Every day last week, I wrote-up my own little notes on the current television fall season. This time around was in many ways more difficult than previous years because the traditional TV season is a thing of the past. Not all the new shows roll out the same week anymore. Many series will only air until the end of 2004 and then some old favorites, and more new shows, will be premiering. With Fox, they tried to create a summer season with new shows — pretty much all failures, even the ones that have been renewed — but they’re real programming schedule doesn’t start until after the World Series is over in November.
A quick note: There are still a few new shows I still haven’t watched yet, specifically life as we know it (which just premiered last night), Wife Swap, Center of the Universe and of course pretty much everything new on Fox. Also, I obviously can’t predict whether old favorites, like The West Wing, will actually be able to redeem themselves.
Still, with all of that said, following is my ranking of the best nights of broadcast network television, and the links will take you back to my original night-by-night posts:
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Sunday: Hands down the best night with two “don’t miss” options in each of the 8 and 9 PM hours.
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Wednesday: 8 PM is probably the single most competitive time-slot with actually good programming of the entire week. 9 PM will be as competitive, but with crappier shows.
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Thursday: It’s not what it used to be, but there’s still plenty to see.
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Tuesday: Plenty of crap, but enough to keep you busy, especially if you’re looking for mild distractions.
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Friday: Beats out Monday by a hair since it’s just not quite as bad.
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Monday: If you’re a rabid football fan, this night isn’t so bad. If you’re not, there’s plenty of mediocre things to see, but very little that’s actually good.
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Saturday: A TV wasteland, except for The Amazing Race.
As far as individual shows go, after the jump is a recap of my “don’t miss” selections as well as some thoughts on premieres I’ve seen since writing the original posts. Cause you know, this is important shit!
Before anything else, I want to talk about Kevin Hill. I have yet to watch this week’s episode, but since writing my original post about Wednesday nights, I have seen the first episode and it was fantastic. Whether or not the show retains the same quality, everyone writing a pilot should watch how Kevin Hill was constructed. Most pilots simply throw characters and expository elements at the audience with, at best, very thin story lines. Kevin Hill does exactly what every pilot episode should do: it starts the story of the series at exactly the right time and therefore is able to give the audience all its exposition by telling an actual story rather than simple facts. You learn everything you really need to know about Kevin before the opening title card. Suddenly he has to adopt his cousin’s baby, and the rest of the episode deals with him having to change and make choices due to that “inciting incident,” to use a McKee term. But this first story also works as indicator to what the rest of the series will be like. It actually will be very challenging for the writers/producers to keep up this kind of storytelling quality throughout the series, but I hope they have it in them because Kevin Hill is one of the best shows to come along in a while. And credit must also go to Taye Diggs, one of the most personable actors to show-up on the small screen in recent memory. Between Kevin Hill and Veronica Mars, UPN is on the way to losing its reputation as a joke of a network, and Kevin Hill easily jumps into the same “Don’t Miss — potentially” category as Desperate Housewives.
The only other new show I’ve seen since writing a (p)review was the new ABC sitcom Rodney which basically fits in to the rest of ABC’s lame Tuesday sitcom schedule. It’s not really any better or worse than anything else on their schedule, but please don’t take that as an endorsement.
So here’s a summary of the “Don’t Miss” and “Don’t Miss — potentially” shows:
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Gilmore Girls: (Tuesdays @ 8 on The WB) Clever writing and wonderful cast makes this an enjoyable hour week-in and week-out, although some of the storylines are getting a bit too over-dramatic and crisis-laden. Lorelei’s parents separate (sort of); Lorelei and Luke are a couple; Rory has broken-up Dean’s marriage; Paris’s way-too-old-for-her professor boyfriend has died. Still, integrating great Some Kind of Wonderful references (among others) continues to make this a great show.
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America’s Next Top Model: (Wednesdays @ 8 on UPN; repeated Fridays @ 9) An absolute guilty pleasure, but definitely one of the most fun of all reality shows. The personalities are great and the show is well put-together.
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Lost: (Wednesdays @ 8 on ABC) If you’ve got a DiVo, it’s no problem to watch one, record another. Lost still thrives due to its premise, but so far so good, and hopefully they can keep-up all the qualities that make this an interesting and exciting show.
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Kevin Hill: (Wednesdays @ 9 on UPN) Just scroll back up and re-read.
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The O.C.: (Thursdays @ 8 on Fox, starting in November) At it’s best, it’s a very well-written show that takes the teen-nighttime-soap to a whole new level with interesting and somewhat believable storylines and characters. At its worst, it’s another guilty pleasure, but it’s still pleasurable drivel. Can’t wait for it to come back, although they have a lot of work to do in order to create satisfying resolutions to the season-ender.
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The Apprentice: (Thursdays @ 9 on NBC; encore with added boardroom on Saturdays @ 9)Like ANTM, a total guilty pleasure (yes, it’s a trend) but with a much more interesting dynamic. The contestants on the current series really are somehow more ruthless while also being more incompetent than the last go-around. At least, that seems true of the women who really can’t get along unless they’re ganging-up on one person to have fired. I wholeheartedly encourage you to catch the Saturday encores. The added boardroom footage is phenomenal and really rounds out the storylines. They should add it all to the main broadcast and make the show 90 minutes. Cut down ER for all I care. It’s sucking now anyway.
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The Amazing Race: (Saturdays @ 8 on CBS) Yes it’s another reality show, but even if you’re dead set against the whole format, I encourage you to give TAR a try. There’s no need to feel “guilty” about liking this show, one of the most dramatic and exciting hours anywhere on television. Record it if you’re never home on Saturdays. And if you have a Nielsen box, just leave your TV on the channel before you go out and give CBS the benefit of a Saturday rating boost. If you watch it from the beginning and give it at least two-to-three episodes, I dare you not to become utterly addicted. It’s the one reality anywhere on television that has not declined or felt repetitive at all since it’s first season.
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60 Minutes: (Sundays @ 7 on CBS) Still the best newsmagazine on any network. Every week there’s at least one fascinating and well-told story, and you’ll seriously be smarter just for watching this show.
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American Dreams: (Sundays @ 8 on NBC) One of the best, if least-talked-about, dramas with a top-notch cast and excellent writing. It sometimes gets a little bit overly-sentimental, but it never feels schmaltzy. The musical guest stunt-casting for the American Bandstand segments hit a new low recently with Nicole Ritchie playing Brenda Reid, the lead singer of The Exciters, but usually the bits are well-integrated and fun little bits of nostalgia. I hope NBC sticks with American Dreams which has a very dedicated audience that has seen the qualities of this great drama that manages to be appropriate for families without pandering annoyingly to them or acting all holier-than-thou.
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The Simpsons: (Sundays @ 8 on Fox) All these years later and The Simpsons is still one of the best written and most clever shows on all of television. They stick more jokes, satire and plot into 22 minutes than most sitcoms manage in 22 episodes, and rarely does the show ever feel like it’s repeating itself. May The Simpsons live on for years to come.
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Arrested Development: (Sundays @ 8:30 on Fox) I’ve touted the merits of this show plenty. It’s probably the best show on this entire list. If you’re not watching it, it’s definitely the best show you’re not watching. Hell, even the Emmys couldn’t ignore it, and I’m sure they tried.
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Desperate Housewives: (Sundays @ 9 on ABC) Like Kevin Hill, one episode does not a perfect series make, but this one’s off to a damn good start.
There are plenty of other shows that are definitely “worth watching” (and I listed them as such under my individual night-by-night posts), but to me the above 12 are the creme-de-la-creme. As far as new shows you should keep your eye on, Veronica Mars (Tuesdays @ 9 on UPN), Clubhouse (Tuesdays @ 9 on CBS), CSI: NY (Wednesdays @ 10 on CBS), Joey (Thursdays @ 8 on NBC), and Jack & Bobby (Sundays @ 9 on The WB) all also deserve further consideration.
I’ll return to this topic as new shows roll-out and/or fail, plus I still want to highlight some of the best of cable, and I guess I’ll have to do a special thing for Fox come Saturday, but the one thing I’ve noticed is that this season, for all the bitches and moans that always come from the TV critics, has some of the strongest new shows to premiere in quite some time. So before you go bitching about how there’s nothing good on TV, at least give a few of the above 12 a shot.
Out of Focus 