Does Arrow Hit the Bullseye?

Arrow premiered last night, and was the last of three new shows I was giving a chance this season to do so. The first, Revolution, passed with flying colors. The second, 666 Park Avenue, was a hideous failure. So where does that leave our tiebreaker?

Squarely in the middle. For me, Arrow didn't quite hit the bullseye, as it has its share of problems, but it definitely stuck one of the inner rings on the target. Let's talk about those problems first. This one might just be mine, but the show is based on the Green Arrow comic, right? He's an archer like in the comic, and he's still wearing green. They make it a point to mention the green a few times in the first episode... so why the hell isn't the show called Green Arrow?!?

Arrow?? What the fuck is that??

That little pet peeve aside, the biggest problem the show faces is that it falls into a lot of cliches in it's premiere. Some of them are unavoidable, as most superhero origins are cliches to begin with; this one has presumed dead main character returning, a dead parent with a mysterious pass, an angry cop who is tied in to not just the hero but his alter ego, a spurned love interest, a shady still-living parent and her new husband, a possibly shady best friend... the cliches go on and on. Which isn't actually a bad thing. Cliches get to be cliches for a reason: they work. But in small doses, and only if you eventually take the cliche and make it your own. So the cliches themselves might not be the biggest problem but the fact that Green Arrow's cliches so closely mirror Batman's cliches that the comparisons are impossible to avoid... and mere months after the release of The Dark Knight Rises, impossible to stack up favorably against.

Well, that, and the hackneyed and horribly delivered narration that occasionally pops up. They need to get rid of that with a quickness.

So what strengths does the show have? The action was a lot of fun. The cast, filled with people I don't know by name but have liked in plenty of other things (with the exception of Katie Cassidy; how could anyone NOT know her by name??), put in good performances and work well together. And there are enough mysteries to keep you interested. Plus, it's on the CW, and they never cancel anything... look at Smallville, that thing was on the air for a damn decade... so you know you won't be left hanging before the mysteries get solved. All in all, Arrow was good enough to keep me watching.

Although Arrow wasn't the only new show I tried watching last night. You see, I've always loved Connie Britton; from The Brothers McMullen to Spin City to starring in one of the best shows of the last decade, Friday Night Lights, I've always found her to be a wonderfully talented and captivating actress. So, for her, I tried watching Nashville.

Everyone makes mistakes, folks.