Mad Men Report: Star Trek: Seeking Out 'Luke Cage' and 'Westworld'

Captains Log:  My mission to rank new TV shows based on how much they could distract me from watching other shows has been slowed by Hurricane Matthew but I am nearly back on track.  On a related note, the fall's slate of new premieres seems to be slowing down.  We only have two new series on the docket, although both are quite exciting.  They should prove to be quite a pair of diversions from my viewing of Star Trek.

Luke Cage

In a time when every week brings a different video of another black man being unjustly shot Marvel and Netflix offer a champion who swats away bullets like flies.  The latest in the Defenders series of grim, hard PG-13 superheroes that includes Daredevil and Jessica Jones sees Luke Cage building a humble life in Harlem after a hazardous fling with Jessica Jones herself.  Of course, he can't stay hidden for long and he quickly begins a one-man war on Harlem's criminal underworld.  Mike Colter returns to the role he originated in Jessica Jones.  He is joined by Alfre Woodard, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, and 2016's favorite character actor Ron Cephas Jones.  Luke Cage is exciting and absorbing, but I can't shake the feeling that the Defenders are just as susceptible to formula as the Avengers, they just have a different formula.  Fortunately, that formula includes nurse Claire Temple, played by Rosario Dawson who is possibly the strongest actor in Marvel's stable.

Star Trek threat level: 7/10

Westworld

The late, great Yul Brynner is having a good year.  He was replaced by Denzel Washington in the remake of The Magnificent Seven and Ed Harris in the TV adaptation of Westworld.  The former is a fun movie that's worth watching but the latter has immediately established itself as a must-see.  Together they amount to a Western and a half.  Westworld has a Western outer shell and a gooey sci-fi center.  It's about a theme park that allows visitors to live out their fantasies of the Wild West with the help of life-like robotic hosts.  Obviously, that fantasy includes filling strangers with hot lead but none of the guns in the park work on humans, only on soulless machines.  The problem is that they may not remain soulless for long.  Evan Rachel Wood plays a sweet farm girl who begins to realize that her existence is a creation made with zeroes and ones.  The mastermind behind the park, played by Anthony Hopkins, sorrowfully passes the torch to the new wave of innovators, Jeffrey Wright, Simon Quarterman, and Shannon Woodward but not before making a few last innovations of his own.  Showrunner Jonathan Nolan, best known for writing films directed by his brother Christopher, has crafted an Ex-Machina style mindfuck wrapped in the breathtaking scenery of a John Ford cowboy picture.  The HBO series has been compared to Game of Thrones but if the first episode is any indication there's no need to worry about filling those shoes.  Yul Brynner would be proud.

Star Trek threat level: 9.5/10