#Supergirl #Blindspot #Scorpion #Gotham #Legends #MajorCrimes
If you are struggling to find something to watch live on television on Monday nights I am left wondering why. Fox’s Gotham going head to head with CBS’s Supergirl means my DVR is hard at work, leaving me with only one decision — which show am I watching live, and which show am I tuning into after the fact, but definitely watching.
For me, Supergirl is shiny and new and I watch it each week because I can not resist, and the actor playing James Olsen, Mehcad Brooks, is leaping from small screens with his portrayal. Gotham on the other hand is great entertainment, but their arcs work well in the marathon watching format where I have an easier time keeping track of the threads, and who is where doing what in the vast city / world that the creators have Gotham are serving up to their viewers each week. (If you missed it, you may want to take a listen to our recently released podcast about Season 1 of Gotham.)
The next hour of prime time brings both CBS’s Scorpion and TNT’s Major Crimes. Scorpion mixes attempts at intelligent problem solving with humorous scenes and lovably awkward characters. There are certainly moments you can stop and think about and question, but if you allow yourself to simply get caught up in the momentum of the episodes, they take you on a fun and exhilarating ride, week after week, and offer hope that intelligent good-hearted people are out in the world, trying to keep us safe, and make our world a better place for us to live. Then again, the guys who can hack any computer get sent on a mission to Cuba where there are few computers, and are getting ready to take on an assignment to area 51, so as I said — there is a strong sense of humor that flows through and carries the shows along as well.
TNT’s Major Crimes evolved out of the Kyra Sedgwick show The Closer, and for those who were worried a change in team lead, and show title, might spell the beginning of the end, it has not been the case here. Mary McDonnell‘s character Sharon Raydor has come in with a different approach, determined to not only get confessions, but see the guilty parties go to jail, and in doing so has taken the show from a determination to close cases to a determination to get justice.
As if the DVR had not been doing enough for one night, next up is the decision of whether to view live, or later, NBC’s Blindspot vs. ABC’s Castle, with CBS’s NCIS LA also in the mix as well.
I’ll confess, of the three shows offered in this hour of Prime Time, my first choice to record and watch later is Blindspot (which NBC has already said will have a second season). Not because I do not enjoy it, but because it is a show full of details I do not want to risk missing. What if the phone rings when they show the tattoo that means everything this week? What if for some reason I’m not looking at the screen when some great reveal occurs? I want to see these things. Blindspot is not a show you can listen to and catch every aspect of importance. Castle has a lot of great character interplay, and moments, but if you miss a moment it rarely feels like it changes your understanding of the episode or season. They certainly enhance your enjoyment — and are appreciated, and the talent that goes into the script and acting is appreciated… but if I have to choose 1 show I can record… I lean towards Blindspot vs. Castle.
As for NCIS: Los Angeles… thankfully we live in the age of Video On Demand, an age where if you can only record 1 show, while watching another, you can actually view what all three networks aired in a given hour, provided you have enough hours in your day.
The other thing to be thankful for, is TNT showing episodes more than once in a night, offering me the chance to watch Season 2 of Legends as it airs. Where Season 1 focused on a different Legend each week, and the many faces Martin Odom was capable of taking on, Season 2 is delving into his search to discover who he was before he had an accident that robbed him of his memory. A bit more confusing in nature, because the scripts are moving between both locations and time frames, season 2 has the potential to either be eye opening, or something I need to re-watch to understand.
Gotham features: Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock, Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney, Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth, Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman, Zabryna Guevara as Captain Sarah Essen, Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/the future Riddler, Victoria Cartagena as Renee Montoya, Andrew Stewart Jones as Crispus Allen, and John Doman as Carmine Falcone.