NEW SERIES IN MAY

Fox doesn't seem to be able to let go of Kiefer Sutherland's superhero Jack Bauer, so on the 5th of May he returns with the mini-series 24: Live Another Day (a clear reference to Die Another Day). I absolutely hated the original 24 series, seriously, I can't think of any other show what annoyed me that much, but I'm sure there are many people who can't wait to see it.

Penny Dreadful, which airs on the 11th of May on Showtime seems a bit more interesting. Basically, they take a bunch characters from various spooky novels (e.g. Dorian Gray and Dr. Frankenstein) and put them to Victorian London. The show is created by John Logan, whose writing credits include Skyfall and The Aviator, and features Bond girl Eva Green, who plays one of the main characters.

 

On the 22nd of May a new action drama Gang Related premieres on Fox. The series is created by Chris Morgan (Fast and Furious) and it is about L.A. Police Department's special Gang Task Force and its war on gangs. Latinos will hate it, I'm afraid.

Then we have three new series from NBC. On the 27th of May they release The Night Shift about the night shift ER doctors from San Antonio Medical Center.

Two days later NBC introduce a sitcom Undateable by Adam Sztykiel, which is based on the book Undateable: 311 Things Guys Do That Guarantee They Won't Be Dating Or Having Sex. It's about a bunch of guys and their unfortunate lack of dating skills. The first look promo is here.

Finally, a new show about pirates with John Malkovich as Blackbeard, Crossbones, debuts on the 30th of May. The show was created by Neil Cross (Luther). At first there were rumors that Hugh Laurie would take the main part, but I guess, that wasn't meant to be. Unfortunately, I could not find any promotional video, so here's a poster instead:

2 BROKE GIRLS VS PARTNERS

Part 2/2 Broke Girls

Two broke girls are back and rocking! The show has everything a good comedy should have: references to the recent events, like Katie Holmes' divorce, awesome writing (I loved the part on Hollywood brunettes) and great acting by the whole cast.

'this is really insensitive and stuff!"

In season's 2 first episode we finally get to meet Caroline's father, Martin Channing (Steven Weber) in prison. I was actually a little shocked how easily it happened, considering that the whole last season there was always something in the way of us actually seeing him. I guess, they were just searching for an actor that would resemble Douglas's Gordon Gekko from the Walstreet as much as possible.

Martin Channing

Recap (spoilers) : Caroline and Max come to visit Martin right before the start of the auction where all possessions of the Channing family are to be sold. Caroline does not want to go there for obvious reasons, but her father insists that she buys back one of the things there, her trophy. The way he explained Caroline and Max the importance of getting this trophy from the auction no matter what, made Max (and myself; again, great writing!) believe there were money hidden in this cup. So the girls paid 200$ for it on the auction, but there was nothing inside, because apparently, the trophy had only some sentimental value.

So far it's the best comedy episode I've seen this season, and it was very wise for CBS to put 2 Broke Girls after Partners, not before, otherwise the latter would have seemed so much worse.

BOYS OR GIRLS or PARTNERS VS 2 BROKE GIRLS

Part1/Partners

There must be a special place in hell for those who create trailers for movies and TV series, which make the actual movie or series seem hundred times better than they really are. So whoever compiled a trailer for Partners (CBS) is a very evil genius. I remember that day when I watched all premieres' promos and as I came across to this one, I thought: "Hmm, this looks fun, this might be the next best sitcom!". Boy, was I wrong!

Firstly, the tagline for the show is extremely cheesy: 4 friends. 3 couples. I say, why stop here? Can we go with 4 friends. 4 couples? 4 friends. 2 Swedish families? There is definitely room for imagination.

Here they are, four friends, two couples.

Secondly, the creators of the show, David Kohan and Max Mutchnick (Will & Grace) said they took their own relations as a basis for this show. And may I just say that the show looks outdated, which I suspect is because Kohan and Mutchnick looked all the way back to their past for inspiration? I mean, c'mon, Joe's girlfriend is calling him on his office land-line phone? Via secretary? Isn't now the age of the freaking iPhone5? Besides, I don't recall any reference to anything from the modern world, Britney Spears is the most recent celebrity I heard mentioned and let's face it, she's a dinosaur.

So the story is about two architects who try to run a business together, Louis (gay) and Joe (straight, but acts at least as a bi) played by Maxwell Dobak and David Krumholtz respectively. Louis dates a nurse Wyatt (Brandon Routh) and Joe has a girlfriend, Ali (Sophia Bush).

In the first episode Joe looks like a complete jerk, as we learn that because Ali (when drunk) said she wanted to get married, he decided to break up with her. This is what he discusses briefly with Louis, and goes to the jewelry store Ali owns to dump her. But she is happy that her business situation suddenly improved (she says she was afraid to lose her store before, and again, this is so nice of Joe to break up with her at the difficult time like this), so she backs up on the marriage thing. And then Joe proposes to her, but he does not say a word about that to Louis, which is strange, because later we find out he called Louis from Ali's bathroom right after he had sex with her for the first time.

Anyway, due to the lack of information, Louis accidentally reveals to Ali at their yoga class what was the real Joe's plan and finally, Ali realizes what an immature idiot her fiancee is and finding the leftovers of self respect deep inside she calls the wedding off.

What'd she saaay?..

Clearly, the person responsible for this is Joe; he was a jerk. And the adequate reaction to what Louis did would be: "Well, you didn't know. Please help me fix it".  But somehow, Joe decides to blame his friend for the issues with his girlfriend and acts like a hysterical teenage girl saying that the friendship as well as partnership with Louis is over. In the end Louis fixes Joe's relationship with Ali (I am sorry for Ali) and all is fine again.

As I said, the show is completely disconnected from what is happening in the world now and all jokes are about gay people being gay and Jews being Jewish. Sophia Bush is a weird choice, her voice is hard to adjust to. The secretary from the subway platform seems fun, but that's it.

I cannot believe that as all cast and crew got to see the result of their work, no one actually said: "Guys, sorry but it's crap. We can't air it, I can't risk my reputation like that." Apparently, they were all happy with this.

Summary: I'm not watching this again.

Score: 1/10