A Fall TV Preview (with links!)

I am addicted to television.  I have a DVR and I don’t want to remember life before it.  My tv, a 26” Vizio that has sucky sound but a great picture, is on a lot.  In fact there are some nights where I can’t fall asleep without it (I’d love to hug the person who invented the sleep function).  Then it’s on at 5:30 in the morning when I get ready for work.  By the way this is typically when MTV (or its various iterations -MTV2, VH1, etc.) plays music videos.  I don’t watch it without doing something else like reading a magazine, playing games on my iPod, or maybe making jewelry.  If I’m watching a movie I’ve not seen before I’ll give my TV my full attention, usually. 

Right now is the worst time of the year.  Most summer shows, which I would put up against regular season shows any day, are done and fall programs don’t start for a couple of weeks.  This is the time to rent movies or watch shows you’ve never seen before on whatever streaming site you use.  If you’ve read our blog before you know I’m going through Mad Men now (though not as often as I’d like-stupid work) and Tracy has just started watching Charmed.  This is what people like us, people without children or busy social lives do.  I love watching a show all at once.  I sometimes wonder what my experience with Lost would have been like if I had waited to watch it when it was all done and on DVD.  Anyway, I’m rambling a bit.  All this is a lead up to the one sentence that could have replaced these two paragraphs:

I am soooo excited about fall TV starting!

Tracy asked if I’d do a preview of what’s going to be on this fall.  She assumed I knew about every new show and all about the returning ones too.  Sadly, she was correct.

Speaking of Mad Men, there seems to be a bandwagon effect this fall.  Both Pan Am and The Playboy Club take place in the early 60s and immediately evoke thoughts of the AMC show.  The Playboy Club has a murder spin on theirs and features actress Amber Heard.  Pan Am appears to mostly be about randy stewardesses or some such.  Of the two I actually might give Pan Am half a chance but mostly because it’s on Sunday night when there isn’t much else on that I watch.

I was going to rag on NBC (Oh, NBC!) for still shying away from scripted shows and relying heavily on their already established reality shows like The Biggest Loser and The Sing-Off.  However it seems like most of the networks are not rolling out a ton of new shows.

Following is how I’ve mentally broken down the new shows premiering this fall.  These are in no particular order.

I’m excited about:

Terra Nova

Person of Interest (It’s got the guy who played Jesus and Ben from Lost!)

2 Broke Girls (I LOVE KatDennings [Have you seen Nick & Norah?] but it does look kinda dumb)

New Girl (I LOVE ZooeyDeschanel)

Prime Suspect (the British original was good and I think Maria Bello [Philly in the house!] is gonna be good)

Ringer (Hey Buffy! Hello, Horatio Hornblower! Hi Richard Alpert! Is that LOGAN EFFING ECHOLS!?)

Hart of Dixie (I LOVE SummerRoberts)

I’m abashedly curious about:

Pan Am (it’s Christina Ricci!)

Revenge (it’s got the girl from Everwood!)

The X-Factor (I was never a faithful A.I. viewer but I stopped watching completely when Simon left)

I won’t know if I will watch until I see the pilot:

Suburgatory

Grimm

Once Upon A Time (though I keep reading good things)

I won’t be watching:

The Playboy Club

Unforgettable

Last Man Standing

Man Up

How to Be a Gentleman

I Hate My Teenage Daughter

H8R (really, CW? I was going to write that it could be cathartic for those involved but then that's giving it too much credit.  And really, catharsis regarding a show Mario Lopez hosts?)

Free Agents

Whitney 

The Secret Circle

I’m on the fence about:

Charlie’s Angels (I know I shouldn’t want to watch it but there’s a small part that kind of wants to.)

Up All Night (I don’t have kids, I don’t care; but I do like the cast)

A Gifted Man (Good cast but I don’t know if I need another show on my already over-worked DVR)

Toughest night:

THURSDAY! Always it’s Thursday for me.

8-9pm – The Big Bang Theory, Community/Parks & Rec, X-Factor results, Charlie’s Angels, and The Vampire Diaries

9-10pm – Person of Interest, Bones, and Grey’s (yes, I watch Grey’s); I gave up on The Office a while ago so that's not a problem and I have ZERO interest in Whitney. I know she's supposed to be obnoxious but I just hate her from the commercials.

10-11pm – The Mentalist (I’m not 80 but I do like the show); Prime Suspect and Private Practice (yep, watch this tripe too-don’t judge)

TV Guide has a good page describingthe new shows including lots of cable shows.  I don’t have HBO or Showtime anymore  so I tend to ignore these now. Oh and ignore some of their editor’s picks.  A few of those are wrong. Don’t ask how I know that, I just do.

It’s funny, as I made this list I realized there are actresses I do like.  There are so many actresses that I can’t stand that I forgot there are some that I do like.  Huh.