Mid-Week Poll: Which Fall 2013 TV Dramas Are You Still Watching?

Back at the start of the current TV season, we ran a poll asking about which fall TV dramas you most looked forward to watching. Now that all of those series have premiered and you’ve had a chance to watch them, let’s do a follow-up. Which shows are you still watching, and which were the biggest disappointments?

In the original poll, by far the leading contender was Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, with ‘Sleepy Hollow’, ‘Almost Human’ and ‘The Blacklist’ also garnering a decent number of votes. Of least interest were some shows that correspondingly struggled in the ratings, including the already-canceled ‘Ironside’ and ‘Lucky 7’ (both of which I’ve removed from this new poll).

As we’ve discussed in other articles in this blog, I think many of us will agree that ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ has been a huge let-down. I’m still watching and recapping it, but the show has certainly not lived up to its potential or its hype. I watched the pilot episode of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and found it too dumb to continue on with. I’m told that it got better and is a decent hit for Fox, but I just don’t have interest in picking it back up again. ‘Almost Human’ I kind-of like, though it’s been very hit-or-miss. I really liked the first two episodes of Frank Darabont’s limited-run ‘Mob City’ on TNT, but was underwhelmed by the next two (in stark contrast to our recapper Shannon, who felt the opposite).

I’ll be honest that I’m a little puzzled by the huge ratings success of ‘The Blacklist’. I passively enjoy the show, but it’s very corny and fairly dumb. With that said, the last two episodes before the winter break made a big upswing in excitement and suspense. I’d like the series a lot more if every episode could maintain that level of quality, but I won’t hold my breath for that.

The most pleasant surprise of the season for me has been NBC’s ‘Dracula’, which (judging by its ratings) I apparently enjoy much more than the general public. I expect this to get canceled at any moment.

My favorite new show of the season is one that I haven’t talked about much here. Showtime’s ‘Masters of Sex’ has a phenomenal cast, writing and production values. I’m a huge fan of this, and hope it comes back for another season.

Which Fall 2013 TV Dramas Are You Still Watching?

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14 comments

  1. I’ve been DVR’ing Almost Human, but haven’t actually watched any yet. If it doesn’t get renewed, I’m likely never to watch the ones I saved.

    I DO like Sleepy Hollow, although I wonder how long it can keep my interest.

    Of course, I’m following Hostages and Mob City because I blog the shows here, but if I didn’t I probably would have dropped both of them (although I’m semi-glad I stuck with Hostages).

  2. William Henley

    I must admit that Dracula and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland I haven’t started on yet. I am about halfway through season 2 of OUAT, so haven’t started season 3 or the spinoff yet. I am about two months behind on Sleepy Hollow and SHIELD, but may make a dent in those this weekend as things should be calming down some (ie no family in area, taking Christmas break and flying out in mid-January, so ready for a quiet couple of weeks). So, going to be a great time to catch up on some shows the next couple of weeks.

  3. NJScorpio

    I can’t stand the visuals of Once Upon a Time In Wonderland. The backgrounds look horribly fake, and cheap, which is very distracting. The original series gets around this with most scenes taking place in forests, village sets, and Storybrooke. Also, the CGI backgrounds tend to be dark in the original, and very bright in Wonderland. This makes the disconnect between the backgrounds and the actors much more noticable, like they are video game characters floating along. It doesn’t help that the story isn’t very compelling either.

    • William Henley

      Noted. Now that you mention it, Wonderland looks like crap in the original series. Actually, a lot of the CG in Once Upon A Time looks cheap. Yeah, I guess if OUAT took place more in the other world, I would be annoyed with it – I guess I can accept the lousy CG now as it is just splattered for a few seconds here and there.

      Thanks, when I start it, I’ll keep a realistic expectation

  4. Ryan

    Masters of Sex is easily the best new show of that bunch. It was just fantastic.
    Originals is good fun too. I’m enjoying it way more than Vampire Diaries currently.
    All the other shows do/did nothing for me.

  5. Josh Zyber
    Author

    Lots of people still watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I’m curious how people feel about some of these others. Which of these shows have you dropped because they didn’t live up to your expectations?

    • William Henley

      This year, I haven’t dropped any – all shows I have seen have exceeded my expectations. I have probably watched more network television in the past 4 months than I have at anytime in the past 10 years (with the exception of American Idol / XFactor / America’s Got Talent). The quality of the writing seems to be dramatically better this year than in years past, and the past couple of years, they have actually started making shows that I was interested in (sadly, shows like Terra Nova and Under The Dome, while having great source material, were plagued with horrible writing and acting).

      I mean, like Sleepy Hollow, I tuned in expecting a turd, and it ended up being one of my favorite shows on television. I guess I could say it had a “Buffy” effect on me – you expect it to be horrible, but you give it to competent writers, and it turned out to be really good.

      So nothing this year has hit my chopping block yet, and that is really surprising. SHIELD may end up hitting it eventually, but if it does, it won’t be because I think the show is bad, it is just that I like my comic book stuff in small doses, and I have just been overwhelmed in the past couple of years by everything.

  6. Bill

    The three new series I chose to watch this fall were Hostages, The Blacklist and Marvel’s Agents. Least enjoyable is Hostages but since it is a limited series that is just about over I’ll stick with it. Characters are not very interesting. There are simply too many ludicrous plot twists and connections. The Blacklist is James Spader. It wouldn’t work without him. Marvel is the fastest moving, with a likeable cast and most entertaining but also the most vapid. Stories are improbably developed, full of non-sequiturs and half-explanations and resolutions come too quickly. Series also has more denouements/short wrapups at the end of each episode than I’ve ever seen in a TV series.

  7. Fourgiven

    Agents is extremely disappointing. I have faith in sleepy hollow to keep a good story going and I’m into what they have done so far. I enjoyed almost human and the last two episodes showed promise.

  8. Paul A

    Masters of Sex is, by far, the best new series this fall. Looking forward to Season 2. I am still watching The Blacklist, mainly because of Spader’s portrayal of Reddington and to find out if he truly is Liz’s father. They are certainly still dangling that carrot in front of us. Continuing to watch Dracula hoping it will eventually meet the standards NBC set with the exceptional Hannibal this spring. I gave Sleepy Hollow a four episode trial run, but when the fifth episode began and Crane was STILL wearing that ridiculous, nasty, smelly and ratty revolutionary war outfit, I couldn’t stand it anymore! I mean I will let some absurd stuff slide (I’m still watching The Blacklist, hello!), but that is just stupid. Does he even get paid? Where does he sleep? From what I gather from previews while watching Sunday football on Fox, he still is wearing that garb! Nope…not wasting my time on that.

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