409 replies to this topic

[AimingforYoko]

Starts tonight on CBS.
How this show got greenlit:
(December 19, 2010)
Nina Tassler (answering phone): Hello?
Les Moonves: Nina! Are you watching this 60 Minutes piece on Hyperthymesia?
Nina: Uhhh, sure!
Moonves: We gotta make a show about this. A procedural, of course. Somebody who uses this ability to solve crimes!
Nina: Uhhhhh-
Moonves: A chick. Troubled, she can't forget some horrible stuff. It's gold!
Nina: Sure, Les.
Moonves: I want a proposal by the end of the year and a pilot ready for May upfronts.
Nina: Sure, Les.


A rather scathing review from AV Club.

[shriekingeel]

I can't believe how Poppy's accent still slips so badly after all these years. When she pronounces "gauge" as "guydge" it takes me totally out of the show.

She looks great in all the various tight outfits they have her in throughout the show. But beyond that, I couldn't mention a single thing that made an impression on me.

[callietwo]

It wasn't as bad as I expected given it's "star". I'd probably watch again, but really CBS's Tuesday shows were either a mess or just a'right. REALLY not a fan of PM and the guy will always be 'that guy from Nip/Tuck' and I didn't even watch the damn show!

Edited by callietwo, Sep 20, 2011 @ 10:18 PM.

[cmm226]

Yea, I had to stop about 30 seconds in because I remembered how much I don't like Poppy or her acting.

Unforgettable is right.

Edited by cmm226, Sep 20, 2011 @ 10:19 PM.

[isiscloud]

Wow, that was just tedious. It had no energy whatsoever and Dylan Walsh was way underused.

Not sure if I've ever seen Poppy M. in anything before. Not sure if that's a recommendation or not. Chopped will be my 10 o'clock show.

[cmm226]

nm

Edited by cmm226, Sep 20, 2011 @ 10:19 PM.

[riley702]

I wanted to like it, and will give it a couple more episodes, but the AV Club review was right on. It's really hard to make remembering something look interesting. And PM plays her characters so... expressionless. Or maybe it's "put on an expression and then freeze!" Like Zoolander or something. I hope the back story about the sister doesn't turn into the tediousness that was Fox Mulder's sister, Samantha. Oh, what am I saying? This isn't going to be on long enough for the back story to get tedious.

[LakeGal]

It wasn't bad. But it wasn't good either. It is the type of show I would watch if there is nothing else on to watch. It isn't a show I make a point of watching. I doubt it will last.

[yruneh]

I can't believe how Poppy's accent still slips so badly after all these years.

Yeah, I'm not particularly good at picking out foreigns actors playing Americans, but I had Poppy pegged as a non-American from her speech.

She looks great in all the various tight outfits they have her in throughout the show. But beyond that, I couldn't mention a single thing that made an impression on me.

The other female cop (played by Daya Vaidya) made an impression on me. She's pretty hot. I thought the shot was solid. I'll probably watch some more. I think it did a decent job in weaving in its premise in ways that would actually help with police work and in the character's back story.

On the other hand, the two Poppy method was a kind of weird way to try to portray her memory. It's not as if she has eyes in the back of her head.

Edited by yruneh, Sep 21, 2011 @ 12:15 AM.

[monkfish]

This was not particularly memorable for me. I fail to see how her talent will be particularly useful if she is not a witness to a crime or events before a crime. Finding inconsistencies in a suspect's statements during a long interrogation? Contradicting a suspect's recollection of rain or a full moon on a crucial date?

[rabbitearstv]

I lived in Syracuse, and you, my dear, are not from Syracuse. Not with that accent.

Was really willing to give this show a chance, but was disgusted by the Smartest Detective from the SPD going to confront a killer alone and unarmed. Really? You call your old boyfriend, he doesn't answer, and then you take off? There are no other cops to call in NYC?

Of course, that allowed us the dramatic scene of the helpless woman being rescued by the big strong man with his big shiny gun.

Obviously, I'm out.

[stonehaven]

Yeah, rabbitearsTV, I was tolerating the show 'till that point.

I'll give PM a bit of credit, She showed more spark here than she ever did on Without a Trace...I would totally watch this if Vivian from WAT was the lead though. That would make me want to watch.

This felt like filler to me..The premise is interesting but beyond that, I really wanted to watch The Good Wife instead and I gotta wait awhile for that. Something tells me I'd be better off with watching stuff I taped in that slot.

[Sarah1281]

I really didn't like the main character. She was just so unpleasant and obnoxious to her ex even though they seem to have broken up nine years ago. Who knows, maybe the circumstances of their break-up will explain it but until we know it just seems like she's using her perfect memory as an excuse to never let anything freaking go and I don't understand why he still likes her.

[rove3]

I thought it was okay for what it is...a procedural. And like most procedurals, I'll watch if I happen to catch it and there's nothing else on. That's about it.

[MisaGoddess]

Bleah, completely forgettable in my book. I second the notion of Vivian as a replacement lead...

[Accord64]

Was really willing to give this show a chance, but was disgusted by the Smartest Detective from the SPD going to confront a killer alone and unarmed. Really? You call your old boyfriend, he doesn't answer, and then you take off? There are no other cops to call in NYC?

This is when I thought an already weak episode just fell apart. He (not she, as she's not on the force) should have been there at a better time (daytime perhaps) with a team of Cops.

Maybe I need her memory, but I'm having a hard time trying to recall what exactly she solved that good police work wouldn't have eventually solved anyway? Okay, maybe she did it a little faster. But still, I was looking for a more compelling use of her abilities.

Not sure If I'll hold on to this show yet.

[tvgaldiane]

I'm a Poppy fan, but I'm not totally sure about this show. I was having "Profiler" flashbacks during her blank stare scenes. Plus, I wasn't too high on the "damsel in distress" ending, but I will give it a chance.
I do have one question - Are co-worker relationships as prevalent in real life as they are on TV? There's probably a study out there somewhere that has the answer, but I was just wondering.

[MsTaken]

I realize this show is about a woman who can never forget, but did the show really have to name itself "Unforgettable"? It's like an open invitation to us TWoPers to snark mercilessly on how 'Unforgettable' is so lamentably...forgettable.

I actually think the premise is moderately interesting, as I've often considered the myriad advantages and disadvantages to having a non-erasable memory. Alas, like many other shows with promising premises, I don't really have much hope for the actual execution.

Unlike many, I don't dislike Poppy M. I never actually liked her, either; she's just one of those actresses who never resonated with me one way or the other. And I totally get why she comes across to many as does-she-still-even-have-a-pulse-flat, but as someone who's weary of the overly perky and spunky types, that doesn't bother me all that much. Yet.

I'm in need of a new procedural, so I'll give it another chance, but my expectations are ankle-level low!

[tvgaldiane]

I'm in need of a new procedural, so I'll give it another chance, but my expectations are ankle-level low!

Very funny and very accurate. I hope someone from CBS is reading this thread.

[callietwo]

Maybe I need her memory, but I'm having a hard time trying to recall what exactly she solved that good police work wouldn't have eventually solved anyway? Okay, maybe she did it a little faster. But still, I was looking for a more compelling use of her abilities.

She found the knife in the storm drain after she recalled a shadow. Which, for the life of me, I was sitting there thinking- seriously? They needed her super duper memory skills to find the missing knife in a drain just a few yards from the dead body? REALLY? No, just no. That is just far too silly for words. Any good police force would've looked in the damn drain already. And really- would even the dumbest criminal in the world drop the knife in a drain so close to the body? Honestly...

Edited by callietwo, Sep 21, 2011 @ 12:52 PM.

[Arjumand]

Moonves: A chick. Troubled, she can't forget some horrible stuff. It's gold!

Awesome dialogue, AimingforYoko, but you left this out (maybe you blocked it out, like Carrie):

Moonves: Don't forget, if she's over 30, make sure she has some work done.

Tassler: And the guy lead? He's nearly 50.

Moonves: Ha ha ha! The guy lead doesn't need botox! Nina, you're such a comedian!

A rather scathing review from AV Club.

I just read that review, in which they joked that Tana French should start sharpening her suing pencil - and now that I've read the first paragraph of the summary of Into the Woods, French's first book, I'm not so sure they were joking:
"The plot of the novel circles around the murder of a twelve year old girl, Katy Devlin, whose case Rob and his partner Cassie Maddox are given to investigate." Add to this that Rob was there when the murder occurred but has amnesia of that day, and I give up, seriously.

After watching the pilot, I really don't know what to think. I didn't recognize Sam Spade at all (and I really used to like her back when I watched Without a Trace), the lip-collagen or whatever is really annoying and distracting (is there a fund somewhere for female TV cops? Does their LT pull them aside, give them a credit card, "For the, you know, extras", along with the card for a reputable plastic surgeon?), and it's going to get really boring watching her remember everything again again again while the camera circles wildly to try and make it seem interesting.

Also, as has been pointed out, how is she going to help with crimes she didn't witness or wasn't adjacent to? Is she going to be like Jessica Fletcher, where people die around her like flies?

Edited by Arjumand, Sep 21, 2011 @ 1:15 PM.

[OLynn]

and it's going to get really boring watching her remember everything again again again while the camera circles wildly to try and make it seem interesting.

This is what did me in. Besides being boring it was making me sick. I CANNOT do the circling camera bit for very long so I flipped during a lot of this. But I did watch long enough to have a question, when she does the remembering thing, does it also give her super powers like bionic vision? Because from where she was standing in the neighbour's kitchen, I sure as hell wouldn't have been able to identify the woman in that picture.

Edited by OLynn, Sep 21, 2011 @ 2:01 PM.

[Sarah1281]

This is when I thought an already weak episode just fell apart. He (not she, as she's not on the force) should have been there at a better time (daytime perhaps) with a team of Cops.

Maybe he should have called for backup (and perhaps he did and they didn't get there soon enough) but he couldn't have waited until morning because the message he got explained she was going over there now.

Maybe I need her memory, but I'm having a hard time trying to recall what exactly she solved that good police work wouldn't have eventually solved anyway? Okay, maybe she did it a little faster. But still, I was looking for a more compelling use of her abilities.

The picture of the fiance although I'm not sure how she could see it from that far away and they didn't look like a definitive match to me. Still, I guess they might have ultimately turned to the fiance to see if she knew her instead of the guy eventually.

[fauntleroy]

Poppy does such a poor job at an American accent that they should do a little backstory--her character moved to Syracuse from Wagga Wagga when she was 12 or something.

I also thought of the trouble it would have been for the killer to get that drain off to deposit the knife. Why bother futzing around with that right at the crime scene? Just hang on to it for five minutes and get rid of it later.

The superpower zoom vision is stupid in exactly the way Shawn's is in Psych. Seeing across the room to that pic to see who it was? I don't think so. And as somebody said the standing outside herself in her memory doesn't make sense either.

Though I find her trout lips only marginally distracting I wonder how Poppy gets work. I don't mean that in a mean way, just that with the accent and the somewhat wooden manner (to which worrying about her accent slipping might contribute?), aren't there any American women who would have been a better fit?

The memory gimmick is also used in the character Mike Ross in Suits, a much better show which is gone for like a year. Mike is an entertaining character in his own right who happens to have an eidetic memory. It's cool (if you buy that it exists) but the whole show isn't built around it.

[JoleneBrown]

I have no interest in this show, but I was boredly reading some threads about new dramas to kill some time - and thank you to whoever posted the link to the Onion review... all the Encyclopedia Brown jokes made me literally laugh until I cried - I can't remember the last time that's happened to me.

[Mad Man]

I really liked this show.

I loved seeing two very capable leads in Poppy Montgomery and Dylan Walsh move out of the ensemble and to the forefront - I liked it.

Poppy Montgomery aside form being ridiculously beautiful and a very good actress, just has this sultry way about her. Every line she speaks, whether it's her voice, cadence what have you, I feel like I'm being undressed by her - maybe it's me, but it's good, lol.

I really liked it.

[Oakwhiz]

I liked the show.

It's extremely rare for me to start watching a new series, but I like Poppy Montgomery so it wasn't hard for me to tune in. The episode held my interest. Yeah, there were some rough edges and some scenes where I was saying "What"? like when she found the knife in the drain. My immediate thought was "Why didn't some other cop look down the drain the night of the murder?" Also, I felt Carrie's character was pretty similar to Samatha's on WAT, but maybe a little less abrasive. Oh, and I rather think the red hair ages her, but then that's just my opinion. The way she talks doesn't remind me of her Australian accent either. The actor playing Dylan was OK (no way compares with Anthony LaPaglia's, but then he's in a class all his own). There was a little chemistry there, but I hope they keep them apart for a long while. Anticipation is nice!

I'll keep watching. I try not to get too deep with these television series.

[Accord64]

This is when I thought an already weak episode just fell apart. He (not she, as she's not on the force) should have been there at a better time (daytime perhaps) with a team of Cops.

Maybe he should have called for backup (and perhaps he did and they didn't get there soon enough) but he couldn't have waited until morning because the message he got explained she was going over there now.

Sorry, the point I was trying to make is that Carrie had no business taking the lead and showing up to confront the murderer. She is not a police officer, and should have left it up to Al. He who would have likely showed up to make the arrest with the proper back-up at a time when he could better control the situation (meaning take away the possibility of a struggle). But I suppose that would have made for a rather undramatic (and dare I say 'forgettable') ending.

Edited by Accord64, Sep 21, 2011 @ 4:45 PM.

[mustbekarma]

I really liked this show. I've always loved Dylan Walsh, and I like his character. I never really watched Without a Trace all that much, and now I recognize who Poppy Montgomery was. One thing I really liked about this episode is that they actually talked about their issues, instead of Rachel being all passive-aggressive and not talking about it.

I also liked the twist about having an "instant recall" sort of memory isn't all that and a bag of chips. There's definitely a downside.

I thought this was pretty damn good for a pilot, and a decent episode of television in general. I'm in.

Marc Berman from TV Media Insights put Unforgettable on his winner's list. The episode even won the time slot. If this show holds on to its audience, it could be another hit for CBS.

In series-premiere news, Unforgettable on CBS at 10 p.m. launched with a first-place 9.3/16 at 10 p.m., which was similar to overnight levels for former time period occupant The Good Wife. Comparably, retention for Unforgettable out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of NCIS: Los Angeles (10.5/16) was solid at 89 percent. Like The Good Wife, expect an older audience skew for Unforgettable.

Edited by mustbekarma, Sep 21, 2011 @ 6:49 PM.

[leefonthewind]

This show has one of the worst pilots I've seen in a while. There was very little in that episode to hold my interest, primarily because I could predict all the so-called plot twists from ten miles away. Montgomery looked like she was trying to win a "show no emotions" contest. Staring vaguely into the distance while supposedly remembering didn't really do much for me as supposedly dramatic action. The Damsel in Distress ending was just the cherry on the sundae of fail. Why, in a show where they're trying to sell a supposedly strong female lead, would the writing team undercut her intelligence and common sense in such a momentous fashion by having her do something patently dumb and then not even manage to rescue herself? Count me as turned off.

Normally, I give shows a little leeway with pilots: often they're exposition-heavy and the characters aren't fully formed yet. I'll give most shows four episodes or so to do something interesting. In this one, the combination of wooden acting from Montgomery and writing that give new meaning to the words 'tone deaf' means that I'm not going to be tuning back in.