Up & Coming Weekly

September 30, 2014

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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42 UCW OCTOBER 1-7, 2014 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM KEEP • Top nominee by local attorneys for judicial appointment • Over twenty years legal experience in both civil and criminal court • Former prosecutor, Cumberland Co. District Attorney's O ce • UNC Law School Graduate • Duke University Graduate (Magna Cum Laude) www.JudgeClarkReaves.com Paid for by the Committee for Judge Clark Reaves Best Leather Store Let us outfit you in style! Our thanks to our faithful customers. We're happy to serve you. 910 487.6815 • www.mmleather.com 4400 Bragg Blvd., Fayetteville, NC A voiceover sets the scene: "Andrew and Zelda dated for eight months, three weeks, five days and one hour. This television program is the comprehensive account of their relationship, from A to Z." The framing device makes A to Z feel like a story told after the fact, exaggerated for comic effect (Thursday, 9:30 p.m., NBC). The new sitcom reverses classic TV gender roles. Andrew (Ben Feldman), who works at a computer dating company, is the softie. He's a self-doubting romantic with a strong belief in destiny. Zelda (Cristin Milioti), a lawyer, is the hard one. Her unhappy childhood has given her a no-nonsense view of the world, and she resists Andrew's starry-eyed overtures. These two are surrounded by wonderfully absurd minor characters who represent the cynical side of modern romance. The idea is that real love is almost impossible to find in a Match.com world. This is not one of those shows that look for an easy way to get a laugh (bodily fluids, cruel punch lines, etc.). It goes to the trouble of creating a comic universe, with just the right mix of reality and fantasy. If it lasts only eight months, three weeks, five days and one hour, I'll be crushed. Stalker Wednesday, 10 pm (CBS) If you like seeing women doused with gasoline and burned alive by a masked madman, Stalker is the show for you. The filmmakers like this sadistic scenario so much that they repeat it three times in the pilot. The idea is that two unpleasant detectives (Maggie Q, Dylan McDermott) investigate stalking crimes in L.A., with lots of opportunities for Peeping Tom videos and torture porn. I suspect viewers will respond to Stalker the same way they'd respond to an actual stalker: running away. Bad Judge Thursday, 9 pm (NBC) Rebecca (Kate Walsh) is a drunken, potty- mouthed rock drummer who also happens to be a judge. Bad Judge seems to think this premise is so funny it doesn't even need jokes. All it has to do is show Rebecca having sex with a hangover in her judge's chambers, and voilà: instant humor. Unfortunately, humor doesn't work like that. A situation comedy needs a coherent situation, and Bad Judge fails to convince you that Rebecca really deserves the title "Judge," given her lack of gravitas. Even more embarrassing, it turns out she's not really even "Bad," given her soft spot for disadvantaged children. No "Bad" + no "Judge" leaves Bad Judge pretty much a void. Gracepoint Thursday, 9 pm (Fox) Based on the BBC drama Broadchurch, this 10-episode mystery series is about a boy's murder in a small seaside city. The cranky new detective in town (David Tennant, re-creating his role from the original) delves into the case with his partner (Anna Gunn), whose son was a friend of the victim. The BBC series brought to life the Broadchurch community, where everybody becomes a suspect. Gracepoint, by contrast, feels moribund. The filmmakers favor portentous slow motion, overbearing music and lots of onscreen weeping. The more intense the melodrama, the less we buy into the emotions. If Gracepoint continues with its slow-motion tactics, the series' 10 episodes will feel like 20. The Things We Did for Love A to Z tells the complete story of a modern romance by DEAN ROBBINS

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