Added To My DVR This TV Season

As opposed to setting a time on the VCR to record every week.   Remember those days.

Every season, there's one or two shows that sound intriguing enough for me to at least sample.   If the show gets me to stick with it beyond one or two viewings, I am locked in.

Desperate Housewives was one of those shows.

Brothers and Sisters was one of those shows.

TNT's Dallas reboot was one of those shows.

Madam Secretary was the one show last season.

Hell, way back when, the Big Bang Theory was and still is one of those shows.   So is The Middle.

Well, this year, I am floored.   Two shows actually wiggle their way into my weekly record queue.   Go figure.

Yeah, you could have fooled me.   I haven't been the biggest of their fans.   The latest movies from the now Jim Henson-less franchise were amusing, but certainly not likely to make me watch a weekly edition.   But I saw the name Bill Prady attached and I know he was one of the original driving forces behind Big Bang.  Why the heck not?

I was blown away at how many times I laughed out loud during the premiere.   I mean, hearty belly laughs.   These are not your grand daughter's Muppets.   Indeed, as far as I'm concerned, most of the jokes are aimed at an adult audience.   Hollywood inside jokes.  One piled on another.  And priceless.

This rendition is a complete take-off on late night television.  Miss Piggy is the host of a show.  Kermit is the producer.  Fozzie Bear is essentially Ed McMahon and the rest of the gang is the crew.  Essentially, this is 30 Rock with puppets.   And I was never a fan of 30 Rock.  So there.

Miss Piggy is feuding with practically everybody in Hollywood.  Fozzie Bear steals an ash tray from Jay Leno's house.  And Kermit always seems to be against the wall trying to produce a decent TV show.   

The Muppets' canvas here is a studio lot and that's ideal for lots and lots of cameos from the likes of Reese Witherspoon to Josh Groban who actually is caught having an affair with Miss Piggy!!!   I haven't laughed this hard at a new prime time comedy since...well...the Middle.

All right, this caught me off-guard.   I tuned in mainly because the advance buzz was so good.  Mind you, we're only one episode in and I have yet to see the all-important second episode.   But, right now, Supergirl is programmed into my VCR.

CBS is smart to diversify their dramas.  I mean, eventually, they will run out of cities to station CSI units in.   And the super hero route always works.   To make it a strong female character fits in on a network that sports Tea Leoni and Julianna Marguiles fronting their own series.

Again, I've never been a huge fan of the Superman franchise.   And I have no idea how the set-up for Supergirl deviates from what those comic book nuts have read over the past few years.  But I loved how the plot in the premiere played out.   With the Daily Planet now a gossip magazine headed by Calista Flockhart in her very best Devil/Prada mode.  

It appears the storyline will revolve around Supergirl trying to wrangle up some sinister prisoners escaped from her planet.  But the key will be the home life scenes and the rapport with her co-workers.  Unlike the mostly-in-the-dark Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, there were already two co-workers in on our heroine's big secret by the end of the first episode.  Meanwhile, this is all a lot to ride on the cape of Melissa Benoist as Supergirl, but she just might have the chops to do it.

So, welcome, you two shows, to Len's DVR queue.

Dinner last night:  French dip roast beef sandwich.