QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, August 23, 2012 Page 16
BTS page 16
Networks offer few new shows this fall Country music, comic book themes added to otherwise standard mix by Lloyd Carroll Chronicle Contributor
he fall doesn’t just mark the beginning of the new school year, it’s also the time when the broadcast networks introduce their new slate of shows, unlike their cable brethren, which roll out new programs throughout the year. Here’s a look at what’s in store from the broadcasters this year.
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NBC In the 1950s, a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs helped make the “Today” show the morning broadcast icon that it still is today. The Peacock Network, which has been languishing in the ratings for years, is hoping that a capuchin monkey named Crystal can do the same thing for its primetime lineup this fall, as she, along with comedian Justin Kirk, will star in “Animal Practice,” a show set in New York about an unorthodox veterinarian. Also costarring is the wife of Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher, Joanna Garcia. Matthew Perry, who costarred in one of NBC’s all-time biggest hits, “Friends,” returns as a snarky radio sports talk show host in “Go On.” The good news is that the role is tailor-made for Perry. The bad news is that it looks identical to his last effort, “Mr. Sunshine,” which bombed on ABC. It’s not officially a TV season unless there’s a new JJ Abrams-produced series, and this year’s entry is “Revolution,” a post-apocalyptic drama about survivors in the late 21st century coping in a world without electricity. NBC execs are praying that fans of his old series, “Lost,” will quickly become hooked on this show. NBC has had some success, at least as measured by its low expectations, with “Parenthood,” so it’s offering a new sitcom about a trio of young fathers who are friends, “Guys with Kids,” starring Anthony Anderson. If any of these new shows fail to click, NBC is promising to add “Next Caller,” starring the once-hot comedian Dane Cook as a radio shock jock who is forced to take on a new female cohost by station executives. The clip shown at NBC’s Upfront presentation last May did not look very enticing.
Back To School/Fall Guide 2012
CBS
It’s hard to get excited about a new Friday night entry, “Made in Jersey,” about an earthy new associate, newcomer Janet Montgomery, at a stuffy white-shoe law firm that sounds like a TV version of the 1988 Melanie Griffith film, “Working Girl.”
FOX “House” may be history, but “The Simpsons” and “American Idol” remain solid programming tent poles for FOX. Last year, they scored big with Zooey Deschanel’s “The New Girl” and this fall they’re trying to repeat that comedic success with Mindy Kaling’s “The Mindy Project.” Kevin Bacon will make his TV debut this coming January as a detective trying to track down an escaped serial killer he arrested years ago in “The Following,” while this fall Jordana Spiro stars as a surgeon whose family is indebted to organized crime in “The Sopranos”-inspired “The Mob Doctor.” In what seems like an The cast of NBC’s “Revolution,” which will debut this fall. It’s a annual tradition with look at how people cope in a future world without electricity. “American Idol,” there PHOTO BY NINO MUNOZ/NBC will be a change in the CW President Mark Pedowitz is putting most of his chips judges’ chairs as Mariah Carey takes Jennifer Lopez’s seat in an on a “Sex and the City” prequel called “The Carrie even exchange of divas. Steven Diaries.”AnnaSophia Robb — who played Bethany HamilTyler announced that he will be ton, the surfer who lost her right arm to a shark while tackleaving as well. Preceding “Idol” ling the waves, in the 2011 film, “Soul Surfer” — stars as this fall, however, will be the second season of Simon Cow- the younger version of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradell’s “X Factor,” which did not deliver the ratings numbers shaw character. The CW may finally be getting away from its image as a that he promised. Two singers who have had more than their share of personal problems, Britney Spears and Demi destination for 12-year-old girls as it also will have a DC Comics action show, “Arrow,” on its fall schedule. Lovato, will be judges this season. Meryl Streep’s daughter, Mamie Gummer, is the title ABC character of “Emily Owens, MD” a drama about a young While NBC’s woes have long garnered notoriety, ABC doctor who discovers that being a resident in a snooty hoshas also fallen on hard times. “Desperate Housewives” just pital is similar to being low in the social pecking order in ended its run, while “Grey’s Anatomy” is getting very long her high school. in the tooth. Shows like “Castle,” “Happy Endings,” and The CW Network is a joint venture between CBS and “Don’t Trust the B– in Apartment 23” have generated some Time Warner. Rumors are flying that the two entertainbuzz but ho-hum ratings at best. ment behemoths may agree to pull the plug on the CW ABC will be banking heavily on a new drama about a unless there is a dramatic upturn in the Nielsens. tony apartment building with a fancy address whose tenDaytime ants are from another planet unbeknownst to the outside While prime-time shows get the glitz, daytime proworld. “666 Park Avenue” sounds like a bizarre joke about gramming has long been the most profitable part of one-percenters. ABC is offering two series with the networks’ schedules. Talk shows have replaced country music themes. “Nashville,” most soap operas and game shows at ABC, NBC, CBS starring Hayden Panettiere and Con- and FOX. “Survivor” host Jeff Probst will be trying his hand at nie Britton, is a drama about a backbiting musical family in the vein of “Dal- being a talk show host while two veterans of the genre, las,” but with gold albums taking the Steve Harvey and Ricki Lake, will be hoping to duplicate place of oil. Real-life country music past success with new syndicated offerings. The most notable talk show newcomer will be former star Reba McEntire stars as a destitute Nashville entertainer who relocates “Today” cohost and “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie her family to LA’s most famous beach- Couric, who is hoping to have better luck than her predefront community in the hopes of a cessor Jane Pauley had with this format. ABC canceled the long-running “All My Children” to clear real estate for new start in “Malibu Country.” “Katie.”
The Tiffany Network absorbs digs from comics and rival network executives because even though it has long been the ratings champion, its audience skews older than its competitors. CBS is so strong that even the shows that it has canceled, “CSI Miami,” which starred Forest Hills’ own David Caruso, and a police procedural that took place in Queens, “Unforgettable,” would have been considered smash hits on other networks. “Unforgettable” was a Top 20 show and CBS programmers are promising to bring it back next summer. Coming up on CBS will be a buddy comedy, “Partners,” concerning two childhood best friends, one gay and the other straight. David Krumholtz, who grew up in Forest Hills, is one of the stars. There also will be yet another spin on Sherlock Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes, “Elementary,” which Holmes and Lucy Liu as Watson costars Jackson Heights denizen star in “Elementary” on CBS. PHOTO BY NINO MUNOZ/CBS Lucy Liu as a female Dr. Watson.
CW The lone CW show which draws viewers, “Gossip Girl,” concludes this fall. Last year’s much-hyped Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle, “Ringer,” flopped so badly that it got canceled. This is a rare occurrence for the CW, considering programs that no one watches such as “Nikita,” “90210” and “America’s Next Top Model” are all coming back.
Late night Jay Leno, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon won’t be facing new competition this year, but Arsenio Hall is planning a syndicated comeback show next September. NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” begins its 38th season but it will do so without stalwart cast members Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg, who are devoting their Q time to making films.