Actually, even though I didn't see the point of THE MENTALIST continuing on last season, I found myself maybe liking it even more, once the pressure of the Red John story was taken off. During most of the run, it felt uneven. Some episodes were procedural--interesting cases, but not the A game--while others were Red John. Once the series was just about the procedural, that aspect of the show was raised to a better level--something approaching COLUMBO status (though obviously that's a bar that no other such series will ever reach). It's almost too bad that Red John dominated so much of the series and they couldn't just develop the whole Mentalist angle on its own.
On the strength of THE MENTALIST, I started watching GOTHAM. Granted, it's top quality--probably the best done comic book TV show of the current crop, from a purely technical perspective. I thought that Penguin's Umbrella was deserving of a mid-season break. It was surprising when they continued on and returned to formula after that. The break gave me time to cool my jets and when I came back to it this month, I wasn't so hot about the series.
Yes, it's a professional job. I have no criticism against it on any other level than that it's just not the worldview I'm into. With the return, I found it so heartless and nasty. And after that, another week off--so I've been questioning if I should tune it in tonight.
The kids on the show make me think of BUGSY MALONE. And there's so much stage blood on the series, I started thinking that this could just be jelly doughnut filling---like BUGSY with the splurge guns. If the series was played on that level--and nobody really got hurt (it is a TV show, so nobody really does get hurt in truth)--then I might stick with it.
But I'm considering leaving it alone and maybe binge watching the whole series instead, once enough episodes have piled up.
I quite like DOCTOR WHO and have no complaints--other than there's not enough of it. They should have a second spin-off series for the spring, just to give us something WHO related to watch.
Did anyone ever watch SELFIE? I tuned in a few minutes of some episodes--just enough until I could not take it and had to turn it off. Every time that I watch twenty seconds of it, my appreciation for Amy Pond diminishes by five percent. I'm down to 10% liking Karen Gillan--from being at 75% in the days of DOCTOR WHO. The SELFIE TV show may have been the worst move of her career. Unless people hate-watched her--which I understand is a thing now. So maybe a lot of TV shows are deliberately made for hate-watching these days.