Dollhouse Wants to Stay Awake

It's only 2 episodes into the season, and already blogs are announcing Dollhouse's potential cancellation. As depressing as that prospect is, it does address something we all knew going into season 2: Dollhouse is lucky to have a second season, and we should enjoy it while it's on. Since Joss Whedon knows that as well as anyone, it makes it all the more curious why this season's first 2 episodes feel so much more like early season 1 than late season 1. To paraphrase Tony Soprano, every episode is a gift, but does it have to be a pair of socks?

That's being a bit overdramatic, since Dollhouse continues to be enjoyable week to week. I'm more referring to the decision to go back to the case-of-the-week format, and more specifically the lackluster nature of the first 2 cases. In the season premiere, Echo married BSG's Apollo, an arms dealer, to take him down. As fun as it is to see Apollo again, I spent the whole episode wondering how long this engagement lasted to get him to marry her, and why it was worth all the effort.

Still, if the procedural element wasn't up to Whedon standards, much of the rest of the episode was. Whiskey/Saunders, one of the show's best characters, had a great storyline as she dealt with the season 1 finale revelation that she's actually an Active. It makes you realize what season 2 will be lacking when Amy Acker has to go off and make Happy Town, which sight-unseen I still expect to last shorter than Dollhouse. So if the premiere wasn't finale-quality, it had enough good stuff to set up the season right.

But this past week's episode was all about the case of the week, and what a weak case it was. Echo's made into a mom, and goes baby crazy? Even by case-of-the-week standards, that's not very fun. No ass-kicking Echo, no out-smarting Echo, just sad Echo. Worst of all, Boyd, Saunders, and Victor were all completely MIA. If Ballard as Echo's handler means less Boyd, then I wish he was still at the FBI.

With hints about Echo's growing consciousness and Wesley/Sandy Rivers/Mr. Alyson Hannigan's quest to take down the Dollhouse, both episodes built a solid foundation for the season. Which would work out great if we knew there was going to be a rest of the season. With its future in jeopardy, Dollhouse needs to bring back the quality of the end of last season if it wants to stay on the air. The promo for next week showed a much more action-packed and interesting episode, so I'm encouraged. But as someone rooting strongly for the show to succeed, I'm still a bit disappointed.

The Seth MacFarlane Domination Continues

Seth MacFarlane is taking over TV. He's got Family Guy and American Dad on Fox. He's appearing in person on FlashForward. And now, with last week's premiere of Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, he's got 3/4 of Fox's Sunday night line-up. Only The Simpsons stands in the way of the animation block becoming "Seth MacFarlane night."

But with Cleveland's second episode airing tonight, I thought it was worth taking a look at MacFarlane's second attempt to clone Family Guy. Like American Dad, Cleveland attempts to replicate Family Guy character-by-character as much as possible. There's Cleveland (here taking over the Peter role), his high school crush (Lois), his overweight son (Chris), her daughter (Meg), and her too-mature-for-his-age young'in (Stewie). Plus a talking bear, a redneck, and a preppie white guy who lives with his mom as Cleveland's three friends.

Essentially, it's Family Guy with a few racial and geographical adjustments. And while the pilot didn't exactly make me laugh, it was still miles above American Dad (also true for any other scripted show on TV). I will say that the Family Guy trademarked cut-aways seem to be getting more desperate and less logical with time. It's starting to feel like amateur improv, where they don't actually know how to complete the joke after the set-up. I'm starting to think South Park may be right that the show is written by manatees.

Truth is, Family Guy was a show I LOVED when I was 13, but I outgrew its sense of humor a couple years ago, so Cleveland's not really aiming for me as its audience. But if you like Family Guy and can tolerate American Dad, you'll probably enjoy it just fine. And if nothing else, it's got a pretty good theme song:

The Humor in Lying

Grade: B+

Humor is, of course, subjective, so I'll say this upfront: if the trailer for The Invention of Lying didn't appeal, you're probably not going to like the movie either. But for all the many, many high-concept comedies coming out of Hollywood these days, this concept is actually kind of brilliant: in a world where everyone only speaks the truth (and, by extension, tends to share every unpolite but honest thought in their head), one guy (Ricky Gervais) has figured out how to lie.

You'd think that concept might get old, creating a one-joke act that plays itself out far before the end. But with so much material within that concept, it doesn't. Maybe it's just me, but watching Tina Fey say how much she loathes her job and waiters telling Gervais that his date (Jennifer Garner) is way out of his league kept making me laugh. Best of all are some hilarious truth-in-advertising campaigns from Coke ("it's very popular") and Pepsi ("for when they don't have Coke.") Also, Jennifer Garner proves here that, just as in 13 Going on 30, she's actually quite a talented comedic actress, and her truth-telling is often the funniest. All of which makes the first act of the movie provides a frequent and consistent amount of laughs.

Writer/directors Gervais and Matthew Robinson knew they couldn't let the whole movie go on like that though, so, for better and for worse, it heads off in different directions. Trying to comfort his mother as she's dying, Gervais ends up inadvertently inventing religion. At first it seems like that shouldn't work (or belong in this movie), but once you see him try to explain "the man in the sky" to his followers in the movie's funniest scene, you'll change your mind.

Sadly, the last act reverts to what so many similar comedies feel obligated to do: go the tried-and-true romance route, with a Gervais/Garner will-they-or-won't-they you've seen about 500 times before, and each of them better done. Cause this time the central concept all but disappears (as does the humor) as Gervais mopes about wanting Garner back. As Gervais' character is basically an even more depressed version of Extras' Andy Millman, the movie illustrates that a movie about depressed characters is sometimes kind of depressing. And even if the truth-telling never gets old, the hundreds of times they say "genetic match" and "fat kids with snub noses" most certainly does.

You'd think the guy who created Tim and Dawn (who would eventually become Jim and Pam) could make a better romance, and find a balance between funny and sad instead of bouncing back and forth between them. Maybe that's what was lost in Gervais finding a new collaborator instead of usual co-writer/director Stephen Merchant (who does have a fun cameo). Speaking of cameos, the movie is packed full of them. I won't spoil them all, but they run the gamut from the more expected comedians (like Merchant) to legit big names (Edward Norton!) Guess there's a lot of fans of The Office (or Extras?) in Hollywood these days.

Basically, it's uneven. When it's good, it's hilarious. When it tries to be serious, it fails. But since it's the funny parts you'll remember when you leave the theater, I'm not lying when I say you should check it out.

Blah to the Future

Grade: B-

I know I'm a week behind, but I just caught the pilot to FlashForward, ABC's newest attempt to imitate its success with Lost. And I have to say, I'm disappointed. It's not that I was expecting Lost-level quality. That's far too much to ask. But while the concept is certainly a good one, the execution just isn't.

First off, I'm not bringing up Lost just cause this is a genre show on ABC - FlashForward does everything it possibly can to make you think of it, especially in its direct rip-off opening scene. Beginning with a close-up of its male lead waking up from unconsciousness (face, not eye, huge difference), the sounds of people screaming are gradually heard as our lead discovers the wreckage around him. There's even a sudden explosion. If you substitute the word "car" with "plane," it's Lost. When you toss in Penny and (later) Charlie as cast members and an Oceanic Airlines poster in the background, it's clear what the goal is.

Stepping aside from the easy comparisons though, let's look at what FlashForward is on its own. At the exact same time, everyone in the world passes out and has visions of April 29th at 10 PM. Well, not everyone - John Cho's character has the misfortune of being visionless, leaving him to spend the next 6 months wondering if he's doomed to die before then. Voldemort's brother sees himself leading an investigation into the event. His wife, Penny, sees herself with another man (sadly not Desmond). And a man on the brink of suicide sees himself alive.

So ok, that's a great idea for a show. You get to see what happens between point A and point B, and try to figure out whether they can change their fates or not. There's all sorts of mysteries, the coolest one being what's up with the one person on the planet who didn't get knocked out during the event. You can imagine all sorts of twists and turns to come along the way.

So what's wrong? Pretty much everything else. Despite aiming for Lost, the quality just feels B-level. The dialogue is continually laughable, the acting never quite convincing (which I'll blame on the writing, not the cast), and the general tone muffled and plodding. Worse, none of the characters really stand out as people you care where they are 6 months from now. Since most of the mysteries are character-based, that's no good. Also, it's too aware of the strength of its concept. The entire pilot consists of a series of "what did you see in your flash forward?" "Oh, I saw this, what did you see in your flash forward?" It's like "Real World: Visionquest." Yawn.

Because the concept does intrigue me, and because there's only so many shows that even put in the effort of trying to break new ground, I'll give this one three episodes before making up my mind. But I can tell you now that this has much more in common with Heroes, Prison Break, and, yes, The Nine - all shows that tried to be the next Lost and ultimately settled for something less. For another low-grade genre show, it could do the trick. But for something to replace Lost's ability to wow, I'm still waiting.

Mad Muppets

The long-anticipated Sesame Street spoof of Mad Men has arrived. Take a look:

As far as spoofs go, this one wasn't all that Mad Men specific. The only actual character in it was Don, and he said far more in these 2 minutes than he generally says in any given one hour episode.

On the other hand, the take-off on the opening credits with the silhouette slipping on a banana peel was genius, and you have to give props to a kids' show that features the line, "Good work, sycophants." Also "Watch the suit."

All in all, just goes to show that Muppets are awesome.

ABC Comedy: The Good and the Meh

ABC's struggled with comedy since Spin City went off the air, but this year it's making a comeback with its entire Wednesday night line-up devoted to comedy. While Hank and The Middle won't premiere til this week (and I have no desire to see them anyway), I did catch the Friday re-airings of Modern Family and Cougar Town. So does ABC have the next great sitcom on its hands? Let's take a look.

Grade: A-

Modern Family has been called "the next Arrested Development," which left me both intrigued and worried. I didn't want to watch some rip-off of my favorite show. Thankfully, it only resembles Arrested Development in 2 ways: it's about a dysfunctional family, and it's hilarious.

More so than drama even, I find comedy to be more about execution than ideas. Because on paper, Modern Family seems to be full of all the same family comedy cliches we've rejected since the laugh track went out of fashion (don't worry, there's no laugh track here). A dorky dad trying to seem hip in front of his kids? The mom worried about her teenage daughter around boys? Sounds like a TBS sitcom.

Yet whether through cast or writing, Modern Family takes what we know of the family sitcom and makes it funny and new again. The show centers on three different families who by the end of the pilot we know to all be related. First, there's the traditional family with parents (Lost's Julie Bowen plays the mom) and three kids. Second is an older guy (Married with Children's Ed O'Neil) with a much younger Colombian wife and her son. And lastly, a gay couple that have just adopted a baby from Vietnam.

While the show does go for the mockumentary format that so many single-camera comedies do these days, it's not as big a part of the show as it was on The Office or Arrested Development. On the other hand, it never feels too sitcommy either (cough Community cough), even with such over-the-top gags as the gay couple making a speech on an airplane over a misunderstanding or various mishaps involving a BB gun.

Mostly though, the show's just funny. So far the traditional family's gotten the best material, being responsible for the above mentioned BB gun which led to some of the episode's funniest moments. With so many comedies satisfied with a couple laughs and some "awww"s, it's good to have a show that wants to keep you laughing throughout. So I don't need a 3 episode trial period here; this one's a keeper. If only I didn't already have 2 shows on Wednesdays at 9. That's why there's Hulu.

Grade: C+

Cougar Town probably isn't helped by its lead-in. Ratings-wise maybe, but it's not flattering to air the funnier show first. In all fairness though, it was actually better than I was expecting after all those unfortunate promos highlighting the show's least appealing moments. But even with a cast full of people I like (Courtney Cox, Freaks and Geeks' Busy Phillipps, Scrubs/Drew Carey's Christa Miller, and Dan Byrd from Aliens in America), this one's just not for me.

Most of the attention the show has received has followed the thread of "oh boo hoo, so hard for gorgeous Courtney Cox who's somehow still successful in real estate to find a man." But despite all the many speeches about how hard it is for 40-something women (even if they're Courtney Cox and look about 10 years younger), I'd say her problem is less her looks than her behavior. Her onscreen son puts it best: she says everything she thinks. Which after about 5 minutes gets really, really annoying.

And despite the fact that it was created by a man (Scrubs' Bill Lawrence, hence my interest), the show doesn't make much of an effort to attract male audiences. Lines like "I let my coochie cooch do the thinking" and "my uterus nearly flew out" just aren't what a guy wants to be hearing on a weekly basis. All of which makes the show fit in nicely with the network behind Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and Desperate Housewives, but doesn't make it something for me. Final verdict: manproof.

Ok, I'm Ready to Drop Heroes

I remember when I saw the season premiere of Alias' last season, and I realized I just didn't care about any of the characters anymore. It's not that the episode was all that bad (actually it was, since it was the one with Vaughn's "death"), but it was time to move on. I made it through the rest of the season, bad as it was, since I knew it was the end and I wanted to see it through. But since Heroes will continue until NBC finally pulls the plug, it's in no such luck.

Now, my decision isn't entirely based on the premiere. This isn't like when I dropped Grey's because the ghost Denny thing just became unbearable. No, this was a long time coming, I just needed to make sure the writers wouldn't actually follow up on their yearly promise to fix the mistakes of the previous season and make Heroes right. Three strikes, you're out.

But since I did make it through all of the seemingly never-ending 2-hour premiere, might as well look at what I won't be seeing this year. Like many aging shows looking for a comeback, Heroes was jam-packed with references to season 1 (ie "the good ol' days"). Beginning with a montage of how everyone discovered their powers in the pilot, the episode would go on to contain many "Save the cheerleader, save the world" references as everyone went back to their original jobs (paramedic, cop, student). But just like volume 4, it won't be long until all that goes away.

Going character by character, let's start with Claire, which mostly demonstrated the writers' complete inability to write for young characters. How embarrassing were all the attempts to seem hip, with references to Facebook and Guitar Hero? And the stereotypical over-achieving roommate - have they never seen a high school show transitioning to college? You'd think they could have come up with a better (or at least more subtle) bad roommate than that. Amazing to think Claire used to be one of the reasons to watch the show. Also embarrassing - Tim Kring namedropping his previous show, Crossing Jordan, as if anyone currently under the age of 40 watched that when it was on.

Moving on to the other season 1 favorite, Hiro. Seeing as he's the only one who ever had any fun on the show, of course he has to be dying to take out any enjoyment. And I'm worried that the time travel's already back first thing, since every single volume Heroes massively abuses the time travel to the point that every fan yells "Enough already! Stay in the present!" So far it hasn't gotten too bad (though I expected people to start disappearing from that photo Back to the Future style), but you know we'll be back to the yearly vision of a dark future 5 episodes from now.

Who else is there? Tracy gave up her revenge quest pretty quickly. So much for that. And a romance with Noah (which seemed to be implied)? Not buying it. Nathan realizing he's actually Sylar? Potentially interesting. Matt seeing Sylar everywhere? Not. Guess which got more screen time? Peter shouting out his love of being a paramedic? Meh. And I think the current definition of his powers has been somewhat flexible.

The most promising storyline from the premiere is the carnyfolk, most notably Robert Knepper's Samuel. If anything could breathe some new life into the show it's him. But since Heroes wants to prove it's core-characters first, they haven't had too much screen time yet, just setting the seeds for the season with cryptic talk about "the compass." Problem is, cryptic talk doesn't cut it when I'm deciding whether to stick with a show for 19 more episodes. I need to know why I should care now. A tease doesn't work unless something intriguing has been teased.

So goodbye Heroes. I'll likely check in to see how you're doing from time to time, but I doubt I'll miss you too much. And Nip/Tuck, get ready, cause you should be expecting a similar post once you premiere.