Fuzzy Lion

It’s that time again for the new offspring of fall television shows.
We’ve suffered enough this summer with “So You Think You Can Dance?”
and “Rockstar INXS.” With last year’s hit “Lost”, we would expect
nothing less from the television masterminds to pull out their
similar-but-not-that-similar-to-Lost series and of course the beloved
onslaught of even more reality shows. As the WB canceled the
imaginative “Jack and Bobby” and the impending doom of this season’s
“Alias,” we’ve decided to scope out some of the previews that the
networks are offering up for the year. So set your TIVOS…or not.

THE APPRENTICE: MARTHA STEWART (NBC, Wednesdays at 8/7c)
Category: Reality Show
Tag: “Land a Dream Job with Martha Stewart.”
Premise: Donald gives Martha the reins to recruit business savvy domesticators.
First Impression: You know people are only going to tune in to see the ankle bracelet.
Verdict: PASS because we are so done with reality television.

COMMANDER IN CHIEF (ABC, Tuesdays at 9/8c)
Category: Political Drama
Tag: “First Female President of the United States.”
Premise:
CurrentPresident doesn’t recover well from brain surgery. The 45-year
old female vice president takes over despite no one wanting her to.
Plus subplot of female President being a mother.
First Impression: So let’s see they picked her as a running mate but they don’t actually want her to be president.
Verdict: PASS because we want Jack and Bobby back.

EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS (UPN, Thursdays at 8/7c)
Category: Comedy
Tag: “Responsible resilient adolescent brings a distinct, funny spin to everyday trials and traumas.”
Premise:
Based on the life of Chris Rock, the series follows a teenager growing
up in Brooklyn, NY in the 1980’s and then gets uprooted to a
predominantly white neighborhood.
First Impression: If Chris Rock says it’s funny, then it’s damn funny fuckers.
Verdict: TIVO until the child actor grates on our nerves.

FREDDIE (ABC, Wednesdays at 8:30/7:30c)
Category: Sitcom
Tag: “Freddie has to figure out how to maintain his thriving bachelor lifestyle in a house full of estrogen.”
Premise:
Evidently based on the life of Freddie Prinze, Jr., he escapes from a
house full of women, but ends up back in the same situation after some
events. Hilarity ensues and some warmth too.
First Impression: Scooby Doo, do we need to say anything else?
Verdict: PASS because I’ve been able to survive without a weekly dose of Freddie Prinze, Jr.

GHOST WHISPERER (CBS, Fridays at 8/7c)
Category: Ghost Drama
Tag: “Riveting link between the living and the dead, between life and death.”
Premise: Jennifer Love Hewitt can communicate with spirits and investigates stuff.
First Impression: What happened to Medium?
Verdict:
PASS because Jennifer will never be able to convince us she sees dead
people like she couldn’t convince us she could sing.

INVASION (ABC, Wednesdays at 10/9c)
Category: Alien Drama
Tag: “Suspenseful tale of a blended family trying to recover from a devastating hurricane and its mysterious aftermath.”
Premise:
New conspiracies emerge that natural disasters are really something
more intermixed with what sounds like an overly complicated family
situation.
First Impression: Body Snatchers meets General Hospital.
Verdict: TIVO until they make a Wizard of Oz reference.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL (FOX, Mondays at 8:30/7:30c)
Category: Comedy
Tag: “Exposes the secrets of the restaurant business..”
Premise: Has-been chef gets second chance at restaurant fame by getting 48 hours to staff his kitchen and feed 300 people.
First Impression: It actually looks promising with Darren Star behind the scenes.
Verdict: TIVO until there are way too many food fights.

MY NAME IS EARL (NBC, Tuesdays at 9/8c)
Category: Comedy
Tag: “Karma is a boomerang.”
Premise: A crook wins money and decidedly feels he should wrong all his rights.
First Impression: Jason Lee is a funny guy, but can he pull this off?
Verdict: TIVO until we don’t laugh.

REUNION (FOX, Thursdays at 9/8C)
Category: Mysterious Drama
Tag: “Chronicles the Lives of six friends over the course of twenty years.”
Premise:
So there’s a group of friends that have lived their lives for twenty
years and they reunite and then there’s like a murder and they like
flashback to what they’ve done with their lives.
First Impression: Wow this seems complicated.
Verdict: TIVO until we just get utterly confused.

SUPERNATURAL (WB, Tuesdays at 9/8c)
Category: Thriller
Tag: “New generation of storytelling set in the dark world of the unexplained.”
Premise: Two brothers are on a mission to avenge their mother’s death by seeking out the supernatural.
First
Impression: So something killed their mom twenty years ago and their
dad hasn’t found it yet, so now they are taking over? Smart one guys.
Verdict: PASS because we’ve been there done that.

SURFACE (NBC, Mondays at 8/7c)
Category: Sci-Fi Drama
Tag: “Discover what could be lurking below the surface.”
Premise:
Good looking woman, man, and young child make oceanographic discoveries
that might be scary, or maybe just another breed of goldfish.
First
Impression: Surface has the possibility of being decent, though we are
taking first bets on the predictable plotline of romance between the
good looking woman and man. We do cross our fingers for the Loch Ness
Monster and of course we need an episode relating to the Bermuda
triangle.
Verdict: TIVO until they explore the Titanic.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 25th, 2005 at 12:21 am and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.