SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE: JENNIE FROM BRITAIN & THE NEW TV SEASON

Jennie Barnett is a fellow "Iddiot", from that confederacy of Vin Scelsa fans who first gathered in an email list group called The Idiot's Delight Digest 21 years ago.  Together we have met Matt Smith, so I'd like to think our televersions have had adventures with the 11th incarnation of the Doctor. (TV''s Jennie would be an international spy trapped in the bureaucratic paperwork of a certain world political organization, jumping at every chance she gets for field work. My Cathode Counterpart is the addled daydreamer whose imagination comes to life.  Together, we fight crime!) 

 JENNIE & MATT SMITH
[I TOOK THE PICTURE]

MATT SMITH SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS

[THE ARROW'S POINTING AT ME]

We pretty much agree on a lot of things - well, let's just say we're both fans of the American League and leave it at that......

So I trust her judgement on the following new TV shows coming in the next few weeks, although I am still hyped on one which she was a bit cool about.....

Jennie, the soundstage is yours:

For Brian, Toby, and anyone else who might be interested - a brief recap of my weekend at the Paley Center. (Well OK, it's not THAT brief):

We saw 18 pilots for the new fall season.  Hands down winner was the first one we saw - 'This Is Us' from NBC. Good characters, good writing; although in no way a clone of 'Parenthood,' it had a similar vibe (high praise from me, one of my favourite shows of recent years). Somebody sitting behind me said "I can't wait for this show to air so I can talk to people about it'. Yes!

Second favourite: 'No Tomorrow' from the CW. I never watch CW; don't even know what channel it is. I may have to find out. Cute, quirky, funny. 

Also from the CW, 'Frequency', loosely based on the Dennis Quaid movie from 15 or so years ago. I'm a sucker for "what if this happened instead of that' themes, so I liked this one a lot.

There's a new high-tech doctor show and a new high-tech lawyer show, and I shall probably be watching both of them - 'Pure Genius' and 'Bull', both from CBS.

Toby asked about 'Timeless' and 'Designated Survivor'. I thought the former was stupid (although I may be in a minority), but the latter has promise. and Kiefer Sutherland, not a bad thing at all.  (O'Bservation: I'm hoping for good things from 'Timeless', even if it produces Zonks to disrupt the Toobworld Dynamic.)

Brian asked about 'Pitch', Fox's drama about the first female Major Leaguer. My love of baseball helped my enjoyment of the show, but whilst it was reasonably entertaining, I don't know if I will watch more than a couple of episodes - depends how it develops past the inevitable initial locker room issues and general misogyny.

We saw a bunch of comedies - 

• 'Good Place'
• 'American Housewife'
• 'Son Of Zorn'
• 'Kevin Can Wait'
• 'Man With A Plan'
• 'The Great Indoors'.... 

If someone held a gun to my head and said I HAD to watch one on a regular basis, it would be 'The Great Indoors', which features Joel McHale and Stephen Fry, both of whom I like quite a lot. 'The Good Place' has Kristen Bell and Ted Danson and reminded me a bit of that show about the pie shop and resurrecting dead people from a few seasons back (can't remember the name ['Pushing Daisies - Toby) as it is colourful and quirky, but I feel like it might get old quite fast. The rest of them? Mo.

The rest: 

• 'Notorious' (Maybe - it has Daniel Sunjata in it). 
• 'Lethal Weapon' - amusing but probably not for me. 
• 'The Exorcist' - not for me, although I love Ben Daniels. 
• 'Chance' - I don't subscribe to Hulu and will not sign up just so I can watch this.  But it's Hugh Laurie and Gretchen Mol, and it is fairly intriguing, even though Mr. Laurie's character is not as far of a stretch from 'House' as the publicity would like you to believe.

Toby, 'Speechless' was not included in the screenings, but I'm also interested to see how that one goes.

Happy fall TV season, everyone!

THANK YOU, JENNIE!!!