Random thoughts on the New Fall Season - September 28, 2008

Random thoughts: While "only" 10 million people watched the opening night of Heroes, the show runners clearly have hit the ground running. Its clear how they will manage to make some of our "heroes" into "villains" and without a clue as to where it will go. While we are bound to re-visit the future (the opener actually began there) I am sure we will have a cleanup episode from the recent past that should shed light on some of the story threads, especially "Nicky/Jessica/Tracy."

The DVR conflict on Monday night between Heroes, Two and 1/2 Men and Prison Break finally got me off the Prison Break main line. There is hope for me. ON the same note, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles at the earlier hour is a blessing.

While I am still not happy with "Sweets" as a regular on Bones, it was great to Dr. Addy again. More significantly, I am amazed at how well the writers have kept up the relationship between Bones and Booth. Their banter and chemistry is still spot on.

When is House going to get back to Chase and Cameron, who did not even appear in the last episode? Not only do these characters have nothing to do, but House has added a character?? (actor Michael Weston playing a detective hired to spy on Wilson. Since the rumor is that Hugh Laurie is about to get Kiefer Sutherland money, how can this show afford to go on?

Fringe looks like it is living up to its hype, but the fact that every one of their investigations connects up to Dr. Bishop's past, while most likely not a coincidence, will probably reach a point, ala Lost, where the twisty mythology starts to unravel.

And speaking of Fringe, has anyone noticed the number of The Wire alums that are scoring new shows. Lance Riddick on Fringe, Jamie Hector on Heroes, Amy Ryan on The Office and Tristan Wilds on 90210 (will not and never will watch it). I could have sworn on I also saw Clarke Peters (Lt. Freeman) on previews for Life on Mars.

Smallville and Grey's Anatomy seem to be back in stride. Smallville is transitioning Clark to Metropolis, while Grey's seems to be trying to soften up Yang and Hahn. They can't do anything with Meridith's constant self-absorption.

Bones Need Less Sweets

Having watched the two hour season premiere of Bones, one wonders if the producers have made a mistake by making Dr. Sweets a regular character. Last season, his role was as a counselor to Bones and Booth. Now, apparently he hangs with the lab geeks and gives out unwanted advice? He worked last season, including the unspoken element of him being suspected (by the fans) of being the killer B&B had been looking for all season (that turned out to be Dr. Addy, who was written out of the show. The writers need to find a better and more organic way to use him on a "regular" basis.

If the season a opener is any indication, having more Sweets is not good.

Prison Breaks Into Mission Impossible?

Watched the season premiere of Prison Break. Kick me! This show is so absurd! Not only does it not deal with a prison break (only its aftermath, if that) but now the boys are matched up together as some sort of well financed Mission Impossible Force working clandestine to bring down "The Company." While they have laid some ground rules as to why they would work with Mahone (a truce), none of the ex-cons owes anything to Bellick who suddenly has a personality transplant.

And while we probably do not know enough about their "boss", Homeland Security agent Don Self (Michael Rapaport), why he had to go way outside to create a secret force will never have a satisfactory explanation (if any). It also appears clear that at one point they will be in cahoots with arch enemy Gretchen.

At least T-Bag remains true to his character (even after having eaten some bad Mexican).

Superboy Needs a Facelift? - The Aging of Smallville (Part Three)

While the fan boys may quell at the next suggestion, the show also began to lose something of itself by the introduction of various future members of the Justice League of America. The first was Aquaman, who mysteriously appeared in landlocked Kansas (being filmed in Vancouver, Kansas often has majestic mountain ranges in the background) for an environmental crusade against Lex Luthor. The next introduction was recurring character Green Arrow, who in the comic books actually did not have as close an ineraction with Superman as say Batman.[1] There has also been an appearance one of a Flash incarnations (Impulse), and Cyborg, a character from the Teen Titans.

Due to the constraints of television, many of these characters are rendered somewhat pedestrian, and worse, are given too much to do when they appear. While many of the fans of Smallville loved the actual appearance of the first grouping of the Justice League (in an episode entitled Justice) the contrived nature of the episode made it less than thrilling.

There are other parts of the show which also make some moments of Smallville just another television show. The aforementioned Supergirl, who may have been the true shark jumping moment of this series, is just an example. The fact that Lex Luthor, who appears to be at least 21 years old at the time that the series begins is a close personal friend with a boy who is in 9th or 10th grade seems awfully odd in any universe. The fact that he then hangs out with the women of the group, Lana and Chloe in particular, adds to that bit of creepiness which never seems to be questioned by anyone during the course of the show.[2] The show also wastes the character of Pete Ross who unless he was part of the central storyline, which was rare, is treated like a second class citizen by his supposed best friend Clark whenever anybody else is in trouble. In fact, when Pete Ross is eventually leaves, it appears in large part because the character and the actor understood he outlived his usefulness.

In this upcoming Season 8 it appears that the writers and creators may have recognized the mistake of Supergirl, since she is no longer a regular character. The Eighth Season also will not include regular appearances by Lex Luthor as actor Michael Rosenbaum decided that he needed to move on. The same is true with Lana Lang, the character who perfectly fit the ideal that a Superman should be striving for in the early years of the show, but in the past few seasons is actually shown a side of her that the true Superman should not be able to accept. Indeed, a more organic departure could have been written based on Clark’s rejection of her after she showed a willingness, among other things, to allow her then husband (if you do not watch the show, don’t ask) Lex to die in a cave-in. She too will be missing in action in the upcoming season but apparently will appear in a few episodes at some point.

Other Season 8 news includes Green Arrow as a regular, other superheroes from the DC universe making appearances, and a move to make the Clark Kent of Smallville the Clark Kent of Metropolis.

The one question that the Village asks that has yet to be answered by this television series is how this particular version of Superboy will fit within, if at all, the overall universe of the Superman we all know. In particular, all of the characters in Smallville that will later appear in Metropolis (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and most particularly Lex Luthor), do not equate Clark Kent and Superman together. However, only an idiot (and at the least Lex Luthor is not one) would not be able to put together the Clark Kent of Smallville, who continually and consistently saves anything and anyone who needs help) with the Superman who will eventually appear in Metropolis. How the writers of the show intend to resolve this issue, or if they have no intention of resolving this issue, remain to be seen. The Village for one will be highly disappointed if some rational explanation does not become part of the story. That being said this Videot has seen many shows twist their mythology to the point of being unable to unravel (the X-Files comes to mind) and at this point remains skeptical that the resolution will make some sense.

This is even more concerning in light of recent rumors that 8^th and "final season" may not actually be the last season of Smallville. One excellent source for Smallville information, the podcast Starkville’s House of El (http://www.smallvillepodcast.com) indicates that the CW has not ruled out a 9^th Season. To continually extend this story may already have been fatal to any decent longevity and the creators should think long and hard before volunteering for the more seasons.

All that being said, guess whose DVR will be recording the season premiere of Smallville on September 18? Mine.

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[1] The Village’s theory is that Green Arrow's appearance was intended to be Batman's, which was of course tied up in a movie series which has turned Batman into DC and Warner Bros. greatest movie franchise). Green Arrow is in essence a Batman-esque character, i.e., a billionaire industrialist using his wealth to feign powers through equipment and costumes.

[2] Jonathan Kent questioning anything Lex Luthor does so that really doesn't count.

Superboy Needs a Facelift? - The Aging of Smallville (Part Two)

As the first season progresses, Clark discovers for the first time that he is from another planet, but without any knowledge as to why or where he is actually from. Jonathan Kent, portrayed as an all too human but good intentioned farmer by former Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider, raises Clark to hide his powers and to not use them for personal gain. Lex Luthor, on the other hand, has been raised to take any advantage available to him and to go to any lengths in order to obtain wealth and opportunity. A chance meeting between the two, involving a car accident that should have killed both Clark and Lex, leads to their friendship, and to Lex and Lionel’s suspicions that Clark may be something other than an ordinary farm boy.

Tom Welling is a perfect Clark Kent for a new age, tall and good-looking, and capable of the mixture of comic touch and brooding necessary in a teenager who knows he has superpowers but cannot tell a soul. Michael Rosenbaum is (and with apologies to Gene Hackman) the best Lex Luthor ever made. This Lex is actually capable, at least early on, of becoming somebody decent, and is more often than not a sympathetic character. He simply needs the right role model in his life to show him that there is a better way. That role model is Clark Kent.

While nuanced at first but later actually said out loud by some of the characters, all Clark has to do is reveal to Lex Luthor that he has superpowers and is from another planet, i.e. trust Lex, and the Lex Luthor that we know he will become might never happen. Ironically it is Clark Kent, the future bastion of Truth (along with Justice and the American Way) who chooses to lie in order to hide his secret identity, while it is Lex who early in their relationship consistently confesses his sins to his new friend Clark, someone Lex considers the brother that he never had While Lex is headed toward fate in part because of the way he was parented, and in part because his DNA may force him to become the evil force in Metropolis, the bottom line appears to be that he is doomed because he can find no one, even his best friend Clark, who will trust him.

Clark's destiny is substantially more complex but for a completely different reason. To the uninitiated, Superman is who is because of his costume and his superpowers. This is actually not true. Superman is who he is because with his powers he could become a god and rule the earth. Instead, he chooses self sacrifice, and forsaking of a normal life, to save the world. (That the Superman story is a Judaic-Christian metaphor, both Moses and Jesus, has long been understood. Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns hit us over the head with the Jesus part.)

As previously indicated, the writers and creators were probably not of the belief that Clark would make it out of high school before the show was canceled. Because of this the show began to grow long in teeth somewhere around the introduction to Smallville of Lois Lane, and the vague and extremely short pass at college by all of the teenage characters. This was followed in quick succession by the appearance of Jimmy Olsen and, profoundly, with the introduction of Supergirl in the Seventh Season.
Part Three of this post will appear tomorrow.

Superboy Needs a Facelift? - The Aging of Smallville (Part One)

Since the new TV season seems to be upon us, it is time to reflect back on seven seasons of the CW’s (and a former WB’s) Smallville, essentially the adventures of Superman when he was a teenager.
The original concept of the show was a cross between the Superboy comic books (but no costume or flying) and oldest and newest Superman mythologies: Clark and Lex were friends in Smallville long before Lex became his evil adult self and Clark Kent donned tights and a cape to save the world as Superman. The show borrows heavily from the original concept: Lana Lang, Pete Ross (a character from the Superboy comic books who knew Clark's secret identity, unbeknownst to Clark), and of course Jonathan and Martha Kent. The additions to the mythology: the close personal friendship between Lex and Clark, high school newspaper reporter Chloe Sullivan, and the participation of Lex's father, Lionel Luthor, helps keep the story going and adds to and fleshes out what otherwise could have been a rather simplistic and moralistic story.
Additionally, the show's creator made a character out of Kryptonite. Known in the comic books as pieces of the planet Krypton, the pieces at least originally landed on Earth after first passing through various colored dust clouds, creating different variants with different properties that affected only Kryptonians: Green was deadly, Red temporarily mutated Superman, etc. On Smallville, the Kryptonite arrives in a meteor shower along with the spaceship carrying baby Kal-El. In the opening episode, we learn how the meteors and spaceship arrived on Earth, how the Kents find Clark (for the first time ever portrayed as youngish parents), that a metoer killed Lana’s parents, and that the same meteor shower robs Lex Luthor of his hair as a child.
The town is also transformed from the “Cream Corn Capital of the World,” to the “Meteor Rock Capital of the World,” Unlike the Kryptonite of the comic books, the "meteor rock" (Earth is unaware of the planet Krypton, as is Clark until Season Two) under the right set of circumstances acts as a mutagen to human beings. This allows for the creation of various enemies for Clark to fight (referred to by fans as “freaks of the week”) who because of the Green K influence, are not always easy to vanquish. In later storylines, “meteor rock” becomes a source for scientific study, for better or for worse. Red Kryptonite has no effect on humans, but removes Clark’s inhibitions (turning him into “Bad Clark.”
Throughout most of the series, Clark and Lex struggled to maintain a friendship despite the core tension between them: Lex knows that Clark has a secret and Clark, who wants to tell somebody, just can’t (or won’t). Another significant tension, rising from a nature versus nurture subtext, is Lex's belief that the ends justify the means as opposed to Clark's belief that they do not. The conceit of the show are that these tensions would lead them to become enemies and to their respective destinies. We can be somewhat confident that the writers of the series did not believe that the show would last through the seventh season, let alone eight (and possibly nine?), as the series does show some wear and tear, and has lead to a point where the series may not blend too gracefully with the Superman legend.
Part Two of this post will appear tomorrow.

TV Premieres – The Week of September 1, 2008

Long gone are the days when all the major networks premiered all of their shows, or at least most of them, in the same single week in September. Now, the networks spread out their premieres in a more shot gun fashion, with differing results. HBO, which used to create alternative season viewing habits, has reached the point where they are not afraid to premiere their own shows at the same time as the network muscle.

That is why Labor Day week, brings a premiere of the fourth seasons of Prison Break and Bones, new episodes of the endless Fox series America’s Most Wanted and Cops, and on HBO, the return of Entourage. Also premiering on HBO is a new series from the creator of Six Feet Under called Tru Blood, about vampires living among us.

Prison Break, a show that avoided jumping the shark in later season sby doing it in its pilot episode (when the hero with an escape plan tattooed over his entire body breaks into prison), somehow has managed to make it to its fourth season. Part of the reason it has lasted is because diehards like me continue to watch this blatantly ridiculous concept for a television show. Half the time I can laugh at the convoluted plot, but most of the time I do not have a good answer as to why I'm still watching this series. The fact that (vaugue spoiler alert) a character known to everyone as dead will somehow magically be alive this season simply adds to the ridiculousness of this show. The two-hour premiere (actually two episodes) is September 1, in the first hour and second hour of the network night. After that week, Fox has smartly moved Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles to the opening hour hoping that the audience will hang on for Prison Break. Since Prison Break will then be opposite Heroes on NBC. Since most genre fans will move from Sarah Connor to Heroes, it appears that Fox has finally given up on Prison Break and we should expect this to be its last season.

Wednesday's evening on Fox is anchored by Bones, a forensic police investigation show that rises above its pedigree through humor, and endearing characterizations. While the main leads have terrific chemistry, hopefully never ruined by a romance until the show is on its last legs, the remainder of the cast is equally up to the task. At the end of last season (vague spoiler alert) the show runners turned a regular good guy into a bad guy, and how this will affect the cast group is unknown. However, it is believed that this character in Hannibal Lecter style will continue to aid the group if not on a regular basis than at least on an occasional basis.

Entourage, pushed back to the fall because of the writers strike, has been sorely missed. As the show ended, Vinnie Chase and his brother appeared to be entering on different paths than what they were used to: Vinny, the only one who appreciated his latest independent production (Medellin), at the Cannes film Festival, has his career was in question. His brother, Johnny Drama, not only had a television series, but also fell in love with a French woman who seems enamored of him. While this is not an ordinary situation comedy, the change of the situation to a down and out Vinny Chase and an on the top Johnny Drama would seem to be an interesting way to go if that is truly the direction they intend for the current season. We can only wait and see.

I am definitely curious about Tru Blood, a series from Alan Ball about a society like ours where vampires openly coexist. The title is a reference to a synthetic blood which keeps the vampires from having to live off the blood of living human. Apparently intended as a parable for gays integrating into society, it is hard to tell whether this is a comedy, fantasy, or some Gothic version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Obviously, Buffy and its spinoff Angel have set somewhat of a high bar for shows dealing with vampires, but HBO and Alan Ball seemed to work well together. We'll have to wait and see on this one as well but I will be tuned in for its premiere before Entourage on Sunday June 7.

Warner Brothers Wakes Up - Kinda

Warner Bros. has recently announced that they had decided to mine the DC Comics superheroes available to them through corporate synergy due to the success of The Dark Knight. Although prior to this announcement, some talk had been running through the executive offices as to what to do with the Superman franchise, and The Flash, Green Lantern and Captain Marvel movies are in various stages of development, the recent acknowledgment that they have superheroes at their beck and call seems to be a move that any other corporation might have made long before now.

Marvel, based primarily upon the success of Sony's Spiderman franchise but specifically the first Spiderman and X-Men movies, quickly managed to get these franchises going, adding the Fantastic Four to the list of successful series (although why these shoddy productions are a success is a mystery) and has twice made poor to middling movies based upon The Incredible Hulk. The latter Hulk was from Marvel’s own studio, which earlier this past summer proved itself with Iron Man.

With the success of Iron Man, Marvel boldly announced a slate of movies that included an Iron Man sequel, Thor, a two-part Captain America film and ultimately a movie with all of the characters combined, The Avengers.

Warner's on the other hand, after smartly restarting the Batman franchise, acted too wishy-washy in response to Superman Returns. So, as The Dark Knight zoomed past Star Wars as the second highest grossing film of all time, the suits at Warners finally woke up with one late to the party brilliant idea, “Lets make more superhero movies” and a second totally bone headed one: “Lets reboot Superman and make it dark, like Batman.”

Once again, a major studio decides to copy success (this time from themselves) without understanding what should be copied. Why were The Dark Knight and Batman Begins so successful? Hmmmm....not good script, not good actors, not good direction ...oh I know, because it was dark!! Maybe just maybe, Superman Returns did not meet expectations (but let's face it, grossing $392 million worldwide is not failure) because as a movie it was good but not great. Maybe just maybe, Superman Returns would have done better if it had been an ACTION movie instead of a romance. Maybe, just maybe, Warner's should try to copy the emphasis placed on putting together talented people to make a movie, rather than assume a single element makes all the difference. Batman's darkness is organic, and the darkness within him is the reason Bruce Wayne is Batman. Moreover, the source material for the movie, not the least of which is Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, leads to Bruce Wayne's dark character and the look and feel of the movie. Superman is who he is because he rises above the human negatives.

How can the artists hired by Warner Brothers know what it takes to be successful, and then have those elements lost on those raking in the money? Anybody who has seen The Dark Knight knows that the movie was a great film, and deserves the money that it is making, because of a great script, great acting, and good plotting that happen to include action elements and a dark mood.

Message to Warners: Your hero is pre-sold – just make a good movie. We will show up.

The Best Worst Movies Ever Made (or Seen)

Have you ever heard someone tell you that they have just seen “the worst movie ever made?” Although perhaps they mean (or may even say) “the worst movie I have ever seen,” reality tells us that they may not be correct. Indeed, one friend of mine tells me that he just saw the worst movie ever made three or four times each year. I simply inform him that judging a movie by a walking out or by turning off the DVD or by falling asleep while watching does not in and of itself make it the worst movie ever made.

Indeed, this Videot has fallen asleep both in the theaters and at home while watching a film but through years of scientific research has determined that the sleep mode is caused either by simply being tired or consuming too much alcohol. The Videot will not now or ever judge a movie by that standard.

The Videot also cannot judge a movie by simply turning it off or walking out of the theater. Be it a classic film or "the worst movie ever made," one cannot claim they have seen the worst movie ever made or the worst movie "I have ever seen" and less one actually sees it.

M. Night Shyamalan's movie Unbreakable, for example, might very well have induced sleep for some of its patrons, and may have caused others to walk out due to its extremely slow pace. However, while this movie is not a classic, it is good enough based almost solely upon its twilight zone twist of an ending. Anyone who slept or walked out may have missed out on why the movie might be good.

All that being said this Videot recommends not that moviegoers and DVD watchers decide that any movie is the worst ever made or the worst ever seen but rather find a threshold line and run with it. For example, years ago a movie going friend and I went to see a horror film starring John Cassavetes. For the uninitiated, John Cassavettes was a movie actor, screen writer and director (married to actress Gena Rowlands), and nominated for Oscars three times, who wrote and directed a variety of good low-budget films using his income as an actor to keep himself afloat. Up until seeing The Incubus, we did not understand that John Cassavetes income was made from any movie that was offered to him.

The Incubus was a film about a demon from hell who murders women by raping them and exploding their uteruses from the inside. Had we known what the film was about before seeing it we may have avoided altogether. But we did not walk out. At the time, my friend and I jokingly indicated it was the worst movie ever made. Now frankly, this is not true. I have seen many poorly made films on Friday nights on Cinemax (did I just say that out loud?) that are far worse than The Incubus. Almost any movie starring Brian Bosworth is by definition a worse movie than The Incubus. Certainly Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is a worse movie than The Incubus.

However, I have since consistently used The Incubus as a threshold below which I refuse to fall. When talking to this friend about a movie I may have seen I will always remark that it was better (or worse) than The Incubus.

So set your threshold and run with it. You have not ever seen the worst movie ever made, but you certainly will know one when you see one.

Prince Gets Knight’s Day

Everyone has heard by now that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has been moved from its former November 2008 release to July 17, 2009 (essentially the same day as the release of the Warner’s The Dark Knight).

Since the Potter films has been nothing but a cash cow for Warner Brothers, it appears that the success of The Dark Knight and the recent decision to finally capitalize on the DC Comics characters available to the studio, pushed this series entry to a summer schedule that, when combined with some other big films, may make 2009 a banner year for Warners. Watchmen, a beloved graphic superhero novel relatively unknown outside of comic book circles, is already being heavily previewed long before its March 6 ’09 release date. Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, both a prequel and sequel to all of the previous Terminator movies, is set for May 22, 2009.

Along with the rescheduling of the Paramount’s new Star Trek film for May 8, 2009 it does appear that there is some great expectations from all major studios for the ‘09 spring and summer, including but certainly not limited to Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine set for May 1, 2009 opposite The Hanna Montana Movie, Angels and Demons, (the prequel to the horrible Da Vinci Code) set for May 15, and the sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, set for May 22 (opposite Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins) – and its still not officially summer!

Summer 2009 will also include another Fast and Furious sequel, another TV remake, The A-Team, another Eddie Murphy movie entitled Nowhereland (which sight unseen is probably as terrible as his last few pictures), The Tooth Fairy, starring Duane “The Rock” Johnson as a hockey player who becomes the mythical tooth fairy and three other mid-summer movies expected to be tent pole movies: the sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, another Ice Age sequel, and 2012 another environmental disaster movie from Roland Emmerich starring John Cusack, Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson and others.

While the Videot would predict that the X-Men sequel, Night at the Museum sequel, Harry Potter, and the Transformer sequel, and unfortunately, Angels and Demons, will meet or exceed expectations, the rest is pretty much up for grabs.

There is no doubt that the Videot will see the new Star Trek film the first weekend, but it remains to be seen whether this attempt to reboot and re-charge a franchise that has made lots of money for Paramount will work. A lot will depend upon good reviews and word-of-mouth from the fan faithful, especially if Wolverine, which premieres only one week earlier, has neither.

Anyway you cut it, the studios are already lining up the players for what should be another big money making spring and summer.

Comcast’s Little Impact

Leave it to Comcast to come up with their latest idiotic On Demand effort and call it Impact. Apparently in a deal with MGM, movies not worth anything are now made available on this on-demand platform, recently and relatively quietly launched by the cable leader. The categories, All-Star Action, Hi Impact, Karate Kicks, and Underachievers, gives a flavor of how bad these movies are. Now I may be wrong about the average television viewer and specifically Comcast on demand users, but I don't think too many of us were holding our breath waiting for a repository of the best movies Brian Bosworth ever made. While this on-demand grouping in its initial offerings did include the original Terminator, the Clint Eastwood-Jeff Bridges film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and the Bridges-Tommy Lee Jones film Blown Away, the remainder of the so-called "channel" consists of a variety of MGM films that they could neither rent, sell or apparently, give away.

In light of the claim by Comcast that they have more HD “choices” than Direct TV, the fact that many of these titles are in HD can perhaps add to the numbers, but certainly not the quality that Comcast insists on not offering.

The New Fall Season: Out with the old, in with a few – Part Two

The following is a continuation of the blog post begun yesterday.

Thursday

Somewhere between the old “Must See Thursday,” when NBC controlled the night, and the present day, Thursday became a huge night for the network, lead in large part by the add revenue from movie studios pushing their Friday openings.

Only three new programs are scheduled, all with sheltered show case spots, and all remakes of shows from other countries.

Kath and Kim, a half-hour comedy programmed after My Name Is Earl, stars Molly Shannon and Selma Blair as a quirky mother and daughter, and is based on an Australian show of the same name. If he writing is as good as the casting, this show may add to NBC’s list of prestige (but relatively low rated) comedies on Thursdays (the other being The Office and 30 Rock).

The who-can-keep-it’s-its-audience-from-the-show-before-it sweepstakes entries are the 11^th Hour (CBS after CSI) and Life on Mars (ABC after Grey’s Anatomy). 11^th Hour is based on a BBC show that starred Patrick Stewart, about a science investigator and his female body guard who looks into the misuse of science. The original was not interested in pursuing a love relationship between he two main characters, but this is the U.S. after all, and this likely plot element, combined with Jerry Bruckheimer’s production hand, will probably make this show more predictable than its source material deserves.

When The Videot first heard of an effort to remake Life on Mars for an American audience, optimism was not rampant. The original, also a BBC program, involved present day police detective Sam Tyler who, after a car accident, wakes up in 1973 assigned as a police officer in a rough and tumble, smoke filled sexist police department. While Sam tries to figure out if he is “mad, in a coma, or back in time,” he works without a cell phone or DNA evidence to solve crimes, establishing relationships with his fellow cops. Of the shows many pleasures, the character of Sam’s boss, Gene Hunt, played by Philip Glenister, brings the greatest impact to show, as a cop who will ignore a victim’s rights to get an arrest, but is willing to listen to Sam’s approach if it will get the job done.

The Videot had intended to check out this new version out of curiosity, but now sees this as a must see. Why? Harvey Freakin’ Keitel has been cast as Gene Hunt!! The Soprano’s Michael Imperioli plays Sam’s precinct competitor!! I’m in.

Fridays

Only two new shows grace the most forgiving night on television. Fridays of the not so recent past often contained such long lasting shows as The Rockford Files, The Incredible Hulk, Dallas, Miami Vice and, of course, The X-Files. Now, middling shows like Numbers (does anybody under 60 watch this show?) and Wife Swap (people watch this idiotic thing but skipped out on Swingtown?) populate a night where shows go that the networks feels fit some sort of demographic, or as in the case of critical darling Friday Night Lights, are given a chance to survive on a slow night.

The two new shows are not pushing this envelope. The Ex-List (CBS) is about a woman who is told by a psychic that she has already met her future husband and must find with him within a year or forever remain single. So she sets out to get in touch with all her previous boy friends. Hmmmmm….how long is this show supposed to last? Lets assume for the moment that this show runs for three years (bad assumption, I know, but work with me). This would mean that she does not find the man of her dreams for at least two and one-half seasons. Do you see where this is going? Now let’s also assume that the shows structure involves her with one of her old boyfriends in each episode. With 22 episodes a season, well….this lady is a slut!!! Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

NBC’s Crusoe is the other new Friday show: the preview looks like it expands upon the simple premise of a man alone on an island with pirates, natives, flashbacks and lots of expensive stuff. The official website however, www.nbc.com/Crusoe, claims it is faithful to the novel. It also says it is a thirteen part series. Worth a try, but worth the investment? Will all thirteen episodes be shown if the ratings are low? Are you not following me? This is Friday – ratings will not matter that much.

Saturday

The elephant’s graveyard of network television. Nothing new unless you count reruns of Knight Rider. I don’t.

Sunday

The only thing new on Sunday night is the CW’s experiment in outsourcing television programming. A company called Media Rights Capital has put together a mix of four shows: reality type In Harms Way, a show that tracks a new dangerous job each week, a half-hour family comedy Surviving Suburbia, starring Bob Saget, Valentine, in which modern day Greek gods (as in THE Greek gods) influence the love lives of deserving people and Easy Money, an hour long drama about a family that owns a company that provides short terms loans. This last sounds bizarre but stars Laurie Metcalf and Judge Reinhold which makes it sound more interesting, but I can think of better things to do on Sunday Night, like football.

More interesting is whether the normally low rated CW will do better with this business model. Hopefully, this and the Friday Night Lights experiment with DirectTV won’t be the most interesting result of the 2008 season.

The New Fall Season: Out With the Old, In With a Few – Part One

The new fall television season appears to be greatly affected by the writer strike. While there was some concern earlier in the year that an actor strike might also have a devastating effect, it appears that the actors themselves are not particularly interested in the strike and the studios know it. Currently, it looks as if we may have a "regular" season like we once did and perhaps actually get a bit of a break. Specifically, it is long become the habit of the major networks to schedule their new seasons only up to a point that matters for the Nielsen ratings. Although premieres are necessary in the fall in order to try to capture some audience, and even then shows are given only a brief period of time to rise or fall, the networks often start dropping reruns on us early on in order to pack the sweeps periods (November, February, and May) with new episodes and ”event” programming.

The good and bad of the new season is that there are very few new entries into the network schedules, meaning that older shows that just two years ago would have been canceled (such as Big Bang Theory on CBS, Life on NBC and Reaper on CW), have been given green lights. Friday Night Lights, a terrific television show that I and only three other people watch, has been renewed under as unique as scenario that as far as we know has ever occurred on network television. Specifically, FNL will first premiere on DirecTV (Oct. 1) and will not appear on the network schedules until sometime in 2009 (and actually on Fridays for the first time in its three seasons). Whether this means the DirectTV version will push the censorship envelope is unknown.

The ultimate effect, for better or worse, is fewer new shows. Here they are on a night by night basis.

Mondays

Only two new fall series appear on Monday nights. The Worst Week, a half-hour comedy to follow Two and a Half Men on CBS, in which the main character tries to impress his future in-laws, may be funny but sounds like a limited premise.

On the other hand, The Videot is looking forward to My Own Worst Enemy, a Christian Slater action-adventure series that follows Heroes on NBC. Slater is an everyday guy who's split personality alter ego (ala Jekyll and Hyde) is a superspy. NBC of late has a tendency to be somewhat risky in their hour long series (such as Chuck, Heroes, and the ill-fated remake of the Bionic Woman) and since The Videot likes genre shows, gives them a lot of credit for continuing to try despite so many failures. My Own Worst Enemy is definitely a show that the video will be hoping the best for. Teaming it with Heroes makes sense, but only if Heroes picks up a larger audience than its shortened second season and the audience stays tuned to NBC.

Tuesdays

Five new shows are scheduled for Tuesdays, with three of them, The Mentalist (CBS), Privileged (CW), and Fringe (Fox) all pitted against each other in the second hour of the night, opposite the returning Dances With the Stars on ABC. The Videot predicts and votes for Fringe as the winner, as it comes from J. J. (Lost, Alias, Star Trek) Abrams and should benefit from the strong lead in from House. The show looks like an X-Files style FBI show, with an ongoing conspiracy and sci-fi elements. Here’s hoping that the show does not get “Lost” in its mythology. The Mentalist has a been here done that feel, as a former psychic who really just has good powers of perception, works as a police officer, and looks for the serial killer that killed his family. Privileged is targeted to the CW core audience, as a young woman is hired to tutor two rich young women. The Videot guesses that the show will sneer at the rich while showing off to its young female audience how cool being rich really is.

The CW also has a remake/update of Beverly Hills 90210, simply called 90210. While The Videot has no intention of watching this night time soap, this idea makes loads of sense for the CW as the show comes somewhat pre-marketed, may bring in older than usual demographics to the network, and may also promote good DVD sales of the old shows.

The last new show on this night is Opportunity Knocks, a game show described by ABC as “One lucky family … brought together each week to play the game of a lifetime … to prove they know each other inside and out.” The Videot will never watch this show. Not once. Not ever.

Wednesday

Of the four new shows that will grace Wednesday nights, only Gary Unmarried, a sitcom about a newly divorced man played by Jay Mohr, looks watchable by the Videot. Why? Did I mention Jay Mohr?

The CW has Stylista, a “reality” show in which voted-off-each-week members are competed for a job at Elle magazine. The originality of this show is awe inspiring.

Do Not Disturb is a comedy on Fox about the workers and patrons of a swanky hotel. The Videot yawned while writing this.

Finally, here is hoping that Knight Rider, a remake with updated effects, plot and Val Kilmer as the voice of Kitt, gets Bionic Womened, and sooner rather than later. Val Kilmer deserves better, unless of course he is getting huge bucks for very little work.

Tune in tomorrow for Thursday through Sunday.