Fall TV Schedule: Who Gets To Stay? (Part 2)

Since some of these shows would never have had a chance during a normal season, we have a few reasons not to yell obscenities about the writers’ strike any more. The fact that a couple of the shows on this list alone are from mid-season squatters is extraordinary. Well, let’s get on with it:

Same As It Ever Was (Renewals, Part 2) – The Dramas

1. Pushing Daisies (ABC) – What would you do with the power to bring someone back from the dead? Yes, there could be some creepy answers to that question as it is, but did I mention the catches to that “gift”? The universe doesn’t like to give stuff like that away for free, so if you want to keep someone alive for longer than a minute, someone else nearby has to die. Oh, and if you ever touch the previously deceased again, they’re gone for good.
This is the central premise of Daisies, and the man with the magic in this modern fairy tale is Ned (Lee Pace, Wonderfalls). Poor Ned, it seems, discovered his cursed gift at an early age after his mother accidentally died and he, just as accidentally, brought her back. Not knowing what he had done, nor the consequences, his neighbor dropped dead at the minute marker – which would have been bad enough until he tried to hug Mommy, and well…bad things. So, does he end up in the loony bin? No, he decides to become a piemaker and solve crimes in his spare time. Duh.
In the wrong hands this story could be a downer, but since the series is brought to us by Bryan Fuller (the comedic sci-fi genius behind Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls), we get a technicolor romantic fantasy that only jokingly hints at the macabre. Throw in lovely leading lady Chuck (Ned’s true love, recently undead thanks to his intervention, played by Anna Friel), pint-sized spitfire Olive, Emerson Cod, the private dick who is the sleuthing Bert to Ned’s Ernie (played by an uncharacteristically comedic Chi McBride - Boston Public, House) and occasional guest stints by the likes of Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) and Molly Shannon (SNL)… Near perfection. If they can maintain the quality we’ve barely glimpsed, we’re in for a treat.

2. Chuck (NBC) – Again, a dramedy – I guess that’s my thing lately. This time, switch magic powers with a computer-enhanced brain and there you have it. Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi, Less Than Perfect) has a dead-end job as computer tech at the local Buy More (think Best Buy in the fictional realm) – but things get interesting when an old college buddy sends him an e-mail that downloads a top-secret government database into his brain. I hate it when that happens!
And of course, every government agency wants the info in Chuck’s head – but no one can agree on who should be in control. So the NSA sends Casey (Adam Baldwin, Firefly) to keep tabs, while the CIA sends Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), who poses as Chuck’s girlfriend and acts as his protector. Add the confused romantic intentions of the geek with the million-dollar brain and we’ve got Three’s-Company-worthy misunderstandings. Overall, a great mix of slapstick comedy with crazy action sequences.

3. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox) – Normally, movie spin-offs in TV form don’t live up to the original goods: Highlander, The Crow, Weird Science and, dare I mention it, Freddy’s Nightmares all come to mind. But despite the prominent placement of a 90210 alum (Brian Austin Green) as John Connor’s uncle, and also overlooking the fact that this was a midseason drop-off - the show is actually... good.
Set after the events in Terminator 2, we get a different version of what could have happened to the timeline. The show follows Sarah (Lena Headey, whose take on the role mirrors the intensity of Linda Hamilton) and John Connor (Thomas Dekker, fresh off Heroes, plays this future leader of the resistance against the evil Skynet) as they try once again to avert a possible robotic apocalypse. This time, their Terminator buddy is Cameron (the wonderful Summer Glau, Firefly), who looks like a cute high school girl but can still punch through a brick wall. Obviously, there are some not-so-nice robots out to kill our heroes – the show’s not “Sarah Connor’s Tea Party” after all – and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

4. Eli Stone (ABC) – A brain tumor gave Eli (a high-powered defense attorney) the power to see the future – or did it just make him crazy? You see, his Dad (Tom Cavanaugh from Ed, Scrubs) had the same condition and everyone thought he was nuts - talk about bad genetics, huh? The visions Eli has often remind me of an old Ally McBeal fantasy – oddly comedic and inappropriately timed. So what does he see in these omens? Most don’t make sense at first, until the story unfolds. And many are focused on George Michael (yes, the ex-Wham singer), who belts out the future via song… Huh, maybe Eli is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
These portents seemed cute at first, but the plot device quickly wore thin – which was something the writers must have realized when they reined it in midway through the first season. When the plot started to become more grounded in real world character interaction, we got a glimpse at the talents of the supporting cast: from Eli’s ex-fiancee Taylor (Natasha Henstridge - Species) to Jordan Wethersby, the head of the firm (Victor Garber – Alias) to naïve newbie lawyer Maggie (Julie Gonzalo – Veronica Mars) to Eli’s secretary Patti (Loretta Devine – Boston Public), we see that there is certainly no need for overused plot devices. Such phenomenal casting for another midseason show was a coup, but to get a renewal slip – well deserved…

5. Life (NBC) – As a cop who just got released from being falsely imprisoned for the past few years, what’s the first thing on your mind? Keep in mind that you just got a huge cash settlement for the “misunderstanding”, so you could do pretty much whatever you want. Yeah, he’s got the sex thing covered – and you’ve got a dirty mind. Naughty. But revenge was the answer I was looking for.
Charlie Crews is the cop in question, and he’s back on the job – yes, he went back to work as a policeman, despite the millions and the mansion and the ladies. Crazy? Sure, but how sane would you be after your stretch for murder? And daily interaction with the very people who turned their backs on Charlie – that’s just good TV, kids.
This could seem contrived in the hands of lesser actors, but the cast pulls it off well. Charlie (Damian Lewis) adopts a zen attitude toward police work, which can come off as flippant and drives his new partner Dani (Sarah Shahi) crazy. But that doesn’t stop him from being the man you’re rooting for as he saves the day. The real beauty of this show is that it doesn’t get horribly bogged down in the overall mythology. Sure, they spend a decent amount of time unraveling the mystery behind Charlie’s conviction – but Life could easily stand alone as a weekly procedural with a smarmy lead detective. Jump on in the fall for a look…

Next Time: What pilot shows are worth checking out in the fall?

(And, for the last time, the full fall schedule is here. Next time you're on your own;)

Fall TV Schedule: Who Didn't Make It? (Part 2)

Okay, let’s get right to it – we’re still on the depressing subject of shows we left behind. But fear not, next time we’ll focus on happier subjects, the things that got renewed…

A Salute To Those On The Chopping Block (Part 2) – The Dramas

1. Journeyman (NBC) – As I mentioned in my Life On Mars post, time travel hasn’t held a place in Americans’ hearts in the past few years. So, the main character involuntarily being thrown back in time probably didn’t help win the Nielsens. The unfortunate part of all that was how well crafted the show was, to a point where you could almost forget the sci-fi and fantasy aspects of the premise – it turns out that fixing the time stream can throw your family life into a tailspin as well as any run-of-the-mill absentee father story. The episodes were split between the title character’s missions and this familial strife, which was balanced incredibly well. Too bad more people didn’t think so…

2. Moonlight (CBS) – Okay, the parallels to Angel, the Buffy spin-off about the do-gooder vampire with a detective agency, were obvious before the show ever aired. The problem was how bland and hokey this version would be. The show focused on Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) and his somewhat inappropriate fixation on leading lady Beth. Why so creepy? Well, Mick saved Beth from another vampire when she was a little girl, and has been vamp stalking her ‘til she was age appropriate – giggity-goo! Anyway, Mick liked to stroll around in the sunlight (in this mythology, the sun does an Easy-Bake oven version of frying on vamps) with his shirt wide open, whining about why he’s not human anymore – this got old pretty quick. The overall story was fun, but even Jason Dohring’s (who will forever be Logan from Veronica Mars to some) more relaxed role as a millionaire vamp didn’t give the show that little boost it needed.

3. Canterbury’s Law (Fox) – This could have been Julianna Margulies’s next big role, following her as Elizabeth Canterbury, ruthless defense attorney. She was charismatic as always, and surrounded by a great supporting cast including Aidan Quinn as her hubbie. Where did it go wrong? They went too dark with the leading lady too quickly. Granted, they dumped this in the dreaded mid-season, so they knew they had to work fast to establish the characters. But going from learning that someone stole her son when she wasn’t looking to making her a borderline alcoholic to wrecking her marriage to sleeping with a private dick to jury tampering, all in six episodes? Too much for most to process…

4. Women’s Murder Club (ABC) – Another mid-season dump, this show actually could have been a contender – it got farther than most by getting another 3 episode order after the writers’ strike ended. Based on the series of books by James Patterson, it centered four women – a police detective (Angie Harmon), an assistant D.A. (Laura Harris), a coroner and a reporter - working together as friends and as a team. The great part of the show was that it could survive as a weekly procedural (though much less grisly than its counterparts), but it also worked well with an underlying serial killer mythology (the Kiss-Me-Not killer, the mystery man they’ve been hunting for years). Unfortunately, the last batch of episodes wasn’t enough to catch any new viewers, and it ended up in the scrap heap.

5. Jericho (CBS) – This was a holdover from last year’s cancellations – fan response to losing the show was overwhelming, and CBS allowed the show to wrap up its plotline with an additional seven episodes. With the WGA strike, though, most hoped that this post-nuclear attack drama would gain momentum against a backdrop of reruns on other stations. Not so much, unfortunately…

6. Bionic Woman (NBC) – Unlike other contemporary remakes - like the fraktastic Battlestar Galactica (which is also produced by Bionic’s David Eick, and lends the talents of Starbuck’s Katee Sackhoff as a rogue bionic agent), this one was not destined for greatness. Critics wrote this show off, and many pointed fingers about the casting of Isaiah Washington so soon after his cast-off from Grey’s Anatomy in response to his homophobic slur - and switching out the show-runners in the process didn’t help. But Bionic could have been a success – the general premise of Jaime Sommers’ bartender-turned-superhero angle was nothing new and the dark and gloomy oh-so-secret agency was cliché, but the family dynamic of the troubled teen sister and the goofiness of some of the background characters helped throw in some balance. But with only 8 episodes in the can, the strike decided this sleeper’s fate – no more episodes to even wrap it up. There’s no coming back from that car wreck, Jaime…

7. New Amsterdam (Fox) – We all wanted to like this one – the premise of a man given immortality until he finds his one true love sounded intriguing. But this show was meant for a fall premiere and kept getting pushed back because the writers never seemed to have a sense of what direction they should go. The overall plot was fun, but when lead character John Amsterdam (played by Nikolaj Coster Waldau) comes across as emotionless and disinterested, can you spell d-o-o-m-e-d? Fox can.

Next up: Renewals we’re thankful for. See you then…

(Again, for a full list of what’s new, canceled or brand spanking new, go here.)