Mon, August 20, 2007

This Nielsen thing has reminded me that the new fall season is creeping up on us faster than I'd realized, so I thought it best to go ahead and get some of the preliminary paperwork out of the way. The networks have corralled most of their premieres into a two-week period – a drastic return to sanity after last year's far-flung premiere dates spanning four months. Thus, there are actually no new shows starting until late September. Which means maybe I could've waited for the EW guide this year, but I'm ready now. So I took to the web once again, searching for online clips and cast lists.

It continues to amaze me how vastly different network web sites can be. ABC's online video viewer continues to dominate – easy to use, quick to load, and very good quality. But, hilariously, their preview grid for their fall schedule is one ugly PDF. NBC has got clips up, but the navigation is a little tricky. CBS has gone all-out with a brand-new fall preview showcase – actually presented by TiVo. (We at the ATGoNFP have only pretend sponsorship.) Fox's site is just a horror show. It's dreadfully challenging to find information about each show's premiere date, and the clips are clunky RealPlayer videos which consistently loaded for me on the sixth or seventh try. Yahoo! surprised me again this year with the poor quality of its videos, although at least the player didn't repeatedly crash on me like last year. They were my go-to source in 2006, because they had a full grid and lots of information and clips. Not so this year – just a handful of shows with heavily compressed video. AOL TV (?) came through with simple grids, although they frequently confused new shows for returning ones and they don't have any clips.

Since the information on these sites is far from impartial (AOL's reviews ranged from "Awesome!" to "Awesome!!!!"), they're only good for the basics: what's starting when, who's in it, and what's it about. Then, the shows have to speak for themselves with their clips.

Viewing the clips, I came across a few surprises. After the upfronts, it seemed like this would be a very dismal year, indeed. Some shows lived down to their awful pitches (Moonlight, Life is Wild), but a couple that I had written off turned out to show some potential. Chuck has a miserably dopey premise, but it seems to be pulled off pretty well – depending on the actors, it may be pretty good. Carpoolers had a very funny clip, and comes from former Kids in the Hall cutup Bruce McCullough. Reaper really surprised me, because I was expecting to be so bored by it I could barely summon the energy to hate it – but its clips were quite entertaining and Ray Wise plays a very smarmy, enjoyable Satan. Pushing Daisies seems a little better than I expected, garnering huge points for simply being unique and flavorful. (They've got a Wonderfalls producer on staff, and they combine that show's bouncy, sweet tone with a gooey Tim Burton aesthetic.)

By far the biggest surprise was Life, which I didn't notice at the NBC upfronts, but seems quite amazing. The premise is simple: a former cop is exonerated after serving 12 years of a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit, and he rejoins the force. But what the writers (and Damian Lewis, your favorite Band of Brothers alum) do with it is fantastic. I always say a thinner premise is better, because a show should be about its characters. Lewis plays the ex-con with a delightful joie de vivre rather than the customary chip on the shoulder. He loves fruit, communes with animals, and has mastered a Zen philosophy. His partner happens to be played with pitch-perfect weary sarcasm by the stunning Sarah Shahi, but I swear this show already had its 4 stars without her.

Of course, there were surprises in the other direction as well: based on their casts and concepts, I had predicted decent returns from Back to You and Samantha Who? (formerly Sam I Am until it turned out Ted Guisel's kids could copyright a three-word phrase). Instead they're atrocious duds. Applegate may yet save Sam, but you can go ahead and sink all your money into guardrail futures – Kelsey's gonna flip another sports car off Mulholland once the ratings for his show are in. Cane also seemed to have some decent buzz, despite being the sort of show I wouldn't likely watch. But it turns out pretty trite and dull.

Anyway, here are the documents. As far as what they are, I'll just quote myself from last year, like Joe does in his fantastic Oscar picks:

Once again I've produced a couple of guides to assist with the Annual TiVo Gauntlet of New Fall Programming, and I'll post them here in case you find them useful. I need a weekly schedule grid to show what shows air when, with the premiere dates right there (as opposed to six pages away, like they are in EW). And I need a chronological calendar of when new shows are premiering, to assist in scheduling each week's recordings. Here they are – share and enjoy!

2007 Guide to Fall TV Premieres [122k PDF]
2007 Schedule of Fall TV Premieres [105k PDF]

CBS is doing a premiere week, starting all but two of their shows the week of September 23, and NBC is mostly following suit. Fox is doing away with their late-August dumping ground – moving their premieres into September – and they've scheduled the baseball hiatus in between their new programming, rather than holding all the premieres until the World Series is over.

Some of these dates are sure to change, so stay tuned. I'll try to keep you updated as premiere week draws nigh. And of course I'll be back with full reviews and updated ratings once the shows actually air. These pre-ratings are just a guide – I won't be held accountable if Dirty Sexy Money is suddenly awesome. (Krause barely shows up in the damn clips! Although if you really want to laugh, check out ABC's promo clip for Women's Murder Club – in 20 seconds, you can't tell anything about the show! They've earned a provisional star for each of Angie Harmon's sculpted cheekbones and we'll just have to wait and see.) Of course, onebee's official recommendation is that you TiVo every new show just in case, and then wait until the review is published the following week to decide whether to watch it or junk it. But you're more than welcome to live your own lives.

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