Upfronts 2012 - Part 2 - CBS
CBS
CBS's Schedule For The Fall
View "Behind The Scenes" Featurettes for CBS's New Shows
*eye roll* I hate behind the scenes featurettes instead of trailers. I like trailers! Show me trailers! I know all the actors and writers and producers think their new show is the best new show since "The West Wing" went off the air - I don't need to listen to them telling me so. Trailers are fun! Bring on the trailers!
Anyway....
CBS is always tricky, year to year, because they have the most solidly performing shows of any of the networks. A show has to do much, much better on CBS than on any other network in order to get a renewal. For example, "Unforgettable" - which I watched, found mildly amusing, but didn't love - got something like ten to twelve million viewers and got cancelled. CBS has to find things to cancel or else they'd never pick up any new shows - everything seems to work out pretty well for them. Of the nine comedies they had in development, they picked up two, and of the seven dramas, they picked four, so they had to make room by dropping the underperformers - which were only under-performing relative to other CBS shows. "Unforgettable" was often #1 in its time slot, but it still got the axe. It's weird, and confusing, but it's the problem with being picked up by CBS. The show not only has to do well, but it has to do DAMN well.
CBS's Comedy Pick-ups: Friend Me, Partners
CBS's Drama Pick-ups: Elementary, Golden Boy, Made In Jersey (fka Baby Big Shot), Vegas
CBS's New Comedies
- Friend Me - There wasn't a video for this one because they're holding it to the midseason, but its logline - "a multi-camera comedy about two twentysomething pals who have just moved to los angeles from Indiana to start new jobs at Groupon" - doesn't intrigue me in the least. It sounds like a pretty boring premise really. But who knows? Maybe it'll be brilliant.
- Partners - I like everyone in the cast, and I'm intrigued enough to check it out, but the BTS featurette thing kind of turned me off cause it all came off a little.... pretentious somehow. It irked me. If only they had done a trailer....
CBS's New Dramas
- Elementary - very excited about this, and very glad that CBS picked it up - though not too happy they moved "The Mentalist" to Sundays to give it that time slot. Love the idea of Watson as a woman, though worried that they're going to turn it into some kind of will-they-won't-they thing, and I really hope they don't do that. I love Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu and Aidan Quinn, so I'd show up no matter what. Think it's interesting that they're doing this in the wake of the BBC/PBS show/movies (not to mention the Robert Downey Jr. movies), but hey, I personally don't think one could ever get enough Sherlock. I'm looking forward to it.
- Golden Boy - seems like an ambitious premise - they apparently have a six year plan or an eight year plan or whatever as the main character works his way up the ranks to police commissioner, but shows with ambitious plans like that run the risk of petering out, leaving the feeling of a promise unfulfilled. I was more interested in this when Ryan Phillippe was playing the lead (he dropped out within a few days), but I'll keep an open mind. Since it's being held to the midseason (not often a good sign with CBS), they don't have any video for it yet, but we'll see. Plus, Chi McBride! Yay!
- Made In Jersey - I honestly cannot decide how I feel about this show. I like Janet Montgomery, I like Kyle MacLachlan, and I like the people behind the scenes (Dana Calvo, Mark Waters, Kevin Falls), but I feel like I've got all the lawyer show I need with "The Good Wife" (which I'm addicted to). I don't know if I have room in my raised-by-two-lawyers mindset for another one. If I watch it, I will undoubtedly have to watch it by myself (as I have to with TGW) cause mom cannot watch lawyer shows without having a stroke or a heart attack or at the very least screaming at the television "You can't do that!!" or "That's a confession! Arrest him!" or "Oh, come on, that makes no sense whatsoever!" and so forth. I'm okay with watching things by myself, but that list is growing longer and longer, and I only have so much time when I get the tv to myself. I guess I'll give this a shot, but I don't know how long it will last with me - I only got through about four episodes of "The Defenders" and I actually kinda liked that show (though the law was terrible). So I guess you never know.
- Vegas - I was kind of excited about this one until I watched the BTS featurette. Now it seems drab and humorless and all the actors seem flat and unlikable. I like the setting - 1960s Vegas as it starts to come into itself - but as I've said before, I don't want an excess of grit and darkness and intensity in my television watching, and this felt like it was made to be a movie, not a television show. I honestly just didn't like it, and it was quite disappointing for me. Oh, well. More time to hang out with the kitty, I guess.
I can't remember the last time CBS had a new show that I was just super excited about. I watch a lot of their shows, and I enjoy them, and most of my current favorite shows are on CBS - "The Good Wife", "The Mentalist", "NCIS" and "Person of Interest" come to mind - so they're obviously doing something right. But it's been a while since they've debuted a new show where I've gone "WOW! I can't wait for that to premiere! That looks awesome!" (like I feel about "Revolution" or how I felt about "Terra Nova" or "Fringe"). Even "Person of Interest" didn't really get me hopping in my seat - I thought the pilot suffered from some seriously uneven moments, but the rest of the season was excellent, though not fantastic on the level of, say, "Fringe" or whatever - it just got me mildly interested, enough to tune in. I guess they don't have to get me hopping, and maybe that's why they do as well as they do - instead of trying to find the next big hit, they do a good job of finding nice quiet shows that are great, but not jaw-dropping, and they present a solid slate, instead of hanging all their hopes on big risks only to fall flat on their faces (::glares at Fox and NBC::).
All right, I guess tomorrow comes The CW (curse ye, bastards) and their FIVE new dramas (they don't do sitcoms). I wish I could honestly say "I hereby boycott thee, CW, in honor of the fallen Secret Circle" but I could never kick this "Vampire Diaries" habit, and while I would have preferred more TSC to more "Supernatural" (yes, I said it, believe it), I will keep watching my Wincester boys, and I will keep watching "Hart of Dixie" cause it is my guilty pleasure soap addiction, and... well, "Arrow" and "Beauty & The Beast" are right up my alley, so how can I resist?
But I'm still very, very upset. You hear me, CW? You should have renewed TSC! (And passed on the Carrie Diaries....)
Until tomorrow...
Farewell from me and da kitty.
CBS's Schedule For The Fall
View "Behind The Scenes" Featurettes for CBS's New Shows
*eye roll* I hate behind the scenes featurettes instead of trailers. I like trailers! Show me trailers! I know all the actors and writers and producers think their new show is the best new show since "The West Wing" went off the air - I don't need to listen to them telling me so. Trailers are fun! Bring on the trailers!
Anyway....
CBS is always tricky, year to year, because they have the most solidly performing shows of any of the networks. A show has to do much, much better on CBS than on any other network in order to get a renewal. For example, "Unforgettable" - which I watched, found mildly amusing, but didn't love - got something like ten to twelve million viewers and got cancelled. CBS has to find things to cancel or else they'd never pick up any new shows - everything seems to work out pretty well for them. Of the nine comedies they had in development, they picked up two, and of the seven dramas, they picked four, so they had to make room by dropping the underperformers - which were only under-performing relative to other CBS shows. "Unforgettable" was often #1 in its time slot, but it still got the axe. It's weird, and confusing, but it's the problem with being picked up by CBS. The show not only has to do well, but it has to do DAMN well.
CBS's Comedy Pick-ups: Friend Me, Partners
CBS's Drama Pick-ups: Elementary, Golden Boy, Made In Jersey (fka Baby Big Shot), Vegas
CBS's New Comedies
- Friend Me - There wasn't a video for this one because they're holding it to the midseason, but its logline - "a multi-camera comedy about two twentysomething pals who have just moved to los angeles from Indiana to start new jobs at Groupon" - doesn't intrigue me in the least. It sounds like a pretty boring premise really. But who knows? Maybe it'll be brilliant.
- Partners - I like everyone in the cast, and I'm intrigued enough to check it out, but the BTS featurette thing kind of turned me off cause it all came off a little.... pretentious somehow. It irked me. If only they had done a trailer....
CBS's New Dramas
- Elementary - very excited about this, and very glad that CBS picked it up - though not too happy they moved "The Mentalist" to Sundays to give it that time slot. Love the idea of Watson as a woman, though worried that they're going to turn it into some kind of will-they-won't-they thing, and I really hope they don't do that. I love Jonny Lee Miller, Lucy Liu and Aidan Quinn, so I'd show up no matter what. Think it's interesting that they're doing this in the wake of the BBC/PBS show/movies (not to mention the Robert Downey Jr. movies), but hey, I personally don't think one could ever get enough Sherlock. I'm looking forward to it.
- Golden Boy - seems like an ambitious premise - they apparently have a six year plan or an eight year plan or whatever as the main character works his way up the ranks to police commissioner, but shows with ambitious plans like that run the risk of petering out, leaving the feeling of a promise unfulfilled. I was more interested in this when Ryan Phillippe was playing the lead (he dropped out within a few days), but I'll keep an open mind. Since it's being held to the midseason (not often a good sign with CBS), they don't have any video for it yet, but we'll see. Plus, Chi McBride! Yay!
- Made In Jersey - I honestly cannot decide how I feel about this show. I like Janet Montgomery, I like Kyle MacLachlan, and I like the people behind the scenes (Dana Calvo, Mark Waters, Kevin Falls), but I feel like I've got all the lawyer show I need with "The Good Wife" (which I'm addicted to). I don't know if I have room in my raised-by-two-lawyers mindset for another one. If I watch it, I will undoubtedly have to watch it by myself (as I have to with TGW) cause mom cannot watch lawyer shows without having a stroke or a heart attack or at the very least screaming at the television "You can't do that!!" or "That's a confession! Arrest him!" or "Oh, come on, that makes no sense whatsoever!" and so forth. I'm okay with watching things by myself, but that list is growing longer and longer, and I only have so much time when I get the tv to myself. I guess I'll give this a shot, but I don't know how long it will last with me - I only got through about four episodes of "The Defenders" and I actually kinda liked that show (though the law was terrible). So I guess you never know.
- Vegas - I was kind of excited about this one until I watched the BTS featurette. Now it seems drab and humorless and all the actors seem flat and unlikable. I like the setting - 1960s Vegas as it starts to come into itself - but as I've said before, I don't want an excess of grit and darkness and intensity in my television watching, and this felt like it was made to be a movie, not a television show. I honestly just didn't like it, and it was quite disappointing for me. Oh, well. More time to hang out with the kitty, I guess.
I can't remember the last time CBS had a new show that I was just super excited about. I watch a lot of their shows, and I enjoy them, and most of my current favorite shows are on CBS - "The Good Wife", "The Mentalist", "NCIS" and "Person of Interest" come to mind - so they're obviously doing something right. But it's been a while since they've debuted a new show where I've gone "WOW! I can't wait for that to premiere! That looks awesome!" (like I feel about "Revolution" or how I felt about "Terra Nova" or "Fringe"). Even "Person of Interest" didn't really get me hopping in my seat - I thought the pilot suffered from some seriously uneven moments, but the rest of the season was excellent, though not fantastic on the level of, say, "Fringe" or whatever - it just got me mildly interested, enough to tune in. I guess they don't have to get me hopping, and maybe that's why they do as well as they do - instead of trying to find the next big hit, they do a good job of finding nice quiet shows that are great, but not jaw-dropping, and they present a solid slate, instead of hanging all their hopes on big risks only to fall flat on their faces (::glares at Fox and NBC::).
All right, I guess tomorrow comes The CW (curse ye, bastards) and their FIVE new dramas (they don't do sitcoms). I wish I could honestly say "I hereby boycott thee, CW, in honor of the fallen Secret Circle" but I could never kick this "Vampire Diaries" habit, and while I would have preferred more TSC to more "Supernatural" (yes, I said it, believe it), I will keep watching my Wincester boys, and I will keep watching "Hart of Dixie" cause it is my guilty pleasure soap addiction, and... well, "Arrow" and "Beauty & The Beast" are right up my alley, so how can I resist?
But I'm still very, very upset. You hear me, CW? You should have renewed TSC! (And passed on the Carrie Diaries....)
Until tomorrow...
Farewell from me and da kitty.