mordant orange: Summer is over, Bring on the new TV shows

« I'm all over it | Main | World's oldest person dies »

August 30, 2005

Summer is over, Bring on the new TV shows

Summer's over, well almost but as far as TV is concerned it is. New fall shows are already being rolled out. Generally new shows and new episodes of returning shows don't surface until the third week in September when ratings are examined to determine the advertising rates for the year (this is also know as "sweeps" as most network put out their best to get the most eyeballs on their stuff so the can charge more for advertising).

Last night FOX's first new show of the season premiered, Prison Break. With the huge success of Lost last year expect networks to bring all kinds of series with large story arcs and anything that made Lost great. Much like everything else in TV if someone comes up with a good ideas there will be 5 more ripoffs the next year.

Prison Break was well done and interesting enough to warrant another viewing but don't ever forget that it's on FOX and that it will probably be cancelled if it's half decent. If anyone needs any proof of this watch the first 2 minutes of the first episode of Family Guy after it returned to the air where Peter rambles off every show that was cancelled in Family Guy's three year absence.

Here's a list of upcoming new shows, as TV is pretty much a wasteland and if a show isn't an instant hit it's dumped I've had to cut down the list to shows that I'll check out and ones that just seem so bad you wonder how anyone convienced anyone to make them in the first place, courtesy of Kevin Williamson of the Calgary Sun:

( MONDAY AUG. 29) PRISON BREAK (Fox): A man, desperate to save his imprisoned brother from execution, launches a preposterous plan to break him out of prison. Balk all you want at the show's plot -- the pilot episode is a big, energetic entertainment.
(THURSDAY, SEPT. 8)REUNION (Fox): This potboiler follows a group of tight-knit friends over the course of 20 years in a single season. The premiere is set in 1986. Expect deceit, sex, murder and loads of top 40 tunes from the past two decades.

(SUNDAY SEPT. 11) THE WAR AT HOME (Fox): This family sitcom stars Michael Rappaport, who just wants to keep his kids in check. So he sends them to Iraq. Really. Except for the Iraq part.

(TUESDAY, SEPT. 13) BONES (Fox): David Boreanaz, formerly of Angel, plays an FBI agent teamed with Patricia Cornwell-esque crime solver.

(FRIDAY SEPT. 16) THRESHOLD (CBS): Aliens plot to invade Earth by rewriting our DNA. Gorgeous Carla Gugino (Sin City) and not-gorgeous Brent Spiner (Star Trek's Data) must stop them.

(MONDAY, SEPT. 19) KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL (Fox): Based on the real-life memoir of a New York chef, this series from Darren Star (Sex and the City) treats chefs like rock gods.

(MONDAY, SEPT. 19) HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (CBS): The wonderful Alyson Hannigan (Buffy) takes a surprising supporting role (along with Neil Patrick Harris, formerly of Doogie Howser fame) in this sitcom about a man who is relating the story of how he met his wife to his children.

(MONDAY, SEPT. 19) OUT OF PRACTICE (CBS): Aaaaaay! Henry Winkler a.k.a. The Fonz is the newly divorced (from Stockard Channing) patriarch of a clan of dysfunctional lawyers.

(MONDAY, SEPT. 19) SURFACE (NBC): In this science fiction adventure, the aliens come not from the stars but from the deep (as in ocean).

(TUESDAY SEPT. 20) MY NAME IS EARL (NBC): Jason Lee (Almost Famous) stars in the season's funniest new show, about a scumbag who sets out to help all the people he's wronged in his life.

(WEDNESDAY SEPT. 21) INVASION (ABC): A hurricane in Florida may be just a smokescreen for an alien attack. Stars former Calgarian Kari Matchett. Cannily paired with Lost.

(WEDNESDAY SEPT. 21) THE APPRENTICE: MARTHA STEWART (NBC): Can Martha trump the Donald?

(WEDNESDAY SEPT. 21) E-RING (NBC): Benjamin Bratt and Dennis Hopper in the Pentagon. Slickly made, from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI).

(THURSDAY SEPT. 22) EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS (Citytv): Chris Rock produces and provides voiceover for this autobiographical account of his childhood.

(THURSDAY SEPT. 22) CRIMINAL MINDS (CBS): Ever wonder what CSI would've been like if Mandy Patinkin had played Gil Grissom? Now you know.

(FRIDAY SEPT. 23) GHOST WHISPERER (CBS): Jennifer Love Hewitt's breasts see dead people.

(FRIDAY SEPT. 23) KILLER INSTINCT (Fox): Cops battle deranged psychotic criminals -- and their own demons.