Whatever the male species did to deserve the recent run of lousy comedies that neuter them into a bland, whiny pudding — the trajectory of Man Up through Guys With Kids to CBS's new and painfully bland smarm-com We Are Men (8:30/7:30c) — can I just collectively say on behalf of the entire gender: We're sorry! Haven't we suffered enough?
Apparently not, because Men hits new lows in bromance abuse, cheapening the whole idea of "band of brothers" with its soggy account of male bonding at an apartment complex for jilted and/or unhappily divorced losers. The new kid on the block, Carter (Chris Smith), is left at the altar in a reverse-Graduate gag that's the cleverest part of the pilot. Such a milquetoast he makes How I Met Your Mother mensch Ted Mosby seem as dangerous as Ted Bundy, Carter is adopted by an unappealing threesome that includes middle-aged horndog Frank (Tony Shalhoub, slumming), sad sack Gil (Kal Penn, who's almost as hilarious here as he was as a wet blanket during HIMYM's dark period, which means not at all) and arrogant Stuart, overplayed by Jerry O'Connell, who parades around shirtless in a rainbow of Speedos that flaunt what some might call manhood. But they would be wrong.
These Men of no certain age and character aren't so much bad influences as terribly unfunny company.
read more
NBC topped the first official night of the new season, led byThe Voice and The Blacklist.
Fresh off its Emmy win, The Voice returned Monday to 14.7 million viewers and a 4.9 in the adults 18-to-49 demographic, improving 17 percent from last fall's debut.
James Spader's new drama The Blacklist, one of TVGuide.com users' most anticipated new dramas, followed with ...
read more
His name is Raymond "Red" Reddington, and he's the Concierge of Crime.
On NBC's new drama The Blacklist, which premieres Monday at 10/9c after The Voice, Emmy winner James Spader plays one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, who has suddenly and inexplicably turned himself in. Who is Red, and what are his motives? Is he good or bad? Does it even matter? Check out nine reasons why we're rooting for Red:
read more
Happy (and busy) premiere week. It's a killer thriller showdown when two of the fall season's slickest new shows, NBC's The Blacklist and CBS's limited-run suspense serial Hostages, square off Monday (at 10:01/9:01c) in a contest of marquee power and derivative but inviting high concepts. They take on ABC's durable Castle, opening its sixth season (10:01/9:01c) with its star-crossed leads facing a personal and professional crossroads.
read more
Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: I think the last time I wrote to you was trying to decide whether to watch Lone Star or The Event in a time-slot match-up. You rightly pointed me in the direction of Lone Star in terms of quality, with clearly a star in the making in James Wolk, but sadly, it was a victim of the wrong network (Fox) for a show that probably was meant for cable, so it died an early death. Not that it matters in the long run, considering The Event also wilted. Now we have another Monday night time-slot match-up...
read more