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- Fall TV coverage: CBS pins fall hopes on procedurals, NFL (9/25/14)
Opinion
Returning network series have work cut out for them
Friday, September 12, 2008
A new fall season usually means large amounts of change across the broadcast landscape, but that's simply not the case this year. Most of the network schedules are carbon copies from last fall; they include a significant batch of series that had their seasons cut short because of the prolonged writers' strike.
There seems to be an industry-wide hope that viewers who tuned out six months ago will be in a forgiving mood when these shows come back to the schedule, but broadcasters are apparently hedging their bets -- most of the renewed 2007 fall series are getting 13-episode orders, instead of the full 22-episode orders that come down for more established programs, and rafts of new series are being ordered, just in case. But for their part, the networks seem to have redoubled their efforts to publicize their newer returnees; after all, many of them were successes, if not out-and-out blockbuster hits.
The show I'm most looking forward to seeing this fall from the any of the networks is the return of a show I've mentioned more than once in this column, the colorful and whimsical "Pushing Daisies" (returning Oct. 1) on ABC. It hasn't had a new episode since last year, and I've been counting the days for its return. (My favorite show anywhere is ABC's "Lost," and that won't be back until early 2009. Pardon me while I pause for a quick sob.) Alternately, I'm not enthusiastic about the fifth go-round for "Grey's Anatomy" (Sept. 25), a show that in earlier seasons had a brisk, witty, and unabashedly romantic sense about it, but over the last year or so has meandered into a flat, dark, and decidedly unromantic tone.
On NBC, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the zippy action-comedy "Chuck" (Sept. 29), easily one of the few bright spots in that network's lineup. I sincerely hope that this year the spy adventure catches fire, ratings-wise -- it's much too fun to be ignored, even on an ultra-crowded Monday schedule. On the other side of the ledger, I have no patience left for the over-hyped ride to nowhere that is "Heroes" (Sept. 22), which happens to follow "Chuck," but hasn't been fun -- well -- ever.
From the "Huh?" file: CBS's increasingly charming romantic comedy "How I Met Your Mother" (Sept. 22) was pretty much ignored at awards time -- except for Neil Patrick Harris' Emmy-worthy turn as Barney -- and has seemed to be a perennial afterthought for the network come renewal time, even with solid ratings in a competitive time slot. The repetitious and sleazy "Two and a Half Men" (Sept. 22), however, is up for Outstanding Comedy Series, and also carries the banner as TV's top-rated sitcom. Again -- huh?
FOX's "Prison Break" (returned Sept. 1) has stretched and knotted and gnarled its original (and even compelling) plot into an irreparable mess, but somehow, it keeps getting renewed, and plopped onto Monday nights. On the other hand, "Bones" (returned Sept. 2) -- forgetting last year's "what were they thinking?" twist ending -- is a greatly entertaining procedural show, thanks to the chemistry of the leads and a terrific ensemble cast, and doesn't deserve the shoddy scheduling treatment it repeatedly receives.
"Supernatural" (Sept. 18) on the CW has been -- to my great surprise -- a worthy successor to "The X-Files," managing to be witty and spooky, often times in the same scene. It's also a refreshing change of pace on a network that seems determined to prove it's too hip for the room. "Smallville" (Sept. 18), which shares the night, however, is about two years past its sell-by date, and even the cast seems to know it.
Many questions about the fall TV season will be answered in the next few weeks, some much more dramatically than others; specifically, will audiences return to shows they were only beginning to embrace eight-to-ten months ago? If the answer's yes, the networks may feel that they didn't just dodge a bullet, but rather a cannonball. If the viewers don't come back, however, a murky midseason filled with cancellations, replacements, and rampant schedule shuffling will be at hand. And it's a good bet that the odds are stacked against the networks, thanks to an eroded and still-disgruntled audience base.
In other words, the business of network TV is likely to get very interesting, and very soon.