Cougar Town saved! (and other news about other shows/our reactions)

If you haven't heard already, today TBS saved Cougar Town from cancellation and has bought all the rights to it. There will be another season of the show. We love when this happens, and we can think of no more deserving show. Thank you, TBS!

Lots of other shows have been renewed and cancelled, but we haven't gotten around to talking about it yet. Stupid exams! Alcatraz has been cancelled, and you know what? We don't care. Yeah, we watched and covered it a lot, but it was more due to the possibility that it could get good. It wasn't actually good yet. The pilot and one other episode were good, but mostly it deserves scorn. The Finder was also cancelled, to the joy of Ern and the mild disappointment of Leeard.

30 Rock was renewed for one more season. This is good. The show needs to start coming in for a landing, but it shouldn't end this year. Parenthood was renewed! Amazing, amazing, amazing. Love that show. Touch was renewed as well. When it came out of the gate, we really liked it, but we aren't sure the sweet concept is working out well, long-term. We hope this show does its homework and fixes its problems for the second season.

The Vampire Diaries unsurprisingly got another season, and can we say "rejoice?" Rejoice. Supernatural has also been renewed, and we have finally started watching it. We are done with season one. Ern thinks it's cheesy as heck but is willing to keep watching it. We also need to catch up on Person of Interest. We got behind, but it's been renewed, so we need to give it attention.

Grey's Anatomy is near deals with a few main characters who were at risk of leaving. We will put their names in the comments so that you aren't spoiled as to who might be staying for the next two years. Shonda confirmed a while ago that a character will be dying horribly in this year's finale. We will put our guess for that death in the comments as well.

Finally, a commenter has just informed us that Community was renewed today. This is not surprising, but we are concerned that there will only be 13 episodes. How can we survive with only 13 episodes?

P.S. We are seeing The Avengers tomorrow. Wooo hooo.

---Update---
ABC Renewed: Grey's, Revenge, Castle, Once Upon a Time, The Middle, Suburgatory, and Modern Family. No surprises there.

Touch, Awake, Parks and Recreation

Awake- Nightswimming

Detective Britten bonds with his wife after helping a couple in his son’s world enter the witness protection program. He also makes strides in accepting the move to Oregon. He introduces Detective Vega to his C.I., Jake, hoping that Vega can replace them in his relationship. Jake is hurt that Britten pawned him off on another detective with little ceremony, since he considered Britten to be a friend. Vega tells Britten that he messed up, and Britten is able to patch things up. This was a good episode of this show. We enjoyed the case with the witness protection program couple. We missed seeing Britten’s son, but we are glad the episode didn’t try to do too much. It was nice to have a break from the shrinks and the usual format. Someone save this show!

Episode grade: B

Touch- Lost and Found

Clea finds her mother and Martin finds a kidnapped boy. Will, a businessman, survives a plane crash just long enough to save a jazz club and Clea’s mom’s life. He also ends up saving an Asian lesbian who is about to become a mother. Guess who the sperm donor is going to be? Will. What a coincidence! But it’s these heartfelt little connections that make the show. We don’t care if they are contrived. We are touched anyway. Our disbelief is completely suspended for this sweet show. This episode also gave us a little more information regarding Teller, Jake’s numbers (called “The Amelia Sequence”), and some sort of conspiracy the facility is involved in. This show is still chugging along with enough quality to keep us attentive.

Episode grade: B+

Parks and Recreation- Live Ammo

April struggles to fill Leslie’s shoes at the parks department but manages to get some cute puppies adopted. Leslie saves the Parks Department budget from being cut and meets the current City Councilman that she is trying to replace. He really likes ships in bottles. Chris tries to get Ron into meditation, which is less funny than you would think, but it was also the best part of the episode. Chris also realizes that he might lose his job. We are loving depressed Chris this season. This episode was fine, but it was probably the least funny of the season. That’s not a huge diss, because this season has been mostly great. Still, we were expecting more from the episode following that long hiatus.

Episode grade: C+

P.S.- The Office was really bad this week, huh? This is probably our last season watching that show. Free Mindy Kaling!

P.P.S.- We finally get Once Upon a Time back tonight!!!!!!!!

Thursdays Aren't The Same Without Our CW Shows, But At Least We Had These Four Episodes

Community - Origins of Vampire Mythology

This was one of Community’s more traditional, normal, and season one-esque episodes. We prefer the high-concept spoofing episodes like the Christmas specials, the one with the alternate timelines, the World of Warcraft episode, and last week’s pillow fight documentary. This episode was more about the crazy characters, their solid friendships, and their neuroticism and insecurities (particularly Britta and Jeff’s). We loved the advancement of the Britta/Troy pairing, which was hinted at earlier and needs to happen eventually. Jeff’s speech at the end might have been less than subtle, but it’s a speech that most women who love bad boys need to hear. Heck, it’s a speech we should all take to heart.

Episode grade: B

Touch - Entanglement

This week, one of the random characters Martin needs to help is a young Muslim woman fighting an arranged marriage. This is a country where it’s against the law for women to drive, so we actually think she should marry the guy, seeing as he is college educated and traveled the world. You could do worse. Maybe he’s cultured? That story got even more interesting fast. Halfway through, we see the most intriguing random character: a girl bent on revenge. We love revenge stories! We loved what Martin said to her even more. He shouldn’t have moved her after she was hit by that van though. Never move anyone after an accident; you could hurt them more and then get sued.

 It was weird that when Martin looked up the Bible verse Exodus 22:22, he read the words next to a number that clearly said four (not 22). He got the words of verse correct, but what kind of funky Bible did they use for a prop? Someone berated a girl for breaking a rule and used the phrase, “If you take out one brick, the whole wall will fall out.” We say that if your beliefs or way of life rely on each piece being concrete, they are too flimsy to stand. Things came together more smoothly this week, and we didn’t see any people from previous weeks, so things were less confusing. This is the kind of episode we want to see from this show. It was emotionally satisfying and not too complex.

Episode grade: A-

Awake - Ricky’s Tacos

We liked the opening with the fast food drive-through. It raises more questions. We also liked the new, big conspiracy that might provide more overarching plot. The cases were decent too. Fat Neil from Community was on this episode! This show is still extremely likely to be cancelled, and we are upset about that. Still, keep watching, telling your friends, and spreading the word on the internet that it is a good, original procedural. Talking to the kid without a lawyer or parent made us raise our eyebrows. How would that fly? Not that we hated it. They needed to get the little girl away from her father. Something has to stop Michael from moving to Portland, right? Question: Say Michael was actually living in parallel universes and each were equally real. If he hooked up with another woman/married her in the universe where his wife was dead, would that be morally wrong?

Episode grade: B

Grey’s Anatomy - Support System

After some bickering and cutesiness, Bailey, Teddy, Arizona, and Callie have a girls night together. The residents panic over their boards and use Lexie’s memory to help them study until Meredith takes over and teaches them Callie’s method. Mark takes over as chief of surgery in Owen’s absence. There are patients, blahblahblah. One of them teaches Meredith that even when a friend says they don’t want comfort and support, they are lying and you should always be there. Obviously the real drama in this episode was Owen moving out after Cristina guessed his subconscious motive for cheating on her. It was to hurt her like she hurt him when she aborted his baby. Owen didn’t deny this, and that’s why he got the boot. He left with some “I’ll always love you” speech, but Cristina is over boys for now. She needs to study for her boards.

This prompted a lot of debating with our friends over whether we would keep a husband around if he cheated (if he is anything less than husband, it’s not even a discussion; it’s automatic). Cristina seemed offended that it was just a one-night sex thing where he didn’t even remember the girl’s name, but we think that’s less offensive than a relationship or long-term mistress. We all agreed that we would never let a husband cheat twice and stay with him. We also debated whether it is more hurtful to cheat or to abort a baby the other spouse wanted. Cristina’s crime is more of a grey area, and she does have the woman’s right to choose on her side. Owen’s is always wrong to most people. We are really surprised he did that. Despite all the drama and the sad outcome of last night, we think these two are endgame. They’ve spent three seasons fighting for this relationship. It had better not be a waste of time.

Episode grade: B+

Touch- Your new feel-good crowd pleaser with fixable flaws

Spoiler free

We’ve now seen four episodes of this show and feel it is time to weigh in. The biggest strength of this show is probably Kiefer Sutherland, an actor who brings an urgency to every scene he is in. For a guy who isn’t even hot, he can sure carry a show. It’s nice to have him back on TV, but other than his penchant for yelling “dammit” all the time, his character is nothing like Jack Bauer. Martin sometimes gets into fights and that’s where we see that he is no Jack Bauer. He hasn’t spun around a wall and cracked someone’s neck yet. While that is disappointing to Ern, your resident die-hard 24 fanatic, it’s realistic and Ern will accept it.

Martin Bohm is a baggage handler with a mute son, Jake, who has been diagnosed with autism. In reality, Jake is an advanced child who can see connections between people and psychically feel their pain if their problems are not resolved. That’s where Martin comes in. Martin has to follow Jake’s clues, expressed through numbers, and make sure the right things happen. Really, Martin just has to show up and do what he feels is right and the pieces all fall into place.

Your enjoyment of this show may depend on your ability to accept the premise. Are you a person who believes that we are all connected? Are you a person who believes that energy and fate are forces of their own? Can you at least believe these things long enough to watch a TV show with a premise relying on such concepts? It’s likely that viewers could appreciate this as magical realism if they cannot grasp the premise as possible reality. One thing is for certain: This show recognizes the loneliness of our high-tech, shallow connections-oriented nation. It knows that we want to make a difference and it knows that we need to collide with each other.

One possible downside is that viewers will need to watch the show carefully to catch all the connections that occur each week. In order to fully appreciate how everything comes together in the end, viewers will need to be paying attention. Sometimes it feels contrived and like it is trying to connect too many people in one episode. Episode three indicated that connections from previous episodes will be far-reaching. It would be better to just have a separate group of connected people each week. It’s already too complicated for a procedural.

Right now, the show is effective, but can it work months from now? This show needs to quickly establish the extent of Jake’s gifts and put limits on them. It needs to work a little more at establishing why this premise is possible (see the DVDs What the Bleep do We Know and Everything is Spiritual). If it can’t do that, it needs to do some world building regarding its fantastical elements. Stronger writing is going to be key in helping this show thrive.

One thing we like about Touch is how it doesn’t have all the characters from around the world speaking English. This is not a lazy show. When characters are in foreign countries, they speak their languages. Leeard was excited to hear Russian in one episode. Another good thing is that the relationship between Martin and Jake feels real and tugs at the heartstrings. Martin’s struggle to reach and protect his kid grounds the show and gives us a reason to return each week. Martin needs to be onscreen more.

Some might call this show manipulative, but screw those guys. We liked it. The pilot was one of the best in the last year. The messages of the show are positive and uplifting. There is drama and tension, but each episode ends on such a hopeful note that it has a “chicken soup for the soul” effect. It’s hard to hate a show that repeatedly tells viewers that we are all in this life together and that our actions affect each other. The show leaves you smiling each week. We like watching it and we like how we feel after watching it. It’s fun, adventurous, magical, and original. We are rooting for it, but it has work to do.

Pilot: Grade A-

1 + 1= 3: Grade B

Safety in Numbers: Grade B  

Kite Strings: Grade B-

New Show: Touch

Touch
Fox. Midseason

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland (24)

Plot: Centers on a father who discovers his autistic, mute son can actually predict events before they happen.

Why We Are Excited: The way his son predicts things and the premise behind that is actually really unique and interesting. One of us loves to read about the precision of the universe and the formulas that keep us all alive, so this is right up her alley. We love the idea of an emotionally rich show with a child actor who doesn’t talk. Let’s face it: usually when they talk, it’s not very good acting and it pulls us out of the fiction. Also, Kiefer brings a gravity and urgency to his roles that could keep this grounded and make us feel like it all really matters. Plus, the trailer is pretty sweet.

Why We Are Not Excited: There’s a chance this could become another procedural and really not take the viewer anywhere.

Preview:
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Anticipation Score: 8/10
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