A kind reader wrote in to tell me my overview of summer TV fare a couple of weeks back was incomplete. Not to fret, dear reader. I’ve seen a few more new shows of the summer. None of them deserved a full review, so they get the what-rocks-and-the-knocks treatment.
The Choir: I really wanted to love this British import. Instead, I fell in like with it. First off, it’s a reality show, which I typically hate. What drew my interest were its similarities to Fox’s breakout show Glee. The Choir features an equally enthusiastic choir master in Gareth Malone, a classically trained musician who has decided to bring music into working-class schools with nonexistent music programs. What rocks: Malone himself. He’s boyish and energetic with a “why not?” attitude; it’s not surprising to hear that he got a room of rumpled journalists to sing “Barbara Ann” at the Television Critics Association press tour earlier in the year. Unlike the buffed and brawny kids in the fictional Glee, The Choir features real students who look, well, real. That’s refreshing. The knocks: the voiceover. According to press materials, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award-winning series has UK audiences spellbound. I might be, too, if I weren’t knocked out of the episode by the somewhat infantilizing tone of the narrator. The final verdict: I’m just not that into it. The Choir premieres July 7 at 9pm on BBC America.
Hot in Cleveland: Betty White is red-hot these days, now that a younger generation has discovered the once-and-forever Golden Girl. In this traditional sitcom, she plays Elka Ostrovsky, the feisty, sharp-tongued senior joining a trio of friends played by sitcom vets Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), Jane Leeves (Frasier), and Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me). What rocks: Who doesn’t love Betty White? She’s funny, her timing is great, and she usually has the best punch lines. When she doesn’t, Malick’s Victoria Chase, a fading soap star, picks up the slack. Bertinelli is always likable, while Leeves is not bad. In fact, I like her better here as a Hollywood aesthetician with a past than in her role as sweet Daphne Moon on Frasier. The knocks: The premise is so contrived, it’s difficult to ignore. As Melanie Moretti (Bertinelli) and her gal pals travel to Paris to help Melanie forget her recent divorce, the plane makes an unexpected stop in Cleveland. Because they all get some play in a local pub by honest-to-goodness men, Melanie decides to forget Paris and stay in Cleveland. It just so happens a house is for lease, full of great furniture and – oh! – a caretaker (White’s Elka). The gal pals stay, too, pontificating about aging, Hollywood standards of beauty, and men, allowing Elka to break in occasionally with snarky asides. As wonderful as she is, White seems tacked on to this series. And I’m sorry, but come on: Throwing away a trip to Paris because a guy pulled out a chair for you? Really? Final verdict: It has potential. Hot in Cleveland airs Wednesdays at 9pm on TV Land.
Rookie Blue: Even cops have to have a first-day-of-the-rest-of-your-life moment, right? What rocks: Missy Peregrym (Heroes, Reaper) is appealing as the alpha newbie, Andy McNally. The knocks: Following the Grey’s Anatomy template, the show is trying to create a cohort of rookies who apparently will work and play together, although it looks like Andy may find romance higher up the food chain with a seasoned detective. Final verdict: It’s a dramedy, which freshens the staleness of yet another police procedural. Rookie Blue airs Thursdays at 8pm on ABC.
Boston Med: A reality show that leans toward documentary rather than exploitation. What rocks: great pacing, interesting personal stories of both doctors and the patients they are treating. The knocks: unnerving if you’re still traumatized by past life-and-death situations with loved ones. The final verdict: Watch with a box of tissues nearby. Boston Med screens Thursdays at 9pm on ABC. Past episodes of both Boston Med and Rookie Blue can be watched online at www.abc.com.
As always, stay tuned.
This article appears in July 2 • 2010.