What I Watch on TV: The Broadcast Networks (Change of Approach)

As this post's title suggests, I'm changing my approach to this series of posts. Otherwise, it could take months for me to finish. Instead of writing about one show at a time, which I originally intended to do (except for the MARVEL and DC universes) I'm breaking this series into four simple sections -- broadcast networks, cable networks, premium cable networks, and Netflix. First up, broadcast.

CBS: This is the easiest network for me to cover. I don't watch anything on CBS.

ABC: This is the second easiest network for me to cover. I used to watch Last Man Standing, a sitcom starring Tim Allen, and MARVEL's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which I wrote about when I wrote about the MARVEL Cinematic/TV Universe. However, ABC just cancelled Last Man Standing, despite the fact that it was getting great ratings. Why? It appears as though the show was cancelled because Tim Allen was recently publicly critical of the network's obvious liberal bias. So, ABC cancelled his show and I cancelled ABC. I no longer watch anything on ABC.

NBC: On NBC I watch(ed) Taken and Timeless, but NBC just cancelled Timeless, which annoys me. I really enjoyed that show.

Taken is a show that bears virtually no resemblance to the movie series that inspired it. In fact, I originally suspected that the producers created their own original show and then bought the rights to use the "Taken" name just to draw viewers. It turns out that I was misTAKEN about that, though, as I discovered when I looked it up online for this post that this show is supposed to be an origin story. I just tuned in because I liked the movies that inspired it.


In Taken... "A young Bryan Mills must fight to overcome personal tragedy and exact revenge on those responsible [for it] in this modern-day origin story to the 'Taken" film trilogy. Still reeling from the devastating murder of his younger sister, Mills is quickly recruited by Christina Hart -- the leader of a covert CIA operation -- to work on her team. The job awakens a very particular -- and very dangerous -- set of skills in the former Green Beret. As Mills struggles to heal, he finds himself growing closer to Asha, his sister's friend." --- Google.

FOX: On Fox I watch 24:Legacy, which recently wrapped its first season, and Gotham, which I wrote about previously when I covered the DC television universe.

I was not always a fan of 24. If I remember correctly, that show was in its fourth season before I ever saw an episode, and then I only watched it because a friend of mine recommended it. I started watching from the beginning on DVDs and became hooked on it. It wasn't always realistic -- sometimes it seemed as though Jack Bauer was the only agent in all of the CTU who could come up with a plan and make it work -- and sometimes what occurred within the one hour of real time that each episode was allotted could not possibly have "really" occurred within that one hour, but it was great fun. When 24 ended its run after EIGHT seasons, I knew that I was going to miss it.

Then, along came 24: Legacy. I was happy to see the show returning in some form, but could it possibly be as good as the original without Keifer Sutherland's  Jack Bauer? The short answer turned out to be, yes. Corey Hawkins' Sergeant Eric Carter was, obviously, a different character, but he was also an interesting one, and Hawkins was able to carry the show every bit as well as Sutherland carried the original. In short, I liked it as much as I like the original. In fact, the only complaint that I have is that it "cheated" by its first season lasting for only 12 episodes. It zipped through the second twelve hours to the end of the 24-hour period near the end of the twelfth episode.

CW: On CW I watch The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and (until very recently) Supergirl, all of which I previously wrote about, and Frequency, which is currently on hiatus.

Frequency is based on the 2000 film of the same name. "In 2016, NYPD Detective Raimy Sullivan discovers that she is able to speak to her deceased father Frank Sullivan in 1996 via his old ham radio. Her attempts to save his life trigger the "butterfly effect," changing the present in unforeseen ways. To fix the damage, she must work with her father across time to solve a decades-old murder case." --- Wikipedia.

Anyone who's read my Solfleet novels knows that I like a good time-travel story. While no one actually travels through time in this series -- they only talk to one other through time -- the effects that those communications have on the world, the aforementioned "butterfly effect," make for a very interesting story.