The Voice, or American Idol for Cool People

The popular slang database urbandictionary.com aptly defines “guilty pleasure” as “something that you shouldn’t like, but like anyway,” which is elegant in its simplicity. It is also suitable to describe my relationship with the popular singing competition show American Idol, which is currently a few weeks into its eleventh season. I have experimented with a few other similar shows, including NBC’s America’s Got Talent and the relatively new Sing-Off, which limits itself to a cappella performances, but was unimpressed. I never really thought I would find another singing show, but then NBC hit me one more time, premiering The Voice back in April of 2011 (not accidentally riding the coattails of the Idol finale).

Those acquainted with the show can skip this paragraph, but for the uninitiated, The Voice is a singing competition that distinguishes itself from more traditional programs like Idol or Talent in two important ways. The first is its use of blind auditions, in which the judges hear auditions with their backs turned, and must commit to voting for a particular singer before they are permitted to turn their chairs around and see them. The second distinction lies in the talent base, which for other shows is drawn from massive open auditions, but for The Voice is actually recruited from individuals who already have successful small-time, low-exposure music careers (singing teachers, wedding singers, etc). This makes for a higher-caliber competition from day one, which is a positive for everyone who thinks the painfully awful auditions in the early phases of American Idol are precisely that - painful.

Harry's Law: It's... Back?

In a season that has seen lots of excellent new television get the axe (okay, I'm referring pretty much exclusively to Fox's Chicago Code which was murdered in its infancy like so many other promising Fox programs), an NBC show that no one really took seriously has returned this fall for a second season of twelve announced episodes (season one ended after a dozen airings, usually a symptom of an early demise). It's not that I didn't enjoy Harry's Law last season-- I did. And it's not that I'm not watching it this season-- I am. But how did it survive its lukewarm IMDB score (7.2) and anemic Metacritic (48) rating, not to mention all the real critics and its own viewing numbers? It's a secret probably only known to the NBC brass and whatever they're smoking. But I have a few theories.

My first theory, and perhaps the only valid one, is simple: Kathy Bates. If you don't know her but think she sounds or looks familiar, you can spend the half an hour it takes to scroll through her portfolio on IMDB. She is perfect for the role of Harriet “Harry” Korn, a copyright lawyer who has her mid-life crisis a little past middle age and quits her cushy job to open a criminal defense practice in the ghetto of Cincinnati. Bates handles the role with masterful subtly, blending curmudgeonly mannerisms with empathetic grandmothering to bring out the character's own struggles, despite her character's rare service as the central point of any given episode. Harry is a deceptively complex character, searching for purpose, for justice, and possibly even for love, but Bates and the show's writers prevent the show from being about that exclusively, which might be why it's still afloat.

Harry's Law takes place in the relatively unexplored-by-primetime setting of Cincinnati, Ohio. The city is less important for being Cincinnati and more important for not being New York or Los Angeles. The setting does not have a life or significance of its own, which could be considered a weakness of the series, but really adds to the feeling that Harry is “lost” in her own life, searching for her own importance.

One of the primary facets of the show is the art of the closing argument. Law & Order has been here before, as well as countless other television shows and movies before it. But much like the epiphanies in House, the viewer can safely expect that right around 48:00, Harry's Law will deliver a lengthy block of closing arguments. These speeches are finely crafted rhetoric, highly stylized to fit the lawyer delivering them, and clearly heavily rehearsed. Generally, the prosecution presents his or her argument first, and it is often so solid that the viewer finds her or himself agreeing, and wondering what Harry could possibly say to overturn it. And then she does, to everyone's delight. Is this feeling enough to keep people coming back? Maybe.

What could have been a very gritty show about the pressures of late/post-middle age and practicing criminal law in urban centers instead takes a turn for the silly, which is probably another key to its survival. In the first episode of the first season, Harry sets up her practice in an abandoned shoe store, and one of her assistants takes up shoe sales on the side, calling the office “Harriet's Law & Fine Shoes.” This mechanism is blessedly removed in the second season, but still stands as evidence that the show does not take itself too seriously. This is not Law & Order; it isn't even CSI. This is a show about an old lady who happens to have a law degree, and makes forays into criminal law surrounded by characters whose sometimes silly exterior belies a complex inner nature. It has its own vice, separate and distinct from other procedural legal shows without any attempt at emulation.

Clearly, I don't have the answers. Harry's Law is not a bad show, but it's not on the same level as much of its competition, and in the cutthroat world of primetime television, its renewal was surprising. It feels like a show that would be more at home on the USA network, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it picked up there in syndication. Without turning this into a second season review, I will add that the new season has taken some steps to establishing the show a little more seriously, adding some new characters and upgrading Harry's digs. I don't know how much hope there is for the show going forward, but there is one thing I learned from the esteemed Chekhov; if Harry doesn't use the enormous revolver she is seen wielding in most of the promotional material, the show is as good as dead.

NBC Fall Line-Up

NBC released its fall schedule on Sunday, finally letting us know which of our favorite shows will be returning and what new freshmen shows we have to look forward to. You can check out the full list here and see exactly what NBC has planned come September, but before you do I will take you through the highlights and give you my speculation on what new shows look worth your time and which will be 13 episode flops.

The returning line-up offers little surprise as Parenthood, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Harry's Law, Chuck, Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock are all set to return. The one bit of news here involves cult favorite Chuck, which against all odds has survived cancellation yet again. NBC has stated that this will be the show’s fifth and final season and that they will be moving Chuck from its regular Monday time slot to the Friday death slot. I think the show has had a great run and since the writers know this will be the last year going in, I think we can expect a great final season. As for the move to Fridays, I don’t think this will have much effect on the show that has shown just how loyal its fans can be. After fans flocked to out to buy Subway sandwiches to show support for the show, I think making the move to Friday nights will not be a problem.

NBC has six new dramas airing for the fall season and while I encourage you to follow the above link and read more about all of them I am going to single out three that have me particularly excited.

· Grimm takes the classic “what if all story-book monsters were real?” motif that has been the basis for both Supernatural and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. A homicide detective discovers he is one of the last remaining Grimms, people with the ability to see and fight the monsters that plague humanity. If you are a fan of either Buffy or Supernatural, I do not think that this show will be anything new. However, the show has David Greenwalt listed as a creator/executive producer and Greenwalt helped Joss Whedon create both Buffy and Angel and if he brings us more of the same, I for one will be happy.

· The Playboy Club is a new drama that seems to be following in the footsteps of Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. Set in the 60s, this drama will center around the infamous club located in the heart of organized crime, Chicago. Brian Grazer is set to executive produce; his resume includes 24, American Gangster and Apollo 13. I have not followed either Mad Men or Boardwalk Empire, but with the successes of these other period shows I think this could do rather well. Plus, it never hurts to throw a buzzword like “Playboy” in your title.

· This brings us to Awake, a drama following Detective Michael Brittan in the aftermath of a terrible car crash. Following the accident, Brittan finds himself drifting back and forth between two parallel realities. In one, his wife dies in the accident, but their young son survives. In the other, the wife lives but the couple loses their son. Brittan is left jumping between the two worlds and living through two different tragedies simultaneously. I am very excited for this show and I think if it’s good, Awake could become something akin to what Lost was in its early days. This show has the possibility to be a great genre show while still appealing to a much wider audience. If this show doesn’t get gunned down in its first season I think NBC might have a winner.

I skipped over the nine new comedy pilots that NBC has picked up because none of them really appealed to me and I have never been impressed with the comedies on NBC (with Community the exception that proves the rule). However, I encourage you to check them out by following the link above because with nine different offerings there seems like there is something in there for everyone.

What do you think of NBC’s fall schedule? Which shows are you excited for and which ones do you think will be duds? Let us know which shows you are looking forward to in the comments and we will let you know what we think when these new offerings hit in the fall.