me2011

It's like the worst season of Glee had sex with the new show from this past summer, Scream in order to give birth to this horrible show. I watched the first two episodes waiting to laugh as some said it had some biting humour in it, but I only saw "attempts" at dark humour. Oh well, so many other new shows to try, no time to waste on this one. Good cast though.

So DIFFERENT from TWD yet good!

Same zombie/"walker" plot with an entirely different feel. To see the virus as it first happened is a new and interesting point of view.

UPDATE: By season 2 every episode since seems to have gotten worse. From the storytelling to the unlikable characters, to killing off a plethora of characters a'la The Walking Dead style, except we don't yet care about the characters they are so quickly killing off. I'm not sure how this keeps getting renewed... they should just call it.

UPDATE #2: I have literally been watching this show just to see the tie-in with TWD but I can't both anymore. This show officially sucks. Untracking.

I was disappointed when I first watched and I gave up after episode 2. I watched the Flash crossover episode and loved it, so I went back to Season one and ended up binged watching it. This is a solid superhero show, and Stephen Amell does most of his own stunts, which makes all the difference. Don't get me started about when he takes off his shirt and does the salmon ladder bars (just google for the video, there are two, you'll want the one on YouTube where he has his shirt off for the full effect, not the one on his Facebook page) You're welcome ;)
Oh, and I'm not some little horny 20 year old girl, I'm 40 :)

My ideal of a remake means NOT hiring a new cast to act out the same scenes in the original. Did they just change a few words from the original script? I went into this wanting to like it because I enjoyed the original. The original wasn't "must see TV" but it was decent TV for its time, so I actually expected and hoped this might be better...you know,bigger budget, better script. But nope.

To make matters worse, this show is blatantly pandering with "token" characters. Yes, being a token is offensive, so why is this show filled with what seems like a South Park parody of Token Black, the only black male child on South Park? And yes, I am a visible minority and I prefer my shows to look like the world, but not in a demeaning, pandering, formulaic, token way. Latina, check! Gay male, check! Racism, check! Oops, they forgot a disabled person, a black person, an Asian person and Indian person and a Native American/Indigenous person.

What in God's name were the show runners thinking? I'm a woman of colour and fairly liberal in my politics. But I don't want to be pandered to. I want TV to be inclusive and reflect people of all shades of every ethnicity and sexuality. That should be easy enough to do while making it seem natural. I can list tons of shows that do that well, for example, Greys Anatomy, Scandal, True Blood, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine Nine. These shows don't make their diverse and LGBTQ characters seem like "tokens" which is offensive because nobody wants to be a token hire. There's something to be said about subtlety and making things seem as natural as it does when you step outside of your front door and see the diversity in the world. Shit, even racist Rosanne came back last year with two black characters and a transgender character and made it seem more natural than this.

The show runners need to do better. Give us the world we live in without it seeming like you ran down a diversity checklist. And while some viewers like me watch sci-fi to be teleported/escape the craziness in the news, if you plan to bring in elements from the crazy world, please don't make it central to the entire series rather than the odd episode.

I'll watch episode 2 for a giggle to see how long I can make it through the episode. I'm taking bets on how long until this gets cancelled. I bet it gets cancelled in the first season before the episodes that have been made get to air.

Most people know men who prey on women. Think about yourself in high school... there was at least one guy who was the supposed "stud" yet all the girls who were with him were "sluts" even if they were virgins before they met him. Think about the guy in college or the guy at work who still take advantage of women. But R. Kelly never stopped preying on young high school girls even as he became an adult. His own experience with being sexually abused as a child does not excuse him for this. The only reason, and I mean the ONLY reason why this man has gotten away with it, even in this age of #metoo when a 6 hour documentary should NOT be necessary after Weinstein, Cosby, Spacey, etc., is simply because these victims were black women. That is the only difference. R. Kelly abused dozens and dozens of black women, and that was unfortunately and is still less important. These black women, who were just girls at the time, minors, have to make a documentary because #metoo isn't enough for black girls. Now if you think I'm wrong, ask yourself if R.Kelly would have gotten off if he statutorily raped white girls. Ask yourself if R. Kelly would have gotten off for child pornography if the video was of him and a white little girl that he peed on and had sex with.

As a woman, this show seems more like it should be in the horror genre rather than drama. Excellent acting by the cast and crazy good storytelling and directing.

UPDATED and DOWNGRADED: Hooked after the first episode! With Stephen Moyer and Amy Acker how could this go wrong? This is the first show of the fall season that I was looking forward to and the pilot did not disappoint. I usually wait until three episodes to write a review, but no need, this is a great show that can be watched by the whole family yet it is not your typical family show.
EDIT: oooh, it declines in quality by the end of season 1 and gets pretty predictable. I'm hanging on by a thread for Stephen Moyer and hoping the 2nd season will be better.
2nd EDIT: It's October 2018, just four episodes into season 2 and I just can't do it. I value my time too much to watch this. Stephen Moyer, I will follow you almost anywhere, but not here.

A super hero with tons of heart. I love super hero shows... I don't know why. So I root for them all to be successful so that I can watch them all. Luke Cage is great, he has the heart of Clark Kent and the strength of Superman (without the awesome bells and whistles of x-ray vision, eyes that shoot heat and breath that is cold enough to put out a fire). Mike Colter did an excellent job portraying Luke Cage, he was so good that I can't believe I've seen him in minor roles before and didn't recognize him... he just needed his own show in order to shine. And Alfre Woodard is good in everything she does, she's an excellent villain.
Netflix did a great job of bringing the comic to life and making it current. I'm really looking forward to season 2 and hope that it is just as successful.
P.S. Some reviews mention that this show has a large cast who is predominately non-Caucasian... well...nearly every show since the inception of television has been predominately Caucasian, so why is race worth mentioning? The show is based in Harlem and Luke Cage is black, so I can't imagine expecting anything less than a predominately non-Caucasian cast. Yet another review mentions that "all" the white people are bad. Only one was... and it's funny because usually TV shows portray blacks and Hispanics as criminals and I image that reviewer doesn't have a problem with those shows. Each to his/her own. This is a good show and it is a shame that the ethnic make up of the cast found its way into any of the reviews, especially mine.

Part 1 was intriguing and was good enough to get you to go back for more... but I found that while watching Part 2 I started multi-tasking, and that is never a good sign if a show can't hold my attention in the second hour. But now I've already invested in Parts 1 and 2 that I have no choice but to see the conclusion in Part 3. I really hoped that Part 3 would change my mind about this mini-series, but it was just as "blah" as Part 2.
The worst thing about this was that "Barbie" from Under the Dome plays a prominent role and I don't seem to like that actor's portrayal of any character yet I can pinpoint the reason. The best thing about this is that it has brought about interest in the book, which is a great story but apparently hard to put on screen.

I REALLY want to love this show... please don't screw it up CBS! The pilot was lukewarm, predictable and stereotypical. I'm irrational when it comes to super hero shows, it is the only genre where I am willing to watch no matter how bad it is with a hope that it turns around.
I will rate again after the 3rd episode and give it the true rating it deserves if CBS doesn't stop pandering.
UPDATE: Oh CBS, why??? I've dropped the 4 rating... even my love for super hero shows can't keep me from dropping this to the rating it deserves. I think the real problem with this show (besides the predictable writing) is actually that they cast the wrong woman to play Supergirl.
UPDATE 2019: Apparently I'm a masochist because I am still watching. On the bright side, the show has settled in at a 3/5 rating for me and the actors are much less green than they were in the first couple of years. Supergirl is believable but Kara makes stupid mistakes, meaning the writing is juvenile at times. It passes the time because I enjoy superhero shows but I'm also a realist and this could have been sch an amazing show if they didn't pander and actually made Supergirl into the strong character that she was written to be in the comics.