FOX Upfronts 2016-17

(Writer’s Note: I’m falling behind on doing these upfront reports. A big part of it is that I seem to have limited time to do the actual writing during the daytime – it’s may and among other things I garden – which means that I write when I’m able to find time. To catch up I’m probably going to hold off on the ABC shows until CBS and The CW do their announcements. Which in some ways is a bit of a pity because ABC actually has some shows I’m quite interested in this year.)

Fox is traditionally the second network to present its line-up for the new season. They also have a different programming philosophy. Unlike NBC they have carefully laid out plans of when midseason shows will appear and plan to use hiatuses to air all of the shows that they pick up for the year. Thus, FOX will have the same number of new series debuting in the Fall as NBC (but because they don’t offer nighttime football they have one extra night to play with) but probably more new series overall.

FOX really seems to be pushing two things with their new shows: remakes of older shows (24 Legacy, Prison Break) and movies (Lethal Weapon, The Exorcist), and big name stars (Oscar winners Geena Davis, Richard Dreyfuss and Helen Hunt, and Oscar nominee Queen Latifah

Cancelled
American Idol, Bordertown, Cooper Barrett’s Guide To Surviving Life, Grandfathered, The Grinder, Minority Report, Second Chance

Renewed
Bob’s Burgers, Bones, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Empire, Family Guy, Gotham, Hell’s Kitchen, The Last Man On Earth, Lucifer, New Girl, Rosewood, Scream Queens, Sleepy Hollow, The Simpsons 

New Shows
24: Legacy, A.P.B., The Exorcist, Lethal Weapon, Making History, The Mick, Pitch, Shots Fired, Son of Zorn, Star, Prison Break

Fall Schedule By Day (New Series in Caps)

Monday
8-9 p.m. Gotham / 24 LEGACY / Gotham
9-10 p.m. Lucifer / A.P.B. / Lucifer

Tuesday
8-8:30 p.m. Brooklyn Nine-Nine / New Girl/ Brooklyn Nine-Nine
8:30-9 p.m. New Girl / THE MICK
9-10 p.m. Scream Queens / KICKING AND SCREAMING / PITCH

Wednesday
8-9 p.m. LETHAL WEAPON / SHOTS FIRED
9-10 p.m. Empire / STAR / Empire

Thursday
8-9 p.m. Rosewood (new day and time)
9-10 p.m. Bones (new time) / PRISON BREAK

Friday
8-9 p.m. Hell’s Kitchen / Master Chef Junior
9-10 p.m. THE EXORCIST / Sleepy Hollow

Sunday 
7-7:30 p.m. NFL On Fox
7:30-8 p.m. The OT / Bob’s Burgers
8-8:30 p.m. The Simpsons
8:30-9 p.m. SON OF ZORN / MAKING HISTORY
9-9:30 p.m. Family Guy
9:30-10 p.m. Last Man on Earth

Summaries
24: Legacy is 24 without Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland has a show on ABC but is serving as an Executive Producer on this version of the show). Eric Carter (Corey Hawkins) is an ex-Army Ranger who has returned to America from a mission for a revived CTU. Trouble follows him and he has to reach out to former CTU head Rebecca Ingram (Miranda Otto) to help him prevent what might be the biggest terrorist attack on US soil.

A.P.B.: When a the mentor and best friend of tech billionaire Gideon Reeves (Justin Kirk) is murdered and the precinct where the killing happened is too hit by budget cuts to investigate the crime, he effectively buys the precinct. Equipping the precinct with the latest in high-tech gadgetry, including a phone app called A.P.B., Reeves sets out to show what can be done with a privatized police force.

In The Exorcist Geena Davis plays Angela Rance, a woman who is convinced that her home is housing a demon since her eldest daughter returned home from college. Alonso Herrera plays Father Tomas, her parish priest to whom she turns for help, and Ben Daniels is Father Marcus, the priest to whom he turns for help.

Lethal Weapon is based on the movies of the same name, starring Damon Wayans as Roger Murtagh and Clayne Crawford as Martin Riggs. I think that’s all that really needs to be said.

The premise of the new comedy Making History is that a nerdy college science professor (Adam Pally) develops a time machine (in a large gym bag) that allows them to travel back in time to 1775. Unfortuntely his presence there (where he’s dating Paul Revere’s daughter) seems to be interfering with the events leading to the American Revolution. In order to set things right, he gets one of the university’s history professors (Yassir Lester) to help set things right. Hilarity – and ham – ensues, (the latter part of that is a sample of what the writers find funny in this).

In The Mick, Kaitlin Olson plays Mackenzie, known as “Mickey.” She’s a two bit hustler who actively avoids responsibility. She suddenly finds herself forced to take responsibility when her estranged sister and billionaire brother-in-law flee the country to avoid going to prison for tax evasion. They leave Mickey with their three kids. Motherhood was never in her plans but she has to transform these spoiled rich kids into  well-adjusted, hard working, decent members of society. Which is hard since she herself has never been any of these things.

In Pitch Ginny Baker (Kylie Bunbury) is suddenly propelled into the spotlight when the San Diego Padres sign her as the first woman to play major league baseball. to make a success of her career she not only has to perform but she has to win over her new team mates, many of whom don’t want to see a woman in professional baseball. She has her supporters, including catcher Mike Lawson (Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and her agent Amelia Slater (Ali Larter).

Shots Fired takes a look at one of the major issues of our times. When a white college student is shot to death by an apparently racist black police officer, a pair of Justice Department investigators are sent to a small North Carolina town. What Ashe Akino (Sanaa Lathan) and Preston Terry (Stephan James), both of whom are African-American, discover is the neglected murder of a Black teen, and tensions that are on the verge of igniting. They begin to suspect a cover-up that may go as high as the state’s governor played by Helen Hunt.

Son of Zorn may be the ultimate fish-out-of-water comedy. Zorn (voiced by Jason Sudekis) comes from an island in the South Pacific where everyone is an animated character. He comes to Orange County, California to reconnect with his ex-wife Edie and estranged teenage son Alangulon, who are flesh and blood (Cheryl Hines and Johnny Pemberton respectively). Complicating matters is that Zorn is not only an animated character, he’s also a barbarian warrior. Nevertheless, to reconnect with his son he’s willing to settle down rent an apartment and get a job in the “exciting field of industrial soap sales.”

Star is a new series from the creator of Empire, Lee Daniels. Like Empire it is set in the music industry but is about young artists looking for their big break. Star (Jude Demorest), her sister Simone (Brittany O’Grady), and “Instagram bestie” Alexandra (Ryan Destiny) journey to Atlanta to make it in the music industry as a girl group. They are taken under the wing of beauty salon owner Carlotta (Queen Latifah), who had her own dreams of stardom shattered. She doesn’t approve of the girls’ desire to make it in the music industry, but she’ll stand by them.

Prison Break is back again as a limited series with original stars Wentworth Miller and Domenic Purcell (fresh off their time on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash). When Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callis) discovers that Michael Scofield might still be alive she enlists the help of his brother Lincoln Burrows and several of the Fox River Prison escapees to rescue him from a prison break in another country.

Comments
In my opinion, based on watching the trailers tht FOX has put online, there seem to be a few good things in the network’s new season line-up along with some shows that I don’t really understand the need for. And then there are some shows that I can’t understand why anyone would want to watch. Those will probably be big hits.

Does anyone really need to see new versions of Lethal Weapon or The Exorcist? At the end of the 2015-16 season we saw CBS try to do a TV version of Rush Hour. It didn’t work and as far as I can see it didn’t work because there was no demand for seeing the concept revived with a TV budget and without the original stars. I really don’t think the Lethal Weapon remake will be successful and I have my doubts about The Exorcist as well. Of the two TV series revivals, I think 24: Legacy at least has some potential without Kiefer Sutherland. On the other hand I simply don’t see the need for the Prison Break sequel. We had closure with the original series; why revisit it.

I’m dubious about two of FOX’s new comedies, Son Of  Zorn and Making History. The former is a colossal gimmick that I found vaguely funny in the trailer while the latter reminds me of the sort of show that the old UPN network would put on in their Homeboys From Outer Space period. Of the two I think Son of Zorn might find a way to succeed in the ratings (so with my track record that mean’s they’ll both be huge hits). I’m also not sure about A.P.B. The concept is interesting but it might be a touch on the futuristic side and more than a little bit hard to believe. That said I thought the little bit I saw was fun. My problem is that the show might garner the sort of reaction that Almost Human did a few years ago. Or Minority Report did this past season.

The shows that I think have promise (besides 24: Legacy) are Pitch, Shots Fired, Star, and surprisingly The Mick. Pitch want’s to be Jackie Robinson’s story with a woman instead of a minority male, but if it’s done right could be involving even if the premise is hard to swallow. Star is a perfect fit to take over Empire’s time slot and I think that the fact that it is a personal drama rather than the sometimes over the top soap opera tendencies of Empire (come on admit that Empire reminds you just a little of Dallas) is a mark in it’s favour as far as I’m concerned. The strength of Shots Fired should be apparent to anyone watching the trailer. FOX is taking on a serious issue and is doing a serious job with it. Finally, the trailer for The Mick was a genuine surprise for me. I liked the lead character and I thought they got the kids right (and the Hispanic maid was a hoot). Of course, when I think about it I am struck by a superficial resemblance to the concept for The Nanny (minus the romantic entanglement in that show) but then I loved The Nanny.

Prelude to Upfronts: Cancellations and Pick-ups

Before I started this blog, the whole business of “Network Upfronts” was as foreign as the Greek language to me. All I knew is that sometime in May the US networks would announce their new shows and cancel the unsuccessful ones from the previous year, and then the Canadian networks would pick them over to find the “best of the lot” for us, and conveniently forget that half of the shows that they considered the “best of the lot” were either cancelled by the end of the season.

Upfronts used to be the day when a Network President and his (and they were all men for a long time) would stand in front of the assembled masses of advertisers and the ink-stained wretches from the entertainment media and announce which shows have been cancelled and which have been picked up, and what next season’s TV schedule would look like. The advertisers would then – over the next few weeks – decide what shows they’d make their media buys on, and how much they’d be willing to pay. Meanwhile the entertainment media would, wittingly or not, promote the new shows with information even thought they’d basically only seen the few clips provided by the network at the Upfronts. The key point was that the networks announced all of their changes at their Upfront day.

In recent years things have changed. Networks announce their renewals and their cancellations before the Upfronts – days and sometimes even weeks before – and they’ve taken to announcing shows they’ve picked up in advance as well. In the past I’ve held off from reporting or commenting on these announcements, preferring to wait until a network’s upfront day. I’m not sure that that approach is practical anymore. So what I’ve decided to do is to list the cancellations and the pickups before the upfronts, and comment on the percentage of available time that the proposed new shows will be taking up on each network.

ABC
Cancellations: The Assets, Back In The Game, Killer Women, Lucky 7, Mind Games, Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, Mixology, Trophy Wife, Betrayal, The Neighbors, Super Fun Night, Suburgatory,
Status Unknown: The Taste, Black Box
Picked Up: Dramas – American Crime, The Astronauts Wives Club,The Club, Forever, How To Get Away With Murder, Marvel’s Agent Carter, Secrets & Lies, The Whispers
Comedies – Black-ish, Galavant, Manhattan Love Story, Selfie
Update: Two comedies that I missed: Cristela and Fresh Off The Boat  which were announced at the same time as the renewal of Last Man Standing.

Comments: Eight hours of Dramas, four half-hours of Comedies. I was saddened but not surprised by the cancellation of Trophy Wife. The kids, and in particular Burt, were great and it was fun to see Bradley Whitford playing straight man both to the kids and the women in his life. If this show had a better time slot – like between The Middle and Modern Family instead of after another newcomer, The Goldbergs – I think it could have worked.

CBS

Cancellations: How I Met Your Mother, We Are Men, Bad Teacher, The Crazy Ones, Friends With Better Lives, Hostages, Intelligence
Picked Up: Dramas – Battle Creek, CSI: Cyber, Madam Secretary, NCIS: New Orleans, Scorpion, Stalker
Comedies – The McCarthys, The Odd Couple

Comments: Six hours of Dramas, two half-hours of Comedies. Only two survivors of the new shows, Mom and The Millers. I think that the limited series nature of Hostages was a bad choice to go against Castle, and Intelligence was just pretty bad. Disappointed that the cut The Crazy Ones, a series with a stand-out cast that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately stand-out cast equals expensive cast, which was probably as much a cause of the show’s demise as the ratings.

FOX

Cancellations: American Dad (moving to TBS), The Cleveland Show, Raising Hope, The X-Factor, Almost Human, Dads, Enlisted, Surviving Jack, Rake
Picked Up: Dramas – Backstrom, Empire, Gotham, Hieroglyph, Red Band Society
Comedies – Last Man On Earth, Mulaney, Weird Loners

Comments: Five hours of Dramas, three half-hours of Comedies. All of the professional TV critics are mourning the loss of Enlisted but I never saw the show (because the premise sounded dumb to me) so I can’t comment. I really liked Almost Human, the “cop and robot” buddy show set in a not totally dystopian future. It wasn’t great but I liked it better than THe Following. So sue me.

NBC

Cancellations: Ironside, Sean Saves The World, Welcome To The Family, The Michael J. Fox Show, Believe, Community, Crisis, Dracula, Revolution, Growing Up Fisher
Status Unknown: Parenthood
Picked Up: Dramas – Allegiance, Constantine, Emerald City, The Mysteries of Laura, Odyssey, Shades Of Blue, State of Affairs
Comedies – A to Z, Bad Judge, Marry Me, Mission Control, Mr. Robinson, One Big Happy, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Comments: Seven hours of Dramas, seven half-hours of Comedy. It is a mark of how far NBC has fallen that I can’t think of one show that they cancelled that I am really going to miss. I know the professional critics and a devoted fan base loved Community with a love that burned like the Sun, but I never watched it, being totally turned off by the presence of Chevy Chase. BTW, there apparently hasn't been a decision on Parenthood because of negotiations over the number of episodes stars of the show will appear in. The network weasels want the leads to do nine episodes of the total of thirteen planned, and they're balking at that idea
Update: While the renewal of Parenthood has not been announced officially, the cast have apparently agreed to a deal which would see them each participate in a reduced number of episodes within a 13 episode season, thus allowing the series to have a resolution.

The CW
Cancellations: Nikita, The Carrie Diaries, The Tomorrow People, Star Crossed
Picked Up: The Flash, iZombie, Jane The Virgin, The Messengers

Comments: Four hours of new series, all Dramas. Yawn. The only show I watch on The CW is Arrow. I suppose I’m sort of surprised that a show about 16th century royalty and religious wars (Reign) got renewed, and I suppose that The 100 is the sort of show I generally like but really, I’ve got nothing.

And We Have A …. Loser

The first show to be cancelled – although the network isn’t exactly using the “c” word, but then they rarely do – is……..

MADE IN JERSEY

It ran for two episodes on CBS.

Not entirely surprising really. The show, which starred British actress Janet Montgomery (Human Target, Entourage) as a new lawyer at a prestigious Manhattan criminal law firm, and Kyle McLaughlin as her boss Donavon Stark (the man with his name on the firm). The twist was of course that Montgomery’s character, Martina Goretti, came from New Jersey and was the square peg at the law firm because she went to Rutgers rather than an Ivy League School. Everyone at the firm – except Stark, Martina’s secretary (Toni Trucks), and the firm’s investigator (Felix Solis) treat her like a rube who just fell off the turnip truck despite her experience with the Trenton DA’s office. The show had received generally negative buzz from TV critics from the moment it was announced, although few if any called it the worst new show of the season. Ratings for the first two episodes were far from stellar, particularly by CBS standards. The first episode (according to TV Media Insight) drew 8.81 million viewers and a 1.3/5 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The second episode drew 6.77 million viewers and a 0.8/3 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The ratings in the 18-49 demographic were worse than either of the other two older skewing CBS shows.

The “Earliest Drama Cancellation Poll” is now closed although a winner has yet to be determined, although you’ve got to admit it will be hard for a new show to be cancelled in less than two episodes. For the record the votes broke down as follows:

1. 666 Park Avenue – 4 votes
2. The Mob Doctor – 2 votes
3. Revolution – 2 votes
4. Made In Jersey – 2 votes
5. Chicago Fire – 2 votes
6. Emily Owens M.D. – 2 votes
7. Vegas – 1 Vote
8. Arrow – 1 vote
9. Nashville – 1 vote
10. Beauty & The Beast – 1 vote
11. Last Resort – 0 votes
12. Elementary – 0 votes

The “Earliest Comedy Cancellation Poll” is still open, but be aware that now that the first new show has been dropped a flurry of cancellations is likely to occur. Already renewed for a full season are Ben & Kate (FOX), The Mindy Project (FOX), Go On (NBC), The New Normal (NBC), and Revolution (NBC).

New Polls–Which Shows Will Be Cancelled Quickest

These two polls are pretty simple. All you have to do is vote for the show which you think will be cancelled quickest. The shows are split into two categories: Drama and Comedy. To be considered in this poll the shows have to debut before the end of December 2012 and have been announced at the May Upfronts.

Now for the purposes of these polls “quickest” will be defined as the fewest number of episodes aired regardless of when the show starts. So, if a show that starts in September airs four episodes and a show that debuts in October airs three episodes, the October show is the one that was cancelled quickest. This actually happened last year when Free Agents was cancelled after four episodes but was cancelled before How To Be A Gentleman was cancelled. How To Be A Gentleman “won” because it ended up airing only three episodes.

It is also important to note that what counts is the number of episodes that air, even if the episodes air on Saturdays or some other “parking” time slot. How To Be A Gentleman was effectively cancelled after two episodes in its original Thursday night time slot, but had shot nine episodes. CBS planned to burn off the remaining seven episodes of the show on Saturdays but ended up showing only one for a total of three episodes aired. Had CBS aired three episodes on Saturday night Free Agents would have been the “winner.”

Officially – because Blogger’s polling system requires a deadline – the deadline for these polls will be the end of November 2012. The actual deadline will be the day that the first new show in a particular category is cancelled.

Upfronts–Responses to Comments

To finally wind up the Upfront discussion I want to respond to some of the comments that were left in the various articles. The Upfront articles usually yield a number of comments here on the blog anyway, and some of them are pretty good, so let’s take a look.

NBC


Todd Mason wrote:

Well, thank goodness we have no fewer than two series imitating DEXTER coming this season (at least)...this one and SLICING AND DICING KEVIN BACON on Fox.

I know what you mean Todd. The only link I really see to Dexter is that the three shows all have serial killers, but I doubt that either of the two network shows would be on the air if it weren’t for Dexter so it’s less imitation than Network Weasel logic: it did okay on cable so it’s time to put it on broadcast. For the record, I think the FOX Kevin Bacon series – The Following – is likely to be the more successful one (assuming that either one is going to be successful, which I doubt). NBC’s mistake in my view is to tie their show to the Hannibal Lecter character. I think there’s a greater opportunity if the serial killer character isn’t known until he makes his first kill, which shouldn’t come in the first episode. We know what to expect from Hannibal Lecter from the beginning so the shock value of that first kill is minimized.

The Kevin Bacon series reminds me more of Criminal Minds but with an overriding mytharc aspect. The other difference is that while the characters on Criminal Minds operate as a team, the characters on The Following are more antagonistic to each other, or at least to the Kevin Bacon character. Let’s just say that Criminal Minds is the DC Comics version of the concept while The Following is the Marvel Comics version.

Next Roger Owen Green wrote:

I figured Who Do You Think You Are would stick. It's the one show I watch with my 8 y.o.

I really hoped that Who Do You Think You Are would stick as well. Initially I didn’t think it was a show that an American commercial network would embrace, and that it really wasn’t suited to commercial TV. Still I think that it’s loss, combined with the “quality” of the reality shows that NBC is offering, is a bit of a black eye for the network.

Todd Mason responded to Roger’s comment:

Well, WHO DO YOU THINK is pretty much the same series as PBS's Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr....which I hope Canadians might have access to, even if mostly on border stations (haven't doublechecked to see if CBC or anyone else has picked it up, or if TV Ontario and/or SCN will be carrying it if they haven't yet).

The PBS show might be available in some areas but I don’t think it was seen where I live. It doesn’t appear on the list of shows on the two PBS stations available from Shaw Cable – WTVS in Detroit and KSPS in Spokane – but those lists might be out of date. In recent years I haven’t been watching that much on PBS in part because of the interminable Pledge Weeks where the programming more closely resembled an all infomercial/self-help channel than educational television.

SCN is more than a bit of a sore subject with me. In 2010 the provincial government decided to shut down SCN – the Saskatchewan Communications Network – because of “low ratings,” and to save money (in a booming resource economy). A private company called Bluepoint Investments bought the network at the eleventh hour. The new owners planned to offer commercial programming in the prime time period and include advertising. They even got simsub rights for their programming that are only granted to broadcast stations. Earlier this year Bluepoint announced the sale of SCN to Rogers Communications, the owner of Citytv. The station will be rebranded as “Citytv Saskatchewan” and while Rogers claims they won’t seek alteration in the current license, which included a commercial free educational block from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. I’m willing to bet that won’t last that long. The only real educational networks left in Canada are TV Ontario and the Knowledge Network in BC.

CBS

Linda wrote:

When they advertised they were doing an American version of Sherlock I said, "I bet Watson is a woman." Bingo! Of course this isn't a new concept; They Might Be Giants and The Return of the World's Greatest Detective both used the idea. And wasn't there a children's book takeoff on Holmes where the main boy character's "Watson" was a girl?

There probably was, though I’m not enough of a Holmes aficionado to know the title or the details. Making Watson a woman is something an American network, and particularly CBS, would do to create “unresolved sexual tension” (UST). There was a reporter in a Canadian newspaper who claimed that most CBS procedurals had a male-female relationship that could be seen as UST. It wasn’t well-developed and some of the cases of UST were fairly absurd (he mentioned Mac Taylor and Jo Danville on CSI: New York which was something I never saw until he stated it, and don’t see it as being particularly obvious since he mentioned it).

At the time I commented on Linda’s comment and mentioned that the network was also attempting to avoid any charges that the Holmes-male Watson relationship might be seen by some as being a sexual one. Todd Mason jumped on this statement of mine:

Well, of course, today in the Real US and environs, increasingly we see extended-period same-gender roommates...and, increasingly among the young, less worry about homosexuality. (Hell, I live platonically with a woman who owns the house.)

And tell me Todd, do you feel any Unresolved Sexual Tension? Because Television tells us both of you should be expected to be filled to the brim with UST. Obviously you’re right about it being common in real life but these are Network Weasels we’re talking about here, and as a group I think they tend to be conservative on a thing like that, trying as much as possible to avoid controversy. I recently heard Gary Marshall taking about The Odd Couple, and the network weasels of the day were constantly sending him notes telling him (demanding really) to assert the character’s heterosexuality by having more women on the show in a romantic context. I also know that the Doyle Estate sent a letter to Guy Ritchie ordering him not to have anything in his second (and presumably subsequent) Holmes film that would suggest a homosexual relationship between Holmes and Watson. It wasn’t an issue for Doyle or for a couple of generations of stage film and TV producers, but the Doyle Estate made it an issue. I can definitely see the network weasels at CBS saying “why borrow trouble. Changing Watson’s gender avoids any implications and gives us unresolved sexual tension. It’s a win-win answer.”

Todd continues:

Even going back to the '60s, Keith Robertson's YA novels about Henry Reed and Midge Glass employed a male-female Holmes/Watson dynamic (and essentially a platonic one), even though Reed and Glass were more evenly matched (as has also been the post-Doyle tendency...at very least, the latter-day Watson tends to be the one to pull the Holmes's iron out of some fires he's too unconventional/unconcerned to care about).

Well the Robertson novels aren’t specifically Holmes and Watson. Inspiration is different from keeping the characters but changing their genders. The relationship may be similar but the characters aren’t them. House and Wilson were inspired by Holmes and Watson, but they weren’t the characters in the same way that the characters in Elementary are clearly intended to be.
The male-female Holmes dynamic where it’s not actually Sherlock Holmes and Joan H. Watson seems to be quite common. I actually think that the relationship between Patrick Jane and Theresa Lisbon on The Mentalist is a Holmes and Watson style relationship with a man and a woman as lead characters. And yes, I am detecting UST showing up increasingly in that relationship, particularly in the season finale. (One day I’m going to do a post on the comparisons between the Holmes canon and The Mentalist,)

The Season Night By Night

Ben wrote:

I can see why you'd call Revolution a "dead show walking." It looks very reminiscent of shows like The Event and FlashForward, shows that wanted to be the next Lost but made the mistake of jumping right into conspiracies without building interest in the characters.

Well my assessment of Revolution as a “dead show walking” wasn’t entirely based on the premise though that was a contributing factor. Among the factors is the fact that it’s going up against two established shows – Castle and Hawaii Five-0 – and the fact that of the three Revolution has possibly the weakest lead-in with The Voice. Then you can add on the nature of the show itself; a future world without electricity, a place largely reduced if not to the stone age then to an agrarian society far less advanced than it was the last time we didn’t use electricity around 1850 (the first practical electric motors were developed in the 1850s). I’m not convinced that the mass audience is ready for that kind of a world even if they take the time, and don’t jump into the conspiracies right away – which I suspect they will. The public didn’t buy into a show like Kings (which I actually grew to like over time, so much so that I bought the DVDs) or Jericho. I’m not convinced that when given the choice between this show and Castle’s “cop and writer solving crimes in a serio-comic romantic manner” or Hawaii Five-0’s “elite cops in paradise” storylines that they’ll take the time to let Revolution build.

I'd hesitate to write it off, though. One of the creators is JJ Abrams, who co-created Lost itself, even though he left it for others to flesh out. And the other creator is Eric Kripke, who's kept Supernatural going for years. If both of them do what they do well on this show, and if they hire writers who can create a good hour of TV, and if the network gives them space to do all this, then the show has a fighting chance. Granted, that's a lot of ifs, but I'm withholding judgment until the show debuts.

It is a lot of ifs. Your really need to look at the track record, as my relative who handicaps horses would say. Eric Kripke’s only real success has been Supernatural, and that’s a series that probably wouldn’t have received a second season on a network that wasn’t The CW. On the other hand he was also responsible for the failed attempt to make a series of Tarzan, which performed so dismally that even the old WB wouldn’t keep it on the air. And while I’m a bit more charitable about JJ Abrams than Todd Mason (see the next response), I would like to point out that his most recent series. Alcatraz, was largely a failure, and that most networks would have ended Fringe a couple of years ago. And we probably shouldn’t mention Undercovers. By most network standards, most of what Abrams has done would be regarded as failures. Of the “ifs” that you mention maybe the biggest is “if the network gives them space to do this.” Even dealing with NBC – a network that seems increasingly desperate and/or resigned to their fate – I’m not sure the network will be willing to “give them the space” if the standards that they use to measure success or failure (the ratings and particularly the 18-49 ratings) aren’t met. After looking at the clips I think the show looks intriguing but that it probably isn’t the sort of thing mainstream, broadcast TV viewers would go to en masse. It would find a niche on SyFy or maybe the USA Network but I don’t see it working on a broadcast network.

Todd Mason responded to Ben:

I really don't like Abrams's work, and it should be noted that he's had exactly one sustained television success, that in collaboration with a number of folks out of Chris Carter and Joss Whedon's productions (guys who may have had only one or two sustained series respectively, but they were frankly much better series for at least most of their runs, and the Carter and Whedon productions strangled in their cribs were also more interesting than the Abrams misfires...or than SUPERNATURAL).

Well as I said to Ben, I’m a bit more charitable about JJ Abrams than you are. After all, before Lost he was also the the Executive Producer and writer behind Felicity, and Alias, and he’s currently got a second season for Person Of Interest on CBS. Of course he was also the man behind What About Brian, and Six Degrees and Undercovers and Alcatraz And then there’s Fringe (of which I’m a huge fan) which seems to have survived as long as it has because apparently Kevin Reilly loves the show (or Rupert Murdoch wants to keep his ex-wife’s namesake niece employed – that would be Anna Torv). I do tend to agree with you as regards the “failures” of Carter and Whedon – the shows you describe as having been “strangled in their cribs.” A Millenium or a Firefly is more interesting to me than most of Abrams’ failures and some of his successes.

The Video Trailers

Zoey wrote:

I have to say there isn't too much on television that I look forward to these days. I've been watching for a new favorite show but just haven't had that hit yet.

I have favourite, or at least preferred, shows on most night, but I’m pretty easy to please. Don’t put me asleep, don’t give me a headache, and for heavens sake don’t be a talent show and I’ll give you a try – if I like what I see I’ll stick like a barnacle. That’s how I was with The Amazing Race and despite stumbles I’m still the show’s biggest fan. Well at least one of them.

Turning to the list of the coming season’s shows, there aren’t that many that really reach out and grab me the way that The Amazing Race did eleven years ago, or CSI and The West Wing did a few years before that. I don’t see anything on this year’s slate from ABC that will grab me like Revenge or Once Upon A Time did last season. CBS has one show that I’m really looking forward to (Vegas), two shows that have the potential to hold my interest (Partners and Elementary), and Made In New Jersey that doesn’t do a thing for me. What I’ve seen from FOX, in terms of clips, doesn’t work for me. On NBC, out of the huge roster that they put out there, the only shows that do anything for me are The New Normal and Chicago Fire. And right now the only thing that really did anything for me on The CW is Arrow. I don’t know what that says about the shows or me. Maybe my attraction to shows like Vegas, Chicago Fire and Arrow says more about me and my impending geezerhood (I’ll be 56 in August) than it does about the shows. I want someone in the hierarchy of the networks to take the sort of risks that gave us CSI, NYPD Blue, The West Wing, and yes Survivor. Unfortunately I don’t think the networks as a group feel secure enough to try something truly radical and daring.

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I’ve got a couple of other things to take care of in the next week or so – including working up a poll, and then I’m going to try another set of summer recaps – because my attempt to recap Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip last summer went so well. This year’s recap will be of a show that will probably divide my readers. It will be…….

revealed to you when I write the first post.

The CW’s 2012-13 Season

Of the broadcast networks doing original English Language programming the one making the most changes is The CW. With the planned end of Gossip Girl in January the “weblet” will have a new show on four out of the five nights that they program. Five of the network’s six returning shows will have a new day or time – only The Vampire Diaries won’t be relocated. For most networks this would be a massive disruption; for The CW it is pretty close to business as usual.

Cancelled: H8R, Ringer, The Secret Circle, One Tree Hill, Remodeled, The L.A. Complex

Moved: 90210 , Gossip Girl, Hart Of Dixie, Supernatural, America’s Next Top Model, Nikita

Renewed: The Vampire Diaries

New: Emily Owens M.D., Arrow, Beauty And The Beast

Held Until Mid-Season: The Carrie Diaries, Cult

Complete Schedule (all times are Eastern; new shows in capitals)

Monday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: 90210 (New Day)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Gossip Girl (New Time; series will end in January and be replaced by THE CARRIE DIARIES)

Tuesday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Hart Of Dixie (New Day)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: EMILY OWENS M.D.

Wednesday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: ARROW
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Supernatural (New Day)

Thursday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Vampire Diaries
9:00-10:00 p.m.: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Friday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: America’s Next Top Model (New Day)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Nikita (New Time)

Mamie Gummer plays the title character in Emily Owens M.D. Emily Owens thinks that she’s left behind the cliquishness of high schools. She’s finished medical school and is now a first year intern at Denver Memorial Hospital, where she’ll have the chance to work with world-class cardiologist Dr. Gina Beckett (Necar Zadegan). It’s also the place where her high school crush, Will Rider (Justin Hartley) is an intern. But as fellow intern Tyra Granger (Kelly McCreary) warns her, a hospital is like high school all over again: the jocks are in orthopedics, the mean girls in plastics, and the rebels in the ER. Emily has her own problems; her high school nemesis the gorgeous Cassandra Koppelson (Aja Naomi King) is also interning at Denver Memorial and their rivals again, not just as surgical interns but for Will’s affections. Emily now finds herself having to deal not just with life and death medical decisions but also the social politics of the hospital which are so like high school, but with the help of Tyra and “nerdy-but-cute resident” Micah (Michael Rady) she might be able to grow into a great doctor.

Arrow is based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow, who was also a major supporting character on Smallville. But this version of the character is not the same one as on Smallville, with different supporting characters and background story. (If you actually follow the comic books this is not entirely out of keeping with the “New 52” reboot – or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.) Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years after a violent shipwreck. Then he was found on a deserted island. His devoted mother Moira (Suzanna Thompson), beloved sister Thea (Willa Holland) and best friend Tommy (Colin Donnell) all seem to recognize that his five year ordeal has changed him. He’s determined to make amends for his actions as a boy; in particular he’s determined to reconnect with his former girlfriend Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy). But the changes in Ollie’s life go beyond reconnecting with family and friends. By day he behaves like the “old” Oliver Queen, a carefree, careless philanderer accompanied by his loyal chauffeur and bodyguard John Diggle (David Ramsey). By night he creates the persona of “Arrow,” a vigilante determined to right the wrongs done by his family, fight the ills of society and restore his city to its faded glory. This brings Arrow into conflict with Detective Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), Laurel’s father, who is determined to stop the vigilante operating in his city.

Beauty And The Beast is a remake of the late 1980s cult classic. Catherine Chandler (Kristin Kreuk) is a smart, no-nonsense homicide detective. with a past. Years ago she witnessed the murder of her mother by two gunmen who would have killed her if they weren’t stopped by someone or…something. In the years that followed she has become a strong, confident, capable police officer. Working a case with her equally capable partner Tess (Nina Lisandrello) she discovers a clue that leads her to Vincent Keller (Jay Ryan), a handsome doctor who was supposedly killed in Afghanistan in 2002. In the course of the investigation Catherine discovers that Vincent is still alive and is the one who saved her life all those years ago. Mysterious reasons have forced him to live outside traditional society. Vincent has been guarding a terrible secret for ten years; when enraged he becomes a terrifying beast, unable to control his superhuman strength and heightened senses. Catherine agrees to hide his secret in return for Vincent’s insights on her mother’s murder. Thus begins a complicated relationship between two people who are intensely drawn to each other but at the same time realize that their connection could be dangerous to both of them.

AnnaSophia Robb plays a young Carrie Bradshaw in The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to Sex And The City. The year is 1984 and it isn’t the best of times for 16 year-old Carrie. Her mother had just died, here younger sister Dorritt (Stephania Owen) is more rebellious than ever, and her father Tom (Matt Letscher) is overwhelmed by suddenly having to deal with two teenaged girls on his own. Her friends – sweet geeky Mouse (Ellen Wong), sarcastic, self-assured Maggie (Katie Findlay), and sensitive Walt (Brendon Dooling) – make her life bearable, and the arrival of transfer student Sebastian (Austin Butler) brings some excitement to her world, but it’s not enough. So when Tom offers her the opportunity to intern at a Manhattan law firm she jumps at the chance. The grit and glamour of the city excite her, and when she meets Larissa (Freema Agyeman), the style editor of Interview Magazine she’s inspired by the club culture and unique individuals who make up Larissa’s world. Carrie has encountered the great love of her life – Manhattan.

The disappearance of investigative journalist Jeff Sefton’s (Matt Davis) brother Nate is the starting point for mid-season series Cult. Nate had had a string of obsessions, the most recent of which was the assertion that the popular TV show “Cult” was out to hurt him. It was something Jeff could laugh off until Nate disappeared. His investigations lead him to Skye (Jessica Lucas) a research assistant at the show who has become suspicious of “dark happenings” surrounding the show. The fictional show “Cult” focuses on the cat-and-mouse game between charismatic cult leader Billy Grimm (Robert Knepper) and LAPD detective Kelley Collins (Alona Tal). It has developed an obsessed fan base, some of whom take their fixation to deadly extremes. As Jeff and Skye dig deeper into the show’s most obsessed fans they discover that the gruesome plot twists of the show are much more than fantasy for some very unfortunate people.

Comments
There’s something vaguely sad about The CW. This is a network that occasionally has some very good concepts – I love the idea behind Cult for example – but they’ve never seemed to get that one show that breaks though into mainstream consciousness and success that’s even a fraction of what one of the “Big Four” have achieved. Between moves and new shows they’ve managed to revamp their line-up for the season but while it’s not quite “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” none of the changes will really make the network break through into some sort of mainstream success.

This year’s new offerings pander to The CW’s two big constituencies: Teen and Early 20s women and comic book geek/genre fans. Look at the network’s history and you’ll see what I’m talking about. For the female fans you have The Carrie Diaries about a 16 year-old falling in love with New York and laying the foundation of what Carrie Bradshaw will be by the time Sex And The City starts (but probably not smoking); Emily Owens M.D., the show that informs us that the “real world” (in this case a major hospital) is just like the social side of high school; and the remake of Beauty & The Beast. (Confession time: when the show originally aired with Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman I really enjoyed it, mostly because of Linda Hamilton but not entirely. Over the years since the show left the air it has come to bother me that the male romantic lead, Vincent, was arguably a serial killer, even though most of the killings were at least semi-justified.) For the comic book geeks/genre fans, joining Supernatural and (arguably) Nikita are the DC Comics based series Arrow and the mid-season series Cult. It’s an odd and interesting mix, but there’s nothing that will gain the “weblet” mainstream attention.

The CW isn’t going to be the top network this year, and probably not any time soon. Their programming strategy is unlikely to produce a hit show, unless the definition of a hit is one set by the network itself. The CW has set its schedule in an aggressive manner, relocating shows in a manner that groups shows by some common thread and will presumably attract a common audience. It’s an idea that a larger more established network probably wouldn’t attempt, at least not so openly. I rather like what they’ve done with their schedule. The problem is that no matter how good the schedule is I doubt that any CW show this season will rise higher than fourth in the nightly ratings, no matter how good it is.

CBS’s 2012-13 Season

CBS announced their new Fall lineup on Tuesday morning. The network, which is dominant in the overall ratings has offered up an interesting mix of new shows and the transfer of two major series to new nights and times. The new line-up manages to near impossible task of being both adventurous and conservative at the same time.

Cancelled: CSI: Miami, A Gifted Man, How To Be A Gentleman, NYC 22, Rob, Unforgettable

Moved: Two And A Half Men, CSI: New York, The Mentalist, 2 Broke Girls

Renewed: How I Met Your Mother, Mike & Molly, Hawaii Five-0, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Survivor, Criminal Minds, CSI, The Big Bang Theory, Person Of Interest, Blue Bloods, Amazing Race, The Good Wife

New: Partners, Vegas, Elementary, Made In New Jersey

Held Until Mid-Season: Golden Boy, Friend Me, Undercover Boss, The Job

Fate Unknown: Rules Of Engagement

Complete Schedule (all times are Eastern; New shows – except CSI and NCIS) in capitals

Monday

8:00-8:30 p.m.: How I Met Your Mother
8:30-9:00 p.m.: PARTNERS
9:00-9:30 p.m.: 2 Broke Girls (New Time)
9:30-10:00 p.m.: Mike & Molly
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Hawaii Five-0

Tuesday

8:00-9:00 p.m.: NCIS
9:00-10:00 p.m.: NCIS: Los Angeles
10:00-11:00 p.m.: VEGAS

Wednesday

8:00-9:00 p.m.: Survivor
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Criminal Minds
10:00-11:00 p.m.: CSI

Thursday

8:00-8:30 p.m.: The Big Bang Theory
8:30-9:00 p.m.: Two And A Half Men (New Day)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Person Of Interest
10:00-11:00 p.m.: ELEMENTARY

Friday

8:00-9:00 p.m.: CSI: New York (New Time)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: MADE IN NEW JERSEY
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Blue Bloods

Sunday

7:00-8:00 p.m.: 60 Minutes
8:00-9:00 p.m.: The Amazing Race
9:00-10:00 p.m.: The Good Wife
10:00-11:00 p.m.: The Mentalist (New Day)

Partners looks at two lifelong best friends and business partners whose relationship is on the verge of changing. Joe (David Krumholtz) is an accomplished architect who leads with his head not his heart. He’s newly engaged to Ali (Sophia Bush) a beautiful and talented jewelry designer. His partner Louis (Michael Urie) is gay, spontaneous, emotional and prone to exaggerating. Louis is dating Wyatt (Brandon Routh) a vegan nurse who Louis claims is just one promotion shy of being a doctor. The question is how Joe and Louis's business and personal relationship change with the inclusion of these two important new relationships.

CBS enters into period drama with their new series Vegas. A fictionalized version of the career of Ralph Lamb who was Clark County Sheriff from 1961-1979, a time when Las Vegas was experiencing tremendous growth. Lamb (Dennis Quaid) is a fourth generation rancher who just wants to be left alone to run his place. The problem is that the city is expanding and because the city was – at the time – the only place to gamble in the United States, corruption was becoming an issue. When a casino worker is murdered, the mayor of Las Vegas remembers that Lamb commanded a Military Police unit during World War II and appeals to his sense of duty to get him to look into the case. This brings him into conflict with Chicago mobster Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis) who wants to make Las Vegas his own. Lamb is assisted by two deputies, his diplomatic, even-keeled brother Jack (Jason O’Mara) and his charming, impulsive son Dixon (Taylor Handley), as well as by ambitious Assistant District Attorney Katherine O’Connell (Carrie-Anne Moss) who grew up on a ranch next to the Lambs. (The real Ralph Lamb is still alive at age 85. In fact, when he learned that the show had been picked up he called a friend of his who was in Italy – Dennis Quaid.)

Elementary is an American take on modernizing the Sherlock Holmes character. The following is from the official CBS press release (although I am adding the actor names) simply because I’m afraid I might get satirical. “Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare – a sober companion, Dr. Watson (Lucy Liu). A successful surgeon until she lost a patient and her license three years ago, Watson views her current job as another opportunity to help people, as well as paying a penance. However, the restless Sherlock is nothing like her previous clients. He informs her that none of her expertise as an addiction specialist applies to him and he's devised his own post-rehab regimen – resuming his work as a police consultant in New York City. Watson has no choice but to accompany her irascible new charge on his jobs. But Sherlock finds her medical background helpful, and Watson realizes she has a knack for playing investigator. Sherlock's police contact, Capt. Tobias "Toby" Gregson (Aidan Quinn), knows from previous experience working with Scotland Yard that Sherlock is brilliant at closing cases, and welcomes him as part of the team. With the mischievous Sherlock Holmes now running free in New York solving crimes, it's simple deduction that he's going to need someone to keep him grounded, and it's elementary that it's a job for Watson.”

Janet Montgomery plays Martina Garretti in the new series Made In Jersey. Martina comes from a working class New Jersey family and at first glance wouldn’t seem to fit in with the Ivy League educated lawyers at the prestigious New York law firm where she works. However what she lacks in the prestige of her education she more than makes up for with her tenacity and blue collar insight. These qualities plus her ingenuity and resourcefulness get her noticed by the firm’s founder Donavon Stark (Kyle MacLachlin) as well as by her secretary Cyndi Vega (Toni Trucks). With the support of her family including her sister Bonnie (Erin Cummings) she’s able to maintain her New Jersey roots even in the intimidating environment of her New York law firm.

Golden Boy is the saga of the rise of an ambitious young cop to become the youngest Police Commissioner in New York history. While being interviewed about his rise to the top job Walter William Clark Jr. (Theo James) flashes back to his early days on the job. After just three years on the job Clark is able to be promoted to Detective on the Homicide Squad. He’s disappointed to be teamed with veteran Detective Don Owen (Chi McBride) who is just two years shy of retirement. He’d rather be teamed with the “alpha dog” on the squad, Detective First Grade Christian Arroyo (Kevin Alejandro), a cop who is just as ambitious as Walter but without a moral center. Also on the squad are Arroyo’s partner Detective Deborah McKenzie (Bonnie Somerville) a third generation cop who is also the only woman on the squad, and Detective Joe Diacco (Holt McCallany) who is well-connected with tremendous resources. Walter is determined to succeed as quickly as possible and bases his career decisions on that need. In fact the only distraction from this goal is his role as the sole caregiver and support of his sister Agnes (Stella Maeve), a teenager exhibiting increasingly dangerous behaviour.

Friend Me looks at friendship in the age of instant communications. Rob (Nicholas Braun) and Evan (Christopher Mintz-Plass) are two twenty-something guys from Indiana who move to Los Angeles to start cool new jobs. Evan is content to stay at home, web chatting and playing poker online, with his Indiana friends Mike (Darveesh Cheena), Sully (Tim Robinson), and Farhad (Dan Ahdoot) just a mouse click away. Rob however wants to meet people who aren’t just staring down at their smart phones and laptops and so, despite Evan’s warnings that nothing good can come of it, puts up a flyer seeking new friends at a local coffee shop. Some of the replies have potential while others are just disturbing. Suddenly Rob and the reluctant Evan are embarking on a series of the most epic adventures and disasters of their lives.

The Job is the latest reality series from Mark Burnett. Each week new candidates are chosen from across the country for the chance to win their dream job at one of America’s leading company. Lisa Ling hosts and leads the prospects through a number of challenges, from a spot quiz to assess their knowledge of the company to deadline driven tasks while they spend time on the job. In addition there is a rival company waiting to steal any of the contenders with a job offer. When that happens the contender must decide immediately whether or not to take the offer from the rival company or to stay on and try for their once in a lifetime job.

Comments
CBS is in the amazing position where there are few shows that they really needed to cancel. The biggest example of this was probably Unforgettable. If that series had been on any of the three major networks it would still be on the air. After all it won its timeslot handily most weeks. On CBS it was expendable, along with a long-in-the-tooth series with a sometime problem star (CSI: Miami and David Caruso) and a couple of legitimate failures (A Gifted Man, How To Be A Gentleman). They can afford to move not one but two of their biggest shows to shore up weak spots.

For me the new CBS series are a bit of a mixed bag. I think Partners is right in the network’s wheelhouse when it comes to comedies, and should slide in between How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls like it was built for the timeslot. Similarly I like how when they decided to do a period series it wasn’t about an airline in 1963 or a nightclub with an iconic name, it is a procedural. Vegas is another show that fits what the network has been doing for years. My only quibble is whether it should be on Tuesday night or should have been saved for Thursdays. Finally Made In Jersey fits the CBS approach to Friday like a glove. They have always gone for at least one show that has the potential to draw a female audience. A Gifted Man may have failed but it follows in a line that included Ghost Whisperer, Joan of Arcadia, Close To Home and Moonlight (a show that wouldn’t have been cancelled if anyone at CBS had foreseen the “Vampire” fad that has emerged in the past few years, but that’s irrelevant now).

Not that I think it’s all perfect at CBS. I have great concerns over Sherlock. Admittedly I’m a bit of a “Holmes purist,” but the description from the network gives me the willies…and not in a good way. It seems too “flip” and irreverent. I want to be wrong, but in this case I’m not sure if viewers are going to buy into this in the long run.I’m afraid that in audience terms it might turn out to be more like a previous occupant of the third hour on Thursday nights, The Eleventh Hour, a show that I really liked personally but which didn’t take off with the mass audience. I also have some concerns, although not as grave, about the mid-season show Golden Boy. It will probably work, but the description comes off a bit like a standard procedural wrapped with the gimmick from How I Met Your Mother; a weir mix to say the least.

This is exactly the sort of line-up I expect from CBS. They’re building on their strengths, and when they take chances the chances they take aren’t too radical. And of course this is because they don’t have to take radical chances. As the man said, it is good to be king.

ABC’s 2012-13 Season

ABC announced their new line-up for the 2012-13 season on Tuesday morning. The network made a limited number of cancellations – though it’s worth noting that four of them came from two timeslots (Sunday’s third hour and Thursday’s first hour) – and a small number of new shows. In fact the network has as many new shows waiting for mid-season as they do for the start of the year (five each – three dramas and two comedies). The network is taking a couple of risks – which is admirable – but whether that risk-taking will pay off is the big question.

Cancelled: Charlie’s Angels, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, GCB, Man Up, Missing, Pan Am, The River, Work It, Cougar Town (moving to TBS)

Moved: Revenge, Last Man Standing, Happy Endings, Dancing With The Stars Results

Renewed: Dancing With The Stars, Castle, Happy Endings, Don’t Trust The B---- In Apartment 23, Private Practice, Suburgatory, Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Shark Tank, Primetime: What Would You Do?, 20/20, America’s Funniest Videos, Once Upon A Time

New: The Neighbors, Nashville, Last Resort, Malibu Country, 666 Park Avenue

Held Until Mid Season: Body Of Proof, Wife Swap, Mistresses, Red Widow, Zero Hour, How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life), The Family Tools

Complete Schedule (All times are Eastern; New shows in capitals)

Monday
8:00-10:00 p.m.: Dancing With The Stars
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Castle

Tuesday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Dancing With The Stars Results (New Time)
9:00-9:30 p.m.: Happy Endings (New Day)
9:30-10:00 p.m.: Don’t Trust The B---- in Apartment 23 (New Day)
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Private Practice

Wednesday
8:00-8:30 p.m.: The Middle
8:30-9:00 p.m.: Suburgatory
9:00-9:30: Modern Family
9:30-10:00 p.m.: THE NEIGHBORS
10:00-11:00 p.m.: NASHVILLE

Thursday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: LAST RESORT
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Grey’s Anatomy
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Scandal

Friday (until November)
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Shark Tank
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Primetime: What Would You Do?
10:00-11:00 p.m.: 20/20

Friday (starting in November)
8:00-8:30 p.m.: Last Man Standing (New Day)
8:30-9:00 p.m.: MALIBU COUNTRY
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Shark Tank
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Primetime: What Would You Do?

Sunday
7:00-8:00 p.m.: America’s Funniest Videos
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Once Upon A Time
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Revenge (New Day)
10:00-11:00 p.m.: 666 PARK AVENUE

The Neighbors is set in the gated community of Hidden Hills, New Jersey. Townhouses in the exclusive development with its own golf course haven`t come on the market for ten years. When an opportunity to buy in the community comes up, the Weavers – Marty (Lenny Venito), Debbie (Jami Gertz) and their three kids – buy in. Things seem a bit odd at first. For one thing all of the other people in the neighbourhood have the same names as famous athletes, like Reggie Jackson (Tim Jo), Jackie Joiner-Kersee (Toks Olagundoye), Dick Butkis (Ian Patrick), and Larry Bird (Simon Templeman). At their first dinner with the neighbours, Marty and Debbie discover that all of their neighbours are actually aliens from the planet Zabvron, where people gain nourishment through their eyes by reading books, cry green goo from their ears, and where men have the babies. The Zabvronians have been on Earth for ten years waiting for instructions from their home world, but Marty and Debbie are the only actual humans that they’ve ever met.

Nashville stars Connie Britton as Rayna James, a country music legend whose career is starting to slip. Her record label thinks that a tour as an opening act for up and coming star Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettierre) will help boost her career. The problem is that Juliette can’t wait to grab the spotlight from Rayna. Juliette is a disrespectful, untalented vixen and Rayna soon finds herself in a power struggle with the younger woman. Maybe the undiscovered talent of songwriter Scarlett O’Connor (Clare Bowen) will help Rayna resurrect her career. Adding to the tension is Rayna’s wealthy and powerful father Lamar Hampton (Powers Booth) who, although he is estranged from Rayna is still a powerful figure in her life, particularly when he schemes to get Rayna’s husband Teddy (Eric Close) to run for Mayor of Nashville.

The Last Resort starts as a taut military thriller. 500 feet under the surface of the ocean the ballistic missile submarine USS Colorado is operating properly when a message comes to them on a radio channel designed to be used only if the United States has been destroyed in a nuclear war. Their orders are to launch the sub’s missiles against Pakistan. When the Colorado’s commander, Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) seeks confirmation of the order from the White House he is removed from command. When his executive officer, Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman) also seeks confirmation the submarine is attacked. Damaged and declared rogue by their own country Chaplin, Kendal and the men and women of USS Colorado seek refuge on an exotic island where they will find romance and the chance for a new life even as they seek to clear their names and return home. Also stars Daisy Betts, Dichen Lachman, Daniel Lissing, Sahr Ngaujah, Camille de Pasis, Autumn Reeser, and Jessy Schram. Robert Patrick also appears in a recurring guest star role.

Malibu Country marks the return of Reba McIntyre to weekly television playing Reba Gallagher. When Reba discovers that here country singer husband Bobby (Jeffrey Nordling) has been messing around on her, she gets a divorce and movers her two children and her sharp-tongued mother Lillie May (Lilly Tomlin) to a home in Malibu – just about the only asset they have left. Despite gaining a new friend named Kim (Sara Rue) and her son Sage, Reba feels out of place in Southern California. Nevertheless she sets out to revive the musical career she gave up when she married Bobby, with the help of her new manager Geoffrey (Jai Rodriguez).

666 Park Avenue is a new drama with supernatural overtones. For residents at “The Drake,” all of their ambitions and desires will be fulfilled, courtesy of the building’s mysterious owner Gavin Doran (Terry O’Quinn). Everything has a price of course, and the people living at the ominous address of 666 Park Avenue are involved in a Faustian contract. This includes the young midwestern couple, Jane Van Veen (Rachel Taylor) and Henry Martin (Dave Annable) who are hired to manage the historic building. They not only fall under the machinations of Gavin and his mysterious wife Olivia (Vanessa Williams) but begin to discover the shadowy supernatural forces within the building that imprison and endanger the lives of the residents of The Drake.

Mistresses, based on the British series of the same name, is the story of four sexy and sassy girlfriends who are on their own path to self-discovery. Alyssa Milano plays Savi, a successful career woman who is looking forward to make partner at her law firm, and to starting a family with her husband Harry (Brett Tucker). Her younger sister Josselyn (Jes Macallan) is totally different; a single woman partying, serial dating and leaning on her big sister for support. Their common friend April (Rochelle Yates) is a recent widow with two children trying to move forward and rebuild her life. Finally there’s Karen (Yunjin Kim) a successful therapist who reconnects with her three old friends after a complicated relationship with a patient goes too deep.

The brutal murder of Marta Walraven’s (Radha Mitchell) husband is the starting point for new drama Red Widow. Stay at home mom Marta’s first instinct is to protect her three young children but for Marta this has a different meaning from what it might have for others. Her husband’s business partners – Marta’s scheming and untrustworthy brother Irwin Petrova (Wil Traval) and Mike Tomlin (Lee Tergesen) – were involved in a drug deal with other mobsters and Marta’s husband paid the ultimate price. The world of mobsters is hardly new terrain for Marta. Her father Andrei Petrova (Rade Sherbedzija) and his loyal bodyguard Luther (Luke Goss) are gangsters too. Marta and her sister Kat (Jamie Ray Newman) always wanted a life without the danger and fear, and it was something that Marta thought she had before her husband died. Now she’s determined to take on both the Mob and the FBI to dig her way out of the underworld,

In Zero Hour Anthony Edwards plays Hank Galliston, the publisher of “The Modern Skeptic”. Hank has spent his career debunking myths and solving conspiracies. His motto has always been “logic is the compass,” but when his beautiful wife Laila (Jacinda Barrett) is abducted from her antique clock shop, Hank is embroiled in a mystery that spans around the world and through the centuries. Aided by two young associates – Rachel (Addison Timlin) and Arron (Scott Michael Foster) – and sexy FBI agent Becca Riley (Carmen Ejogo) Hank not only has to unravel the clues but also to keep the answers from falling into the hands of the man they call “White Vincent” (Michael Nyqvist) in order to find his wife and save humanity.

How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life) is a new comedy starring Sarah Chalke. Polly (Chalke) is a single mom whose been divorced for a year. The change in her circumstances, combined with the current economy forces her to take her daughter Natalie (Rachel Eggleston) and move back in with her eccentric parents Elaine (Elizabeth Perkins) and Max (Brad Garrett). Polly and her parents are totally different in surprising ways. Polly is too uptight; her parents are too laid back. Polly is ultra-conservative when it comes to sex; her parents are still sexually adventurous. But with some help from her friends, including her best friend Gregg (Orlando Jones), her ex-husband Julian (Jon Dore) and her assistant Jenn (Rebecca Delgado Smith) Polly sets out to get a life, starting with a social life.

When Tony Shea (J.K. Simmons) has a heart attack he’s forced to turn over the keys to he beloved handyman business to his son Jack (Kyle Bornheimer). That’s the starting point for The Family Tools. The problem (of course) is that while Jack is enthusiastic and determined to make his father proud, his past career efforts have been less than successful. Needless to say, everyone expects him to fail, including his father’s rebellious troublemaking assistant Darren (Edi Gathegi) and Darren’s flirtatious sister Liz (Danielle Nicollet) who works at the local hardware store. In Jack’s corner are his Aunt Terry (Leah Remini) and his oddball cousin Mason (Johnny Pemberton).

Comments
ABC has some problems which they need to address. Some of them are fairly obvious. Their hold on the third hour of Sunday night has been tenuous since they folded Brothers And Sisters, with Pan Am, GCB both dying in the time slot. The first hour of Thursday night has been a problem even longer; the last time they had a show last even a full season in the timeslot was…well actually I’m not sure when they had a show run more than a season in that timeslot. In the past three years the time was held by Flash Forward, The Deep End, My Generation, Charlie’s Angels, and Missing. This past cycle of Dancing With The Stars has seen some erosion in the ratings thanks to going up against The Voice. Then too, some of their existing shows are aging, so while things are not as dire for ABC as they are for NBC, I think they do have concerns.

Looking at the new shows that ABC is bringing out, I’m not sure that they’ve really got a handle on their problems. Last Resort looks like it has a lot of action – at least in what I suspect will be the pilot – but while the pilot is vaguely reminiscent of the theatrical thriller Crimson Tide (with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington) the description of what comes after feels like a mix of Jericho and Lost. I’m not sure what the audience wants in the Thursday timeslot but I don’t think it’s this. And sad to say I think  As to Sunday night, I like the idea of moving Revenge to the old Desperate Housewives timeslot although I might have put it in the third hour instead. The problem for me is 666 Park Avenue. It appears to have a good cast but we’ve seen shows with this sort of supernatural aspect come and go quite rapidly in the past. It’s a risk and I’m not sure it’s one that will pay off for the network. Moving Revenge to Sunday night opens up the third hour of Wednesday night, and I think that the female oriented Nashville is going to do fine there.

I’ve got a mixed opinion on ABC’s comedies. I like the idea that they’re going to program scripted shows on Friday, vaguely reminiscent of the old TGIF shows although aimed at an older audience. I was a big fan of Reba McIntyre’s WB series – the lady has a talent for comedy – and Malibu Country sounds good to me. The Tuesday comedy Neighbors on the other hand seems just plain dumb, and reminiscent of that other great comedy success (sarcasm most assuredly on) Cavemen. People with a modicum of taste should sink this one. The Family Tools is another show which seems weak to me. I don’t thinks it will be as bad as Neighbors has the potential to be and it’s certainly not as offensive as Work It was but the description is hardly attractive. On the other hand How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life) does sound like a show with potential even if the “conservative daughter-liberal parents” thing is a bit old hat.

Finally, looking at the mid-season dramas I expect the Anthony Edwards series Zero Hour will replace Last Resort when that show falls and – despite the obvious rip-off of The DaVinci Code – I don’t think either Last Resort or Zero Hour will be renewed this time next year. Finally there’s Red Widow. I’m not really sure where this one is going to fit for the network. Is it Revenge set amongst Russian mobsters instead of rich people in the Hamptons, or are they trying to make the sort of hard hitting violent show that other networks are pushing? Whatever the case I’m not seeing it work on a network that tends toward the “light and airy.”

I applaud the efforts that ABC is making to shore up their line-up before things get significantly worse. If NBC back in the day had taken that attitude a few years ago we might not be seeing the collapse of that network and their seeming inability to get any traction when it comes to rebuilding. I’m just not certain that all of the moves that ABC is making are going to be successful. On the other hand enough of them are going to work that it won’t be a disaster.

FOX’s 2012-13 Season

Fox announced their new season Monday morning, and at first glance it appears to be primarily a case of moving some of the chairs around. Only three new series will debut in September – one dram
a and two comedies – but several series will find new time slots. And as always with FOX the mid-season will see even more planned changes. One other thing that is patently missing from FOX’s line-up is the sort of big budget, high profile series that typified the network’s new shows in previous years.

Cancelled: House, Terra Nova, Allen Gregory, I Hate My Teenaged Daughter, The Finder, Alcatraz, Napoleon Dynamite

Moved: Raising Hope (new time), Glee, Touch

Renewed: American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, Bones, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, Fringe, New Girl, The Simpsons, The X-Factor,

New: Mob Doctor, Ben & Kate, The Mindy Project

Held Until Mid Season: American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, The Following, The Goodwin Games

Complete Schedule (all times, Eastern, new shows in Capitals)


Monday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Bones
9:00-10:00 p.m.: THE MOB DOCTOR (The Following at mid-season)


Tuesday
8:00-8:30 p.m.: Raising Hope (new time)
8:30-9:00 p.m.: BEN AND KATE
9:00-9:30 p.m.: The New Girl
9:30-10:00 p.m.: THE MINDY PROJECT


Wednesday
8:00-10:00 p.m.: The X-Factor (American Idol at mid-season) 

Thursday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: The X-Factor (American Idol at mid-season)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Glee (new day and time)


Friday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Touch (new day and time)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Fringe (Hell’s Kitchen at mid-season)

Sunday
7:00-7:30 p.m.: The OT (Animation Domination reruns after Football season)
7:30-8:00 p.m.: The Cleveland Show
8:00-8:30 p.m.: The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 p.m.: Bob’s Burgers
9:00-9:30 p.m.: The Family Guy
9:30-10:00 p.m.: American Dad


The Mob Doctor tells the story of Dr. Grace Devlin (Jordana Spiro) and her double life. A top resident at Chicago’s Roosevelt Medical Center, she’s been hailed as one of the most promising young cardiothoracic surgeons in the country. However she owes a lifetime debt to the Chicago Mob to pay off her brother’s life threatening gambling debt. In her public life she is involved with compelling cases ranging from a toddler who needs heart surgery to the chaos of a crash on The El. In her other role she patches up injured mobsters, removes bullets from dead bodies to destroy incriminating evidence, and even dealing with an aging mobster’s erectile dysfunction. She has to keep her life with the mob secret from everyone in her life; her best friend Nurse “Ro” Angeli (Floriana Lima), her blue-blood boyfriend Dr. Brett Robinson (Zach Gilford), her boss Dr Stafford White (Zeljko Ivanek), her mother (Wendy Makkena) and even the brother Nate (Jesse Lee Soffer) whose debt led her into her deal with The Mob. The only person who really knows the extent of her activities on both sides of her life is the Mob boss to whom she owes her debt, Constantine Alexander (William Forsythe).


Ben And Kate are a brother and sister who couldn’t be more different. Kate Fox (Dakota Johnson) has followed the rules all of her life with one exception. That exception was getting pregnant out of wedlock which forced her to quit college just before graduation. After the birth of her daughter Maddie (Maggie Jones), Kate put her 20s on hold to be “responsible.” She works as a bar manager to maximize her time with Maddie. Her brother Ben is the opposite of Kate. He likes trouble more than she ever did, and has an infectious energy that draws people into his crazy schemes and bad ideas. When Ben arrives to crash on Kate’s couch for a few days he quickly realises that for the first time in their lives she needs his help, because Kate is surviving rather than living. Lucy Punch plays Kates Best friend BJ, a waitress at the bar that Kate manages, and Echo Kellum is Tommy, Ben’s “partner-in-crime” who not only treats Ben as his hero but also has a serious crush on Kate.


The Mindy Project stars former star of The Office Mindy Kaling as Dr. Mindy Kahiri, a talented OB/GYN with a chaotic personal life full of bad habits. She can quote every Meg Ryan romantic comedy – because the girl always gets the guy even in the bad movies – and is determined to become a well-rounded, perfect woman, able to win the perfect guy. This means trying to be more punctual, spend less money, lose weight and read more books. Her work life isn’t perfect either. She shares a practice with several other doctors, including Jeremy Reed (Ed Weeks) who is “the walking definition of bad news, and sometimes shares Mindy’s bed, despite her best efforts to resist. Then there’s Danny Castellano (Chris Messina), a hot headed guy’s guy who not only steals Mindy’s patients but also constantly criticises her for he supposed lack of professionalism to her struggling love life, even though he secretly admires her work. Rounding out the cast are Gwen Grady (Anna Camp) a married lawyer turned “Pilates mom” who has Mindy’s best friend since college, and the practice’s two receptionists, Betsy Putch (Zoe Jarman) and Shauna DiCanio (Dana DeLorenzo).


The Goodwin Games is a comedy about three siblings who are in line to inherit fortune from their recently deceased father. Benjamin Goodwin (Beau Bridges in a guest starring role) felt guilty about not being a better parent to his three children. In an effort to get his children to rediscover their true selves Benjamin arranges with his estate lawyer April (Melissa Tang) to set up a number of challenges for them to win his $20 million estate…an estate that none of his children knew existed. Henry Goodwin (Scott Foley) feels he is the most deserving to inherit. He’s a successful surgeon who feels he’s a role model for his less successful siblings and lets them know it at every opportunity. Chloe (Becki Newton), the middle child had been a math prodigy but turned her back on it to be a “popular girl.” Benjamin’s challenges for Chloe are intended to reconnect her with her old love of numbers. Finally there’s family screw-up Jimmy (Jake Lacy), a small-time ex-con and “dull-witted guitarist” with a big debt to a loan shark. Jake may be a screw-up but he’s got more heart than any of his siblings.


Imagine if the 300 or so serial killers that the FBI believes are currently active were somehow able to communicate with each other, work together, even form alliances. And imagine if one notorious serial killer not only set this up but develops an almost cult-like following among them. This is the premise behind The Following. When serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) escapes from death row and resumes his killing spree, former FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) is brought out of retirement to consult. Hardy knows everything possible about Carroll, but his pursuit of the killer nine years ago left him mentally and physically damaged. The FBI team currently on the case – tough as nails Jennifer Mason (Jeananne Goosen) and razor-sharp Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) – regard Hardy as a liability rather than an asset, but it is Hardy who uncovers the network of serial killers that Carroll has been creating. In the course of the case Hardy reconnects with Carroll’s ex-wife, Claire Matthews (Natalie Zea) who is the mother of Carroll’s ten year-old son Joey (Kyle Catlett). In the past Hardy and Claire were close and she is able to provide insight about Carroll’s moves.


Comments:
A very conservative roster for FOX. The centrepiece of the line-up is the combination of The X-Factor and American Idol together with the Sunday night animation block. that gives them a stable four and a half or five hours for the network to build from. With only three new shows and a careful redistribution of existing shows Fox seems to have built up a fairly safe, although not particularly exciting schedule.

Looking at the shows that have moved the biggest switch has been the move of Glee from Tuesday to Thursday nights. This allows FOX to build up a two hour live action comedy night on Tuesday, and gives Glee the advantage of the X-Factor/American Idol powerhouse as a lead-in. The move of the Keifer Sutherland show Touch to Friday night as the lead-in to the final thirteen episodes of Fringe might be seen by some as sacrificing the show in the “Friday night death slot” as a way of getting rid of the show. Another weakness might be the use of Raising Hope to open the comedy block on Tuesday night. Ratings for Raising Hope with Glee as a lead-in have not been stellar and there is probably reason for concern that it might not be able to anchor the night.


Looking at the new shows, I believe the greatest strengths are the midseason drama The Following and the fall debuting The Mindy Project. My personal opinion is that audiences won’t readily buy into the premise of The Mob Doctor. As for Kate And Ben, it seems to derivative of aspects of shows like 2 Broke Girls and Don’t Trust The B---- In Apartment 23 (and those shows are themselves derivative of The Odd Couple) in which two disparate people are forced to live together by circumstances and find that they can learn from each other or are stronger working together than they are alone. By contrast The Mindy Project seems a bit fresher, blending elements of The New Girl with Bridget Jones’s Diary in that you have a romantic single woman trying to overcome her shortcomings. The Following appears to be FOX’s big project of the season (with apologies to The Mod Doctor which is a show I just don’t think will fly) and it presents a frightening, if somewhat far-fetched, vision. Done right I think it could do well; done wrong it could be a disaster, although FOX is no stranger to those.


FOX’s safe and conservative line-up looks like it should deliver for them both ratings success and stability. It’s not earth shaking, and quite frankly there’s no show in the line-up that thrills me the way something like The Chicago Code did a couple of years ago (or even Alcatraz this past season – yes, I was the guy who liked it). Most of all it is dependent on a couple of key players staying as successful as they have been over the past few years. A sound if somewhat boring schedule.

NBC’s 2012-13 Season

NBC broke with precedent this year and presented their new shows on Sunday afternoon rather than on Monday morning. The network which was in trouble for the past few years announced seven new comedies, five new dramas and four “alternative” programs. The network will have at least an hour of sitcoms on four of the six nights that the network programs. Thirteen shows were renewed, but only six of last season’s fourteen entertainment programs are coming back. I don’t have much hope that this year will be the start of a comeback for the one time “must see TV” network.

Cancelled: Chuck, Prime Suspect, The Playboy Club, Free Agents, Harry's Law, Are You There Chelsea?, Best Friends Forever, The Firm, Bent, Awake, Who Do You Think You Are?, The Sing-Off

Moved: Community, Up All Night, Whitney,

Renewed: Grimm, 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, The Voice, Dateline NBC, The Office, Rock Center with Brian Williams

New: Go On, The New Normal, Animal Practice, Guys With Kids, Revolution, Chicago Fire

Held until mid-season: Smash, Fashion Star, The Biggest Loser, Celebrity Apprentice, 1600 Penn, Save Me, Next Caller, Do No Harm, Infamous, Hannibal, Stars Earn Stripes, Howie Mandel’s White Elephant, Surprise With Jenny McCarthy, Ready For Love

Complete Schedule (All times Eastern, New Shows in capitals)

Monday
8:00-10:00 p.m.: The Voice
10:00-11:00 p.m.: REVOLUTION

Tuesday
8:00-9:00 p.m.: The Voice
9:00-9:30 p.m.: GO ON
9:30-10:00 p.m.: THE NEW NORMAL
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Parenthood

Wednesday
8:00-8:30 p.m.: ANIMAL PRACTICE
8:30-9:00 p.m.: GUYS WITH KIDS
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Law & Order: SVU
10:00-11:00 p.m.: CHICAGO FIRE

Thursday
8:00-8:30 p.m.: 30 Rock
8:30-9:00  p.m.: Up All Night (moved)
9:00-9:30 p.m.: The Office
9:30-10:00 p.m.: Parks & Recreation
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Rock Center with Brian Williams

Friday
8:00-8:30 p.m.: Whitney (moved)
8:30-9:00 p.m.: Community (moved)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Grimm
10:00-11:00 p.m.: Dateline NBC

Sunday
7:00-8:15 p.m.: Football Night In America
8:15-11:00 p.m.: Sunday Night Football

Sunday (after the end of the Football season)
7:00-8:00 p.m.: Dateline NBC
8:00-9:00 p.m.: Fashion Star (moved)
9:00-10:00 p.m.: Celebrity Apprentice
10:00-11:00 p.m.: DO NO HARM


Revolution asks the question of what would happen if the lights went out – permanently. Fifteen years after all electrical power suddenly stopped  people are living what appear to be quieter and simpler lives lit by candles and lanterns. All is not what it seems though. When a young woman’s father, who seems to have had something to do with the blackout, is murdered it leads to an unlikely alliance between two young people to find answers to what happened in the past and in hopes of reclaiming the future. From producer J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke, and starring Billy Burke, Tracy Spiridakos, Anna Lise Phillips, Zak Orth, Graham Rogers, J.D. Pardo, Giancarlo Esposito, David Lyons, Maria Howell, Tim Guinee and Andrea Roth.

Go On is a comedy starring Matthew Perry as Ryan King, a sportscaster who recently lost his wife in an auto accident. He’s ready to go back to work but his boss insists that he go to counselling. He wants to get back to work as quickly as possible and sets about disrupting his therapy group. He has no interest in healing and his irreverent attitude to “healing” might be exactly what the group needs. Also stars Laura Benanti, Julie White, Suzy Nakamura, Khary Payton, and Allison Miller.

The New Normal looks at the new American family. Brian (Andrew Rannells) and David (Justin Bartha) are a happy and committed couple. The only thing missing is a baby and it seems like that’s something that won’t happen. That is until Midwestern waitress Goldie (Georgia King) and her eight year-old daughter come into their lives. Goldie is broke but fertile and is willing to serve as a surrogate for Brian and David. Ellen Barkin also appears as Goldie’s small-minded mother.

In Animal Practice Justin Kirk stars as top New York veterinarian Dr. George Coleman. George has a way with most kinds of animals…except the human kind. George used to be involved with Dorothy Crane (no actress named for the part) who is the new manager of the Crane Animal Hospital. Dorothy is smart and ambitious but her romantic past with George and her total lack of experience with animals threaten to cramp his style, which includes playing poker with the clinic’s resident capuchin monkey. Also stars Tyler Labine, Bobby Lee and Betsy Sodaro.

They say it’s easier to become a father than to be one. Guys With Kids from Executive Producer Jimmy Fallon looks at three men in their 30s who are determined to hold onto their youth despite their new responsibilities as fathers. Chris (Jesse Bradford), Nick (Zach Cregger) and Gary (Anthony Anderson) undertake the daily challenge of taking care of their babies while maintaining a social life. Tempest Bledsoe and Jamie Lynn Sigler also star.

Chicago Fire from Law & Order producer Dick Wolf looks at the high intensity life of the firefighters at Chicago’s Firehouse 51. The men and women of the station’s Engine Squad, Rescue Team and Paramedics are under pressure to perform and make split second decisions in deadly situations. When the station loses one of their own tensions boil over between the leader of the Rescue Squad, Lt. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Lt. Matthew Casey. But when a call comes in, personal rivalries are set aside to get the job done. Also stars Eamonn Walker, Charlie Barnett, David Eigenberg, Monica Raymund, Lauren German, Teri Reeves, and Merle Dandridge

NBC’s midseason comedy 1600 Penn is about an ordinary family with an extraordinary home – The White House. They have all the problems of most families – a son who moves back  with the family, kids who are smarter than their teachers, and a stepmom trying to win over the kids. The President’s eldest son (Josh Gad), code named “Meatball” by the Secret Service is the Gilchrist Administration’s greatest liability, and also the glue that holds his family together. Bill Pullman plays President Pullman while Jenna Elfman plays his wife. Also stars Martha MacIsaac, Andre Holland, Amara Miller, and Benjamin Stockham.

In Save Me Midwestern housewife Beth (Anne Heche) has a near death experience after choking on a hero sandwich. She soon discovers that this event left her with a special gift: she has a direct line to God. Her husband Tom (Michael Landes) is dismissive and his mistress (Alexandra Breckinridge) is stunned to learn that her lover’s wife is a prophet. It’s an odd choice to use a desperate housewife as God’s messenger on Earth, but they do say that He moves in mysterious ways. Also stars Heather Burns and Madison Davenport.

Next Caller pairs Dane Cook as foul-mouthed satellite radio DJ Cam Dunne who is partnered with a young, former NPR host. New co-host Stella Hoobler (Collette Wolf) is 26 and ready to take on the world. In this case that means trying to elevate “Booty Call with Cam Dunne” from the sort of locker room humour that Cam has always done. Jeffrey Tambor, Joy Osmanski, and Wolé Parks co-star.

Do No Harm is a modern take on the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story. Dr. Jason Cole (Steven Pasquale) is a highly respected neurosurgeon who has it all. He also has a deep dark secret that has suddenly re-emerged, an alternate personality. Every night at the same time Jason Cole changes into “Ian Price”, a seductive devious borderline sociopath. Jason has been able to keep “Ian” from reappearing for many years thanks to a powerful experimental sedative, but now the serum has stopped working. Not only is “Ian” back but he’s out for revenge…on Jason. To protect everything he holds dear, including his patients, friends, coworkers and even the woman he loves, Jason has to find a way to stop Ian once and for all. Alana De La Garza, Mousa Kraish, Michael Esper, Ruta Gedmintas, and Phylicia Rashad co-star.

In Infamous Detective Joanna Locasto (Megan Good) goes undercover to investigate the Bowers family. When Joanna’s childhood best friend Vivian Bowers dies of an apparent drug overdose, everyone accepts that it was the end result of her hard partying lifestyle. Everyone that is except FBI agent Will Moreno (Laz Alonso). He sends Joanna back to Vivian’s home where her family worked as servants. Joanna is quickly re-embraced by the Bowers family and rediscovers the allure of the family’s wealthy an luxurious lifestyle, as well as reigniting a romantic relationship. She also uncovers the family’s dark secrets, secrets which put Vivian’s life in danger. Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Katherine La Nasa, Neil Jackson and Ella Rae Peck co-star.

Hannibal takes characters from Thomas Harris’s novels and puts a new twist on them. William Graham (Hugh Dancy) is a gifted criminal profiler with the ability to empathize with anyone, including psychopaths. However when the mind of the criminal he’s pursuing is too complex for him, he turns to one of the most highly regarded psychiatric minds in the country: Dr. Hannibal Lecter. What the audience knows (and not just from our previous exposure to the character) and Graham doesn’t is that Lecter is a serial killer. The NBC press release does not name an actor for the role of Lecter. Bryan Fuller is the writer and one of the Executive Producers.

Stars Earn Stripes takes stars from various fields and exposes them to different forms of pressure. In this new reality-competition series from Dick Wolf and Mark Burnett, nine celebrities are brought together at a secret training facility where they will be challenged to execute missions inspired by real military training exercises. Money raised through the competition will be donated to various veterans charities. According to the NBC press release, “these stars will be tested physically, mentally and emotionally – and emerge in awe of the men and women who do such tasks on behalf of our country every day.”

Howie Mandel’s White Elephant is a version of the popular party game. One player will pick an unmarked box from a studio full of prizes. The next player has to decide whether or not to steal the box from the first player or pick another box and hope that  it is worth more. When the contest gets down to the final two competitors, they each face a choice of whether to share or steal. If both select “Share” they share the prizes that the have won. If one chooses “Share” and the other choses “Steal”, the one who chose “Steal” gets all of the prizes. But if both choose “Steal” they both win…nothing.

Eva Longoria is the Producer of Ready For Love, a unique approach to dating shows because every eligible woman in America is a potential participant. Longoria has personally selected three impossibly handsome “Grooms.” Three of the best Matchmakers in the world will then screen women who appear at mass auditions. Those selected by the Matchmakers will then participate in a journey that, “will combine the best elements of in-studio competition and story-based reality.” Each episode will see some of the women eliminated by the Matchmakers until the three “grooms” and the final three “brides” will decide if they’ll get engaged, get married or just live “happily ever after.” Bill and Gulianna Rancic are the hosts.

Surprise With Jenny McCarthy has McCarthy springing “the surprise of a lifetime” on ordinary people. As each episode develops, the audience gets to know the story of the people involved, making the pay-off all the more emotionally satisfying.

Comments:
NBC seems to be putting a lot of product out there, presumably hoping that at least some of it will stick, and I’m not convinced that much will stick. The network appears to be relying a lot on their comedy line-up, with comedies on four of the six nights that they are programming. This may be a mistake. NBC’s Thursday night comedies – The Office, Community, Parks & Recreation, and 30 Rock – are critical successes, but the fact the fact is that for the most part the shows have poor ratings. And of the new comedies introduced in the 2011-12 season only two – Whitney and Up All Night – have survived to get a second season. I’m not sure – based on the descriptions provided by the network (I haven’t looked at most of the clips from the shows yet) – how many of the new comedies will survive more than a few episodes. I have watched the clip of 1600 Penn and quite frankly it looks dismal.

Turning to the network’s new drama’s they seem to be a very mixed bag. Revolution is reminiscent of so many shows that we’ve seen in the not too distant past, from Jericho to Flash Forward to The Event that it’s hard to think that it will work. After the failure of Awake I’m not sure that the audience will be too accepting of the premise of Do No Harm. As for Hannibal I think the concept of a profiler working with someone that we know – and he doesn’t know – is a serial killer. The question is whether we have been exposed too much to Hannibal Lecter (and Anthony Hopkin’s portrayal of the character) to accept the TV version of the characters. They might have been better off starting with a new character without the baggage. The two dramas that interest me the most are Chicago Fire and Infamous. I think there’s a lot of potential in a series built around firefighters, and Chicago is an ideal setting , maybe partially because of the movie Backdraft. As for Infamous, it’s success may be more problematic. It’s obviously a show with a long story arc, which is always a risk. Done right it could work; done wrong it could be this year’s Ringer.

Some miscellaneous thoughts on the schedule: NBC won’t be running two cycles of Biggest Loser this year. Based on the ratings this past year it might be a good idea to reduce it to one cycle in a season just to give it a rest. They’re also reducing Celebrity Apprentice to one hour from the current two. If you’re going to have Celebrity Apprentice on the schedule cutting it to an hour – at least for as long as Do No Harm and/or Fashion Star lasts – is a great idea. At two hours the show seems terribly bloated. NBC’s decision to run the low rated Rock Center With Brian Williams in the third hour of Thursday basically abdicates the time slot to ABC and CBS. They are giving up on Thursday night after the comedies just the way they gave up on the third hour when they put Jay Leno on in primetime. Finally, I think I’m going to miss Who Do You Think You Are? which I couldn’t have imagined when the show debuted. It’s a damned sight better than the reality drek – Stars Earn Stripes, Howie Mandel’s White Elephant, Ready For Love and worst of all Surprise With Jenny McCarthy – that NBC has available instead.

On the whole I am unimpressed with this line-up.