September 21, 2009

• Fall Premiere Time is Here!

  

  It's that time of year again. I always feel young at heart during the Fall TV Premiere week, which starts in earnest tonight. This time of year always brings back treasured memories of the past, when I was but a child, sitting in front of the coffee table with my mother, my siblings, and the shiny new Fall Preview issue of the TV Guide Digest laid out before us. With pen in hand, my mother would meticulously outline the television shows from the upcoming "new season" which we wanted to see. There was some bickering, of course, since there were three of "us kids", and some deft psychology came into play on Mom's part.

  At the end of the evening, we had outlined which shows on the "big three" networks we wanted to watch for sure, with backup programming in case those shows bombed, or weren't deemed interesting enough to watch through the full season.

  In those heady days before DVRs and VCRs, and cable TV, there were only a  dozen or so channels available over the airways, and the new "season", which still begins in late September, would herald the "premiere" of new shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC. I still can clearly remember watching the premieres of televison shows which would later become icons of the pop culture landscape, like Star Trek in 1966, Laugh-In from 1967 or The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1968. I began collecting the Fall Preview Issue in 1967, while in junior high. Above you can see my complete collection of these digest sized magazines laid out before me. I'm reading the first one I ever collected, in 67. I stopped collecting in 1978. TV Guide is now more of a celebrity rag like Us or People, but they still have a Fall Preview. (The link is to their online version.)

  During the 70s and 80s, when I was in my 20s and 30s, I didn't watch much TV. I had a pretty active social life, and collected record albums on vinyl (most of which I still have in my massive music collection). There were a few shows I never missed during this time, like Eight is Enough, or The Hulk. In the late 80s, when I lived with Bob and Mike in the Frat House, we would watch a specific TV show each night around Bob's bigscreen. I was a "taper" in those days, and recorded whole television seasons like L.A. Law on tape without even watching the shows until later, when I'd watch one right after the other. Now I do that with DVDs. I'm catching up on a show called Thirtysomething, which aired when I was thirtysomething, and never caught the first time around.

  With the advent of the DVR (digital video recorder), of which I was an "early adopter" in 1995, and now with streaming video and back episodes of any number of TV shows online, on the network sites themselves and on sites like www.hulu.com I can sample shows from any decade, and catch up with shows I might have missed. There are some shows from the past I wish would come out on DVD. (Ally McBeal, a Fox show with Calista Flockhart from the mid 90s is finally coming to the U.S. in October. I've got my DVDs already queued in my Netflix "saved" list.)

  Each year I still look forward to the Fall Premiere Week, and each year I make a list of shows I want to begin watching. In the past, I have sampled shows I really liked which were later cancelled. (Defying Gravity on ABC was the latest.) Carnivale, Invasion, Journeyman, and Jericho are a few shows from the past few years which were cancelled early on. I liked them all. (The last two were appearing on hulu.com last time I looked.)

  This year I've already made my list, and have programmed the shows I want to sample into my DVR. I'm not into "reality shows". I like recurring dramas with long story arcs like "Lost". I'm a fan of family themed shows like "Brothers and Sisters", which begins it's second season this coming Sunday. The links and photos are from Yahoo, and the ABC and CBS sites. The commentary is my own.

  

  The Good Wife Premieres Tuesday, 9/22 at 10pm ET on CBS

  Juliana Marguiles, who was so good on E.R. in the early days, returns to episodic television with The Good Wife. She plays the "good wife" of a Chicago politician who has to go back to work after 15 years when he is involved in a "sex scandal". Using this as a jumping off point, the series takes Juliana back into the workplace as a junior associate for a law firm. She's a bit older than the other associates. One of the gals at work turned me on to the existence of this show, and I thought it was a comedy till I checked it out online. I was a fan of Ally McBeal and L.A. Law, so I'll give it a chance.

  

  The Forgotten Premieres Tuesday, 9/22 at 10pm ET on ABC

  Last year Christian Slater was "My Own Worst Enemy" on CBS. This year he's a civilian who works with the police involved in "Cold Case" type investigations. I'm a fan of Slater's work, and wanted to give "Enemy" a chance. However, CBS didn't and cancelled it after a few episodes. As soon as I saw the sneak for this series I made a note to catch it on ABC. I don't watch Cold Case so it'll be new to me.

  
  

  Flash Forward Premieres Thursday, 9/24 at 8pm ET on ABC

  This is the year Lost goes off the air. I'm a big fan of that show, and ABC wants to retain the fans, so it's attempting another serial sci fi in the same vein. Flash Forward's premise is that everyone in the world passes out at the same time, and are given visions of what will happen to them six months in the future. It stars Joseph Fiennes and John Cho. You can watch the first 17 minutes of the first episode online on ABC.com and on hulu HERE. I wanted to see this show before seeing the first 17 minutes, and after I watched online, I think this might become one of my favorite can't miss series. (Unless ABC cancels it of course.)

  Three Rivers  Premieres Sunday Oct. 4 on CBS 

  I don't know that much about this show except that it got some poor reviews. It's a medical procedural about organ donors set in Pittsburgh and starring Alex O'Loughlin. ABC is probably trying to steal some of E.R.s audience, now that NBC is showing the Tonight Show, er, I mean Jay Leno at 10pm every night. I'm going to give it a chance. It also has Alfre Woodard in the cast, and I always like her work. (She was wasted on Desperate Housewives a few years back, however.)

  V Premieres Tuesday Nov. 3 8pm ET on ABC

  I'm always disdaining the remaking of my favorite scifi series and movies. Spielberg's remake of "War of the Worlds" pales in comparison to the original George Pal version. I first saw the miniseries "V" in the 80s on my friend Bob's  Advent big screen TV, one with the separate projector and screen. I  have both the original miniseries on laserdisc. (And intend on watching them again before viewing the ABC remake.) The preview for this rehash looks fantastic. They can do almost anything with computer graphics these days, so the special effects, even on TV, are top notch. The aliens are still lizards, and they still come to the earth in large spaceships resembling those in the novel Childhood's End. This time besides "world peace" they're offerning universal healthcare. (Don't listen to them, Mr. President, they're LIZARDS.) Elizabeth Burke (Juliet on Lost, who kicked the bucket in the final episode last season) stars along with Morena Baccarin from Firefly. (which I've never seen but have queued up on Netflix). I'm hoping for the best.

  Here's to the new fall season. Besides these shows, I've got about a dozen returning shows on my DVR, so I'm cleaning up the space as you read this.  By the way, I'm crossing my legs in the photo above, something I have not been able to do for over four years. Hooray.

  • 9:03 pm
  • 21 Comments