Later today or tomorrow (hopefully) I'll be writing a night-by-night review of the shows that the US broadcast networks will be rolling out in September. I've got grids and everything, thanks to Microsoft One Note. Of course to properly evaluate a network's chances on a particular night you have to at least have an idea of what their shows, and in particular their new shows, are going to look like.
It is of course hard to evaluate a new show based on a few clips, and the feedback that you get from any comments sections for a particular show – if there is one – is frequently of the "this sucks" or "looks great" variety,. In other words not particularly useful.
Fortunately we have the Internet (and of course none of you wouldn't be reading my meanderings if we didn't) to allow us an advanced look. Each of the five networks has clips available, some more than others. ABC's site has the worst clips (and as the old joke goes, such small portions too) while the clips on Fox are probably the hardest to get to. Here are the links:
ABC Click the title of the show. Each show site has one or two clips for the show.
CBS The network has clips on their InnerTube section but also has links in their Fall Schedule grid. The link here ties to their "Bloggers Toolkit."
FOX Click on "New Series" then click on the title of the show to bring up a page about the show. In most cases there will be a see clips from this show link on the page. The videos start after an ad.
NBC Click on the New Shows tab and then on the show that you want to see clips of. There are clips for Journeyman, Chuck, The Bionic Woman and Life.
The CW There are a variety of paths from this point. Clicking the Sneak Peek Videos link will take you to the video site and will automatically start the first video for Reaper. Alternatively you can click the Full Schedule link at the bottom of the main image on the page. This will take you to the network schedule (presented in a typically bizarre CW manner). Clicking on the show title will take you to a site for that show which has a Watch Preview link in it (in most cases).
While all of the networks have video clips from their new shows available online there are only two networks – CBS and NBC – that have gone the extra mile to have clips available to be embedded on websites. NBC has put their shows' preview reels YouTube, while CBS has their Bloggers Toolkit section which allows bloggers to embed a link for a show's preview reel (it needs a little modification before it will be acceptable though). I'm including video from two NBC shows and one CBS show that look like they might be worth taking a look at. There's a quid pro quo going on her of course. The networks not only get free promotion for their shows when people like me put their material on our sites, but while we get content the networks that provide the content earn more than a little bit of respect from people using the material.
First up is the preview reel from the new version of The Bionic Woman. There's a very familiar face from another revival of another late '70s classic.
Next something from another NBC show that I'm really enthused about, Life, starring Damien Lewis and Sarah Shahi.
Finally, from CBS comes a preview of Cane, CBS's new drama in the style of Dallas, starring Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo.
