Midseason madness

If you are like me, then you have begun to notice that TV has become a vast wasteland of reruns and Christmas specials. But fear not, all of your favorite shows will be returning soon enough. If you need to start figuring out when to set your DVRs, then I suggest you click on the link below which will provide you the return date for all major TV shows in a convenient calendar form. Now let's just hope January comes faster than normal.

http://tvline.com/2013/12/02/tv-calendar-2014-midseason-premiere-dates-finales/

TV reviews (Midseason edition)

I figured I'd take a few moments and share some of my feelings on a pair of shows which have recently debuted.

Alcatraz: In the ongoing quest to fill the void left by Lost comes this new drama that is part police procedural and part sci-fi mystery. Back in 1963 over 300 of the prisoners encarcerated at Alcatraz, along with the guards on duty mysteriously vanished. Now in present day they have begun showing up seemingly the same age they were back in '63. A team has been assembled to recapture these guys consisting of a young cop (played by Sarah Jones), a comic book artist who's an expert on Alcatraz (Jorge Garcia aka Hurley from Lost) and a mysterious federal agent (Sam Neill) who was a guard not on duty at Alcatraz when everyone disappeared. Thus far, the show has managed establish a rhythm (each episode has featured one returning inmate/guard that the team is trying to locate) but has avoided becoming pure formula by throwing in some twists and mysteries to keep audiences guessing at the show's big questions. I really like the cast here. Neill as excellent playing the shades of grey agent, Jones is sexy but tough, and Garcia remains likeable while doing a good job of making this character different from Hurley. I've definitely become invested in discovering the show's central mysteries and unlike Person of Interest which I stopped watching after about 6 weeks, I don't see myself getting bored with the formulaic aspects of the show. Thus far, ratings have been solid. And with the announcement that FOX will not be renewing House after this season, it looks likely that this show will be sticking around. If you haven't given this show a look yet, trying finding its aired episodes online somewhere and get caught up. Thumbs up!

Touch: This had an early preview a few weeks ago. This is the latest show from creator Tim Kring(Heroes). It focuses on single father (Keifer Sutherland) struggling to raise his son who has never spoken one word since he was born. However, we see that the boy is very special and has a gift for finding connections between people through numbers. The story is similar to the film Knowing but with a much more positive and uplifting theme. I enjoyed the pilot episode but I do have some reservations as to whether or not the show can sustain itself as a series. I'm really glad to see Keifer Sutherland back on TV, although I do wish it was still as Jack Bauer. His character here does not possess Jack's skills of being a badass, but if they do share a similarity it's that both characters seemingly try to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and you easily empathize with both. There's a lot to like here, but the jury is still out as to whether this will work as episodic televison.

Living in a dream

It appears that this year's crop of midseason replacements on television is an unusually strong crop. Here's just one of the programs that shows promise - a drama called Awake, which will be premiering on NBC in the next couple of months. I've posted a trailer below to give you a taste of what you can expect.

Winter watchings

As the snow falls and you're stuck inside, you'll probably be looking for something to watch TV. Well here are a couple of new options for you to choose from. One is an adaptation of the book/film The Firm from John Grisham that will air on NBC. The other is Alcatraz, a new thriller airing on FOX that stars Sam Neill and is produced by J.J. Abrams.