New TV Season Viewer Casualty #3: "Reaper"

The TV season started with a lot of promising new shows, but as my viewing schedule (and DVR) continued to get crowded, something had to give. Shows that got the boot shortly after their pilots were Chuck and Pushing Daisies.

I watched and mildly enjoyed the pilots of each, but about halfway through the second episodes of each, I realized I wasn't enjoying them, and just stiopped. Pushing Daisies has been called the best new show of the season, but I found it pretentious and annoying, neither funny nor charming, nor really that engaging. How long can you watch a couple not be able to touch each other at all? Plus be fake British.

Chuck had an interesting pilot, but seemed too similar, and not as engaging as Reaper -- Slacker guy has a secret, a really important mission that only a select few know about. But I thought the pilot of Reaper showed more promise. Plus, it had Ray (Twin Peaks) Wise. And I really like Ray Wise. Kevin Smith directed the pilot and the show seemed to fall into his sweet spot.

But the show became formulaic -- like early Smallville, it featured the "Freak of the Week", while the protagonist sought to learn ,ore about his calling. another similarity is its most annoying feature -- just like it was on Smallville -- unrequited love hindered by not letting the girl in on the big secret. but Smallville had one thing going for it for me -- it's about SUPERMAN. Reaper is about some guy.

Smith remains involved as an executive producer, but he is missed as a driector here. And besides for my Ray Wise fix, I can watch the Twin Peaks Gold box set I recently bought and just wrote about.

Apparently, I am not the only one who feels the potential of Reaper's pilot has not been lived up to, as an article in the SF Gate also notes:

Reaper has never equaled the excellence of its pilot, and, in many cases, the show has been its own worst enemy as it flailed to get the mix of thrills and laughs just right. ... Only recently - and only once - has this series veered off formula (an episode started in the heat of capturing a lost soul, which normally comes in the last 15 minutes). Reaper may be a thriller (though it's almost never scary) and it may be a comedy (that could be sharpened as well), but, ultimately, it's a procedural.

So, I'm done with Reaper, at least for now. Careful Bionic Woman and Back to You -- you're both on the bubble too. The only new show I'm consistently enjoying is Journeyman. I also enjoyed the recently conlcuded, and recently confirmed to be renewed for two more seasons, Damages on FX.