Think About It: Legends of the Fall
Well, friends, there can be no doubting it. The kids are back in school. The big blockbusters of the summer are out of the movie theaters. Wal-Mart is overflowing with Halloween decorations and candy, immediately behind which you can find Christmas decorations and candy. Even though here in Louisiana the thermometer is still topping 95 degrees on a daily basis, for all intents and purposes, it's autumn.
Now until the Think About It Central Halloween Party begins next month, there's really not a lot about the fall that's worth getting excited about. In fact, only one thing specific comes to mind: the new fall TV season. Now granted, by halfway through October, it's entirely possible -- perhaps even probable -- that the season will have lost its luster and I'll be angry and disgruntled over how 90 percent of the new shows sucked and the only one that didn't has been cancelled already. For now, though, there's still that air of unrestrained promise that makes it possible to trudge through September, just waiting for the new shows to start.
Actually, moreso than any new series, I'm excited for the return of two of my favorites: Heroes and The Office, a pair of excellent shows that are currently supporting the NBC network in much the same way that a 3-year-old's swim fins would keep Dom DeLuise above water. (In other words, just barely.) Heroes -- the best new drama series since Lost -- proved that you can do an intelligent TV show about the superhero genre, with virtually all of the trappings of a comic book save for costumes and codenames. I hold out hope that this show's runaway success will allow some people to take comics more seriously.
NBC is going to use Heroes to anchor a new Monday Night lineup including a remake of the Bionic Woman and a new show called Chuck. The Bionic Woman thing disturbs me mostly because, in general, remakes suck. Now, there are exceptions -- the new Doctor Who is freakin' awesome, and Battlestar Galactica managed to defy the odds -- so I'll give it a shot, but if she doesn't have the cheesy sound effects, I don't know if I'll be able to accept her as being really... y'know... bionic. As for Chuck (a show so named because Poindexter had too many syllables), NBC is giving us a new show about a geek who somehow winds up with top-secret information embedded in his brain and has to have a top-secret (and drop-dead gorgeous) superspy set up as his bodyguard. It's a flimsy premise, but if it's played tongue-in-cheek enough, it could work. I'll watch it, if for no other reason, because it's on opposite The New Adventures of Old Christine, and I'd rather watch someone getting colon polyp removed on the surgery channel than anything starring Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.
The Office returns to a Thursday comedy lineup that once was king of television. Alas, the days of Cosby, Cheers, Friends and Seinfeld are long gone, and NBC is begging people to remember that they actually show television on Thursdays. The Office is hands-down the smartest, funniest show on television (its only close competition went away when Arrested Development was cancelled), and it's anchoring a surprisingly strong night of comedy. My Name is Earl is actually pretty darn good, and will be until Scientology finishes Cruising Jason Lee's brain, and Scrubs is a close number two to The Office in the clever comedy department. There's only one weak link on Thursdays, if you ask me -- I don't care how much critical acclaim it gets, 30 Rock sucks. I've tried watching it several times now (usually when the remote was out of reach) and every episode leaves me with the same question: what drug, exactly, are people consuming that makes them believe Tina Fey is funny?
But enough about NBC -- the other networks will have shows this season too, allegedly. Over on the CW, Smallville will try to boost itself by adding Laura Vandervoot to the recurring cast playing Clark Kent's long-losty Kryptonian cousin, Kara (alias Supergirl). Not a bad idea, but the best thing Smallville could possibly do is kill off the depressingly bad Lex Luthor/Lana Lang storyline. It's been stinking up the joint for two seasons now. People make jokes about Lois Lane being stupid for not figuring out the adult Clark Kent is really Superman, but considering how many times Lana got close to discovering the truth and then suffered some sort of head injury or brainwashing or just plain didn't put two and two together makes me think she's gonna be a lifetime candidate for the short bus by the time this series is over.
Fox is coming out swingin' with K-Ville, a cop drama about post-Katrina New Orleans. The concept bothers me for several reasons. First of all: Hollywood almost universally screws the pooch when it comes to presenting an accurate depiction of New Orleans. Second of all, by emphasizing the "post-Katrina" aspect (to the point where it's in the freakin' title), we're almost guaranteed a bleak, depressing show that will further convince the rest of the nation that things here are bleak and depressing here. (That's only partially true.) On the other hand, my old friend Ronée is actually going to be playing a small part in an episode, so that's reason enough to tune in. Heck, that'd be reason to tune in to New Christine. Break a leg, darlin'.
ABC's Pushing Daisies sort of intrigues me -- it's seems to be some sort of dark fantasy/dramady about a guy who can resurrect the dead just long enough to interrogate them, a power he uses to solve unsolved murders and collect the reward. Interesting premise, and the commercials keep stressing that the show is produced by the director of Men in Black. That's not a bad pedigree, until you realize that also means it's produced by the director of Men in Black II.
Let's see, what else does Fox have? Season 20 of Cops, a new reality show called Solitary, a new reality show called (I can't make this stuff up) The Search For the Next Elvira -- which I might have watched if it had been, as I thought at first glance, Search For the Next Elmyra... ooh, look at this! A show with an actual script. Kelsey Grammar (Frasier) and Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond) in Back to You as co-anchors of a TV newscast. Well, I like both of 'em, and there's nothing else of note on Wednesday nights until Lost comes back in January. Maybe I'll give it a try.
There are other shows, but nothing else that's standing out, either as a must-see or even as a subject of ridicule. As fall schedules go, I've been much more excited.
Is it October yet?
Blake M. Petit is already making plans for the second annual Think About It Central Halloween Party. Seriously. Contact him with comments and suggestions at BlakePT@cox.net.