesday, September 12
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Drew Lachey beat out Jerry Rice and wrestler Stacy Kiebler.

This season: The casts of “celebrities” include: Tucker Carlson, Monique Coleman, Sara Evans, Willa Ford, Vivica A. Fox, Harry Hamlin, Joe Lawrence, Mario Lopez, Shanna Moakler, Emmitt Smith, and Jerry Springer.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Premieres: Sunday, September 24 (two-hour premiere starting at 7/6c)
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Built up a few houses for Hurricane Katrina victims.

This season: The show sends one family away on vacation and fixes their house before they return.

Wifeswap

Premieres: Monday, September 18
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Husbands and wives really learned to appreciate each other after spending some time in another’s household.

This season: More of the same.

Nationwide Releases

Invincible

In 1976, a 30-year-old bartender (Mark Wahlberg) went to open tryouts for the Philadelphia Eagles and actually made the team with no college football experience and only one year of high-school football. Based on a true story.

RT Score: 69%
RT Consensus: As simple and authentic as the gritty South Philly invirons in which it s set in, Invincible sends a uplifting and heartfelt message packed with an athletic enthusiasm that shouldn t be missed.

“Invincible is part The Rookie, part Rocky and all heart.”
– Phil Villarreal
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

“Every so often, Mark Wahlberg gets hold of a role that lets him reconnect with what made him a star.”
– Owen Gleiberman
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“Led by Mark Wahlberg at his most underdoggedly appealing, this is about as soft sell as this prefab genre gets.”
– Andrew Wright
THE STRANGER (SEATTLE, WA)

“ Invincible is an audience-pleaser with Wahlberg s neighborhood guy charm showcased to full effect. “
– Victoria Alexander
FILMSINREVIEW.COM

“Invincible does nothing to improve on the already very tired sports underdog theme.”
– Kit Bowen
HOLLYWOOD.COM

Idlewild

Andre 3000 and Big Boi from OutKast star in a 1930s musical set in the South with their own music.

RT Score: 47%
RT Consensus: Idlewild has some truly breathtaking moments, but borrows too heavily from other similar movies, and the disjointed script is not worthy of talents involved.

“Idlewild is a romp, a ticket to rowdy good times.”
– Owen Gleiberman
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“Idlewild can’t decide if it’s about bullets, booze, broads or the sound of hip-hop that the film strenuously tries to marry to the 1930s.”
– Peter Travers
ROLLING STONE

“If, like me, you like OutKast just fine but staggered out of Moulin Rouge reeling from the quick-cut-induced nausea, you’ll leave Idlewild tapping your toe and scratching your head at the same time.”
– Dana Stevens
SLATE

“Aggressive direction. Aggressive, bold, confident & unabashed. The cinematography — flat out gorgeous. This film busts out of the projector’s gates like a break dancer on ice.”
– Ross Anthony
HOLLYWOOD REPORT CARD

“True, it’s a little late in OutKast’s career for Andre 3000 and Big Boi to make their ‘Purple Rain’ move, but who would have expected them to leap straight to ‘Graffiti Bridge’?”
– John Beifuss
COMMERCIAL APPEAL (MEMPHIS, TN)

“Easy to peel apart for flaws, Idlewild is also easy to enjoy if you go with its jived earthiness.”
– David Elliott
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

Beerfest

While in Germany, two American brothers find a super-secret beerfest competition that they are determined to win over their German cousins. Performed by the Broke Lizard comedy group that made Super Troopers.

RT Score: 40%
RT Consensus: Beerfest features some laugh-inducing gags, but is too long and the pacing too uneven to form a coherent, functioning comedy.

“You’d have to be drunk to appreciate Beerfest. Really drunk. So sloshed that you don’t know which way is up or down. So wasted that the dull and overlong seems witty and sharp.”
– Phil Villarreal
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

“I felt oddly respected: Neck-deep in barley and boobs, marinated in urine, Beerfest panders shamelessly to the 15-year-old in this 30-year-old… without assuming he is a 15-year-old.”
– Scott Brown
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“If you’re not amused by German accents or burping, this probably isn’t your movie.”
– Matt Pais
METROMIX.COM

“Beerfest is what it is, silliness that entertains at its own lowbrow level.”
– John Wirt
ADVOCATE (BATON ROUGE, LA)

“My best suggestion for people who insist on going to see this immense waste of time? Go drunk.”
– Bill Zwecker
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

How to Eat Fried Worms

To fend off a bully, a new kid takes a bet to eat 10 worms by the end of the day.

RT Score: 59%
RT Consensus: This Fear Factor for kids is good-natured and tasty enough.

No worms were harmed in the making of “How to Eat Fried Worms,” but one classic book was.
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

Ridiculously uneven but largely good fun.
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

Issues like family harmony, justice, righting wrongs and telling the truth never go out of fashion and that comes across strong and clear in this less-than-perfect, but still solid, feel-good film.
Bill Zwecker
Chicago Sun-Times

If your stomach doesn’t churn a bit after hearing the title of the children’s movie How to Eat Fried Worms, the picture itself may finish the job.
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

Hey, kids love the gross-out material, and Worms delivers on that guarantee with vast amounts of charm and upbeat execution. I just wouldn’t recommend getting popcorn at the concession stand beforehand.
Brian Orndorf
eFilmCritic.com

Limited Releases

The Quiet

A deaf and mute girl has lost both of her parents and moves in with a new family that is filled with secrets, that they don’t attend to hide from her.

RT Score: 21%
RT Consensus: This psychological thriller’s talented cast is undercut by leaden pacing and a problematic plot.

Babbit overplays her hand, heavily hinting at every mystery, and by the midpoint the film is just a long dive into the inevitable.
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

[A] dank and rhythmless ‘psychological’ potboiler.
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

It teeters between being a campy horror film, a dark comedy … and a sleazy Wild Things-style teen sexfest.
Mary F. Pols
Contra Costa Times

Babbit’s flair for menace and allure can’t be dismissed; nor can the magnetism of Cuthbert and Belle.
Gene Seymour
Newsday

The film could have been re-jiggered as a psychotic after-school special, straightforward, without all the so-called twists that seem to be a requirement of thrillers today.
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

The stupider things get, the more seriously it takes itself — and the more seriously it takes itself, the funnier it is.
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Queens

Three gay couples are getting married. Everything is going smoothly until they decide to invite their mothers.

RT Score: 40%

A threadbare crazy-quilt of Spanish sex comedies.
Scott Brown
Entertainment Weekly

Pleasantly fluffy but depthless…each story develops a worst-case scenario that proceeds to a too-comforting, too-swift resolution.
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

The main problem with Queens is that the many parts never coalesce into a satisfying whole, the result, perhaps, of too many subplots and too many characters to fit comfortably in one small movie.
Pam Grady
Reel.com

For all its contrivances, the film is cheerfully rude and surprisingly generous to the mothers, most of whom find sizzling new romances at an age when their American counterparts are reduced to sexless dithering or played as humiliating punch lines.
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide’s Movie Guide

Surviving Eden

A reality tv show is made about a winner of a reality tv show after he wins a million dollars. The thing is he might be the most boring human alive.

RT Score: 9%

Reality TV, says one character in Greg Pritikin’s Surviving Eden, makes you stupid and ill. The movie tries hard to prove it.
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

This comedy could use some polishing. With a little more style it could have been better, but there is a decent film inside this one somewhere.
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

That it has nothing novel to say about the subject matter it’s skewering is the film’s largest failing.
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

Writer/director Greg Pritikin has created a reality-TV satire as clueless as the self-impressed ’stars’ it scorns.
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

The movie insists that we care deeply about its sad sack protagonist as some sort of Chaplin-esque victim of vanity and greed. But neither Pritkin’s conception nor Panes’ performance warrants such sympathy.
Gene Seymour
Newsday

Surviving Eden is the sort of hapless vanity project where even the outtakes at the end aren’t funny.
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

Buzz

Documentary about A.I. “Buzz” Bezzerides, an acclaimed scriptwriter famous for his film noir scripts of the 40s and 50s.

RT Score: 83%

.. we sure get what makes Buzz distinctive …
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

Even though it’s too long and needs editing, for anyone interested in Hollywood folklore, this is a must-see.
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com

… a good 30 minutes could come out of this 124 minute film to its benefit …
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter

[The] film traverses Buzz’s career with reasonable depth, helped by good-quality trailers from several pics.
Derek Elley
Variety

… an insightful look at a remarkable behind-the-scenes life and slice of American and Hollywood history.
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times

Unconscious

In 1913 Barcelona, a psychiatrist becomes obsessed with Freud and leaves his pregnant wife. She tries to figure out where he went and why.

RT Score: 100%

“A distinctive, sharp-witted and good-looking period comedy.”
– Jonathan Holland, VARIETY

“A clever film with enough good elements that it feels like it should be a bit better than it is.”
– Jeremy Mathews, FILM THREAT

“As unpredictable and comic as the best of Oscar Wilde’s plays.“
– Boyd van Hoeij, EUROPEANFILMS.NET

Since FOX is starting its Fall season in August before everyone else, I’ll post about all the returning shows now. New episodes of shows start as early as tomorrow.

Returning Dramas

Prison Break

Premiere: Monday, August 21
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Michael Scofield robbed a bank to get thrown in jail in order to break his brother, Lincoln Burrows, out of death row. He also had to get a bunch of inmates involved in the plan to execute it, so they are all on the run from the prison guards and police.

This season: William Fichtner (Invasion) joins the cast as an FBI agent leading the hunt for the escapees. Sara is in a coma from a drug overdose. The guys split up to get away from the cops and FBI, but do need to reunite in search of the $5 million that Westmoreland buried in the Utah desert.

Bones

Premiere: Wednesday, August 30
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Brennan learned some startling news about her parents after finding her mother’s bones and her MIA dad called her after 15 years.

This season: More Brennan parent’s story will be revealed, mother of Booth’s child will arrive, and they both get a new boss (Tamara Taylor) that they have both worked with before. One of them is not happy about working with her again.

House

Premiere: Tuesday, September 5
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Cameron slept with Chase when she was high, but still pursued House. Cuddy wants a baby and was looking for a donor. House was shot by a disgruntled patient.

This season: Will House be able to practice after he recovers from his gunshot wounds?

Nip/Tuck

Yes, this show is on FX, but it is owned by FOX so I’m throwing it here.

Premiere: Tuesday, September 5
Time: 10 E/P

Last season: Carver brouhaha finally came to an end, Julia started up her own spa and surgery recovery business, and McNamara/Troy ran into financial troubles. Kimber ended up not marrying Christian after the Carver attacked and kidnapped her, but decided to move on from him. Sean and Julia are still separated, but having another child together.

This season: Julia is having problems with the baby and Christian starts to see a psychiatrist. It looks like Kimber has her sights set on Matt. Also, McNamara/Troy get a new boss to help them with their financial situation.

The OC

Premiere: Thursday, November 2
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Kirsten went to AA, some kids got into the colleges they wanted while other didn’t, and Marissa was killed.

This season: It starts four months after Marissa’s death, Summer is at Brown, Seth is working at a comic book store and Ryan is trying to make ends meet with odd jobs after moving out of the Cohens’ house.

Returning Comedies

Simpsons

Premiere: Sunday, September 10
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Ricky Gervais wrote and starred in an episode. William H. Macy and Richard Dean Anderson also guest starred.

This season: Guest voices this season: Keifer Sutherland, Natalie Portman, Michael Imperioli, The White Stripes, Dr. Phil, Betty White, Harry Hamlin and Eric Idle.

American Dad

Premiere: Sunday, September 10
Time: 8:30/7:30c

Last season: Stan developed a man-crush on George Clooney.

This season: Stan and Francine want another baby, but Stan has a vasectomy. Stan decides he’s too fat and joins a gym.

Family Guy

Premiere: Sunday, September 10
Time: 9/8c

Last season: Peter had a vasectomy, which killed his sexual drive. Stewie saw his adult self 35 years in the future.

This season: Peter’s mom wants to start dating again.

War at Home

Premiere: Sunday, September 10
Time: 9:30/8:30c

Last season: Ripped off Married…With Children ten years after it was trendy and somehow got renewed.

This season: More of the same including Dave getting arrested for a DUI.

Returning Reality

Nanny 911

Premiere: Friday, September 8
Time: 8/7c

Last season: Fixing bratty kids and pushover parents in one week with help from a team of nannies.

This season: The show is looking for more troubled families in other areas of the country as well as looking at problems with really big families and blended families.

Trading Spouses

Premiere: Friday, October 6
Time: 9/8c

Last season: One god freak spazzed out on the “dark side” family, which gave Best Week Ever clips for weeks.

This season: More crazy mash-ups of extreme religious difference, weird living quarters and weirder people.

Fall 2006-2007

Now that I’ve checked out the new shows, I’ll have to figure out what I’ll actually watch and what conflicts with too much other stuff. Over on the left-hand side, there is a Fall TV link that breaks down by channel and day. I’ll go by what I’ll be watching by day. I have the two TiVos so I can record two shows at once. If needed, Jer has his wacky set-up to record stuff on the computer.
Sunday

7pm
Everybody Hates Chris - CW
8pm
The Amazing Race - CBS
The Simpsons - FOX

9pm
Desperate Housewives - ABC
Cold Case - CBS

10pm
Brothers & Sisters - ABC
Without a Trace - CBS

MondayÂ

8pm
Prison Break - FOX

9pm
Vanished - FOX
Heroes - NBC
10pm
CSI: Miami - CBS
Studio 60 - NBC

Tuesday

8pm
NCIS - CBS
Gilmore Girls - CW
House - FOX - not on the TIVO, but I’ll get it either on the computer or I’ll catch it in reruns like I’ve done the first two seasons
9pm
Veronica Mars - CW
Law & Order: Criminal Intent - NBC
10pm
Smith - CBS
Law & Order: SVU - NBC
Nip/Tuck - FX (TiVo will catch the second airing later on that night)
Wednesday

8pm
30 Rock - NBC
9pm
Lost - ABC
Justice - FOX
10pm
The Nine - ABC
CSI: NY - CBS

Thursday

8pm
Smallville - CW
My Name is Earl / The Office - NBC
9pm
CSI - CBS
Supernatural -CW
10pm
Shark - CBS
ER - NBC

Friday

8pm
Crossing Jordan - NBC
9pm
Close to Home - CBS
10pm
Numbers - CBS

Channel: FOX
Date/Time: Monday, 8/7c

Season One review

Prison Break is an over-the-top, highly unbelievable caper of getting into prison to break out a brother on death row. The premise sounds stupid, but it is so much fun to watch. I was hooked from the pilot episode. Suspension of disbelief is required, but once that happens it is tense, gripping, and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The first few episodes were almost like puzzles since the title of the episode had something to do with Michael getting some piece of the plan in place for the ultimate break out. Then came the episode with the prison riot, which had to be one of the most intense episodes I had ever seen. I really didn’t think a prison show on broadcast television could be so intense.

Then the show lost some momentum when it went on hiatus to make room for 24. I really think FOX should have found a place for it instead of putting it on hiatus in January. It was supposed to come back in May, but thankfully we only had to wait for March. We started watching it right when it came back. Before we would watch new episodes right after they aired, but after it returned we weren’t watching them as soon as we had before. There were a couple of sluggish episodes, like the flashback episode. I really think the back stories should have been slipped in the other episodes, not taken up an entire episode all on its own with no prison scenes. It brought the series to a halt.

We didn’t watch the last six episodes of the season until last week. Wow! All the tension leading up to the prison riot was nothing like the tension in the last two episodes when the actual prison break took place. Now I knew who made it out from the group of prisoners since I had read all the upcoming news for season two, yet I was still waving my arms around since it was so tense. I had to stop myself from fast-forwarding the TiVo just to see who made it out of prison alive and uncaught.

For second season, the prisoners will be on the run. I wonder if they can keep it up with all the prison guards and the creepy sheriff from Invasion joining the cast as a U.S. Marshall also chasing them, but I’ll trust them since the first season was super duper crazy. I really hope the tension can stay so intense since it was fun, tension.

New Drama

Runaway

Premiere: Monday, September 25
Time: 9/8c

About: Donnie Wahlberg is accused of a murder he didn’t commit, so he goes on the run with his family where they hide in Iowa under false identities.

Buzz: Too much of the show tries to skew younger by focusing on the angsty teenage son who misses a girl he left behind and the equally annoying teenage daughter.

New Comedy

The Game

Premiere: Sunday, October 1
Time: 8:30/7:30c

About: Spin-off from Girlfriends about the wives and girlfriends of NFL players adjusting to the lifestyle that comes along with their husband’s job.

Buzz: There isn’t much buzz. It seems to fit in with the other comedies on CW’s new Sunday-night line-up, but it isn’t a show that is standing out as hilarious.

New Dramas

Friday Night Lights

Premiere: Tuesday, October 3
Time: 8/7c

About: Based on the book and movie of the same name, it follows the football team players in a small town in Texas where football is a way of life for everyone.

Buzz: Critics love it and say that if anyone loved the film, they will love the series. It is a great translation. Sports-themed shows don’t do well traditionally, so it has that going against it plus major competition in its timeslot.

Heroes

Premiere: Monday, September 25
Time: 9/8c

About: People all over the world are slowly discovering they suddenly have extraordinary abilities, such as invincibility, flying, predicting the future, and reading people’s thoughts.

Buzz: Critics are split. Some view it as refreshing that the show focuses on the characters before moving onto the plot while others see it as directionless and possibly pretentious in taking itself so serious (especially with the voiceover narration).

Kidnapped

Premiere: Wednesday, September 20
Time: 10/9c

About: A teenager is kidnapped from his wealthy family and the season is spent looking for him with the FBI and a personal investigator.

Buzz: The show that is similar to Vanished (which starts next week), so it has the hurdle if people want to watch another kidnapped-themed show. Critics say this series has a much better cast than Vanished, but the storyline isn’t very original. The characters are what you would expect from this kind of story (rogue investigator, uptight FBI guy, hang-wringing mother, secretive father), but the show is still well-told. It just isn’t very original and doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat like other serialized shows like 24 or Prison Break. It is being described as a show that is good when you watch it, but you won’t go out of your way to want to watch it.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Premiere: Monday, September 18
Time: 10/9c

About: Aaron Sorkin’s latest show about the backstage goings-on for a late night sketch show starring Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet.

Buzz: If you are a fan of either Sports Night or West Wing, you will love this show. Critics say the cast is great (especially the chemistry between Perry and Whitford) and the writing is excellent. Some worry that people won’t be interested in a behind-the-scenes of a tv show since Sports Night never caught on, even though I liked it and I hate sports. There is also the similar-themed comedy from Tina Fey, 30 Rock. Will people watch both shows?

New Comedies

30 Rock

Premiere: Wednesday, October 11
Time: 8:30/7:30c

About: Tina Fey stars as a writer of a prime-time variety show where Alec Baldwin is her new very hands-on boss that doesn’t quite get what she is trying to do. Tracy Morgan stars as the star of her show who is always on the verge of a meltdown a’ la Martin Lawrence.

Buzz: It has a similar premise to Studio 60, but they are nothing alike. This one is a straight-ahead comedy, but thankfully does not have the laugh track. Critics love it, but don’t know why it is paired with Twenty Good Years. They feel it should be paired with Scrubs.

Twenty Good Years

Premiere: Wednesday, October 4
Time: 8/7c

About: John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor are two friends in their 60s making the most of out of the time they have left in their lives.

Buzz: It is a broad, traditional comedy that isn’t really successful for new comedies anymore. I found one critic that actually thought it was funny (thefutoncritic.com), but all the others ones found it not funny and a waste for the two leads. They are funny guys with very unfunny material and stupid laugh track.