Unknownfear

This review is based on the 2 episode series premiere which aired on 9/23/16

The other month we had a sneak preview of the pilot for Van Helsing, which left me sourly disappointed. Well, thats not fair, I wasn't expecting much to begin with. Not even because of the lack of originality of the premise, but mostly because of that godawful 2004 movie by the same title which still makes me writhe, on occasion. So when the pilot turned out to be The Walking Dead, in a single building, with hints of the Strain and Dominion, my initial thoughts were, "Well, this ain't going to survive 2 seasons".

HOWEVER....!!! However, he says.

Episode 2 was fantastic o__o. So how does that even work? In episode one, we get to see all of one building, annoying characters, unintelligent vampire-esque creatures, and paranoia. In episode 2 (an entire flashback episode) we see the world as it is now (and daylight!), fun, likeable characters with good development scenes, intelligent vampires, including the extremely sexy Laura Mennell (you may remember her from Alphas), and the beginning of the end of the world. And as they'd have it, it turns out Vampires did not lead the world into apocalypse -- which is a fun little twist.

But the end of episode 2, leads into where the end of 1 left us off. So now we're back to a building, paranoid jerks, and midnless vampires. However, this time around we know the show has a lot more to offer. Somehow, it comes to 4 stars, because I really enjoyed the ingenuity of episode 2.

This review is based on the pilot of "Notorious" which aired 9/22/16 (was about to write 23, but realized its after midnight >.> Already made that mistake on my previous review. Whoops)

Notorious feels like a hybrid of various shows and genres such as The Newsroom, Scandal, and The Defenders (does anyone remember that show? Probably not.)

Anyway. The premise is pretty original, and it works. It focuses on Julia George (Piper Perabo), who produces a news show, and Jake Gregorian (Daniel Sunjata), a defense attorney. If the show proceeds how the trailer leads us to believe, then these two work together behind closed doors to supply one another with lads to help further their careers and produce quality news. However, based on the previews for next weeks episode, it could end up becoming some serialized mess of a show that deals with the ramifications of the case in the pilot episode. I certainly hope that is NOT the route it takes, because I will give up on the show so fast if it is. This is NOT the kind of show that should be serialized.

The pilot did a lot of things well. It showed us all the characters, the primary and secondary, and gave us tidbits to remember them by. We were given equal character development for each cast member, as well as good pacing between development and plot points. It should also be noted that the whole cast is extremely good looking, even the people who cameo for less than a minute.

Its an interesting show, with a lot of potential and can be a whole lot of fun. As a genre mashup, I suspect it could pull in some high numbers at first. This is one to watch. What I mean by that is, lets watch and see how it all turns out. Will it stay fresh and smart, or will it become that awful serial mess I described earlier. One to watch =p.

This review is based on the pilot of "Bull" which aired 9/21/16

Many of you may be skeptical of a series based on the life of controversial TV personality Dr. Phil. Maybe many of you weren't aware it was,
and have just became skeptical. Please set aside your skepticism for the time being.

The series might be "LOOSELY" based off of Dr. Phil, but it stars the very good looking Michael Weatherly (NCIS) as Dr. Bull, not Phil, and its highly ... fictionalized. I highly doubt Dr. Phil had expensive cutting edge software that learns everything it can about people to predict whether they are learning towards guilty or innocent. So, skepticism hopefully quelled, lets talk about the show.

Bull is essentially a remake of the 2005 series "Lie to Me" starring Tim Roth, but instead of solving crimes brought to them by clients, they analyze jurors in order to help create a legal defense. Think of what they do as, masterminding the perfect defense strategy, based on psychology. So what it all boils down to, is a Lawyer show with a gimmick, and from the pilot, its one that works.

Bull is a procedural, so I don't suspect to see many serial elements. It seems to be a case of the week type show. Bull himself is very smug, but not arrogant, and is only ever a dick to make a point that will help people. We didn't get a good sense of the supporting cast in the pilot, they were quite forgettable, and the details of the particular case in the pilot seemed very soap opera, and very farfetched for reality. There was a fairly large twist at the end, which was ok, until it led to another, unnecessary, even larger twist, which was just dumb. I imagine this show will be done by many writers, not just one, or even a few, so I can't say for sure every episode will be as good as the pilot, but if they are, its a B+/A- show, and certainly worth watching until it starts to sink and die like Lie to Me did in its latter seasons.

BrainDead is one of those shows where a slew of bad things happen and you're rooting so hard for the character to figure it out and do something, anything to stop it. The show establishes this all in the first episode. A Meteorite has crash-landed on earth, and with it brought brain-stealing insects with an unknown agenda for mankind. Laurel (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is caught right in the middle of the growing epidemic which seems to be purposely targeting politicians. As her brother, the Senator's new Assistant, she gets a first hand experience of both the trials and tribulations and utter bullshit of the world of politics both before and after their minds have been taken over.

This show is a really fresh TV concept, and sort of feels like a much less corny Mars Attack. Remember that silly movie? It's quite a relief to see that networks can, every now and then, give us something completely different. It's not a cop show, not a lawyer show, not a medical show, not a hunting-the-supernatural show, it's its own thing, and I'm liking it.

Plus, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is so beautiful, you're pretty much glued to the screen whenever she's on it.

This review is based on the Pilot episode which aired Wednesday, January 13th, 2016.

Second Chance (formerly titled Looking Glass) is a very important show, and do you know why? Because it airs on Wednesday, a day when there is considerably less television. So the fact that a great show like this one is on Wednesdays, finally gives me, I don't know about you, something to fuc*ing watch on Wednesday other than Arrow and Face Off, and for that, I am super grateful.

Second Chance stars Robert Kazinsky as a dead 75 year old crooked sheriff who has been brought back to life and restored to his youth by a pair of genius twins as part of an untested experiment to cure cancer. The show co-stars White-Collar's Tim Dekay as Kazinsky's son, and an FBI agent. In the pilot episode we see action, conspiracy, suspense, 2 beautiful women and a lot of potential for a thrilling show at the cusp of new technology. Science fiction shows on Fox have a very bad history of being canceled, and in addition, Wednesday's viewer base is lower than Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, so this show will need to do extremely well in order to be picked up for a full season. I suspect it will need at least 5-6Million viewers to make it. I'm not sure it can swing that, especially considering its extremely lax advertising campaign. But It's a very good show and you should support it!

In light of Agent X being cancelled today I thought I'd write a review and tell you that it will be worth watching when it comes to Netflix.

Agent X is a really cool show. So at first, the premise is slightly hokey, but that quickly becomes an afterthought when Agent X starts slicin' and dicin' the bad guys with no regards to the law. Each episode takes place in a foreign location much like Strike Back. The show feels a lot like Human Target, The Player, Person of Interest and other fantastic action series.
The truth is, its a niche market and its pretty hard to sell an action series. Even when you have a character thats from a comic book like Constantine, its just a difficult genre to serve to people. Hell, even Transporter: The Series only got 2 seasons. But if you liked any of the shows I mentioned (except Constantine because that one really did suck) then you'll love Agent X.

The Player has an interesting concept, that now that I've seen the pilot, makes a bit more sense than having just read the logline or seen the trailer alone. The show has gotten a little bit of hate for having a ridiculous concept -- but I think it's actually a pretty great concept because it can go so many places -- unlike Orange is the New Black, which can't go anywhere.

So The Player is about an ex special forces hotel security guard who becomes a pawn in a larger game orchestrated by a mysterious group of people known as the Gamblers. An equally mysterious organization has an algorithm which can accurately predict crime and they work for the gamblers in allowing them to place bets on either side of a crime. The show revolves around a crime in which the protagonist (Phillip Winchester -- Strike Back) unwittingly becomes the player. It's a bit confusing and hard to follow ,and some of it is a bit hard to believe, but the action is non-stop, the pace is high, the stakes are high, and Phillip Winchester is a great lead. The show feels sort of like Human Target, which was a fantastic show that I miss dearly.

Overall, I didn't find the pilot for the player to be AS good as Limitless, Minority Report or Blindspot -- but it was definitely good, and I will for sure be watching it. And you should too.

Possibly one of the worst series of all time.
My mom made the hilarious mistake of watching the pilot because she didn't know what it was.
Now we joke about it.

Olympus is essentially a Sinbad/Atlantis type show with the budget of a homeless man's wallet and off broadway reject level acting. The plot is unoriginal, the characters have no personality, the action is mediocre at best. Don't watch.

Daredevil is a new breed of TV series that brings to life a newfangled level of depth not previously explored in the increasingly popular genre of vigilante/superhero shows.

Boasting almost unparalleled character development as well as action choreography, Daredevil incorporates all the elements of fantastic television, nor is it lacking on any front.

Although Daredevil tells us not a new story that we've never heard before --it tells us a realistic one, and one that we openly welcome and embrace whenever we hear it. Two men fight to save the city they love using different methods to achieve their goals - both believing theirs is the right way. Its a story that capitalizes on the human element and focuses on the characters and their personal stories while still forming a larger collective.

Marvel released a statement somewhat recently where they said, after "Ant-Man" they will no longer be doing "origin stories" with their future films. In line with that statement, the upcoming film, "Doctor Strange" will not be an origin story, but will dive right in, with small references to the Doctor's past.

For those of you who do not like that direction and feel, like myself, that an origin story is a necessity to the superhero genre and often delivers a film comprising of the most solid cinematic structure, I am absolutely delighted to inform that Marvel has not altogether abandoned the origin story -- they just brought it to a new medium; television.

Daredevil, aired exclusively on Netflix is the first of a series of 4 scripted origin story TV series involving Marvel Heroes from Hell's Kitchen that will end in a joint series, "The Defenders" in which they all work together. In early 2015, Daredevil's creators released a statement saying that each show is very much open to the possibility of additional seasons, though it will be difficult to figure out how to do so in light of The Defenders. After binge watching Daredevil in 3 days and seeing all the wonderful reviews it's garnered, I'm hoping that it will have additional season pickups.

While I might be the minority with my opinion that Batman Begins was a far superior film to The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, I believe many of you who view the films as a single entity will be overjoyed to learn that Daredevil, as a series, functions much like the Batman trilogy. It establishes the character's origins, his life both in and out of costume, and explores in a serial format his quest to save the city from a single all-powerful antagonist. Daredevil has a distinct beginning, middle and end, and very much feels like one cohesive film. Few other TV series, including serialized shows can speak to being set up like a movie in this way. This is key, because even though you will intensely miss Daredevil and crave more after watching it, you will ultimately receive a feeling of conclusion that you do not get from more open-ended series.

To break things down quite simply, Daredevil has some of the best action I've ever seen (even better than Arrow, Person of Interest, or Banshee), fantastic characters, a beautiful girl (Deborah Ann Woll), a good-looking male lead (Charlie Cox) whose got 'the jaw', the comic-relief character (Eldon Henson) and for those who care, some truly fantastic acting by Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin.

5 stars. 10/10, 96%.
Make Daredevil the next show you watch.
...and, no you can't borrow my Netflix account, I've already got my
Mom, Dad, and two friends lined up to watch Daredevil with it.

Banshee is one of the most satisfying shows on TV.
Its no-holds-barred, gratuitous and over-indulged use of violence is second to no show. Since its first season aired 3 years ago, there hasn't been anything like it on TV.

Imagine Jason Statham in the transporter taking down 40 bad guys in one scene with his bare hands. Shrink the scale, replace statham with Lucas Hood (Anthony Starr) and you short of have Banshee in a nutshell.

The season 3 finale was possible the best episode yet. Never seen so many bodies drop on a single episode of a show. All demanding loose-ends were tied with some cliffhangers left for next season. I cant wait.

If youre a hot-blooded man, this is the show for you. Not to be gender discriminatory, but it might be a little over-the-top for the average woman. That being said, I'm sure some women out there will enjoy it. I want to meet them.