The Disgruntled Individual

As the new year breaks, so does the cavalcade of casting announcements for shows that shall see their premieres in the first quarter. Like, a whole day and a half after the blockbuster premiere of Agent Carter, Agents of SHIELD attempted to steal some of their thunder by announcing that Admiral Adama himself, Edward James Olmos has been cast as the mysterious and gravitas- dependent Robert Gonzales. No idea on who that is, or in what capacity he'll being coming up against Coulson and team, but that's a pretty solid guest star. Here's hoping he gets more to do than poor Brad Doriff or Lucy Lawless. Or, really, any guest star this show has wrangled.

Next, FX has announced the star-studded cast of season two of Fargo. Now, I really really didn't like season one, and had no intention of tuning in for season two. It had an equally star-studded cast, and was a mess of decompression, time wasting and disappointment. But season two will star Nick Offerman in some capacity, so congratulations FX, I'm listening:

"The all new “true crime” case of Fargo’s new chapter travels back to 1979 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota, where a young State Police Officer “Lou Solverson” (Patrick Wilson), recently back from Vietnam, investigates a case involving a local crime gang and a major Mob syndicate. Helping him piece things together is his father-in-law, “Sheriff Hank Larsson” (Ted Danson). The investigation will lead them to a colorful cast of characters that includes “Karl Weathers” (Nick Offerman), the town lawyer of Luverne, Minnesota. A Korean War vet, Karl is a flowery drunk blessed with the gift of gab and the eloquence of a true con artist. Three-time Emmy winner Brad Garrett will play “Joe Bulo,” the front man for the northern expansion of a Kansas City crime syndicate. The new face of corporate crime, Joe’s bringing a Walmart mentality to small town America. His number two is “Mike Milligan” (Bokeem Woodbine). Part enforcer, part detective, Mike is always smiling – but the joke is usually on you. Bulo and his crew have their sights set on the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo, currently led by matriarch “Floyd Gerhardt” (Jean Smart). With her husband at death’s door, Floyd takes over the family business, frustrating her eldest son, “Dodd Gerhardt” (Jeffrey Donovan). An impatient hothead with a cruel streak to match his ambitions, Dodd can’t wait for both his parents to die so he can take over and expand their business from kingdom to empire. “Bear Gerhardt” (Angus Sampson) is the middle son, an intimidatingly large man who, although inarticulate, is the most decent of his clan. “Rye Gerhardt” (Kieran Culkin), the youngest of the Gerhardt clan, views himself as a big shot, but in reality he’s just a small dog who barks big."

That sounds just as impressive as season one did at this time last year. And that turned out painful for me. So... I still don't know.

HBO has announced their return dates for their rating heavy hitters, and conveniently, they are all on the same date. Game of Thrones will premiere it's fifth season on April 12th at 9pm, followed by Silicon Valley's second season at 10 and Veep's fourth season at 10:30pm. Which is about as appointment television as you can get.

And Netflix has announced that the spring will see a string of new original series from them. House of Cards will have a third season premiere on Feb 27th, followed by the Tina Fey created sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (which Netflix took from NBC) will appear on March 6. Marvel’s Daredevil, the first of four series set in the MCU, will be unveiled on April 10. And to finish off the season on May 8th will be the sitcom Grace and Frankie, which stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston.

I think the biggest take away from all of this is, the next few months will be super unproductive for me.

Via Uproxx three times, and EW once.