I had a pretty full slate of TV to watch last night, and as I wrote this it was still not over (I’ve got my guilty pleasure of Ghost Hunters up any minute now). I’ve also got Cougar Town sitting on the DVR for later. It’s crazy, I tell you!
Let me quickly make note of the shows I caught, and a bit about what I thought of each, and I’ll place them in order of how good they were, from best to first.
Modern Family — It didn’t beat the very strong pilot, but it was still really good, really funny, and even had a touching moment with Jay putting aside his selfishness for his step-son, Manny. As always, this is one hell of a quotable show:
Jay: “We’re gonna drink some wine, eat some good food…. Y’know, we would do something like this a lot more often if it wasn’t for, y’know, Manny.”
Gloria: “He’s good. He keep us grounded.”
Jay: “Yeah … like fog at an airport.”
Glee – The story is getting stronger, though I was disappointed in missed opportunities for them performing some of the great songs from the soundtrack, like the Hall & Oates great “You Make My Dreams.” I thought Kristen Chenoweth was fantastic, and I particularly loved the shortened rendition of Heart’s “Alone.” One disappointing thing — and this is probably more of a nitpick — is the crappy lip syncing at times. I get that it’s not supposed to be performed live for the viewer, but sometimes even Chenoweth’s lips didn’t match up, which was painful.
The Middle – I actually had the opportunity to check this one out early, a long time ago, but I just never got to it. I wish I had so I could have previewed it here, because it’s actually pretty decent. Right away I’m sure everyone’s reminded of Malcolm in the Middle, mostly because of the similar name, and how much Brick looks like Malcolm’s Dewey. Definitely a strong opening show and, for me, it beat the ever-living pants off of…
Hank – I didn’t put this show in the post’s title because, well, it sucked. It lacked anything new, and was so completely un-relatable. Grammer isn’t doing anything new at all, either, performing like a one-trick pony as the stuffy dude who’s trying to cope with things that don’t quite fit in with his lifestyle. Gee, where have I seen that before? Did Frasier get married and change his name to Hank?
Disagree with my assessments of the night? If I watched Cougar Town, would it slip into this list somewhere?
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Oct 01, 2009 @ 09:02 EST5EDT
I really enjoyed THE MIDDLE 9and yes it does have that MALCOLM vibe to it) even though I’m not the biggest Pat Heaton fan. She was why I couldn’t sit through her show with Kelsey Grammer (and I’ve never watched RAYMOND), but she didn’t bug me in this one. Hope it does well.
Really? I thought GLEE was a mess, a big let-down after last week. The show is REALLY hit-and-miss. I think it would be more obvious without the music, which is obviously pleasing people (and me).
Watching Hank, my only thought was “Jordan Hinson left Eureka to play this spoiled brat?”