Report: 2012 Warner Brothers Pilot Screening in Sydney

PARTNERS

I’ll come clean. I don’t like sit-coms so this one had an uphill battle with me that it didn’t win. “Partners” is about two life long best friends, one gay, one straight. They work together and are both in relationships. But it’s their relationship that is front and centre.

It was lovely to see Sophia Bush and Brandon Routh….but…yeah. Look, some people around me laughed. So, some people in the audience found this one funny. It was in noxious enough. Somewhat entertaining I guess and it was even mildly pleasant here and there. But I found the gay gags pretty stock standard and the lead gay guy a tad cliché. It’s from the team behind “Will & Grace” but lacks the edge and real charm of that show. Mind you, it’s just the pilot. I would say, if you like “2 Broke Girls,” you’ll like this. It’s very similar humour. So if broad comedy sit-coms are your bag, you’ll probably enjoy “Partners.”

REVOLUTION

Oh my gosh, how excited was I! “Revolution!” From Eric Kripke! I desperately wanted to love this show. Thank goodness I did!

“Revolution” is about the world post a mysterious event that stopped all the power. Everything, engines, batteries, any kind of power just stopped. Governments fell. Cities burnt. Militia rose. But humanity survived and the stragglers created new communities where they farmed their food and started over. But why did the power fail, is there a way to turn it back on and if there is, how do our heroes stop that information from falling into the wrong hands?

If you watch Kripke’s other baby, “Supernatural,” you’ll recognise some of the themes in “Revolution.” We have a couple of orphaned kids, trying to find a way to stick together, while discovering a new family, as they hit the road, on foot, kicking some butt, on their mission to save the world. There’s action, bow hunting, big fight set pieces, really cool post-apocalyptic cityscapes, AC/DC t-shirt wearing heroes, Dirty Deeds on the radio and the delightful Billy Burke. Thank you Mr Kripke.

The script didn’t have has much humour as I thought it would have, it had a fairly serious tone throughout, but there were a couple of good lines, a particularly good one about Google and some very nice character development. These characters, in particular Billy Burke’s Miles Matherson, felt pretty well rounded as soon as they hit the screen. I found that I was already interested in them by the time the hour ended. Even though this was a pilot with a big premise to explain it never felt clunky. The concept rolled out nicely and definitely left you connected enough with the people and the mystery revealed, to want to see more.

I really liked the vibe of “Revolution,” it looks and feels like a movie. Maybe that’s because it’s Executive Produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Jon Favreau, or maybe it’s Eric Kripke’s touch. It had large sweeping shots and a cinematic score. It felt big.

I’d call “Revolution” an adventure more than anything. It was a really enjoyable hour, watch it for sure!

GOLDEN BOY

“Golden Boy” is cop show. I say that because, it’s basically a cop show….. The story surrounds a hero cop who is given his gold badge and any position he wants and so he chooses Homicide. He’s extremely green and goes into the job with one great big ego and not a lot of skill. His team consists of an ambitious detective who feels threatens by this over-confident upstart’s fame and tries to put him in his place and a two years out from retirement, wise and patient partner….I called him ‘standard partner no. 4’ straight out of central casting.

I guess that’s my problem with “Golden Boy,” it didn’t feel very new or fresh. It’s well made, well written, well acted, set in Chicago, so it looks good….it’s just not new. We’re told right off the top that the lead character, Clarke, becomes commissioner in 7 years and then we flash back to how that happened, but I found I really didn’t care. I didn’t care about the case and I didn’t care about the rest of the police officers. Clarke has a sister whom he raised and I can see that this relationship might add a bit of life and interest to an otherwise by numbers procedural, but we didn’t get enough of it in the pilot for me to judge.

“Golden Boy,” if you really love cop shows, then check it out. But it’s not for me.

THE CARRIE DIARIES

I didn’t think I’d like “The Carrie Diaries” but it was a delight. It’s much more mature than I thought it was going to be.

“The Carrie Diaries” checks in with “Sex In The City’s” Carrie Bradshaw at 16 years old and in 1984. She’s recently lost her mum and her dad and sister are trying to navigate their new life. Add into this her friends all losing their virginity and a super hot (super hot) boy called Sebastian Kid and she’s having a pretty confusing time.

Carrie already has a love of fashion and through her internship once a week at a law firm in Manhattan, and her introduction to the beautiful people via a chance meeting with an Interview Magazine photographer, we also get to see her love of New York City bloom.

“The Carrie Diaries” is an immaculate 80’s snap shot. The music. The fashion. It’s hilarious. All the performances are lovely, the script is sassy and smart and it has a brightness to it that’s infectious. You just can’t help but smile through out. “The Carrie Diaries”…it was a complete surprise. Definitely worth tuning in to check out…(and cringing through if you remember dressing like that in 1984).

Well that’s all the pilots that were shown today. I thought it was a particularly good year with a great variety of high quality shows.

My picks are definitely “Arrow” and “Revolution” with “The Following” and “The Carrie Diaries” being the surprise packages.

Here’s to some great new TV! Enjoy all the new shows!

-sweetondean