The summer will go by faster than we expect. We all know that, we’ve learned it through the years. While in school we had a better way to determine that summer was over. As we grow older we only have two ways, the beach closes and the Fall TV season begins. Oh sure, there are other ways to know the summer is over, like the date the summer ends and that stuff, but the summer ends and the fall begins for a lot of people with the Fall TV season. All the network channels have decided to get people prepared for the upcoming programming by announcing their upcoming schedules online, as well as previewing the new shows they have premiering. TV Guide will probably not do their special until it comes closer to the actual airdates, but I felt it’s a perfect time to get prepped and ready.
I will begin being very calm and collected delivering
information, but that won’t last long as the snark will rear its ugly and
sometimes hilarious head. The focus
here shall be on the Network television and more details will be concentrated on
the new shows debuting with mostly only announcements on which shows shall be
making a return. I promise a full
and complete announcement on everything that the networks have announced so far
along with any extra information I am able to gain from small internet research
surfing. Proceed and read with a
notepad and fast hands, because just the five network channels is a hard
juggling trick.
Let’s start over at CBS, home of Raymond Romano, Crime Scene Investigation and that worldwide hit, Survivor. This Fall Ray, CSI and Survivor are all back. Joining Romano & the new sitcom hits from last season, Two and a Half Men (which I don’t watch despite loving Jon Cryer) and Still Standing (which features Jami Gertz and yet I don’t watch) on Monday nights will be Jason Alexander in Listen Up. These shows will lead into the thriving and heading into its third season CSI: Miami. Jason Alexander will make his debut in between Still Standing and Raymond and I am sad to say that this looks like just another atypical sitcom with Jason Alexander playing a character that is a sports writer instead of a a crazy and hilarious character. This will be Jason Alexander’s second attempt on ABC to find post-Seinfeld sitcom bliss. ABC cancelled his last show Bob Patterson after only five episodes. The show has extra shining light for it though, Malcom Jamal-Warner as Alexander's work partner.
On Tuesdays placed sweetly in between last years surprise hit Navy: NCIS (starring the delectable Mark Harmon) and five seasons strong Judging Amy is Clubhouse. Last year’s Peter Pan is this year’s bat boy as Jeremy Sumpter stars in this what seems to be very sweet drama. Joining him on this baseball tale and saga of a young man coming into his own are some very well known stars of big and small screen in Christopher Lloyd as the team’s coach, Mare Winningham as the mother, Dean Cain as the star player and former Disney star Kirsten Storms as the love interest.
60 Minutes is on Wednesday’s and it’s not the best lead in for King of Queens, but the show is back. I don’t know what day it aired last season, nor do I care, but the show has thrived for five seasons. While I have had a crush on Leah Remini since her turn as Staci, daughter of the boss on Saved by the Bell during the summer they worked at a beach club, I’ve never watched King of Queens. As an aside, her dad on SBTB was played by the wonderful Ernie Sabella who some of you will known from Perfect Strangers, others from the Kevin Kline film In & Out and then another third as Disney’s Puumba (from The Lion King).
Following King of Queens is the return of JOHN GOODMAN to Network TV in The Center of the Universe. It seems like it truly is, as an amazing cast dropped into this center, with Olympia Dukasis and Ed Asner as John’s parents, Jean Smart as his wife, Diedrich Baker (formerly of Drew Carey) as his brother and Spencer Breslin as his son. It’s of course just another family sitcom, but with talent like that behind it, you’ll find it hard not to smile while watching. These two comedies bring in the new CSI. This time it’s CSI: NY and while CSI: Miami has David Caruso, that is NOTHING compared to the talent and star power of Gary Sinise. Alongside Sinise shall be the former star of the very popular Providence, Melina Kanakaredes. While I’m not sure a New York version of CSI will seem particularly innovative (unlike one in Las Vegas or Miami), but I’m sure Gary Sinese shall bring something to the show that’ll give it the edge it needs.
On Thursdays, Jeff Probst shall host the latest incarnation of Survivor from one the 83 islands of Vanuatu in the South Western Pacific Ocean. This choice of a location I would consider very educational and could be a visual delight. I don’t care about the contestants or the games, but getting to see parts of the world I may never experience else wise is wonderful indeed. That is followed by the original CSI as Grissom and gang continue to investigate crimes in Nevada and then Anthony LaPaglia’s new FBI show from last season Without a Trace continues on to its third year.
Joan of Arcadia comes back on Friday nights, so you folks get your religion show. The returning JAG follows that. Rounding out the night is the new Rob Lowe show, co-starring Joey Pants, dr. vegas. Walking off their cancelled shows (Lowe with Lyon’s Den, Pants with The Handler) they have new characters in Las Vegas. Lowe is a doctor at a casino while Pantoliano plays his boss who will ask him to do on occasion unscrupulous things. While it'll be intriguing to see Pants and Lowe bounce of each other, I'm not sure if more than 2 shows in Las Vegas is necessary.
On Saturdays, a new session of The Amazing Race shall begin, followed by revolving repeats of CBS’ many crime shows which is then nicely balanced out by 48 Hour Mysteries which explores many of the true stories the shows tend to be based upon.
This brings us to CBS Sundays, which brings Cold Case back for a second season. Making CBS truly the home for crime dramas next to NBC’s many Law & Orders. Following Cold Case shall be the CBS Sunday Night movie and as always it shall be originals. Amongst them this year is a new four-hour mini-series about Elvis, an adaptation of an Anita Shreve novel, and remake of the 1972 Western, The Culpepper Cattle Company starring Tom Selleck.
Now we shall move our heels over to NBC where things are very simple this year on their prime-time schedule. Monday nights will continue the phenom that is Fear Factor. That show where they eat bugs while being suspended upside down that was hosted by the second host of The Man Show and former maintenance man on Newsradio, Joe Rogan. Yeah that show is back again. Following it will be the returning Las Vegas starring the menacing but charming James Caan as the head of surveillance at a big time casino. That leads into a big new show with intense star power as two TV veterans team up LAX. The two stars are Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood and the show is exactly about its title Los Angeles International Airport. The scuffles, entanglements and drama of working in a gateway in and out of L.A., where rockers leave for tours and businessmen come in for a night on the town. I’m assuming it’ll all go down here. It’s almost like that Tom Hanks film The Terminal, except the focus is on the employees, there’s nobody arriving from fake countries being forced to live there and it’s a weekly drama.
NBC will open Tuesday with another reality show, starting off with a new Average Joe, which makes me personally go… yawwwwwwwwwnnn… Average. After Average Joe ends, the Sylvester Stallone/”Sugar” Ray Leonard try to find a new boxer “The Contender” show begins. It’s what the world is waiting for, so much so that there is at least one other type of this show on another channel following the same concept. At least after that we get the first ever CGI primetime adult comedy in Father of the Pride from Dreamworks. This makes two shows with John Goodman on two different networks. That is awesome… completely awesome. Okay, sure, Pride is based on Sigfried and Roy, but think about it… it’s about Sigfried and Roy and has PRIDE in the title. Maybe the German illusionists will finally be coming out? Who cares? Not me for sure, I just like the idea of a CGI animated show in prime time on NBC. That’s the new lead-in for the only surviving FUNNY sitcom on NBC, Scrubs. Law & order: SVU which shall still feature the best Law & order cast ever in Christopher Melloni, Ice Cube, Richard Belzer and Mariska Hartigay goes into sixth season right after.
The island of Hawaii’s cops and crime get featured on a new show Wednesdays, titled simply Hawaii. There was another cop show that took place in Hawaii and ran a long time. I can’t remember the name of it. Hold on, I’m thinking. Oh right, Hawaii 5-0. I doubt Hawaii will ever be able to live up to adventures of Steve McGarrett, Danny, Ben, and Chin Ho. They can try though, I won’t stop them, hell, I might even watch. The brilliant White House drama, The West Wing shall return for its sixth season, but shall take a small hiatus at some point so that a Bill Pullman miniseries called Revelations may air. In it Pullman plays a scientist who is a member of a group investigating and trying to prevent the apocalypse. That sounds like it can go either way in terms of quality. Law & Order goes into its HISTORIC fifteenth season without long-standing cast member Jerry Orbach. I for one am very interested in seeing where they take the series and if it can keep its steam.
It’s JOEY on Thursdays and I don’t give a damn. I don’t care if you give a damn. I don’t care about Joey. I don’t even care that Jennifer Coolidge is in it. Will & Grace is back again after. I wish a bus’d hit them finally. Then it’s the Apprentice. I wish Donald Trump was driving the bus and then the bus crashed and blew up with him in. Then it’s ER. I wish the bus crashed into the Chicago ER and blew up with Trump in it and took down the hospital, which was taking care of Joey while he decided to visit for no discernible reason. Must-See-TV? Must die TV. That wasn’t funny. When I have complete disdain, humor is hard.
Then on Fridays we open with a news show, followed by two medical/crime drams. Third Watch returns to tell more stories of ambulance drivers, third shift police officers and firemen. That is followed by what sounds a ludicrous show in Medical Investigation. This show is about a team of doctors who travel around the world to save lives and investigate rare medical cases. There isn’t even one star to give it that extra oomph and the commercials I’ve seen just make the show seem over the top and beyond believability. They sent the pail pretty far down the well for this one.
The Apprentice gets a replay on Saturdays followed by a mainstream movie turned into an edited, commercial filled mess. Then on Sunday it’s back to dramas as American Dreams returns to have more current singers portray old singers, Criminal Intent returns for more freakiness and “psychic abilities” from the brilliant Vincent D’Onofrio, then the coroners turned detectives show Crossing Jordan returns for a third season making a well rounded and intense evening.
It’s ABC time, the home of Football and NYPD Blue. Those are both back. On Mondays we start off with some reality show called The Benefactor. I don’t care and if you care to watch that instead of something else… anything else, you have problems. Then it’s FOOTBALL. No, I’m not excited over that, but someone is.
Tuesdays stay the same at ABC with their stand-ups shouldn’t always have sitcoms line-up… oh and that show with Jim Belushi. Notice how little I care, I don’t even want to say what is on. Oh okay, fine. My Wife and Kids (Damon Wayans), George Lopez (duh), According to Jim (again duh) and a new one called Rodney with a comedian I’ve never heard of in Rodney Carrington. After that NYPD Blue returns for an amazing 12th season. I’m gonna assume Franz, Clapp, Gosselaar, Morales, Brochtrup, Ross and Beauvais are all back at the 15th for another seasons worth of action, murder and miserable home lives. NYPD Blue is still quality television viewing so please ignore the rudeness.
On Wednesday on ABC we have what could be thought of a remake, but isn’t. It’s called Lost and it’s not Land of the Lost. Instead its Lord of the Flies if they were adults instead of kids. Which could mean they even kill each other more brutally or come together better. It’s an excellent cast for this adventure though, including Harold Perrineau (who knows what it’s like to be on an isolated location with a diverse cast after spending the last six years in OZ), Party of Five’s Matthew Fox, Dominic Monaghan (Merry from the Lord of the Rings) and Rules of Attraction’s Ian Somerhalder. Another The Bachelor follows that and then another UK reality show import titled Wife Swap, the less said, the better.
Extreme Makeover opens Thursdays and is closed by Primetime. In between is a TV series based on a book by Mevin Burgess that has Kelly Osbourne as one of its stars. The show is called life as we know it and if it wasn’t for the fact that it had D.B. Sweeney and will talk about sex a lot, I’d really not give two damns.
Fridays is no longer TGIF over at ABC, but it is a night full of traditional sitcoms. Replacing John Ritter on 8 Simple Rules is not only James Garner, but now they’ve added David Spade to the mix. David Spade and Katey Sagal raising three young teenage girls alongside James Garner; something doesn’t seem right to me. A new sitcom called Complete Savages or simply Savages is starting as well with Keith Carradine as the star and Erik Von Detten as the oldest of five sons that Carradine raises on his own. The show is actually a Mel Gibson production supposedly based on his life of raising his kids. God, shoot me now or shoot Mel. No, shoot Mel, he deserves it more, he made that film, the one with the guy getting tortured and put on a cross, that one. Hope & Faith and Less Than Perfect return after that. Oh wonderful, more Kelly Ripa and Andy Dick in a sitcom. Just what the world needs. I don’t hate Andy Dick like some people, but I hate him on a sitcom. I never even liked him much of Newsradio, but at least on that he got to have some fun. Sara Rue still having a place on TV is nice though… she is HOT. I feel for Eric Roberts though, stuck in such a horrible role. It’s 20/20 after that as always.
Saturday is owned by The Wonderful World of Disney as it has been for a while now, but on Sunday ABC throws us two new very interesting dramas after America’s Stupidest People Who Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Own cameras and some other reality show. First up is Desperate Housewives in which we view a small town from the POV of a housewife who’s killed herself. It’s Melrose Place meets Thirty-something with some American Beauty thrown in with an amazing cast including Sheryl Lee (who shall forever be Laura Palmer for me), Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher, Mark Moses, and Marcia Cross. Following will be Boston Legal, which is just another law show… but it isn’t… why you ask? First two words, James Spader, next two other words, WILLIAM SHATNER. I think nothing more needs to be said, oh, more could be said, but William Shatner, James Spader, Law Show… I think that’s says it all and sometimes you wake up and think “Maybe there is a god”.
FOX starts its schedule on Sundays and in January they
change some of the shows over. On
Sundays we have the fact that there are miracles, as Arrested
Development was not cancelled. This
makes me very happy; the sun is shining and there shall be more goodness from
Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, David Cross and Alia Shawkat.
King of the Hill is back, The Simpsons too and Malcom In the Middle as
well. There’s also this reality
show The Partner. It’s some law
reality show I guess. The major
news on top of Arrested coming back is that in Jan., Kelsey
Grammer’s The Sketch Show and American
Dad debut. The Sketch Show
was a UK production bought by Grammer. It’ll
be Laugh-Inesque and it has one major thing going for it, Paul F. Thompkins.
Mary Lynn, another “Mr. Show” alum is also involved, as well as
Kaitlin Olson who is appearing in another skit show on another network this
coming Fall. American Dad is the
new animated show from Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame.
American Dad is about a CIA agent and his family.
It could be hilarious or it could suck.
I loved Brian and Stewie, so I’m betting on some good humor here.
It also has Dee Bradley Baker, a
veteran voice actor, so while it lacks great talent like Seth Green, Patrick
Warburton or Mila Kunis, it could still rock.
North Shore continues its run on Mondays till The O.C. in
Maine replaces it in January. I
mean Athens.
The 90210/Melrose Place power hold on FOX has returned, except that this
time Aaron Spelling isn’t in charge of it.
No, these shows are all Josh Schwartz'. You can love the O.C. and
anything O.C.esque all you want. Just
don’t ask me too. After North
Shore will be The Swan 2. They will
be once again giving women plastic surgery and then forcing them to compete to
decide who got the best nose job. Classic
television. When the Swan 2 ends
you people get your precious Kiefer Sutherland Secret Service drama, 24 back for
its third season.
Tuesdays will be home to two reality shows. Through till January, the FOX version of The Apprentice airs, with head of Virgin, Richard Branson as the “host” in The Billionaire. Let us once again America hoot and holler for people who are getting a free ride to success. What’s worse is the producers on this one are Bunim-Murray, so expect plenty of drama, even more than The Apprentice. I’m talking hard-core fake drama. Once that ends in January we get American Idol 4. Just what the world needs. For an example of where American Idol is in the pop-culture meter, third runner-up Ryan Starr is a cast member of The Surreal Life 3 that shall be airing this Fall on VH1. After Billionaire and Idol on Tuesdays we shall get another one of those so brilliant, well acted and well written shows that it’ll be cancelled FOX shows in House. House is a new medical drama that has the doctors thinking of the diseases as the criminals. It’s from the mind of Paul Attanasio who helped create Homicide and features Omar Epps as one the players. A show of this caliber probably should be on ABC on NBC or CBS, but FOX is who picked up and really knowing FOX, they’ll cancel it. If not, well it still won’t find viewers as a follow-up to reality TV.
Wednesdays is FOX’s sitcom night anchored by That 70’s Show. Continuing until January is Andy Ritcher’s new show, Quintuplets, which I have slowly garnered appreciation for. The quints are awesome, especially the weird son and the short one. I’ll be sad to see it go and hope that FOX decides to bring it back. If we can’t have Rules The Universe, can we have at least one Ritcher show? Andy is also really fun and funny on the show. The show replacing it is Related By Family, a modern Brady Bunch with Amy Yasbeck and a bunch of kids (although it’s not three and three, but just 2 boys and a girl and then the one kids the new couple has together). The show will focus more on the kids hanging at the mall then their Brady Bunchesque home-life though. Bernie Mac will continue as well and then as usual American Idol: The Results Show shall be on in between, kicking Method & Red out of their slot. Method & Red want out of the show, so it’s possible something else will come in instead allowing another show a chance of airtime.
Thursdays will be the two new drama darlings of the FOX Network. The two shows that make people still feel FOX can have fun and intriguing programming as The O.C. and Tru Calling both return for their second seasons. It is good to see that Eliza Dushku’s paranormal show has been picked up, as it is the only paranormal show of its kind (although Charming is coming back on WB).
The Next Great Champ, which is a show just like The Contender (except with oscar De La Hoya instead Stallone & Leonard) is on Fridays till Jan. The as of yet unaired episodes of The Jury shall also air, which is good news for many who enjoy extremely high quality programming. I am personally looking forward to the episode with Andre Braugher in Barry Levinson’s role. When January hits, two new shows also hit FOX Fridays with The Inside and Jonny Zero. The Inside is ALIAS meets 21 Jump Street, with Fastlane’s Peter Faccinelli. The first episode is directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Strange Days, K-19) and that alone gives the show more promise than the premise suggests. Jonny Zero is about a former convict who starts working at a club and decides he’ll start trying to solve crimes. It stars newcomer Franky G., but also has Chris Bauer in a featured role and was created by R. Scott Gemmill, the man behind JAG. I predict neither show will last more than two seasons because this is FOX.
Oh and what's on FOX Saturdays? COPS, COPS and John Walsh. Yup… those shows are still on, people still watch and criminals still act like idiots even though they should know about the show by now. If you see a cameraman behind a cop, REALIZE IT! I know you're on drugs, but you can't tell me you don't see the cameraman. Unless you're so messed up you think it's a monster and are scared. So that excuses the druggies, but what about the hicks who call the cops for domestic disputes? They have no excuse. COPS also has no excuse for still being on the air. Oh wait, it does, it's called FOX. On the other hand, COPS is the funniest and coolest show ever and has been on the air for 15 years, so that has to count for something.
Now I won’t be watching on UPN other than sometimes Thursday’s Smackdown, maybe Enterprise and possibly checking out their new show on Tuesdays, Veronica Mars, but it would be unfair to the network to not at least tell you what they’re airing.
On Mondays it’s evening of traditional sitcoms starring black actors. I will admit it is disappointing that all the talented black actors have to be regulated to UPN these days, except for FOX’s Bernie Mac. I am sure that One and One, Half & Half, Girlfriends and new show Second Time Around are just as good as Friends, Raymond or whatever else sitcom I don’t watch exists and if you want to see if there’s something different in those shows, I say give it a go.
Tuesdays feature the two celebrity sitcoms in the Will Smith/Jada Pinkett developed All of Us and Eve starring hip-hop and member of the Rough Ryder camp, Eve. Both I am sure quality programming that you can only find on UPN. Following those is a new drama to UPN, Veronica Mars, which on top of having an excellent premise in a teenage PI in a rich, but mysterious town, was also developed by Rob Thomas, the mind behind the excellent Cupid and has an awesome cast. Amongst them are the star Kristen Bell, Just Shoot Me’s Enrico Colatoni and coming into his own Francis Capra (as a side note, I worked alongside the young Mr. Capra on The Bronx Tale, while my short time on the set of that film was spent with Lillo Brancato and Chazz Palminteri mostly, I could tell that Frank was a good kid and I trust has grown to be a good actor).
Wednesdays will see another edition of America’s Next Top Model. This is one of the most watched reality shows going around and the most watched show on UPN. I’ve never seen an episode. If it was on HBO or Showtime you could make me watch. Until then, I’ll allow everyone else to watch it. When it ends The Missy Elliot Project shall begin. The show will be basically Making the Band 2, except with Missy Elliot and a search for a new solo artist. So it’ll be more Making The Band meets The Apprentice. Following that will be the new Taye Diggs vehicle, Kevin Hill, about an entertainment lawyer suddenly forced to be a single dad to a child not his own. Joining Diggs on his cast are Homicide’s and OZ’s Jon Seda and Homicide’s Michael Michelle, as well as Patrick Breen and others. The shows cast could make any avid TV viewer drool with anticipation, while the premise sounds like it could be Ally McBeal with a guy. I should be more excited, but my instincts have low hopes.
As mentioned there is then WWE Smackdown, which airs Thursday nights. Smackdown is World Wrestling Entertainment’s second major program and is the current home for wrestlers such as John “Word Life” Cena, the phenom The Undertaker, former Olympic Gold winner Kurt Angle and former MSNBC stock analyst John “Layfield” Bradshaw. Fridays nights will feature a repeat of Wednesday’s ANTM and then the cult favorite and cult hated, Enterprise returning (originally an uncertainty) for its fourth season as Scott Bakula takes the reigns as John Archer one more time.
UPN doesn’t schedule original or new programming for their weekend primetime so let us move to the final Network channel we shall look at with The WB.
Mondays on the WB will be good Family drama with long running 7th Heaven and loved newcomer Everwood. I actually really like 7th Heaven. I have let the Camdens into my heart and soul. How could I not with such attractive daughters like Jessica Biel and Beverly Mitchell? Going into its 9th and possibly final season, it’ll be interesting to see how the show ties up everything up in a nice package leaving long time fans satisfied. Everwood is not a show I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching, but I know that Treat Williams is a brilliant actor.
Tuesdays brings back the very popular Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill for another double whammy of family/town dramas on the WB. Continuing the soap opera elements from last season, Gilmore Girls goes strong into its fifth season while the Tollin/Robbins (those guys from Head of the Class who became major Television producers) show One Tree Hill continues with strong steam.
Smallville comes back on Wednesdays for what should be the
most exciting season yet, as according to rumors, Lois Lane joins the cast.
Other ripples and amazing stuff is planned for the fourth season.
Tom Welling has turned into quite the star material and alongside
Rosenbaum is the strength of the show. I
have some sad news for some folks. Right
now I can’t really tell if Allison Mack (Chloe) will be appearing or not.
Rumors suggest she may still be alive, so we shall see.
Either way, Smallville shall be full of fun, intrigue and super-powers
and some that “Its Superman” fans have come to love.
The replacement for Angel is a family/business drama about the trials and
tribulations of a rebel teenager who’d ran away from home taking over a
extremely successful ski resort after his father dies, called The
Mountain. The show will
concentrate on a family at war after the will reveals a decision made that not
the entire family approves of and the turmoil of running a business while your
world crashes around you. The star power of the show is in the mother, Barbara Hershey.
The show also has Oliver Hudson of Dawson’s Creek & My Guide To Become A
Rock star and Anson Mount of last years Line of Fire.
Jeff
Foxworthy returns to television on Thursdays with his Blue Collar buddies
including Larry the Cable Guy for a sketch comedy show.
You know you’re a redneck if watching a sketch comedy show full of
hicks and Southerners doing bad parodies is your cup of tea.
I expect to actually be saying, “I wish this was Nickeldeon’s ALL
THAT” if I watched. Luckily after Foxworthy we get Drew Carey and many of his
“Whose Line” cast mates for Green
Screen. It’s improv games
in front of a green screen allowing animators to add to the fun and hilarity.
It should be a brilliant and fun combination and it leads into another
reality show, Studio
7. The WB begins the first
ever reality game show. The
contestants will first live together in a house for a week and then they shall
compete live in a Quiz show. It’s
The Real World meets The Weakest Link and it’s from Michael Davies.
It also makes me sick. The
world is full of reality and now it’s all over TV like a disease and more than
ever. This one is just the final
nail for me.
Friday
Night is WB’s evening of sitcoms with Reba, Grounded For Life (with the oddly
Lynsey Bartilson and the unfunny Donal Logue) and What I Like About You (with
the always sexy Jennie Garth and the getting extremely sexy Amanda Bynes).
Joining the line-up is Commando
Nanny with former Major Dad (and husband of Delta Burke) Gerald McRaney.
The show is created by the man behind Survivor & The Apprentice, Mark
Burnett and is based on his experiences as a former British military man turned
nanny and babysitter before he turned his hand on developing reality television
shows.
Sunday
is repeat night for One Tree Hill and The Mountain, but Steve Harvey’s
“here’s your 2 minutes of fame” show comes back, as well as the always
funny and sexy Charmed. I have
usually only caught the show in repeats, but it has a wonderful combination of
magic, fantasy and sexiness. The
sexiness is hard to avoid when you have Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan as your
stars though. This season a baby
joins the cast or something according to the previews.
I don’t know if that’s a sign that the show has lost steam or what.
After Charmed, another drama begins over at the WB.
This is an intriguing political drama titled Jack
& Bobby. Now the title
would make you think it was about The Kennedy family, but instead it’s about
two young men and their mother. The
mother (played the brilliant Christine Lahti) is molding the boys to become
future presidents of the US actually. The
show will take glimpses into the future where advisors, the future first lady
and others are interviewed about the president, but they will not say which
brother is the president. I believe
the twist of the show will be to watch these young boys grow and trying to guess
which ones does grow to become president. It sounds really intriguing and could be the runaway hit of
the Fall.
That
brings us to the end of our view at what the Networks will be airing in the
Fall. There shall be plenty of
original programming on Cable as well on Lifetime, Disney, HBO, Showtime, USA,
etc., etc., etc., but you must be wondering “What about the summer?
There must be something new to watch.”
You would be right, so here’s a quick look of four shows you may enjoy
catching during the Summer.
On the USA Network you have two excellent options in The 4400 and Monk. The 4400 is a sci-fi drama that will tell the story of what happens when missing people through the years suddenly reappear. Folks from the 30’s-90’s shall all return at the same time and it’ll be the governments job to figure out where they’ve been and how to reorient them to now living in a world so different from their own when many no longer have families to return to. The main thing is these 4400 did not return the same; they came back with powers beyond mortality. Some have strange links that should not exist. With a cast that includes Kaj-Erik Eriksen, Peter Coyote, Bill (not Billy) Campbell and Joel Gretsch, as well Jacqueline Mckenzie and Laura Allen, this is not miss series. It airs Sunday nights at 9 PM and began July 12th.
Monk began its third season in late June, but it’s not too late to watch. On Friday nights at 10 the newest episodes premiere and then get repeated all weekend, so you can’t miss one of its four airings. Those who don’t know Monk, it stars the Emmy Award Winning Tony Shaloub (for the role of Monk) as Adrian Monk, a brilliant detective and much used police consultant with nervous tics which cause him the need to have an assistant. Monk isn’t just a neat freak, he’s acrophobic, misophobic, he’s everythingaphobic (sic) actually, he’s claustrophobic AND agoraphobic, he’s just a very scared man and that can get in the way of using his brilliant observation and deduction skills, but he always finds a way to get around his fears through his able assistant who prefers to be thought of as a partner, Sharona, played by the beautiful Bitty Shram. The show has everything, drama, comedy, mystery. Monk may truly be one of the best shows on the air anywhere. This season has had difficulty finding its legs, but I’m sure it will swim again just fine and you want to be there when it does.
Over at
Comedy Central you have plenty of shows to chomp into for your funny bone.
The channel has South Park, Chapelle’s show and Reno 911!, but the real
super humor is to be found on The Graham Norton Effect and Crossballs.
The British import brings his scatological humor to the states and he
drags wonderful celebrity guests along for the ride.
Graham Norton is right out the classic British humor standard and reminds
me a lot of Miss Dame Edna Everage, except without the wig and make-up.
Once a week for an hour he enters our homes from his studio with an
audience who has no clue what to expect and that he can always have run through
hoops and have them love it. Norton
is one of the best things to happen to entertainment in a long time.
I can only imagine what his show would be like if it was on HBO.
Sasha Baron Cohen (Ali G) may be able to do voices and characters, but he
doesn’t come anywhere close to the quick wit and hilarity of Graham Norton and
the Graham
Norton Effect on Thursdays at 10 PM.
Crossballs
is the creation of Upright Citizen Brigade’s Matt Bresser and the show also
features him, as well as Chris Tallman (as the host), Jerry Minor, Mary Birdsong
and Andrew Daly as various characters as they debate real topics with
unsuspecting real guests who are supposed to be experts in their field
who truly believe they are on a real debate show.
The show so far has been uproariously ridiculous in an extremely good
way. Matt Bresser has been stealing the show in the first three
episodes and while you may find yourself laughing out loud, you’ll also find
yourself thinking and that is the best kind of humor. Crossballs airs Tuesdays-Thursday at 7:30 PM.
There you have it. Start figuring out that TiVos/DV-R programming for August and September and if you’re without a TiVo or DV-R, practice channel surfing and enjoy The 4400, MONK, Crossballs and Graham Norton during this hot hot summer when you aren’t watching HBO, your DVDs from Netflix or the video store or going out and having fun.