Tuesday’s hot new show looks to be Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
Superhero series is big, bold and filled with shiny high-tech gadgets
Acronyms are all the rage right now in TV, it seems, and Tuesdays are no exception this new fall season.
The most competitive time period of the evening will feature the night’s marquee new series, one of the most anticipated new series of the entire season, against one of the most popular returning dramas on television today.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will take its chances on CTV directly opposite NCIS, one of Global’s highest-rated programs and consistently one of the mostwatched dramas of the week across Canada.
CHOICE PICK Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Premieres Sept. 24, CTV, ABC
Superheroes are all the rage right now in popular culture, and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is writer-director Joss Whedon and ABC’s attempt to recreate some of the buzz of Marvel’s big-screen film The Avengers on the small screen.
Whedon comes to the project honestly: He not only shepherded The Avengers to box-office success; he also helped usher in the TV cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a past life. Whedon has experience in both the superhero genre and on the small screen, in other words.
The TV version resurrects Clark Gregg’s Agent Phil Coulson from The Avengers. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finds him leading a team of dedicated agents tasked with investigating claims of paranormal phenomena and superhuman feats. The story picks up after the film’s so-called “battle of New York,” with the existence of space aliens and human superheroes now public knowledge.
The supporting cast includes Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge and Chloe Bennet as members of Agent Coulson’s team of investigators.
Behind the camera: Whedon admitted earlier this summer that — assuming Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. survives into the new year and beyond — there may well be some promotional synergy with future superhero feature films like Thor and Captain America. That isn’t S.H.I.E.L.D.’s raison d’être, though, he insisted.
“There will be as much as we can allows, but it’s a fluid process,” Whedon said. “The important thing is that, while this presents a fun opportunity, it’s not the reason behind the show. We don’t want this to be just an Easter egg farm. We want people to come back because they want to spend time with these characters, and not because of some connection to the movie universe. This show has to work for people who aren’t going to see the movies, or haven’t seen them before.”
On the screen: Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s pilot episode is eye-filling.
Whether the audience will embrace it, though, will depend on the individual viewer’s affinity and tolerance for superhero mythology. If you’re an avid comic book reader, or you were near the front of the line when The Avengers opened, you’ll find much to admire in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If, on the other hand, you can take superhero tales or leave them, S.H.I.E.L.D. may well leave you feeling a little cold.
It’s slick and professionally made, with a high-tech, shiny look and feel, and the acting is polished and believable, as these things go. Still, based on the early evidence of its fastmoving, admittedly entertaining opening hour, it lacks the warmth and humanity of The Vampire Diaries, or even the now defunct Heroes.
The other point to remember is that the first episode is not always a true measure of what’s to come. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s opening hour is big and bold and brassy, like a summer feature film, but that doesn’t mean followup episodes will be pitched at the same level.
Chances are, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will stay the course to a new season at least, as Arrow did before it. It’s no award winner, though.
POTENTIAL PICKS
Lucky 7
Premieres Sept. 24, City, ABC
The promising ensemble drama Lucky 7 already has one stroke against it: It has been thrown in headfirst against Person of Interest and Chicago Fire in the same time period, which means many viewers may not know it’s there, even if they decide it’s something they might want to watch.
That would be a shame because Lucky 7, based on the U.K. drama The Syndicate, is a quirky, oddly unique morality tale about what would happen if a group of working stiffs, in this case the staff at a 24-hour gas station and convenience store, won the lottery one day. The seven lottery winners at the heart of Lucky 7 share deep-rooted insecurities, family resentments and buried secrets, which will become more evident once they cash in their winnings.
It sounds gimmicky, as well as predictable — money can’t buy you happiness, don’t you know? — but if the first hour is anything to judge by, Lucky 7 could be the sleeper of the season. The cast of unknowns, which includes Toronto ingenue Anastasia Phillips — late of Bomb Girls, MVP and Murdoch Mysteries, among others — has genuine chemistry.
Lucky 7 is quiet, affecting, graceful and gently disarming — the antithesis of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Yes, it will probably be buried opposite Person of Interest and Chicago Fire. Here’s the thing, though. If you’re looking for that one unusual, out-of-the-box drama that just might find its way into your heart, Lucky 7 is the one.
Dads
Premieres Sept. 17, City, Fox
You may have heard about Dads already, and none of it good. Easily the fall’s most controversial and critically contested sitcom — before a single episode has aired — this supposed comedy-of-manners stars Giovanni Ribisi and Seth Green as thirtysomething best friends and pals since childhood.
They share a love of video games and a contempt bordering on disgust for their aging, sixtysomething dads, played respectively by Martin Mull and Peter Riegert. The one-liners are intended to be innocuous, in a TV sitcom-y way, but early reviews have found Dads wanting. Labels like coarse, crude and contemptible have been applied. Depending on who you choose to believe, Dads is either ageist, racist or sexist, and hands-down the most off-putting new comedy of the year.
The early reaction should come as no surprise: Dads hails from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and writer Alec Sulkin, and it has all the familiar Family Guy tropes. The difference is that Dads is a live-action sitcom, whereas Family Guy is an animated ’toon. What’s funny — to some — in cartoon form doesn’t translate into live action, where comedy is concerned.
That may be the point, though. The best way to look at Dads is not as a comedy, particularly if you’re easily offended, but as a TV experiment. As The Big Bang Theory proved, a concept that seems lame and crude at first can grow into something quite different. Or else it’s just plain lousy and beyond redemption.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Premieres Sept. 17, City, Fox
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a mockumentary-style comedy, from the creator-producers of Parks and Recreation, about a police precinct dealing with an older, newly transferred squad commander with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove. Andy Samberg, late of Saturday Night Live’s digital shorts, plays a freespirited, hotshot detective
with sloppy work habits now forced to work under a by-thebook disciplinarian, played by Andre Braugher. The cast is solid, but as That’s My Boy and Last Resort proved, casting isn’t everything.
The Goldbergs
Premieres Sept. 24, CTV, ABC
The Goldbergs is not offensive, just innocuous. A sentimental paean to the past and growing up in a sprawling, tight-knit household in a more innocent time, The Goldbergs revolves around a shy, socially awkward 11-yearold, played by Sean Giambrone, and his larger-than-life family, including a loud, overthe-top father, played by Jeff Garlin, and his unapologetically eccentric grandfather, played with a knowing nod and wink by George Segal.
The Goldbergs tries to mirror Modern Family in some
respects, with a dash of The Wonder Years thrown in for good measure. It has a lot of maturing to do, though, before it’s in their league.
Trophy Wife
Premieres Sept. 24, CTV, ABC
Trophy Wife features St. Catharine’s, Ont.-raised Malin Akerman as a woman unlucky in love and reformed party girl who ties the knot with an older man, played by Bradley Whitford, who’s been married twice before. The two met at a karaoke bar, and if you think that concept is in itself funny, or even charming, then Trophy Wife might be for you.
It’s hard to keep track of all the coming and going — Trophy Wife features nearly a dozen regular players in various roles — but that’s partly the point. Trophy Wife is the definition of a screwball comedy.