We’re up to Tuesday in my Fall TV Preview, and it’s a night where I really don’t watch a lot of TV. In fact, there was only one show on Tuesday nights that made it to my season pass list last year.
And that one may not even return until 2009. And it’s on Thursdays now.
It was Reaper, a highly underrated show on The CW and we’ll have to wait until next year to see new episodes.
But there is definitely a new pilot that screams “must watch!” to me, so we’ll be checking that out. And there is one final new show that will be on the “review” radar, but will never make it to a season pass.
Fall TV Preview - Tuesdays
The list below is broken up into Mike’s Season Passes, Pilots I Like and The Rest. The Rest will include current shows and new pilots that I don’t have any real intentions of watching.
The premiere date and network will be noted next to each in parenthesis. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Mike’s Season Passes
This is kind of an interesting list because one of these shows I’ve never seen before, and the other is on my wife’s season pass list. But I didn’t want to leave you hanging, so I offer you a look at two shows, one of them you most likely do not watch.
Eli Stone (October 14th, ABC)
Not one episode of Eli Stone has graced my television yet, but I hear nothing but good things about it. So I’m trying something new. I usually stop myself from watching a show until I’ve made sure to catch up on all previous episodes. Not this time…I’m going to DVR the season two premiere and let the chips all where they may.
In reading about the upcoming season, George Michael will be gone, which is a relief. I have no idea if fans of the show enjoyed him being on it, but it never sounded “cool” to me. Apparently Eli Stone had brain surgery on his aneurysm but will still be fantasizing in various forms of dancing and singing.
Greek (August 26th, ABC Family)
It premiers tonight, it’s about college kids in fraternities and sororities and my wife loves it. We also have some friends who never miss an episode, so this show has fans: I know of at least two.
I never watch it, but it’s probably one of those underrated gems out there that lovers of this genre have been missing out on. ABC Family tends to be off most people’s radars.
Pilots I Like (Or will at least check out once)
Fringe (September 9th, FOX)
Fringe is one of two new series that I’m dying to see, the other being Dollhouse. It’s from work-aholic J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, everything else), stars Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv and John Noble, and is the closest we’ll probably get to seeing another show like The X-Files.
The reviews have been good and I’m really looking forward to it. The great part is that it’s premiering already on September 9th, so we don’t have long to wait.
90210 (September 2nd, The CW)
I will usually watch any show once, and this one falls into that category. Yes, of course I was a fan of the original, but does this one really stand a chance?
I love the idea that Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth will be cast members, giggle about Tori Spelling “turning it down because she wasn’t paid enough” (like what else does she have to do?) and dread witnessing how awful and cheesy this might turn out to be.
The Rest
Returning Shows
- The Shield (Sep 2, FX)
- House (Sep 16, FOX)
- NCIS (Sep 23, CBS)
- Law & Order: SVU (Sep 23, NBC)
- King of Hill (Sep 28, FOX)
- Without a Trace- Sep 23
New Shows
- Privileged - (Sep 9, The CW) - A Gossip Girl-ish copy, this time it’s based on a book called How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls and the show is about…an Ivy-League graduate tutoring two rich teen heiresses. Go figure!
- The Mentalist (Sep 23, CBS) - A crime show procedural (on CBS too!) that gives us a former psychic who’s only real gift is attention to detail. Sounds like Psych + Sherlock Holmes.
I tried Eli Stone, but I couldn't get into it at all. Fringe is about the only thing that has a chance of saving Tuesday nights although I know House and NCIS have a ton of fans. I don't watch either. Maybe it'll be movie night for me.
I'd love to watch House, the cast looks awesome…but I just have never
given it a chance.
I couldn't get into House although I like Hugh Laurie from Jeeves and Wooster
Greek: “I never watch it, but it’s probably one of those underrated gems out there” - It's not, but it started in the summertime, so sometimes you take on shows in the summer that wouldn't make your normal cut. We'll see, because now I am hooked. As for 90210, I am only committing to watching the first episode… if it is full on cheese, I will let it go, because from these TV Previews, I am learning a lot about myself, namely that I watch too many cheesy shows. Ah… self discovery.
Wow… never seen or watched House??? I feel like I’m living in a different country! After a so-so start in the fall, House was much better post writers strike and had probably the best season finale of any drama last spring. Granted, any procedural (medical in this case) can get have its highs and lows over 22 eps, but watching Hugh Laurie’s performance alone is usually worth of an hour of your time.
The USA network will be running a season one marathon of House, beginning with the pilot directed by Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, X-Men, X2, The Usual Suspects), beginning on Saturday, September 6th for those of you interested in catching up (episode 1-21 titled “Three Stories” is a must see). Then I believe USA will continue running the show every weeknight.
For casual viewers, just look for any episode written or co-written by exec producer David Shore or where the patient of the week is played by a quality actor. Those usually are the best eps.
As much as I like actor David Morse , if you make it to season three, skip (or skim) over the Detective Tritter story arc entirely. It seems David Shore and company like to add a new twist to every season of House, beginning with House’s ex-girlfriend/fiancé Stacy (the lovely Sela Ward) in S1-S2, Foreman’s brush with death in S2, Tritter in S3, the departure of House’s staff in S3, and the new team in S4.
Okay Mike, I gave you a hard time over your young adult soap opera choices for Monday and I’ll add Greek to that list for Tuesday. Yes, a lot of people say Greek is a good show… but the majority of those people are of the female gender who seem to have a higher tolerance level for soapy shows than men. Ditto for 90210.
Speaking of ABC Family, too bad The Middleman was only given a short summer run, and only one summer it sadly appears. Such imagination and creativity wasted in a late time slot on a network that did very little to promote the show.
Mike, I think we’re beginning to see who wears the DVR pants in your household ;-). Or perhaps I’m just getting too old and cranky.
However, big props for mentioning that little gem of a show called Reaper. It was the only CW show I watched faithfully every week. While it did get a little bogged down with the ‘escaped soul of the week’ storyline, Reaper really found its groove post strike. Too bad the show doesn’t fit into CW’s new young women target audience strategy and only received a short, 13-episode mid-season renewal.
Eli Stone is a decent quality diversion-type of show definitely in my ‘record for later watching if time allows’ category.
Fringe is on my must see list. The Mentalist looks like a dramatic/serious version of Psych or another variation of Life, which is to say it could be very good (as crime procedurals go), so I’ll give it a shot and essentially skip everything else scheduled for that evening.
The Middleman rocks, but it's the same as with any cable show, only 12-13 episodes is all we get.
Like I said, I don't watch Greek, my wife does…I have zero interest in it. Undeclared was a much better version of what Greek is about.
I think with the baby on the way you need to get rid of the cheese and grab on to a few quality shows and stick with them.
Like I said before, with doing more recaps (possibly) this year, I
definitely will be cutting some of the fat and sticking with the good.
Who knows, Prison Break may not make it too long.
Tuesdays are not my normal TV viewing nights, though my house does go DVR nuts - with the Summer being slow, I've been watching Eli Stone online catching up with last season so I'm fully prepared for the next. I think you should give it a try, it's amazing: http://abc.go.com/player/?channel=125571