Cupid needs love

I wanted to post this yesterday but considering I spent less time at home than i did at work of the hospital (and that's including sleep time) it just didn't happen.

I watched the show Tuesday night, and I'm going to say right now that I'm fully supporting it and urging folks to watch it. As I said before, I was a fan of the old show and thought it stunk that it got the axe so quickly.

I did some homework. The show's creator Rob Thomas (who also did Veronica Mars, well didn't actually 'do' her, but he created the show) really wanted the previous show to make a go of it, but seems there was a writer's strike or somesuch. he was approached by ABC to do another show here recently and was given the greenlight to give Cupid another shot.

This time it starts Bobby Cannavale, and as tempting as it is to do a compare and contrast between him and the previous star, Jeremy Piven, I'm not because it wouldn't be fair. I'm a big Piven fan, so I'm obviously biased. So, looking strictly at Cannavale's performance, he was great. He was given top notch material to work with and he delivered. He's very likable, and that's so important to character.

For those you don't know what the show is about. Cannavale plays a man claiming to be Cupid, the Roman God of love, who was kicked out of Mount Olympus and isn't allowed back until he puts together one hundred couples, but he can't use his powers. He takes the identity of Trevor Pierce which is false, but he's not offering anything else. So, the question is: is this really the God of Love, or is this crazy guy that's really good at matchmaking? The interesting chink in this comes when he's told about the story of Cupid and Psyche from a book and he's floored stating "That didn't happen."

Now, the twist on that little bit is that the other lead in the series is a pretty psychiatrist who's studying Trevor and thinks he's nuts. So, perhaps we're seeing the myth played out before us.

Look, I'm a cynical bastard. But there's still a small little piece of me deep down that's a romantic. This show appeals to that. One guy standing in the sea of cynicism that is New York City proclaiming to the world that true love exists and it's waiting for you. There's still a part of me that thinks that's pretty damn cool.

I also know that the show is already in trouble. The ratings weren't great for the first episode and ABC's patience isn't very long. So, check it out. You watching may help keep a good show on the air.

They're doing it again?

Tonight is the premier of the new ABC show CUPID... or is it?

It's not and this stuns me. They've done this show before. It was about ten years ago. It was also called CUPID and it starred Jeremy Piven. The main character claimed to be Cupid and was thrown out of Mount Olympus and couldn't get back in until he got one hundred couples together. The people around him mostly thought he was just a nut, but he was so good at match making that the viewers were left with the burning question in their head 'What if he's telling the truth?" If this sounds familiar, either you've got a good memory for television or you've seen the promos for the new show.

It was an absolutely brilliant show. It followed Michael Madson on another brilliant show VENGENCE UNLIMITED. It was easily the best two hours of television going at the time.

So of course both shows were canceled mid-season. In fact from conversations I've had with people I may be only one in a handful of people that even remember them. I'm very curious about this. Does ABC think no one will notice? Have they forgotten about it themselves and the creator got one past them?

I'm morbidly curious about the show. As for the predecessor, I showed up for Jeremy Piven and stayed because the show was brilliant. The new show stars someone I've never heard of and is on at ten o'clock at night. Two things that don't bode well for me watching it. This is made tougher by the fact I stayed up late to watch the eleven o'clock news last night to try to figure out what exploded over Virginia Sunday evening.

We'll see what the evening brings.