So, yeah, everyone is putting out their list of upcoming fall television shows. And mostly they’re pretty comprehensive, but I say, Bah! Let’s cut through the chum and take a look at programs you should probably watch. We’re not worried about mediocre shows you won’t even DVR. Nope, why waste time? Let’s take a look at a few that look promising! Novel idea, right? And in the next installment we’ll take a look at some you probably shouldn’t watch at all…unless it’s to discuss it shamefully and with derision.
2 Broke Girls
What Could Rock: Kat Dennings using what God gave her…her wit! Duh. What did you think I was gonna say? She seems charming and funny. She’s like a grown up Darlene from Roseanne…almost. Darlene was awesome. Will Kat out awesome Darlene? Perhaps not, but the show seems to be written with some amount of clever banter and appears mostly earnest in its attempt, if not a little cringy and campy at times. There’s a vagina joke that comes off a bit stiff. But mostly the trailer is fun and fresh!
What Could Suck: There’s a laugh track and it’s on CBS. CBS comedies are insanely popular for the whole Still Making a Laugh Track Thing Work, but you know, it’s gonna be 2012 and if the audience isn’t laughing on their own, quietly in their own homes, then perhaps you’re trying too hard.
Where to Find it: CBS, now owned by Ashton Kutcher
What Day? Monday, September 19, 9:30pm
Pan Am
What Could Rock: It looks smooth and suave. It also has a good bit of charm in that wink and a smile kind of way. Yes, there are beautiful people speaking in those dulcet tones made popular on another show about the 1960’s, but something about the cheekiness here doesn’t seem as forced as that other Mad Men doppelganger happening on NBC (We’ll discuss that thing later). This one seems to hit the right notes, and with the New York City backdrop and Sinatra crooning alongside, yeah, if Mad Men is your spouse, Pan Am wants to be your lover. Mile High Club!
What Could Suck: Well, we’ve seen it, and possibly seen it done better. There’s nothing worse than blatantly copying another show and failing miserably. They’re really trying to cash in on the formula AMC has worked to perfection, and if they fall short, especially since Mad Men won’t be back until next Spring, then, well, they only have themselves to blame.
Where to Find it: ABC, where John Stamos once ruled
What Day? Sunday, September 25, 10pm
Terra Nova
What Could Rock: Sure, this looks like it takes a few of the best Science Fiction movies of the last two decades and mashes them together into one big TV dinner of a reheated trope, but it’s possible that in smaller television chunks this thing could really be interesting. We’ve got a little Avatar, a little Land of the Lost and a little Jurassic Park among other things. And hey there’s that guy! You know the guy who gets all military and bossy in movies about fictional creatures on planet Pandora or Terra Nova or something with an “a” at the end! Well, this could be a really great show then, right?
What Could Suck: The remake of Land of the Lost sucked, and who even remembers the last Jurassic Park movie? This being said, Terra Nova could be one of those shows that after the novelty wears off, and we’ve seen the dinosaurs, yeah, uh, we could get bored. A show like this will need to keep upping the ante, or it could face the same demise that NBC show, Surface, about some sort of prehistoric fish or donkey or whatever faced. See? Our attention spans are practically nil. Keep us entertained.
Where to Find it: FOX, the network American Idol consumes
What Day? Monday, September 26, 8pm
Person of Interest
What Could Rock: Since the beginning of television there has been the cop drama. Now that we’re in the 21st century, it’s about time we embrace that idea Steven Spielberg had nearly a decade ago in Minority Report. Let’s find a way to stop crime before it happens. Jim Caviezel (Jesus got a new job!) gets his Jason Bourne on in this thriller about an ordinary guy who uses what’s at his disposal to stop crimes before they happen. J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan are the creators of this potential mysterious mind-bender. The premise looks slick and well developed. Again, we get a theatrical sense, and it always helps to have a hero who’s kind of badass, without being a psychic, or a ghost whisperer, or any of the other millions of things television has tried to convince us exist.
What Could Suck: J.J. Abrams can be so cerebral that he begins to annoy, and then we sort of get tired of trying to find the Tootsie Roll in the middle of his never-ending candy shell. The potential of that here is pretty high. More complicated doesn’t always mean better. It’s good that there’s a new mystery every week, but we don’t doubt that all will lead up to an even bigger mystery by season’s end. Let’s hope J.J. and Jonathan keep us on the edge of our seats and not lost amid too many twists and turns leading up to a locked door, or random people stuck in a box buried in the ground.
Where to Find it: CBS, the network Charlie Sheen calls drunkenly at night
What Day? Thursday, September 22, and 9pm
New Girl
What Could Rock: Well, if you can get beyond an entire show centered around Zooey Deschanel and her cutie-patootie leggings and be-specked eyeballs, this could bode well for the freshman offering. It looks like it may be cutesy and fun in a doltish hipster gal-schlubby kind of way. I really hate that it seems interesting because she’s so zany and quirky, but I guess it works for her. And if she can bring some of that wide-eyed zeal to this show convincingly it could actually be something worth seeing for an episode or two. Or maybe we’ll all get completely hooked and want to defend Zooey to a legion of people who call her a silly, hipster dweeb. [Me, right now.]
What Could Suck: MY GOD…ZOOOEY DESCHANEL! The same thing that makes her kind of interesting, quirky, and cute is the same thing that will make you want to kick your teevee ESPECIALLY if she starts singing about inanimate objects like polyester or spatulas or colonial doorknobs! Seriously, there is something about her that’s as annoying as it is compelling. So, we’ll see. And apparently, due to Damon Wayans Jr.’s Happy Endings show being renewed, New Girl has recast his part. So even though he’s still appearing in promos and will be in the pilot episode, no Damon Wayans Jr. So this also falls under “Things that could suck.”
Where to Find it: FOX, provider of continued Deschanel legging purchases.
What Day? Tuesday, September 20, 9pm
Up All Night
What Could Rock: Christina Applegate really shines in comedy, right? You only saw small sparks of it on Married With Children, but somehow she’s managed to be downright likable and funny, yes? Yes! And Will Arnet…well, something about him creeps me out, but that doesn’t mean I don’t find him funny. He is. Truly. He just has a slightly serial killer look about him. It’s in the expansive forehead and twinkly eyes. At any rate, it looks like it should be funny with these two at the helm. Maya Rudolph, who after the success of Bridesmaids, earned an expanded role, also helps sell this show. It looks original and tries for realism. All good things! Mostly!
What Could Suck: NBC. Yep, for some reason many of the new shows on this channel have something missing, and they end up getting canceled. Just take a look at last season’s fall lineup. It’s a game of “Where Are They Now?” My goodness the resulting road kill was brutal. And somehow they just manage to put the same stink on all their new shows. It’s usually some form of obvious audience pandering and unauthentic posturing. Not sure if this show has that yet, but it’s possible it could turn up after a couple episodes. And well, it’s been reported that Nick Cannon has a role on the show, and well, that’s just disappointing.
Where to Find it: NBC, birth-parents of The Cape.
What Day? Wednesday, September 14, 10pm
Hell on Wheels
What Could Rock: AMC has only steered us wrong once and that was with that boring as a Mitt Romney speech show called Rubicon. This new post Civil War western meets speeding locomotive show seems to have some promise. Taking a page from the network’s own playbook, the visuals look sumptuous, and the drama palpable. Like most shows on this channel, the theatrical elements are obvious. This could be the next best prestige show on television.
What Could Suck: Well, building a locomotive in the wild west, and discussions of the fallout of the Civil war may make better fodder for a mini-series or an original HBO movie. It may not translate well into a weekly series. Remember what we said about our attention span? Yes, well, that will apply here too. If the story gets too convoluted, or if it doesn’t move fast enough, or God forbid we spend too much time shoveling coal into that train…this will lose viewers.
Where to Find it: AMC, according to some, the network Matthew Weiner ruined.
What Day? Sunday, November 6, 10pm
Suburgatory
What Could Rock: Hey, remember Popular way back in the early 2000’s? That show was kind of fun and funky in its “observing the weird plastic world around us” kind of way, which was very much like Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, which was very much like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Okay, yeah, so I’ve just proven that things come in predictable cycles, anyway, this little show about a counter-culture chick moving to the suburbs because her dad found some “rubbers” in her drawer, at first seems a little “gag me” but it actually looks a bit fun in that place where you’re not supposed to hate things others worship lives. Like the way we love/hate the Olive Garden, Target, Costco, and that show Glee. And the success of fish-out-of-water shows like MTV’s Awkward could make for success of one using a similar sensibility.
What Could Suck: Well, there’s really nothing wrong with the suburbs, right? And just who does this hipster, elitist NYC gal think she is? There’s just got to be something wrong with her if she hates “real America.” No, but if the show is just a laundry list of despising malls and bake sales then it could run into trouble. Some good villains should crop up quick to keep the show edgy and give it more bite.
Where to Find it: ABC, watch out, we don’t know where Steve Urkel is hiding
What Day? Wednesday, September 28, 8:30pm
I Hate My Teenage Daughter
What Could Rock: There is just something about Jamie Pressley that’s crazy and hilarious in a weird kind of way. She’s got early 1980’s Dolly Parton appeal to her, just with much less hair poof. But still, she lights up the screen. This show looks a little on the light side, and it certainly has the premise of being a bit campy, but there are a few relatable zingers in the banter that could make it worthwhile. It’s also important to note that the show is on Fox, and they tend to stick by their shows, especially the ones that are campy, cringe-worthy, odd, and random. And this seems to fit that criteria. Also Cutty from The Wire is in it, playing the golf pro husband to the second lead on the show. Way to go, Cutty!
What Could Suck: There’s enough silly here that it could be become a detriment if they’re not careful, despite the charm and appeal of Emmy winner Pressley, and Tony Winner Katie Finneran. While the show may resonate with mothers of teenage girls everywhere, it could lose male viewers with all the female angst. Nonetheless, given that Fox sticks by their shows, we expect it to last. So it may be a good one to DVR if you’re otherwise engaged.
Where to Find it: Fox, Raising Hope has people in stitches. That is all.
What Day? Wednesday, November 23, 9:30pm
Ringer
What Could Rock: Sarah Michelle Geller returns with big Buffy shoes to fill. This new role is darker and more complex, but we think Geller can handle it since those last few seasons of Buffy got downright complicated. Remember when Buffy’s mother died? This evil twin/good twin dynamic is not a new idea, but we haven’t seen it in a while, so it’ll be interesting to see where it will go. There’s potential for it to be a well developed mystery, given the two opposing forces of the men in the main character’s lives. It all builds drama, and adds to the heightened sense of urgency that comes forth. Just in the trailer alone we want to know more about how the remaining twin will keep the act going
What Could Suck: This really seems like the kind of show that you have to watch from the beginning. There will be a lot of moving parts, and the viewer will need to know how all the parts fit together in both lives of the main characters. With any good soap opera, though, that’s a risk. If you lose viewers early on it will be doubly hard to regain interest once the story starts to dip and turn.
Where to Find it: CW, Spike and Angel still remember the Hellmouth
What Day? Tuesday, September 13, 9pm
