the fall 2007 TV season has arrived

i'm coming off perhaps my busiest work week EVER - 10+ hour days, 2-3 hours of work when i got home at night, and 6-8 hours of work this past weekend - so i REALLY needed something to relax to this week.

lucky for me, the fall season has arrived.

now, the majority of the shows don't start until next week, but this week Fox decided to start early and premiere Prison Break Season 3 and a new show called K-Ville. you can look at an earlier post i wrote to get my thoughts on these series, but let's just say i was pretty excited to see them.

how do i feel now?

well, both shows were a bit of a letdown. let's start with Prison Break.

Season 1 was all about the escape. Season 2 was them on the run. Season 3... well, it looks to be a grittier rehash of Season 1... and i'm fine with that if the writing were any good. there was just something missing in this first episode.

first off, there was NO recap for new viewers - me being an old viewer, i was even hoping for one, since i couldn't remember exactly what happened 4 months ago.

then, everyone just seemed to be going through the paces... not the actors, but maybe the writer. i don't know, it was weird.

also, there's a lot less friendly faces - like where the hell is Sarah? we got a shot of her back, and then the previews mentioned her but didn't show her face... could they not get the actress back for this season? that would be a real bummer, as she was important to the show.

i was worried about the show last season when i learned that they had broken out (i mean for gods sake, the name of the show is Prison Break and you've had them escape?) but them on the lamb managed to make for some good episodes. now that we're back to square 1 but with less friendly faces? i don't know.

it's sort of had the same thing happen to it as 24 - they kill off way too many characters, try to go way too quick, then run out of new stories to tell and start to rely on the formula too much. 24 is still a good show, but not a great show. Prison Break was never really a "great" show (maybe a "really good" show at its best), so this season it might just be so-so. i'll continue to watch, since there's nothing else in the time slot on, but i'm not holding out TOO high a hopes.

now, on to K-Ville.

when i first heard about the series i wasn't sure if it was bordering on exploitation of the damage the hurricane left behind or trying to bring it to light through a gritty cop show. after seeing the first episode i'm STILL not sure.

ok, take The Shield, water it down for network television, and add formulaic stories that can be solved in one episode's time (instead of sprawling season-long stories). that's K-Ville. the pacing of the whole thing was off, the stories were cliche, the acting was over-the-top...

the setting of a post-Katrina New Orleans, however, is almost worth the admission.

it's easy to forget that the city is still in shambles 2 years after the storm. i HOPE the series isn't exploiting it and rather is using the show as a vehicle to remind us of the work that needs to be done there... but i don't know. maybe it's a little of both.

my expectations were above average for this show, and now sadly they've plummeted. since it's going to be on at the same time as Heroes, you can guess which show i'm going to be watching... BUT, i'm a sucker for pain, so i think i'm going to download the episodes for a few weeks to see if it grows into its own... or until it's canceled (sad to say it, but it had "cancel me" written all over it).

ok, NEXT week the fall 2007 officially starts. i don't want to count this fizzle-of-a-night as the first night. :)

- kawitchate