Friday, August 10, 2012

The Carrie Diaries (CW) - Television Review


Take a trip back to the 1980's to see how America's beloved fashion icon Carrie Bradshaw first discovered her love for New York City and designer clothes.

AnnaSophia Robb stars as a young Carrie Bradshaw. As a new school year begins, Carrie is forced to take up a larger role in her family's life after the death of her mother. With her previously absent father (Matt Letscher) now trying to be a father, and Carrie's troubled younger sister Dorrit (Stefania Owen) up to no good, she has a lot on her plate. But when Carrie's father offers her an internship at a law firm in New York City, Carrie soon discovers her love for the city and the people there.

The Carrie Diaries was surprisingly one of the best pilots of the season. AnnaSophia Robb is a highlight and absolutely steals the show. The episode itself was cute, heartwarming and fun, and the 80's music fit right in with the show. The only weak point about the show is its supporting cast. With Carrie venturing off to Manhattan and growing up there, it makes her group of friends and love interests at her high school rather irrelevant. And while her two best friends, Mouse (Ellen Wong) and Maggie (Katie Findlay) were dynamic and all sorts of teenage fun, her love interest, Sebastian Kidd (Austin Butler) was boring, generic and easily disposable...especially since you already know who Carrie ends up with in the present day.

It's a light-hearted fun-filled adventure as viewers will have a blast from the past navigating the streets of Manhattan in the 1980's alongside a young Carrie Bradshaw, and AnnaSophia Robb's performance in this series is enough of a reason to tune in.

The Mindy Project (FOX) - Television Review



Minday Kaling stars in FOX's new comedy The Mindy Project, a series that follows a physician navigating her personal and professional lives.

While Mindy Kaling herself was all sorts of lovable, her show on the other hand, was not. Besides a rather hilarious opening scene and another one in a taxi cab, the pilot episode was a bit underwhelming.  The series also stars Chris Messina as Danny Castellano, the good-natured and brutally honest co-worker of Mindy, and Ed Weeks as the charismatic British boy toy Jeremy Reed.

But besides a few funny bits from the first episode, Mindy Kaling has a long way to go to cement herself as leading material in the comedy genre. She certainly does not have as much appeal as, say Zooey Deschanel in New Girl, and with a show that solely rides on her shoulders, The Mindy Project has a lot of retooling that needs to be done.