171 posts tagged “tv”

I've greatly pared down what I'd originally been planning to check out when the new TV season starts this fall. (Although if the actors strike at the end of the month, we might have a repeat of last season. Joy and joyness.)

I usually start out with something like 21 or 22 shows, but that quickly changes as I check out the new stuff and am underwhelmed, or if said new stuff gets canceled, etc.

This season I'm planning on watching only two of the new dramatic offerings, and one of those doesn't premiere until mid-season. I've axed Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, American Idol and Heroes, as well as most of the criminal procedurals I used to watch. The great thing about procedurals, especially the Bruckheimer series, is that they do very well for their respective networks and are always re-running during hiatuses and over the summer, so I can catch up then if I feel the urge. (Regarding the procedurals: it's purely from a scheduling standpoint and not a content issue.)

The Grey's writing was awful this past season, and I hate some of the storyline directions they've adopted, so that was easy enough. Same with GG. Heroes -- well, if it returns to its Season 1 awesomeness, I can catch up on DVD. But I'm not really that optimistic, especially since I still can't stand its supposed hero, Peter Petrelli, and Claire's annoyance factor increased exponentially last season, too.

Plus I plan to start watching The FOX Report, Just in with Laura Ingraham and The O'Reilly Factor during the week, and Hannity's America on Sunday evenings. I consider myself pretty well-informed, but I'd like to be more consistent.

With those three additions, I've got a total of 20 shows on my plate, which includes mid-season replacements and stuff like new seasons of Jon and Kate + 8 and Top Chef. It's still a lot, but hey, that's what TiVo's for.

What I'm keeping/checking out: Chuck; The Sarah Connor Chronicles; Medium; Dollhouse; 24; House; Fringe; Pushing Daisies; Criminal Minds; Bones; The Office; Cold Case; Lost; Scrubs; Just In with Laura Ingraham; The FOX Report; The O'Reilly Factor; Hannity's America; Top Chef; Jon and Kate + 8.

Scheduling aside, the main reason for the change is that I don't want to watch anything I'd be embarrassed to tell my pastor, my parents, or my nieces and nephews that I watch.

And I believe every show listed above meets that criteria.

FOX has released a three-minute trailer for Fringe -- also known as the show that has me almost as impatiently excited as the Lost pilot -- and you can bet that trumps any personal post from me.

I was freaking out while I watched it. The X-Files wishes it was ever this freaky.

And if that weren't enough, about 72 seconds of the Dollhouse pilot have surfaced.

I believe my exact reaction after watching both back-to-back was something along the lines of -- and I'm trying to get the exact wording and inflection -- HELLS YEAH!

(Also? Tahmoh Pinkett is HOT. I thought so all during my love affair with Battlestar Galactica and I'm just hoping we get to see him lose the suit.)

ETA: Dollhouse paired with 24? House paired with Fringe? Almost enough to stop me from rolling my eyes at the return of the show that WILL NOT DIE. (That would be Prison Break, in case you hadn't guessed.)

I'm sure I'm the only one that bothers putting in the time to compile stuff like this -- or even cares about it -- but whatever. It's my blog, and I want it available for easy reference.

Without further adieu, the network schedule for the 2008-09 fall TV season. Obviously, FOX hasn't had its turn at the Upfront presentations yet, so I'll be updating this with their schedule announcements tomorrow.

(all times CST; * denotes new show; red highlights indicates guaranteed Season Passes; green indicates shows almost certain to gain SP status; purple indicates shows on a trial basis)

(Yes, you're reading right -- I'm done with Grey's.)

Monday
ABC: Dancing With the Stars (7-8:30); Samantha Who? (8:30-9); Boston Legal (9-10)
CBS: The Big Bang Theory (7-7:30); How I Met Your Mother (7:30-8); Two and a Half Men (8-8:30); Worst Week* (8:30-9); CSI: Miami (9-10)
NBC: Chuck (7-8); Heroes (8-9); My Own Worst Enemy* (9-10)
FOX: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (7-8); Prison Break (8-9)
         [Midseason: Dollhouse (7-8); 24 (8-9)
CW: Gossip Girl (7-8); One Tree Hill (8-9)

Tuesday
ABC: Opportunity Knocks* (7-8); Dancing With the Stars (8-9); Eli Stone (9-10)
CBS: NCIS (7-8); The Mentalist* (8-9); Without a Trace (9-10)
NBC: The Biggest Loser: Families (7-8:30); Kath & Kim* (8:30-9); Law & Order: SVU (9-10)
FOX: House (7-8); Fringe (8-9)
CW: 90210* (7-8); Surviving the Filthy Rich* (8-9)

Wednesday
ABC: Pushing Daisies (7-8); Private Practice (8-9); Dirty Sexy Money (9-10)
CBS: The New Adventures of Old Christine (7-7:30); Project Gary* (7:30-8); Criminal Minds (8-9); CSI: NY (9-10)
NBC: Knight Rider* (7-8); Deal or No Deal (8-9); Lipstick Jungle (9-10)
FOX: Bones (7-8); Til Death (8-8:30); Do Not Disturb* (8:30-9)
CW: America's Next Top Model (7-8); Stylista* (8-9)

Thursday
ABC: Ugly Betty (7-8); Grey's Anatomy (8-9); Life on Mars* (9-10)
CBS: Survivor (7-8); CSI (8-9); Eleventh Hour* (9-10)
NBC: My Name is Earl (7-7:30); 30 Rock (7:30-8); The Office (8-8:30); SNL: Thursday Night Live* (8:30-9); ER (9-10)
FOX: Moment of Truth (7-8); Kitchen Nightmares (8-9)
CW: Smallville (7-8); Supernatural (8-9)

Friday
ABC: Wife Swap (7-8); Supernanny (8-9); 20/20 (9-10)
CBS: Ghost Whisperer (7-8); The Ex List* (8-9); Numb3rs (9-10)
NBC: Crusoe* (7-8); Deal or No Deal (8-9); Life (9-10)
FOX: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader (7-8); Don't Forget the Lyrics (8-9)
CW: Everybody Hates Chris (7-7:30); The Game (7:30-8); Top Model repeats (8-9)

Sunday
ABC: Extreme Home Makeover (7-8); Desperate Housewives (8-9); Brothers & Sisters (9-10)
CBS: The Amazing Race (7-8); Cold Case (8-9); The Unit (9-10)
NBC: Football
FOX: The OT (7-7:30); The Simpsons (7:30-8); Family Guy (8-8:30); American Dad (8:30-9)
CW: rented to Media Rights Capital

Winter/Midseason plans:
ABC: Lost; According to Jim; Scrubs; The Bachelor
CBS: Rules of Engagement; Harper's Island*
NBC: Law and Order; Friday Night Lights; Medium; Office spin-off; Merlin*; Kings*
FOX: Dollhouse; 24; American Idol; Hell's Kitchen; Secret Millionaire; Sit Down, Shut Up; The Cleveland Show
CW: Reaper

ETA: About two minutes after I posted this, Kristin updated her site stating that Moonlight was suddenly trending negative -- according to reliable sources, CBS is high on a number of its new drama pilots and so there's not much room for the uneven Moonlight. I'm glad I was never that sold on it in the first place.

The Upfronts are taking place as I type this, so I'll be posting tidbits about next season, such as cancellations, renewals, the new shows being greenlit by each network, etc.

The following is incomplete and has been cobbled together from preliminary reports from Kristin and Ausiello:

Renewals:

• The Sarah Connor Chronicles, FOX (yay!)
• Friday Night Lights (on DirecTV, with NBC getting the rerun rights)
• Chuck, NBC (More Zach Levi. Yum.)
• Pushing Daisies, ABC (More Lee Pace. Yum.)
• Heroes, NBC (I am so close to not even caring anymore)
• Eli Stone, ABC (woohoo!)
• Boston Legal, ABC (although with a drastically reduced cast, ala the The Practice firings)
• Miss/Guided, ABC (can't bring myself to watch anything involving Ashton Kutcher)
• The Unit, CBS (but it's being moved to Fridays at 8 -- could spell trouble for Moonlight)
• Gossip Girl, CW (I'm so glad I stopped watching, especially after seeing the previews for tonight's -- Serena's too great of a character to be ruined by these cheap soap opera-ish plotlines)
• Smallville, CW (Lex and Lana are gone, and rumor is that Chloe's on her way out now -- hasn't Lois and Clark already been done?)
• Supernatural, CW
• One Tree Hill, CW (seriously? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but...seriously? Could this show get any more horrible?)
• Everybody Hates Chris, CW
• The Game, CW
• America's Next Top Model, CW
• 'Til Death, FOX
• Scrubs, ABC
• Reaper, CW

• Scrubs, NBC (that's right, you read correctly -- NBC canceled Scrubs, but ABC picked it up.)
  
• Women's Murder Club, ABC
• Aliens in America, CW
• Pussycat Dolls, CW
• Beauty and the Geek, CW
• New Amsterdam, FOX
• Back to You, FOX (although there's talk of CBS picking it up)

• Moonlight, CBS
• The New Adventures of Old Christine (although ABC will probably scoop it up if CBS passes)
• How I Met Your Mother, CBS

• 90210, CW (And Jennie Garth has signed on to reprise Kelly Taylor, albeit in a recurring role)
• Surviving the Filthy Rich, CW (formerly known as How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls: it's another Gossip Girl. Without Josh Schwartz or Blake Lively. Joy.)
• Stylista, CW (yet another Tyra Banks reality show. Contestants compete for an editorial job at Elle.)
• The Mentalist, CBS
• Game Show in My Head, CBS (yet another Ashton Kutcher reality show)
• Sit Down, Shut Up (new animated show from Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz and featuring the voices of AD alums Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler, among others.)

• Dollhouse, FOX (Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku, Amy Acker, etc., etc. Will be a mid-season show.)
• Fringe, FOX (from the awesome JJ Abrams; pilot cost $10 million to make; very X-File-ish; can't WAIT)
• Eleventh Hour, CBS (from Jerry Bruckheimer; more X-File-ish stuff; awesome)

Matt Roush and I don't disagree much, and when we do, it's usually due to philosophical, moral or political differences -- namely, my beliefs and values dictate what I watch, and, for instance, I don't care how well-written Weeds is, I will never, ever sympathize with a show built around a suburban mother who sells drugs to earn a living. (If you like it, more power to you. I, however, do not need to "give it a chance" to know that I won't ever like it.)

Anyway, the one show that I really disagree with him over is Criminal Minds. He really has a problem with the show and feels it's ridiculous and badly written and gratuitiously violent. I don't think it's badly written at all; I find the premise -- the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit profiling and hunting violent serial predators -- fascinating. The beginning and ending voiceovers and some of the speeches offered by characters like Hotch or Rossi might get a little heavy-handed from time to time, but I really like the show and actually prefer it to any of the CSIs and Law and Orders.

As for the so-called gratuitious violence, it's no bloodier than any of the other criminal procedurals -- or even Grey's Anatomy, for that matter. Seriously, I couldn't look at the bear attack victim's intestines hanging out of his body cavity during last week's Grey's. I'll be the first one to call something over-the-top gory or graphic or whatever -- I couldn't make it throught the pilot of Showtime's Dexter. (Although I like the PG-13 version CBS has been running on Sunday nights.)

I really enjoyed last night's CM, especially since it was JJ-centric. JJ is the liason between the BAU and the rest of the world -- she handles the press, handles the requests from the police departments who needs the unit's help, deals with the families of the victims if necessary, etc. She's an agent, but not a profiler, and so her character isn't quite as involved as the others. Therefore, whenever she gets to play a front-and-center role, it's awesome. ("North Mammon" remains my favorite episode of all three seasons thus far.)

AJ Cook got pregnant during the writer's strike. I had no idea until watching last night. JJ usually wears very tailored blouses and suits, and that definitely wasn't the case last night. I Googled her after the show was over and was glad to learn that her pregnancy is being written into the show -- which would explain the return of a character JJ had an ongoing flirtation with in an episode about a year ago. The writers handled the storyline very well. They explained the fact that JJ and Will had been having an ongoing relationship since then very realistically, and they should be able to now work the pregnancy in without it looking like it came out of nowhere.

I hate when shows try to cover up real-life pregnancies. It's very, very obvious that Angela Kinsey is pregnant on The Office, as it was when Courtney Cox was pregnant during the last season of Friends...I realize that storylines and characterization aren't always conducive to pregnancies, but the lengths these shows go to hide them border on the ridiculous.

Anyway, with all deference to the esteemed Mr. Roush, I really like Criminal Minds. A lot. It's moved into my top 5 shows and is one I'll always watch live or at least the night it airs. (Ironically, Lost is my current favorite show and I'm still two episodes behind -- soon to be three after tonight.)

It was incredibly fitting that the final two words of Meredith's voice-over on Thursday night's post-strike return of Grey's Anatomy were "They evolve."

In the Grey's timeline, six weeks have passed since we last saw the doctors of Seattle Grace and in that time, Meredith has (finally) started going to therapy. Her therapist (well-played by guest star Amy Madigan) provides a bit of exposition by reminding Meredith that in the several appointments they'd had, Meredith hadn't said a word, and then volunteers that, as she is on staff at SG, she'd heard a fair bit of the gossip surrounding Meredith, Derek and Rose, and Meredith insists that she's not there because of Derek.

And then the beeper goes off, and she's off.

To race Cristina and Izzie through the halls. (I laughed -- loudly -- when Cristina hip-checked Izzie into the wall. So funny. And totally vintage Cristina.)

It seems that the residents are participiating in an age-old weeks-long competition whereby procedures, patients and surgeries have point values and at the end of the set time period, the resident who has accumulated the most points wins the as-yet-unknown grand prize.

As you may have guessed, hilarity ensues.

Izzie, who trails Cristina (obviously the leader), Alex and Meredith by a large chunk, grabs an incoming ER patient (played by Cheech Marin) with a fractured ankle and is determined to diagnose him with, you know, something other than a fractured ankle. She puts the guy through test after painful test only to find out that he's got a fractured ankle. And the flu.

Watching Cristina both suck up to Hahn (who I STILL DON'T LIKE) and squabble with Alex over the number of stitches she gets to do (each stitch equals a point) was also amusing.

In intern land, George and Lexie have moved into what George appropriately calls a "crap-partment." It's rundown and overrun with roaches, and neither struggling intern has much money to furnish the place. Which leads Lexie on quite the funny scavenger hunt around the hospital looking for things to steal. A bedpan becomes a fruit bowl. A cut vase of flowers given to Rose by a grateful patient is a table center piece. Bed pads are place mats, sheets a convenient slipcover for the couch -- you get the idea. Seriously, Lexie is adorable. I love both her and Chuyler Leigh. Probably my favorite exchange between Lexie and George came at the end, as the two roommates are sitting on the couch in their "renovated" apartment.

George: You should've stolen a TV.
Lexie: I tried. They're bolted to the ceiling.

I hope Chandra & Co. keep these two as nothing more than roommates with a nicely budding friendship -- they're great as friends and Chuyler Leigh and TR Knight have great chemistry. But we have gone down the more-than-friends route twice already with horrifying results. So please, PTB -- let poor George have a friend who remains a friend.

Meredith ends up winning the contest because she happens upon a patient brought in for a badly bitten hand after he, his wife (his rebound girl, which makes Meredith think of Derek and Rose) and his brother tangle with a bear cub and its overprotective mother. The brother's got his intestines hanging out of his stomach, the wife had a big chunk of scalp hanging by a skin flap, and the guy's got a hole in his hand from the bear's teeth. (The guy and his wife are played awesomely by Jason O'Mara, whom I love, and Clea Duvall, whom I love more.) Through a series of events, Meredith discovers O'Mara's character has a massive, inoperable brain tumor.

And so she gets 80 points, which vaults her over Cristina, and gives her the Holy Grail -- the Sparkle Pager. Every time a resident gets a surgery, he or she must first page Meredith on the Sparkle Pager to see if Meredith wants the surgery first.

Anyway, it was a really enjoyable episode. I absolutely love this show. I always like Meredith, even if she does border on the annoying sometimes, but this episode showed that she really is evolving. (Except maybe when, after figuring out the guy had a tumor, she throws her arms up in the air like she'd just scored a touchdown and yells tumor!) She dealt with a difficult situation in her patients and then followed that up by turning down a juicy surgery to instead do research on patients with similar tumors. She then presents the information to Derek and suggests setting up a clinical trial and does so in a totally professional, not-awkward manner.

And then she returns to her psychiatrist and says that maybe it's time she started talking.

I'm looking forward to the remainder of the new shows, particularly next week, when Kate Walsh returns.

Mondays used to be so sparse when it came to watching TV, especially after Prison Break became so ludicrous that I abandoned it. (Speaking of, the fact that they're bringing the supposedly-beheaded Sara back next season is kind of insulting to even semi-intelligent TV viewers everywhere.)

After a craptastic week and a weekend that saw lots of sleeping and lots of watching movies that make me somber (Atonement, Juno, Speak, In the Land of Women) and/or that are just plain depressing with no redemptive quality that I can think of, except for the Tracy/Chris storyline that was far, far too short (Into the Wild), I'm definitely looking forward to the return of the last of the shows affected by the writer's strike.

Except the schedule's been majorly shifted around.

Tomorrow alone brings brand-spanking-new episodes of Gossip Girl, Bones, and House, all three of which I watch, in addition to Dancing With the Stars (seriously, what is up with me and reality TV this season?) and Medium.

Tuesdays are less crowded now that House and Bones have jumped to Mondays -- other than American Idol, I watch NCIS and Women's Murder Club (which returns April 29).

Ditto with Wednesdays: just one non-Idol show in Criminal Minds.

Thursdays are jam-packed now that both Grey's and Lost have returned, because in addition to both of those, I still watch The Office, Scrubs, CSI and Without a Trace. Yeah. That's a lot of TV in one night. Thank God for TiVo (especially since Grey's, The Office and CSI are all on at the same time.)

I'm trying to get into Moonlight, which is on Fridays, but that's the only thing I watch that day after never being able to quite get into Ghost Whisperer and getting tired of Num3ers.

On Sundays is yet another (awesome) Bruckheimer criminal procedural in Cold Case. 

I'm really excited about Dollhouse, especially since Ausiello just revealed Angel/Alias alum Amy Acker has been cast as well.

Honestly. I'm excited.

My excitement is just not translating to the page. I can't even muster an exclamation point. Or adjectives.

E's Kristin Dos Santos talked to Joss Whedon about the series:

What's the pilot episode called?
"Echo."

What's it about?
The logline don't lie: "Echo (Eliza Dushku) is a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse."

What's it like?
Dollhouse is like The Bourne Identity meets Stepford Wives meets boarding school meets Los Angeles neo-noir meets the Whedonverse. In short, it's rad, man.

If I was writing an eighth-grade book report about Dollhouse, what would I list as the "themes"?
Identity, self-determination, free will is both a blessing and a pain in the ass, The Next Generation's Data is a great TV character, Eliza Dushku is hot. What? Those first three at least are almost certainly themes.

Is Echo just a new name for Faith?
That's a negatory. Echo has a genius for contemplation and self-awareness that Faith couldn't begin to approach. Echo also has about 48 different faces to show the world, which gives her a good head start on Faith, who seemed to vary primarily between rage and desolation. In the first episode, we are shown that Echo is essentially like the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz—"If I only had a brain..."—but she's otherwise fully equipped with a soul, a rockin' bod, and a good, fearless heart.

Who's the new boss of us all?
Olivia Williams is going to rock as Adelle Dewitt, a Frigidaire administratrix whose rare brushes with human empathy and compassion are enough to make you suspect she might just be a good guy after all. 

Where's the twist?
The Dolls are programmed to mix up identity and personality with a splash of subterfuge and a dash of dementia—but they're not the only ones. Tahmoh Penikett's FBI agent Paul Ballard is obsessed with opening up the Dollhouse, but he may have more in common with—and already be closer to—the Dolls than he even knows.

Where is the love?
Echo and Paul are going to be hot like fire, no doubt, but I predict that cerebral Doll mechanic Topher (think Kevin Rankin's character in Bionic Woman, but more evil) and blank-slate Kewpie-doll Sierra (Dichen Lachman) might end up being the other pair of opposites that attract.

Who's the Xander?
If I had to guess, I'd pick Victor (Enver Gjokaj).

What does the actress who plays Dr. Claire Saunders need to bring to the table?
Visible facial scars from a razor-blade attack somewhere in her past or a cooperative, calm personality and a willingness to sit quietly in a prosthetic makeup chair for extended periods each day.

Um, wow.

I may have had slightly inappropriate thoughts during Michael Johns' performance of "It's All Wrong, but It's All Right" last night on Idol. What an amazing performance. I believe that was his best so far, even topping Hollywood Week's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and last week's "Rock You/We Are the Champions" medley.

And have I ever mentioned that he is absolutely, jaw-droppingly hot?

Yeah, I was doubtful when I heard Dolly Parton would be this week's mentor, but Michael, David Cook, and Carly delivered, and delivered well.

And have I mentioned that Michael is drop-dead gorgeous?

In other news that excites me, Criminal Minds (finally) returns tonight. Finally.

Doubt this will be up long, but here you go:

For the second day in a row, I'm dripping with sweat and feel like I've just spent five hours running a marathon. Or strapped to one of those torture machines having every one of my muscles stretched to oblivion.

Who needs a gym when you have to lug all of your belongings up and down two flights of stairs about 3,000 times? (Okay, so I had professional movers, but I still had to go up and down stairs taking out trash and lugging all my hanging clothes, and moving heavy boxes of books around and putting furniture together and by the way, I think I may have thrown my back out.)

Anywho, I'm quite excited by news on the Fall 2008 TV front. They're doing a Beverly Hills, 90210 spin-off. That's right. I said it. I watched 90210 all through high school because we graduated the same year -- 1993. Ordinarily I wouldn't be all that thrilled about a spin-off more than 10 years after it ended, except that Rob Thomas penned the pilot and it it is successful, would once again be a show-runner extraordinaire.

He's also penning the script for a revival of his former show Cupid, which I never saw but hear it was pretty great. Although I must say, I'm glad Jeremy Piven's not returning as the leading man, because honestly, with the exception of PCU, I've never been a fan. I can't stand his character on Entourage, although I really can't stand Entourage, so I probably shouldn't judge him on that basis alone.

He's also doing another show and reportedly Kristen Bell is in talks to come on board.

That makes me even more suspicious that her days on Heroes are numbered, which, and I've said before and it's not an idle threat, would probably be the nail in the coffin as far as my Heroes-watching days are concerned.