TV: Fox Comedies (9/20/11)

So, last night Fox debuted their new Tuesday night comedy line up, with a bit of a musical theme running through all three shows. After a long, crazy day at work, a little comedy was just what I needed.

Let's look at the shows. (warning: plot *spoilers* might be leaked out here)


Glee - it is back to McKinley High for the third season, and boy are things a changing. A good portion of the Glee club will be graduating so it is time to think about the future. The group is down a few people: Sam has moved away, Lauren has quit because it isn't cool any more, Quinn has changed her look and his hanging out with a group of girls called the Skanks. All the group can do is attempt to drum up some new members. One joins that is a winner (Kurt's boyfriend Blaine) but another who tries out is questionable (Sugar - who I am sure we have not seen the last of). Rachel and Kurt find some local Ohio competition for the college they are interested in (with an amazing debut by the Glee Project contestant Lindsay Pearce). What I really loved about this episode is that they went the first 20 minutes without a song - it showed that story and characters were coming first, which I appreciated. Yes, we did get five songs before they end but they really worked for me. Big numbers, big production. I think this will be a good year.

The New Girl - this comedy is quirky. That can be good and that can be bad. Zooey Deschanel is funny in her odd sort of way. Max Greenfield plays one of the three guys she lives with - the only one who really gave me a good character vibe, albeit a douche one. While I love all the great pop culture references sprinkled in (okay, maybe too much Dirty Dancing), I am kind of on the fence here. I will give it a few weeks to see if I warm up to it or not.

Raising Hope - the show started its second season last night, and I love the little recap up front done in song. I like how we learned that Jimmy once had great musical potential that was destroyed by an accident. I came to this program late in the season last year, but the double-shot reruns over the summer caught me up quickly. I find myself laughing quite a bit at the outrageous antics that they come up with each time. Definitely a new favorite and a perfect way to end the night.