A pause from the reviews now to look at the new show’s numbers, and to discuss what those numbers tell us about the past five days, the “first official week” of the Fall season. After the fold …
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More reviews after the fold, with comments on gender in Mercy and Eastwick. I’m running out of ways to say things are mediocre to piddling, though …
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…
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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For those wondering what that weird acronym stands for (National Association of Toilet Paper Enthusiasts? of Tyrannosaurus Pelvis Excavators? of Tent Pole Economics?), it’s the National Association of Television Production Executives. The NATPE Convention is one of the major American television industry conferences and buying festivals on the calendar. And no, I haven’t been drafted to the industry. I’m here because I got a NATPE Fellowship from their Educational Foundation, so am here on their dime. I’ll try to post more general reflections later, but for now, some reflections from the first morning.
It began with a bang. Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal gave the opening address. He’s quite an electrifying speaker – Hollywood Reporter’s Elizabeth Guilder (who did the Q&A after the speech) compared him to Obama, though he balked at the comparison (more of a Kucinich supporter himself?), as do I for other reasons (one of many being that I’m not sure MLK was dreaming of Zucker heading NBC). But he certainly didn’t disappoint, either in offering substance or in delivery. I saw shades of Ari Gold, Jeremy Pivens’s brilliant creation from Entourage, not in terms of sexist bravado, but in terms of complete confidence, energy, and a slice of imperial gravitas.
He began by joking that he came in boring times, but then threw down the gauntlet pretty quickly by stating that “traditional business models in Hollywood are under pressure, and their replacements are not yet ready for prime time,†a situation that “demands a re-engineering of our business, from top to bottom.†With CBS prominently deciding to sit this NATPE out in favor of a bigger presence at CEA (Consumer Electronics Association), and NBC’s head kicking things off this way, this would seem to be a clear indication that the old guard finally get that something’s up. More after the fold…
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…
As described over on Jason Mittell’s Just TV blog, Jason, Ivan, Derek, and I recently set up a Fantasy Television League draft. The draftees were the new primetime network shows (with Don’t Forget the Lyrics and The Singing Bee dropped from contention due to early starts, and CW Now and Online Nation dropped since, well, they’re different). Each of us got six picks, and as the season progresses, we’ll get 1 point if the show lives to the November sweeps, 2 for February sweeps, 3 for May sweeps, and 4 for renewal. In addition, we could each dub one of our picks a Designated Stinker, and whoever’s stinker is around the least before its network parent kills it, gets 5 points. Obviously, this competition could take a while to decide. But following Jason’s explanation of his picks on his blog, and in the spirit of our blog crossover, Crisis on Infinite Blogs, I’m now explaining my own picks.
First, I should explain how the ordering went. Since I’d seen most of the pilots at the Paley Center, it seemed fair that I pick last. Ivan had seen 8 pilots with me, so he was third. Then, randomly we picked Derek to go first, a pick he squandered with youthful naivety 
on Bionic Woman. Draft order reversed each round.
I’ve already blogged about my reactions to the pilots, but let me add a few words on my strategery of picking here. In likely contrast to my draft opponents, I’ll probably only watch one of my six shows (Reaper), but I’m happy enough with these as predicted survivors. When Kidnapped can get canned yet The War at Home gets a full season, or when Freaks and Geeks gets the boot, yet Ghost Whisperer (and, indeed, Jennifer Love Hewitt’s career) continues to linger on television like a stubborn fart, one learns quickly not to pick by quality.More below the fold Read more…
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…
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