Living with potentially six months of winter does make one search out a few laughs now and then. Though television's definition of funny is still largely situation comedy, this batch looks like it has the greatest potential for laughs:
Schitt’s Creek on CBC, starts Winter 2015:
SCTV alums Eugene Levy and Catherine O-Hara! That alone should be enough to be hilarious. Levy and O’Hara play a riches-to-rags couple forced to live in a tiny town they once bought as a lark. (Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger should be called for cameos, but their agents may say they’re busy.) Hopefully the long wait to see this one is worth it.
Selfie, Tuesdays on ABC, starts September 30:
A social media-obsessed young woman decides she needs to renovate her shallow life and hires an image consultant to help her do it. Based on My Fair Lady. Might be a good one for watching with your teen . . . or beside your teen while your teen watches a phone.
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, "Coming Soon" on NBC:
If Ellie Kemper (of The Office) can sell us on more than 22 minutes of a wide-eyed innocent experiencing New York, they might have something here. Demerit points for the ripped-from-the-headlines plot: the titular Kimmy is rescued from a cult, which explains her naiveté—it’s a bit uncomfortably close to the real-life case of three women held prisoner for years in Cleveland. Points back for this being written and Executive Produced by the one and only Tina Fey—she can do wrong, but we'll never speak of that here.
A to Z, Thursdays on NBC, starts October 2:
The description for this opposites attract comedy reads a lot like How I Met Your Mother light, including a strict timeline for the length of the couple's relationship and the very likeable Cristin Miloti as the leading lady, fresh from the final season of HIMYM. Let’s hope this show has a more satisfying ending. That’s right, I said it.
Mulaney Sundays on FOX, starts October 5:
A behind-the-scenes style comedy set around the (fictional) life of John Mulaney, who was on his way up the stand-up ladder only to be seduced by a corporate writing job for a legendary and very bizarre boss (Martin Short). I think I liked this when it starred Tina Fey and was called 30 Rock, but I will give it a go, even if it's just to see if it was worth co-star Nasim Pedrad jumping off the SNL ship.
Utopia Tuesdays & Fridays on FOX (streaming live feed any time), starts Sunday, September 7:
Like Survivor, if you take away dimpled Probst and add a decidedly more post-apocalyptic bent to a village full of strangers trying to form a society in an isolated, desolate place. For a YEAR. With no prize money at the end. Plus constant live streaming on the internet (who has TIME?). This concept owes much to the 2009 Discovery channel show The Colony. Could be disturbingly addictive. Or frighteningly disturbing.
Which new shows will you try? Let us know in the Comments!
With the turning of the leaves comes kids back at school, the slow cooker comes out…that groove in the couch starts to feel a bit groovier. Though seasonal TV is getting to be a strange idea in these days of binge-watching, there’s no denying that sweater weather is cozier with some brand new TV for indoor nights. Here are my picks out of the new Fall season to try, plus a few that look headed for Cancelled City:
Strange Empire, Tuesdays on CBC, Starts October 6:
Set in 1869 Alberta-Montana border country, it’s a Western focusing on the women in town, who are struggling with survival and life in the pioneer West. If it’s not too earnest, it might be worth your time.
Forever, Tuesdays on ABC, starts September 23:
A medical examiner drama with a twist—our mystery-solving M.E. seems to be about 200 years old…he just doesn’t know why he’s never ended up in the morgue. I am a total sucker for time travel and/or immortality plots, which almost never make it a full season. I’m still going to give it a try, and cry when it’s inevitably cancelled before Christmas.
Astronaut Wives Club, "Coming Soon" on ABC:
Based on the book, it’s what happens to the earthbound women who are married to astronauts at the height of the space race. Smartly limited to a 10-episode run—much like the most binge-watched of the cable and streaming series—but watch for a magically longer pick up if it’s a hit.
State of Affairs, Mondays on NBC, starts November 17:
I would like it known that I have been a Heigl-hater since well before it was cool. I haven’t enjoyed her performance in anything—I don’t really care what she’s like on set. But, I will give an hour to try out a show that features a female president (Alfre Woodard) LIKE IT’S NO BIG DEAL. Bonus points to NBC (kinda) for terming their Wednesday programming block “Woman Crush Wednesday.”
(AND NOT IN A “SO BAD IT’S GOOD” WAY)
The Mysteries of Laura, Wednesdays on NBC, starts September 24:
An awkward cop-family vehicle starring Debra Messing (whose agent must not like her very much). Just read the network's own description:
You just threw up in your mouth a little bit, didn’t you? Or at the very least, changed the channel. Look, even Debra doesn't seem impressed:
Scorpion, Mondays on CBS, starts September 22:
A super squad of mega nerds, each skilled in their own right, comes together to solve high-tech threats. And be socially awkward! Probability of cancellation: high.
NCIS New Orleans, Tuesdays on CBS, starts September 23:
Scott Bakula can do very little wrong, but it’s hard to believe audiences are clamouring for yet another spin-off crime procedural. Related: is anyone else a little bit bothered every time they see Mark Harmon with grey hair on NCIS? Like a piece of our youth is dead? Just me?
Check out Part 2 of our Fall TV Preview. It’s about the funny stuff.
Photos from www.nbc.com and www.cbc.ca
Can we talk?
The younger set may only know Joan as the plastic-faced, snark-fuelled granny who expertly ripped into celebrity outfits, and may rightfully wonder what the fuss at her passing is about. The Joan Rivers of my memory is the petite, squeaky-voiced comedienne in those loud, shoulder-padded blazers, hosting The Tonight Show when Johnny was away. I took it completely for granted that this brassy, acidic, and hilarious woman sat in that chair—of course she did! The late-night wars and her subsequent feud with Johnny when she went to Fox to host her own ill-fated show (as well as many of the jokes), went over my 9-year-old head. But I knew she was amazingly fun to watch, and to me represented something I wanted to be—a sparkling, dazzlingly funny woman.
How she got to sit in that chair was 20 years of hard scrabble (and some would say good management by husband Edgar Rosenberg), and like many great comics, having the courage to talk about things we “shouldn’t” talk about, like this early stand up on the Ed Sullivan Show.
In the late 1980s, reeling from her husband’s suicide and her late-night career failure, Joan Rivers was nearly relegated permanently to the “Where Are They Now?” folder, but instead she reinvented the persona she died with—a showbiz savvy, say-anything comic who was brutally honest about her own life and her face’s relationship with the plastic surgeon.
She gave instructions for her funeral in her recent book, I Hate Everyone (Starting With Me):
“When I die (and yes, Melissa, that day will come; and yes, Melissa, everything's in your name), I want my funeral to be a huge showbiz affair with lights, cameras, action…. I want Craft Services, I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene! I want it to be Hollywood all the way. I don't want some rabbi rambling on; I want Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents. I don't want a eulogy; I want Bobby Vinton to pick up my head and sing Mr. Lonely.
"I want to look gorgeous, better dead than I do alive. I want to be buried in a Valentino gown and I want Harry Winston to make me a toe tag. And I want a wind machine so that even in the casket my hair is blowing just like Beyoncé's."
Joan Rivers passed away in New York at the age of 81. She was hospitalized after she stopped breathing during a procedure at a day surgery clinic.
See Joan hard at work and enjoy some of her later work in the excellent documentary made on the occasion of her 75th birthday: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.
Did Joan really have over 700 plastic surgery procedures? We covered that in Mummy Buzz.
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