Last week, all the TV networks trotted out their fall line-up, and as with every year, what follows are my thoughts. To see the schedule and find links to all the shows, check out the incredibly awesome Laurel’s TV Picks.
Mondays:
ABC goes with Dancing With The Stars and Castle. I love Castle, but Stars is a waste of TV as far as I’m concerned. At midseason they’ll switch Stars for The Bachelor, another waste. CBS mostly keeps its line-up with How I Met Your Mother (watch), Two And A Half Men (pass), The Big Bang Theory (watch), and CSI: Miami (pass). Rules of Engagement has been pushed to midseason, and they’ve added Accidentally On Purpose, which I’ll tune into. NBC is bringing back Heroes, which I’m taking a “wait and see” attitude on (I’ll wait for other people to tell me its good and then catch up), and pairing it up with Trauma, which I have no interest in seeing. At midseason they swap both of those for Chuck and Day One, both of which I will watch. And this fall NBC is throwing away the 10pm slot to keep Jay Leno happy, and to finally let people unwilling to stay up late to watch “late night” TV. *sigh* Fox has gone with House and Lie To Me, with 24 showing up midseason. I gave up on Lie To Me this year, each episode was too similar for my tastes. The CW has Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, both of which I stopped watching.
Monday verdict: 3 1/2 hours to start, which a push up to 5 1/2 at midseason.
Tuesdays:
ABC will have Shark Tank, Dancing With The Stars Results, and The Forgotten… skip, waste and watch. CBS expands one NCIS into two and follows them with The Good Wife, none of which I will watch. NBC goes with The Biggest Loser and then more Jay Leno, with 100 Questions coming in midseason when Loser goes to 90 minutes. I’ll watch 100 Questions. Fox wastes the evening on So You Think You Can Dance until January when they replace it with American Idol and Past Life. Heaven help me, I’m addicted to Idol, but I’ll be passing on the rest. The CW has 90210 and adds to it Melrose Place… nope.
Tuesday verdict: 1 hour, going to 1 1/2 at midseason.
Wednesdays:
ABC brings in four new half hour comedies that I won’t be watching, and ends the night with Eastwick, which I’m curious to see if it is any good. Lost will likely return at midseason, and being the last season (and that I like the show) I’ll watch. CBS changes nothing: New Adventures of Old Christine (pass), Gary Unmarried (never miss it), Criminal Minds (pass), CSI: NY (pass). NBC decided to resurrect Parenthood at a TV show, given the cast I want to see it, but I won’t unless someone tells me its worth watching. Midseason they’ll swap it for Mercy, which I want to see. They fill the rest of the night with Law & Order SVU and Jay Leno… no, and no. Fox will have results from Tuesday’s voting for SYTYCD and follows it with Glee, which I watched and was extremely surprised how much I enjoyed it. In January we’ll get Idol and Human Target (must see). The CW gives me another night of nothing worth watching by having America’s Next Top Model and following it with a 90210-style drama about models.
Wednesday verdict: 2, maybe 3, hours to start, becoming 4 in the midseason.
Thursdays:
Finally we hit a night with more TV for me… ABC gives us Flash Forward, Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, and I’ll watch them all. CBS has Survivor, CSI and The Mentalist, of which I only watch the last. NBC is still trying to regain its Thursday comedy dominance: SNL Weekend Update Thursday, Parks & Recreation, The Office, and Community (with another wasted 10pm slot on Jay Leno). I like SNL’s Weekend Update and Community looks good, and 30 Rock comes back midseason. Fox has Bones and Fringe, yes and yes. And the CW brings out The Vampire Diaries to join Supernatural. Now, I’ll watch me some Supernatural, that show rocks, but The Vampire Diaries is going to have to be very good to keep me interested… it looks like Twilight, and I have no interest in Twilight.
Thursday verdict: 8, maybe 9, hours.
Fridays:
ABC has Supernanny, Ugly Betty and 20/20, and three ‘no’s from me. CBS has Ghost Whisperer, Medium and Numb3rs, with word that Flashpoint will show up at some point. I was glad to see Medium saved from cancellation since the recent episodes have been quite good, and I enjoy Numb3rs and Flashpoint. NBC gives us Law & Order, Southland, and a final 10pm Jay Leno for the week. Fox gives us Brothers (pass), Til Death (used to be decent but now, pass), and Dollhouse (yay!). And the CW has Smallville and reruns of Top Model. No CW for me.
Friday verdict: 3 hours, possibly 4.
Saturdays:
Should we even discuss Saturdays? Its nothing but sports and reruns and crap and shows networks want to cancel but contractually have to air. I wish someone would revitalize Saturday evening television.
Saturday verdict: 0, zilch, nada.
Sundays:
ABC sticks with Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sister (I watch the last). CBS has The Amazing Race, Three Rivers and Cold Case and won’t be having me as a viewer. NBC has football which they will replace with reality shows, neither interests me. And Fox has its animated shows, all of which I have stopped watching.
Sunday verdict: 1 hour.
The weekly verdict: 19 hours, going to 24 by midseason.
Of course, there are several midseason shows currently not on schedule, but given the penchant for networks to cancel shows quickly, they’ll all see the light of day. Of those, I’m interested in The Bridge, The Deep End, Happy Town, Parental Discretion Advised, V, and Better Off Ted. Scrubs is listed as returning, but I thought it ended so well that I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t bring it back.
And none of this includes the many shows that cable networks have started airing, but so few of them stick to the traditional fall season model that I’m just watching those all year long, but usually only 2 or 3 at a time even though its got to be a dozen shows.
Lastly… the post mortem.
Crusoe should have known they’d never last more than one season, the fact that they didn’t resolve their story in their 13 episodes is a failure. I had hopes that it would be a 13 episode mini-series and encourage other networks to do the same, but it didn’t work that way. Cupid also got cancelled, again. I say again because, and most people don’t realize this, it was a remake of an earlier show. The earlier one was also good, and also cancelled too soon. Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Eleventh Hour, ER, The Ex List, Harper’s Island, Kings, Life, Life on Mars, Lipstick Jungle, My Name is Earl, My Own Worst Enemy, Prison Break, Privileged, Pushing Daisies, Reaper, Samantha Who?, Terminator, The Unit and The Unusuals. I don’t have room to eulogize them all. Some were cancelled too soon, some right on time, some past their prime, but all of them were shows I watched (or am still watching as they play out the productions on Saturday nights). Looking at this list, I am losing more shows this year than I am gaining, and if the networks keep moving toward more reality TV and if Jay Leno is popular at 10pm, that may be a trend which continues… or it may just mean that all the shows worth watching will be on cable.