Fall TV Preview at Paley Center for Media: NBC Preview

I went to the Fall TV Preview's at Paley Center tonight. It was NBC night and they showed Community, Mercy and Trauma.

Community

Community is a comedy about a group of students who attend a community college. The show has comedy veteran's Chevy Chase and The Soup host Joel McHale. Even though a lot of the funny parts of the pilot have been shown on the promos, I enjoyed the episode. There is the set-up that's involved in every pilot , but unlike a lot of shows, it's not overdone. The comedy is subtle and funny and Joel McHale's character Jeff, the ex-lawyer whose main goal in life is to talk his way through everything without having to do any real work, is extremely likeable. The real star, however, is Danny Pudi, the fast-talking, over-zealous Abed, who will be making the audience laugh out loud with his movie references and hilarious exchanges with the rest of the characters.

I'm going to DVR this show for awhile.

Mercy

The pilot of Mercy throws us into Mercy Hospital and the lives of the people who work there. The main character Veronica, an ex-military nurse fresh from Iraq, has a tough outer shell, running from her almost-divorced husband and treating patients as though she's still on the front lines. At first glance I thought her character would be annoying, one of those over the top "tough guy" nurses who knows more than their doctor counterparts, but about a half-hour in I actually started to like her. Michelle Trachtenberg (of Buffy fame), plays the kinda-hearted newbie nurse just trying to get through the rough first days on the job.

I probably won't stick with this show. It didn't quite draw me in, but not because of quality, just because it's not really my bag.

Trauma

Trauma is an action-drama that gives us an inside look into the lives of first responder paramedics living in San Franscisco. We learn in the pilot just how much baggage these paramedics are carrying with them when an accident turns into a tragedy and kills some of their colleagues and bystanders. The main complaint I had with the pilot is that the characters aren't that memorable to the point where I can't remember 1 character's name!

I probably won't stick with this show but only by default. There are just so many good shows on and only so much room on my DVR.

Next Wednesday I will be going to the ABC fall previews, woohoo!