Danny's FALL TV Preview - Or, How To Make Your TV Happy This September

Back from the long weekend and ready to roll. After the craziness that was last weekend, it was nice to take a couple of days and just sit back, relax, take in a couple of movies, and catch up on sleep. Although, it was actually a pretty productive weekend as well, and I managed to get a decent amount of errands done as well as some hardcore apartment-cleaning. But now, Labor Day weekend is over and done with, and yeah, it's still hot as heck here in LA, but ... the Fall has begun. The next several weeks will bring with them the usual bout of Fall events - the High Holidays, my birthday (!), and soon after that Halloween. Of course, the start of September also means something else for any true pop-culture fanatic, and that's FALL TV.

- Danny's FALL TV Preview 2009:

This year, it really does feel like the end of an era for the traditional Fall TV season, especially as far as the broadcast networks go. Personally, I don't know if I've ever been so unexcited for new Fall TV shows to begin. Sure, a couple of new series have some potential, but the overall momentum of network TV seems to be on a downward spiral. The fact is, the network TV model can no longer compete with the dual-revenue stream of cable. And even that money-maker is on a very slippery slope, in which fragmented audiences and the uncertain digital future threatens to put a serious damper on the amount of big-budget, high-quality, truly original scripted series on television. This uncertainty is embodied by NBC's decision to run The Jay Leno Show five nights a week in primetime, beginning shortly. It's part of a strategy that is less about the ambition and drive to create the next great TV smash, and more about a finely-tuned business model that looks to cut costs and get away from expensive scripted programming. It's an interesting experiment, and to be sure, all eyes will be on Leno and how he performs, even though the means by which his success will be measured is still very much up in the air.

Personally, I think that it was very premature to pronounce scripted programming dead. In fact, for a while there, TV seemed to be enjoying a glorious rennaisance period, where shows like 24, Lost, Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies, The Office, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, a slew of HBO and other cable hits, and many more ushered in an era when TV shows rivaled feature films in terms of scope, ambition, and quality of storytelling. It's funny, because just as everyone is talking about network TV getting downsized, concurrently, we're in the middle of the Age of the Franchise. I mean, look, Marvel just got bought by Disney. What does that tell you? It says that IP and characters and stories are more valuable than ever in this multimedia age. Films, videogames, comics, DVD's and blue-ray, digital distribution, the web - all of these media are moving towards this idea of scalable stories and characters - big ideas and concepts and universes that can be spread across all of these different places. So why is TV suddenly left out of the equation? Sure, Lost is expensive to produce, but there's no way that Disney hasn't made a killing on merchandise, DVD's, etc. Jay Leno is cheap, but there's no back-end to it. Once it airs, that's it. That kind of programming is compatible with a cost-cutting, uncertain television landscape, but not with the larger media universe, not with the trends that will ultimately separate the bigtime media players from the small-fry guys.

And I also wonder -- why are shows like Lost and Heroes so expensive in the first place? Yes, there are f/x that cost a lot, that's a given. But why doesn't anyone ever take a serious look at all the other costs that make entertainment so expensive to produce? Because the fact is, many people are still getting very rich off of TV. But if profits are down, why is that the case? Why are actors in primetime still paid as if they were kings and queens? Why are record companies getting paid an arm and a leg just so a TV episode can feature a Justin Timberlake song? Maybe people should take a long hard look at why so much of the entertainment industry hierarchy and business model still resembles that of the 1950's. Look at Friday Night Lights - thanks to a partnership with DirecTV and a lot of other smart cost-cutting measures, this high-quality scripted drama was able to live on despite fairly low ratings. FNL's existence and viability should be a key go-forward example. Low costs but high quality and production value, trim out the fat, make great partnerships that help out with the expenses, etc.

In any case, a lot is going to play out over the next several months, and it will be very interesting to see how the landscape evolves, and how people respond to some of the experiments being tried. But think about it - after this year, LOST will be finished, 24 and Heroes likely nearing the end. Unless one of these new drama series hits big, this could be the end of the era of the big, movie-like TV show. I hope it's not the case. But, we shall see.

Anyways ... aside from all that grandiose talk, I don't know, I'm just not sold on all that many new Fall TV shows this year. I mean, even TV Guide seemed unenthusiastic ... their annual Fall Preview issue, once a holy bible for TV watchers everywhere, was this year reduced to a flimsy, barely-there event.

I've got plenty of returning Fall favorites. Can't wait for THE OFFICE, and then 30 ROCK in October. Completely psyched for FRINGE to come back, maybe more than any other show this year. Season 1 ended on an awesome high note, and can't wait to see where things go from here. GOSSIP GIRL remains a semi-guilty pleasure even if my overall enthusiasm is beginning to fade a bit. Maybe this year things will get back on track? I've pretty much given up hope on SMALLVILLE ever being great again, but at this point, I will dutifully trudge through one more season in hopes of those one or two scattered moments of greatness. Two other shows I watch in hopes of the occasional burst of inspiration - THE SIMPSONS and FAMILY GUY. Last year I thought FG hit a new low, but The Simpsons somewhat surprised me with a pretty solid season. So, you never know. One thing's for sure - FOX's Sunday night lineup won't be the same without King of the Hill, which ends its amazing 13-year run this coming Sunday.

And yeah, there are some big ones to look forward to in the winter. 24. The final season of LOST. The return of CHUCK. Can't wait. More and more, you're seeing big shows spread out across the year to allow for uninterrupted runs and to distinguish them from the glut of new Fall programming.

And also ... CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. New season. The entire cast of Seinfeld reunited. 'Nuff said.


DANNY'S MOST ANTICPATED NEW SHOWS:

- Modern Family (ABC): The pilot of this one is hilarious. It's got Ed O'Neil from Married With Children in top form. It has a sort of Malcolm in the Middle-ish vibe, although also some of The Office's dry sensibility. Potentially the next great TV comedy.

- V (ABC): The pilot for this one is not crazy-good like Lost, but it is intriguing, and it is a lot of fun. It's very watchable, and there's plenty of sci-fi fun to be had. I mean, it has lizard-people. The cast is pretty cool, and a number of genre faves pop up. The pilot had some pretty hokey moments - I'd say it's definitely campier right now than a Lost, for example - but it was probably the one Fall drama pilot I watched where I immediately wanted to see what happens next.

Flash-Forward (ABC) - This one seems like it has potential, but it could also be a gimmicky or one-note show. I like the high-concept, and I am curious to see where the overarching plot goes. For those that don't know, it's about some mysterious world-shaking "event' that causes everyone on the planet to catch a random glimpse of the future. Undoubtedly, a fun and ambitious idea. Like most of you, I haven't seen much substantial footage from the show. So it could go either way. Will definitely be there for the pilot though.

- Community (NBC): This one is going to have to overocme a few hurdles in terms of finding its footing. Right now, it seems a bit like a jumble of characters without a real reason to have them all thrown together. But, it has Joel McHale and Checy Chase and a couple of other very funny people in the mix. There is A LOT of potential. Very curious to see how this one evolves.

- The Prisoner (AMC): This is a cable show, and it's a miniseries, and it doesn't premiere until November. BUT ... based on what I saw at Comic-Con, this one is likely to kick ass. Ian McKellan as #2. "I am not a number!" This could be really, really good.


MY MOST ANTICPATED WINTER SHOWS:

- Happy Town (ABC): I wanted to mention a couple of shows coming in the winter, just because they look really, really cool. With Happy Town on ABC, I have seen the two-hour pilot, and, wow, it rocks. I am already dying to see where this one goes. It's basically a very Twin Peaks-esque mystery show that has some very spooky supernatural elements to it. But they totally nail that whole idyllic small-town-with-dark-secret vibe, and I just loved the cast, the tone, the writing, etc. I can't wait for more people to see this, because I'm dying to hear theories on the storyline, and cuious to hear what people think of a couple of scenes that, in my opinion, completely kicked ass.

- Day One (NBC): This one is very mysterious so far, but it's a potentially very-cool post-apocalyptic drama that looks to be absolutely huge in scope an scale, with a couple of interesting twists thrown in for good measure. Very intrigued.


SOME OTHER SHOWS OF NOTE:

- I did enjoy the ABC comedy THE MIDDLE, although it seemed similar to Modern Family, except not quite as sharp. That said, The Middle is another Malcom In The Middle-esque family comedy, except told from the perspective of the mom (Patricia Heaton). Definitely better than I thought it would be, but also didn't 100% grab me.

- There were a couple of things to like about FOX's action-drama, THE HUMAN TARGET, but overall it felt like a semi-awkward throwback to 80's action shows like McGuyver. Not much real meat to the show, and Mark Valley was only alright as the lead. But ... Chi McBride of Pushing Daisies is in this. As is Jackie Earl Haley, aka Rorschach in Watchmen! Both are great actors, but in the pilot, neither gets do anything all that cool.

- I haven't seen THE CLEVELAND SHOW, but it just feels kind of unnecessary to me. Did Cleveland from Family Guy really need his own show? That said, who knows. Maybe it will be hilarious. I'll give it a shot, at the least.

- And then there's GLEE. I am pretty confident based on early buzz and early success on-air and on platforms like iTunes that Glee is going to be a hit. The question is, how good is it, really? Is it just the dramedy version of American Idol, with a weekly regurgitation of crowd-pleasing pop songs turned into High School Musical-esque numbers? Or is it all of that *and* a hilarious comedy to boot? The pilot episode from this past summer had a lot of potential, but wasn't quite as sharply funny as I'd hoped. I will definitely give it a couple of episodes though. That said, FOX must be pretty pleased that it's already amassed a legion of rabid female fans.

PROBABLE DUDS:

- I know some people enjoyed it, but I was not a big fan of ABC's comedy COUGARTOWN. There is certainly a lot of fun to be had with the premise, but the show seems to miss the boat by trying to have its cake and eat it too. What I mean is, they write this aging woman character who is supposed to be having all these everyday problems with men, her job, etc. And yet, instead of casting a more down-to-earth actress, we get Courtney Cox in full-on sexbomb mode. I don't know, I wasn't buying it.

- I tried to go into THE VAMPIRE DIARIES with an open mind, and lord knows I have a soft-spot for cheesy CW teen dramas with a twist. But this one was like Twilight: The Series, except with a far less talented lead actress as compared to Kristen Stewart. The acting in this was pretty atrocious, and the plotting was just clunky as hell. And man, this pilot was cheesy. It reminded me of a really bad episode of Smallville, except with vampires.

- EASTWICK on ABC ... I was pretty disappointed by. I didn't know what to expect from the pilot, but I guess I assumed it'd be a bit darker and more serious (since it does adapt the darker and more serious novel and movie). But, this is basically Desperate Housewives with witches. Very light n' fluffy, lots of you-go-girl sass, with a new-age twist. I can see where this could find a good audience of Housewives fans, but I am definitely not in the demo for this one.


- So, yeah, I do have a few holes in my Fall TV schedule to fill. Prison break is gone. Pushing Daisies is finito. Which if any of the new Fall shows will make the final cut? Stay tuned ...