Comedies over divas
Dating woes, leggy models and dead people – just a regular week on TV.
NOW that awards season – and Chinese New Year – is over, let’s get back to watching TV. A number of new shows have cropped up in the schedule over the past few weeks. This includes The Mindy Project, Go On (both on Diva Universal), Bunheads, Ben And Kate (both on Star World), Catfish (MTV), American Colony: Meet The Hutterites (National Geographic Channel), Outlaw Empires (Discovery Channel) and Nashville (premieres today on beTV). Meanwhile, new seasons of award-winning and popular series like Sons Of Anarchy (FX), The Walking Dead (Fox Movies Premium), All On The Line (Li) and Hell On Wheels (Sundance) are now showing.
The best thing about TV these days, though, is the fact that we no longer have to hear US supermodel/TV host and producer Tyra Banks talk about how gorgeous the Asian cheekbones are in the cringe-worthy promotional clip of Asia’s Next Top Model (previously on Star World). The competition was won by 27year-old Bangkok University student Jessica Amornkuldilok, who is of German-Thai parentage.
However, the end of Asia’s Next Top Model sees the beginning of another possible nightmare – America’s Next Top Model season 19, aka College Edition (Star World). From the few promotional clips that have been shown so far, one can assume that this is a show strictly for those who can handle over-the-top, diva-esque drama among 30 young college students.
At the other end of that spectrum is an interesting documentary called American Colony: Meet The Hutterites. The Hutterites is a religious colony originating from Europe, who can now be found mostly in North America. Much like the Amish, the Hutterites have strict rules and don’t exactly welcome modern technologies and ideas. They make their living through farming and ranching, and their first language is German. Last year, leaders of a Hutterite colony featured in this documentary, demanded an apology from the National Geographic Channel for misrepresenting the colony’s way of life, and damaging their reputation. Watch the show to find out more about these fascinating folks.
If you’re not into documentaries, then perhaps some comedies might make your days – or nights – better. Forget flighty shows like New Girl (ugh, does anyone actually watch this pretentious show that’s currently on Star World and Ntv7?), According To Jim on FX HD (this old show may be silly, but at least it doesn’t pretend to be smart or sophisticated) and The Millionaire Matchmaker on beTV (OK, it’s not a comedy, but it has such a foolish premise that it’s hilarious).
Instead, get a taste of Go On, a series about a sports jock who is forced to go to group therapy sessions by the station manager Steven – who is also his best friend – to deal with the death of his wife. The show has some pretty erratic characters, especially those in Ryan’s therapy group, and it is slowly turning out to be quite an endearing comedy. It stars Matthew Perry, and you can see traces of his Friends character Chandler Bing in Go On’s Ryan King (even their last names rhyme!).
Last week on the show, Ryan pretends to not know his therapy group friends, because he doesn’t want his workmates (apart from his assistant Carrie and Steven) to know that he’s having problems and that he is attending these sessions. There’s a sweet and poignant moment in the episode where Ryan’s dead wife’s gardener, who just found out about her death, installs and plays a musical fountain in Ryan’s backyard.
Expect to see another Friends alum, Courteney Cox, appear in Go On over the next few episodes where she plays a love interest. Incidentally, the show’s creator is Scott Silveri, who worked his way up from being a story editor to an executive producer on Friends.
Another show that’s high on everyone’s radar is The Mindy Project, created by and starring Mindy Kaling, formerly of the US version of The Office. It trails the life of the hopelessly romantic Dr Mindy Lahiri, one of those women who would probably include the hashtag #ForeverAlone in their Facebook status or Twitter update, thanks to her many disastrous dates and hook-ups. In last week’s episode In The Club, Mindy and her colleagues hit up a fancy nightclub where pro-basketball players hang out. The best thing about the episode? When Mindy got real-life NBA players Amar’e Stoudemire, Danny Granger and Baron Davis to talk about their favourite romantic comedies. “Splash,” says Baron on the show. Speaking of athletes, the new season of The Amazing Race (AXN) has just started. That’s good news for fans of the show, but not so much for those of us who are just no longer amazed by it all.
Also on the same channel is CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which recently returned with its 13th season. It kicked off with an episode where the usually calm and collected DB Russell (Ted Danson) goes mental trying to find the people who kidnapped his granddaughter (the cliffhanger from season 12). Last week’s Wild Flowers episode trailed the story of a runaway sex slave, whose tongue had been cut off to prevent her from revealing the bad guys. You would think that there would be some intense moments in an episode like this, but unfortunately, the whole thing fell short of interesting.
A heads up to CSI: NY fans: In a season cross-over, Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) turns up at the office of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation towards the end of the season in search of his missing girlfriend.
While we’re on the topic of girlfriends, check out the new reality-based documentary series Catfish, which takes a closer look at the exciting world of ... online dating. A “catfish” is basically a person who creates fake online profiles in order to attract the attention of, well, strangers. In this documentary, by MTV no less, hosts Nev Schulman and Max Joseph help online couples who have never met but are totally enamoured with one another, to meet in real life. Their mission is simple: To find out if these couples’ relationships are in fact real, or have they been “catfish-ed”?
It seems a little weird (and a bit creepy) at first, but the programme does drive home the important point that many people still seem to ignore – danger lurks in the online world, too, so it pays to be cautious and wary of sharing any personal information on the web.
Tweet us at @MyStarTwo if you have any TV shows that you want us to check out.