This is Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at TV Squad where we supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our tips form or by emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot com, or call and leave a message at (775) 640-8479. Your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.
This week we have spoilers for: 24, 90210, Cougar Town, Desperate Housewives, Eastwick, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, and NCIS. (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)
The network is going to send up a skywriting plane to create giant Vs across the sky at 26 different landmarks across the United States. They're not saying where the skywriting will be, but I"m assuming it will be places like the Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, and The Grand Canyon. I don't know for sure if those places will be included, but I hope that the network gets the word out to local authorities so the public doesn't have some sort of weird panic when the letters show up in the sky.
ABC might be missing a big opportunity here though. What they should do is contact the Heene family and really send little Falcon into a UFO balloon right next to the skywriting. Every cable network would cover it live for hours.
There are still a couple of new shows that haven't premiered yet, including two I'm really looking forward to, ABC's new version of V and FOX's new version of The Human Target (I know, I'm actually looking forward to two remakes). But they're not going to premiere until November and January, respectively, so here are my picks for the three new shows that I'm truly enjoying so far this new season. And somehow, they're all on ABC.
FlashForward. I bet a lot of people are going to pick this as the best new show, but I was kinda worried about it. I thought it would be too Lost-ish, but would suffer in comparison because it didn't have the strong cast and "gravitas" that Lost has. But it's a great show beyond any comparisons (and Dominic Monaghan hasn't even shown up yet!).
The fall season has begun and we have a ton of new and returning shows to watch again. It's great to have The Office and The Mentalistand 60 Minutes andThe Simpsonsback with new episodes, but I still feel a huge void in my TV-watching pleasure. And it's not because Lost and Chuck won't be back until next year.
I'm talking about 30 Rock. While all of the other NBC Thursday night comedies (Weekend Update Thursday, Parks and Recreation, Community, and The Office) have returned, 30 Rock won't be back until October 15. Not sure why that is, but Thursday nights just aren't the same without it. I even saw a promo for NBC's Thursday night lineup and how the show were back, and they included 30 Rock in the montage. That was just painful.
You're probably going to say that Dancing with the Stars was one of them, but actually those episodes were numbers 9 and 10. And it wasn't one of the CSI shows or one of the comedies on CBS and it wasn't Grey's Anatomy.
Hint: the two shows are related, and I think they're taking over the television landscape. Here's the full list of the top 20 shows in the Nielsen ratings last week. Three new shows made the list.
(S01E01) The first question I had after watching the new NBC medical dramaTrauma was this: can the show keep this up every week?
You can tell a lot of money was spent on the pilot, because the first 20 minutes is like Irwin Allen: The Movie. Helicopters crash, cars explode, children are endangered. It's like those big episodes of ER where something massive happened, only this is going to be a regular thing with this show (if, as I said above, they can spend a lot of money on future episodes).
But what about the rest of the show? It's one thing to have big accidents and pyrotechnics (which are actually very impressive) but what about the cast, the writing, the stories?
If all of the people who watched the first two episodes of The Beautiful Life signed this petition...well, the show would still be canceled (if you had TBL in the office "which show will get canceled first" pool, congrats!).
Cancellations + the web = instant petitions. A TV show used to just die and then that would be it. Oh, sometimes something happens where a show gets a second chance (exec taking a chance, summer reruns getting good ratings, the show doing well on DVD, buzz, etc), but it's a long shot. And now, whenever a show is canceled the web gives us the opportunity to create and/or sign a petition to get the show renewed.
First Three Rivers got rid of Julia Ormand, then the pilot wasn't good enough so CBS decided to film a new version, and now that version doesn't seem to be good enough, so when the show debuts on October 4 we're going to see a later episode as the first episode. The pilot will now air as the second episode.
The pilot was also supposed to air at the Paleyfest a few weeks ago but CBS instead gave them an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Many shows have aired episodes out of order before, but it's not always a good sign. Then again, networks need a hit quickly these days. Maybe they should make Alex O'Loughlin's character a vampire?
FlashForward has a big Lost connection, since there are stars from Lost in the new show and ABC hopes it takes Lost's place as the big mystery show on the network. But the premiere episode also had another connection: a possible clue for Lost's new season.
In the pic on the right you can see a billboard for Oceanic Air. If you look closely (bigger version here) you can see that it says "Perfect Safety Record." So that means that the bomb worked and the crash of Oceanic 815 never happened? Or does it mean something else?
(S01E03) Why does every high school show have to do the obligatory football episode? Is this something that's still big for kids? Seriously, does this hierarchy of popularity still exist? Or are the writers just too old to know any better?
Anyway, this week Stefan tries out for the football team in a desperate attempt to not be so weird and creepy, and Elena, in an effort to get back to her "normal" life, goes back to cheerleading. That works for a few days, until Damon shows up and kills the history teacher/football coach Mr. Tanner. Yay for Damon!
If you haven't seen our game before, we give you a picture from a recent episode of a TV series and you provide the caption!
Last week's winner is stacey with this: "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dorothy. My name is Scarecrow, this is Cowardly Lion, and I know the Tin Man is around here somewhere...."
Remember the show Emergency? I used to love that show. Along with Adam-12, it was just about the calls that the paramedics went on and we got very little info about the personal lives of the characters. I'm sure NBC's new medical drama Trauma(say that 10 times real fast: drama Trauma, drama Trauma, drama Trauma) will have lots about the personal lives of the characters, though I think I'm going to be be more interested in the action scenes, and this one below is a doozy.
Trauma premieres on Monday after Heroes (I wonder if that will work out).
A lot of people thought that the phrase "second season of Dollhouse" wouldn't even be something we'd be saying at this point. It was assumed that FOX would be one of those sci-fi or action shows that FOX cancels quickly and we'd be writing Short-Lived Show posts about it.
I guess if this is the last season we could still write those posts, but until then, here's a trailer for season two, which starts Friday.
The synopsis of Mercy, the new NBC medical drama, says it's about three nurses at a hospital, but most of the previews have focused on the one played by Taylor Schilling. Here are two clips from tonight's premiere (at 8 on NBC), one Schilling-centric and one with all three.
The NBC show dropped 46% from last season's one hour season opener. Which reminds me, Heroes should never be two hours long. Last night's first hour was boring as hell, and then the second hour was more interesting but still muddy, frustrating, and all over the place.
In other ratings news, Housedid really well, CBS came in second, and Dancing with the Stars didn't do as well as people thought it would (or it usually does).
ABC is rolling out a special 
The fall season has begun and we have a ton of new and returning shows to watch again. It's great to have 
You're probably going to say that 
(S01E01) The first question I had after watching the new NBC medical drama 
If all of the people who watched the first two episodes of The Beautiful Life signed 
First 
The 
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
