Fall TV Preview - Blogger Cheat Sheet

LET THE FALL TV SEASON BEGIN!!!

theTVaddict and I (well, mostly him, actually, I somehow dumped this whole project on him even though he himself has a lot of work to do... hmm... I need to hone this skill better at my real work!) asked the web's most popular television bloggers (or basically, my favourites who I knew had seen the pilots already) what they thought of this seasons new shows, (based on the pilots they've seen).

The bloggers that we asked are BuzzSugar, DaemonsTV, DuckyDoesTV, GiveMeMyRemote, GlowyBox, MikeyLikesTV, ScooterMcGavin, SillyPipeDreams, Seat42f, TapeWorthy, theTVaddict, TiFaux and TubeTalk

Find out what everyone thought is a MUST WATCH and what needs to be avoided at all costs (oh the EYES) after the jump:

We set a unified grading system for everyone to use (so it might differ slightly then their own grading systems on their website, like my own, which is just slightly altered from this one)

LEGEND
1 - Don’t waste your time unless you find ACCORDING TO JIM ‘funny’
2 - Not great but at least doesn’t offend me.
3 - Fun to watch if nothing else is on.
4 - Has potential. Worth a second look.
5 - Set your TiVo to Season’s Pass!
N/A - Haven’t watched yet.

Click on the chart for a clearer view (I'll see if I can figure out how to get it clearer onto the original post today, anybody know?)



For all of my Fall TV Preview for each day of the week, check here:
Mondays
Tuesdays
Wednesdays
Thursdays
Fridays
Sundays

Here are my original reviews for the new pilots this year in order from best to worst (but again, the scores are sometimes set differently than the one used in the Bloggers Chart):

Pushing Daisies (Series Premiere Oct. 2nd CANADA) CTV Tuesdays 8pm/(Series Premiere Oct. 3rd USA) ABC Wednesdays 8pm ****1/2 Pilot Review

Chuck (Series Premiere Sept. 24th 2007) NBC/CITY Mondays 8pm **** Pilot Review

Journeyman (Series Premiere Sept. 24th) NBC/Global Monday 10pm ***1/2 Pilot Review

Gossip Girl (Series Premiere Sept. 18th CANADA) CTV Tuesday 8pm (7pm Regular Time Slot Starting Oct. 2nd)/ (Series Premiere Sept. 19th USA) The CW Wednesday 9pm *** Pilot Review

Reaper (Series Premiere Sept. 25th 2007) The CW/CITY Tuesdays 9pm *** Pilot Review

The Big Bang Theory (Series Premiere Sept. 24th 2007) CBS Mondays 8:30pm *** Pilot Review

Aliens In America (Series Premiere Oct. 1st 2007) The CW Mondays 8:30pm *** Pilot Review

Dirty Sexy Money (Series Premiere Sept. 26th USA) ABC Wednesday 10pm/ (Series Premiere Sept. 30th CANADA) CTV Sunday 10pm *** Pilot Review

Bionic Woman (Series Premiere Sept. 26th 2007) NBC/E!CH Wednesday 9pm **1/2 Pilot Review

Cavemen (Series Premiere Sept. 24th 2007) ABC Tuesday 8pm **1/2 Pilot Review

Big Shots (Series Premiere Sept. 27th 2007) ABC/CTV Thursday 10pm **1/2 Pilot Review

Life (Series Premiere Sept. 26th 2007) NBC/Global Wednesday 10pm **1/2 Pilot Review

Back To You (Premiered Sept. 19th, 2007) FOX/Global Wednesdays 8pm **1/2 Pilot Review

The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Midseason Replacement, Premieres in January 2008) FOX Sunday 9pm **1/2 Pilot Review

K-Ville (Premiered Sept. 17th, 2007) FOX/E!CH Mondays 9pm ** Pilot Review

Lipstick Jungle (Midseason Replacement) NBC *1/2

Cane (Series Premiere Sept. 25th 2007) CBS/Global Tuesday 10pm 1/2 star Pilot Review

More After the Jump...

Fall TV Preview - What's Tapeworthy on Thursdays

As always, Thursdays is jam packed with GREAT TV and even the lesser TV is nonetheless addictive. If Tuesdays in Canada and Wednesdays in the States is the best night for new series, Thursday is the best night for returning faves. In fact its so jammed back, I'm going to have to do a little Tetris game to manoeuvre the schedule so I can watch as much of my favorites on this night and it won't be possible to watch all the shows I want to watch live despite my best efforts. Seriously, this is quite horrendous in my world!


Here's the Fall TV Preview for Thursdays:

All times Eastern based on current scheduled times and all times pm. Green = New Show, Blue = Returning Show, Red = Must Watch Live

Everybody's a winner on Thursdays. Except Fox. Sorry, you may actually win some ratings with lameass reality gameshows but no one under 65 is going to be watching your network for once.

All night is going to be a toss up between what to watch, and what to tape for later, and the hour longs will probably win over the half hour comedies only for the sake of not breaking up the hour time slots. (ie. 30Rocks 4.5 Stars plus Earl's 3 stars averages to 3.75 Stars which Ugly Betty beats out with its 5 stars. So Ugly Betty wins.

8:00 - 9:00

Ugly Betty - ABC/City 8:00 - 9:00 - *****WATCH LIVE - IMO, I think Ugly Betty got to the perfect mixture of outrageous campy comedy, soapy drama and heartwarming fairytale. America Ferrera at this point has been hailed enough as carrying this show, all deservedly, because a lesser actress would not carry though the confidence and bumblings with equal weight, and Betty would have remained a character forever. Still, the supporting cast is just jammed full of AWESOME characters, that almost each one could take a spinoff on their own, including Vanessa Williams' Wilhelmina, Michael Urie's Marc, Becky Newton's Amanda, Christopher Gorham's Henry, Ashley Jensen's Christina (who really needs more lines this year! Did anybody see Ashley with Orlando Bloom in Extras? Hilarious!), and Judith Light as Claire Meade. This is not to lessen the excellent Eric Mabius, Rebecca Romijn or Anna Ortiz, and of course, Mark Indelicato's Justin, who doesn't deserve his own spinoff, he deserves his own variety series.

Survivor: China - CBS/Global 8:00 - 9:00 - *1/2 FLIP BY - Since last season sucked, that probably means this season will be awesome again and as much as I say I'm never going to watch again, I always flip by and do.



My Name is Earl - NBC 8:00 - 8:30 - ***TAPE - I don't think it went through the sophomore slump everyone said it did last year but I think the original set up limits the height this show can go. It's still pleasurable viewing, comfort television with a slight edge, and the wonderful Jaime Pressly (who was nicely awarded at the Emmy's this year, who would have thought THAT 4 years ago?) and Jason Lee and their quirky guest stars have a nice zing to it.


30 Rock - NBC 8:30 - 9:00 - ****1/2 WATCH LIVE (or TAPE for LATER IN THE NIGHT)- It won the Emmy! Woo! I actually think it was the 4th best comedy on TV still (after Ugly Betty and The Office and How I Met Your Mother) but I'm still happy about the win since it was improving so fast that if it weren't for the slow start in season 1, it would have been almost a perfect season. I hope Alec Baldwin doesn't threaten to back out again for personal troubles (and I hope Tracy Morgan doesn't get arrested or get in trouble again) because we need them in this hilarious comedy, not that Tina Fey and Jack McBrayer isn't enough, but put it all together and you have comic gold for the dozens of us that enjoy it!

9:00 - 10:00

The Office - NBC/Global 9:00 - 9:30 - ***** WATCH LIVE (or TAPE for LATER IN THE NIGHT)- I know Steve Carell is the star but even the background ensemble came into their own, from Creed to Angela to Kevin to Phyllis to Kelly to Toby to Oscar to Meredith. The fact that Pam and Jim's flirtation dance can still continue to feel real and ring true, while still being hilarious and heartbreaking is a testament to the show. Dwight can be a little much, and slightly overrated but that's peanuts to the excellency of this show in its entirety.









Grey's Anatomy - ABC/CTV 9:00 - 10:00 - *** WATCH - Season 3 dovetailed from its season 2 high, and it's THIS close to being put in the corner on the bad mat, but they got rid of Isaiah Washington and supposedly the set atmosphere has freed up so much which I will assume clogged up much of Shondra's thoughts last year. With mistakes being re-corrected (Gizzie, Isaiah), I'm hoping this can rebounce to the frothy melodrama it was so good at being at.

Supernatural - The CW/City 9:00 - 10:00 - ***1/2 TAPE - I know, it scores higher than Grey's Anatomy, because at this point, it's a better show, but I'll probably continue to tape it and catch up in large marathons because I'm just used to doing it that way (plus I'd rather be scared all at once instead of strung throughout weeks). Plus, everyone will be talking about Gizzie the day after. Which is not to say the Winchesters are not gossip worthy, especially with some girls added to the mix this year, but really, its more droolworthy on this show than anything else.

Scrubs - NBC 9:30 - 10:00 - *** TAPE - It's not as good as it used to be but still enjoyable and I'd like to complete it by watching this last season (or so they say).








My Name is Earl - IN CANADA ONLY Global 9:30 - 10:00 - ***TAPE - Crab man is great too! Randy still makes me laugh but I worry sometimes that Ethan Suplee isn't actually acting.








10:00 - 11:00

Big Shots - NBC/CTV 10:00 - 11:00 - **1/2 TAPE - I didn't love the pilot at all but it's Michael Vartan and Nia Long. I know, I'm too easy. I keep flipping back from being completely offended by this show and wanting to see more Vartan...







Shows I Like In Theory But Don't Watch Anymore: Without a Trace.

Shows I Just Gave Up On But Might Get Sucked Back In. Maybe: ER.

Shows I Just Gave Up On: Smallville, CSI.

Shows I Didn't Realise Still Existed: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Don't Forget The Lyrics.


For the Fall TV Preview for the rest of the week:
Mondays
Tuesdays
Wednesdays
Thursdays
Fridays
Sundays

See Sidebar for Pilot Reviews

More After the Jump...

Chart(er)ing The Pilots

Hey other bloggers, maybe we should do a chart like the one they've done at Variety? haha... (uh, anybody know how to do a chart like that easily?)

Interesting chart. I'm most shocked that The Big Bang Theory is doing so well (I'm about to watch that, and Cavemen tonight so I guess I can weigh in tomorrow, though hopefully I won't be influenced now by knowing the general concensus (at least at Variety)), and sad that Journeyman isn't faring as high as I would have hoped (I really enjoyed it, review to come later today). And sadly, Viva Laughlin is seriously not liked very much.

Though I can't believe so many people really loved Big Shots. Then again, like I said before, my female friends I watched the pilot with LOVED it as well, while they were bored out of their minds during Dirty Sexy Money.

The one thing can be sure though, everyone seems to be LOVING Pushing Daisies. YAY! Reaper does well too and I enjoyed the pilot, but I'm still mad that they recast Nikki Reed so am holding it back from a full season pass at this point. I know. I'm a vindictive bitch aren't I?

I also think my favorite comment (scroll over to see) from the Variety reviewers is from Michael Schneider (who I think I have the most similar tastes too (save for Journeyman)), who calls Gossip Girl, "this year's mindless crack addiction".

More After the Jump...

Fall TV Preview - Big Shots - Pilot Training

Big Shots - Pilot - directed by Charles McDougall, written by Jon Harmon Feldman
Premieres Thursday September 27th, 10pm on ABC/CTV

You could call the new ABC show Big Shots "Big Sh!ts" especially after seeing the pilot or "Desperate Husbands" which is funny because the pilot was directed by Charles McDougall who also did the zippy pilot for Desperate Housewives (as well as the original Queer as Folk UK). Sadly here, there's none of that zippiness feeling and we are left with a flat pilot, though the script may be partly to blame since Big Shots is a bit more disjointed and lacks an overall arching mystery (or anything really) to tie the different storylines of 4 big shots together.

The four big shots are Michael Vartan (Alias) as James Auster, a top exec who was secretly going to be fired just before his boss dies, carrying the news with him. Dylan McDermott (The Practice), as Duncan Collingsworth, CEO to a cosmetic company, none of which could hide his poor relationship with his daughter (Peyton List), his trysts with his ex-wife (Paige Turco) or his secret long-ago tryst with a tranny (Jazzmun)(what's with the Tranny's? This is now the third on ABC). Christopher Titus (Titus) is Brody Johns, a CEO that is completely whipped by his never-seen wife, and Joshua Malina (Sports Night, The West Wing) as Karl Mixworthy, a sweet looking man who is cheating on his sweet wife (Amy Sloan) with a hot sexy blonde (Jessica Collins).

Basically, each man has his drama, and they all meet together like a boys version of Sex and the City, hence, at the country club or golf courses and bitch out their women and work problems. It could work if the guys weren't written so scathingly with little redeeming qualities. At this point, the only reason we DO like them is from the residue of former characters. Dylan McDermott's hair, eyes, and Bobby Donnell save his current character from being a complete asshole. I know Joshua Malina can be appealing from Sports Night so at this point I will reserve myself from decking him. Christopher Titus, in the only role probably toned down from a previous role is such a wimp and lacking any bite that I actually DO miss his more spastic antics from his self-named sitcom, while Michael Vartan just has to stand there and look pretty (but James Auster is still no "Not Michael Vaughn").

Luckily, there's a saving grace, and her name is Nia Long. She's not given much to do in the pilot but obviously she's meant as a romantic potential for James, but hopefully, she's also another big shot in the making. Plus Nia Long just makes (almost) everything she does great (or at least watchable) and here's another chance at primetime in the Whites Only area. Jessica Collins turns her mistress role into something enjoyable and fun, but all the other woman at this point are so slightly drawn that you wonder what huge problems they could cause the men in the first place?

I'm giving Big Shots 2 1/2 Stars (** 1/2) for now, basically one full star to Michael Vartan, another full star to Nia Long, and a half star to Joshua Molina just because I loved him so much in Sports Night (and the rest of the Sports Night crew). Still, my female friends who watched this actually really enjoyed it and preferred it over Dirty Sexy Money, though my hunch is because of Dermott's eyes and the fact that he had his shirt off in a poolside scene. I'll probably keep watching though because it will be perfect as background noise as I blog away from the preceding Thursday lineup (Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, The Office, 30 Rock)

Here is the promo clip for Big Shots:


Big Shots

The Full Cast of Big Shots

Michael Vartan

Dylan McDermott

Joshua Malina

Christopher Titus

Nia Long

Paige Turco

Peyton List

Wendy Moniz

Jessica Collins

Amy Sloan

More After the Jump...