Must See Versus Meh

Entertainment Weekly came out last week with Michael J. Fox and Lea Thompson on the cover. EW’s reunions issue has gatherings of some classic casts, “Back to the Future” included (though it’s just Fox and Thompson they got together). Some of the “reunions” are iffy in my mind. For example, “Gilmore Girls” and “Will & Grace” reunions fall flat since they haven’t been off the air that long. I was excited about seeing the gang from “Northern Exposure,” but they only have Rob Morrow and Janine Turner. Seeing the cast of “Pretty in Pink,” however, is pretty cool.

Anyway, there’s a little video available of Lea and Michael chatting about BTTF. The Delorean is faithfully recreated by a fan. Badass. Hard to believe it’s been 25 years since the original flick came out. Enjoy. (Click here if you don’t see the embedded video below.)

Speaking of BTTF news, Christopher Lloyd (aka Doc Brown) is going to guest star on an episode of “Fringe” soon. Love that show and I think Christopher is going to do a bang-up job, as he does in everything he’s in. Yeah, I’m a little biased, but if you’ve never seen Lloyd in the classic “Taxi,” you’ve been missing out.

Witness Reverend Jim Ignatowski trying to get a driver’s license. (Click here if video isn’t seen below.)

Speaking of television, I’ve been woefully underwhelmed by this season’s new TV shows. Very little stands out. Most of the new shows didn’t sound all that appealing to begin with, and the ones I have tried are just meh. I like to give shows a fighting chance, but I admit that I haven’t seen more than one episode of shows like “Outsourced” or “Running Wilde.” Outsourced was just so filled with stereotypes that it was (more) insulting (than the usual fare).

I want to like “Mike & Molly” because it’s from Chuck Lorre, the same guy behind classics like “Dharma & Greg,” “Two and a Half Men,” and “Big Bang Theory,” but unless they can move beyond the expected (and boring) fat jokes, I’m gonna bail on that one, too. I also wanted to like “Undercovers” because it’s a J.J. Abrams show, but they lost me in the first episode. Bo-ring. “No Ordinary Family” was supposed to be a stand-out, but it’s not. “Heroes” was a much better show about people with powers and even that fizzled out toward the end.

And “The Event”…ugh. I have two episodes to watch on the DVR, but it hasn’t struck me as “must watch” TV, unlike the ads where NBC promises a show as riveting as a cross between “24″ and “Lost.” Instead I see a show that yanks the timeline around to the point of confusion and thrusts me into a world I’m not sure I care about. I don’t know that I’m ready to invest myself into another show with such heavy mythology. “Lost” left me kinda spent in that department.

The few shows I’ve found watchable (not even “must watch,” but still) include “Raising Hope” and “Hawaii Five-O.” Maybe I’m just getting old, so the bulk of the new shows don’t appeal to me, but I doubt it. Maybe I’ve been burned too often by shows that get prematurely canceled, so I don’t want to get involved with many new shows till I see if they’ll last. Whatever the case, if there’s a new “must see” show, I have yet to see it. As I write this, I’m watching reruns of a must-see-comedy-from-the-past, “3rd Rock from the Sun,” and wishing anything out this season was written half as well.

If you’ve seen anything that’s “must see,” let me know. In the meantime, I’ll stick with the tried and true, I suppose. It’s Friday, so that means “Smallville” (in for a penny, in for a pound) and “Supernatural” tonight. A shame that “Taxi” isn’t available to watch instantly on Netflix. Maybe I’ll add it and “3rd Rock” to my queue.