THURSDAY
Thursday used to be the coolest night on TV. Now? It's looks like the least cool night. (Good thing Thursday is my weekly poker night.)
7:00
NBC will run out four sitcoms as part of its Thursday night lineup. First up is the third season of
Community, followed by the third season of Amy Poehler and
Parks and Recreation. Haven't seen these shows, don't know if they're any good.
CBS counters with two sitcomes of its own, starting with the highly-successful
Big Bang Theory, which is entering its fifth season. Following that will be a new show called
How To Be a Gentleman, a sort of modern-day
Odd Couple that stars David Hornsby as Alan, the old-school, gentlemanly (read: wimpy) writer of a magazine "manners" column who reunites with Bert, an old high school bully (
Numb3rs's Kevin Dillon). While Alan must try to teach Bert how to be more gentlemanly, Bert tries to teach Alan to let his hair down from time to time. Dave Foley and Mary Lynn Rasjkub (
24) costar. Meh.
FOX trots out the results show for
X-Factor, which may win the time-slot depending on how well the actual show takes off.
Meanwhile,
ABC, along with exec producer Drew Barrymore, is updating
Charlie's Angels for TV. And yes, the premise is exactly the same. An unseen benefactor named Charlie Townsend (reputed to be voiced by Robert Wagner) recruits three highly-skilled ladies with shady backgrounds to perform dangerous missions in the city of Miami. There's Park Avenue princess-turned-thief Abby (Rachael Taylor, the Aussie babe from
Transformers); Kate (
General Hospital's Annie Ilonzeh), a disgraced ex-cop; and Marisa (
Friday Night Lights' Minka Kelly), a disgraced former army lieutenant-turned-street racer trying to avenge the death of her best friend. Ramon Rodriguez (
Battle: Los Angeles) fills the role of Bosley. I assume this was greenlit because of the success of
Hawaii Five-O, and this time-slot is just weak enough to succeed. I might watch it out of the same morbid curiosity that made me watch the first season of
She Spies, but I am doubtful that it will catch on.
8:00
A bunch of veterans will go head-to-head at this time. First, there's FOX's
Bones, which is entering its seventh season, and ABC's
Grey's Anatomy, entering its ninth. I honestly didn't even know
Grey's Anatomy was still on... I guess enough people watch it to keep it on, but I hear so little about it these days that I have to wonder how many more season it will last. Perhaps this season will be its last.
The post-Steve Carell-era truly begins as
The Office enters its eighth season without arguably the most successful comedic movie actor in the world at the helm. Given how his film career has taken off in the last few years, I'm surprised he stuck around this long. How the show fares without its star will determine whether any future seasons are in order. Following
The Office is a new comedy called
Whitney, which stars comedic actress Whitney Cummings (who also is the main script-writer) as Whitney, who will use this show to "bring her hilarious perspective on love" in order to "prove that there's no right way to be together... but there are plenty of wrong ways". The trailer (
http://www.nbc.com/whitney/) is actually quite amusing, but not enough so for me to watch it.
Now, if there is one new show that ALL OF YOU should be interested in (no pun intended), it's
Person of Interest. Co-produced by J.J. Abrams and written by Jonathan Nolan (Chris's brother, who wrote the screen play for
The Dark Knight), the show centers on Reese (Jim Caviezel), an ex-CIA hitman who teams up with a scientist named Finch (
Lost's Michael Emerson), who seems to have formulated a way to anticipate major crimes before they occur. Here is the preview:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/person_of_interest/video/. I'm already sold. This is easily the show I'm looking the most forward to trying out.
9:00
Veteran shows make up 2/3 of the lineup at the 9:00 hour. ABC's
Private Practice enters its fifth season against the fourth season of CBS's
The Mentalist. I tried to get into both shows at the beginning, but neither one sparked my interest. Going up against them for NBC is a new crime drama called
Prime Suspect, the latest directorial project of actor/producer/writer/director Peter Berg. This is a remake of a hit British television show, and it stars Maria Bello as Jane Timoney, a brilliant detective who has "had to make her bones in a tough NY precinct that is dominated by men." The show also stars Aidan Quinn, Kirk Acevedo (
Fringe) and Brian O'Byrne (
Flash Forward). I like the idea, but how many "gritty, street-cop" dramas have failed to get off the ground in the last few years? Having a tough female lead character didn't help
Chase get past its first season either, but maybe Peter Berg has the savvy to make this work. Time will tell.
Up next: Friday.