2011-2012 TV Network Upfronts: Fall Lineups

NBC: Sunday, May 15
FOX: Monday, May 16
ABC: Tuesday, May 17
CBS: Wednesday, May 18
The CW: Thurday, May 19

NBC
MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Sing-Off”
10-11 p.m. – “THE PLAYBOY CLUB”

TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. – “The Biggest Loser”
10-11 p.m. – “Parenthood”

WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “UP ALL NIGHT”
8:30-9 p.m. – “FREE AGENTS”
9-10 p.m. -- “Harry’s Law”
10-11 p.m. -- “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – “Community”
8:30-9 p.m. -- “Parks and Recreation”
9-9:30 p.m. – “The Office”
9:30-10 p.m. – “WHITNEY”
10-11 p.m. – “PRIME SUSPECT”

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – “Chuck”
9-10 p.m. – “GRIMM”
10-11 p.m. – “Dateline NBC”

SATURDAY
Encore programming

SUNDAY
7- 8:15 p.m. -- "Football Night in America"
8:15-11:30 p.m. -- "NBC Sunday Night Football"

Parenthood and Chuck being back are good. But Chuck being moved to Friday? meh, that may finally put the nail in it's coffin sadly. Harry's Law being renewed and scheduled on Wednesdays may finally get me to get around to watching it. "Grimm" and the other 2 Wednesday shows "Up All Night" and "Free Agents" have me curious, although if they're Reality shows, I'll of course forget about them.

The 1 casuality being "Outsourced" a show I liked, but didn't have enough time to watch regularly enough to now be down about.

FOX
MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM "TERRA NOVA" (new)
9:00-10:00 PM "HOUSE"
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM "GLEE"
9:00-9:30 PM "NEW GIRL" (new)
9:30-10:00 PM "RAISING HOPE"
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:30 PM "THE X FACTOR" Performance Show (new)
9:30-10:00 PM "I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER" (new)
THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM "THE X FACTOR" Results Show (new)
9:00-10:00 PM "BONES"
FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM "KITCHEN NIGHTMARES"
9:00-10:00 PM "FRINGE"
SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM "COPS"
8:30-9:00 PM "COPS"
9:00-10:00 PM ENCORES / "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED" (specials)
SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM THE OT (NFL post-game)
7:30-8:00 PM "THE CLEVELAND SHOW"
8:00-8:30 PM "THE SIMPSONS"
8:30-9:00 PM "ALLEN GREGORY" (new)
9:00-9:30 PM "FAMILY GUY"
9:30-10:00 PM "AMERICAN DAD"

not a ton to get excited about with FOX. I'm obviously happy Fringe is back. Although being on Friday Nights, unless it goes into Smallville-mode where rating demands are lowered anyway, I still worry about it's longterm future with that timeslot. But it did manage to get renewed for another season after being moved there this past season in the middle of the year.

The Zooey Descahanel show The New Girl being probably the most curious/optimistic about, which is a show about Zooey moving with 3 men. I like the fact it includes Jake Kasdan from Freaks and Geeks and The TV Set, it also includes Damon Wayans, which may cancel other good factors out. Hopefully Kasdan can get Wayans to be watchable.

The other new shows: Terra Nova and Allen Gregory might be worth checking out a trailer or 2 before assuming they're more of the FOX filler garbage.


ABC



MONDAY

8/7c Dancing with the Stars

10 pm Castle

TUESDAY

8 pm Last Man Standing [New show]

8:30 pm Man Up [New show]

9 pm Dancing with the Stars Results Show

10 pm Body of Proof

WEDNESDAY

8 pm The Middle

8:30 pm Suburgatory [New show]

9 pm Modern Family

9:30 pm Happy Endings

10 pm Revenge [New show]

THURSDAY

8 pm Charlie’s Angels [New show]

9 pm Grey’s Anatomy

10 pm Private Practice

FRIDAY

8 pm Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

9 pm Shark Tank

10 pm 20/20

SATURDAY

8 pm Saturday Night College Football

SUNDAY

7 pm America’s Funniest Home Videos

8 pm Once Upon a Time [New show]

9 pm Desperate Housewives

10 pm Pan Am [New Show]

Castle's back which I already knew. The rest of ABC's schedule sucks . Although they usually have 1 or 2 new shows that are worth a look. Charlie's Angels reboot? Pan Am has Christina Ricci working for the once successful Pan Am airline.

Brothers and Sisters was 86'ed, and for me personally, the big casualty has to be V. The show was getting better, but I'm not surprised it's gone. I gotta believe due to budget and not the best ratings, despite those high priced ads. I suppose it's about time to finally finish that blog I was working on a few months ago.

CBS

MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
8:30-9:00 PM 2 BROKE GIRLS (N)
9:00-9:30 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN
9:30-10:00 PM MIKE & MOLLY
10:00-11:00 PM HAWAII FIVE-0

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM NCIS
9:00-10:00 PM NCIS: LOS ANGELES
10:00-11:00 PM UNFORGETTABLE (N)

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS
10:00-11:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (NT)

THURSDAY
8:00-8:30 PM THE BIG BANG THEORY
8:30-9:00 PM HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN (N)
9:00-10:00 PM PERSON OF INTEREST (N)
10:00-11:00 PM THE MENTALIST

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM A GIFTED MAN (N)
9:00-10:00 PM CSI: NY
10:00-11:00 PM BLUE BLOODS

SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (NT)
8:30-9:00 PM COMEDYTIME SATURDAY
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY
10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS MYSTERY

SUNDAY
7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES
8:00-9:00 PM THE AMAZING RACE
9:00-10:00 PM THE GOOD WIFE (NT)
10:00-11:00 PM CSI: MIAMI

well Mad Love is 86'ed, not too surprising, but still disappointing. Tyler Labine remains an unsuccessful talent. He should go to Cable. USA Network probably could cast him as a lead in a show.

Of course the unwatchably bad Rules of Engagement is still on their air, but now on Saturday Nights? lol. Maybe that'll finally kill it off. The new shows, namely the sitcoms I'll have to check out trailers soon. Mike & Molly coming back does nothing for me, despite my liking Melissa McCarthy in Gilmore Girls and Samantha Who?.

2 Broke Girls has Kat Dennings (Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist) and Garret Morris (Saturday Night Live) and is a James Burrows show. it has potential on paper.
Person of Interest has a Ben from Lost (Michael Emerson) and James Caveizel (The Prisoner). Centers on ex-CIA hitman and a scientist who team up to prevent crimes before they happen. . Potential as well. Although the CBS dramas usually have very little soul and are overtly dark. Sometimes exceptions happen like Joan of Arcadia and Shark.

A Gifted Man has Patrick Wilson as a competitive surgeon. Julie Benz (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) who was recently on No Ordinary Family, co-stars. But my guess is it's going to be another one of CBS dark medical dramas, set on a Friday night.

The CW

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM GOSSIP GIRL (New Time)
9:00-10:00 PM HART OF DIXIE (New Series)

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM 90210 (New Night)
9:00-10:00 PM RINGER (New Series)

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM H8R (New Series)
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
9:00-10:00 PM THE SECRET CIRCLE (New Series)

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM NIKITA (New Night)
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL

The weakest network (by far), I do watch mostly for the eyecandy, The Vampire Diaries and the new Sarah Michelle Gellar show "Ringer" (which should have been on CBS) sounds like it may have potential. But with the end of Smallville this network has become even less relevant than before. I suppose Ringer and maybe 1 or 2 of the other new shows may surprise me.

One Tree Hill being gone I can't be upset about, although a friend of mine may be slightly.

Notes: dredg, forums...

I could go ahead and post multiple new entries, but I guess a new notes entry might make sense and be more efficient.

#1) I shouldn't be so shocked or surprised by all negative reviews of the new dredg album. I and many others sort of saw it coming. But its now come to the point of cliche and predictability.

Blah Blah Blah. Haha "Chuckles" is not very funny. haha, dredg sucks. What was dredg thinking? How could dredg become more gay? What faggotty title and even more mailed-in, lazy music. Etc, etc.

I am not great at predictions, but I really am curious what some of these neanderthals (and the ones that I like, but still find it their need to go out of their way to piss on this new album) might say, say in 2 years even about this record.

I mean I went in assuming it would be different, shorter, more stripped down. But it still would sound like dredg. And guess what? IT DOES. The melodies are still there, namely the vocal melodies on many songs, like especially their last 2 records, ARE EARWORMS. For hours really.

Maybe I'll dissect it more thoroughly if/when I ever get the chance this year (which certainly is questionable). But if not before, at least by the time the Album Index is due.

It's a record that FLOWS, it doesn't have any songs I skip. It probably just doesn't have as many breathtaking elements or sections compared to their others. But it still has enough, frankly, MORE THAN ENOUGH COMPARED TO MOST OTHER BANDS, to still enjoy and want to go back to. And I'm rating it at 4-stars, and until I feel any way worse about it, it'll stay at that.

And also, the band may actually receive the most exposure commercially/mainstream ever. Which is ironic, but regardless, still a GOOD THING.

Gavin did say something in this interview about breaking up potentially, but I recall he's said that in the past. But if this is the album that gets them to get BIG like they in many ways deserve, however many pissants have worse diarhea-of-the-mouth than I do about it, it really won't matter. In fact in some ways it'll probably be something that helped them.

Who would have thought, making an album so many fans and non-fans hate would acquire you your most success? Very ironic, but perhaps in a good way.


New music:
Josh Rouse
Michael Nesmith
MarchFourth Marching Band
Spinvis
Fountains of Wayne


new song from The Dear Hunter from the other night in Hollywood.



I'm slowly catching up on television, finishing off Parenthood and Fringe the last 2 weekends. But the gf activity has slowed it up more than I'd like. And I have still yet to watch AMC's The Killing. But maybe in some way that's a good thing, as I did the same with Rubicon last year and it ended up being enjoyable to not have to wait week after week for the next episode. The Walking Dead as well.

But I do need to get going on probably 35 hours or more of DVR cleaning to do. And of course the 2011-2012 network lineup announcements are right around the corner, I think coming 1 week from tomorrow-Thursday of that week.

Message Boards: I am leaving/lurking on them more so than any other time. Why? I'm just fed up with a few bad apples, along with too often topics being buried about an unknown band. Many of those criminally unknown bands will find THIS LIST I'm sure.

You know, someone else can report news and introduce them to new bands. Apparently on the forums, I'm really not all that great at it, at least in terms of percentage. If said readers REALLY still want to know what I am listening to, discovering, and news about new releases only posted on a few sites like last.fm or 1 or 2 forums, then THEY SHOULD JUST READ THIS BLOG. Or the twitter and facebook posts I make.

Especially given I have another factor (a girlfriend) taking up my free time, the posting on the forums are one thing I can at least consider a casualty. This blog perhaps as well, but hopefully not ultimately. In other words, the time I might spend posting about said band or new album on 5 different forums, will be given to this blog and twitter/fb. Which it is for the most part already. But not giving activity to the forums is one tradeoff.

That and, I am really sick and tired of some of the trolling that takes place. It may only be 1 or 2 users, and then may have some others feeding said trolls. But it's enough to not even care to give said trolls and troll-followers the time and energy.

Haters are gonna hate. Kids will act like Kids. And 16-20 year olds will act like petulant children as well. Especially on something as faceless as an internet message board. They can go ahead and do that, while denying others of stuff like news and tours that someone like myself would know about long before the rest of the forum.

And of course bands become popular on said forum after those users that leave/lurk 1st talked about them, in many cases, not even giving credit or even bothering to find the original thread.

The broken record of that process after how many years, really just lends to the idea of the leave/lurk. The web and the boards/forums/last.fm/imdb/facebook/youtube/blog comments gives any douche with a keyboard and mouse a license to embarrass themself in as many ways as they enjoy doing. But ultimately, if nobody feeds said troll, they are more or less talking to themselves and thus their activity deemed irrelevant.

Fringe in jeopardy of being 86'ed Update: (there will be a 4th Season)

3/25/11 1:14AM
It got renewed for a 4th Season!

tvovermind report

no time to elaborate, but this is certainly good news to read about.

2/15/11 7:46PM



"Fringe is about to get cancelled, and it's all your fault!"

I have been rather negligent about including content on television of late. Or more or less things that are not music. I'm only one person, I wish I could clone myself. Maybe Walter could figure out a way to do that.

So, yeah, this story from some blogger on Zaptoit seems rather clear, this show is about to get the ax. Is it surprising? no, not really. It's a network show that is not a ratings winner. They just moved it to Fridays a few weeks ago. How often does any show on Friday or for this matter, getting moved to Friday Nights EVER get renewed? On Network TV: You could probably count that number on one hand.

The show itself, I guess early in the season with the Alternate Earth and everything, almost has re-invented itself and the show's story arc of sorts. Not that every episode is 5 or 10 times greater than the 1st 2 seasons or anything. And part of why this show stands out now, is with the continued lack of good, epic/episodic dramas on television. With Lost gone along with Battlestar Galactica, this seemed like one of the only newer shows to fill that void.

And it has somewhat well. It's not Lost, but it's still a rather engaging show. The writing is smart. You care about the characters. But apparently enough of the audience that has kept it on the air for 2 renewals, has jumped ship as it's time slot did.

We'll see if some miracle occurs, but I guess 3 seasons isn't bad compared to some other shows (recent Fox Scifi shows Terminator and Dollhouse); and it likely won't ever be accused of declining if it doesn't manage to come back for next fall/season.

I hope they at least are able to wrap it up well. Perhaps even bring back Mark Valley (Brad from Boston Legal) who was in the 1st season. And who knows, maybe Nimoy as well.

I suppose an afterthoughts kind of entry may appear when it's over (unlike a lot of others which are long overdue, but could happen I suppose, especially with cloning technology :p)

Fox 2010-2011 Fall Lineup

MONDAY
8-9 p.m: House
9-10 p.m: Lonestar (new)

TUESDAY
8-9 p.m.: Glee
9-9:30 p.m.: Raising Hope (new)
9:30-10 p.m.: Running Wilde (new)

WEDNESDAY
8-9 p.m.: Lie to Me
9-10 p.m.: Hell's Kitchen

THURSDAY
8-9 p.m.: Bones
9-10 p.m.: Fringe

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m.: Human Target
9-10 p.m.: The Good Guys (new)

SUNDAY
7-8 p.m.: The OT (NFL postgame)
8-8:30 p.m.: The Simpsons
8:30-9:00 p.m.: The Cleveland Show
9:00-9:30 p.m.: Family Guy
9:30-10:00 p.m.: American Dad

Fringe is the only actual good show they got left with Dollhouse gone. Human Target the jury is out on still for me, but a friend of mine thinks it's awful. But seeing it placed in the 7pm time slot on Fridays pretty much makes it this season's Dollhouse. The odds are it won't last, but I'm unclear how much I can care right now.

New shows:
Lone Star: created by the same people who did Party of Five and 500 Days of Summer the movie. The cast really does nothing for me. If they could get Bill Pullman to reprise his Spaceballs role, this might intrigue me more.

Running Wilde and Raising Hope/Keep Hope Alive. 1 of these shows has My Name Is Earl creator Greg Garcia involved, the other is about a playboy played by Will Arnett going after his hs sweetheart played by Keri Russell. I guess if Garcia were writing for the Arnett show, I'd more interested in that show. The Garcia show, sounds a bit like a show based on the Dax Shepherd character in Parenthood. Martha Plimpton was good recently on Fringe, but beyond her, the cast doesn't strike much of an impression with me.

The Good Guys is maybe the 1 show I'm a little more optimistic about. A comedy-drama cop show. It's fate however, at 8pm on Friday Nights, may see it be doomed no matter how good it is. It actually premieres this Wednesday May 19th. Jenny Wade who was good on Reaper, Bradley Whitford was on the West Wing, which makes me wonder if he has/or will guest star on Psych. It also includes Tom Hanks son Colin, who doesn't really do a lot for me as an actor, but I honestly haven't seen that much of his work. But the biggest reason this show may be good is it created by Burn Notice creator Matt Nix.

Like NBC, this network has really only 1 good show in Fringe. A couple of years ago with that, Terminator and Dollhouse, I was optimistic they might be one of the better networks. But sadly, network tv sucks so much anyway, having more than 1 quality show on your air means you're better than the competition. This network always cancels good stuff (Sons of Tuscon?..at least the un-aired episodes will be on this Summer), which sucks because some of the others like NBC and the CW barely come up with good shows to begin with. it wouldn't surprise if The Good Guys is actually a good show, and with that 8pm Friday night time slot, nobody watches it and it's gone before November.

2009-2010 TV: Thursday

7-8PM



Flash Forward (ABC Premieres September 24th)

A mysterious global event causes everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 137 seconds, during which many see what appear to be future memories of his or her life six months later. When it is over, many are dead in accidents involving vehicles, aircraft, and any other device needing human control. Everyone who survived is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen.

Sort of using the "Lost Flashback/Flashforward" as a (loose?) premise. It does have John Cho (Harold and Kumar) and Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings), and Garbielle Union in the cast, and one of the writers appears to be Brannon Braga whose known for his work in the post-The Original Series: Star Trek. Although in glancing at his credits, he had a lot to do with the worst ST show, the last one, Enterprise. He also was involved with the Brent Spiner failed Scifi show "Threshold." So, while it's nice he has a Scifi background, not all of it is necessarily favorable for his resume to lead me to have hope for this.

Early comments aren't all that wonderful about it. I haven't watched it yet to be fair, but I'm kind of questioning how good this will be, or if it'll even last.



Vampire Diaries
They moved Smallville for this? lol..I skimmed through the 1st 2 episodes and while I have a thing for Vampire shows, the idea of trying to watch a Twilight-inspired Vampire-soap opera with a bunch of junior-college-level actors who belong on the Family channel instead of an actual Network (sort-of) is nauseating. This show has got no stars, no characters I like, and not even the most alluring eye-candy that I can tell. The only time I will consider dvr-ing this is out-of-boredom and desparation for some kind lust. This ain't Forever Knight, Buffy, True Blood, Dracula:The Series, or even Moonlight. It's too bad, there was some talk of bringing on a new "Dark Shadows" to either FOX or the CW.

edit: there may still be!
The last I saw, one of the people cast was going to be Matt Czuchry whose probably best known for playing Rory's Yale-boyfriend Logan, on Gilmore Girls.

But until then, I don't expect much of my attention here. Perhaps if a cool guest-star happens I'll want to watch (fast-fwd to the good parts), but other than that, all this is, is CW's attempt to cash-in on the Twilight-craze. And pretty much all that is, is another Teen Soap with a vampire-story overlay with pretty much no substance, just like Twilight, lol.

At least I still have a lot of "True Blood" to watch (I'm on Episode 5 of Season 1). I'd even go for seeing the Lifetime Network's "Blood Ties" ahead this, really in a heartbeat.

Community (NBC 7-7:30PM on October 13th, 8:30-9PM originally on September 17th)

Community centers on Jeff (Joel McHale), a suspended lawyer who is back in school after his college degree is deemed invalid by the State Bar. The show centers on Jeff's experiences going to community college and the people he meets there. John Oliver plays Duncan, a professor at the community college, whom Jeff represented as a lawyer. He also meets a girl, Britta, who is his main love interest in the series, as well as Pierce (Chevy Chase), an older student who has been married seven times.

This at least has got Chevy Chase, and with the departure of My Name is Earl, a show I felt did jump-the-shark somewhat all-the-way-back to Season 3, this might be the only sitcom on NBC to get my interest. Sorry, I'm not all that crazy about, the every voter-in-the-awards-shows favorite SNL-derived sitcom "30 Rock,".. and "The Office"?....lol, yeah right.

But 2-weeks-in, I haven't caught it yet. But mean to soon enough. Chase wasn't bad on Chuck and some other guest-appearances recently. But let's be honest, his far past his prime/time. He could more-or-less do no wrong in the 80's, but since, he's more or less done nothing good, especially when he was featured. I liked the Naomi Watts indie "Ellie Parker" but while he was good, he barely was in it.

The rest of the cast are names I don't know save for Ken Jeong who I saw in "The Hangover" but really didn't impress me much at all in.

So, I may give this a few episodes, like the ABC sitcoms and Accidentally On Purpose, just to hope to be surprised. It's not like NBC has anything better, nor the other stuff on from 7-8PM either.

8-9PM



Fringe (FOX premieres September 17th)

Well, they didn't renew The Terminator show, but this and Dollhouse instead. While among the 3, at-the-time, this was my 3rd favorite, I still like this show. Is it a bit of X-Files? Sure, does it remind you of Lost, a little bit in some of the creepy, tense scenes. But I think where it distinguishes itself, at least for me, is the humor that Josh Jackson aka Pacey from-Dawson's Creek, and especially John Noble provide, who plays Walter the brilliant scientist with a guilt-ridden past that has lead to his slightly eccentric personality. Almost like someone with a mild case of Asberger's. So, he definitely got me through some of the dark stories and grotesque, graphical work they describe and sometimes show here.

I can't ignore also the job Anna Torv does as the lead, Olivia Dunham. She's hot and a good actor. I won't deny that having a babe with her appeal as the central character gave me reason to keep going back here. Lance Reddick who plays Broiles also has a certain appeal on-screen. He's a very stern actor, whose delivery, voice, and mannerisms, have an unusual quality that I couldn't help but get sucked-in to. Like he adds importance to what he's saying or doing. He was on Lost, but didn't do that kind of speaking. I think this role really fits him.

While I liked this show last season, I kind of neglected it about midway through the year for other shows. But the episodes were still on my DVR all the way until late July when I finally caught up and finished the 1st season. I certainly was glad, as I was shaking my head afterwards why I ever stopped watching it.

There's a potentially interesting story-arc with Olivia's past including seemingly Walter and his partner William Bell whose played by Leonard Nimoy. We have barely seen much of Nimoy thus far, but I'm betting he'll show up around Sweeps period with some decent screen-time. The Star Trek movie experience with JJ Abrams I think got him interested in acting again. It could be Abrams, but it would be nice to see Nimoy do some more acting again, and this hopefully will be the next of many newer roles for him.

In watching the 1st 2 episodes, the Charlie character won't be around much longer obviously. But my guess is that's also something to be resolved during November Sweeps coming up.

This is definitely the best Network show now on Thursday Nights now (maybe I'll give Bones another go as a friend of mine is after many years of finding it too gross), and one of the better Scifi shows still on the air. Hopefully it'll last, although I wouldn't bank on it given Terminator's cancelation last season.



Burn Notice (USA Network midseason premiere January 2010)

This show rules. Clever writing (narrative and dialogue), excellent action sequences, and usually an interesting plot twist to the story. The Summer 1/2-season, while a little different, still worked. Matt Nix and the writing staff are trying a few different things like Fiona getting kidnapped and some clients or people who know more about Michael than others in the past.

I would agree with some of the comments from the fans in that they really should try and invent 1 or 2 new plots or angles to the direction of the show. Sure, the client-of-the-week is usually still worth doing, but perhaps have Michael find new means for his interets beyond getting his name off the blacklist.

Or perhaps have his Burn Notice lifted, have him go back to the FBI and then invent some new civil-conflicts within that. That might explain more as to why and how he was burned in the first place.

I dunno, I can't complain really as the show is never boring. At times I enjoy it ,that-week, more than Psych actually. Bruce Campbell, Gabrielle Anwar, and some the guest stars included.

It's definitely 1 of the best 10 shows on all of tv for me. And it's received some good recognition of late (although still no Emmy nor Golden Globe nominations of course. Jeffrey Donovan alone is extremely good, he deserves a nomination but may never get one). It was renewed for a 4th season recently too. It's future should be interesting to follow, and I am excited to see what the writing staff cook-up for the Winter-Season. Wouldn't be surprised to see Moon Bloodgood return as the cop on Michael's tail. That plot never really did get resolved last Summer.

Fall TV Season 2008-09: Tuesday...

These are a couple of links I like:

tviv: Somewhat updated Grid
wiki's helpful grid

7PM

90210 (The Next Generation..hehe): tv.com link



Premieres: September 2nd (CW)

I'm only vaguely curious about this maybe mostly due to the fact my recent discovery of "Jeremiah" and Luke Perry in that show. Very likely I'm gonna watch it once and maybe again only for certain guest appearances. Rob Thomas may not be involved much beyond the pilot. Kinda scary to think this is occupying Gilmore Girls longtime timeslot.

8PM

Fringe: tv.com link



Premieres: September 9th (Fox)

FBI agents Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop are faced with a rapidly spreading unexplained phenomenon of the threatening kind. In an attempt to stop the spread, they enlist the assistance of Bishop's estranged father, the institutionalized scientist Dr. Walter Bishop. Dawson's Creek 's Joshua Jackson will play the lead role of Peter Bishop, a smart guy with many gambling debts. The Secret...

The premise of this show sounds a bit like a very short-lived show from the 90's I used to catch reruns on Sunday Nights on the Scifi channel called "The Burning Zone." A secret government task force fight some dangerous diseases to save mankind. Josh Jackson I have liked beyond his Dawson's Creek work. And it is JJ Abrams for what that's worth. He actually has a bit of a similar history with tv as Whedon. Cult-fans, some great stuff that critics loved, and a few gambles that didn't pay off (see Six Degrees, The Nine..sadly even What About Brian). Between this and the Trek film, Hollywood has not denied him any creative chances. I'm cautiously optimistic. Depends on if it gets to be too detailed and serious. I don't need a 24 here.

Privileged: tv.com link



Premieres: September 9th (CW)

Originally called Surviving the Filthy Rich, this CW drama is an adaptation of the popular Zoey Dean novel How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls. In the series, Yale graduate Megan Smith recently moves to Manhattan with hopes of finding success in the field of journalism. However, when her plans go wrong, she accepts a job as the live-in tutor helping two wealthy high school students in Palm Springs get accepted at a top university. Privileged, from Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Paramount Network Television., has reveived a 13 episode contract from The CW Television Network. The executive producers are Gilmore Girls' Rina Mimoun and Gossip Girl's Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein. 30 Rock's Michael Engler directed the pilot.

I'm not huge into Teen Dramas. Dra-medy's however can work (Gilmore Girls, Men In Trees). I like Joanna Garcia (Freaks and Geeks, Welcome to the Captain), and the girl from the failed Bionic Woman show last year might add a bit. But let's just say, this only will get me to watch if there's nothing else, or it surprises me a lot. But, judging books by their covers I try to avoid. I wonder if Reaper will eventually return at this timeslot in the Winter. Very likely not.

The Mentalist: tv.com link



Premieres: September 23rd (CBS)

The Mentalist tells the tale of Patrick Jane who is employed as an independent detective working with the California Bureau of Investigation to solve crimes. He has refined his observations skills to a near perfect level and lends these skills to the CBI to help them solve cases. The team that he works with consists of the senior agent, Teresa Gibson, agents Kimball Cho & Wayne Rigsby and the rookie, Grace Van Pelt.

It has reminded some people of "Psych," a show I love and my favorite current program on all of television. But actually it sounds more like "Monk." It's just this guy doesn't have a partner or assistant. And likely not the same kind of humor nor much mystery on his ability to solve cases. Simon Baker's name is familiar, but his work isn't to me. "Devils Wears Prada" and a short-lived (rarely-if-ever-aired show) "Smith" are his only work I have heard about. Not a lot of optimism, but the other stuff it's up against I'm not either so it has as good a shot as any of finding my viewing or never crossing my consumer-palette.

8:30PM

The Goode Family: tv.com link



Premieres: Midseason (ABC)

"It's so difficult being good."

Mike Judge, creator of Beavis & Butt-Head and King of the Hill, brings us this new animated series about an obsessively "green" family whose politically correct liferesults in constant laughs.

ABC has so far ordered 13 episodes of this series. The show is scheduled to air midseason.

The show is being produced by 3 Arts Entertainment and Media Rights Capital.

I love Beavis and Butthead, and "Office Space" is very *Classic*. But "King of the Hill" I never got into. Mike Judge sadly may need the comforts of a lesser-censored format (Cable and movies) to excel the most. But, the premise to this sounds like it could have some potential. I do think he writes well when he's set in modern-day (as opposed to King of the Hill). Given it's a mid-season replacement show, and on ABC, this may not be on the air long enough to find it's audience. But by January the other stuff on at it's time may not be worth the time of day, so it could get some ratings by default.

9PM

Eli Stone: tv.com link



Premieres: October 14th (ABC).

Good show! Johnny Lee Miller I'll probably never forget for his work in the Angelina Jolie mid-90's film "Hackers." His role here isn't exactly like that one, but he still is quite good here as a protagonist lawyer; with visions of the future from a brain Aneurysm that seems to dictate much of his life's path whether he likes it or not. This show had good writing, a good albeit familiar cast (Victor Garber from Alias, Natasha Henstridge, Julia Gonzalo from Veronica Mars, Tom Cavanagh from Ed and Love Monkey). But it kind of came out of nowhere last year and lived up to the ads ABC force-fed the public during Lost, even with the George Michael obsession. The fact his condition got exposed to everyone may be the hardest thing to get past. Many good shows at 1st have a character with a secret, and once the secret comes out, the show needs something more. However in this case, it's a legal drama that with Boston Legal going away, it may benefit from filling those shoes regardless. It's even taken over BL's familiar 9pm timeslot on Tuesdays. We'll see how well it does and if some of the BL audience comes on over by the Winter when presumably it'll be the only law drama ABC will have on the air.