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A Bit on Next Fall's TV Shows
May. 15th, 2003 11:50 amWell, it's been some TV Fall Schedule Rollout Week. Six networks, and maybe three shows I expect to even watch once from all the new sitcoms and dramas. I delcare, every passing TV season brings more and more of the same. Crime shows that sound only vaguely interesting, sitcoms that wallow in crude sex and cruder characters. Almost no SF, almost nothing out of the ordinary.
At least there are no new reality shows, though.
It's been a rotten time for SF, as John Doe and The Twilight Zone join Firefly on the cancelled list. The big three networks, onc again, plan to offer no SF or fantasy. OK, there are shows with actors who I like, such as Joe Pantalino as an FBI training agent on CBS, or Mark Harmon as a Naval detective in a JAG spinoff, but the premises of these shows just don't work. I wish these actors (as well as Whoopi Goldberg and John LaRocquette, doomed to sitcom duty on NBC) the best of luck. Maybe someday, all of them will get shows worthy their skills.
So it's over the other networks for the small hope of a new quality SF/fantasy show. The best hope is Faith. Or rather, Eliza Dushku's new show on Fox, "Tru Calling." The title is dopey, and the premise - about a grad student who can talk to the dead and then alter history - sounds like "Seven Days." But it's Eliza, who's earned her chance with her stellar work on Buffy. This will air Thursdays at 8 pm, and while I have little hope it will last - like the last three shows I liked on Fox - I will be there at the start.
Over on UPN, either on Tuesdays or Wednesdays at 9 pm, is "Jake 2.0" The idea is apparently a nobody working for the NSA is accidentally injected with nanobots, and becomes a super-agent. Sounds cute, kind of a Six Million Dollar Man for today. But what's promisng here is a report that David Greenwalt - the best writer in the BuffyVerse after Joss himself - is showrunner. This leads to the hope that other Buffy alumni will join him, and make this a little better than it should be. I just hope that UPN does not schedule it opposite Angel, as it's obvious what I would choose.
The third show I might try is a fantasy, but I don't expect it to be good. It's "Tarzan and Jane." But get this! He's now a modern-day apeman, raised in the jungle but now brought to New York. Naturally, this man out of place gets help in exploring New York. From a pretty, street-smart detective. Oh, and this Tarzan has an uncle who is an industrialist. Sounding at all familiar? I should be dismissing this. It's clearly aimed at a certain audience whose chief requirements from a TV show include a sexy man in a loincloth (the "Actor" playing Tarzan is a Calvin Klein model with no thespian work till now.) But I cannot delcare this to be a complete miss for two reasons: 1) it worked on "Gargolyes," so why not here," and 2) Mitch Pileggi plays the uncle.
Well, we'll know more about these shows in a few months. But first, there is the matter of ending Buffy, so that when the fall shows debut, we can look back and say, yet again, that we miss Buffy.
At least there are no new reality shows, though.
It's been a rotten time for SF, as John Doe and The Twilight Zone join Firefly on the cancelled list. The big three networks, onc again, plan to offer no SF or fantasy. OK, there are shows with actors who I like, such as Joe Pantalino as an FBI training agent on CBS, or Mark Harmon as a Naval detective in a JAG spinoff, but the premises of these shows just don't work. I wish these actors (as well as Whoopi Goldberg and John LaRocquette, doomed to sitcom duty on NBC) the best of luck. Maybe someday, all of them will get shows worthy their skills.
So it's over the other networks for the small hope of a new quality SF/fantasy show. The best hope is Faith. Or rather, Eliza Dushku's new show on Fox, "Tru Calling." The title is dopey, and the premise - about a grad student who can talk to the dead and then alter history - sounds like "Seven Days." But it's Eliza, who's earned her chance with her stellar work on Buffy. This will air Thursdays at 8 pm, and while I have little hope it will last - like the last three shows I liked on Fox - I will be there at the start.
Over on UPN, either on Tuesdays or Wednesdays at 9 pm, is "Jake 2.0" The idea is apparently a nobody working for the NSA is accidentally injected with nanobots, and becomes a super-agent. Sounds cute, kind of a Six Million Dollar Man for today. But what's promisng here is a report that David Greenwalt - the best writer in the BuffyVerse after Joss himself - is showrunner. This leads to the hope that other Buffy alumni will join him, and make this a little better than it should be. I just hope that UPN does not schedule it opposite Angel, as it's obvious what I would choose.
The third show I might try is a fantasy, but I don't expect it to be good. It's "Tarzan and Jane." But get this! He's now a modern-day apeman, raised in the jungle but now brought to New York. Naturally, this man out of place gets help in exploring New York. From a pretty, street-smart detective. Oh, and this Tarzan has an uncle who is an industrialist. Sounding at all familiar? I should be dismissing this. It's clearly aimed at a certain audience whose chief requirements from a TV show include a sexy man in a loincloth (the "Actor" playing Tarzan is a Calvin Klein model with no thespian work till now.) But I cannot delcare this to be a complete miss for two reasons: 1) it worked on "Gargolyes," so why not here," and 2) Mitch Pileggi plays the uncle.
Well, we'll know more about these shows in a few months. But first, there is the matter of ending Buffy, so that when the fall shows debut, we can look back and say, yet again, that we miss Buffy.
