Premiere Week–Thursday

Though it was still far from perfect, Thursday was easily the most solid night so far this week.

Big Bang Theory: Season 5 - The two episodes aired last night were on par with the show’s recent history – nowhere near the heights of the second season, mostly just an entertaining, forgettable distraction. The biggest problem with the series is that it can’t seem to decided if it want’s to be a show that tries to get laughs by making fun of the geeks – casting the audience as the cool outsider who is far superior to the pathetic core characters – or if it wants to be a show that treats its geeks as real people and tries to get laughs by putting them outside their comfort zones – casting the audience the core characters’ different-but-equal peers. I vastly prefer the latter approach as it leads to much smarter humour, whereas the former is just a regurgitation of all the same geek jokes we’ve been watching for the last 30 years. Fortunately, last night’s episodes both fell mostly within the latter category. Let’s hope it stays there.

Verdict: Watch it

Community: Season 3 – Probably the best, and riskiest, comedy on the broadcast networks, Community’s third season premiere was quite strong. After a brilliant musical cold open, the show quickly fell into it’s standard style and though it wasn’t on par with its best episodes, it was funny and entertaining and set up the rest of the season nicely.

Verdict: Watch it

The Office: Season 8 – The primary purpose of this episode, and probably the next few as well, was to prove to audiences that The Office wouldn’t collapse with the departure of its lead character. In that regard, it was successful. It was pretty much on the same level as the last two years. The downside to this is that the last two years have been markedly lower quality than the beginning of its run. The result is that, while it will probably stick around for another season, it will continue shedding fans with each episode as it rehashes and tries to re-attain the freshness it was once known for.

Verdict: Skip it

Person Of Interest: This is a show from J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan, starring Michael Emerson (and Jim Caviezal, but that’s not really important). With that type of talent on board, you’d expect big things. Instead a very standard, dull, and at times laughably nonsensical, procedural. The writing is flat, the story straightforward and obvious, and Caviezal is incredibly uninteresting. Emerson, who works best when playing off of others, is good but mostly confined to sitting in front of a computer. If it weren’t for the behind the scenes talent, I’d be writing this off entirely, but as is I’ll probably give it a chance for a few more episodes and hope it can find its footing.

Verdict: Give it 6

There’s only one premiere tonight worth checking out, so come back tomorrow to see my take on the Fringe season opener.

Sleep well,

DTE