Fall TV

Like many from my generation, I watch TV. I watch a lot of TV. There's really not much to say about it other than my impaired vision (like -6.50 impaired) is mainly due to a childhood of television; perhaps a small portion of my sad eyes are thanks to genes. Anyway, the time for Fall TV has come and along we it awesome returns of our favorites like Thursday giants The Office, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation; Fox hit and personal gleeky fave Glee followed by newcomer with dorky potential New Girl featuring girl crush Zooey Deschanel; along with possible greats or total failures like Up All Night with Amy Phoeler hubby Will Arnett and The Playboy Club featuring my other girl crush Amber Heard. To help me break it down Grantland.com's article, Your Fall TV Cancellation Forecast. Favorite quote in the article:

Terra Nova (Fox, Monday 9/26, 8 p.m.)
Gargantuan hype. More visual effects than a Nicole Kidman close-up. A dinosaur-sized budget. Dinosaurs. Everything about this time-traveling adventure series is extra-large, including the expectations. For Terra Nova to succeed, it has to be a legit phenomenon. But if it goes down it will be spectacular, a brontosauran belly flop of epically embarrassing, money-burning proportions.

Although this article is more gentle with ABC's Pan Am, I'm absolutely looking forward to this '60s workplace show (obviously because of the hair and fashion) mixed with modern dialogue and female leads (versus roles supporting male characters). There has certainly been a lot o f controversy surrounding the new '60s based shows Pan Am and The Playboy Club due to a) following (some might say copying) the steps of popular AMC program Mad Men, and b) the insanely "sexist" themes. My response to those lazy gripes would be a) copying a formula that works and gets ratings has never, ever happened before on television (cough American Idol, Karaoke Battle USA, The Voice, The X Factor, America's Got Talent, The Singing Bee, Finish the Lyrics....Oh, reality TV doesn't count for some reason? Okay, howsabout Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf...and I'm not even including the British versions. Ooh, ooh I have another one CSI: (fill-in-the-f*cking-blank.) So, refrain from comparing it to Mad Men because that's like comparing The Office (UK) to The Office or Hawaii Five-O (1968-80) to Hawaii Five-O (present). Totally ridiculous, right? As for b) I would say the '60s were a pretty fucking sexist time period, but the shows based in the '60s shouldn't be. At face value they seem to be edging the line of sexism and possible female empowerment with female leads, yes, sexy female leads but who says being sexy means you're catering to men and objectifying yourself and therefore it's sexist? I'm giving this show a chance that it's the latter. I'll read into the dialogue and characters that ultimately determine whether it's sexist or not, rather than assuming it is based on the setting. I think some writers have jumped the gun and the nature of the show remains to be scene.