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On Television |
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A PREVIEW OF THE FALL TV SEASON |
 TV often is accused of beating a dead horse, but this fall TV may resuscitate one: MISTER ED (shown with Alan Young) |
The new dramas, comedies
tend to have a familiar ring
By DONNA J. PLESH
of TheColumnists.com
Now that spring is here, can fall be far behind? The
fall TV season, that is. And here's the sad news: You may not
be able to tell the new season from the old one.
In mid-May, the commercial broadcast networks--ABC, CBS, NBC,
FOX, the WB and UPN--will unveil their fall programs and stars.
This TV rite of spring--aimed primarily at advertisers--is known
as the 'Upfronts.' The nets show the advertisers what they've
got to offer up front, and the advertisers let them know what
smells good to them by starting to place their orders for commercial
time, all done "up front" of the actual start of the
TV season.
A look at lists of shows vying for spots on those network lineups
this fall indicates that we are likely to be offered pretty much
what we have been seeing in recent years: Spinoffs of current
shows, retreads of old shows, and, ugh, more of those cheap-to-produce
"reality" shows.
Since it seems that everything--and everyone--old is new again,
this column will focus on potential fall shows featuring faces
familiar to TV viewers, a sprinkling of big-screen stars making
the move to the small screen, and shows with interesting pedigrees.
Keep in mind some of these shows will make the cut, others won¹t.
ABC Dramas
10-8: Rookie cops in L.A. starring Danny Nucci from 1999¹s
short-lived Snoops. Not a lot of star power, but this
show has high-powered behind-the-scenes talent, namely Executive
Producer Aaron Spelling. Anyone want to bet against the man who
brought us, among many other shows, Dynasty and
Beverly Hills 90210?
Then Came Jones: Melissa Gilbert and Sean Patrick
Flanery headline a Western set in 1899 Texas. The big deal is
that this is a Western--how many of these have we seen in recent...decades?
ABC Comedies
Hope and Faith: A soap opera star moves in with
her housewife sister. It stars Faith Ford (who plays Hope) and
Kelly Ripa (late of the soap opera All My Children)
as Faith.
CBS Dramas
Cold Cases: Jerry Bruckheimer, the CSI
guru, is executive producer of this Philadelphia-set drama about
a police squad that goes after unsolved cases that have gone
"cold."
Untitled JAG spinoff: First it was Navy lawyers (JAG),
now it¹s the Naval Criminal Investigative Services. Mark
Harmon stars.
Untitled Danny Glover
Project: Big screen star
Glover plays a cop turned private eye.
Joan of Arcadia: Interesting title, intriguing plot:
A modern-day Joan of Arc sees God, who takes a different form
each week. Amber Tamblyn (General
Hospital), Joe Mantegna
and Oscar-winner Mary Steenburgen star.
CBS Comedies
Crazy Love: A couple adopts a baby from China.
Peter McNichol (Ally McBeal), Valerie Bertinelli, Cloris Leachman
and Jonathan Silverman star.
The Lunchbox Chronicles: Monica Potter is a widow with two
kids. Andy Richter and Susan Sullivan also star. (Writer bias
alert! Monica¹s from my hometown, Cleveland, so I hope this
show makes it!)
FOX Dramas
NYPD 2069: A modern-day cop is cryogenically
frozen after being shot and seriously injured--only to thaw out
decades later in a very different New York City. Josh Hopkins
(Ally McBeal) stars. NYPD Blue creator
Steven Bochco is the executive producer.
The OC: A street-smart teen winds up in the upper echelons
of society in Orange County, California. Adam Brody (Gilmore Girls) plays the teen. Peter Gallagher and Tate Donovan
(Mister Sterling) also star.
FOX Comedies
Mister Ed: So, you don¹t think a horse
can talk? In 1961 Alan Young discovered one horse could in the
first incarnation of this series. It seems Ed (the horse) always
could talk--but didn¹t until he found the first person he
felt was worth talking to, horse to man. No stars announced yet.
NBC Dramas
A Future Tense: Former Fox headliner Christopher
Titus heads the cast of this drama about a law enforcement team
in the future.
Miss Match: She¹s an attorney by day and
a matchmaker by night--and she¹s played by Alicia Silverstone
(Clueless). Darren Star (Sex and the City)
is one of the producers.
The Lyon's Den: Ready for another legal drama? This
one stars Rob Lowe, late of The
West Wing.
NBC Comedies
Mr. Ambassador: Brit big screen star Rupert Everett
plays, what else?, the British Ambassador to the United States.
Fellow Brit Derek Jacobi (I,
Claudius) is also in the
cast.
Coupling: No big name stars in this ensemble comedy that had
long been rumored as a possible replacement for Friends once it departs. Like Friends, the
show concentrates on the lives and loves of a group of thirtysomething
friends. It's is based on the highly successful British series
of the same name, still airing on BBC America. Behind the scenes,
the executive producer is Phoef Sutton of Cheers fame,
and the other producers are the trio responsible for the original
Brit series: Stephen Moffat, Sue Vertue and Beryl Vertue.
Once Around the Park: Heather Locklear's back and NBC
has her! This time around Heather plays a single mom with kids.
Touch 'em All McColl: Anybody but me remember Tom Selleck's
last series? It was The
Closer on CBS and it closed
real fast. Now long-time baseball fan Selleck plays a former
player who returns to his hometown to manage a minor league team.
Whoopi Goldberg Project: The Oscar-winner plays an ex-diva
running a hotel in New York City. Bonnie and Terry Turner (That 70's Show) are the writers.
UPN Dramas
Hotel: A trendy Miami hotel is the setting
for this remake of the 1980s series. Aaron Spelling is the executive
producer.
UPN Comedies
Old School: A group of twentysomethings relive,
via flashbacks, all the un-fun stuff of high school--problems,
jealousies, etc. Natasha Lyonne ("American Pie") is
the familiar name in the ensemble cast.
WB Dramas
Chasing Alice: An intriguing plot twist: Scotland
Yard detective Theresa Russell (Glory Days)
moves to New York City to find her missing sister. During her
search, she encounters characters like those in Alice in Wonderland.
Immediate Family: Career woman Lori Loughlin (Full House) becomes a surrogate mom to her sister's orphaned
children. Aaron Spelling is one of the executive producers.
MacGyver: The twentysomething nephew of MacGyver has inherited
his uncle¹s canny ability to use whatever is at hand--candy
bars, paper clips, etc.--to fight the bad guys. Jared Padalecki
(Gilmore Girls) stars. Henry Winkler (Happy Days), who produced the original series, is the executive
producer of this updated version.
WB Comedies
The Courtship of Eddie's
Father: A remake of the
series in which the late Bill Bixby played a widower whose son,
Eddie, tries to find him a new wife.
Sweet Potato Queens: Delta Burke (Designing Women)
stars as a Southern mom with a teen-age daughter. The series
is based on the books by author Jill Conner Browne.
©2003 by Donna J.
Plesh.
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