The Extratextuals

As I wait for more new shows this week to review, and as I find myself with little to say about the Emmy winners, largely because I agree with or can accept almost all victories (especially Michael Emerson. yay! About bloody time), let’s take a time out to look at some of the extratextuals surrounding the new shows:

I’ve been intrigued by the degree to which, in the wake of Gossip Girl’s past success, The CW has pounced upon the guilty pleasure label as being a great one with which to sell (and, of course, design) a show. Consider the following posters, for GG, Melrose Place, and The Beautiful Life, starting with GG. Analysis after the fold…
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ads, new shows, poster art CW, Gossip Girl, guilty pleasure, Melrose Place, poster art, posters, The Beautiful Life

While living in New York City, I enjoyed attending the Paley Center’s new show sneak peaks each September. That’s not so possible now, in Madison, but instead I’ll be reviewing the new shows as I get around to watching them off my DVR.

Let’s start with The CW’s Melrose Place and The Vampire Diaries, and FOX’s Glee, after the fold…

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new shows, reviews CW, FOX, Glee, Melrose Place, pilots, Vampire Diaries

Finishing our tour through this Fall’s TV schedule, let’s look at the CW.

Remember when The WB network began and it had a fair amount of African American programming, but then it went for wealthy young white women? Then UPN also programmed a lot of African American content. Then the two merged, and African American shows were ghettoized into one night so that the wealthy young white women could hold court for the other nights. Well, with the cancellation of The Game and Everybody Hates Chris, the CW can now boldly announce that CW stands for Completely White. (Okay, there’s Tyra and there’s the kid on 90210, but not much else.)

Gone, too, are 13: Fear is Real, 4Real, Easy Money, In Harm’s Way, Privileged, Reaper, and Valentine.

What’s new? After the fold …
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ads, new shows, previews, upfronts CW, upfronts

The Paley Center for Television and Radio in New York is once more doing its Fall Previews, showing pilots for new shows, and, because some networks don’t have many new shows, showing the premiere of some returning new-ish shows. I’m skipping The CW’s tonight, since all they had on offer were 90210, which I saw (and will comment upon below) and Privileged, which is on next week. But last night was FOX’s night, showing the premiere of this season’s Sarah Connor Chronicles, along with pilots for Do Not Disturb and the much-anticipated J. J. Abrams show, Fringe. I’ll discuss the new shows below the fold …
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previews 90210, CW, Do Not Disturb, fall previews, FOX, Fringe, pilots

As I previously blogged about, Ivan, Derek, Jason Mittell, and I took part in a fantasy draft of the new shows for this TV season. Each of us ended up with 6 shows, one of which is our “Designated Stinker,” a show we earmark for early cancellation. My DS is Life is Wild, whose pilot I soldiered through when it played at the Paley Center in early September. Well, tonight it hit the air. I wanted to check that its odor was sufficiently stinky. What I found was a different show. Read more…

Uncategorized CW, Life is Wild, pilots

Last year marked the first for The CW, the upstart hybrid of The WB and UPN. So programming was mostly about picking which shows from which networks they liked. This year therefore represents their first go at producing their own shows with their own imprint on them.The exec who introduced them proudly noted that 3 of the 4 were listed by USA Today on its Top 10 New Shows to watch list. So what did I think? Below the fold, the final installment of my fall pilot reviews Read more…

previews Aliens in America, CW, fall previews, Gossip Girl, Life is Wild, pilots, Reaper