Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansan on Bachelor; Lynch is Angel From Hell
OK, fellow TV lovers, we’re a week into a brandnew year. The fall season is over and it’s time to get into the juicy midseason stuff.
Unfortunately, many of your favorite fall shows will remain on the sidelines until February or March while the networks give some new shows a tryout. Meanwhile, some old familiar programs will finally be showing up.
The Bachelor, for example, returned to ABC for Season 20 on Monday with Ben Higgins searching for what passes for true love on that fabricated romance show. Rachel Tchen, 24, a 2014 Harding graduate and St. Louis native who lives in Little Rock, is one of the bachelorettes playing along this season.
Also on Monday, NBC’s new Superstore and Telenovela made their regular timeslot debuts, while The Biggest
Loser returned to the lineup for Season 17. Bob Harper replaced Alison Sweeney as host. On Tuesday at 7 p.m., New
Girl finally returned to Fox for its fifth season. The show remained in production at the end of Season 4 in May to get in a few episodes before star Zooey Deschanel took off for maternity leave.
Deschanel, 35, and her movie producer husband, Jacob Pechenik, welcomed their first child, Elsie, in July.
Deschanel’s absence will be explained on the show by having her character, Jess Day, sequestered on jury duty for a month. Megan Fox will move into the loft beginning with the sixth episode. Fox’s character, Reagan, will play “a gorgeous, straight-shooting pharmaceutical sales rep.”
Angel From Hell. A new, delayed-from-fall comedy joins the CBS lineup today. It debuts at 8:30 p.m. starring fan favorite Jane Lynch ( Glee).
Lynch plays what CBS is labeling “a colorful and brassy woman” (which is being kind) named Amy. She worms her way into the life of an attractive, highly organized and seemingly perfect young woman, Allison, played by Maggie Lawson ( Psych).
Amy claims to be Allison’s “guardian angel.”
Allison is an intense, careerdriven dermatologist who is uncertain whether Amy is drunk or simply crazy until each of her wacky warnings comes true.
At the top of Amy’s list is the admonition that Allison can’t inform anyone that she’s her guardian angel. That includes Allison’s widowed father, Marv (Kevin Pollak, A
Few Good Men), who shares her medical office with her, or her single younger brother, Brad (Kyle Bornheimer, Worst
Week), a real estate agent who lives in a guest room over her garage.
That’s the setup. Allison initially doesn’t want the interfering Amy around, and she’s not entirely convinced about this angel business, but agrees to go along because maybe, just maybe, she needs a weird friend in her life after all.
And with that, the sitcom is up and rolling.
Nobody plays “colorful and brassy” like Lynch. Remember her inimitable Sue Sylvester on Glee? She’s a lot more likable here. And Lawson always lands somewhere between adorable and exasperated. Will the duo give Angel From
Hell the right chemistry? I found the pilot witty and entertaining, so give it a shot and you be the judge.
Shades of Blue, 9 p.m. today, NBC. In this new drama, Jennifer Lopez stars as single mom and Brooklyn detective Harlee Santos, entrapped by the FBI anti-corruption task force and forced to inform on her own dirty squad and her boss, Lt. Matt Wozniak, played by Ray Liotta ( Goodfellas). Looks intense.
Drea de Matteo ( The Sopranos) co-stars as detective Shirley Nazario.
My Diet Is Better Than Yours,
7 p.m. today, ABC. In this new reality show, celebrity trainers help average Americans lose weight. The trainers (I’ve never heard of them) include Abel James, Dawn Jackson Blatner, Carolyn Barnes, Jovanka Ciares and Jay Cardiello. Trainer Shaun T is host.
DOWN THE ROAD
What’s being delayed until next month or March? Here’s a brief overview to cut down on some of the emails.
ABC is holding back new episodes of The Muppets, Fresh Off the Boat, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Castle
and How to Get Away With Murder.
Other ABC shows sitting on the sidelines are Quantico, Once Upon a Time, Marvel’s Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. and Dancing With the Stars.
CBS is delaying The Amazing Race, Survivor and The Odd Couple.
And Fox will wait a while longer for more Sleepy Hollow, Gotham, Rosewood and Empire.
The Walking Dead returns
to AMC on Feb. 14.
Program reminder: The August Little Rock auditions of
American Idol will be featured on today’s episode of American Idol from 7 to 9 p.m. on Fox. Season 8 winner and Arkansas native Kris Allen will be on hand to encourage the hopefuls.