Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Last Night's TV: S.H.I.E.L.D., The Grinder, Grandfathered, and more (SPOILERS!)

Entertainment Weekly | Last Night's TV PRIME TIME
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Last Night's TV PRIME TIME
THIS ISSUE: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Grinder, Grandfathered, Scream Queens, Fresh Off the Boat
TOP MOMENT OF THE NIGHT
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Makes Us Feel Shiny and New
ABC
BECAUSE: Best brand spankin' new arrivals on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s season 3 premiere: Skye's new name, Daisy (or Quake, if ya nasty); the always terrific Constance Zimmer as Rosalind, new Inuman-hunting thorn in Coulson's side; and, of course, the reveal that Simmons is still alive post-monolith absorption, even if it is on a mystery planet, all by her lonesome save for whatever is chasing her.
READ OUR RECAP
The Grinder
FOX
WHAT HAPPENED: Rob Lowe is lit-rally the cheeriest Handsome Man on television and Fred Savage lit-rally still looks and sounds exactly the same as he did on Wonder Years. And that should probably enough to keep you coming back to Grinder, Fox's new series about an actor who's long-running legal show -- The Grinder, of course -- is ending, so he decides it's time to join his brother's family practice in Idaho as, y'know, an actual lawyer with law knowledge and a semi-optional law degree. It doesn't hurt that the first episode is flat-out, pretty funny. As EW recapper Kyle Anderson says, "Laughs and potential -- that's a successful comedy pilot." Grinder rests.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Pleasantly surprised, moderately impressed, and patiently waiting for more, say the critics. Most seem to share Vulture's assessment that, "The Grinder isn't a groundbreaking entry, but it at least shows some signs of life." We don't ask for groundbreaking of our network sitcoms this fall TV season, simply actors with chemistry, conceits with promise, and a little bit of flare -- look no further than The Grinder's ridiculous courtroom scene that gives guest-star Kumail Nanjiani's opposing counsel "10 million objections, rounding down," but also fleshes out the silly, endearing show The Grinder could be.
READ OUR RECAP
Grandfathered
FOX
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Let's give it up for the real star of Grandfathered (the new show about a perpetual bachelor Jimmy who learns that he fathered a child who has now fathered yet another spawn): John Stamos' reading glasses. Okay, and also John Stamos who is basically the show's entire conceit in that he is "a total Clooney." But it works. Once Jimmy gets over the initial shock of Gerald (Josh Peck) entering his life with a baby daughter in tow, he kicks making up for lost paternal time into high gear -- babysitting, giving fashion advice, and telling Gerald where a woman's g-spot is. Well… every family is different.
WHAT HAPPENED: Critics mostly prefer Lowe's Grinder to Stamos' Grandfathered (boy, the 80s have really paid dividends, huh?), but fans are still feeling the semi-sweet sitcom chips of "yet another series … about a grown-up Peter Pan forced to deal with the better angels in his nature thanks to exposure to a child," as Variety puts it. "Yet another," it may be, but it's the first to star Stamos and Paget Brewster as the progenitors, and that is a damn good gene pool for anyone who likes TV and full heads of voluminous hair.
READ OUR RECAP
Scream Queens
FOX
WHAT HAPPENED: Grace is still wearing fugly "average girl-next-door" caps; Niecy Nash is still hilarious as Denise, whose reasons for suspecting Zayday as the Red Devil murderer range from tweeting plot suggestions to the EPs, to conveniently having a chainsaw stashed under her bed -- "lousy security guard, excellent burier of leads," says EW recapper Amy Wilkerson; and the Chanels are dropping, reincarnating, and admitting relation to Charles Manson like beautiful, sociopathic flies. The search for the Bathtub Baby is still on and Grace thinks it must be Chad because Grace has terrible ideas -- but it does facilitate a road trip, which in addition to Hester's makeover, makes Scream Queens the bloodiest Disney Channel Original Movie, like, ever. Body count: One Dickie Dollar Scholar is down two chainsawed-off arms, and Chad is unconscious in the street (and apparently a prolific freak in the sheets).
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Don't worry about the KKT pledges going full House Bunny; Lea Michele tells Variety that despite Hester being rid of her neck brace, and trussed up in pastel pink hand-me-downs from Chanel No. 1, Hester's obsession with all things morbid and morose still stands: "She's going to be the craziest of them all."
READ OUR RECAP
One More Thing...
Fresh Off the Boat Comes to the "End Of The Road"
ABC
GIRL, YOU KNOW… YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING: Come for Constance Wu screaming, "You're going to ride that metal tube all the way to money town!" stay for the soundtrack: Boyz II Men family dinner sing-alongs, Wu Tang Clan-scored tutoring sessions, and just a wee bit of tragic middle school piccolo.
READ OUR RECAP
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