DJariya

By djariya at 2012-04-24

Synopsis:




6 episode 1st season. Has already been renewed for a 13 episode 2nd season.

This is a Canadian production that The CW bought. Looks like a Melrose Place type show. I'm a sucker for these young adult shows, but who can pass on seeing some hot Canadian chicks?

Starring:

Jewel Staite (Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural)

Alan Thicke and Krista Allen are supposed to join the cast later in recurring roles.

Trailer:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OhL2GZNPado" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

mphtrilogy

I hope it repeats later in the week or is on demand. I have conflicts on that slot...

DJariya

It's on Hulu if that helps. It also repeats on Wednesday at 8pm.

mphtrilogy

thanks. I'll keep that in mind..

Good reviews from Hitfix.. so I'll try it out

TheKing

Wait, a Canadian show about Los Angeles?

Like, oh my god, eh!

DJariya

That was surprisingly pretty good, especially for a Canadian show. It was alot edgier and darker than most of the other CW young adult shows. I know the creator of this show, Martin Gero, worked on the Stargate franchise, so I was surprised he managed to create some pretty compelling characters.

Who would have thought with Jewel Staite being only 30 years old would be the veteran of this cast? Plus, she's playing a washed up actress too.

at Abby puking during her audition after taking the morning after pill. I felt bad for that character. How the hell does this chick expect to work in LA when she's an illegal? And she has an agent too? I know there are probably thousands of chicks like her in LA. And of course the blonde dancer gets her a job as a stripper at the end so she can pay her bills.

at how the Aussie actor said...."You couldn't tell that was skin going up there?" after Abby had sex with him.

The nerdy guy with the glasses who is a comedian was pretty pathetic. I liked how Chloe from 24 ripped him to shreads. That was a great scene.

The black kid who is working with the record producer is in a really bad situation. Who the hell would want to take an internship like that and get treated like shit every single day?

It's only 6 episodes and I already watch alot of The CW, so I'll check it out again next week.

I'm not going to expect droves of people in this forum to check this out. 90210, Gossip Girl and even The Vampire Diaries on Thursday nights barely get any attention from most of the posters here.

DeadLamb

all of her scenes were done really well and you could feel the awkward vibe of her character being known as an actor, but still not getting any call backs in hollywood..
As she stands in a room full of black actors yelling "Come on! No one has a black best friend!"

show seemed to be pitched in the ads like it's another Melrose Place but it doesn't have that gloss night time soap vibe to it that Melrose (and the remake of Melrose) seemed to have.. So like say on most night time soaps at least a few of the characters would of had a good day or at least a hopeful day in the first Ep.. This show, almost everyone in the cast got brutally bitched out by someone crushing their dreams of fame. as DJariya mentioned above, the poor comic guy just got destroyed.. lol

I still think it's a few too many characters on the show but I'll watch at least a few more eps for sure..

DJariya

A few too many characters? Unless your saying it's hard for you to get invested in 1 character with multiple storylines going on simultaneously. But, that's always been the cast with these young adult night soaps. This cast is relatively small compared to Beverly Hills 90210 or the original Melrose Place. Those had huge ensemble casts over the years.

BTW, I just read Cassie Steele's Bio (Abby) and she's far from being hispanic as her character is supposed to be. She's British/Filipino from Canada.

critterdvd

I really enjoyed the series myself as well! I liked that it was deeper than most of the flash that the CW usually airs (Looking at you "90210", eventhough I watch that show as well). But I think most people interested in the show with an internet connection has probably already seen most if not all of the episodes.

To bad it had the worst series premier rating in the history of the CW: .3 in the demo (that's about 60% of the audience that 'Ringer' averaged). But since this is a Canadian who knows if the CW will stick with it, especially if it happens to grow in the next couple of weeks. I just don't understand why they didn't premier it in July like they originally planned.

DJariya

^^ I agree. They should have premiered this after the official TV season concluded. Launching shows in March or April just doesn't seem to work. Making this a summer show would have been better since the ratings expectations would have been much lower. But, The CW probably bought this show for dirt cheap, so hopefully they don't drop even more. Can't get any worse then 0.3?

The lead-in 90210's ratings are nothing to write home about either.

DeadLamb

Oh I like a show with a ton of characters but I'm not a huge fan telling a story in really tiny fragments of time.. A few of the scenes in the first ep just started to get a little interesting and they cut away to something else..

then again when a show is just starting out they don't know who will hit and who will bomb character wise.. I watched the first Melrose Place a lot back in the day and some of the characters who started out as a main focus where almost after thoughts in later seasons.

as for the ratings.. I figured it would be crappy, CW always seems to have low numbers.. IMO they need to start embracing more online streaming sites and ondemand options. Anything to get people to catch a few back eps of their shows and maybe watch newer eps when they first air..

GuessWho

90210
LA Complex
Vampire Diaries


...the CW's shows are all a big Degrassi reunion

Ropes Pierre

i cannot wait for the appearance of Holly Freaking J.

dex14

I cant believe I just watched a show where Jewel Staite was the "old lady". I'll always have a place in my heart for Becka Fisher.

DJariya

By djariya at 2012-04-24

Synopsis:



Episode 2 of 6

I kind of liked it, but the ratings for the premiere were horrible. at The CW promoting this as "New Hit Series"

I saw the ratings for the re-air last Wednesday and they were actually higher.

Ropes Pierre

I don't connect to any of the characters, i find the blurring of side boob or mouths annoying, and the story lines go nowhere.

But Manny Santos projectile vomiting in the pilot gives me hope someone will crap themselves at some point, and my need to follow actors post degrassi will keep me watching. I did enjoy seeing Chloe from 24 as her alter ego mary lynn rajskub in the pilot as well.

The black rapper being on the down low was so obvious as soon as he hit the guy for taking a picture of him with his hand lovingly on the interns shoulders. Then right to the champagne room as any self hating secretly gay man must do on TV.

When i see Jewel Staite , i find myself asking "Why is Kaylee so angry all the time?"

Is the unfunny comedian going to take off his glasses and be signed as a male model?

if i am not doing anything better at 9pm on a tues, watching cassie steele in various states of undress is not a bad way to spend an hour. I thought this was going to be a 6 episode first season and second season was going to be shown on the CW as well.

Funny how the CW doesn't care about ratings when the show isn't called Nikita.

Gizmo

Huh?

Nikita got a second Season it really didn't deserve.Hopefully The CW won't make that mistake again (because committing to a third is pretty much committing to a fourth for syndication reasons).

This show has only aired two episodes and is cheap since it was already produced and aired in Canada. A .3 rating is probably the same as a .6 to CW since they are paying practically nothing for this.

DJariya

Yes, this was renewed for a 13 episode 2nd season even though it got some of the lowest ratings ever. The is airing simultaneously in Canada on some channel called "Much Music"


I watched the first few episodes of season 1, but kind of tailed off on it. Then I got caught up via Hulu Plus and surprisingly I got really into it. Some crazy stuff happened in those first 7 episodes.

Alan Thicke (Growing Pains) and Krista Allen join the cast for season 2.


Synopsis for "Vacancy"




Promo:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fthtR-4d6ZQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Recap of some of the characters:

Kaldrick King: Badass gangsta rapper/In the closet homosexual. Having a secret affair with young aspiring record producer Tariq

Tariq Muhammad: Young 20-something Canadian living in LA. Aspiring record producer. Having a secret affair with Kaldrick. In the season finale, the studio people caught him and Kal kissing and Kal tried to cover it up by pretending that Tariq was making a pass at him and the beat the shit out of him.

Abby Vargas: The lead of the show. Aspiring actress and singer. Broke.

Nick Wagner: Terrible comedian. Friends with Abby. They hooked up last season. He also slept with another comedian and told Abby.

Raquel Westbrook: 30-something actress, who hasn't had a decent job in years. Pretended to be an alcoholic and hooked up with a rich dentist in AA to help finance an Indie film she wanted to star in. She broke up with him at the end of last season after feeling guilty. She also returned a check he gave her for the financing of the movie. In the finale, she also discovered she was pregnant.

Alicia Mann: Hot blonde dancer, who can't get a decent job. Became a Porn star with Vivid by circumstances after she did a sex video with some random guy she hooked up with.

Connor Lake: Pretty boy actor from Australia. Starring in a major U.S. soap opera and had confidance issues. Also sleeps with Raquel on occasion.


***There, your caught up with all the characters from season 1.

Gizmo

This show is better then the current crop of CW soaps.

Looking forward to this.

DJariya

You mean the young adult soaps? Agree, in the 7 episodes I was much more entertained than any of episode of Gossip Girl or 90210 last season.

Gizmo

Correct. Makes me miss Melrose Place 2.0 even more.

Gizmo

Who is the actor who played the head writer for The Paul F Thomkins show?

DJariya

Damn man, Tariq was fucked up. I feel really bad for the guy. Of course this being a TV show, the writers are eventually going to find some way to bring them back together again. That whole relationship caught me off guard when they "hooked up" for the 1st time. Somehow they have managed to make it quite compelling.

However, that suicide attempt did catch me off guard.

at Abby's audition for Alan Thicke's TV show.

"Fillipinos 4:13"

And dang, Cassie Steele's got some major tattoos on her back. I know she's the lead of the show, but how can anyone be that pathetic and financially irresponsible? She's got no money and is a nit wit professionally.

Okay, the storyline that is kind of Huh? Is the homeless Canadian brother and sister. How are they supposed to fit in? Other than the possible trip to LA?

Evan Meadow

I'm not sure that's an attempt. It sure looked to me like the first episode wrote both Tariq and Alicia completely off the show.

Which they gave them endings for, so I'll give Canada credit over US tv shows for that one.

Gizmo

Tariq is coming back.