Sopranos Is Over - Now What?
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Now that the Sopranos is over, the vacuum left by it, and Six Feet Under, still needs to be filled. You know, the off-beat, ‘never know what is coming next’ kind of thing… guilty pleasure… can’t wait to see it show.
It might be ‘John from Cincinnati’ that partially fills it, but the premiere, other than showing how much heat Rebecca de Mornay still produces, left me cold. This is odd, because I want to like it. I really like Bruce Greenwood’s acting. He has never disappointed, yet it looks like he may not be the focus of the show.
Over on Showtime, ‘Dexter’ was there with one of the actors from ‘6 Feet Under,’ but its storylines seemed too easily seen through, and the rest of the cast tends to disappoint. I haven’t seen much that really got to me on this network since the last episode of ‘Sleeper Cell.’
Now on Showtime, coming this next Sunday is a show that promises to be the next best thing. It is called ‘Meadowlands,’ and seems to be a mix of ‘The Prisoner,’ ‘The Avengers,’ and ‘Dark Shadows’ rolled up into something for this century.
The actors are unknown to me. This may be a good thing, for 2 reasons. Unknown actors don’t cause the second season collapse of a show with unreasonable salary demands. They also don’t call too much attention to themselves, put more effort into the part, and better results happen.
Also this summer, we have the return of ‘Big Love’ on HBO, possibly the best ‘family’ show on television, and later on ‘Weeds’ on Showtime will return. Weeds is so funny it usually hurts, and Mary-Louise never disappoints either. Who knew that she could be this funny, from any of her previous acting?
On USA, the return of Monk is sure to please, and the new show ‘Burn Notice’ seems like it will be another hit for the major subnet of NBC Universal.
Might just be a good summer after all.
Tags: showtime, hbo, sopranos, dexter, sleeper cell, john from cincinnati, meadowlands, big love, weeds, monk, burn notice, usa network, nbc universal
9 Comments
Bob Marshall
June 13th, 2007
at 8:32am
You’ve overlooked The 4400 on USA, which is a clever take on the old alien abduction theme, mixed with some commentary on the U.S. Government’s current policies on personal privacy.
theoracle
June 13th, 2007
at 9:13am
You’re absolutely right, I do like that show, and it is a guilty pleasure. I only wish they would not wait so long between seasons. I grew up with the idea that a television season was 26 episodes.
Thanks for the comment.
Michael
June 14th, 2007
at 6:41am
If you want a new tv addiction, try The Shield. It is a bit like if Tony Soprano was a cop. The story has many different, interesting, and very well developed characters. The plot has many simultaneous threads that are woven into a fascinating story. In spite of this, the story is very clear and unambiguous. There is plenty of sex and violence, too, but it is not gratuitous.
It is still in production and there are several seasons out on DVD, so you can plan getting sucked in for at least a few weeks before catching up to the present.
Another great series to catch up on is Deadwood. If Shakespeare had written for TV, it might have been like this show. Like the Bard’s works, the dialog is rather difficult to follow until you get into resonance with it. It is a bit of a mental workout, if you can believe this is possible on tv, but the effort is satisfying.
theoracle
June 14th, 2007
at 7:51am
Thanks for the comments, Michael. I have not viewed either of these. The Shield I have no excuse for, it must be some schedule conflict, I’ll look into it. Deadwood is something I avoided from the start, as I am not really fond of westerns…just can’t, and don’t want to, relate. I also got some of the jokes going around about the small number of seconds between each outburst of some of those 7 words not said on regular television. I’m not offended by it, but the story I got was that most was superfluous.
Russ, the Ubuntu Rogue
June 14th, 2007
at 2:29pm
Are you kidding??? “House” rules! Far and above one of the best to come along in a very long time! Follow closely by “NCIS”! And all the previous seasons are available on DVD through Netflix …
Not that the others mentioned … “4400″, “The Shield”, etc … aren’t good … it’s just that “House” and “NCIS” are more than just good …
theoracle
June 14th, 2007
at 2:45pm
Russ, I like House, but for those of us over 30, we’ve seen something very close before. It was called Quincy, starring Jack Klugman, as a coroner who was also irascible and gifted with uncommon detective skills.
Besides, the post was referring to upcoming stuff, new…we’ll have to wait ’til fall to find out who, if any of the cast return to again be lovingly abused by House. Same with NCIS, I watch it each week [it’s on the TiVo] but we’re into re-runs.
Thanks for the comment.
Russ, the Ubuntu Rogue
June 14th, 2007
at 3:37pm
Hmmm … sorry, my mistake … I took it from the mention of “4400″ and “The Shield”, both continuations of shows from way back, that “House” and “NCIS” qualified for comment.
Oh, and thanks for the compliment, but as it stands, I am way the other side of thirty … heck, I still remember the early days of the Ed Sullivan Show!
Ryan227
July 5th, 2007
at 1:16pm
Looks like AMC’s new series Mad Men should be pretty cool! I keep catching tv spots for the show, and I definitely look forward to checking it out. I’m a huge Sopranos fan, and that fact that former Soprano’s executive producer Matt Weiner is the creator and executive producer of Mad Men makes the show that much more intriguing to me…
You can find out more about Mad Men here:
http://media.amctv.com/originals/madmen/
the oracle
July 5th, 2007
at 6:13pm
Ryan, haven’t seen this… I’ll look for it. Thanks for the comment.