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.