Fall Schedule 2011

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Buscemi
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by Buscemi »

What about Simon Cowell?
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Shrykespeare
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by Shrykespeare »

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.
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Buscemi
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

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For some reason, I thought ABC was scheduling Pan Am for Thursdays. Are they going to be shelving it until midseason?
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W
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by W »

I think you mean Entourage's Kevin Dillon, not Numb3rs' Kevin Dillon.

BBT and The Office are givens for me, Person of Interest sounds either good or bad, I'm sure it'll be one or the other.

And is Outsourced coming back?
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undeadmonkey
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by undeadmonkey »

I'm an avid Mentalist fan, only started watching 6 months ago, but i'm addicted. I don't watch anything else on thursday, but from the new shows, i'll definitely check out Persons of Interest, even though it seems the lesser of the two JJ Abrams shows we get this year.
Last edited by undeadmonkey on May 24th, 2011, 6:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

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W wrote: And is Outsourced coming back?
Outsourced was canceled, supposedly due to low ratings.
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by Geezer »

You had me at Michael Emerson.
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Shrykespeare
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by Shrykespeare »

Buscemi wrote:
W wrote: And is Outsourced coming back?
Outsourced was canceled, supposedly due to low ratings.

Damn... just when I was developing an unhealthy crush on Madhuri...
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Shrykespeare
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by Shrykespeare »

Buscemi wrote:For some reason, I thought ABC was scheduling Pan Am for Thursdays. Are they going to be shelving it until midseason?
No, they're going to be showing it on Sundays.
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by Shrykespeare »

This just in: Chris Meloni is done on Law & Order: SVU.

Apparently unable to come to terms on a contract for a 13th season, Meloni has decided to step away from the series. With all the L&O series gone or cancelled and SVU's ratings only half of what they once were, the show looks like a sinking ship. First Mariska Hargitay announces that she'll do half a season and then turn the reins over to J. Love, and now this. It seems clear that there will be a Season 13, and Wolf is trying to find a big name actor to replace him. Whatever the case, it will take a miracle to reach Season 14.

I at least hope that Meloni agrees to come back and do ONE final episode to wrap up Elliot Stabler's story line. After 12 years, for his character to disappear without any closure would just be wrong.
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

Shrykespeare wrote: 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.
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by Shrykespeare »

FRIDAY

Friday night, as always, is a very mixed bag. For any show can thrive on this night is an uphill climb, but you got to put something there, I guess.


7:00

FOX will continue to run Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. I mean, I like the guy, but between Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen, do we really need THIS much of him? It's cool that he uses his knowledge to turn struggling restaurants around, battling with inept chefs and recalcitrant owners, but after a while, it just becomes the same story over and over again. NBC, meanwhile, will counter with the fifth season of Chuck, moving from Monday nights. I gave up on this show two seasons ago, because I got tired of the on-again, off-again relationship between Chuck and Sarah. I mean, it was cool when he was just a computer-store geek in over his head, but when it got more serious, it got less fun, and that's when I bailed. ABC will send up Ty Pennington and his ninth season of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Never seen it, but I'm sure it's very inspirational.

The only new show at this time-slot (for now) is CBS's A Gifted Man, a drama that centers on the life of brilliant but arrogant surgeon Michael Holt (Patrick Wilson) whose life is changed forever when his ex-wife Anna (Jennifer Ehle) appears in his life out of nowhere. Things then get very strange when he learns that Anna died in an accident recently, and she is now a ghost that only he can see. This is actually good news to Michael's sister Christina (No Ordinary Family's Julie Benz) as well as her teenage son Milo (Liam Aiken), who are convinced that Anna always brought out the best side of Michael. The show apparently deals with Michael's new take on life and death and how it affects him, his family and the world around him. Here's a link: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/a_gifted_man/video/

Honestly? I think I'd still watch Gordon Ramsay shout at people.


8:00

I'm really thankful that FOX gave Fringe another season, but I'm banking on this being its last. It was supposed to be the new X-Files, but it never really got the audience that it deserved. That being said, I still think it's one of the coolest things on TV. Any show that actually makes Josh Jackson a hero has got to be doing SOMETHING right! And John Noble's goofy mad scientist Walter is, quite frankly, one of the most interesting characters anywhere. ABC counters with the third season of Shark Tank, a show that should appeal to my reality-show itch but just never did, and CBS will send out the eighth season of CSI: NY, another show I never got into. (One CSI show per week is enough for me.)

I said that Person of Interest is the coolest-looking new show on the schedule. Perhaps running #2 is NBC's Grimm, which looks very intriguing even though it coems from the producer of Angel and Buffy, David Greenwalt. Set in modern-day Portland, the show puts a new twist on the old Brothers Grimm fairy stories. The main character is homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) who learns that he is descended from "Grimms", legendary hunters who keep humanity safe from the evil creatures of the world, creatures that can disguise themselves as normal people but who he can see as they truly are. Also in the cast are Russell Hornsby (Lincoln Heights), Reggie Lee (Prison Break, No Ordinary Family), as well as Silas Weir Mitchell, one of my favorite character actors (he has crazy eyes, so he's often cast as a serial killer or a lunatic, but you may remember him from Prison Break or My Name is Earl). I will definitely be giving this show a try, and I'm glad that I can record both Grimm and Fringe simultaneously.

Here is a preview of Grimm: http://www.nbc.com/grimm/


9:00

Not much at this time, unless you like the news. Dateline NBC goes up against ABC's veteran newsmagazine 20/20, while CBS counters with the second season of Blue Bloods. Meh.


Next up: Sunday



P.S.: Wow, I just found out that NBC cancelled The Cape. Between that and losing My Ordinary Family, I'm pissed off. Why do the coolest shows never make it past its first year?! Summer Glau just can't catch a break...
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

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So the second season of Blue Bloods is going on as scheduled? I know that it wins its time slot but it was having some production issues recently (the showrunner left after a dispute with producers) but I guess it got fixed and a new showrunner was installed.
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undeadmonkey
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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by undeadmonkey »

I'm a huge Chuck fan and i'm glad, that against all odds, it got another season to finish off it's story. Other than that i don't watch anything else on friday, might give Grimm a chance but it looks cheesy.

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Re: Fall Schedule 2011

Post by numbersix »

I gave up on Fringe after a few episodes. The X-Files comparison is accurate, but mostly in its flaws.

Watched a few more episodes of Game of Thrones, and it's definitely growing on me. The second episode was quite strong, and the character development appears to be quite impressive.

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