Tag Archives: ABC Family

September 2, 2008 · 11:03 am

Season Finale: The Middleman – “The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome”

“The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome”

September 1st, 2008

For a show that is extremely close to cancellation, The Middleman sure didn’t use its first season finale as some type of course correction designed to sell the network on how it can change itself to appeal more to ABC Family’s core audience.

Instead, the season’s 12th episode offered more of what we expect from the series: an intelligent and well-executed episode which played with popular culture conventions and demonstrated just why this series needs to stick around for more time. Playing with a mirror universe on this type of scale should have felt like too much to handle in a single episode, but the episode played to the strength of our emotional relationship with the characters and broader questions of good and evil that the show should be allowed to resolve with time.

And while the episode was a satisfying end to the show’s first season, there is no question that abandoning these characters at this point in time is the type of decision that could earn ABC Family a black mark from critics – a renewal, meanwhile, could prove that ABC Family would be an evil mastermind in the parallel world and a shining beacon of television hope in our own.

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August 12, 2008 · 11:44 am

Screw the Stigmas: Why The Middleman is Worth Saving

Why The Middleman is Worth Saving

In the world of television, it’s not a question of judging a book by its cover; rather, it’s about judging a show by its network.

For How I Met Your Mother, the “CBS is for lame people” stigma amongst some younger viewers keeps them from giving the show a decent shot, and in the process a show that should have been a big success from the beginning took three seasons and stuntcasting to guarantee itself a fourth. The show should have been 30 Rock before there was 30 Rock, and yet still quite a few people who would love this show are staying away.

And this summer, another example has popped up which is even more apparent. When The Middleman debuted back in June, I called it “a science fiction comedy with plenty to enjoy.” Since that point, I’ve grown to love the show, even those elements that I wasn’t so keen on in the pilot. The show has gone to great strides to build great characters and craft strong stories which serve their purpose, all with an added dose of pop culture humour to add to the show’s general charm.

But, a lot of people haven’t seen that. When someone posted about the show’s debut on a popular message board, these are amongst the first responses:

“You piqued my interest until I heard ABC Family.”

“No wonder I couldn’t find the show anywhere last night. ABC Family huh? Probably pass.”

And therein lies The Middleman’s problem: it’s not that ABC Family is a bad network, as Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Formerly an executive producer on Lost) has nothing but good things to say about the show’s treatment on the network side of the equation. Rather, they are a network with absolutely zero cache with the genre audience that the show is appealing towards. In fact, I’d say that they have negative interest: these people are not just unlikely to watch a show on ABC Family, but they are likely to actively avoid such a show thanks to its network affiliation. This means that any attempt to increase the show’s audience, which is miniscule if stable thanks to such issues, is going to take a whole lot of convincing to an audience that has never given the network a fair chance.

But that doesn’t mean that people aren’t trying, and it certainly doesn’t mean that anyone reading this who has yet to sample The Middleman shouldn’t immediately do so by searching through their on-screen guide, unblocking ABC Family, and opening your mind to a new kind of summer show – or, even better, buy it on iTunes, so you can bypass the stigma altogether.

Because this is a show that needs, and deserves, the viewers.

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July 2, 2008 · 12:44 am

Series Premiere Review – The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Learning that ABC Family was airing a new series, I was of two minds. On the one hand, it’s ABC Family – a network not exactly known for its high-class programming. On the other hand, I’ve been enjoying their fare as of late – I was a big fan of Greek which had its season finale a few weeks back, and I’m slowly but surely going to be posting Middleman commentary in time (And I’m quite enjoying it as well). So, figuring that I should at least give their latest series a try, I dug in.

What I found, however, is that the network is not the issue here: airing on ABC Family is no longer a curse, but Brenda Hampton certainly is. Best known for her eons-long stint running 7th Heaven, one of my most hated shows of all time, she brings to The Secret Life of the American Teenager a bag of tricks so lifeless and emotionless as to emaciate any interest the series could have driven. The show looks, feels, like 7th Heaven, and while it isn’t quite as preachy that seems more like pilot sins that will later be repented.

What Teenager lacks is what Greek had: for all of the show’s stereotypical storylines and love triangles and everything else, it was willing to treat all of it with both a sense of humour and a sense of respect. While there is some humour in the show’s first episode, and I think that it does respect a few of its characters, the former is isolated to one character and the latter is only created through hackneyed bait-and-switch mechanics. At the end of the day, there’s a central secret, but it doesn’t have any of the life that its title alludes to.

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June 17, 2008 · 1:11 pm

Series Premiere: The Middleman – “Pilot”

“Pilot”

June 16th, 2008

ABC Family caught my attention with Greek, but the network has been making its own move in the cable television arena over the past few years. The network has had success with shows like Greek, Wilfire or the upcoming The Secret Life of the American Teenager, shows that most easily fit into their teen girl demographics, but they’ve also made a few leaps into genre television. It is in the spirit of Kyle XY, then, that they bring us The Middleman, a science fiction comedy with plenty to enjoy.

Of course, there’s a lot of pedigree behind this project; the series is based on a comic book by Javier Grillo Marxauch, best known to this TV writer as an Executive Producer during Lost’s first season. Here, he’s writing comfortably in a genre that seems to work for him, and one that feels simultaneously fresh and familiar. Yes, it delights in a certain amount of cheese, and its quippy dialogue feels like the director realized that Gilmore Girls and Juno were both big with the kids, but as someone who enjoys both of those things I was thoroughly entertained.

While there’s no telling whether the pilot’s quirks, from its dialogue to its use of roundabout redundancies and on-screen irony, will remain in the episodes that remain, but when you combine a winning premise, an enjoyable cast and a summer where the rest of my TV schedule is catching up on series much more dark and depressing, Chloe from 24 genetically engineering Apes to take over the mafia and being thwarted by a superhero and his art school graduate sidekick is more than enough to keep me watching.

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June 10, 2008 · 2:27 am

Season Finale: Greek – “Spring Broke”

“Spring Broke”

June 9th, 2008

Most series set in college would end their first season with the end of the school year, but Greek is operating under a really weird schedule – it took only ten episodes to complete the first half of the year, but only got to Spring Break (Woo!) in its last twelve.

The argument you could make, though, is that a show that has nothing to do with academics should probably climax in the throes of the party period as opposed to the exam one. I don’t say that to degrade the series, a solid entry into its television category, but rather to point out the obvious: if you came in expecting no drama or theatrics surrounding love quadrangles or hijinx, you went to the wrong Spring Break.

For the most part, the show follows its traditional patterns: Ashley is shallow and immature, Casey is self-righteous, Cappie is humorous but unfairly treaded on, Evan is pathetic, and Rusty has every possible bad thing that could happen to him, well, happen to him. But they’re comfortable patterns, and just like an ideal Spring Break in a television season swimming with less and less options.

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June 3, 2008 · 9:15 am

Greek – “Barely Legal”

“Barely Legal”

June 2nd, 2008

Last week, you might remember that I instituted a new rule where I wouldn’t complain about Casey Cartwright.

However, anyone who’s taken a practice LSAT has come across the toughest logic problem of all: when a central character of a series has a lot of screen time in every episode, and a television critic is planning to review the episode despite a desire to no longer speak of his frustrations with said character, what kind of review will he write?

The answer, of course, is a short one. As a result, perhaps to no one’s surprise, the rule is ending. This isn’t to say that the episode is an especially awful one for Ms. Cartwright, but rather that it demands I actually care about her storyline for it to be anything even close to engaging. However, by episode’s end, I actually had some positive things to say, so maybe I didn’t even need the rule!

At the end of the day, though, it’s a weak effort for the series: Rusty and Cappie are busy circumventing the law, Ashley is busy learning the harsh law of credit cards, and Casey is busy learning how to get into law school while ignoring the laws of her new relationships.

And, unfortunately, this episode does little to elevate the series above “barely enjoyable,” something that can’t be said for some of its more accomplished segments.

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May 27, 2008 · 3:01 am

Greek – “A Tale of Two Parties”

“A Tale of Two Parties”

May 26th, 2008

As two competing parties emerge in the context of the newly lifted regulations, I will myself place a new regulation on Cultural Learnings: from now on, I am going to stop complaining about Casey Cartwright.

This is going to be a serious issue, considering how it seems as if every storyline in the series eventually boils down to how the entire series can revolve around her presence. Now, if I was still complaining about her, I’d note how this ultimately cheapens all of the other characters (in particular Evan, who is getting a rather awful rub in this scenario). But, I’m moving on with my life: from now on, I’m over it.

Which, if the Secret works as Casey wants it to, could perhaps will the series (and her character) to move on in turn. But it’s doubtful.

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May 22, 2008 · 4:53 pm

Greek – “No Campus for Old Rules”

“No Campus for Old Rules”

May 19th, 2008

If you’re wondering why this week’s review of ‘Greek’ is so far behind, I just unfortunately wasn’t able to get to the episode before now. Blame the television gods for that one, I guess, but I’ve finally been able to spend more time with a show that continues to charm me.

This week’s episode was no change to that pattern, although also no different than my past views: I continue to despise everything about Casey, and continue to enjoy the series’ ability to build characters outside of her own. The show smartly returned to a lingering character moment, and played with the kinds of relationships that are actually intriguing or interesting in the broad scheme of things.

Whether its bitter rivals who find a mutual respect, or bitter enemies who embrace a mutual attraction, Greek has certain notes it hits extremely well…just not Casey.

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May 13, 2008 · 1:05 am

Greek – “Mr. Purr-fect”

“Mr. Purr-fect”

May 12th, 2008

There are a few things about Greek that bother me more than others, and rip me right out of my appreciation of its subtle character development in favour of lamenting its more frustrating elements. Casey Cartwright just brings out the worst in me, and the idea of returning to her love hexagon (No, I’m not kidding, it’s a hexagon) isn’t exactly getting me excited.

At some point I think my hatred of Casey will come full circle in favour of an ability to ignore her and move on to other characters I enjoy more (Of which the episode has a few, when considering them outside of Casey’s influence). The show has a lot of charm going for it, but too often its emotional core is placed in the one character who I am not emotionally connected to. Here, we have the emergence of Calvin as a character (for the first time in a while), a fun combination of Rusty and Rebecca, and the internal struggles over how to handle Cappie’s whipped status is something that is enjoyable to watch.

But as long as I keep being cynical about Casey (And her new, personality-less boy toy Shane), I guess it won’t be perfect…and I refuse to turn that into a pun.

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May 6, 2008 · 12:07 pm

Greek – “47 Hours and 11 Minutes”

“47 Hours and 11 Minutes”

May 5th, 2008

It’s “Meet the Parents” week on Greek, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of this one. Something about the various parents was just a bit too predictable: of course the Cartwrights are judgmental (Have you met their daughter?), of course Dale’s parents are overbearing, and of course Senator Logan is a cheating dirtbag because how else are we to start viewing his daughter as a sympathetic character?

The series is often mature beyond its appearance, but here it felt the exact opposite: an episode that appears on the surface to be a heartfelt realization of a parents’ love or a person’s own path is actually a validation of a vapid, twisted and totally unreasonable sibling perspective. I hated Casey in this episode, and by the end her behaviour was somehow “good” due to the end result. Call me a purist, but this “Ends Justify the Means” B.S. just isn’t going to cut it for me, not when the series already has issues with keeping her character within the likability window.

As a result, this episode was an exercise in my patience just as much as in the Freshmen with their parents in town.

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