Friday, May 18, 2012

This Fall in TV 2012: Sifting through what the networks will inflict upon us this fall

Remember what I said about writing being habit? Here's another example. I used to regularly write up the fall schedules based on the upfront stories for the Home Theater Forum, but even though I drifted away from that site a couple years ago (I joke that I was shunned after saying I really don't care about lossless audio), I did it last year and felt the itch again this year. So, let's go!

As per usual, the information comes from The Futon Critic. The bolded selections are the things I plan on watching, comments follow.

SUNDAY

07:00 - ABC - American's Funniest Home Videos
07:00 - CBS - 60 Minutes
07:00 - Fox - NFL Overrun
07:00 - NBC - Football Night in America

07:30 - Fox - The OT

08:00 - ABC - Once Upon a Time
08:00 - CBS - The Amazing Race
08:00 - Fox - The Simpsons
08:00 - NBC - Sunday Night Football

08:30 - Fox - Bob's Burgers

09:00 - ABC - Revenge
09:00 - CBS - The Good Wife
09:00 - Fox - Family Guy

09:30 - Fox - American Dad

10:00 - ABC - 666 Park Avenue
10:00 - CBS - The Mentalist

* Plus, you know, various cable series and Masterpiece Mystery while that's still running, as it should be finishing up its summer session with new Wallander while the network shows are premiering.

* I see 666 Park Avenue has Mercedes Masöhn from The Finder as part of its cast, which apparently means the writing was on the wall for that show a while ago. Bummer, it was much more fun than I expected after its poor backdoor pilot on Bones, and it had a downer ending. I may give this a sample for some of the supporting cast (her, Terry O'Quinn, Vanessa Williams), but it's a horror premise that doesn't do much for me.

* Man, that really just leaves The Amazing Race and The Good Wife for me. Good for them to keep chugging along.

MONDAY

08:00 - ABC - Dancing with the Stars
08:00 - CBS - How I Met Your Mother
08:00 - CW - 90210
08:00 - Fox - Bones
08:00 - NBC - The Voice

08:30 - CBS - Partners

09:00 - CBS - 2 Broke Girls
09:00 - CW - Gossip Girl
09:00 - Fox - The Mob Doctor

09:30 - CBS - Mike & Molly

10:00 - ABC - Castle
10:00 - CBS - Hawaii Five-0
10:00 - NBC - Revolution

* This will, believe it or not, be Bones's eighth year. That means that by the time it's over, David Boreanaz will have played Seely Booth more than Angel.

* Revolution's basic premise - oh no, electricity has stopped working! - is scientifically dumb. But the creative team of J.J. Abrams, Eric Kripke, and Jon Favreau certainly makes it worth a look.

* I should really have been watching How I Met Your Mother, what with liking everybody on it.

TUESDAY

08:00 - ABC - Dancing with the Stars Results
08:00 - CBS - NCIS
08:00 - CW - Hart of Dixie
08:00 - Fox - Raising Hope
08:00 - NBC - The Voice

08:30 - Fox - Ben and Kate

09:00 - ABC - Happy Endings
09:00 - CBS - NCIS: Los Angeles
09:00 - CW - Emily Owens, M.D.
09:00 - Fox - New Girl
09:00 - NBC - Go On

09:30 - ABC - Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23
09:30 - Fox - The Mindy Project
09:30 - NBC - The New Normal

10:00 - ABC - Private Practice
10:00 - CBS - Vegas
10:00 - NBC - Parenthood

* Tuesdays used to be packed. Now, just a couple of things I want to see. And they're sitcoms! Weren't those declared dead a few years ago?

* Vegas might get a sample, based on the nice cast (Dennis Quaid & Michael Chiklis). Weird thing is, Frank Darabont's got a different historical crime series coming out soon. How's this becoming a thing?

WEDNESDAY

08:00 - ABC - The Middle
08:00 - CBS - Survivor
08:00 - CW - Arrow
08:00 - Fox - The X Factor
08:00 - NBC - Animal Practice

08:30 - ABC - Suburgatory
08:30 - NBC - Guys with Kids

09:00 - ABC - Modern Family
09:00 - CBS - Criminal Minds
09:00 - CW - Supernatural
09:00 - NBC - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

09:30 - ABC - The Neighbors

10:00 - ABC - Nashville
10:00 - CBS - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
10:00 - NBC - Chicago Fire

* Wow, Supernatural moves away from Fridays; has it actually become popular (by CW standards) rather than just dependable? But, of course, it's moved to coincide with something I'm already watching.

* Nashville and Chicago Fire may both get samples; I like Connie Britton for the former and would like to see another good firefighter show now that Rescue Me is done. Still, that's a high bar to clear.

* The Neighbors, with its aliens-in-the-suburbs premise, can't be anything but horrible, can it?

THURSDAY

08:00 - ABC - Last Resort
08:00 - CBS - The Big Bang Theory
08:00 - CW - The Vampire Diaries
08:00 - Fox - The X Factor Results
08:00 - NBC - 30 Rock

08:30 - CBS - Two and a Half Men
08:30 - NBC - Up All Night

09:00 - ABC - Grey's Anatomy
09:00 - CBS - Person of Interest
09:00 - CW - Beauty and the Beast
09:00 - Fox - Glee
09:00 - NBC - The Office

09:30 - NBC - Parks & Recreation

10:00 - ABC - Scandal
10:00 - CBS - Elementary
10:00 - NBC - Rock Center with Brian Williams

* CBS is going to give me a weekly dose of Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu? Yes, please, thank you! I know some are up in arms about it, but many of them act like Steven Moffatt created Sherlock Holmes or was even the first to place him in the present day.

* On the one hand, Last Resort has Andre Braugher commanding a nuclear submarine on the run after refusing to fire missiles without confirmation and taking up residence on a tropical island. That's a cool premise for a movie, but I'm not sure how you make a series out of it.

* Maybe I'll check Person of Interest out again. I watched the first few episodes while waiting for something else to start last year, and didn't feel the need to stick around, but didn't really dislike it.

FRIDAY

08:00 - ABC - Shark Tank
08:00 - CBS - CSI: New York
08:00 - CW - American's Next Top Model
08:00 - Fox - Touch
08:00 - NBC - Whitney

08:30 - NBC - Community

09:00 - ABC - Primetime: What Would You Do?
09:00 - CBS - Made in Jersey
09:00 - CW - Nikita
09:00 - Fox - Fringe
09:00 - NBC - Grimm

10:00 - ABC - 20/20
10:00 - CBS - Blue Bloods
10:00 -NBC - Dateline NBC

* Wait, Touch sticks around but The Finder doesn't? That is just unfair and wrong, as Touch drove me away after two episodes with its stupidity (as much as I liked Heroes, even to the end, hearing about the golden mean seemed to collapse Tim Kring's mind).

* Only 13 episodes of Fringe, which at least will get a proper send-off. Like most sci-fi shows, its mythology came to dominate too much, but it stayed consistently fun and clever throughout. Please have Brad Anderson direct the final episode.

SATURDAY

08:00 - ABC - Saturday Night College Football
08:00 - CBS - Repeats (Crime)
08:00 - Fox - Sports
08:00 - NBC - Repeats

09:00 - CBS - Repeats (Crime)
09:00 - NBC - Repeats

10:00 - CBS - 48 Hours Mystery
10:00 - NBC - Repeats

* I hear TV networks used to actually try on Saturday nights, once upon a time.


THE BENCH - ABC

The Bachelor
Body of Proof
The Family Tools
How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)
Last Man Standing
Malibu Country
Mistresses
Red Window
(Celebrity) Wife Swap
Zero Hour

* I'm already hoping for The Family Tools to be mercy-killed so JK Simmons can move on to something good.

* Red Window has Rhada Mitchell, and is thus worth a look. Zero Hour looks likely to be a stupid conspiracy show, but could be kind of demented in scale.


THE BENCH - CBS

Friend Me
Golden Boy
The Job

* With Blue Bloods still on the schedule, is CBS really going to have two shows about New York City police commissioners once Golden Boy premieres?


THE BENCH - CW

The Carrie Diaries
Cult

* I said it last year, but... Ugh. Why is this network still here?


THE BENCH - FOX

American Idol (Tentative Wednesday and Thursday 8:00pm)
Animation Domination High-Def (Saturday 11:00pm)
The Cleveland Show (tentative Sunday 7:30pm)
Cops (tentative Saturday)
The Following (tentative Monday 9:00pm)
The Goodwin Games (tentative Tuesday)
Hell's Kitchen

* The Following is mildly interesting for having Kevin Bacon, but the "network of serial killers" idea seems a little much. Maybe I'm getting squeamish in my old age.

* Looking at this list and the stuff premiering in the fall... Fox's most intriguing new show appears to be The Mindy Project, a sitcom starring Mindy Kaling. She's great, but whatever happened to the daring, try-anything Fox?


THE BENCH - NBC

Betty White's Off Their Rockers
The Celebrity Apprentice (tentative - Sunday 9:00pm)
Do No Harm (tentative - Sunday 10:00pm)
Fashion Star (tentative - Sunday 8:00pm)
Hannibal
Howie Mandel's White Elephant
Infamous
Next Caller
Ready for Love
Save Me
Smash
Stars Earn Stripes
Surprise with Jenny McCarthy
1600 Penn

* Man, what is the hold that Howie Mandel has on NBC?

* Somehow, I've never seen a Hannibal Lecter anything. I'm not starting now.

* Even taking into consideration that the network will have time to fill on Sunday, once the NFL season finishes, this is not the bench of a confident network. There's both a lot of filler and expectation of attrition here (several returning comedies only have 13-episode orders).

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