Monday TV Report

It's been a couple weeks since the official start of the TV season and unlike that first week, I haven't had the chance to talk about any of my regular shows plus any of the new shows I decided to sample. Hopefully I can keep this up as a more regular daily feature, but this week will be catching up. First up, Monday nights.


Last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother felt just like old school HIMYM episodes with the playfully structured plot, sight gags (Maury Povich!), and they even found time to compose a song. I personally think it was the best episode of the season so far, but I also think that this season has been on fire. From Barney's revealing episode with his mom and brother to the touching moments between Lily and Marshall in regards to their quest to get pregnant. Many people are still quite down on the ongoing arc of Robin having such a miserable year, but I think the show is kicking her down only to bring her back up later on. Could she be the one walking down the aisle? With Don? With Barney? With Enrique Inglesias? Who knows, but I think Scherbatsky will get her win just like she did in last night's episode. As for the "mother" arc, I'm one of those people not at all in a hurry to resolve that. Enjoying my time with these "true" New Yorkers for the time being.

Like the aforementioned show, Chuck and Castle also seem to be on form this season. Chuck is doing a good enough job keeping all of the threads they are trying to pull this season (the search for the mom, the new CIA-operated Buy More, Morgan/Casey's daughter, Chuck/Sarah's relationship, and the Awesomes' pregnancy) together. Some episodes are more successful than the others, but it's hard to fault a cast this appealing. Speaking of appealing cast, Castle continue to bring a smile to my face episode to episode. It's just such a smartly written show and I think if more people sample it, they'll find a lot about it to fall in love with. Last night's episode was all about steampunk. STEAMPUNK! What other show could've pulled it off?

Finally, we get to the new shows and like most of the new shows this season, it's been a mixed bag. While delivering my favorite pilot of the season, Lone Star was unable to garner enough interest and FOX promptly canceled the critically-acclaimed show after only two episodes. I already gave my feelings on that in an earlier post, so no need to dwell. The other two shows, however, are enjoyable enough. The cases on Hawaii Five-0 are nothing to write home about, but the cast have maintained the great chemistry I pointed out in the pilot. Plus I like that they are taking the time to give us the personal stories of the cast (McGarrett's issues with his sister/father, Danno's custody of his daughter, Chin's family estrangement, etc.). Meanwhile, The Event has delivered jaw-dropping cliffhangers one after another forcing me to upgrade my initial meh reaction to that of definite intrigue. Most of it is because I'm a huge fan of Jason Ritter and I like that his every-man quality grounds this super high-concept show. That and holy shit ZOMBIES. Okay, not really, but the "dead" did come back to life in one episode. SO CREEPY and SO AWESOME.

Ratings-wise, it's been a mixed bag. While HIMYM is strong, the others are more up in the air. Castle is pulling in good enough numbers, especially up against Hawaii Five-0 which the network was hoping to do better. Still, those shows should feel safe about next year. Lone Star has already been canceled and the way things are going The Event and/or Chuck could follow suit. The silver lining for both is that NBC isn't doing good overall and thus may stick with its shows with even a little bit of buzz.