There are Still Moments Left: Life in Pieces "Pilot"

One of this fall's new comedies is about a family in four stories.

Life in Pieces is a chapter of the Short family, each dealing with their family moments from dating, having a baby, and celebrating a birthday.

The show starts dry with Matt on a date and meeting Colleen's ex-fiance. Soon, they got to Matt's place, his parent's place. That led them to have sex in the car but was stopped by a cop who thought Colleen was a hooker.

The following story was of Greg and Jen having a baby and dealing with delivery. But it was after that Jen was to not look under the equator for six weeks because it wouldn't look pretty. She did look and described it as what the Predator looked like when he took his mask off—funny, but has a lousy image.

The next one was of Heather and her family as they dropped off her son to experience college. Being the mother she is, a helicopter mother. After dropping off their son, they head into the hotel and argue about Santa not being honest.

The children are funny in this scene. One had to stay in the bathroom, and the little one was smart enough to take some air and go into the closet to take in all the realism.

And finally, the last story was of John and Joan Short, who threw a funeral theme birthday party. It was weird at first but hilarious at times when each of their kids gave a eulogy to him. But it was til Joan didn't like it, and the family had a bit of time together, and John tells them that he doesn't think he has any more time for those family moments. Those are those little happy moments that come and go.

In the end, John gets into his casket, but Joan knocks on the door and is stuck in the coffin. The family races him out to get him out.

The show is hilarious at times. Some dry moments weren't able to get as funny, but I think this show has the benefit of the doubt to be a perfect family comedy. Dianne Wiest is hilarious as the mother, and so is Besty Brandt. Colin Hanks has a funny role, too.

Overall, I give the pilot episode 8.5/10.

You can catch Life in Pieces on Monday nights at 8:30/7:30 on CBS.

Michael: Truck Problem

Blindspot "Pilot"

Thrilling. Intriguing. On the edge of my seat at times. These come to mind when watching the series premiere of NBC's Blindspot.

The series is about a mysterious woman found in a bag in Times Square; she freaks out the FBI team on who she is and why Agent Kurt Weller has his name tattooed on her back along with others. The team figures out that Jane Doe was drugged with a substance that has made her forget her past.

But when one of the tattoos sparks something, Weller and the team take on a suspect who might know something; it turns out the suspect will plan an explosion of the Statue of Liberty for family reasons.

Jane goes out on the field to help with Weller, who doesn't think it's a good idea. But that changed my mind pretty quickly.

We do get to see some background of who Jane was, like learning how to shoot a gun and also getting drugged by the mysterious breaded man. Who asked the question, what was she doing this for? What was she hiding?

This series started terrific. I was on the edge of my seat at times. The show brings a bit of The Blacklist and Jason Borne.

Jaimie Alexander, who plays Jane Doe, performs excellently, mainly in the outstanding fight scenes. Also, I can't say enough about Sullivan Stapleton as FBI Agent Weller. I'm very much interested to see where this series will be going and who Jane Doe was.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Blindspot on Monday nights at 10/9c on NBC

Michael: Riding Together

Michael: The Doctors and Dalek

Doctor Who "The Magician's Apprentice Season Premiere

The season nine premiere was not a disappointment. It was marvelous, with a shocking twist.

The Doctor tries to rescue a child during one of the wars, but when he asks the kid his name, it turns out to be one of the most mistakable rescues of his time-traveling life. The kid turns out to be Davros, the creator of the Daleks.

Running from the problem and landing in 1158 AD about to battle, the Doctor mistakes the ax battle for the guitar battle, which was the best scene in the episode. To see the Doctor rockin' the guitar on a tank was hilarious and awesome.

With the Doctor hiding, Missy has been looking for him and tried to draw attention to Clara and U.N.I.T. with every plane in the air frozen. I couldn't tell if Missy was as bad as she should be or as good as she could be. It seemed weird to see Clara and Missy working together.

They traveled to find the Doctor and soon went with him to Dravos, but the man that the Doctor was going to fight was not a natural person. He turns out to be a Dalek and took the TARDIS. It turned out that where they were was not in a spaceship, but in the worst place the Doctor ever would want to be in, Skaro. Again, that was another shocking moment in this episode.

Missy and Clara find the TARDIS, but the Daleks are about to destroy it. Missy tries to negotiate a deal with them to take the TARDIS, but that turns out to be a no, and she's gone. Clara talks to them, too, but has no success, too, and is gone just like Missy.

Doctor, who watched them get destroyed, seems upset, but Dravos wants him to say the words of defeat. Of course, Dravos has no power over the Daleks; as he put it, they are just like kids.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger, which sets up next week's episode pretty much at a high point.

I thought that this was an excellent season opener. I might have loved this opener better than last season's opener. But I felt Capaldi was fantastic, and Jenna Coleman worked well with Michelle Gomez.

Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Doctor Who on Saturdays at 9/8c on BBC America

Michael: Doctor Who

The season premiere of Doctor Who is tonight and Michael and his brother Jeff are huge fans of the series. They can't wait for it.