Last year was a great time to blog about the new TV season and include clips from the new shows. NBC had its own YouTube Channel and CBS even provided a "bloggers kit" that provided links from their InnerTube video service. The other networks at least had clips on a page even if you couldn't embed them. This year it's not so easy to provide links. This season it's not so easy. NBC gave up on YouTube and put all their eggs in their Hulu basket, not that it matters much since they didn't do pilots this season. Similarly InnerTube seems to be gone, but CBS does have its own YouTube channel (with the series previews on their own playlist), as do The CW and FOX. But ABC provide you with...a PDF file. At least that's what they do officially. If you hunt around you can find clips at YouTube and other video sites such as Brightcove and DailyMotion...if they haven't been taken down yet. Under these circumstances, rather than provide hints on where to find clips it might be better just to show some. To help things along I've set up some playlists of my own with clips from the various networks.
We start off with CBS, and the first video in this group of five generated the most comment from the people who watched it on YouTube...mostly negative. It's for The Ex List, and the negative comments were because it is the show replacing Moonlight on Friday nights. And two more different show you're unlikely to see. Based on this clip I'm not likely to be watching. Following that are clips for The Mentalist and Eleventh Hour. Both show's look more than a little intriguing. Finally come clips for the two new sitcoms on the CBS line-up, Project Gary and The Worst Week. Neither one looks like something I'd be interested in watching, but bear in mind that it takes a lot to get me interested in sitcoms.
Next up we have clips from two of the three new CW shows. First are two clips from Surviving The Filthy Rich featuring Joanna Garcia with Lucy Kate Hale in the first, and with Micheal Cassidy in the second. Then there's a clip from the reality show Stylista that basically introduces Anne Slowey as she clumps (about the best way I can describe her walk in those heels). Nothing from 90210 yet, but a lot of the parts in that series have yet to be cast, and I don't think they've done a pilot.
Next up we have ABC's two new shows, neither from "official" sources. First up is a trailer for Life On Mars clearly taken from an Entertainment Tonight broadcast. It was another clip that got a lot of reaction most of it extremely negative. Of course, to be fair, a lot of those comments were coming either from people in Britain or from Americans who are fans of the original BBC series. The other clip is from the new Ashton Kutcher game/reality show Opportunity Knocks. Based on this, it looks awesomely awful and I would hope that it dies a quick and well deserved death.
Finally we have some clips from the new FOX shows, starting with Fringe. You can certainly pick up the X-Files vibe in this clip. Next we have the new comedy Do Not Disturb, which I fear is going to fall right into the trap of being a workplace comedy rather than something like the British Hotel Babylon. It looks pretty bad. Next we have two clips from Secret Millionaire, including the start and the reveal of one episode. I'm afraid it looks worse than I originally expected, but I still have no doubt that it will find an audience. Then there are a couple of clips from the two animated series, The Cleveland Show and Sit Down, Shut Up. I can't tell much about The Cleveland Show from this, but the clip from Sit Down, Shut Up features that very interesting cast of voice actors. Finally there's a clip from Dollhouse (which oddly enough is subtitled in Spanish) which gives a better sense of what the series is about than the other – non-subtitled – clip I've been able to find on YouTube.
Based on these clips I have a suspicion that I'm going to be watching a lot of shows on CBS with FOX coming in a close second. Mentalist and Eleventh Hour look very intriguing to me, as do Fringe and Dollhouse. Since I haven't seen the BBC original I don't know whether the criticisms of the American Life On Mars are justified but I'm not sure it will work. Surviving The Filthy Rich might work in a Gilmore Girls sort of way but it's probably not for me. The reality and game show clips are singularly unappealing to me – I'll stick to Survivor, Dancing With The Stars, and The Amazing Race thank you very much. As for the sitcoms, the two on CBS might work but the one on FOX looks far worse than the show it's replacing (Back To You). The bottom line on the new shows is this: they look to be adequate but hardly earth shaking or groundbreaking. And maybe that's the way that broadcast TV has to be. Sadly.
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