I’ve never been a fan of hip-hop or rap music. The closest I ever came was watching the movie “Hustle and Flow” starring Terrence Howard. That film’s greatest claim to fame is that it won an Oscar for the song “It’s Hard out There for a Pimp”. While I’m sure a lot of people voted for that song just because they wanted to see an Oscar go to a song with the word Pimp in the title, it actually deserve the award. So often films hire some popstar to sing some new song over the closing credits. The song really does nothing to enhance the film itself and did not appear in the body of the film. It’s just an excuse to get an Oscar nomination and possibly a win. In this case the song was integral to the story. It showed how this wannabe rap star actually created a rap song. He gave me a slightly more positive impression of rap music. I’m still not a fan of rap. I guess I’m just “old school” in that I happen to like melodies.

Terrence Howard is in the rap business once again in the new Fox series Empire. In some ways this might be a sequel to what is original pimp character might have done had he actually succeeded. It’s not a sequel. These are totally different characters. Howard plays Lucius Lyon, a rap star turned media mogul who is about to take his company Empire Media public on the stock exchange. In the midst of what should be the pinnacle of success he discovers he has approximately three years to live because of ALS a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Meanwhile his ex-wife Cookie played by Taraji P. Hansen. She has just been released from a 17 year prison sentence for dealing drugs. We find out that her drug money provided the initial $400,000 investment to lunch Empire Media. She uses that fact to blackmail her ex-husband and she’s trying to wrestle control of the company from him.

Meanwhile Lucius has told his three sons that they are all on trial to see who is going to take over the company from him “someday” even though he doesn’t tell them how soon that someday might be. The obvious choice is the son who went to business school and has had his life together is whole life. This is once actual rap star to take over the reins and one of his sons is obvious choice except for the fact that he is gay and Lucius has never accepted it. The third son is a musician and rapper but is pretty much a slacker.

Without giving away one minor plot twist we get to see that Lucius hasn’t completely left behind his gangster roots despite the fact that he is trying to portray himself as a legitimate businessman.

Overall the show is well written, well acted, and has the potential to be a big hit. The plot lines are reminiscent of a Shakespearean tragedy. There was a reference to King Lear in the pilot episode and future episodes have titles like “Unto the Breach” and “Sins of the Father” on which give it sort of an epic scale.

It appears we are also going to get three or four performances of rap and R&B songs in an episode all of which seem to be fairly well done although as I said I’m not a fan of the genre.

I was fully anticipating to give this show an honest review but did not think that it would grab my interest enough to make it on my regularly watched list. I watch way too much TV and I’ve still got season 2 of House of Cards unwatched 3 ready to drop next month. But for the time being I’m going to stick with this one and give it a “I’m watching” rating. It might not be for everyone. It might not be for me.

Having already been disappointed in two other ethnic sitcoms this year (black-ish and Jane the Virgin) I went into ABC’s new Hispanic sitcom Cristela with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. While this isn’t exactly must-see-TV, it does have some potential. The show is created by, written by, and stars Cristela Alonso who has more credits as comedy writer then as an actress. In this ABC sitcom she plays a girl named Cristela who is in her sixth year of law school. She lives with her mother, her sister, brother-in-law and niece as she’s trying to make ends meet and go to school at the same time. The show starts with her applying for and getting an unpaid internship with a prestigious law firm. Her new boss is marginally racist but knows that he is and jokes about it. One of the other new interns is his daughter who upon seeing Cristela presume she’s part of the janitorial staff. Even her father thinks the daughter is a dimwit.

The jokes are extremely cliché. The laugh track is annoying. But on occasion it did have some really funny moments in it that had me laughing and the live audience as well. If the show ever get the following in the audience gets used to the characters, they may not need to use the laugh track as much.

I guess if you’re trying to compare it to something I would call it an Hispanic version of “2 Broke Girls” with only half as many girls. By the way as silly as it is, I happen to love 2 Broke Girls. So for now I’m giving this one a tentative cautious “I’m watching it”. But then I’m a sucker for silly sitcoms. Like I said my only criteria for judging such shows is “Is it funny?” and it places this one was.

Having seen the films Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton and Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz, I suspected that the new sitcom Bad Judge was going to be another gross out comedy with lots of vomiting and toilet humor. I expected Kate Walsh’s character to be really sleazy and doing crooked deals. As it turns out the title of the show is a bit of a misnomer. Don’t get me wrong she is a crazy character who likes to have sex in her chambers with expert witnesses and she does like to party all night and coming to court with a nasty hangover. But as it turns out she does her job very well. As can be seen from the preview she does engage in some creative sentencing. Guest star Chris Purnell is convicted of bigamy and she sentences him to take a course in feminism while wearing a T-shirt saying “I am a serial bigamist”. To which he replies “How my going to pick up chicks wearing that?” This is even after his two wives have testified in his defense saying what a good husband he is despite the fact he had this whole other family behind the back.

In addition to the party hardy type of character that she is, the only plot line in the opening episode is that she keeps getting interrupted by phone calls for a 12-year-old kid whose parents she had sentenced to jail. The kid keeps getting in trouble at school and she keeps defending him. Her boss, another judge, keeps admonishing her that her job is not social worker that is actually a judge and she should not get involved in the lives of her defendants or their families. She ignores him and continues to help the boy.

At this point, it’s a little early to see just how funny this show is going to be or not. It is clear it’s not in the same vein as other “bad” comedies. Seeing Kate Walsh run around in skimpy underwear is enough to keep me watching another episode or two. Having said that she would probably sentence me to wear a T-shirt saying “I’m a dirty old man who watches TV shows just to see women in their underwear.” Guilty as charged your honor. For now I’m rating this “I’m watching”

Imagine a sitcom about a standup comedian who lives in the New York apartment. His two best friends are guy and a girl (he doesn’t date the girl). He has a next-door neighbor was a crazy character very tall and another friend who is a chubby guy. The show is named after him. It features clips from his standup routines. What an innovative concept? I wonder why no one has ever done that? Oh wait… They did. I guy named Jerry Seinfeld 25 years ago. But this isn’t a review of his sitcom Seinfeld. It’s a review of Mulaney starring standup comedian John Mulaney and the description that I’ve given is 100% accurate. John Mulaney was a bit player on Saturday Night Live in the 2010-2011 season and was a writer from 2008-2013 on SNL. He also does standup comedy.

It would take lots of guts to try to re-create the success of one of the most successful sitcoms ever created. But apparently that’s what they’ve tried to do. After all it’s been 25 years and even though Seinfeld is shown in reruns, perhaps a new younger generation would like their own version. There was a half hour special on NBC before the show premiered that featured some of his standup routines and introduce you to the cast of characters. After seeing some of his standup in this special and on various talk shows where he has promoted the show, I was thinking perhaps it might indeed be a worthy successor of Seinfeld although nothing will ever take its place.

This show might have the potential to be a hit sitcom because it has all of the right elements. This one has a couple of big points in its favor mostly in its cast. In the show, Mulaney’s character is a writer for a game show host played by Martin Short and if you like Short’s style of comedy (and I do) then that’s a big plus. Also the goofy next-door neighbor is played by Elliott Gould. He plays a flamboyant gay man named Oscar. The female friend Jane is played SNL veteran Nasima Pedrad. His sidekick Motif is also a standup comedian played by Seaton Smith who is new to TV but has done standup. The chubby friend I referred to is Andre the drug dealer played by Zach Perlman who looks like he’s trying to be a Zach Galifianakis clone.

I really liked standup routines from the special. Some of them were also featured in the opening episode. The supporting cast is reasonably good. But there’s a big problem. Mulaney can’t act. Even though he’s written every word of the episode himself, his delivery comes across like a fourth grader reading aloud out of their history textbook. He seems to be able to deliver his material in his standup routines adequately well but somehow when trying to play his character you keep wondering if he’s reading it off of cue cards or something.

My hope is that in future episodes Mulaney is able to relax into the part more and not come across as so stiff. For the time being I’m going to watch just to see Martin Short and Elliott Gould either one of which can crack me up. So for now my rating is “I’m Watching It” but I’m afraid it’s going to fall pretty far short of Seinfeld’s legacy.

I recently posted a message on Facebook saying that based on the premise of the new ABC drama “Forever” it probably would not last as long as the title suggested. And while it won’t last forever, but certainly should last much longer than I first expected. The main character is Dr. Henry Morgan portrayed by Ioan Gruffudd you may recognize as Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four film series but more recently appeared in the TV series Ringer where he was has been to Sarah Michelle Geller. The title “Forever” comes from the fact that Dr. Morgan apparently cannot die. The show opens with him getting killed in a New York City subway train crash and then he miraculously reemerges in the middle of the Hudson River totally naked but otherwise unharmed.

I recently asked about the series “Z Nation” the question “Do we really need another zombie show?” And one might rightly ask “Do we need another show about immortals?” We got vampire stories that are semi-immortal or at least can heal quickly. Add to that list Wolverine from the X-Men. You’ve got Christopher Lambert in the Highlander series of TV and film. And let’s not forget my favorite Capt. Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and Torchwood fame. My point is this is been done before so what else can be brought to the genre? As it turns out they may have found a reasonably interesting new twist.

After the subway crash and resurrection, in voiceover he explains that 200 years ago he was a board a slave ship as the ship’s doctor. When the crew tried to throw overboard one of the slaves who simply had a cold and was not infected with cholera, Dr. Morgan intervened and tried to save the man. For his efforts he got shot in the chest and thrown overboard himself. This was Morgan’s first death and he has resurrected many times since then. In present day is a New York City medical examiner which allows him to study the phenomena of death up close.

The only person who knows his secret with his friend Abe played by Judd Hirsch. It’s obvious that their relationship goes back many years but you don’t really find out how they met until the very end of the first episode and I will not spoil that surprise for you but look for it carefully or you may miss it. His assistant in the medical examiner’s office is Lucas Wahl played by Joel David Moore who you have previously seen in 14 episodes of Bones as one of Dr. Brennan’s many interns. The other major character is the very sexy Detective Jo Martinez played by Alana De La Garza who you might recognize as Marisol Delco Caine from CSI: Miami. And more recently the TV series “Do No Harm“.

Dr. Morgan himself having lived over 200 years trying to solve the mystery of his existence is a very observant and analytical person with a Sherlock-Holmes-like ability to just look at you and know your life story. I suppose you have to ask do we need another Sherlock Holmes character and I’m not sure about that. Morgan seems to be constantly pining over the lost love of his life Abigail whom he met in World War II when we see parts of their relationship told in various flashbacks. The whole “being immortal is no fun because you have to all of your loved ones die” plot line is also not at all original.

So it seems like they’ve taken a lot of old ideas: immortality, Holmesian deduction, lost love due to immortality etc. and thrown them together. But for some strange reason it all really works for me. Some of it is the witty dialogue in which he somewhat sarcastically yet humorously talks about all the different ways that he’s died. For example when someone seems to us found out secret he tries to decide whether to run or face them. He recounts other bad experiences when someone figured out is immortality. He had his blood drained, organs removed, hanged as a heretic and then casually says “Hang me once shame on you, hang me twice…”. In another throw away line he says things like “That would hurt like getting a blunt object punched in your spleen which believe me is no fun!” Someone will have to create a wiki webpage to keep track of all the ways he’s claimed to have died.

In my most recent review of “Scorpion” I bemoaned it having “plot driven technology” and I long for a show that had “technology driven plot” where you introduce some strange new technology or in this case the ability to be reborn each time you die and then you ask the question “What if?”. That’s exactly what this series does and does so brilliantly. For example when he’s trying to figure out what kind of poison was used to kill the subway driver and he can’t get the tox screen quickly enough, he injects himself with blood from the corpse that still contains the poison just so we can see how he himself dies thus identifying the poison. And a bit of a spoiler, at the end of the episode when he’s trying to stop the bad guy and the only way to do it is to throw him off the roof of the building, he ends up having to fall off the building with the bad guy knowing that he’s just going to reboot but the bad guy will be stopped from poisoning thousands of people in Grand Central Station. The point is he’s taken this strange ability and turned it into a tool that lets him do his job. It may be a jumble of retread ideas but it is smart and clever and occasionally funny and a little bit dramatic and it seems to have peaks my interest very much so.

I’m giving it a very definite “I’m Watching” rating.

A new series on CBS Sunday nights is Madam Secretary. Téa Leoni plays Elizabeth McCord, a former CIA analyst who retired from The Company “on a matter of principle.” The series starts with her teaching in a Virginia University as a political science professor. She’s married with three kids although we only get to see the two teenagers at home. Word comes that the Secretary of State has been killed in a plane crash en route to Caracas Venezuela. President Conrad Dalton played by Keith Carradine is a former CIA director who was her boss and mentor when she worked for the agency. He recruits are to replace the dead Secretary of State and tells her she was his first choice for the job when he was elected but got talked out of it by his advisers.

Flash forward three months where she is settling into the job having moved her family to DC. She is resistive of the parts of the job that are all for show such as hosting a dinner for the king of Swaziland and his 10 wives and for getting a personal makeover by a stylist appointed by the White House to make her more camera friendly.

The main plot of the first episode is about 2 American college students who sneak into Syria to promote peace by joining an anti-government group. They get arrested and are being held hostage and the government is threatening to execute them.

She seems to constantly butt heads with her staff which includes Bebe Neuwirth. Most of them were leftovers from the previous secretary. She also isn’t getting along very well with the president’s chief of staff who is played by Zeljko Ivanek. He always plays characters who seem to have some hidden agenda and you definitely get that vibe from him here as he’s constantly trying to block her access to the president.

Tim Daly plays her husband who is a religion professor. Their relationship seems solid and he serves as a sounding board when she has problems at work. Other than that he hasn’t given much to do so far.

She remains friends with some of her old colleagues at the CIA and uses back channel contacts with Russian diplomats to negotiate the release of the hostages. One of her old CIA friends comes to her in the middle of the night in a panic and says he thinks that the plane crash which killed her predecessor wasn’t an accident. You can’t tell if he’s a burned out agent for conspiracy theories or if there really is something going on. Then he turns up dead. So the conspiracy is off and running. It remains to be seen how much of the weekly plot will circle around that issue.

The dialogue is smart. The plots are reasonably credible and the acting is decent. The show is immediately followed by The Good Wife on Sunday nights and should appeal to that audience as well. If you like tough, smart, intelligent women in interesting situations such as The Good Wife and you will really like this as well.

The shows creators said that they saw the intrigue around the Benghazi scandal and said to themselves “We’ve got to make a show about this.” The background of the character isn’t very Hillary-like so it isn’t exactly ripping off her story. Then again the title of episode 2 is “Another Benghazi”

I’m giving it a definite “I’m Watching” on my rating scale and it could get upgraded to “I Really like It” if it holds up week to week. I suggest you do to.

I suppose the first thing we have to ask ourselves about Z Nation is “Do we really need another zombie show?” This one premiered on SyFy Channel last week and will air its second episode tonight. The gold standard for zombie shows of course AMC’s The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead has all of the deliciously gory zombie kills, the horror of being overrun by a swarm of zombies, and everything else you normally want any post-apocalyptic survivor story. Walking dead is also one of the best written, best acted dramatic hours on television. Walking Dead earns my highest Must-See Rating so “Z Nation” has stiff competition. If you also include comparisons to such shows as FX channel’s The Strain which although it is a vampire show still people running away from monsters who are trying to bite them. There is also competition from BBC America’s In the Flesh. So do we really need another zombie show?

Unfortunately like most of my reviews, the jury is still out in some ways.

In comparison to Walking Dead I would have to say the special effects, gore, and violence are about on par. They did top Walking Dead in the first episode by having the first zombie baby which was kind of cool. This show is definitely playing it more for laughs than for drama so comparisons to Walking Dead on storytelling and writing and acting are not going to be possible. In that respect it is a very different show. You don’t get that sense of dread or malaise that you get from Walking Dead. On the other hand it’s not as over-the-top as zombie films such as Simon Pegg’s Shaun of the Dead or Woody Harrelson’s Zombieland

The zombies themselves are faster than your typical zombies. Faster than Walking Dead. However they are not superhuman fast as in the Brad Pitt film World War Z.

The basic story takes place three years into the apocalypse. A group of survivors meets up with a soldier who is trying to get from New York to California  accompanied by “The only person known to survive a zombie bite”. He was given the only does of an experimental vaccine seconds before the lab where it was being developed was completely overrun by zombies. He bears the scars of multiple bites and has an overall bad attitude that he doesn’t want to be the savior of mankind. Spoiler his military escort gets killed off in the first episode and the other group of survivors decides to take up the cause of escorting the sky to a lab in California where hopefully he can save the world. You know like you do.

They are assisted via radio by some nerdy guy in an underground NORAD like military facility. He got left behind when everyone else bugged out of the base. He runs out to the runway to try to catch the plane just in time to see it take off and explode shortly afterwards.

The bottom line is if you are a zombie apocalypse fan once a good fun ride without all of the drama and angst of The Walking Dead then this is exactly the show for you. In my rating system and giving it a definite “I’m Watching It“. For now I’m recommending it to fans of the genre. That is in contrast to my Must-See recommendation for The Walking Dead in which I suggest anyone who can’t even remotely stomach it, check it out for some of the best drama you’ll ever see. The Walking Dead returns to AMC October 12 for season 5.