Monday, May 25, 2009

Why Cops Must Hate the Mentalist

I enjoy The Mentalist, I really do. I understand that it's an extremely contrived show, but it's full of well-written characters and full of some nice touches that many viewers aren't used to seeing (CBI, anyone?). And, it's certainly far and away better than that totally contrived copycat on Fox, Lie to Me. Sure, it's not as slick, but neither does it rely on as much gimmickery and ultimate pointlessness.

Anyway... though I like the series, headlined by an actor I've followed since I first saw him in a bit part in L.A. Confidential (one of my favorite movies), I'm of the opinion that real cops and detectives must hate it. Ever notice how most of the procedural stuff is handled by Jane (the main character)? And he handles it in such a way that he almost scoffs at it like it's "duh" obvious. And even though the show, unlike Lie to Me, does highlight some procedural and forensic work done by real cops, it's usually as afterthought or just a way to build the other characters in the series. For the show, it works, but it still can't make real cops happy.

Other Television Musings

So, the inevitable happened: Life was canceled. Screw all you bastards who didn't tune it to save it. Ah, well... at least the finale was awesome.

The BBC hit, Primeval, is back, and boy does it suck so far. What happened to the days of shows getting better as they go on? Are even writers suffering from the impatience felt by viewers? And everyone wonders why reality TV is so prolific these days.

The upcoming season certainly has the record for lamest new show titles: The Listener, Mental, The Middle, Glee? Come on, now.

Jay Leno might wind up saving NBC in the short run, but he's going to kill network TV in the long run.

Somebody needs to convince the CW to give it up. Seriously... go away. Sell your better shows to the Big Four and just go away.

While I can't wait for The Cleveland Show to start, something tells me 90 minutes of Seth McFarlane every week is not going to work for very long. Then again, I think I'm overestimating the intelligence of TV audiences, so I'm probably wrong.

Do I really want 18 NFL games per season? Um... I love my Chargers, but no.

The next great NBC shows that aren't going to make it: Chuck and Southland. We can just throw them into the Life, Journeyman, and The Black Donnelly's pile right now.

Prison Break is finally gone. Good riddance. Although I give kudos for that ending.

Craig Ferguson is the best late night host on television.

For you Pushing Daisies fans, it's coming back for three weeks, Saturday nights on ABC.

And, in closing, for you whiny fans who seem to think ratings don't matter, who the fuck do you think ultimately pays for the shows you watch? This ain't the UK, and we ain't got the BBC. So watch the fucking commercials.

Have a nice day.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like The Mentalist, too. And I am able to overlook the 'plot curves' necessary to make the show work. I also LOVE that they don't have Jane and Lisbon always at odds, her hating his presence and all that crap. They like each other and while they don't always agree, they aren't barking cats and dogs either.........I wish Life had continued, too. But that finale was one of the best episodes of any show ever. Wow.

I want to love Primeval, but I am just 'meh' about it. Something is missing, or off, and I can't pinpoint it.

I like Supernatural. And I did like Reaper. Other than that, I never tune into the CW. And since Reaper has been canned and Supernatural is on it's (supposed) final season, soon I won't tune in at all.

Prison Break did need to end.

Looking forward to the final Pushing Daisies. Another show that shoulda, woulda, coulda.

Ah well.....

Posted by Joe on May 26, 2009 - Tuesday - 10:45 AM

Anonymous said...

What the hell did MySpace do to my comment? Guess I shouldn't have used spaces between my sentences. Sheesh!

Posted by Joe on May 26, 2009 - Tuesday - 10:46 AM

Anonymous said...

Yeah... that was a bit odd.

Posted by JeffScape on May 26, 2009 - Tuesday - 3:24 PM

Anonymous said...

Oh, shit... it did it to me, too!

Posted by JeffScape on May 26, 2009 - Tuesday - 3:24 PM

Anonymous said...

And again!

New system, I'm guessing.

Posted by JeffScape on May 26, 2009 - Tuesday - 3:25 PM

JeffScape said...

In case anyone's wondering what Joe and I are ranting about, MySpace's blog coding went haywire (I fixed the posts, obviously), which is what led to me coming here.

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