Well, it happened. The cares of life got in the way, and I've been too distracted and busy to blog for well over a month. How sad! It's been so long since I last blogged that when I started typing the Active Viewing web address into my browser today, Internet Explorer didn't offer to finish it for me.
But I'm here to tell you that starting in November, the dry spell will be over. More posts are on the way, and I'm kicking off the new month with a real doozy, so stay tuned (and put your philosophical thinking caps on). Can't wait!
In other news, Free Agents, the awful new series I predicted wouldn't last 14 episodes, hasn't even lasted five. It was canceled the first week of October after its fourth episode, and I can't say I'm surprised. May it rest in peace. Likewise, How to be a Gentleman performed so abysmally (compared to its lead-in, The Big Bang Theory) during its Thursday-night premiere that it was immediately moved to Saturdays, where it was effectively canceled after the airing of its second episode. CBS tried to make use of the seven remaining episodes by continuing to air them on Saturdays, but even that idea was nixed after one week. So goodbye, crappy comedies! I anxiously await the premiere and sudden cancellation of the other new show I dubbed as "going nowhere" -- I Hate My Teenage Daughter. It starts at the end of November.
On the flip side, the two biggest hit comedies of the pilot season are 2 Broke Girls and New Girl. Looks like funny females are “in” this year. Zooey Deschanel’s personality is even more magnetic than I anticipated in New Girl, and I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the one-month hiatus to be over already. Come on, FOX! You snatch away this little gem after whetting our appetites with only three episodes?? Bring it back!
2 Broke Girls, on the other hand, would be exactly as I pictured if only it would tone down the crudeness. Raunchy jokes are completely unnecessary when you’ve got great characters like Max and Caroline to work with. These girls are terrific together! At first I was concerned their friendship would be a carbon copy of Blair Warner and Jo Polniaczek’s in The Facts of Life, but it isn’t. It’s completely original. Max and Caroline go places Blair and Jo never did, like bargain-hunting at Goodwill and scraping money together for a cupcake business. And Max isn’t resentful of Caroline for having been rich—in fact, she’d love to be rich herself—and that’s a breath of fresh air after watching Jo get angry about Blair’s money in episode after episode of Facts of Life. All in all, 2 Broke Girls has consistently ranked first in its timeslot, and despite the crude humor, I think it’ll be around for a while.
Full-season orders are also in for Up All Night, Whitney, and Suburgatory, but it’s still too early to tell what the future holds for Man Up! and Last Man Standing, which have only been on for a few weeks. What we do know is that their ratings drop a little more every week, which doesn’t look hopeful at this point.
But I must conclude by getting something off my chest—I was wrong. (You’re shocked, I know.) Yes, I admit it, I thought Steve Carell’s departure from The Office was a sure sign of its forthcoming demise. But I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the series since Steve Carell left. In fact, this is the first season I’ve watched regularly. Haven’t missed an episode. The ensemble cast sustains the show quite well without Michael Scott, and making Andy Bernard the new boss has given it an interesting twist. So accept my apologies, Office fans. I wish your favorite series a long-lasting future.
