The big broadcast networks have finalized their fall schedules and it looks as if America is in for a lot of new shows to watch. As with every season, half of these shows will probably disappear within a few weeks, one of the great ones will disappear with the crap, and a new favorite will fly. I’ve combed through the networks newest offerings, and the following is a list of some of the shows you probably should watch and at some point I’ll make a list of shows that should be avoided.
Watch these:
“Person of Interest” CBS
J.J. Abrams and CBS will be trying to fill the void that Lost has left in broadcast television. Many networks, including ABC, have tried really, really hard to create the next Lost, but all of them have failed up until this point. If J.J. Abrams himself can’t recreate the magic of Lost with CBS, then I think that everyone should stop trying. I encourage everyone to tune into Person of Interest because Abrams nearly always delivers quality product, and I doubt that this will be subpar to Abram’s latest work. Best case scenario for Abrams: he has an amazing summer with Super 8 and he starts the fall of with a smash hit on CBS. I’ll be rooting for him.
“Pan Am” ABC
The success of Mad Men has sparked a new interest on 1960s culture, but ABC has decided to explore a fabled world in the 1960s similar to the fabled world of advertising: airline travel. As my grandparents and their friends like to recollect: traveling in the 60s was not a casual affair; it was glamorous, classy, and not a usual means of getting someplace. Old films capture the glamor of air travel pretty well, and I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to travel in the 60s. The flight attendants were called stewardesses, and they were beautiful, single women dressed to the nines looking for their future husbands between LAX and JFK. The pilots seemed cooler, hotter, and heroic. And one couldn’t travel in just jeans and a shirt, people got dressed to get on a plane. With Pan Am, ABC is hoping to generate interest into a sector of the 1960s that is more or less forgotten now. For some reason, I think this will turn into escapist fare and has the potential to be a cult hit. And did I mention that Christina Ricci costars in this?
“Last Man Standing” ABC
Tim Allen is returning to prime time comedy and I can’t imagine why anyone would miss that.
“The Playboy Club” NBC
Keeping with the 1960’s theme, NBC is contributing The Playboy Club, based on the Chicago Playboy Club in the 60’s. At first, I was a little puzzled as to why this show would be necessary, I didn’ t know much about the Playboy Clubs that occurred back in that time, and assumed they were glorified gentleman’s clubs. But after an interesting chat with my grandmother, I learned that the Playboy Clubs were these classy places where my grandparents used to go have drinks on the weekends. My grandmother told me that she and my grandfather would dress up and meet their friends at the Playboy Club on a regular basis, and it was an exclusive place that was far from a glorified gentleman’s club. So naturally, I’m extremely curious to see what those clubs were like, and since I’ve read good things about the pilot, I think this show could possibly feed my curiosity. And since NBC is fighting hard to get out of their perpetual 4th place spot, I’m going to go ahead and assume that this show is one of their best, since it has been one of the most heavily talked about shows thus far.
“Smash” NBC
Smash is a musical drama about a Broadway company producing a show about Marilyn Monroe. What this show offers is veteran television actors like Debra Messing, original music, talented singers like Katherine McPhee, and an actual plot. Glee has indeed sparked an interest in musical television, but it now lacks depth, story, and originality, and Smash could swoop in and deliver what Glee fails to. This show looks extremely promising, and NBC is carefully planning its release in order to give the show a chance at a great reception. Smash will be a midseason premiere when it will receive less competition from other premiering shows, NBC is using a similar strategy to how they released The Voice, which had the biggest premiere of any show this season.
“Are You there Vodka? Its me, Chelsey” NBC
Based on the successful memoir of the same name by Chelsey Handler, this comedy centers Chelsey Hanson, a 20-something year old woman living in Los Angeles. Though this show is not a direct adaptation of the book, it is based on situations created in the book. Playing Chelsey Hanson is Laura Pepron from That 70’s Show, and Chelsey Handler herself as Sloane, Hanson’s polar opposite sister. I really, really like Chelsey Handler and I’m glad she is venturing out creatively because I believe she’s a hilarious woman with tons of talent. This show will be premiering midseason and will hopefully become extremely successful critically and commercially.
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I’m really, really rooting for NBC in the fall. This past spring television season was criticized for being devoid of female voices, but this upcoming fall is full of women centered shows, female comedians, and great women actors. NBC has set the bar for ushering in women talent that is unfortunately ignored throughout Hollywood. I’m excited about the return of Debra Messing to network television, the addition of Chelsey Handler and Christina Ricci, and the amount of originality that I’ve seen so far that has been lacking in broadcast TV for a while now.
Extremely Behind the Camera 