The 2007 Summer Press Tour has come and gone. On one hand, there is a lot to look forward to this fall season; on the other hand, there’s a lot you can pass over, as well.
Watching the networks parade the cast lists for new shows gave me a sense that a British invasion was going on in Tinseltown. Almost every cast includes actors from over the pond. It was amazing in light of the number of out-of-work actors in L.A., how these guys come over here and land a great gig.
Another thing that stood out was the enthusiasm with which networks climbing on board the “green” express. NBC, for example, is planning a “green week” during which every show will feature an environmentally friendly theme of one kind or another. Even the politically incorrect FOX is planning a theme of 24 during which Jack Bauer will stop fighting terrorists and bring to justice people who are responsible for the depletion of our ozone layer. Here’s a forecast for things coming on various networks and cable stations.
NBC
NBC is introducing two new shows on the Monday line-up. The first one, called simply Chuck, is about a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government’s most vital secret agent. The plot is reminiscent of Conan O’Brian’s Andy Parker P.I., but it turns out that Chuck is actually funny. (Sorry about that, Conan! I still like you very much!) NBC’s second new offering is Journeyman starring Kevin McKidd, who is one of my favorite actors and a star from HBO’s Rome. McKidd plays Dan Vasser, a San Francisco newspaper reporter and family man who somehow journeys through time and is thus able to change the course of people’s lives.
Journeyman is intriguing, but the plot twists and time travel sequences become disorienting and confusing at times, and I’m not sure if people will have sufficient patience to follow Kevin through his meandering course through time and down all the attendant plot turns.
Jerry Seinfeld will be guest star on NBC’s comedy night show called 30 Rock.
Seinfeld fans should program this into their TIVOs. Friday Night Light is also back for a 2nd season. I recommend that you get into this warm, inviting family show. If you didn’t like it last season, give it a second chance. It’s really good and deserves a lengthy run.
Who of us ever expected a remake of Bionic Woman? Did we really need this? The show turns out to be somewhat boring. The running sequences cheesy and the music came right out of the soundtrack of the incomparable Run Lola Run. Going from pretty bad to much worse, we have the return yet once again of The Apprentice, which this season is called The Apprentice — Celebrity Edition. If Rosie shows up as the celebrity, then Donald will really be in trouble. Trump would be trumped. Anyway, what genuine celebrity would go on this show? Gary Coleman?
FOX
On FOX we have several new shows as well. Going from bad to worse we have KVille, Canterbury’s Law, The Return of Jezebel James, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You should feel free to forget about these in the order I listed. They are pretty bad. The Sarah Connor Chronicles, for example, was so bad that it makes the Terminator movies seem like fine art, using old lines that Schwarzenegger delivered with more finesse. The producers were slammed on the similarity between The Sarah Conner Chronicles and shootings at Virginia Tech — to the point that the producers are going to remove them from subsequent airings of the first show. FOX’s executives professed to not have any problems with last season’s 24, which had some serious plot issues. Did the executives actually watch the shows?
Time is up Jack, time to go…
Most of the season represented bad production. Following Episode 4 the season sank like the Exxon Valdez beneath the cold waters of mediocrity, or worse. This is one of my all-time favorite shows and I hope the producers get it back on track this season. Cherry Jones will star as the nation’s first woman president, without doubt as an attempt to cash in on the hype surrounding Hillary.What will become of Jack Bauer? I hope this will be his final season. Time to go Jack! I can’t believe I just wrote that, but it’s the truth. He should get out while his legacy still has some shine to it; and before bad times have a chance of overwhelming our memories of how great the show was.
CBS
The people at CBS are busy these days. The good news is that Jericho is back! Fans of the show should pat themselves on the back. Their angry noise and the tsunami of emails they fired off at the network convinced the producers to bring the show back from the dead. This is only the second time that’s happened in network history. CBS is also airing KidNation, the most noteworthy of the new shows. This reality show gives 40 children
40 days to prove they can build a better world in the absence of adult supervision.
The set for KidNation is Bonanza City, New Mexico, which is a ghost town remnant of a once thriving town built around a company mine. The children, ages 8 to 15 and from all walks of life, are now attempting to build their own new world, pioneer-style. The children will confront grown-up issues while coping with classic childhood emotions of homesickness, peer pressure, and the adolescent urge to break rules.
The challenges of developing both the social and physical aspects of their community, creating a host of interesting and engaging challenges. The interactions are interesting enough to push the show into top billing as the premier family show with appeal for
people of all ages. Cane, a Latino version of Falcon Crest with a mob twist, Viva Laughlin one of the most hideous of the new shows, The Big Bang Theory featuring a bunch of nerds orbiting around a pretty girl, and Moonlight, yet another Vampire drama, are really tedious in some way, and I won’t be surprised if any of those shows got canceled by the time I am finished writing this sentence. On the other hand, Shark and Survivor are still running, that should give those shows hope in some ways.
HBO
HBO just made the unsurprising announcement about the cancellation of John from Cincinnati, a mystical surfer drama that puzzled TV Critics enough to make them come back and watch for no other reason than to attempt to figure out what the show was really about. For example, I thought that John was supposed to represent Jesus Christ. “John from Cincinnati” creates the acrostic J.C. Get it? Was that clever of me?
The fact is, the show was basically indeterminate and confusing. Who could tell if there was actually any symbolism? I suspect that the thing was like a Rorschach inkblot — any actual meaning or purpose comes from the viewer and was never written into the actual script.
Names of shows are projected on the W Hotel.
Ring of Fire at the Pool. HBO’s Party at the W Hotel
The programming at HBO seems to be getting a little thin following the cancellation of Rome and Deadwood, and the closing of The Sopranos. Extras will also end with a two-hour movie that is becoming something of a closing-show trend, I guess. HBO is beginning to imitate the failure of the networks in not giving shows sufficient time to develop themselves. There’s too much focus on the short-term bottom line. In some cases I’m sure that they are cutting losses on projects that would eventually generate some important revenue. HBO still has three mainstay series, Entourage, Big Love, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, but I don’t know if the three will be enough to justify paying the premium for a lot of HBO subscribers. Showtime must be grabbing some of HBO’s market share new programs including Weeds and Californication. HBO does have one excellent new show, which is the Kiwi Comedy Flight of the Conchords, which follows the trials and tribulations of two New Zealand folksingers, Bret and Jermaine, who have come to New York to parlay their singing and guitar playing into a career as recording stars. So far their career has advanced to the point where they have managed to find a part-time manager, a single obsessive fan, and a friend who is owner of a local pawn shop. Flight of the Conchords reminds me a little of Extras, but it has a quirky humorous style.
Great new HBO Comedy – Flight of the Conchords ©HBO
SPIKE
Spike TV is airing a new realty show called Murder in which amateurs attempt to solve an actual extremely gruesome homicide. The crime scene was recreated with an attention to detail that extends even to the olfactory details concerning the smells that were at the scene. There are no cash awards for winning and participants are selected through a screening process that includes an IQ test. It’s difficult for me to figure why people would want to do this.
SiFi
One of the biggest surprises during the Press Tour week was a new miniseries on the SciFi channel that is coming this winter. For six hours, spread over three nights in December, Tin Man will enchant viewers with its amazing version of the Wizard of Oz story. Zooey Deschanel, from Bridge to Terabithia, and Alan Cummings, who played Nightcrawler in the XMen films, will star in this extraordinary remake. Deschanel said she and her companions are “not really the Wizard of Oz characters. It’s just a hint at those characters.” Definitely a must-watch series! That’s a little bit of what you can expect to look forward to this fall. There’s much more to say than I’ve written. So stay tuned.
Tin Man © SiFi Channel
