It’s been a few weeks since I posted, and it’s been a few months since I’ve posted anything about what I’m actually up to. Here’s some highlights:
I went with Amelie to Megacon, a geekery convention that happens each year in Orlando. If you search this blog for Megacon, you’ll see my photos from several previous years. Yes, I took hundreds of pictures this year as well, but I haven’t had a chance to sort them yet. We saw Shatner and George Takei, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, Ming Na Wen and John Barrowman, Kevin Conroy and a whole bunch of Harry Potter actors. Almost all of these people were hilarious.
I attended some meetings in Zurich for my job, which meant I got to have a brief visit back to Regensburg. I took many photos of basically all the same things I took pictures of while I lived there, out of a sense of nostalgia.
On that same trip, I convinced my colleagues to stop for lunch in Vaduz, Liechtenstein on the way to Zurich. This is my 28th country visited.
I had minor surgery on my left shoulder two and a half weeks ago, to remove a fatty tumor called a lipoma. Lipomas are generally soft, benign, and painless, and doctors usually leave them alone unless they’re impeding your mobility or causing discomfort. My lipoma had grown to a rather large size, and was located in a place that did actually cause me some discomfort. It was also growing- the surgeon who removed it said that it was about the size of a grapefruit, but not entirely round. Amelie and I named it Lumpy. The surgery was very fast, but it prevented me from working out or lifting anything heavy for a while.
We’ve been to quite a few good movies and concerts in the last few months, including Bernadette Peters and Florence & The Machine. I enjoyed Captain America: Civil War and the Jungle Book, and I was extremely annoyed with Batman vs. Superman.
The doctor told me today that I can do normal workouts again, which is great, because I just purchased a new Fitbit. I had a Fitbit One throughout my time living in Europe, and I rather enjoyed seeing how much walking I was doing. The one I purchased now is the Charge HR model, which does everything the One did, plus it monitors my heart rate and has a nifty wrist-band. Also, Fitbit users can friend each other to compete or encourage each other to be active. The “taunt” function is kind of fun. If you have a Fitbit and you want to add me, use stevenglassman42 at gmail.
I finally got around to putting this little fellow on my car. He’s been on my desk for something like two months:
Next week, the television networks have their Upfront presentations where they detail their new fall line-ups. NBC and FOX will present on Monday, ABC on Tuesday, CBS on Wednesday, and the CW will close it out on Thursday. For many years, going all the way back to my time on LiveJournal, I did a series of posts during the week of the television network Upfronts to talk about all the new shows.
As the landscape of television and the shape of the Internet have changed, those posts have become entirely redundant. Most of the show renewal and cancellation announcements are out weeks or months before the Upfronts, and the new show announcements hit earlier and earlier as each network releases their loglines. The various entertainment blogs pick up the details from there, and then Facebook makes sure that everyone hears about everything. Last year, I gave up the idea of talking about each network in separate posts, and I did one combined post that talked mostly about the new shows that interested me.
This year is no different than last year- the announcements have been coming for several months already, and although we won’t know the new fall schedule until the announcements next week, we do know what shows have been kept, canceled, or ordered as new. The shows that interest me are few and far between, because it’s more of the same- more procedurals, more Shondaland, more fish-out-of-water family dramas. Several of the new show loglines sound like they’re copy-pasted off each other.
Moving on, then. Let’s start with ABC. Remember, I’m not listing every show, just the stuff I watch and some of the more popular ones. If your favorite show isn’t listed here, you’ll need to check elsewhere to find out if it’s coming back.
ABC:
Renewed: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fresh Off The Boat, Dr. Ken, Once Upon A Time, Black-Ish, the Middle, How I Met Your Murderer, The Goldbergs, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Modern Family.
Canceled: Galavant, Agent Carter, The Muppets, The Family, Nashville, and Castle.
I’m kind of glad to see Nashville and Castle getting cut, because I feel like they’ve both lost a lot of steam. I’m sad to see Galavant, Agent Carter, and The Muppets go.
Of the new shows the network has ordered, these three caught my attention. I will probably only watch the first one, and only until it gets canceled:
Time After Time – Based loosely on the novel and 1979 movie (which I loved,) this story starts when science-fiction writer H.G. Wells is transported to modern day Manhattan in pursuit of Jack the Ripper.
Imaginary Mary – Jenna Elfman plays opposite her childhood imaginary friend (CGI’d, and voiced by SNL vet Rachel Dratch)
Designated Survivor – Kiefer Sutherland is the President of the US! He’s like seventh in line for the Presidency and a big attack knocks off everyone above him.
Still Star-Crossed – The newest Shonda Rhimes show is a sequel to Romeo & Juliet that picks up after the double suicide. This looks like it could be fantastic and horrible and ridiculous. Plus it’s got Anthony Head as a Capulet! I always like seeing Giles in a doublet.
CBS:
Renewed: Elementary, Hawaii 5.0, a bunch of NCISes, Blue Bloods, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Madam Secretary, 2 Broke Girls, Mom, Scorpion, and The Big Bang Theory.
Canceled: CBS hasn’t announced many cancellations, but they did announce that Supergirl is moving to the CW, so I’m pretty happy about that.
Of the new shows that CBS has ordered, these two have my attention:
Macgyver – An entirely unnecessary reboot of the original show, this version follows a 20-something MacGyver (Lucas Till) as he “creates a clandestine organization where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening.” In other words, it’s “Macgyver Begins.” I bet Liam Neeson trains him and everything.
The Great Indoors – Joel McHale plays an adventure reporter who has to take over the digital department of a magazine, where he’s the boss to a bunch of entitled millennials. I love Joel McHale, so this could be hilarious.
FOX:
Renewed: Lucifer, Scream Queens, Bob’s Burgers, Bones, The Last Man On Earth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Gotham, The Simpsons, Empire, Sleepy Hollow
Cancelled: The Grinder, Grandfathered, Cooper Barrett, Bordertown
I’m astonished that Lucifer was renewed. It’s a great show, and it’s very funny, but I didn’t think for a second that this one would make it through season one. I’m sad to see Cooper Barrett and Bordertown go, but I’m not surprised at either one. Cooper Barrett was light goofy fun, and Bordertown has gotten progressively weirder and more hilarious with every episode.
Fox is doing a show based on the Exorcist. For real. Other things they’ve ordered include a Lethal Weapon show and a reboot of 24. So far, I’m not really interested in any of their newly announced programs.
NBC:
Renewed: The Blacklist, Superstore, all the Chicago emergency services, Blindspot, Law & Order: SVU
Canceled: Heroes Reborn, Undateable
NBC has the highest count of interesting new shows ordered this year, even if they did jump on the time-travel bandwagon that this season seems to be all about. There are four that have my interest this year:
Powerless – The first comedy series set in the universe of DC Comics, Powerless is about an insurance agency specializing in regular-people coverage against damage caused by the crime-fighting superheroes. The ensemble cast also includes Alan Tudyk and Danny Pudi. I think this is going to be hilarious.
The Good Place – “When Eleanor (Kristen Bell) has a brush with the afterlife, she realizes she hasn’t been a very good person. So she works to fix that, aided by an “afterlife mentor” played by Ted Danson. I’ll give this one episode to hook me- the tone of the show could be very light or it could be very “Highway to Heaven.”
Midnight, Texas – From the books by True Blood author Charlaine Harris, this show is about a town in Texas with vampires and witches to psychics and hit men. I want to see at least a commercial before I decide whether to watch or pass on this one.
Timeless – From Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan, Timeless is described as an action-adventure series in which a mysterious criminal steals a secret state-of-the-art time machine, intent on destroying America as we know it by changing the past. The team that tries to stop him includes a scientist (Better Off Ted‘s Malcolm Barrett!!!), a soldier, and a history professor who use the machine’s prototype to travel back in time to critical events. Honestly, I wouldn’t even bother giving this a shot, except that Kripke does interesting television and Malcolm Barrett is fun to watch.
The CW:
Renewed: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Reign , Jane the Virgin, The Vampire Diaries, iZombie, The 100, Legends of Tomorrow,The Originals, Supernatural,Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl (coming over from CBS.)
Canceled: Almost nothing. They only cancel shows that nobody watches.
Five of the shows on the CW this fall will be comic book shows. I hereby dub them the DC Comics Network. (And incidentally, I wish that DC comics would stick to television where they get it right, instead of making terrible movies. Let Marvel rule the box office; DC is much better at episodic television.)
The CW has so many renewals that they didn’t order many new shows. They announced three pickup orders, and I’m not really interested in any of them. These two are the more interestong ones:
Frequency – “In this reimagining of the New Line Cinema film, a female police detective in 2016 discovers she is able to speak via a ham radio with her estranged father (also a detective) who died in 1996. They forge a new relationship while working together on an unresolved murder case, but unintended consequences of the ‘butterfly effect’ wreak havoc in the present day.”
Riverdale – Archie Comics characters are set in the present day. The network says it’s “a surprising and subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, exploring the surrealism of small town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome facade.”
What do you think about all the new shows, reboots, and time-travel adventures?
My employer is sending me to Europe for some meetings at the end of April, and I shared my excitement to Facebook after I received my booking confirmation. “Airfare for Germany: Booked. Bazinga!” Most of the comments were the usual sort. People want to know when and why I’m going. A while after the initial post, one of my old buddies said this:
“Are you sure you wanna travel there right now?”
My initial response was flippant- “Germany and Switzerland are fine. It’s not as if I have a business meeting in Syria.” The more I thought about it though, the more I wonder how many of my friends truly think that the world is that scary right now. This response, one of trepidation, is almost certainly because the Brussels bombings have been in the news for the last few days. Before that, it was Charlie Hebdo. Or the Boston bombing. Or any number of attacks in various places that seem like they should be safe. If you believe the news, everything is terrible and we’re all going to die any minute now.
If you watch the news in the US, it’s all fear, all the time. But that’s not the reality. It’s no more dangerous to go abroad right now in most of Europe than it is to walk alone at night in a major city in the US. Be aware of your surroundings. Travel with common sense about your personal security. And stop worrying about the statistical unlikelihood that you might meet a terrorist.
I’ve never felt uncomfortable or nervous anywhere I’ve been in Europe. In Germany, I worked side by side with Muslims and I never felt like they were doing anything more objectionable due to their faith than abstaining from the wonderful German beer that was all around us. Since 2011, I’ve traveled to more than two dozen countries. The only time I’ve ever felt uncomfortable was in Cairo, and that was mostly because of the terrible terrible drivers. And the pushy people along the Nile who want to sell you stuff.
Fear is the worst reason to stay at home. There are so many wonderful things to see out there, and if you let the news give you nightmares, you’ll miss all of it.
Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV. 