R.O.O.T. Webzine

Hi everyone, the season begins slowly… (it will really begin the week of September 21st actually). So the CW started this week with two new shows including one that is not so new… As you might have noticed, the new stuff for American TV scenarists is to be not creative anymore, and to do remakes (Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, 90210), or adaptations of British shows (The Office, Life on Mars, Worst Week)…

So last year while the CW were launching the new version of 90210, a rumor went on about reviving Melrose Place… It was supposedly only a rumor… Unfortunately, the nightmare became true. Now let’s break it, I’m a bit too young to really have followed the original show… So this week I gave the pilot of the remake a shot… Well I might be a bit too old for this one… As I recall, Melrose Place is supposed to be scandalous, to smell sulfur… And theoretically a pilot is supposed to overwhelm you… I found this one quite boring (even a character started to sleep in the middle of his scene). We now have a confirmation, the CW can’t do scandal, they make shows that look like scandal, that smell like scandal, they even do the promotion of the scandal (Gossip Girl mastered in this kind of promotion). If you want to surprise someone with a murder, don’t show the murder in your trailers and please use it as a cliffhanger… This episode could be a second episode, but it’s not, the characters are flat, the casting is a typical CW casting (young sexy and not so good), and some of the actresses seemed to have botox injections (and that doesn’t help for the playing part). I will try to follow more episodes, but seeing what the audience numbers gave, it’s very possible that the show won’t survive long anyway.

The Vampire Diaries

The other new show is surfing on the Twilight wave… It’s called The Vampire Diaries (another adaptation of a series of books). I was preparing for the worst, and if it was not the revelation of the year, it was not so bad. A pleasant time actually. At least the action doesn’t take place in California, and the casting includes Ian Somerhalder (Lost, Tell me you love me) for me that’s reason enough to watch (him playing dark and sadistic vampire). At least Stephen is not vegetarian and there is not (yet) forbidden sex and a hidden message about abstinence behind.

If the CW aims mostly for a teen audience, that doesn’t necessarily imply that all the shows are crappy. The season 5 of Supernatural (one of the scarce shows which survived the WB) for example is kind of an exception in this universe… And it’s good to have Dean and Sam back after last season. I’ve always heard that Supernatural’s story was conceived for five seasons. I’m a bit disappointed to hear that it maybe will be renewed after this year… But anyway, Lucifer is free and will take the face of Mark Pellegrino (Dexter, Lost). And it’s back with all the good ingredients, still not sure of what the angels want, and a latent fight between Dean and Sam (along with playing with some weird fanfictions about Dean and Sam). This year should be about fighting Lucifer… and discovering what the agenda of the angels is. So far the best show on the CW.

This week was also the season premiere of Glee (which was actually the second one, the pilot was broadcasted during spring), I will catch on later

- Jim Dante