Television Editorial

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The Upfronts Synopsized for the Rest of Us

By: Stephen Lackey
Date: Saturday, May 19, 2007

In case you aren’t familiar with the term “Upfronts’ it’s basically where the major networks present their upcoming fall shows to advertisers and give them an opportunity to buy in early for a lower rate. This can especially be beneficial to advertisers willing to take a chance on a new series. If they buy in at a discount and the series hits it big then they have saved a ton of cash over buying the ad time after the series is popular. For me and you the Upfronts are important because we get to see the fall schedule and get confirmation on what series are in and which ones are out. There are a few interesting series that actually made it to the schedule from all those great sounding pilots announced a few months back and a glut of reality series and night time soaps too. Sadly networks seem to be shying away from serialized shows this year because so many of them failed last year. There are a few keys to success with a serialized show, time slot, promotion, and quality. The series that failed were missing at least one of these keys. Last year Heroes was the standout new serialized show and about the only one that survived, so it can be done, if the network handles it right.

ABC

Let’s get right to the bad news (if you liked any of these series) first. The shows that have been canceled by the network are The Nine, Six Degrees, The Great American Dream Vote, Show Me The Money, Day Break, In Case of Emergency, The Knights of Prosperity, What About Brian, George Lopez, and According to Jim. Honestly I can’t figure out how George Lopez and According to Jim lasted as long as they did.

As far as new shows on the network there’s not much for us, mostly procedural lawyer type stuff and a Grey’s Anatomy spin-off. There is one show worth a look called Pushing Daisies. The series comes from Bryan Fuller one of the people behind Heroes. The show is basically about a man who can bring things back to life with one touch. It’s not clear if by things if dead people are included. It does have procedural elements, so it’ll probably be too formulaic with its investigations and law enforcement edge but it still might be worth watching the pilot. ABC is also the network bringing us the horrible sounding Cavemen; you know the series based on the Geico Caveman. The series will supposedly offer us a unique approach to social commentary on racism and minorities. You mean Day Break got cancelled for this?

NBC

Shows that have officially been given the axe on NBC are Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Crossing Jordan, The Black Donnellys, Kidnapped, Andy Barker, P.I., Identity, Raines, 20 Good Years, Grease: You're The One That I Want, The Real Wedding Crashers, Thank God You're Here. Again, I didn’t care for most of this so I don’t have much of a comment. The only exception is that I did watch Kidnapped before it was moved to Saturday nights. That series had a good cast and some potential. Like Day Break we’ve known it was dead in the water for a long time.

The big new series on NBC is one you already know about called Heroes Origins. Is Heroes going to get to be like CSI where there are three or four versions of that series floating around the schedule? Well, that might be kind of cool actually. The show is set to run during the Heroes hiatus and will feature origin stories of a bunch of all new Heroes with the fan favorite being added to the main cast. Also coming to NBC this fall is a reboot of the 70’s series The Bionic Woman. This new series features Starbuck from BSG playing the villain. Starbuck will be playing an early prototype of the Bionic Woman whose gone psychotic. I’m down for this one for sure. Journeyman is a series where a man gains the ability to travel back in time and change people’s lives, hopefully for the better. Sounds a little like a Quantum Leap redo to me.

CBS

CBS seems to have the least drastic changes to its line up of the three majors. Canceled series for this network are King of Queens, Jericho, The Class, and Close To Home. I said it before; I don’t think Jericho got a fair shake. These lengthy winter breaks are hard on new series.

With the few changes comes few new series that are targeted to our demographic. They have a new drama that feels a little over the top set in the 70’s that’s supposed to touch on the sexual revolution and a musical drama. There is Moonlight a series about a vampire private investigator. In the series he deals with his immortality, fights other vampires, and struggles with a romance with a mortal. Why didn’t they just take that last step and go ahead and call the show Angel? That’s really the only new series that CBS has that seems appealing….

FOX

Fox is one of the worst networks for giving new series an opportunity to grow and get an audience so anytime they announce a new show I plan to watch fully believing it will bet cancelled. Shows being cancelled this year are The Winner, Standoff, Drive, The War at Home, The O.C., Justice, Happy Hour, The Rich List, Vanished, The Wedding Bells, and The Loop. There are a couple of good series in this list most notably Drive. This series never even had a chance to fully set up its story before getting canned.

As always Fox is launching some series that sound interesting. I almost hope they aren’t because I believe they aren’t long for this world. Why does Fox need to work to cultivate new shows when they have American Idol? Anyway first up is New Amsterdam a series about a cop who is secretly hundreds of years old and is sick of being alive. In 1642 he saved the life of a young native Indian girl and to repay him she gave him the gift of immortality. I don’t know, just sounds like a cop show with a twist, but it’ll probably be better than Painkiller Jane so I’ll give it a look. The Sarah Conner Chronicles is an idea that’s way past due. This series follows Sarah from the Terminator films as she continues to try and protect her son from the Terminator robots. I’m one of the few that actually liked Terminator 3, so I’m definitely planning to give this series a chance.

The CW

The CW really mostly just has crap with only a few exceptions and based on the following list one of their actual good shows is getting canceled. They are following the FOX mold, what’s it matter they have Americas Next Top Model? Anyway RIP All of Us, Gilmore Girls, Reba, Runaway, Seventh Heaven, and Veronica Mars. I wasn’t a fan of any of these series but I hear really good things about Veronica Mars. The network is hinting that we haven’t seen the last of the actress of the character so a revamped series might be in the works.

Not much new here that sounds all that interesting. Reaper is a comedy about a teenager that becomes Satan’s bounty hunter reclaiming souls that have escaped Hell. Kevin Smith directed the pilot. CW Now is a magazine series covering pop culture including movies, music, and TV. Online Nation is a series that features user made videos with the most popular continuing on the series from week to week. Sounds a little like an Attack of the Show segment to me. It’s real thin I know, but at least there’s still Smallville and Supernatural.

So, that’s what we have to look forward to this fall and next spring form the major networks. The future doesn’t look as bright as it has for us the past few years but thankfully we have SCFI Channel who is finally putting together some good programming and a few other cable networks taking chances on edgier series. Which of these new series will you watch?

More Content By Stephen Lackey

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TV Wasteland: What to Watch this Fall, or Not?
(Monday, September 1, 2008)
TV Wasteland: CBS Knows Best, or Do They?
(Monday, August 25, 2008)
BURN NOTICE: Rough Seas
(Friday, August 22, 2008)
EUREKA: I Do Over
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TV Wasteland: Ron Moore Goes Virtual
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EUREKA: Best in Faux
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TV Wasteland: Torchwood Audio Episode?
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EUREKA: What About Bob?
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Comments/Responses

westend • May 19, 2007, 02:03am •

Heroes: Origins and Bionic Woman stand out the most. I"m actually looking forward to Cavemen, It sounds like it will be satirical and I love satire.

New Amsterdam and Conner Chronicles are on my B-list.

I'm not bothered about the lack of interesting new shows, my Tivo is pretty loaded as it is.

My only real complaint is obviously Jericho getting canned.

Seventh Heaven and Gilmore Girls both reached natural death, so I don't consider those cancellations.

CaptSmith • May 19, 2007, 07:16am •

I agree with most of your comments, but dude, does anybody bother to proofread this stuff before it goes online?

"The series that failed were missing at lest on e of these keys." When did "e" become a number? And "lest"?

"Like Cay Break we’ve known it was dead in the water for a long time." Breaking Cays? Now that I would have watched.

"They are following the FIX mold, what’s it matter... " Cool, a new Network.

I really like the articles here, but come on, hire a proofreader.

jetpackjesus • May 19, 2007, 09:45am •

There were a lot of typos today, that's for sure. I'm actually looking forward to the Cavemen show as well. I thought the commercials eventually got somewhat clever. I'll take a look because, as westend said, if the satire is good I will like it.

bjjdenver • May 19, 2007, 12:06pm •

I couldn't give a crap about errors, but I do wish this would have been written a couple days ago when it was news. That said...
ABC- Nothing I'll miss. KOP started out ok, but went downhill fast. What about Big Day, that was actually some fuuny stuff, but I doubt many people watched it.
CBS-KOQ wasn't cancelled, it just was time to wrap it up, just like Raymond. I was a little surprised at the Class, I thought it hit it's stride. I think they missed the boat not keeping Jericho, they did a really poor job with scheduling this show.
NBC-Mostly mediocre stuff gone. Crossing Jordan was getting weak. I think they missed big time on Black Donnallys, it was very good, maybe one of the best new shows, but NBC is obsessed with reality and game shows.
FOX-They cancel the Loop and it doesn't even start its second season until June. It is pretty funny and definitely better than some of the crap they keep.
CW-Definition of insanity-keep trying the same thing and expect different results. Oh well, at least Supernatural is back.

I have to say, If you combined all the nets, it may still be hard to put out a completely good schedule. 17 Howie.

bdd • May 19, 2007, 12:56pm •

This whole article is overly done. I will sum up TV in about two sentences.

2006 new shows, 95% are canceled.

2007 new shows are crap.

End of story.

And Veronica Mars is dead. Reporters asked The CW about it and he said "We are still in talks but it's doubtfull".

snallygaster • May 19, 2007, 01:52pm •

"[Pushing Daisies] is basically about a man who can bring things back to life with one touch. Itâ??s not clear if by things if dead people are included. "

From the accounts I've read about ABC's "upfront" his power to raise the dead does indeed include people. (Really, there's only so much drama you can get from a guy who can resurrect pets, house plants, and road kill). He actually has two such "magic" touches - one resurrects the person, and the second one returns them to the dead, permanently. Just to make things interesting, at one point he resurrects his childhood sweetheart, but he can never touch her again because that would kill her - thus, built-in "romantic tension."

As for the rumors of the revamped Veronica Mars, from what I've read there was a pitch made which would fast forward Veronica to the point at which she's an actual FBI agent. The odds are extremely against it seeing the light of day - though who knows? Maybe the producers can shop it around to the cable networks and find somebody willing to bite.

When I heard about Moonlight, the first thing I thought of was - of course - Angel. Except Moonlight won't be in the Whedonverse. Which makes it sound like more of a rehash of Forever Knight.

Cavemen? I hate to admit it, but I find the commercials to be funny. Whether they can stretch the concept to a weekly TV sitcom is yet to be seen. It faces a similar problem as all the SNL skits that are stretched into a movie - most crash and burn, with a select few successfully making the transition. I know the concept gets bashed here quite frequently, but I've encountered a lot of people outside of fanboy circles who are actually looking forward to this series. The Cavemen sitcom probably has a higher awareness level than any other new show slated for next season. At the very least, there will be a huge turnout for the series premier. I really think there's only two fates for Cavemen - it'll either be the surprise offbeat hit of the year, or it will be a complete embarrassment with lots of "I-told-you-so" chat board postings and "what-were-they-thinking" blog entries.

Merin • May 19, 2007, 03:02pm •

Good vampires with human lovers is more than Angel and Forever Knight - go to your local book store and check out the Paranormal Romance section, probably mixed in with other Romance.
Or see series by Laurell K. Hamilton, Mercedes Lackey and others - human girls in love with male vampires is pretty damn common. Slightly less common, but not so rare, are supernatural detectives. Angel wasn't original as a concept, but it was very, very well done.

Ok, let's see - of cancellations all I care about are Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. I've not watched this season of VM, but the first 2 were excellent. Gilmore Girls wasn't quite as good this season, and the series ended in a way that felt very natural for a show to end, so I'm a little sad but content.

Mildly interested in Sarah Conner Chronicles and Bionic Woman. Definitely interested in Heroes: Origins.

All the rest of that crap can cycle, recycle, be trashed and be rehashed. Couldn't possibly care less.

So returning shows for me next year are BSG, Heroes, Lost, Supernatural, Smallville, Bones and a couple pay-channel shows (Real Time and Bullshit.) Nice to see my evenings clearing up.

jppintar326 • May 19, 2007, 05:17pm •

I'll never forgive Fox for cancelling Drive before it could end. Is it too much to ask that they burn the remaining episodes so we can see its conclusion. There must have been more than 4 episodes shot. It cost money to make them.

snallygaster • May 19, 2007, 07:09pm •

jppinter, I read somewhere that Fox will burn off the remaining unaired episodes of Drive on July 4th. That's traditionally one of the least-watched TV days of the year, so Fox was probably just looking for something that they had already paid for to plug up the schedule that night.

mckracken • May 19, 2007, 09:13pm •

i absolutely HATED War At Home so much I would literally feel like that was my break between Simpsons and Family Guy.

so long Drive, we didnt really even know you but Nathan Fillion will probably turn up in Slither II: attack of the Slugs just because he's totally cool!
my mother was into Gilmore Girls, I couldnt see it... of course I couldnt see Smallville either. 7th Heaven... never saw one show.

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