I wanted to give the new "Wonder Years" a chance and read no reviews about it before watching it. The first fifteen minutes were pretty clunky, as pilots sometimes are...setting everybody up takes time. especially in this age of writers who just don't seem to have a clue how to be subtle or word efficient.

one thing that this show definitely lacks is a true perspective of the times. saladin k. patterson is too young and presumes a bit much, too easily, about the culture of the time and place.

the narration of cheadle is great, though. i think he does a good job of emoting just enough. dule hill and elisha williams are the best actors in the show, playing the father/son roles.

the last 10 minutes are what made me willing to come back to the show. otherwise, it was kind of like RR said...i'm not its demographic. but the last twist at the end was a good one, and sets up some good old fashioned adolescent heartbreak/betrayal that could be dramatically significant.

i think the weakest part was the plot. dean (williams) wants to organize an integrated baseball game with some white kids. it was unclear to me whether this was at another school or not. but the kids were all just window dressing, which made the game seem unimportant and undramatic. i think introducing some of the kids as real characters and building that, rather than the game be about a pissing contest between dean's dad and the coach, would've been a lot stronger. as i said, modern writers are pretty weak when it comes to character-to-plot building. this is another example of that.

but at the end of the game, then it gets good. but not because of the competition or anything. it's completely unrelated to that.

a bit of a mixed review but i overall thought it was decent. i just wish it wasn't so overwritten like so many shows are these days.

as for "the Conners", it continues to be extrmely uneven. there are times when it can be funny, but the strange thing is these actors--who were so good in the original "roseanne"--just suck now. i don't know why, but the chemistry is just really weak. it's watchable to a degree but there are some really weird, awkward moments. because this one was live (the second time they've done it), there was a pretty bold gimmick they introduced where the young kid is making live phone calls to people with the last name Conner. it was cute, but because of phone delays and stuff, it never got off the ground as something that truly worked.

overall not a bad hour of TV, but i'd like to see both shows grow. "the conners" has had a lot more time for that...it still seems like every week it could get canceled.

It is almost as if the Conner's is missing a key character that is the glue that holds the whole thing together.

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Elections have consequences.

Yup

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
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I DVR'd the Wonder Years but may not be able to check it out until this weekend. I was definitely going to give it a little more rope than most shows but would say that my hopes for it are pretty
low overall.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

except even with roseanne in the initial reboot, these problems were still there. i definitely agree that losing her was a huge hole they'll never fill. but it wasn't like the 10th season was lights out funny compared to this.

i had recently rewatched the pilot of "everybody hates chris" (HULU), and it's not even close which is better--but it does have potential, if it grounds itself a little more like it did in the 3rd act. "everybody hates chris" was brilliant from the first 5 seconds of the show.

I enjoyed it though. I anticipate tuning in every Wednesday night...

I just caught the pilot. I liked it enough, has some potential. I also liked the Cheadle narration. Hard to believe Dule Hill has gotten so old but I see he is one year older than me so I guess he’s looking pretty good.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I’m caught up with this one. It’s really not all that bad. The last episode with him finding the dirty magazines had a couple funny moments.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Anyone else keeping up with this? Again, I find it enjoyable overall but if I fall a few episodes behind I am not necessarily missing it. The last episode with the brother coming home was pretty good, I wonder if he will be making it back for any potential future seasons. So far my favorite episode has been the one with the grandfather giving up his car.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

i was off it after the 4th episode. the show has a very saccharine feel to it. nothing really feels genuine, like it was scripted and produced by robots. the characters are too precious, and the level of nostalgia seems forced and disingenuous. even don cheadle's narration couldn't save it for me.

it doesn't help that, as far as i could tell from the credited names of the show, none of them came from the era that the show represents. neal marlens & carol black were boomer kids, they grew up in the late 60's like kevin arnold did. there was a more believable perspective.

here, they're trying too hard to shove every aspect they think the 60's were about.

everyone involved with this show deserves better. but the show was renewed for the season and will most likely get picked up for a second season...so what do i know.

I know what you mean and the show does seem hollow at times. Wants to tell a story but doesn't want to step on any toes. The show goes quickly when I fast forward through the commercials so just keeping it in the queue for now.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

hollow is a good word to describe it. and i agree, it's like they're scared to give these characters anything in their make-up that would possibly or potentially offend anyone.

this kind of safe writing is ruining modern TV. i've seen it in other shows, too, and it's really sad. i wanted to like the show, but i found myself just completely bored by it.

"the conners" still suffers from being completely inconsistent too. it's really strange when a sitcom is only good during the dramatic moments.