Fall 2011 Preview: Monday

As many of you know, chedner and I enjoy our TV quite a bit.  This series will look at the new network shows.  With any luck, this series will show I have some sort of prowess in picking winners and I’ll be picked out of cyberspace to become a writer or network exec.  *nudge, nudge.*

 

2 Broke Girls, 8:30 on CBS

Two twentysomething women—one from a wealthy family, the other working class—end up working at a diner and living together trying to make ends meet.  The jokes aren't that funny and the exec. producer, Whitney Cummings, is a comedienne who isn't that funny.  Cummings’ meh-inspiring, gender-based humor didn’t keep her from scoring her own sitcom in a prime slot on NBC Thurs. (link to preview)

 

Terra Nova, 8:00 on FOX

Catastrophic developments force humanity to abandon Earth and colonize time/space.  Little do they know that their new world has a mysterious dark side.  Plenty of  potential as FOX didn't reveal too much in the trailer (generally a bad sign in my book). Seems to be a cross of Lost, Jurassic Park, and Avatar. A well-hidden hand with plenty of good reveals could keep this series going for a while.  (link to preview)

 

Hart of Dixie, 9:00 on CW

A modern version of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman that lacks the strong female lead it needs to succeed.   Rachel Bilson plays a brand new big city doctor who inherits a small-town practice, and comes off just too one note—“one note” as in “blah”; not “one note” as in the awesome Microsoft software.  Her presences is just so lukewarm. The premise is a good twist, though. Such a problem could possibly be remedied by a more ensemble focus, but they don't seem to be going that direction. (link to preview)

 

The Playboy Club, 10:00 on NBC

One of a few new shows aiming to bottle the Mad Men lightning, the series follows a group of playboy bunnies.   I feel like it will run out of fuel in the first half of the season. The focus on women in the 60s is a nice inversion of the Mad Men equation though Pan Am (Sundays, 10:00, ABC) I believe, has more potential.  I do hope that I’m mistaken, but it reminds me a lot of Studio 60—a good concept that slowly lost weight like a bucket with a hole in it.  If the characters in this series are presented with the depth they deserve, there’s potential for this show to make a big crybaby out of me. (link to preview)