I agree on your review of “The Event” & “Undercovers.” I have watched “No Ordinary Family,” & the jury’s still out. I had no interest in the other offerings; today’s sitcoms are pure filth, spewing out sexual innuendos & crude body part & “fart” jokes that belong in frat houses. Mainstreaming that type of behavior is offensive to me. I know I’m a prude by most people’s standards; for one thing, I’m so sick of seeing people bed-hopping without any consequences; pregnancy is viewed as easily escaped by abortion; no one gets genital herpes or any other STDs, & jealousy is the only hassle they have. We don’t need so much encouragement of that type of activity. Give it a break. Something has to be funny, something that’s not related to body parts & functions or someone abusing a child.
I have watched a lot of NBC offerings that were, IMO, unfairly stopped. “Kings,” a few seasons ago, was a political drama, but they unfolded events a little too slowly & didn’t put in enough background to hook people. Then there was “Persons Unknown,” which was more like a mini-series; it was good; it developed better than “Kings” (although still slowly), & I believe it should continue, but apparently they have no plans to keep up with this one.
If you have basic cable, USA had some great summer offerings. They continued “Royal Pains,” a dramedy about a doctor who, having ensured a hospital board member is stable after surgery, leaves his care in the hands of the PACU staff. While he saves a child’s life, the board member crashes & dies. The doctor is fired, mostly because he doesn’t grovel & apologize for not dumping a poor kid & letting him die in favor of an older & ill man whose crash was not anticipated based on his condition – plus, IRL, there would’ve been other doctors who could’ve managed anything a good nurse couldn’t handle. The character is so thorough medically that it’s unlikely any needed orders would’ve been omitted, but they have to get the guy fired & then to the Hamptons, the setting for the show. Anyway, his CPA brother has made plans to crash a party in the Hamptons, & drags his despondent doctor brother with him. The doctor starts to loosen up, & the inevitable medical emergency occurs. Turns out the rich have “concierge doctors” who are very well paid to tend to their every whim. The current one disbelieves that the young woman in obvious distress has any problem other than substance abuse, & calls the boyfriend a liar. The party-crashing doctor asks questions of guests who’ve seen the girl, & asks the gardener (who helped bring her in), & discovers the girl is going into anaphylactic shock from an allergy to the insecticide. He fixes the problem, prompting the host to fire him because had the girl’s autopsy shown she died unnecessarily, aside from a loss of life, there is a risk of scandal, lawsuits, & violation of privacy. He hires the young doctor, letting him live with his brother on the premises, telling him he can stay even if the host opts to hire a different concierge doctor. The story turns around his work to help a local hospital administrator open a free clinic despite opposition from a powerful surgeon & despite the wealthy’s complaints that the doctor might be delayed. He solves, a la “House,” baffling medical problems but without the nasty behavior & tons of “zebra” ailments. (Physicians who supervise med students & new MDs often complain their charges look for exotic diseases when most of the time, they have something common that can be fixed inexpensively, hence they’re looking for zebras instead of horses). “Royal Pains” is on hiatus, possibly until next summer.
Another USA offering resuming probably in the winter is “White Collar,” which is a knockoff of “Catch Me If You Can,” featuring a young art thief/artist/expert finally caught by the FBI, then pulled from prison, wearing an anklet & helping the FBI solve similar crimes. He has an interesting buddy, landlady, & array of friends, & an FBI agent who hates him.
USA has a comedy, “Psych,” featuring a slacker & his childhood friend. The friend is buttoned down & responsible. The slacker’s dad is a retired cop who taught him how to be uber-observant; his memory training allows him to figure out who committed crimes, but after multiple calls to the local PD, they figure he’s in on the crimes or he wouldn’t be able to solve them. He fakes being a psychic. It’s been around since the last season of “Monk,” the story of an obsessive-compulsive detective whose wife was killed in a car bomb explosion. “Monk” reruns are widely available on basic cable networks. There’s also “In Plain Sight,” a drama about witness protection featuring a female agent who can’t seem to sustain a relationship with a guy, likely because she’s enamored of her partner & doesn’t realize it. Between her dysfunctional family & her witsec clients, she’s kept pretty busy. It’s not for everyone. “Chase” is another witsec/US Marshall offering on NBC, but I haven’t been able to sustain the interest in it that I have for “In Plain Sight.”
I’ve been a “Stargate” fanatic since I put my baby in with a sitter when my husband had a day off & took him to the movies to see the movie that has inspired 3 TV series on Syfy: “Stargate SG-1” took up from where the movie left off. Several seasons later, “Stargate Atlantis” spun off from, & often intertwined with, “SG1,” but it was canceled, & 3 made-for-TV movies followed. “Atlantis” is supposed to have movies, too, but so far I haven’t seen a hint. “Stargate Universe” is the current offering, in its 2nd season, & spins off from a situation where scientists & a few military are taken by secret US space ships capable of “warp” or FTL (faster than light) speed take them to a planet suitable for an experiment to connect to more distant stargates (rings that form a wormhole through which one can go to other planets). The planet’s core goes nuclear, & the only option those working on the project have is to take the address they’ve been trying to figure out, go with the premise the teenage gaming slacker/math genius has figured out, & dial the stargate in hopes it will go to a place from which they can be rescued. They end up on a decrepit spaceship that’s pre-programmed to take them Heaven-knows-where. It’s more a survival show than the others, which were mostly focused on exploration, fighting bad guys, & making alliances. I will always miss the first series, “SG1,” but the chemistry died when Richard Dean Anderson’s character was promoted & stopped going on missions. His character’s warped sense of humor was a key part of the series, & his replacement doesn’t quite have the same chemistry.
I like a lot of Syfy’s offerings, but their movies are C movies, not even making B level, except for the “Stargate SG-1” movies. While I didn’t like either the old or the new versions of “Battlestar Galactica,” I have to admit to some curiosity about the “prequel” series “Caprica” – just not enough to watch it!
Hope these additions might be some help. Sorry about the prudishness; I guess my age is showing!