NBC isn't exactly engendering a lot of goodwill among people, with their cancellations of shows like Life and Medium, and My Name is Earl. The fact that they're replacing these shows with not one but two medical shows, isn't exactly a confidence booster. NBC hasn't sent screeners of all their pilots yet, hence the "Part 1" in the title. But I have gotten a taste of both their comedy and drama offerings with Community, a comedy starring The Soup's Joel McHale, and Trauma, one of the aforementioned medical dramas.
Going into this, I didn't have high hopes for Trauma, and while I wanted to like Community, I had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to be the vehicle that would change Joel McHale from cute host of a basic cable show to primetime star. Now, after seeing both of them, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by one.
Generally speaking, CBS had a strong 2008, developing one bona fide hit drama -- The Mentalist -- even though shows like The Ex-List never found an audience or a critical plaudit. Ironically, I liked The Ex-List based on the screener I reviewed last summer, so go figure. Sometimes a preview can inform you about a show's potential and sometimes it's just the best it'll ever be.
CBS has shared previews for the new season and we've had a chance to take a look. There are star vehicles for Jenna Elfman, Alex O'Loughlin and Julianna Margulies, which would seem logical based on the success of Simon Baker as The Mentalist. CBS is counting on familiar, popular TV stars to win over audiences. Will the strategy work? It's probably too soon to tell.
When the news about Without A Trace ending its run was made official at the CBS Upfront this past week, I wasn't shocked. Rumor had it that either Without A Trace or Cold Case would be dropped, and Cold Case might have tipped the scales in its favor with a strong showing with its two-part season finale. But as much as I liked Without A Trace, I'm not really sorry that it's calling it a day.
Seven years is a darn good run for a TV show. In fact, if it had been a British series, it might have ended after 30 episodes – unless you're talking Coronation Street which is a freak of TV.
But here's the thing about Without A Trace, it's been a solid show with a strong set of characters who've had a chance to shine as much as possible within the confines of a procedural. Anthony LaPaglia as Jack Malone was terrific. The high point in many an episode for me was when Jack lost it and got in someone's face. His personal life was generally a mess, so LaPaglia had lots of chances to show the troubled side of his character.
I want to give every show (that isn't a reality show) the benefit of the doubt, because even the more mundane premise can be great with the right writing and cast. Having said that, do we really need another TV show about a team of quirky investigators solving crimes? Here's a clip from the first episode of The Forgotten. (And here are previews of ABC's new comedies.)
Suddenly, it seems that network TV programming is becoming like Major League Baseball. I'll trade you Scrubs for money and a TV show to be named later. Or how about taking According To Jim off our our hands and you give us Old Christine? Shows are going to other networks already, so why not just starting trading them?
TBS is currently running repeats of My Name Is Earl, and to pretty solid ratings. With NBC cancelling Earl, it looked like all that might end. Well, not the re-reuns -- they can run forever -- but that influx of new episodes. But in this era of cross-network deals and shows jumping ship to keep costs down, it may not be the end of the road for the Hickey boys after all. Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, loves the show and would be more than willing to discuss having My Name Is Earl move to TBS for a fifth season.
He hasn't approached them, but he's said "I'm in the book" about them approaching him. "We'd definitely look," he says about trying to work out a deal to keep the show on the air. Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Friday Night Lights have already found new life in cable deals, though theirs involved sharing with NBC, so it's not unprecedented. And with TBS trying to ramp up its original slate it wouldn't be a bad move to take an established property to anchor the schedule.
Canterbury's Law didn't last too long (be honest, you barely remember it), but Juliana Margulies is donning the power suit and getting back into the courtroom in CBS' new drama The Good Wife. This show is "ripped from the headlines" in every way. Her husband is a politician who goes to jail after a money/sex scandal, she's all over YouTube, and even her boss has her picture taken with Hilary Clinton and looks a little like Gloria Allred (it's Christine Baranski). Margulies' character could probably get a few million for writing a tell-all, but she decides to practice law again.
With all this news from ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and The CW about their new fall schedules, we can't forget what's happening on cable. TNT and TBS have announced some new shows of their own. Some might say that these shows are even more promising than what the other networks have to offer this fall. In fact, one of them has me more excited than Richard Simmons in a tank top factory.
Besides returning shows like The Closer (June 8), Raising The Bar (June 8), Saving Grace (June 16), and Leverage (July 15), TNT also has the following new shows.
There seems to be a ton of new medical dramas on the fall schedules, including this new CBS show from Jericho producer Carol Barbee. I guess the only question is, can a medical show with such a specific premise (a hospital that specializes in transplants) do enough different stories throughout the season? Never mind - this one has Moonlight star Alex O'Loughlin!
In the yearly scramble to pick up pilots, renew old shows, and dispose of last season's weaker offerings, ABC is shorting 80s sci-fi favorite V.
The original 1983 miniseries featured a race of stealthy, guinea pig swallowing lizards from the stars taking over the world with fascist strategies reminiscent of the rise of Nazi Germany. The following year's TV series dumbed it down a bit and became a weekly battle between freedom fighters and creepy aliens.
You can catch the upfront trailer for V here. It looks a bit like ABC is being invaded by Independence Day -- though Independence Day looked like it was being invaded by the original V. Fortunately, these new invaders bring Firefly's Morena Baccarin (right) along for the trip as their spin doctor.
I'll admit that I haven't seen Twilight (nor read the books), but for those of you who have, doesn't this preview of The CW'sVampire Diaries look a lot like the Twilight movie? Similar premise, similar characters, same banter/threats between the good bloodsucker and the bad, even a similar scene where one flies and rams his body into the other's body. This is based on a series of novels too, though I don't know which book series came first.
The CW knows what it's good at and they're sticking to it: sex and beauty. After the success of Gossip Girl and 90210, two very buzzed about shows, the CW announced this morning that they're picking up three new dramatic series in the same vein for next fall: Melrose Place, Vampire Diaries and The Beautiful Life. In addition, the network is also dumping any original Sunday night programming. Next season, local affiliate stations will program these slots. They also announced this morning that in addition to renewing hits like Gossip Girl & 90210, the CW is also bringing back Smallville for an 8th season, 9th season but moving the aging drama out of its competitive Thursday night 8PM slot to Friday night at 8. More details after the jump.
Past Life is another new show that FOX has coming next season, and it looks like a cross between a Ghost Whisperer/Medium-type drama (someone seeing visions of...something, maybe a past life or visions of death) and a Bones-like investigation drama (a man and woman team trading barbs while investigating a crime). Add a dash of Cold Case and you get Past Life. This clip has lots of close-ups of dogs growling and lunging and hands coming toward us. Not sure if it's one mystery (the teen who has visions) or a new case every week. I think the latter.
Coming off a strong 2008 season, CBS is taking some bold moves with their new season program schedule. As we wrote earlier, there are four new dramas, a sitcom and a reality show in the mix.
The big news is how it's shifting around some hit shows on Monday and Thursday, while standing pat on Wednesday. Here's what we know right now...after the jump.
ABC released video previews of some of its upcoming shows for the 2009-2010 season today. Below are some early looks at three of the network's new comedies, Hank, The Middle, and Cougar Town (complete with some snap judgments). All three shows will be part of ABC's new Wednesday night comedy block along with Modern Family.
Lets start with Hank:
I like Kelsey Grammer, but I won't watch everything he does. I never made time to catch a single minute of Back To You, his short-lived Fox comedy, but Hank looks like a solid family sitcom. It definitely doesn't look like a classic or even a gut-buster, though. I can see it catching on and becoming a strong lead-in for ABC's Wednesday night. It's basically about a family of rich New York City jerks who are forced to move to the burbs when dad (Grammer) loses his high-paying job as a CEO.
NBC isn't exactly engendering a lot of goodwill among people, with their cancellations of shows like Life and Medium, and My Name is Earl. The fact that they're replacing these shows with not one but two medical shows, isn't exactly a confidence booster. NBC hasn't sent screeners of all their pilots yet, hence the "Part 1" in the title. But I have gotten a taste of both their comedy and drama offerings with Community, a comedy starring The Soup's Joel McHale, and Trauma, one of the aforementioned medical dramas.
Generally speaking, CBS had a strong 2008, developing one bona fide hit drama -- The Mentalist -- even though shows like The Ex-List never found an audience or a critical plaudit. Ironically, I liked The Ex-List based on the screener I reviewed last summer, so go figure. Sometimes a preview can inform you about a show's potential and sometimes it's just the best it'll ever be. 
When the news about 
Suddenly, it seems that network TV programming is becoming like Major League Baseball. I'll trade you Scrubs for money and a TV show to be named later. Or how about taking According To Jim off our our hands and you give us Old Christine? Shows are going to other networks already, so why not just starting trading them?
TBS is currently running repeats of My Name Is Earl, and to pretty solid ratings. With 
With all this news from 
In the yearly scramble to pick up pilots, renew old shows, and dispose of last season's weaker offerings, ABC is shorting 80s sci-fi favorite V.
The CW knows what it's good at and they're sticking to it: sex and beauty. After the success of Gossip Girl and 90210, two very buzzed about shows, the CW announced this morning that they're picking up three new dramatic series in the same vein for next fall: 
Coming off a strong 2008 season, CBS is taking some bold moves with their new season program schedule. As we wrote earlier, there are four new dramas, a sitcom and a reality show in the mix. 
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
TV Squad previews CBS's new shows
