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| Name: Ryan Roe Email: prawnrr-rmv@this.com-yahoo.com Position: Movie / Television / Comic Book / Trivia Geek View Ryan's Personal Profile |
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| Well, it looks like fall... The weather's getting cooler, and televisions are starting to turn brown and fall off the trees and come crashing down to earth, seriously injuring hapless pedestrians and waking up the innocent sparrows who make those trees their homes. Yes, the new fall TV season is getting started, as the networks all try desperately to get us to watch their shows. I had an NBC executive knock on my door yesterday and offer to shine my silverware. I politely declined, but I did invite him in for a few rousing rounds of Rock'em Sock'em Robots. What the heck am I talking about? How about I talk about TV? As usual, I've read Entertainment Weekly's Fall TV Preview issue from cover to cover, I've watched some new shows, and I've formulated some humble opinions. Traditionally, I bestow upon four debuting series the prediction/dubious "award" of New Shows Most Likely to Get Cancelled, and usually I'm right about half the time. I'd like to point out, though, that last year all four of the shows that I predicted would get cancelled within the season (Do Not Disturb, Kath and Kim, Easy Money, and The Ex List) did, in fact, get the axe. I was four-for-four! Isn't that exciting? Well, I guess it's not very exciting for all the people who worked on those shows and lost their jobs. I guess I'm pretty much a jerk. But I'm going to go ahead and try again anyway, and just hope nobody who's reading this is in the cast or crew of the following shows: Accidentally on Purpose, The Good Wife, Melrose Place, and Brothers. Accidentally on Purpose stars Jenna Elfman as a woman who unexpectedly gets pregnant after a one-night stand. Unless I'm remembering wrong, Elfman was appealing and amusing during her Dharma and Greg heyday, but somehow I just can't picture her recapturing sitcom glory. The Good Wife stars Julianna Margulies as the wife of a disgraced politician. It sounds like a pretty good book, or even a TV movie... but a series? My suggestion to the producers: To make things interesting, give the main character a mischievous double, like Serena to Samantha on Bewitched, and call her "The Bad Wife." Melrose Place is, of course, a reheated leftovers version of the series of the same name from the 90s. When I was in junior high, the local Fox affiliate provided schools with book covers to put on our textbooks, and the Melrose Place book cover with a sultry-looking Heather Locklear made a lot of 13-year-old boys pay unusually close attention to their Earth Science books. I predict the new Melrose Place series will be just about as interesting as an Earth Science textbook, but ultimately less popular than those book covers. As for Brothers: At first, I assumed the cast of ABC's Brothers and Sisters had had some contract disputes, resulting in NFL star Michael Strahan replacing Calista Flockhart, but apparently it's actually a completely new sitcom on Fox. And it sounds pretty bland, so I predict that not only will it not score a touchdown, it won't even get a first down. (That's a football thing, right? Right?) Of course, I could be wrong... NFL guy Alex Karras starred on Webster, and nobody ever questioned his comedy skills. Did they? But as long as I'm insulting it, I'm also going to give Brothers my "award" for Worst New Show Title. It's just so boring... I mean, it's a show about brothers and it's called Brothers. Come on! If you had a show about a group of friends, you wouldn't just call it Friends, would you? No, of course you wouldn't. That would be ridiculous. So what's the New Show I'm Most Excited About? I'm going to go with Glee here. Of course I say this having already seen the first four episodes, but I was already looking forward to it and I'm eager to see how the rest of the season plays out. It's funny and clever and satirical, but most of the characters are believable without being too broad or silly. Plus Jane Lynch is a hoot. And the Returning Show I'm Most Looking Forward To? Boy, do I wish Pushing Daisies hadn't gotten cancelled so I could name it here. Once again, Lost doesn't return until the midseason, so once again I'm going to go with 30 Rock. You know what else I'm really looking forward to, though? How I Met Your Mother. At some point last season it became must-see TV for me. The cast is extremely likable (with the lead actor being the only weak link), and the show has a lot of fun with its own format and continuity, without ever making an episode that would be impenetrable to a first-time viewer. Of course, I'm starting to get pretty darn impatient for Ted to finally Meet My Mother already. Other thoughts: -Lots of people are excited about Fringe coming back. I started out watching it last year, only to eventually lose interest. But I've heard it got really good in the last couple episodes of the first season, so I think I'll give it a try this season and maybe I'll like it enough to stick with it. -I saw the premiere of Flash Forward, in which everyone in the world blacks out simultaneously and sees their future, and it while it's really obviously a Lost wannabe, I'm intrigued enough to keep watching. Whoa, what if I had a flash-forward of my own right now, and I saw myself six months from now watching Flash Forward? That would be CRAZY! I've heard the writers have a five-year plan for the show, but I just want to know what they're going to do once they pass the point in the future that everyone saw in their flash-forwards. Does everyone flash forward again? -NCIS: Los Angeles is on right after NCIS on CBS. Are people really that hungry for crime shows that they'll watch two NCISes in a row? Speaking of crime shows, the Christian Slater-starring The Forgotten may look like just another procedural crime drama, but it's not! There's one very important element that sets it apart... and that is... well, it's... um, I don't remember. -Gary Unmarried and 'Til Death are both returning. I would like to meet one person who watches either of these shows. I'd be even more excited to meet one person who watches both shows... If I ever do, I'll probably capture them and sell them to the zoo! But don't worry; I'd make sure their cage had a TV so they could continue to watch terrible shows nobody likes. -Remember the Fox sitcom Back to You from two years ago, which starred Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton and which was cancelled after a single season? ABC seems to have figured out what was wrong with it: the two leads should be on separate shows! And so Grammer's new show Hank airs on the same night as Heaton's new show The Middle, but never the twain shall meet.. -You know what new show is pretty good? Community. You know what returning show has gotten a lot better than it was last year? Parks and Recreation. I guess I'll be watching NBC for two hours every Thursday night. And I'll have the Parks theme song stuck in my head on a weekly basis. -Oh, but you know what new show is really bad? Cougar Town. The first episode was pretty awful, anyway. I don't think there was a single joke in the entire show that was not about Courtney Cox wanting to get some action. I expected much more from creator Bill Lawrence, who also created Scrubs. But apparently, just because a guy's good at writing for Dr. Cox doesn't mean he's good at writing for Courtney Cox. -For some reason, I always like to keep track of how many new shows have one-word titles: Trauma, V, Glee, Mercy, Hank, Eastwick, Community, and Brothers drop in this season to join returning one-worders like House and Heroes. So... what do YOU think of the new TV season? Do you agree or disagree with anything I've said? Are you just itching to complain about The Jay Leno Show? Go nuts in the comment section below! Comments on this post are closed. |
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| Flash Forward is based on a book by my little brother's favorite author, so I am compelled to watch it, but I couldn't find ABC on my TV and then when I tried to watch it on ABC.com I discovered the ABC video playback (which I had to download a special plug-in for) SUCKS. I routinely watch streaming video on netflix, and also Survivor at CBS.com so I know it's not my computer. It's ABC.com. |
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| Isha: Havae you tried Hulu? It's available there and I've usually had better luck with their player than the one at ABC.com. |
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| Yay! I was wondering if you were going to do one of these this year! Jenna Elfman was obnoxious and horrible on Dharma & Greg, just like always. Was the Webster thing an intentional joke? Because Dick Butkus was on My Two Dads, while his fellow NFL guy Alex Karras starred on Webster. You know what new show is pretty good (or the pilot is, anyway)? Modern Family. I really wish it didn't have such a generic title though. Although the fact that it is an ABC family sitcom with such an unmemorable name bodes well for the eventual introduction of Jaleel White. |
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| Argh, I never could keep those two sitcom-acting football players straight. Despite my deep and eternal love of football. Anyway, I fixed it, so now your comment looks like the ramblings of a madman. Can it really be possible that Modern Family is good? I guess I'll have to watch an episode and find out. Thanks for reading! |
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| The "Parks" theme song sounds to me like a reworked "Green Acres" theme, which, thanks to you,is now stuck in my head. G |
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| I was never sure if those subway ads for "Modern Family" were pushing a single show called "Modern Family", or a handful of ABC family-centric sitcoms. Now I know. You know what new show I'm excited about? Dinosaur Train. |
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