Friday, August 31, 2018
Fri-Yay: Netflix's Disenchantment Is Messy - But Should You Stick With It?; NBC's I Feel Bad Gets Preview
by Vincent
This month, Netflix dropped half of the first season of Disenchantment, a new animated from Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening. The show was highly anticipated as the first new Groening project in quite some time, and has a fairly stacked voice cast, featuring the likes of Abbi Jacobson and Eric Andre. And yet, the show didn't exactly light up the television world upon debut. It received decisively mixed reviews, with most calling it a disappointment that shows some signs of promise. These reviews generally have it right - while the show has its bright spots, it's incredibly messy and seems to have difficulties settling on a consistent tone. Because of this inconsistency, Disenchantment feels like it's sort of been brushed aside for flashier, shinier shows with better reception, despite its high pedigree. This makes sense - there's so much TV that no one has time to wait for a middling show to get better.
And yet, I can't help but think how early episodes of The Simpsons or Futurama would've faired in this environment, two shows whose earliest episodes also featured some tonal imbalances and struggles to streamline their humor. While I'd say both shows earlier episodes are superior to Disenchantment's, they were far from perfect, and it's easy to see either show getting brushed aside. However, both shows premiered during a different era of TV, when there were far less shows and it was worth sticking with a show that you thought had potential even if it wasn't quite there yet. It'd be really tough to imagine a world where too few people gave The Simpsons and Futurama a chance and neither shows wound up being able to become the incredible, groundbreaking shows they became. Am I saying Disenchantment will become as influential and great as those shows? Not necessarily, but I could see it happening - however, it'll require more people to give it a chance. There are still 10 episodes yet to premiere in Disenchantment's first season (Netflix split the show's 20-episode first season into two parts) - hopefully, those episodes will offer a glimmer into the type of show Disenchantment will be, and if they show improvement, will allow more people to give the show a fair shot
NBC will sneak preview the first two episodes of its new fall comedy I Feel Bad on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT following the season 13 finale of America's Got Talent. The series will premiere in its regular 9:30 p.m. Thursday timeslot beginning Oct. 4. Emet is the perfect mom, boss, wife, friend and daughter. OK, she's not perfect. In fact, she's just figuring it out like the rest of us. Sure, she feels bad when she has a sexy dream about someone other than her husband, or when she pretends not to know her kids when they misbehave in public, or when she uses her staff to help solve personal problems. But that's OK, right? Nobody can have it all and do it perfectly. From executive producer Amy Poehler comes a modern comedy about being perfectly OK with being imperfect. The cast includes Sarayu Blue, Paul Adelstein, Madhur Jaffrey, Brian George, James Buckley, Zach Cherry and Johnny Pemberton.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Monday, November 4
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Vote" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Dave gathers everyone for a lengthy ballot-palooza party to discuss the merits of every candidate and prop on each of their election ballots. Also, Gemma is determined to run a tight ship as their local precinct captain when polls open at Walcott Academy. Kevin Pollak guest stars as Lamar.
Poppa's House - "Podcast" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Junior enlists Nina’s help to film a documentary of Poppa’s iconic career, but the direction of the film takes a detour when the radio station begins using AI promos with Poppa’s and Ivy’s voices.
What We Do in the Shadows - "Nandor's Army" (FX, 10:00PM ET/PT)
The vampires go on a mission to New Hampshire to retrieve Nandor, who has lost his mind.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 4)
Monday, November 4
- Allison Janney (Mom/Mr. Sunshine) - Watch Allison on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Keri Russell (Running Wilde/Daddy's Girls) - Keri is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm/Blockbuster/The Millers/Bent/'Til Death) - JB appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Paul F. Tompkins (The Great North/BoJack Horseman/DAG) - Paul is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Zachary Quinto (Big Mouth/So Notorious) - Zachary stops by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 10pm on Bravo.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Drew and Valerie are highlighting some extra special adoptable dogs with a local humane society. They're also hitting the headlines with Ross Mathews and trying out Dolly Parton's hack for the perfect baked potato on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Emily Osment (Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage/Young Sheldon/Young & Hungry/Hannah Montana) and Montana Jordan (Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage/Young Sheldon) - Emily and Montana are telling Drew about their hilarious Young Sheldon spinoff Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Bellamy Young (The Other Black Girl/Scrubs) - Bellamy joins Sherri to tell her how she is helping her hometown of Asheville, NC in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Marcia Gay Harden (Trophy Wife) - Marcia discusses her children’s podcast, Snoriezzz, on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Brian Baumgartner (The Office) - NBC's Today catches up with Brian in the 9am hour.
- Meg Donnelly (American Housewife) - Meg is a guest on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K UHD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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