New TV Scorecard: Franklin & Bash

There are, as it turns out, quite a few new series premiering this summer that I want to check out. I thought it might be fun to give each new show a quick rating once it's premiere has aired.

The summer season kicked off last night with the premiere of TNT's Franklin & Bash. TNT brings us a lighter lawyer drama (gee, who would have imagined we be getting a new lawyer drama this season? *insert eye-roll here*) in the vein of Boston Legal and The Defenders starring television vets Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer. There is a true glut of law drama out there on television these days, even during the summer seasons, and if it wasn't for my love of both of the leads, I would probably have passed this up. But the casting genie struck again and so here we are.

Overall I found it mostly pretty enjoyable. There wasn't anything terribly innovative or unique about it, but it puts together the many tropes about funny lawyer shows together fairly well. Add to that a pretty impressive cast and it has potential. I definitely would like to see some of the more ridiculous elements toned down a bit going forward--look, I don't mind a random shot of MPG's naked behind, I am only human, but it was terribly unnecessary to the story. There was no real apparent reason for him to have actually been naked in that hot tub, other than as a "shock" factor.

The basic plot is that Gosselaar and Meyer play two oddball and underdog attorneys whose strange, yet often successful, antics attract the attention of the senior partner of a prestigious law firm. He drafts them to come work for him, to invigorate his practice. They clash with some of the more stick-in-the mud (and less scrupulous) employees of the new establishment. Now they must try to find their way among the big leagues whilst still maintaining their heart and integrity, and without conforming. Yada, yada, yada.

Like I said, not so much original, but amusing. There seems to be a pretty outstanding chemistry between Gosselaar and Meyer.  I totally buy that they have been friends since childhood. Here is a bromance of epic proportions in the making. Reed Diamond, who put in lovely turns on Journeyman and Dollhouse makes an excellent foil to the goofy pairing of the leads.

If the show can even out and stop trying so hard to be "cool" then it could turn out to be a really fun romp. Definitely more The Defenders and less Boston Legal, please.

Things I would like to see by the end of the season:

1. Stop trying to be so "in your face." I think someone behind the scenes believes they were shooting a show for MTV or something. Just because these guys are partying and hanging out naked in hot tubs and having random hook-ups with new coworkers doesn't mean it needs to be portrayed so...crassly.
2. Likewise, let's cut out a little of the cartoonish nature. These are adults, it is okay if they behave that way. Yes, lawyers can cut loose and have fun, but that doesn't mean they should be acting like college kids. It also means that the dominatrix being charged with prostitution should not show up for her first day in court looking like, well, a hooker. 
3. Please tone down or just get rid of Gosselaar's character's crush on his old flame. I can see this being his big character "development" and I just really hope I am wrong. Unless said development is him accepting that she has moved on and doing likewise, I am really not interested. I have seen it a million times already (with this same actor, even). It has been done to death, and it is lazy writing. Let's just skip it, okay?

I will keep watching for now. It is Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar, of course I will keep watching. Hopefully the show can find its legs quickly and will outlast many of these actors' other attempts at series. There is great potential here, this could be a wondrous quirky, amusing, entertaining show, if everybody will just calm down a teeny bit and refrain from going overboard with the stories and characters.

First impression rating: 7/10 (and a pair of swimming trunks for MPG).

Another Goodbye

[Note: I am pretty sure this posted last week, but I guess with Blogger's issues it got reverted back to a draft, so reposting now.]

Wow, this is not a good week for television I like, apparently.

News broke yesterday that Fox has not renewed Human Target for a third season. Well, what the reports are actually saying is that it has been canceled, but I beg to differ here. I think that's some sites just trying to stir people up. There is a difference between cancellation and not renewing, and while it may be negligible, it is still there, so let's call it what it is, okay?

Anyway.

I wish I could say I am surprised by this news, I really do. But I'm not. Who is? Even those of us who loved this show (me!me!me!) could see that Fox was struggling to find a place for it on the network. The ratings were not great, and the constantly changing time slots didn't really help either. But that's just the way Fox does things, and I do think they gave it a fair chance. Much like with Dollhouse, I was amazed and grateful it got a second season at all. So I can't complain too much that after that second season

That doesn't mean I am happy about the news by any stretch of the imagination. It was far and away my favorite show currently airing on television, and I will be very sad to see it go. It certainly won't leave the void that Stargate Universe has left. Still, there will be the sense that something is missing, and I wish we could have gotten a season three.

I know it is based on a series of comic books. I also know that the show heavily tuned down the actual supernatural/science fictional aspect of the comic books. I think they might be worth checking out though.

I will also eagerly look forward to whatever Mark Valley decides to do next. I have to admit, his presence in the starring role of the series was one of the reasons I was disinclined to give Human Target a chance when I first heard about it (and wow I am so very glad I changed my mind). Even his part in the early days of Fringe wasn't enough to erase from my memory his turn as a smug, self-satisfied, creep of a guy on Boston Legal.* But as Christopher Chance he completely managed to blow me away. Dude's got some range, ya'll. Acting!

Sigh. My poor DVD shelves are littered with one- and two-season television series that I so deeply loved but that just couldn't cut it in the network world. One day the system will be ready to nurture and sustain this kind of brilliance as a matter of course, as opposed to the few shows that miraculously slip through the cracks and make it. But that day is not today I fear.

Goodbye Human Target. Thanks for being so spectacularly awesome. I'll see you again when you make your way to my DVD collection, I am sure.

*Sidebar: I have absolutely no idea how I was able to stand watching Boston Legal at all, truth be told. There were no good people on that show, I swear. They were all horrible excuses for human beings. Yet somehow, I stumbled across it a few seasons from the end and could not look away. Go figure. But dude, Mark Valley's character was one of the worst, I swear.

Another Goodbye

Wow, this is not a good week for television I like, apparently.

News broke yesterday that Fox has not renewed Human Target for a third season. Well, what the reports are actually saying is that it has been canceled, but I beg to differ here. I think that's some sites just trying to stir people up. There is a difference between cancellation and not renewing, and while it may be negligible, it is still there, so let's call it what it is, okay?

Anyway.

I wish I could say I am surprised by this news, I really do. But I'm not. Who is? Even those of us who loved this show (me!me!me!) could see that Fox was struggling to find a place for it on the network. The ratings were not great, and the constantly changing time slots didn't really help either. But that's just the way Fox does things, and I do think they gave it a fair chance. Much like with Dollhouse, I was amazed and grateful it got a second season at all. So I can't complain too much that after that second season won't be getting any more.

That doesn't mean I am happy about the news by any stretch of the imagination. It was far and away my favorite show currently airing on television, and I will be very sad to see it go. It certainly won't leave the void that Stargate Universe has left. Still, there will be the sense that something is missing, and I wish we could have gotten a season three.

I know it is based on a series of comic books. I also know that the show heavily tuned down the actual supernatural/science fictional aspect of the comic books. I think they might be worth checking out though.

I will also eagerly look forward to whatever Mark Valley decides to do next. I have to admit, his presence in the starring role of the series was one of the reasons I was disinclined to give Human Target a chance when I first heard about it (and wow I am so very glad I changed my mind). Even his part in the early days of Fringe wasn't enough to erase from my memory his turn as a smug, self-satisfied, creep of a guy on Boston Legal.* But as Christopher Chance he completely managed to blow me away. Dude's got some range, ya'll. Acting!**

Sigh. My poor DVD shelves are littered with one- and two-season television series that I so deeply loved but that just couldn't cut it in the network world. One day the system will be ready to nurture and sustain this kind of brilliance as a matter of course, as opposed to the few shows that miraculously slip through the cracks and make it. But that day is not today I fear.

Goodbye Human Target. Thanks for being so spectacularly awesome. I'll see you again when you make your way to my DVD collection, I am sure.

*Sidebar: I have absolutely no idea how I was able to stand watching Boston Legal at all, truth be told. There were no good people on that show, I swear. They were all horrible excuses for human beings. Yet somehow, I stumbled across it a few seasons from the end and could not look away. Go figure. But dude, Mark Valley's character was one of the worst, I swear.

**Said in my best John Lovitz voice.